Aerial View was WFMU’s first regularly-scheduled phone-in talk show. Hosted by Chris T. and on the air since 1989, the show features topical conversation, interviews and many trips down the rabbit hole. Until further notice, Aerial View is only available as a podcast, available every Tuesday morning. Subscribe to the newsletter “See You Next Tuesday!” and find tons of archives at aerialview.me. (Visit homepage.)

May 12, 2015: Does Not Compute!

listen to ‘Does Not Compute! from May 12, 2015’ on audioBoom

View this in your browser. Tonight: Does Not Compute! Tonight, I commemorate the demonstration of the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer, by asking about YOUR computer (or computers). Mac or PC? Homebrew or off-the-shelf? Strapped to your wrist or big, honking desktop machine?  For instance, this newsletter is mostly laid out on my Mac Air 11" (officially known as a MacBook Air 11-inch, Late 2010). I'm firmly in the Apple camp, mainly because my first computer was someone's castoff Macintosh and I tend to associate PCs with work. I'm not one of those Apple fanboys who believe the company can do no wrong (what's with this all-in-one USB-C port on the new MacBook?!) but I do own four Apple "computers": the aforementioned Air, an iMac, an iPad and an iPhone. I think that's everything... What about you? How many different computing devices do you actually own? Are computers part of your daily existence or do you manage to get through most of the day without one?  Call 201-209-9368 and for extra points, tell me how many gigabytes of music are stored on your machine! John Oliver on Last Week Tonight brings you Real Animals, Fake Paws Supreme Court. Last Week: Dear Jurisprudence Last week we discussed my time spent doing Jury Duty in Hudson County and I interviewed Michael Dowd, "New York's Dirtiest Cop" the subject of the new documentary The Seven Five. Here's some playlist comments: I was on a murder trial once. guy killed the neighbor woman, stuffed her body into a closet and sold her tv and vcr and anything else he could to buy crack. he was found asleep on her couch. the nail in his coffin came when a lawyer asked the arresting officer a question and she said she didn't remember. he yelled out 'yeah, you don't remember nothin', do ya bitch?' we were impaneled and spent a night at a motel out by jfk and got to eat at a chinese restaurant. it was the night lucille ball died. when i got back to work my boss wanted me to give him the $14 a day i was being paid. life is cold. I've been lucky enough to have jobs that keep paying me when i serve on jury duty. so far i've served on two juries. i actually really enjoy it. and i hope to get to serve again. the cases themselves aren't too interesting, but i love being a reasonable mind in the justice system. Ha! Only Chris T could detect a loud eye roll. Welcome back dude. I served on a jury about 9 years ago. I was working two part time jobs at the time and I lost out an entire week's pay and had to pay for a sitter for my 9 month old son. It was really hard to be impartial when all I wanted was to get the damn thing over with. I just served on a jury. 3 strikes for some druggie and his girlfriend, screwing around next to the State Capitol. Possession of drugs and fighting with the arresting officer. He gave me the stare of death all through the trial. My jury duty last week ended after about a hundred of us checked in, sat around in the courthouse basement for 2 hours having heard the judge's welcome and watched a video (sponsored by Comcast) and then the accused criminal gave a guilty plea in some kind of deal to avoid trial. We never heard any details, but one and all felt very good being released from the basement into a beautiful, warm Spring day. If our being there helped bring the accused get real about the situation and the victims get some kind of closure or hopefully justice, I'm glad I went. They give you the option of donating your paltry payment to charity in our county and my employer doesn't care where I am most days, so this 3rd callup in 10 years was the best one so far! Nothing is worse than a boring civil trial. Wife and I have each suffered though one apiece. Next Week on Aerial View On May 19 I'll be joined in studio by my longtime friend Melissa Holbrook Pierson, whose new book The Secret History of Kindness: Learning From How Dogs Learn "...examines how kindness works to motivate all animals, including the human one." If you're not familiar with Melissa's previous books, which cover gentrification and displacement, women and horses, motorcycles and long-distance motorcycle riding, please visit her website. She's long been one of my favorites. Goodbye Mad Men! My Uncle Homer (yes, I had an Uncle Homer) worked in Advertising. As family legend has it, he was the guy who came up with "Everything's better with Blue Bonnet on it!" I've never bothered to seriously investigate the claim because I like the story and because Uncle Homer got me thinking about all those people who labor to create a need and fill it.  I've been watching Mad Men from the first episode and have been fascinated the entire way. The story of Dick Whitman/Don Draper comes to an end this Sunday, May 17. I'm not sure I'm ready but just because the show featured an IBM computer in one episode, feel free to call and mourn the loss of Mad Men tonight. My Mother, Tom Jones & Me. Listen to this show:  Pop-up player! This was written to accompany a Tom Jones mixtape given to a friend who was not familiar with his work. I'm putting it here as a post-Mother's Day tribute to my mom. Tom Jones was one of my puberty’s massive audio components. My mother loved his music. She had every one of his 45’s. Englebert Humperdinck recorded crap like Quando, Quando, Quando on the same label, Parrot. He was a schlockmeister. Tom Jones was the real deal, with a voice so soulful you can’t believe it’s coming from a Welshman, the son of a miner. But listen to Chills & Fever  (1970) and you’ll know instantly why "Tom the Tiger" made the girls wet.   It’s Not Unusual is Tom’s first International Hit. A certified gold record. It was written for Sandie Shaw (Long Live Love), who turned it down. The thing that always hit me about these records was the production. Even on my mother’s shitty stereo these records sounded good. The brass is tasteful. The guitar player is either Big Jim Sullivan or "Little" Jimmy Page. The whole thing moves along. And you can sing to it. My mother liked to put it on and dance around the living room. Her boyfriend Justin would sit on the couch and watch her. They’d be into their third screwdrivers. My mother kept a gallon bottle of Majorska vodka in the freezer. Four nights out of seven her and Justin emptied that bottle.   Track #3, Green, Green Grass of Home was something Tom sang on a TV show. The response was so huge they had to go record a single. Listen for that twist ending. Poor bastard.   Justin was one of the biggest fucking blowhards you could ever imagine meeting. He was Italian. His father was a doctor. He was a mason. Bricklayer. He’d come in filthy, from the jobsite. He’d sink into a corner of the green and gold velvet cushions and smoke Kents one after another. My mother smoked Kools. The thing about Justin was his voice. He had a high nasal pitch. He’d talk and it would cut right through you. He’d say, “Joan, you don’t know what the FUCK you’re talkin’ about!” My mother would yell back, “FUCK YOU! GET THE FUCK OUT IF YOU DON”T LIKE IT!”   Track #4, What’s New Pussycat? would clang away in the background. Total oompah, the kind of thing you sing in a pub in Wales, with all the girls doing the, “Whoa, whoa...”   Track #5 – Thunderball – comes from a James Bond film of the same name. It might be the best Bond film, period. This song used to scare me when I was little. Those blaring trumpets, the percussive piano, the strings. And the lyrics. “His days of asking are all gone...” What the HELL? Tom sings the shit out of it, anyway. Listen to that last note. How many men can do that? Convincingly?   I’m Not Responsible, Track #6, is probably a B-side. I don’t remember my mother ever playing it. It’s got a nice beat, very simple. But the stereo production is so fucking HAPPY. High-energy. Makes you want to snap your fingers, tap your toes. Maybe dance, who knows?   Track #7, Detroit City, by Danny Dill and Mel Tillis, is a standard, first recorded by Bobby Bare. But I love this version.   My mother wore out several vinyl copies of track #8: I’m Never Gonna Fall In Love is a true masterpiece. From the opening bass figure, the piano, the violins. I wish I knew who produced this stuff. Pure genius. Especially the chorus with the background singers. And the stereo mix is extreme. The piano and guitar is all on the left channel. The violins and voices on the right. Tom is right up the middle. He’s also drenched in an incredible reverb. I wish I knew who was playing the piano.   “I gave my heart so easily I cast aside my pride. But when you fell for someone else baby I broke up all inside.”   Listen for the catch in Tom’s voice after “And it looks like...” Jesus. After that the song trots into double-time, a nice shuffle. That last note – again, the hairs on the back of your neck will stick up. Maybe it’s just me and how my mother took to that song after my father walked out. She used that song like morphine. She would close her eyes and sway back and forth. Drunk. Before long, Justin would cart her off to the bedroom.   I’d sit in my room and turn up the Led Zeppelin 8-track. Even with headphones on, you’d hear them, yelling, screaming. “JOAN, YOU DON”T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!”   “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” my mother’d reply.   Track 9: Forgive Me, Delilah. I just couldn’t take any more. A big number in the pubs.   I like track #10. Very sexy. Exotic. And you can dance to it. Love Me Tonight, indeed. Check out Tom's hip-swiveling action in the video.   Track #11, Just Help Yourself: Women threw panties at Tom over that one. I used to watch his TV show. My mother and me, in her room, she propped up in the bed, me seated on the floor, at the foot of the bed, watching the one and only TV. Tom would come out in a crushed dark purple velvet tuxedo with a light purple ruffle shirt, big-ass dark purple bow-tie, his hair black and wavy, perfect beads of perspiration building on his upper lip. To see him sing track #12: Without Love was a damn moving experience. He really believed it. What he sang. Even if it was silly. Like the best of them. Like Sinatra.   Tom Jones was Elvis Presley’s favorite singer. Elvis covered Tom’s songs.   Listen, especially, to the guitar – like I said, sounds like Jimmy Page (The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin) to me. He played on lots of London sessions, where this stuff was recorded. I don’t know if I should be ashamed to admit knowing that. And knowing what Jimmy Page’s guitar playing sounds like.   Daughter of Darkness – track #13 - puts me in mind of a certain ex girlfriend of mine. I always wanted to sing it to her. With a full band. I might lose the oboe. I’m not fond of oboe. I would’ve told Jimmy to play more slide. You can bang your head to this song, if you really want to. I do, on the chorus. And I pump my fist in the air, making the horns with my forefinger and pinky.   For me, it’s the next song that kicks the most ass. Track #14 – She’s A Lady is a mysogynist masterwork. It opens with a snare slam, then the cowbell. And that mean opening riff. It’s not exactly PC, though. ”She always knows her place.” Just listen to the guitar. Jimmy Page again. I’d stake my life on it. And the horns! It’s some bastard son of rock and roll.   Track  #15: - I (Who Have Nothing) - is pure Vegas. Picture Elvis the first time he hears this. 1974. I’m not sure who sang this originally. They featured that version on the Sopranos last season, ending an episode. I don’t think it achieved the pure drama of Tom’s version. Another big favorite with my mother.   Puppet Man - #16 - is pretty much a throwaway. But oh, that sexual innuendo. “Pull my string”. Ha ha.   I’ve included some cover versions, from the sixties. The Bee Gees song  is  #17: To Love Somebody. I think Tom rips it up. Makes it sound like his own. The drumming is so completely right. #18 - Lean On Me - is the Bill Withers tune, Tom-style. He croaks his way through the opening, then his pipes open up. By the end, he sound like a Holy Roller. Another heavy Elvis version. I’ve also included a live version of Bridge Over Troubled Water (track #19). I wasn’t sure if I should, frankly. It’s such a maudlin song. But Tom makes it work. Somehow. He reaches into it and yanks real emotion out of it. I don’t know if I agree with all the guitar work.   Track #20 - Momma Told Me Not To Come - is a Randy Newman song, sung originally by Three Dog Night. The version on this CD is fairly new, recorded a few years ago. I don’t remember who’s the other guy on vocals. I like what they do it with it, though. It sounds like something Tom would sing. Now he does.   My mother would probably hate #21, Tom’s Lust For Life. I always liked Iggy Pop’s version. This one has grown on me. Especially Chrissie Hynde. She sounds so happy to be with Tom Jones. I wish I had been a fly on the wall when they recorded this one.   Almost done. Track #22: Sex Bomb. Wow. My mother might’ve loved this one. The thing about Tom singing ANYTHING is that it sounds like Tom. He can make any song a Tom Jones song, just by virtue of his incredible voice. He was probably sixty when he recorded this. Whoever produced it knew what the hell they were doing.   The last track #23 - is, of course, from Prince. The Purple One. It has definite charms. It fits Tom. But I don’t know about the computerized drums.   Okay. There’s Tom Jones. I hope you enjoyed it.

Upcoming Chris T. Stuff Saturday, May 30 I return to the Asbury Park Punk Rock Flea Market. Held in the historic Asbury Park Convention Center, the Punk Rock Flea Market features a live DJ spinning actual 45s and lots of comic books, T-shirts, collectibles, antiques, vintage clothing and - of course - vinyl. Find me in the entry way, off to the right. Look for two tables with golden tableclothes! The Asbury Park boardwalk is a short stroll away, with great food and shopping. And if you keep walking south you'll hit the huge Ocean Grove Flea Market on Ocean Pathway! Saturday, June 20 The Mermaid Parade is now a longstanding Coney Island tradition and last year was my twenty-fifth as its MC. A raucous good time "By the Sea in Brooklyn", there is nothing quite like the Mermaid Parade anywhere in this country. The parade kicks off at 1 PM and all the info can be found at coneyisland.com. My advice: get there early, the best viewing spots go quick! Obligatory Throwback Pic My Mom, between Mario (RIP) & Diana. Circa 1957.

OVER THE AIR: Every Tuesday night, 6 PM Eastern time on WFMU in the metro NY/NJ area at 91.1 FM and on WMFU at 90.1 in the lower Catskills, Hudson Valley, western New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. ON THE WEB: Streaming audio in several formats is available at wfmu.org. ON DEMAND ARCHIVES: The Aerial View Archive page features archives going back to nearly the beginning of the show in RealAudio and MP3 format. PODCAST: Aerial View is available on iTunes as a podcast. WFMU MOBILE: Listen live via the mobile app or browse the archives. Get the iOS app here and the Android version here. Amazon Kindle users can use the TuneIn Radio app. Info for other platforms, including Blackberry, etc. can be found here. AUDIOBOOM: The newest way to hear Aerial View and share it on social media can be found here. Mobile apps are here.  "I will see you TONIGHT, 6 PM Eastern time, on WFMU!"

Aerial View E-mail Facebook Instagram Twitter Artist Track Album Label Year Format Comments Images New * / Special *** Approx. start time RJD2 Chris T. Aceyalone  Mad Aerial View Men   → "Mad Aerial View Men" by "RJD2 Chris T. Aceyalone" Aerial View Intros    2011  CD-R          <-- Previous playlist | Back to Aerial View playlists | Next playlist --> RSS feeds for Aerial View: Playlists feed | MP3 archives feed | Email the Program Director | Other WFMU Playlists | All artists played by Aerial View | Listen on the Internet | Contact Us | Music & Programs | WFMU Home Page | Support Us | FAQ Live Audio Streams for WFMU: Pop-up | 128k AAC | 128k MP3 | 32k MP3    (More streams: [+]) Give the Drummer Radio: Pop-up | 128k MP3 Rock'N'Soul Radio: Pop-up | 128k MP3 Sheena's Jungle Room: Pop-up | 128k MP3 Listener comments!   6:06pm → P-90: Yo Chris T.! ready for the Parade? ♥ 6:06pm → Marcel M: Hello Chris and friends ♥ 6:10pm → common: chris. p-90. marcel. i have experienced an earthquake, chris. very frightening. also surreal.   6:11pm → disastrogirl: 14 was like 30 back then. ♥ 6:11pm → Marcel M: I've never experienced an earthquake either. Yo Common! ♥ 6:12pm → Greg from Bloomfield: Hey gang! ♥ 6:12pm → Marcel M: Thanks Chris, I thought that was a History Channel show. Yo Greg!   6:12pm → Embiggened in Spirit: Tell Snoop Dogg that GOT wasn't real ♥ 6:12pm → Mike East: hold up...dragons aren't real?   6:13pm → P-90: I lived in LA, lots of quakes. Got hit pretty hard by the Whittier Quake. ♥ 6:13pm → Ken From Hyde Park: Here's the 6.8 quake that hit Japan today - earthquake.usgs.gov...   6:15pm → P-90: "Alcoholics Tsunaminus"? ♥ 6:15pm → dale: first pooter i worked on was an apple se. i think it had 812k or ram or total memory, i forget which. i never could master the slide rule or abacus, otherwise i would say those were the first computers i worked with. does pong count?   6:17pm → JakeGould: Dale, you mean 512k of RAM. There is no way any computer thing has a non-divisiblle by 8 number connected to it.   6:17pm → Phil from CA: Its most famous logo, the peacock, was first used in 1956 to highlight the network's color programming. While it has been in use in one form or another for all but four years since then, the peacock did not become part of NBC's main logo until 1979 and did not become the network's sole logo until 1986.   6:17pm → ?: 1874 first spork patent! ♥ 6:18pm → Ken From Hyde Park: A few years go, on her shows, Diane Kamikaze would read off a list of people who died on that day. ♥ 6:19pm → dale: jake - oh. that's even worse!   6:22pm → P-90: "The Imitation Machine"   6:22pm → Bklyn kid: Hey thanks for the broadcast   6:23pm → LES: "Any nerds or geeks listening?" LOL   6:24pm → brycepunk: Is that the Road Warrior soundtrack on in the background?   6:24pm → Embiggened in Spirit: I have 2. One crappy PC that I bought for 200 as a spare, and a Macbook Air that I just bought. I use the mac for writing mostly.   6:25pm → spodiodi: Chris T., what program do you use to play samples?   6:25pm → spodiodi: SSDs make life better. ♥ 6:25pm → Mike East: my dad worked for IBM, so for many years, we were all about PC's, but I have since come around to apple...seems to be a lot less error messages which was starting to drive me crazy. I have an older Imac and a newish macbook pro. I use a Dell at work. ♥ 6:26pm → Fuzzy: Sounds like a Mr. T Soundboard -- there are others for other shows like Seinfeld, Full Metal Jacket, etc. ♥ 6:27pm → dale: i had a powerbook but my cat peanut ^ had a bladder issue and sat on it because it was warm. i came back to it after a bathroom break and she was on it and the screen was black and i heard sizzling. i replaced it with an hp because i couldn't see spending that kind of dough to surf the web again. ♥ 6:28pm → Greg from Bloomfield: I love my iMac. I maxed out the RAM so it can handle animation work, and I got the big one so it doubles as my TV...so I can watch Mad Men! ♥ 6:28pm → Greg from Bloomfield: Though I'm not caught up, so I'll catch you later, guys... 6:29pm → steve: Macbook Pro, PC laptop, iPad, iPhone. im trying to move from a life of programming and websites into analog electronics and audio since i just can't deal with staring at a screen 10 hours a day anymore.   6:29pm → Listener 102365: iPhone 5, 2006 Mac Mini, Blue G3, Toshiba Satellite.   6:30pm → spodiodi: I hear that, Steve. ♥ 6:30pm → dale: anyone here ever have an amiga? 6:30pm → steve: oh and an Android tablet i never use ♥ 6:31pm → common: get don on the phone! ♥ 6:31pm → Mike East: oh yeah, I also have an iphone 5c. I also have a few dead laptops which I hang onto with the idea that someday I'll be able to pull the data out of them and revisit old recordings I've done, but I'm doubtful that it will ever happen...or if its even possible. 6:32pm → steve: a buddy of mine lost A YEAR of videos he stored on the cloud from his Chromebook. no thanks Google... ♥ 6:33pm → Fuzzy: Currently (almost always) listening to WFMU on my Lenovo V570 laptop running Windows 7. I can also listen via tunein.com on my Moto G Android phone or cheap-but-effective Hisense Sero 7 Pro tablet. ♥ 6:34pm → dale: fuzzy - i can listen on a 10 dollar sony transistor radio. ♥ 6:35pm → Fuzzy: @dale: Old School is cool!   6:35pm → Listener 102365: I never had an Amiga but had some video-making friends who owned them. My very 1st computer experience was my dad's Kaypro 2.   6:36pm → LES: True Dale. We listen on my wife's 1990 Sony boom box   6:37pm → Listener 102365: BTW Amiga means girlfriend in Spanish. Ha ha. ♥ 6:37pm → Ken From Hyde Park: The new hot thing is the $9.00 computer on Kickstarter - www.usatoday.com... 6:39pm → steve: at my old job we had an ultrasonic cleaner that could somehow remove any corrosion, battery crud, etc from old circuit boards. pretty neat. ♥ 6:40pm → Fuzzy: My first computer experience was programming BASIC-Plus on my High School's PDP-11/70. Amiga is a female friend -- "novia" is girlfriend. The More You Know... ♥ 6:40pm → Ken From Hyde Park: The people who bought Betamax early lost out to VHS in the long run.   6:40pm → JakeGould: My first computer was an Atari 400. Then when that broke, Atari 800. And then when Atari was failing as a company I scored a brand new Atari 800XL for really cheap so gave the Atari 800 to some kids in the family who liked to play games.   6:41pm → spodiodi: I have way too many machines to list. ♥ 6:41pm → Fuzzy: First PC I bought was a Commodore 64 back in '85.   6:42pm → spodiodi: *fistbump* @Fuzzy ♥ 6:43pm → dale: god damn dead dog! ♥ 6:43pm → Jeff: The first computer I used was a PDP-11/40, running RSTS and supporting eight users in a massive 28K of RAM. I think that might have been 28K words, or 56KB. ♥ 6:43pm → Fuzzy: Who gives a shit?   6:43pm → spodiodi: Lynch   6:44pm → P-90: @Chris T: So what WOULD you like to seehappen with Don?   6:45pm → spodiodi: Maybe 1999   6:45pm → Embiggened in Spirit: That iBook is closer to 2003 I think ♥ 6:46pm → dale: somehow i doubt that apple watch owners do any kind of manual labor. ♥ 6:46pm → Fuzzy: I got you all beat with the Univac UYK-7 I operated aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) '83-'85...second-generation transistor technology!   6:47pm → spodiodi: When will the first news story break about people getting their hands lopped off for their Apple watches? ♥ 6:47pm → dale: i need a label - dale the lush or dale the lazy.   6:48pm → spodiodi: Dow about dLazy da Lush?   6:48pm → Listener 102365: I used to play with dad's slide rule. Real analog computing there. ♥ 6:50pm → Jeff: Yeah, it saddens me that Kids Today don't know how to work slipsticks. ♥ 6:50pm → Ken From Hyde Park: When I was in high school, I found a book with instructions on how to make a slide rule with a couple pieces of paper. I was able to multiple numbers with the thing.   6:53pm → P-90: yes George Miller himself made the new Mad Max, with Charlize Theron --advance word from those who've seen it is that it's brilliant   6:54pm → Tom: Franklin Ace ms-dos running star plot land surveying program. ♥ 6:54pm → dale: i still have my texas instruments 1976 calculator. still can make 7734 which is hell upside down ♥ 6:54pm → Mike East: @P90 I saw some billboards for it. Really wanna see it. They were showing Beyond Thunderdome on the Bounce network over the weekend and I was compelled to watch it. ♥ 6:54pm → Fuzzy: No silicon here (that's what she said:) ethw.org...   6:55pm → Marcel M: I watched it over the w/e thanks for the tip Chris, hadn't heard of it before your show.   6:55pm → LES: Good show ChrisT   6:56pm → Marcel M: I think Mony Hall is the premier NYC area venue   6:57pm → spodiodi: Thanks, Chris! ♥ 6:58pm → dale: my macs always crashed. but i had a million fonts uploaded and i think quark and pshop and all that crap was buggy.   6:58pm → spodiodi: 58008 (LOL)   6:58pm → Marcel M: Thanks Chris   6:58pm → spodiodi: PiratedShop ♥ 6:59pm → dale: spodiodi - hee hee. you said 'boobs'   6:59pm → P-90: Just what the station needs- more backwards IDs! Thanks, Chris T!   6:59pm → spodiodi: 5378008 (STOP! STOP!)   6:59pm → spodiodi: 55378008 * ♥ 7:00pm → Ken From Hyde Park: 01000010 - B 01111001 - y 01100101 - e   7:01pm → ?: good freeform talk ♥ 7:02pm → Fuzzy: 999 END Comment! Name Email ✖ Re To songs (C) 2024 WFMU. Generated by KenzoDB, written by Ken Garson To Comments!