A Dream So Pure I Cannot Find a Heart That Will Endure It: Transmission 228, 2015 August 12

Here is some airtime I was supposed to be using, and I think I used it well. While I am kind of "finished" with themed programs, I will organize a show around an idea from time to time; this time, it was dead people, on account of the "Listening Parlour" selection, whose performers, ironically, are all still alive, as far as I know. That's just how it worked out. Anyway, happy birthday to Lawrence Hayward, aka "Lawrence"--I'm sure he is or was listening.

Do you ever find yourself repelled by music not because of the music itself, but because of the demographic that seems to enjoy it? I am guilty of this. But I have an anecdote to share, about someone else, and Felt. Somehow I didn't latch onto Felt's music until Poem of the River, but of course you could hardly turn on college radio in the mid-80s and avoid hearing "Primitive Painters." So of course the KDVS library contained this record, and of course the record cover featured sticker dialogue. "Only trendy Sacramentans like this music," or something like that, was the most prominent review. We had a DJ there, maybe he had Aspergers or something, or was just an ass (in either case I totally sympathize) who would frequently dismiss records in this way. Beware anything "trendy Sacramentans" were into, basically. Once Mr. D and I did a session "Live in Studio A," following this person's program, and he said on air that our band name made us sound like we were "from Sacramento."

Sacramento, for those who aren't familiar, is the state capital, about 20 minutes up the road from where I grew up (and did undergrad). If not for that, it would be Fresno North. It doesn't have much going for it. It is the home of Cake (the band) and Tesla (the band). The television program Eight Is Enough was set there. It was home to Rush Limbaugh before he "went national." So, a dismal place, then--a former colleague said, "you have these two rivers converging, and they collect all the bad energy from what happens in the Legislature." I can't argue. Anyway, I doubt there have ever been more than five "trendy" people in Sacramento at any one time. I never found them threatening, but clearly opinions differ.

Lady Catharsis and I moved "back" to Sacramento in the late 1990s. On my first full day there I rode my bicycle to the record store and bought a record by Denim. Was I (am I) a trendy Sacramentan? I've been called worse.

I don't know if Section 25 were ever accused of being a favorite of trendy Sacramentans, but I'll die with them in my record collection too, whatever that makes me.

BOMBAST playlist, 2015 August 12, 2100-2300:

1. "Beneath the Blade" / "Inspiration" | Section 25 | From the Hip | Factory
2. "Quiet Life" | Japan | Exorcising Ghosts | Virgin
3. "The Friend Catcher" | The Birthday Party | Hits | 4AD
4. "Jenny Ondioline" | Stereolab | Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements | Duophonic - Elektra
5. "Make It Funky, Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4" | James Brown | Make It Funky (The Big Payback: 1971-1975) | Polydor
6. "I'm Comin' Down" | Primal Scream | Screamadelica | Creation - Sire
7. "All The People I Like Are Those That Are Dead" | Felt | Forever Breathes the Lonely Word | Creation | "Listening Parlour"
8. "Endless, Nameless" | Nirvana | The Nevermind & In Utero Singles | Geffen
9. "The Golden King" | Snakefinger's Vestal Virgins | Night of Desirable Objects | Ralph
10. "Devious Woman" | Singers & Players | War of Words | On-U Sound
11. "Herbert Harper's Free Press News" | Muddy Waters | Electric Mud | Chess
12. "Joy" | Isaac Hayes | Joy | Stax - Enterprise
13. "Further Back and Faster" | Coil | Love's Secret Domain | Threshold House
14. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (A Capella Mix / Special Edit Radio Mix)" | Negativland | U2 | SST

I took a ride through the pretty music.

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