By the way, it’s snowing again. In April… after Easter… during the second week of baseball season. But I’m not supposed to complain about it. My only two options, apparently, are STFU or move to Florida. There are no other acceptable courses of action. Love it or leave it, baby! Here’s a shot from our back door. But whatever. Unless I’m willing to immediately quit my job, sell my house, pack my bags, and move to Tampa… I have no right to complain.
Speaking of baseball, I once again paid for Gameday Audio from MLB this year. It only costs $20 for the season, and you get access to every radio broadcast of every game for every team. I’ve been listening to the Reds since Spring Training and enjoying it. I might enjoy it a little more, of course, if they could win every once in a while. But it’s fun. Some quick thoughts:
- It’s great to hear Marty Brennaman, who’s been calling Reds games since I was 10 years old. He sounds exactly the same, and still speaks his mind and stirs the shit. Love it. He’s a direct connection to my kidhood when I was completely and absolutely obsessed with the Reds and baseball. He’s still doing the games, almost 45 years later!
- I don’t know any of the players, which is a big part of the challenge. At some point, during the mid-90s, I disengaged from the sport, and know almost literally nothing from that point. So, there’s a fairly steep learning curve. But I wanna do it. I tried a couple of years ago, and it didn’t take. I’m giving it another shot.
- I’ve always loved listening to baseball on the radio. I think I like it even more than watching it on TV. I can be having the worst week ever, with aggravation stacked upon aggravation, and after a few innings of baseball on the radio…. aaaah, I can breathe again.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Baseball is boring. Shove it, dullard.
Last Saturday I bought a new car. Toney’s inheriting the Suzuki, and I’m now driving a 2015 Chevy Cruze. It has 24,000 miles on it and seems 100% factory new. Two things I noticed right away: the seats are about one million times more comfortable, and the car is incredibly quiet on the interstate. I don’t think I realized how noisy and windy the Suzuki sounded. The Cruze seems almost silent. So… I’ll drive that bastard into the ground, and we’ll go from there. Pass the beer nuts.
As soon I got home from the dealership, I went on the SiriusXM site and subscribed for six months. I’ve never had it before, and the preview channel in the new car said I could get six months for $30. Some quick thoughts:
- I was super-excited about the 1st Wave channel, which plays early New Wave stuff. However, after just a week I’m less excited. For one thing, they play WAY too much Missing Persons. They were a C List band even when they were at their peak. 1st Wave is very heavy-handed with the Missing Persons, and apparently believes they’re as important as the Pretenders and Elvis Costello. And they just generally play too much dancy bullshit like Information Society, and crap like that. I find myself frowning at the radio within ten minutes, and seeking something better.
- There’s a channel called Lithium that plays 90s alternative, they say. But I’ve never been able to string together more than five minutes there. Remember that bullshit band Live? They play a lot of Live, and Seven Mary Three. It triggers a very quick frown, as well as a furrowing of the brow.
- Classic Rewind is pretty good. It’s just classic rock. For some reason, I can lock-in there better than with the so-called alternative options.
- And Hair Nation sounds like something I could get behind, but it’s always shit like White Lion, etc. Seriously?
What do you listen to on SiriusXM? I don’t get Howard Stern, ’cause that costs something like twenty bucks more. I wish there was a channel that played 80s indie rock. Like Husker Du and the Replacements and Dinosaur Jr. But I ain’t finding it. There’s a lot of stuff on there, though. I’ll keep digging.
Last night, at exactly 10 pm, my phone rang and it said the call was coming from Salem, Oregon. No way I’m answering that crap, but it only rang once. Weird. I put the number into Google and there was a long conversation about it. People all over the country were saying they receive calls from the same number, on Sunday nights only, at exactly 9:30 or 10:00. Never 9:32, always 9:30. And it only rings once or twice. How freaky is that? Any ideas on what it’s all about?
And speaking of strange phone calls, I had a guy calling me over and over again who claimed to be a lawyer. He kept calling me by the name of a cousin, who I haven’t seen or spoken to since I was 12 years old, and was making all sorts of threats. He said he was going to come to my workplace and serve me with papers, and there was a judgment against me, blah blah blah. But he never called me Jeff or Jeffrey, he kept calling me by the name of that cousin. At one point he even said his full name, including his middle name, which is unusual. So, WTF? He spoke in an odd cadence like he was hosting some kind of late night Chiller Theater TV show. Like the fucking Crypt Keeper, or something. It was mildly unnerving. But it had scam written all over it, so I never called the guy back. Eventually he stopped calling. Pure scam, right? Right.
What’s the weirdest, most baffling phone calls you’ve received? That one from Oregon is bizarre. What is the point?? It makes no sense to me.
And I’m going to call it a day, my friends. I had to get up early this morning, and I’m already feeling it. I’m tired before the work week even begins. The coffee power is starting to fade, and fatigue is taking over. Oh well. I’ll leave you with a silly Question that might lead to a few laughs, maybe. Q: What is a phrase that is perfectly appropriate for the Easter dinner table, but never during sex? Make of it what you will.
I’ll see you guys again soon.
Have a great day!
Now playing in the bunker
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This is excellent ham!
ahahaha Is this green stuff mint jelly?
Is grandma coming?
The Cruze is surprisingly comfortable. But you do have to keep in mind, domestic car seats are made for domestic butts. Import car seats are made with tiny asian bodies in mind. Makes a world of difference.
Yes, and my ass is all-American.
I spent about 12 hours watching Pirate games over the long weekend. It’s all good.
I think Live is from somewhere up there where you live.
I always refer to Live as the pride of York, PA.
I had satellite radio off and on for about 13 years. I finally let it go because of Breitbart. I refuse to give money to something that is spewing hate. No one has to agree with me, and my VERY politically active daughter told me I was being stupid, but here I am.
More ham please.
All the channels you listed were great until spring of ’17. 80’s on 8 became the Lionel Richie channel and 1st Wave started played nothing but Depesh Mode. At the end the only channel I listened to was BB King.
My first radio job was running the Nashville Sounds Network. Patch cords and the works getting it live on the air. Got to know the announcer and learned a lot from him. Love me some baseball on the radio.
Back in the day when the phone had an actual clapper hitting a bell my folks had a ghost in the machine. 4-5 times a week at the same time in the evening, just a “ding-ding”. This went on for months and it got progressive later. Then one day it stopped.
This is some tough eatin’ too damned dry.
oh man
“I’m as full as a tick”
I say that all the time!
First Wave does indeed suck. I once wrote the station a long e-mail telling them in detail exactly how hard they sucked. It included something to the effect of “I was there in 1981, and no one was listening to Depeche Mode or the Pet Shop Boys.” They never replied.
Sirius does have a station that plays Huskers/’Mats/Dinosaur type of stuff, but it’s only available streaming online. It’s called “Indie 1.0”.
My main go-to stations when I’m driving are the two stations run by Little Steven Van Zant — “Underground Garage” and “Outlaw County.” Most of the DJs are active or retired professional musicians (including some big names). And the DJs are given pretty much free reign to play whatever they want, so you hear a ton of cool and unusual stuff. “Underground Garage,” as one might guess, is mostly rock oriented. And despite the name, “Outlaw Country” plays as much Americana, alt-country, and Southern Rock as true country music. And the country music they do play is of the higher caliber — either old-time legends or contemporary artists that play authentic country that would never, ever be played on commercial country radio.
I’ve been a Sirius subscriber for probably 15 years, and can’t imagine ever giving it up.
Same ones I listen too. The play list never ends and I like that.
Is it “free reign” or “free rein”? Asking for a friend…
Free Rein….it’s an old horse-riding phrase.
It’s an old chicken-eating term as well. I always buy free-rein. Also, to be fair, rain is free as well. Come to think about it, it also applies to countries that have something less than free and fair elections. Putin is the free-reign President of the Russian Confederation.
John
Thank you for this great advice regarding satellite radio – I have never subscribed but have always thought about it. Now I know what to look for and what’s of value.
I like listening to Volume on Sirius. It’s talk radio for music nerds. Eddie Trunk from that Metal Show is on daily.
Make yourself a reminder to call SiriusXM retention to cancel a few days before time to renew. Be firm and have “Dennis” or “Laura” get down to third and final offer. You can keep that $5 bucks a month for the next term and again and again. Alas, sometimes it is indeed a great wasteland. The stuck-in-the-60s husband thinks Deep Tracks is best channel. If I have to listen, I prefer Spectrum.
I was a relatively earlier adopter of Sirius, and when they merged with XM Radio, everything I liked went to shit. Unsubbed & pulled the stuff out of the car, tossed it in the trash without a single tear a few years later during a garage-cleaning binge. (it didn’t help matters that they started charging extra to stream to a computer)
Howard Stern was OK for a few months, but he plays the straight man surrounded by an entourage of idiots, and at the time he was doing an open-ended show (no defined stop time), so even if they tripped over something funny, they milked the everlovin’ shit out of it for weeks. (He made a big deal out of doing a 5-6 hour show every day)
Good luck unsubscribing from Sirius – I actually had one of their agents hang up on me after I told him I didn’t want to listen to his script about the great deals he could offer. With USB sticks plugging into the stereo, I see no need to put with their lousy play lists.
I so agree with Dave Stambaugh. My lease was up on my vehicle and the next one didn’t have Sirius but the grubby bastards charged me and I had to fight tooth and nail to get only a partial refund even though I wasn’t able to even receive transmission. If memory serves me right of $250 that they charged to my credit card (stupid me, I neglected to tell them I no longer received their station) and I think I received a refund of $90 – and it had to be credited to my card over a period of 3 months at $30 each month. REALLY watch these bastards if you try to cancel!
You can dispute that charge with your credit card company and they will do the dirty work for you. 9/10 I get fully reimbursed for anything I am not satisfied with.
“Did the Easter Bunny come?”
Brilliant!
Three days to recover from a good nailing is a bit excessive, no?
For about 6 months, I would keep getting phone calls from random people in my area code. Each one of them said that they were calling me back. Mind you, I only ever use the phone to call my wife or kids, so I’m not out calling random people. Many of them would get angry at me for suggesting that they called me first, or that maybe some spammer had my number set as the callback number. But these were all the type of people that would actually hit “call back” on a number that they didn’t recognize, so I got some interesting feedback and voice mail messages. It got to the point where I had to change my voicemail greeting to something like “Hello, if you are calling me because you think that I called you, I can pretty much guarentee that I didn’t…” Shortly thereafter, the calls all of the sudden, stopped, fortunately.
I prefer listening to a baseball game on the radio versus the TV as well. The TV announcers add so much side info that the actual call of the game snd pitching cadence is lost. I really don’t care about the lead off hitters resting pulse rate, the manager’s hat size or the best stadium with good falafel, etc. etc. Radio announcing seems more disciplined, …more baseball, less gabwurst.
Tried Sirius radio a couple of cars ago, didn’t renew after free 6 month trial. The car radio is enough.
After the pre-dinner, grilled kielbasa beer drinker’s starter is devoured, “Is that all the sausage you have?”
Ha – gabwurst. I have a new noun to throw around.
Great word.
I’ll second “Underground Garage.” Any channel that unironically plays Del Shannon and The Shirelles alongside The Replacements and The Ramones is okay by me.
When my brother was in college he worked for a lawn care company that would robot call people and he would try to sell lawn care. One day I guess he smoked a big ol’ doob before he went in because he called me and didn’t even realize it. I recognized his voice right off the bat. I said Mark what the hell are you doing? Then he did that big old stoner realization “Whooahhh. I didn’t even know I called you. Crazy”. Blew his mind.
Tampa sucks. I’ve lived here for 26 years & the heat is insufferable. Last night was slightly cool, which is good since my a/c is broke down. for the cold we bundle up here… for the heat we hide in our chilled houses… (or at the pool or the beach.. okay maybe it doesn’t suck that bad..)
‘I don’t like raisins in my buns, thanks.’
Baseball on the radio > baseball on teevee.
It’s 75F in NC today. Enjoying it before the possible snow arrives this weekend. Spring has gone nuts.
I smell yeast.
I like to turn on the BAT in the living room and hit the mute button. Then I turn on the radio in the kitchen and make supper or do dishes, laundry etc… if something interesting happens I can poke my head into the living room and watch the replay.
“Thank you Lord for these gifts we are about to receive…”
I was born in Ohio and I’ll bitch about the weather if I want to and if anybody tells me to move they can fuck right off!
Serius/XM: I also vote for Underground Garage and Outlaw Country like Swami. Outlaw country has a show that Johnny Knoxville DJs and he is funny and they play good country/rock/altcountry. Beatleschannel!! Sirus/XM raw dog comedy is good. Mostly stand up stuff. Of course the George Carlin channel is excellent. The old school hip hop channel is fun sometimes. The POTUS channel and Stand Up with Pete Dominic was good but I haven’t listened in a long time. I like Deep Tracks as well.
“Ooh, I love hot cross buns!”
Wish I held out for the Chevy Cruze but I was under pressure to get a new vehicle. Got the Hyundai Elantra. The only thing I like about this stripped down roller skate is the gas mileage. I can’t wait for the lease to be up.
“Where’s your sister?”
“I dare you to bite the head off”
Ding, ding, ding, winner!
No Sirius or XM or Sirius/XM for me. Wouldn’t be prudent.
A week ago Saturday, I got three bizarre phone calls in about a 10-minute period, around 10:30 at night. I think they were all recordings. Possibly Google doing an AI test; who knows. The first one was a Grandma-sounding voice saying “Can you come over here right away? And bring some toilet paper!” The second one was a young-sounding female voice saying “Hi, do you remember me? We met at the bar last night!” The last one was a male voice saying “baby, I’ve been thinking about you a lot.” Weird.
And I picked up because when the phone rings at night, it’s probably something important. Sometimes not, as it turns out.
I have attended ballgames, once or twice, where one of my fellow spectators was listening to the game on the radio while watching it live.
Some friends had a bunch of us over on Sunday. They made a roast of lamb. It was good, really good. I made stamppot to go with. There was a quantity of Adult Beverage consumed. A good time was had by all.
I’m currently obsessed with “Radio Classics” on Sirius. It’s all classic radio shows. I listened to Abbot and Costello and Hopalong Cassidy the other day. Today, it was Burns and Allen and Johnny Dollar. Super random, but so fun!
One of the (broadcast) radio stations around here runs old-time radio on Sunday nights. Johnny Dollar is a good show; “Item one – 35 cents, cab fare.” Gunsmoke has outstanding production values – writing, acting, directing, effects. They took it seriously and gave a shit, just like the best TV shows. Nicely done, and I don’t even usually care for westerns. It’s effectively a police procedural, but still very good. They sometimes address issues that are sadly still current.
Their “Hot Jazz Saturday Night” show is also excellent.
Yes. Great show, great music. I like Rob Bamberger as a host, and he seems to have encyclopedic knowledge.
I only get XM/Sirius when they have it on for free. I like Real Jazz, Comedy, Beatles, and 1st Wave (if nothing else is on that excites me).
I got the IRS call a few months ago. Freaking crazy. Nowadays, I get calls showing my area code and exchange. Looks like it could possibly be someone I know. Of course I let it go to voice and then block them.
Once I got a collect call at 2:00AM from someone in a prison. Was half asleep and ended up hanging up on the dude.
Normally, if you owe money to the IRS they will contact you by phone or text at odd hours. They will usually want payment via Best Buy gift card.
I received a call from CRA (Canadian IRS) requesting payment from Itunes. The ’employees’ said their names were Kevin and Steven threatening to deport me. I laughed and laughed sorry Sundeep and Mohamed – I was born here – where are you sending me?
The call from my mom two days after she died was disturbing. She hung up when I answered.
The Oregon call is like some of the calls I get. On mine, there’s no one there. You call them, then the automated pitch comes in. Press one if you want to save money. Bullshit. They save phone time by making you call. Fornicate them. I will say I’ve called, pressed one, and talked to someone a couple of times. Always a cheap unknown company I wouldn’t trust washing my car. I’m retired, sometimes I’ve got nothing better to do than meet a new person.
“Say, ‘I love dark meat’ one more fucking time, I swear to God.”
Save that bone for soup!
LMAO!!!
Would you like some more of that gravy?
May I have a taste of your carrot?
I’m gonna honey glaze that ham…
I’ve had Sirius for about 15 years. Most of the channels get annoying with any extended listening, but it’s still nice to have the ability to go to a certain channel and usually get what you want.
If you like being introduced to new music, XMU is very good. I also listen to Alt Nation, Spectrum, 1st Wave, Lithium, and Classic Vinyl/Rewind/Deep Tracks. On XMU they do “old school” twice a week, and there’s the (internet only) Indie 1.0 as mentioned, which does 80s and 90s indie rock.
It’s also nice to get a signal everywhere, especially on a long trip.
Jeff, I’m sure you’ve noticed the Tom Petty channel (#31, I believe). But if not, it’s a good one to work into the rotation. I recall that you’re a fan of his.
There used to be a great channel called Fred on XM – sadly when they merged with Sirius it went away. The main problem w/First Wave is Richard Blade who spends most of his airtime brown-nosing the 80’s artists he’s friends with and only playing the same 25 songs. “Why just this weekend I was at Terry Nunn’s pool blah, blah, blah.” “When Dave Gahan invited me backstage blah, blah, blah.” Plus I think his accent is fake as hell. There are a few better dj’s but their approved song list should be way bigger. Wait until you have to listen to the weird speach impediment from Swedish Egil – Sewius Wadio! Try the Spectrum channel – it’s a little better and plays more artists and songs.
If I had a dollar for every time I yelled at the radio “Richard Blade just STFU!”, I’d have a lot of dollars. He’s the worst offender, but all of the DJs are required to pre-record these 2 minute fillers that air every 3rd song. That’s right, none of it is live. They blather-on about tour locations you don’t care about, special events you’re not interested in, other channels you’re not listening to, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Yes, you’re broadcasting from the Alan Freed studio in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. You just told me that 10 minutes ago, and it doesn’t matter to me, because I’m listening via the radio.
That’s why they have so many channels – so you can change to another one.
Do not be sad, for on the third day he shall rise again.
Jeff, what is the difference between a frown and a furrowed brow?
This joint is quiet, almost haunted about five days a week. So here’s Susan Tedeschi to sing one of the best pop songs ever written for your listening pleasure. . . jtb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtG5bT13m8U
We have SiriusXM on two cars. We’ve had it for over four years now but “stopped paying” after year two; I’ll explain:
The credit card we set up payment on became compromised during the second year. The company issued a new card with a new number. I got an email from SiriusXM saying, “Your account will be automatically renewed with credit card ending in (old account number) on renewal date.”
At that point the account they listed had been closed for over six months, so I figured they’d try, get a notification from the card that it was no longer active, then get back to me about using a different card and/or just cancel us out-right. Neither happened.
I figure they’re using us to bump up their subscriber numbers to the advertisers. Many channels we listen to have ads, (the oldest like the LA and NYC pop channels) but I just switch to another one when the commercials start. I keep expecting to turn the car on one day hear nothing but the preview loop, but it hasn’t happened yet. If they don’t care why should I?
I’ll have to check out some Reds games. Other teams’ broadcasters can be fun. I’m not even close to being a Yankee fan, but John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman are a good listen. . Bob Uecker for the Brewers is about like you’d expect, just slightly less of a caricature of his Major League role. Jon Miller has a great cadence for the Giants. I mixed in a few Vin Scully Dodger games over the years.
What I’m saying is, since you don’t know any of the players anyway, be a “baseball” fan and do an audio tour.
Wow, is Bob Uecker still alive? Awesome if he is. I remember him from decades ago.
He’s alive and broadcasting. Norm Macdonald, a good friend of Uecker’s, once called him the most profane man he ever met, and Norm has met a lot of them.
John
One could not ask for higher praise.
Most broadcasters have a cough button — Uecker has a cocksucker and motherfucker button, and plays it through the game like a consummate musician. No way he’s going to last through nine innings without swearing, so he’s carrying on a conversation with his producer and whoever is visiting the booth that is as obscene as a conversation can get, while simultaneously telling the fans the story of the game in family-friendly language. The man is in his mid-eighties and still enjoys the motherfucking shit out of life. Not bad for a career .200 hitter.
John
Got the renewal email again today. Still lists the old account number that hasn’t been active for going on three years now.
We’ll see…
It’s a rainy, windy Friday in the Great Pacific Northwest, and there’s a bit of an echo in here. Must be time to pour a warming beverage and listen to John Prine. Just for a short while.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ85Hep0kD0
John
Thanks, John. Very nice.
And you may see me tonight with an illegal smile.
It don’t cost very much, but it lasts a long while.
Will you please tell the man I didn’t hurt anyone;
No, I’m just tryin’ to have me some fun.
…that’s what pops into my head when I think of John Prine. From a different era – the 1970s.
What the hell. Why not one more John Prine tune? This time with the lovely Iris DeMent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5axlwCBXC8
John
Is Kay OK?
(I think I met Kaye O’Kay in a Dublin pub)
I’m pretty sure that long ago I nailed a chick named Kaye that I picked up in an Irish bar in Scranton. Is that OK?
Okay to lay Kaye.
I haven’t heard this much yodeling since Jimmie Rodgers coughed his way to Heaven.
jtb
nota bene . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEIBmGZxAhg
If you see Kaye…