Tonight’s show was supplemented by an off duty police officer.
Meet Officer Munoz
Barrett scans the Internet with REAL security.
phliKtid was kind enough to bring candy to the radio station.
Click for full size candy!
It helped ease the tension and lighten the mood.
Last night at the Continental Club was one of those nights where the past does not so much collide with the present, rather it pulls up along side and waves kindly and you smile and wave back with a stupid grin as recognition slowly creeps in and pries open the recesses of memory.
On the bill for the evening was Alejandro Escavedo. For all that Alejandro has accomplished I still remember him for his efforts in a band called the True Believers back in the 80’s.
Most of the fans seemed to be more recent converts but there were some from “back in the day” as the kids like to say.
Most notable were long time friends JR Delgado and Toby Blunt.
JR owned and ran one of the most well known punk clubs in Houston, The Axiom. During the 80’s and early 90’s I attended many shows at this particular club. Often referred to as the “Mecca to the Houston Underground” it now enjoys a lesser notoriety as the home of Infernal Bridegroom Productions. My band, The Flying Fish Sailors, had the opportunity to play there on a few occasions. The best show was the one where we opened for The Dead Milkmen.
Toby Blunt is most well known from Mary Jane’s Fat Cat over on Washington but I met him back in the days when he played for Fab Motion. This was a band that had a lot of potential and was even the Houston Press 1989 Band of the Year. I even located this old flyer from the mid 80’s when Fab Motion and The True Believers were on the same bill at Cafe Mode.
I halfway expected to see Chuck Roast and Austin Caustic from the old Funhouse Show on KPFT show up at any given point.
It was a good evening and a great show. It’s good to see Alejandro doing so well. I got some nice pics from last night. Click here to see them.
When I got the call from Phil Archer and Channel 2 I was reluctant to be interviewed on such short notice. I was not feeling my prettiest yesterday and, believe it or not, I suffer from HUGE stage fright. I hide it well but you can see it in the beads of sweat that form on my head. I tried to duck out but he was very persistent. I was explaining to him that I didn’t feel camera ready and he asked me “Do you have any open wounds?” to which I replied “Well, no, not right now.” He said “Then we’re good to go!”
I gave him directions to the office and he and his cameraman were there in 15 minutes.
These guys are pros and they do put a person at ease when they are doing the interview so I relaxed very quickly.
As it turns out, I was able to get home in time for the broadcast so I could cringe in horror as appropriate. Turns out I looked fine and the sound bite was perfect. It could not have been a better on screen appearance….well, except for one tiny detail.
The name of the radio show is Technology Bytes, not Reality Bytes.
Yes, Technology Bytes and Reality Bites both strive to be funny.
We both were created in Houston, TX.
But from there the differences become more and more glaring.
Reality Bites was created in 1994
Technology Bytes was created in 1995
Reality Bites is a comedy about love in the ’90s
Technology Bytes is a comedy about computing with equipment from the 90’s
Reality Bites features a mediocre cast of washed up near nobodies
Technology Bytes features a … wait … this is not a difference.
For sure they have more women in the movie than we do on our show, but I bet Jennifer the Intern was never arrested for shoplifting.
Ah well, you know what they say about publicity.
Last night’s gathering of geeks in celebration of the 11th anniversary of Technology Bytes was a spectacular success. Many, many fine people showed up as the band played and adult beverages were consumed.
A heartfelt thanks to Drop Trio for providing the music and for the special tunes learned, rehearsed and performed for the event. You guys are awesome!
The Houston Chronicle had a photographer there and I can’t wait to see THOSE pictures. For now I have the ones I took uploaded to this gallery.
We had a nice turnout, the full crew of the show was there; Peter, Barrett, phliKtid, Dwight and Groovehouse, as well as show contributors Charles Born and the lovely Aurora Losada.
I believe Jennifer the Intern has officially crossed over as evidenced by her new I Heart Geeks shirt.
Also in attendance were many of the regular geek gathering attendees as well as Groovehouse’s IRC Army, including Amateria, Sketkar, Lambo, Kimberly, BeingKatie, KD5, Yivit and TomTom
We also met many, MANY new folks who had not yet attended one of our events.
And, to make it a TRUE Tech Bytes experience, I even helped a total stranger perform a complete clean install of Windows XP on her laptop while sitting at the bar. When she arrived at the party she had a computer that didn’t work very well. By the time we were done she was happily surfing the web using the Wi-Fi provided by Dean’s Credit Clothing.
I AM a party animal, yes indeed.
Seeing as how it’s anniversary time and all you’ll excuse me for waxing nostalgic.
After a caller to the radio show made a comment about my previous radio program from years and years ago I got to thinking that it has been WAY too long since I have seen David Cronenberg’s film Videodrome.
I wonder if it still holds up.
I should look for it at BB or Netflix.
The current radio show I do now evolved from my late night talk show I called Radiodrome which was a play on this movie title. It was an overnight (pre Art Bell) talk show with music that addressed some very bizarre topics.
The suffix “drome” in Latin means racecourse or field and is derived from Greek dromos which means racecourse.
It is used in words to describe a facility or a all encompassing space where something takes place.
Like a velodrome is a structure for cycling events or an aerodrome is defined area intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure, and movement of aircraft or hippodrome which is place set apart for equestrian and chariot races.
I envisioned this show as an all encompassing place for a radio experience to be had. It was a lot of fun.
The shirt I had made for it was designed by my good friend James Keene.
Note the dial on the radio is tuned to 90.1 which is the channel the show was on. The slogan was “Old Fashioned Radio With A Beat”…
Sometimes I really do miss doing the ultra-creative and weird radio.
But the only place for it is overnight and I just don’t have the stamina for it anymore.
Maybe I will find a way to get back to it someday.
Last night’s show was pretty good. At least we managed to entertain ourselves and that’s always a plus. My friend Jennifer came out for a bit of an internship on the phones. Groovehouse showed her the ropes and she did a good job during the second hour managing the incoming calls.
As we were all preparing to go home I was stuck by the true geekiness of the crew of the show. We are SUCH nerds.
Take, for example, phliKtid…
He’s the man behind, well…behind EVERYTHING. Just click on these images to see what I mean.
phliKtid is the brains behind the hilarious promos that run for the show and he’s been running the sound board and has taken on the role of engineer for the program.
phliKtid is the subtle nerd. He’s a systems administrator for a local medical college and he’s a Free BSD user. He doesn’t “toot his own horn” so much but there is one concession he makes to his geekitude.
Check out his vanity plate on his motorcycle.
Aww, yea!
Another excellent gathering of the geeks!
There were many new toys being oogled by a room full of nerds and nerd onlookers.
Dwight Silverman, self proclaimed Microsoft lackey and friend of Bill, was spotted with a new Macintosh computer. He claims it belongs to his daughter but there was a unmistakable gleam of delight in his his eye as he explored the features.
Barrett was sporting a new 17″ Macbook and Russell Holliman of Mobilepodcast fame was toting a brand new Motorola Q phone.
It was also a pleasure to meet Matt B. of mattsapundit.com.
In terms of gadgetry and attendees this was probably one of the geekiest geek gatherings in a long time. That’s probably for the best since my friend Jennifer decided to pay a visit. She’s expressed an interest in helping Groovehouse out with phone screening duties on show nights and it’s important she fully realize what she’s getting herself into.
A few more photos here.
To make last night even MORE interesting we were being videotaped by a crew from Vaguely Qualified Productions for the documentary film Nerdcore Rising.
Nerdcore Rising is about MC Frontalot and the evolotion of Nerdcore Hip Hop.
From the web site:
Nerdcore Rising is a documentary that will uncover the new wave of hip-hop called Nerdcore by following the godfather of the genre, MC Frontalot and his geeksta entourage on their first national tour. They will perform everywhere from gaming conventions to D&D tournaments. And, of course, we’ll get to meet nerdcore fans in all of their Magic-playing, pocket protector-wearing, Mensa-bragging, Jolt Cola drinking, internet-gaming glory.
You can see a trailer for the documentary here.
We were even joined in the studio by MC Frontalot himself where we witnessed some pretty awesome nerd core free-styling.
