Tuesday, July 10, 2007

God Bless Those Sputniks

Terrestial radio was getting to me. I can only handle so much NPR. On KFAN they seem to talk about the same stories on every program, so I might as well only listen for the two hours of tomfoolery and the "Tough Love Covenant" that makes up the genius that is the Common Man Progrum. The Current plays too many chick singer-songwriters, hardly any rock 'n' roll, and is just too soft for me. Radio K will always have a place in my heart, but sometimes the screamcore and third world music drives me nuts. Needless to say, the commercial music stations in town are a joke - though an hour or so of KOOL 108 now and then is generally fun. (Especially if The Geezer is on the air.)

So a couple of weeks ago, I signed up for Sirius Internet Radio. I mostly did this so I could listen to Little Steven's Underground Garage station. I had heard it before via a friend, and it's one of the top three stations I've ever heard in my life (the others being Z-Rock and REV 105.) (Also on this station I heard an awesome song by the Pretty Things. I tracked down the album on which it appears and bought a copy. I will pretty much use this song as an excuse to do another podcast just so's I can play it.)

This service will come in handy when I'm at clients plugging away at a computer all by my lonesome. Plus via gadgetry, I am able to beam the sound of Sirius from my Mac to my home stereo receiver.

I've slowly been checking out the other stations. The Outlaw Country station is pretty cool, and it's also programmed by Little Steven. I heard a bit of a weekly program hosted by Joan Jett last night that sounded cool. But tonight I knew my decision had paid off: On one of the hard rock stations, I heard "Stealin'" by Uriah Heep.