I hinted on the forum a week or two ago that there were three big announcements that I was holding under my hat that would change the future of The Sound of Young America. Now they will be heard!

A four-week test run of The Sound of Young America premiers this Sunday on KXOT-FM in Seattle/Tacoma. This is our first ever major city station. I know I already announced this, but still, it's pretty kick-ass.

We're proud to announce our new underwriter, Project Breakout. They're an internet startup -- kind of a cross between YouTube and American Idol. I'm helping them a bit with their comedy section, and they're helping to support the show. You'll hear some tasteful announcements in TSOYA shows (ala public radio underwriting announcements), and some similarly tasteful short discussions on JJGo. Probably we'll put a logo up on the blog here that yu can click on. By the way -- the comedy section will launch soon and they'll be looking for sketch and filmed web comedy, but in the meantime, you can enter the viral video contest they have up already. That's pretty anything-goes.

The Sound of Young America will have an 11-week trial run on WNYC-FM in New York, one of the nation's biggest and best public radio stations, beginning March 4th. The show will air every Sunday at 6PM.

Thank you. Seriously, thank you. The work here is far from done, but this is some exciting shit.

This is a milestone in the High Five Contest... listener Andy sends us this snapshot of him high-fiving EXTREMELY TALL NBA SUPERSTAR YAO MING!

This is RED HOT STUFF FOLKS!

And if you think Andy is the only one with innovations in high-fiving, check out islanos' French-Canadian SEGWAY HIGH FIVE.

Have you ever been to a concert where the performer asks the question, "Any math fans in the audience tonight?" and is met with a resounding cheer?

Neither had I, until Sunday night. I was home in San Francisco this past weekend, visiting family and friends, and was lucky enough to attend just such a concert -- Jonathan Coulton at Cafe du Nord.

The Cafe is a cozy venue, with seating for about 75, but it was packed to the gills with perhaps 125 attendees for Coulton's show. My party of four ended up standing in the back, which afforded us a wonderful view of both the delightful show and the nerdosity blossoming before us in the house.

A word about the crowd: I'd never been to an event so nerdy as this. It even surpassed the Society for American Baseball Research events I attended in my teen years. I expected as much, but was surprised by the audience's wide age range. Unlike, say, Indie Rock, nerd is a subculture that folks tend to wear throughout their lives, and it was impressive to see a few of the 20-something fans I expected alongside lots of 30- 40- and 50-something fans who surprised me. At first I wasn't sure what to make of it, but then I decided it was great. The nerd quotient ranged from "laughably" to "modestly," but I don't think you should let it stop you from going to the show, whether you yourself are a nerd or not.

After a strong set from opener Mark Silverman, and after I met a TSOYA listener(1) named Chad, who is very nice and once printed business cards for me as a donation, JoCo took the stage to much approbation from the gathered nerd-masses.

A lengthy and delightful set followed, along with two encores. Many of Jonathan's most popular tunes were played, the audience mouthed the words along with him, and so forth. Hilights included a charming and heartfelt song about George Plimpton and a delightful sing-along in which the audience was scolded for not sounding "zombie enough."

JoCo is currently on an oddball tour that will take him to San Diego, LA, Portland, Seattle, Vienna Virginia, Aardmore Pennsylvania and Annapolis Maryland. It's certainly worth your time.

(1) If you see me at a public event, please feel free to introduce yourself. It will shock me, but is unlikely to bother me. Even if we have met before, I will likely have forgotten at the least your name, and probably what you look like. This is an MP, not a YP -- please do not take it as a sign that I don't care about you. For example, last week I couldn't remember for several days the name of a girl I went out with for almost a year in high school. I just am bad at remembering. Also, I am suprised because someone knew who I was, not because I hate meeting listeners or something.

In this week's Jordan Jesse GO!, we're joined by comedian Jen Kirman. We discuss the crazy, meth-addicted homeless people who live outside her window. We also play Would You Rather with listener Carol and Jim Real, the Master of Would You Rather.

Jen Kirkman's new album just came out via our friends at AST records. You can buy it for only $10 here. Here's a sample: "Cockroaches"

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Download Episode Twelve

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Our theme music: "Love You" by The Free Design, courtesy of The Free Design and Light in the Attic Records

Word has started to leak out that I am a baseball nerd. I'm comfortable with the fact that I've read several hundred books on the subject, have in the past belonged to a special nerd club and attended it's conventions, and ran a rotisserie baseball league from ages 11-16.

Well, some intrepid Young Americans have suggested a fantasy baseball league, and I am an active supporter of the idea. Interested in participating? Get in on the discussion here.

And even if you don't want to participate in this league, you can still listen to our baseball show, featuring Tim & Eric, Will Carroll of The Baseball Prospectus, and Bill "Spaceman" Lee, the former Red Sox and Expos lefty who once wrote a letter to commissioner Bowie Kuhn stating that he (Lee) did not smoke marijuana (though he did eat it on his pancakes every morning).

Regular listeners and readers will doubtless be familiar with my fondness for Scharpling & Wurster and The Best Show on WFMU. After all, since Tom Scharpling volunteered to be "The Sound of Young America's Al Roker," he's been on the show a number of times, and Jon Wurster's graced our airwaves as well.

They've already released a number of "best ofs" of the hilarious calls that they, uhm, perform on The Best Show, each of which is worthy of your consideration. (Especially the one with The Gorch, which I think is the funniest thing in history.) I've even heard from a reliable source that they are the ONLY comedy on Conan O'Brien's iPod. Given your demonstrated good taste, however, you've probably already got all those.

But do you have VOLUME FOUR: THE ART OF THE SLAP?! Almost certainly not, because it's not due till April, but in the meantime, you can salivate over the details provided at Stereolaffs.com (the label's site), and the tracklist on AST.

Reporter Jeremy Richards covers Kasper Hauser's SkyMaul on today's Marketplace.

In this week's Jordan Jesse GO!, we dive deep into the television pool.

Jesse sets you straight on what is good and what is bad.

* Review the show on iTunes.
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* Have personal questions for Jesse and Jordan? Call 206-984-4FUN and tell us what they are!
* Would you like to play Would You Rather with us on a future episode? Email us or give us a call at 206-984-4FUN.

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Download Episode Seven

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Our theme music: "Love You" by The Free Design, courtesy of The Free Design and Light in the Attic Records

This week: Your chess game will feel better than ever before with this new, hand-crafted crystal set.

Please continue to subscribe and review the show! You can also check out KH's videos on YouTube.

Download Crack Pipe Chess Set (M4V)
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Buy Kasper Hauser's new book: "Skymaul"

Brandon Bird describes himself as a surrealistic, realistic pop artist. His often-hilarious paintings typically place psuedo-celebrities in bizarre and somehow banal situations. He talks about the potential he thinks pop art is missing, the role of humor in art and why popular culture is a perfectly reasonable subject for a fine artist.

From the Archive:
Brandon talks with us several years ago on this archive show (MP3)