The first REAL sign of spring

I've heard some nice bird songs lately but this is the first REAL sign. It just gets better from now on.

WTUL alumni weekend, 3/6

I try to listen at 10:30 NY time but the stream doesn't respond. Its dead.

I get some notes from Jay Hollingsworth. (Sorry about the nerd
comment, Jay.) He sends me a schedule. Thanks! Now I know what is
happening when. Looking forward to hearing Alan Smason, at least
initially, Shep and Jay. See how nostalgic it gets.

I check in again at ~3pm, NY time. The stream is working. I guess
Rockin' Ruth is on now. Playing FUV style R&R.

She comes on. It was Dash Rip Rock and Camper Van Beethoven before
that (I only heard the end of Dash Rip Rock.) I think she said her
name was Kathy.

She plays some straight jazz so I can have lunch (and not have to pay
attention to it...)

And now Maureen joins her. She plays Michael Franti so it won't be jazz. Good.

More happy peppy, FUV in the 80s music.

Nice Iko Iko.

Woman DJ (Kate?) comes on, her level is lower than the CD.

Next mic break she's at a good level. Although Maureen is pinning it,
overmodulating.

Nice Brazilian Rebel, Rebel (Bowie)

Bluegrass version of Fleetwood Mac's Landslide. (Dixie Chicks, ick)

This is Ruth Preslaff. Maureen's level is low.

Wow, a long silence between the Peter Gabriel and Talking Heads cuts.
I checked to make sure the stream didn't die.

So, in summary, nice enough music overall. Indicative of intelligent,
sensitive people, a crowd I liked to be with. Wish they'd get their
act together on their production values though. Different levels
between music and DJ and off-mic DJs are two examples. And I have
noticed this happening for YEARS.

(I'm having internet connectivity problems so I lose the stream and
have to reboot, which seems to fix it. Unfortunately this happens a
few times a day now...)

Stream goes quiet but is still there at 5:01 pm NY time. I guess they
don't know they've killed the output to the stream... Oh well. A good
time to go out and check the mail...

5:15 and the stream is still running but has no program content.
Oops. I guess they don't monitor it. I'll keep it on in case they
figure this out.

5;18 it comes on mid sentence then Brian Jonestown Massacre... OK.
Barney Kilpatrick on now.

Barney comes across well. David comes on and sounds like he just
passed puberty.

Fred Neil and Leo Kotke. Alright. Wall of Death after by...REM? Sure, why not.

A bluegrass tune. Well alright. (Steve Earle and Del McCoury)

Bottle of Blues by... (Beck)

A new version of Magic Bus. Just what the world needed. (By Duran Duran)

Nice screaming and efx in this tune.

A good DJ, Interesting stuff.

(Level is lower for Bevis Frond tune after mic break...)

Oh, a good segue. Whatever (Bevis Frond?) into Hendrix - Hear My Train Coming.

Iggy Pop - The Passenger

This next show should be interesting: "Paula 'go ahead & shut 'er
down, fcc!' o" o?

Kerry, Paula, Mark on now. (Is that what was on the schedule?) Too
bad they aren't all on-mic..

Punk stuff. No thanks. I watch the news.

I start listening later, 8 pm NY time and it ain't punk now. Very
interesting stuff. The Propellerheads.

They overmodulate as they do the ID.

Nah, don't like this next one. I watch Washington Week In Review...

8:24 NY time. Interesting accordion piece on.

Tom Waits - Straight To The Top. They cut off the song in the middle. Jeez.

8:55 pm. A world full of cops!

9:01 NY time. ken on the early evening shift? (Yes, I think.) Starts
with a nice Richard Thompson cut. Scratchy record but a good cut.

DJ sounds competent.

This Music isn't my cup of tea so I'll check back later.

Ken ends his show. Bimbo's on next. We'll see what she's like.

The cool tool/TUL! lol Lots of sexual innuendo. Funk. OK. No need to
stay for this.

Boogie In Your Butt! Well alright.

Looking forward to seeing if DJ Davis is a) the one I am thinking of
who started the Brass Band Jam on OZ and b) will play some brass band
music. I have Radio Recorder set to record the show which is airing
MUCH too early for me to listen to live.

WTUL alumni weekend, 3/5

I tune in at 5 pm NY time and find out they are beginning the alumni section of their 50th anniversary in a few seconds, rather than 8 pm NO time. OK.

The first alumni DJ is Michael Reinert. He was there in the late 70s and some other dates.

His first song is Pete Townshend - Face The Face. That's too bad. (Actually he played Meatloaf's Paradise By The Dashboard Lights before that but it didn't air on the stream.)

The DJ before, a woman, was throwing in lots of "y'all heard"s....

I sent TUL an e-mail (a few days ago) saying I have some recordings from '72-'76 and '97-'98 but they haven't responded, as they didn't the last time I wrote them years back, probably telling them the same thing.

The DJs I've heard so far suffer from the same handicaps I've always heard on TUL, They speak too fast and don't enunciate. They sound like college kids which they should. And their technical skills are fairly bad: jarring transitions and not lowering the music to talk over it enough are two examples.

This sounds like an over-produced a la 80s Irma Thomas (This Ain't Love). (It's not.)

... Tri Face Boogie (Tripe Face...) he plays the studio version. Live versions are so much better. OK, I'll stop complaining, this show is on tape/CD...

Allman Bros - Trouble No More from Eat A Peach, complete with scratches.

Nice 'I don't know what station I'm listening to' ID/promo.

Dedicates this to his daughter Christina. Gads, it's live.

Yakkity Yak. He covers some distance...

Oops. He miscues a tune.

Why Get Up...

ID. A non-alumni DJ does a PSA. And he knows how to speak!

Blood Sweat and Tears - God Bless The Child. I used to hear this alot in the late 60s. A real classic. I don't remember it being played much if at all in NO when I was there.

Thank Heaven For Little Girls - Maurice Chevalier. He's proud of his daughter. (I wrote that before he said that...)

Geez. Springsteen. Ick.

Not the best production values, cutting off the music before it ends, etc.

Wow, Lil Queenie is there and gonna sing! They sing Hello, I Must Be Going (Groucho Marx)

And the cliché of all clichés, The End - The Beatles.

We just listened to an hour's worth of mashups? Hunh? Oh, they played old tapes.

Michael became a music business attorney. It sounded like it.

Next DJ plays Pharoh Sanders. I'm not a jazz fan so I bail.

Wow, Shepard Samuels (Shep) is still on the air there! I remember him. Can still remember what he looked like back then ('72-'76 and probably saw him once or twice after that, and he hadn't changed then.). I wonder if he has cut his hair? I've read he is a music business lawyer. (But he has good taste in music...)

I wonder if Allan Smason will appear. Not that I am a fan. He's just a familiar name. And Jay Hollingsworth. I had no idea he was so important. He was kind of a nerd when I knew him, your stereotypical computer nerd. Had no idea he would later be a "MAJOR record collector and seminal figure in bringing New Wave and punk music to the New Orleans airwaves..." (from the WTUL history page.)

I don't remember many other DJs names at this point. Rob Heidt DJ'd for awhile. (I see he is a principal at a school in NJ these days! Looks virtually the same only abit older.)

(7pm NY time) This guy, Charles Driebe, managed Henry Butler (I wonder if Charles is blind too? He also managed the Blind Boys Of Alabama)... He also was on in 1974 doing a jazz show. So, since he is still on at 6 pm NO time, they aren't following the schedule on the website where the show would end at 6. Not surprising. I wonder what the schedule will be since they don't list it very well on the website.

The website has been updated since I started writing this. I think the hours will be 8 till midnight each night from now until Sunday when they start at 4 and end at who knows what time. We'll see. I'll listen to as much as I can stand.

He talks to other DJs but they are off-mic. And of course, he doesn't adjust them... We can hear them adequately though.

The cliché Coltrane My Favorite Things.

Another DJ is on now. A woman. Bizzarre Radio from 8 til 4 am so it won't be alumni. Or will it? It isn't clear.

Techno 2000. These are out-takes?

It's 8 pm NY time. Let's see if they do a station ID. Yes. The woman tries to talk over the music but she doesn't turn it down enough. Eventually she does.

Woman on again. Says they will air nothing but alumni stuff this weekend. Really?

They say they are going to play the Stranglers but so far we have the Roches... (Not one of their best songs.)

So it will be an all-alumni weekend. Good. I'll skip Bizarre Radio but pick up tomorrow as soon as I can.