KTOO and KXLL Radio Station In Juneau

Last Tuesday I was invited by The Knife Ulu Mills, to join her on the radio. Ulu hosts her own two-hour radio show called Tuesday Night Slice where she gets to play some great music and do a bit of banter with her guests. The show in Juneau is on Excellent Radio KXLL 100.7.

I have never been on the radio before. I didn’t know what to expect, but I had been pretty excited about it all week. One of the things Ulu told me was I could bring in some music to play on the show. This was pretty exciting for me. For some reason songs just sound better on the radio and I could not wait to put together a set of songs to play.

Right off the bat I knew I was going to play Local H. My all time favorite band. How could I not play them? At first I didn’t know which song from their albums I was going to play ,but when it came down to it I figured this might be the only time I will ever be on the radio so I wanted to start strong. I went with Bound for the Flour by Local H.

Every song I picked after that was a painful process for me. It felt like making a mix tape for a girl you have a crush on in high school. Each song has to say the right thing and convoy the right feeling. I scrutinized way to long over the right CDs and songs to bring with me. I ended up picking 6 CD. The songs I had picked out where:

• Local H – Bound for the Floor
• Live – Selling The Drama
• Gin Blossoms – Hey Jealousy
• Travis – Flowers In The Window
• Finch – Letters To You

I did want to come with more than that. I didn’t want to give off an impression to people at the radio station that I was an over bearing music Nazi and this is what we have to play. I was also nervous that I didn’t pick out enough music either.

CD Library

Tuesday came and I drove over to the radio station at 7:30pm. It was an awesome day. The sun was out and it was warm. People where out and about driving in their cars. Ulu met me at the door where we said our hellos. She kept saying that I brought a lot of music with me and I kept thinking that meant I brought to much. We hadn’t even started and I already made a mistake.

CD and Vinyl Library

We walked up a flight of stairs to the second floor of the building. The first room we stepped into was what I think was called the music archive. This room was stacked floor to ceiling with CDs and Vinyl records. It was very over whelming at first. Ulu let me know that I could use this library of music they had to pick out songs to play on the radio if I wanted.

Next, Ulu took me down the hall to the room we would be broadcasting from. Again this was somewhat overwhelming for me. She sat behind a long desk that was big enough for two people to sit on either side. In front of her she had four computer monitors which I believe where connected to four different computers. She also had her laptop hooked up. She showed me how we could use the computers to search for music that the radio station had digitized and how to add it to the on air play queue. I was also shown how to switch the music source, fade in an out, turn the microphones on and off, and a whole list of other stuff she went through that I have no idea how to do.

After she did her best to make me familiar with the equipment sitting in front of me, we started building a playlist for the first half hour of the show using the CD’s I brought and the music available at the station.

It all went by to quickly and before I knew it Ulu and I where on the Air. She introduced me and I said hello to the people in radio land. We chatted for about 3 or 4 minutes. She said she was excited to have me on the show and I thanked her for having me. It was a real easy back and forth we did with each other and it helped calm my nerves. Then just as quickly as we started Ulu told her audience that I had picked out the first song we would be playing that evening. I replayed with “Yup, the first song we will be playing is “Bound for the Floor” by my all time favorite band, Local H”. With that the music started up and Ulu and I where free to talk to ourselves again.

At some point early on we had the grand idea of make the show that night all about happy music. No music about losing your girlfriend or missing someone special. No, not for us and not for that night. We choose to seek out only happy music for the two hours we would be on the radio.

Making this decision meant that we had to go through our playlist and rebuild it. We quickly went through and replaced some of the not-so-happy songs with something happier. It felt like we no sooner got the playlist setup and then where back on the air. We told the people listening that we had come up with a theme for the night and we encouraged them all to call in and request some happy music. They did.

Through the rest of the night we got a hand full of call in requests as well as some on-line requests.

Ulu Mills

I was very impressed with how easy everything appears to function at the radio station. Granted, I still don’t fully understand how all the machines work but I think if I had more time with it I would figure it out easy enough.

At the end of the two-hour show Ulu and I got back on the air one last time to say good night. Ulu thanked me for coming on and said I should come back. I told her I had a great time and I would love to come back and do it again. So it looks like I will be back again on Tuesday Night Slice this Tuesday at 8pm.

I was pretty excited to find Dr. Pepper made with real sugar. I hadn’t drank Dr. Pepper in years because it had not been tasting right to me for some time. I don’t know if it was because of a change in the Dr. Pepper formula or a change in my own tastes for things. Regardless I picked up Six, twelve packs.

Later that night at movie night Hannah and I took a case of the real sugar Dr. Pepper with us. As friends showed up I told them to try some of this soda. I grabbed one myself, and it tasted so damn good! Everyone agreed that it tasted better than the “normal” Dr. Pepper.

For weeks now I have felt teased by Consumerist and Associated Press news articles about the pending release of Sugary Dr. Pepper. The Dublin Dr Pepper bottler in Waco Texas is celebrating it’s 125 birthday by temporally ditching High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in favor of something a little more natural. Sugar.

Pepsi Co did the same sorta of thing earlier this year by releasing Pepis and Mt. Dew Throwback. Sodas that were based on the original recipes containing sugar. Even Coke releases a Kosher Coke once a year. Both these companies found that sodas with real sugar where very successful.

The Consumerist article asks why if things like; if Throwback Pepsi and Kosher Coke are so successful why don’t they sell these products all the time? The editor of Beverage Business Insights thinks the cola companies don’t really want to know that customers prefer sugar over HFCS:

In some ways their worst nightmare is that this thing sells through the roof, because then that’s telling them something about how consumers feel about their product.

It’s statements like that which have me buying more than one box of real sugar Dr. Pepper at a time. Before to long this sugary soda is going to be gone forever, so I am trying to build a small stock pile to have it last as long as I can.

This year was different then normal. We had such bad weather the fireworks display was put off till July 5th 12:01 am. I can’t say the weather was any better. In fact I did not go. After having been out in the cold and rain to watch the 4th of July parade I just was not up to doing that again to watch fireworks. It’s to bad too because I really enjoy fireworks.

Hannah and I, along with some good friends did walk down town to see the 4th of July parade. It was fun and I took a bunch of photos with my iPhone.

When July 3rd got here the two of us headed down town towards Centennial hall about 15 minutes before the show was to start. We parked near by and walked right in the building and found our seats pretty quickly.

Says You Taping

Because Says You is a radio show there was nothing fancy in the way of a stage or seating. Chairs filled the main hall with a small rectangular stage up front to seat 8 people. Six of which where for the contestants and two where for the score keepers. A podium was of to one side of the stage for the host of Says You, Richard Sher.

The panel was composed of all local people from Juneau. Laury Scandling, Ben Brown, Ron Clarke, Jesse Kiehl, Kathie Wasserman and Larry Persily.

Hannah and I got to see two shows that were taped for radio. The shows where very funny and everyone had a great time. They had a lot of local humor and national humor that I think someone who is not from here listening to the show would still laugh at. The shows they taped that night will be released on September but it’s up to local NPR station to decide whether they will be picked up and broadcast or not. The shows should be available for download even if they are not played on the radio.

Our local paper also did a write up on the show.

Farsi

My dad came up to Juneau to visit recently. He came at a good time because we have been having some amazing weather up here. Mid to high 70s with very little overcast or rain. We are  having a good spring and summer this year that’s for sure.

While he was here we did all the normal sight seeing stuff like visiting the Mendenhall Glacier, Eating at the Twisted Fish, Checking out the Shrine of St. Therese, ect.

One of the unexpected things we got to do was to watch some Persian movies in Farsi. I discovered that Netflix has a great foreign selection. I was able to do a Google search for some movies in Farsi that won some awards and queued them up to stream to my PlayStation 3 so we were all able to watch the movies on my television.

All the Farsi movies I found on Netflix where subtitled in English so we where all able to follow along with the movies.

I packed really light for this trip. I think I took the least amount with me that I have ever taken on a trip. Just a couple of shirts, a pair of pants, a camera, and my backup PowerBook.

My dad and brother took me to the airport in Juneau and waited around till I got checked in and passed through security. I was shocked when I got through security as saw that the terminal was just packed wall to wall. I have never seen the Juneau airport so full. I don’t know if that is a result of Alaska Airline’s reduced flights in and out of Juneau or if it’s just a really busy travel time.

Eventually I got to board my plan that was running a few minutes late. As I walked up to to the plan I started to see signs stating that this plane had in flight WiFI access. Sweet! However I learned that this was a farce. The passengers of the plane where even told that yes, we would have in-flight wifi access once we got above ten thousand feet. No sooner where we in the air when they made the announcement that in-flight WiFi is not available in Alaska. WTF  Alaska Air lines? It also does not help that your flight attendants on my flight where technological morons.

The over all flight however was fine. I sat next to a baby that managed not to cry once! I was able to get a quick nap and was on the ground in Seattle before I new it. Flying over seattle was pretty neat because the city was seen through a giant sucker hole that was gone by the time Lyle and I got to our hotel.

Lyle met me at baggage clam and we took a shuttle to get the rental car. This was my first experience of renting a car and it was a good one. The Car ( a Chevrolet HHR which stands for Heritage High Roof) was a peace of shit. The whole thing is a blind spot.

We drove to downtown Seattle and checked into our hotel. From their we walked. It was a great day and perfect for walking and checking out the city. We walked for what I think was three miles to Dick’s Drive-In for dinner. Ever since I moved to Alaska I am always craving Dick’s Burgers. This trip was perfect for getting some.

After Lyle and I finished our burgers and shakes we walked to this used book store called “Twice Sold Tales”. Inside we where greeted by a happy fat cat. We did a quick scan of the books. I looked for some older Dungeons & Dragons books but struck out.

From the used book store we walked to El Corazon. Lyle was stopped by security because he has a pocket knife on him. No worries for us. We were early so we just walked back to the hotel and put his pocket knife in the room and walked back to the venue.

We went through the pat down again and got inside. We then made our way to the bar where Lyle was stopped again because he did not have a current divers license. So out side we both went so Lyle could have a smoke. We got some shit for trying to get back inside the venue. I guess once you enter your not supposed to leave?

So we are back inside the venue as the opening back for Local H is finishing up their last three songs. I snapped a couple of the pictures of the unmanned Local H merch table and people are starting to come in off the street for the main act.

Scott and Brian took to the stage. Scott was funny as he announced that he just got back from the Cinnaroma and saw Iron Man 2 which he did not like. He stated that Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau where overrated and that the only good movie Robert Downey Jr. made was “A Scanner Darkly“.

Scott also asked a little boy in the crowd how old he was and the boy said “9 years old”. Scott then said “Man, I have said “Fuck” more times then you are old. Fuck, I said it again!”

The thing about this Local H tour is it’s called “The 6 Angry Records Tour” where one person from the audience gets to draw from a hat one of the names of Local H’s last 6 albums and the band will play that album from start to finish. The album that was drawn that night was “Here Comes The Zoo“. I finally got to hear “What Would You Have Me Do?” live which is my favorite song of that album.

After they finished playing the whole album the band played a couple more of their songs. I snagged a photo of the set list before it was taken away by a fan.

After the last song was played Scott just walked off the stage to the back of the venue to his merch table and started selling shirts and CD’s and giving autographs. I got in line to buy some shirts and when I got up to Scott I showed him my plane ticket and explained I flew down that day from Alaska to see Local H play and that it was worth every penny.

With raw throats from shouting during the concert Lyle and I left the venue and headed to some all night greasy spoon restraint he knew of that made great milk shakes. They where perfect for our tired bodies, soar throats and ringing heads.

However on the way to this place we found this in the cement sidewalk. What the hell is this? It looks like Tony Stark’s Ark Reactor. Their were like 6 of them.

[Update: 6.25.2010] I met a nice couple at the show who had a something far better then a camera phone to take pictures with. I traded e-mail address with them and just got copies of the photos they took at the show. Blow you will see the new photos.

I have been trying to stay away from soda’s using high fructose corn syrup and I have accomplished this by drinking products like Jones Soda, and Thomas Kemper soda. So last weekend I was thrilled to find Pepsi Throwback in my local store giving me another option of something to drink.

I knew Pepsi Co. had released Throwback earlier last year. I also know it can take a while for the stores in Juneau to get some of the products that have been available in the lower 48 states for a while. So I was glad to finally see this.

After doing some quick Google searches I learned that the Throwback sodas I am seeing in my local stores are actually the second run that Pepsi has done for this drink. Giving it an updated (retro) logo. The sad news from what I am reading is that Throwback is only going to be available for 8 weeks and then Pepsi will stop making it again. From the other websites I have been reading I am left feeling that the reason that Pepsi Throwback came back this second time is a result from all the facebook, twitter, and blog posts of people writing about how much they like it. So I am writing this post along with the other masses out their hopping Pepsi will see it and know that the public would like Throwback to stay as an alternitive to high fructose corn syrup shit drinks.

In the mean time I am stocking up!

A few higlights from the trip are:

• I got to see my dad who I have not seen in about 7 years
• It took the nurses 6 tries to get my I.V. Started. (I passed out after the 3rd attempt)
• The doctor was not able to poke my heart in a way to get it do it’s Arrhythmia thing. Nor was he able to get it to go crazy with drugs. Only after I swallowed water could they see the Arrhythmia which caused my doctor to laugh.
• He called in other doctors to watch this who also laughed.
• I was told that out of all my doctors colleagues only one had see something like this before about 20 years ago or so.
• I was lied to about how much it was going to hurt.
• I shared a recovery room with an older guy who had a hearing aid that would keep going off.
• I was unable to obtain a video tape copy of the procedure to post to youtube.