The Lost Tapes

Once upon a different time, a time when hair was abundant, bills were un-heard of and the smell of pizza wafted in the air; there were three boys and a tape recorder. With the tape rolling and the humour flowing, the 2000 Listen n’ Look Marachance 22001 42222 XXU2TOBWX, in other word the alphabet radio station, was born. Though there was only ever one demo tape preserved, many more were taped and re-taped.

Long before there were CD's, and shortly after the advent of the LP, the cassette recorder became the tool of choice for the adlibbed recordings. It first started with a small tape recorder, internal microphone and some bored kids. Jazzy John and Stylin’ Steve were the first DJ's to offer their one a kind and often mis-understood humour to the radio waves. After dancing to the beat of "The War Song," "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) ," and "Shout" they realised that not only did they have the uncanny ability to groove but also a remarkable ability to write their own lyrics to these great hits. The first hit, "Farts," to the tune of "Shout", topped the charts. "Fart, fart let it all out, these are that farts that you can do with out." Everytime the song aired the fans went nuts, often urging them to take their act to the basement. John and Steve had several successful years of recording, often highlighting local talent such as Jeff "Piercing" Piercy and Chad "I wish I could sing" Bridger. It was not uncommon to hear melodious tunes of the electric organ smattered amongst the recordings, often spurring organ standoffs, where each DJ would out play the other with original pieces.

Over the years the broadcasts became less frequent and often included recordings of Magnum P.I. and other television shows. The radio show needed a boost. In '87 new influences sparked a revival and a burst of energy to the radio show with the multi-talented, bushy haired one man act, Mr. Man, known to his friends as Jason. Beneath the squeaky voice, fantastic sense of fashion, and hair products, was a maniac who filled the radio waves with his quick wit and musical talents. He drew from his well of experience as a robot builder and movie producer to create the Mr. Man recording studio right in the living room of his home. The studio produced a countless number of hits. No song rocked the charts more than "Gobb-la, Gobb-la." This was the much acclaimed theme song for a movie about Big Bird riding around town on a bicycle. Unfortunately the star studded movie did not make it to the big screens despite its brilliant script. During the illustrious 2.5 years of the studio, the careers of Mr. Man, Stylin’ Steve and Jazzy John flourished. Unfortunately due to tight budgets and aging technology the same master tape was used for each recording session and many of the historical broadcasts have been lost. Until now...

After nearly 20 years of collecting dust in an attic the final broadcast has been found and revived for your listening pleasure. Be prepared to sit back for an afternoon of side splitting laughter, tear jerking humour, and awe inspiring vocals. Unfortunately, John was not available for this recording, and sitting in was one really annoying "unnamed" kid. He paled in comparison to John's unique delivery of knock knock jokes, and only held back the remaining talent of Jason and Steve. However on that farewell broadcast the dynamic dual did pull it off one of their best shows, and created a masterpiece; one for the archives; one to be remembered forever and enjoyed by all once again. In the famous words of Mr. Man, "And we're back and we're back and we're bad. Ooooh yeah...."

Enjoy!

Radio Broadcast

Simultaneous contrast is not just a curious optical phenomenon - it is the very heart of painting.

So, it has been a while since I last blogged. No, I’m not depressed, nor am I stewing about the Leafs. Yes I do “suck at blogging” crazy christina, however I will give it a shot once again.

Not much has happen since my last post. Some things that do come to mind are, I got hit in the back by the front of a city bus; vacationed in the Thousand Islands on, well ah, on an island; sent the kids to Newfoundland on their own for 3 weeks; drove 18 hours straight to Nova Scotia, 6 hours on the ferry with no sleep, then another 7 hours to Twillingate; followed the GPS and mapping software on a trip plotting us through the US, we were about 3 hours off course; got a speeding ticket in the friendly town of Theftford Mines, Quebec; started to cycle again, mainly to work, well only to work; I no longer consider myself in good shape; Rob Gaus is in better shape than me (that one really hurts); a friend, we’ll call him Gob Raus, decided it would be funny to run into my parked car; while walking through the woods in Newfoundland a stick flicked up and scratched my leg; huge infection in the scratched area that continued to grow for a week to the size of a golf ball; my ankle, calve and knee looked like a log because of the swelling; overcame my fear of clinics with a singing Nigerian doctor (audio to come); came to realization that baby boomer parents should not be allowed to use or come into contact with a computer; and my wife and I bought a house. Besides that, life is normal.

I may touch on some of the sub plots in later posts, but for now I want to show you something; something incredible; something that has inspired me to blog once again. It is an optical illusion. One like no other. If I was a betting man and someone was to entice me into a wager, I would have lost my life savings. So let me ask you this simple question. How much money would you bet that tile A and tile B are the same colour? Go ahead, click on the image. I strongly encourage you to take the image and use photo software to slowly remove all the dark tiles around tile B and watch in amazement as the money drains from your bank account.

I can sorta get the gist of how it works, but do not have the big fancy words to explain it. I am qurios if anyone can explain the scientific reason for my colour blindness. Anyone want to place a wager?