This has been my jam this week. (Taken with instagram)
The Rise and Fall of WFNX (*pending FCC approval)
I’m sure most of you have heard the news by now: WFNX is on the outs after nearly 30 years. The news here’s being met with heartache. For a long time, the station was a big part of us and half the time was our go to on the dial when we wanted to hear something on the radio. I’m sure it was the same for a lot of Boston.
More than any other station in the area, FNX was the first station that really went to bat for us when we were starting out, particularly from New England Product (which later became Boston Accents, or so the legend goes). They were even cool enough to include us, a baby band, on their Wicked Cool Boston Bands compilation album back in 2006.
Hell, even outside of the station I’ve found the folks who work (or have worked there) to be genuinely passionate about music in a way you don’t really see often. It shouldn’t have been surprising considering they had this short list of rules posted at the station…
…and it really breaks my heart to hear that Clear Channel—the fucking Borg!!—was the one to buy them out.
For years as we came home from touring, the sounds of FNX emerging from static was a comforting beacon for us. It was a sign that we were close to home. Now the most we’d have to look forward to is some preprogrammed pap.
FNX is one of the few (if only) stations that in recent years threw in Boston music into its regular rotation. I’m of the mind they could and should have done a lot more of this, but that they did it at all is something to be commended. Between that and live events they sponsored through the years, you cannot say these cats don’t care about Boston music, because they do.
Michael Marotta’s inspired hosting tonight on Boston Accents should be proof positive of that. I’m told the mp3 of the latest show will be up soon, which I’ll post a link to when that becomes available. Also, you should heed his advice and stop listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Truly, FNX is among the last of a dying breed: community radio.
Now that they’ll soon be stricken from the dial, New England will be lesser for it.
All that said, I got equally upset this weekend seeing things like “Occupy WFNX” popping up…
Just for the record, I truly believe that YES, losing an independent alternative station like WFNX is indeed a bigger tragedy than the bullshit on Wall Street. You can quote me on that; I will stand by that statement proud and strong.
I won’t get into how the conflation of a regional corporation selling one of their assets to a mega-corporation and a movement meant to bring attention to a very real class struggle makes my eye twitch.
I’ll write it off to well-intentioned childishness.
People say dumb things when they’re sad. I do it all the time. Maybe losing some people I was close to this year has shifted my perspective on everything; perhaps it’s more likely I’m on my way to a solid future as a curmudgeon. At any rate, this kind of attitude is a bit melodramatic and won’t solve anything.
Anyway, listen—and this is important: nobody is taking music away. Music is something like 40,000 years old (or 3.4 Ronald Reagans, approximately).
Music is not dying.
The arts are not dying.
We’re losing an amazing radio station—arguably one of the best in the country—not our souls.
If you want to support Boston music, then support Boston music. There are many shows happening every single night of the week in town. Go to them. (And if you’re outside of Boston and reading this, go support your people. Or fly here!)
This is a symptom of a much larger problem. If you want to stop good media outlets like FNX from going under, find a way to lobby Congress to stem the decades-long orgy of media deregulation that allows companies like Clear Channel to monopolize markets. Or let’s get some pirate radio stations going; that’d be sweet. You’re all a bunch of smart folks.
Let’s buy a sturdy boat and a radio tower. It’s in our hands, dude.
In the meantime, let’s pour one out for a fantastic radio station that should’ve lasted another 30 years.
Cheers,
Henry
Aloud has been nominated in The Boston Phoenix’s Best Music Poll 2012 for Best Indie/Powerpop Act.
Previously, Aloud has been nominated for Best Female Vocalist.
Head over to the Phoenix’s site and vote for Aloud, and be sure to click on “Cast Your Ballot” when you’re done.
Voting ends on Friday, May 18th at midnight.
Notes From Underground: Running on a coffee high, yea
It’s been a hell of a week, that’s for sure.
For starters, the big old 10th anniversary show at Great Scott was a week ago, a source of minor stress for me, like most shows, really. Clinton Degan (known ‘round these parts as “Degan”) wrote a great piece on the evening over at Allston Pudding. The review is more eloquent and probably more accurate than anything I could ever write about it here beyond “I was mildly drunk and it was a particularly fun show to play”. And he seemed to remember things we may or may not have said on stage.
I’d also like to extend a big thank-you to Spirit Kid, Oranjuly, and The Wicked Tomorrow, not just for playing with us but for being generally awesome folks. Good tunes all around. And to Great Scott, too, for being a friend of Aloud all these years. (And for getting rid of that goddamned stage railing.)
All that aside, saw a bunch of shows this week, too. Apart from the immediate envy it evokes, it does recharge the batteries. Sometimes you get so tied up in the day to day of being in a band—”Shit! We need to write today,” or “We have to send out a bunch of emails this afternoon,” or “Why is the van on fire?”—that you have to remind yourself you actually like music.
Forsooth: Last Sunday we caught Eleanor Friedberger and Hospitality at Great Scott. Hospitality, I’d never heard before but I’ve been hearing real good things about them. Neither they nor Eleanor disappointed. Then Monday, we caught Feist for the first time. Her music’s been a huge source of inspiration for us in recent years. The show was surprisingly intimate for a room with 2000+ people. T.T. the Bear’s was name checked, we all caroled “Happy Birthday” to someone named (I think) Tyler in the crowd, and somehow—somehow!—she got the entire crowd to harmonize on “So Sorry”.
So good.
Funny thing happened on the way to Twitter the other day. Jen’s been reading this book called Dead Harvest by a fellow named Chris Holm. Intern #2 (known ‘round these parts as “Jake”) decided it was a good time to use her as a lap.
Like so:
So, me being a smartass, I tweet this:
Not much later, we actually get a response from Chris Holm.
Like this:
And, well, because we’re nerds*, this totally made our evening. (And Mr. Holm plugging Aloud made our morning the next day.)
Listen: While we’re on about books, I finished reading Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions, further solidifying his standing as one of my favorite authors. With the U.S. having spit out writers like this, it makes me think his country’s not so bad.
Except for the moments when it gives me massive heartburn. Amendment One was, unfortunately, passed, which makes marriage equality somehow extra illegal in that state. It’s extremely disappointing, as North Carolina’s become a second home of sorts for us, and we have a lot of friends and family down in tar heel country. At any rate, here’s a comfort: obviously stupid laws like Amendment One never last, and history marches on toward equality. More heartburn: people hating on people they don’t know, whether it’s folks who hate on gay people or Yankees corralling all southerners into this caricature of a dumb hick.
Everyone should be nicer to each other. (And perhaps watch less cable TV.)
It’s not hard.
Cheers,
Henry
___________________
* Jen claims she is not a nerd, but she kind of is.
Award-winning music blog Allston Pudding has just posted a review of the show at Great Scott. Reviewer Clinton Degan writes eloquently about the show itself, the band’s drive to keep going forward after a decade, and some of the “finer” moments of the evening.
Here’s a snippet from the piece:
And still, that’s no small thing either. It’s never easy to keep the dreams of a working band inflated, and for a band whose sole original members are also a married couple, it might be the most important thing imaginable. Seeing that tenacity and resolve unleashed in that little room was as disorienting as it was humbling.
You can read the whole thing over at Allston Pudding, which includes photos from the evening by photographer Anne Cook.
(And we would like to wish Degan’s broken toe a speedy recovery.)
In case you missed it: the Boston Phoenix wrote some very nice things about us and the 10th Anniversary show this past Thursday. Read all about it, plus download our 10th Anniversary EP for free!
Plus: watch the trailer for the upcoming documentary from Treebeard Media. Happy Saturday, y’all!
