I can’t believe I still have this thing. I was cleaning up my links/bookmarks and realized I haven’t logged in to this thing in a bit. I think this is starting to be a common occurrence. It’s now 2022 and we are still living in a pandemic. We have gone through two variants now and Omicron is the most current, which sounds like a rave group from the 90’s – oh wait it is, and “Whaler” is a great track… I digress. I suppose the good news is we bought a new home in the UoM area. We spent our Xmas holiday moving and finally have all the boxes and such out of the old place. Now the fixer-up activities begin. Fun times.
The new place is great and the studio area is coming along nicely. If you have seen the recent broadcast, you most likely caught a glimpse of the new setup. Still, a little tidying up to do but yeah, almost there. With the new year comes new resolutions and getting a more steady stream rolling is one of those items, for both techno and chillout – maybe for some gaming as well!. I’ll be updating things here a little more often (*hopefully) and if this covid situation dies down a bit, we might be back to doing regular gigs again, since by circumstance the dates for the end of ’21 were both on turkey day and Xmas for Canvas shows and they didn’t happen. Keep checking back for updates in that area. I also want to get back to getting some mixes out there again. It’s been some time since I’ve done that and I need to be more consistent, right? OK… stay tuned.
..and now we return you to your regular scheduled program, ish. It’s March 21′ and im another year older, another wiser, or so the saying goes. Wiser about what? How to wear a mask? How to avoid people? How to keep my hands away from my face more so than normal? How to ration hand sanitizer? Where to buy TP in bulk? How to find the cheapest backyard adult kiddie pool? The list goes on and on. It’s march 21′ and i’m first shot down on the Pfizer vaccine. I wasn’t even sure it would come. I dare say things are looking up. The orangutang is out of office and grandpa Joe is manning the fort (not the grandpa I wanted but he’ll do in a pinch) with the first ever female african-american VP. It’s a wonderful thing. Seems things are looking up. (*i’m knocking on a piece of mahogany, as I type) I will be scheduling my second shot soon and then, after a week or two, I’ll be able to visit a friend and hang out with a couple, masks off and even a hug or two. I just hope I don’t burst into tears or start laughing hysterically. Might seem a bit weird. I wonder when Mike and I will have the discussion on booking a gig again for EXILE. We’ve been doing the Quarantined show on EXILEDJS.com for the last year and it will seem strange to say the least. Im eager and hopeful that we get to return to that soon, very soon.
Since the lockdown began in March and club/bar gigs stopped, it’s been lonesome playing at home. Mike and I decided to turn EXILE into a streaming event. It started just as a facebook broadcast, then on to TWITCH. Now, we run our own server and broadcast weekly as well as other random shows during the week. Tried and true though, EXILE Friday nights are what we live for. The last couple of months we have been branching out and trying to incorporate diverse guests from all over the country with only one major requirement – techno. We have had some old school names as well as plenty of new talent, or at least to the us. We hope to develop friendships and relationships since its much easier to DJ and broadcast from our individual locations. We have a unique streaming method that we use to blend multiple streams into a single feed. This way the viewer has a smooth transition between sets, and never has to worry about moving from server to server or stream to stream. Plus, each week we find new graphics, visuals and other silly ways to make the stream more interesting. The chat is also where we like to keep things moving. It’s great to reconnect with friends and hangout. Making new friends with our guests is really the gravy here. When EXILE does return to the nightlife in person, we will have an onslaught of guests to bring live and direct. Until then, visit us on our server ETV (https://exiledjs.com) for EXILE QUARANTINED each Friday starting at 8pm CDT. Tonights guest will be streaming from Minneapolis, the one and only DEVILGIRL. Don’t miss it.
Protests to bring justice on the police officer and accomplices who murdered George Floyd
Well, the Safer at Home executive order has been lifted, giving flight to the city/county/state cuckoos. They have flown the coup to return to whatever sort of normalcy there is, and this is why our numbers day-to-day have doubled. The governor of TN , Bill Lee, lost his balls and decided to open way too early. Nothing has changed and the confirmed cases number still goes up. I definitely feel safer at home and don’t plan to join the crazies out in public.
Now lets add on rising racial tensions mixed with cops who think they are above the law, killing black men while on video. This isn’t the first time either. Now because peaceful protest incite fear and hate from police, so much so, law enforcement instigate aggressive behavior, turning protests to riots. Sanity has left this place, and I find that the ones who are of the right mind are now the minority. Black, White, whatever color. I can only attempt to empathize with fellow black humans. On a daily basis, I am becoming aware of other white acquaintances and their hidden bigotry, xenophobia and racism. I call them that because I can no longer call them friends. I speak of this to my wife all the time. It’s about core values, the things that govern your decisions in life, the things that direct you in your views and the things that justify your actions and how you treat the world and others around you. It breaks my heart. I’m no angel either. I’m still coming to grips with my own privilege and how I can use it help those who don’t have it. I have miles to go.
The officer who murdered George Floyd: Derek Chauvin
In recent light of the murder of George Floyd, You think you know someone… I find it hard to understand others who don’t hold love for their fellow man, the intrinsic value of life, above all else… it’s a core value I can’t over look. Especially those in a position of power to protect others. I hurts me to know, as I recently looked up that courts have repeatedly proven that police have no obligation to protect you unless you are in custody. WTF? Then where did the motto “to serve and protect” come from? Why even suggest that were the case? Law enforcement code of ethics states:
“As a law enforcement officer, my fundamental duty is to serve the community; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the constitutional rights of all to liberty, equality, and justice.“
I know no black person wants to hear my admiration or cares if I feel for them, but I do. I feel love and compassion for anyone that has to endure the cruelty and subjugation of those they give their trust to for protection. To be held to the ground, and suffocated by the knee of a police officer, the one who you revere as your protector, is the ultimate terrorist attack on one’s trust. I’m losing my faith in humanity, and I really don’t know what to do, so I want to express my upmost admiration and respect to those who endure and stand up to continuous hate and oppression, especially from white men in position of power.
I have trouble finding the words to how I feel about living in a time when I would have to say “Black Lives Matter.” All lives do matter and that’s exactly why Black Lives Matter. I read a shared post from a friend about what white people need to do to help in response. Also, a recent speech from Killer Mike to the Atlanta community shared the same suggestion. If you can’t protest, help those who can or support the efforts already started that support the black community.
Well shit… I haven’t been here in over a year. I can’t believe i’ve been away soooo long. Since most of the world is on lock down and i’m working from home, figured I should make a post. It seems surreal that we are all here at the house, in different rooms all working on laptops. I took a break from the meetings and start going through some older bookmarks, doing clean up and came across some older LFORADIO stuff that I haven’t seen in years. I miss the station, parties and djs. We had some good times. Although, there were plenty of hurdles and issues, the station grew to be a well oiled machine in the end. If it wasn’t so expensive to run, I would have kept it up. With all the djs at home right now, the shows would be doing great right about now, i’m sure. I wish I still had all the files – just upload and start again. *sigh. Most of the services that I used are still actively updating and even have new features that I wish I had back then. Video seems to be the way to go these days. Chew.tv was go to for a little bit. Mike and I even did a number of broadcasts from the new CANVAS events. It’s now “bandlab“. I haven’t had a chance to broadcast on it yet but seems pretty easy. With events being cancelled, maybe there is no better time than the present (post work) to put together a broadcast. I need to update some of the plugins as well first. I guess I need to get to work on it.
I can’t believe I still have this thing. I was cleaning up my links/bookmarks and realized I haven’t logged in to this thing in a bit. I think this is starting to be a common occurrence. It’s now 2022 and we are still living in a pandemic. We have gone through two variants now and Omicron is the most current, which sounds like a rave group from the 90’s – oh wait it is, and “Whaler” is a great track… I digress. I suppose the good news is we bought a new home in the UoM area. We spent our Xmas holiday moving and finally have all the boxes and such out of the old place. Now the fixer-up activities begin. Fun times. 
..and now we return you to your regular scheduled program, ish. It’s March 21′ and im another year older, another wiser, or so the saying goes. Wiser about what? How to wear a mask? How to avoid people? How to keep my hands away from my face more so than normal? How to ration hand sanitizer? Where to buy TP in bulk? How to find the cheapest backyard adult kiddie pool? The list goes on and on. It’s march 21′ and i’m first shot down on the Pfizer vaccine. I wasn’t even sure it would come. I dare say things are looking up. The orangutang is out of office and grandpa Joe is manning the fort (not the grandpa I wanted but he’ll do in a pinch) with the first ever female african-american VP. It’s a wonderful thing. Seems things are looking up. (*i’m knocking on a piece of mahogany, as I type) I will be scheduling my second shot soon and then, after a week or two, I’ll be able to visit a friend and hang out with a couple, masks off and even a hug or two. I just hope I don’t burst into tears or start laughing hysterically. Might seem a bit weird. I wonder when Mike and I will have the discussion on booking a gig again for EXILE. We’ve been doing the Quarantined show on EXILEDJS.com for the last year and it will seem strange to say the least. Im eager and hopeful that we get to return to that soon, very soon.
