Ever tried housy-style music? Electronic stuff, or post-rock (Tortoise, Trans Am)? Count me out of the circle of HipHop and Rap appreciators. There was some really fine stuff in the olden days (Grandmaster Flash, Sugarhill Bunch), but since rapping overtook DJing... As you may have noticed, I come from punk and independent styles, but have through the years come to like a variety of things. There is good and fun music outside of "rock" as well as inside. Would you have a chance of playing a show with curious stuff? Not "regular", but once a month? Maybe feature local acts (JB, the John Peel of Hawaii...), or people stopping by on tours. Variety never harmed a-body. There are great independent US bands, that only release in Germany. They don't get record deals in the US, they don't get airplay. But they are really great: Granfalloon Bus, Barbara Manning, Susan James, Chris Cacavas,... to name just some San Francisco acts. Chris Korda and the Church of Euthanasia have a nice techno-CD out. Very neat dancefloor stuff. Big Rude Jake - Neo-Swing from NYC (originally, he was playing "jazzy jump blues in Toronto"). Bobby Conn!!! Mr Quintron... There's loads of bands worth to look at, and then there's the whole Brit thing - Experimental Pop Band, Prolapse, Gomez,... And German bands! To Rococo Rot, Tocotronic, Stereo Total (whose concert I'll see later), Quarks,...

Techno is not going to happen on this station. To be honest with you, I don't care for it, except to dance to. No, disco isn't dead, it just has another name. It's great club music, though. If it did happen, it certainly wouldn't happen on morning radio.

I do love the Jamaican reggae they let us play...and the kids basically are tweaking me. I know they listen, because they sing my custom jingle to me occasionally.

I also like the early Sugar Hill Records stuff...especially Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. My mama said turn off the TV, said you watch it too much, it just ain't healthy All My Children in the daytime, Dallas at night, Can even watch the game or the Sugar Ray fight!

I don' like hip hop or house or techno - except at the merry-go-round. Then it's the best thing ever! Sonja is a real techno freak - which is freakish, because she's so intellectual.

If they like reggae, feed them Ska and Rocksteady, John! Even Bob Marley started out with more rocksteady-style stuff, before becoming famous for his reggae. BTW, did you know Madness are having a reunion? (not that TRUE ska lovers would bother about them...) House is a very nice music to play in the background if you go out to have a drink, or for hanging out at home, doing all sorts of jobs. And Techno - once it was the evil empire for me (and Frankfurt is the Techno-capital of Germany...), but it has evolved beyond booming basses (at least some artists).

I have a format I have to follow...even if I did like the stuff you're suggesting...and reggae was the best thing that ever happened to ska--which sounds to me nothing but dated...I couldn't play it anyway...there's nothing wrong with my ratings, I'm #1 in my timeslot...as I said, I think the kids are just yanking my chain for two reasons: #1) I'm a teacher during the weekdays, and #2) I'm as old or older than the majority of their parents. BTW I find pre-reggae Marley unlistenable. Granted, that's my p rsonal opinion, but unlike my students, I remember when Marley was alive (and was fortunate enough to see him in concert and meet him briefly). They all wear Marley T-shirts, but he died before 90 percent of them were born. If I had to play techno to be "hip," I'd quit the business today.

Ah, I LOVE early rocksteady and bluebeat, and even some of the brit stuff. I like that it's so fast, rockin' you, and great to move to. Reggae is always a bit sleepy for me. I don't want to force some stuff down yer throat, no way, just wanted to suggest something to try out. Can't help it, it's a reflex, I think, and just never mind it, John, you're in good company there...

No...everyone has their taste. If you came here to Hawaii you'd see just how slow and sleepy the pace really is...especially here in Hilo. The kids do like rap and hip hop and they get that from the evening guy...other than that, they basically aren't the audience my boss wants to appeal to. We program to kids at night because most adults do their radio listening during the day at work or in the car or taking their radios to the beach on the weekends. Here's an example of my taste. I love to play the 7 minute long live version of Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" recorded at the London Lyceum because to me, that song is as close to a religious experience as music gets to me, with the exception of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" from his ninth (and unfortunately last) symphony. See, I do like SOME German musik (love Mozart as well, although I don't buy Pushkin's widely-accepted theory that he was poisoned by Salieri).

I think nobody REALLY believes that... Only people who take the movie serious! Where I live, it was pretty much like slow pop and oldies during the day, top-40, etc., until one day, a guy wrote to the radio station (all public stations in that day) and told them how much of their programmes are crap and boring, because it was always the same and they don't play what happens in the clubs, no new bands, etc. Amazingly, they invited him over: "Excuse me, what does "crap" mean?" and "What do you mean by "boring" ?" - The chap walked out that place with his own radio show! Weekly, two hours - though since on a worse slot, and shortened to an hour, but still, his show is now running since over ten years! Bands send him their singles and CDs, or stop by on their tours to chat, etc. When he goes on a trip, he brings music back from that place. Many people here love his show, because it really educated many folks about off-top-40 bands, acts, that actually tour, but nobody writes about them, etc. (Nobody but us, that is...) Many people regularly write him to suggest new records, or to comment on his selections, and often, he reads the letters on the air. Also gives out the concert dates of interesting acts. Or they call in - like I did often - to ask "Hey, what's that? Just tuned in, didn't hear the title..." - he introduced me to Nirvana (before the first record was released here), and the Dream Warriors.

Ahem, there ARE local clubs, no?

John, don't forget Bach!!

The man is my hero, for heaven's sake!

Hilo has a few clubs. They mostly play reggae and local music (live), but there is a couple of dance clubs. It's a small town (35,000). Re: Bach...see "Great music." Still Beethoven's ninth is my absolute fave classic. Bach was the original rock star...tons of illegitimate kids, a drunk and a petty criminal, often in and out of the slammer. You'd be amazed how many Americans--who had never heard of Salieri before--buy Pushkin's B.S. I make my English students read a small section of the book "Malig ed Master" about what is known and documented about Salieri and Mozart's acquaintance. Here, Salieri is synonymous with mediocrity and venomous jealousy, when in truth, his real legacy is as one of Beethoven's music teachers.

Your notes on Salieri should be in capital letters where everyone has to read them to enter. Good points, John...delighted that you make your students aware of the man.

Only posterity has judged him a mediocre composer. If you listen to "Tarare," I doubt that you'll share that widely held opinion. It is a shame that he was slandered by a well-written but off-base book and a spectacular film. I don't blame F. Murray Abraham. That role, unfortunately has defined his career. He is a bit like Salieri himself, in that despite a hard-working, productive career, he will be remembered only for Salieri, if at all. And also, like Salieri (who was Europe's greatest teacher of vocal music), he can also be judged fairly by his students. After Lee Strasberg died, Abraham became and remains Hollywood's number-one drama teacher. Students include Tom Hanks, Tom Hulce, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Re: Nirvana. I love their music, but I would like to know just what the hell was wrong with Kurt Cobain. I don't buy the theory that musicians need to be junkies to be creative. And what couldn't he handle about being perhaps the best rock songwriter since John Lennon? I'm not sure I'd want to be married to Courtney Love, but divorce is an option there. He was rich, talented, and stupid. Like Mozart, Elvis, Hank Williams, Duane Allman, James Dean...*sigh*

Dee Dee, Iggy, Mick...

... weren't all stupid, just the same unhappiness.

DeeDee Iggy and Mick are still alive, at least...

But David Bowie, Iggy, Dee Dee, Lou Reed and others were close to passsing away for much the same reasons. And many people around them were lost to despair and dope. There's a pattern.

Their choice. One can choose how to feel--unless they're clinically depressed--and then there's Prozac, Zanax, and my favorite, good old-fashioned Valium.

Their choice. One can choose how to feel--unless they're clinically depressed--and then there's Prozac, Zanax, and my favorite, good old-fashioned Valium.

NO! I wrote something really nice, and again lost it... Happens too often lately. Just in a nutshell, the rough of it: NO! You don't have free choice, and it's not all psychological, either. There's more to us all that depends on hardware config of the speciman in question than widely known. Plus most folks aren't cared for, as long as they can be coaxed to do their jobs. Works until they break down and get discarded, etc. Others that are not needed/monitored get no help, until they become dangerous to themselves and others, and then it's the institution. No option either. Lastly, too much Prozac and Valium abuse. That's no REAL improvement. Once, people were lobotomized for being lively, now they get fed pills. Great. Who cares why they feel or act like that? Who cares what happens in their ind, what games and tricks psyche and their neurology play them? It's hardware AND software, and nothing such as FREE WILL(TM) exists, but things that more or less aproximate it. And yes, that doesn't free us from morals - you just hafta strive for as good and as free and as decent as your PERCEPTION(TM) of free will allows you. Darn, I had this all so nice worded and well-founded. Excuse the blather.

it's not blather! You speak the truth, and I bear the "scars" from such medication (but not the ones you mentioned). We are too busy, too remote from family and roots to be safe from ourselves, anymore!

It's weird. Recently I met a well-known counter tenor, through Chris - I can't say his name here, but he is one of the biggest in Europe. He was also the most depressed person I've ever met. And at one point he said, 'You can have anything you want in life - as long as you pay the price.' Doesn't that say everything about success?

I personally believe that I have a choice when I wake up to be in a good or bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood, and am usually happy, even when others are accusing me of being an a--hole.

I wish I had thought of this while still on the last post, but re: tossed aside. I've been fired more times than a charcoal grill and tossed aside more than used Kotex.

ha-ha! I must say I can never really choose my moods. I don't think I've ever been depressed, but my highs are very high, and my lows, though pretty short-lived, are very low. Sometimes I can be calm, and that is probably easiest for those around me to deal with, but I guess the highs which get a little crazy come so easily because I'm an excitable person. How about you? Do you have good control over such things? Is it something one learns with time?

I may be terminally upbeat, but I am a happy person and don't lose it (even when kids are yelling "F--- you" at me). I've never been clinically depressed but used to take Valium in the 70s (because I liked it, pure and simple) and later as a precautionary because I was given interferon (chemtherapy) for a chronic liver disorder. I really believe it is my choice to be happy and if someone doesn't have a physical chemical imbalance, it is their choice also.

I think I more or less agree with that.

Alexander, if a person has a physiological problem--and clinical depression is physiological, not psychological problem, I agree with you. Most mental illness is organic (physical) in origin. I make it a point to surround my self with both positivity and humor because it helps me to deal with my physical problems (which, thank God, have not affected me psychologically).