WCJM Free Internet Radio Station: “The Millennium ‘Mayhem’ Show” – 2000

By WCJM Free Internet Radio:

After the success of the two Christmas shows, Jim Fusco wanted to do another show, and soon.  He decided to do a show based on the new millennium, which was coming up only a few weeks after the second Christmas show.  The cast reluctantly agreed on a date to hold the show- January 1st, 2000.  The time was set only twelve hours after the millennium would hit, meaning that even though the cast would be tired, they would give another show a chance.
But it wasn’t going to be that easy.  Dave Perrelli, a friend of Jim’s, asked him to join the free Internet radio show.  This ambition came after he listened to the comedy Christmas tape when Jim and Mike went over Dave’s house.  Dave loved the tape and begged Jim to be part of the show.  So Jim agreed, and David became the fifth, and last member of the show.
Everyone was fired up for the start the new show and the new millennium at the same time.  The songs were chosen for their resemblance to the new millennium, including titles from Jim Fusco and Chris Moore’s song libraries.  New equipment was being used for the show, including a new Aiwa stereo with a noise reduction tape recorder, and a mini disc player playing all of Jim songs.  This new technology made the tape come out better than all the rest (sound quality-wise), but Jim packed the first side with so much music, there was hardly any room for leisure talking.  However, on the second side Chris’s songs were played with much more room between them, giving time for each of the hosts to talk.  But Chris had to leave near the end of the second side, leaving the four member cast to finish off the tape.  Dave begged Jim to produce the final minutes of the tape, and Jim reluctantly agreed.  However, this was Dave’s first chance at using the sound mixer, so the levels were off that times, reducing the quality of the final minutes of the tape.

But in the end, this tape showed the spirit of the cast of Moore Hits in the Morning because they, after a long night before, had come together to make this tape.  Even though Jim’s voice was louder that all the rest, using the headset microphone, the content and music of the tape reflected Jim’s main goal- throwing a millennium party Moore 94.2 style.

This is merely the first in a whole new millennium of side-splitting free Internet radio available from WCJM!

WCJM Free Internet Radio Station: “The Best Song EVER! Show” – 2000

By WCJM Free Internet Radio:

Jim Fusco’s constant quest for perfection reached its final destiny.  He had obtained perfection due to hours of careful planning and tedious work to make The Best Song EVER! Show a free Internet radio masterpiece.  First, Jim asked everyone in the cast, which now included Dave Perrelli as a permanent member, to pick the top three songs of all time (in their opinion).  He also threw in a suggestion for everyone to pick the worst song of all time, just to add a little comedy to the show.  After all the times were given to Jim, he wrote up an elaborate, down to the second, 3 page, typed outline of the proceedings of The Best Song EVER! Show.  But the show was going to be a little different from all the others.  There was too much music to put the whole show on one 90 minute tape.  Therefore, he was forced to choose two 60 minute tapes, making it an interesting double album.  Each of the 30-minute sides had a total time allowed for the essentials: 29 minutes 30 seconds for side one, 26 minutes 30 seconds for side two, 27 minutes 30 seconds for side three, and 22 minutes 35 seconds for side four.  Although Jim knew he was very liberal on the allotted time for each side, Mike made complaints that Jim’s down-to-the-second planning would be too strict, just as it was during the Millennium “Mayhem” Celebration tape.  But he was proven wrong, because there was plenty of time for all that was needed, even giving leeway for free time and debate.

The tape went off without a hitch, the first side having traffic, news, weather, sports, and technology coupled with the third picks of all time.  Side two then continued with the second picks of all time and another information report.  The beginning of tape number two, or side three overall, followed the same pattern of the first two sides: an information report, and the first picks of all time.  Side four, however, started with a three minute heated debate.  The side then moved on to the elimination of the first ten songs, would whittle the list down to number 5.  The songs were eliminated from worst to best going around the table using the “seniority rule”.  A person could pick one song to eliminate at a time, or could pass their turn.  After getting down to No. 5, the group kept the audience waiting by then playing thirty seconds each of the worst songs ever (or as long as they could take it).  After that came an information report, then finally eliminating all the songs down to No. 1.  As it turned out, Alberto had the final choice between numbers one and two, finally selecting the number one song of all time.  The number one song was played over again, and then a promo for the “Party!” tape was played, and finishing off the tape with a debate.

There were some problems, though, that the cast faced during the recording of this tape.  Jim stereo does not stop recording once the side of the tape has ended, so when the cast lost track of time on the second side, the tape flipped over and started recording over the first side!  So, the first five minutes of the beginning had to be recorded over again, but the cast learned their lesson, and checked periodically for the end of every side.

Even though that incident left the first couple of minutes of the tape a little choppy, listening to the tape again, the sound quality is great, everyone’s microphone levels are perfect, there is no feedback, the content is perfect, and everything seems to blend together.  Jim had finally received what he had worked so hard to do.

This is merely the first step on the road to free Internet radio (and funny radio!) perfection…

WCJM Free Internet Radio Station: “The Second Show” – 1999

By WCJM Free Internet Radio:

On April 29, 1999, Jim Fusco received a sound mixer for his birthday. He was so excited about the possibilities this mixer could have, that he called up Chris Moore to do another radio show sometime after his birthday (probably in the summer), Chris, Jim, and Mike took the air once again. This time, Chris brought some of his CDs over, and the three each got to pick their own songs to play.

The content of the free Internet radio show was fine, with Chris’ rendition of “Moron Jeopardy”, (you have to admit you’re a moron to play), but something was very wrong. Jim was using the mixer for pretty much the first time, so his inexperience dragged the quality of the tape down. He had plugged in one microphone and two CD players into the three microphone slots because he did not have the correct wires to hook the CD players up to the “CD In” slots. But, because microphones are only a low level input, and the CD players are high level inputs, the power of the CD players made the levels fluctuate up and down throughout the show. The next problem was that Jim could only be heard! Mike and Chris got their own microphones, but they were hooked up to the karaoke they used. The karaoke’s volume was up all of the way, making Chris and Mike’s microphones seem too loud. So they turned down the levels of the microphones so low, that on the tape they cannot be heard when the music is playing (on very low levels)!

But this didn’t deter them from going onward, for it only was a stepping stone to perfection, which the next tape almost achieved.

This show and all the other great installments from the WCJM cast and crew are available online for your free Internet radio listening pleasure!

Foo Fighters’ “The Colour and the Shape” (1997) – The Weekend Review

By Chris Moore:

RATING: 5 / 5 stars

Once in a band’s career — if they are that lucky — songwriting and performance coalesce on an album in such a way as to inspire both thought and emotion. When that bolt of metaphorical lightning strikes, the result is a collection of songs that breathe like living entities, some tracks crying, some tracks screaming, some tracks shining beautifully. Somehow, through a mixture of careful, intentional strategy and fortunate, indescribable chance, those songs come across as sincere, relatable, and entertaining. Sometimes, they even connect in such a way as to create an interesting statement as a whole.

In the Foo Fighters catalog, The Colour and the Shape is that album.

In the interests of full disclosure, I should make it very clear that I am not a big Foo Fighters fan. Aside from a brief phase of hurriedly listening to all their other albums, I have neither before nor since found their work extraordinary. I do have a great respect for Dave Grohl’s concepts, such as his half-electric, half-acoustic In Your Honor. Until 2007’s Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace, however, I was unable to find an album that came close to the heights achieved on their 1997 sophomore effort.

Perhaps the greatest strength of The Colour and the Shape is the balance between pure electric energy and calmer, more soothing tones. This is no middle-of-the-road album; in fact, it has some of the loudest screaming — as well as some of the lightest tones and harmonies — of any album I have ever heard. To be sure, it is one of the very few albums that I have found such extremes on and still found it enjoyable. Too much on the soft side can be boring, and too much on the hard side can be, well, too much.

That is certainly one of Dave Grohl’s fortes — he is shredding his vocal chords in one breath and crooning at the next. Because I tend toward liking the latter more than the former, I always find it a sweet relief to hear some simple double tracking or harmonies following an all-out electric track.

Foo Fighters'

Foo Fighters'

The first time I heard the album, the opening track made me shake my head and double check that I had put the correct CD in the drive. “Doll” is a light, bittersweet song with slightly muted vocals that set the tone for the album. This is a collection of songs about a relationship that is falling apart for a number of reasons — the narrator is willing to admit his own shortcomings (“Doll me up in my bad luck…”), but he isn’t shy about calling the other person on hers.

“Monkey Wrench” and “Hey, Johnny Park!” add up to one of the best one-two punches in rock album history. Each song introduces one killer guitar riff layered upon another, stacked with energetic vocals, and boneheaded metaphors not withstanding, the lyrics are fun. Even though it felt a bit out of my range, I ran my vocal chords ragged back in June 2008 to commit a cover song version of “Hey, Johnny Park!” to video for the Laptop Sessions (CLICK HERE to have a listen!).

These are followed by two more songs that vacillate between power chord-fueled electric rage and Grohl’s calmer, clearer tones. It doesn’t get any more blunt than these lyrics (“This is a blackout; don’t let it go to waste. This is a blackout; I wanna detonate…”), but they work on these tracks.

“Up in Arms” borders on tender (and sad), but certainly isn’t lacking in the backbone department. Then, “My Hero” unfolds a tribute to the “ordinary” hero — fans have speculated that it’s an ode to Grohl’s former Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain, but Grohl himself says it’s directed at the average workingman.

I suppose it’s up to you to decide what you believe…

Then comes one of my favorites on the album, a song so unlike the others and yet so wonderfully intertwined thematically. “See You” lends more straightforward acoustic rock sensibilities than you’ll find anywhere else on the album, although they are hinted at in several other tracks.

The rest passes in a blur, starting with the anger and brevity of “Enough Space.” I found this track tough to swallow at first, but my tastes in music have progressed over the years, and I like this song very much now, if for no other reason than it is not what the album as a whole sounds like — Grohl and company seemed to take care to balance such elements.

Although the final four songs are each over four minutes, they pass quickly. “February Stars” boasts a Goo Goo Dolls sound on the outro, and frankly, Grohl does a better job making that sound interesting than John Rzeznik himself. “Everlong” is, of course, a classic. If you listen carefully to the lyrics, it is an emotional, brutal song, and you can almost hear it in the performance — Grohl, Nate Mendel, and Pat Smear must realize what a gem they are recording.

The final two songs work well as a pair, “Walking After You” representing the phase in a breakup where one party clings desperately to the remnants of the relationship even as the other is walking away and “New Way Home” embodying that deep breath and next step for the lonely one left behind. If you’ve been in this situation before and been heartbroken by someone who has lost interest in you, then you’ll appreciate the closing tracks on this album.

In closing, The Colour and the Shape is a standout effort from the Foo Fighters. It is not only the first (and only) album I would recommend to others — with the possible exception of Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace — but it is also one of the great rock albums of all time, in my opinion, an effort that is stronger as a whole than the individual tracks could ever be.

On a more emotional level, it is an album I continually find myself returning to when I’m contemplating relationship problems, and I would highly recommend it as one of the Weekend Review’s picks for albums to keep on hand for those aforementioned sad and/or angry moments!