Completely Conspicuous 620: No One Knows

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2002. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Phil's #5: Coldplay's second album turned them into superstars
• Jay's #5: Spoon returns to an indie and begins a long stretch of excellence
• Phil's and Jay's #4: Strong release from the Tragically Hip highlights their varied strengths
• Phil's #2: The last great Foo Fighters album caused a lot of turmoil for the band
• Jay's #3 and Phil's #1: Beck with another sad bastard folk-rock masterpiece
• Jay's #2: Killer debut from Interpol was part of the hot NYC scene of the early '00s
• It's hard for some bands to live up to a great first album
• Phil's #3 and Jay's #1: Queens of the Stone Age reaches new heights with help from Dave Grohl on drums
• Favorite songs: "No One Knows" (Jay), "End of the Day" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 619: Do You Realize?

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2002. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• In 2002, Jay became a first-time dad and didn't get much sleep
  
• Jay turned 35, Phil turned 33
• Phil was newly single, met his current wife
• John Entwistle died the classic rock star death
• Napster officially called it quits after lawsuits
• Owning music is an outdated concept now
• Nickelback had the top song of the year
• Charts had a mixture of nu metal, hip hop and pop
• Phil's non-top 5 albums: Doves, Sleater-Kinney, Flaming Lips, Spoon, Trey Anastasio, Dave Matthews Band, Interpol, Black Keys, Sonic Youth, GBV, Tom Petty, Bowie
• Jay's non-top 5s: McLusky, Hot Snakes, Trail of Dead, Elvis Costello, Broken Social Scene  
• We never saw a lot of the rock videos of this era
• This was the age of the MP3 blog    
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 618: You Say It's Your Birthday

Celebrating the podcast's 17th birthday by talking to Amanda Guest about the 10th birthday of the radio station she founded, BFF.fm. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Amanda was last on the podcast 10 years ago talking about moving to SF and launching BFF.fm
• Plenty of surprises along the way
• She was a DJ at the Salem State College (now University) station for 18 years
• Commercial radio was already being automated in the mid-'90s
• Built a studio in the Secret Alley in SF
• A lot of the DJs at BFF now weren't alive when Amanda was DJing in the '90s
• Shorter attention spans: Newer DJs are doing one-hour shows
• Jay has been doing a show for BFF since the station started
• "Where's Koomdogg?"
• Building exposure through a crazy boat DJing gig
• Became a nonprofit in 2015
• Amanda was hired as the GM of the station, now doing it full-time
• Went from dues-based organization to nonprofit
• Allows BFF to fundraise and get grants
• Celebrating the station's 10th birthday with events throughout the city
• Amanda plans to stay involved but wants to retire at some point
• SF went into COVID lockdown early and stayed in it the longest
• Studio had to shut down so BFF enabled DJs to broadcast from home
• Found free space in the SF Ferry Building so were able to broadcast from there
• The future of radio won't get less corporate
• Not a lot of commercial stations for indie music, except for college stations
• Amanda: Big electronic music movement happening in SF
• Looking for new music
• The DJ as curator
• BFF has 120 shows on the schedule, most done live in the studio
• Different approaches to show construction
• Great achievements in song segues
• Jay: Coming up on 500 episodes of the radio show

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.