Tag Archives: Andromeda

Radio Andromeda.

So, there’s a station that’s playing our last album, Cowboy Scat: Songs in the Key of Rick, in rotation. That’s the good news. The bad news? It’s in the galaxy of Andromeda, a very long ride from here, I’m told. Can’t raise it on my crystal set. (Damn … we need some new gear.)

Well, I am exaggerating a little. Apparently the radio waves from the Andromeda station are reaching planet Earth. Trouble is, no one can translate them into something intelligible. The only people hearing it are rocket scientists, and they’re not exactly our audience. Now, shapeless blobs of protoplasm on the planet Mongrovitowa 427K – THAT’S who listens to us (if you can call pseudopod sensory processing of nano-vibrations “listening”). But that counts as airplay in my book. And if we make some eggheads scratch their … well … eggheads, then that’s all to the good. It’s like when the Beatles added that hypersonic message to the family dog at the end of Sergeant Pepper. Except that, well … dogs aren’t typically scientists.

You see where I’m going with this, right? Because if YOU don’t, then neither of us does.

I suppose it should make us feel a bit guilty that we are wasting all this astrophysicist speculation time just so that we can claim some listenership of one of our drug-on-the-market albums. No doubt we are also fulfilling ancient prophecies left and right among the Eric Von Daniken crowd. The space brothers are coming! Oh, no … wait. It’s just Big Green broadcasting from Neptune. What a bloody huge disappointment for someone.

Airplay! Freaking amazing!Anyhow, we’re not just in business to cause people trouble. Matt and I are recording the next episode of Star Trek this very evening. We have been working on six or seven songs to accompany the episode, which will be included in the next installment of THIS IS BIG GREEN, our podcast. My guess is that a couple of weeks into February we should be ready to post. Slow time of year – ah, for the days when we would post every month like clockwork! Now that we’re old and in the way, it’s a little more of a challenge.

What’s next? Let’s get Andromeda to start broadcasting the Ned Trek show. That will confuse the hell out of those astrophysicists!

Inside the May podcast.

Well, I’m back from watering the man-sized tuber. Never thought his personal life decisions would so dramatically affect my schedule, but apparently so. He has to be watered two or Could have picked a better spot.three times a day, and it looks like I’m nominated to be his personal gardener. By default. (Well, I can’t leave it to anti-Lincoln. He’d set the poor bastard root vegetable on fire!)

Anywho, this seems like a good time to talk about our May THIS IS BIG GREEN podcast and what you’re likely find lurking inside that largish mp3 file. Here’s the rundown:

Ned Trek XVIII: Captain Fricassee – This is a riff on the “classic” Star Trek episode “The Enemy Within”, in which the captain – in this case, Willard Mittilius Romney – is divided by a transporter malfunction into a good half and a bad half. Our version features a Romney doppelganger that embodies the southern reactionary buried within every conservative candidate for higher office. Gluttony saves the day. Don’t ask … just listen.

Song: Brotherly Love – a half-assed, live rendition of a tent revival gospel song originally sung by Robert Goulet on an episode of The Big Valley. Again… don’t ask. Sometimes we just do stupid shit, and sometimes the audio recorder is running … and sometimes those two things happen at the same time. That’s how a podcast is born.

Song: Going to Andromeda,  by Big Green – This is a song produced on a 4-track cassette portastudio back in 1991, I believe. Matt wrote it, and as it happens it’s one of my favorites of his songs (and that’s saying something). Lo-fi but worth a listen.

Song: Good Old Boys Roundup (Demo Version), by Big Green – This one we’ve played on the podcast before. It’s one of mine, and we’ve never finished a full-blown version of it. So it’s just me howling and strumming a guitar. And banging a piano. (And by banging, I mean playing … don’t put words in my mouth.)

The rest is talk … talk about dumb stuff. Bad movies, etc. You get the picture. Give it a listen sometime and tell me what you think. No, really – tell us and we’ll post your comments right here. Promise.