Music On The TV! (This won't last long...)

Remember this guy? Sure you don't. His name's Chris Isaak. He had that tune a while ago..."Wicked Game"...you know ("Now I--- wanna fall in love"). Definitely on early 90's VH1 formats and maybe even 120 Minutes. Okay, so apparently, he's done some music show-type hosting in the past, like the short-lived '02-'05 "Chris Isaak Show" on Showtime. Apparently, no one watched that. Sad. But, there's hope for this has been again: another show! It's the year of the comeback! Again! This brings my tally up, to like, 3 now.

Isaak is back with a glimmering ray of hope for music on TV. Not music videos, though. Boo. However, this is more of an interview type session deal. His show is simply titled, "The Chris Isaak Hour" on Biography. Biography? I don't think most Americans even get that network, let alone watch it. So once again, this will fall on deaf ears (and blind eyes). But this show is more of an in-depth analysis of artists, so I guess Bio was a good choice of network. Hell, it's probably the only one who gave it a shot. Any who, Bill Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins will be appearing on the first show, playing some tunes and talking to the Is-man. He's on the bill among other producers and no names. Oh! Also, 3-time Grammy winner Trisha Yearwood, whoever that is. So that should be interested. Something to watch if you're bored and craving music on TV (like we ALL are). The show premieres tonight on Bio at...10 PM! (Had to do some research there).

I kind of forgot about this video. But this girl is slammin'.

Our New Flyer! Praise Photoshop!

(Click on it, it gets bigger. And less blurry. Blogger likes to do this.)

Ta-da! After some hours of frustration and patience, we finally got this thing to look as good as any inexperienced art kid could make it. (C in crafts in high school!) Of course, I still some pictures that may or may not have been copyrighted - if I'm guilty, then so is Google. The hardest part was definitely putting myself & Jim in the mix. A lot of cropping had to be done. Also, if you have great eyesight, you can see the hippie chick in the top left and the silhouette of a guitarist playing in the top right. Meh, I tried. Thoughts? If you have none, then I assume it's perfection. Man..we are so bored without planning a show...

Some might say, "it's a beaut, Clark, it's a beaut."

We'll hang these up illegally on cars and STOP signs and what not in the months to come around Kutztown, Philly, Alaska, the Democratic Republic of the Congo - everywhere! We're reckless like that. Now if I only I could concentrate on school work...

KUR (& A Frat? Housing?) Present: 2009 Battle of the Bands!

Mario from Mario Kart 64: "Battle!"
*Actually, those are just UK punks having it out...our competition will include bands.

No poster yet, but soon! Anyway, here at KUR, we've been trying to pull this off since 2 years ago, when we suddenly stopped. Anyway, our original request was DENIED. And so, now we're teaming up with some frat (lame) and the housing department (?) and we're benefiting some kid who died from some weird disease (shit, I really should be more respectful and know the details...they're coming!).

So, here' the details we do have. And for the record, I'm heading this mofo, so I hope it's good!:

Untitled KUR "Battle of the Bands" Spring 2009 Details:
*A better name...that to come, too.

Committee Members: 16 (We got 16 dedicated folks who are really going to turn this out.)

Date: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2009

Location: Under a massive tent on the DMZ of Kutztown University's South Campus (come from out of town!)

Host: Manny F., a great KUR veteran. & I'll say a few words, too.

Judges: A select few KUR members.

Admission: 2 bucks? 3 bucks? We want all your money.

Poster: Fellow KUR DJ, Andy Pal! He's going to make us a beauty.

Bands: We have a few willing, but we want more! Send us your submissions (atleast a couple of tracks and some background info to mpopa381@kutztown.edu or kur@kutztown.edu - do it now!)

Prize: Massive gift card for music equipment!

Rules (thus far): No KUR Member can play in the competition. Also, at least one member has got to be from KU. Play good music. & That's about it. Put on a good show!

More information to come within a few weeks! It's for a good cause, so please attend! It'll be fun, I swear. Keep it here!!! With a little luck, we could have it be as educational, romantic, and violent as THIS.

"So, What Do You Guys Really Look Like & Where Do You Work?"

Good question, nobody. It's about time I put up horrible-quality cell phone pictures of Jim & mine's own dirty work. So, we broadcast LIVE every Friday, from 6-8 PM (but you already knew this), at the bottom of the McFarland Student Union Building on Kutztown University's North Campus. And we are legit subterranean, people; a freakin' basement, son. Luckily our antenna's are higher than we are, that way people from across town can still hear a crappy signal. Like we always say, you're best bet of hearing us is by the internet (web-streaming @ kur.kutztown.edu). So that being said, Jim, myself, and a few others cleaned up the station over the past few weeks, got rid of a bunch of old shit (broken records, stationary, etc.). And we got ourselves a sick TV and a pretty comfortable couch (great for sleep; Swedish Temperpeutic sleep system - you suck). Furthermore, we decorated the walls the best we could and added some new computers. Hey, it's college radio: we're doing the best we can with little faculty advisement we got. It's truly independant and it's surely sick as hell. Here's our progress:

That's our good bud, Andy Pal, sleeping on the couch. He's got a show on Tuesday nights from 8-10, called "The Ralph Flavin Show", where plays similar stuff to us, but he's definitely funnier. It's tough being a CD major. This couch is great. We've been wanting one for a while, and we actually got two at the same time. We had the throw the other one out. This is an ideal nap area. No joke.


Taken a few days later (sometime last week), we added some old vinyl and put some blurry words on our whiteboard. What an awful picture; but look!: New Order's "Brotherhood" hangs nicely on our wall, thanks to thumbtacks. Oh, the 21st century...


Yes, we have enough computers. Two of them we don't even use; they're for web-streaming purposes. We got more boards and vinyl and stuff, along with desk things. Here's where I e-mail record labels who tell me to "get real". Sorry, A&M.


Mobile DJ equipment and only the "good" CDs. We did a lot of housecleaning in this department, and we're still not even done. We just hid a lot of junk.


Boxes of promotion type objects and other notices on a board. Fascinating, I know. Don't you want a legit tour now?


Hey - it's Jim! He's in our On-Air Room, checking out websites while some music plays during our show. This was actually last Friday, when our mics died and I was forced to be on a separate mic in...


Our Production Room! Here's where we make annoying promos that are just too full of inside jokes and bad impressions. However, it can be used for live performances and other on-air type events. That's me in gym attire. I like to dress-up fancy for our show. I'm glad this doesn't show my horrible sweating condition.

Well. that's all we got - for now. I promise better quality pics and more of them, in the near future. We're going to miss being on the air! Two weeks...; hurry up, Father Time. (Allen Reed?). Personal jokes & jokes & jokes.

ROBBED!

Hurts - don't it?

Man... thank God this blog is about alternative music and not about the 81st Academy Awards sucking big time. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE YEAR OF THE UNDERDOG! THE COMEBACK! NOT THE SLUM-DOG! Christ. Well... a squeal, Randy?

February 20, 2009 (Playlist)

February 20, 2009 (Playlist):
“Our Sixteenth Show!”

The Hold Steady – Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night
Beck – Devil’s Haircut
Cold War Kids – Coffee Spoon
Dinosaur Jr. – Feel The Pain
King Khan & The Shrines – Took My Lady To Dinner
The Smiths – Rubber Ring
Pela – Drop Me Off
Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Kiss, Kiss
The Strokes – Heart In A Cage (Edit)

The Thermals – Now We Can See
Lovvers – No Fun (The Stooges Cover)
The Mountain Goats – Cubs In Five
Wolf Parade – California Dreamer
Neckbeard Telecaster – One More Night Like This
Guru (Feat. Common & Bob James) – State Of Clarity
Get Him, Eat Him – Ancient History
Reel Big Fish – Everything Sucks (Edit)
The Tallest Man On Earth – Walk The Line
Babyshambles – Fuck Forever (Edit)
Nirvana – Serve The Servants.
Nirvana – Come As You Are (Unplugged).

*Background music consisted of various songs in hour one: The Beastie Boys, Daft Punk, The Go! Team, Smashing Pumpkins, & others. In hour two, we had a bunch of jams that reflected Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, the early grunge movement, and all of the above''s ever-lasting influence: Alice In Chains, Ben Gibbard, Foo Fighters, Pixies, & others. An ode to the late, great Kurt Cobain, on what would have been his 42nd birthday.

This edition of NMTM was a solid performance and a decent program, based on the circumstances we were challenged by. After a mere 10 minutes into the show, Jim's microphone cable short-fused and was irreplaceable from that point on. Fearing the notion of a one-man NMTM episode, Jim and I used our quick wit and got an alternate mic set up in our production room; so even though we weren't working side-by-side on this one, we stilled pulled off a great show. The music itself was solid: new tracks from Cold War Kids, The Thermals, Wolf Parade, and older cuts from Dinosaur Jr., The Smiths, and Nirvana, of course. Jim also mixed things up by playing subterranean groups that deserve more airplay: Get Him, Eat Him, Neckbeard Telecaster, and The Tallest Man On Earth. Fuse all that with some ska and indie anthems, and you got yourself a dynamite listen! At the end of the show, we spoke briefly on the legacy of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. It's so upsetting to have lost such a monumental figurehead in rock history, but he is forever sketched in all of rock that has followed his time in the music biz and on Earth. R.I.P. Kurt.

"I would shiver the whole night through."

Thanks again for tuning in (and we promise no technological problems when we come back in 2 weeks! - We're on Spring Break!). Tune in on March 13th for a great set, chock-full of new tunes, old standards, and more great conversations. Thanks, callers! You're a bunch of characters!

Celebrate Our Sweet 16 Tonight!

Hey people, about our show...: it's on! Live! 6-8 PM tonight on KUR (kur.kutztown.edu). We got poppin' fresh tunes from CWK, Thermals, & Wolf Parade. Also, (as the poster beautifully expresses) we have some oldies lined up from legendary acts like Dino Jr., The Smiths, and a very special block of Nirvana jams. Today would've been Kurt Cobain's 42nd birthday, so on NMTM, we pay tribute to the last great rock star. R.I.P. Kurt. So for the rest of you, come as you are, at 6 PM, and tune in for two hours of great alternative and indie rock. Only on KUR!

P.S. Call in!: 610-683-4058. Or IM us!: KURRequest. C-ya then!

Pitchfork 500: As I Listen & As I Hear: Part 1

Currently, as in, right now, I got two things sitting in front of me (besides my laptop).

There are, 1:



Book. The Pitchfork 500 (AKA #1 gift on my Christmas list. Thanks, Santa). And 2:


Beer. More than one, obvi. Healthy for a man. Builds muscles.

So about this book, the Pitchfork 500. The guys at P-Fork.com published this book last year, around December or so, not sure. Anyway, it's their "guide to greatest songs of the past 30 years, from punk to present". I bit. I wanted to read the whole thing, front to back, but it's a long read with big words and a lot of acts I've never heard of before. I thought to myself, "this is good for research, let's get a good musical education Mike Pop." Well that's all good, but I wanted to do more than just read, though it felt nice to go through chapter to chapter. Now I'm about midway through this thing, on page 108 or so (it's been a few days), and I started listening to the tunes. I started listening to the newer stuff, that really ends at 2005 and below. So I've got a few favorites from bands/artists I've never heard of before, granted I only got serious with music in 2005 with my first Bloc record. Okay, here's what I got (I know I should've done it with the older stuff first, it would make more sense. Maybe... too much sense...).

The Books - Take Time
2003
A soft tune about patience, mixed in with sound byte samples of what appears to be old, educational science after school specials.

Jens Lekman - Black Cab
2003
Sweden's Jens (pronounced Yens) writes a somber and not so sober tune about a never-ending night in which he continues to quote Talking Heads, The Smiths, among other influential Euro/US pop bands of yesteryear.

Joanna Newsom - Peace, Plum, Pear
2004
Delectably cute. Sounds like it's being sung by a 6 year old girl, though it's lyrical content is somewhat mature. The keyboard sounds like an old Nintendo soundtrack and it's meoldy is just plain fruitful.

The Hold Steady - Stuck Between Stations
2006
Hey, we played this one on the show! I like to think it's a response to The Replacements' "Left Of The Dial", maybe the after party, if The 'Mats ever had one. Jim once said, "Rock 'n' roll isn't dead; all of it's just being done by The Hold Steady".

Liars - The Other Side Of Mt. Heart Attack
2006
Starts out slow, but picks up, and manages to stay in control throughout. A post-shoegaze ballad of love in transit. It's a nice one; I'm not lying.

Well I got more beer to drink and more chapters to read. The Pitchfork 500 is out now on bookshelves everywhere. Even if you don't want to buy it, just give it a brief look through. It's only flaw: no pictures! Disappointing, but hey, it's just like studying, somewhat...

Part 2 coming whenever I am free.