I once saw my freshman roomate punch a hole in a wall. He also plays drums, and wants to start a Scientology-based metal band. If you are interested, you can contact Erotikus on MySpace. He lives in the Bay Area.
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This week's Sound of Young America broadcast looks at the future of media -- and at its past.
Mark Frauenfelder and Xeni Jardin are two of the c0-editors of Boing-Boing.net, one of the world's most popular blogs. Frauenfelder started Boing Boing as a print zine in 1988, and grew to a website in the mid-90s, and a blog a few years later. Today, it attracts 1.75 million visitors every day. Topics covered range from futurism and cyber culture to ukeleles and the just plan weird and fascinating. We talk with Mark and Xeni about the history of Boing Boing, internet culture, and how blogs are changing the world of media, and changing themselves as time marches on.
We also talk with John Vanderslice. Vanderslice is a recording artist, as well as a record producer and the owner of Tiny Telephone Recording in San Francisco, one of the last all-analog studios in the United States. He started his career as a member of MK Ultra, before becoming a solo artist. His most recent record "Pixel Revolt," is a dense, literary journey in song. He's also produced records by the Mountain Goats and Spoon. We talk with John about why he still cuts tape in the studio, and about his remarkable songs. Don't miss the bonus interview and MP3 downloads below.
Bonus Interview Kevin Kelly on the Future of Books
Kevin Kelly is the "Senior Maverick" at Wired Magazine, as well as the editor of the blog Cool Tools. We talk with Kevin about the future of books in a digital world, from scanning projects going on around the globe to the copyright issues that are currently in court. His recent cover story on the subject ran in the New York Times Magazine.
Mostly because of this recurring Dateline NBC segment that there's been a lot of talk about, called "To Catch a Predator." In the segment, a Dateline correspondent leads a would-be internet sex predator into believing that he will meet up with a young girl or boy for sex. When the predator shows up, he's met with cameras and police. Just thinking about the whole thing makes me feel dirty inside.
But besides that dirty feeling, I'm also reminded of "The Brass Eye," the British television series created by Chris Morris. The series is a relentlessly dark satire of this sort of tabloid TV -- from Dateline to Hard Copy and so on. The series ran for a relatively short period in the late 90s, but was hugely influential.
"Brass Eye" did a special on pedophilia in 2001, which was hugely controversial in the UK (though it was really no worse than the series had been), and led to Chris Morris' career stalling out for a time. He's now one of the leads in the UK series "The IT Crowd," but that show's nothing like "Brass Eye."
Anyway, below (in two parts) is that special broadcast. The sound's a bit out of sync, which sucks, but if you have bit torrent software, you can find a torrent of the show here (not to mention one of the full series here).
Late last year, Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle sat down with Stephen Colbert for San Francisco's City Arts & Lectures. The Chron podcasted the program, and I share it now with you:
On this Sound of Young America: The College Years, we celebrate America's Greatest City: New York, New York.
This includes taking travel tips from listeners, and calling various offices in the New York tourism department, trying to get them to reccomend a phone booth that we can use for a simulcast. As it turns out, there is a phone booth in the ground floor of the Empire State Building, but there is not one on top.
I'm gonna be honest: a great effing time is had by all.
The Sound of Young America was written up in the "My New Favorite Thing" section of Stay Free!, an handsome and interesting magazine out of Brooklyn. The write up was from former TSOYA guest Joe Garden, of The Onion. Here it is:
Like TiVo for the less social, podcasts are totally addictive. I bought into the media hype wholesale, but I love ‘em. As soon as they became super easy to use, I started subscribing like a madman. ABC’s Nightline, NPR’s On the Media, the Presidential Weekly Radio Address and my neighbor’s weekly Mohawk vocabulary lesson… I mean, hell, they’re free.
That said, there are two that I listen to without fail. In five minutes the Wall Street Journal Tech News Briefing… blah blah blah.
My other essential podcast is The Sound of Young America. Originating in Santa Cruz, TSOYA is hosted by the self-proclaimed “America’s Radio Sweetheart,” 24-year-old Jesse Thorn. (Writer’s disclaimer: I have appeared as a guest on the program twice. Had I not, I probably wouldn’t be aware of the show.) Described as a cross between Terry Gross and Conan O’Brien, Thorn interviews authors, rappers, and, most often, comedians. While Thorn sometimes enthusiastically talks over his guests rather than letting them answer, you still get a solid, well-researched interview, and Thorn only has guests that he admires. Chalk it up to his platform of “new sincerity,” and check out his full-show interview with his radio idol Bob Edwards for classic Sound. (Writer’s disclaimer: Thorn did not talk over me during my interviews, though he probably should have.) – Joe Garden
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I really enjoy reading the Community Newsletter distributed by my local police station. I found it after I started searching for some information on a shooting across the street, and fell in love. Apparently, the original author has been transferred (I'm looking into whether he's writing anything for his new station), and the verbiage has been a little more subdued, but it still makes great reading.
Here's a story from this week's:
Friday, 11:04 pm, Assault with a Deadly Weapon Arrest: Officer Van Koll and Officer Pera were sent to Haight St. and Webster St. on a report of a large fight about 5:30 pm. When they arrived, they found a woman lying in a pool of blood. There was a large crowd in the area, but no one wanted to give up any information. The woman was transported to the hospital for treatment. Eventually, the officers were able to piece bits of the story together. They determined that the woman had been sliced by a broke bottle during the fight. The officers also learned the name of the suspect. The suspect was a woman that the officers knew from prior contacts. At about 11:30 pm, the officers were sent to Fillmore St. and Golden Gate Ave. on a second report of a fight. This time, the suspect was involved in a verbal argument with another person. The suspect was still wearing clothing covered in blood. The officers immediately recognized that they had an opportunity to arrest the suspect from the earlier fight. When they arrested the woman, she said, “That @#$&% fell on the glass. I didn’t stab her.” The woman was arrested and booked at County Jail.
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My pal Tyler and his pal BJ won a million dollars on TV last night! They competed last year on The Amazing Race, and they weren't allowed to tell anyone what happened. I couldn't bear to watch -- reality TV makes me too uncomfortable. But I'm so happy they won! No one "deserves" to win a million dollars on TV, but I can't imagine it going to a better person than Tyler.
If you get the chance, please check out Tyler's great movie, Kintaro Walks Japan, about his walking trek from one end of Japan to the other, to find his father's birthplace, and impress the love of his life, Ayumi. If you click the link, you can order it on DVD or watch the whole thing for free on Google Video. Tyler saved his money throughout high school to buy a camera when he graduated, and he takes it everywhere. It's a really wonderful film.
I'm proud to announce a new affiliate in The Sound of Young America Audio Entertainment Network: WMCO-FM in New Concord, Ohio! We're still ironing out the air time, but you'll be able to hear the show on the weekends on "The Orbit," most likely starting this weekend. The station has 1300 watts of broadcast power, radiating across East-Central Ohio to New Concord, Zanesville and Cambridge from its base at Muskingum College.
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This is one of my favorite songs -- didn't even know it had a video. God bless that YouTube.
Devin the Dude is DEFINATELY my favorite rapper. Who else could record such a charming song about having a hooptie? What I love about it is that it isn't a joke song about how terrible the car is... it's more about how Devin's lifestyle accomodates the fact that he has this disasterous ride. Just like it accomodates the police, who've pulled him over so many times they know him as "Mr. Copeland."
This weekend in LA, the props from Arrested Development will be sold to the general public. If you live within driving distance, there's no excuse for not being there.
Friday, May 19 – Sunday, May 21, 2006 2032 Stoner Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90025 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Directions
Friday night was a momentous night in the history of rock and roll music -- the concert hall debut of punk rock prodigies TOTAL ANNIHILATION. After a few tuneup gigs at house parties in ritzy Pacific Heights, Eddy Demon & Co. hit the stage with alacrity and destroyed all who dared step in their path. And it was all for charity.
Opening the night were the powerful Evil Wikkid Warrior. These one-woman, two-man, once rock star young lady group brought not only the power of rock, but also the power of MONSTERS, SPELLS, HULA HOOPS, and ICE CREAM. They kicked things off with a menacing chant... "We're evil... we're wikkid... we're Evil Wikkid WARRIOR!" Then, when they sent a phalanx of wolf men into the crowd, the audience was stunned... into ROCKMISSION!
Then, accompanied by a home-made backdrop, featuring a surgical-gloved metal hand emerging from the mouth of a GUY ROCKING OUT... came TOTAL ANNIHILATION.
Pietro D'Amato, well known nation wide as the next Kieth Moon, pounded out a steady, undulating rhythm on drums, never breaking a sweat in a stylish suit. Meanwhile, bassist Dorkmeister Harmoniak provided rhythmic and melodic counterpoint...
...to the lead guitar and vocal stylings of the legendary EDDY DEMON (note applauding male AND female groupies in crowd). GOLDEN HITS like "Rock and Roll on a Friday," "Burning Buildings" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog" mixed with impromptu Jimi Hendrix jams and all-new material. Drunk women flailed in the crowd. Dads danced comically. Young people ROCKED OUT. A great time was had by all.
Big Time Gene O'Neill on the new Chili Peppers album
Big Time checks in on his blog with this evaluation of the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album:
Just listened to the new Aerosmith album
Current mood: Dying on the inside
then i found it was actually the new Chili Peppers album. Yikes.
Blood Sugar was the first album I ever bought, so the C-peps always had tenure in a small corner of my heart. Now they've release Stadium Arcadium, which upon release headed straight for the long line of safe, over-produced, forgettable albums from the intensive-care unit of cultural relevancy--primarily occupied by 90s rock fossils like Audioslave (Rage/Soundgarden) and Velvet Revolver (GNR/STP). Maybe this is why Kurt Cobain killed himself.
I think this latest tragedy puts a bookend on my youth and young manhood, and fittingly so that it should be framed by the Peps, who, like me, went from crazy/destructive/irreverant to predictable/staid/over-sincere. We had a nice ride while it lasted, boys. See you at the funeral.
In the upfronts yesterday, NBC announced that they will be launching a new website/broadband channel called "Dotcomedy.com." The channel will feature clips from NBC comedy shows like Conan, Leno and SNL, as well as a bunch of new media buzzwords. CNet, for example, says it will offer users, "a chance to create their own content to podcasts." The Apiary is reporting that in addition to the comedy clips "DOTCOMEDY.com will also have blogs, podcasts and mash-ups." What even is a comedy clip mashup?
I'm imagining the presentation went something like this... "mashup blog web 2.0 myspace social networking blog blog RSS remix mashup user-generated content vodcast podcast vidcast ipod bookmarking tagging on-demand mobile media thank you, goodnight." And it being the upfronts, it was probably delivered by Jay Leno on a motorcycle.
On the plus side, NBC also announced the pickup of both Tina Fey and Aaron Sorkin's behind-the-scenes-at-a-show-a-lot-like-SNL shows, both of which have a lot of potential. And they announced 30 "Webisodes" of "The Office." Which could certainly be a disaster, but could also be good. Personally, I'm embarassed to even write the word "webisode."
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The Graffiti Community Supports Kasper Hauser (thanks Nathan!)
I recent spent a few hours in the home studio with the four members of the Kasper Hauser Skit Club, preparing some material for the Kasper Hauser Podcast. Oh man is it going to be funny. I can't give you a launch date yet, but trust me, it will be awesome.
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This track is from The State's never-released CD, which as they explained at SF Sketchfest, was recorded in the Carribean, while they were really, really relaxed.
from the Dick Cavett Show. A real genius, the man was (Groucho, that is, though Cavett wasn't half bad himself).
