Connecting Orbits

One of the things I love best about radio on the local level is the great sense of connection to the community of listeners and musicians. Back when I was first hosting a radio show at Morristown High School’s 10-watter, WJSV, I remember the thrill of getting a phone call during one evening from a listener in Summit, NJ, saying they really liked the music I was playing. This was such a big deal to me, because to that point I thought the only people listening were my mom and some friends in town.

For me, getting recognition from a listener wasn’t/isn’t an ego thing. In those days I was painfully shy, so radio became an easy way for me to express myself. It was more about making a connection—sharing the music I loved with whoever wanted to listen.

This sense of connection really blossomed after I joined the staff at WFMU. So many great things have crossed my path as a result. My orbit now includes local musicians as well as listeners who are as local as an internet connection gives them. One of my musical connections—guitarist Gary Lucas—is in part responsible for my meeting my husband Peter Keepnews.

Connections were really in evidence at Saturday night’s Transpacific Sound Paradise broadcast on WFMU from Barbes in Brooklyn. One of Barbes’ co-owners is Olivier Conan, who I first met a long time ago when he played with The Humphries. We’d bump orbits from time to time. I watched as he saved up from his job in the Town Hall Box Office until he and friend/fellow Frenchman Vincent had enough to open this wonderful little club. Olivier still finds time to play, most recently with bands like Las Rubias del Norte and Chicha Libre. He also runs a record label to put out music he loves. His musical tastes are as eclectic as a WFMU DJ’s. It’s led to these wonderful broadcasts of live music on Rob Weisberg’s Transpacific Sound Paradise that I help engineer.

At these broadcasts I also get a chance to connect with listeners. I had a lovely little chat with listener Kevin, who’s a big fan of my show (and many others at WFMU). He reminded me that I sold him a copy of The Beatles White Album at one of our record fairs. I also found out Kevin’s now-departed wife, and I and Terre T. all share the awful connection of breast cancer. It made me feel good to hear his encouragement over my surviving this, and he told me how Terre really helped him as well. I was really moved. And it was great being able to show longtime listener-friends Phil Catalano and his wife (who is an oncology nurse) that I’m past the worst and doing well.

One last musical connection comes from Peter Biedermann, who will play live on my WFMU program today (Monday Sept. 19^th). How did I meet Peter? Biedermann was introduced to me through Monkeyworks’ Ian Smit , who is bandmates with percussionist Steve Meltzer who was in Dots Will Echo, a band that played live on my WFMU show back in the 90’s. Lots of orbits bumping together here! Peter hails from Butler, NJ, strengthening that local connection, and plays a lot of house concerts and libraries in the area. We share a love of fingerstyle guitarists, and many forms of prog-rock., and he’s a durned-good guitarist himself.

Connecting orbits like these are a constant source of delight for me!