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APRIL 1

JAZZ MONTH CELEBRATION


We’re kicking off our FUNdraiser with 24 hours of jazz programming curated by our own Jazz Director, Michael Fishman. This event is brought to you in partnership with the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation (http://www.ellafitzgeraldfoundation.org).

APRIL 5

MOVIE NIGHT


Join us in the Harris Hall Courtyard for an outdoor screening of Invisible War (http://www.notinvisible.org) from Academy Award Nominated Director, Kirby Dick. Co-presented with Program Board.

APRIL 7

BANDS AND BINGO AT GROUND ZERO


TIME: 7 PM to 10 PM

We’re partnering with GZ (http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/gzcoffee) to bring you some rad students bands and a bingo game with awesome prizes (free milkshakes?). We personally can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday evening at USC.

APRIL 7

DUBLAB TAKEOVER


TIME: 12 PM to 8PM

Tune-in for 8 hours of unique, live programming from DubLab (http://dublab.com), an internet radio station that’s exploring the possibilities of audio entertainment. There will be special giveaways, DJ sets, live performances, and more.

APRIL 14

KXSC FLEA MARKET


TIME: 12 PM to 6PM

KXSC welcomes vendors from USC and the surrounding community for our first-ever flea market! Snatch a grab bag of CDs from our Music Department, check out the wares for sale, and jam to some blissed-out Sunday afternoon beats from KXSC DJs.

APRIL 16

65 YEARS OF STUDENT RADIO


TIME: 10 AM to 8PM

Celebration of KXSC and the history of student radio here at USC, from the 1950's to today!

This event will devote an entire day of programming to every period of USC student radio's diverse history. On April 16th, we will be re-airing old programming and discussing the history of the station in order to celebrate our heritage and preserve it for future generations of DJs and staff.

Hear programming from all eras of college radio and interviews from passed DJs recalling all the trials and triumphs of being a student run college radio station

APRIL 19

BATTLE OF THE BANDS


TIME: 8 PM to 12 AM

Come on down to Tommy’s Place (http://tommysplaceusc.com) to see some of the best student and local bands duke it out for killer prizes. Grand prize is 5 hours of studio recording, on-air promo, and a website profile of the band. If you can’t make it in person, never fear. We’ll be broadcasting the complete battle live on air. This event is proudly co-sponsored with Spectrum (http://sait.usc.edu/spectrum/).

APRIL 24

ELLA FITZGERALD'S BIRTHDAY PARTY: 24 HOURS OF PROGRAMMED ELLA


Happy Birthday to the First Lady of Song! We’re celebrating with 24 hours of Ella Fitzgerald recordings curated by our Jazz Director, Michael Fishman. Much thanks to the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation (http://www.ellafitzgeraldfoundation.org) for their support!

APRIL 26

TRADDIES HAPPY HOUR


We’re partnering with Traditions (http://www.usctraditions.com) to bring you a special Traddies & KXSC happy hour, featuring live KXSC Djs, drink specials for students over 21 years-old, and food specials for all ages!

APRIL 27

RADIO KICKBALL


Come watch KXSC play a friendly tournament of kickball with other college stations (KXLU, UCLA, KSPC) while our sports DJs give a live play-by-play on-air.

APRIL 14 - APRIL 27

24 HOUR PROGRAMMING EXTRAVAGANZA


Tune in for two weeks of 24 hour programming by our beloved DJs!

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Thursday
Mar042010

Pre-Sleep Thoughts: Albums


For my next post I had planned on doing a write-up on the beautiful new Morning Benders album, the problem is that the album doesn’t come out until next week, March 9th. My ethical dilemma came when trying to figure out when the appropriate time was to post a review of an album that I “stole” off the Internet. I use the quotes because stealing in terms of digital music is used loosely in the fact that I use digital music as a test-drive for what I want to buy. It used to be that you only got to hear the singles on the radio and you had to base your decision of whether or not you wanted to purchase an entire $20 album, of usually 10+ songs, on just that one song. Looking back on that, it’s ridiculous; the new digital means of buying music is much more consumer friendly, but heavily exploited. Anyway, I will buy the Morning Benders album, Big Echo, when it comes out, but this brings me to the original question that kept me up late into the night. What is an album anymore?



And by that I mean, what makes it worth purchase? What does it mean to the consumer? For me, the album is a necessary experience to my favorite albums, sitting down with liner notes observing what the band wants to put in the booklet and what they don’t can give you a sense of what that certain band is about. Radiohead’s liner notes are filled with spacey drawings, usually symbolic of current political events. And since the release of Kid A, their liner notes have not included lyrics (A decision I don’t particularly like because Yorke can be hard to make out some/most of the time). Yorke has said that putting lyrics in liner notes emphasizes the voice when Radiohead wants the voice to be seen as another instrument, equal in importance to the bass, guitar, drums, etc. Another artist, Black Bear, put into the liner notes for his one album, personal photos of his current self or his childhood that pertains to each song, the lyrics were included and accompanied by his thoughts and inspirations to write the songs. This experience is highly more personal than the Radiohead lyrics, but what does it tell you about the artist? Black Bear is willing to fully open himself up to his fans, his listeners and wants that to be seen.


However, if you look at the latest Miley Cyrus liner notes, I’d be willing to bet her label typed the lyrics in with some cutesy font sprawled against some bright colors and pictures of her (maybe jumping! Or something else fun!). I can only laugh at the music industries inability to even try and deter the funds they are hemorrhaging. Album sales are at an all time low and the record industry isn’t even trying to make the album a valuable commodity to the listening experience. Seriously, how do generic pictures of Miley enhance the quality of the album? I want to believe that more people would be willing to purchase an album if it gave them more than what they are able to obtain online for free (the music), give us a reason, MIley, to go and buy your album, make it a quintessential part of the listening experience (Party in the U.S.A has so many deep meanings just waiting to be explored). The album should be personable, a glimpse into the inner psyche of a band that helps you learn about them as an artist and where the music you’re obsessing over comes from.



Yours Truly Presents: The Morning Benders "Excuses" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.




-Morning Benders review will be up soon-ish.


Reader Comments (4)

really random, but i just wanted to point out that the mastermind behind http://yourstru.ly" rel="nofollow">yourstru.ly is a KSCR alum =) former DJ and hip-hop director and now the video content he produces (sometimes in studios, sometimes in his living room) syndicates all over the web, including pitchfork, gorilla vs. bear and more

YAY KSCR!

March 17, 2010 | Unregistered Commenteraisah

That's not random and all, and actually very cool.

March 29, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterWolfattheDoor

and=at* haha, my bad

March 29, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterWolfattheDoor

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