Some 54 years ago, when Flower Children roamed freely, dangling their love beads and peace signs, I spent the first few hours of each Sunday alone in the dim, sound-sealed WBAI control room at 30 East 39th Street, wrapped in a silly weekend fare called "The Inside.". Rarely was there anyone else in the building—the station's staff and volunteers, as well as the people from the Vera Institute, on the ground floor, had better ways to spend their weekend.
When you are left in a semi-dark room into which not even the loudest street noise can penetrate, and your only companion is that microphone, you undergo a transformation that can produce abnormal behavior. This occurred one midnight in 1963 when I found myself climbing up ancient virtual stairs to a pulpit. As the Atheist in me vaporized and slowly rose to mix with the nicotine patina of of our ceiling's acoustic tile, my alter ego, Uncle Chris, metamorphosed into a preacher. Here going back for more than a half century is that spiritual awakening...
A Sunday morning sermon.
Uncle Chris truly was a bird of another feather. The recording sounds very good. The sound effects were subtle and convincing. Did you work on the recording at all? I don't get the book of parker reference assuming it means anything.
ReplyDeleteA tape recorder and two turntables. I always did my own engineering (including the artificial echo). That's why I can't understand why people like Haskins and Reggie can;t get it together. I would love to have had digital equipment.
DeleteAs for Parker, that's Charlie Parker.
Praise be! I missed the number to call to make a donation and get my piece of prayer toilet paper...
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The Church of WBAI only gave out spiritual vibes. The prayer rolls of intimate tissue were beneath (behind?) us. :)
Deletei would have never guessed the only woman who rose up that wasn't black , was Lynn Stewart.
ReplyDeletewow , what are the odds ?
And as they always say on bai, that they (meaning the white man) always delete's real black history, and yet they just deleted 80+ percent of woman out of woman's history month . hmmm...
The best thing I ever did was to sever all ties to WBAI a few years ago. It freed me up to do some very cool stuff, and I have never been happier in my life.
ReplyDeleteThere are some good, misguided people who are still plugging away as volunteer producers, and for these former acquaintances, I encourage you to just politely remove yourself from the station, immediately. You are not getting paid for this hobby, and for every single one of you it is a source of toxicity in your life, and a total waste of time. Even those who are getting paid, like Reggie and Max, could find better jobs that wouldn't be so awful on a day to day basis. Someone like Max, who has a real fanbase, could do his oldies show as a podcast with a bigger audience. And just move on to something better. In a couple years you will look back on your feuding and fighting and the serious way you thought about WBAI politics with a deep sense of shame. You won't care who controls WBAI, because you will realize how worthless it all is, compared to the new things in your life. In fact, you will look forward to the day when there is no embarrassing record of your time at WBAI.
You will miss it at first, yes. It is a kind of addiction for many of you, and withdrawals from addiction can be difficult in the short term. But in the long term, you will find something much, much better to do with your precious time on this earth, believe me.
Thank you Solomon—I will also post your wise suggestion more prominently.
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