Surface Noise with Joe McGasko:
Playlist
from January 20, 2013
View Joe McG's profile
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A pennant-winning battery of songland. Ongoing feature: Single File, a half-hour of randomly selected small records with big holes.
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January 20, 2013: I Watch You Like a Television
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Listener comments! | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:10am
Holly in NC:
Hi Joe, glad you're back! Am listening via phone so can't sign in & play w the nifty friend stuff, bummer. But can listen w great enjoyment ;-) | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:15am
Joe McGasko:
Hey, all! Nice to be back. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:16am
Joe McG:
Ugh, it put my whole name in. That's better. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:17am
Kenzo (Ken's Last Ever):
I'll edit! (OK?) |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:17am
G:
That's what I said when I felt a hole in the toe. "Darn my socks." |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:18am
G:
64 whole K of RAM, K.? HOLY. CRAP. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:18am
Kenzo (Ken's Last Ever):
You couldn't actually access all 64K of RAM at once. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:19am
G:
awwwwwwwwww :) |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:19am
Joe McG:
Thanks, Kenzo! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:22am
G:
I feel cleaner and brighter already. And funkier. That, too. Funkier. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:23am
Joe McG:
@G: Ha ha! I forgot that I wrote that. Welcome to my Friendship Hoo-Hah! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:26am
G:
Yeah, I gots ta research me up a set o' them avatar whozits. I don't think I can stare at the same one all the time... |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:27am
KP:
Hi, Joe. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:37am
Joe McG:
@G: I look forward to your little picture. Hey, KP! Nice picture! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:38am
KP:
Thanks! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:40am
Destroit:
Nice to have you back Joe. Hello everyone. | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:41am
Holly in NC:
Joe, as I believe I'vd mentioned before, you are the only person EVER who plays Diana Ross songs tnat I actually like. | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:43am
Joe McG:
Hey, Destroit! @Holly: Thanks! It's hard to screw up Bill Withers songs, but Diana does a really great version of that one. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:57am
Holly in NC:
Curious... I just went & signed in on computer, but am now back in bed typing on phone...do I show as connected to the wfmu family or not? | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:58am
listener mark:
Hello Joe Hi everybody |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:58am
Joe McG:
@Holly: I see you, but I don't see the little picture yet...did you pick one? |
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Sun. 1/20/13 12:59am
Joe McG:
Hey, Listener Mark! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:02am
Holly in NC:
Yes, I have a wee picture & twitter & links & favorites & friends & lions & tigers &... but I guess only works on computer, not mobile app | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:03am
KP:
Great song, Camera Obscura. sums it all up. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:03am
Joe McG:
Ha ha! Lions and tigers much more important to have anyway. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:04am
KP:
Lions and tigers and ... hmm, i forget. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:11am
Joe McG:
BEARS! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:11am
G:
As kids in the 60s going home from school we chanted, "Lions and tigers and bears, oh shit!" |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:12am
G:
I'll get you yet, my pretty. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:13am
KP:
Oh ... |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:14am
KP:
my, this Dando Shaft is very damn good. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:14am
Joe McG:
Even as a kid it made me mad that the "good" fairy put those shoes on her. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:17am
KP:
Never thought of that way. The Good Fairy was an enabler. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:17am
G:
Good Fairies are known manipulators :) |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:18am
Joe McG:
She used Dorothy as a tool to off her nasty sister. I think it's a pretty mean trick. What, the Good Fairy was too busy to do her own dirty work? |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:19am
G:
And your little dog, too! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:19am
KP:
Think i will follow above lede and get more comfortable. Peeps are coming soon. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:19am
Matt from Springfield:
Great folk, you folks! Hey Joe! Love your avatar! And everyone else! Who's your avatar, KP? :) |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:20am
Joe McG:
Hey, Matt! Do you recognize him? |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:22am
Matt from Springfield:
Someone with a tuning harmonica? It's kind of small. I DO recognize Harold & Maude (and Ms. MILLIE!!) on your page! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:22am
Holly in NC:
Everyone should read the whole Oz series - well, the Baum originals. Brilliant. Ozma in Oz, the 3rd, is my favorite, most days. The Melvins', too ;-) | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:22am
KP:
Me and it's a very recent shot. | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:24am
Joe McG:
@Matt: It's Ned Sparks. If you get a chance, catch him in some old movie clips. In my head, that's how I speak. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:25am
Matt from Springfield:
Ah, didn't recognize this guy, but now I want to see some of his older movies. Canadian, to boot! en.wikipedia.org... |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:26am
Nardo:
I joined the society. I'm somebody now! Millions of people look at this site everyday! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity - your name on a social media site - that makes people. I'm on the internet! Things are going to start happening to me now. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:27am
Joe McG:
Congratulations, Nardo, you are now an official Person (TM). |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:28am
Matt from Springfield:
Welcome to the Society, Nardo Wuar! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:30am
G:
Things *are* starting to happen to you now. You're being teased. :) |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:30am
KP:
I just dropped out. | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:31am
G:
Deviant :) |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:32am
Matt from Springfield:
@G: I noticed your "pseudonymous" comments made while signed in the past couple weeks (and my own! and Parq's, it turns out). Make sure you leave a separate, unsigned browser open for using fake handles! ;) |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:34am
G:
I didn't know how posting was going to work till after they activated it post-beta. :-) Fear not, I learn fast. I scoped out how things work on the morning of day one. :) |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:34am
KP:
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:36am
Joe McG:
Avatar fun! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:36am
Matt from Springfield:
I myself am glad it just went back retro-actively to the start of Beta testing, and not ever since I signed this email address to my handle! :0 ;) |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:44am
Joe McG:
My favorite part of this is the fact that there's happy little stars all over everything. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:46am
G:
Look out, I see spots! The lines on the road just look like dots! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:46am
Matt from Springfield:
Like The Manhattans, you can tell the world what your Shining Stars are. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:47am
Mark_M:
I did not hear the entire remark, Joe, sorry. (moving from car to home...) But you remarked about the Utopia song doing a tribute (you didn't use that word, but the sentiment was along those lines) to the Beatles. Check out the album 'Nazz Nazz' (or listen to it again, specifically for this aspect) where one can find Mr. Runtgren paying homage to several artists of the day (Electric Flag, Beatles, etc.) One of my all-time favorite albums... Good stuff tonight. As always. Thanks Mark | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:48am
Joe McG:
@Matt: I haven't figured out the favorites part of this yet, but that's okay. It took me about a year to figure out how to use Facebook. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:50am
G:
CotB: Haven't heard this in 40 years. CKLW |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:51am
Matt from Springfield:
So THAT'S why they're the Chairmen of the Board! Chairman of their baby's board! Makes sense.. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:52am
Joe McG:
@MarK: Yes, Todd made a habit of paying tribute to people he liked. As I recall, he also did a note-for-note recreation of "Good Vibrations" at some point. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:53am
KP:
Matt, I didn't see your tiny smiley face on my iPhone but one day recently I got my hair cut and had a passport pic taken and sent it in. According to mrs. KP I did it in wrong order. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:58am
Matt from Springfield:
@KP: It's like my informal rule, of getting your hair cut 1-2 weeks before something important - definitely not the day before! Or, did Mrs. KP just prefer the long shaggy look on you? :) |
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Sun. 1/20/13 1:58am
G:
wiki: "When Holland/Dozier/Holland left Motown in 1967 to establish their own Invictus/Hot Wax group of record labels, they teamed [their main performing talent together] as the new company's flagship act, under the appropriate name "Chairmen of the Board"." |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:00am
Matt from Springfield:
@G: Cool. They also had Freda Payne under Invictus, I remember. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:02am
Matt from Springfield:
Nervous Norvus' "Transfusion" sounds like some industrial noise -- "Leader of the Pack" and "Dead Man's Curve" use the same "screeching" effect. Probably the same FX record, and both were from '64. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:03am
Matt from Springfield:
@Joe: I thought the prob w/ "Dance Your Ass Off" was a live recording. Sounded like one, so I thought maybe there were problems when recorded. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:10am
Joe McG:
@Matt: Maybe you're right! I did hear crowd noise, although I thought that was the usual "we're having a party in the studio" vibe. I have to look that one up. I think you're TOTALLY right about the car effect. It was on "Transfusion" and a million others, too. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:15am
Matt from Springfield:
The 50s "Teen-Age" (WITH hyphen, mind you!) introduced car crash melodrama into pop music, and since Norvus may have been the first, everyone else used that more primitive effect until a better sample was produced for the 60s-70s. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:17am
Joe McG:
Except Blondie, who used the exact same sample! Maybe they did it on purpose. Their tribute to Nervous Norvus! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:18am
Matt from Springfield:
@Joe: Do you remember the "stereo novelty" records from the early days of stereo in the 50s? Like a ping pong ball bouncing from one channel to another? Apparently the train at the end of "Caroline No" was taken from one of those records, which featured recordings of trains. It was compressed to mono for the song; and even the stereo remix of the song decades later! But I would agree with that artistically - the point is to have a railroad crossing and dogs barking. Don't think too much into it. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:20am
Matt from Springfield:
I didn't hear the effect too well, hafta listen again for it! :) But Nervous Norvus inspired lasting tributes...Dr. Demento took that name after someone called him "demented" for playing "Transfusion" on his first ever radio show! :D |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:21am
Joe McG:
@Matt: Those barking dogs are real, though, aren't they? |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:27am
Matt from Springfield:
Banana and Louie, Brian's dogs at the time! Blew a supersonic dog whistle to get them to bark. Along with the end of Sgt. Pepper's, those experimental pop albums had really grating endings for dogs' ears! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:28am
Joe McG:
@Matt: Great trivia! Banana and Louie should be the name of a band. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:29am
Matt from Springfield:
Now, in terms of "real" vs. not sound fx, I am also at liberty to disclose that the "seagull" sounds at the start of "Tomorrow Never Knows" is a very sped up tape of Paul McC laughing. But even if you knew that already, there is NO limit to musical trivia and useless knowledge when you're a DJ! ;) |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:31am
Matt from Springfield:
But just as I feared, there is at least one, and perhaps more bands calling themselves "Banana and Louie"! But I too would like a "real" band who tours and plays gigs and releases albums, not just making a webpage! By that standard everything *is* a band already! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:31am
Josephteilhard:
avatars! wow... | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:32am
tomB:
but the seagulls from "Walking in the Sand Remember" were actually taped by Shadow Morton on the beach, n'est-ce pas? |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:33am
Joe McG:
@TomB: Is that right? I believe he would! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:34am
Matt from Springfield:
@tomB: I would guess so. That was before the tape experiment craze, and the beach and seagulls sound pretty ambient on that song. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:34am
Josephteilhard:
and now? | |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:35am
josephteilhard:
this works? |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:36am
Joe McG:
You're all red now! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:36am
Matt from Springfield:
NOW you're good-to-go, Joseph! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:38am
Matt from Springfield:
Oooh! Very math-prog like, I'm diggin' this. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:43am
Joe McG:
This song is exactly 11 minutes and 11 seconds. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:43am
Droll:
Ditto MfS. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:44am
Joe McG:
More importantly, it turns into disco. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:45am
Matt from Springfield:
@Joe: Spooooky!?! @Droll: Glad you agree! And I'm pleased this is a brand new release, they're bringing the unusual rhythms and long spacey tracks back. |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:55am
Matt from Springfield:
Go Flamingos!! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:55am
Joe McG:
Goodnight, all, thanks for listening! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:55am
Droll:
Damn you for catching that miscue. That was going to be fun! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:56am
Joe McG:
Haha! Show's not quite over.... |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:56am
Matt from Springfield:
Nice choice of good night doo-wop! Thanks Joe! Have a pleasant [and/or valley] Sunday, everyone! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:57am
Matt from Springfield:
It goes without saying...and pleasant DREAMS, too! |
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Sun. 1/20/13 2:58am
Droll:
Yeah! Big endiiiiiinnnnnnnnnngggg |
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Sun. 1/20/13 8:39am
Holly in NC:
I just want to be red |
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