Brad Barrish

January 11, 2006

Zoe Radio

Man, I can only hope to raise a kid with such exceptional taste in music. [via Boing Boing]

January 7, 2006

I sign up for beta tests pretty often and sometimes I get chosen. Apparently, I’m one of the first 7000 to get chose for the Newsvine beta, which is awesome. It’s a new site that attempts to make it more enjoyable to read the news, comment, tag, share, etc. It looks really nice, thoguh I don’t know how much I will use it. I’ve gotten so used to reading all my news via RSS, that I have trouble going through a site to get news.I will make an attempt to use Newsvine for a couple of weeks to see how I like it.

January 5, 2006

I'm ResolvingDetermining Again

I'm going to write more. There, I said it. I'll repeat it every day if I have to. I even started a list of post ideas on my Backpack site. I haven't figured out a lot of my determinations for the year, but looking back on the last year, I made quite a bit of shit happen. Great great shit happened. There was also some real shit. 2005 was quite a year. On to the next one.

January 5, 2006

KJHK Still Rules

About 2 months before the holidays came around I got an email from a fellow KJHK alum (who now is the General Manager) asking if I wanted to do one of the freeform shows over the break. I haven't been back to the station for probably 8 years now. I jumped at the chance and I think I was one of the first to respond. I got a slot for 12pm-4pm on Thursday, Dec. 29. I spent hours and hours coming up with my playlist. The plan was to split the 4 hours up into a best-of-2005 set and a local set. I kept the local set kind of open because I invited some friends in to play music (they didn't end up showing).

When I got to the station the Malicious Intent show was on. The DJ smelled kinda gross too. It was good to be back, but I was nervous, especially because I could not figure out how to connect my computer up so I could do the show from there. The DJ was no help. I ended up calling the station manager and of course I didn't have the right cable. WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE TELL ME I NEEDED A SPECIAL CABLE?! I was about to start panicking. There was 2 minutes left on the CD player and I didn't have anything ready. I started playing stuff from the stacks and while each song was playing, I tried to figure out what the hell I was going to do. And then I found the magic cable. I was in business. I settled in to the chair, set everything up and started the show for reals.

December 21, 2005

What Song To Use?

Despite my working later than usual this week (so far), I'm already stressing about a radio show I'm going to be hosting next Thursday (see below). Since I can play anything I want, I'm bringing the entire show in on my iPod. I'm so not kidding. Listen, if you were given the chance to do one radio show for the year, you'd want it to be good too. I'm in the process of putting together a 4-hour-long playlist. I will of course post it here, but I'm having trouble with what song should start it all off. What would you start with?

December 18, 2005

Fuck Christmas

I'm not sure who wrote this, but they're brilliant. Such a firm grasp of English profanity too!

At what point did a basic understanding of the separation of church and state become a fucking war on religion? And how did we get to the point where you can call an organization set up to defend our civil liberties â€œTerroristsâ€ on national television and no one fires your ass? Enough. Fuck all of you lying little shitheads who wish the world was out to get you so you could play the poor oppressed victims. Wake up assholes â€” youâ€™re the cowboys, not the fucking Indians.

Amen.

December 17, 2005

Set Your Radio

I'll be travelling back to Kansas at the end of the month. I'm super excited because on December 29, I'll be hosting a show on KJHK from 12-4pm CST. It should be a fun show as I can play whatever I want. You can listen to the show online and send me requests. I've been putting together a long list of things I'm going to play.

December 17, 2005

Skin Deep

Reading through the Washington Post this morning, I stumbled upon an article about how scientists have discovered a genetic mutation that accounts for white skin.

"It's a major finding in a very sensitive area," said Stephen Oppenheimer, an expert in anthropological genetics at Oxford University, who was not involved in the work. "Almost all the differences used to differentiate populations from around the world really are skin deep."

Probably not something they will be teaching in Kansas schools.

December 13, 2005

Reflecting on 2005 : Music

One of the things I discussed with various people this year was the change I have noticed in how I consume music. My iPod and iTunes Library have become my stack of CDs. I don't shop very often, which I used to do a lot of. I used to come home from a trip to Virgin (because they have lots of imports), sit down with a stack of CDs, listen to them, rip them and then listen some more on my computer. These days, I download (from iTMS or BitTorrent, if I'm feeling impatient) straight into my iPod, seldomly listening to the album straight through. It sucks, but I have a lot less free time in my life these days. Also, being in a relationship means that what small amounts of time I have, I like to spend with my woman. It doesn't leave a lot of time to hole up in my cave with a stack of CDs. Life goes on though. I miss a few more things than I used to, but that's what sites like Largehearted Boy are for, right?

My taste has pretty much stayed the same. I've been much more open to mainstream stuff I would have turned my nose at two years ago. That's not to say I don't turn my nose up at stuff, but I just might not be quite a snooty about it. Some of my favorite albums of the year were released on major labels (!!!) I've been listening to more hip-hop than I ever have, which is fun. There's a lot of good stuff out there, especially in the underground. I still make monthly mixes almost every month, I program our CEO's iPod, which is cool and people still ask me about the latest albums and I know what they're talking about most of the time.

Music is still my life. I'm fortunate enough to work in it. I still enjoy listening, watching and falling asleep to it. I try and listen to something new every day and keep the classics in my back pocket.

Top 25 Albums of 2005

Band Of Bees - Free The Bees
Beck - Guero
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Boards Of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
Bob Mould - Body Of Song
Brendan Benson - Alternative To Love
Common - Be
Damian Marley - Welcome To Jamrock
Feist - Let It Die
Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
Gorillaz - Demon Days
Kanye West - Late Registration
Kings Of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
Ladytron - Witching Hour
Living Things - Ahead Of The Lions
Louis XIV - The Best Little Secrets Are Kept
Low - The Great Destroyer
The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers
M.I.A. - Arula
My Morning Jacket - Z
Neil Young - Prairie Wind
New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Paul McCartney - Chaos And Creation In The Backyard
Shout Out Louds - Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
Spoon - Gimme Fiction

7 Diappointments of 2005

Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
Queens Of The Stone Age - Lullabies To Paralize
Coldplay - X & Y
Foo Fighters - In Your Honor
Dandy Warhols - Odditirium or Warlords Of Mars
OK Go - Oh No
Weezer - Make Believe

7 To Watch In 2006

Silversun Pickups
Rock Kills Kid
Matisyahu
Forward, Russia!
Story One
The Organ
KT Tunstall

November 24, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving

May you and your loved ones have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.