This originally appeared on "Sounds of the Northeastern Freeform DJ," which was released in 2004 by radio station WFMU as an incentive for their pledge drive. It’s a lovely boxed set of three 7" records of short recordings by WFMU staff members.
I recorded it on 4 track cassette using my Casio MT-35 (bought for a dollar at a yard sale) through my Boss tremolo pedal, and my bass guitar (bought in high school from Geoff Hoffman for $25). It is highly influenced by Money Mark’s excellent first album "Mark’s Keyboard Repair."
The snippet of the guy saying "Have you ever shot somebody?" comes from WNWK, which was an incredible radio station where I used to work (as an engineer from 11pm-7am). They’d let anyone do a show who could come up with the weekly fee (which started around $100/hr) there were some legendary shows that started there - and there was a revolving door of goofballs who lasted a week or two. Most of the overnight shift was Hip-Hop, but I also got to deal with some all Spanish shows, Jamaican shows, Mistic/Mind Readers, Spanish Gospel... it was really completely insane at times. Last I checked it was an all Spanish station.
The call-in portions of the Hip-Hop shows were amazing, and I often used to tape them. There was a window into that community that you just couldn’t get elsewhere. I also used to, occasionally, call in to the shows and prank them – I’d be standing ten feet from the host on the other side of the glass with my back to the hosts, who could see me, but never figured it out.
The "Have you ever shot somebody?" clip comes from a caller who was doubting how tough a guest was.
I’ve always though this track turned out just right.
WFMU still has copies for sale here:
store.wfmustore.org/soofnofrdj.html