Showing posts with label MIT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MIT. Show all posts

Friday, December 28, 2012

Bring on the Cheese!

Student/community radio WMBR (MIT) has confirmed it will be once again present "Cheese Patrol" Saturday, December 29."starting at noon and continuing until midnight or later!"

What's the big deal?  One can listen to commercial radio or "Boston's NPR music station" up the dial to hear overproduced, yowling vocals, wretched lyrics, banal/stupid/nonsense, histrionics/pretentious/sappy, 1970-1985 top 40 (in the case of WUMB, covers thereof) cheese just about any time. The difference is those stations take themselves seriously, they actually believe their kind of cheese is in the popular interest and appreciated by their target audiences. Well, they may be correct, there is no accounting for taste, some probably like listening to the same overplayed pop day in and day out. But here is a chance for discerning listeners to hear some really bad cheese.

 It's worth tuning in to 88.1fm or the stream. The program will also be available on demand via archive for two weeks following the broadcast.

What Is Cheese?
Blurb by Lisa.Cheese Patrol is our yearly homage to all the songs that people vociferously hate but secretly know all the words to. These are the songs we grew up with; over-orchestrated. overwrought, oversynthed, over the top.
It started very innocuously on a Friday night back in 1990. Sue and I used to have shows back-to-back on Friday. We were followed by Danny and Shawn who would alternate weeks on the "Spin Control" show. Danny had a penchant for early 80's cheese, and would often play processed cheese food with a straight face. Danny also had a penchant for phoning in several minutes before he was due on the air to tell us he was stuck at work and wouldn't be here to do his show.
Once, he called at 9:58pm to tell us he wouldn't be here at 10. I was out of ideas to continue on with the indie rock slop I was foisting on the loyal listeners, so I decided to take Danny's dairy product theme and run with it. I beamed as I cued up Romeo Void's "Never Say Never" and "Cheese Control" was born.
Over the years, "Cheese Control" metamorphosized into the "Cheese Patrol", and our initial 2-hour time slot blossomed into a 6 hour "special" in 1991, a 10 hour spectacular in 1994, a16 hour fest in 1995, a 24 hour New Years Eve marathon in 1996, and a somewhat scaled-back 20 hour gala in 1997. (1992 and 1993 were off-years due to my self-imposed exile at graduate school in NC).
Eventually we'd like to have all our playlists up on the web, and maybe some background "stories" on why these songs are so special to us. We're starting with the latest 1997 playlist and we'll add information whenever we emerge from our lameness with bursts of creative verbiage. 
So what exactly makes a song cheesy? We ourselves often argue over the relative cheese merit of various songs but there are a number of criteria that most classic aged slices have in common:
  • TOO MUCH PRODUCTION - Swirling strings, choral accompaniment, blaring horns, big guitar solos, seizure provoking synth. Whatever instrument, if there's too much of it, it's cheese. Pretentious prog rock (like ELP) instantly qualifies as Velveeta.
  • YOWLING VOCALS - "I-yeeeeee-I-yeeeeeee-I, will always love yooooooo-oo-oo-oo" "Aaaahhhhaaaaahh-reeeeeee-yeeelllllll" "Sheeeh-eehhh-eeehh-eh-eh-eh-reeeee Baaay-yaaah-beeeeeee" "Shannon is gone I saw her drifting out to seeeeeeeeeaaaaaaa" You get it.
  • WRETCHED LYRICS - Most songs written to mourn the death of loved ones or announce one's imminent suicide are cheesy. Most epic stories put to music are cheesy. Most songs written about the grim reaper, the ferryman, or the boogey man are cheesy. All songs about runaway pets are cheesy. All teenage death anthems are cheesy.
  • BANAL/NONSENSE/STUPID - The addition of tra-la-la, doo-doo-doo, da-da-da, ooooh-ooooh, yummy-yummy, suu-suu-sussudio, or any other nonsense words automatically add limburgher value. Songs about lollipops, aliens, vans or trucks, rebellion by growing your hair long, or hot babes waiting to lay it down are pure Swiss. Any song about masturbation should not be written.
  • HISTRIONICS/PRETENTIOUS/SAPPY - There is generally a direct relationship between how seriously the artist takes him/herself and the cheese value of the song. Where there's sappiness, there's cheese. Anything by the Carpenters or Olivia Newton John is cheesy.
  • TOP 40 BETWEEN 1970 AND 1985 - If it was a Top 40 hit during this period, and people danced to it on American Bandstand, it was likely Muenster.
Our Cheese Patrol specials generally cover all time periods from the 60's to the present. We play all the perennial cheesy commercial favorites, but we also play a good share of more obscure indie and punk rock tunes. Hey, it's college radio, this is what we do.The regular participants each have "specialties", which for the most part tend to be determined by how old everyone is. Sue does the 60's top 40 and the 70's prog rock thing, Nancy does the 60's chick and 70s/80s/90s punk rock thing, Shawn does the 70's sap thing, Keith does the early 80's thing, and I get stuck with late 70's disco/R&B thing mainly because I was the one who was 12 at the time (OK, I'll admit it, I like the R&B stuff).
That's all for now. Something has gone wrong with the facilities in the building that houses WMBR and a sharp sulfur smell has permeated the studio. It smells like exit 13 on the New Jersey Turnpike in here. I think I need to go.
Your cheese queen, Lisa

Cheese Patrol 2001
Cheese Patrol 2000
Cheese Patrol 1998
Cheese Patrol 1997
Cheese Patrol 1996

For a complementary take, read

A List of The Most Cheesy Songs Ever (work in progress)

Submitted by Merlin on Mon, 08/08/2005 


If you wish to be snarky starting now and after Saturday's "Cheese Patrol", join Camberville Music Aficionados


===
Noon update. WMBR has just created an event on its Facebook page.
The Cheese Queens Lisa and Sue bring forth speaker-melting sounds from the past as WMBR converts from cool to cheese for its one traditional day of the year. Buried in the distant recesses of your brain are the songs you loved before you developed any sense of taste or morals, Cheese Patrol dredges up those melodious memories with guilt-free aplomb.
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Thursday, December 13, 2012

Welcome Yule!




What are the people of Boston doing to celebrate Yule / the Winter Solstice? In chronological order, here are a few suggestions.from the Facebook group "Celtic Music in New England", whose members have been gathering event information since the beginning of December. If you are aware 

of other events, please post here. 

Pagan Awakening

MIT Chapel, Mass Ave and Amherst St., Cambridge, MA 
Yule / Winter Solstice / Begin (Ritual and Drum Circle) Date: Friday, December 14, 2012
Our celebrations consist of 2 parts. First there is a drum circle from 7 until 8 (http://psgs.us/mucambridgedrumcircle), and then a participatory ritual from 8 until 10 (http://psgs.us/mupaganawakening). You can go to one, the other, or both.
People can come and go as they please for the drum circle, but we hope that people who arrive for the ritual will stay until the end.
Time: Doors open for the drum circle at 7 pm.
People should arrive for the ritual by 8 pm so we can get started shortly after. Once the ritual starts, if you must arrive late, please enter quietly and wait to be let into the circle.
Location: The beautiful MIT Chapel, on the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA at Mass Ave & Amherst St., MIT Building W15 (http://psgs.us/MITChapel)
Price: Free, but suggested donated of $5.
In February, our seed lay dormant. In March, we planted it with intention and saw it sprout. In May, our dreams started to take on physical form as we welcomed in the light half of the year. In June, our energies reached their pinnacle and we stood midway between planting and harvesting. In August, we had the First Harvest and gave thanks for the Earth's bounty and the sacrifice of the spirit of the grain. On the Equinox, we had our second harvest and shared our bounty in thanks and preparation for the coming darkness. In October, we had our final harvest, entered the dark half of the year, and said good-bye to all that had passed on.
Now, on the longest night, we safeguard our tender spark of light so that it may be reborn and begin its growing journey into the new year.
This is an open public ritual. It is intended both for those curious about Paganism and for practicing Pagans. All participants are equally welcome.
This event is drug and alcohol free.
Live music provided by Martin Case and the Lee (http://psgs.us/ritualband).
Joseph Brogan-Saxophones, Flutes
Jean Laing-Djembe, Percussion
Joshua Mayo-Djun Djun, Djembe, Percussion
Omar Gittens, Djun Djun, Percussion
Martin Case-Saxophones, Djembe, Percussion
(Excerpts from our Imbolg/Inspire drum circle: http://psgs.us/ytimbolg12;
Excerpts from our Ostara/Equinox/Emerge and Surge drum circle: http://psgs.us/ytostara12
Excerpts from our Bealtaine/Unite drum circle: http://psgs.us/ytbealtaine12
Excerpts from our Litha/Midsummer/Summer Solstice/Achieve drum circle: http://psgs.us/ytlitha12
Excerpts from our Lughnasadh/Lammas/Harvest drum circle: http://psgs.us/ytlammas12)
Website: http://psg.mit.edu/ , http://twitter.com/mitpsg , http://paganawakening.org , http://twitter.com/paganawakening
WitchVox: http://psgs.us/wvyule12
Facebook: http://psgs.us/fbyule12
Meetup: http://psgs.us/muyulerc12, http://psgs.us/muyuledc12
Couchsurfing: http://psgs.us/csyule12
G+: http://psgs.us/gpyule12
The MIT Chapel (W15) (http://psgs.us/MITChapel) is the cylindrical building with an odd spiky thing on top near the MIT Student Center. Get to 77 Mass. Ave. on the side opposite the MIT entrance with the pillars and walk west, away from the pillars, towards dorm row -- the chapel will be on your left. If you get to Kresge Auditorium (the building that looks as if you could ski off it), you've gone too far. If you notice a large inflatable grub-like thingy to your left, you have definitely gone much too far.
Parking is available in the Chapel Turnaround: "Parks 20 cars and is for use with Chapel events. Turnaround is located on Amherst Street just after the Chapel." (http://psgs.us/ChapelTurnaround)

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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Happy Birthday, WMBR




With studios located deep in the bowels of MIT's Walker Memorial Building, independent college / community radio station WMBR exemplifies the "third model" of how a radio station can be structured*. Today WMBR celebrates its fifty-first anniversary. In the words of Eli Polonsky, one of the producer/hosts of "60's-70's Lost and Found",
‎51 years ago today, students at MIT completed an electronics project, threw the switch, and put WTBS 88.1 FM, the MIT college and community radio station, on the air with ten watts! Still student-run and maintained and programmed by an all-volunteer student and community staff, WMBR now serves greater Boston and northeastern Massachusetts on the air with 720 watts, and the world online at http://www.wmbr.org/, with unique original non-commercial programming not heard elsewhere. Happy 51'st to WMBR!~Eli Polonsky

From its own "about" page,
WMBR is a federally licensed FM radio station, operating at 88.1 MHz from the campus of MIT. Our signal can be heard in most of eastern Massachusetts at 88.1 FM, 365 days a year, 20-24 hours per day. WMBR is a noncommercial, all volunteer radio station. None of its members are paid for its efforts. The majority of WMBR's funding comes from listener donations with additional support from MIT.WMBR's unique and innovative programming ranges from hip-hop to classical, punk rock to jazz, blues to celtic fiddle tunes. We offer the opportunity for MIT students and community members to learn about music, radio engineering, audio production techniques, electrical engineering, acoustics, news reporting and how to manage a small business.The offices and studios of WMBR are located in the basement of the Walker Memorial Building at 142 Memorial Drive (next to the Tennis Courts at the intersection of Ames St. and Memorial Dr.).Our program guide is available online, and on the front door of our studios (MIT Room 50-030). It changes within the first few weeks of each MIT semester (Fall, Spring, Summer).

----
*Community and independent college are types of radio service that offer a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial and public service. Community and independent college stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular to a local/specific audience but which may often be overlooked by commercial/mass-media and so-called "public" broadcasters.


Community and independent college radio stations are operated, owned, and driven by the communities they serve. Community radio is not-for profit and provides a mechanism for facilitating individuals, groups, and communities to tell their own diverse stories, to share experiences, and in a media rich world to become active creators and contributors of media.


In many parts of the world, community radio acts as a vehicle for the community and voluntary sector, civil society, agencies, NGOs & citizens to work in partnership to further community development as well as broadcasting aims.

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Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Grateful Dead at MIT, 5/6/70


Description: Mary Ann Vecchio gestures and screams as she kneels by the body of a student, Jeffrey Miller, lying face down on the campus of Kent State University, in Kent, Ohio. On publication, the image was retouched to remove the fencepost above Vecchio's head.
Source: © 1970 Valley News-Dispatch
Date: 1970-05-04
Author: John Paul Filo, who was a journalism student at Kent State University at the time

40 years ago the Grateful Dead were booked to play a concert at MIT. Then tragedy struck at Kent State, four students protesting the US invasion of Cambodia were struck down by the soldiers of the Ohio National Guard. For more information read Wiki "Kent State Shootings".

Like most other colleges and universities across the country, the MIT students' response was to close down the school by a strike.

Because Kresgee was not available for the concert, and when the Dead saw hundreds of students milling about in the yard, they decided to "jam". A reel to reel tape recorder took the feed off the sound board, the impromptu concert was recorded.

Some years later, Eli Polonsky, now host of "60's/70's Lost and Found" on WMBR , Tuesdays noon-2pm discovered the tape in the WMBR vaults and contacted David Gans, host/producer of the Grateful Dead Hour. David subsequently restored, mastered and turned the recording into digital format.

The Grateful Dead at MIT, 5/6/70 will be broadcast tonight starting at 8pm PDT on the mother station, KPFA, Berkley. Check TGDH listings for other stations and times.

==============

The basic information was correct, Eli supplies the details.

The Dead were scheduled to play a paid concert the next night (5-7-70) in MIT's DuPont Gym, which they did, but they were in the area the day before, saw the massive student strike in front of the student center, and decided to spontaneously set up on Kresge Plaza in front of the student center and play a free concert for the rally crowd. MIT radio station WTBS (now WMBR) was set up with a direct mono high-fidelity feed to record the strike rally on reel-to-reel, and ended up with a soundboard tape of this impromptu (but legendary) Dead concert. The digitzed version (by David Gans) of that original reel is what will be played tonight on KPFA. http://www.kpfa.org at 11 PM EDT for us east coasters.

- Eli Polonsky
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