1958 DKW "Universal" Kombiwagen

What are the buttons under the radio? The numbered ones.

the paper in the window that describes the car descibe the car as having an optional Marine Band radio, is that what the numbered buttons are? Seems most likely

Lioncoln Premiere, when Lincoln cars had their own style and design department, and weren't cookie cutter fords or mercs with different nameplates

Notice the enormous running lights - turn signals in the bumpers, has to be the biggest I've ever seen on a car or truck

on the left side of the photo are the cool switch levers.. they might make a bitchin addition to a hot rod

What a big old barge, must be a great solid feeling tank of a ride.

See Tere's photos of it at: http://justacargal-s.blogspot.com/2011/04/good-guys-del-mar-lincoln.html

Chris Morris - Blue Jam

I'm not British, so until briefly having XM radio in my car I hadn't experienced much British radio. It's interesting stuff, though I don't really know how to accurately describe it. Would it be accurate to say there seems to be a lot more room for experimentation and diversity? That's the impression I got. Satellite radio like XM and Sirius are great services and seem to emulate this style, albeit in a looser fashion. Just in case you're wondering, I dropped my XM subscription close to when I lost my job but it had more to do with the fact their billing department is detestable and couldn't get any information right, so I continued to get bills saying I was late despite multiple calls to provide and confirm my billing data. Standard US radio sucks, though I'd love to hear some standard British radio. I'm assuming it suffers a lot of the same issues but probably doesn't suck nearly as bad.

One radio show I would gladly have stayed up for would have been Chris Morris' Blue Jam, a bizarre presentation of ambient sounds with twisted monologues running atop them. The show ran in the early morning hours from 1997 to 1999, potentially giving new meaning to the title of The KLF's 3 A.M. Eternal. It was disturbing, fascinating and all around engrossing, sounding like something you'd hear while half-awake or having a fever dream. Of course, living in the US, I knew none of this until I started seeing ads for a then imminent CD release of material from the show on the always wonderful Warp Records. After some research and eventually downloading a rip of it, I found myself in love with the absurd world of Blue Jam, enough that I went to a certain record store, one I absolutely DETEST, and exchanged my hard-earned funds for an official pressing of the CD. The art was great, it had liner notes that referenced the backing tracks and even led to a web-only bonus track. A purchase I am eternally pleased with!

The soundtrack to Blue Jam is just as essential as the disturbing sketches. Morris and his crew selected a lot of Warp and Ninja Tune's catalogs for the broadcasts as well as works by Eno and other producers, though nothing here sounds contractually chosen, it all seems hand-picked by true music lovers who clearly enjoyed their work. This perfect mesh leads to bizarre skits like that of the television repair man, Mr. Lizard, who deals with two angry patrons who have found lizards to be crawling out of their tv, all while being extremely cool and quiet and backed by sounds from Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Volume II. If that description doesn't entice or sell you on this, I'm not sure anything will, but trust me, this is some truly bizarre and funny stuff, although I suppose the old American argument still stands that you either enjoyed Monty Python or you didn't, there was no in between.

After Blue Jam left the radio, two television shows were produced mostly using the original radio sketches and adding perverse visuals and twisted editing. You can still order the CD from Warp but it may no longer be in print as they're offering a cassette version at Bleep. On top of that, the album isn't available digitally which I'm sure has a lot to do with the ownership of the sketches and the music beds. The DVDs of the shows are still available but those are only available in Europe in PAL format, so anyone with an NTSC DVD or Blu-Ray player will find themselves terribly out of luck. All of that is terribly disappointing which is why I'm posting the album for your listening enjoyment. This is ripped from my original Warp Records CD of the album and I'm posting it as a set of high quality V0 MP3s, though you'll also find the video from the web-only exclusive, Bishop Slips, an MP3 of that track and Amon Tobin's collaboration with Morris, Bad Sex, in the archive. Grab this, play it in the middle of the night and get freaked out. As someone who doesn't indulge in "extra-curricular-substance-excursions" you can take my word that this record will freak you out whether you're smoking a J, getting shitfaced or doing anything else significantly mind altering. It's simply wonderful! Download link is below and I've listed all the music beds beneath the specific tracks. Enjoy!


Chris Morris - Blue Jam

01 Blue Jam Intro

02 Doc Phone
music bed: Labradford - P

03 Lamacq Sting

04 4ft Car
music beds: Propellerheads - Go Faster
Moloko - Day For Night

05 Suicide Journalist
music beds: Amon Tobin - Sordid
Amon Tobin - Nightlife
Funki Porcini - Going Down

06 Acupuncture
music bed: Naked Funk - Dreamland

07 Bad Sex 2
music bed: The Herbaliser - A Mother For Your Mind

08 Mayo Sting

09 Unflustered Parents
music beds: Pat C. & The Maxwell Implosion - Tic Tac
Funki Porcini - English Country Music
Brian Eno - Deep Blue Day

10 Moyles Sting

11 TV Lizards
music bed: Aphex Twin - SAW2 CD1 TRK7

12 Doc Cock
music bed: Propellerheads - Oh Yeah

13 Hobbs Sting

14 Morton Interview
music bed: Sie - Message From Jupiter

15 Fixit Girl
music bed: Aphex Twin - SAW2 CD1 TRK5
Jimi Tenor - Nobody's Perfect

16 Porn
music bed: Fila Brazillia - A Zed & Two L's

17 Kids Party
music bed: The Clifford Gilberto Rhythm Combination - Restless

18 Club News
music bed: 9 Lazy 9 - Brothers Of The Red

19 Whiley Sting

20 Little Girl Balls
music bed: Kensuke Shiina - Luv Bungalow

21 Blue Jam Outro

Bonus Tracks:
Bishop Slips (video and MP3)
music bed: Soul Coughing - Screenwriter's Blues

Amon Tobin - Bad Sex (feat. Chris Morris)

Steve Stein aka Steinski - Sonic Boom Reel #3

Sometime in the late nineties, at least if I'm remembering correctly, somehow I managed to find Steinski's e-mail address and wrote telling him how much I loved his records. I don't know if it was because I was actually collecting his other releases, the ones that aren't The History Lessons, but he was extremely polite and mailed me two CD-Rs with the request I don't go blabbing all over the internet where I got them from because he simply couldn't mail out free discs to everyone that asked nicely. I was thoroughly enthralled and discussed the contents with him in some detail, especially Tommy Boy apparently having used alternative masters of The History Lessons on a promotional reissue that coincided with their Greatest Beats compilations. That's buried in my collection but I'll post it eventually because someone out there might find it interesting to hear an extra two seconds of crowds cheering at the end of Lesson 3.

Anyway, as I was saying, Steinski mailed me two CD-Rs, the first being a homemade retrospective named Beg, Borrow & Steal that contained all three Lessons, three then-difficult to find Double Dee & Steinski tracks (one of which I can't find another copy of regardless) and six Steinski & Mass Media recordings. Almost everything on that disc was reissued on the What Does It All Mean? comp a few years ago but at the time they were pretty damn near impossible to find so I was elated. I abided by Steinski's request and didn't tell anyone about where I got the discs or makes copies, but he must have given copies out to other people because I saw people trading versions with the same track list and artwork as well as revised versions with a then unavailable remix of a Coldcut and Chuck D track. Still, no matter who had what, I had a CD from the man himself and I was in heaven!

The second CD was just as interesting as the first but for completely different reasons. At the time, Steinski, under his given name of Steve Stein, was working with an advertising company named Sonic Boom and that second disc was a collection of commercials, radio ID's, excerpts from his own show, a binaural audio demonstration and a few more remixes. The humor and creativity shines through those recordings, reminding me of a time when advertising didn't suck, when commercials could be entertaining too instead of obnoxious. It's the sound of a guy who loves sound, be it musical or found anywhere else, finding a way to make a living doing what he loves in different mediums.

I've never shared this disc previously and I haven't seen anyone else trade this online so I thought it would be a nice post. With the times having changed some and most of Steve's discography being easier to find I figured he wouldn't mind, especially for mostly decade old advertisements. It's a hell of a listen and a lot of fun, but not just for the commercials. There are remixes I'd read that Steinski had done for The Simpsons which never saw release, so I figured I'd never have the opportunity to hear them. There is also a lovely remix for DJ Spooky, a guy I don't have many good things to say about, but Steinski's remix of Invasion is basically an ambient version of his other remixes, still covered in voices carrying on a theme and it's gorgeous.

Regarding the CD-R of Beg, Borrow, & Steal, it stopped working a LONG time ago for reasons I never understood. If anyone has advice regarding the salvaging of a CD-R's contents please lay it on me. There is a Double Dee & Steinski remix of Tony Touch's (I Wonder Why) He's The Greatest DJ on it, and while it did see release on vinyl I've never been able to find anyone with a copy. It's not the greatest DD+S remix but it's good and along with their remix for Dimitri From Paris's Une Very Stylish Fille they're two tracks I would trade something seriously kick-ass for copies of! That offer is standing and can be discussed in detail if you'd like, but for the time being please enjoy this fascinating look at Steinski's career outside of hip-hop cut-ups! Scans of the track list, disc and cover are included in the archive.


Steve Stein - Sonic Boom Reel #3





PS - Steve doesn't work with Sonic Boom any longer apparently. I called there and was told no one has been in their employ with that name within the last four years. With that said, I deleted Sonic Boom's contact info from the packaging info for their privacy. Also, I found this post while Googling a pic of Steve for this post. It has some VERY INTERESTING images of early DD+S releases. Check it! Oh, one more thing, Steve, if you don't want this shared, let me know and it'll be gone in a flash.


UPDATE: I spoke with Steve and he is totally cool with the reel being online. He is the consummate gentleman and pointed out an important detail regarding Sonic Boom. It's actually his own corporation although it appears the Sonic Boom I contacted is actually in Chicago. I don't know why Google would connect a Chicago phone number with a New York address but strange things happen I suppose. Regardless, Steve is a wonderful guy and I'm going to send him some questions for an e-mail interview. Thank you again Steve!

Radio Daze 96-97

I hope everyone enjoyed the Sign O' The Times box. Keep leaving notes regarding problems with the files and I'll try to get them fixed ASAP. As for me, I'm gonna be out and about this week so please forgive me if there isn't a post every day. It's been kinda rough lately. I got a part time job, then lost that part time job when I had to call off sick, and now my girlfriend lets me know her job, the one for which I had to pack up everything in a hurry and move to somewhere I'm not terribly familiar with, may be in jeopardy if she can't make her performance look awesome on a test, so she's freaking out which just makes me miserable. I've got an interview tomorrow but I don't think I'll get that job, but I do have other options and have to talk with her about them. Anyway, none of those things should slow the site down, but it sure would be nice if I could get paid to do something like this instead of hunting for a full time job somewhere. I know, kinda a pipe dream, but it works for some people.

I don't know if anyone will be interested in the tracks posted here today but I was digging through some tapes of my radio shows at WFAL AM in Bowling Green from 96 and 97 and recorded a bunch of old airchecks and promos. I'm only responsible for two of them but they all sound good so I thought it would be cool to post them with a little commentary.


WFAL radio 96-97

01 The Big Box Of Rock airchecks
The Big Box Of Rock was a show that some of the station managers had and they got to interview musicians and low-rent celebs on a regular basis. It was a very cool show and gained some infamy for an interview with, if I remember correctly, Bret Michaels of Poison, who misunderstood a statement about the Gallagher Brothers of Oasis fame and thought the hosts were talking about Gallagher, the shitty comedian who used to smash watermelons on stage. Bret started cursing on the air only to be stopped by the hosts, corrected, and then he mentioned that he'd kick the Gallagher Brothers asses too. Anyway, I loved the show and I loved their airchecks, so one day with my pal, The Queen Of Slack, we played a bunch of the airchecks for about thirty seconds just to hear them. One of the hosts was in the building and didn't like it, but after I sang his praises he forgave us.

02 Daisy's Flower Trip ad
I can't remember if Daisy was her real name or not, but she was FINE! She had a really good show and could talk nice and sexy at the drop of a hat. I filled in for her a few times for which I normally got badgered as to why I was there and she wasn't.

03 Flipside ad (incomplete)
This was some kinda hippy shop where everything smelled awful and they had black light posters and Phish paraphernalia. Generally speaking I avoid places like those as if there was a plague sighting. That said, I thought the ads the station made for them were really good. This ad was damaged so I spliced it back together but some of it is missing.

04 Let's Injure Dave ad
My first show! It was on from 6am to 10am Saturday mornings. I SUCKED! I yelled and screamed a lot and was terribly annoying. It was a lot of fun though. I created this commercial with a guy everyone nicknamed Fat Spank, although I can't remember why. It was kinda disrespectful and Spank (sorry guy) was a really nice dude. Regardless, Spank really liked the commercial and we did the voices of the people being whipped. Daisy is the sexy voice over top the agonizing voices. I wanted to include the show's intro too but I couldn't find a tape of it.

05 MNOP ad
MNOP was my second show and a notable improvement. I wasn't yelling into the mic or doing shitty voices much any more. Unfortunately, I had decided to rename myself Ink for the show, clearly for stupid reasons which I'm glad I can't recall. The promo stuck, but I started referring to myself as Dave again after the second show. I did all the voices in this ad and produced most of it if I remember correctly. There is even a little bit of backmasked demon speech in there. I thought I was Mr. Bigshit when I put this together!

06 Solarium ad
Most of the ads that WFAL played were created at the station, usually by Fat Spank, although there was a strange PSA we had to play about deer birth control which was sent to us by god-knows-who. Anyway, this one is for a local tanning place.

07 Sterling's ad
Sterling's was a local grocery store. I don't know if it's still there or not. I remember applying for a job there but it was such a long walk that I was glad they didn't hire me. Nonetheless, didn't stop me from renting porno at the video store next door to them.

08 WFAL Crushing Your Head aircheck
Funny aircheck with a sample from The Kids In The Hall.

09 WFAL Generic aircheck
title says it all

10 WFAL Kill Your Hootie aircheck
Matt Shiverdecker (please forgive me if I misspelled your name Matt) was in charge of the music review department and had a bunch of us listen to new music before we could add it to rotation. I remember getting to hear the second Korn album a few days before release and running into some kid who just about lost his mind that I had it before it came out. Anyway, Matt HATED Hootie and The Blowfish, as did most of us, and decided to do an anti-Hootie aircheck for which he did all the voices. This is one of the coolest things ever and has been on my iPod for years! Matt is still on the air at WOXY, though many may know him better as Shiv which has been his nickname for a long, long time. You can find more about the infamous Shiv here. Dude, if you ever try a career in hip-hop, that's your stage name! The Infamous Shiv!

11 WFAL Soundsystem ad
WFAL had their own mobile soundsystem for which they could be hired to DJ your event. The commercial is a little dated, okay, IT'S A LOT DATED, as is anything to do with the Bingoboys, but they did a good job of rockin' a party!

12 WFAL Space Cowboy aircheck
Homer for the win! I seem to recall a lot of Simpsons joke ads from back in the day.

13 WFAL Thingie aircheck
Spank is the voice of the father and the announcer, though I don't know who was the voice of Tommy. Disturbing only in the way that most so-called "alternative" radio stations started doing ads like these not because they were funny or creative, but because they thought it would get them closer to the Howard Stern market. I can vouch that this one was created because of a twisted sense of humor!


Hope you liked this twisted trip down memory lane. WFAL was a great experience for me because it was the first time I ever got to work in a radio station and also the first time I felt like people might be listening to my musical favorites. There are so many goofy stories from around that time I remember, like when I was DJing on a Saturday morning before a big holiday (can't remember if it was Christmas or Thanksgiving) and got a call from the nearby women's prison asking if I could dedicate Rod Stewart's Forever Young to the inmates. This was after I'd played Frank Zappa's The Adventures Of Greggary Peccary for about a half hour. We didn't have any Rod lying around so I played 4 Non Blondes' cover of Led Zep's Misty Mountain Hop. The guard called back to thank me, though I'm not sure he should have bothered.