Annie Bartholomew, KTOO

We had a really exciting morning at here KTOO . At about 10:40 a slight burning smell started filtering into our offices and the KXLL studio. It wasn’t long before the fire alarm went off and we were standing around the outside lot wondering when it would be appropriate to call 9-11. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait that long  – but next time there’s a drill or real fire I’m popping these songs into the lineup.

Burning Down the House – Talking Heads

David Byrne encourages you to burn in style and “Hold tight, wait ’till the party’s over.” Great advice.
Disco Inferno – The Tramps

Depending on how you feel about your workplace, a disco dance party might be appropriate.
Fire – Jimi Hendrix

Jimi only has one burning desire and you should too, evacuate the building.
Light My Fire – The Doors

Since you can’t do real work – think about the dreamy Jim Morrison while waiting out the fire.  This is his notorious performance on the Ed Sullivan show. He says “higher” at 1:50.
Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash

Love, like whatever flowed through our ventilation system, is a burning thing. Johnny cash knows it.

 

Let your drive home burn up on Annie on the Spot today at 4:00 where you will hear all these songs.

 

 

Imagine Woodstock, except on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway with neon light sculptures the size of buildings and three-hundred thousand of your peers screaming and dancing to the new sound of Electronic Dance Music. This is what Juneau native Marlon Lumba, known as Astronomar was performing three weeks ago at the Electric Daisy Carnival.

Now signed to the record label Main Course in L.A. and with an Australian music tour happening in August, Lumba is returning to Juneau for a series of shows to share his music with the community where he got started.

Lumba was 17 when he first scratched records before an audience, DJing with the Anamatronic Stage Show, a hip hop group with a rotating cast of local MCs, or rappers. During the early 2000s, The Alaskan Bar became the center of Juneau’s hip hop community with the weekly event Monday Night Raw.

Jake Good, an MC who goes by Audiovisual, was one of the founding members of the Anamatronic Stage Show. At Monday Night RAW, Good would mix records and rap with Lumba.

At the end of the night we’d open the mic and play beats and give people and atmosphere where they could experience hip hop and even participate in it if they wanted to. – Jake Good, MC Audiovisual

Scott Mackinnon was a regular at these early Juneau hip hop shows. Today he is known by his DJ name “Shorthand.”

Monday night RAW was originally Mar’s brainchild and that turned into Juneau’s hip hop scene. -Scott Mackinnon, DJ Shorthand

It was at Monday Night RAW that Lumba started to collaborate with Mackinnon and the pair formed the group Filejerks. Lumba came up with the name – a sort of metaphor for “ripping” music off the internet. The group employs a technique where small pieces of an original song are recorded and modified using effects to create a whole new song.

The Filejerks played nearly all the venues in Juneau – before hitting a ceiling in the local scene. In 2008, Lumba and Mackinnon packed up for Seattle, gambling their fate in a bigger market.

Moving to a big city from a small town is a pretty big test, you know, whether or not you’re going cut it. -Mackinnon

Though Lumba’s music was rooted in hip hop, in Seattle he became influenced by the sounds of night clubs. Using his personal computer and basic audio software, Lumba was able to create new songs he would play during live performances. He incorporated House Music into his sound, an electronic music sub-genre at 126 beats per minute, with a consistent four-four tempo.  Like most pop music, Lumba’s follows a structure. But instead of a verse, chorus, and bridge, his songs follow an intro, build up, and drop.

It’s like tropical hard house with some coconuts and graffiti mixed in there. -Marlon Lumba, DJ Astronomar

Lumba believes Electronic Dance Music is popular because just like disco and other genres before it, young people have a desire to detach from their problems, and let loose on the dance floor.

It’s like one of the most stressful times to be alive. There’s just so much happening, like technology’s crazy. There’s so much stimulus and people just want to let go. -Lumba

And people did let go – 600 of Juneau’s young people showed up last week at the Twisted Fish.

Despite living outside, Astronomar continues to be an inspiration for Juneau’s hip hop community. Juneau hip hop organizer, TJ Cramer, who goes by Manner will be at Monday Night Raw and looks forward to Astronomar’s presence at Juneau’s notorious hip hop event tonight.

You know there’s a time for everybody, and I think it’s his time. -TJ Cramer, MC Manner

 

Sometimes at KTOO, your assistant finance director is your best lede for hip hop releases. Juneau-Portland duo Sean Lindsay and Evan Simko will be on Annie on the Spot to talk about their new EP “Current” which was officially released on July 1st. “Current” is available for free download now on their bandcamp page, but if you still have a cd player you can get a physical copy for a donation while the boys are in town.

If you have questions for  evv’n’flo or Momentum = mv email me at annie@ktoo.org. I have some questions of my own, but I’ll save them for the radio. Tune in at 4:00.

 

When my boss asked me to produce a news story about DJ Astronomar my first thought was how am I gonna explain hip hop to the Morning Edition audience?

With our news listeners in mind, I asked  local expert TJ Cramer, better known as Manner,  to explain what hip hop is and help me out with the terminology of the trade. Manner helps organize the Word 2 the Wize hip hop battles around southeast Alaska and performs with Diatribe NW and his new group Get on Down with Your Bad Self that is a collective of members from as far as Seattle.

Look for Manner at the upcoming event Mask and Glove happening at Rockwell on July 6th.

Today Jill Weitz will be on Annie on the Spot to discuss her event “Eat, Drink & Vote,” Alaska Top to Bottom’s final push to secure votes in the Outside Magazine Adventure Grant Competition happening tonight at the Hangar.  The team of Christina Vasquez, AJ Peters and Weitz is competing for $10,000 to support their idealized Alaskan adventure of hiking, biking, and paddling from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean back down to Juneau.

The group is roughly 300 votes down, and invites everyone to the Hangar tonight, to have dinner and vote for the team. Party starts at 6:00 and they have the upstairs reserved until 9:00.

Click here to vote for “Alaska Top to Bottom” and tune in at 4:45 to hear Jill on KXLL.

The Luminous Pariah had just finished casting the  sculpture he will wear as a headdress at next week’s A Mod Review  before coming to the station for  “A Juneau Afternoon” yesterday. Excellent Radio was lucky enough to get the low-down on his upcoming  performances and hear some of  the music that inspired tonight’s super-show Wham! Bam! KaBoom!

You can check out Seattle-based “BOYlesque” trio Mod Carousel this weekend at Rockwell  for Wham! Bam! KaBOOM! and in the old-school cabaret show A Mod Revue next week at Perseverance Theatre. Both Performances will feature the international burlesque star Lily Verlaine.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story referred to performer The Luminous Pariah’s legal name. They have since asked to only be referred to by their stage name and we have honored that request and removed the legal name.