PixlBit

Well, my air checks didn't take as long to upload as I initially thought, so here we are. This one is I believe what got me the best Classic Hits DJ award for Spring 2012. It was nice to have an award on paper long before my diploma was mailed. Of course, they sound a bit (ok a lot) more tinny than they did initially, cause I don't know how to stream straight from a cassette tape, and had to resort to using my boombox to play the audio and my phone's Soundcloud app to capture it, but oh well. Since I don't expect you to listen to ten whole minutes of my babbling, here's some notes:

0:00 Apparently, where Soundcloud tells me a sound starts from after I edit it, and where it actually starts from after uploading are two very different things. Also, I got the most call-in compliments when I was tired and had a sore throat, but I'm not hearing the difference, really. You tell me, I guess.

1:08 I was always amused by a couple of our weather beds; this one sounded like Mission Impossible, we'll get to what the other one sounded like.

1:46 God, I miss Cane's Chicken. I went there so much, cause it was right across the street. Now, that delicious sauce that goes with anything is nowhere near me.

6:00 I really was pissed I paid for Panda Express the day before, and it could have been free; also do you know the name of the song? Well, just in case...

6:48 Seriously though, Slade looks goofily awesome if you watch their live Youtube vid for the song; you can really hear me struggle with my sore throat at this point.

7:48 And now we're on to the other weather bed. Tell me that doesn't sound like a porno track to you.

8:30 I'm aware that it makes no fucking sense to play Al Green then Joan Jett if you want to keep a consistent format, but the guy that always requested Al Green in the middle of what I basically made into a classic rock shift was well known to all DJs, as we were all pretty sure he was handicapped and that's why he called in requests all day (and was fairly difficult to understand oftentimes); plus, since he was often the only caller and I had no request limits on Classic Hits days (I loved having much more control over what songs I played on these days) aside from never playing the same song twice, I did what he asked pretty much, and hey, I love Al Green. Everybody wins.

Starts at 0:05

0:12 She really did quit soon after, leaving me thinking I might be under one of the higher ups; had been there, done that my Sophomore year, and hated it, didn't want to end my senior year that way; luckily they got another awesome person to replace her, and I ended up with a 4/5 on my Assistant Hall Director evaluation. And Hunger Games is nothing like Harry Potter at all, I know; I meant the hype around it was similar, the deaths thing was a joke I made before reading HG. I'm still on Cathcing Fire at present, though I did finish the first one in time for the movie (in about a week's time for my birfday last year).

0:58 Wikipedia says yes, Christian band, and therefore it is so; I would later review the band Close Your Eyes, a Christian Hardcore band, which is the second thing my station manager got on air after a review of mine, the first having been The Good Natured's "Your Body is a Machine," which I posted in my previous blog; "Paper Thin" from the CD Empty Hands and Heavy Hearts was the track put on the air from CYE.

1:47 "Fallen Angels" by Black Veil Brides is an awesome song

2:05 A friend of mine named Randall always had the best promos; this one was him dong a news announcer voice, then mimicking some classic music for some odd reason.

4:02 I believe ksauradio.com is still the website, and it's actually a decent station if you like alternative, but just be aware that none of the DJs are professional, and most of them are college students that don't really even like the format. I'm sure you could find a gem of a DJ in there, but I'm just telling you to tamper your expectations; you think I'm a bit dry and bad as a DJ (I am)? You've heard nothing. I don't consider myself the best or worst when I was there, but it can get pretty bad. It can also get a LOT better than my DJing as well, just beware though.

5:07 You can hear me laugh at the end of that Adam Carolla Apprentice rant, mostly cause I realized how stupid I sounded; of course New York knows how to run a business, which is why Grimaldi's Pizzeria, where I'm going for my birthday today, should send me free pizza for the rest of my life. Cause they're geniuses. Still not a fan of Trump though, and it WAS bullshit they let Adam go.

6:05 I did not in fact Tebow at the end of the shift, but given I was there until 2am on a weekend, I should have ... possibly the reason I didn't is cause I had to be back in at 10am that same morning.

8:47 No seriously, it was all the rage when I was in middle school, referenced by every comedian referencing drug culture, and just seemed to fall off the face of the earth; granted, it deserved to, even when I was young I thought it was incredibly stupid once I saw it.

9:25 I'm a hypocrite for still not picking that up, but I do think it's an interesting concept, and I do like Dylan and a lot of those artists.

10:12 It really is a great bar song, in my opinion, but I only occassionally go to them and have never heard it in that setting, so what do I know? Still, I think it'd be great to sing and drink to. Big Ass Glass Night was a tradition at Flashback, a local bar that served really cheap alcohol and wings that everyone really liked. I never went sadly, but I believe it was on Wednesday, so I guess whoever had "just got back" listening to this after midnight on Saturday really did have one hell of a good time..

12:29 I really was genuinely surpised someone was awake and listening at almost 2am to request that Dave Matthews song.

And this is jus a guitar track I improvised last Tuesday, hence the title. Unfortunately, my phone was charging, so I couldn't put it close to the amp, and you'll hear my strumming, but I thought it came out decent enough, I guess.Nothing really impressive, just something I thought sounded decent for what it was: improvisation.

Bing Image Mad Libz: Duke basketball player Seth Curry and Titanic actress Kate Winslet start a charity fund for Israel by selling copies of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater signed by them. Israel rejects the offer, as they are still mad at James Cameron and everyone else involved in that movie for missing the point.

Tony Hawks' Pro Skater blew me away when I first played it on my older brother's Playstation. It was so fun to skate around and see how many points you could rack up doing tricks, collecting videotapes in secret areas, and complete a plethora of fun and sometimes rage-inducing challenges the game had for you.

Some images probably from 2, oh well

It was so fun to grind on schoolyard benches, bust windows in abandoned warehouses, run through a dried up dam, and just generally wreak mayhem and do awesome tricks, even if you were a cop on a skateboard. 

What this game seemed to want to say to law enforcement,

and neighbors that wanted those skaters out of their pool.

But why was it so fun to just be in the game's world? I mean aside from the tight controls, plenty of "missions" to keep you busy, and generally fun feel of the game, I don't think it was necessarily the depth of the gameplay that kept me hooked.

No, it was the game's incredible licensed soundtrack that, along with its careless attitude and gameplay, kept me coming back for more. I can't say enough about how important the use of music is to a game, and the stuff in Tony Hawk's Playstation entries and beyond would continue to be perfect for its universe, with a lot of great rap, punk, even metal and ska tracks to help you in your quest to keep "the man" off your back. It opened with a Dead Kennedys song about cops, for fuck's sake.

And that brings us to something none of you can complain about, since it's my birthday today

Ska/ Punk Saturday

Of the various genres that graced Tony Hawk's Pro Skater soundtracks in the years to come, at least when I was still playing the series, punk was probably the most prominent, but ska and punk was a fairly common fusion in the 90s and on into the early 2000s, and that was decently represented by the series as well.

Now, that Dead Kennedys track is a pretty good example of what a punk rock song is, and I think most of you know at least generally what punk sounds like, but here to explain to you about ska, is Youtube's MisterSharp, half a century before he became Youtube's MisterSharp.

Ok, it's mostly the dance he's talking about, but note the guitars mostly playing upstrokes and the implementation of horns. This is considered part of the personality of ska, which has three "waves," "punk-ska" or ska-punk" being a slightly different, although mostly similar (i.e., a heavier use of punk influences like speed and more intense vocals) take on the third, and without getting into it myself, because I'm a fairly ignorant party, here's what I think is a pretty good brief history of ska music, complete with examples: (not really necessary if you got the gist from that dance video, but a cool video nonetheless, and more informative on the actual music)

And, just in case you needed another example of punk, here is my favorite punk band of all time, who I actually found through this song on THPS2. Bad Religion with "You." Expect to see this band on Waxing Lyrical Wednesday sometime very soon.

Mix them together, and what have you got? Bippity Boppity Goldfinger's "Superman" from THPS, a song that more or less introduced me to the genre, and was my favorite off the original game's soundtrack.

You've also got "New Girl" by Suicide Machines, where the punk influences are more obvious, but the ska still is as well if you listen to the guitars' upstrokes, voice in the verses, and very ska synths.

And just so actual ska is represented by more than just explanatory/educational videos, here's The Crystalites with "Bag-a-Wire"

Happy Saturday everyone!