Monday, September 17, 2007

Grasping for Straws

Or is it "clutching at" straws? I don't really care right now. I have a cold. I haven't updated the blog in weeks. I am snotty and cranky and ready to throw any crumbs I can sweep together up onto the screen and call it a day. "What a gracious hostess," you are saying. "I plan on spending lots of my free time reading these crumbs and examining them for deeper meaning, for surely she must think enough of me to create creative, insightful, and witty messages on a regular basis." Yeah. Whatever. Just spreading around the germy love. On to today's crumbs:

That 104.5 - they have my number. Damn radio station out of Philly plays everything I can rock out to: Beck, Fatboy Slim, Beasties, Weezer, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, notice-I-am-stuck-in-the-90s, STP, help-me-I'm-old, Jane's Addiction, REM, but-I-was-old-even-in-the-90s, Matthew Sweet, Big Audio Dynamite, not-sure-how-to-grow-up, Talking Heads, okay-that-was-the-eighties, Nirvana. And there are so few commercials that you start to think you're listening to your home-made mix. But. BUT. But then, 104.5 will pull a fast one. When you least expect it they slip in a "current rock hit." And it really bums my stone, man. Who do they think they are, Clear Channel or something? Oh, yeah, they are. I don't even know the names of these bands whose dreck I'm listening to, except for one entertaining song whose lyrics I Googled yesterday, Silversun Pickups' Lazy Eye. Not bad. But most of the other unidentifiable modern rock that they scare me with is tepid, repetitive, and self-indulgent. Kind of like this blog. I guess they really do have my number.

p.s. I do like the White Stripes' music, which, happy for me, they also play.

5 comments:

Christa M. Miller said...

I always heard/saw "grasping AT straws." But, semantics.

You are right that modern "rock" sucks. Audioslave was the last best hope and now they are gone, despite Cornell's solo efforts.

Mary Louisa said...

They play Audioslave and Soundgarden, thankfully. And--please don't hit me--NO METALLICA. WOOHOO!

They sorely lack the indie/college rock content, but for commercial radio, it's a good station (save the new stuff).

Christa M. Miller said...

Do you ever listen to radio streaming on the web? If so, try www.wfnx.com. It's a station out of Boston that I think you might like.

No college stations in your area?

Anonymous said...

Keep those germs to yourself, lady! (Seriously, though, hope you get better soon -- from head to toe!) I think 104.5's been around since back when I left Philly in the mid-90's. I remember listening to those songs on that station, although many were new then. I have XM Radio in my car and can also listen online for free. They have an 80's and a 90's station, each of which are commercial-free bliss (although I could live without the occasional 90's rap song and they play Vanilla Ice too often!)

Mary Louisa said...

Christa, thanks for the link. We have the grand WXPN (home of World Cafe Live); they play indie rock from all eras, but are not super-tuned-in to the current scene.

PTLM, 104.5 has always been there as a rock station, but they have just this year "reformatted." They are a straight-ahead boomer/X-er station now.