RADIO

About These Shows:

The ROGC shows below are the archive pages of themed, improvised LIVE-mix webcasts that originally aired on Shirley & Spinoza web radio in 2005-2006. These shows were from the “Royal Oakland” era of ROGC, when indeed the home base and the s&S studio throbbed deep in the heart of an old converted jellybean factory in Oakland (aka Oakistan), California, USA called Compound-Eye.

fc_radio_color.jpgIf you’re curious about what exactly the term “improvised LIVE-mix” refers to, a 411 for the layman:
Consider the fact that, unlike conventional radio, where a radio DJ will plunk down a track, sit through it, call his girlfriend, play another, eat a cheeseburger, banter a bit, stink up the mic with his DJ cigarette breath, then move on….., these were constructed on the fly with multiple, separate sources playing at once to create spontaneous, semi-narrative soundscapes.
Sounds, voices and music from simultaneously running turntables, CDs, a synth, sampler, cassette decks, loops, effects, microphones and various noisemakers were mixed together live to reveal bouncing sonic terrain to the listener in the same instant they were chanced upon in the studio.

While the idea suggests that everything you hear was by some coincidental cosmic alignment, this isn’t entirely so. A reasonable amount of preparation went into gathering & generating source material around the chosen theme to be layered live….usually. …..plus whipping up a nifty little show ‘poster’ to send around, etc.

The careful LIVE-mixing is what makes it all seem purposeful, fun, and quite hopefully, an interesting listen (assuming of course, that you can tolerate my periodic chatter and the inexplicable good-ole-boy tinge to my voice).
I certainly had a great time creating them in the moment….. buoyantly moving from collage =>to music=> to walls of noise =>to stories and general nonsense on those Sunday night intercontinental visits to the homes, studios and offices of listeners out in web-radio land…

While I’ve done scores more similarly constructed radio shows (under different pseudonyms or as collaborations) than those listed here over the years, the ROGC’s were the most thematically contained – each with it’s own unique character to become acquainted with for an hour or five.

so…..there you go. Enjoy!

-Fausto Caceres (ROGC / s&S )

To listen, download and/or check out a playlist, click on the thumbnail to go to each show’s page.

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A number of sample excerpts can also be found HERE.
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NOTE: These shows and more can also be found within the official s&S Show Archive …..with all the other s&S radio goodies.

ROGC: The Big Jettison
LIVE-mixed webcast re-hash: May 14th, 2006.

This night we released the auxiliary rocket boosters and sand bags, folks.This was the LAST live webcast show on s&S – at least for a good while. So, it seemed appropriate to needle-drop on highlights from past ROGC shows; say farewell, play some music, too many clips from The Omega Man DVD and whatever else fell into the mix……
It’s over 5 hours long! but conveniently broken up into 1 hour chunks because…. well, lets just be reasonable. (click on thumbnail for show page)

ROGC: Let’s Go Flexican!
LIVE-mixed webcast: April 9th, 2006

If you and I have anything in common, it’s most likely that we spend way too much time in front of this glowing box. Am I right?
I even heard your knuckles crack as you tried to close this window in a panic!
Not so fast, loyal s&S radio listener! We’re on your side and help HAS arrived!
Join the Royal Oakland Gramophone Company as we offer 2 hours of live-mixed sounds, music and coaching to really re-spring those mouse-clicking joints.
“Leotards on by 8! Don’t be late! We’re going FLEXICAN!”

ROGC: Radio POST
LIVE-mixed webcast of snail-mailed sounds: March 19th, 2006.

In this age of instant media beaming & data pushing, there still have been many listener/music-makers out there who took the time to package up some of their home-brew sounds, lick a block of stamps and set a little parcel off to seeks it’s fortune en route to s&S. So for this show, join the Royal Oakland Gramophone Company for a live-mix of listener music – all hand-delivered over the previous several months by the real-live postman himself! Not a focused enough theme, you say? – perhaps not – but here’s to a few “non-virtual journeys” all the same!

ROGC: Under a Dim Crescent Moon – Vol. 1
live-mixed webcast of field recordings: January 15th, 2006

For this show, I live-mixed many the 2003 field recordings I did in Xinjiang, which while mostly consist of music, also include ambiences, pop & traditional music on cassettes & cd’s I picked up there…and recordings of shortwave radio.
The field recorded music you hear was, with only a few exceptions, strictly performed by common folk (farmers, carpenters, (incl. mystics and beggars)) demonstrating something that’s very much a cultural part of everyday life. With east China’s ever accellerating blitzkrieg development of it’s west though, these cultural traditions are going up in smoke fast.

ROGC: Under A Dim Crescent Moon – Vol. 2
live-mixed webcast of field recordings: January 22nd, 2006

For this show, I live-mixed many the 2003 field recordings I did in Xinjiang, which while mostly consist of music, also include ambiences, pop & traditional music on cassettes & cd’s I picked up…and recordings of shortwave radio.
The field recorded music you hear was, with only a few exceptions, strictly performed by common folk (farmers, carpenters, (incl. mystics and beggars)) demonstrating something that’s very much a cultural part of everyday life. With east China’s ever accellerating blitzkrieg development of it’s west though, these cultural traditions are going up in smoke fast.

ROGC: The Great Rain Drain
LIVE-mixed webcast: January 8th, 2006.

So the sun has returned to us here in Oakistan… for now
Unlike other stations that obsess on day to day weather forecasting, we here at s&S only need to do this once for the entire year.
So, I hope you tuned in to ride the weather front – down, out and away – with a LIVE-mixed wet sound journey with the Royal Oakland Gramophone Company.

ROGC: Tuba! Not the Girl
LIVE-mixed webcast: November 27th, 2005

Tubas, girls…
more tubas, more girls…
a little Royal Oakland Gramophone glue….

…and there you go, young online radio listener!
another heaping, super-sweet, Sunday-sound sundae!…..
on the house!!

ROGC: Halloweeny E’en
LIVE-mixed webcast – October 30th, 2005

on the night before the night before All-Saints day, we presented this, our Hallowe’eny e’en special!
 Ever hear the sound of DJ mummy dust blow past a microphone? or the subtle sound of cobwebs on a turntable? How about creaking, squealing headphones from beyond?

Didn’t think so – and we kept it that way. Hope you tuned in for a live mixed audio spook fix though – sounds & stories

ROGC: Church of the Lustful Frog
LIVE-mixed webcast: October 16, 2005

And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs
…and thy radio studios

Exodus 8:3

ROGC: Radiohoof Home Repair Kit
LIVE-mix webcast – August 28th, 2005

T’was that time of the month, and there wasn’t a single Otis to be found!
But, ah! An audio telegram arrived to inform that while staying in the luxury Comfortstand executive condo, a sudden slip in the shower caused the poor guy to tumble out of the bathroom window and plunge 3 floors right onto a passing banana cart.

So, in lieu of a show WITH Fodder, presented was a show FOR Fodder – as a web radio was sure to be on just beyond the length of his full plaster leg cast -
we presented essential get well material and safety tips in the: “Radio Hoof Home Repair Kit”

ROGC: The Henny Penny Time Machine
LIVE-mixed webcast – August 14th, 2005

“If I only knew then what I know now…” as the saying goes. But by the time that light bulb finally flickers to life, what difference does it make? No one’s ever listened to a crazy ole hen anyway.
No, Miss Penny, your only alternative was/is to take matters into your own errr..”hands”. Go back in time and peck at the eyes & loins of the youthful parents of future evil-doers yourself. Here’s how & why…

ROGC: Songs For Sunken Submarines
LIVE-mixed webcast – July 24th 2005

This night, as a followup to the Intelligent Swarmy show, the ROGC took a deep sea tour via the trusty time-space sound machine – channelling the songs of lonely-heart humpbacks, sea lions, alien submersibles & drunken sailors – all serenading the great iron coffins off the Oakistan coast. ……from above and below the waterline

ROGC: Intelligent SWARMY
LIVE-mixed webcast – July 17th 2005

as a followup to the 17 Year Cicada show: flying insects, swarms, bagpipes, boots, militaries, worldly war and battle music, sounds, spoken word, other stuff.

..perfect listening when kicking around fields & streets of expired locusts.

ROGC: 17 Year Cicada
LIVE-mixed webcast – July 10th 2005

After 17 years of loveless, subterranian root munching, how about inviting all your swingin single pals for the biggest ‘hook-up’ party of your seemingly eternal pupal life!

Let’s make some noise!!! Yes, I realize not all of the cicadas in this episode are of the aforementioned variety…. But with all the merry-making, I don’t think anyone minded a handful of inter-species party crashers.

ROGC: Untitled (June 12th, 2005)
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LIVE-mixed webcast – June 12th 2005

Oooo..<*)))-{ The device sat in the study of a wealthy aristocrat, while late at night the cook would haul it downstairs and perform a midnight symphony of kitchenware. You recall the scene in star wars inside the big Jawa recycling mobile – where droids and droid parts crunched & clattered? This wasn’t much different….just moodier. Another chapter revealed the whirring and chirping of reposessed sound gathering devices – held captive – en route to the next ROGC show in the year 1905.

ROGC: Untitled (May 15th, 2005)
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LIVE-mixed webcast – May 15th 2005

It was 1905 AD. The missing Gramophone recorder made it’s way back westward … passing through many hands, many lands… listening to, and remembering, every part of it’s now fractured history. Was the roaring brass flower in the cross hairs of a futuristic queen bee – great grannny-to-be of s&S?? We didn’t exactly find that out this time around, but among the long list of other revealed characters: a rabid Sumatran flute player, a mysterious man muttering on his deathbed, a crazed Englishman going on and on about hobgoblins, etc

ROGC: Roaring Brass Flower
LIVE-mix webcast – April 10th 2005

The original inspiration for the ROGC were the stories and recordings of the early expeditions during the first decade of the 20th century, namely the recordings by the Gramophone Co. of London of the Caucasus in 1908-1909
The thought of a lost recorder perhaps being passed along and traded by merchants and locals, each contributing a small imprint to the hand cranked anthropological sound collage had a nice narrative appeal. Then there was the floral shape of the bell itself, which of course attraced the futuristic mechanical insects that were sent from the far, far distant future to all points in time to invisibly relay the sounds of civilization. Something like that.
This show was actually a composite of the March 20th / and March 27th 2005 shows. I cut them together into an hour show for air on Otoscope, Nantes France…

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