A long-distance dedication to Casey Kasem

We saw this one coming. Before his death today at the age of 82, Casey Kasem had been suffering from Parkinson's disease and dementia. His family battled over whether heroic measures would be taken to keep him alive. The answer was no. The end was near.

I'm still sad about it, though. Casey Kasem was part of my childhood. My family used to listen to American Top 40 every Sunday morning. We liked making fun of the show, bonding over the glorious cheesiness of his delivery. Then he was gone for a few weeks and another DJ filled in for him—John somebody?—and the ridicule stopped. The other guy was obviously reading from the same script as Kasem, but something was off. He just didn't put the same feeling into it that Casey did.

Sigh.

Not long after seeing the news, I finally got around to digging up an old outtake of his I'd heard about years ago, where he had a meltdown in the studio. With absolutely no disrespect intended, I present it here, because it is awesome. (Not safe for work or small kids.)

Notes:

1. Hearing Casey Kasem say "fuck" is just as funny as you think it will be.
2. His meltdown was entirely justified. You try making appropriately sad noises about a departed pet right after "Jump (for My Love)" by the Pointer Sisters.
   

You can read more about Casey Kasem's career here. 'til I post again, keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.

Blandification

92.9 KWMT switched formats last week. Since the end of 2003, they had called themselves "The Mountain" and played AAA (adult album alternative) music, which included stuff on the fringes of mainstream pop/acoustic rock. But over the years their playlist became increasingly more bland, and now they've finally made the leap to hot AC (adult contemporary). Basically mainstream pop music from the 1980s on up. It's very bright and happy now, and even more bland.

Yeah, I know. You're probably not in Tucson and don't care. None of this would be worth mentioning except that a few years ago, I could imagine Cinder Bridge songs on the Mountain. Now, even if we managed to hit the big time and get on commercial radio, I don't see them touching our fringier or slower tunes.

Bah.

Oh well. At least KXCI Community Radio is still around.

All-request weekend

KLPX had an all-request weekend this weekend. Which struck me as odd. How many people request songs on the radio anymore?

Requests were a big deal when I was 12 and discovering different kinds of music. I loved calling the station, actually getting through, talking to the DJ, and then waiting by the stereo, hand over the tape player's record button.

Sometimes my song would be played, sometimes not. Either way, I'd get the thrill of the chase.

When I was 12, the Internet as we know it didn't exist. You couldn't buy almost any song that had ever been recorded for chump change. You couldn't do a four-second YouTube search and, more likely than not, listen for free.

I realize, on an intellectual level, that there must still be people in this city who don't have Internet access. I guess I've been spoiled so well for so long, it's hard for me to fully comprehend.

No sibling rivalry for sister stations

Lately I've been hearing an odd promo for the local top-40 station. Nothing special, just someone saying that if you want to listen to today's new music, you should try 93.7 KRQ.

The odd part is that the promo appears on 92.9 "The Mountain."

Tonight I finally looked it up. Turns out they're sister stations, both owned by Clear Channel. So they're not actually competitors.

Still. Weird. Even deep into this age of deregulation and consolidation, you'd think Clear Channel would at least pretend they're not on the verge of becoming a total monopoly.

You had your time, you had the power

At a small gathering this weekend, I met a musician named Mikey King. He used to be in a local band called Street Pajama.

I'd never heard of Street Pajama. They disbanded before I moved to Tucson in 1991. But they were big around these parts. Really big.

Back in 1982, they came out with a song called "Screwed Again." I haven't heard it yet; Mikey describes it as "a cross between Rachmaninoff, Beef Stroganov, and New Wave." (Isn't that intriguing? I have to learn to describe our music like that so people listen to it or die of curiosity.) Anyway, it made the Billboard charts, not nationally, but for Tucson. A local station had a top-40-type show, and one week, "Screwed Again" reached the number one spot.

"Beat It," by Michael Jackson, was number two.

The song's ride to the top was short-lived. Once "Beat It" hit number one, "Screwed Again" dropped off the chart, never to be heard from again. Still, I find the story mind-boggling.

Forget the part about edging out Michael Jackson. Can you imagine a local song even appearing on a commercial radio station today? I almost said "local radio station" but stopped myself, because that's the point, isn't it? There are no real local commercial radio stations anymore. They're all run by a tiny handful of large corporations that have no connection to whatever cities they broadcast from.

All in all, the current era has been pretty good to Cinder Bridge. With the vastness of the Internet at our disposal, we and other indie bands can find audiences all over the globe. My band is probably better off than it would have been if we had to depend on radio (and labels, and traditional distribution).

But radio ...

That would have been cool.

'Twas the day after Christmas

'specially people
Who care about strangers
Who care about evil
And social injustice

With a big grin, I remove my finger from my car radio's search button. I like this song. Even better, it's being broadcast from 94.9 Mix FM, which has played nothing but Christmas tunes for the past few weeks. Today is December 26. I officially don't have to deal with holiday music until next year.

Easy to say no
Much too easy to say nooooooo

I sigh contentedly as the last organ chord draws to a close. Yeah. I really like that—

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

(Click)

Oh well. I guess it's too much to expect Mix FM to go cold turkey.

Cinder Bridge on the air

Ooh. Looks like Cinder Bridge is going to be on KXCI's Live at 5 in August. Community radio rocks!

More details to come after we confirm the date.