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Saturday, September 29, 2007

October 6 & 7: Melody Replay Weekend

Next weekend on Altrok Radio (and not this weekend as previously announced) we'll be replaying the two Melody Reunion Replays we've collected this year:

- Saturday, October 6, it'll be the tracks we heard at The Loop Lounge in Passaic last February 17.

- Sunday, October 7, it'll be the tracks we heard at The Court Tavern in New Brunswick on September 1.

After that, we'll put the reunions away for a while...'til the next one...

(And keep an eye out for November. Something may happen...)

Friday, September 28, 2007

For Discussin': John Peel's 1977 Festive Fifty

I originally had a prosaic blurb lined up for this, but managed to close the wrong tab in my browser and lose it - so much for my own Internet proficiency.

At any rate, the BBC's putting out a book about John Peel's legendary (not a term being used lightly here) sessions, and it turns out this news item kind of says it all...take a look:

-------
DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF JOHN PEEL'S RADIO 1 SESSIONS REVEALS THE "FORGOTTEN FIFTY" OF 1977

DJ John Peel's long lost "Festive 50" of top tracks of 1977 has been reconstructed as part of the new definitive history of his show THE PEEL SESSIONS, to be published by BBC Books on 4 October 2007. The rundown presents a startling snapshot of Peel's personal view of a year when music changed for ever, with punk and reggae elbowing out the rock legends.

The first ever Festive 50 poll of his listeners' all-time favourite tracks was broadcast over Christmas 1976, but with everything changing in 1977, Peel and his producer John Walters decided not to run a poll that year. Instead, Peel chose his own favourites, but presented it as a 'Festive 50' chart rundown anyway. The Top 13 are well-documented, but the full chart is the "Forgotten Fifty", remembered only in fragments by even diehard listeners.

Prompted by queries and tip-offs from fellow members of the John Peel News Group on Yahoo, author Ken Garner reconstructed the chart from a combination of listener diaries & off-air tapes, and the programme scripts kept on microfilm at BBC Written Archives, Caversham. "Even though he referred to it on air as the Festive 50, Peel clearly chose 60 personal favourites from across the year to spin again, plus The Sex Pistols' 'God Save The Queen' cheekily thrown in as an extra at the start", he says: "The track was still banned at the BBC in Silver Jubilee Year ? although Peel had of course played it twice before the ban was imposed ? and you can imagine the furore if he had drawn attention to it by 'placing' it. This way he sneaked it in with no-one noticing." Although no chart placings are given on the scripts, it was possible to count backwards from the number one at the end of the final countdown show. "The Forgotten Fifty as a whole in its range and order is very much like the nightly Peel shows of the time in its mixture of old and new, the fashionable alongside the uncool" says Garner, "with some giveaway Peel running-order jokes, like following The Boys with The Yobs."

"The Forgotten Fifty" of 1977 itself follows:

1 ..Dancing The Night Away' The Motors
2 ..Uptown Top Ranking' Althia & Donna
3 ..You Beat The Hell Out of Me' The Motors
4 ..I Can't Stand My Baby' The Rezillos
5 ..Suspended Sentence' John Cooper Clarke
6 ..Smokescreen' Desperate Bicycles
7 ..Right Track' Merlyn Webber
8 ..Like a Hurricane' Neil Young
9 ..Complete Control' The Clash
10 ..Be Good To Yourself' Frankie Miller
11 ..Holidays In The Sun' The Sex Pistols
12 ..Shadow' The Lurkers
13 ..Truly' J. Ayes and Ranking Trevor
14 ..Pigs' Pink Floyd
15 ..Incendiary Device' Johnny Moped
16 ..New Religion' Some Chicken
17 ..See Them Come' Culture
18 ..Emergency' The Motors
19 ..The Worm Song' The Yobs
20 ..Box Number' The Boys
21 ..London Lady' The Stranglers
22 ..I Don't Wanna' Sham 69
23 ..Pinhead' The Ramones
24 ..Freedom Connection' Jah Woosh
25 ..Can't Give You More' Status Quo
26 ..Blue Wind' Jeff Beck with Jan Hammer
27 ..White Riot' The Clash
28 ..Success' Iggy Pop
29 ..Your Generation' Generation X
30 ..Nobody Go Run Me' King Short Shirt
31 ..Love Story' The Lurkers
32 ..Waiting in Vain' Bob Marley & The Wailers
33 ..Paradise' Dr Feelgood
34 ..Cruel Brother' Five Hand Reel
35 ..I'm Stranded' The Saints
36 ..Heroes' David Bowie
37 ..Sick On You' The Users
38 ..Oh Bondage Up Yours!' X Ray Spex
39 ..Lookin' After Number 1' The Boomtown Rats
40 ..No Man's Land' June Tabor
41 ..Neat Neat Neat' The Damned
42 ..The Dark End Of The Street' Ry Cooder
43 ..Questions' Suburban Studs
44 ..Feel Like Making Love' Elizabeth Archer & The Equators
45 ..I Knew The Bride' Dave Edmunds
46 ..Away From The Numbers' The Jam
47 ..Whole Wide World' Wreckless Eric
48 ..Green Onions' Roy Buchanan
49 ..Wild Dub' Generation X
50 ..I.R.T.' Snatch
51 ..Pretty Vacant' The Sex Pistols
52 ..John Willie's Ferret' The Oldham Tinkers
53 'Stepping Razor' Peter Tosh
54 ..Capital Radio' The Clash
55 ..Watching The Detectives' Elvis Costello and The Attractions
56 ..Bringing In The Morning Light' The Motors
57 ..Beginning of The End' Eddie & The Hot Rods
58 ..Jocko Homo' Devo
59 ..Whatever Happened To' The Buzzcocks
60 ..Rocket In My Pocket' Little Feat
...& 61..God Save The Queen' The Sex Pistols

-------
Thus ends the release; the rest below is homegrown (and that's why favorite is now spelled without a 'u'.)

Basically, it's interesting that Peel recognized that the year was so incredibly pivotal and kind of took the list over, thus rescuing it from the vagaries of popular opinion (not that popular opinion ever had much effect on Peel.)

So...discuss. (And while doing so, feel free to listen to today's Eighties Friday mix, which invariably features something from the list above.)

By way of completely undercutting my own promotion, I'll take this opportunity to remind you that the BBC is doing a Peel retrospective, hosted by Peel fanboy Elijah Wood, this Sunday night on Radio 1 at 10pm UK time. (That's 5pm Eastern in the US via the Internet; if you listen to Radio 1 on Sirius Satellite Radio, it'll be 10pm Eastern because they delay their Radio 1 channel five hours so all the time checks match up. Confused? You will be...)

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

So, Who've You Told?

So here's the deal: we need listeners. Always have, always will. We need 'em to justify our existence, slight though it may be.

All that's because we live and die on the number of listeners we have. Really. Every time someone somewhere starts listening, a computer somewhere goes "click!" and tallies up a new listener for us.

Eventually, this computer gets together with other computers (on the computers-only golf course, or wherever) and they compare notes between my clicks and all the other clicks all the other web stations get. And if I start getting more clicks, they start thinking, "Hey, this guy's getting more clicks. Maybe we should show him to more people so we get more clicks too." And thus a small snowball of listenership rolls into an avalanche.

But that's getting ahead of things. This is about you...and more specifically, what you can do to help us.

Here it is:

Get someone else to listen. Anyone will do. We don't discriminate - we leave the discriminating up to you; we figure it's the fact that you're a discriminating listener that brought you to us in the first place.

If everyone listening today found one more listener, we'd double our listenership (yes! Math skills are important!)

And our listenership will go up even more if you listen, too. And you know you'll hear things you might know, and that you might not know - we're pretty good about that whole "new music you haven't heard before" thing, alongside the "not so new music you might have known existed, but then again might not have so that's alright then" thing.

Long story short: tune in. Bring someone else into the fold, too. Why leave 'em out?

Monday, September 24, 2007

Altrok Radio Music Update #174

Firstly, the important stuff:

Altrok Radio is at http://www.altrokradio.com

Please remember to tune in whenever you can - every hour you listen turns into more visibility for the station; we show up higher in search listings, and such like that. And if you'd like to help us keep the stream running, check out the advertisers if they appeal to you; your interest actually helps fund us.

Now then, in addition to the outstanding Altrok Radio music mix that got us an Editor's Pick nod at Live365 and at About.com, we've added features we know you'll like...

Thursdays at 11:30am Eastern (and repeated at 9:00pm), you get to hear Sean Carolan (often referred to in these dispatches as "me") showcase the new music we've added this week on the Altrok Radio FM Showcase. New stuff, classic stuff, and Jeff Raspe with his Altrok Radio Underground Pick Of The Week...

And on Friday, it's Altrok's Eighties Friday: music from the eighties that mattered then AND now. An eight hour playlist that features some of the best that decade had to offer, drawing from all the music that was available at the time (yes, even from the seventies.)

But for now - we've got songs to let you know about.


This week, our Grinders (the stuff we play heavily) include music from:

- Jamie T
- Amy Winehouse
- Los Campesinos!
- Beck
- Sky Larkin
- Miles Hunt

Plus we've got newly-added music:

- A Place To Bury Strangers - To Fix The Gash In Your Head
- The Alphabetical Order - Submarines
- Film School - Lectric
- The Glass - Fourteen Again
- The GoStation - All Together Now
- The Hot Toddies - Photosynthesis
- The Most Serene Republic - Sherry And Her Butterfly Net
- New Model Army - Wired
- New Young Pony Club - Hiding On The Staircase
- Josh Ritter - Rumors
- Shocking Pinks - Yes! No!
- Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames - Futures Rewired
- Siouxsie - Into A Swan
- VHS Or Beta - Burn It All Down
- The Weakerthans - Civil Twilight

Our Newly-Added Classics:

- Marshall Crenshaw - Cynical Girl
- Elastica - Connection
- Generation X - Gimme Some Truth
- The Godfathers - She Gives Me Love
- The Jags - Back Of My Hand
- LCD Soundsystem - Jump Into The Fire
- Oingo Boingo - Not My Slave
- Prodigy - Firestarter
- Sonic Youth - Kool Thing
- XTC - It's Nearly Africa

As always, thanks for listening!

- Sean Carolan
Altrok Radio
On your computer right now at http://www.altrokradio.com

On the radio Fridays at 10pm, at 90.5 The Night

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Tonight: Ready Steady Go Tuesdays

A short reminder: it's Ready Steady Go Tuesday, meaning you get to go out tonight, enjoy the potent beverage of your choice, and absorb a night full of tracks that matter, from both the present day and the dim, distant past.

A relaxing way to spend a Tuesday evening? Don't bet on it - this stuff'll make you move.

The particulars follow:

READY STEADY GO Tuesdays
with DJ Drew (host of the recent Melody Bar reunion)
Tuesdays, 9PM
Marita's
Easton & Albany (and French, kinda)
New Brunswick, NJ

Monday, September 17, 2007

Altrok Radio Music Update #173

Firstly, the important stuff:

Altrok Radio is at http://www.altrokradio.com

Please remember to tune in whenever you can - every hour you listen turns into more visibility for the station; we show up higher in search listings, and such like that. And if you'd like to help us keep the stream running, check out the advertisers if they appeal to you; your interest actually helps fund us.

Now then, in addition to the outstanding Altrok Radio music mix that got us an Editor's Pick nod at Live365 and at About.com, we've added features we know you'll like...

Thursdays at 11:30am Eastern (and repeated at 9:00pm), you get to hear Sean Carolan (often referred to in these dispatches as "me") showcase the new music we've added this week on the Altrok Radio FM Showcase. New stuff, classic stuff, and Jeff Raspe with his Altrok Radio Underground Pick Of The Week...

And on Friday, it's Altrok's Eighties Friday: music from the eighties that mattered then AND now. An eight hour playlist that features some of the best that decade had to offer, drawing from all the music that was available at the time (yes, even from the seventies.)

But for now - we've got songs to let you know about.

This week, our Grinders (the stuff we play heavily) include music from:

- Band Of Horses
- Foals
- The Weakerthans
- They Might Be Giants
- Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip
- Kaiser Chiefs

Plus we've got newly-added music:

- The Blacks - Raincoat
- The Chapman Family - You Think You're Funny
- The Chilling Details - Truth About Lions
- Falling Out Of Cars - Do You Come Away
- The Fiery Furnaces - Ex-Guru
- The Go! Team - Doing It Right
- Hot Hot Heat - Let Me In
- Interpol - No I In Threesome
- Just Jack - Starz In Their Eyes
- Mobius Band - Hallie
- Moving Units - The Kids From Orange County
- Mr. Fogg - Seciov
- Sky Larkin - Molten
- Tiny Masters Of Today - TMOTology (feat. Karen O)
- Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry On Their Own

Our Newly-Added Classics:

- Blur - Country House
- The Bongos - In The Congo
- The Clash - This Is Radio Clash
- Elvis Costello - Mystery Dance
- Garbage - #1 Crush
- The Gun Club - Preaching the Blues
- The Specials - Enjoy Yourself
- The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
- Wire - 12XU
- Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World - Big Smash

As always, thanks for listening!

- Sean Carolan
Altrok Radio
On your computer right now at http://www.altrokradio.com

On the radio Fridays at 10pm, at 90.5 The Night

Friday, September 14, 2007

Melody Reunion Replay Today on Altrok's Eighties Friday!

Altrok's Eighties Friday - our selection of the best, most relevant, and least embarrassing tracks the Eighties had to offer - arrives today bearing something special:

The New Brunswick Melody Bar Reunion Replay, recorded live from the decks at The Court Tavern back on September 1. If you were there, you know how hot it was (both literally and figuratively.) If not, here's your chance to revel in it once again.

It's at 11:30am Eastern today, and it'll repeat at 9:00pm.

See you there.

-Sean
Altrok Radio at http://www.altrokradio.com



[edit 2008: and here's what we broadcast...]

Gene Loves Jezebel - Desire (Come And Get It) - 12'' Single
Danse Society, The - Heaven Is Waiting - The Danse Society
Ministry - I Wanted To Tell Her (Dance Mix) - 12'' Single
Our Daughter's Wedding - Lawn Chairs - 7'' Single
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Hong Kong Garden - Once Upon A Time
Joy Division - She's Lost Control - 12'' Single
Eat - Fat Man - Sell Me A God
Jam, The - Start - Sound Affects
Chameleons, The - Tears - Strange Times
Cure, The - Let's Go To Bed - 7'' Single
Clash, The - The Magnificent Seven - Sandinista
Crossfire Choir - What's It To Ya - 12'' Single
Faith No More - We Care A Lot - Introduce Yourself
Dury, Ian & The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
Cult, The - Rain - Love
APB - Shoot You Down - Something To Believe In
Ministry - Everyday Is Halloween - 12'' Single
Blancmange - Living On The Ceiling - Happy Families
Shriekback - Nemesis - Oil And Gold
Siouxsie & The Banshees - The Passenger - Through The Looking Glass
Blondie - Hangin' On The Telephone - Parallel Lines
Ramones, The - Let's Dance - Ramones
Buzzcocks - What Do I Get - Singles Going Steady
Ministry - Stigmata - The Land Of Rape And Honey
Smiths, The - Bigmouth Strikes Again - The Queen Is Dead
Dramarama - Anything, Anything - Cinema Verite
Nine Inch Nails - Wish - The Downward Spiral
Charlatans UK, The - Weirdo - Between 10th and 11th
Happy Mondays - Step On - 12'' Single
Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again - 12'' Single
Giglio, Jigs - The Melody - CD Single
Pop Will Eat Itself - Let's Get Ugly - Box Frenzy
Hazard, Robert - Escalator Of Life - Hazard, Robert [EP]
Depeche Mode - Behind The Wheel - 12'' Single
B-52's, The - Love Shack - Cosmic Thing
Human League, The - Seconds - Dare
Q Lazarus - Goodbye Horses - Married To The Mob [OST]
Murphy, Peter - Cuts You Up - Deep
Missing Persons - Words - Spring Session M
Front 242 - Welcome To Paradise - 12'' Single
Nitzer Ebb - Murderous - 12'' Single
Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence - Violator
KLF, The - What Time Is Love - The White Room
Smiths, The - Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before - Strangeways, Here We Come
ABC - The Look Of Love (Pt. 1) - The Lexicon Of Love
Killing Joke - Love Like Blood - Night Time
Gang Of Four - I Love A Man In A Uniform - Songs Of The Free
Talk Talk - It's My Life - The Colour Of Spring
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Kiss Them For Me - Superstition
Kajagoogoo - Too Shy - White Feathers
New Order - Ceremony - 12'' Single
Meat Beat Manifesto - Psyche-Out - 12'' Single
Ministry - Revenge - With Sympathy
Depeche Mode - Shake The Disease (Remix) - 12'' Single
Secession - Touch - 12'' Single
Chemical Brothers - Out Of Control (feat. Bernard Sumner) - Surrender
Covenant - Dead Stars - 12'' Single
Wolfsheim - Once In A Lifetime - Spectators
Beborn Beton - Another World - Truth
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - A Girl Doesn't Get Killed By a Make-Believe Lover (Cuz It's Hot) - 12'' Single
Erasure - A Little Respect - The Innocents
Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy - The Age Of Consent
Morrissey - Suedehead - Viva Hate
Yazoo - Situation - Upstairs At Eric's
New Order - Blue Monday - 12'' Single
Blaqk Audio - Stiff Kittens - CexCells
Ministry - Just One Fix - 12'' Single

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Altrok Thursday: The FM Showcase (With All The New Tracks!)

Altrok Radio Thursday cometh...in fact, it's already here, and it's full of a whole bunch of great music (which, we hope, you're coming to notice is par for the course 'round here.) Each day brings an eight-hour playlist featuring our award-winning mix, with the best of the new and the most relevant among our classics, all day and into the night, in CD Quality MP3 Pro, at Altrok Radio ( http://www.altrokradio.com ).

Got a slow connection? We've put it up for you in glorious mono as well - check the "slower connections" link on the right of the page.

Today at 11:30am and 9pm, it's the Altrok Radio FM Showcase, wherein Sean Carolan presents everything new we've added to our station this week, alongside classics that still make sense here in 2007.

And tomorrow, remember: it's Eighties Friday featuring The New Brunswick Melody Bar Reunion, recorded live from the decks at The Court Tavern back on September 1. If you were there, you know how hot it was (both literally and figuratively.) If not, here's your chance to revel in it once again.

See you there.

-Sean
Altrok Radio at http://www.altrokradio.com

Monday, September 10, 2007

Altrok Radio Music Update #172

Firstly, the important stuff:

Altrok Radio is at http://www.altrokradio.com

Please remember to tune in whenever you can - every hour you listen turns into more visibility for the station; we show up higher in search listings, and such like that. And if you'd like to help us keep the stream running, check out the advertisers if they appeal to you; your interest actually helps fund us.

Now then, in addition to the outstanding Altrok Radio music mix that got us an Editor's Pick nod at Live365 and at About.com, we've added features we know you'll like...

Thursdays at 11:30am Eastern (and repeated at 9:00pm), you get to hear Sean Carolan (often referred to in these dispatches as "me") showcase the new music we've added this week on the Altrok Radio FM Showcase. New stuff, classic stuff, and Jeff Raspe with his Altrok Radio Underground Pick Of The Week...

And on Friday, it's Altrok's Eighties Friday: music from the eighties that mattered then AND now. An eight hour playlist that features some of the best that decade had to offer, drawing from all the music that was available at the time (yes, even from the seventies.)

AAAAAND...this Friday in particular, we'll feature the music from the downstairs dancefloor at the Melody Bar Reunion from September 1 - just as it came off the decks, for your shimmying enjoyment. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll kiss five hours goodbye. It'll all kick off at 11:30am Eastern, and repeat at 9:00pm.

(Perhaps we'll put it up Saturday as well...whatcha think? Let us know at the altrokradio.com page, though the feedback link.)

But for now - we've got songs to let you know about.


This week, our Grinders (the stuff we play heavily) include music from:

  • Calvin Harris
  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  • The Hours
  • The Wombats
  • Late Of The Pier
  • The Envy Corps

Plus we've got newly-added music:

  • 1990s - You're Supposed To Be My Friend
  • Band Of Horses - Is There A Ghost
  • Beck - Timebomb
  • Drive-By Argument - Sex Lines Are Expensive Comedy
  • Frankmusik - Made Her Smile
  • The Holloways - Two Left Feet
  • Miles Hunt, - Falsified
  • Kings Of Leon - My Party (Kenna And Chad Hugo Remix)
  • Kubicheck! - Method Acting
  • Dan Le Sac & Scroobius Pip - The Beat That My Heart Skipped
  • Leeni - Perfection Interrupted
  • Model Horror - Stand Still
  • Pseudosix - Under The Waves

Our Featured Classics:

  • B-Movie - Marilyn Dreams
  • The Breeders - Divine Hammer
  • The Go Betweens - Streets Of Your Town
  • P.J. Harvey - Good Fortune
  • Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids
  • Joy Division - Transmission
  • Kitchens Of Distinction - Drive That Fast
  • Graham Parker - Mercury Poisoning
  • The Ramones - We're A Happy Family
  • Soft Cell - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

As always, thanks for listening!

Friday, September 07, 2007

A Bit Of NB Melody Reunion Video

Firstly, Fritch (who's behind Last Bastions Of Rock) sent along this YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/THX09

And then there's a video courtesy Laura The Dramaramafan(alamadingdong...sorry, couldn't help it):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCN_UNJS6tU

So if you missed it, we're here to twist the knife (don't miss it next time!)

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Altrok Radio Music Update #171

We're fresh back from a weekend that included a fantastic Melody Bar Reunion (see the previous post at our site for details) and, frankly, a lot of very nice weather here on the US East Coast. The batteries have been recharged a bit, so let's press 'play' and see what comes out...

Online and offline, there are (as always) events...

- Tuesday night, hit Ready Steady Go at Marita's in New Brunswick, NJ for a dose of the updated version of what we did at the Mel Reunion. It starts at 9pm, there's no cover, and the tracks are always great (but, of course, we're biased.)

- Every morning, catch the Morning News every half-hour with Michele McBride; a sixty-second info blast that'll keep you on top of the world's machinations.

- Thursday at 11:30am and 9pm, catch our replay of the Altrok Radio FM Showcase right here at altrokradio.com (and catch the new one Friday night at 9pm over at 90.5 The Night.)

- Friday, all day, it'll be Altrok's Eighties Friday, featuring the most relevant, least embarrassing bits of the Eighties. It all had to start somewhere, so it started there.

- And this weekend, technology permitting, we'll be playing back the downstairs portion of the New Brunswick Melody Bar Reunion, as captured last Saturday live from the decks at New Brunswick's Court Tavern. Yeah, it *was* that good. Keep checking the altrokradio.com page for details.

The rest of the time, it's the award-winning Altrok Radio mix, including the newest tracks we can get our hands on and classics that informed their creation. Here's the rundown...

This week, our Grinders (the stuff we play heavily) include music from:

- Jacknife Lee
- Digitalism
- Brakes
- GoodBooks
- Dead Disco
- Amy Cooper

Plus we've got newly-added music:

- Earlimart - Nevermind The Phonecalls
- Foals - Mathletics
- Jamie T - Salvador
- Late Of The Pier - Space And The Woods
- Liars - Freak Out
- Los Campesinos! - Dont Tell Me To Do The Maths
- LoveLikeFire - From A Tower
- Misha - Weatherbees
- Murder Mystery - Love Astronaut
- Kate Nash - Mouthwash
- Northern State - Better Already
- The Polyphonic Spree - Section 22 [Running Away]
- Eli 'Paperboy' Reed & The True Loves - The Satisfier
- Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere
- They Might Be Giants - Take Out The Trash
- The Wombats - Let's Dance To Joy Division

Our Featured Classics:

- A Certain Ratio - Shack Up
- Dramarama - It's Still Warm
- The Dukes Of Stratosphear - My Love Explodes
- Eddie & The Hot Rods - Do Anything You Wanna Do
- Killing Joke - Change (Re-Evolution 23 Mix)
- Lene Lovich - Home
- MC 900 FT Jesus - If I Only Had a Brain
- The Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink
- Simple Minds - I Travel
- Talking Heads - Memories Can't Wait

As always, thanks for listening!

Monday, September 03, 2007

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together...

I can't vouch for an estimate of the headcount there at the Court Tavern, but the people on the dance floors (plural!) looked happy, the people not on the dance floors looked happy, and the folks behind the bar looked happy. There seemed to be a whole lotta happy to go around.

DJ Drew did the lion's share of the work, making lots of phone calls, doing a lot of worrying, and ultimately becoming the glue that held the evening together. DJ Iron Mike stepped in at a late hour to provide the equipment for the upstairs portion of the proceedings. Sharing responsibility behind the decks were Pat Pierson, Ed Wong, Lisa Uber, Pete DeFillipo a.k.a. DJ TM5 (who, after a horrifying set of events earlier this year, was back on his feet doing what he clearly loved) and DJ Trent.

Yours Truly even contributed a bit, pulling early DJ duty between 9 and 10, and spending the remainder of the evening sipping a glowing drink, handing out Altrok Radio fliers and generally watching the happiness flow.

Also spotted: Former Boogles and current Patti Smith Group bassist Tony Shanahan, and Melody Bar legends Jigs Giglio, Stiffy Biceptz and Gregory Gordon (he of the legendarily opaque black balloon.) Not least, Bobby Albert at the Court made our empirically nomadic reunion feel at home.

They, along with hundreds of other folks who came for a good time and got one, are responsible for making Saturday's Melody Bar Reunion a smashing success.

It all (once again) bodes well for a future endeavor. Watch this space for just such an animal...

Factory on Copying

News Flash: Arguments for and against the copying of music are not new, and do not start and end with the Internet era, despite the folks on both sides arguing that the Internet Changed Everything. (Memo to self - immediately disregard anyone who ever claims that something Changed Everything.)

Here's a Factory Communications press release, circa 1988, very much written in the late Tony Wilson's voice (it would appear) with the proper sentiment:

"The dangers of copying will only be fought off by a continuing attention to the fetishism of the artefact: the desire of the fan to possess not just a piece of music but a piece of the artist, by the purchase of the official item. Concentration on design, packaging, and the artist's role in this set of product imagery will inevitably render copying a minor irritation."

The copying at issue back then was DAT, a worthy medium that was rendered completely useless by the record industry's insistence that Something Had To Be Done To Prevent Copying.

Almost twenty years have passed, but the Clue Phone's still ringing. You'd think someone in the record industry would have picked it up by now.
 
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Welcome to Altrok.com, also available at AltrokRadio.com and AltrockRadio.com. Here's where the remaining listeners of several fine radio stations have retreated, regrouped, and built a replacement strong enough to stand on its own. It builds on the independent legacy of New Jersey's FM106.3, New York's WPIX and WLIR, Oklahoma's 105.3 The Spy, the pre-buyout mindset of KROQ, WBCN and WHFS and of every other alternative station that was destroyed at a moment's notice - not because they weren't making money, but because there was bigger money to be found elsewhere.
 
We've stood by as truly independent alternative rock radio died. Sure, something called "alternative" took its place, but we know for sure that anything that "tests well" with soccer moms just ain't alternative. (Even if some of us happen to be soccer moms.) So we've taken matters into our own hands.
 
This really is independent alternative rock radio, visible here at Altrok.com and audible at our web radio station. It has the classic music that fired our passions back in the day - or that we maybe only heard about from our elders - but it's mostly made of the new music that does precisely the same for us now. We're paying attention to scenes all over the world, watching the energy build, and waiting to see what it creates. Wherever it happens, we'll make sure you can hear about it here. We've been slowly building all this since 2001, and now that you've noticed us, we're glad you're here.
 
Of course, it's only here because you want it to be here, and it can only stay if you help it along - especially by checking out our advertisers (they support us) and by listening (the more that listen, the more visible we are.) Please use the "feedback" link above to let us know whether it works for you, and what you want it to be as the future unfolds. (And if you need help hearing it, let us know that, too.)