doodledee

Huna and I took a break late this afternoon and went down to Dunn Bros to sit and talk with Garrick Van Buren about what it was like to get our very own radio show. We told him all the juicy details: the story of the original demo tape we made 2 years ago, followed by the story of the 2 years after that where we basically did nothing, and finally we told the story of how we got on the radio anyway. We're talking Oprah quality stuff here, people.

Funny story, it turns out Garrick was recording the whole thing for later redistribution on one of his 75 websites. I guess that explains the laptop and the microphones.

Check it out next time you find yourself with 31 minutes of free time and an available mp3 player.

First Crack 34. Get Your Own Radio Show By Dave & Huna [garrickvanburen]

I had an interesting conversation the other day on the merits of having your own personal posse. I can't honestly say that I've ever even considered the idea of having a posse, but I also can't say that I necessarily object to it outright. After all, it's gotta be kinda fun "roll with" a bunch of your buddies when you're "kicking it" at "da club" or maybe at "Target" or "Byerly's". The downside would of course be that having a group of hanger-ons mooching stuff off you and generally basking in your greatness probably gets old after a while. Especially when you don't really like people. Ok, that's not totally fair, I just don't like the dumb ones, but seriously, who wants a smart posse?

And then there's the difference between a 'posse' and an 'entourage', something so subtle as to be nearly impossible to define, but I know it when I see it. In my opinion the key to maintaining posse status is that the group must be able to ride around in a single vehicle, whereas an entourage requires at least two. That pretty much mandates that a posse can't exceed 3 other people, because even posse members don't like riding three-up in the back seat. (Sure it's cozy, but come on, you're in a posse.) And while I suppose you could get a minivan or something, who wants to cruise around town with their posse in a minivan? Talk about a stupid posse. And don't even get me started on a SOOV posse. Double stupes.

So an entourage is like a multi-car posse, only a lot less fun. The way I see it, once you upgrade to an entourage, everything gets more complicated. More names to remember, more backstabbing entourage politics, more putting up with dumb people. And remember those easy going dinners for 4 you used to have with your posse? Well, now it's dinner for 12, and you just know that none of the good ethnic places have seating for 12, so plan on spending a lot of time downing salad and breadsticks over at the Olive Garden. Have fun with that, then.

Saturday night I got my ass kicked so fast and so furiously at poker that I was in my car driving home less than two hours after I had arrived at Chateau Dash. That may not sound bad at first, but when you consider that I stood around and ate pizza and watched basketball for 40 minutes after I went out, the degree to which I stunk up the place becomes almost palpable. It was embarrassing. Especially the part where I cried when I lost.

I got home around 9 and rather than grumping around the house lecturing Libby on the nuances of reading another player's pre-flop raise - something she's been asking me to do for months, by the way - I instead called up MollyWee and headed over to the filthy ashtray that is the Cabooze to check out Phix, a Phish tribute band from Colorado who were rumored to be halfway decent. Worst case: they'd suck and I'd be out $8.

It wasn't all that bad. The light show was a little over the top for a place the like the Cabooze and the fake-Trey dude's vocals kinda bugged me, but musically they were surprisingly tight. As long as they're still only charging $8, I'd gladly check them out next time they swing through town. Especially once the smoking ban kicks in. I've officially had my fill of doof jamband scenester kids smoking American Spirits and doing shots of Jag and pretending that they like either of them. If that makes me old, so be it.

Phix Official Page [phixband]

The other day I jacked up a muscle or a tendon or something in my lower arm and it started hurting real bad so I finally caved and went to the doctor today to have him look at it. He poked around for a minute and got me a brace to wear and told me to rock out on 600mg of advil 3-4 times a day. I think that's like 4x the regular dose, which seems high, but I'm doing it because he's a doctor and he went to UW-Madison and I hear that's where all the good docs go. Moral of the story: never trust what the label says, just do what they do in Wisconsin.

Also of note: there was some pharmosaleswomen in the lobby area with piles of free pills and an open invitation to go have lunch with her. None of the doctors came out to visit, but a few nurses did. They were all giggly and stuff, and the saleslady had to play along with them presumably because the nurses are the gateway to the doctors and the doctors are the gateway to getting rich if you're a sleazy drug rep. After the giggly nurses left, I put down my large print edition of Reader's Digest and asked if I could come to lunch with her. She said 'no' in one of those humorless "shut the hell up and go back to your large print" kind of ways, so I just left it at that.

While driving around this morning I flipped past the KDWB station and caught a few minutes of Douchebag Dave Ryan and his Co-Host Chick speaking in somber tones about yesterday’s school shootings up in Red Lake. They were going on about how sad it was and how they didn't understand how any kid could do something so awful. It was horrible radio, but hey, I'll give them credit for trying.

After a minute or two they took a call from some lady who started talking about bullying and cliques and all that 'dark side of school' crap that seems to be so much more pervasive today than it was when I was a youngster. She told a story of how some of the 'cool' girls in her daughter's 4th grade class have formed a 'swear club', which is apparently some awesome club that you can only get into if you swear. (Total bullshit if you ask me.) Dave and Co-Host Chick had never heard of such a thing - neither had I, obvs - and they both had a fit at the very idea that one could exist.

"Where do these girls get the idea that swearing is even cool?" the Co-Host Chick asked at one point, sounding genuinely exasperated.

And that's when I screamed so loudly at the steering wheel that I think I hurt myself

Please send your mirrors to:

KDWB Douchebag Dave Ryan and his Co-Host Chick
1600 Utica Avenue South, Suite 400
St. Louis Park, MN 55416

After I calmed down I flipped away and found that Gap commercial Lenny Kravitz song which totally rules and I danced my insane rage away. Sup-a-lay-dee indeed.

Billboard's Hot 100 [billboard] - list updates all the time, but it's always full of crap

Yes we ripped up the slopes and yes the weather was mint - even though there was no pow to be had - and yes we spent plenty of time chilaxing in the beach chairs sipping cocoa and yes we had the turkey chili (and yes it was good) and yes we soaked our pain away in the hot tub every night and yes my legs are still sore anyways and reminder: hell yes we ripped up the slopes especially the lower third of Lucky Star when you carve over the top of the last little drop and just kinda fly weightlessly down the rest of the hill and yes the downtown area is cute and yes I'd like to go back someday.

Good times were had by all.

Deer Valley Resort [deervalley]
Park City Mountain Resort [parkcitymountain]

Here we are, what, three weeks before the Minneapolis smoking ban goes into effect, and *only now* are the lawsuits being filed to challenge the provision. Yep, that's right, a couple of bars hooked up with some VFW's or something and are challenging the law based on some legal mumbo jumbo that I don't really care about because it's too late to challenge and I'm ready to see all the nanny government folks down at First Avenue telling people to put out their cigarettes. (Full disclosure: I like the rule, but that's probably because I don't smoke.)

My favorite quote about the new lawsuits came from Sue Jeffers, the owner of everyone's favorite alumni bar, Stub and Herb's, one of the bars in the Coalition of the Unwilling.

Sue Jeffers, owner of Stub and Herb's, said she estimated she would lose $250,000 a year if the smoking ban takes effect.

"I will suffer a loss of business as my smoking customers choose to go somewhere else," she said. "I believe the anti-smoking advocates' rights end at my front door."

Ok, I'm no math genius, but I have a calculator on my cellphone and at one time I think I could do long division, so here goes. If she says she's going to lose $250k/yr that equals $680/day. Now I'm not exactly sure what she means by 'losing', but let's be kind of a jackass and assume it's profit and not revenue. (Seems fair, yes, but I'd bet in reality it's revenue. Bigger numbers sound better, even if they don't mean anything.)

Assuming a probably-too-high-but-let's-be-nice gross margin of 70%, that translates to ~$1000/day in revenue. So again, she is claiming that her bar is going to lose $1000/day because her smoking customers will refuse to eat/drink there once she is forced to go smoke free. More math: Assume an average tab at a place like that is maybe $20 and you're talking about 50 customers a day.

I call bullshit. First of all, I've been to S&H many times on 'regular' days and 50 customers/day is probably like 30% of their business. Maybe more like half, even. I'm thinking if I stood outside and asked everyone going in and out of the place if they will stop going there after the ban - preferring perhaps to sit at home and pout? - that very few would say 'yes'. Certainly not half. I could maybe see half not agreeing with ban, but nfw half of them are going to boycott because of it.

So then you've go the 'big money' game days, which in reality is probably where S&H makes a lot of their money. (Full Disclosure: we usually go to Sally's or Big 10.) If Sue somehow thinks that people aren't going to go to The King of All Alumni Bars on campus because it doesn't allow smoking - when NONE OF THE OTHER BARS WILL EITHER - than she's even dumber than I thought.

Seriously, I can understand the anti-anti-smoking argument when it's based on "freedom", but please, spare me your breathless (ha!) doom and gloom monetary predictions, especially when there are so many stories that seem to say you're wrong.

Bars file suit over smoking bans [tc]

I noticed that soon-to-be-outgoing DFL party chair Mike Erlandson gave some big press conference the other day wearing a suit and a Lanceband. What a tool. Hey Mike, I'd love to focus on whatever progressive nonsense it is you're talking about, but your bright yellow bracelet is distracting me. Lose it.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation [laf]
Mike Erlandson [dfl]

No shocker here, there's yet another transit funding crisis going on. (Paging David Byrne, please pick-up a Same As It Ever Was courtesy phone.) This time around we find Metro Transit $60MM in the red and threatening fare increases and service cuts. When TPaw was asked about the shortfall, he basically said that the Met Council had made their own bed by relying on revenue from the auto sales tax and that now that people are buying fewer cars the bus company should just learn to manage through low spots. I'm not sure if he was implying that the Met Council should have saved more during the 'fat' years or if they should sue big tobacco and get their own rainy day fund to play around with. Or maybe he was saying they should put slot machines on every bus? Either way, it was awesomely weird.

I love this story because a) in reality, stupid expensive gas prices and even stupider expensive employee health insurance costs make up a huge portion of the budget problem and b) when TPaw runs out of money he can just run a deficit so maybe he should just stuff a sock in it when it comes to the "fiscal responsibility" lecture. (PS: he's not running for president. At this moment.)

In the interest of accuracy I will point out that Brian McClung, TPaw's spokesman, did acknowledge the fuel and heath insurance issue in his statement, wisely electing to not blame the public for not buying enough cars. Kudos to him on that at least.

Oh, and the best part is obviously how the transit bigshot at the Met Council is named Nacho Diaz.

Metro Transit fare hikes, service cuts being proposed [tc]
Transit fare hikes, service cuts on tap? [strib]

• I've been debating about switching from MP3 to AAC for the music I rip into iTunes. I figured that since AAC was newer it therefore had to be better and that if I spent a little time with google that I'd find tons of people confirming my assumption with actual data and stuff. Turns out the de facto answer is "they sound basically the same so try it for yourself". Gee, thanks. Can't answer that one, then.
• Where does H&R block get all those 'seasonal' workers? Are there really thousands of tax professionals just wandering the streets, waiting for work? The whole outfit just seems kinda shady to me.
• While cooking dinner tonight I flipped past what was apparently a 'new' episode of That 70's Show. The kids are all old and stuff now, it's pathetic. Libby wondered if enough 'real world' time has passed so that it should actually be the 80's on the show by now. Hmm. Well, the first season was broadcast in 1998 and started with Eric getting his parent's 'old' Vista Cruiser station wagon. More googling showed that the Vista Cruiser was manufactured starting in late 1964. Figuring an 'old' one would have been maybe 6 or 7 years old means that, no, it shouldn't necessarily be the 80's on the show. Or should it be? I gotta find out what year that car is.
• It was 60 degrees in Park City today. Will the snow hold? The resorts are still reporting an ABSURD 120" base. Here's hoping it's not a 120" lake when we get there.

The search for the best Jucy Lucy took Team Jucy down to Adrian's Tavern in South Minneapolis last Saturday night. What did we find? Read the review for all the juicy (ha!) details.

Adrian's Tavern Review [doodledee]
The Search For the Best Jucy Lucy in the Twin Cities [doodledee]

All I can say is, in reality, the show turned out as good or maybe even better than we could have hoped. There was really only one kind of tragically bad moment around the top of the hour, but on balance it felt pretty good. I felt that the last 45 minutes in particular were the most solid - we were starting to dig into a good topic, we were drawing callers, and we were flying more on autopilot and less on fear-pilot. It was going so well I *almost* wished we had another hour on the air, but - believe it or not - my throat was hurting from talking so much and I sorta had to pee, so it's probably best that we ended after two.

Thanks to the station for the opportunity. Hopefully it won't be our last, but hey, one time is more than I expected.

Well, 22 months after sending in our last (of two) demo tapes, the radio gods have finally come to their senses and given us our big chance to shine. That's right, we're on the air. And by 'air' I mean 'the radio'. And by 'the radio' I mean 'the 5th most popular station in the market'. And by 'chance to shine' I mean 'I hope I don't curse because they tell me that's bad'.

So tune in this Sunday from 14:00 - 16:00 CDT and hear what a couple of doof programmers have to say about news, life, and how hot Martha is looking after dropping 20 pounds in the slammer.

am1500 [am1500] - internet feed available
musicola [musicola] - never updated, don't bother

There's a neat column over at Wired that discusses how the Wall Street Journal's online subscription model is slowly rendering them obsolete and perhaps even fatally wounding their long-term viability as one of The Go-To Media Outlets in our society. In a nutshell, the argument goes that because the WSJ's website has basically no 'public' access, no blogger is going to bother to link to a WSJ article based on the assumption that none of his/her readers will have access to it. The Death Spiral kicks in when you realize that in like 10 years there could theoretically be a generation of people who only get their news from the blogs and/or Jon Stewart and will never have been exposed to the Journal as an input source. And that's borderline insane when you consider that a) the WSJ is an *extremely* good paper b) most stuff you read on the web is made-up and c) Jon Stewart's nightly tantrums about the war in Iraq may actually continue for another 10 years.

I like this story for a couple of reasons. First and foremost there's the fact that for years and years the Journal was the darling of the web commerce/content world because they were the ones who had somehow managed to figured it out: they were publishing web content that people were willing to pay for. And that basically made them geniuses. And everyone wanted to be like them. And there were a lot of people running around with venture cap money. Connect the dots for yourself. Or let me tell you about how back in the bubble days I worked for a client who was big into content creation (news, commentary, etc) and on more than one occasion I was told that the WSJ model was something they were interested in. Well duh, of course it is, it's what everyone is interested in. (Including Salon.com, who, because they lack the history, prestige, and readership of the WSJ have therefore been deemed irrelevant and not worth talking about anymore.)

The neat part is how the WSJ's awesome business model of yesteryear is how now it's [maybe] blowing up in their faces. I know that obvious, but I felt I needed to state it explicitly.

I'm personally not even close to convinced that it's a Good Thing that people ignore content that's not free. This 'give it to me free or die' attitude seems kind of shallow and shortsighted. I'm not saying the Journal's current model is necessarily working or even viable, but there's gotta be a middle ground. Are they supposed to be hip and just take donations or something? I hear that's all the rage now.

And I guess I'm also not so sure that people are really ready to turn their back on subscription/paid content. After all, a subscription to one of those fancy scientific periodicals can cost like $1000/yr, yet somehow they still manage to maintain their solid reputations - and circulations - in academic and professional communities. And what's more, some of them even charge for access to their web content. GASP! Where's the outcry from the blogging community about how nature.com restricts access to certain stuff based on if you're a subscriber to the print edition? Or better yet, where's the bold prediction that scientists of the future will just publish their work on blogs instead of in peer-reviewed journals? Is it really that crazy to think that way? (Hint: right now my answer remains 'yes'.)

Oh, and I also like the story because it reminds me of the critique I made of the Star Tribune’s link changing policy a few months ago. And for the record I still think it’s totes stupes. Fix it.

Whither The Wall Street Journal? [wired]
How to Save The Economist and The Journal from Irrelevance [battellemedia]
in other news, doodle archives still free [doodledee]