Empowerment radio in Seattle was a nice fit for Radio8Ball. After years of indie success in Olympia, in 2006 Andras Jones began presenting Radio8Ball as a regular live event in Seattle and, with the show’s growing popularity, it was decided that a commercial Seattle broadcast would be fun. Thus, in 2007 The Radio8Ball Show on Alternative Tall 1150 AM was born. Unlike the KAOS show, the AM broadcast in Seattle (for technical and logistical reasons) was less focused on taking audience calls and more focused on exploring synchronicity with the guests. Not just the musical guests but also the teachers, authors, healers, visionaries and sponsors who joined the show each week under the auspices of promoting their work, but really to get their synchronicity fix.
The result of these and many other delicious combinations was one step closer to what would eventually become the vision for the Radio8Ball TV show, with its focus on the connection between Musical Artist & Celebrity Guest.
On February 6, 2016 Radio8Ball welcomed back Anya Marina as our musical guest, with questions from actress/producer Amber Nash (“Archer”, “Hart of America”), comedian Sam Morill, journalist Maya Kroth and legendary broadcaster Michael Halloran.
Anya was in town in support of her new CD, “Paper Plane” and Andras was, once again, in dire need of The Pop Oracle’s council. As soulful and spooky as it was, there were a ton of laughs, which is a lot, since laughs are the least heavy thing on the planet.
As part of Radio8Ball’s collaboration with Sarathan Records we welcomed one of their favorite artists, Abra Moore, to engage The Pop Oracle with our listeners. As is so often the case when we don’t pick the artist they were way more than we could have hoped or imagined.
In January of 2008, Jonathan Kochmer was half of the band Two Loons For Tea and the owner and operator of Sarathan Records, our sponsor for the month of February. To kick off this collaboration we were all set to have Two Loons For Tea as our guests live in the studio but at the last minute Sarah Scott, the other half of the band, came up ill with a nasty bug so it was Jonathan and their tracks and IT WAS GREAT! Of course, Sarah was missed but it was good to go deep with Mr. Kochmer, or as he was once known “Little Johnny Nightmare”.
2008 begins with Alyse Black, a jazz singer-songwriter who grew up and honed her craft in Seattle. At the time of this show, Alyse was on the verge of heading south to Austin, Texas where she has since made something of a name for herself. Like all engagements with The Pop Oracle this episode reveals more upon re-listening than it initially did at the time.
For the solstice of 2007 Radio8Ball welcomed San Francisco’s Dream Date as our musical guest with regular contributor to the show, Eden Sky and comic provocateur, Andy Dick. It was Andy’s birthday and he was in great spirits. Eden Sky was, as always, insightful and Dream Date were what we have come to expect quirky, adorable and oh so good.
Seattle hip-hop artists Eastern Sunz joined hos Andras Jones and author Kimberlee Auerbach for deep and jovial exploration of, among other topics, “Black Snake Moan” and FOX News (where Kimberlee once worked).
For this episode we welcome back two of our favorite guests, singer-songwriter Andrea Wittgens and noted sexologist Veronica Monet. This was their first time together on the show and we got some very juicy synchronicities out of it.
On the 8th anniversary of the WTO protests in Seattle, Radio8Ball hosted a special episode with activists and WTO veterans, singer-songwriter Casey Neill & Erika Kaye. R8B host Andras Jones was also at WTO, and together these 3 take a little trip down memory lane to the last great protest of the 20th century.
On October 18th, 2007 (the day Joey Bishop died) our musical guest was Hans York whose songs were the oracle fodder for questions from two very wise and powerful women who have made several appearances on Radio8Ball but never together before this. Eden Sky is a natural time visionary and Veronica Monet is an author, activist and historian who was in Seattle to discuss the history of sacred prostitution. Their conversation went deep fast and stayed there.
Chris Sand aka Sandman: The Rappin’ Cowboy is a long time friend of the show. Paul Addis was a prankster provocateur who was accused of prematurely burning down the man at Burning Man 2007. Sandman showed up at the station with a camera crew. Paul showed up, in the spirit of Hunter S. Thompson, with some very real looking guns. It was a weird show.
Paul threw himself under a BART train in San Francisco in October of 2012. Sandman, as of this posting, is still with us.
Jon Auer of The Posies returned to Radio8Ball on September 13, 2007 for a series of questions from some of our favorite guests from other shows, including songwriters Scott Taylor, Willie Wisely, Mike Ruekberg, and Robyn Lynn Thoren. Willie, Mike and Robyn are all from Minneapolis and you’ll notice a Minnesotan theme running through this show. Funny how that works.
Here’s the setlist:
1. Lady Sweet
2. Dream All Day
3. Four Letter Word
4. Swinging Party
5. Wicked World
Dr. Ralph Metzner was one of the original rogue academics at Harvard in the 60’s who, with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, unleashed the psychedelic revolution. His work as an academic and author has explored (among other things) the phenomenons of shamanism, oracles and global healing from the wounds of genocide. Here he joins Andras Jones for a communion with The Pop Oracle, using the good doctor’s own music as the oracle fodder.
On August 16th, 2007 Carmaig DeForest was our musical guest with comedian Andy Dick. These two cats had never met before but, damned if Carmaig’s muse didn’t match Andy’s misbegotten karma to a T.
Jon Auer lent his indie rock star credibility to Radio8Ball at exactly the right time (for us), and he continues to be a good friend of the show. On August 9th, 2007 he joined host, Andras Jones for a deep, dark, truthful R8Broadcast.
Jim Page is one of the great Seattle songwriters and it was an honor to have him in the studio as the Blue Angels buzzed the city on August 2nd, 2007. We were joined by Jim’s friend, housing activist Joe Martin. The syncs are off the charts on this one.
On July 26th, 2007 Scott Taylor of Olympia’s The Hard Way was the musical guest and Eden Sky of 13moon.com joined the proceedings to discuss the “Day Out Of Time”. The concept of natural time is certainly complimentary and kindred with synchronicity, as this episode made perfectly clear.
On July 19th, 2007 longtime friend of the show Jenny Jenkins was our musical guest. We were also joined by musician and Pandora founder Michael Zapruder for a discussion of the legalities of internet broadcasting.
It’s kind of amazing that 7 years ago Pandora was considered an indie.
On July 12th, 2007 Central Services were the musical guests on Radio8Ball. Andy Dick (News Radio, The Ben Stiller Show) was scheduled to be the musical guest but we couldn’t reach him, so at the last minute we invited his old comedy partner (and friend of the show) Dino Stamatopoulos (Community, Moral Orel) to fill in for him, and we had a great time. Andy did eventually show up and it’s always fun to hear the two of them riff.
This is the first broadcast of Radio8Ball on Alternative Talk 1150 AM.
Having already spent 9 years on the air at KAOS in Olympia, Andras Jones added a second weekly R8B broadcast in Seattle on June 28th, 2007.
This version of The Pop Oracle featured more guests, a tighter schedule, and a divination format where the musical guests would often call in and assist in the interpretation of their recorded songs, as opposed to appearing live as they always did on KAOS. The songs were placed on a CD and the person asking the question would pick a number between 1 and 8, after which that numbered song on the CD would be played.
The show still featured live guests and this first one had singer-songwriter Kym Tuvim in the studio, and a call-in from regular Radio8Ball contributor, Rae Dawn Chong.
We have a brand new Radio8Ball broadcast featuring songwriting great Jimmy Webb.
PART ONE:
PART TWO:
Jimmy was on his way to Seattle to perform at Jazz Alley and agreed to join us for an hour of musical divination. Our first new radio show in over a year. At first Jimmy was skeptical of the format but he quickly warmed to it and the stories began to flow. Harry Nilsson, Carole Kaye, Johnny Cash, Richard Harris, Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, Linda Rondstadt. Jimmy’s worked and played with all of ’em.
Listening back to this episode just a couple of days after recording it, there are so many wonderful syncs that never get mentioned on the show.
I am tempted to share them here. Instead I’ll just give you some information that will help you contextualize it so you might catch my syncs, as well as your own.
Jimmy Webb’s birthday is August 15th.
In his book “Tunesmith”, Jimmy compares the writing of a song to the building of a house.
My mother’s name is Susan and my father’s name is Richard.
Julie Christensen’s first singing gig in LA was with Fred Tackett.
And here are the 8 songs in our Jimmy Webb Pop Oracle deck:
1. Sleepin’ In The Daytime (from “Words & Music” – 1970) 2. Paper Cup (by The 5th Dimension – 1967) 3. PF Sloan (from “Words & Music” – 1970) 4. Wichita Lineman (from “Ten Easy Pieces” – 1996) 5. Galveston (from “Letters” – 1971) 6. Just Like Marilyn (by Julie Christensen – 2004) 7. Highwayman (by Sandman w/Calvin Johnson, Giles O’Dell & Andras Jones – 2008) 8. Once Before I Die (from “Words & Music – 1970)
Allen Tousaint is one of the original rock and rollers. He was a writer and producer for Lee Dorsey, Bennie Spellman & Patti Labelle. His songs have been covered by The Who, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, Lowell George, Phish, The Band, The Doors, The Yardbirds, Robert Plant and many more.
Toussaint was coming to Seattle to perform at Jazz Alley and we were lucky enough to get him to appear as our musical guest on Radio8Ball. We were blown away to get this rock and roll legend in cahoots with The Pop Oracle and invited some of our favorite artists to join in and ask their questions. They were, Lili Haydn, comedian Derek Sheen, Dan Bern & Mike Viola. Toussaint’s warmth and generosity of spirit, so evident in his music, was on full display as he assisted with the musical divinations and gave us a look behind the songs.
We hope you enjoy this Best of R8B on Alternative Talk 1150AM and consider supporting Radio8Ball by contributing to our PATREON campaign: https://www.patreon.com/radio8ball
This Best of R8B episode was recorded on February 5, 2009 with the great MOSE ALLISON.
Mose is one of the most influential songwriters of the latter 20th century. His songs have been covered by Elvis Costello (“Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy”), Van Morrison (“I Don’t Worry ‘Bout A Thing”), The Who (“Young Man Blues”) and many more. Having Mose on the show made me wish it was more of an interview format. I could have asked him lots of questions but that’s not how the show works. Mose was there to assist with the musical divinations that resulted from our guests questions. And for this very special episode we had some extra special guests.
The first question came from the person who introduced me to the music of Mose Allison, my mother, SUSAN B. JONES. The next question came from MORTY COYLE, an underground Hollywood legend that I’ve been friends with ever since the early 90’s when his band, The iMposters, used to share stages with my band Mr. Jones & The Previous. Next up we had another Hollywood “inside-outer”, PIPPI BERNSTEIN, and finally, I got to ask my own question.
We hope you enjoy this Best of R8B on Alternative Talk 1150AM and consider supporting Radio8Ball by contributing to our PATREON campaign.
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Veronica Monet
