Last Friday's show went well. Towards midnight, I took a call from DJ K'Nee who follows the show, from midnight to 3am, with the So What Acid Jazz show. He was running late, so could I cover for him.

A quick run down to my truck, and I grabbed the contents of its CD changer. I really have to change the discs. I'm worried that if I don't, Neil Gaiman's prediction will come true.

I managed to hold things down for 25 minutes, with some Massive Attack, Propellerheads, and a new jazz album, that whilst using just piano, bass, drums and vibes, manage to have a dance feel to it. It's by Matthew Shipp, and called Equilibrium. found in KUVO's "X-files". Had I had more notice, I'd have brought in more CDs.

Anyway, the upshot of that was:

1) I now want to buy the Matthew Shipp album
2) I've been asked to consider hosting So What next month.

Time to start compiling a playlist!

So far I have:

• Massive Attack


• Portishead


• Tosca (the group, not the opera)


• Matthew Shipp


• David Sylvian

Mixed in with some appropriate jazz and assorted oddities. All is subject to change without notice. Your mileage may vary.

You'll be glad to know, I resisted the temptation to give myself some wanky DJ name, whilst doing my mini-stint on So What. A fellow KUVO broadcaster and I discussed possible DJ names for me, and decided that taking such a thing seriously would be lame, so we went from trying to think of something cool, to thinking of the corniest possible pseudonym.

Watch your radio dial for Spinmeister M!
(yes, I'm kidding)

This past week my every non-work/waking hour has been wrapped up in jazz89's latest pledge drive.

I've been doing my usual routine of popping up on various shows, urging folks to call in and support the station (a public radio station, and thus mostly funded by listener donations) with a contribution.

Right now, I'm in the studio, having thrown what energy I have left after a day at work, into persuading folks to call in. The station now has a wireless network, and so I can now post to this site, whilst I'm here.

FYI, I'm presenting Friday Night Jazz for the next two weeks. I'll be on-air 9pm to midnight, both weeks.

The British Press are notoriously not as super-partisan to the current administration as the US Press (and particularly the Bush Jnr administration).

Panorama is a serious documentary series, shown on BBC1, that has been on-air for decades, and doesn't bother itself with tabloid journalism, focusing instead on the serious stuff.

They decided to do a slightly unusual show (for them), showing what would happen if terrorists targeted London with multiple attacks. It's a nightmare scenario devised by Panorama with the help of security experts to test how well Britain would cope.

But because Panorama devised fictional attacks that the authorities hadn't previously had to deal with, the Powers That Be, refused to co-operate, branding the whole show irresposible. They also claimed that terrorists watching the report, "might get ideas".

Err...right. That'll be why the 9/11 attackers watched so many episodes of McGuyver and all the Airplane movies, right? For ideas?

Isn't this kind of following the, "If I can't see you, you can't see me" approach to dealing with terrorism? Full story here.

(*a line from Monty Python and The Holy Grail)

Whilst I was at the Avs game, I decided, I'm not sure why, to go check out the memorabilia shop. Sure enough, there was nothing I felt the need to buy, as not being a sportsman, I see no need to wear sports apparel.

That's something that for whatever reason, occasionally bugs me. People who wear sports clothing, when they are not now, nor ever, going to indulge in playing the sport for which they're dressed. Sure, in the case of ice hockey fans they're showing their support for their team - when they wear a team jersey to a match - but apart from that, I think wearing sports apparel all the time just looks dumb. It's a bit like the 80's craze for "shell suits" - where the wearer, basically abdicated all responsibility and decision-making for their appearance, in favour of donning what in the 70's would have been seen as a costume on a low-budget sci-fi show, depicting a future where no-one had any imagination.

At $250 a shirt, there was certainly no danger of me falling for this fashion faux pas.

On the way out of the shop, I bumped (almost literally) into Governor Owens. FYI for non-Coloradoans, he's our state's governor. I didn't say hi, and I didn't, on this occasion, give a nazi salute. I was too busy psyching myself up for the game!

A week later, I was out for beers with a fellow radio broadcaster, hatching a plot for a new (non-jazz) show, when I ended up in a bar that whilst normally quite nice, was saturated with Republicans. Not people who vote Republican, but actual lackeys of Colorado's current right-wing administration. Sat on the table next to me, again, was Governor Owens.

He seemed to be having a good time, and so did his underlings. It was funny, I thought, just how much like British Conservatives they acted, even whilst having a drink. It's as if there's a certain way for right-wingers to behave, even socially.

It reminded me of an incident with my (registered Democrat) roommate. She told me that, years ago, she was at a party, everyone was in jeans and t-shirts, or whatever, and all had had a goodly amount of alcohol. She was then introduced to this young man, who was wearing slacks, a business shirt and tie, and a blazer. He had an over-confident and smug air about him, especially for someone so over-dressed, and so prematurely middle-aged.

The person introducing them said, "...and this is xxxxxxx, he's a Republican." to which my roommate (a little the worse for some beers), started patting the young man's tie, and replied, "Ah yes, y'know they have to dress like this, so that we can tell them apart from normal people.". The Republican was speechless, that anyone would question his importance.

I, after several Guinnesses, did make a few loud references to Nuremberg, and gassing Democrats, as we left the bar, but none of it was heard, over the teutonic chanting of "Cheney Cheney Über Alles".

I've been so busy lately, I totally failed to report on my latest foray into the world of American life - going to an Avs game.

The Avs (Colorado Avalanche) are the state's ice hockey team, and have a ferverent following. I know people who would probably sell their own Audi, just to get good tickets to a game. They play at the Pepsi Center, known locally as "The Can", which was an impressive edifice from the outside, and resembled a large shed with an ice rink in it, from the inside.

Just to sicken you sports fans further, my ticket was free, via a radio contact, and was in a corporate box, complete with free beer. Now, I say "free beer", but if we're honest, it was more "fizzy sugar water". When Heineken is the best of the range on offer, you get the idea.

So, anyway, the game. As you may know, I'm not the world's biggest sports fan, but I am partial to watching the occasional spot of ice hockey, should I be in a bar that's showing a game.

The game itself, was one of the Avs' more uneventful performances, ending in a 0-0 draw. It went into sudden-death overtime, to decide the winner.

I felt a bit like Niles Crane whilst watching the game. Much as I enjoyed it, there are some moments where I had no clue as to why the crowd was cheering. They seemed to go nuts just because the puck was out of play. In fact, the one thing I didn't understand more than anything, was that they got more excited (about twice as excited) when the Avs had stopped a goal being scored, than when the Avs were on the attack and about to shoot for a goal. This all seemed a bit backwards to me. Oh well.

The star of the show, and also, the biggest annoyance for me, was the multi-media system. Yes, it was very impressive to start with - all those big screens over the rink, the surround sound speakers, and the 360º LED display strip around the balcony (used to great effect), but after a while, it all started to get a bit old.

I think one of the major annoyances, was the sudden blast of loud music (all rather good stuff, from techno to classic rock). Not that I don't like loud music, but they'd play it for about 15 seconds, I'd just be getting into it, then they'd kill it, as play recommenced. I was thinking, "either play the sodding music or don't, I don't mind which, just make a decision.".

Also, the screens, along with announcements and music were used to try to whip the crowd up into a frenzy of shouting, whistling, chanting or whatever. That's all well and good if the crowd means it, but everything was handled so clinically, that it seemed that any reaction from the crowd was largely due to feeling pressured by the multi-media system.

I'm not saying that people weren't enjoying themselves, they were, but it strikes me that they're either going to get excited by the game or they're not. If they're not, then trying to use sounds and video clips to incite excitement is rather phoney and pathetic. Especially when you consider that as soon as play recommences, everyone shuts up and watches.

All in all I had a great time, and the match was fun to watch, the electronic pyrotechnics, largely got in the way of the true spirit and feeling of the game, but nonetheless, when the Avs scored the winning goal, in sudden-death overtime, the roar that went up, and the wave of excitement was genuine. We didn't need a computer to tell us when to cheer.