Only in college CXXI

During my senior year, the first week of the new school year was a bit of a free-for-all at KCOU.  Ostensibly, there was a clear dividing line between the Summer and first semester DJ schedules, but it wasn't followed completely.  As a result, even though I wasn't scheduled yet, I went in twice during the first week to turn on the transmitter and do two impromptu editions of "Jazz Odyssey."  Before going on the air the first day, another DJ, Randy, and I were perplexed that music couldn't be heard in cue through the station's sound board.  In retrospect, we should have called the chief engineer.  I put on some music to play in cue, and both of us started punching buttons and adjusting levers until an ear-splitting blast of sound rivaling this one came barreling out of the speakers.  Somehow, one or both of us stumbled onto the solution.  

The next day, however, I was faced with the same problem.  Neither Randy nor I could remember how we'd inadvertently gotten sound in cue the day before, so we tried our same semi-random procedure--and were nearly knocked backwards once again by a blaring cacophony of notes.

"We're going to go deaf if we keep doing this," Randy remarked to me. 

Fortunately, I never encountered that situation again.  It was worth the momentarily piercing sound, though, to actually hear the music I was going to play before it aired. 

The elusive Halloween song segue

Since first hearing and later playing 9353's "Spooky Room" on KCOU in the early '90s, I've always thought of it as one of the catchiest fit-for-Halloween songs.  Decades later, however, I still haven't found a suitable Halloween indie rock segue for it that I'd want to hear.

Halloween music is challenging that way.  There isn't as wide a selection of it as Christmas music, and a lot of it is mediocre.  Like most genres, indie rock isn't known for its vast selection of compelling, non-novelty Halloween fare.  Shivaree's "Goodnight Moon," for instance, is a well-structured and well-sung Halloween track.  I never tire of hearing it, but it could never segue rhythmically or atmospherically with "Spooky Room."

I'll keep digging, but for now, I'll just enjoy "Spooky Room" as a standalone track. 

Persistent earworm alert CDLXI

To my knowledge, "Kidney In A Cooler" by Keller Williams is the only song I've heard containing a surprisingly rhythmic lyric about someone with perpendicular teeth.  Sometimes, when I feel weary, I sing "Drained, depleted, and spent," to the rhythm in which Williams sings, "Perpendicular teeth."

The breezy way I sing it matches the way Williams somehow makes a refrain about perpendicular teeth sound catchy.  That juxtaposition between my state of mind and the easy-going rhythm reminds me that being drained, depleted, and spent is just a temporary condition.

Leave it to a quirky song that one could only write from personal experience to inspire a completely unrelated lyric from me with the same number of syllables.

Segue suggestion XXIII

As I listened to Bela Fleck's "Ireland" this morning, I was struck by the melody's common ground with "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring."  Pete Kennedy's rendition of "Jesu..." would flow well into "Ireland," as it's one of the faster versions I've heard, and it matches the general impish spirit of "Ireland."

In this case, one acoustic instrumental begets another one justifiably.

Teaching my cat respect for music IV

Now that my cat, Collette, no longer has the David Crosby CD to scratch, she has turned to her next favorite musical pastime--pulling the jewel case of Kate Rusby's CD, "10," apart.

I'm choosing to believe it's because Collette can't wait to hear live, remastered, and other alternate versions of Rusby's songs, sung with her customary sensitivity.

Perhaps I'm being naively optimistic to think that way.  Actually, I'm being realistic, as I've moved the CD to another room.

Context? CDLXVII

When your full attention isn't on the radio station in the car, your mind sometimes fills in gaps strangely.  This morning, I thought for a moment that I'd heard a DJ say, "Have you seen those bundles of hate mail by the side of (the road)?"

I thought, "I wasn't paying complete attention, so I can't have heard that right."  Shortly after this, however, another DJ mentioned going on a hayride, so I realized, "Ah!  She said, '...bundles of hay bales...'  That makes much more sense."

My reflexive perception of society's divisive discourse is telling, considering my mind went initially to "hate mail." 

The allure of shuffle mode XCVIII

Until iTunes shuffle mode paired these songs together recently, I'd never thought of them as compatible: Hearing Frank Popp Ensemble's "The World Is Waiting" flow into Christopher Cross's "Ride Like The Wind," however, made me realize the people in both songs are well-advised to seek an escape from their current situations.  The degree of urgency, admittedly, differs.  In "The World Is Waiting," someone's life is stuck in a rut, while the person in "Ride Like The Wind" is trying to escape the long arm of the law.

Both songs prod their respective people to do what's needed to improve their situation, and both tunes have a captivating energy.