Tuesday, April 19, 2005
fuck the stooges!
If you didn't already hear, we had a death in the WCSB family. Ed Cowell (a.k.a. Ed the Watchman), host of Watchman's Grind, died Sunday night. For those who don't know, he was a grindcore DJ. If I hear more details, I'll post them here. Our station is having its quarterly general staff meeting on Wednesday, so I might hear more at that time.
Also on Wednesday is the Of Montreal show at the Spot. You should go. You'll probably get in. And the new album doesn't suck like Pitchfork says it does. But like I said before, Pitchfork doesn't understand t3h cute.
Remember how Satanic Panic in the Attic was supposed to be really electronic, but only a couple songs were really electronic? The Sunlandic Twins is actually overwhelmingly electronic. And funky. Yes, funky. If you go to the show, you might have to dance.
Now... I have to say more about my sadness over the lack of attendance at the Pony Up! show and all that "indie rock MTV" crap I was talking about.
In one of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, there's this machine that shows the user how insignificant they are relative to the universe. Going to the Pony Up! show was a lot like being subjected to that machine.
Although I decided not to give myself a real name to be called over the air in the hopes that the music would be the star of the show, but I guess I have to be honest and admit that I do have some ego and would like to have some tastemaker status. It's not just that, though. I really love the bands that I play on the show, and I'd love to see them achieve at least a moderate amount of success and garner very warm receptions when they come to Cleveland. Or at least garner some sort of reception in Cleveland.
So, the reason for my dismay is two-fold. First, it seems that my show is not reaching the potential audience that it should be reaching, and those who do hear it don't seem interested in the new, less popular bands that I play. I know that there are plenty of people out there who would enjoy this show and the bands that I play if they gave them a real chance. Second, it seems that the indie/twee pop scene in Cleveland is very small, and if people don't go out to these shows, these great bands are going to avoid coming to Cleveland. We'll be lucky if Pony Up! decides to come back again. Sure, any Elephant 6 bands or K bands will get plenty of support here, but will anyone come out to see Palomar or the Smittens if the Twilight doesn't open for them?
Going back to the lack of listenership to my show... and I know there's a lack because I get maybe one or two calls per show if I'm lucky, very few people post on this site, and people don't go to shows of bands that get their only Cleveland airplay on my show. Anyway, going back to that, I just want to know what I'm doing wrong. Is it the program description in WCSB's program guide? Yeah, it sucks. I'm trying to think of a better one. Or could it be the fact that I don't play much of what's in rotation on "indie rock MTV"? That might have at least a little to do with it. And I've noticed that I've veered away from playing old stuff. I think that most of what I play is new. So, that also heightens the disfamiliarity that might drive people away. Other than that, I just don't know. Time shouldn't be much of an excuse thanks to my archive, but not a lot of people seem to listen to it. I was hoping that it would give me more listenership in Cleveland and beyond, but it doesn't seem to be doing that. Maybe it's because I'm not advertising it heavily. I don't want to do that, though. I'm not the type to spam message boards with advertisements for my show. The only board on which I've posted about it is the Asaurus Records board, but that's just because I know they wouldn't mind and maybe a couple people there would have wanted to know about it. But yeah, I just don't know what to do to get more listeners.
And the lack of a pop scene... I think Tony from the Twilight said it best in his recent letter to the Free Times. Basically, Cleveland is too much of a hard rock town, and anything that isn't intense and similar to the Stooges is not worthy of attention. Fuck.
Anyway, I think I'm finished venting for now.
Before I end this post, I'll give you a fun link to go to. Let's Get It Together: Ribald Youth. It's a manga-style comic. Very addictive.
That's it for now!
If you didn't already hear, we had a death in the WCSB family. Ed Cowell (a.k.a. Ed the Watchman), host of Watchman's Grind, died Sunday night. For those who don't know, he was a grindcore DJ. If I hear more details, I'll post them here. Our station is having its quarterly general staff meeting on Wednesday, so I might hear more at that time.
Also on Wednesday is the Of Montreal show at the Spot. You should go. You'll probably get in. And the new album doesn't suck like Pitchfork says it does. But like I said before, Pitchfork doesn't understand t3h cute.
Remember how Satanic Panic in the Attic was supposed to be really electronic, but only a couple songs were really electronic? The Sunlandic Twins is actually overwhelmingly electronic. And funky. Yes, funky. If you go to the show, you might have to dance.
Now... I have to say more about my sadness over the lack of attendance at the Pony Up! show and all that "indie rock MTV" crap I was talking about.
In one of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, there's this machine that shows the user how insignificant they are relative to the universe. Going to the Pony Up! show was a lot like being subjected to that machine.
Although I decided not to give myself a real name to be called over the air in the hopes that the music would be the star of the show, but I guess I have to be honest and admit that I do have some ego and would like to have some tastemaker status. It's not just that, though. I really love the bands that I play on the show, and I'd love to see them achieve at least a moderate amount of success and garner very warm receptions when they come to Cleveland. Or at least garner some sort of reception in Cleveland.
So, the reason for my dismay is two-fold. First, it seems that my show is not reaching the potential audience that it should be reaching, and those who do hear it don't seem interested in the new, less popular bands that I play. I know that there are plenty of people out there who would enjoy this show and the bands that I play if they gave them a real chance. Second, it seems that the indie/twee pop scene in Cleveland is very small, and if people don't go out to these shows, these great bands are going to avoid coming to Cleveland. We'll be lucky if Pony Up! decides to come back again. Sure, any Elephant 6 bands or K bands will get plenty of support here, but will anyone come out to see Palomar or the Smittens if the Twilight doesn't open for them?
Going back to the lack of listenership to my show... and I know there's a lack because I get maybe one or two calls per show if I'm lucky, very few people post on this site, and people don't go to shows of bands that get their only Cleveland airplay on my show. Anyway, going back to that, I just want to know what I'm doing wrong. Is it the program description in WCSB's program guide? Yeah, it sucks. I'm trying to think of a better one. Or could it be the fact that I don't play much of what's in rotation on "indie rock MTV"? That might have at least a little to do with it. And I've noticed that I've veered away from playing old stuff. I think that most of what I play is new. So, that also heightens the disfamiliarity that might drive people away. Other than that, I just don't know. Time shouldn't be much of an excuse thanks to my archive, but not a lot of people seem to listen to it. I was hoping that it would give me more listenership in Cleveland and beyond, but it doesn't seem to be doing that. Maybe it's because I'm not advertising it heavily. I don't want to do that, though. I'm not the type to spam message boards with advertisements for my show. The only board on which I've posted about it is the Asaurus Records board, but that's just because I know they wouldn't mind and maybe a couple people there would have wanted to know about it. But yeah, I just don't know what to do to get more listeners.
And the lack of a pop scene... I think Tony from the Twilight said it best in his recent letter to the Free Times. Basically, Cleveland is too much of a hard rock town, and anything that isn't intense and similar to the Stooges is not worthy of attention. Fuck.
Anyway, I think I'm finished venting for now.
Before I end this post, I'll give you a fun link to go to. Let's Get It Together: Ribald Youth. It's a manga-style comic. Very addictive.
That's it for now!
