I write often, it seems, about the "end of" this or that "universe," of a program closing a chapter without my knowing it at the time. Consider this the latest instalment, as we say goodbye to the recurring feature known as "Physical Evidence." It is dead; long may it live! And indeed, I didn't know at the time, but learned soon hereafter, that it was making Junior uncomfortable to record the voiceover. Without Junior, this feature is nothing, so away it goes. One of the "wrongs" with my undergraduate show which I set out to "right" with this one (shall we call it "post-doctoral?") is that I was always so deeply into myself and my own thing; this is, whatever it may seem, a family program.
On account of that, I have been wondering how much gas Bombast as a whole has left in the tank. Sometimes I feel that Physical Evidence was the program, though I am reminded that I've done many episodes that didn't include it, and that the show began without it, during a long period of unemployment, as something that was supposed to keep me connected to the world of people so that I didn't go completely feral, as I was threatening to do. So Bombast doesn't need Physical Evidence, but I also no longer need this radio thing in the same way. Why the existential dilemma, then? As I wrote back when Physical Evidence began under another, unfortunate, name, I wanted a way of dealing with the past, a way not to be doing "Today's Aberration, Tomorrow's Fashion" with the Forced Exposure catalog (that's an inside joke, sorry).
But one of my problems is that my head is frequently in the past and I have trouble "Being Here Now." So I am also thinking that a present-focused program may be a thing I need at the moment, and that maybe quitting this gig because my kid hit puberty isn't the most coherent course of action. Maybe. Also, it strikes me now (sorry if you've already realized this) as pretentious and condescending to think the present doesn't acquit itself perfectly well, or that I need to add value or focus to it.
I am guessing this will always feel like unfinished business: I have a list of about 100 things I was meant to play as part of this feature, but didn't get to. That will make me a little bit sad unless I find a way of folding those releases in somehow. I suppose I could do something like "playing the whole damn record," as I did with Lonely Is An Eyesore that one time, and which I didn't do often enough with the Physical Evidence releases. Or, you know, maybe I could just "sit with" my sadness and see how that goes. I'm doing the latter for the time being.
I come to bury Physical Evidence, not to praise it. And not even to eulogize it properly--this is a diary, not a collection of essays or even a proper blog. PE was truly the essence of the program in that it featured in some of my best shows, some of my worst, and a lot in the middle. But its absence is mostly a hole in my heart. Is that a tear rolling down my cheek as I write this? Yes, yes it is. Alright, we've both done enough work here for now.
So the "crime of the week" feature in these commentaries will have to wait for another time.
BOMBAST playlist, 2018 July 18, 2100-2300:
Everything is temporary
https://www.facebook.com/radiobombast?ref=hl
https://twitter.com/KidCatharsis
Greatness in Me, You Can't Make Me Feel Less: Transmission 489, 2019 October 16
Despite All My Rage, We Still in a Daze: Transmission 488, 2019 October 13
Melt the House, Wake the World: Transmission 487, 2019 October 9
The Night Is Made of Rocks: Transmission 486, 2019 October 5
Can't Be Trusted 'Cause You're Living in the Past: Transmission 485, 2019 October 2
When One Road Close, Another One Go Open: Transmission 484, 2019 September 25
U_D_M Detour 39, 2019 September 21
If I Could Just Explain the Way My Mind Is: Transmission 483, 2019 September 18
U_D_M Detour 38, 2019 September 14
From Childhood's Hour I Have Not Been As Others Were: Transmission 482, 2019 September 11
Business Is Ok But I Miss Working with the Young Folks: Transmission 481, 2019 September 8
Off and On He's Been Here, Guess He'll Never Go Home: Transmission 480, 2019 September 4
U_D_M Detour 37, 2019 August 31
Apologizing Is Terrifying: Transmission 479, 2019 August 14
She Reassured Me with an Unfamiliar Line: Transmission 478, 2019 August 9
You've Been At It So Long It's Chronic: Transmission 477, 2019 August 7
Rest in Power, Emma Durutti: Transmission 476, 2019 July 31
Maybe You Should Know That I Suffer from Sudden, Startling Revelations: Transmission 475, 2019 July 10
Expression Experts: Transmission 474, 2019 July 6
U_D_M Detour 36, 2019 June 29
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
Immediately Kinfolk
Turned On
Resident by Hernan Cattaneo
Markus Schulz presents Global DJ Broadcast