Ken…Kerr-zick-y!

I’m fed up, stressed out, beat down and you know what? I wanna be sedated. A Quiet Time Podcast looks like just the tonic.

“Hidy ho, neighbor!” host Terry Tee says in greeting, and already I’m soothed by the soundtrack of restful acoustic guitar and yes, chirping birds.

“We’re going to bring just the thing to help you relax and take a little stress from your life. So sit back and listen to great music,” Terry continues. It’s working, too, and I’m imagining the tension draining out through the soles of my feet, like I read in a book somewhere. Listen to those chirping birds!

That’s just before I’m blasted out of my seat by Terry’s featured band, Paul Collins’ Beat, fronted by punkster Paul Collins, who used to tour with the Ramones! Guess I asked for that one, after all. Continue reading

Posted in: Podcast Roundup at 10:33 pm Wed, Apr 16, 2008.

From hi-fi to history

Steve Wheatley bumped up his bit rate and won kudos for the cool new stereo sound of the mighty Dalecast, but immediately ran into a storage problem.

With disk space at a premium in server-strapped Weardale, hi-fi must take a back seat to history. Sadly, Steve’s reached capacity and can provide ready access only to the dozen or so most recent episodes of his power pop program.

No matter, really, as today’s chart-topper is tomorrow’s pathetic oldies tour. Continue reading

Posted in: Podcast Roundup at 10:44 pm Sun, Apr 13, 2008.

Tough crowd

These Schnauzer Logic guest spots are bruising.

At first, host Robin Goldstein greeted me with yards and yards of welcoming new-guest laughter, stoking my ego and sending me running for my copy of One Hundred and One Elephant Jokes to plan further hilarious interviews.

By my seventh and latest appearance, however, the introductions had grown perfunctory, the silences following my punchlines leaden, dissatisfied, even threatening. Several regular members of the studio panel even failed to appear for my visit, citing “work” or “family” obligations. Continue reading

Posted in: Interviews at 7:15 pm Fri, Apr 11, 2008.

Could you talk a little faster?

When I listen to Big Phil express his cogent, progressive political point of view, I frequently imagine not just how much better life will be once we’re rid of the Bush Administration, but also what I might have done with the valuable time lost waiting for Phil to formulate a sentence.

“Well, this week it’s time again to put aside (long pause) political ramblings and sexual frustrations (longer pause) and present another edition of Big Phil’s Love Parade, the Music Show. This is No. 9 (extra-long pause). It’s nice to kind of take a break every now and again and listen to some really great music,” Phil begins. Continue reading

Posted in: Podcast Roundup at 2:05 am Tue, Apr 8, 2008.

DT’s back and mad all over

David Tanny is the former proprietor of the Mad Music Dementia Top 20, a program he abandoned at the end of 2007 after voters drove him meshugeneh by demanding the same songs week after endless week.

My own (Jerry Lewis) Fly Me To The Moon, for example, rode the charts for the final 10 weeks of the year. Enough already!

But Dave returned anew in January with the Mad Music Comedy Zone, a weekly, two-hour show that offers a wider range of content and more closely resembles his old I Still Get Demented show, a comedy staple on streaming radio network Live365. Continue reading

Posted in: Dementia at 3:34 am Sun, Apr 6, 2008.