Sunday, February 11, 2007

RFW FLASHBACK

THE ASYLUM PARTS 1 & 2

The occasional RFW Flashback draws from hundreds of hours of old radio shows, comedy bits, interviews, promos and commercials from my long strange trip in radio. Each Flashback has a unique story and place in my memory and heart. I'm really surprised (but then again I'm not) how the music from the early shows has stood up against the test of time. I also find great amusement in my thick Boston accent and boundless enthusiasm.

WTBS/WMBR 88.1 FM, Cambridge was a dream come true. A place where I and others like me went to put the sounds and songs and words that we had in our heads on the air. Some of those people are still close to me, the others remain in my mind like a frozen snap-shot of the way we looked and sounded like then - so many years ago. Needless to say, they were very special times!

The Asylum was a show that ran on WMBR every Saturday night/Sunday morning from 12 midnight to 4 am. Everyone who did their own show at the station was expected to do an Asylum show. My partner (and still good friend) for this bizarre outing was the infamous Tony V, who reads from an imaginary program guide early on and describes what we were about to do as - "The Asylum - insanity". The official basis for the show was to take your regular show, persona, deepest fetish-fear-guilty pleasure and check into The Asylum for the night.

On January 5, 1980, Tony and I were the new inmates and after rather lengthy and intense "pre-show preparations" we performed this legendary piece of Boston Radio History. It is very interesting to hear the show in retrospect with it's elements of theatre, improvisation, avant-guarde, musique-concrete, sound collage, mashing, sampling, tape manipulations, loose but intact story line and eclectic musical selections. This was a time before many of these terms and techniques were even in use!

It is as close to a live audio "trip" as has ever been committed to the airwaves, tape or an institution. In all it's warped glory - I am very proud of THE ASYLUM!

THE ASYLUM is a 5 Part 128k mp3 made * to be played loud!

Part 1 is MB and 46:46 in length.

Part 2 is MB and 47:16 in length.

"It's still ahead of it's time" - Tony V

RFW

These files are blog specials only-no podcast!

THE ASYLUM PARTS 3 & 4 will be posted next Sunday, 2/18/2007.

*The Asylum has been recorded at a lower level than usual to reduce distortion and tape noise during the 28 year old cassette transfer. Use your volume and let it rock!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm having trouble with the link to part one-- it seems to be associated with HAL22 part one...

Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Thanks, by the way, for sharing all this great stuff. And thanks to Brad Kava of the San Jose Mercury for pointing you out.

Radio Free Wohlman said...

Sorry miclaundry,

The link is repaired - sorry!

Thanks for visiting the blog and listening to RFW!

Brad is the best!

Please let me know what you think about The Asylum!

David

Anonymous said...

Dave Wohlman is a madman!! I used help produce the wholman Archives in Baastan way back in the day!His musical knowledge is legendary. Hi Dave, guess who? I'll give you a hint. BCN ski report, circa 1982!!!! Love you man.

Radio Free Wohlman said...

Could this be the MIA Teddy?

I'm glad you found the blog!

Call soon!

David

Anonymous said...

Bang! Right out of the gate, First try. But that was a funny day all those years ago...Far away in miles.. but always close in heart and mind. call coming soon...lots to tell!!

Anonymous said...

Fun for the insane or the pledging nutty frat brothers... As I was listening to parts 1&2, I was reminded of a show that I ran across a few times in the late 80's/early 90's called "The Experiment." I heard it late at night/early in the morning on KUOP (University of Pacific's radio), and was greatly intrigued and entertained. Are you familiar with it? It involved many layered tracks, intertwined music & spoken word... It was really cool. Maybe I'll do some research and see what I can turn up. Meanwhile, thanks for doing what you do!

Radio Free Wohlman said...

Hi miclaaundry,

I would love to hear it if you have any old tape!

Thanks for visiting the blog and listening to RFW - I do it for you!

David

Steve said...

Is there any way to have these files uploaded again?

Radio Free Wohlman said...

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your interest in The Asylum. It might take some time - but I will try to get to it as soon as I can.

Dave RFW

Anonymous said...

I really like your blog and i really appreciate the excellent quality content you are posting here for free for your online readers. thanks peace claudia.

Radio Free Wohlman said...

Hi Claudia,

You stumbled on to one of my favorites. On behalf of Tony V and the support inmates - I thank you for your stay in The Asylum!

Dave RFW

quarky said...

Hi! I'm doing a show on WMBR these days called Charles River Variety that according to Re Marchando of For Your Pleasure, rings faintly of the The Asylum. Any chance you could upload these recordings again so I could hear it? Thanks!

Radio Free Wohlman said...

Hi Q,

I will re-upload this legendary episode of The Asylum soon. Look for it as a RFW
Rewind next week or so! Good luck with your show - I have a soft-spot for WTBS/WMBR!

Dave RF Wohlman