Cmon ... Get Sirius ...

Hello Folks,


In Anacortes, Washington tonight ... taking the ferry in the AM to Victoria, BC.


When I left Bozeman the skies were a brilliant blue but as the drive progressed to the westward, it gradually became overcast and finally started to rain about 90 minutes east of Seattle.

I drove through Redmond, the corporate headquarters of Microsoft ... shortly afterward my nose was running ... I must have picked up a virus.


It is becoming clear that the 'watcher' is concerned with my western movement as the weather is somehow being used to communicate displeasure ... it will be interesting to see what happens when I start the southern swing down the coast.

I listened to two great radio programs during the drive - both on Sirius Outlaw Country.  The first one was hosted by Steve Earle ... one of my favorite songwriters.  Steve is not just a great songwriter ... he is the inheritor of the Woody Guthrie tradition of 'fighting the power' - he is an anarchist and activist in the grandest tradition.


The other program was hosted by Jack Clement ... Jack worked for Sam Phillips at Sun Records .. is a great songwriter and produced albums by Waylon Jennings and Townes Van Zandt.  You can imagine the stories he has to tell and the music he is playing while telling those stories.


Mojo Nixon hosts a program as well ... he of Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper fame ... I had their Root Hog Or Die album for a while ... Q-107 was playing a cut off it quite regularly ... probably, 'She's Vibrator Dependant' ... or 'Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child' ... I think you get the picture. 


Here's a little live in the studio madness at Sirius from Tom Jones et. al. ...



I think it is fair to say that while traditional AM/FM radio and newsprint are both in trouble financially, digital radio and on-line news is growing in popularity ... an appearance on Sirius digital radio is a national event ... as opposed to visiting every radio station in every city that your tour takes you through.

Also artists such as Bob Dylan, BB King, Tom Petty and others are hosting programs and playing music that we haven't heard for years .... if at all.


One other great feature is the 'station as genre' concept .... i.e., blues, country, Americana, jazz, bluegrass, swing ... a casual listener over a period of time can get a real musical education and be exposed to music that would take a large sum of money and time to acquire.

That said there is a down side ... and it is big ... local artists everywhere cannot get their songs played on the radio anymore ... local radio is gradually disappearing with the exception of college radio ... and even then to get played on college radio as a local musician you must have a local and loyal following big enough ... radio is becoming basically classic rock ... which, to tell you the truth, I can listen to at any time because I have it all on CD .... remember that format?


One other thing ... I would recommend you check out the Americana music chart once or twice a month ... to just see what is being put out by what artists that radio is not playing ... but is still great new music...

I have become a huge fan .... I guess that's obvious .... and would recommend you give it a test run ... which I think you can do for 2 weeks or so ...


To quote from verse 966 of the Krome Koan,


'Radio is the theatre of the mind; television is the theatre of the mindless'


Oh yeah ... another sign today .. check out this photo ...

See that number ... 53512 ... if you add the '3' and '2' ... you get '5' ... so now we have .... 5551 .... and if you add the '1' 3 times to each '5', you get .... are you ready .... '666' ..... it's only a matter of time folks ... it's coming for me .... stay tuned .... or should I say 'tinned' as in tin foil beenie ....


OK ... big boat ride in the AM ... if I make it, I'll let you know ....




Forever Man


Check this out .....