The WIDR team went through and we found our favorite Eerie and Spine Chilling songs for Halloween 2022! Click here to listen! Some of our favorite tracks include: Cully: "The Batman Theme" - Danny Elfman Hank: "The Mercury Craze" - Subtle J-Stevo: "(Don’t Fear) The Reaper" - Blue Öyster Cult Kate: "Pumpkin" - The Regrettes and "Shadow People" - Dr. Dog Lucie: "Dracula's Wedding" - Outkast ft. Kelis Logen: "Ghostface Killers (Ft. Travis Scott)" - 21 Savage, Offset, Metro Boomin Ryan: "Smooktobër"- Yeat Sydney: "FANG DUMMY" - KNIFE BRIDE and "Heads Will Roll"- Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Our team is growing, but it isn't too late to join us! If you are interested in volunteering @WIDR click HERE! Lucie (Video Director): Hi everyone! I’m Lucie Gripp, the new video director at WIDR FM. I am currently a sophomore studying Political Science and Sociology. Though it’s not related to my major, I have always loved music and have been involved with media production since high school! In my spare time I enjoy painting, watching movies, and going on coffee runs! I’m extremely excited to get started and make this year one to remember! Kate (Promotion Assistant): Hi! I'm Kate McDade and I am the new Promotional Assistant! I am from Kalamazoo and I am a freshman, and also new to WIDR, and I cannot wait to be a part of this team. I am currently undecided, but I plan on declaring my major in Graphic Design. I love creating things, whether it is art or music, and I look forward to putting those interests to use here at WIDR. As far as other interests, I love playing video games, building Legos, spending time outdoors, gardening, and making art. I am so excited for this year and to be able to meet everyone involved here! J-Stevo (Production Assistant): Heyooo! What’s goodie people? My name is Jerome, but you should know me as J-STEVO! (The story behind my name does indeed involve the white guy from "Jackass"). Currently I am a Sophomore at Western Michigan University with an Arts & Sciences Major of Film, Video, and Media Studies, my minor is Multimedia Arts Technology. Some things about me include my passion for music as I am an artist myself who has yet to truly professionally put out audio content, but nevertheless that is coming soon! I love to write, listen to, visualize, and create art, sports, video & board/interactive games, and my favorite colors are the blue spectrum. My favorite genre are blends of multiple genres (ex: Emo Rap, Trap Metal, Psychedelic Trap, Pop Rap, Alternative Rock, etc.) and my favorite thing to do is everything aforementioned but with people/friends! Community is unity and I’m more than happy to build upon the ones I’m involved in, if you want to know more about me or just need a friend, don’t be afraid to reach out to J-STEVO!

Check out our Alumni Tailgate Playlist, inspired by Radio Days and the hits of the past. Listen to it on Spotify here! This playlist includes some of the top songs from the past decades! This list includes, but is not limited to: "Light My Fire" - The Doors "Good Vibrations" - The Beach Boys "Dancing Queen" - ABBA "Surrender" - Cheap Trick "Dancing in the Dark" - Bruce Springsteen "Don't Stop Believen" - Journey "Like the Weather" - 10,000 Maniacs "Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson "Doo Wop (That Things)" - Ms. Lauryn Hill "Ms. Jackson" - Outkast "Viva La VIda" - Coldplay "Ain't It Fun" - Paramore With about 8 hours worth of songs there is a good variety, with songs everyone knows and loves! Check It out! And also be sure to tune in to Radio Days and Ancient Air from 11am-6pm today, 10/15/22 on your source for radio evolution, 89.1 WIDR FM!

Magnolia Park is a pop-punk band which formed in Orlando, Florida in 2019. With their first full length album, “Baku’s Revenge,” coming out November 4th, I was unsurprised to see they had released a single from the album. Released October 4th, the song is titled, “Misfits” and is featuring Taylor Acorn. Taylor Acorn was originally a country singer, before switching to a more pop-punk sound in recent years due to the success of her acoustic pop-punk covers on TikTok. The song starts with the lead singer of Magnolia Park, Joshua Roberts, singing the chorus with quiet instrumentation for the first 15 seconds. At that point the singing stops, and the instrumentation picks up. Taylor Acorn’s verse, verse two, is fine. It fits well in the song but isn’t very revolutionary or memorable. The pre-chorus following her verse includes harmonies between Acorn and Roberts, which I really enjoyed. Personally, I believe Taylor Acorn’s vocals should be louder during these sections to better hear the harmonies. Around 2:25 the bass drops, and Roberts finishes the song out with some good yelling. Overall, this song was fine. If it came on in the car, I wouldn’t skip it. However, I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to it either. The lyrics are quite simple, and some lines seem like they were produced in the hopes it would blow up on TikTok. Seeing as both Magnolia Park and Taylor Acorn found success on the platform in the past this doesn’t surprise me but does disappoint slightly. In the past, Magnolia Park has prided themselves on making music with a message and I hope this is not lost as the band grows.

“Ladies and gentlemen Pimps and prophets Queens and dope fiends Hoes and hoteps We got somethin' real special for you tonight folks” As soon as I heard the opening lines of Topaz Jones’ ‘Mirror’, I knew I would happily spend the next forty minutes listening to the rest of his 2021 Junior album, Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma. A 23-year-old rapper, singer, and songwriter, Topaz Jones draws on influences like Prince and Funkadelic. However, it would be impossible to solely credit these artists when Jones’ sound is also reminiscent of his father’s career as a funk guitarist in bands such as Slaveand Aurra. Combining seamless switch ups of flow underneath unique funk and hip-hop instrumentals, the entire thirteen song run is never boring. Jones uses the medium of music to tell a story about his formative years and the roots he has grown from. Each beat has distinct differences, yet they are creatively tied together without reproducing the same song twice. A recurring pattern of soulful adlibs and seemingly lighthearted lyricism pairs beautifully with more serious themes such as racial injustice and family dysfunction. This convergence of upbeat sound and an intentional message strings together Jones’ journey of reflection and self discovery. Tracks such as D.I.A.L. (dying is a lifestyle) and Herringbone comment on his upbringing and development through adolescence, painting nostalgic settings of cook-outs and high school hallways. Following the album’s release in April of last year, I was even more excited upon finding out that DGTYM is a visual album, accompanied with a short film under the same title. With additional direction from Rubberband, the project won the Short Film Jury Award at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The story follows the restructuring of the ‘Black ABCs’, a 1970s effort in Chicago to educate black youth through flashcards. Many scenes were recorded in his hometown of Montclair, New Jersey, while others include various interviews from family members, teachers, and activists. There is also film from Jones’ childhood and many dream-like scenes, one in which a group of children peer over at the camera, seemingly staring at the viewer. “Do you think he’s real?” one mutters. While watching, I was most impacted upon learning about letter C: code-switching. Code-switching is the process of shifting from one linguistic code (a language or dialect) to another, depending on social context and conversational setting. The use of AAE (African American English) outside of the safety of black homes and communities is ignorantly labeled as ‘poor grammar’ or ‘ghetto’ by those who don’t understand the major historical and cultural influence of this language. If society gentrifies words from black culture on the daily (‘period’, ‘slay’, etc.), the matter of code-switching should be much less of a problem than it currently is, and I hope this is something that society can become more aware of following projects such as DGTYM. I’m grateful that Jones utilizes his musical platform to bring attention to these prominent issues in an innovative way. Five years after his Sophomore album Arcade, it’s important that we appreciate the time it took to create such a work of impactful art. Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma is an incredible visual album on the recollection of childhood that is worth any listener’s time and attention. Topaz Jones is playing in Chicago on October 17th. His short film Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma is available on YouTube and Vimeo. Similar Mainstream Artists: Childish Gambino, Anderson .Paak Most Individual Streams: Black Tame Strongest Hip-Hop Beat: D.O.A Mainstream Influence: Denzel Curry, Amine and Smino For the Lyric Lovers: Who? Feat. Maxo & Phonte Key Lyrics: “I think I’m finally finding me, My whole life it’s been hide-and-seek, I used to suffer in silence, I never showed you that side of me, Hypnotized by society, All the people I tried to be...” My Personal Favorite: Herringbone Key Lyrics: “You know we just imitate what the parents show, The bad habits, the trust issues, the marriage woes, We inherit those, until the day we have some kids of our very own, And we pass it all down like a herringbone” Shoutout to my cousin Reece for recommending this album!

We have had quite a few new people join our team recently, and its been a while, so we wanted to reintroduce ourselves! Cully (General Manager): I am Cully, I am from Kalamazoo and I love listening to music! I am excited to work with the team this year to reinvigorate WIDR to make it the best version of itself: a place where students and local artists can be featured. This brings with it all kinds of new programs and live events and pushing ourselves to be the best resource possible for the community and campus. Hank (Program Director): And when all was said and done, and all the smoke cleared from the graduation, look who’s still standing. For those who don’t know me, I’m Hank and I’ve been the Program Director here for a year and a half. I’m so excited to have a team again and to kick the station back into gear and get more DJs on the air! This is going to be a great year, guys. It’s great to have you! Logen (Music Director): Hey everyone! I'm Logen Lastname, the new Music Director for WIDR FM. I'm currently a junior studying Creative Writing, but I also love learning about media, music history, and the Spanish language. In my free time, you can catch me singing, journaling, listening to jams, or a combination of all three! Some of my favorite artists include Flume, Maude Latour, Lorde, Kid Cudi... the list goes on. Overall, I'm so grateful for this opportunity and I'm super excited for this upcoming era of WIDR, something I can't wait to reflect on-air! Ryan (Production Director): Ryan Misiak is the current Production Director at WIDR. He’s a student actively enrolled at Western Michigan University (WMU). Ryan caters to all radio personalities, musical efforts, post - production, audio equipment, ect. Ableton, Audition, & Audacity are primarily utilized to complete production goals, alongside occasional supporting software. Through initiative and creative inspiration, Ryan aims to make moments in, and around, WMU and the Kalamazoo area. Ryan is focused on attending to all production needs and transforming WIDR 89.1 into a fun, interactive, and professional organization for those interested in the entertainment industry regardless of experience. Sydney (Promotion Director): HI! I’m Sydney, the new Promotion Director. I started hosting a show last winter but am excited to get more involved this year here at WIDR. I am a sophomore Advertising major with a music minor. I enjoy running, making friendship bracelets, and listening to music. I also love listening to podcasts, watching documentaries, and reading books about music. Looking forward to getting to know everyone this year! It's never too late to join us! If you are interested in joining the WIDR team fill out the volunteer form under the "Volunteer @ WIDR" tab

Torn in Two is a 10 song album put out in 2021 by the pop punk band Real Friends. Originally from Illinois, this is their first album without former front man Dan Lambton. This group is relatively new to me and this was my first time listening to one of their albums straight through. The first song on the album is “Remedy for Reality” which I really enjoyed. With an easy-to-follow melody, and relatable lyrics, this song hits all the marks for a pop punk song. “Nervous Wreck” was the first single released off the album and focuses on isolation and dissociation, something I personally can relate to. Despite the hard topic, the song is upbeat and fun to sing along to. “Teeth” is the first slower, softer, song on the album. I liked the verses but didn’t love the chorus. With “Spinning,” Real Friends pick the tempo back up and despite the simple lyrics, this is one of my favorites off the album. The drumming kept me hooked throughout. Next is “Storyteller,” which surprised me on my first listen. It starts off mellow, before picking up at the chorus. It stays more energetic through the rest of the song, which I think was a great choice. The second half of the album is variations of the first five songs. In “Remedy for Reality- Reimagined” they added a lot of electronic elements, completely changing the feel of the song. I really love this alternative version. For “Nervous Wreck- Reimagined,” they again leaned into a busier sound, adding many elements. “Teeth- Full Band” sounds like a completely different song. With a much stronger drumline than the original, I much preferred this version. “Spinning- Reimagined” is more mellow than the original, almost adding some indie-folk sound to the album. Finally in “Storyteller- Reimagined” Real Friends created a great indie-pop sound that drew me in and kept me listening till the last note. This was an interesting listen. The first half of the album felt like a very stereotypical pop punk record. Although enjoyable to me, very little stuck out as different from other albums. However, I was very intrigued by the second half of the album where they did a little more experimentation into different sounds. This variety surprised me, and made for a very intriguing listening experience. Overall, I enjoyed the listen, and am looking forward to seeing them live this week!

Hello All! I am Cully Cooper, the general manager here at 89.1 WIDR FM. I hope everyone had a nice summer, but the leaves are turning colors - and the sun is setting a little earlier each day. It is time for school to start, and therefore this student-run radio station has students flowing through it once more. This year we have big plans to celebrate WIDR's 70th Anniversiry, with more shows, more promotions, and more live events. If you are interested in participating this year fill out the volunteer form here.

Following a slam-dunk debut in 2021, the Big Fam Music & Arts Festival is set to return to Michigan with its second annual installment in a new location. While the first year was held in Lake Ann, MI, the second installment will be held in a more centralized part of the state, taking place at the Liberty Mountain Event Venue in Farwell, MI. The electronic and jam music festival takes place this weekend from Friday, September 2 - Sunday, September 4, with attendees leaving Monday, which is Labor Day. Just like with the 2021 debut, I had a chance to speak with Andrew Martin, Director of Marketing, Sponsorship & Communication for the event. Communicating via email, Martin says the team has ramped up production for the big return. [Courtesy of Andrew Martin] “We’ve learned to be more prepared for obstacles and set expectations early,” Martin said. “You will notice more staff, more vendors, more production and more infrastructure at the new property. The space we’ve curated at Liberty Mountain is more spread out than it was in the previous year. Each area has a unique experience and landscape to explore. The Apogee stage [main stage] is the largest permanent stage in Michigan, and the venue was a ski slope in the past.” Even with a new property, the Big Fam mission statement remains the same. “Big Fam’s main goal is to give an encompassing sense of community and togetherness,” Martin said. “We welcome open-minded individuals from all walks of life with open arms into this annual experience.” True to its name, the lineup once again features instantly-recognizable big names from the festival circuit, while also including a “who’s who” of both local and regional artists. “Every artist that we book is intentional,” Martin said. “We spent a lot of time curating the overall vibe and creating an experience that everyone can enjoy. You will notice jam bands, bass music and a lot more house music incorporated into the lineup than the previous year.” Martin himself will be playing another set as well, bringing tropical house vibes under his name A Tropical Martian. The headliners for this weekend include the Vermont-based rock band Twiddle, who dropped their latest album “Every Last Leaf” earlier this month. The downtempo dubstep duo Truth, originally from New Zealand, will also be headlining. The duo has been staying busy ahead of Big Fam, having released two new EP’s as of this year. The Austin, TX-based dubstep producer known as The Widdler will be returning for round two, having already headlined the first installment. Just like his performance in 2021, his bizarre brand of reggae-tinged electronic music is sure to impress. As far as the locals go, there are several new and returning artists who are ready to share their material with the Big Fam community. One such returning act is the Ann Arbor-based jam group Chirp, who performed one of my favorite sets of the weekend during the first Big Fam. Ahead of the big weekend, I touched base with Chirp guitar player, singer and songwriter Jay Frydenlund, who says the band is eager to make their return. Returning Artist - Interview with Jay Frydenlund from Chirp “We’re super excited to be back for Big Fam number two,” Frydenlund said in an email. “It’s awesome to have teamed up with [Magical Mitten Productions President] Chris Stewart for years now and see something on this level coming to fruition. We were blown away by the production level, lineup and professionalism of the first Big Fam, so being a part of the next one is really exciting.” Anyone who has seen Chirp live can attest that the band incorporates many different styles, providing viewers with an eclectic sound and performance. [Courtesy Jay Frydenlund] “We tend to genre-hop a good deal both in terms of originals and cover choices,” Frydenlund said. “We bounce around between a lot of funk, prog, fusion, rock and more.” Hard at work as always, Big Fam is only one of many stops for the group this summer and beyond. “This year we have gotten the opportunity to play some amazing festivals like Electric Forest, Cowpie Music Festival, MeadowFest, Ohio Dreamfest and more,” Frydenlund said. “We’ve got some other fun ones coming up like Pond Jam and Handmade Music Festival as well.” Chirp will be playing on the Canopy Stage at 7:00 p.m. Saturday night. New to the Lineup - Interview with Spaceship Earth [Photo by Chris Stewart, courtesy Ashton Robertson] Making his debut at Big Fam, the lineup also features Spaceship Earth, the one-man project of Ashton Robertson. Hailing from Davisburg, MI, Robertson produces electronic soundscapes that are tinged with sci-fi and spiritual themes while also playing live electric guitar. In my experience with festivals, a performance by Robertson is always a treat to witness. “My music is psychedelic electronic bass,” Robertson said in a phone interview. “My style can range from downtempo to more drum-and-bass psychedelic, uptempo stuff, so there’s a bit of a range.” Spaceship Earth was originally a three-piece band, but eventually came to be a one-man project with Robertson at the helm around 2014, with his debut album released in 2016. “The first years were kind of amorphous and awkward transitioning, and by 2016, I feel like I really developed my own sound,” Robertson said. Following the release of a new single earlier this month, Robertson adds that he has several tunes he is planning on debuting at Big Fam. His appearance at Big Fam is an important milestone, as it marks two years since his last performance, as well as two years since medical complications left him with a loss of feeling in his legs. “In 2020, it was a very small, outdoor, socially-distanced pandemic show, so I really haven’t played that much since 2019,” Robertson said. “I’m feeling super blessed to be able to come back, and I’m not only excited about the set, but I’m excited to see a whole bunch of people and friends as well.” Robertson will be performing a “sundown” set Saturday night at the Canopy Stage, acting as the bridge between day and night. “I love playing at night, especially if it’s outdoors,” Robertson said. “It’s under a tent, but it’s still night time under the stars. It’s hard to put into words how excited I feel that they booked me for this and that it’s happening in my home state around a bunch of friends.” Further Attractions - Attendees will also have the opportunity to engage with various yoga and guided meditation workshops, play disc golf across the grounds, and witness various fire and flow performers. But aside from all of the music and workshops, the inarguable centerpiece of Big Fam 2021 was “The Bayou,” a section of the festival designed as a live interactable art exhibit. The Bayou contained several surreal and psychedelic art installations, a sugar shack, projections and a boathouse. [A scene from the previous Bayou.] The area itself was Alice in Wonderland themed, including the ability to have a tea party with Alice and the Mad Hatter, and also contained the third music stage of the festival. This year, the Bayou will be making a return to Big Fam, once again curated by Kat Fisher, the creative force behind KatFish EyeKandy. She also serves on the Big Fam Board of Directors with her husband Dave. Speaking with Fisher, she didn’t want to give too much away, but clued me in a little bit on what to expect. “The Alice in Wonderland theme was received so well by the community last year that we definitely decided to keep that for a second year at the Bayou,” Fisher said. “But this year we’ve gone bigger and better with the stage.” The Alice in Wonderland theme will still be present, but with a new nautical twist. “We’ll have a fish market area in the Bayou, there’s a spot you can come up where there will be fish hanging with nets,” Fisher said. “Periodically you’ll see fishermen come up with a ‘catch of the day’ - we have some mermaids that will be here at the fish market to greet our guests and have a mermaid experience. So if anybody wants to come and get pictures, they can do that, in addition to having tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter.” The idea, Fisher says, is to add on to the Alice in Wonderland story and create a “new chapter,” as it were. “So much of the inspiration for the Bayou comes from a fishing village, it being a play off our name ‘Kat Fish,’ so you’ll see fish scales through the Bayou and other nautical symbols in addition to the Alice in Wonderland theme,” Fisher said. “We’re calling it ‘Her Adventure through the Bayou’ - the next chapter in her adventure.” Speaking on the building process, Fisher says she and her team have been working on the setup for months. “We’ve been at this property since May and we’ve been working on these ideas for a handful of years, trying to develop this from an idea we had in our basement to a living, breathing stage and a full-functioning experience,” Fisher says. “We’re excited to bring that, and I think our guests will really enjoy it. We’ve done our best to clean the grounds and make sure there’s nothing they can poke their feet on or anything. We have a lot of features that I think our guests are going to enjoy.” When it comes to the festival itself, Fisher says she is appreciative of the family-oriented aspect. “I’m really glad Big Fam is a place you could bring your family to,” Fisher said. “A lot of times for people who work in the festival industry, their families don’t ever get to really see the nightclub where they have their show, or the festival grounds where they are playing on the second stage. It’s neat that people feel like they can bring their family members and share this experience with them.” Further Information and Tickets - Again, the second annual Big Fam Music & Arts Festival takes place this Friday, September 2, through Sunday, September 4, with guests leaving Monday morning. For more information, including how to buy tickets, rules and maps, readers can visit the official Big Fam website at https://www.bigfamfestival.com/. See you on the Mountain!

If the almost sickeningly charming video for UK band Peaness’ “How I’m Feeling” is any indication, the band seeks to cement itself as a beacon of simple happiness, friendship, togetherness and all manner of kindergarten creeds. As a matter of fact, if the song attached wasn’t so wonderful, it would be easy to write them off as an indie-pop act too cute for its own good. They play children here, after all, obsessed with insects and setting out to find a rare caterpillar in their town while their fun-free parents try to ground them. But let’s be honest with each other here: Peaness is an pop act with songwriting chops and the melodic licks to back them up. The song is killer and because of that, the video succeeds in spades. Their first album, World Full of Worry, makes the case for pure and simple cuteness, and seems to counter directly with the more menacing cuteness of some of today’s indie pop. This listener seeks out Charly Bliss, Bleached and Bully when he’s in an indie mood, but songs like the headbanging “Kaizen” and above-mentioned “How I’m Feeling” cut that acid with a sugar that hits the spot. What’s missing in the screaming of these acts, as good as they are, is their happy song. What’s more, what’s lost in this world--in the case of many of their imitators--is catchiness. Peaness understand the stunning simplicity of the pop-hook. Save your music-theory, your shifting time-signatures… there is an art to the quality pop song. Now, this isn’t to say Peaness are strangers to bitterness. Far from it. This album in particular deals with stress, anxiety, sadness and betrayal, and their 2019 EP, Are You Sure, hits on an angstier tone than this one even tries to touch. The latter example is the sound of a band finding its voice, of course, but the point stands: beyond this sweetness is the aftertaste of sorrow, exemplified in particular on late-stage tracks such as “Left to Fall Behind,” which seemingly deals with the breakup of a long-term relationship and the impeccable “Sad Song”--imagine that--which brings the album to its close. The latter is a slow acoustic jam that--while picking up where the former left off--finds the hope so inherent in change. That’s a mature moral for the children of Chester, who just yesterday were out hunting a caterpillar! As their name would suggest (it’s pronounced like “penis” Peaness is no children’s band, but it’s a band that embraces the naivete of childishness. It’s grown-up in its themes, but gleefully immature in execution. Another favorite track of mine, the Britpop-muddled “Girl Just Relax” is a beautiful and funny meditation on young-adult insecurity. I love this song not just because of how catchy it is, but also because of its humor and everyman sophistication. The song’s fade-out takeaway suggesting “Comparison will kill you, measure your progress like a maniac,” contrasts starkly with the surreal imagery of being honed-in on in a pile of one’s duplicates and the song’s own comically down-to-earth title that’s belted each chorus. These opposites go together like salt and caramel, laughing and crying, and maturity and childishness. As a matter of fact, they go together like penis and pop music. A match, weirdly enough, made in heaven.

On Wednesday we’ll be discussing the 1974 cult film, Female Trouble. I know, I know. It’s going to be good radio. What’s lost on this generation is not only who John Waters is, but even those who know may not be aware that his films weren’t all as silly-camp as Hairspray and Cry-Baby. This one is one outrageously lurid look at society’s obsession with crime and the undue pressures the world puts on working women. Waters grabs these themes and spins with them a trashy camp parable about child abuse, murder, and fascist hairdressers. It’s a hell of a ride. Succeeding such now-infamous classics as Multiple Maniacs and Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble is the mark of a director’s evolution. It’s steeped in poor taste, up-close male nudity and altogether revolting imagery like each of his previous works, but this is the first time that Waters is out to make a statement. Parallelling the marginalization of his queer cast-members, Waters invokes the divine inspiration of such marginalized genres as the melodrama, drive-in sleaze and the most amateur of pornos. With these, he crafts a stellar and wholly unique narrative. Waters’ muse Divine shines as well here as Dawn Davenport and her alcoholic, shack-dwelling baby-daddy Earl Peterson. It’s arguably the first time that he flexes his acting chops. “It is undeniably a Divine movie,” says Ed Halter in his “Female Trouble: Spare Me Your Morals” essay for the film’s Criterion release. “In the same way one might speak of a Bette Davis movie, a Marilyn Monroe movie, or a Jayne Mansfield movie.” Over the course of ninety minutes, Dawn Davenport goes from truant teenager to long-suffering single mother to stone-cold criminal. At last, as John Waters famously said, she has a role she can sink her teeth into. The two went on to make audience favorites Polyester and Hairspray together, but there’s a case to be made that Female Trouble is their magnum opus. But what makes the film especially interesting to me is not only its singular, kitchen-knife-carved notch in queer history, but also the strange relationship between auteur and art. As much as Female Trouble pokes fun at the crime-obsessed masses who feign disgust when actual crime rolls into their lives, Waters himself had something of an infamous obsession with the women of the Manson family murders when the film had run out. While he’s matured in his later years, he still dedicated Pink Flamingos to them, and by the time Female Trouble rolled around, his mentality hadn’t changed much. We’ll discuss these points and many more on Reel Live at 2pm Wednesday, June 29th. And again at midnight the 30thh We’ll see you there for a myriad of nasty one-liners, endlessly quotable quotes, and to find out if Cully will ever forgive me for making him watch this.

“This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. Not with a whimper… but with a bang.” Or so says Pilot Abilene (Justin Timberlake), the Iraq vet who sees all in Southland Tales, the epic dystopian comedy from the wildly underestimated mind of Richard Kelley. Kelley was the man behind Donnie Darko. The divisive The Box. And with Southland Tales, his eerily--no, uncannily--prescient Bush-era satire, he cemented in the minds of a few devoted followers a legacy. It may be one of the greatest movies of all time. That said, the story of Southland Tales is one fraught with hardship. The film made its world-premiere in 2006 at the Cannes Film Festival to catastrophic reception. It was nuked with boos once the screening was finished, as the legend goes, then after Sony Pictures bought the rights the whole thing was butchered and pieced back together to make the story more palatable. Of course, the “Cannes Cut” was just released, and having seen both versions, I can safely say that neither makes a whole lot of sense on its surface. Instead, Kelley the visionary wrote a graphic novel to precede the film. He kept up a website for clue-hunters (as he did with his debut feature) but after the news of the Cannes screening, the word-of-mouth rumblings in the world of film-criticism promised nothing less than disaster and the film crashed harder than the Trier Mega-Zeppelin. Today, the graphic novels are available but the website is nonexistent. Unarchived and left to rot on Kelley’s hard-drive somewhere, we the audience are left floundering in the film’s half-dead universe. Southland Tales is a movie with a brain well-beyond its budget and its time-constraints, surely, but don’t get it twisted: though contemporary audiences may have found it easy enough to write Southland Tales off as the textbook sophomore slump, if it had sat in a time capsule until this very moment, it’s difficult to imagine the response being anywhere close to the way it was then. Imagine if you will, an alternate 2008. Texas has been bombed to hell, the internet is a tool of the government, Bud Lite and Hustler sponsor the war in Iraq, and every state’s border is locked-down like Fort Knox. Imagine California in this universe: a cultural-hub gone to the dogs, now a cesspool of crime and buffoonery. It’s a wasteland of rollerblading socialists, of ice-cream-truck-driving arms dealers, and a Fifth-Element-reject of a billionaire who’s harnessed the power of the ocean to achieve world-domination. Don’t worry. It’s even more confusing in context. The story mostly centers around three (proportionally) normal characters: Boxer Santaros (Duane “The Rock” Johnson), an amnesiac actor and screenwriter with political ties; porn-star-cum-pop-culture-entreprenuer, Krysta Now (Sarah-Michelle Gellar); and Roland Taverner (Sean-William Scott), the twin of a racist cop adopted by left-wing militants. These three are practically the only pure hearts in California, but they’re also all of great interest to all powers-that-be in Los Angeles. These are the campaign of Republican Senator Bobby Frost, the underground Neo-Marxist movement, and the posse of Baron von Westphalen--the aforementioned nautical mastermind. Just in case it needs clarifying, these groups stand in today for the broken institution, the furious insurgence, and the elites with the sway to own both. Bobby Frost, an obvious Bush-surrogate, also shares traits with our last president. He’s a foolish figurehead with the illusion of power while his wife, Nana Mae, pulls the strings from her office at the end of the hall. Nana Mae is the supervisor of US-IDENT, a terrorist-tracking juggernaut that adds up to the surveillance of any and all public activity including the internet. Casing public bathroom stalls and profiling Venice Beach, she calls in raids to her privatized police squad and raids the homes of suspected “liberal-extremists” while Vaughn Smallhouse--Bobby’s legs on the ground--makes calls to find footage of Boxer getting cozy with Krysta. Boxer is Bobby Frost’s son-in-law, it’s worth mentioning, and as neither side of the political coin can forget, it’s an election-year. Boxer, meanwhile, has just returned from a mission in the Mojave Desert. No one knows what he was doing there, and now that he’s back he has no recollection of his ties to the Frost campaign. In the days since his return he’s shacked up with Krysta to finance a screenplay that apparently foretells the tale of our destruction. This screenplay, “The Power,” finds itself linked inextricably to what is going down in the Southland. Each plot-point we discover has parallels to this 2008, but curiously enough, no one thinks that to be a pressing issue. They do nothing to stop it. With the tape (a simple kiss on a balcony) out there, the campaign is swayed only by short-term election goals. This conflict of priorities froths beneath the surface like the waves in the Bay, drawing climate change parallels long before it was recognized as a global threat. Anyone who comes into contact with the screenplay sees it for what it is--a prophecy--but our getting hung up on its logistics as viewers is pointless “Who cares why the world is ending?” Kelley seems to say, “The fact is it’s ending.” The Baron--the campaign’s primary benefactor--seems to be counting on it. He also finances the Neo-Marxists, a group of liberal extremists who conspire to overthrow the government in an empty Venice Beach warehouse. They bomb cars, traffic severed fingers to use at voting machines, and follow the law of Zora Carmichaels (Cheri Oteri), a disloyal loose-cannon who would--and does--kill any of her lackeys stupid enough to get in the way. Now, what separates Southland Tales from its dystopian counterparts isn’t just its impartiality toward its subjects, but also in the fact that it doesn’t treat the situation as one with any other possible outcome. Both parties come out looking dreadful, but if either turns around and stops the other gains the upper hand. The impression one has coming out of Southland Tales is that every character in the Southland, sequestered away from the rest of the union has--in their own way--been sold a bill of goods on the American dream. In some ways, it calls to mind the COVID-19 Pandemic. The country is dealt an unexpected wakeup-call, and the establishment is unequipped to deal with it. The federal government is practically unreachable, and each state is left to fester with minimal discretion. But the central conflict, the omnipresent threat, is the war in Iraq. The bombing of Texas that sets the story in motion is what set the stage for the Baron’s move toward alternative fuel sources and to make his move on the world (which isn’t to say the film is opposed to alternative fuel, but in making any country so dependent on one individual, Kelley argues all would be left at that individual’s mercy). Locked away from the rest of the world, the conflict at home is pushed to the fore as war-profiteering and draft-fatigue set in. Timberlake’s “Pilot Abilene”--so called because he pilots a sniper rifle in the San-Francisco bay and hails from Abilene, Texas--tells the film’s story like a cold, all-seeing eye from his turret and waxes omniscient on all but himself. As we decipher from news-reels, character-interactions and our own knowledge of his past, we find that not only is he a veteran himself, but was also experimented on by the Baron in Fallujah. Just like Boxer Santaros, he was an actor, but without the backing of a political figurehead he was rendered a cog in the war-machine and dependent on the very drug that was administered to him by the Baron’s men. Because the Baron--just like the war--hangs over the film like Elon’s sticky musk. He’s cruel and opportunistic, at the center of every decision, and the poster-child for American solipsism. While the Utopia 3--his enigmatic facility that sits like an eyesore in the fog off the coast of Santa Monica--generates renewable hydropower, it also creates Fluid Karma, the favorite drug of the Southland’s vets. Fluid Karma is smuggled to the pier in its raw form by Abilene’s war-buddies, but leaks into the sea like an oil spill (in one telling news report, an anchor assures swimmers that “the red tide” is nothing to worry about, but advises a shower after swimming). It’s this interdependence between the alternative fuel of the Utopia 3 and its mind-altering byproduct that proves one of the most fascinating and prescient clues of the Southland Tales ethos. One would be forgiven for believing that Fluid Karma was the idea behind the Utopia 3 all along, but I’ve since come around to the idea that its corollary presence was instead a simple bonus. The soldiers are slaves to their government, the Baron figures, so they serve the same function as willing test-subjects. In 2008 such a man was mere conjecture, but with tech-billionaires today reaching past public policy to fly to space, profit from virtual real-estate and try to microchip human brains, the idea, at the very least, seems plausible. Thousands die in these experiments, but it’s not the enemy that’s killing them. It’s “friendly fire” and the price of scientific advancement. Nothing can ever be sustainable when the bottom-line is involved, and cruelty--wouldn’t you know it--is cheaper than morality. Survivor’s guilt wracks Roland Taverner. He wanders the streets an amnesiac like Boxer, trying to forgive himself, but the battle at home rages on. There’s no winning a Civil War, but he does his best to keep the peace and do what’s right for himself. What Southland Tales amounts to is all said and done is exactly what every dystopian tale seeks to say. It’s not about staying alive in an uncertain time, but about staying human. Lurking beneath the machismo and rage is a deep-seated sadness. Krysta has everything to lose, Boxer is confused by his affiliations and past, and Taverner is, as mentioned, battling PTSD. It’s also a comedy after all, so this humanity emerges through sex. Krysta is an entrepreneur, but is wholly in touch with her sexuality, and once Boxer has been freed from his partisan ties, so is he. Her status in porn is no fatal flaw, but instead is the key to her confidence and an unwavering sense of self. She’s the keeper of a tape that both parties want to claim for their upper-hand, but she keeps it as leverage to further her career. She’s a symbol of the allure of simple happiness. She fights the power in her own way, but at her core Krysta’s her own brand (it’s all about “Now”), and while she hasn’t fostered such a cult of personality as the Frost campaign, the Neo-Marxists, or the Baron, she fancies herself an icon. It’s that very reason she is one. “Teen horniness is not a crime…” Bobby Frost reads from the cover of Krysta’s self-promoted pop album, “I never said it was…” But the down-the-nose-smirkers that form his party’s backbone have all-but forbade it. In a world without privacy, sex is put on the backburner until only porn-stars and those unburdened of their “memory gospel” can stomach it. The Baron can afford to tote his Bohemian mistress about town, but most of the pawns of the Southland are sexless, relegated mostly to secret trysts and in one hilarious sequence, a demand for fellatio at gunpoint on a crowded beach. So it’s telling that the only sex scene in a film so riddled with sexual undertones is one between two American SUV’s. It’s a commercial for the Trier Saltair, a line of cars from the Baron’s own company, and a work of consumerist masturbation theretofore unseen. It’s an American car for the American driver, but “I wouldn’t worry,” Vaughn Smallhouse tells Frost. “It’s the European version.” It’s brilliant. It’s just brilliant. Here’s a xenophobic America dependent on the others it loathes. An America that orders hits on Iraq and every other country in the middle east by to be carried-out by its petrified citizens (and whether it’s due to the fact that they no longer need their oil, they don’t want anyone else to have it, or are just keen on putting their patsy-boogeyman in his place, the effect remains the same). It’s an America that uses scare-tactics to win elections, makes stark-raving lunatics of its counter-culture and all indebted to it. It’s a warzone. It’s cosmically hilarious. It’s screenplay-as-prophecy. Southland Tales has brilliantly foretold the tale of our destruction. We’ll end not with a whimper… but with a bang.

For the last few months my show, “Rhythm’n’Rhyme” has continued to feature some of my most loved artists in the realms of Hip Hop, Rap, and R&B. A pattern throughout most of my sets: they continuously at least feature one or m ore recurring artists each week. Each artist is so unique and special to me and what I love about music, I’ve decided to dedicate my last blog of the year to the artists and tracks that got me through the year. 5) William Onyeabor A Nigerian funk artist, who’s songs released mainly during the 70s and 80s. His music heavily features synthesizers and non stop grooves that send sonic electric throughout my systems. Favorite Tracks: Atomic Bomb, Fantastic Man 4) Outkast Producing some of the most memorable classics in the entire genre of ever piece of music that has ever been created. Andre 3000 and Big Boi gave the world their potent energy shrouded in mastercrafed music. Favorite Tracks: Bombs over Bagdad, Player’s Ball, Roses 3. Action Bronson Action Bronson’s attitude is what makes his music. His love of life, and the pleasures to be had come through in his vocals and vibe. I admire his passion for food, and how he incorporates that into his music. Favorite Tracks: Baby Blue, 9-24-7000 2. Anderson .Paak Anderson Paak seems too pack each song with a beautifully crafted vibe delivered through perfectly poignant lyrics. His popularity and hype is more than deserved. Favorite Tracks: The Bird, Come Down 1. KAMAUU KAMAUU is a magician, in that their creativity and intelligence manifests into extraordinary music. All their beats are created using his vocals, that, paired with his unbeatable rhyme schemes create for a truly special musical experience. Favorite Tracks: Far Rockaway, Burgundy, Clover

Hey all! I’ve got an Egg punk playlist for you… And unless you’ve been asleep in the DIY KZOO scene, you should know that perhaps the greatest artist to emerge from here is Erik Nervous (in my opinion of course)… Ask a punk about it if not, loser. Join the pit, seriously. Egg punk, which emerged from the midwest scene, combines the manic weirdness of DEVO with hardcore punk rock. It reinvents punk through synth, distortion, and tends to have a less hardcore (almost jumpy) nature. This playlist features many artists- some that blur the lines between nu punk&egg… and others that are distinct to the genre. Egg punks counter, although I think the labels are kind of stupid, is chain punk. Chain (or NU punk) chooses not to subvert the likes of Germs and other classic punk bands They keep it hardcore (or even push the boundaries). You’ll hear the difference next week. Stay tuned. Check out the playlist here! - DJ LIV

Are you potentially looking for something to occupy your time Wednesdays from 2-3? Are you a movie buff, or just searching for some mid-week silliness? Look no further! My friend, and our resident Program Director, Hank Melluish, and I are hosting a weekly movie talk show dubbed: “Reel Live!” The show features the likes of us, waxing philosophical on a chosen film each week. Our first week we covered, The Power the Dog, a powerful somber drama and more importantly, Netflix Original, it doesn’t get better than that! UnPACKing the meanings behind Benedict Cumberbatch’s vitriolic performance was a delight to begin our journey to review every movie that has ever been created! The next film on our chopping block was the “erotically charged” thriller, A Vampire’s Kiss. Perhaps one of Nicolas Cage’s most notable performances. We came to the conclusion that this film was perfect in every beautifully way, despite it’s outrageousness. This week, we are reviewing, Spike Lee’s, Do The Right Thing. A challenging film that cracks at the inequalities and conflicts within a community, and how violence and hate will end in just that… Join us, every Wednesday at 3pm for some fun times, unique segments, our controversial takes, and to find out if the movie is hot… or not?