Not Dark Yet, Part 2
Before we return to our story, I just wanted to note that Pete Townshend turned 63 today. I was going to post some blather about how his music was (and is) very important to me, the influence it had on many aspects of my life etc etc but that would be more of a snooze fest than the normal drivel that's sprayed here and that piece has been written a hundred thousand times by people who can express those sentiments better than I can. Besides, PT doesn't need any more acclaim least of all from a blog seen by maybe 20 people or so. Instead, I'll stick with our regularly scheduled programming.
And now, back to the show. Part 1 here if you missed it.
The next week Dan was back in the basement studio with its 1970s tan faux marble floor tiling and 1980s grey walls. A holiday-themed show was assembled on the laptop. It was actually January, but Dan thought it was clever to play Christmas and Hanukkah themed records when everyone was completely sick of them already. It was another expression of his passive-aggressive tendencies toward his theoretical audience.
The studio phone blinked again. Not that nut again, Dan thought.
“It’s your listener. I need you to play “Not Dark Yet” by Bob Dylan again”
“Look man, are you even paying attention to the show? I’m doing Christmas crap this week”
“A big, brave free form DJ needs a lame theme like that?”
“The people like lame themes. Didn’t you say something about considering your audience last week? Or did you huff too much of the saccharine off the Trident and forget it?”
“Are you gonna play the record or not? I got a business to run. You think you’d treat your only listener with a little more respect.”
Funny, thought Dan. The old guy called it a “record”. Obviously he didn’t know Dan was just pulling an MP3 out of the station’s electronic library.
“Sure” Dan said. A depressing track like that in the middle of all the holiday joy would add irony on top of irony, and like most twentysomething artsy types Dan thrived on irony. He slid the Dylan track right between ELP’s “I Believe in Father Christmas” and “Christmas” from the Who’s Tommy. At least it’s all classic rock junk, Dan thought.
“What’s with playing the same record two weeks in a row?”
Tim, the DJ who had the closing shift after Dan’s on Wednesday had wandered into the studio. Tim was also the station’s treasurer (he was an accounting major, after all) and was in the office doing some paperwork to submit to the Dean’s office.
“I’m surprised you noticed”
“I hate depressing, dirge-y shit like that”. Tim’s show tended to favor garage rock obscure and semi-obscure pop acts. “If anyone ever actually did listen they’d probably off themselves.”
“It was a request”
“A what?”
“A request. Some guy from the newsstand called it in. Two weeks in a row. Who am I to argue with the wishes of the masses. We’re in the entertainment biz, right?”
“We’re not really in business at all, but if it makes you feel better you can go on and think that.”
Tim wandered back out of the studio just as the Who tune finished and Jonathan Kane’s version of “The Little Drummer Boy” started. Well, that would kill the last 20 minutes of the show.
To be continued in Part 3
And now, back to the show. Part 1 here if you missed it.
The next week Dan was back in the basement studio with its 1970s tan faux marble floor tiling and 1980s grey walls. A holiday-themed show was assembled on the laptop. It was actually January, but Dan thought it was clever to play Christmas and Hanukkah themed records when everyone was completely sick of them already. It was another expression of his passive-aggressive tendencies toward his theoretical audience.
The studio phone blinked again. Not that nut again, Dan thought.
“It’s your listener. I need you to play “Not Dark Yet” by Bob Dylan again”
“Look man, are you even paying attention to the show? I’m doing Christmas crap this week”
“A big, brave free form DJ needs a lame theme like that?”
“The people like lame themes. Didn’t you say something about considering your audience last week? Or did you huff too much of the saccharine off the Trident and forget it?”
“Are you gonna play the record or not? I got a business to run. You think you’d treat your only listener with a little more respect.”
Funny, thought Dan. The old guy called it a “record”. Obviously he didn’t know Dan was just pulling an MP3 out of the station’s electronic library.
“Sure” Dan said. A depressing track like that in the middle of all the holiday joy would add irony on top of irony, and like most twentysomething artsy types Dan thrived on irony. He slid the Dylan track right between ELP’s “I Believe in Father Christmas” and “Christmas” from the Who’s Tommy. At least it’s all classic rock junk, Dan thought.
“What’s with playing the same record two weeks in a row?”
Tim, the DJ who had the closing shift after Dan’s on Wednesday had wandered into the studio. Tim was also the station’s treasurer (he was an accounting major, after all) and was in the office doing some paperwork to submit to the Dean’s office.
“I’m surprised you noticed”
“I hate depressing, dirge-y shit like that”. Tim’s show tended to favor garage rock obscure and semi-obscure pop acts. “If anyone ever actually did listen they’d probably off themselves.”
“It was a request”
“A what?”
“A request. Some guy from the newsstand called it in. Two weeks in a row. Who am I to argue with the wishes of the masses. We’re in the entertainment biz, right?”
“We’re not really in business at all, but if it makes you feel better you can go on and think that.”
Tim wandered back out of the studio just as the Who tune finished and Jonathan Kane’s version of “The Little Drummer Boy” started. Well, that would kill the last 20 minutes of the show.
To be continued in Part 3
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