Ragtime Star Wars

J-Unit 1 is on Blip.fm

For those that don't know, blip.fm is kind of like twitter for music lovers. Instead of "tweeting" you "blip" you favorite songs for people to hear and you can save favorites on a playlist for later use. It is a really useful tool for finding new music and rather fun to mess around with.

If you are on blip.fm and want to check out J-Unit 1's station you can find it here:
http://blip.fm/Junit1
Any listener should feel free to add if you dig the selection.


Podcasting will return soon. Sorry about the long delays. Unedited versions are available on Itunes via the link on www.widr.org. But soon all of the latest episodes will be available via direct download at this page again soon (with artwork and all).

End Transmission
J-Unit 1

Metroid Metal - Varia Suite

The original game music for many NES Nintendo games were scored like real music, even if the execution at the time was limited to the capabilities of an 8-bit computer. AND perhaps because the 80s was the birthground of heavy metal, many games lent themselves to what would be very guitar-heavy instrumentals - such as Kid Icarus, Icari Warriors, Castlevania, and of course, Metroid.

A few years ago, while searching for videogame soundtrack music, I came across a music project called Stemage that did a concept album called "Metroid Metal". It was pure genius. Stemage took the original score to the entire soundtrack of Metroid, and performed it verbatim as it was meant to be performed. I looked forward to future releases by Stemage, and was lucky enough to win their latest release - Metroid Metal: Varia Suite - in a contest at the Awesomer

Varia Suite is a fully-produced retelling of Metroid Metal, with tracks from the Prime series, Super Metroid, and original Metroid games. Check it out and Enjoy!

R-Vector9

Cocktails With A Martian Hitman

Cocktails With A Martian Hitman
Original Air Date: August 15, 2009
320 kbps Version [264.98 mb]
VBR Q2 Version [178.13 mb]


Tracklist

Tobiah - I Don't Really Exist
Bear McCreary - Kara Remembers
Joanna Newsome - Emily
Teeth Mountain - Ghost Science
Sam Paglia - Good News From Mars
Kava Kon - Zero Gravity Lounge
The Evil Genius Orchestra - Parade of the Ewoks
The Metrolites - Cocktails on the Planet of the Apes
The Galaxy Trio - Cocktails With Gravity Girl
Howard Goodall - Red Dwarf Theme Song
The Five Blobs - Beware of the Blob
Vincent Lopez - Mars Goes Latin
Amon Duul II - Archy The Robot
Electric Coconut - Space Walk
Biddy Biddy Biddy - We The Artificial
Frodus - The Misaligned Men of Flomaton
Ex-Girl - Zero Gravity
Ex-Girl - Rocket Keronian
Mc Chris - Fette's Vette
FirestARTer - Computerwelt
Epoxies - Robot Man
Devo - Going Under
Janelle Monae - Cybertronic Purgatory
Bear McCreary - Heeding The Call
Arab On Radar - Rubber Robot
Harmonic 313 - Battlestar Remix [Instrumental]
The Kinks - Supersonic Rocketship
Nervous Norvus - Kibble Kobble
Les Baxter - Mr. Robot

Kalamazoo Sci-Fi Radio History: Future Tense and the work of Eli Segal

Some time ago, a Deuce Project informant by the name of Josh Dahl [Check out his comics company Monolith LLC here] called up to ask if we had any knowledge of a radio drama entitled "Future Tense." At first, I simply thought he meant the classic series Dimension X [Episodes available for free via the internet archive] that aired in the early 50s. The show had the famous lead-in "Adventures in time and space. Told in future tense..." and I thought maybe he was just confused about the name of the program. [Another possibility that ran though my mind was that he may have been talking about the series X Minus One which remade some Dimension X scripts, but I don't think it uses "future tense" in its lead in...suddenly I'm unsure. ]

Well, Josh knew about those programs, but this Future Tense was something different...kind of. I can't remember the specifics, but I believe Josh had downloaded some OTR stuff and came across "Future Tense" and it happened to mention locations in Kalamazoo. Come to find out, the show was a production of WMUK, a Kalamazoo-based radio station located on the campus of Western Michigan University.

Well, this was a cool find. I've done a bit more research and here is the deal with Future Tense:

Future Tense first aired on May 6, 1974. The program is a sci-fi themed radio drama and it came to being due to the hard work of Eli Segal. The program is comprised of updated old time radio scripts, many of them classic episodes of Dimension X, hence the Kalamazoo-based program's homage within its name. [source] The series is quite interesting, especially if you are familiar with the Kalamazoo area. The show is not only is interesting as you can compare the recording techniques, sound effects, etc... that were used in the production of Future Tense and the original recordings of Dimension X, but Eli also updated the scripts to feature Kalamazoo locales and often utilizes Western Michigan University in place of whatever university may have been noted in the original source material.

The Future Tense program garnered acclaim and was bestowed at least two awards. The 1975 episode "Pail of Air" won the Ohio State Award for network quality radio drama. The episode "Cold Equation" won a Peabody Award for "championing radio drama."[source]

Future Tense was not Eli Segal's only radio work. He also produced a program in 1990 entitled "Audion Theatre". This sounds incredibly interesting, and truth be told, I think I heard a few of these broadcasts. Unfortunately, and oddly, this series is one I cannot find anywhere in mp3 form.

Eli Segal also authored an article for the MSU-based journal "The Journal of Popular Culture." The piece is entitled "Radio Drama: No Need for Nostalgia in Kalamazoo." It is clear that radio drama was one of his passions and his contributions are incredibly interesting.
If you are interested in hearing Future Tense simply follow this link and scroll down.

If anyone has digital copies of Audion Theatre or better quality recordings of Future Tense please contact me at the e-mail found in the right-hand column of the blog.

Oh, on an unrelated note, I should be getting the blog caught-up in terms of podcasts over the weekend.