The Waiting Room

[shaggyscotsman]

Originally Posted by Zane

I'm there, too, dicks.

Fixded, sorry

Originally Posted by DrunkCountry

Get.

A.

Fucking.

Room.

We had one, until some dickless wonder pulled the funding

It was a Waiting Room & it was glorious =D

[DrunkCountry]

Originally Posted by shaggyscotsman

Fixded, sorry



We had one, until some dickless wonder pulled the funding

It was a Waiting Room & it was glorious =D

You wanton slut!

[DrunkCountry]

[silentpaul]

Originally Posted by Zane

I'm there, too, dicks.

Alright, you're moving, too. 20 will prolly need someone to help with the rent.

[Zane]

Originally Posted by DrunkCountry

Get.

A.

Fucking.

Room.

HAHAHAHAAA!! We'll have to since there are talks of a road trip.

[DrunkCountry]

Below is a truncated version of the recent post I put up on www.TWRHQ.com re: my thoughts & experience on WOXY.

Way back in 2008, immediately following TWR’s unceremonious & very public resignation from our then home, ErrorFM, we found ourselves in a bit of a wilderness. It was exhilarating. Okay, we no longer had the ‘legitimacy’ of being a bona fide radio show on a bona fide radio station, but relinquishing the weight of schedules/deadlines/mid-weekly playlist construction & edit frenzies was such a relief.

For anyone who wasn’t following our nonsense back then, post-ErrorFM we continued pumping out podcasts, recorded as live, in the same format as a radio show, on a weekly basis, publishing them on-line on the same day, same time we would have been had we still been broadcasting. It was a happy, comfortable period.

Despite the relative calm of the podcast recording/editing sessions, I had made noises that we would, following the turn of that particular year (2008/2009), be ‘in the market’ again for a new home for TWR. Long story short, Mike Taylor, WOXY’s Program Director, contacted post-review of our on-line archive/résumé & basically offered us a gig there & then. Giddy? Were we ever.

There were, however, so advised Mike, a number of ‘exciting developments’ happening behind the scenes; our tenure, therefore, would begin at the end of February. Those ‘exciting developments’ turned out to be the wholesale purchase of WOXY by Future Sounds. It wouldn’t be the last time I’d receive an email from Mike containing the words 'developments' & 'Future Sounds'.

I was always asking Mike’s advice on how far we were able to push what we were ‘getting up to’ on the show. His response would always be: “We brought you on board because of what you do & how you do it. Alter nothing. Just keep on at what you’re doing. We like what you do”.

I paraphrased, but essentially, we had Mike’s understanding & support. He ‘got’ us. Even if the American audience took its time to come around to our meddlesome charms, we knew we had the faith of the station.

The responsibility of being proper ‘professional’ was as equally exhilarating as being free of ErrorFM & we relished it. The very fact something as big as WOXY were even giving us a second glance, let alone allowing us airtime to talk bullshit & scarcely disguised filth, should have scared the shit out of us, & to be honest we were a little apprehensive in the first few broadcasts — holding back the stream of consciousness delivery we normally (self-)indulged in — but we kept coming back to one thing: the support & praise from within the belly of the WOXY beast was astonishing & we shared a personal duty to maintain it. We like challenges, see?

We’ve had the pleasure of getting to know a lot of new listeners since we joined WOXY & count a good many as friends. This is the one thing WOXY does extremely well: it fosters a community spirit amongst its listeners that, as Mike joked way back on day one, was bordering on obsessed.

When I made my trip to the WOXY station in October 2009 I was in total fan boy heaven. I tried not to show it too much & even managed to say something pretty filthy, in a thinly veiled manner, on Shiv’s show. Thankfully the gasped silence was followed by a generous laughter from all in attendance. I got to choose some tracks to play, appeared with Mike & even gatecrashed Paige’s show the same evening. It was, frankly, a brilliant experience.

Mike is a genuinely great fellow. I had the pleasure of meeting his lovely wife, Jen, & we three had a fantastic vegetarian meal at a Mother’s Table style vegetarian restaurant. Afterwards, Mike & I chewed politics, music & shit for a good couple of hours over far too many bourbons. He was very good company. A thoroughly lovely bloke.

Of course, Shiv was the perfect gent & spiked every conversation with his wicked humour &, what I refer to as, Shivisms. Joe was exactly as I expected him to be: stoic, serious, with flashes of devilish humour. His wife & kids arrived at one point, their first time at the station from what I could gather, & they got the full tour. I could feel how proud he was of the place & how proud they were of him.

Brian was, from my brief interaction, the quiet one amongst the group. Not in a boring way, but in the ‘are always the worst’ way. I could tell there was a party monster carving hangover slashes into the legs of his barstool not too far under the surface of his very cool exterior. Paige was a breath of fresh air. Very energetic, enthusiastic &, dare I say, cheeky. As little a time as she had been with WOXY as a full time staffer, she had the very same glint in her eye the others had. This was a pretty fucking dope gig, a’ight.

My only regret was TWoTH had not been able to accompany me on the trip. In fact, should things not recover, I’m gutted she’ll never get the chance to get to the studio & meet these brilliant people. We couldn’t get to SXSW because of prior commitments, but we were chomping at the bit to find a way around it. I’m not sure what the hell we would be feeling right now had we actually gone, visited, met the gang, broadcast a live TWR as was mooted, & then been hit with the news that WOXY, as far as it can be determined, is no longer. Still, it’s not worth hankering after missed opportunities to grieve when you have one under your nose already, right?

Which, in an untidy way, brings us to the current situation. We’d obviously love for WOXY to spring back to life, reconstituted, redesigned, rebuilt, refocussed. But, as Mike has said, it will need someone with the nuts & the dollar to propose a shit-your-teeth-out-your-nose sturdy business plan, with at the very least a cast iron modicum of guarantee, to get the old team back together. That’s sort of what Mike said. I just dressed it up for effect. But, the truth is, no one can predict anything right now because, well, because. The simplicity of the answer/the solution to the woes is what makes it so hard to achieve.

So, what of TWR?

We are/were, it has to be said, viewed in some quarters as just a hobbyist vanity project on a cult popular net radio station. Nothing serious & certainly nothing to be concerned about. We can understand why some would think this, but it has historically only made us even more determined to bring even more excellent unheard of/new music/interviews/sessions etc. to a station we loved being a part of & one we would defend tirelessly.

But now, without WOXY? We’re not so sure we have the energy to go on. WOXY is/was our spiritual home. As I said, they ‘got us’. We had, to an extent, a free reign (as long as we bleeped or edited the sweary Marys & didn’t dwell too long on any reference to how’s your father). We knew the boundaries. We knew who & what we could poke fun at. We built up a head of steam that way — starting relatively sanely (for us) & slowly, progressively becoming more & more our usual selves as the weeks & months went on. So we knew at what point we were able to rack it up a notch. We loved WOXY & its listeners for having the faith in us to allow this to happen & to ride with it &, heavens to Betsy, enjoy our malarkey.

Still, we got away with a LOT. There is a huge amount of subliminal stuff we threw in almost every show that we don’t think very many spotted from the off, or at all. What was effectively our last ‘proper’ broadcast on WOXY (last week) contained (albeit a slip of the tongue) one of the most audacious things we’ve ever broadcast. Yet, no one noticed. That made us very, very happy indeed.

WOXY gave us this spirit of playfulness in spades & so, after a lot of thought, we’re not entirely sure we’d ever feel as particularly supported & understood in the same way by any other station. That’s not to say, of course, that (a) we’d turn down an opportunity should it arise (with WOXY’s demise being a given at that point), or (b) anyone would consider us a serious prospect in the first place anyway.

We’ve considered the podcast approach. I’m not comfortable with that, to be honest. No disrespect to serious podcasters at all, but from our point of view I don’t think there’s very much legitimacy in it in the eyes of bands, labels, PR & the usual wolves who circle the point of our existing in the first place. We’d be open to all sorts of legal issues that we frankly cannot afford to address. I’d also feel we’d be doing any band who subsequently recorded a session for us (because if we did this we’d be all in) a total disservice. Because we’d only be a podcast. I just don’t believe the TWR ‘brand’ stretches beyond the tennis match of flattery, emails & thank yous.

This new show, what will be available for download & stream from TWRHQ on Saturday 27th March 2010 @ 8am ET (USA) / 12pm GMT (UK), is our hastily re-recorded show that would have been the one we’d have broadcast had WOXY still been breathing. For the purposes of a spoiler, all we do is pretty much thank you all for being a tolerant bunch of sorts. I don’t know if it’s a farewell or not. But, what it most definitely is is our last WOXY “broadcast” under the current model.

Know two things.

If WOXY lives, we’re there like a flash. If the new regime will have us. &, secondly, enbloodywelljoy.

x DC + TWoTH

[twentyshots]

nice.
you're one of the good ones, DC.

[slopechz]

Great post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

[DrunkCountry]

Originally Posted by twentyshots

nice.
you're one of the good ones, DC.

Originally Posted by slopechz

Great post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Cheers, Twenty / slopechz. The full post is here & goes into some more details & thoughts on bits & pieces related & unrelated to WOXY.

The whole thing could have been much longer / much more detailed, but when I noticed I was on my 3rd page I thought shit, must reign this in a bit.

[miami2112]

i hope things return to normal and you're still part of the lineup. admittedly, i found it difficult to be at the computer during your shows, but i did enjoy what i heard.

godspeed!

[Angel30]

Thanks for the post. I too enjoy your show...your insightful commentary and crazy British humor makes for high entertainment + great music. Here's hoping for WOXY 5.0.

[silentpaul]

Originally Posted by Angel30

Thanks for the post. I too enjoy your show...your insightful commentary and crazy British humor makes for high entertainment + great music. Here's hoping for WOXY 5.0.

Ixnay on the itishbray! He's Welsh!

[Angel30]

Originally Posted by silentpaul

Ixnay on the itishbray! He's Welsh!

Wow, talk about a typo!! I even knew he was Welsh. Sorry!

[DrunkCountry]

Originally Posted by miami2112

i hope things return to normal and you're still part of the lineup. admittedly, i found it difficult to be at the computer during your shows, but i did enjoy what i heard.

godspeed!

Originally Posted by Angel30

Thanks for the post. I too enjoy your show...your insightful commentary and crazy British humor makes for high entertainment + great music. Here's hoping for WOXY 5.0.

Originally Posted by silentpaul

Ixnay on the itishbray! He's Welsh!

miami - we often found it difficult to be at the computer during our shows, too cheers for the kind words

Angel - I wouldn't go so far as to call our commentary 'insightful' (inciting, maybe...) & as for 'humor', well, it is subjective cheers, again, for the kind words. We hope we're back, too.

Paul - British is fine. English humor, on the other hand, now that's an entirely different kettle of fish...

[shaggyscotsman]

Thank you for the many introductions to great bands and for the many great Saturday mornings. One way or another, we're gonna share a haggis and too many drinks. I promise

[DrunkCountry]

Originally Posted by shaggyscotsman

Thank you for the many introductions to great bands and for the many great Saturday mornings. One way or another, we're gonna share a haggis and too many drinks. I promise

's'bin a pleasure presenting them every week. &, yes, a beer or brewery + (vegetarian) haggis is mos def on the cards.

[shaggyscotsman]

Originally Posted by DrunkCountry

(vegetarian) haggis

& here people thought that haggis couldn't get much worse

[DrunkCountry]

Originally Posted by shaggyscotsman

& here people thought that haggis couldn't get much worse

Hell, man, the vegetarian haggis in Edinburgh's Deacon Brodies is fucking delicious. Everytime TWoTH & I visit Edinburgh we religiously have a meal there on the first day because it's so good.

[twentyshots]

Originally Posted by DrunkCountry

Still, we got away with a LOT. There is a huge amount of subliminal stuff we threw in almost every show that we don’t think very many spotted from the off, or at all. What was effectively our last ‘proper’ broadcast on WOXY (last week) contained (albeit a slip of the tongue) one of the most audacious things we’ve ever broadcast. Yet, no one noticed. That made us very, very happy indeed.

uh.....think i just caught it. if it involves "time honored traditions"

[DrunkCountry]

Originally Posted by twentyshots

uh.....think i just caught it. if it involves "time honored traditions"

*ahem* ooh, candy...