5 months ago
Friday, January 15, 2010
Jay Reatard died on Wednesday, but I won't make a big deal out of it or launch some big tribute show today. Nick already covered that ground yesterday. Maybe when we hear more details about the tragedy- what killed him at 29, for example- we'll revisit it. Most people presume drugs for someone that young, and I always go through this stage of denial where I say, no, he was too cool, he wouldn't be so lame as to kill himself accidentally by drowning in a puddle of puke or suffering heart failure induced by overconsumption of cocaine and pills. But what would be more reassuring? Certainly not a heart attack before 30.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The Power of College Radio
Friday, September 11
College radio is not a high-tech operation. Most DJs are alone in the studio, picking records & CDs, cueing them up, previewing them to see if they'll transition well from the last song, and all the while keeping track of the songs so they can tell you once in a while what you've been listening to.
All that can go to hell in a heartbeat if you have a skipping record or an unexpected guest or malfunctioning equipment or a long-winded phone caller. With experience and imagination, disaster may be averted or transformed to triumph.
Cue Inki's Buttcrack (Rapeman): A 7 inch little record with a big hole, released in 1989 on SubPop as a limited edition installment to their monthly singles club, (posted on this blog). I am lucky enough to have one of these, but it's warped, with a visible curl turning up the edge of the record.
I'd never had a problem playing it though, until yesterday. It seemed like a good idea to open the show with it- it is instrumental, has this slow buildup that you can talk over, and then morphs into a righteous ear-boxing of a song. But because of a very minor (and fixable) technical problem, the intro to the show was practically derailed by the needle jumping up and down and refusing to stay in the grooves.
Perhaps it was the radio gods' intention to throw us a curveball yesterday. I was training a new DJ who was thus able to learn three things: always have a backup thing you can put on, such as a PSA about strokes; needles sometimes are mounted to the cartridge at an angle by careless persons before you so you have to twist them to stop the plastic riding the vinyl and jumping over the warps; and the counterweight on the tone arm can be pushed up to 3.5 to force the needle to sit more heavily on uncooperative records.
Of course, some records are just beyond salvation, but yesterday, things worked out just fine. Listen to it for yourself here.
College radio is not a high-tech operation. Most DJs are alone in the studio, picking records & CDs, cueing them up, previewing them to see if they'll transition well from the last song, and all the while keeping track of the songs so they can tell you once in a while what you've been listening to.
All that can go to hell in a heartbeat if you have a skipping record or an unexpected guest or malfunctioning equipment or a long-winded phone caller. With experience and imagination, disaster may be averted or transformed to triumph.
Cue Inki's Buttcrack (Rapeman): A 7 inch little record with a big hole, released in 1989 on SubPop as a limited edition installment to their monthly singles club, (posted on this blog). I am lucky enough to have one of these, but it's warped, with a visible curl turning up the edge of the record.
I'd never had a problem playing it though, until yesterday. It seemed like a good idea to open the show with it- it is instrumental, has this slow buildup that you can talk over, and then morphs into a righteous ear-boxing of a song. But because of a very minor (and fixable) technical problem, the intro to the show was practically derailed by the needle jumping up and down and refusing to stay in the grooves.
Perhaps it was the radio gods' intention to throw us a curveball yesterday. I was training a new DJ who was thus able to learn three things: always have a backup thing you can put on, such as a PSA about strokes; needles sometimes are mounted to the cartridge at an angle by careless persons before you so you have to twist them to stop the plastic riding the vinyl and jumping over the warps; and the counterweight on the tone arm can be pushed up to 3.5 to force the needle to sit more heavily on uncooperative records.
Of course, some records are just beyond salvation, but yesterday, things worked out just fine. Listen to it for yourself here.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
What the hell is Tight Pants?
Not to be confused with current legwear trends, the Tight Pants radio show was named after the Stooges song of the same name- the one which became Shake Appeal once Raw Power was sufficiently sanitized for the public.
Tight Pants doesn't purport to be strictly a rock'n'roll show, but it often is and most listeners seem to appreciate it for that reason. I like to think of it as "Music for Barfights" or like "Soundtrack for Smashing Whiskey Bottles While Standing on Tables and Throwing Chairs." If you listen to the show, you probably have your own description. Feel free to post it below.
Tight Pants made its debut in January, 2006 on a podunk radio station in a cowboy-cum-old hippie town out west. I grew up listening to college radio but was under the mistaken impression that a person had to be a music expert or like wicked popular in the scene or something in order to get a show on a good station like WMBR. It was mostly true that you had to be a student at most of the other colleges to get shows. So I never did radio in my youth beyond the occasional visit to a friend's radio show.
Then I lived overseas for a long time, and then I came back to go to grad school and became consumed by this urge to do a radio show. WCBN was really pivotal in bringing me to UM-Ann Arbor, but before relocating, I shacked up at a relative's for a few months, so Tight Pants was first unleashed onto the unsuspecting public of aforementioned old hippie town. I don't think anybody listened to it. I sure hope they didn't.
Tight Pants doesn't purport to be strictly a rock'n'roll show, but it often is and most listeners seem to appreciate it for that reason. I like to think of it as "Music for Barfights" or like "Soundtrack for Smashing Whiskey Bottles While Standing on Tables and Throwing Chairs." If you listen to the show, you probably have your own description. Feel free to post it below.
Tight Pants made its debut in January, 2006 on a podunk radio station in a cowboy-cum-old hippie town out west. I grew up listening to college radio but was under the mistaken impression that a person had to be a music expert or like wicked popular in the scene or something in order to get a show on a good station like WMBR. It was mostly true that you had to be a student at most of the other colleges to get shows. So I never did radio in my youth beyond the occasional visit to a friend's radio show.
Then I lived overseas for a long time, and then I came back to go to grad school and became consumed by this urge to do a radio show. WCBN was really pivotal in bringing me to UM-Ann Arbor, but before relocating, I shacked up at a relative's for a few months, so Tight Pants was first unleashed onto the unsuspecting public of aforementioned old hippie town. I don't think anybody listened to it. I sure hope they didn't.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Inaugural Post
I applied for what could have been a cool job recently, and one of the questions the bossman asked was, did I maintain a blog? Mildly incredulous, I responded that I had enough work to do without adding to it with something as frivolous as a blog. Apparently that wasn't the right answer. I did not get the job, and that wasn't the only reason either, but here goes...a blog for the program which airs on WCBN every Friday from 3:00-5:30pm. This show is Tight Pants. Welcome.
Wednesday, November 11, 1992
Tight Pants Archives
2012
Friday, February 24. Sooo many Buzzcocks. PLAYLIST! LISTENNN!!
Friday, February 17. SECOND SHOW OF WCBN 2012 FUNDRAISER. PLAYLIST! GET DOWN! This 150 minutes brought in $800.
Friday, February 10. FIRST DAY OF WCBN 2012 FUNDRAISER. PLAYLIST! GET UP! This 150 minutes brought in $500.
Friday, February 3. Put on your brobes. PLAYLIST!
Take off your pants.
Friday, January 27. Exhausted! PLAYLIST!
Caffeinate!
Friday, January 20. On fire! PLAYLIST!
Burn!
Friday, January 13. Screeam! PLAYLIST!
Yow!
Friday, January 6. Interrupt the DJ! see hear
2011
Friday, December 30. Tally ho, 2011, you were a great year and a horrible year all rolled into one. see hear
Friday, December 23. Say it, don't spray it! see hear
Friday, December 16. O'Ding on caffeine before radio is not a very good idea. see listen for yourself
Friday, December 9. You got to lose. You can't win all the time. Also, heavy metal. see lose it!
Friday, December 2. Flesheaters, DOA, Big Boys and the Black Flag. see hit it!
Friday, November 25. Ding dong! see come on in!
Friday, November 18. Got a couple goodies from Nortonfest 2011.see hear
Friday, November 11. Definitely out of town on this day. Click this archive for very not-tight pants.hear
Friday, November 4. see hear
Friday, October 28. hear
Friday, October 21. hear
Friday, October 14. hear
Friday, October 7. Bye bye Cleetus.see hear
Friday, September 30. hear
Friday, September 23 . hear
Friday, September 16. hear
Friday, September 9. hear
Friday, September 2. hear
Friday, August 26. More new wave! see hear
Friday, August 19. Bye bye Spooky. see hear
Friday, August 12. Flipper! Fuck you!
Friday, August 5. hear
Friday, July 29. hear
Friday, July 22. hear
Friday, July 15. heat
Friday, July 8. hear
Friday, July 1. beer
Friday, June 24. rear
Friday, June 17. queer
Friday, June 10. fear
Friday, June 3.hear
Friday, May 27. I might have been out of town for this. hear
Friday, May 20. listen, commentary coming later...much later.
Friday, May 13. So hot. look listen"
Friday, May 6. Training DJ Ant. look listen
Friday, April 29. RIP Poly Styrene. look listen
Friday, April 22. Earf Day. look lsiten
Friday, April 8. OMNI INFLUX!
Friday, April 1. Lightning Strikes!
Friday, March 25. More fucking Chuck Berry!
Friday, March 18. Give us your money, 2 More Chuck Berry!
Friday, March 11. Give us your money, 1 Chuck Berry!
Friday, March 4. slushaite
Friday, February 25. escuchate
Friday, February 18. In solidarity with college radio out of San Francisco, Tight Pants joins a nationwide simulcast of KUSF in exile.
Friday, February 11. first week in new job
Friday, February 4. whoa!
Friday, January 28. listen
Friday, January 21. listen
Friday, January 14. listen
Friday, January 7. listen
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