December 9: Voiceovers

A DJ named Andrew does a show after Break Your Radio: Voiceovers. He invites poets and short story writers to the studio to read their works on the air. He chooses music to accompany their words. I thought that he should read his own work during his show. He thought so, too. Here it is.

We collaborated: I chose music for a couple poems, he chose music for the rest. He manned the mic, obviously, and I womanned the soundboard. I’ve got a new respect for him. It wasn’t easy to manage mic levels, music, words, simultaneously. The show was pretty well choreographed, well planned, totally fun.

December 9

Taste the Philippines. A brief trip to France. What does Christmas in the Congo sound like? Hear a garage band from Arkansas. Eat some blues. Listen to the show!

I also stuck in there a track from Cavalier Rose. I went to see them perform in town. Magnificent. Their album, I think, doesn’t entirely reflect the power of their performance. Think blues hardcore. During the last song, the vocalist screamed. Yes. screamed. I couldn’t even speak to the drummer after the show. Just made faces and gestures. I think she got the message. They were fantastic.

December 4: Adventures in subland

On Friday, I subbed for a fellow DJ who is recovering from an operation. Multiple crises occurred in the studio, which I fought to correct.

First, I accidentally stopped a pre-recorded broadcast which was being aired before my slot. oops. I played some other music while I fiddled with playing the last five minutes of the inadvertently truncated episode of Free Speech Radio News.

Then, the pre-recorded broadcast which I was assigned to supervise (“For the Record” with Dave Emory) became extremely scratchy, inscrutable, and unlistenable. I interrupted with a teeny bit of freeform radio, which you can here hear. which you can hear here.

December 2

Just another crazy station day.

Listen for herpetelogical wonders. And a “drum set”.

Break your radio.

November 25: World music

The station program director and I spent last night reorganizing the world music section. I discovered a buncha artists that looked interesting, and played em on today’s show. So. Lots o world music (minus African, Latin, and French).

Give it a listen.

November 18

but but but, brown underpants, touch me, pulling my face in and out of distortion i blink too much…These are some songs you get to hear.

Odes to winged insects (including Bee my Babee).

I hope Slim Gaillard’s version of Goldy Locks and the Three Bears didn’t offend any Spanish speakers.

Elephant, cows, sheep, dogs…

Pop quiz (trick question): What’s the missing animal?

November 11

We begin with meditations on the moon and the sun (son?).

We later investigate music by animals, including elephants and sea creatures.

Stick around for a lesson in recycling.

One caller shared a gross story with me and the world.

Pop quiz: To what end would you use a third boob on your back?
…I dedicated the boobies song to the lingerie boutique, since they called to tell me that brassiere sales spiked during the four minutes that Ruth Wallis sang about udders.
That’s only half true.

Break Your Radio!

November 4: Break Your Radio in Half, old school style

Today’s is a 2-hour show. I had a noon meeting, so Geo took over the third hour.

–Remember the 1990s, when people wore poofy cartoon hats and backward suspenders, and you heard rapping on the radio about “saving your jewels”?

Me neither. I aim to recapture the era with the first hour or so of today’s show, old school rap style. There’s even a slow hit with a guy speaking very earnestly about, I think, a woman who broke his heart.

There’s also a special dedication to Havarti.

um, it appears (to the ears) that there were some issues with the audio this time around. Equipment tends to follow a spotty pattern at the station: at times, sound will come out of your left speaker only; at times, the music will be nearly inaudible; at times, I sound like some sorta robot…

Keep an ear out for special surprise guests who swing by the studio.

Listen up!

October 28

Find out what a Japanese nursery rhyme sounds like when accompanied by tabla.

Get your daily fix of musical saw.

Do you like jazz flute? I do.

Jump into an electronic digression.

And don’t forget to come to the Flashbulb show at the University of Michigan Museum of Art on Saturday, November 14! As if you could forget…I won’t letchu forget.

Break Your Radio!

October 21

Check out a nice mix of experimental, rock, and world music with this week’s Break Your Radio.

DJ Brian Tomsic makes a special guest appearance.