Who is the most famous person you’ve met?

Did some work, made a new friend, new plans for the future are in place, and I ventured into the outside world. Not bad, I guess.

I realize now that I am suffering from Sympathetic Rage.

This is a piece of vinyl (front and back) that is ready to go into a record press. I’ve never seen this before, and they’re beautiful. This was a gift from Jason Bokros of Forbidden Love, and it’s perfect. I have a ton of records, but none of them are like this.

It went down like this.

Still true.

So, read anyfefe good on Twitter today?

Every so often we get to discover great new experimental acts, right here in our backyard. Herd William is just such a character, and we’ll be having him come onto the program at the end of June for a full-on audio-assault, guaranteed to knock your socks off. The fun starts at 10 PM, sharp, on KMUZ.

Sunday Service in June is going to be an all-electronic showcase the likes of which you have never seen before. Hosted by The Space Concert Club, we will feature a number of artists from around the state, all of who make music using electricity… somehow. Come on in. Join the party. You won’t be sorry.

“For everyone you consider to be a celebrity, there are hundreds of people who have never heard of them.”

It is our goal this Pledge Drive to keep KMUZ on the air, and we have a very special show planned to help with the drive. Donors will receive a record from my personal collection as a thank you for keeping community radio on the air. And, tune in for a live performance by Bitches in the Beehive, a local pop combo that will warm your hearts and make you want to dance. The fun stars at 10 PM, sharp. Tune in!

Free improv and jazz is on the program this Friday, as Toadstool joins us. For those who caught them at the first Sunday Service Showcase know what you’re in for, but for those who are interested, this will be an excellent chance to hear something you rarely get to hear in the Mid-Valley. Tune in at 10 PM, sharp, to hear something special.

Local doom / drone / psyche / metal groups in the area. Daniel Loren and I are planning something.

I put too many n’s in innane.

“I never sawed television in half, although I once saw Wendy O. Williams saw a guitar.” Happy birthday, Wendy.

Sunday Service: Mutation Showcase 02 was fantastic last night, and we couldn’t have done it without a number of amazing people. Not the least of which are Stan Keightley & Summer Keightley of The Space Concert Club. (That brownie was fantastic!) Daniel Loren kept everyone well stocked in drinks. Also, a huge thank you to the bands: Uneasy Chairs, Depleted Your Cranium, Forbidden Love (Midori Hirose & Jason Bokros), Xapchyk (Kyle Stant, Jerry Soga & David Morgan) and The Giant Worm (Gary Dye, Robert Shepard, Colin Bryce & Art Law), who were kind enough to let me sit in with them. These shows are fast becoming one of my favorite things to do every month. I’m very excited to have this be a part of Salem’s musical landscape.

What movie are you pretending doesn’t exist?

Today’s Goal: Not scream as I pull 1500 words out of me.

Coltrane morning get-down.

I sat in with The Giant Worm last night. Enjoy.

Remember this one? I’m not sure I do?

I know some rad people.

You’re probably one of them.

Tonight! We are back in Service for our Monthly Sunday gathering, and this time with an all Free-Improv lineup that will tickle your funny bone. The Giant Worm headlines, and we have Forbidden Love, Xapchyk, Depleted Your Cranium, and a special drop-in guest! Fun starts at 8 Sharp at The Space Concert Club. See you then!

My time / date settings probably need to be adjusted on both of my cameras.

Dog knows where the good noise shows be at.

I have a sad today.

And: I love you. For real.

Pretty people have been ruining music for too long.

It’s one year later, and finally, we have beef.
https://midvalleymutations.com/2017/05/26/beef-kitchen-live-53/

Thank you, Beef Kitchen, for showing Mid-Valley Mutations a good time on a Friday night.

Please hire me.

Today’s Goal: 1500 Words. (Most of it cursing.)

Veronica Mars Season 1 was really good.

The other one. I quite like this one, too.
https://wtbc.bandcamp.com/merch/acronyminc-blogpress-new-zine-by-austin-rich

Just hit my goal.

If you pick up a few, it’s helps make new ones. Or so I’m told.
https://wtbc.bandcamp.com/merch/acronym-blogpress-too-zine-by-austin-rich

Happy Towel Day, one and all.
http://www.towelday.org/

The first year I was on my own, this was the soundtrack to that loneliness. Trying to figure out jobs and bills and girls all at once, by myself in Eugene. This summed it all up.

Today’s Goal: 1500 words.

Fave weird electronic group in Oregon these days?

This Sunday, we are back in service with our Mutations Showcase 02. This is an all free-improv show of artists that cover the last 30 years of Oregon Music history. Join us for The Giant Worm, Forbidden Love, Xapchyk & Depleted Your Cranium, all ready to deliver to The Space Concert Club some incredible music that you cannot hear anywhere else. This will be a lot of fun, and I hope to see you there! 8 PM, sharp!

This Friday, get ready to enter the Beef Kitchen. For the one year anniversary of Mid-Valley Mutations on KMUZ, tune in to hear this local combo deliver some fuzzed-out weirdness, just the way we like it. This one will wake the neighbors, so get ready to start next weekend at 10 PM, sharp.

Get ready to start your weekend off right, with Mid-Valley Mutations. Tonight we’ll be interviewing Semi-Colin, of /root_DIR. Not only does he have a 7″ out that you should be listening to right now, but he’s been playing in bands for 20 years. We’ll be highlighting some of his work, and talking about what keeps him going, all these years later. Tune in to KMUZ, at 10 PM, sharp.

Sigh.

Editing the new ‘zine is coming along. There were a few music submissions, so this one will have a soundtrack. There’s still time to get a song in if you’d like… editing will take at least another week.

I miss you.

I took FB off my phone a week or so ago. It’s been fun. I’m still online fairly often, but it feels a little freeing to have that off my phone. I feel like I was clinging to it too much, and was reflexively looking at my phone instead of talking to people. I’m still very bad with it, and I’m already thinking about ways I’d like to continue to reduce phone use. But for now, it is nice to know that I have to sit down at my computer in order to plug into this world.

There’s always something to do.

To say otherwise is to disrespect our own intelligence, or the beauty of the outside world.

I loved the new Guardians of the Galaxy. A lot.

Not exactly a novel, but not exactly a zine, this collection of interconnected short fiction first saw print in 2008, and is now in a second printing. You can pick up a physical copy for $5, and help support local art and writing in your community. This, and all of my catalog going back to the ’90’s, is available at the WTBC store. Check it out.
https://wtbc.bandcamp.com/merch/naked-trees-point-to-the-north-star-by-austin-rich

I would like a job. I live in Salem Oregon. I am over-educated, under-skilled, and cannot drive a car. Am I screwed? What kind of options exist for a middle-aged man who can write all day long, talk all day long, make music and movies, but doesn’t understand electronics or engines? I feel like I made a tragic error, at some point when I was five, maybe?

“The only reason I will give up on you is when you are so elitist in your taste that you can’t hear what others love about a song that means everything to them.”

#ElitismIsRuiningEverythingInTrumpsAmerica

Deadline ends at midnight! Let’s get your piece of art in the next issue!

New ‘do.

Excellent radio night. Played live for almost 90 minutes. Feels good to make something fun with friends.

If you’re gonna be in tonight, tune in for one of our patented audio essays, as we present a sci-fi story about receiving radio signals from… the moon? MKUltramegaphone is performing live for the majority of the two hours, and Uneasy Chairs is dropping by, too. It’s gonna be epic, and it starts at 10 PM, sharp. Only on KMUZ.

We’ve been using Bandcamp to help distribute our digital music for a while, but they also have a merch section, where I have posted all our ‘zines (going back to the early ’90s), plus the CD version of the new comp, my short story collection / novel, and anything else we like to sell. If you feel like keeping this barge afloat, the best way is to pick up a couple of these, and enjoy.

Just a quick programming note: the interview with Mustin Douch has been rescheduled. It just works out better for everyone, and we’ll get a better show out of it in June than tonight. In the meantime, expect something as awesome as he is to make up for it, and we’ll be talking to Mustin on the program very, very soon!

Tomorrow, we are gonna have a fantastic time on the radio, chatting with a fixture of the local scene, Mustin Douch. We’re gonna talk about what it was like to grow up in the scene through the ’90’s, how it’s changed since then, and what it’s like to play in as many groups as this gentleman does. Mustin has seen it all and has a few new records coming out this year. All that, and more, on Mid-Valley Mutations.

Rainy Day Records. Comment them below.

I want to live in a world where we build up our communities and focus on the things people do well, instead of constantly pointing to what sucks. Imagine if we tried to find a place for all constructive culture, and let the bile and nonsense dry up from lack of a useful discourse? The last few generations built their capital on drama, back-biting, gas-lighting and trolling, excluding those who are different, and encouraging elitism at ever turn. I think we owe it to ourselves to rise above that crap and build something awesome in spite of the last several decades. Everything we’ve done before got us here, and that includes cynicism and nostalgia. I think it’s time we all looked at each other, spoke honestly about what we want, and worked together to make that happen, we could really get down to the cool possibilities of ‘now’ and – as they say – fuck shit up.

It’s a good idea to loose faith, embrace pessimism and cynicism, and only see the world as a complete wreck with no good people left around.

Because doing that has been SOOOOOOO helpful so far.

What have you wanted, but haven’t done yet?

Let’s do that thing.

Here’s an event that’s for the whole family: A comic book swap. Trade comics with other comics fans. Finally, you can take the comics you’ve already read and swap them for ones that are new to you! Meet people who love the same stuff as you! Bring the kids! Eat and drink, and enjoy the summer, at one of the coolest places in Salem.

Please, mark your calendars. The next Sunday Service show will take place the 28th of May. We have an incredible line-up of excellent acts, and we would love to see you there. You will not be sorry.

I miss you.

Thanks again, anonymous asshole who robbed our shed at our new home.

Way to make us feel safe in Trump’s America.

Saturday night was meant for getting loaded with old friends. Let’s do it again soon.

I made a mistake.

Maybe I can fix it?

Being human and prone to these things is so strange.

You are – and I cannot understate this – so very important to me. I miss you.

Getting ready for live radio at 10 PM.

Fifty years old. Sounds like it should come out this year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Velvet_Underground_&_Nico

We discuss shows happening TONIGHT and TOMORROW, and chat with the very cool Wild Ire. Check it out.
https://roughshodradio.wordpress.com/2017/05/05/6-the-wild-ire-interview/

Tune in. Please?

Fuck all your excuses.

Let’s face it: The two recent failed attempts at a TV and movie reboots of Rockford files does not mean we won’t see one in our near future. It is only a matter of time. Justin Hanlon and Leigh Stevens should probably help me recast the show before Seth Rogan and Judd Apatow do it, but please, you should weigh in, too.

Let’s go party in Chernobyl!
http://www.pbs.org/video/3000273548/

It’s a lifestyle choice.

Another submission just came in. What are you gonna send in for the next zine?

Here’s what you need to know about why I have Orchards “A Shallow Birth” on repeat while this winter weather continues to linger in my heart and in my mind.
http://salemweeklynews.com/2017/04/orchards-shallow-birth/

Google everything.

Anyone take any photos / videos of the shows this weekend?

Which Just Kitten patch should go on my jacket? They’re both rather fetching.

More submissions have been rolling in, and the next issue is starting to look pretty excellent. You still have two weeks before the deadline closes. Let’s make some art together!

VortexRemover and The Long Division Trio setlists.

Thanks, MARC & the Horsejerks. Now I have “Cheese Farm” stuck in my head.
https://marcandthehorsejerks.bandcamp.com/releases

Holy cow. This was a ton of fun. VortexRemover, Eric Hausmann & Scott Steele, The Long Division Trio and MKUltramegaphone. The Space Concert Club is such a great venue, and I certainly feel older. Hell yeah.