Hey bgooplets! So the WFMU fundraising marathon has drawn to a close, and we reached our goal. YAY! [cymbal crash!] Thanks to everyone who pledged, and a special thanks-with-a-big-kiss-Brazilian-style to everyone who pledged to my show. And thanks to my co-hosts Mark Allen and Pseu Braun for getting me through my shows; and thanks to everyone who came out to help at FMU. I have to say: Since this was my first marathon, I had no idea what to expect from it, and didn't expect much more than just an unusual couple of weeks. I certainly didn't envision getting as swept up by the excitement of it all as I did. It was really fun! You could really feel a sense of celebration and camaraderie. I did my part by doing phone duty and bringing cakes, and sending out mass emails to my friends with voodoo curses and all. OK, I didn't really send out voodoo curses. (Wink!) I was a li'l nervous that we wouldn't make the goal, and thought Could this be the end of The Ed Shepp Radio Experiment???!!! But luckily it all worked out at the 9th hour. So thanks for all who pledged, and also congratulations to all who got my prize!!!I suppose it's appropriate to add here that I can't believe I forgot to list here what was on my premium and what my prizes were. Well, I don't have my premium in front of me (and I'm too lazy to get up--and knowing me, if I do, I'll get distracted by something shiny and won't come back to writing for another month), so I can't give you a track listing, but here's some of what was on it: A section of Reverend Jen from the (Un)Cool show; How Ed Shepp Saved Halloween and the Scenes from a Life from the Halloween Spooktacular; Ed Shepp's The First Thanksgiving; a section of Michael Collins from the Drugs show; me singing Auld Lang Syne from the Happy New Year show; and my peculiarly-accented reading of a piece from Fernando Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet from the Dear Diary show. All in all, it was a truly BEEPTACULAR premium, more than living up to its subtitle (Beeptacular moments from The Ed Shepp Radio Experiment). My prize added to the beeptacularity: A handcrafted (don't you just hate that word?!?!) Ed Shepp Is Love T-Shirt, replete with fake flowers, glitter and a paper plate and balloon, with a copy of my CD Five and a CD called Ed Shepp Presents Mark Baratelli, a compendium of works by the comic genius himself. Both were totally homemade in myne own handwriting. I hope everyone who gets them gleans hours and hours of enjoyment from them.
One prize moment was noteable: In a startling turn of events, my sister, who pledged, won a prize! I was surprised. I wondered for a moment whether we should have drawn again, but since it had already gone out over the air I figured we probably shouldn't. I hope it didn't seem untoward.
OK, what else has been going on... Hmmmm.... Well, what I'm calling The Seedling Project(cux it was inspired by an article in Seed magazine) continues. That's the project where I try to make my environment richer and more engaging, to promote brain growth. As part of the project, I've installed a few Chinese lanterns in my room and put a few things on my walls. I've also made a commitment to listen to a vastly wider array of music. I've been intending to do this for forever, since I have access to such a colossal amount at the station, but I've always fallen into my rut of crap pop. For the moment I have risen above the rut, and right now I'm cycling the following CDs:
- something by Brian Eno & David Byrne
- some Iranian woman wailing over a stringy instrument (an oud?)
- a CD of Brazilian songs, and
- some stuff by Chip Chapman
As an aside note on visual stuff, Qian Qian rocks the box. I want to do with audio what he does in pictures.
It's not really part of The Seedling Project (or is it?), but I was flipping through some book in the best bookstore in Manhattan, and it was talking about the magazines that people must read. For, er, something or other. The ones I remember were Dwell, Real Simple and that Oprah one--I forget what it's called--A?? U?? Whatever--it doesn't matter. Anyway, I picked up a copy of Dwell at Whole Foods and read an article in it on Malmo, Sweden. There should be an umlaut over the o there, but it never comes out right, so pretend there is. I want to live there, so if you're reading in Malmo, drop me a line and tell me that you've boughtten me a house there, and alls I have to do to live there is continue to make my art and radio and Seedlingness, and I'll be there in 48 hours.
Lastly, gboopners, email me. If you like the idea of The Seedling Project, or you're doing it yourself, let me know how it's going, or let's start up a Web community of sorts around the idea. Or if you want to start up some kind of underground art/performance/whatever scene in NYC, email me and we'll bake ideas and cupcakes. Or if you have a place in Malmo and want to host me for a year or twenty, drop me a line. Or if you have suggestions on how to spread Ed Shepp Awareness, lemme know. Or if you have an advertising site that you hate, share it and we'll kvetch. (My friend likes a particular advertisingish industryish site, but I think it's rubbish. But I'll talk about that anuvver time.)
And that there, folks, is your right-around-the-ides-of-March beep.
Beep!
Ed Shepp
