Bart McPherson Weblog

I have a page that keeps track of the most played artists, albums, and songs. I’m posting here the results for 2004. It was the year of the Pixies.

Number of shows: 16
Most Played Artists
# - Artist
19 - Pixies
9 - Husker Du
9 - Pogues, The
8 - Replacements, The
7 - Broken Social Scene
7 - Sonic Youth
6 - Cash, Johnny
6 - Mogwai
6 - Shins, The
6 - They Might Be Giants
6 - Velvet Underground
5 - Black, Frank
5 - Death From Above 1979
5 - Dressy Bessy
5 - Guided By Voices
5 - Waits, Tom
4 - Afghan Whigs
4 - Bragg, Billy
4 - Buffalo Tom
4 - Camper Van Beethoven

Most Played Albums
# - Album - Artist
12 - Live in Akron, OH 11.21.04 - Pixies
5 - You Forgot It In People - Broken Social Scene
5 - You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine - Death From Above 1979
5 - Loaded - Velvet Underground
4 - Bear Box Set (54 - 58) - Cash, Johnny
4 - Here Come The Warm Jets - Eno, Brian
4 - Antics - Interpol
4 - Box Set 1975 - 77 - Pere Ubu
4 - Demonstration EP - Pretty Please, The
4 - All For Nothing - Replacements, The
4 - Zwei - Turing Machine
4 - Real Gone - Waits, Tom
3 - Rubber Factory - Black Keys
3 - Frank Black Francis - Black, Frank
3 - DIY: UK Punk 1 Anarchy In The UK - Boomtown Rats
3 - DIY: UK Pop 2 Starry Eyes - Buzzcocks, The
3 - The Tigers Have Spoken - Case, Neko
3 - Tripper - Efterklang
3 - New Day Rising - Husker Du
3 - Never Breathe What You Can’t See - Jello Biafra With The Mekons

Most Played Songs
# - Song - Artist
3 - Miles iz Ded - Afghan Whigs
3 - Girl Is On My Mind - Black Keys
3 - Lookin’ After No. 1 - Boomtown Rats
3 - kc accidental - Broken Social Scene
3 - Ever Fallen In Love With Someone - Buzzcocks, The
3 - Romantic Rights - Death From Above 1979
3 - C’mere - Interpol
3 - Starry Eyes - Records, The
3 - They’ll Soon Discover - Shins, The
3 - See No Evil - Television
3 - Rock and Roll - Velvet Underground
2 - Bitchen Summer - Bangles
2 - cause = time - Broken Social Scene
2 - Sunflower Suit - Buffalo Tom
2 - Kids Are Alright - Calamities
2 - I Can’t Help It - Cash, Johnny
2 - Hey Good Lookin’ - Cash, Johnny
2 - Less Than Zero - Costello, Elvis
2 - Needle In The Camel’s Eye - Eno, Brian
2 - I Disappear - Faint, The

Today’s playlist has been updated. Instead of doing a regular “Best of 2004″ I decided to play stuff I like from this year and compare it to albums that were released in 1984.
Next week I may do a mix of stuff from 1985. Yes, I’m stuck in music from 20 years ago. Post your requests now so I can be sure to look for them ahead of time.

Forgot to post yesterday that the playlist has been updated. It was fun to do a Christmas show.
The morning started out as a pain. The guy that used to have the time slot that I have now was on the air with the guy that is on before me. They do a talk type show with some music mixed in. It’s not my cup of tea, but hey it’s college radio.
So I pull into the parking garage, grab my stuff and start walking to the building the station is in. I dial the station number on my mobile so someone can come down and let me into the building. The university locks the entrance when the library is closed. It took over 10 minutes to get through! You’re talkiing to a bunch of drunks about science fiction. Pick up the friggin’ phone! It then takes one of them another 5 or so minutes to come down and let me in the building. It’s Cleveland! In Winter! It’s Cold outside!
I had planned on having time to go through the station’s Christmas music for extra stuff, but I had very little time. The main air studio was a wreck. There was crap everywhere. They didn’t want to give up control of the board for some reason.
So I finally get one of my discs in a player and cue up the station ID and disclaimer a minute before start time. I get Mogwai going and go searching for extra Christmas music. They’ve moved the Christmas music out of main air! It was just there last week! It’s Christmas, where’s the Christmas CD’s?
Anyway, it was a good show even without the extra stuff. Thanks to _ for the hook-up of PAS/CAL and Asobi Seksu. You should check out his show on Monday mornings at 9 AM EST.
I found the Christmas CD’s as I was leaving. They’re out in the hallway, up high by the exit (note to self).
Next week I’m going to try and put together some of the better stuff I heard this year. The station has no index of what they have in the library. It won’t be easy to find all the good stuff. (That might be a good project. Create a database and interface for cataloging what’s in there.)
I have an idea of some of the things I want to play. Anyone have anything they think was good from this year?

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you all!

b.

I’ve had a couple of days of vacation this last week. It was nice to just hang out and not do much.
I caught up on Tivo. It had quite a few VH1 Classic “The Alternative” to watch. They have some good stuff on the show.
I finished the semester on Wednesday with a final exam. I’m waiting for the grade to be posted for it. I had an A going into the final, so I’m hoping I’ll have 2 A’s this semester.
I’ve also been preparing for this week’s show. I have a ton of Christmas music. I didn’t know so much existed that would fit in with what I usually play. I’m giving away tickets to Neko Case at The Beachland Ballroom during this week’s show. Her show is on January 15. You need to be atleast 18 and not have won anything from WCSB in the last 30 days.

The latest playlist has been added. A lot of Christmas stuff played. There will be more next week.
I’ll also be giving away tickets to the Neko Case show at The Beachland Ballroom (Saturday, January 15). Listen and call!

In other news. I had my last final of the semester tonight. A pretty good semester over all.

The latest playlist has been posted to the website. The mp3 streams will be up shortly.

I added a new page that contains the top 20 artists, albums, and songs I have played on the show.
The Pixies are so high because I played a bunch of songs off of the Live in Akron, OH 11.21.04 album the week of their show.

Interesting article in The Christian Science Monitor about the latest Pentagon report critical of the administration and it’s approach to terrorism and global security in general.
I’m only a little way into the report, but there are a ton of great zingers.

America’s image problem, many suggest, is linked to perceptions of the United States as arrogant, hypocritical, and self-indulgent. There is agreement too that public diplomacy could be a powerful asset with stronger Presidential leadership, Congressional support, inter-agency coordination, partnership with the private sector, and resources (people, tools, structures, programs, funding). Solutions lie not in short term, manipulative public relations.

The number and depth of these reports indicate widespread concern among influential observers that something must be done about public diplomacy. But so far these concerns have produced no real change. The White House has paid little attention.

The Global War on Terrorism replaced the Cold War as a national security meta narrative. Governments, media, and publics use the terrorism frame for cognitive, evaluative, and communication purposes. For political leaders, it is a way to link disparate events; identify priorities, friends, enemies, victims, and blame; and shape simple coherent messages.

Also scary studies show:
A year and a half after going to war in Iraq, Arab/Muslim anger has intensified. Data from Zogby International in July 2004, for example, show that the U.S. is viewed unfavorably by overwhelming majorities in Egypt (98 percent), Saudi Arabia (94 percent), Morocco (88 percent), and Jordan (78 percent). The war has increased mistrust of America in Europe, weakened support for the war on terrorism, and undermined U.S. credibility worldwide.

Today’s playlist has been posted. The streams will be after I get home and upload them. It was hectic morning. I couldn’t find anything that was requested, and Shawn kept calling and asking for “electronic sex music”. He’s funny for about the first 2 times. I couln’t get enough stuff queued up to go and drink some soda, so I was half awake until about 5:30.
The internet users picked up around 6:00. It’s good to see quite a few Mac users out there.
Everyon have a good week and post any comments or requests.

Welcome to December!