No, there's no clever pun in my use of this album cover as the header. I just really like this cover.

Oh hi guys, I didn’t see you there.

Maybe you remember me.  In case you don’t, let me refresh your memory.  My name is John.  You can call me “Freakman John.”  I do a little show on Boston University’s radio station called “Freakshow!”  It’s a garage, punk and psychedelic rock show.  It’s pretty cool if I say so myself.

Did you know I’ve been back on the air for about three weeks now?  No?  Well I have.  And boy did WTBU fuck me over this time by putting me on at 8 in the morning which was cutting my show short.  It’s not been very good, honestly.  In fact, I don’t blame you for not knowing that this happened.  I did a pretty good job of not telling people I was back while spiting WTBU and trolling them on air and playing curse-laden Ice Cube songs for a half-hour straight.  I am proud of myself for that.

This blog entry totally has a point; just bear with me here, folks.

Now that we’ve gotten that all out of the way, I have a few announcements to make.  First of all, starting Monday, February 7, we are rebooting Freakshow! To put it another way, we have changed time slots and we are calling a do-over on this season and doing right by it.  Freakshow! now airs every Monday morning from 8 – 10 AM on WTBU, and you should listen to it live because it’s awesome.  But if you suck and can’t do that, we have you covered: every episode is going to be recorded and uploaded to the Freakshow! blog. I think I’ve figured out how to get around WTBU’s usual tactic of not having their shit work, so this shouldn’t be a problem anymore as it has been in the past (and by the past I mean two weeks ago, where my first show is stuck in one of the station computers.  Seriously!)

But the most important announcement of all is that the Freakshow! blog is moving to an actual for-realsies domain.  Sometime next week, you will now find us at http://freakshow-radio.com, where we will have the same goofy content as well as some other fun stuff I have planned.

Lastly, like the good abandoning father to you all that I am, I’m showing up after my long period of absence with gifts.  At the bottom of this post you will find every single Freakshow! episode I have recorded and saved on my computer. Bear in mind, some of them are going to be rough as I haven’t done clean-up on them (including the most recent episode, which I am literally just burning over from the CD and putting up here).  Also, I have some more episodes floating around somewhere that I will be sure to upload once I get the chance, so keep checking during this weekend for more fun!

This season’s been a bit rough-going so far, but it’s going to get better and it’s going to be awesome.  Mark my words and keep tuned in, because we love you more than you could ever know.

-”Freakman” John Maxwell

—

Freakshow! – 1/14/10
Freakshow! – 4/1/10: Pax Freakout – A Retrospective
Freakshow! – 4/15/10
Freakshow! – 4/22/10: Can Music Save the World? An Audio Essay

Freakshow! – 2/3/11

With any luck, this entry won't leave you blue...

Before you say it: yes, I know.  I have been neglecting the blog.  I have done a bunch of episodes that I keep saying I will upload, but I haven’t in spite of the fact that I’ve even finished editing a couple of these episodes.  Yes, I still intend on uploading them when I get the chance, and yes, I intend to do better next season (if there is a next season, but we’ll get to that), just like I did better with the blog this season.  Until then, however, here is an entry in which I am going to vent and give you a bit more “inside baseball” into this show and how much it means to me.

I was going to save this for my last Freakshow!, the epic Season 3 finale, but unfortunately it just isn’t going to happen.  I just don’t have the time or the energy to put together one last show, and considering this show is my lifeblood, you KNOW I must be in dire straights for this to happen.  But I’ve been thinking a lot about what the future holds for the show.  And the simple answer is: I don’t know.  To say the least, though I will still be getting a BU diploma, I’m not sure if I will be finishing my academic career on BU grounds.  Honestly, I can deal with that, and I would probably be happier at a community college or whatever.  But that would mean no Freakshow!… and that scenario petrifies me more than almost anything I have ever dealt with in my life.

Some of you may remember the way I ended Season Two (and as an aside: I fully intend on uploading that and some of the other Season Two episodes I have lying around at a later date).  For those who don’t remember, or blocked it out as I have tried to, I, on the verge of tears, asked my audience of what I supposed to be no one: “why do I even bother?  Why do I care so much about this show when I’m the only one who does?”  And the reason I came up with is because I am Freakshow! This show only works because I put every single piece of who I am into it.  Every single song I’m into, emotion I’m feeling, terrible thing that has happened to me, news story that bothers me, nerdy interest I have that most people would not like to indulge or statement I feel needs to be said; they all go into Freakshow! and become these sets that I spend so much of my time carefully crafting.  That, truly, is where the “harmonious dissonance” comes from, and how I feel I’m able to do this show the way I do.  It would be one thing if I knew my time was up, that I had no other choice than to move on and start thinking of what comes next.  But I don’t.  I don’t know if my time on WTBU is done or if I’ll even be allowed back on the air if I’m back here in the fall.  And this fact frightens me beyond belief.

So Peisin, or Sarah, or anyone else on the E-board: if you’re reading this, yeah I know my application was a bit late, but I’d really love my show again if you can find it in your heart of hearts to forgive me for forgetting that it was due Wednesday and not today.  Just saying.  But I digress.

Whatever the future holds, though, I know one thing for certain: Freakshow! will be back.  I don’t know where and I don’t know when, but this show cannot and will not die.  Even if I have to pay to create my own internet radio station that only two people can listen to at a time, I will make sure Freakshow! has a home somewhere.  You know why?  Because this show is everything to me, and I couldn’t let it go silently into the night even if I tried.  So will we be back in the fall?  I can’t say.  But keep checking this blog during the coming summer months, because I have some content very much in tune with the show planned aside from uploading these missing episodes (a site relaunch may even be in the cards… but more on that later).  But until then, let me just say this: it’s been both my pleasure and my honor to do this show for three amazing semesters, and my only hope is that it never has to end.  And if I’m lucky, I can stave off that horrifying possibility for another four beautiful months.

Much love.

-”Freakman” John Gawarecki-Maxwell

While we always recommend that you listen to the episode as it was originally presented and intended, we strongly urge you to download the episode and listen to the whole thing this week, as though we tried our damnedest to make this show as accessible and varied as possible even if you could care less about video games and the music contained within them (and please comment if you don’t think we did a good job with this, because we’d really like to know how to improve this kind of show if we do something like it again) it will provide a necessary context to the musical selections and interviews that simply reading a list and clicking on various Youtube links cannot provide.  We feel so strongly about this, in fact, that we even considered providing no links for the setlist this week in an effort to get you to listen to the entire episode; we backed down from that, but suffice to say you should still listen to the whole thing if you want to hear the show as it is meant to be heard.  Additionally, we also recommend you read the Interviewee Introduction Cheat Sheet for the Uninformed posted below the setlist, especially if you know nothing about the person being interviewed, as that will provide you with a little more context on what is being discussed and why (as well as fill you in on some of the goofy jokes).

Click the song information (when applicable) to hear the song.  Click the game name in parentheses for more information on the games in which these songs originated from.

Shoji Meguro – Pursuing My True Self (from Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4)

Shoji Meguro – Burn My Dread (from Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3)

—

Shoji Meguro – Unavoidable Battle (from Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3)

—

INTERVIEW WITH “BATMAN”

Naoki Kotaka – Sky Over Gotham City (from Batman (Mega Drive version))

Simon Viklund – Power Plant (from Bionic Commando Rearmed)

Tomoya Ohtani & Mariko Nanba – Apotos ~ Windmill Isle Day (from Sonic Unleashed)

Ippo Yamada, Yu Shimoda, Ryou Kawakami & Hiroki Isogai  - Galaxy Fantasy (from Mega Man 9)

Michiru Yamae – Marble Gallery (from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night)

Bobby Prince – E1M1: At Doom’s Gate (from Doom)

Pixel –  Eyes of Flame (from Cave Story)

—

COMMENTARY: THE ATARI 2600 SHOWDOWN

Kenichi Okuma – Flat Zone 2 (from Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

Hiroshi Yamaguchi – Mysterious Destiny – Retro Version (from Bayonetta)

Mikio Saitou – Beginning (from Castlevania: Dracula X – Rondo of Blood)

—

INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL WILFORD

Matt “Chainsaw” Chaney – Donuts, Go Nuts! (from Splosion Man)

Richard Jacques – Everybody Jump Around (from Jet Set Radio)

Yoshie Arakawa & Yoshinori Kawamoto – Mid-Air Battle (from Star Fox Assault)

Yu Miyake – Que Sera Sera (from Katamari Damacy)

—

Jun Senoue – Splash Hill Zone, Act 1 (from Sonic the Hedgehog 4; remixed by Gecko Yamori)

—

INTERVIEW WITH JOHN DAVISON

Yasunori Mitsuda & Guido – Brink of Time (from Chrono Trigger; remix from the “Brink of Time” arrangement album)

Naofumi Hataya – Tidal Tempest (Present) (from Sonic CD (Japanese version))

Naofumi Hataya & Kenichi Tokoi – Mexican Flyer (from Space Channel 5)

Masafumi Tanaka – Gene’s Rock-a-Bye (from God Hand)

Shoji Meguro – Heartbeat, Heartbreak (from Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4)

—

INTRVIEW WITH JEFF GERSTMANN

Yuzo Koshiro – Wave 131 (from Streets of Rage 2)

Hideki Naganuma – Get Edgy! (from Sonic Rush)

Michiru Yamae – The Tragic Prince (from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night)

Christophe Heral – Fight Part 1 (from Beyond Good & Evil)

Michael Jackson & Howard Drossin – Flying Battery Zone (from Sonic & Knuckles)

Mahito Yokota & Koji Kondo – Buoy Base Galaxy (from Super Mario Galaxy)

Masaru Shiina – Boku No ~ Chikyu Bokura No Chikyu (from Mr. Driller: Drill Land)

—

Masafumi Tanaka – God Hand (from God Hand)

—

The Interviewee Introduction Cheat Sheet for the Uninformed

Batman

• He’s the goddamn Batman; what more needs to be said?
• He also might just be some guy who was dressed up as Batman and confused by the fact that we were interviewing him as if he actually was Batman, but we have yet to confirm this.

The Atari 2600 Competition

• The game Freakman John was playing while Goran and Josh commentated was Outlaw, released in 1979 for the Atari 2600 and developed by Pitfall creator David Crane.

Michael Wilford

• Michael Wilford is the CEO of Twisted Pixel, an independent developer who develops games for Xbox Live Arcade and PC.
• Twisted Pixel’s games include The Maw and Splosion Man. Their latest game, Comic Jumper, was played live for an audience for the first time at Twisted Pixel’s booth at PAX East, though the contents of the live demo were identical in most ways to the linked video.
• The “Donut song” alluded to numerous times in the interview is “Donuts, Go Nuts!” which immediately follows the interview in the full episode.

John Davison

• John Davison is the current Editorial Director of Gamepro, both the website and the magazine.  Before this, he created the parent-focused gaming site What They Play, and served as Editor-in-Chief for numerous publications formerly owned by Ziff-Davis, including Electronic Gaming Monthly, Official Playstation Magazine and the entire 1UP Network before leaving to create What They Play in 2007.

Jeff Gerstmann

• Jeff Gerstmann is the co-creator of Giant Bomb, the world’s largest editable video game database.  In addition, he is half of rap/electronica/insanity group Midnight Brown.
• Chie is one of the main characters of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, a game that is infamous among the Giant Bomb community thanks to the Endurance Run, a 155-episode series in which Jeff and Giant Bomb video editor Vinny Carravella played the game (and provided Mystery Science Theater 3000-style commentary) for over 100 hours.  She is obsessed with kung fu films and likes steak, Bruce Lee, and kicking things.  It should therefore come as no surprise that both Jeff and Freakman John are incredibly fond of her.
• Luchadeer is Giant Bomb’s unofficial mascot, an aptly-named deer wearing a luchador mask.  He is also, as Jeff mentions in the interview, a murderer.

—

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL EPISODE!

It’s a “new day rising” for Freakshow!

As we enter the final stretch for this season, we’ve decided that instead of us keeping up what we’ve been doing – giving you the best in garage and punk interspersed with as much madness and mayhem as we can muster – we’re going to mix things up for this ultimate month.  We’ve been teasing doing some special shows since the end of February, but now the time has come, and we’re ready to reveal the first two of this unique series of shows we have planned:

APRIL 1: PAX Freakout: A Retrospective – the first ever PAX East convention – a love-in for gamers and geeks of all walks of life – was held at Hynes Convention Center last weekend, and we were there!  In honor of this, the entire show is dedicated to the best music to ever come from a video game, as well as interviews from the show floor with people such as John Davison (Editorial Director of Gamepro), Michael Wilford (CEO of independent game developer Twisted Pixel), Jeff Gerstmann (co-creator of Giant Bomb) and random con-goers.

APRIL 8: Can Music Save the World?: An Audio Essay – inspired by the 2009 film Fish Story, in which a punk song saves the world from ultimate destruction, we attempt to analyze popular music’s ability to affect and reflect on social issues and the subsets of society they speak to and determine music’s place on the world stage, the political forefront, and in our hearts and minds.

Suffice to say, these two episodes are unlike anything we’ve ever done before.  But just like any of our bizarre sets that shouldn’t work on paper yet somehow come together to form a brilliant blend of harmonious dissonance™, we’ve got a great feeling about these and the other shows we have planned.  Unfortunately, the stuff we have planned for the other shows isn’t quite set in stone yet, so we’re going to hold those close for a little while longer.  So keep checking this space because we’ll be letting you know soon enough.

And if that is not reason enough to keep checking the Freakshow! blog, what if we were to tell you that we now have the WTBU studio recordings for the majority of episodes from the last month-and-a-half and we will be uploading them, as well as the missing set lists, throughout the week?  Because we do!  Don’t say we never did anything nice for you!

recently, a comment was posted by show superfan Mike Lau about how I have been neglecting the blog again.  And the truth is, he’s right – I have.  But I have a semi-good reason for it, which I will now share with you, because I believe in being up-front with you people and that is how I roll.

There have been two Freakshow!s since the last update: one on February 25 and one on March 4.  You may notice that neither of these shows have been jotted down for the site.  The reason why is pretty simple, actually.  For the February 25 show, I simply don’t remember what I played.  My laptop crashed the night before the show, and I have since lost every setlist for every single episode of Freakshow! from this season.  Thankfully, all but one has been backed up thanks to this blog; but the only way to get that one back, simply, is to go to the WTBU log computer, hope that there’s a recording of this episode, and listen to the entire thing.  And since I need to do that anyway, I’ve decided to sit on posting the set for the March 4 episode until I can get the recordings for both those episodes (and the two other missing recordings) onto my now fixed laptop.

So no, I have not forgotten that this blog exists; I’ve just had to deal with all sorts of things getting in the way of this season of Freakshow! being the best it can be.  But I will soldier on and provide you with the best I can give you, because that’s what I do.

Freakshow! will not be airing this week for reasons beyond our control.  Tune in next week for a brand new episode!

Click the song information (when available) to hear the song.  Click the album art next to the song information to view the song’s host album’s page on Amazon.

Nine Black Alps – Bitter End

—

The Buzzcocks – Orgasm Addict

The Saints – (I’m) Stranded

Reigning Sound – I’ll Cry

Guided by Voices – I Am a Tree

Shadow Mann – Shadow Mann

Motorhead – Louie Louie

Foxboro Hot Tubs – Mother Mary

—

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Highway Chile

Dropkick Murphys – Gonna Be a Blackout Tonight

The Black Keys – Hurt Like Mine

Love – A House is Not a Motel

Husker Du – The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill

Devo – Uncontrollable Urge

OK Go – A Good Idea at the Time

—

T. Rex – Monolith

The Sonics – Cinderella

Ramones – You’re Gonna Kill That Girl

Van Morrison – Crazy Love

Operation Ivy – Freeze Up

Jeff the Brotherhood – U Got the Look

Toadies – Hell in High Water

—

Bad Religion – The State of the End of the Millennium Address

Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

King Missile – Detachable Penis

Rip Slyme – GALAXY

Cibo Matto – Spoon

Weezer – Only in Dreams

—

If I may break character here and stop talking in the “royal we” as to make it seem like Freakshow! is more than just me typing nonsense on this blog, this is usually where I would post the link to download this week’s fine episode.  And let me tell you something – it was a fine episode, one that I am insanely happy with and wish I had proof to show just how good it was and how much better I have gotten since I started doing this show.  But of course, WTBU’s CD Burner decided it would be a great idea to not want to do anything today!  Great!  Super!  So stoked about that!  Alas, while I cannot replicate the awesome talk we had on today’s show outside of making up some random comments about each song or posting my show notes in big block form (which would be idiotic), I can bring back the thing I did last semester before I decided to stop updating the blog:

THINGS WE SAID TODAY:

• I discussed Nine Black Alps and how underrated they are.  Seriously, if you don’t know anything about them, you should really check them out.  It’s true that they’ve never been able to replicate the harsh, grungy and melodic magic of their first album (Everything Is), but they are still better than the majority of “rock” bands out there today.  Their second album, the more pop-oriented Love / Hate, is terrific and you can get it off iTunes for $6.  Meanwhile, their newest album – Locked Out from the Inside, an album that is even rougher than Everything Is – is $7.59 on iTunes; admittedly I’m incredibly apathetic towards the album and it does absolutely nothing for me, but I’m not saying it’s bad.  Outside of one song, I don’t think there’s anything “bad” about the album outside of it just didn’t click with me (and since I know for a fact that most of you are just going to go torrent these albums anyway, what do you got to lose by checking it out?).  So do yourself a favor and check them out; you’ll be glad you did.
• Perhaps you’ve heard of Chroma.  Yes?  No?  Well allow me to explain: it’s a ballet.  It’s going to be playing in Toronto as part of the National Ballet of Canada’s series this year.  I really want to see it.  Now you may be wondering: why would I, Freakman John of all people, be interested in a ballet?  Well maybe it has something to do with the fact that it features a 35-piece orchestra playing White Stripes songs. Folks, I cannot make this up!  To put it another way: Mike, I’m crashing at your dorm whenever this is playing.  I hope you don’t mind.
• After last week’s ridiculously pessimistic episode, you’d think I’d want to get away from news stories that make me furious and hate this world.  But instead, I found it important to be horrified by this story about a soldier who waterboarded his daughter because she couldn’t remember the alphabet.  In all seriousness, folks, while I may have been horrified on air (and still am horrified by it), this story is absolutely hilarious in theory.  If you told me this was real and never showed me this news story, I’d never believe you.  It sounds like a scene out of a demented black comedy, not real life.  The fact that this nutbar actually did it is what makes it awful.
• The T. Rex song is dedicated by myself and friend of the show Max Engel-Streich to our good friend Clark, who just turned 22 today.  Happy birthday Clark!  And speaking of T. Rex, here’s a fun science project for you to do: next time you’re at your favorite bar, go check out their jukebox.  If they don’t have Electric Warrior on the jukebox, never go there again!
• A correction: I stated on air that Husker Du is from L.A.  They’re not; they’re from Minneapolis, which is, in case you were wondering, nowhere near California.  I apologize for this egregious mistake.  I have brought shame to my family, and will be sure to atone for this sin through seppuku.
• The last set of today’s show (which is one of the best sets I have ever made, if I say so myself; it embodies everything Freakshow! is while being something that, on paper, should never fit into Freakshow! in any way, shape or form) was dedicated to Sonichu – the most awesome electric hedgehog Pokemon in the world – and his HFA manchild of a father Ian Brandon Something Chris-Chan.  Keep on zapping to the extreme, boys!
• And finally, in today’s Deep Thought we discussed the distinct possibility of Sarah Palin running for president of the United States, and why we really want her to run and win.  TL;DR: if she runs, it’ll be hilarious because of how stupid the Republicans would be to nominate her; if she wins, it’ll be awesome because it will guarantee that the world will end in 2012, thus proving the Mayans right once again!  Can’t refute that logic, folks!

MC5 – Kick Out the Jams

—

Mountain – Mississippi Queen

The Blue Van – Mob Rule

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Man

Them Crooked Vultures

The Giraffes – The Power of Fatherhood

Cream – World of Pain

The White Stripes – Stop Breaking Down

—

Sugar – A Good Idea

mclusky – 1956 and All That

Les Savy Fav – Wake Up!

Minutemen – This Ain’t No Picnic

Bang Bang Eche – Time Mismanagement

The Music Machine – Trouble

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom – The Slug

—

Gloria Jones – Tainted Love

Franz Ferdinand – Bite Hard

Misfits – Hybrid Moments

The Hives – Hate to Say I Told You So

Godiego – Cherries Were Made For Eating

Nick Lowe – I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass

Blood Red Shoes – Try Harder

—

Death From Above 1979 – Pull Out

The Buzzcocks – Fiction Romance

The Dave Clark Five – Look Before You Leap

Bob Dylan – Baby Let Me Follow You Down

Bruce Springsteen – It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City

The Vines – Country Yard

Husker Du – Standing in the Rain

—

EPISODE DOWNLOAD COMING SOON

We now return you to the deafening sound of radio silence (already in progress).

Click the song information (when available) to hear the song.  Click the album art next to the song information to view the song’s host album’s page on Amazon.

The Giraffes – Honest Men

—

The Grateful Dead – The Golden Road (to Unlimited Devotion)

Stiff Little Fingers – Alternative Ulster

King Missile – Metanoia

R.E.M. – Gardening at Night

Foxboro Hot Tubs – Pieces of Truth

David Bowie – Hang On to Yourself

Meat Puppets – We Don’t Exist

—

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – If 6 Was 9

Vivian Girls – Survival

The Damned – See Her Tonite

Electric Six – Getting Into the Jam

Blood Red Shoes – I Wish I Was Someone Better

Ramones – Havana Affair

The Doors – Been Down So Long

—

The Courtesy Tier – Cold [Requested by a listener]

—

[The following set assembled by special guest Kevin Corea-Berger]

Mastodon (featuring King Diamond) – Cut You Up With a Linoleum Knife

Nekromantix – Alive

The White Stripes – Blue Orchid

Spoon – I Turn My Camera On

Electric Six – Body Shot

Outkast – B.O.B.

Queens of the Stone Age – Go With the Flow

—

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom – Tree Pie

mclusky – Whoyouknow

—

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL EPISODE!