The Ones and Twos - Show 12 Play List & Thoughts

Show 12 has come and gone. Thanks to everyone who tuned in and especially to the few who called in to say hello (among them was my father, who had never listened in before and who demanded that I play something he liked ... which I didn't). The show went well enough—not my best show but certainly not my worst.

One thing I'm particularly proud of is that I utilized the turntables a lot more than normal and managed to not screw up by forgetting to pot down the turntable after the track so that the next one doesn't start playing on the air. I also tried a few new things. 1) A TV soundtrack set - fun but difficult because a few of the theme songs were less than a minute long and most are instrumental, 2) A second themed set - Rock the Bells sampler, 3) more advanced forward announcing, 4) music during mic breaks, 5) recording the stream (both a matter of necessity and convenience, though, I guess I'll have to go back to CDs since I think my campus wireless access is set to expire soon, possibly today).

Here are the the plays:

1. Andre 3000 - “Behold a Lady,” The Love Below
2. Mic Break
3. Menomena - “Muscle N Flo,” Friend and Foe
4. *The Roots - “I Will Not Apologize” feat. P.O.R.N. & Dice Raw, Rising Down
5. CAKE - “Arco Arena,” Comfort Eagle
6. *The Grouch - “The Bay to LA” feat. MURS, Show You the World
7. Mic Break
8. TV on the Radio - “Ambulance,” Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
9. *Daedelus - “You’re the One” feat. Om’Mas Keith, Love to Make Music To
10. *4 bonjour’s Parties - “Magpie Will Peck a Hole in My Plaster Cast,” Pigments Drift Down to the Brook
11. Tr + Tr - “Stay Old or Grow Young,” Rumble
12. Mic Break
13. Nuclear Bubble Wrap - “THX (intro),” Advanced at Nothing
14. Murray Gold - “Doctor Who Theme (2006)”
15. Bear McCreary - “All Along the Watchtower,” Battlestar Galactica Season 3
16. Aceyalone and RJD2 - “A Beautiful Mine,” Magnificent City
17. Joss Whedon - “Laundry Day Freeze Ray,” feat. Neil Patrick Harris, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog
18. Tree Adams - “Middleman Theme”
19. *The Submarines - “Maybe,” Honeysuckle Weeks
20. Joe Cocker - “With a Little Help From My Friends,” With A Little Help From My Friends
21. David Schwartz - “Arrested Development,” Arrested Development Soundtrack
22. Europe - “The Final Countdown”
23. Mic Break
24. *Sonantes - “Defenestrado,” Sonantes
25. Chaka Khan - “Tell Me Something Good (Live),” Epiphany Sampler
26. *The Herbaliser - “You’re Not All That” feat. Jessica Darling, Same As It Never Was
27. *Aretha Franklin - “Rock Stead (Alternate Mix),” Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul
28. Mic Break
29. *The Cool Kids - “What It Is,” The Bake Sale
30. De La Soul - “Big Brother,” feat. Mos Def, Stakes Is High
31. Blue Scholars - “Inkwell (Crasehd-Cop-Car Remix)”
32. Little Brother - “Beautiful Morning,” The Minstrel Show
33. A Tribe Called Quest - “Can I Kick It?,” Anthology
34. The Pharcyde - “Passing Me By,” Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
35. Q-Tip - “Vivrant Thing (instrumental),” Vivrant Thing Single [MIC BREAK]
36. Mic Break
37. *Whatfor - “I want a Girl,” Sooner Late Than Never
38. *Living Legends - “After Hours,” The Gathering

*Indicates Feature

Got some love for my hip-hop set -- someone called in to tell me that "Passin' Me By" is his all time favorite song and that I put a big smile on his face. His call put a big smile on my face. I always seem to get a lot of calls when I play hip-hop, which I think is because hip-hop is seriously underrepresented on the KALX airwaves. Which is a shame since we have a TON of classic, probably difficult to fine LPs to work with.

Matteo from Ancient Organics called in. I now know more about the production of ghee than I would ever care to know, but I'm glad that I got to chat with Matteo. Ancient Organics will be at the upcoming Slow Food Nation Festival, which I hope to attend so that I can grab some of this ghee. Read more!

The Beginning - Show 0

DJ Training at KALX consists of one month of weekly classes to learn all the ins and outs of DJing—working the soundboard, how to pick music, mic breaks, and, most importantly, the 7 dirty words (R.I.P. George Carlin) that are liable to get the station sued by the FCC and shut down. The real learning happens in the 9 training shows that are required in order to graduate (your 5th and 8th shows are submitted to a reviewer in order to determine whether or not you graduate). The very first show, Show 0, is with a real KALX DJ, who helps you learn on the job. My Show O was Sunday, 19 March 2006 from 6 to 7:30 a.m.

For your first show, its recommended that you try not to pick songs shorter than 5 minutes to give you ample time to cue your next track and do all the other things you need to do to DJ. There are also general KALX parameters which include: playing at least 4 feature (new) songs every hour, at least 3 different genres of music (enforced by a self-administered "Grandma" test, which is if your grandma couldn't tell the difference between the genres, then they are for all intents and purposes, the same genre), read aloud one PSA and read or play a second PSA each hour, a legal I.D. at the top of every hour (K-A-L-X Berkeley as determined by the FCC), mention the University and Listener Supported radio at least once every hour, include a bit of station business (mention upcoming shows, the website, etc.) every mic break. In other words, there are a lot of things to remember.

I don't really remember how my Show 0 went other than the fact that I couldn't keep track of which sliders were for what CD player (something I still struggle with on occasion and which prompted me to label the sliders with post-its for most of my shows). I do remember that my trainer was really kind and patient, so thanks to him.

The following is the play list for my Show 0 and any comments/explanation I feel are necessary:

1. "The Bizness" - De La Soul feat. Common, Stakes Is High [4:25] (this was a shout out to my brother, an aspiring DJ himself, to whom I owe my love of hip-hop)
2. "The Symphony" - Marley Marl, Hip-Hop Essentials 1979-1991 Vol. 1 [6:07]
3. "Love Me Forever" - Carlton and the Shores, Full Up [3:50]
4. "Rock Steady" - No Doubt, Rock Steady [5:22] (as an inveterate No Doubt fan, I had to squeeze in a No Doubt track, and this happens to be among my most favorite No Doubt Songs ever)
5. "The World is Upside Down" - John Schott's Typical Orchestra [7:08]
6. "Como el Agua Entre Las Piedras" - Son De La Frontera, S/T [5:04]
7. "Hallelujah" - Jeff Buckley, Grace [6:54]
8. "Beloved" - Anoushka Shankar, Beloved (single) [7:05] (this was an LP -- I try to play at least one vinyl just to keep it old school]
   
9. "The Seed/Melting Pot/Web!" - The Roots, Home Grown! Vol. 2 [16:02] (I actually perfer this live version of "The Seed" to the original version, but I seem to be alone in this opinion)
10. "Blacking Out the Friction/Brand New Love" - Death Cab For Cutie, The John Byrd E.P. [7:20] (I remember getting a phone call after playing the Roots and Death Cab back to back; the guy said he thought it was cool, but he said it with a bit a chuckle which made me think he didn't think it was really that cool .... The reason I played them together was because they were both live tracks and thus had similar momentum ... whatever, I thought it was cool)
11. "Folkmoot" - John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, A Blessing [7:24] (I do not recall this song at all, and given that I did not tape my Show 0, I will probably never remember it)
12. "1958 (Skapel Remix)" - Skapel, Konfusion [5:01] (I don't remember this song either)
13. "Ghostwriter" - RJD2, Deadringer [5:17]
    
14. "Unison" - Bjork, Vespertine [6:45] (I also got a phone call about this from a guy thought that the version I had played was special or something, I'm still confused as to what he was calling about)

And there we have it. My first dabbling into radio!
Read more!