I've been wasting a lot of time today on I Love Music. I need to stop.

I've been learning a little bit about CSS and really like it, so maybe I really will get rid of this template.

I think I'm going to visit the folks this weekend and take a couple of days off.

One of the fun things about working at a radio station is that all the hallway conversation is conducted in these great deep brass balls voices. Tee hee.

Ooh. Ah. Sorry. I'm really trying to keep to the blogging schedule, really I am. I was at a remote broadcast earlier, bored out of my skull, and I wanted nothing more than to write. I think that's a really good sign, since I started this so that I wouldn't be so rusty at writing, however casual it may be. I almost started tapping out some thoughts on my PDA, but then I gave up and read the Times instead.

I love AvantGo. It's very nice to have all that stuff in your PDA so you can just browse it at a meeting, when you're in line, whatever. Here's what I have on my Avantgo account (sorry, too lazy to link): FARK.com - Hint Fashion Magazine - New York Post - New York Times -ROLLINGSTONE.COM - Salon - The Economist Mobile Edition - The Wall Street Journal. Don't judge me on the Fark thing...it's very useful for dumb stories to tell on the air. I don't get the boobies on the PDA version. Although I do hear that there is PDA porn. I'm not too interested in exploring that matter further. Yet.

So I've been thinking for the past couple of months that legwarmers are going to make a comeback. I think we may see a bit of a dancewear revival (would go along with that whole prairie gypsy thing that's driving me nuts now), and that plus the big socks that the Japanese girls have been wearing for years = legwarmers.

Maybe we'll just get the big socks. That would let us avoid some but not all of the bad 80s associations. (Although I remember doing the scrunch sock thing where you would wear two or three colors of scrunch sock on top of each other to match the colors of your outfit.) Here's where you can buy the big socks, a.k.a. loose socks.

The third thing that makes me think legwarmers is that everyone knows how to knit now and it would be pretty simple to just make a pair.

But couldn't you just see...a lovely fine-gauge knit cloud-grey cashmere legwarmer worn with some smart kitten-heel pumps?

So I went to campus today to tell the kids on the first day of school that we're the rockinist radio station in town. I played the Sleater-Kinney and the Neko Case and nobody noticed.

All the new girls were wearing their rush shirts and were all sparkley and dewy and nice. They took my flyers and smiled.

And there were a few bad girls, all tattooed and cool. I actually walked up to one and told her that my station wasn't cool enough for her and then I immediately realized that sounded rude and panicked. She smiled and said, actually, my husband and I love your station.

Everyone was nice, or at least polite.

Except for one boy with two other boys who said something in my direction that indicated that he wanted to fuck me, or that he didn't want to fuck me, which is the same thing to a group of boys like that anyway.

Some of the kids look really young. I saw one wearing a Care Bears T-shirt who couldn't have been born long after they were a phenomenon.

I'm not good at telling age anyway. Obviously I didn't think the tattooed girl was old enough to be a nontraditional student.

The boys all look pretty much the same. They're just wearing different T-shirts. I saw a Crass T-shirt, a Elvis Costello T-shirt, and a John Mellencamp T-shirt. Who under 22 likes John Mellencamp? I almost asked him if he was from Indiana, but I didn't. I saw a Weezer T-shirt. I saw a girl with a Guster T-shirt. I saw a few punk rock patches on bags. I think the emo kids are doing that now, so I guess they're emo patches.

After I got dressed this morning, I though, oh, I should change and wear something cool for the kids. And I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the kids might think is cool. The older college kids, sure, I can still relate to them, but the kids who are fresh out of high school?

Does my Iggy Pop shirt cut it? Pixies? Cure? I probably should have worn Docs.

Do the kids still wear Docs?

I was running late anyway, so I stuck with boring workwear.

As you can tell, the whole experience put me back in school for a little bit, all self-conscious. The boyfriend stopped by to say hello and I told him his outfit didn't work. That wasn't very nice, even if it didn't. I still kissed him a lot, though.

We met nine years ago on the first day of school, and we kissed a lot.

Let's think a bit about Neko Case.

I like the new album Blacklisted so much that I'm a little suspicious. It's too perfect. It has everything I want on it.

Can't I be content with its perfectness? I want it to push me a little, make me uncomfortable, take a wrong step. I don't feel like I'm feeling enough when I listen to it.

Maybe it needs to be louder.

I probably need to be drunker.

I'll try that and get back to you.

AAAAAAAA.

Work is crazy. I may not manage a real post today, sorry. Will be working all weekend so maybe special edition weekend posts are possible.

Still. At. Work.

Actually, just got back from a remote broadcast, which is pretty much but not exactly work but also more work than usual. It went great, actually. The client was super duper nice and a lot of people came out.

So here's the latest big thing in radio: Opie and Anthony get cancelled. If you haven't been following this story, here's a summary. Or if you don't want to read all that, here's my summary: NYC DJs challenge listeners to have sex in public places. Producer mikes couple ringin' the bells in St. Pat's. Hilarity and FCC investigations ensue. The GM and PD of the station have been suspended, and now the DJs are fired. Not just any dumb jocks, though, but O and A, who are big enough to be referred to in shorthand and have a syndicated afternoon show on dozens of stations. These stations are going to need some new DJs and quick, because the new ratings period starts in a few weeks. Consolidation and voicetracking have diminished the available pool of talent to the point where it's really really hard to find a jock good enough to put in afternoons. So if you're a DJ, get your tizzape out!

The station's attorney says it's unlikely that their license will be revoked by the FCC. We'll see.

Thought I was gonna be able to update yesterday and then couldn't. Our router has been flakey and I've been busy.

Sleater-Kinney! Go get some.

Embroidered velour hoodies. I was velour's biggest proponent, oh, back in 1995. Is this how short the fashion cycle has gotten?

While we're at it, Seven Jeans. Ooooh, everyone loves them. I saw some of my chic record label girls wearing them and they did look good, but I can't bring myself to care that much about casual clothing. But I've never tried any on, so who am I to say...apparently, words do not do them justice. My parents both wear sizes just a little larger than me, so I haven't bought a new pair of blue jeans since puberty. I'm shaped more like my dad than my mom, and his levis fit me wonderfully. The fit on any pair of jeans is 50% the designer's cut and 50% your ass. Ass can be highly variable. Some people just look good in Lees, and their ass doesn't have to worry about the jean budget.

Okay, I've secretly been thinking about buying a really nice pair of jeans. No jean purchases in 15 years ought to entitle me to that, right?

I feel sick and I had a horrible radio show. Blah blah blah blah blog.

It's all okay because Ryan Adams is on my radio. The brand new one that doesn't come out for a month yet. Oh, and now it's Soundgarden. "Burden In My Hand."

Today I'm wearing a dress I bought when they rereleased the Screaming Life/Fopp EPs as one album. So it must have been between that and Badmotorfinger. It's black with red roses outlined in gold (I was listening to a lot of Cure at the time). I was dating a crazy redheaded boy at the time. We listened to a lot of Anthrax. He had a lot of knives and guns, and I mean a lot, but I didn't think that was unusual. That's what growing up in the rural West will do to you. Last I knew he was in the National Guard and working at a prison.

Breeders, "Cannonball."

The first concert I went to with the boyfriend was the Breeders. My best girl was there too. It was one of the best concerts ever. Th' Faith Healers opened, then Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

Oh, "Paranoid Android!" Damn, I've got a great little station.

But back to the Breeders. We were right up front and Jon Spencer jumped on the monitors and stepped on my boyfriend's hands and sweated on us and went crazy.

Kim and Kelley were beautiful. Josephine Wiggs was sexy and cool. They played every song I wanted and at the end Kelley grabbed my hand and gave me her pick. She said something like, "I know it's sexist but I love girls that rock." I don't know what she meant but I screamed like she was Elvis.

Oh for fuck's sake, the DJ followed Radiohead with the Cure. "Lovesong," even. I'm gonna close my office door and do the twirly goth dance.

This dress has a great skirt for that.

I don't even have time to go into how much fun I had. Maybe some show reviews later, maybe not.

I got my Bluefly order and it was all that.

Here's your fun headline for the day: Lab Mice Die After Drugs, Disco. Please come up with some funny one-liners about this study for me so I have one less thing to do today.

On the road until Monday, so no updates unless I get a spare connection and some time, which is doubtful. More rock and roll fun.

You're saving 83% by shopping at Bluefly.

Yup.

Calvin Klein Platinum beaded sleeveless dress.

Miu Miu cotton organza dress.

Calvin Klein deep navy silk and cashmere v-neck sweater.

Doooood, I had so much fun this weekend. Everything went so smooth, hung out with my best girl, soaked up the sights of a terrifically underrated city, and got to interview one of my favorite artists (who was just as wonderful as I expected). I love road trips. Plus the boyfriend is back and that's so nice.

I know this DJ. Talk-show host, technically. He's talented but a blowhard, as you may gather. Talk-show hosts are just a special breed of radio freak.

From AllAccess (registration req'd):

The MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN RADIO has released new survey numbers showing that less than 15% of GMs in Top 100 markets are women. That's the same figure reported in 2001. Stations with female General Sales Managers have dipped from 30% in 2001 to 27% in this year's study. And what about female Program Directors? That number remained at just below 10%.

My sidebar links are not doing so well. Maybe I'm a jinx. Rabbit has't updated in nearly a month, I Love Music has been down for a couple of days, The Search For Love in Manhattan just decided to quit, Ernie has some big project occupying his time, and Bluefly hasn't given me any new Prada shoes in forever. Mister Pants seems to be getting started up again, though, and I don't really think anything's ever going to stop Tony. And Kate totally rocks.

Ghettolicious and I are doing the rock star thing this weekend. Hanging out with famous people, whee hoo.

Evan says there were 1.5 Blogger-powered blogs created every minute in the month of July. Helloooo revolution!

I first became blog-aware in May 2000. Wow, that seems like a long time ago. I didn't remember the date, of course, I had to comb back through Loobylu's archives because she's the first one I remember falling in love with. Who knows how I found it, but I came in on her first or second entry and was just dazzled. It was fun. You got to feel like you knew someone a little bit, and in a nice way, not in a voyeuristic way. Plus Loobylu draws these amazing cute little pictures to go along with a lot of her entries.

I reaaaaaally want my own domain to fool around with, mainly because I've got a digital camera now and could do a lot with pictures and such. Actually what I reaaaaaally want is a domain and the time to fool around with it. I work 10-12 hours a day, five days a week, and about half the weekends. The boyfriend is quite wonderful and entertaining and takes up a little time as well. He is at GenCon right now and maybe when I have more time I'll talk about that. I wish I was there too.

Rod Serling is my hero. I have so many great memories of hunkering down to watch Twilight Zone episodes with my dad. There were a couple he wouldn't let me watch because they were too scary...I think one was the one where the old lady won't open the door because then Death would come in. I'm Tivoing Twilight Zone episodes like mad now. I hadn't seen any for at least ten years, and it's so incredible to see them again.

Rod Serling joins Carl Sagan and David Byrne in the group of quirky, slight, dark-haired men I hold a little higher than most. My dad turned me on to all of them, and he is also quirky, slight, and dark-haired. (Freud would say I should be dating one, though, but of course he is wrong because I've only dated big meaty guys. Ha ha on you, Freud.)

What a voice. The network wanted Orson Wells to be the narrator of Twilight Zone but that wouldn't have worked now, would it? You may or may not know that he wrote most of the scripts. He won six Emmys; two were for Twilight Zone. He was nominated for an Emmy in 2001 even though he died in 1975 (the day I was due to be born; I ended up being late), for A Storm In Summer, adapted from a screenplay he wrote in 1970. Pierre Boulle wrote Planet of the Apes, but Rod Serling gave the movie adaptation its wonderful twist at the end.

Somehow he avoided gross censorship or blacklisting despite his somewhat radical views. He brought up big issues, mainly centered on that horrible fear of the Other. Racism, classism, lookism, even. The fear of the Reds and the fear of what America might do to the world in order to get the Reds. How many Twilight Zone episodes involve the bomb, or bomb shelters?

He was a boxer, then a paratrooper in WWII, and a teacher as well as a writer. He opposed the Vietnam War and supported Eugene McCarthy over LBJ. He lived next door to Ron and Nancy. He was a smoker, and he died during open heart surgery at the age of 50. He was a damn handsome man.

Really good article in the Times magazine about the process of creating a pop star. It's about Amanda Latona and what she and her record label (J) go through to determine her sound, look, etc. The article is long but interesting, and from my perspective at least, accurate about what it takes to break a pop star.

So I read the whole article and then listen to the song a couple of times.

And the song is crap. And I love pop music. This is dated pop, and not in a good way. It starts off way too aggressive and then settles into bland 1985 production, complete with this horrible piano slide toward the end. Excuse me, synth slide.

Poor thing.

We've an artist in the studio right now. No matter what level of fame a person happens to be at when they visit, I always get nervous about it. Must be some kind of latent good-hostess thing popping its head up. Dunno where that comes from.

Great conversation between Suzanne Vega and Kim Gordon about being moms in rock. Of course I skip through all the sweet motherly stuff and am simply relieved that Kim Gordon owns Manolo Blahnik pumps. I feel less conflicted about my Prada maryjanes now.