I see that no amount of self-deprecation in the original post will deter people from piling on.
There really wasn't that much self-deprecation in the post.
probably
I doubt this would have been sufficient for w-lfs-n, though.
It doesn't help that, coming from a KCRW-listening household, I 1. have long been familiar with its ways and 2. don't like Harcourt or his show.
Let me revise that to just say that I don't like Harcourt's show.
Amazingly enough, the Times article describes it:
Harcourt talks about the listeners' ''comfort zone'' and their need to have things they're already familiar with seeded in the mix. KCRW's audience is largely affluent and professional, and the median age of the station's listeners is 44. As a show designed to ease listeners into the day ... If there's a downside to this, however, it's the risk of excessive tastefulness, the possibility that, overflowing with tremulous, yearning, restrained singer-songwriters and billowing clouds of chilled-out gossamer electronica, the station's programming can at times amount to a formulaic rootless cosmopolitan soundtrack, the audio equivalent of a spread in Wallpaper magazine.I would argue that the risk has been realized. It's relentlessly polite, bland, and toothless, just the thing for an upper- or upper-middle- class 44-year-old who still wants to think of him or herself as with it. Consider: "he was the first in America to play Norah Jones and Coldplay on the radio.". Chris Martin (of Coldplay) thinks he has "impeccable taste". That is not a ringing endorsement.
The title is also a raging misnomer.
My God, it's like it was designed for Ogged.
You're never going to forgive me for the TMBG comment, are you?
I dunno. I'm listening to it now and it's kind of good music to write crappy philosophy to.
I intend that as an endorsement.
Some folks of a stereogummish persuasion would probably say that MBE makes Paste subscribers look edgy.
Not me, though.
If I wanted to start a flame war, I'd ask if they're playing "Let Down" right now....
but I won't, because I'm not that kind of person.
If I were in the mood for stating the obvious, I would claim that all Weiner's taste remains, regrettably, in his mouth....
:P
['buggeth not the exhausted philosopher, for subtlety is no longer an option']
The extent of my little-bitchiness can be gauged by this: Cala (and Tom) and I really agree on everything but that one song. But why is Ash posting as Cala?
Imitation is the, um, highest form of flattery? (Though imitating internet styles may just be lame?)
Can someone explain how OK Computer fits in here? Because I was mystified when Weiner mentioned "Let Down" (am I showing my parochial tastes by assuming it was the Radiohead song?), and I remain mystified now.
More on topic: so if this streaming station isn't any good, recommend one that you like. Some of us are bored of our owned music.
WRCT, my favoritest radio station, seems to have streaming audio. They seem to be playing punk rock right now. I don't listen to streaming stations, though.(And: I just figured out the difference between 'now' and 'AOTW'.)
Lost the link to WRCT's front page.
Radio is so 90s, Cala. No one listens to radio. It's too popular.
I am so completely from the 'Burgh. Born, raised, and grad schooled here. And commenting from the Win95 crate in my parents' guestroom as we speak.
Cool, Matt. Born in the south hills, grew up there, grad schooling elsewhere. Family's still out in the suburbs, though.
Pittsburgh's not a half bad little city. Except for the infrastructure which had to have been designed in the dark.
1. It was new to me. (But I am hopelessly unhip.)
2. I like it so far. (But I never heard the good 80s music till college, and I still liked 80s music.)
3. I see w-lfs-n remains a little bitch. (But I am too afraid to re-enable Java, and so cannot use the Greasemonkey script.)
Damn, I must admit this (second link) is actually funny:
Hmmmm. .... Update: Freeper "Shermy" had the same reaction, word for word! [It's a one word reaction-ed Word! He had one more "m"-ed There you go. Overwriting.]
Cala--you mean the bridges and tunnels and shit? That's one of the advantages of being from Sq. Hill--never have to use it....
And from the second link, I completely agree with Kaus on college radio. I'll be in the corner, mumbling about blind squirrels.
As Strong Bad said, college radio can be summed up in five words: Dead air, um, dead air.
Matt, aye. Getting to Squirrel Hill is relatively easy. Getting across the Fort Pitt bridge during rush hour, out the tunnel (or alternately, we've closed the tunnel inbound during outbound hours, go directly to the West End bridge, do not pass go, do not collect $200, and don't mind the construction)..... the fact that it seems to get from outside the city in one direction (say, south) to get to another spot on the perimeter (say, east) requires practically going downtown just really snarls things.
Within city limits it's not so bad, though.
I do believe that the Fort Pitt Bridge construction is done for the foreseeable future. But when it was going on the lane sign on the bridge was described by the City Paper as having "more arrows than were shot at Custer's Last Stand."
And then, during the West End Bridge era, there was the time when (I think the Ft. Duquesne bridge was closed) getting back to the East End from the North Side meant going across the West End Bridge, skirting the Mon, and then getting on the Fort Pitt in the left lane and getting off in the right lane so you could get to the Parkway East. Four lanes of merge right.
The time I got on 279 South going north was largely my fault.
When I was working in the city back in 2001, to get to the East side from downtown during rush hour -- this was during the Parkway East on-ramp construction involved:
1. Start in the Stadium parking lot.
2. Cross the Fort Duquesne (I think) bridge.
3. Continue to the Fort Pitt bridge.
4. Exit via the Fort Pitt Tunnel.
5. Take the first exit: right lane, but as soon as you exit, shift left towards Uniontown and THEN take the 'Truck 376' loop. Try not to get killed in the weave zone.
6. Return to the city via the other side of the tunnel.
7. Far right exit for Monroeville.
This circumvented trying to actually merge on 376 from within the city which usually took an extra half hour.
There is also a place where signs for 28N and 51N I think are on the same pole and pointing in opposite directions.
And there's just a lot of signs where the arrows look like what would happen to a normal street sign after Bugs Bunny jumped up and down on it.
Oh God, I used to do that to visit a friend on Mt. Oliver. The only way to make a left off the Fort Pitt bridge is to go through the tunnel and come back. Isn't that the same thing? (Eventually they explained to me how to cut through Beltzhoover I think it was.)
OTOH, the Hot Metal Bridge which is now open to traffic is the roxorzest name for a bridge evar.
Nothing is off-topic here, is that the message?
JE, I think the message is rather, is there anything ON-topic here, ever?
Ben w-lfs-n is right. Harcourt is not the optimal person to have replaced Chris Douridas whose show was several notch closer to fantastic when he was the music director at KCRW and the host of MBE.
But, looking at the bigger picture, MBE is still one of the best shows out there...
Dude. I didn't even start talking about Myron Cope's retirement. This is amateur night for wandering from the topic.
