Brownian Motion |
with Your Imaginary Friend |
Wednesdays 7-9pm PST |
| These are a few of my favorite things: |
| My radio interview with Exene Cervenka (with some photos) |
| My radio interview with John Trubee of the Ugly Janitors of America (audio and text) |
| My archive of flyers and other hardcore punk rock memorabilia from 1982-84 from mostly the Tucson/LA area (shavedneck.com) |
| Tucsonan Ed Arnaud's incredible photography from the above era, with the best shots ever taken of Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, et al. |
| Why your band should never take an 8x10 glossy |
| AK Press, Alternative Tentacles |
| Links to more flyers, all things Tucson (music, photos, cretins), great record labels, radio worth checking out, fun stuff, you name it |
Google this stuff yerself: Bill Hicks, Patton Oswalt, The Mr. Show, early Steve Martin, Yucateco XXX, Steven Wright, Larry Clark, Thich Nhat Hahn, The Road, Joel Peter Witkin, Lucas Samaras, Wim Wenders, Hugh Lentz |
Great KZSU djs/shows
Every dj on KZSU is great. The following are ones that I think have no shame digging for that extra chunky musical booger (check our schedule as time slots change every quarter): |
| On the Warpath with THE BIG CHIEF, Saturdays 9-midnight PST (by far the holder of the strangest outsider and obscure records, possessing the ability to mix it right in making freaks like you and me feel normal, accepted, and even loved by our mothers) |
| Baptism of Solitude with Mike, Weds 10pm-midnight PST. (Huge variety of stuff ranging from experimental/classical to skull crushing heavy shit. This guy is more experienced than your mother) |
| Memory Select with Wedge Fridays 3-6pm PST. (Avante jazz and more, the good stuff, the new stuff, the downtown, the uptown, the upside-down stuff that would make the ghost of Sun Ra on acid smile and kick back and whittle-some) |
| Emphysema For Emphasis with Soy Ricardo Mondays 9-noon PST. (Eclectic splatterings of the bizarre, the unatainable, outsider, insider, all aroundsider music. Sh*t to make you smile and your mommy cry.) |
| Bloodstains over Atherton with Ragnar of Ravensfjord Saturdays 7-9pm PST. (Punk, metal, noise delved out by a walking breathing encyclopedia of music knowledge that is, frankly, scary. With a special heaping helping of all things Nordic, black, death and black death. If you have a goat to behead and hang over your doorway, Ragnar, like Martha Stewart in a metal mood, can provide helpful useful hints.) |
| Blues With a Feelin' with The Byrd of Paradise Saturdays 9am-noon PST. (Blues. The good stuff. None of that front porch mumbo jumbo. Great interviews. This is the real deal. Call him and tell him that Bush had nothing to do with 9-11 and get yourself an earful, just dont tell him I sent you: 650-723-9010) |
Other Great Radio
Theres a lot of good radio on the web (and in the air in the greater bay area). Heres just a couple that I find myself enjoying constantly: |
| KXLU (Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles) (Exactly what college radio was put on earth for: challenging disparate irreverant quality programming with few annoying djs, great new music and fundamental old stuff. Even their indie rock programming doesnt suck. These days this station is reminding me why I got into college radio to begin with. I'm never disappointed when I jack-in.) |
| WKCR (Columbia University, New York City) (Mostly foundation jazz, but some of the afternoon programming during the week features the best avante, experimental, "new music", out there. Highly recommended.) |
| WNYU (New York University) (Good solid College Radio. Afternoons feature all the latest best releases. As Music Director I could screen the new releases that were still in envelopes at KZSU by listening. Good DJs, no "radio personality" jerk types, just a good College Radio Station.) |
| WFMU (Jersey City, NJ, i.e. NYC). (No ties to any University or other commercial/entrusted organization they have the freedom to discriminate. What they lack in sheer blundering youthful exuberance and new releases they make up for in heaping servings of quality strange programming, long rambling mic breaks and smug self-appreciating humor.) |
| In the Bay Area (and on the Web) check out KFJC, KALX, and KUSF. Look for Pirate Cat and West Side Radio too (unless you are the FCC). |
| In So. Cal (and the Web) I also recommend KSPC and judicious sampling of KCRW. |
Thanks for purusing this website, and thanks if you are listening to Brownian Motion, and thanks especially for listening to kzsu, and thanks especially too for listening to college/non-commercial or pirate radio, and thanks too especially especially for listening to live radio at all. Really. In just the last year or so, even months, we have seen the rise of such technologies as the i-Pod, satellite radio, and "pod-casts". This stuff is great; "the more the merrier". But they make it easier for people to reduce their attention span, seek instant gratification. Radio once represented an avenue for passive listening, a source of exposure to music otherwise unavailable. Radio required a level of patience; unavoidable as we were once limited to just a few channels. The fall-out was exposure to a variety of genres and musics from which we could pick and choose using our own judgement. Today we have almost limitless resources (even in radio when one includes internet streaming). But today's popular technologies decide for us, pandering to the the tried and true, sucking up to target audiences with surgical precision who, according to market research, "know what they like". The days of tolerating a song or style that might not please immediately are gone now that its possible to "switch around the dial" with the click of a mouse or the push of a button. Brownian Motion is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what is considered "safe" or even what is considered music. I try to make it easy to change the station, turn the radio off, or click somewhere else. The hard part is up to you. Your Imaginary Friend
this just in from chuck7 (9-17-05): If I was you I'd refine my thesis at the bottom- who cares if it's long, but I would try to draw a tighter noose around the idea of all that increased choice and how it really suckers people into listening to the same old thing, vs. how simply opening your mind up and giving diverse stuff a good listen is very important now more so than ever w/ all that choice out there- it's true older radio playlists were actually pretty diverse cuz the dj's were allowed more freedom, that's a great example. F**king complicated statement, boiling down to don't be a spoiled little wuss listening to the same old safe whitebread they offer you, don't think you're being alternative just cuz you listen to reggae and an old Neil Young cd; and don't voluntarily walmart-ize your ipod. |
(bill c. 10/21/2005)