This is going to be a fun week, have that feeling.

Today: The standby of “Silver Tray,” noon – p.m.. I remember hearing that Kopper left the “Wayback Machine,” in part, because he was tired of spending three- or four-hours a week planning the show. Thought that wouldn’t befall me (a naturally lazy person), as I had enough backlogged music to play that it wouldn’t ever be a problem to roll in a just hit play. Turns out that the radio game is really a fair bit different than spinning clubs, which I knew, but didn’t know know, you know? Anyway, spent about two-and-a-half hours planning the show last night. Hope that translates.

(Update: Saturday, November 23 @ Royale. Late fill-in set. ‘S gonna be a good one.)

Thursday, Thanksgiving I: Filling in for Doug Morgan on the “Record Sto’,” from 2 – 4 p.m. Plan the first of a two-day marathon of STL rock, from the ’70s-today. If you happen to have been playing around town during that time and think I may not have a release of yours, lemme know, yo.

Thursday, Thanksgiving II: Here’s a changeup, as I get to fill in for the “Literature for the Halibut” crew, from 7 – 8 p.m. This one, I’ve mildly planning for at least two weeks, a process that would be aided considerably by my iPod turning up. Do you know where my iPod is hiding?

Friday, November 28 I: “Silver Tray” at noon. Day two of STL rock blocks. Some neat things are being unearthed as I type. Thanks Joe and Chris, among others.

Friday, November 28 II: The Rock’n’Roll Craft Show’s taking place this year at the Third Degree Glass Factory and I’m apparently trading cuts during the afternoon with none other than Steven Smith. (The Royale owner; not the gas station owner, or the motorcycle museum owner, or Deandre Latimore‘s promoter.)

Friday, November 28 III: Spinning at the aforementioned Royale, on what happens to be the busiest bar night of the year. To quote a friend: what fortune!

Let’s go record shopping!

A pic of mine is on the St. Louis Magazine “The Editor’s Room” blog. This seems apt to note for two reasons: 1) shameless self-promotion; and 2) the reminder to pick up any of the multiple cameras I’ve bought, thinking that each would be the stimulus to taking more photos. Alas.

Here’s it.

Mentioned this below, but we’ll mention it again, to be safe.

The Kick Ass Awards (or are they the Kick-Ass Awards? we’ve never been sure, ourselves) take place this coming Thursday, November 13, with an event at the wacky-and-wunnerful Joe’s Cafe.

There’s info at this here blog: www.kickassawards.blogspot.com.

Andrea, Stefene and I would hate to be all by ourselves, alone with just our 13 swell winners. Drop by and join us!

This time out, the time and space edition…

Deaths, Studs Terkel: Lived a good, full life. We should all be so productive and engaged. Heartfelt respect.

Books, Rip it Up & Start Again: Postpunk, 1978-84: An absolutely lively and (even) quick read, with the 400 pages going by in no time. During that reading, you’ll find yourself digging into your collection for some PIL, Pylon and Pere Ubu. Got a feeling that the rush of nostalgia will last for a little bit, too. Such good music!

Blogs, Confluence City: Be careful around Chris King. I recently purchased a sketch of his, intending it as a gag Xmas gift. But then Chris blogged my purchase, and the intended recipient read the piece; though he didn’t know the gift was coming, per se, it sorta knocked out the surprise factor. So, see, you gotta watch it when you’re around Chris, because he’s a Gladwell-like maven and connector, possibly a bit of a salesman, too, the ultimate “Tipping Point” trifecta. Not only do my onetime boxing days appear in a recent King posting, so does my ’90s kinship to Enormous Richard. It’s all very complicated.

Books and sketches, lost: Tying up this trio of items… for several years, I passed around a sketchbook. Don’t know why it was gifted to me, at all, but in short order, I turned it loose on St. Louis. Expats like Jenna Bauer and Alan Brunettin drew in it. Still-locals like Bradley Bowers and Jeff Miller added to the book. In time, Eric Woods of Firecracker Press added a new cover. After years of salting it here-and-there, sometimes for a week, once for half-a-year (Bowers!), the book’s disappeared. I don’t know who last had it, or who might now be in possession of it. So, STL-ers: if you see a well-worn, thick, sketchbook with dozens of Don Beasley drawings inside, please know who to contact.

Biodiversity, axolotls: My very favoritist film, “Another Girl, Another Planet,” features axolotls in several, key scenes. Sadly, fish tanks are about the only spot to find the Mexican “water monsters” these days, according to Yahoo. Bummer!

Event, The Kick Ass Awards: The fifth annual event, hosted by the editors and friends of 52nd City magazine, will be held on Thursday, November 13, with an evening event at Joe’s Cafe in the Skinker/Debalivere neighborhood. More propaganda in this event, here, in the very near future, no doubt. Who’s won it in the past? We’ll tell you.

TV child star, Butch Patrick as Eddie Munster: Was just thinking about him. Don’t know why.

Election nuggets, Salon’s War Room: Two more days. Read up!

Festivals, St. Louis International Film Festival: A year ago, I was clocking hours as the overwhelmed volunteer manager of the St. Louis International Film Festival. This year, I’m not. But it doesn’t mean that I’m not going to thoroughly enjoy the SLIFF this year, though I have absolutely no inside track on what’s hot and what’s not. Guess I’ll just have to read the schedule and do some calculations, like all the other folks. Fair enough.

Pizza, The Wedge: Haven’t been. Hearing about the pies, that they’re good. Blake Brokaw’s making them, so how could they not be?

Throwback concert of the month, The Great Crusades: The veteran Chicago band, by way of Collinsville, returns to the metro east for a show at the Stagger Inn on November 8. Nice. Stream a touch of their Myspace music and I hope you’ll agree.

Radio show names, Silver Tray: So I say, “the show’s called Silver Tray.” And they say, “like the drug tray?” And, so, I’m like, “a drug tray?” And they’re, like, “yeah, a tray that you’d do cocaine on.” And I’m all “Really?” So, like, really? Am I the last person to know that I named a radio show after a drug reference? Apparently!

Embeds, Vincent Price on SNL: I mean, it’s funny. Very funny. Oh! This is why I was thinking of Eddie Munster.

Tonight: Halo Bar, 10 p.m. – 2:35 a.m. (Please, no one call me before 10 a.m. tomorrow.)

Saturday: Art Attack at Koken Art Factory, before and after Steve Smith’s painting gets nuked.

I’m sitting here on the last day of fall break, thinking about all the wonderful times and activities I’ve had over the past week-and-change. Ah, joyous days!

My thought is this: with my divorce from cable TV and with my television going into the shop for repairs, I’ve been left with inordinate amounts to time to do… well, real things. Like going to the theatre. (Four shows in the past three weeks, some sort of personal record.) Attending art shows. Reading books. Supporting South City coffeehouses, $2.90 at a time. Hittin’ that Instant Netflix.

What I need to continue this head-freshening is your input, taken in the comments section below. I’d like your recs on: a) a piece of music; b) a book; c) a film, all worthy of investigation. I know there are a million-and-one social networking applications I could subscribe to, for the same purpose, but let’s go digital old school here.

For me:

Album: Maps, “We Can Create.” Lovely, shoegaze-y, droney, yeah. Found Maps through Wikipedia, oh my.

Book: Thomas L. Friedman’s “The World is Flat.” Took more than a month to fully read, but worth every minute. Breathtaking in scope, yet completely readable. Admittedly repetitive, at over 600 pages, but what a dissection of modern culture’s reliance on new technologies. And the analysis of: how the next crop of American workers are going to get their economic hats handed to them, compliments of every English-speaking, computer-savvy kid in India.

Film: “Downtown 81” starring Jean-Michel Basquiat. A strange little work that I’d never heard of until scrolling the Netflix Instant section. Basquiat, portraying himself (more or less) mopes around the cityscape of New York in a fictional “day,” spray-painting walls and making women fall in love, as he attempts to sell a painting for rent money. Only too cool and very Jarmusch-like. Download it tonight.

Thanks to the three of you who’ll take the time for your input!

This is troubling. It’s as if someone is trying to invalidate my entire mid-to-late-20s existence. Next, someone’s going to tell me that Kill Creek and Paw records are going out of print. Or police will come to my door, demanding my entire collection of Pagan Kennedy books.

The sad news: Zima’s being cancelled.

The end result: I’m laying in a stockpile worthy of 1950’s-era “nuclear cupboard.”

It is time to act…

As something spending time with plenty of youth folks, I found this episode of Frontline a really, really interesting view. If you’re in teaching or coaching, this balanced hour of video is well worth the time. Here’s the preview clip.