Disc Jockery

So, in case you haven't noticed/don't know me/need reminding, I have a radio show. It is a hobby that I enjoy immensely. I love music, love sharing that music with other people and love the idea that somewhere, some 14-year-old kid is going to randomly tune their radio to 89.3 and hear Radiohead or Sigur Ros or Bob Dylan for the very first time, have their mind blown, decide to form a band and end up making life-changing music. Maybe it's the pretentious part of me that loves being ahead of the curve, but I can't explain how great it feels to stumble across a band or artist that I really enjoy, play it on the radio and get a call from someone else who loved it and is stoked to get into that artist's music. If anybody ever gets a chance to do something like this, by all means do it.

That being said, the name of my show is "On The Rocks," which started out as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the moody sad-bastard music that I love. While the show's format is still something similar to that, it's turned into more of a folk/mellow indie thing. You can expect to hear older, more strait forward folk stuff like Bob Dylan, Neil Young and John Prine; newer folk-based stuff like Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine and Wilco; mellow indie-ish stuff like Pedro The Lion, Modest Mouse and Silver Jews; as well as more experimental stuff like The Microphones, Joanna Newsom, Tom Waits and Animal Collective. Ideally it works out to be a two-hour block of music perfect for drinking yourself into a depressed stupor (hence the name), but with enough resigned optimism to bring a tear to your bloodshot and booze-soaked eye. Because really, what else do people do with their Sunday nights? Here's the playlist from last week:

The Court & The Spark- Suffolk Down Upon The Night
Whiskeytown- Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight (Faithless Street version)
Wilco- Radio Cure
Bob Dylan- Girl From The North Country
Pavement- Here
David Gray- Lead You Upstairs
Sufjan Stevens- For The Widows in Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti
Howe Gelb- Nail In The Sky
Akron/Family- Italy
Silver Jews- Tennessee
Pedro The Lion- Metal Heart (Cat Power cover)
Wilco- Red Eyed Blue
Sigur Ros- #4
Ryan Adams- I See Monsters
R.E.M.- Tongue
My Morning Jacket- Golden
Beck- The Golden Age
Tom Waits- Come On Up To The House
Bob Dylan- Simple Twist of Fate
Neil Young- Motion Pictures
The Microphones- Headless Horseman
Radiohead- Sail To The Moon
Elliott Smith- Pitseleh
Iron & Wine- Naked As We Came
Smashing Pumpkins- Farewell And Goodnight
Neko Case- Star Witness

So if you're not doing anything from 10 p.m. until midnight on your Sunday nights (don't lie to yourself, you're not), feel free to wallow in your sadness with me at 89.3 if you are in the Bellingham area, or listen online at www.kugs.org. Catharsis never sounded this good.