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Good Hello!
Fifty Four years ago, between July 16th and July 24th, three men stepped into a rocket ship and flew to the moon. Two of them, casually strolled around on this distant lunar surface – a place most kids only dream of – to perform a variety of experiments, take some measurements, gets some rocks, and come back home. One, lone astronaut, circled the backside of the moon, wondering if the other two would – or could – ever return, unable to reach NASA, alone with his thoughts. It is that experience of space – doing something no one had ever done, alone, so far away from humanity, that very, very few have had the chance to experience, and it is one that I cannot help but reflect on, almost constantly, at this stage in my life.
Growing up, I wanted to be an astronaut so badly. I watched NASA launches on TV, and felt a kinship toward Sci-Fi and the stars in a way that I never felt on earth. In School, I was allowed to go to the library and watch launches with other science and A/V nerds, a privilege that co-mingled with tragedy, when we watched the Challenger explode on TV. And yet, even that, for a while, didn’t deter me from wanting to reach for the stars. But life has a way of course-correcting, when your launch trajectory isn’t quite right. I didn’t have the math or the physical prowess to pull off being an astronaut, and as I got older, it seemed less and less likely that I could reverse this in a way that could line-up my behavior with what I needed to accomplish. My feet, for whatever reason, couldn’t make it that far off the ground, no matter how hard I tried.
So, instead, I go to space with music and art, and I try to imagine the things that I missed. It’s been a subject I’ve returned to, at every stage of my life. And, sometimes, it’s on the radio.
Mike Rogers – the lead singer of the Rotters back in the day – started a new radio show that’s on after me on Mondays: Sounds From Space. Two hours of NASA sounds mixed with electronic music, hosted by an AI, among other things. It’s great, but he had to skip a show on July 3rd, and asked me if I could help him out. So Mitch Headroom – my announcer on MId-Valley Mutations – decided to host a live Mini-Mutations performance, which involved a bunch of Apollo 11 samples, too. This was new electronic manglings and re-edits, presented in a continuous flow for maximum space-soundtrack impact. The show was a ton of fun to do, and gave me a chance to make some new Mutations, and it was great to help Mike out with his excellent show. You can see / read along with the live chat / listen to it all at this handy link here:
https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/129326
And: you should listen to Mike Rogers on Sheena’s Jungle Room in general. He has three shows, and they’re all great! One is all Japanese rock and garage. You know you love that, right? So tune in! You won’t be sorry.
And, since my mind was already thinking about space, I decided to re-master an old episode from over 10 years ago – “Moon Voyage,” made with all LPs – and present it with some new elements on MId-Valley Mutations. So, you’ll get to hear some vintage bumpers promoting my show, two hours of vinyl records, and newly added Apollo 11 samples, to flesh out the rest of the program. I’ve always been fond of this show, and it starts very strong, but the last half of the last hour is a little challenging, and isn’t for everyone. Certainly, the right kind of Mid-Valley resident will enjoy this one, as the playlist includes Hovercraft, Thrones, Universal Order of Armageddon, fennesz, Bruce Gilbert, Unwound, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, Wendy Carlos, The Residents, Sinking Body, Man… Or Astro-Man?, The Butthole Surfers, Captain Beefheart, Men’s Recovery Project, Tangerine Dream, Negativland, the infamous “Davis / Coltrane” mash-up, Mr. Bungle and Puttin’ on The Ritz, with their mind-boggling version of “Sister Ray” that must be heard to be believed. And while I think the right people like this one too, I’ll totally understand if it’s just not your bag. So it goes. But, you get a nice set of 90’s rock, and plenty of Moon Talk. Sounds great, right? Why aren’t you listening now?
https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/129594
I’ve made a couple decisions about this newsletter, and my blog, which, if you are not already following it, I do recommend. (The address is easy to remember: AustinRich.org.) First, I did some minor re-designs on the site to improve readability, added a “Follow” button, and created some better menu tools. For those who don’t use WordPress, or haven’t been following any WordPress blogs, their “Follow” feature is pretty excellent, and allows you to manage “newsletter” settings for the blogs that you follow, rather than having someone else do it. So, if you would like, you can go there, “follow” the blog, and not only will you get newsletters as an e-mail (if you’d like), but you’ll be notified of all the activity on this blog, which you can receive either daily e-mail, or like this newsletter, as a weekly update, containing everything new from the last week. So you get a little extra content if you subscribe that way.
However, if you would rather just keep things as is, I will still send out this newsletter as I have before, until I hear otherwise from readers. So you have a variety of subscription options now. Lastly, this does allow me to put all the Newsletters in one “place” online, too, where it can be destination reading, if that is your preference. So there will be more than one reason to follow AustinRich.org, which is also a good thing.
Lot’s of ways to engage, but, really, it’s just an effort to keep in touch. And that’s the important thing. If I’m able to make contact with each of you, in some small way, then this was all a success. While I do still believe in the power of internet tools, I’m just REALLY suspect of most social media anymore. The mindlessly scrolling feels weird, and doesn’t feel like communication or interaction anymore, but more like a by-product of some kind of hypnosis. I’ve had more boons come my way, and more opportunities open up, as a direct result of this e-mail list, and I hear from people I missed and never talked to on social media. So… something tells me this is a little better for me, at least for now. I do miss my friends I used to chat with often in those spaces. But I feel like I still interact with those people in some other way… so I don’t think I’m missing much.
Here’s to trying to meet the summer – and all the challenges therein – head-on.
And, hopefully, with some cool space tunes, too.
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Live, Interactive Chat!
During both Dimestore Radio Theater and Mid-Valley Mutations we have an interactive chat going, hosted by me! 6 PM PST / 9 PM EST on Mondays and Tuesdays, you can follow along with the playlists, as they are being updated in real time! I’m not on social media, and my e-mail response is a little slow lately. This is your chance to hang out with me on the Inter-Web-A-Tron. Chat with other listeners at both Sheena’s Jungle Room and WFMU, and get to have some real-time fun, all from the comfort of your favorite device. It’s the main way I get to interact with people these days, and I would love to see you there.
I’m also on UB Radio Salon on the last Sunday of the month, usually with The Fourth Sunday Players, but occasionally, The Fifth Sunday Troupe makes an appearance. These are scripted productions, with original, improvised music, SFX, jokes, actors spouting dialog… it’s’ a big show, as part of the Big City Orchestra crew. (These days: Ninah Pxe, dAs, Mike Dringenberg, univac, myself, and anyone else we can con into joining us.) Plus: UB Radio Salon is also on every other week, with occasional guests and whatnot. The show always includes live music, performed for the show, every week, for the last 15 years solid. It’s quite an achievement.
There’s lots of other stuff. I try to keep track of it all at austinrich.org, but, you know how it is? It’s probably incomplete, in a number of ways. I do my best.
The Physical Merch Store, with music and ’zines, all on Bandcamp. DJs: get in touch for complementary broadcast copies of your favorite albums I make, so you can share this music with your listeners too.
If there’s something you were curious about, and you can’t find a link or other info: just ask. I’m trying to get it all online and searchable but… well.. you know.
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Austin Rich
“You’re Already A Fan, You Just Don’t Know It Yet.”
Austin Rich 