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The New Ridge
Friday night I decided that the open holes for ideas in my playlist Saturday would be filled with some music that always makes me reminisce of the summer. I knew I wanted to play 4 new releases, but went with a natural ‘1992-1995’ type of program. Which means that I am going to play what I like for a change. So in the midst of me working, and prepping for smoking some meat on Saturday, I decided to go for a drive. It was off to the Flying W in Medford to meet up with Roger and Pete. But like the ass dragger that I am on days I am not working, I arrived late. Pete had just left for home bored, while Roger was off to see Big Bob Lovin’s new pad. I called Roger and found that he couldn’t find the easiest way to get to the new place in Tabernacle. So I sped off past Kirby’s Mill and made my way to Bob’s. I hadn’t been there yet, but knew the road he now lived on waaaaaaaay too well. This was the old route to the land of Ghiorgaye. Roger was a little lost when I called him, (Thank god I wasn’t in the car with him) but assured him he had to be close. Once I got to the vicinity of Bob’s new residence, I called. Bob said I was half a block away.
“You better look for Roger…” he said.
What to my surprise awaited me at the corner? A big old Buick that just had to be Roger. I flashed my high beams and then laughed hysterically. Armageddon must be near for him and I to meet at the same point without knowing it. We checked out Bob’s new place and loved it. Deep in the woods of the old Retreat/Ong’s Hat tract. I really loved it. For the last few years, I've leaned towards wanting to settle here. Watched 3 shooting stars light the sky up. We hung out with Bob and explored his new homestead while Erika, his daughter, prepped herself to leave for England again. She called her dad a dick and slammed the door. We laughed and I left for home.
Where There’s Fire, There’s Smoke Part II
Saturday I woke up surprisingly early en route to get a meat thermometer and a smoker thermometer. I only found the meat thermometer. It was time to use my smoker for the first time. I was a nervous wreck. I had two Cornish Hens I wanted to smoke as a Pilot episode to this soon to be sitcom. Now, if you know me, I skeeve raw chicken. Despise it. I could bathe in a tub of red meat with pulsating blood clots. Wouldn’t bother me in the least. I could play football with a wet Pork loin. Wouldn’t even blink. Chicken? Forget it. I actually feel myself getting weak when I look at it. Trust me, I will eat it, usually if someone else is going to make it. So I was a bit nervous about this. I didn't want to kill anybody...and I'm not a big fan of food poisoning. So, I used a nice Wegman’s chicken rub, and did my best not to throw up on the raw chicken as I coated and cleaned it. Innovator’s number was on speed dial on my cell. I had it cocked and ready. Time to fire up the smoker. I opened my bag of lump charcoal and packed the bottom bowl, while filling the top bowl with just about 4 quarts of water. In the center of the bottom bowl, I placed pre soaked and dried hickory chips. I was a little concerned about this because I had this feeling they weren’t going to stay lit. I rolled up a newspaper to use as my wick, and lit the bowl. Fire! Hmm. It went out. Relight, it went out again. I then realized, you have to crack the smoker door on the side just a little to allow the oxygen to get in. Now, I was under the belief that the air flow of Oxygen underneath would be enough to keep a nice and slow burn. Not the case apparently. So, the fire started, temperature became ideal, and the hens began to smoke. The smell was lovely. The internal temperature had to reach around 160-170 on the inside of the chicken, while the smoker itself had to get into the 250-280 range. I was lucky because in my first use of my new toy, I was assured that not only was I doing it right, but for a rookie, I would have great tasting chicken by 5:30. So still, I was neurotic. I frequently checked the temperature and soon noticed, I became the center of attention in my court.
“What is that thing?”
“It’s a smoker..”
“Wow….what are you smoking?”
“Chicken”
“You can do that here?”
“Well, I am 300 yards from a structure, so I think we are safe…”
My neighbors were absolutely fascinated. My neighbor Mike was having a cook out in the back of his house where I would see many friends I grew up with. I was shocked to see how old looking people had gotten. My one friend Jeff said, “Dude, you haven’t aged…” I felt like I was in the movie The Time Machine when Filby’s grandson was perplexed by seeing his father’s one time close friend on the streets of London unchanged 30 years later. They joked that they wanted to steal the smoker but that in itself would have been a sight to see. Little did they know how hot it had gotten on the inside. You’d be able to easily tell who stole it…just look for 3rd degree burns on their calves. I felt I was doing everything right. I even had a spraybottle of Apple Juice I was using to hopefully retain a sweet taste to round out the hickory flavor. By 5:45 they would be done. Temperature had reached 163 within the chickens and it was time to take them out. I was excited. I didn’t know if they were done, but they looked like it. My cat Opus was absolutely exhausted from watching me from the screen door. He passed out from both the heat and excitement. I brought one hen to my mom, who thought it was great. Next time however, I have to let them stay till about 167-170. But nonetheless, the chickens were moist and hickory enriched. I was proud. I cleaned my smoker, and thought about the next item to smoke. Maybe a brisket. Or a TURKEY! Wait…Opus will have to get a job first. Then at least I know it will be feasible.
The Great Unfinished
Tonight's show was mellow. I just featured a lot of personal favorites...San Lorenzo, Mei, Inertia, A View From The Sky....etc. I just grabbed what I wanted this week...like a lazy summer day. I played some favorites from Contraction, and the Jaco Pastorius tribute....tonight was more...I don't know...personal. No stress....sometimes, that's a good thing.

Tonight's Program Ran 4 Hours and 6 Minutes

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Where There’s Fire, There’s Smoke
I have been on this quest in recent years to find the best smoked/BBQ flavor there is. I am a junkie for the whole art of grilling/smoking/bbq. Doesn’t matter what time of the year it is. It could be a blizzard with hail the size of basketballs. I will grill. But I have this wild yearning to become a Jedi master in the BBQ/Smoking field. There are very few masters that have satisfied my taste buds to orgasm. I mean, sure, I have had some awesome cookouts at Eagles/Phillies tailgate parties, but they are just filler from keeping the beer from making you stupid and lethargic. The best I have documented mentally, has been that of the Innovator’s. He is probably one of the most talented independent grill/smoke/bbq masters in the area. (Besides being a music/audio expert) He has inspired me over the years with many a meal, and many a photo of his masterpieces. You can even smell the smokedy goodness just by looking at the picture. Running a close second in the sense of bulk, has been the Great Sawicki of Swinefest. This is an event every year that has been attended by some of the world’s greatest…at least in his mind. But nonetheless, this man doesn’t mess around. Sawicki is the master of the vinegar doused ribs. No one makes them like that. Finger lickin good! I must stop this rambling…anyway…it all came to a head last week. My buddy called to tell me that CharBroil had a smoker at an affordable price down at Home Depot. Not an electric one, but a charcoal one. A few friends explained that a water smoker is better than an electric one because you are using charcoal and it has a more ‘real’ flavor. So I ran down to Home Depot in Deptfort, NJ, (the only one that had it) and grabbed the smoker. I was elated. For this price, I have to have it. So in the muggy night, I drove the smoker home and started work on putting it together. That’s when everything took a turn for the worse. I went to pick the smoker parts up and they came crashing down on my toe turning it black. I saw stars. Literally. Worst pain on earth. At least for 20 minutes. I ran to put ice on my toe. That helped for a little while…turning it from black to a lovely shade of blue. I started putting the rest of the smoker together to find that a bolt was missing in the packaging. Nice. Real friggin nice. So my smoker was almost perfect when finished. Anyway, I became hungry as visions of smoked prime rib were dancing in my head. I decided to heat up some leftovers. As I pulled it out of the microwave, I took the cellophane off too fast and received a wonderful steam burn on my finger. So now, I have ice on my toe, ice on my finger, and I haven’t even done or cooked anything yet. And on top of it, I have to get up at 9 AM to be at the Mount Holly Grand Prix for the radio station. My old remedy for burns and the like, is a large bowl packed with ice and water. The extremity gets placed in the arctic water, the burn heals, at least the area stinging with pain, and you are good to go usually within 8 hours. After prepping the bowl, I tightened the rest of the screws on the handles, legs, and frame, intermittently dipping my hand in the ice to provide a brief numbness from the blistering pain. It was off to bed by 2 am only to be awakened at 4:30 am with Opus jamming his face into the cold reaches of the ice bowl. He has two bowls of fresh water, the toilet (yecch), and a dripping tub spout…but that’s not enough. I woke up 3 hours later, and as I got off the couch, I unexpectedly dropped my foot in the bowl.
Well…at least my finger stopped hurting.
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head
Well, Saturday morning was dreary and bleak. The sky was overcast, the air was thick, and it was a humidity percentage point away from just exploding over the region. When you are going 60 MPH and it’s still hot, you know something’s coming. I arrived into Mt. Holly for the Grand Prix bike race that was set to run through this old Quaker settlement. Upon arrival, I can’t help but always think the same thing. Mt. Holly, even as quaint as it is in some areas, is like a run down Moorestown. Kind of saddening in a way. I arrived at BCC to see our station is at the corner under the tent. Here comes the rain. I’m not talking drizzle, I’m talking sheets of water. We had everything in the world plugged underneath our booth. And because everything is so level in Mount Holly (hence ‘mount’) street wise, water is rushing our way. My first thought was, ‘somebody better get that receptacle away from the water’. No one did anything. I figured, well, if I am going to go, this must be the way. Obviously, I am here to write about it so, I lived. As the morning went on, any rain bubbles on the tent roof found their way of bursting on to me. After a while it got to be a comedy. Brett forced one, and Anchor left before the red shoes got damaged. By mid day, the race closed, and we packed up to go. I headed back home to set up for the show that was supposed to air LAST Saturday. Click here on why it didn’t air. I was wet, sweaty, damp, oh and wet. The storm continued on the way home.
Program 962
I rolled with the same playlist I planned for the week before. Now this is something I rarely ever do. I usually will scrap the whole thing, and move on with something else yet still keep some components of the previous show. I stuck to my guns and went with 961’s show. I kicked it off with the ‘radio’ version of my blog tribute to Syd Barrett. Surprisingly, I upset some of my listeners. They felt that I was far too harsh on Syd Barrett. How? I never said he wasn’t talented. My thought and belief, and still is, that they did far better without him, and that his image was made to be more than it was. Overblown in some ways, but nonetheless, he is an icon to many musicians. I just did my own assessment of Mr. Barrett and apparently made a lot of original Floyd fans a bit upset. I’m sorry about that. Speaking of Floyd and their influences, our new #1 CD (which was last week in reality) is the new disc from British outfit, Pure Reason Revolution. Out since April in the UK, this disc has been getting more and more requests as the weeks go by. Usually a disc that is import only can break into our Top 20 a month before being released in the US. This disc should have been on our top 10 months ago! Titled The Dark Third, this album encompasses many different influences, but the strongest being later Pink Floyd. These guys are it, and will be hard to knock out of the top 5 come the end of the year. We journeyed back to the spring of last year when we were invaded by space rock group Scattered Planets. This was the first performance in our new studios, before they ripped our infrastructure out again to make way for new air conditioning. We featured the new latino progressive metal band in Thessera. Fooled Eyes received quite a bit of response, but not as much as the new Spainish band Kotebel and their new CD titled Omphalos. This was probably the most responded of all their releases. I have watched Kotebel grow in the last few years from just a small project. Kudos to them, and people who never heard them, liked them. That makes me smile. On the Jazz side of things, I featured ¾ of the new album from Mujician and the album There’s No Turning Back Now. The title cut encompasses the entire disc and clocks in at 45 minutes. A DJ’s delight! We also featured the forthcoming jazz tribute CD that will sure to give guitar aficionados a non stop hard on in McGill/Manring/Stevens CD What We Do. I was honored and flattered again to get a thanks on the CD. That made my month. The calls were good tonight, and I headed off into the unknown dark of night, and dreamed of smoking briskets again and again.
The 5 Things I Think For August:
1. Salma Hayek is still the hottest chick I have ever seen. Dating back to 1992, no one touches her. (What does that have to do with anything?)
2. Pure Reason Revolution has nothing going against it in the weekly top 20. Therefore, it will dominate August.
3. I will hit the lottery and move to the shore.
4. I still don’t know if I am going to Progday or the Montreal Progressive Music Festival
5. Major make over production wise on the show. We will have a new voice of the show.

ROGER BARRETT 1946-2006


Shine On You Crazy Diamond
A pioneer died at 60. The man that made many of the popular bands of the era raise their eyebrows in the late sixties with his and his band’s quirky, psychedelic pop-twinged music and writing has left for the great gig in the sky. The man was Syd Barrett. Or what he was known as most of his life as, Roger Barrett. Roger died of complications due to diabetes at age 60 this past week. In a nutshell, this was Syd in the plainest way I can put it. He was a pioneer in the sense that he helped get the psychedelic rave scene in London in the late sixties get a boost by being the most ‘out there’ artist and band leader in that genre. Keep in mind, many psych and space bands started out at that time. It just seemed that the ‘Pink Floyd Sound’ had what it took to get over the hump. Imagine if you will, it’s 1967-1968 in England. EVERYONE that was into the new revolutionary music movement knew who “The Pink Floyd” was. They were at the forefront. Their shows were THE party. The Beatles were even fans of them. But what went from “The Pink Floyd” to the “Pink Floyd” had extremely noticeable differences. Roger Barrett was an innovator in his avant garde, childish, euphoric way. LSD was in full force then, and everyone who was anyone was having a good time. Meanwhile, the band had 3 other fully capable members, Waters, Wright, and Mason. They were actually more or less straight most of the time. But not Syd. Imagine if you will, doing acid every day for almost 2 years. Every day. Now add into the mix, a slightly schizophrenic ingredient in his make up, on top of the highly creative, intelligent foundation that Roger Barrett was. This was a devastating combination, and extremely saddening. There were times before the end of his tenure that Syd was singing different songs on stage while the band was playing their chosen set list. Despite the band’s love for him, realistically, Syd had to go. It just wasn’t making sense anymore. Syd had literally and figuratively burned himself out. The band still loved Syd and even had the hope that an old friend of Syd’s, David Gilmour, would play his written music even if Syd couldn’t be present for touring and the like. Far fetched, but nonetheless, the inevitable was ahead. Syd left. Or I should say they just stopped bringing him to shows. Pink Floyd changed forever. Syd’s mark is permanently etched in the history and love for what is ‘Pink Floyd’ by its fans. Almost every album has had some kind of reference someway, somehow, of the madness that Syd endured while in, and out of Pink Floyd. Meddle, Dark Side Of The Moon (And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes, I’ll see you on the Dark Side Of The Moon), Wish You Were Here (Shine On You Crazy Diamond, no detail needed there), The Wall (duh), Momentary Lapse Of Reason, The Division Bell, etc. The one cool thing I admired about the members, especially Gilmour, was that they always made sure that Syd got his royalties. Even 30 years later. Not bad for someone that was only on one album, technically. What I thought was even cooler was at the Live 8 concert when he got a shout out from a newly reunited Pink Floyd on stage. Syd died a year later. Maybe that’s what was needed. Some kind of closure. As for myself, I have to admit. I was never a big 'Barrett flavored' Pink Floyd fan. I mean, I am sure for the time it had to be excellent and revolutionary music. I also recognize that in my studies in music over the last 20 years that there are 3 kinds of Pink Floyd fans. Syd Barrett Floyd fans, Pink Floyd fans, and Gilmour floyd fans. Some intertwine with other fans….but the harshest and most non-forgiving fans have been the Barrett fans. Some walked away from Pink Floyd after Syd left, or when Atom Heart Mother was released in 1970. I myself love the Obscured By Clouds-Meddle era of the band. Even some of Ummagumma has made me smile at times. But let’s look at the facts. Pink Floyd became a totally different band. After Meddle, the band became a household name. Strings of sold out concerts and albums would follow as their success grew. Unfortunately, when the 'in crowd' in the media took to them, it was all over. Dark Side of the Moon was murdered by radio despite it’s perfection, Wish You Were Here was also beat up pretty bad by radio, Animals was brilliant but not favored by the new record reps during the punk movement, and The Wall was perfection(In a conceptual sense). But you can never get away from the fact that Syd was Pink Floyd. Do I think he was as masterful in writing and playing as Wright, Gimour, or Waters? No. Do I think Pink Floyd would have gone on with him if he cleaned his act up? No. Syd helps the enigma of what is Pink Floyd. I hate to say it, but it helps selling records. I am not saying that they all didn’t have a bond with him, but he was yesterday’s news in 1970. Even with the bizarre solo albums he released. Sure he inspired so many musicians. Bowie, Townsend, Robyn Hitchcock, even forerunners of the punk movement were enthralled by his image. Syd rose up, and fell down like a shooting star. A brilliant guy that lost the shine more or less. His mother took care of him in Cambridge for the rest of his days while he took care of a garden and lived his life. When his mother died, his sister took care of him. He was a productive person in a simple way and just kept to himself. There’s no mystery…no hidden message or secret. Syd became Roger. He was the first 5% of what would become Pink Floyd. Let’s let the man rest in peace now. All in all, he was an important component of a band that did far better without him. But he was the beginning.....Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
The Purple Lights Of Pemberton or Optimus Prime Attacks!
The heatwave kicked off Saturday afternoon. The radio station has been going through some renovations as well as the college in mainly getting this building cool. And cool I mean air-conditioning. In the 11 years I have been doing the show here, there has never really been a stable climate at the studios. That’s what happens when you build a radio station in a storage facility. I never seemed to care. I just always dressed accordingly. The station had been shut down most of the week due to transmitter upgrades. I figured there would be a small chance I wouldn’t have a show on Saturday due to the repairs. But, low and behold, Saturday we were in business. I listened to the station most of the day to keep track of any flubs in signal. Nothing. Sounded the best I had heard in recent memory. So I rounded a pretty good show together and got myself ready for Saturday night. On the way up to the station, I lost the signal in my Jeep. I called JBird and the lines were busy. The next thing you know, my call waiting is going off. It’s J.
”Dude, we have no power”
“What do you mean no power, what happened?”
“The station is pitch black…..wait the backup lights just came on…”
“Is it raining there? A storm maybe?”
“Not to my knowledge…”
“I will be up there in a bit…”
I get to the station, well just before it at the bypass to see 3 fire trucks, 5 police cars, 2 PSE&G trucks and a first aid squad truck. A traffic conductor proceeds to tell me that the transformer across the street exploded. Exploded? How? I mean, I know how they explode, but why on my watch? At any rate, disgusted, I rode to the station to find JBird wheeling his stuff out to his truck. When I say the college had no power, there was no power. Computers, security desk, nothing. So at this point, I was ready to chalk the show up as a loss and leave. I decided to stay one hour to see if the power came back on. Meanwhile, I am on the phone constantly with Brett, our station manager explaining the nonsense that happened at the college. One of our security gaurds was acting as if we would never have power EVER AGAIN. I called Roger.Lee in Atlanta to let him know to throw on a rerun of last week’s show, and that I would inform him of any changes in the next hour. At 11:05pm, the power came back on. But all the networks were shut down. Useless at this point. So I decided I would be the odd man out and help Big Bob Lovin move to his new place right up the street in Tabernacle. I booted up the boards, turned on the portable AC units, took a meter reading, grabbed my mail, and headed out of the station. Hey, at least I have a show for next week ready to rock…
Glistening
I left the station and headed down the bypass to see that wow, there are a lot of people around here during normal hours. This was the first Saturday I had to leave the college since 1997 that I couldn’t do my radio show because of technical problems. So it was strange to see Pemberton alive. I arrived at Big Bob’s and helped him and Keith get ready to move out of his old house in Easthampton. When I arrived, it got hotter. The weather was unbearable. 11:30 at night, and it was 82 degrees. Unreal. I insisted that I help Bob the way he has helped out our program over the years. Once we started packing the moving truck, I was burnt. It wasn’t like you sweat and then cool down with a nice breeze…any breeze that did come was hot and unenjoyable. It wasn't like, "ahhhh its summer" hot, its like "..someone call 911 this person is convulsing!" hot. We started making some serious progress till about 1am when Val showed up with some friends. That was when I realized two things. Never help someone move when you have flip flops on, and secondly, don’t stop your momentum. That messes things up usually. I headed home and responded to upset listeners about not being on. It was off to sleep in the sweltering heat. By Sunday, my buddy Pete, host of The Pete Palma program at 91.5FM, and I went for a cruise down to Ocean City, NJ. It was late, but honestly, it’s always therapy for me. Some of the best head clearing on earth is gassing the Jeep up and heading down route 559. The smell of salt and the bay is so comforting…the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. It makes you realize that you are privileged to even be here to notice these things. I play the lottery, often. If I win...I've decided, this is where I will go. Permanently.

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Strangers With Candy
My weekend started by me taking myself out on a date to the movies to see the cult show turned movie, Strangers With Candy. The show starred Amy Sedaris(who I am in love with), Steven Colbert(one of the funniest men on tv), Paul Dinello(I’ve seen that press a million times, Chuck), and Greg Holliman(the best principal a school could have). I started watching the show in 1999 when I became a Comedy Central junkie. They’ve had some great shows that I still love, Strip Mall, Upright Citizens Brigade, Reno 911!, and first and foremost, South Park. Nothing will ever touch South Park. I started watching Strangers With Candy by accident. Now it’s a toss up between SWC and South Park. I thought Jerri Blank was a disgusting character that I became drawn too almost immediately. Her antics of doing drugs, being promiscuous, and an all around wanna be thug, was very attractive to me in a strange way. I watched religiously from week to week including reruns and even using my VCR at times to catch the episodes I would miss if something had come up. The show always featured some disturbing scenario spoofed off of an ever famous after school special I was pelted and brainwashed with as a kid in the early 80’s. Well, I must say…the writers(Dinello,Sedaris,Colbert) are absolute geniuses. Sadly and surprisingly, the show was canceled and taken off the air in 2001. I was shocked. Just as it was getting good, too. Winona Ryder was just on it! God, what a knockout she was in the episode. But, Amy has been the imaginary source of my pretend affection as of late. After seeing what she really looks like…oh lord…she has crashed into my top 20 of women I love. The movie starts off going to the beginning of Jerri’s life as a 47 year old freshman. Her dad is in a self induced coma since she left home 32 years earlier, and Jerri discovers that her house has been taken over by a new family that already openly expresses hatred for her. Jerri doesn’t help the situation, obviously. But, nonetheless, she wants to help her dad and get him out of this coma by picking up where she left off in 1974. She tries to be accepted immediately in school, but like the show, she is always met with hatred and disgust from her peers. She stabs her brother with a fork, calls Mr. Knoblet(Colbert) a faggot and ultimately gives into peer pressure all for the sake of a Science Fair project that is full of deceit and lies to begin with. I can’t tell you the whole movie but I will say this. (This is my first movie review by the way.) I give the movie a ‘thumbs up’ if you are a cult fan of the show. I wouldn’t see the movie if you never saw the show. It would make no sense to you. As a matter of fact, at the end of the movie, I turned to the young guys behind me and said, “ehhhh it was good, but not as good as the show…” One of them looked at me and said, “There was a TV show about this? Where?” He was dead serious. Shocking. I really am a toolbag. Here are some pros and cons to the movie:
PROS
1) Amy was timeless as ever. Not to mention, she plays a very small and brief role as a bartender during the Science Fair meeting. THIS WOMAN IS HOT. Sedaris totally plays down her beauty…she is a fox. Cute face, dark skin, god this woman makes my day. I want her to have my babies. They are out in the car if she’s interested. Just look at her picture. Why can’t I meet a chick this cool?
2) They made a movie off of a cult favorite sitcom the Comedy Central people felt no one watched. God bless America
3) Steven Colbert and Paul Dinello are the greatest “Not making it too obvious they are in a gay relationship with one another” characters.
4) Cameo appearances from Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sir Ian Holm, Allison Janney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kristen Johnston, and Dan Hedaya.
5) Principal Onyx (Friggin Onyx lol) Blackman(Holliman) is a genius. Probably my favorite in the show. He is completely out of control. God bless him.
6) It was nice to see Cherri the Gym teacher in the movie. She is VERY funny when given more time. (The baby and the fake marriage episode from the show are unforgettable)
7) Jerri’s pot freak out scene alone is worth seeing this movie.
8) Maria Thayer(Tammi Littlenut) was perfect in this movie. She hasn’t changed at all with the transfer from TV to big screen
CONS
1) The story line was a little shady on her father in the show. First of all, it wasn’t the original father that I believed may have passed away during the taping of the show. He was always frozen in every scene. But here in the movie, played by Hedaya(Mr. Tortelli, remember that show?), He is in a coma, only to come out and be normal. Why wasn’t the guy that played the father on the show normal? Why was he always frozen in scene? Did something happen in between the movie and the first show? (Only a dork would ponder these things)
2) Why wasn’t the same actor used in Jerri’s brother Derrick? He was great. And meaner too. No knock to Joseph Cross. He was a good actor, but he wasn’t the original dickish Derrick.
3) Where the heck was Orlando? Orlando was in like every episode of SWC. Did he not go to Flatpoint then??
4) Deborah Rush(Jerri’s mom) was subdued in this movie. She is so evil in the show it’s timeless. She seemed toned down a bit in this however.
5) David Pasquesi(Stew, Jerri’s stepmom’s boyfriend…oh wait I mean…her meat man.) He was great in the show as well, but seemed a bit different in this movie. Like he was still Stew, but he seemed more serious in this movie. Can’t have any of that.
6) Was there any reason to have Kristen Johnston in the movie?

All in all, I loved the movie and made Amy Sedaris my new desktop image. Watch this woman be interviewed. She is adorable. *Sigh*

Ooooh babe, Don’t Leave Me Now
I made it home about midnight from the movies to find a dilemma was going on out back of my apartment. I walked in to see my cat Opus staring out through the venetian blinds. “But I love you…you can’t do this to me!” someone screamed. I peaked out to my porch, and then opened the sliding door. The hum of the neighbors’ air conditioner and the smell of humidity permeated the surrounding air. I tried not to make it obvious I was watching. I walked out and lit a cigarette. Then, out of nowhere, the girl driving decides to take off while her, I am assuming ex boyfriend at the present, is being dragged while holding on to the drivers side window. He’s a big guy…crying to her and telling her he loves her. Normally I wouldn’t care. But I am drawn in….I am seeing this happen to someone else. “Why are you doing this to me? How long were you cheating on me?!?!? Please Ellie, I love you…” I hear him yelling this yet at times he was muffled as his head would go in the driver’s side window. His desperation was eating at me…I knew exactly how this dude felt. I almost wanted to go downstairs and help this guy. How CAN you do this? I don’t even know you girl, how CAN you do this to this guy? Then I stopped myself. Who am I to make an assessment of something I know nothing about? Then I hear him on his phone.. "4 years down the drain…I can’t believe this…she was cheating on me for a while…I can’t believe this…” I wanted so bad to reach out to this dude and say what was said to me last year…”You’ll be ok, trust me, you will be ok.” But I said nothing. I watched as he slouched his shoulders and somberly walked up the street sobbing. My hairs stood up. Maybe I was supposed to see that tonight. Just walk on. I was quiet the rest of the night.
Looking For Mr. Carranza
Saturday morning I got up early for once(9am) and decided to visit the Carranza Memorial in Tabernacle where the famed Mexican Aviator was to have a ceremony where he perished 70 some years ago. They do it every year, and this time, I wanted to attend. I wanted to call my buddy Ben of the Pine Barrens website but figured with his new baby, he has more than enough stuff to do, and even Jack, but he was still recuperating from his snapped back. I’ll do it alone. My morning started out great. Doors off, cap on, deposited much needed money, and was off to take Tuckerton Stage through the pines. Only one problem. Once I hit the dirt road, a property owner smiling waved me down…I don’t know if he was waving at me, or the neighbor, so I kept rolling. Then not even a football field away, I had to stop and turn around. A hole about the width of the road kept me from going. I stopped and did the stick test, and the stick vanished. Good thing I didn’t go through. I turned around and headed back to find the same guy there. “Yeah, the road is all messed up, you won’t make it through.” Thanks bud. I turned and made my way down Carranza. I arrived to find two Piper planes soaring about the Carranza area flying about 1500 feet up. Maybe even lower. It was surreal. I parked on Carranza and walked up to find about 75 cars parked in and around the memorial. I was just in time. Once I arrived, there were VFW people, a decent amount of Latins, State Police, video people, cameramen, kids, ROTC members, and reporters. One in particular was BCT writer Jason Bodnar who interviewed us last September for the radio show. He and I talked for about a half hour. Jason is a great guy, and still tunes in to the show. He is getting ready to go back to school to be a history teacher. The ceremony began with some keynote speakers which was great. Not unmercifully hot, but manageable. There were historical pictures about, pieces of debris saved and other iconic things of that fateful July evening 78 years ago. The ceremony wound up ending an hour after it started with both our national anthem, and Mexico’s. But then something I never expected. After some story telling of Emilio Carranza by some family members, the key note speaker said “And to conclude this day’s services, we will now reenact the death of Emilio Carranza.” Applause followed. Did I hear right? What? What are you going to do? Crash a plane? You have to be kidding me. There was a pause, and then 9 men are carrying a stretcher out of the woods with a pretend dead guy on it. Still clutching his flashlight. Was this part needed? I mean, look…I understand what happened and all…but this is like….in bad taste. Isn’t it painful enough that he died in the middle of nowhere just a few minutes after he took off in 1928? It weirded me out and a few others. I walked back to my Jeep scratching my head. If I was in charge of the ceremony, let’s stick to the same program except "ixnay on the eenactmentray". That was just plain bizarre. MET WITH APPLAUSE! Sweet moses.
Yer Just SIC
It would be tough to match last Saturday’s show. Response was great for the first show of the second half of the year. This one would have to be just as good. I had some real heavyweights too. For starters, I got the privilege of officially world premiering the forthcoming album from Norway’s White Willow, titled Signal To Noise. This album is spine tingling. The new singer Trude Eidtang was the perfect replacement for former vocalist Sylvia Erichsen. Trude is a cleaner sounding Sylvia. A better Sylvia. Not taking anything away from Sylvia, but Trude is more White Willow. They sound alike, but Trude is what White Willow needed all along. The new album is phenomenal. We featured the cuts Ghosts which is classic White Willow at its best, and the misty eyed, haunting track, Splinters. What an excellent follow up to Storm Season. We then tracked music from the import only CD from John McLaughlin CD Industrial Zen. What a killer this is. John shows no age on this recording, or laurel resting for that matter! He is on as ever throughout the album with help of some great friends. Gary Husband, Dennis Chambers, Zakir Hussain, Eric Johnson, and many others. Cream of the crop on this record, and don’t expect a monotone jazz release. This smokes from beginning to end. We also featured the latest from guitarist Alex Machacek and his SIC CD. Terry Bozzio is back on board for this album and still plays his drums as acoustic to the music he can get. Excellent job. He has some newcomers on this album as well. Don’t expect Featuring Ourselves, this is a totally different album. A must get for 2006 if you are a guitar fan. I put my Metal helmet on for the featuring of Greek band Wastefall and the Self Exile CD. This new Sensory release spotlights a band that is doing the best music Pain Of Salvation didn’t do. Self Exile is the new melodic progressive metal sound to this DJ’s ears. I got the same feeling listenening to these guys I got when I first heard POS’s Entropia. God bless the Innovator. We featured Harry Miller’s Isipingo, and the CD Which Way Now. The press sheet was right. This wonderful archive from Radio Bremen 1975 makes you feel like you are really there. The only unfortunate thing is that Isipingo had only one album. This does a lot to expand, and if you are a fan of the Brotherhood of Breath, jump on this CD. What an excellent collectable. More labels should do what Cuneiform does. There are tons of gems out there waiting to be found and released. We rolled back to April of this year with our interview with Drummer/Composer/Percussionist Gregg Bendian. Vishnufest takes place this weekend and will be a hoot. They will be covering the music of Jan Hammer, Visions Of The Emerald Beyond and as usual, a smorgasboard of Mahavishnu Music. How proud does that make me? I will need surgery to remove the smile. Hopefully I can make it. At the end of the program, the automation of Z889 after hours began. But right before, there was one song to be played. Talking Heads Once In A Lifetime. This song hits me in a weird way. I walked out of the station with it blasting in my head with the biggest smirk I ever had leaving the station. Same as it ever was.
Inca Roads
Jack's back was finally on the up and up. That meant goin' off road. I made it to Jack's by 1:30 to christen his new Jeep in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. I actually had a decent amount of gas in my Jeep and was beyond pumped. As I pulled up the driveway, I could see that was still pretty stiff in how he walked. He really did damage to his back, but as he stated, it was better than most days. So at this point, I figured well, we won't be out long. He'll never last. Jack then decided we should leave my Jeep home, and take out his...with me driving! YEAH BOYEEE! It wasn't really want I wanted, only because I want him to get a feel of what it's like in the woods. And when I say woods, I'm not talkin Apple Pie Hill...I'm talking about deep deep driving like I did when I first explored.



Did a vehicle
Come from somewhere out there
Just to land in the Andes?
Was it round
And did it have
A motor
Or was it
Something Different

Jack getting into the Jeep was like watching a corpse with riga mortis being put in the front seat flat like a board. Like two stoners, yet completly sober, we drove in a compete circle discussing Wawa's and getting gas. We finally accomplished both. We first ventured towards Ong's Hat which Jack lives extremely close too. We didn't search for tantric eggs however. Our search took us to Apple Pie Hill. Jack had never been there. This is like the most well known spot in the pines. Jack's Jeep drove like a dream. We hit the dirt road and frequently had to warn Jack about upcoming bumps. We made it to the top of the hill.

Did a vehicle
Did a vehicle
Did a vehicle
Fly along the mountains
And find a place to park itself
Or did someone
Build a place
To leave a space
For such a vehicle to land
Did a vehicle
Come from somewhere out there
Did a vehicle
Come from somewhere out there
Did the indians, first on the bill
Carve up the hill

We took some shots of Apple Pie Hill and Jack was loving it. We left Apple Pie hill and headed down Friendship-Speedwell road. We came out to the one time Speedwell Furnace, and headed towards one of my favorite places. The first place we came to was the Harrisville Paper Mill. Jack loved it. Never saw anything like it. All that remains are walls from the one time side of the factory that are standing with barely any support. The mill opened in the early 19th century and ran out of gas by the time the 1870's arrived. At the turn of the century, the mill would burn down. Surprisingly, the town layout is still there yet barren and vacant. Beautiful place. After removing ticks and chiggers, Jack realized maybe he should have worn long pants. We then departed for my favorite place in the pines, Martha Furnace. This town just seemed doomed from the get go. Remote location, even by the colonial standards, difficult setup, etc. This town was hit with diseases that nearly wiped it out, yet, this is one of the most documented of the furnace towns. This town had already ceased operations by the 1840's. One of the first to do so of this scale in the Jersey pines. I always have loved this place. It just feels sad for some reason. The 'great unfinished' is what always comes to mind. We left there and headed for food. We looked at the Green Bank Inn, but Jack talked me into Dempster's in Mount Holly, NJ. They moved from what we used to call 'Dumpster's' to an actual nice design. Food was great, too. I had the Butch's Pulled Pork sandwhich which brought me back to the day's when Butch's was in operation in Pemberton off of 530. Unfortunately, he went into a catering business. He does well though. Despite not being around everyday like he used too, anytime I see Butch's pork being offered at a local place, I jump on it. Taste of the old days. The day flew by. We left the bar and headed towards my old employer in The New Golden Moon. Well, it's not called that anymore, it's now called the G Spot. The go-go bar is now a Cigar bar. Which more or less means, you can smoke in there. Thank god. Jack and I hung out for a few hours and talked with Al the owner. The lack of enthusiasm by their employees was apalling. Jack and I left for the Monmouth Turnpike and missed several turns into Pemberton. With reckless abandon, we passed through the gates of the Military base, invaded the compound, and found the tantric eggs...oh wait. Sorry, that didn't happen. We got back to the Village of The Sun, the Turkey farm, and put Jack's Jeep back together. I could do this every weekend. It was a toasty ride home. I thought about fixing my Jeep and getting her back to the way it was when I got her. She's still in good shape and rides well. We'll see how things go financially. Lots of things have to be done, but I will tell you this. There is nothing in the world like being a Jeep owner. Nothing. Nothing like taking those doors off on a muggy night, grabbing a few CD's, and heading into the woods, or going down the shore. Nothing like it in the world. My Jeep is freedom. I am glad Jack caved in and got one. He has the bug now.

This Program Ran 4 Hours exactly.

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Pursuing The Himalayans
This quiet weekend began with me stepping up to house sit for my sister. My sister and her husband live not too far from me and recently had major work done to their house. They needed to get away. 2 additions can be stressful. The house with tarps, loose electric wires and plastic sheets began to wear thin throughout the Autumn/Winter/Spring. If you ever saw Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life, the beginning of the movie shows the hostile take over internally of the old guard against the new blood in the company. The accounting firms’ building began moving(literally) through the corporate world and took over every competitor, invading like pirates. Well that’s what their house looks like. Like it could have taken off from its foundation and sailed away. Something right from The Money Pit. It’s gotten better. It looks civilized now. Rob gave me his key that refused to let me in. You needed a book on quantum physics to open the freakin door. Meanwhile, while I am trying to get in, Dana’s cat Max, a Himalayan, was yelping like someone was murdering him. It’s 92 degrees, my lower back is sweating which NEVER does, small animals are exploding on the blacktop of the street, and there are kids riding their skateboards and bikes circling like Vultures wondering if my nephew Dylan is home. I finally get in, and feed Max. But he’s staring at me with those big, bright blue eyes. You see, his dishes sit on top of the washer and dryer so the dog Zach doesn’t get to it. There’s only one problem. Max wants YOU to pick him up and put him at his dishes. Like personal service. Max talks constantly so I gave in. Dana insisted that I eat things in her refrigerator. You don’t have to ask me twice. And so, the love affair began with her Maple Smoked ham and 7 grain bread. As I ate and picked up children’s finally dried clothing off the back deck, I turned to notice that Max was looking at me quite intently. Like I forgot something. I played with him, petted him, still….wasn’t enough. It was then I realized what the deal was. He wanted my ham. No way bub. I went back to the fridge and learned I was so right. He wanted ham AND cheese. What a genius. Dana rubbed off well on him. But I began my sister’s addiction to salty things. Many years ago when I didn’t know what prog rock was, I would get an allowance and almost immediately run to the 7-11 on Church Road and get my usual. Mad magazine and a slim jim. But this wasn’t enough anymore. I later moved on to harder things like Spam, Deviled Ham, and ultimately smoked oysters. Dana became my enabler. She rubbed off on me too ya know, I now have an eye for exotic olives. MMMM brine.
My Clothes Never Smelled So April Fresh
Before I left, Dana offered me to do my laundry. Sweet! But I never knew you had to take a course to do laundry in her house. First of all, you don’t put detergent in with the clothes. It now comes as a dog toy with a soap ball you just throw into the wash. It does like 30 washes or something like that. Fabric Softner? You now pour it into this little container that disperses it evenly throughout the wash while it runs. I left the house and headed to the studio for what I thought would be a powerful show. I arrived ahead of schedule and started fine tuning the script. I opened things up with Billy Cobham’s Glass Menagerie titled Stratus. Excellent album and totally overlooked. Incredible line up as well. Innovator gets the nod for that one. I put heavy emphasis on new music tonight. Eclectic discs has just reissued what some proggers call the forefathers to progressive metal, (Don’t know if I agree with that) in British outfit High Tide. This band, to me anyway, is more of a Psychedelic band that does a lot of extended hard jamming. But I actually liked some of their material. They had two albums in the Sea Shanties from 1969, and the self titled from 1970. The band featured Simon House, who you may remember we did a spotlight on over a year ago. The response was great. Eclectic also released the finally on CD, self titled release from Colin Scot. This album featured Rick Wakeman, Peter Hammill, Phil Collins, Robert Fripp, and other excellent musicians. All of their new reissues feature bonus tracks that are sure to make a collector smile and wander into the unknown. Chad handed me the new Steve Roach CD from Nearfest 2005 titled Storm Surge. (One of the only CDs I got last weekend) Steve has an incredible catalog that showcases him in many different lights. This album was his 45 minute performance as the solo spot at Nearfest that was entrancing. We spotlit this in our 4th Hour Space Out segment which over really, really well. Our Cuneiform records new releases have been evenly spread out over the last few weeks, with this week being a look at Hamster Theater’s new double CD titled THE PUBLIC EXECUTION OF MISTER PERSONALITY / QUASI DAY ROOM: LIVE AT THE MOORE THEATER. The second disc, a live disc, was recorded at the Progman Cometh festival. Hamster Theater features a little more than 50% of the Thinking Plague lineup. Excellent new studio album as well. Dave Willey should be very proud. A few weeks back I received a disc from ReR in the album E M from IZ. This features Dave Kerman on Drums, Michael Lance Serviolo who is the main composer and plays guitar, and Tom Sublet plays bass & synthesizer. This album without a doubt, kicks my ass. It’s experimental, it’s dark, it’s minimalistic, it’s scary, it’s awesome. Another excellent new disc we featured is from Canada’s Karcius and their Kaleidoscope CD. This is a project that will make their way to the Montreal Progressive Music Festival in September. I loved their debut, and can’t say a bad word about this one. They should be fun to see live. And our main spotlight tonight went to Pure Reason Revolution, our most responded disc in The Dark Third. This British band has made some serious headway and has already been labeled by non prog reviewers as ‘New Prog’ music. The response was very fascinating. Some hated it, said it had no business being on the show, while others, loved it and said they fall into that grey area of placement as The Mars Volta did last year. Oh I ain’t done yet. This will be getting a lot more spins. Hostile response to new, good music is fuel for me.
I’ll Have A Glass Of Your White Willow
As our 50 weeks to 1000 rolls on, tonight we went back to July of 2001 when Norway’s White Willow joined us in studio. Ken came up big to get the gang to come down and do some stuff live. It was unmercifully hot, and there was like 13 of them. (Not really) But at any rate, they came in and chatted about their most recent album at the time, Sacrament. They gave us a great interview, while then singer Sylvia Erichsen sang Endless Science, a song that would later show up on the 2004 album Storm Season, the #1 voted best CD of 2004. That week that they were in New Jersey involved me taking these guys to Philadelphia and show them around. What a nightmare. I had the serious hots for Sylvia but she showed no interest. But we playfully flirted all week long but sadly, never executed. I banged my Oldsmobile up parking, and drank lots of obscure beer. I am officially 0-1 with Norwegian women. Whoa am I keeping track??
Jacka Breaks Backa
Saturday before the show, I had gotten word that Jack had finally given in and got a Jeep. I waited to see if the Jeep had made its way to Pemberton, but unfortunately no. Jack was excited, as was I. After the show I drove up the street and looked the new mean machine. Its electric lime green, 5 speed, 6 cylinder, fully loaded, with a smoking stereo. I was so happy, I wanted to drive it. None the less, jack and I made plans to get this bad boy out in the woods the next day. I called Jack and wasn’t getting him on the phone the next day till about mid afternoon when I learned the worst possible situation had happened. Jack tried moving the back seat in the Jeep back, but learned the hard way that they don’t go back. HIS back paid the price. My poor friend now lays in bed, unable to move on his vacation with a beautiful Jeep winking at him in the driveway. I even shot for a rain check the next day, but this wasn’t going to happen. Jack did some damage. I thought I had bad luck. Sheesh. I returned to my sisters on Sunday and finished my 14th load of wash. Just kidding. I actually have to say though, my clothes, no matter how much I sweat, smell april fresh. God that’s awesome. Upon returning home Sunday night I started going through some emails and noticed that you people actually read my blog. I think it’s hilarious. After getting through some emails, I had an email from a close friend that said, “Dude, did you quit Nearfest or something?” I read other emails just the same from casual listeners and close friends. I think there was a serious misconception. I never said I quit Nearfest. At all. In a nutshell, the question was, do we need to be a part of Nearfest every year? A close colleague said, “Why kill yourself every year if no one is noticing?” That didn’t mean I was through with Nearfest. Those that know me well, know I don’t go down that easy, and step up to the plate when needed. Last weekend was a lot of frustration with me standing at a crossroads…and not necessarily totally with Nearfest. It was time to cut the chord with some situations, and time to take stock in others. I was also disappointed in some former staff members that walked away and didn’t give another shot, while others can’t seem to get their life on track. I didn’t have a bad time, or get the blues about Nearfest. I vented, and needed too. I later had direct talks with Rob and the situation is ironed out. It was nothing personal, jeez. Nearfest would roll whether I was involved or not. It was my time to stop and say, hmmm…did we wear out our welcome here? I don’t hate those guys or have a bad word to say about them. In fact, I adore both of them. So many of your emails were totally wrong, friends. It’s the exact opposite. I love those guys and trust very few at that level to be consistent. On the road to big events like this and others, there are several speed bumps. I just wanted to see that both sides of the world of the gagliarchives on the outside were satisfied and will have the right tires to go over those bumps without ruining the machine. And I think, we are there. So all in all, we are ready to roll for 07, 08, 09, 10, etc. I hope this clear things up for most of you.
Independence Day
This used to be one of my favorite days. One I used to really look forward too. Although I haven't disclosed much about the topic, I was engaged 12/26/04. It was kinda cool actually. I was in a spot I never thought I would get to. Well, wait. Let me strike that. It's not that I never thought I would come to that point, I just never thought of how it would be. We loved going in the pines and she was related to the landmark Bozarth family that settled there. It was a lotta fun learning and teaching her family history. I felt this was one of her favorite places and decided that it would only be fitting to ask her to marry me in the middle of Wharton State Forest. It was one of the pinnacles of my life. I finally found who I wanted to be with, and couldn't wait to spend my life with her. We had met in the spring/summer of 2002 while I was working at my buddy's bar. I couldn't wait to see her come in. She was best friends with the girl I worked with at the bar, Stacey. I used to bother Stacey every day about her friend. As much as I liked her, I didn't make a move. The exact opposite happened. She had asked me out 2 seperate times to go out, and I declined. I had something come up everytime. The third time was the charm. A casual date led into nearly 4 years of being with one person. Our anniversary was July 4th so the day was really special. Obviously things didn't work out, which I still scratch my head at times and ask what happened.... and although you move on, you'd be an idiot, or I'd even go as far as saying 'not a man' to recognize that there are things you are never going to forget and feelings you are going to feel. Today was that day. Riddled with memories. You can't look back and you must roll forward. Sometimes you spend extended time questioning what went wrong....the what ifs....then the dissapointment of knowing no matter what, it's over dude. You can't go back to that. Move on. But today, it occurred to me that, I spent so much time detesting her for what she did to me, that I forgot how much I loved her. Hey it is what it is, and people aren't always what they appear to be. But one thing I realized was, I was ready. The outcome was not what I wanted nor expected, but one thing is for sure....I was there. So today was a day of reflecting. For me to ignore it would have been like ignoring a pink elephant in a pure white room. Hey it's there. You felt it, knew what it was like...walk on. Outside is blue, and green.
Happy Independence Day

Tonight's Broadcast Ran 3 Hours and 59 Minutes