The Underdog's Credo

Their desire to kill is weaker than my desire to not die.

Donkey Rock versus Elephant Rock

The continuum of attitudes about artistic license in punk rock reminds me A LOT of classic left-right political differences. If I had some time on my hands, or the ability to make a convincing argument, I'd write about it.

Next week is my last Saturday night radio show. There are a number of reasons why I'm quitting, but the main one was in full effect tonight. There was a show going on where no less than three bands I'm in were playing. This was a bar show that started after 10pm, and I'm on air at midnight. After the last band I had to tear off the stage, and even then I was ten minutes late. This has happened to me a lot, and I'm kind of sick of it. There's no co-host for me to turn to when shows like these happen. I haven't had Saturday nights free in almost 14 years. This was no big deal back in the day... I was single and never went to bars. What the fuck else was I going to do?

Reason number two is the loss of Ube and Tobe from the station. I looked forward to hanging out with them every Saturday, or at least chatting for a few minutes. Or at the very least, hearing what they were playing. Those guys got me into a lot of good bands. It's kind of lonely up there now. Not as fun, and something has been lost musically as well.

Reason number three is prep time. I've become really obsessive about not repeating too much. To do this, I have to spend a lot of time gathering new material. And if I'm pre-taping because of taking a night off, that takes way, way more time. Reasons one and two seem to amplify reason three a lot.

So next week is the final edition of the show. I already know everything I'm going to play. I want it to flow like a "greatest hits 1995-2009" mixtape. It would be fun to recreate an episode circa the 90s, but I've gotten into too many good bands over the past decade for that to be fair. However, here were a few old standards tonight, and there will be more next week.

I've talked about this a lot on air and in other places. Hopefully I'm not coming off as self-important, but this is a big deal to me. The music I play... I dunno, I just think people need to hear it. When I started doing radio, I worried a lot that if I didn't play "real" punk rock on the radio no one would ever hear it, and shitty versions of the genre would take over. I still feel that way to a lesser extent, but I also feel like I've done all I can to prevent this. Hopefully the show was of use to some people, hopefully it improved their taste in music, even if only in some tiny way.

I'm going to talk openly about this on air next week, and thank a lot of people. And I've picked the perfect song to end the show with. Stay tuned!

Edit: I totally wrote half of this crap already. Sheesh, Ash.

Initial-band is working on two new tracks. Me-drumming band is working on at least two, and I recorded a demo of one tonight. Noise project is about five minutes into the editing of a 14 minute track for a comp.

There's a really good microbrewery close to my house. It's like buying beer from a big shed!

Political Blogs

I never read them 'cause I'm afraid to see crazy shit that will piss me off or make me depressed. People are so polarized nowadays. It's like the whole word is a ^%$@#%^@$ show. That wasn't "shit", it was the name of a band.

More Politics

I'm no commie. I'm all for the downtrodden pulling themselves up by the bootstraps without help from The Man. But you can't pull much of anything when your hands are broken and you can't afford to go to the hospital.

Let's be realistic here.

Another Genius

...of hilarity. We don't have a lot in common, yet I feel like we do somehow.

I'm sorry, but this show is hilarious. I hope you don't think I'm dumb. Or old.

I eat mainly for pleasure, yet I sometimes have this sense of "whooooaaa, that's enough of that for awhile".

I guess that's still bad.

I often think about this fable, but for some reason I always picture the "villain" as a drug-addicted rabbit.

I think a parent should be really careful about telling this story to a child, because I can see negative ideas coming from it. It kind of teaches a child to be judgemental. The grasshopper is lazy. But why? He just is. Some people "just are", and they get what they deserve in the end - misery and death.

To me this story encourages us to pass some pretty harsh judgements on face value. Maybe the grasshopper needs some different kind of motivation s/he hasn't found yet. I mean besides starvation. That's just too bleak.

I'd rather a child try to learn to see the bigger picture. When someone is in need, our instinct should be to help them, not to make snap judgements. Maybe something from the grasshopper's past causes him/her to have problems self-motivating. Maybe it's something that can be helped somehow, rather than just shaking a smug finger as the poor bastard dies in the gutter.

Don't think kids don't pick up on these things. I highly suspect they do.