dimland radio 7-6-13 show notes

Dimland Radio's Look At Sports

 

Two items here really. First was how ESPN Radio, the national shows anyway, seemed to be obsessed with NBA star Dwight Howard.  They talked about little else.  Seems as though they just didn't care about the greatest game ever devised by man: baseball!

My second point on sports was about my home team the MN Twins being completely owned by the Hated Yankees.  The Twins regular season record against the Evil Empire since 2002 is 21-59.  That's just sad.

 

A Merlins' Tale

 

We have a family of merlins leaving in a tree across the street from us.  Merlins are birds, so relax, I'm not talking about tree-dwelling wizards.  Merlins are birds of prey and some local falconers came to check them out and one of them snatched a pair of the five chicks to raise for hunting.

It was very cool.

 

Never Found In The Eighties: Urgh! A Music War Week

 

Urgh! A Music War is a concert film that was released in 1982.  I first saw it in 1985 and thought it was awfully cool.  It features 30 plus New Wave, punk, post punk, and otherwise alternative bands from the late 70s and early 80s.  I did a week long series of Never Found in the 80s dedicated to this film.

I profiled the following bands:

The Fleshtones

Echo & the Bunnymen

Au Pairs

Gang of Four

XTC

 

An Atheist Monument In Florida

 

It's the first of its kind in America and it's way under the Bible Belt in the deep South in Florida.  It is a monument to atheism and it sits along side a monument to the Ten Commandments.  The American Atheists, having failed in getting the Ten Commandments removed from the public square, opted to erect a monument of their own.  A bench with quotes from noted atheists.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  Learn more about it here.

 

Saint Pope John Paul II?

 

The late Pope John Paul II is a sign off by the current Pope away from being a saint.  It is alleged that after John Paul II died he performed two miracles.  Two miracles is the minimum number need to become a saint.

One of the miracles was curing an old nun of her Parkinson's disease.  Too bad his powers didn't manifest themselves until after he died.  I can think of one person John Paul II might have liked to have cured of Parkinson's while he was alive... John Paul II.

Oh well, the Catholic church can make whichever of its members a saint that it wishes.  It's their club.

 

Oh, Norm...

 

Poor Norm MacDonald doesn't believe in DNA or science in general.  (I think he confuses his ignorance for disbelief.)  However, he chooses to believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing being who loves us so much that he'll send us to hell for not believing in him.

DNA (and science in general) have lots and lots of supporting evidence, while the Christians' god (and all the other gods for that matter) have no supporting evidence.  You just have to have faith.

Kudos to Larry King (who interviewed Norm) for correctly pointing out that when scientists get something wrong it is the application of more science that corrects the mistake.  Not prayer or faith or wishful thinking.

Here is the clip of Larry King and Norm MacDonald.

Movie Recommendation

None this week. I just ran out of time, so you are on your own.

Music heard on the show (These songs are linked above)...

Dimland Radio opening theme song: 'Ram' by The Yoleus

First ad break bumpers: 'Come Again' by Au Pairs & 'He'd Send In The Army' by Gang of Four
Second ad break bumpers: 'The Puppet' by Echo & the Bunnymen & 'Respectable Street' by XTC
Closing song: 'Angler's Treble Hook' by $5 Fiddle

That's it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com

You can also go to my CafePress store and buy stuff with my artwork on it and have me do a portrait for you if you like. Find out more here and here.

concert memoirs pt. 25 - burning spear, the fall & elastica

Burning Spear

8/29/94 First Avenue w/Mike Ticket Price: Comp. Tickets

Well, well. The second comp. ticket concert in a row. And it’s also a show attended without John. John wasn’t interested or was otherwise busy.

You will notice that from here on there won’t be many shows that I saw with John. I would be moving into John’s basement the following spring (Just in case you’re all wondering, no, we aren’t gay. We weren’t a couple. Let’s move on.) and, once I had started living in John’s house, John and I barely hung out together. Even before I had moved in the trend away from each other had begun. We're still friends.

I wasn’t sure I was going to go when I’m mentioned, at work, that I had a couple tickets to the upcoming Burning Spear show. A coworker, Mike, was big into the reggae so he jumped at the chance to go.

I knew only one song by the band. The song was Ku Klux Klan. I had seen them perform it in the very influential (for me and John) concert film, “Urgh! A Music War”.

Despite the fact that I knew none of the material, I had a blast. It was a fun show.

Everyone at First Avenue was grooving to the music. And I do mean everyone! Everywhere I looked in the packed club were people dancing. On the main floor, off to the sides, in the back, upstairs - everywhere!

What a great time and John missed it.

The Fall
9/17/94 First Avenue Alone Ticket Price: Unknown

Yep, I went to this show alone. I’m not sure why John didn’t go. It is unusual that John wasn’t there, The Fall being one of his favorite bands. It’s possible that the concert happened while John was in Europe.

So, I ventured in alone and stood right up at the front of the stage. The ultra-cool Mark E. Smith paced the stage while delivering his unique vocals. He was also fiddling around with a small tape player. It appeared that he was trying to get it to play something through his microphone. Apparently, it wasn’t working so, eventually, he gave up.

Another good show that John missed.

Elastica
6/4/95 First Avenue w/Joel & Gary Ticket Price: Unknown

I went with a couple of other friends of mine, Joel and Gary. I knew Joel better. He and I had worked together at Wendy’s for years and did a lot of hanging out together. Gary was Joel’s roommate and an all around good guy.

As we waited for the band to play, I caught the eye of a young woman. She spotted the shirt I was wearing. It was a white t-shirt with a large depiction of the Canadian flag. She asked if I was from Canada. I answered honestly (as my mother taught me to do) and said, “Nope. I just like the flag.”

She gave me an “oh” and quickly moved on.

Joel and Gary jumped right on me. They said I missed a golden opportunity to hook up. I should have lied and said I was Canadian.

I don’t operate that way. I didn’t then, I don’t now (my wife would object). I knew she would figure out I wasn’t from Canada. I guess I blew it, eh?

I never did pick up any women at First Avenue.

Heavily influenced by Wire and other 70’s era punk bands, Elastica was one of the last great bands to pogo to. And I pogoed myself to near exhaustion. It didn’t take long, either, because I had gotten a little bit older and I was feeling it.

I avoided the slam dance pit. I didn’t feel up to it at my ripe old age of 30. So I stayed off to the side and pogoed away. Much to the chagrin of the young woman standing near me. My dancing and the moving crowd caused me to bump her a couple of times. She wasn’t pleased and she let me know it. I told her she should expect a little bumping standing where she was and that I was from Canada. (Ok, I didn’t say that last bit about being from Canada.)

Oh well, I never did pick up any women at First Avenue.

It was a great show and they had a special announcement for us. They were going to be filming the concert sequences for their video for the song Stutter. They actually played the song twice. Once during their regular set and again in their encore.

They told us about the filming just before they played Stutter the second time. They told us to go crazy and show a lot of enthusiasm. They wanted the audience to be really revved up and we obliged.

So, if you watch that video on the YouTube, you now know that part of it was filmed at First Avenue and I was there.