the rix mix

WFMU manager Ken Freedman failed to gain liftoff in yesterday's balloon & lawn chair fundraising stunt. Became evident midway through his program the goal wouldn't be met. It was still a good show on live video stream. The idea was so hare-brained, & Ken prepared to go through with it (did he need a permit?). The annual "emergency" Fall pledge campaign brochure I received weeks ago didn't mention the balloon stunt, so it was apparently an add-on event. Many WFMU fund-raising ideas have these experimental beginnings; I wouldn't be surprised if Ken tries it again. I think he really does want to fly in a lawn chair, but he's right to put a hefty price tag on it & stick to it.

It was the crazy stuff at WFMU that kept my interest during dry spells when I felt I wasn't finding enough cool music to justify having a weekly radio show. Glen Jones' "Last Man Standing" project in 2001 to break the Guinness record for continuous live radio DJing (not a fund-raiser) may have prevented me from handing in my treasured keys to the front door & music library & walking away. Spending two nights with Glen as an invisible gopher (go fer this, go fer that) under the supervision of DJs Donna & Terre T, with no on-air responsibilities, reintegrated me into the community, which had been struggling to settle into the new Jersey City studios while preserving what many of us loved about the station. One of those nights I spent some time with Vin "The Godfather" Scelsa, who made WFMU free form in the late-Sixties, & came away believing I was a  small brick in the edifice, but a permanent part of it nonetheless.

Labels: WFMU