Feeling Stimulated?

We all know that Barack Obama can give a great speech, but can he and our "representatives" in Congress get our economy back on track? That's the topic tonight as the show switches gears a bit and welcomes Brian Joyce, world traveler, Boston comic, and organizer of the AltComedy fest at The Somerville Theater for some good-old-fashioned partisan bickering.

Fans of the Fairness Doctrine will want to tune in to hear what an even match between both sides sounds like, not to mention some great songs about money and how it gets abused. Nick Zaino checks in at 8PM with an update on the Boston comedy scene.

Tune that radio to 91.5 FM in Boston at 7PM Eastern, or tune your Internets to wmfo.org.

Another Oscar Loss
For the record, I was trounced in my usually safe technical awards by the "pull names out of a hat" strategy of Miss Molly, and now stand 0 and 3 in our annual Oscar competition. Adding insult to injury, Bruce Vilanch called me a bad name in the Comments last week. With the proper lack of respect to Mr. Vilanch (that "contractual obligation" joke about Brad and Angelina was one of yours, wasn't it? Brilliant.), I infintely prefer having Tom Dustin call me that name.

As a partial acquittal, I did call Best Song over on WFMU's Beware of the Blog last week, which extends my streak in that category to three years, marred only by the shocking choice of "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" back in '06.

Gabe Jilts Jam in Ocscars Tiff

Forgive my shrinking grasp of how to speak Daily Variety. Like any foreign language, the less you use it, the rustier you get. This Oscar(TM) debacle has taken another sorry turn, as Peter Gabriel has dropped out of the broadcast.

The Telegraph has the full story. To sum up, Gabriel was asked to cut "Down to Earth" to 65 seconds(!) so that it would fit into a medley of Best Song nominees. In a four-hour broadcast, they couldn't find time for 15 minutes of live music? The broadcast prodcuers said they were concerned with the length of the show. Apparently those extra 15 minutes will be needed for more insider fawning over Jack Nicholson, rather than something that would actually entertain us poor viewers at home.

Personally, I think the producers realized what a pair of turkeys the A.R. Rahman songs from Slumdog Millionaire are, and facing the nightmare vision of viewers changing the channel en masse once they began, cobbled together this non-solution to minimize the pain.

Peter Gabriel should be applauded for his choice. This is the sort of protest that's righteous and necessary. Let's hope that this new approach to Best Song dies with this broadcast and gets a heavy beating from the press. Without those Best Song performances, what's left is a dull night of overlong speeches interesting only to those in the business, snarky in-jokes from Bruce Vilanch, and montages of the dead.

Any of this sound like entertainment to you?

Singing the Slumdog Blues

I won't try to conceal my loathing for the Slumdog Millionaire tracks that are up for the Best Song Academy Award. In fact, you can read about that at WFMU's Beware of the Blog, along with my picks for five songs that superior in every possible way.

But I'm not about to let processed noise or the snubbing of Bruce Springsteen and Christopher Nolan get in the way of some good-old-fashioned Oscar(TM) wagering. To that end, my fiancee Molly will be joining me in the studio, as she attempts for the third year running to beat me at handicapping the awards.

Once again, we'll break down the categories, offer our insights, and play Oscar(TM) winning songs from years past. Nick Zaino pops in at 8PM to serve up the latest news from the Boston comedy scene. And James Brown will be back to tell you to stay away from drugs. I hear they're super bad, super bad, super bad.

It all goes down at 7PM Eastern on WMFO.org and 91.5 FM in Boston.

MP3 Plea
For two years now, I've been working on a show about nuclear war, slowly collecting bits and pieces of audio ephemera. Last night, while doing some research, I was reminded of the "Protect and Survive" series created by the British government in association with the BBC. While a couple of the public interest films are online, I've yet to track down any of the audio that was meant for broadcast on BBC radio. Anyone out there got a link to point me in the right direction?

Give a Mix Tape, Cheapskate

Valentine's Day is Saturday. Times are tough, and you want to say, "I enjoy our continued sexual liasons," without breaking the bank.

Give him/her/it a mix tape. Or a mix CD. If you've got a computer that can read this, you've got the capability.

Choosing what to put in said mix can, of course, be tricky, so Hear It Wow comes to the rescue tonight with Love Songs That Don't Suck, a collection of tunes that you'll be proud to share with your significant other. (If you're single, you can just enjoy the good music.)

The show will be broken down into the three stages of love, namely Lust, Romantic Passion, and Attachment, with songs specially chosen to represent each stage. Most love songs, incidentally, fall under the Romantic Passion category, and this is where the smarmiest stuff lives. I won't be playing any of that, unless you consider "How Deep Is Your Love" by The Bee Gees, which is really a song about doing it.

Al Green, Madness, David Bowie, Wonder Stuff, The Cure, and The J's with Jamie are all in tonight's mix. We'll also have our weekly update on the Boston comedy scene from Nick Zaino of FunnyGrownHere.com.

It all starts at 7PM Eastern on 91.5 FM in Boston or on wmfo.org anywhere in the world.

That Motown Sound

February is Black History Month, and though no excuse is ever needed to bust out some great funk and Motown classics, I thought I'd fill the show with them tonight.

You'll hear cuts from Genius on the Black Side, Prince, Grandmaster Flash, Nina Simone, Ike and Tina Turner, a special message from James Brown, and a heck of a lot more. Plus Nick Zaino dials in at 8PM to update us on Boston's comedy happenings.

Turn on the funk and rip off your radio dial starting at 7PM Eastern. In Boston, tune to 91.5 FM. Everywhere else, point a browser at wmfo.org for our free, CD-quality Web stream.