Showing posts with label radio show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label radio show. Show all posts

Thursday, October 03, 2024

Everybody is a Star



Over the summer, July to be more precise, I participated as an exhibitor in my zine/comix show ever. It was
 SĀBRS Festival here in sunny Riga, Latvia, which will be another blog post (the news and topics for posts has piled up!). As part of the festival, a local vinyl fanatic and online radio personality, Micheal Holland organized a series of radio shows, hosted by tirkultūra, featuring some of the artists, and I was one of the lucky ones to get my hands on the mic. This was my third radio show collaboration with Micheal, so I’m getting more comfortable with the format, assembling a playlist and running my mouth (something I rarely have a problem with). Coming up with an idea for the show usually hinges on one song title or lyric and this time it was Sly and the Family Stone providing the spark with their beautiful tune, “Everybody is a Star”.

I connected the theme of the show with zine and comix artist’s desire to be a star in their own way; to share their creative life with the world and tell their story. Many of the tunes I included carry the spirit of story-telling or aspirations of “making it big” or living a big life.

Here is the playlist; a mix of eclectic tunes, a few movie samples, run through with musings and guffaws.

 
1 – “Hello Hooray!” – Alice Cooper
>> Introduction and general jaw-jacking – Hal and Micheal
2 – Sample from the movie “Zandalee” > “Electric Chair” – Prince
3 – “Don’t No Body Move, This is Heist” – Tony Powers
>> Hal and Micheal chat
4 – Sample from the movie Mad Max – “God in an Alcove” – Bauhaus
5 – “On Broadway” – George Benson
6 – Sample from the movie “Barfly” – “Nobody” – David Baerwald
>> Random chit chat with Richard Thompson (Liminal Noise/Lost Harbors)
7 – “A World of Our Own” – Pater Noster soundtrack – Chris Bickell
8 – “Everybody is a Star” – Sly and the Family Stone
>> Richard Thompson holds forth with more thought-like things.
9 – “Isumas, mi daj” – Pēteris Leimanis (1949)
10 – “L’Estasi Dell’oro (The Ecstasy Of Gold)” – Ennio Morricone, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”
11 – “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” – Royal Fingerbowl
>> Outro and credits with Richard and Micheal.
12 – “Shining Star” – Earth, Wind and Fire

Let me know what you think. Hopefully I introduced you to some hidden treasures or dusted off some old friends.

Keep smiling,

OK HW

Saturday, August 26, 2023

Taking Your Ears on a Little Trip Around the World

photo credit Ieva Weaver
Whoops, I did it again, well in this case, it was no accident but another happy opportunity to play a radio DJ once more. This was my second turn at the web-powered microphone for the Latvian online radio station tirkultura. My first time was back in February of this year, which I related on my other, comix-related blog, The Reluctant Sadist and Other Wanderings in the Comix Underground. Yes, I have two neglected blogs. Always the overachieving underachiever. 

Michael Holland (check out his show on OnoTesla - NTS) once more was my producer and studio engineer as he was for kuš! radio. This was a good thing as I needed his technical expertise and moral support to try and pull off my ambitious upgrade to my first outing. I wanted to go beyond just working through a playlist with a bit of yammer in between the tunes. I wanted to take my listeners for a trip around the world with me on a show that I called, "Wherever You Go, Well That's Where You Are". With that plan in mind, I set to harvesting golden moments I had captured on my various travels and intended to weave those found sounds together with appropriately themed songs. With Micheal in my corner, I knew all I had to do was show up with the bits and pieces and he would put the cables into the right sockets and we'd be off. Now, I did not map out each and every clip as I wanted to build the story on the fly and let our conversation lead us where it may. This loose approach did result in a few technical hiccups, which felt jarring to the point of disaster in the live moment, but on later listens actually adds to the charm and authenticity of the show I think. You be the judge, here's the show:


It was an exhilarating process stitching this crazy, patchwork sonic quilt together in the moment. I was playing mp4 video of travel clips so Micheal and I could watch them together and comment. We agreed ahead of time to let the clips, music and talking overlap to build unexpected sounds and make room for happy accidents and I think that works as much as it doesn't. All that overlapping though meant that the source materials were consumed much more quickly than I expected, so we had to do a little scrambling at the end to fill time. Here's the playlist -

01 - India_Varansai_Religious_Procession (Travel clip)
02 - On the Road Again (Willie Nelson)
03 - Morroco_Desert_Dancing (Travel clip)
04 -  Spread Your Wings (QUEEN)
05 - Bali_Ubud_Furneal_Procession_01 (Travel clip)
06 - I'm a Ramblin' Man (Waylon Jennings)
07 - Japan_Tokyo_Folk_Dancing (Travel clip)
08 - Japan_Yokohoma_Dragon_Dance (Travel clip)
09 - Niamey Jam (Nomad- Bombino)
10 - Vietnam_Ho_Chi_Mihn_Broom_Machine (Travel clip)
11 - Vietnam_Hanoi_Street_Karaoke (Travel clip)
12 - High Plains Drifter (Beastie Boys)
13 - Thailand_Bangkok_Thai_Boxing (Travel clip)
14 - Thailand_Chiangmai_Pop_Singing (Travel clip)
15 - Singapore (Tom Waits)
16 - Hong_Kong_Slyvester - (Sonny Rollins - St. Thomas) (Travel clip)
17 - Bali_Ubud_Shadow_Puppets_02 (Travel clip)
18 - The Crystal Ship (The Doors)
19 - Nepal_Gandaki_Mule_Train_on_the mountain (Travel clip)
20 - Myanmar_Bagan_Ice_Cream_Man_Rap (Travel clip)
21 - Road Trippin' (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
22 - Morroco_Marrakech_Night_Music (Travel clip)
23 - Cambodia_Siem_Reap_BATS (Travel clip)
24 - Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Judy Garland)
25 - India_Varansai_Ganga_River_Night_Ceremony
26 - Lawrence of Arabia (Movie Soundtrack)
27 - Bali_Gainyar_Ceremony (Travel clip)
28 - King of the Road (Roger Miller)
29 - Here At The End of The World (Alex McMurray)
30 - City of New Orleans (Johnny "Doc" Criner)

What do you think? Should I do some more radio shows? 

Keep smiling,

OK HW