Throughout the many Roundups I have written, two common themes have been gentrification and stagnant wages vs increased cost of living. I have often claimed that Kansas City, like most major cities, is being gentrified. Welp, it’s happening (see above pic). I moved to midtown KC because I was broke. Living near downtown wasn’t…
This weekend, I will be attending a truck show in Nebraska. If you do not already know, I’m a news clerk/staff writer for a trucker magazine. It’s not what most people had in mind when going to journalism school, but it beats the hell out of monitoring earthquakes, typhoons, protests and wildfires for Bank of…
Strippers everywhere will be drowning in a bottle of cupcake vodka this weekend. Why? Father’s Day is this Sunday! Statistically, a predominantly white/Asian holiday*, Father’s Day allows us the chance to not blame our failures on the one guy who was partly responsible for raising us to succeed. CEOs, Winter Olympic athletes, doctors and…
In the near future, this roundup may change a little bit. In an effort to attract more listeners, readers and followers, the SOTW gang will be exploring different marketing strategies. By “marketing strategies” I mean “desperate attempts to sucker in listeners.” Coming up on Year 5, it’s high time we go the full nine…
This weekend, I will be going Rockfest. For those of you not from Kansas City or otherwise unaware, Rockfest is the largest one-day music festival in North America, according to the radio station that puts it out. It is most certainly the largest collection of white trash depravity in KC. You know you are…
Memorial Day is Monday, which means those of us who do not have shitty jobs get a three-day weekend! For the first time in my life, I work at a place that gives me weekends and holidays off. What a novel concept. At any rate, Memorial Day is all about remembering those died serving our…
This will be the first weekend in a long time where there will be no SOTW podcast. We record nonstop; Christmas, Thanksgiving, our birthdays, Ramadan, etc. However, this week Jay will be in Colorado and I’ll be attending the Royals’ Dress to the Nines Day. For those outside of KC or who don’t (rightfully…
Earlier this week, my grandfather passed away just a month shy of his 93rd birthday. He was among the greatest men of the Greatest Generation. Yet, the word “great” doesn’t do the man justice. He had great stories about the Great Depression, World War II, how he met up with my grandmother before leaving for…
Unless you live up north, spring is finally here! The official start of spring was a little over a month ago, but global warming has fucked that all up. Yes, global warming has made our winters harsher and longer, ironically. If you’re one of those people who says “Global warming, huh?” during abnormally cold weather,…
Easter is this Sunday and comes shortly after the resurrection of the SOTW Roundup. This may or may not be a coincidence. Like Jesus and the Bible, that’s open to interpretation and no matter what you choose to believe, you are both completely correct and completely wrong. Easter is a waste of a holiday. It…
If you listen to Soundtrack of the Week, then you probably listened to the interview with Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence. It was the second interview I did with him to promote an upcoming MSI show. He is the best interview I have done because of how animated and open he is. I always…
After another hiatus, I am bringing back the SOTW Roundup. This is the second resurrection, so it’s already better than Jesus Christ. I quit doing this because, believe it or not, it can be very time consuming. I didn’t think any of you read this thing, so it wasn’t worth the effort. However, many of…
On the next Soundtrack of the Week (Episode 152), we will be discussing race and education with one of the hosts of The Reasonable Negro. Not only are we all stupid, but apparently, 100% of us are racist. For many years, people were under the impression that race relations have improved dramatically over the past…
After over two years of desperately seeking a full-time gig in radio, I may have just been given the opportunity I’ve been looking for…and I might decline it. Although I have not been formally offered the job, a radio station in Lansing, Michigan has showed extreme interest. When a company asks for you to research…
On the last episode of Soundtrack of the Week, Episode 149: Forever Alone, I got to enjoy listening to my co-hosts spouting off everything that is wrong with me and why no one should date me. Whereas there is a lot of truth in what they said, I would like to say…well…nothing really. They were…
It has been over 20 years since the L.A. Riots, and the LAPD is just as dangerous to minorities today as they were back then. Pretty soon, we may see another race war, but it is not because of the LAPD. Rather, it will be because of an isolated incident that occurred on the other…
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! Like those of you who are not in the United States, Thursday was no different than any other Thursday for me. Well, unless you’re in Egypt, in which case you were probably celebrating a new moment in independence. While my fellow Americans were celebrating their independence…
This week was a historical week for the United States on several levels. It all began Tuesday night with Senator Wendy Davis’ filibuster to stop an anti-abortion bill in the Texas state legislature. After 10 hours and 45 minutes of non-stop talking and standing, the Republican-led legislature managed to find a way to stop Davis…
If you take a peek at last week’s Roundup, you’ll notice that the intro monologue was deleted. For reasons I cannot get into, it had to be done. What I can tell you is the underlying issue that caused the shit storm that prompted the removable of the monologue: alcohol abuse. Those of you that…
The opening monologue for this week has been redacted. Sorry. With that said, enjoy the rest of THIS WEEK’S ROUNDUP! It’s tornado season! By now, everyone outside of Tornado Alley is aware of this due to recent, high-profile tornadoes. If the media was no indicator, maybe this is: “Tornado tourism” is actually a thing. For…
Right now, there are some major protests going on in Turkey. Going by the name of Occupy Gezi, thousands of people are protesting against their government for a variety of reasons. Here’s a New York Times ad created by one of the protesters: Over the course of Prime Minister Erdoğan’s ten-year term, we have witnessed…
I usually reserve this opening paragraph for ranting and raving about something that happened to me this week. This week, I want to turn your attention to something that has nothing to do with me. As we are all well aware, the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma left many lives in ruins. Houses were destroyed and…
The big news this week was the tornadoes that ripped through the Midwest. More specifically, the EF-5 tornado that destroyed Moore, Oklahoma. Like every other tragedy before it, people scrambled to social media to let everyone know that they were praying for the victims. Because—you know—praying is exactly what those people need to get their…
After a five month hiatus, I have decided to resurrect the SOTW Roundup. Why? Simply put, I have enough time to do it. Rather than fall asleep at my graveyard shift job, I have decided to do something constructive with my time. Some people would choose to hone a skill that will get them a…
Tragedy struck twice last with two shooting in two different parts of the country. In Oregon, a gunman killed two people inside a mall before taking his own life. Three days later, a 20-year-old male—certainly cannot call him a man—walked into an elementary school and took the lives of 20 children, six adult faculty members,…
After three months of unemployment, I finally landed a job. One month into it and I already want out. It has nothing to do with the work, although the work is less than fulfilling. In fact, I love working. In addition to having a full-time job, I work a part-time job in radio and spend…
Thanksgiving is behind us, which means it’s time to think about Christmas, effective immediately. Americans would start Christmas the day after Thanksgiving with Black Friday. This year, Walmart decided to start Christmas before the enzymes in your body could breakdown the turkey and pumpkin pie in your digestive system by having Gray Thursday. A recent…
Israel and Hamas are going at it. I could spend this time talking about the horrors of war and—really—what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Or I can talk about how this is happening—not coincidentally—a month before Apocalypse 2012: The Mayan Edition. Instead, I want to discuss how Occupy Chicago had a protest march in…
Que “Hail to the Chief” The abortion that is known as a presidential campaign year is now over, so everybody can breathe a huge sigh of relief…unless you’re a conservative/republican. In that case, you will probably be stewing in hate for another four years. This past presidential election revealed how divided this country truly is.…
Wednesday, December 5, 2012, is National “Demand Radio Diversity” Day. What is that? Well, I’m glad you asked. Inspired by the documentary film “Corporate FM” (www.fmfilm.com), Soundtrack of the Week has decided to put together a day where everyone calls their favorite local radio stations and demand they play more local and indie artists. Essentially,…
I’m going to spend this time to rant about the evil corporation known as Time Warner. Time Warner has done a superb job of having a near monopoly on local cable television and Internet services. They are quite aware of the stranglehold they have on the market; their terrible customer service reflects…
There is something out there that brings an entire city together. This thing also causes wars between separate cities. It’s a multimillion-dollar industry whose success in individual battles is dependent on the general running the army. I’m talking about sports. Kansas City is widely known as a major sports town…mostly because we have nothing else…
Being single is either the greatest thing or the worst. It all depends how easy it is for you to meet someone. For those that are drowning in a tsunami of sex, the single life probably isn’t all that bad. For those of us that have trouble getting a halfway decent person to give us…
As of this writing, I’m still recovering from a Saturday night that should only be reserved for people with a record contract. This was a night where stripping naked in a shared hotel room to take a bath at 3:00am may not have cracked the top 5 most Keith Moon-esque thing I did Saturday. With…
Summer is finally over! Maybe not officially, but the weather change is the barometer I measure by rather than arbitrary date a few people decided on. Actually, it’s not that arbitrary. It has something to do with the sun…and Earth…and probably Jesus or something. We had a brutal summer here in the Midwest. There were…
I was going to spend this time talking about the need to constantly backup your hard drive since I fried mine by 18-months worth of downloading porn stock projections. Instead, I want to talk about something that reared its ugly head the other day: 9/11 conspiracy theorists. These people do not offend me because they…
After a one-week vacation in Dallas, the SOTW Roundup is back! I’m using the term “vacation” loosely considering I have been unemployed since the end of July. This was the first time in god knows how long since I have left Kansas City. I learned two things while I was away. The first thing I…
Election week is just right around the corner! Actually, it’s over three months away, but close enough. Usually, this is the worst time of year, but every now and then something awesome happens. You know, things like suggesting rape can either be legitimate or illegitimate, and that the female body has the ability to tell…
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