The Late Late Night New Music DJ (Music Notes) (OT)

Kim

Talk about dizzying. My old friend Kim was a late-late-night disc jockey on the old WHFS in D.C. way back when there were actually such things as "underground" radio stations. He had a midnight-to-dawn show that centered on new music. And by that he meant that once a new band just started to get popular at all, that was it—time to move on.

He also made tapes for his friends. Driving in the '80s meant a music tour with Kim as tourguide, via cassette tape. I've probably been the recipient of 400 mixed tapes, CDs, and online programs over the years, and that's probably an under-count. But when Kim gets his groove on—man, it's hard for him to stop.

Try the latest program (actually it's not the latest any more—he publishes a torrent of mixes) online. It's called "Light Rain Blues"—a Taj Mahal song title from the midst of the mix. The segues take more swoops and turns than a roller coaster, changing direction like a ricochet. I mean, how can a dj possibly segue from "Cashew" by Venetian Snares to "I Never Knew" by Warne Marsh? In an hour-long "radio show" that also includes Taj and Talking Heads? But listen to the handoff—it works, or at least it does for me. (I loved this mix, which is why I'm posting.)

If it gets weird for you, you hang on and wait till that cut is over...just like you would on a roller-coaster.

Kim is inherently a challenge for anyone who claims to like all kinds of music. This one contains a song that seems to be based on fart sounds, and it's not close to his weirdest mix. You had to have what the jazz musicians call "big ears" to listen to Kim's old show on HFS.

Really too bad about what's happened to radio. It's not a shadow of what it once was. But then, that's true of everyone in the end.

Kim was a gifted color photographer too but he was maybe a Bartleby type...who "preferred not to" chase riches 'n' renown. (He will be the Vivian Maier of 2050.) In his photographs, first, you always had to look for the purple. (I'm kind of kidding him, but look carefully at the "cover image" of "Light Rain Blues" at the link.) His ride is a color-coordinated BMW motorcycle*. Wish I had a picture.

Hope you enjoy...but hold on tight.

I'm going to go put it on again.

Mike
(Thanks to KK)

*Alternate title for this post: "Who Was That Masked Man on the Color-Coordinated BMW?"

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Buy something from B&H

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Ed Wolpov: "Living in Bethesda since the mid '70s, I remember WHFS well. And, since you mentioned Taj Mahal, here’s a picture that I took at the Fillmore East in NYC circa 1968 of Taj."

Taj Mahal by Ed Wolpov

Gibeault Marc: "Thanks to you I’ve enjoyed Kim’s mixes for several years. Always enjoyable and satisfying. And a very nice guy too, I once asked for the name of a band on one mix where there was no attribution and he went to great lengths to find who it was and where I could get it. Also, I find every illustration he chooses for a mix 'cover art' intriguing, perfect and beautiful."

Michael Dunne: "Is there any way to find out what the playlist is (I can't see a way). There's plenty here I'd like to follow up."

Mike replies: Apparently some people can see it but I can't either. I've been around and around on this with both Kim and MixCloud. What I did was to download the Shazam app on my iPhone, which can "listen" to any music and identify it. It's surprisingly good and is seldom stumped (although Kim stumps it occasionally). You also can't back up while listening to the mixes, so don't wait until the end of the song to use the app.

Comments

[Stephen McAteer]

Just giving it a listen now. Thanks.

[Roger Bradbury]

I don't have time to listen to the podcast and do it justice tonight, but on the subject, before I forget to tell you, I'd like you to search the 'net with these three terms:

"John Peel"
"Teenage Kicks"
"The Undertones"

I'll say no more.

[Jim Arthur]

Good stuff. How does Kim find it? He must be immersed in music all day long. I don’t see a playlist at the link you shared (login required?) but I think I detected some Howe Gelb in the mix.

When I was a young punk I had a late night gig delivering microfiche. Looking back, I can’t believe they let a scruffy looking kid like me drive through military installations and defense contractor facilities in the middle of the night. It was a simpler time I guess. Late one night while making a stop in a building that housed a local FM radio station I signed up for a contest to be the 9 o’clock jock. I won the contest based on the eclectic playlist I submitted and ended up hosting my own one hour radio show. Getting to play my own mix-tape on-air was an absolute blast for a young guy obsessed with music.

I still make annual mix-CD’s for my siblings and have been doing so for 15 years. My sister’s just dump the tracks onto their phone and play them in random order but my brothers all drive much older vehicles with CD players and so listen to the tracks in sequence. Making an annual mix-CD of my favorite music from the last year is a bit of work but it forces me to reflect and it results in a product I use often. An added bonus is that whenever I visit a sibling my favorite music is on hand. I can’t imagine how much work Kim puts into his mixcloud programs. Just lately though, it’s getting harder to make my annual CD. I just don’t buy music like I used to. I still listen to new music, I just don’t own it.

Here is my musical contribution for the day. Colt Clark and the Quarantine Kids play the Beatles tune, Come Together.

[Al DaValle]

Very cool. Interesting guy and life!!!

[Bob Burnett]

I listen quite frequently and have grown to realize Kim’s music mixes are a curated sound experience. I wish more people knew about what he’s making happen via C60 on Mixcloud. Please share what he’s doing with others.

[Michael Dunne]

Is there any way to find out what the playlist is (I can't see a way). There's plenty here I'd like to follow up.

[Stephen Scharf]

Just a scientific note from your resident microbiologist: folks that think wearing a simple cloth mask will prevent spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles or aerosols should think again.

In one study, a mask that used 16 layers of handkerchief fabric was able to filter out only 63 percent of 300 nanometer-sized particles

The coronavirus is between 60 to 140 nM in diameter.

Also important to note is wearing a mask is not a substitute for social distancing.