THE LEDE: “The Laughing Clock with DJ Peter” debuts Sunday 7pm EDT on WFMU’s Give the Drummer Radio (web stream)! (wfmu.org/playlists/LG)
I don’t have a newsletter here, I’m a reader and occasional commenter. But sometime great things happen to commenters if you’re generous, sociable, and modest.
Back when blogs were plentiful, one of my favorites was “Destination: Out,” an “mpfree” blog focused on avant jazz. Around 2012, one of the D:O bloggers began a regular show on GTD Radio; I quickly became a regular listener and at some point I started posting to the chat board, meeting lots of great people, talking about the music but also about life. I hadn’t been a big social media person (no Facebook account) but I had HEARD THINGS and was really glad to find a nice community.
Fast forward five years: I become a DJ on WVUD-FM (wvud.org - archived shows at mixcloud.com/DJpeterDE). I want to have some kind of a chat board and my wife suggests I should start a Twitter account. I ask listeners to tweet using a hashtag but it doesn’t go anywhere — I don’t have enough listeners, the ones I have aren’t going to go on Twitter. Oh well, I tried; since I’m now on the bird platform I try to make a mark on “jazz twitter” and I get some (not a lot) of traction. Then people start abandoning that platform when it becomes a shXX shXX.
Fast forward to Summer 2023: I GET THE CALL, the one I have not confessed to anyone that I’m hoping I’ll get: the man who built GTD Radio, Doug Schulkind, tells me he’s got a slot opening up. I try to be cool but I know right away I am going to say yes. Before we talk about the technical details of a live remote broadcast, Doug explains how the message board works: this is what it’s all about, yeah you’re playing music but really you’re hosting a community gathering. After all, this is how he first spotted me: because I was a friendly presence on the Destination: Out radio show. I think he sees me as already part of the WFMU community: it just makes sense.
The point of this post is to invite you to tune into my show on Sunday at 7pm EDT (wfmu.org/playlists/LG). But the MORAL of the story is: spread positive vibes on the internet and good things can happen. A wise person (Dr. Laurie Santos) explained the concept of “emotional contagion” on her podcast (The Happiness Lab). A grumpy boss can produce a grumpy workplace; cantankerous social media posts can quickly poison the entire platform. But when you send out positive vibes, they can ripple outward and create a more positive environment. Be nice online! It works for me.
Obscure musical gems, avant experimentation, and classics worth rehearing. A conurbation of Leslie speakers, timbales, plungers, arch-tops, tablas, and squeaky reeds. Black ties, pork pies, Cuban boots, Nudie suits, bobbysocks, turtlenecks, and high-heeled sneakers. Jazz is the north star but it’s a wide universe, so says The Laughing Clock.
