Blows Against The Empire Reunion!

Following the trend of every old rocker with half his salt, I'm doing a reunion show for Blows Against The Empire on WCSB this weekend! It's happening this Sunday at Midnight, in Cleveland, on WCSB 89.3-FM. Listen via live online streaming at www.wcsb.org



Blows was my first radio show, and really, it wasn't even mine to begin with. Matt Dudas had the show for a little less than a year, starting in one of the 4-7am graveyard shifts, playing hardcore, punk, and thrash metal. He paid his dues, and moved into a sweet time slot: Wednesdays, 3-5:30pm.

We actually had a physics class together. These were the days when I wore a punk rock haircut and t-shirts in order to find other likeminded folks. It worked. I had heard the show, and in time, Matt invited me to hang out, for the first time in late 1986.

I had a great time! Matt played some tunes I suggested, and even allowed me to say a few words on air. He had a good enough time with me there that he invited me back. I went back, and kept going back.

I don't know what you know about hardcore punk songs, but for a radio programmer, the main thing to know is that they are short songs. 30 seconds to a minute and a half. These were the days before CDs. WCSB had three turntables and two cassette decks. Hardcore programmers had to be extremely proficient in cueing records and keeping order in the studio, or it would fall apart. Having me around was a big help to Matt, and improved the show in one key sense: The lazy thing to do would be to play almost half an album side in order to buy time. With a division of labor, every song would be off a different record than the one before. It allowed us to present as many bands and recordings as possible.

This mattered, because (cue the old man laff track), in those days, there was no internet. There were limited ways for Cleveland punk fans of finding out about a hardcore band from New Jersey like 76% Uncertain, or Gilman Street bands like Isocracy, or Operation Ivy (which later morphed into Rancid), or Green Day. You might read about the Gilman St. bands in Maximum RockNRoll, but if you wanted to hear them? You'd have to risk your money by mail order, or tune in to WCSB.

Matt & I had an on-air chemistry. Matt was in control of the show, and I was the smart-ass chiming in with remarks. We developed shtick. "Stump The Idiots" was our favorite giveaway segment. In order to win tickets to see The Exploited or Fugazi, or the Pink Holes free show, callers had to stump us with a punk rock trivia question, or say something we thought was absurdly excellent. A winning stump? "How many licks does it take to get the center of a Charms Blow Pop?"

The show ran it's course in 1989 when I was really feeling the need to do my own thing, and Matt was nearing graduation.

So here, nearly 24 years later, we're going to reprise the show. I won't give everything away, except to say that we will do Stump The Idiots for a giveaway, and we will do an edition of Mike's Sexual Soapbox. We will play hardcore & punk. But beyond that, you'll have to listen to find out.

Huge thanks to Keith Newman. He does a show every Sunday night at Midnight called Crap Radio. He is graciously hosting Matt & I for this reunion. I can't thank him enough. Keith, I owe you three!

It's been fun prepping with Matt to get this put together. We found pictures and flyers I hadn't seen in decades. Many thanks to Tony Erba for supplying the flyer of Matt with a Mohawk. I can't wait to let it rip one more time!

Podcast Decided

I've come to a conclusion about a podcast direction. It's going to be a personal thing, and hopefully entertaining to listeners.

I'll call it "This Podcast Could Be Your Life". That's a tribute to The Minutemen, and their great song, "History Lesson, Part 2". I took a great deal of inspiration from them, and specifically this song, over the years for the DIY ethic, and in particular the line, "Punk rock changed our life".



The plan is to simply talk about and play things that are important to me. Old WCSB pal Keith Newman and I share an outlook on great radio- it's personal and at least a wee bit obsessive. People get drawn into the lives of great radio personalities on the basis of the things they can relate to, and to the passion the host has for these things. Howard Stern is my favorite case in point, at least up until he got divorced.

So, I have a minor format that I've been working on. "Minor" because I don't want it set in stone. I like having features that recur, but not every time, and not in a set order.

Big Respect. I want to give a nod to someone important to me in each podcast. The title is a tribute to Mike Watt of the Minutemen. Watt has his own lingo, and when he speaks glowingly of someone, he often says "Big respect to...".

Musical Rediscovery. In going through old radio show tapes and in ripping old 7" records to digital files, I've rediscovered some great music, and want to share it. I'll focus on one artist each time.

Bucket List Report. No, I'm not dying, but I like the concept of the 'Bucket List'. It keeps me focused on goals. When I'm not striving for something, I get listless, so I'm making it an active priority to continuously put some goals out there. The first things I'll cover are travel related.

Radio Days Flashback. Those old radio tapes have some real gems. There was a lot of crap, too, but I'll spare the world and myself, acting like the latter never happened.

Mike Kole Drinks a Beer. Once upon a time, I was a home brewer, and even wrote articles about beer. Sometimes I even got paid for it. I really enjoy craft beers, and have missed beer over the last 8-10 years. Isn't that strange? I'm actually making a podcast as a tool for enjoying a beer once in a while. Well, when I'm a candidate for office, I feel I always have to be 'on', and I never drink. Throw in Lyme Disease, and I really just can't handle very much alcohol, so I've stayed away from it. But I do miss the enjoyment of one really good one now and then, and I've learned how to manage the symptoms of Lyme, so why not bring it in? Sad thing is- and this will annoy my drinking friends- I rarely even drink the whole thing. I get my fill in 4-6 ounces anymore. Go ahead- tell me I'm old. It's cool.

Mike Kole Drinks a Root Beer. Over the past decade, I discovered root beer as a lovely substitute for beer. Plus, with a horrible kidney stone episode in 2006, I learned I had to stay away from sodas with phosphoric acid, which means all colas. No Coca-Cola! I really am getting old. Funny how diet gets shaped by disease.

People In My Life. This will be the best thing. At least, this is the thing I'm most looking forward to: Interviews with friends. I've been taking stock of my friends and family and really getting to how great they are, with fantastic stories to share.

Beyond these, I figure there will be reports on family, travel, hockey, Where's George?, and yes, political opinion.

Fear Not, Internet Radio Listeners

Yes, Pandora is nearly likely demised, but the substitute has arrived- Slacker. Here's the high point of the PC World review:

The strongest aspect of the Slacker Portable is the associated Slacker Web music service, which you can listen to for free without the player. I suggest that you do so right away, even if you don't plan on buying the player. As with the Pandora online music service, users can enter an artist's name on the Slacker site, click Enter, and create a custom "station" consisting of free music from that artist and others similar in sound or genre. The Slacker site does a great job of matching your demonstrated tastes to other music that you might enjoy, though Slacker's artist roster and music-matching abilities don't seem quite as deep as what I've experienced with Pandora's
service.

Here's where the Slacker Portable is unique: After entering an artist's name and creating a custom station at the site, you can sync your stations to the player, for free. As a result, you'll always have a pocket full of music that you like, plus the element of surprise as to what's coming next on your station's playlist.

I imagine Keith Newman & I will talk about this a bit, along with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Sunday night on WCSB, during my Cleveland visit.

Weekend Agenda

It's off to Cleveland for me, along with Isabel, for extended family visits. Cousins are coming in for my Uncle's 70th birthday party, and there will be general grandparent time for Isabel.

One non-family fun thing will be a trip up to ol' WCSB at Cleveland State. After being in the Rhodes Tower building for many years, the station is leaving the space it outgrew 15 years ago. This will be my last look at the place where I learned radio and management (some to greater extent than the other!), slept many nights in my old office and in the Listening Room, and otherwise have countless fond memories.

Keith Newman is good enough to suffer me the indulgence of having me up during his talk show. Check it out, Sunday at Midnight via live stream at www.wcsb.org.