Tonight: A Melody Bar Reunion

Tonight's the night.

Ten DJs (and maybe then some), thirty-odd years of modern-rock tracks, and the Court Tavern's authentic environment should combine to make it another fantastic Melody Bar Reunion.

Gonna be there? We will...

Mel-O-Drama 2.1
An All-Eras Melody Bar Reunion
The Court Tavern
New Brunswick, NJ

Go. Tonight.

Melody Bar Music All Weekend?

Say that it should be so, and it will be. Let me know in the comments...

...and be there Sunday night at New Brunswick's Court Tavern for Mel-O-Drama 2.1 - the all-eras Melody Bar Reunion.

If you were at the Melody Bar any time from 1982 (when Matt Pinfield first set up the turntables on the kitchen stoves) to 1991 (when Smells Like Teen Spirit signaled a change in era) to 2000 (when the front door finally closed) you're gonna want to be at the Court on Sunday.

10 DJs from the Melody's various eras will be ready to do it all over again...

Melody Fans: It's The Court Tavern This Sunday!

Melody Bar Reunion! All Eras!

This Sunday night - August 31 - is a rare mid-holiday night out, and that makes it a great night for an all-eras Melody Bar Reunion...now with the nom-de-soiree of "Mel-O-Drama 2.1".

We'll have both levels of The Court Tavern to play in, all night long (doors open at a reasonable hour, of course.) Lights, pictures, and a general sense of Melody-fueled reverie will pervade the atmosphere. There'll be DJs from Melodys Past spinning their wares, and we'll be sure to put some surprises in the mix.

If you ever hung out at the Melody during your New Brunswick years, you're invited - and if past Melody Bar reunions are any indication, you'll be very glad you did...

The pre-party is Saturday night at NextUnderground at The Corner Tavern, which'll bring some newer tracks your way as well.

More details will unfold as the nights approach, so put us in your site feed, and we'll keep you posted...

Sunday, August 31
Mel-O-Drama 2.1
An ALL ERAS MELODY BAR REUNION
The Court Tavern (Upstairs And Downstairs)
124 Church St.
New Brunswick, NJ

Saturday, August 30
The NextUnderground Pre-Party
at The Corner Tavern
Easton & Somerset
New Brunswick, NJ

Woo-Hoo! The Internet, It Works! Showcase Tonight, Too!

Turns out I wasn't crazy - there were, in fact, problems with my cable connection, and a very knowledgeable tech from Cablevision helped to figure them out. Result: reliable uploads and updates to the web station, and a solid launching pad to once again build more and better stuff into the station. (And thank heavens all this crud happened during the summer when way fewer people are listening, it being the summer and all. Still, if you can tune in by clicking one of the big buttons above, it'll always help.)

So, we're all updated on our 64k Stereo and 32k Mono streams (remember, with an MP3Pro decoder, the 64k stream comes through in CD quality, so remember to get one, either as a plug-in for WinAmp or out-of-the-box with JetAudio...and for Mac users, there's always Audion.) A 128k stream update should soon be available, too, so keep tuning in...

As for our show, this is the first time ever that we've gotten through the summer without repeating shows, and there's yet another tonight at 10pm Eastern over at 90.5 The Night, so don't be a stranger...it's the one time during the week you can hear Altrok Radio in your car (assuming you're in central NJ) so if you're heading out for a shindig, tune in along the way. (I'm particularly fond of The Mary Onettes record that'll be up tonight - and there'll be something from The Jam, of course.)

By the way, I never did mention the shout-out Matt Pinfield gave me in his interview in the Asbury Park Press, and so now I have - and particular thanks to Kelly-Jane Cotter for agreeing it was worthy of inclusion in the resulting printed profile. It's nice to have your name in the papers without having to rob a bank or something.

Yep, it's true, we're actually back at fighting strength, despite the cold that has me sounding a smidge stuffed-up on tonight's show. Yay, Zicam...

So, It's The Olympics For Me...

One thing you need to know about me is this: when it comes to sports, I'm not much of a fan. I don't get excited about the Super Bowl until the fourth quarter, and I don't start watching the World Series 'til Game 5 (preferably the eighth inning.)

But for the Olympics, you've pretty much got me glued to the screen from the opening ceremonies 'til the closing ceremonies, no matter how cloying or jingoistic the coverage....though because the coverage often gets cloying and jingoistic, I look for as many bright spots as I can, and unless I miss my guess, I've just found one.

Y'see, last time the Winter Olympics rolled around, the brightest spot on the schedule outside of actual medal contention soon became USA Network's "Olympic Ice" show, whose host, Mary Carillo, acted as much a ringleader as a broadcaster. The ice events always did tend to be the most gossipy (even before Tonya Harding) and this show reveled in the hoopla, while going so far as to devote airtime to singing the praises of the lonely Zamboni driver. Add in a few rounds of "Push Dick's Button" and a terrific document of a failed attempt to interview the Chinese team (who never showed up, thus making the segment play like "Waiting For Godot") and you've got appointment viewing pretty much wrapped up.

And now, hopefully as a reward for catalyzing some pretty fun broadcasting two years ago, Ms. Carillo (who once referred to the wintertime Luge event as "a bar bet gone bad") will be the anchor for NBC's late night coverage of the Beijing Games. That puts her in the Conan O'Brien slot (12:30 or 1:00am Eastern, depending on how long primetime coverage goes) and she may have to do the serious business of linking to live game coverage, but I'd hope to see some of the fairly magnificent snark she provided at Torino's Winter Games.

That gives that broadcast a vaunted spot on the DVR for me. I'd recommend you do the same.

Altrok Radio: What's Happ'nin?

Hope you're enjoying the Altrok Mix over the past few days - we're updating as much as our cable connection will let us. Things were actually better while I was in California, because hotel access to the net is, frankly, pretty great - and I brought my music library with me to keep the updates fresh, because that's how great I think it is that you're listening - please, feel free to be impressed.

Now that I'm back home, I've actually put the cable modem within a few feet of the cable's entry into the house, and we're still getting a choppy connection. (Thanks, Cablevision! You really expect me to let you handle my phone service?)

That said, you're hearing a lot of good stuff, and you're hopefully used to that (and if you're one of the folks that came here for the Paris Hilton / Repo photos, and you're liking what you've been hearing, welcome!)

Summer's usually a bit of a lull, both in terms of new releases and of free time available to do updates; in fact, we'll be doing a couple more replay shows on our FM Showcase for the next couple of weeks - but September's around the corner, and there'll be a bumper crop of preview tracks available before then, so keep your eyes and ears on us.