Big Words Radio Episode XIX: Tommy Z, Quality Control & GME Stock Update!
November 20, 2008What what?,
I was waiting for the two previous Monsters Of Verse shows to crop up, but I’m going to roll this news out anyway and make it quick:
-Episode XIX (synopsis): Crossroads
In this ‘parter of two’, Tom sits down with Buffalo Hall Of Fame Musician Tommy Z to hear some axe-grinding mad blues licks between discussions about autograph hounds and the classic 1980’s motion picture masterpiece ‘Crossroads’ starring teen heart-throb Ralph Maccio. This episode was recorded live at ‘close, personal friend’ Z’s gold-sheathed recording studio/compound.
And unfortunately (due to the sheer amount of shows on the Think Twice site), my producer informs me that he will no longer be able to splice (combine) separate sound clips together to form a cohesive one hour show. Episode XIX was originally intended to be a two parter, and with seven separate clips under one subheading, it looks rather embarrassing to have two format headings (Intro plugs, interview, plugola, fluffer) spread willy-nilly with no cohesion. It also appears as if Think Twice will no longer have time to drop intro/outro music into each episode to bookend individual shows. This is what’s known as a serious quality control issue.
To make matters worse, the Think Twice server is filling up and there’s a good chance that any shows a year old or more (I have until June) will be removed from the site forever. So if I were you (and you like the shows), start backing them up on a CD/DVD so that they aren’t gone for good online. I am freaking the f out about this and even though it’s four months away, I am going to explore some complimentary options and see what Rich and myself would be okay with so that the original shows aren’t gone forever.
For those of you on this list who have podcasting/web building skill sets who may be willing to syndicate/site build a companion/syndicated brother or sister site to compliment Big Words Radio, I’m all ears. I’m talking directly to you, Uncle Hal, Gary Holdsteady and quite a few more. The thought of losing ANY of the shows is as painful as the notion of losing an essay forever without a backup. I’m not smart enough to understand the logistics of maintaining a server or keeping 20+ hours and climbing worth of shows up online for as long as possible, but hopefully, those of you who are savvy can spitball some ideas back to me via ‘the email’. June 2009 will be here before we know it and one way or the other, I’m NOT going to lose these shows.
I recorded 2 phenomenal hours today with Buffalo Music Award winner Kevin McCarthy and his drummer Tom Brown (from the band McCarthyism, among other bands) and they played everything from Eric Clapton to Simon & Garfunkel to classic Irish drinking songs. Since I’m waiting on two more Monsters Of Verse shows to go up, I won’t be dropping the show off until Friday which means that Episode XX won’t be up until Saturday at the earliest or next week at the latest. This completely destroys my plan to have three great artists up by the time this year’s music award winners were announced on Friday. That really, really sucks.
I’m also pleased to announce that rock super group Lana & Hund (from the multi-award winning band Black Widow!) will be doing a show with me some time next week if all goes according to plan.
Doing four 2 hour shows with four of (in all honesty) my favorite bands in Buffalo has been a dream come true. A huge thanks goes out to Michael Bly, Tommy Z, Kevin McCarthy and (very shortly) Lana & Hund for agreeing to record for Big Words Radio for giving me (and my listeners) so many once-in-a-lifetime musical moments. I honestly wish ALL of you as many BMA’s tomorrow as you are allowed by law and all the financial and creative success in the world. In my experience, Buffalo musicians have been more giving of their time and energy and more supportive than any similar community in the area.
There’s also a new graphic novel review on Hellblazer: Fear Machine over at:
With so much backlogged work (which I’m been working on building up for my buddy Thom Young at Comics Bulletin), you can look forward to a new graphic novel review from ‘this guy’ every single Wednesday for the foreseeable future. So pop over to the Comics Bulletin on Wednesdays (as well as throughout the week) for review paydirt!
And finally, here’s your Wednesday Gamestop Scoop!:
After consulting with a few people, the general consensus regarding Charla’s wrongful termination is that Lisa (my former boss) is scrabbling to cover her tracks before the wolves catch up to her, whether it’s internally or externally. Who knows what’ll happen next? I do, but I’m certainly not going to talk about it online. I promise that it will be wildly entertaining when it does happen, though.
Other sources have informed me that the District Manager (who was traveling with the Regional Loss Prevention Manager last week in the area for a seperate situation) was talking a good line of shit about her/the company’s plan to do ’something’ regarding yours truly. To that I say: bullshit.
There are two schools of thought on this or more. 1. Lisa is trying to make veiled threats to her stores to scare everyone into keeping mum on talking to me, which is pointless. 2. Lisa is trying to keep this scandal contained by making big, lofty threats (like ‘putting me in jail for slander’, which a buddy of mine with the Buffalo Police agreed was complete horseshit). 3. Lisa is attempting to keep this scandal under the rug and off the radar from her bosses, company CEOs, etc. After watching the site traffic drop off slightly in the last few weeks, there’s a slim possibility that it was only local kissasses, sell-outs and brown nosers who checked in on the official site so that they could continue to be part of the promotional ladder locally where people are promoted to management for selling their peers out as much as they can to prove a false sense of loyalty. This scandal isn’t going to be a best-kept secret for the Buffalo area for much longer. I guaran-goddamn-tee it. A lot of events that I set into motion over six weeks ago are coming home to roost and trust me when I say that they’re fool-proof. When I can give you the full report, you’ll find it here first.
And lastly, here’s all the GME Stock news that I had time to gather in the last week (since it’s been busy):
11/11/08 $23.41 (-1.07) (-4.37%)
11/13/08 $22.04 (-1.37) (-5.85%)
11/14/08 $23.28 (-1.55) (-6.24%)
11/18/08 $22.21 (-.54) (-2.37%)
11/19/08 $20.56 (-1.56) (-7.43%)
Oof! This is the one of the lowest points the stock has been at yet! Here we are a week away from Black (or green, depending on your preference) Friday and Gamestop is still going down for the count. If this were Punch Out, Referee Mario would be climbing under the ropes and getting ready to declare a TKO! Sucks to be a GME stockholder, doesn’t it?
That’s all I’ve got for today. Have a great week and I’ll drop another update on Friday,
Talk to you soon!
Tom Waters
