Unless the calendar is lying – and what would be the calendar’s motivation for that? – I am due to spin tomorrow night at the Atomic Cowboy: Wednesday, Feb. 22, 9 p.m.-’til closing time, somewhere in the low a.m. hours.

I believe the apt cliche to be: when it rains, it pours.

Filling in for Nico on two upcoming broadcasts of “Coin-Operated Radio” on KDHX: Saturday, March 11 and Saturday, March 18, from 6-8 p.m. each evening. Fun.

Thanks to the intervention of “The JB,” I was spared the unreal act of waking up in the 5:00 a.m. hour, to co-pitch “Rocket 88” on KDHX yesterday. Perhaps that extra sleep, a bracing dose of sugar and a full moon all helped me to a superhuman energy level, which added to the mania of the “rare third KDHX pledge drive” last night. The energy didn’t go for naught and I think I can speak for Amanda Doyle in saying “thanks.” With a bravura return of pledges, we exceeded our goal by a bit, with some outrageously generous memberships granted. Fantastic stuff for the station and quite gratifying on a personal basis, I must say.

The only question, of course, being: when is it too early to begin stressing over the “true” spring pledge drive? Think I’ll start in, oh, a week.

I think this has something to do with my “flexible schedule,” but I’m down for four appearances on 88.1 fm in the next week, asking listeners for some additional membership dollars. You can hop over to the KDHX site for the full details, but here’re my talk-talk slots in coming days:

Thursday, 10 a.m.-noon, “Greaser’s Lunchbox” with Al Swacker
Friday, noon-2 p.m., “Bob’s Scratchy Records” with Bob Reuter
Monday, 6-8 a.m., “Rocket 88” with Darren Snow (oh my! the time!)
and of course
Monday, 7:30-8:00 p.m., “The Wire” with Amanda Doyle and… me

Amazing, this has already been reported on the web. (That crazy web!) So, yeah, I’m spinning on Sunday, February 19, 5-8 p.m., at the Hartford Coffee Company, where co-owner James Fox will be officially opening his art show. It’ll be a cobbled-together little PA system, but should be fun day, all the same.

Looking forward, more, to touring the adults-only space upstairs. Man, the baby invasion’s been nuts lately.

I feel particularly responsible for publicizing my spin at The Royale on Saturday, February 18 because the business at The Royale has been so anemic on the weekends. I mean, without my ability to generate four or five people to attend the club’s open hours… well, there might only be three times the 49-person capacity. That would be a shame.

So I better mention it: me spinning, The Royale, February 18, no cover, 10 p.m.-close, all of this assuming that I find my copy of AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” which seems to have come up AWOL, but is critical to any set.

Just this morning, I came back from Downtown with about eight boxes of books, given to me by a nice couple that’s moving to Chicago. The selection included everything from Wolfe to Franken, from poetry to architecture. A whole bunch of stuff, really.

This batch will be a nice, starting base for the 52nd City Book Sale, coming up in, oh, two months, let’s say. We’re looking to compile a nice, treasure trove of books to sell, to support the publishing efforts of 52nd City in the coming year. If you happen to have a few titles to part with – and, people, what you’ll get in trade at the used-book shops is scarcely worth the gas money in driving them there – feel free to drop me a line and we can meet up to make the exchange. My basement, already in chaos, has room for more.

For those of you in the sometimes-lamentable position of having to interact with me – especially via cyber means – please let this note reflect the fact that I have lost one of the two-dozen e-mail accounts which I’ve picked up over the years. Have your electronic storage systems note that tcrone @ sbcglobal.net is no longer in existence. The use of thomascrone @ yahoo.com, though will assure swift and thorough responses.

Thank you and happy February.

An article and story in Playback St. Louis on tattoo artist Carrie Davini.

A pair of articles and stories in Sauce Magazine; one on the band Red Eyed Driver and another on cold-weather vendors at Soulard Market.

A co-written web article on artists’ first trips to St. Louis on the St. Louis Magazine site.

Upcoming Post pieces, including bar reviews of Foley’s, Maryland House and the new Mike Shannon’s; plus a feature on Wall Ball.

Upcoming St. Louis American features on SLU basketball coach Petra Jackson and wrestler Phil E. Blunt.