He was new here

We lost another amazing artist. If you didn't see Gil Scott-Heron live, you missed something. We have the records and some live videos, but to be there when he launched into one of his elegant, hilarious, sharp 10-minute monologues was an unforgettable experience that will never be available again. What a brilliant mind.

Here's an old post about the night we saw him two years ago.

Quote of the week

"Jumping off a bridge is bold, too."

Stupid or crazy: Which is worse?

A thought-provoking essay from the Phil Nugent Experience:

Maybe this is connected to the plight of the mentally ill in this country, who are ignored, shunned, stigmatized, until still-functioning people with real problems are afraid to seek help. Maybe people figure that if they weren't monsters, we'd do better by them.

On the other hand, we do pretty well by stupid people, even erecting shrines to the idea that they're morally superior to people with more complicated thinking processes: these can take the form of a movie like Forrest Gump, or the kind of press coverage that George W. Bush enjoyed until about 2006...

I always thought that the movie industry's evolution from Being There to Forrest Gump spoke volumes about how the U.S. has changed between the '70s and today.

Feedback is nice

It's great to get listener feedback for our station, even when it's this short and simple:

hello, from Quebec Canada. keep on grooving

Many thanks! We'll add some new Leonard Cohen tracks just for you.

Ear Candle Radio status report

Hey, dear listeners:

The recording and editing of our DJ segments for the latest playlist has been held up due to family emergencies and a heavy load of schoolwork. (At the moment we only have four of them done and uploaded.) But don't let them stop you from enjoying all the great music we are broadcasting! So keep listening and voting on the songs, while I finish writing up my research paper on the state of internet radio for Introduction To Electronic Media.

The Granite Countertops: Something Different

Killing two birds with one stone:

Our first official Granite Countertops music video, and J Neo Marvin's final project for his Digital Media Skills class. Can you spot the John Waters quote in the lyrics?