Some of you may remember an old Internet radio site I ran for a few years called Auxiliary Radio.  It was a showcase for innovative radio programming.  Not algorithm based programming like Pandora or Last.fm, but an actual DJ based radio station.  It was great!

The radio site has been gone for nearly a decade and has since been taken over by Korean spammers, but that’s another story.

I recently moved into new office/studio space and began opening boxes that have been sealed for many years.  In the process I unearthed hundreds of radio shows that were recorded and produced during that time. It’s like finding gold.

One of my favorite programs was Hicks, Hillbillies, and Honky Tonks. This particular radio show was done remotely from Appleton, Wisconsin, by our good buddies Todd St. Marie and Troy Nichols.   I remember when I received their first show…

I was in a time-crunch and listened to the first 10 minutes or so and posted it on the site.  I would later learn Todd and Troy left their mics on for about 6 minutes during the music.  At 20:28 it all goes bad.  Ah, the memories.

Here it is, the first Hicks, Hillbillies and Honky Tonks in all it’s glory. Enjoy!

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My good friend, John Reidy, and I finally got around to recording the LOST podcast we’ve been meaning to do — posting it less than 24 hours before the series finale.  But alas, it is in the bag and chock full of LOST music, reflections, and predictions.

Play the LOSTcast

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So who’s going to die in the series finale?  Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Locke… all of them?  We get into it with our LOST finale predictions.

Scott Stafford

John Reidy

As you can see, our LOST debate was heated and vibrant.  We played lots of fun LOST music, as well.  Nirvana, The Pixies, Perry Como, Mama Cass, Patsy Cline, Iggy and the Stooges, and The Kinks all make musical appearances.  We discuss the scenes and how the music was used in LOST.

Good Stuff.  Enjoy the LOSTcast and the series finale tonight!

The Wall Tour Dates Announced

I will be at the Pepsi Center in Denver on November 23, 2010.  There’s not a chance I’m going to miss it.

I am completely obsessed with collecting lossless audio copies of live concerts and bootlegs.  In fact, in the very near future I will launch a website dedicated to the audio gems I have found and collected over the past few years.  One of my favorite bootlegs is the Roger Waters demos of The Wall.  The audio quality isn’t perfect, but I prefer it to the official release.  Roger plays all instruments and vocals.  It’s rawer and grittier and awesomer.

So here it comes… The Wall in concert.  Here are the official 2010 North American tour dates:

Sept. 15: Toronto (Air Canada Centre)
Sept. 20: Chicago (United Center)
Sept. 21: Chicago (United Center)
Sept. 26: Pittsburgh (Consol Energy Center)
Sept. 28: Cleveland (Quicken Loans Arena)
Sept. 30: Boston (TD Garden)
Oct. 5: New York (Madison Square Garden)
Oct. 8: Buffalo (HSBC Arena)
Oct. 10: Washington DC (Verizon Center)
Oct. 12: Uniondale (Nassau Coliseum)
Oct. 15: Hartford (XL Center)
Oct. 17: Ottawa (ScotiaBank Place)
Oct. 19: Montreal (Bell Centre)
Oct. 22: Columbus (Schottenstein Center)
Oct. 24: Detroit (Palace of Auburn Hills)
Oct. 26: Omaha (Qwest Center)
Oct. 27: St Paul (Xcel Energy Center)
Oct. 29: St. Louis (ScotTrade Center)
Oct. 30: Kansas City (Sprint Center)
Nov. 3: New York (Izod Center)
Nov. 8: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center)
Nov. 9: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center)
Nov. 13: Fort Lauderdale (Bank Atlantic Center)
Nov. 16: Tampa (St. Pete Times Forum)
Nov. 18: Atlanta (Philips Arena)
Nov. 20: Houston (Toyota Center)
Nov. 21: Dallas (American Airlines Center)
Nov. 23: Denver (Pepsi Center Arena)
Nov. 26: Las Vegas (MGM Grand Garden Arena)
Nov. 27: Phoenix (US Airways Center)
Nov. 29: Los Angeles (The Forum)
Dec. 1: Los Angeles (The Forum)
Dec. 6: San Jose (HP Pavilion)
Dec. 10: Vancouver (General Motors Place)
Dec. 11: Tacoma (Tacoma Dome)
Dec. 13: Anaheim (Honda Center)

The Flaming Lips released their cover album of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon via itunes.   I have to admit, when the cover album was first announced, it didn’t bring too much excitement for me as I did not know what to expect.  The Flaming Lips last two records, Embryonic and Christmas on Mars, are outstanding.  It was the albums in between those two and Soft Bulletin that gave me pause.  Luckily, the Lips delivered a tremendous album that I can’t stop listening to.  Much like Tom Jones, the Flaming Lips reinvented these classic songs and made them, dare I say, better.

The idea of a cover album is a curious one.  Phish covered albums live every Halloween, at least this is what I have been told.  Beck has his Record Club that records cover albums, most notably the Velvet Underground & Nico.  Outside of those examples, I don’t think the cover album has been attempted very often by popular artists.   And certainly with not much success.  This is why I am even more impressed with the final product of Dark Side of the Moon.

I have read several reviews of this album from popular media outlets and have found that rock critics do not care for this at all.  I don’t understand why.  It may just be loyalty to the original album, which, of course, is a timeless classic of epic importance.  Or maybe most critics are dinosaurs that will pay homage to the new Ringo Starr album before even listening to anything remotely adventurous. Or different.

My take is this: The Flaming Lips reinvent the Pink Floyd classic with a more sprawling, raw, psychedelic, and funk driven landscape.  I like all those things.  The original album simply became a road map.  It’s a great reinvention.  And different than the original.

The Flaming Lips received help from Stardeath and White Dwarfs, Henry Rollins, and Peaches.  Henry Rollins plays the part of the Roger Waters over-dubbed voice that permeates through Dark Side of the Moon.  Peaches plays the part of Doris Troy, emulating her soaring wails during “The Great Gig in the Sky”.

The Flaming Lips played the Dark Side of the Moon in it’s entirety on New Year’s eve in Oklahoma City.  I am hoping they take that show on the road.  An evening with the Flaming Lips at Red Rocks performing Dark Side of the Moon would be an epic event.  They could even play the Wizard of Oz on the rocks during the show.  I think the Flips need to silent their critics by making this happen. Until then, download the album and enjoy. Don’t listen to the dinosaurs.

This is my current favorite Harvey Sid Fisher song.

I absolutely love the last two Of Montreal albums, Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer? and Skeletal Lamping.   Prior to the last two albums I enjoyed their music, but did not have an unhealthy obsession with the band like I do now.  Their live shows have turned into a Ziggy-Stardust-meets-Prince-wrapped-in-a-Kubrick-movie spectacle unlike anything I have seen.  Of course, this would all mean nothing if their songs were not reworked and fleshed out to enhance the experience.  Musically, they are an excellent live band.  It’s quite a show.

Here we have a recording from the BBC Hub Session broadcast October 13, 2008, that I found at The Dime.  Now, the original recording is not lossless.  It is a mp2 file (not mp3) recorded digitally.   The quality is good, but I decided to give it a little extra love with an official “aux remaster” before sharing.

Please be aware that I am not an audio engineer and am essentially just tweaking buttons — or in this case, tweaking icons.  But I am pleased with the results.   I have included the original mp2 file to download for those who want to try their hand at remastering it, as well.  If you give it a go, please share.  I’d love to hear it.

This a performance within a radio interview, so there are only two songs (Triphallus, to Punctuate! and Beware Our Nubile Miscreants) from Skeletal Lamping, plus some random banter from the host, George Lamb.  Enjoy!

More from the brilliant La Blogotheque series.