RKNet Blog... Thing

Ordinarily, when I do a mixwit tape, I don’t just run with one artist, but I was listening to some Jonathan Richman and I discovered that I just couldn’t help but share my love for this inventive storyteller, musician, and big-hearted guy.

He is probably best known for his work with his first band, The Modern Lovers. He formed this band in late 60s, early 70s near Boston, Massachusetts.

His style is heavily influenced by his love for the Velvet Underground (another favorite of mine), and their stripped down, all-out, intense music.

But enough preamble! The music is what matters.

1. New Kind of Neighborhood
• An entertaining story about encountering a, well, new kind of neighborhood. The kind where people are free and happy. Not in that “we’ve thrown off the government” protest way, but in the way that suggests really encountering a different, close-knit community. Richman’s approach to lyrics is insightful and touching on a level that should really appeal to all but the most hardened cynics.
2. I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar
• Caution: potential ear worm! I have had the hook from this song stuck in my head more than once. Another entertaining tale about a night out on the town, and how much more fun it is to be able to just get up and dance.
3. New England
• As a New England native, and being the kind of guy he is, my guess is he just couldn’t resist talking up the area he calls home. Particularly relevant to me, as I’ve lived in New England myself for over ten years now!
4. You’re Crazy for Taking the Bus
• Might be crazy, but again his poetic observation doesn’t fail to really capture the essence of the journey, and strike a chord with anyone who has had a similar experience.
5. I’m Straight
• Not a reference to sexual orientation, but an inference that he can provide more engaging company than the competition for the object of his affections.
6. Satisfied Mind
• The first of 3 covers tacked onto this unique sampler. It also happens to be a favorite song of mine.
7. Back in the USA
• According to the intro to this track, this is originally a Chuck Berry song. So classic, and I love the background vocal harmonies. Also, check out that guitar sound. WHEEEEEW. I simply haven’t the words for it.
8. 96 Tears
• Originally by ? and the Mysterians. I love the gritty, haughty nature of the song, and the Modern Lovers (and Richman) really give it the treatment it deserves. You can also feel some serious Velvet Underground live recording sensibilities oozing through this track.

Enjoy!

• @bloggersblog hear hear, viva la literature! #
• Gah. I wake up to an internet fight over twitter. that’s like waking up & walking into a bar argument #
• pro baseball? overpaid children. for most people, the local bar owner is more personally important. #
• @chrisgarrett huh. we were just talking about ALICE yesterday. I heard she was a bitch. looks like it fits your theory #
• @chrisgarrett it goes back to at least the 19th http://tinyurl.com/3b2s96 #
• When I read about the internet being an instrument for social destruction I think "good, there’s a lot of cleaning up to do" #
• @chrisgarrett omg, no wonder you’re so up in arms, these strumpette people can kiss my ass. paranoids. #
• Riddle me this: how can you espouse your negative opinions about the internet on the internet, and expect any respect? #
• I’m not so sure that a luddite, pro-expert, pro-professional should be arguing on twitter. it screams hypocrite #
• @chrisgarrett you have to be published on dead trees or harass someone who’s been on tv to be pro, duh #

Editor’s note: man I was a twitter whore today. cut for length.
Read the rest of this entry »

Last, but certainly not least, comes this heated admonishment.
For the record, I have not at this time cancelled the shoutcast.
Viva la musica.

G,

The SEOians may be upset about this horrid loss of a radio comrade. But at least they have their clever wit, sick twisted humor, their own ipods and LFO to get off on in the absence of this most beloved of all radio stations. What will I have to get off on? I am alone in a world of darkness. I am alone in a world of Ron Paul discussions and beef jerky farts. I have no high fangled, state of the art equipment such as Ipods and Walkmans. Think of me….the lone poor kid without a pot to piss or shit in.
I compare shoutcast[redacted] not to chocolate milk, but instead to Ether and Sour Mix…..what would you do G, without that beloved liquid filtering down your throat and making happy in your brain? Where would you be without the color changing straws?? I tell you where……alone in a world of darkness just as yours truly is.
I will take this moment of silence to remember the good ol’ days, when I was first free from client Care and liberated to enjoy such things as Google Talk, the bathroom when I wanted, tea, frolicking in the park, puppies, kittens, Blue Latitudes and of course sweet sweet tunes. Provided by our fearless General of Jams, our Sargent of Song, the Mastermind of Music and so on and so forth.

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane……ummmm Radio Show??? What happened to that dream? I could have been the Robin to your Howard Stern! We could have had naked broads catching things in their jugs for gift certificates to the mall. How dare you steal my dream? Member-J-2xxx is right, the revolution for shoutcast[redacted] has started and you will continue to receive our constant email bombardments until this situation has been righted!

So…..anyway…wanna play some Baby’s on Fire for me?

For those not in the know, the herpes references do have a legitimate precedent, namely the origin story of the band Godsmack’s name.
Erna stated in a 1999 interview that “I was making fun of somebody who had a cold sore on his lip and the next day I had one myself and somebody said, ‘It’s a godsmack.’ The name stuck. We were aware of the Alice in Chains song but didn’t really think much about it. It’s a cool song and the name had meaning for us”. ~via wikipedia

They’re right. I’ve been smacked in the face by herpes crisps one (5,000) too many times. Now, I lie, drenched in a puddle of mud, SULLen and covered in sloppy joe. [Crawling in my Skin.] Through the mess, I’m screaming for the relief that only Shoutcast can afford.

How will I drag myself through the moist, oozing slit that is Monday without a little Stevie Ray Vaughn to carry me along? How shall I adequately pay homage to the upcoming dreams of Ether-and-Sour that Friday afternoon promises, without a little chair-dance-party-inducing DP? Without you and your [shoutcast] box, how would I have ever discovered the joys of Party Fun Action Committee and Cocorosie?

Admittedly, I’m not always logged on, but the solace that Shoutcast’s presence affords is the only thing that keeps me from tearing the face off of the greyface drones who play 3 Doors Down and Nickelback on the community radio for all of our listening pleasure. Please G. Reconsider. If not for the morale of your fellow comrades, do it to prevent the spread of herpes in the workplace.

Hard on the heels of that mind blowing letter of protest came another. Let it never be said that direct reasoning and protest is useless.

Yknow, he’s got a point there. I was pretty quick to just fold on the whole issue, but the fact of the matter is, theres lives at steak* here. In a literal, and figurative sense.
There must be a way to keep it alive. Dont lose heart G. Our numbers may be small and even infrequent, but you provide unequaled sanctuary when its needed most. In the midst of the storm G! The Shit storm!
Think about it. Jesse’s inspiration has awakened a slumbering giant of ranting protest. Wait til all four of us get going! Between us we can inundate your inbox with thoughtfully nagging pokes and pleads until Dec. 22, 2012.
Dont think we cant do it.

Member-J-2xxx

*Where’m ah’ gonna get ma’ Steak or Chicken! Who’m ah’ gonna stick mah’ dick in?!

At this point you can imagine I’m feeling sort of guilty! Yet still somewhat resolute. There are things that must be done and there must be alternatives for these guys! Little did I know that this was not nearly the end, and J-2xxx’s threat was in no way a bluff.

I run a private, LAN shoutcast server for our office. Nothing terribly fancy, mind you, just a collection of my music and some of my co-workers’, mixed into a couple randomized playlists. I don’t have too many listeners although we’ve got upward of 100 people at the company these days. I recently made the decision to shut down for a variety of reasons, most of which were serious. I never realized what a row I would cause among my (rabidly) loyal listeners.

Below, for your viewing pleasure, is the first of several letters I received regarding my decision to retire as DJ. [some edits made for the assumption of privacy, and the separation of actual work life from this personal endeavor]

THIS IS A SERIOUS PROTEST. G, you can’t do this! You have created solace and safe-haven for those of us berated by PuddleofSmackLincolnBack. shoutcast[redacted] is the Batman of our Gotham City here at at Suite 260. Shoutcast is our only line of defense against the auditory pogroms waged by The Shark, HEB, and the mindless droning of ignorant half wits that shall remain nameless.

Taking away shoutcast[redacted] is like the Communist Party of India cutting off medical aid to the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army. Without the Shoutcast you are leaving us unarmed and behind enemy lines. Take right now for instance, instead of listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Gimme 3 steps” for the 32,453,165,684,652nd time this week I can turn to the trusted shoutcast[redacted] for a much needed diddy by The Pillows. I have but a Dreamsicle’s chance in the Mojave of being able to make it through any given day of work without the delicious tunes provided the company radio. G, you must understand that you are the Coenraad Johannes van Houten behind the chocolate milk of our listening pleasure.

Albeit a motto belonging to a disturbingly misled organization that is funded by pure evil, “no man left behind” seems to be a phrase befitting this situation. In other words, whether there are only 3 listeners or not, those 3 listeners rely on you heavily. Without you there is no us. You provide a lifeline in a dreary wasteland occupied by slow moving cyborgs that enjoy Papa Roach, the Eagles, Michael McDonald (not for humor either!), Kid Rock, Fleetwood Mac and P.O.D. I would rather eat my own bloody vomit than go through a 9-5er without the physical and mental crutch that is the shoutcast[redacted].
I hope your heart stumbles upon my humble (yet eloquent) soliloquies and they help to sway your decision,
Helpless in [redacted],
Jesse [redacted]

With a plea that strong I seriously began to reconsider my decision.

http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

I stumbled across this link earlier. Now, I’ve seen a few PETA-based propaganda booths in my day. Much like the “Truth” campaign, they’re big fans of large, symbolic, sometimes angry displays of protest against things they believe are wrong. While they might be passionate about what they do, and may be - in most cases - correct in their statements, I personally don’t react well to the types of conversion methods used.

PETA Kills Animals seemed sort of suspicious to me based on that. Any form of extreme activism is bound to engender some kind of extreme activism from the opposite camp, but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure who would want to be seen as being opposed to the ethical treatment of animals. So I did a little bit of Google news searching on one particular claim made over at PETA Kills Animals. PETA Animal-Cruelty Trial Date Finally Set I gotta say looking up anything with “peta” in the Google News section only turned up other organizations that PETA has attacked, rather than the law coming down on anyone who works for PETA.

A regular Google search did pull up a matching local news story, however. http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=93730&ran=57036

So that story is at least legit. Still, one has to wonder what is the agenda there? The About page at petakillsanimals.com marks them as being associated with the Center for Consumer Freedom. A quick search for these guys brings the following items up:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Consumer_Freedom
These guys say that the CCF is a sit and spin for all the things that organizations like PETA fight against. I’d be willing to believe that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Consumer_Freedom
Then there’s the wiki entry, which confirms sourcewatch’s assertion that this organization is paid to support the interests of a few very large industries which aren’t renown for their regard for health or moral practices.

I’ll also say that the couple reviews at Alexa aren’t very encouraging either. One response is a vauge “lol itz teh interestingz cause animul pplz gots teh sekrits!” and the other is a direct slam.

I’m all for public reminders that no organization is without it’s flaws, it helps prevent types prone to holier-than-thou behavior from appearing infallible. I’m all for the promotion of personal responsibility. I’m not real keen on someone trying to douse me in false activism, or in this case I guess you could say anti-activism. All in all? This was a pretty disappointing, but unsurprising, discovery.

What are your thoughts on activism? How far does a person or a group have to go before they are considered “extreme”? Are there any groups that personally get your goat that deserve exposing?