On this July 4th I hope you’ll remember that the U.S. of today bears little resemblance to the beacon of freedom envisioned by the authors of the Declaration of Independence. The chief liberty sought by the founders was freedom from economic oppression. But there are always powerful people willing to go to any ends to […]

Apparently, Lou Reed is dead. Fully and totally. Dead. That hurts. How about a Lou Reed Fun Fact! Did you know that both The Velvet Underground AND The Grateful Dead were originally named The Warlocks? Now loosen up, you hipster snobs. Eat some acid. That’s what Lou would do. (Or not. He was notoriously willful.)

I just received an e-mail purportedly co-authored by UVa President Teresa Sullivan and Rector Helen Dragas. The e-mail promises cooperation and hand-holding and lots of hugs and kisses and warm fuzzy stuff. In other words, it’s total P.R. trash designed to reassure the dulled wits of the extra gullible. If you haven’t been following the […]

(NOTE: This is the original unedited version of the piece that ran in the Hook.) Wow. Invisible Hand’s been getting a nice “happy ending” from the conspiratorial press and disc jockey establishments around here for a few solid months. That’s just annoying. I’m sorry, but as a rule I always despise any and all flavor-of […]

Dan Deacon brought his super-spazmodic freaky electro-loop delicious digital weirdness to the Southern on Thursday, October 28, and a good time was had by all. All the cool kids were there and they brought their bands to warm up the show. I got drunk and talked smack. Deacon took the floor (he sets up on […]

6 Day Bender’s new album kicks like a keg-standing mule (NOTE: This is the original of the version of my piece for the Hook.) Is this thing on? Cripsy Duck to Command Central… come in, Command Central. What the hell am I doing? It’s been eight long, boring years since my semi-self-imposed sabbatical from print […]

On Monday evening, about 200 or so community members, DJs past and present, and various supporters flooded a town hall meeting held by UVa’s Department of Public Affairs (now in charge of TJU) to let ’em have an earful of what it means to love something as thoroughly as Charlottesville loves WTJU. Carol Wood, head […]

AHHHHHHH! Burr Beard, the man brought in to revive WTJU from its slump, is proposing turning major blocks of programming to “Americana” or “Roots” – generally, folk, blues, country and country rock – making that the new “station identity.” The notion sickens me so badly I couldn’t even make it through the proposal. Ok, I’m […]

(DUCK NOTE: Recent discussions of reformatting WTJU, our beloved multi-format college/community radio station, inspired this retrospective rant.) “I LOVE RADIO! I have learned of more incredible music listening to WTJU 91.1FM – local multi-format UVa radio – in my umpteen years in Charlottesville than anywhere else. Something about broadcast makes music seem more alive, and […]

Justice, that blind old bat, has swerved off the highway, into the woods and is headed right for the quarry! EmmaKate Martin and Benjamin Bryant, protesters attempting to block access to Massey HQ in Boone, W. Va on May 17, have been hit with $100,000 bail. This for charges of trespassing and littering. Uh huh. […]