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the texas chainsaw occasional

the texas chainsaw occasional

returning soon...

Hide the children and the cider.

A Contest of Sorts

Promised everyone a chance to win "big" prizes on the program today.

Up for grabs: Alison Brown's latest Compass Records release
"Stolen Moments" and a handful of discs from the "you'd better
get this stuff off the floor before someone steps on it" files.

To be eligible to win, you must simply check in with a suggestion
for a title for the section of the program where I freeform/improvise
a thirty minute set of mostly instrumental music.

Later this week, I'll review the recommendations and award prizes.

PLEASE be sure to include your e-mail address so I can inform you
if you have won and to make arrangements to get your fabu prize to
you.

A Glimpse inside the texas chainsaw acoustic hour

Greetings.  I have had several folks ask how I "plan" my programs.  Some time
in the near future, I'll talk about the philosophy of doing a radio program. 
For now, I offer the following:

Today we'll take a "live" peek into the studio and see how the stuff
of doing an episode works.  This is a completely unedited running
commentary of the program...

Today's kick-off was set up by a release  disc  I previewed yesterday by the
Loose Acoustic Trio.  I threw a few polka-related albums in the big blue bag o'
discs this morning.  About thirty seconds before air time,  I chose the Brave
Combo piece (it's short and familiar)as the opening.  The Polka Dogs are
Canadians I discovered on a trip to Vancouver and Victoria years ago.

It's now ten minutes after the hour as I key.  Time for a voice break and the
next set must be considered.  I am featuring the Loose boys today as I don't how
much time they'll see in the upcoming weeks.  Will kick off the next set with
them.

Oops.  Forgot to start the station log...The second Loose track is about
marriage.  I don't really do themes but sometimes I'll take a chance with song
titles and see what happens...   I now realize this is not the Loose song I
intended to playbut it's what I have to work with.  Again, knowing that this
disc would figure into today's mix, I packed a number of period discs...went
searching for marriage-related stuff and came up lucky...Also cringe a bit when
I do the double entendre pieces...used to have several listeners who had young
ones by the radio receivers.

Time to get going on the next set...wanted to work some Jelly Roll Morton in but
it doesn't seem to work...okay it does.  The Broonzy track is piano-based.  And
now a phone call.  Adding this running commentary is going to be tougher than I
thought.  From Morton to Dave Van Ronk who I suspect would be happy to be in a
set with Morton.  Needed more blues so I went with the live Bookbinder. 

Should be thinking about timing out to the top of the hour but I just realized I
packed the Von Schmidt disc because I wanted to play it today.  Sticking with
the titles theme,  the choice from this disc becomes obvious. 

Must be a blues morning...I keep hearing pianos in my head so I will try to head
in that direction.  Should I go over the top of the hour???  If I don't,  won't
be able to sneak in a Keith Jarrett piece (because I was reading an old Down
Beat with an article on him)...Oh well.  The Burr piece was the solo from the
Alison Brown show I was at last week.  John's a great guy and he has an
entertaining young son named Linus who I almost wound up babysitting during the
concert. 

Just noticed that the two control room clocks are in significant disagreement. 
If I go by the slow one, I am okay for the top of the hour.  Guess which one
wins. 

Done with a nice phone chat with a caller...I really should be more, "get to the
point, caller" but, hey, this program is my so-called social life.  It's
important to hear from listeners  a) so I know someone is really out there  b) 
so I can occasionally steer the sets in preferred directions  c)  because it's
my social life.
So call in everybody!

Quick break to load the top of the hour stuff and to catch up on the studio log
which I am falling way behind on and have now gone to a shorthand that I hope I
can figure out after the show.

Just remembered that I am forgetting to take meter readings (required technical
stuff)...jotting a quick note to myself to do it sometime in the next ten
minutes.

Hour two:  I often joke about the porgram skewing older...The Donovan disc (a
radio edition of what I suspect is a box set just arrived this week...Never a
big fan but it will resonate with some of my listerners...Following up with some
Cave for the younger generation.  This also becomes a political set of sorts...I
don't think with an  overt political voice on the program but folks are free to
seek their own meanings from the stuff presented. 

Finally did an on-air cough...throat is starting to go...hour two second
segment...I don't have a clear plan but I know that I was planning on a little
new age tease with the new Aine Minougue...

Took a quick break to search for some inspiration...searched the station racks
for ideas, but have decided that the dependable big blue bag o' music is the
place to stay...oh yeah, those meter readings.  Time to get to them.

Went a bit preachy in the last voice-over, influenced by an article I read this
morning on  an commentary/edict? from the Vatican that science and religion
should listen to each other and from bits of the Larry King interview with
President Carter.  The message is the one I give to all my students: Listen and
consider.  Be open.  Give me presents.

Another fine call comes in during the Minogue piece.  Will try to fit in a
request that goes far afield from where I am headed...

One minute left in the track and I need to decide what to follow with...Lots of
flute here, maybe I can make a Celtic/Native American tie with a touch of Nakai. 
The combination of Paul Horn and Nakai on varied flutes was fun.  Didn't know if
I could get there or not but it transitions well into an Ellington piece I
checked out from the public library...flute based and with a drum that may have
a hint of Native American influence.  Take a call from a listener wanting to
know more about the Minogue disc.  This is what radio is about:  hooking up
listeners with new stuff.

Gotta rush into another set..no ideas how to follow this.  Worry?  No.  Just
will call for a chainsaw (non) transition...

Believe in premonitions?  Stuck in the Haden/Methany piece because I wanted to
hear some bass.  A caller is on the line while I am voicing over.  Wanted to
hear some Tom Waits to honor the bass player in his band who had died in his
sleepthis week...Pulled this track from the racks (limited Waits selection
available) and added more Haden from the jazz stack housed in the hallway
outside the studio.  Sometimes radio is physical.

Totally out of sorts from the call...Still trying to work in the Elliott
request...Had to run downstairs to let the next programmer in...thirty seconds
and no track cued.

need to sign off temporarily...we are in the program transition phase.  Actually
one of favorite parts of the program.  Sharing the sillies  is much better than
trying to amuse oneself (and helps avoid playing the same program promo we've
been using for three years).  back with the wrap-up soon.

Hello, again.  Decide to fill (kill) time with talk so I could end things with
the Ramblin' Jack request.

All that's left is to complete the paperwork, refile the station discs, repack
the big blue bag o' discs and get ready to do it all over in 166 hours.

the host

playlist: 5 November

the texas chainsaw acoustic hour
Saturday 0900-1100
KWVA, 88.1, Eugene, OR
listen:  www.kwvaradio.org
contact:  chainsaw881.@comcast.net

Breaking news:  You can read an unedited running commentary on how this episode
of the texas chainsaw acoustic hour was put together by keying:

www.chainsaw881.blogspot.com

I sure there are worse ways to waste your time.  If you go there, please be sure
to say hello in the comments/response box.

the program for 5 November, 2005

Not much commentary as it's all available on the blog...

Chapter One:  Even rainy days are fun when everybody polkas!

Brave Combo/Theme From the Simpsons/Let's Dance
Polka Dogs/I Don't Want to Polka/The Entertainers
Loose Acoustic Trio/The Oklahoma Polka/Brand New Mind

Chapter Two: The Circle of Wife

Loose Acoustic Trio/Marry Me/Brand New Mind
Newton County Hillbillies/Going To the Wedding To Get Some Cake/
  Mississippi String Bands Volume Two
Pure and Simple/Bridal Suite/Doity Records, Vol. One
Charlie Poole/Husband and Wife Were Angry One Night/You Aint Talkin' To Me

Chapter Three:  A Little Sin is Good For the Soul

Big Bill Broonzy/I Feel So Good/Essential
Jelly Roll Morton/Climax Rag/Complete Victor Recordings
Dave Van Ronk/Sportin' Life Blues/ And the TIn Pan Bended...
Ray Bookbinder/Let's Get Drunk Again/Live Book
Eric Von Schmidt/Stick To Rum/Living On The Trail

Chapter Four:  Eighty Eight Keys and Plenty o' Places to Go

Otis Spann/Great Northern Stomp/Otis Spann is the Blues
John R. Burr/Black (ened) Bird/Piedmont  Avenue

Chapter Five:  Strange Bedfellows...Or Not

Donovan/Universal Soldier/Try For the Sun
Nick Cave/God Is In The House/No More Shall We Part

Chapter Six:  The Extended Jam in a Little Jar

Aine Minogue/Song of the Banshee/Celtic Lamentations
Paul Horn y R. Carlos Nakai/Anasazi Journeys/Inside Canyon de Chelly
Duke Ellington/Bourbon Street Jingling Jollies/New Orleans Suite

Chapter Seven:  What is Not Planned is Sometimes Part of the Plan

(in case you don't go blogging...I had selected this track to listen to a bit of
Haden bass...As I was intro-ing the song, the phone rings.  Once the song
begins, I speak to the caller who is requesting some Tom Waits in tribute to the
bass player in his band who had died in his sleep Thursday past...the station
has limited Waits stuff in the files...this one seemed appropriate...more Haden
because I was a bit too shook to think of any other good bass players)

Pat Methany y Charlie Haden/Tears of Rain/Beyond the Missouri Sky
Tom Waits/Little Trip to Heaven/The Early Years
Charlie Haden/Requiem/Quartet West
Charlie Haden/Back Home Blues/Quartet West

Chapter Eight:  Filling a Listener Request

Ramblin' Jack Elliott/South Coast/Hard Travelin'

playlist: October 29

the texas chainsaw acoustic hour
Saturday 0900-1100 (Pacific)
KWVA, 88.1, Eugene, OR
listen:  thinking for yourself obviously hasn't worked
contact:  don't bother...our operators are NOT standing by

(www.kwvaradio.org/chainsaw881@comcast.net)

the blogification of America begins at chainsaw881.blogspot.com
(sounding like chicken little he says that there will be real content there soon
as soon as illness subsides)

Comments.  You want comments.  I don't feel like comments.  No voice, no sleep,
no Johhny Walker Blue to ease the pain of it all. 


the program for 29 October, 2005

Chapter One:  This is what symmetry looks like when the anti-depressants run
amuck.

Amelia K. Spicer/Seamless/Seamless
Alastair Moock/Put Your Foot in Your Mouth/A Life I Never Had
David Francey/Ankle Tattoo/Thinking Hour
Colleen Sexton/I Will Survive/Step Outside

Set Two:  Let's Just Call This The Happy Hour

Heather McLeod/Evidence of Sin/Bones
Jeffrey Foucault/Pearl Handled Pistol/Stripping Cane
Jolie Holland/I Want to Die/Catalpa
Richard Shindell/Darkness, Darkness/Reunion Hill

Chapter Three:  First We Eat Then We Dance Then We Die

Colin Brooks/Cornbread/Blood and Water
Guy Clark/Texas Cookin'/Keepers
Guy Clark/Virginia's Reel/Texas Cookin'
Robert Earl Keen/The Road Goes On Forever/No. 2 Live Dinner

Chapter Four:  Return of the Ever-Popular Thank Goodness There Aren't Any Words
Except for the Ones From Those Voices In My Head

(editor's note:  this free form extended programmer jam has been getting big
response from listeners...Best I can figure, it has something to do with not
having to listen to me for twenty-five or thirty minutes)

Brooks Williams/Chasin' the Groove/Skiffle Bop
Rachel's/Egon and Wally Embrace and Say Farewell/Music For Egon Schiele
Rachel's/Second  Family Portrait/Music For Egon Schiele
Janos Starker/Largo from Valentini's Sonata in Emajor
Joe Venuti y Dave McKenna/Speak Low/Alone at the Palace
Joe Venuti y Earl Hines/Easy to Love/Hot Sonatas
Pass, Grappelli y Pedersen/Crazy Rhythm/Tivola Gardens
Regina Carter/Oh, Lady Be Good/Rhythms of the Heart

Chapter Five:  The Chapter Without a Title

James Kelly y Zan McLeod/Lament for Terrance MacDonough/The Ring Sessions
Tim O'Brien/Down in the Willow Garden/The Crossing
Tim O'Brien/The Kid on the Mountain/The Crossing

playlist: 22 October, 2005

the texas chainsaw acoustic hour
Saturday 0900-1100
KWVA, 88.1, Eugene, OR
listen:  while I'm still on the air
contact:  your congressperson and complain

(www.kwvaradio.org/chainsaw881@comcast.net)

blogalicious at www.chainsaw881.blogspot.com 
(hoping for real content this week)

the program for 22 October, 2005

What do you want to know?  That the phones didn't work?  That the guest was
running behind schedule?  That I lack the proper emotion to be affected by these
circumstances? 

chapter one:  Theme song of the week

Milt Jackson/The Spirit Feel/Plenty Plenty Soul

Chapter two:  One for the censors

Todd Snider/Double Wide Blues/That Was Me

chapter three:  Colin Makes it Happen...

Recently received Colin's latest release...A most pleasant surprise. 
Wonderfully underproduced and with more than one winner--many of you folks
should get the disc just for "Cornbread" (trust me, it's the kind of thing that
works in "folk" radio).

Anyway, Colin also turned me on to the Nels Andrews disc (more full production
but still several closer-to-acoustic numbers)...listened to this one on the
freeway to Portland, not to be confused with the Highway to Hell (and you
thought I couldn't work an  AC-DC reference in here), although the trip did have
a more than slightly hellish theme (speaking of themes, my new one:  Nearly all
people suck)...where was I?  Oh, yeah, anyway Nels' lyrics really created a lot
of images and gloriously irrelevant (to the song) associations (in case you are
wondering, that's a good thing).  Colin also says that Hisaw is cool, but I
already knew that.

***I'll be happy to forward contact information to anyone who made it through
the                        
     previous two paragraphs

Eric Hisaw/Speaking With No Grace/Thing About Trains
Colin Brooks/Blood in the Water/Blood and Water
Nels Andrews/Jesse's Mom/Sunday Shoes

chapter four:  And it's up against the wall...

Still hard to hear Grierson's songs without thinking about the loss...Make what
you will of the song selection in this set.  Just one question:  what if Ray
Wylie had written a song about Pflugerville???

Ray Wylie Hubbard/Resurrection/Dangerous Spirits
Ray Wylie Hubbard/The Messenger/Loco Gringo's Lament
Ray Wylie Hubbard/Conversation with the Devil/Crusade of the Restless Knights

chapter five:  We now return you, if only temporarily, to our regularly
scheduled programming

Hobart Smith/John Brown's Body/In Sacred Trust
Mike Seeger y Robert Zimmerman/The Ballad of Hollis Brown/Third Annual
    Farewell Reunion

chapter five:  Shameless plugging 101

Alison is in town this week

Alison Brown/The Wonderful Sea Voyage(0f Holy St. Brenda)/Replay
Alison Brown/Etouffee Brutus?/Look Left

chapter six:  It's what I do best, remembering, of course, that best is, at best
in
this case, a relative term

Am in the process of  developing the lobbying strategy for getting a jazz
program on another station...Seems like much of the jazz programming I hear is
too "programmed."  Sets like these are my "bop' excursions, or, to put it closer
to the folk leanings of this list, my David Rawlings guitar solos.

It is also the stall, waiting for my radio guest to arrive

Sharon Isbin/La Catedral: iil Alegro Solemne/La Guitara
Baden Powell/Bach's Jesus Alegria dos Homens/Live a Bruxelles
Patty Larkin/Bound Brook/La Guitara
Simpson, Krishnan, Hildago y Srinivasen/The Running Kind/Kambara Music...
Ravi/Shantiseven/Afro-Indian Project
Badi Assad/Preludio e Toccatina/La Guitara
Amalia Rodrigues/Povo Que Lavas No Rio/The Art of Amalia

chapter seven:  Let us speak of Comoros

An interview with Nawal, the first female professional singer of Comoros. She's
a good talker and I did enough research to launch three good threads. 
Programmers who have "world music" leanings should check her out at

www.nawali.com

We were also joined by one of her musicians, a former KWVA programmer.

songs featured during the chat include:

Nawal/Al Djalilu/Kweli
Nawal/Hima/Voice of the Comoros

playlist: 15 October, 2005

the texas chainsaw acoustic hour
Saturday 0900-1100 (Pacific)
KWVA, 88.1, Eugene, OR
listen:  it's cheaper than cable
contact:  went to SMU, then on to the NBA ...wait.  that was Koncak.

(www.kwvaradio.org     chainsaw881@comcast.net)
blogalicious at www.chainsaw881.blogspot.com
(soon to be more than just playlists, I sorta promise)

Way too much work of late...no time to think, time only to react.  Maybe
that's why the programs have been good as of late.

From the department of poetic coincidence:  As this list is being keyed, I am
watching the White Stripes on Charlie Rose...

The program for 15 October, 2005

Chapter One:  You Can't Keep Those Northwest Roots From Showing

Todd Snider/Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues/compilation
Mary Lou Lord/His Indie World/Self-titled

Chapter Two:  Charity For the Old Folks...I have never been big on
album reviews, but I played this disc for a Neil fan and received the
most succinct and accurate review I have seen in years:  "SAPPY." 
To be fair, there are a couple of interesting  vocal arrangements
and the horns sorta work...

Neil Young/Prairie Wind/Prairie Wind

Chapter Three:  Not the Dreaded "A-word" even if it looks like it...The
Scott disc has a certain charm, the West disc deserves consideration,
and this is probably my fave Veirs disc.  Some suggest a theme in the
song selection; I am not so sure.

Tim O'Brien/House of the Rising Sun/Cornbread Nation
Wayne Scott/My Last Bottle of Wine/This Weary Way
Joe West/The Human Cannonball/The Human Cannonball
Laura Veirs/Midnight Singer/Troubled by the Fire

Chapter Four:  Concert Previews come a little early this year...Alison's
coming to town soon but I may be pre-empted or de-evolved next
week so I wanted to be sure to put in the push.

Alison Brown/The Devil Went Down to Berkeley/Fair Weather
Alison Brown/Hello Mendocino/Quartet
Alison Brown/The Dalai Camel/Look Left

Chapter Five:  Variations on the extended guitar solo...From what I am
told, this is what I do best:  improvisations for those with drug
dependence issues.  A caller checked in to tell me that, because of this
set,  his wife forgave me for all my past radio transgressions.  Me? 
The idea of a fifty minute uninterrupted set is too much.

Staatsorchester Stuttgart/Arvo Part's Cantus in Memory of
    Benjamin Britten/Tabula Rasa
Rachel's/First Self-Portraits/Music for Egon Schiele
Keith Jarrett/Handel's Suite in Gminor HWV 440/Suites for Keyboard
Pascal Roge/Satie's Nocturne #3/After the Rain
Kronos Quartet y Asha Bhosle/Mehbooba Mehbooba/You've Stolen My Heart
Nawal/Salama/The Voice of the Camoros
Kronos Quartet y Asha Bhosle/Koi Aaya Aune Bhi De/You've Stolen My Heart
Tang Liangxing/Meihua San Long/High Mountain Flowing Water
Anoushka Shankar/Solea/Rise
Nawal/Ces Gens-la/Kweli

Chapter Last:  another concert preview...the handoff host loved it.

Yuri Yunakov/Balada/Balada

acoustic junction playlist

This is the once-a-month edition of KRVM's Acoustic Junction. You can listen on-line to this nonsense (much less adventurous a program in an effort to marginally match the station's demographic) too.

Downhill Bluegrass Band/She's Gone Gone Gone/That One Straight Line

Alador/Mandoloony Tune/Self-titled

Mary Flower/Terminal Rag/Bywater Dance

Tim O'Brien y Darrell Scott/Walk Beside Me/Real Time

Wayne Scott/I Wouldn't Live in Harlan/This Weary Way

Darrell Scott/You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive/Aloha From Nashville

Dar Williams Radio Special

Buzz Turner/Canterbury Hill/Finally Home

Pat Donahue/Jazz Name/Profile

Frank Vignola/Gypsy Playland/Tone Poets

Tony Williamson/Cherokee/Tone Poets

Martin Taylor/I Thought About You/tTone Poets

Yuri Yunikov/Lost in Thrace/Roma Variations

playlist: 8 October

the texas chainsaw acoustic hour

Saturday 0900-1100

KWVA, 88.1, Eugene, OR

listen: it won't kill you

contact: the authorities if you hear of anyone listening

(okay...www.kwvaradio.org and chainsaw881@comcast.net)

Blogoriffic: www.chainsaw881.blogspot.com

(I swear the grand opening will happen eventuall...more than likely in concert with the first anniversary edtion)

Editor's Note: This is the playlist that wasn't meant to be...First, my copy was printed on paper already full of stuff, rendering it close to unreadable. Second, I have had to submit away from the home base, meaning I can't look up stuff if I am unsure of the details. Next, my previous submitted version did the e-mail Bermuda Triangle impression and was totally lost. Not a big thing EXCEPT, I finally wrote a line I was proud of and I am unable to recreate it. Finally, I am not totally sure this program existed in the first place.

(oh yeah, there was a pretty strange True Stories R Us too)

That being said, this program is a candidate for my top ten ever...

The program for 8 October, 2005

Chapter One: The Blues Aint Nuthin But...

Paul Geremia/Bad Dream Blues/Love, Murder and Mosquitoes

Mary Flower/Hudson River Rag/Bywater Dance

Pat Donahue/Blues for Two/Profile

David Jacobs-Strain/Old Man Dancing/Stuck On the Way Back

Freddy King/Dust My Broom/Live at the Electric Ballroom

Chapter Two: If You Like An Album, Why Not Build A Set Around One of the Tracks?

Pat Donahue/Jazz Name/Profile

Dan Hicks y The Acoustic Warriors/Up Up Up/Shootin' Straight

Ritt Henn/Born to Hold You in My Arms/Goin' Back

Dan Hicks y His Hot Licks/I Feel Like Singing/Alive and Lickin'

Chapter Three: Was previewing this disc in the mobile office (read: stuck in traffic on

Coburg Road)...While listening to the Moore track, I says to myself, "Self, a tango would

fit nicely after this track...then the Forsyth cut follows. Saved me a bit o' work.

Will Taylor (Eliza G)/Easy Riders/Collaborations

Will Taylor (Ian Moore)Cinnamon/Collaborations

Will Taylor (Guy Forsyth)/New Monkey King

Chapter Four: Found this in the in-box at the station. Most singless, stringlike, sorta alt songs

(if that ends up in their press kit we are all in trouble). I'll probably wind up listening to the

rest of the disc (there's another one for the press kit).

Alador/A Minor Infraction/self-titled

Alador/Mandaloony/self-titled

Chapter Five: A Nod of the Cap to the British Isles

Shirley Collins/Adieu Old England

Dick Gaughan/When I 'm Gone/Outlaws and Dreamers

Nick Drake/Cello Song/Way to Blue

June Tabor/Rhosyn Wyn/Rosa Munde

Shelly Phillips/Newcastle/The Butterfly

Skyedance/The Skeydance Reels/Way Out to Hope Street

Chapter Six: I Played I Set For Me (sung to the tune of He Played Real Good For Free)

Dock Boggs/Country Blues/Primitive American Folk Music

Hobart Smith/Bangin' Breakdown/In Sacred Trust

Hobart Smith/Wayfaring Stranger/In Sacred Trust

David+Bill+Billy Ray Johnson/Going Down the Road Feeling Bad/Classic Old Time Music

Norman Blake/Uncle/Old Ties

Chapter Seven: A listen called in to request some swing music. Didn't have much available but

the set still turned out on the okay side from the spinning side of the speakers

King Oliver/Sweet Lovin' Man/High Society

Bessie Smith/Mean Old Bed Bug Blues/High Society

Bennie Goodman/Alexander's Ragtime Band/Swing Dance

Charlie Barnett/Cherokee/Big Bands