Tuesday, April 12, 2011
The MG's: Frustration
Early on at WFMU I decided to have opening theme music for my weekly shows. Just made it easier to unpack, settle in to the DJ's chair, & get a little bit organized. Every show brings a slight case of butterflies, I never liked making major programming choices on-the-fly during the initial 20 minutes or so. Later on in the program, yeah, that was challenge & fun of doing free form. For many years my opening theme consisted of a chunk of soundtrack from Fellini's "The Clowns," featuring Nino Rota's music & circus sounds, an elastic selection that could go one minute or five,
"Out" music is another matter. It depends on how the show wraps up. There's many ways to close a radio program, but you should start thinking about it during the final 30 minutes, thinking ahead, deciding what's gonna fit. If I wanted to make a fast getaway after the show, I sometimes chose a long selection & used the time for packing up & filing away CDs & records. It's poor radio etiquette to run over into the next DJ's time because one's last song ran too long (always a few jerk DJs who think they're exempted from this obvious courtesy), You have to consider how many selections need to be back-announced,& what you want to say about them, plus add in one's standard goodbye, a brief plug for the incoming DJ, & an official station I.D. I preferred a smooth, unhurried wrapup (Although timing a close finish & quick handoff is fun, too). It's easier to come up a few minutes short with time to fill. That's why I often stuck this LP in my record bag. "Frustration" is a really good "out" song for the "running short" finishes. If I knew I couldn't cram another full song in, about five minutes before the hour I''d start it up off air. Then, when my last song ended I bring up "Frustration" as background talk-over music, do my closing thing, then ride the music into the next show, fading it out just before starting the new DJ's opening selection. Maybe once each year I'd play the song as a regular selection. My criteria for both "out" & "talkover" music is I have to like it enough to play it in entirety.
I bought The MG's as a fifty cent cutout, & when the LP became beat up from so much travel back & forth to WFMU, I lucked on to a new copy for next-to-nothing. It was never released on CD, & I didn't expect it would. It's actually a pretty good record, unfortunately titled. It's not The real MG's without guitarist Steve Cropper, the name preceded by "Booker T &." But does have Al Jackson, Jr, Duck Dunn, & two other fine Stax session guys. Carson Whitsett's electric piano noodling on "Frustration" isn't much, but the rhythm section of course is great, & I love the cyclical structure of the number's second half, with Bobby Manuel's spacy guitar, that cannot resolve itself into an ending. It sounds like it could go on forever - hence, the title. It's music that has to fade out. They do a nifty cover of a Spinners hit, too.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
"Out" music is another matter. It depends on how the show wraps up. There's many ways to close a radio program, but you should start thinking about it during the final 30 minutes, thinking ahead, deciding what's gonna fit. If I wanted to make a fast getaway after the show, I sometimes chose a long selection & used the time for packing up & filing away CDs & records. It's poor radio etiquette to run over into the next DJ's time because one's last song ran too long (always a few jerk DJs who think they're exempted from this obvious courtesy), You have to consider how many selections need to be back-announced,& what you want to say about them, plus add in one's standard goodbye, a brief plug for the incoming DJ, & an official station I.D. I preferred a smooth, unhurried wrapup (Although timing a close finish & quick handoff is fun, too). It's easier to come up a few minutes short with time to fill. That's why I often stuck this LP in my record bag. "Frustration" is a really good "out" song for the "running short" finishes. If I knew I couldn't cram another full song in, about five minutes before the hour I''d start it up off air. Then, when my last song ended I bring up "Frustration" as background talk-over music, do my closing thing, then ride the music into the next show, fading it out just before starting the new DJ's opening selection. Maybe once each year I'd play the song as a regular selection. My criteria for both "out" & "talkover" music is I have to like it enough to play it in entirety.
I bought The MG's as a fifty cent cutout, & when the LP became beat up from so much travel back & forth to WFMU, I lucked on to a new copy for next-to-nothing. It was never released on CD, & I didn't expect it would. It's actually a pretty good record, unfortunately titled. It's not The real MG's without guitarist Steve Cropper, the name preceded by "Booker T &." But does have Al Jackson, Jr, Duck Dunn, & two other fine Stax session guys. Carson Whitsett's electric piano noodling on "Frustration" isn't much, but the rhythm section of course is great, & I love the cyclical structure of the number's second half, with Bobby Manuel's spacy guitar, that cannot resolve itself into an ending. It sounds like it could go on forever - hence, the title. It's music that has to fade out. They do a nifty cover of a Spinners hit, too.
