Black Sand

Remembering Tom Ardolino b/w Wildroot (compiled by Tom Ardolino)

2012-01-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

Still kind of stunned by the news. Tom was an incredibly sweet human being, and had this almost childlike fascination with (and enthusiasm about) music that I really connected with. Even though his record knowledge was seriously deep, there was never a trace of the kind of one-upsmanship or superior attitude you get sometimes with uber-collector types. There's a reason the term "collector scum" exists, but it didn't apply to Tom in the least. He loved listening to music, not being an expert about it. And when he loved something, he wanted to share it with everyone, because maybe it would make them feel the same way.

I first met Tom when I was working at Mystery Train in Amherst. He would walk in, usually announcing his arrival with a "meow", and lugging an armload of LPs to sell. Josh did all the record buying, so I would loiter around the counter and look over his shoulder while he went through them. The stuff he brought in was always interesting; not always "good", but never boring, and occasionally amazing. I knew he played for NRBQ, but I was more interested in talking to him about the song-poem compilation he had put together, which wrecked my mind the first time I heard it.* Whenever we'd bump into each other after that - inevitably at a record store, thrift or flea market - he would always stop to say hi, and we'd talk about our latest finds.
*If you don't know what a song-poem is (or even if you do), check out this documentary. Tom makes an appearance at 13:23 & 31:38).

Fast forward to a couple years later - I was doing the record buying at Dynamite and Tom was still bringing in cool stuff. I scored a BBC Radiophonic Workshop LP & Matrix on Pro-Gress from him, to name a couple. Occasionally we would swap CD-Rs of whatever records we had been excited about lately. He had just gotten really into this Japanese surf band called The Spacemen, and made me a copy of that. I know I burned him a copy of the Heitkotter LP, back when that was all hush-hush, for whatever stupid reason. He said it was "wild".

One day he came in clutching a pile of CD-Rs with hand colored covers, and passed them out to everyone working. Wildroot is where I first encountered Nora Guthrie's spellbinding "Emily's Illness", there's a couple unclassifiable and great 45 tracks by Gary Knight, some obscure girl group stuff (the resignation of the Sugar Plums' "Doing What I Have To" is a highlight), a general feeling of things being slightly off, and lots of humor. The overall experience is like hanging out with Tom while he rummages through piles of thrift store records and says "oh, you gotta hear this one!".

I listened to that Spacemen CD-R again last night. It sounded so much better than I remembered that it sent me on a hunt for more. As it turns out, it's called eleki, and there's tons of it to investigate. The more music I uncover, the more bottomless it seems, and I wish Tom could still be around to share it with. I don't know if he believed in an afterlife, though I do know his dad was a man of the cloth (witness the hilarious track on Tom's Unknown Brain lp, where he catches him drinking beer and playing cards in the church). I'm not a believer myself, but it's nice to think of him in the kind of heaven you see in old cartoons; floating on a cloud, surrounded by cats and piles of weird records, the likes of which us poor earthbound record nerds can only dream of.

Rest in peace Tom, and thanks.

DOWNLOAD WILDROOT HERE (320kbps MP3/147MB)

Black Sand reboot/Fall fashion tips

2011-09-01T10:03:00.001-07:00

I know what you're thinking. "A new episode? Finally something on the internet to listen to!"

Actually, there isn't one, although the topic has come up a few times recently. It's just that neither of us have been motivated enough to do it, despite living in the same apartment. Always reaching for the stars...

So maybe we'll get our shit together soon. But as a kind of compromise, all the shows on this blog are back up, & the playlist links are working again. The shows from the podcast will be archived here shortly, as well as one or two that I thought were lost. "Completing the discography"; a warm, yet somehow empty feeling any record collector will be familiar with.

~~But if you want to talk about really feeling good, clothes are where it's at. Am I right!?!~~

~~If you don't want to look like a complete asshole this autumn, perhaps you might want the right people to see you in one of these "badd dawgs":~~

~~Hard to believe, but this is a totally unsolicited tribute to BS, in that most revered of all media, the T-shirt...silkscreened by humans in a VT garage, on black 100% cotton shirts.~~

~~$12 US/$20 World, postpaid. To order, email ron(at)spiritoforr.com. More details here.~~

~~Thanks Ron, and to everyone who has supported the show in one way or another...more to come?~~

SHIRTS ARE GONE, SORRY

Black Sand: 8/2/06

2006-08-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

Back from vacation to discover some VFR dj (presumably with "skillz") had busted up both turntables...much on-air griping ensues, not to mention a bunch of technical goofs (check out the studio computer's contribution at the 1:25:00 mark). Great to be back!

Artists: Dwarr, Marconi Notaro, Supersister, Cruciferius, Assim Assado, Feather Da Gamba, Fremont's Group, The New Folk,etc.

Playlist
Download

Black Sand: 6/20/06

2006-06-20T23:57:00.000-07:00

Note: This is a repost of a show from June 2006. It's not Conrad's birthday, so please don't wish him well in the comments. Thanks.

Guess what, it's Conrad's birthday! Why don't you drop him a line in the comments section or something? Hah? C'mon, do it!
Anyway, another fine episode, unburdened by listener expectations - a good amount of hard rock, a set of Brazilian singles & some talk about pie...we go further than ever before to try & get folks to call in, but no such luck. Considering moving to a podcast format soon, any thoughts? Anybody?

Artists: Charlies, Lobby Loyde, Pao Com Manteiga, Sleepy John, Alrune Rod, and the delightfully named Slut. And so on.

Playlist
MP3

Black Sand: 6/6/06

2006-06-06T23:52:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought today would be so boring? With 100 years of prep time, I figured the Satanists out there would pull something really sick out of their pointy hats, but no such luck. Really dull time in the studio as well, no callers, no nothin'. But a fine show nonetheless, with the first 20 minutes dedicated to the dark lord himself (Conrad).

Sacrificed upon the altar: Ugly Custard, Gomorrha, Tool Shed, Madrigal, Mazhar Ve Fuat, Elli, etc.

MP3
Playlist

Black Sand is moving...

2006-05-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

I guess it came down to the question of which term was more offensive: "blog" or "podcast"? It's tough, right? But "blog" was the winner, or loser (the sound of it still makes me cringe)....so head over to the new site & bookmark the fucker, cause I won't be updating this thing anymore.
Or you can stay here and stare at this thing - which could be more entertaining, depending...

Black Sand Archives Vol.4

2006-05-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, so I know this has been done to death already, but how could I not? I mean, it already said "Black Sa...", and the last time I was on an album cover was "Look At Yourself" (cheers to Ken & the lads for that). Plus, I thought our faithful listeners from out of state/country might like to put a face with the voices they hear every week - that's Conrad on the right - anyway, $5.00 for 6 shows spanning 2/7/06 - 4/11/06, you know the rest...

Black Sand: 5/23/06

2006-05-24T23:22:00.000-07:00

It's fundraising week at VFR - check out our completely botched attempt to raise some green for the station...my vaguely threatening "we want cash" technique combined with Conrad's inability to remember what station we're on resulted in zero calls, but hey, we tried. Maybe if we were actually offering those hemp diaper bags as a premium it might have helped.

Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on with this cover?

Artists: El Reloj (pictured), Steeplechase, Fort Mudge Memorial Dump, Might Of Coincidence, Pierrot Lunaire, Edip Akbayram & Dostlar, and, uh, Bachman Turner Overdrive.

Playlist

MP3

Black Sand 5/9/06

2006-05-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

Fairly unusual episode, notable for the fact that I play a 14 minute Italian prog track. If Cappy starts playing lobotomized hard rock from Croatia next week, we'll know some kind of Freaky Friday scenario has taken place...

Artists: Drosselbart (pictured), Albert Band, Rainbow Generator, Mark Tucker, Dirty John's Hot Dog Stand, etc.

MP3

Playlist

Red Sand 4/25/06

2006-04-28T17:31:00.000-07:00

What is it exactly about the name Black Sand? It seems simple enough to remember, but as Justin's intro will attest, things are not always as easy as they appear to be (listen for Conrad's booming laughter in the background). Later that night I spied the revised VFR schedule - "Black Sands". Does that even make sense? Sands?

Artists: Ahora Mazda (pictured), Samla Mammas Manna, The Bermuda Jam, Salt Water Soul, Bang, and some frank & thought provoking perspectives on the demon weed.

MP3

Playlist

Black Sand 4/11/06 w/ Guest DJ Josh Burkett

2006-04-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the Joshua episode... J.B. brought some nice stuff, including a great teen cover of (Blue Cheer's cover of) "Summertime Blues" that totally slays...thanks to the Jibba for coming out...this brings us up to Vol. 4 of the archives, which will be available in the next couple of days (or whenever I type up all the playlists). What is "French hair"?

Artists: Kubero Diaz y la Pesada (pictured), New Americans, Trevor McNamara, Stonewall, Aeroblus, Le Assemblee, Gordon Alexander, I Drive, etc.

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Playlist

Black Sand 3/28/06

2006-04-05T00:14:00.000-07:00

Long time no see huh? The computor has been out of service for a long overdue upgrade - rather than regale you with endless tales of "SATA floppies" & "flashing my BIOS", I humbly present last week's show. Next week, the one and only Josh Burkett, a.k.a. Joshua, a.k.a. "The Jibba" will be our special guest, with some bizarro shit from his stacks...you don't want to miss this one....

Artists: Beauregard Ajax, Second Life, Docdail, Third Power, Citizens For Interplanetary Activity, etc.

MP3 (right click & save)

Playlist

Black Sand 3/14/06

2006-03-15T06:47:00.000-08:00

Been sitting here for 5 minutes trying to think of something to say, but I don't have it in me. By "it", I mean coffee. Which I'm going to get right now. Enjoy the show...

Artists: Cerebrum, Schizo, The Avant-Garde, Rotomagus, The Head Shop, Selda, Charge, Jun Kamikubo, etc.

Sponsored by: Grove's Nose Drops

MP3

Playlist

Black Sand 02/28/06

2006-03-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

Well, a rather protracted break there, but we're back in business...here's the show from the 28th - not much to say about it, just dig the sounds...and be sure to visit the new (& highly functional) VFR website, where butterflies are free...

Artists: Il Balletto Di Bronzo (pictured), Damin Eih, Kebnekaise, Manal, La Libre Expresion, etc.

MP3

Playlist

Mp3s Busted, Orson Welles Drunk Again

2006-02-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, notice how the mp3s don't work anymore? Well, I have...my web host suspended my account until I receive my new debit card, necessitated by the aforementioned Russian assholes...so, it should be a couple of days, but in the meantime, here's some video clips for your viewing pleasure:

Amon Duul II: Eye Shaking King

Amon Duul II: Between The Eyes

Can: Paperhouse

and my personal fave - Orson Welles, hammered:

Black Sand 2/14/06

2006-02-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

Having been burned that day by Russian gangsters (to the tune of $800.00), my enthusiasm wasn't all it could of been, but I still managed to annoy Conrad with a set of love songs. Which is really what it's all about, right? You could be living in the gutter, without a dime, but if you could still annoy Conrad, you'd be the richest man in the world...

So anyway, here it is: the last weekly show...from here on in it's going to be every two weeks. Fucking "community" bullshit (sorry mom). People can still tune in to Matt's fine show "The Open Work", airing at the same time...

Artists: Gift, Os Mundi, Moving Gelatine Plates, Bold, Sergius Golowin, Salvation, and the highly pronounceable ForeningenTil Livest Beskyttelse.

MP3
Playlist

Black Sand Archives Vol.3

2006-02-13T06:09:00.000-08:00

Is it that time again already? Volume 3 is out now, 5 bucks, 6 shows, 12/27/05 - 1/31/06. These discs are going to become less frequent as we move to our wonderful & convenient new bi-weekly time slot (11pm - 1am). Drop me an email if you want to be notified when our show is on; unlike Geri, I'm not naive enough to think anyone is really going to mark it on their calendars or anything...

Black Sand 2/7/06

2006-02-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

Conrad's elderly roommate Geri makes an appearance, stunning us with her selective & masterful use of profanity. Not much else to say, but Cappy's THC-oriented setlist pretty much assures he won't be elected to public office anytime soon. So write him in!

Artists: Sitting Bull, Brave New World, Verto, Organisation, P205, Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy, Magical Power Mako, Jacques Thoillot, etc.

MP3

Playlist

Black Sand 1/31/06

2006-02-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

Conrad, distracted by his new "Three's Company" style living situation, couldn't manage to get music together for the show this week. So it was another solo joint for me, though we did discuss the finer points of hot tubbin', Moxie, "majestic" prog, polka festivals, and so on, before we ajourned to the Regal Beagle for a nightcap...

Artists: Asoka (pictured), Berets, Day Of Phoenix, Samuel Prody, La Cofradia De La Flor Solar, Niemen, and the second & final airing of the notorious "Cats Or Death" clip.

MP3

Playlist

Black Sand 1/24/06

2006-01-27T13:04:00.000-08:00

Here's what you missed: San Ul Lim (hopefully the chart above will explain all), Hair, Tabaco, Human Instinct, Ronno (Mick Ronson in "satanic rock" shocker!), El Amor, Magma, Los Brincos, etc.

MP3

Playlist

Black Sand 1/17/06

2006-01-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

OK, took a while but the mp3s should be working again...here's one from the 17th, sound quality is slightly crunchy, but hey. Pretend it's pirate radio.

Artists: Drum Circus, Sex, Thra Ka Band, Wolfgang Dauner, Malachi, Pax, Furekaaben, etc.

MP3

Playlist

BUZZKILL!

2006-01-19T10:44:00.000-08:00

Man oh man...things are really crashing & burning here. I originally was going to say that I screwed up recording the show this week, then I found it on the hard drive - but it DOESN'T EVEN MATTER because the bandwidth is gone for the month. With two weeks of shows left. Fuck!

So I guess I might look into getting more of that bandwidth stuff, but in the meantime you're going to have to amuse yourselves...try setting up a microphone & saying "hello? hello?" into it for 5 minutes, then play something with a wanky guitar solo. It's a winning combination.

Black Sand 1/10/06 w/ guest DJ Greg Petrovato

2006-01-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

We had a special guest dj for this installment of Black Sand: Greg from Feathers came by with a crate of rare wax, which somehow escaped being harmed by the steady flow of drool coming from my mouth. Now there's a pleasant image for you! The addition of another person to the show also changed the dynamic from the usual Abbott & Costello schtick to full blown 3 Stooges hijinks. Maybe it would have been called "Microphone Morons".

Also, I blanked on your name during the show (I have a "slight" memory problem), but thanks to Derek for the Plastic Ax 45 he sent...an expression of pure generosity unfamiliar to those of us who live in the sometimes feral & paranoid world of record collecting. I highly encourage people to send me free stuff. Doesn't have to be records...food (pies especially), funny masks...uh, I guess that's it.

Artists: Punch, Toad, The Waters, Merv Griffin (most life affirming track ever), Vinegar, Pacific Sound, an ugly hippie-bashing segment from the film "Electric Shades Of Grey", Tarkus, Garybaldi, etc.

MP3

Playlist

Black Sand 1/3/06

2006-01-04T10:50:00.000-08:00

Conrad "Slackistran" forgot his homework this week, so I got to drive. Which means lots of hard rock (naturally), but some surprises - most notably the steel drum/psych hybrid of Victor Brady's "Glass House". Don't let that scare you...

Artists: A To Austr (pictured), Electric Sandwich, Estes Brothers, Rick Saucedo, Wind, Stone Harbour, etc.

MP3

Playlist

The Horror!

2006-01-02T18:59:00.000-08:00

The time I have long feared is upon us...all mp3s are going offline except for the current week, usually posted a day or two after the show. Of course the cd-rs are available. Heh heh heh. No, actually the bandwidth is maxed out. If you know what bandwidth means, you'll understand. I know I probably haven't said this before, but please save the mp3s to your hard drive, don't stream them from the site...this will help things a lot. So...yeah. My most humble and heartfelt apologies.

Black Sand Archives Vol.2 CD-R

2005-12-29T09:56:00.000-08:00

Hot on the heels of Vol.1 comes another 12 hours of psychedelic mud, along with the usual flubs, goofs & boners you've come to expect from the suave Conrad Capistran, & the other guy. Spans the dates 11/15/05 - 12/20/05. 5 bucks postpaid in US, same deal as the other one. Yep, sure is Volume 2!

Black Sand 12/27/05

2005-12-29T09:09:00.000-08:00

Final show of the year! Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback...in the grand Christmas tradition of making a list & checking it twice, I typed up all the remaining playlists and kind of half-assedly checked them once. I'm not Santa, for Christ's sake.

Artists: Bunalimlar, Troyka, Food Brain, Suely e Os Kanticus, Pappo's Blues, Ariesta Birawa, etc.

MP3

Playlist

Black Sand 12/20/05

2005-12-21T19:47:00.000-08:00

Well, to say the friggin least, the "Xmas spirit" hasn't really been happening around Black Sand HQ. But I did manage to scrape up some Jesus/Santa related crap for the first 20 minutes of the show. From there on out pretty much anything goes, as usual. I'm actually really pissed that I didn't think to alter the theme song to say "Black Santa", but maybe next year (if there is one).

On an unrelated note, special thanks to MV for including Black Sand in his top 10 of the year list at Volcanic Tongue (check it out here). Just one correction: it's spelled "nucular". I'm 99% sure about that.

Artists: Armando Piazza, The Love Machine, High Speed & The Afflicted Man, Kenneth Higney, Albert Marcoeur, The Bunnies, etc.

MP3

Playlist

Black Sand Archives Vol.1 CD-R

2005-12-14T13:46:00.000-08:00

So, you may have noticed that a bunch of the old MP3s have disappeared...this is due to a combination of limited disk space & my bandwidth getting hammered. Which means the show must be catching on (a good thing), but I can't shell out the extra $ to keep them all available.

Luckily there is a solution: Black Sand Archives Vol.1 is a CD-R of the first 6 shows (at least the ones that I recorded) in MP3 format, with all the playlists. Yep, it's 12 straight hours (!) of everything you love about Black Sand; the awkward banter, incessant guitar solos, gratuitous drug references, etc. Best part: it looks like a wittle wecord! Awww. Paste-on cover, just like a crappy bootleg.

It's available for $5 postage paid in the U.S. Not sure how much for our overseas friends, but we'll stab that horse when we cross it. Or however that saying goes. Shoot me an email (from my profile) if you're interested.

One more thing: I actually got off my ass and typed up some of the old playlists, so if you already grabbed any of the 1st six shows, but got a a dead link for the playlist, try again...right now they go up to 11/15, but more are forthcoming in the next week or so.

Black Sand 12/13/05

2005-12-14T13:04:00.000-08:00

Pretty uneventful show from our end; the combination of freezing cold & no calls left us feeling like we were broadcasting from some Antarctic pirate radio outpost. At least Conrad didn't sprout spider legs & attack me. That would have been the icing on an already horrible cake. Or day. He did freak out on the mixing board, however.

Lots of un-American stuff: Apryl Fool, Dickens, Montes, Picchio Dal Pozzo, Jacques Fihl, Osamu Kitajima, etc. What can I say, we must hate "freedom" or something.

Playlist
MP3

Black Sand 12/6/05

2005-12-07T14:29:00.000-08:00

The phone rang during the first or second song; it was a pal from Easthampton informing me that he and some other friends were completely stoned out of their minds & digging the show. This is the kind of call we like to get, not some disturbed loner with a Dick Dale fixation. Inspired me to condense most of the hard rock stuff scattered through the playlist into one big sticky glob...it was the least I could do after Conrad's sax heavy Wazoo track (he regrets nothing). So yeah, look out for the wank factor about 45 minutes in, if you're allergic to that kind of thing. Conrad follows that w/lo-fi live Pink Fairies, so it goes on for quite a while. Fuckin A! Grab a 15 pack of Black Label & ...

Played: Taman Shud, the cartoonish Lagger Blues Machine, Damon, Ofo The Black Company, Labat, Ze Remalho y Lula Cortes, and a heartfelt tribute to "The Bar" by Tom Sirard.

Playlist
MP3

Black Sand 11/29/05

2005-12-04T15:59:00.000-08:00

Conrad's car was out to lunch again, so I "flew" this "mission" alone. The plus being that there was less blabberin and more tunes. Fixed the ground loop problem as you will hear (or not hear). Thanks to Josh for the ride to & from...

Not too much else to say, but some good stuff: Pugh Rogefeldt, Love Depression, Dull Knife, Electric Lollipop (schoolkid psych!), Saing Saing Maw, etc.

MP3
Playlist

Fuck yeah, there was a Pugh stamp!

Black Sand 11/22/05

2005-11-24T17:31:00.000-08:00

Not too much to say about this show... to my total annoyance there was a ground loop problem, which is responsible for the grinding background noise you hear during my sets....I'm working on it, ok? Otherwise, a nice selection, and Conrad's pronunciation of French is always worth hearing.

Artists: Tobruk, Zipps, "The Pot Party" (from the film "Teenage Rebellion"), Traffic Sound, Congregacion, Heldon, etc.

MP3

Playlist

Black Sand 11/15/05

2005-11-17T10:38:00.000-08:00

The usual quality sounds, but a somewhat low key show, after which Conrad broke down in the parking lot & had to be towed back to Easthampton. They towed his car too (drum roll). I ended up waiting around for 2 hours until Matt finished his show & could cart my sorry ass home. Thanks Matt.

Artists: Blues Addicts, Firebirds, The Golden Cups, Ame Son (pictured), the "Hey Mr. Holy Man" Megamix (Shiver & Kiss Inc.), Sand, etc.

Conrad said the Kiss Inc. track was the cheesiest thing I've played on the show. We'll just see about that.

MP3

Playlist

Black Sand: November 8, 2005

2005-11-13T22:47:00.000-08:00

We arrived "completely sober" (FCC rules y'know), to find the studio in a scandalous state of back rubbing & booze swilling. And who knew the couch could fold out into a bed? Turned out it was VFR guy Tristan's birthday party, which I actually knew about but forgot. Anyway, the festive atmosphere must have lent something special to the show, cause this was a good one. I'd like to think we rocked the party, but I'm pretty sure they turned it down after the opening Night Sun/Baumstam 1-2 punch. So we stole the tap.

Artistes: Coloured Balls, Paternoster, Los Speakers, Paraphenalia, and the band name I wish I thought of, Cool Stove.

Playlist

Download it here.

Black Sand 11/01...ahh fuggit....

2005-11-02T14:54:00.000-08:00

No recording this week folks, looks like I either forgot to turn on the webstream prior to leaving the house, or it died before show time. In any case, from what I remember of the show, we talked about microphones a lot. Yeah, I know, we always talk about the mics, but even more so this week. Is the mic loud enough, too loud, is it on, which mic is it, etc. As a result, we might be changing the name of the show; "Is This Thing On?" is the front runner for title right now, though "I Like Mic" is another possibility.

Big highlight for me was a track Conrad played by a guy named Stu Mitchell, about "a town called L.S.D.". You not get to hear good song. Also played: Hairy Chapter, Smokin Willie, The West Coast Workshop, Speed Glue & Shinki, etc. And (Canadian!) Burton Cummings reminded us of why "it pays to go to meetin's" of the Army Reserves. Must have been some kind of community service plea bargain or something. We'll be back next week with something more tangible (a.k.a., back to recording the show off the receiver).

Black Sand: October 25, 2005 - Halloween Massacre!

2005-10-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

We pulled out all the stops for this special holiday episode of Black Sand - a sound clip of a woman possessed by Lucifer, "The Wandering Soul" (PSYOP tape used to scare VC troops in Vietnam), a musical tribute to the Apocalypse, and audio proof why Conrad is the Antichrist. Which I think we suspected all along.

Goodies: Horse, Horrific Child, Necronomicon & the entire "Satanic Mass" by Coven, which is kinda the audio equivalent of those black Necco wafers. Kiss the goat!

Playlist

Download it here.

Black Sand: October 18, 2005

2005-10-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

This show was all about volume; by that I mean we were screwing up the levels all night. I nearly blew out Conrad's eardrums by accidentally turning his headphones up all the way. For his part, Conrad provided the very psychedelic sloooow crossfade that begins the show, and interrupted my reading of the set list by asking for a mic check. By sheer coincidence, we both brought along a clip of real "drug crazed" ranting, though I'm not sure if mine was actually a guy "hopped up on marijuana" (as stated by CBS reporter Bill Downs), or a field recording of a Halloween haunted house. Speaking of Halloween, it looks like we have something holiday related in the works for next week, so definitely check that out...

Some stuff we played: Smash, Tommy Flanders, a mind-blower by the Chico Magnetic Band, Shy Guys, Pan Y Regaliz, Fear Itself, etc.

Playlist
Download the show here.

Black Sand: October 11, 2005

2005-10-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

The webstream was down for the past two weeks, so the bad news is that there's no archive of those shows. The good news is that they fixed the webstream. The bad news? It went down right before yesterday's show. The good news? Using a massive 1970s receiver I found on my back porch, & an primitive antenna setup involving speaker wire, a coathanger, a mic stand, and some duct tape, I capured the show in all it's analog glory. And yes, it's still in mono. Coincidentally, the monitors in the studio were as well; in this case, only in the right speaker. Also, the phone wasn't ringing in the studio, so if you called and your name isn't Dana, we missed it. Sorry to sound like a sourpuss, but hey, I like rhubarb.

Some artists played: Highway Robbery, The Ron Ray Light Show, Sub, Kubero Diaz Y La Pesada, Shin Jung Hyun Sound and a mess of Xian stuff from The Ark, Jonathan & Charles, The Search Party and the terrible "Meet God, Man!" lp.

Playlist
The show is here.

"Sand....It all starts with SAND......"

2005-09-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...not sure if this is a honest mistake, some kind of character judgement or a suggestion of how I might better use my time slot, but it's pretty weird alright.This screenshot is from the VFR schedule page. Here I was, thinking the theme song was really getting the whole "sand" concept across, then THIS happens! My next move is to try and figure out who to contact about this, as the site-tech doesn't seem to be replying to e-mails about the station being in mono.

Yeah, sorry to ruin it for you, but it's been in mono for a while. Probably always. I'll bet you didn't even notice...we didn't, cause the monitors are stereo as fuck. In the meantime, enjoy the quiet storm tomorrow night, as Cap & I spin some silky smooth r&b for all you lovers out there. Or black metal.

Requests?

2005-09-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

Since the music library over at "Hot 103" consists so far of folk & world music demos, we can't really take requests on the air...you're welcome to try though(it is possible). If you're anxious to hear something post it here; we'll play it next time. Patience being a key factor.

Black Sand 9/20/05: The Show That Never Was

2005-09-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

Due to some kind of computer glitch, I came home to a empty .wav file of the show. This, coupled with the fact that our three steady listeners - Erica, John & my roommate Bob - were (respectively) in London, playing with Sunburned in Boston, and asleep, means this show was most likely NOT HEARD BY ANYONE. Conrad and I seemed to sense this at the time, as our usual "hilarious" banter was limited to things like the correct way to talk into a microphone (zzzzzzz), and the phone was completely silent, filling us with an overwhelming feeling of ennui & isolation. If anyone out there has a recording of the show, drop me a line. We joked about playing the same set next week. Or were we joking?

Black Sand: September 13, 2005

2005-09-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Conrad (intentionally?) foils my sad attempts at slick segues & patter; I'm back to my hobby of butchering foreign languages in no time. Tracks by: Old Lumber, Fallen Angels covering "Signed D.C.", People (unknown private press teens) having a go at "White Rabbit", May Blitz's best song, Inner Space & Rosy Rosy with the great "Kamera Song" (att : George), the "pot block" &etc. &etc.

Our sponsors: Jefferson Airplane for stretch Levi's

Playlist here.

Show is here.

Black Sand: September 6, 2005

2005-09-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

Conrad demonstrates the proper way to pronounce "Neighb'r'hood Child'rn" & we both struggle to keep up with the aerobic antics of Bonnie Prudden. And struggle to pronounce everything else. Plus the usual hot stuff from Fire, Stalk-Forrest Group, Texao, Erkin Koray, Red Dirt & much more.

Sponsors: Partridge Weiners & French 76 Malt Liquor

Download the show here.

Playlist is here.

Welcome to Black Sand..(shudder)...BLOGGGG

2005-09-15T00:13:00.000-07:00

Oh, how I despise that word...but this seemed like the best way to archive the show, since I do (in theory) have to update the Elefantplatte news some day, and I wanted an ongoing link to playlists, mp3s, etc. If you want to stay updated on newly archived sets, you can subscribe to the newsfeed; it's that orange button down in the right hand corner if you're using Firefox. If you're not using Firefox, I don't know how you would do that. You'll figure something out. Hopefully I'll figure out why the photos aren't showing up.

If you're using one of those "file sharing" programs I've heard exist, feel free to spread the show around. Each episode runs 2 hours, around 100-125 mb@128k.

Thanks for listening, & enjoy...