The Wayback Machine

This video was shot by Bill Streeter February 9 & 16, 2004 (before his Lo-Fi Saint Louis days). This video was lost until now, eight years later. Enjoy!

Greetin’s Cretins!

In memorial to my old radio show, I’ve decided to create a new WordPress blog containing all of the playlists and as many of the actual archived episodes of the show that I can find. Most of the last several years of the show were recorded right in the studio directly onto CD-R, with each hour of the show being recorded onto separate CDs. I am starting the process of ripping 80 kbps mono MP3s of each of those CDs, and will include links to those downloadable show MP3 files on the episode page for that particular episode. Make sense? They’ll appear at the very bottom of the post, directly beneath the playlist. So you’ll first see the list of songs played, then the links to the MP3s for each segment of the show, and then you’ll see little audio players so you can listen to them right here on the site without having to download anything. I figured it’d be a good idea to do this, so that people who never got a chance to hear the show for themselves over the airwaves (or streaming via the ‘net) could hear them now, and it’d be silly to let all of these CD-Rs and cassette recordings go to waste. You can find all of the episodes with attached audio files in the “Audio” category in the menu on the right. So please check ‘em out! You’re free to leave comments about a particular episodes in the comments section included with each episode post. Thanks for visiting and listening, and, as always, STAY SICK!

kopper

Greetin’s Cretins,

I just wanted to let everyone know I’ve decided to retire The Wayback Machine after almost 11 years on KDHX. The main reason behind this decision is I need to free up some time for my family and personal life. When my son was born three years ago it became increasingly difficult to find the time necessary to continue producing what I would consider a great radio show while also performing my necessary duties as husband and father. In the past, I would spend many hours a week seeking out and reviewing new music, digging up old stuff, and creating my playlists for each show (not to mention posting the playlists online, emailing them out to hundreds of bands and record labels, email lists, etc.). But after my son was born and life became a lot more hectic, that time started to dwindle.

Then, to make matters worse, about a year ago Bill Streeter and I decided to start a podcast at GaragePunk.com. At first it wasn’t that big of a deal, but as time went on and more people jumped on board, we started posting shows more frequently, until sometime this past winter when it became a daily podcast. Once that happened, time was again at a premium as I would spend probably about an hour every day downloading, reviewing, and posting each submitted show, several more hours each week managing and promoting the station, and then even more hours every couple of weeks producing my own podcast show, Savage Kick.

As time went on I knew something would have to give, and I’d be needing to make a decision soon about what I really wanted to continue doing. The whole podcasting thing is very exciting, and I’ve become a lot more involved with it than I have been with my regular radio show as of late. Because of that, I feel The Wayback Machine has begun to suffer. The quality of the shows has decreased considerably over the past several months, mainly because I haven’t been able to dedicate the time to it that I need to produce a quality show like in years past. I found myself getting more stressed out over the whole thing, causing anxiety, lack of sleep, family tension, the whole 9 yards. I just feel that I need a break from it all, and I think I can free up a lot of my time and relieve a lot of the stress involved with producing a two-hour radio show every week if I just hang it up for now.

So that’s what I’m doing. I’m not saying it’s permanent. Who knows, the whole podcasting thing may fizzle out in a few years and maybe then I’ll take another stab at a show on KDHX. But as of right now, I can’t continue to do it all, so I’m throwing in the towel and will retire the old girl. She’s seen a lot of miles with over 560 episodes on KDHX spanning several different time slots, each of them unique, fun, and exciting.

Thanks to everyone who has helped out with the show over the years: Jaimz Fete, Jeff Hess, Jason & Ann Rerun, Bill Streeter, Scott Lasser, Ryan Katastrophe, Beatle Bob (heh, JUST KIDDING!), etc. Thanks also to everyone at the greatest radio station on the planet, KDHX FM 88.1, and especially to all of the fans, bands, and record labels that supported me and the show over the years. I literally couldn’t have done it without any of you. We gave it a helluva good run and I hope the local music community benefited from it being on the air during these years.

It will be up to the Program Committee to fill the vacated spot that I’ll leave open on Monday nights, but I’m sure they’ll either move another current show there or introduce another great new one to the KDHX roster (or both). It would be great if that show also had somewhat of a garage rock slant, but frankly, I’m not holding my breath.

So while the demise of The Wayback Machine may signal the end of an era for KDHX, myself, and the local music community, I feel that the podcast more than makes up for it by ushering in a fresh and exciting new era of great rock’n'roll available daily. So I’ll still be around, just not on the airwaves in St. Louis.

My last episode will be Monday August 28.

Thanks again for everything, and stay sick!
kopper

Hey everyone, I’m happy to announce that there’s a new crew in place to pilot the Wayback Machine on future missions. Don’t worry, I’m still the captain of this ship. But I’m adding a couple of first mates: Ryan “Gilligan” Katastrophe and Scott “Doc” Lasser. Doc will be joining me on the show tonight, and Ryan next week. I think the plan right now is to have them alternate as co-host or whatever every-other week or so, and then about once a month they’ll do the show themselves, together. THAT should be interesting! Then I’ll probably still do the show solo once a month or so, too. Anyway, I’m just kinda bored doing it all by myself and I feel it’s time for a change. Plus, it’s time the show got a kick in the pants and I think this will do it. It will also help relieve the strain a bit for me and actually give me a week off now and then, something I’ll welcome gladly.

Happy birthday to me,

kopper

..is history. I deleted the damned thing tonight. Both the old version and the new wiki. It’s just been a huge thorn in my side for, oh, at least a year now, if not longer. Too many things goin’ on, not enough time to manage them all equally and really give the Lowlife Guide the time and energy it really deserved, and I hate anything that’s done half-assed. So my birthday present to myself this year is to alleviate a bit of the stress I’ve put on myself by having “too much on my plate” as the saying goes (I really hate that saying, btw). I’m not done yet, either. Got something else up my sleeve that will free up a lot of my “free time.” More later…

kopper

Greetin’s cretins,

It’s been a long time coming, but you can now FINALLY listen to archived episodes of The Wayback Machine anytime you damn well please. No need to rearrange your Monday night schedules to listen live anymore (although you’re still welcome to do that, as if…). So, to hear how crappy and unprofessional I sound on FM radio in St. Louis, just hit the link below, then click the “STREAM” button next to the date of the show you wanna hear…

http://www.kdhx.org/programs/waybackmachine.htm

So far there are only two shows there, but that’s better than none!

Stay sick,
kopper

Well I did it. I got interviewed last night at KDHX after The Wayback Machine for Superfan, the Beatle Bob documentary. The girl that’s doing it is very sweet and somehow charmed me into it, but I’m glad she did. I think what I had to say needed to be said, I was just reluctant to do it myself because I get so tired and bored with the whole Beatle Bob topic. I wish people would get excited and talk about our great local bands like they do about some kook who dances in the audience, lies to bands, and steals stuff. I also learned quite a bit about this enigmatic loon in the process. All I gotta say is this is probably going to one very interesting doco… It’s supposed to come out next spring. Watch for it.

I sent an email to Steve at The Royale this morning cancelling my next two DJ spins there. I’m just too busy with house projects, family summer plans, managing the GaragePunk Podcast, doing my regular radio show and lots of other crap to have the free time I really need to plan out and execute a successful spin every month. Plus, the last couple times I spun very few people (friends or otherwise) came out to hear it, and the people who were there would come up with off-the-wall, inappropriate requests like Led Zeppelin, the Jackson 5, Gnarls Barkley(!) or some shit, so I’m a bit disillusioned about this whole DJing thing. I might pick it up again in the fall if things slow down a bit and I can get caught up on some of these house projects (that’s what you get when you buy an 80-year-old house… it continually needs TLC), but for right now I’m steering clear of the DJ booth.

Check out this event: DJ Kopper at The Royale!
Category: Parties and Nightlife
Hosted By: Kopper (duh)
When: Saturday May 27, 2006 at 9:30 PM
Where: The Royale
3132 S. Kingshighway (at Juniata)
Saint Louis, MO 63116
US
Description:
The Bug House is kinda like The Wayback Machine on Wheels! If you enjoy the music you hear on the radio show, then you’ll definitely have fun at The Bug House! Hope to see ya there.

So this past Monday was The Wayback Machine’s one shot at recruiting some new members (or at least some pledges) during the KDHX Spring Membership Drive, and once again, the show fell way short of its goal. Like over $400 short. That’s not good. One thing I like to show the station (and the Program Committee) is that I have listeners who not only enjoy what I play every week, but who are also willing to give to the station to show them that what I’m playing is important or valuable enough for people to not only listen once in a while, but to also support it with their pocketbooks. And when the show doesn’t do well, it kinda conveys that there’s not a lot of interest for the styles of music that I’m featuring. Now, I know that’s not the case. I know there are people out there in the community who enjoy my show, call me up almost every week with requests, band members of local bands that I play regularly, etc. And for every one of those there are probably a dozen others who enjoy it but never call. Anyway, my point is, if you enjoy the show, you really do owe it to yourself to support it by pledging some cash to KDHX. If it weren’t for KDHX, the show wouldn’t be on the air at all (obviously), and without the financial support of our listeners (um, YOU!), KDHX wouldn’t last another day. So please, if you have yet to pledge this year, do so now. You can pledge easily and inconspicuously online by clicking here. Just be sure you let ‘em know it’s for The Wayback Machine. Online pledges count just as much as phone-in ones, and you can still take advantage of the pledge deferment, which can spread your pledge out over 12 monthly credit card payments so it doesn’t all hit your account at once. So you could theoretically pledge $88, spread it out over 12 monthly payments from your credit card, which equals out to just $7.33/month. I would hope that tuning into The Wayback Machine is at least worth that much to ya!

So, please pledge. And if you do, let me know by posting a comment here. Thanks!

https://ssl.kdhx.org/pledge/support.html