The Bopst Show: “And With Anybody…” (Episode 39)

by Chris Bopst

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• The Bopst Show — Episode 39

Title: The Bopst Show: “And With Anybody….” Episode 39
Rating: PG-13 (Adult Situations, Suggestive Content, Mild Profanity)
Intent: to provide audio content worthy of your attention
Quality Diversion: Celebrities At Their Worst
Suggested Absurd News Story Reading by Geographical Region: Laos, Nigeria
Request Line: (804) 767-2550
Construction Date: Tuesday-Thursday, January 20-22 2009
Equipment: Mac G4, Free Audio Editor & Recorder Software from Audacity, Frontier US-122 USB Audio/MIDI Interface, Shure SM57 Microphone
Posted: Monday January 26th, 2009
Artists and Groups in order of appearance: Elvis Presley, Chris Bopst, John Furlong, The Famous Actors From Out of Town (FAFOOT), Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson & Joe Carrol, OCDJ, Big Youth, Ricardo Montalbán, Jesus Lizard (Request), The Roots, The Penguin Café Orchestra, Pere Ubu, The Standells, The Chandeliers, Bob Crane, The Fatback Band, Samuel L Jackson, Chico Science, The Bad Livers, Cal Tjader, Elvis Costello, Chris Gallo
Mixed by: Chris Bopst
Art: Jennifer Holloway Bopst & Edward Alan Gross

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything…”
– Plato

Liner Notes:

This 39th edition of the Bopst was inspired by the social networking site Facebook. Debate the merits of the site all your want, but for me, it is a genius creation of communication.

Cases in point:

1. For years I have been looking to secure a digital copy of the cassette tape made by the late, great Richmond instrumental band, The Famous Actors From Out of Town(FAFOOT). I had long ago lost my tape of the group’s one and only release and wanted to get it back into my collection. On FB, I contacted one of the group’s drummers, Pippin Barnett and asked him if he had an extra copy of it lying around somewhere. Within 10 minutes of my request, the Art Blakey of Richmond percussion wrote back saying he had a burned CD copy he could give me and after a few more exchanges, he dropped off the CD at one of my places of employment. It was as good as I remembered it. The four-man group consisting of Marty McCavitt on keyboards, Paul Watson on guitar, trumpet & bass and Pippin and Johnny Hott on drums were amazing live and the recording captures their weirdo, late 70′s/early 80′s art, rock, jazz, noise sound pretty well. The 23-year old recording sounds as vibrant today as it did back then. Once I got that essential piece of almost forgotten Richmond music history back in my possession (thanks again Pippin), the idea of famous actors and Hollywood formed the foundation of this week’s show.

And yes, that is Elvis Presley. He must have been high out of his mind.

2. I make no bones about using these new fangled means of communication as a shameless means of self-promotion. As someone who spent untold hours of his youth plastering the city with fliers to get people out to shows, the breathless ease by which you can inform people of your unparalleled artistic merits these days is something I value greatly. You can get the word out on what you are doing without ever leaving the house. To me, that is genius. So anyway, in my quest to expose my show to as many people as possible, I posted, “The Bopst Show: The Drug War (Episode 30)” into the profile of artist Edward Gross in the hopes that he would give the show a listen. I do this pretty often (posting previous Bopst Shows in people’s profiles) as I firmly believe that if you don’t blow your own horn nobody else will. I didn’t expect anything to come from this act, but then this appeared on my FB account a couple of days later:

He painted this piece called, “The Bopst Show: “The Drug War (Episode 30)” while listening to the show over and over again. As an unrepentant egomaniac, that made my day. Thank you, Mr. Gross. Your painting is the best compliment I could ever hope to receive.

Also, when I post, “Chris is now taking requests” on FB, people actually respond. And it is a two-way street. People turn me on to great news stories, music & videos that keep me thoroughly entertained for hours on end. How awesome is that? Pretty damn awesome in my book.

3. I don’t get around as much as I used to. Does this bother me? Fuck no. I’m happier now than I’ve ever been. I’ve got a kid, a wife and after spending nearly 25 years out and about, I’m settling into middle age quite comfortably thank you very much. I simply am not the same person that I was when I was 25 and I don’t want to be. Only fools strive for a life of eternal youth. As I have had my priorities change, I have fallen out of touch with many of my old friends and comrades. With FB, I am in contact with many people I thought I would never hear from again. While it is not a perfect means of communication, it is communication nonetheless and I get to reconnect with people that remind me that I have pretty good taste in friends.

The downside of FB is that it is the new crack. Hell, I’m fucking addicted. I can’t walk past a computer without wanting to check my account for the latest updates. I also can’t help but to feel that this new obsession is borderline pathetic and a sad commentary on the state of my social life. But really, that’s not me. I’m not one to sing the blues as a good time man like me has no business singing the blues. It just doesn’t sound right. Despite my nagging, fleeting concerns, I love FB. It enables me to connect with people in ways that would have been impossible just a few short years ago and the whole Internet revolution itself is far superior to the passivity of television. The Internet requires user participation. You make of it as you want. Without the Internet, this show and many others like it (as well as this very fine site) wouldn’t exist as the mainstream means of communication is filled to capacity and ruled by corporate entities that only play what they have a vested interest in broadcasting or printing. Thank fuckin’ God for the Internet. It offers a welcome reprieve from the desires of bovine America.

So to you that continually want to poo poo on FB, social networking sites and the Internet as a whole, shut up. You sound stupid. Of course there is a downside to all technology, but the glorious advances far outweigh the negatives.

The set list for this week’s show is posted here. All previous show set lists are on my blog.

Until Next Time:

Stay Clean,
BOPST

Previous Episodes

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38

January 26, 2009 5