That Ain't Right

It's time for another edition of That Ain't Right, a semi-regular feature in which we acknowledge that there are people in the world who may not know that My Damn Channel is a proper noun and complain a LOT about what's happening on/to/with their TV.

To which the only reply is, "That Ain't Right":

That Ain’t Right, @KissMy_Tweetinq sounds like your father is on a bit of a power trip. Sure, the bible says to respect your parents but I’m sure he would make an exemption for someone who is at risk of having their damn channel changed. Mr. KissMy_Tweetinq, That Ain’t Right.



That Ain’t Right, @DaTFIn3sTKiNg and myself are kindred spirits.
We both hate it when people come nd change my damn channel like ine been watchin tv,
Does it look like ine been watchin TV?!?!
Get your facts straight ppl.



Yet another victim falls at the hands of the lethal combination of Rain and Comcast. That Ain’t Right Comcast, That Ain’t Right. @Barbranicole1 just wanted to watch her damn channel guide. When will this madness end!
Damn you rain, Damn you satellite and damn you comcast. That Ain’t Right.



That Ain’t Right, Imagine searching for buried treasure for years and years. You have lost your family, lost your friends and lost the will to think about anything else besides for the buried treasure.
Now imagine after all those years you finally find it. You open the treasure box, take out the gold, raise it triumphantly in the sky and then BAM! Someone changes the damn channel!
@_RealLongHair finally found an episode of True Life that he liked and you change the channel! That Ain’t Right. That Just Ain’t Right.

That's all for this edition of That Ain't Right! Until next time, may nothing on this My Damn Channel be as stressful as when someone else has your remote control, Twitterland.

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Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

And that's really what it is, isn't it?

We're all sitting here, staring at our iPhones in disbelief. Finding comfort in one of the tens of thousands of songs on our iPod. Searching the internet to share in the mourning en masse on our MacBooks.

After we're done here, we'll edit some videos using Final Cut Pro. While we listen to a playlist we made on iTunes. When we get hungry later, we'll use an app on our iPhone to figure out a good place nearby to eat. When we get home, we'll iChat with our parents across the country and tell them what we've been up to. Hell, even one of our most popular videos took place in an Apple Store.

For so many of us who never even met the man, we can't imagine what our lives would have been like without him.

The real brilliance of Steve Jobs's vision is that he believed we all deserved to live the lives of our dreams, and he gave us as many tangible tools as possible to try and do just that. How many of us began vlogging because we were experimenting with our iSights? How many of us became interested in telling stories because of iMovie? How many of us now see the world refracted through Steve Jobs's lens?

We're not the first to post this video, but its message bears repeating, even on days when it isn't almost painfully poignant:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Thanks for believing in all of us, Steve. You have to have known that you made a difference.

(Image via Jonathan Mak)

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How To Be A Vlogger: Lesson Two

(Image via)

So. You've made your first vlog and told everyone that you didn't know what you were doing.

Sweet. What's next?

Well, one tactic that especially adventurous vloggers like to do is to treat the videoblogging experience like Twitter.

Like BAD Twitter.

Like the Twitter that you're afraid of finding in your timeline so you never even log on. Like the Twitter that you used to write when you didn't know what Twitter was and you thought that Facebook was just a fad and why can't we all just go back to MySpace already?!

Like this:

And-- just like last week-- this seems to work best when you don't have anything interesting or informative to share with the audience! People love being bored to death! It's crazy how that works! Those YouTube subscriptions should just start rolling in!

If you try out any of our vlogging tips, let us know how it goes-- especially if any of them work out for you, because, frankly, that's something we can only imagine. Seriously.

Come back next week when we'll discuss how to deal with the haters...

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Can Chris Meloni Appear in a Wainy Days Episode, Please?

David Wain tweeted this tribute to Chris Meloni's Wet Hot American Summer character, "Gene From the Kitchen" this morning. And it made us think... why hasn't Chris Meloni appeared in an episode of Wainy Days yet? His Law & Order contract is up pretty soon... so we imagine he'll have a lot more time on his hands... so maybe...right? Right?!

And who else belongs in an episode of Wainy Days? Leave me a comment!

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My Damn Channel Sees God and Others at "The Book of Mormon"

Jesse Cowell (My Damn Channel Director of Content),                      Rob Barnett, Josh Gad  
Josh Gad, Rob Barnett (My Damn Channel Founder/CEO)


We saw God last night (and others) at "The Book of Mormon" - the funniest, most original musical comedy on Broadway.

The show stars Josh Gad, our My Damn Channel brother & hero & the star of our newest comedy series, "Gigi: Almost American."

We're previewing Gigi now, created by Josh and The Lost Nomads. Our series launches 3/23. New episodes every Wednesday on My Damn Channel.

I decided not to read all the Mormon press or ask Josh all about the show before experiencing it fresh. This was such an orgasmic comedic masterpiece. Get tickets and see this for yourself. And we'll buy more and give them away like Santa, or the other guy.

"Mormon" was created by South Park's Matt Stone & Trey Parker with Avenue Q's Robert Lopez. We had insane comic heaven hangtime during and after the show with them all last night... along with The Pope: Jon Stewart; "Mormon" producer and show business Midas: Scott Rudin; the Head of Comedy Central and MTV Networks Entertainment Group: Doug Herzog; Iconic Legends Mike Nichols and Angelica Huston; our friends and heroes from IFC: Dan Pasternack & Debbie DeMontreux; and we even met Spock: Zachary Quinto. 

"The Pope" proves every time year after year that he's one of the most generous humans in the game. We were so stunned to see Mike Nichols, I couldn't imagine lame bla-bla and went to a spontaneous salute - which he returned!

We capped off the night and the cocktails with da man of the year, Josh Gad, eating 2am style pizza reminding us all of why we love the voodoo we do. God bless.

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The Day in Horse News, 2/10/11

 

Ah, the age old question: Why do girls love horses, unicorns, and dolphins?  Well, according to Laurel Braitman, an MIT graduate student who was quoted in this NPR article about that very subject, it's because "horses and dolphins and unicorns...are all borderland creatures; gateway animals to other worlds."  Laurel continues, saying, "they help [girls] imagine wonderful other ways of being in the world. They let us be cowgirls and oceanographers and mermaids and princesses."  NPR always posts the most captivating articles! 

In other horse news, former Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy Wretzky was arrested for failing to pay fines and appear in court after she was ticketed for letting her horses run amok throughout her town.  I wonder if people would have minded if instead of horses D'Arcy had released unicorns.  A bunch of unicorns running around sounds kinda awesome, don't you think?  Especially if the unicorns are galloping to "Tonight, Tonight".  Just imagine how damned majestic that would be.

And that's the day in horse news.  Tune in for Manatee news next week!

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Announcing the My Damn Channel Third Birthday 3Some Video Challenge

3Some: Presenting the My Damn Channel 3rd Birthday Video Challenge

What are the rules?

• Email info at MyDamnChannel dot com with the subject heading "3Some" for rules, regulations, video specs and instructions for getting your video to us.
• Find some creative way to connect it to the 3Some theme.
• Keep it under 3 minutes.  We love you, but we have trains to catch at 5:42pm to get to our Mom's place by dinner.
• Don't plug My Damn Channel shamelessly.  That's what I'm for, not you.
• We are judging overall quality, talent, originality, performance and intelligence.  So don't just shoot something and say "Whatevs, this will do."  Because it won't.  Give us your best. 

Timeline

• Get it to us by Friday, August 13th.  You should probably have your first draft done by the time you finish reading this post.
• Winners will be announced Wednesday, August 18th, which will be SOMEONE'S LUCKY DAY.

Why should you do this?

• You are creative and witty and wise and you realize that withholding your gifts from the online video world is a crime against humanity.  This goes for all of you.  Or maybe you're just bored. 
• All winners will be featured heavily on My Damn Channel.
• 3rd Prize: You will be featured for 3 Days on the My Damn Channel homepage.  Go there now.  Tell me who you see.  Imagine your mug featured next to those guys.  Sweet, right?  How awesome is the Facebook photo album you create from those screencaps gonna be?
• 2nd Prize: 8GB iPod touch.  For realz, yo.  Have you been walking around wishing you could experience the joy of touchscreen technology and the millions of apps in that damn app store?  This is for you.
• 1st Prize: 16GB iPad 3G.  For realz, also. Touchscreen technology, the app store apps, plus books and Flipboard and the cure for cancer.  What?  Oh.  Scratch that last thing.  But AN IPAD.  For you. 

We want our birthday to be a good one, so we need as many people as possible to give us presents.  Thank you, and good luck!

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The King And I: The Irreplaceable Howard Stern

Like millions of us, my stepmom is a lifelong Howard Stern fan. She just sent this photo taken off of Howard TV, airing our in-studio interview from earlier this week. I had the honor of being Howard Stern's guest on his Tuesday, 420 show (scroll to 840a).

Response is coming into My Damn Channel via email, phones, video views, comments, new subscribers, tweets, wall postings, and even a live spotting this afternoon in a clothing store (to complete the surreality). The influx of intense energy all flows back to a man undeniably uniquely qualified to hold the heavyweight title: "King of All Media."

Howard endures as one of the most talented and honest souls alive. He embodies the freedom of speech with every breath. For all who've been fired, laid off, downsized, pink slipped, discharged, axed, or job eliminated...it's hard to imagine speaking truth to power on a live microphone the way Howard has done it for decades.

I first followed Howard Stern on a carrier current, college radio station, 64 WTBU at Boston University. (There's a great scene depicting TBU in "Private Parts.")

If you've ever chased a radio dream, then your college years are likely the last time and place you ever experienced the fear and thrill of exercising your freedom of speech over a live mic.

Primordial FM rock radio stations were created in the late 1960's. Early heroes like Harry Shearer and Steven Clean were blowing minds at places like KPPC in Pasadena, California (which eventually became the world famous KROQ).

The combined forces of original radio talents and pre-corporate rock music created stations throughout the 70s powerful enough to infect audiences with a sense of community, purpose, passion, sex and fun that began to hit the wall around 1980.

I was sitting on the front steps of my apartment on Beacon Street in Boston with Steven Clean and my best friend, Mike Isabella the night Ronald Reagan was elected President. I was 20. I was about to drop out of college and take a full-time job as a rock radio jock at WAAF out in Worcester, Mass. One year later, I had the only radio thrill that came closest to being on Howard's show this week. Lightning struck and we convinced the Rolling Stones to do a private show for our station's fans in 1981 to start up the "Tattoo You" tour.

But, back to Mr. Clean. I'd been Steven's intern for a time at WCOZ in Boston. At that point in his career, Clean had been fired by many of the best radio stations in the country. He was a real life inspiration for the Dr. Johnny Fever character in "WKRP in Cincinnati." Steven was incredibly talented, brilliant, a true music expert and fan...and he was rebellious enough to drive the most patient souls to the edge of their sanity.

Considering the nation's new President, Steven held a joint firmly in my face and said, "See this? This is OVER!"
By the time of Reagan's second term, most radio station managers had a "Just Say No" policy for disc jockeys expressing free thoughts on mic, or taking free reign over any music playlist.

A small number of former radio station program directors shaved their beards, cut their hair, bought expensive suits, and armed themselves with halliburton briefcases filled with blow and bullshit designed to convince every fearful radio exec that they had the only secrets to ratings success, fortune and fame.

Conformity soon became the norm. Tighter playlists made stations sound the same from city-to-city. The job of disc jockey was transforming free thinkers into people paid to read positioning slogans, timechecks and weather forecasts.

In the midst of all this unholy homogenization, Howard Stern began to build a radio show free from the constraints put on most of his competitors. His talent grew on the radio and expanded with every carefully planned new project he launched.

Superfans know that Howard pays homage to legends who came before him like Lenny Bruce and George Carlin. I can't think of another entertainer who has more succesfully won battles with corporate brass than Howard. One of the many surprises about the real man to outsiders is how he maintains his position with grace and wisdom.

No one knows what the next chapter will be for the Stern show in 2011. Assume Howard can see the possible moves on the chess board more clearly than most. As a fan, I'll be following as I have since the beginning. As a business owner, My Damn Channel stands ready to serve The King anytime he calls. 

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TO PRAISE WBCN

Famous deaths surround us these past few weeks. The nature of heat and fame create imagined personal connections to a legendary news oracle, to a Pop King, or a Pin-up angel. But this time, it's personal.

The death of WBCN is a painful loss felt deeply by everyone of us directly influenced by its greatness. 

Every music fan whose ears and taste were shaped by the artists, songs and albums heard on 104.1 lost a friend.

Don't believe everything you hear from Spinal Tap. Boston IS a college town. If you've ever called this city "home," you owe respect and appreciation for the fun, the spirit and the sounds that BCN put into Boston.

My first college internship was at BCN. I remember the intense electric feeling as my heart beat way too fast on the first night inside that studio. That internship was the first step onto a path chasing dreams. I'll always be grateful.

If you're a fellow mourner, do you accept all the nice nice talk about change being inevitable, or can you imagine a new kind of radio powerful enough to make hearts beat way too fast?

Seth Godin once said that one of the problems with radio in the modern age is that it should no longer be called "radio."

What would we call it?

How could we forge a new model for "radio" with the honesty, passion, brains and balls to a co-create a business too powerfully protected by its fans and artists to be stopped?

Where would you launch such a thing?

Just asking. 

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Farrah, Michael & Peter

Yesterday's news was so sad. Thinking about the price some pay for fame and the toll that takes on the souls of our entertainers.

I just got the news that an amazing friend and fan of this community died late yesterday.

Peter Kuhn was one of the most soulful, loving and fun friends I know. Always there to support and cheer us - in spite of whatever hard times he faced.

He wrote fan letters regularly for our videos. This last volley of emails about WAINY DAYS was so good and funny that I sent them to David Wain and David (a mensch like Peter) responded immediately - asking me to tell him: "I love your friend's POV!"

- - -

Here's an exerpt from Peter's emails this week:

He wrote notes about "....Mr. Wain's extraordinary ability to get so many talented, beautiful women to make out with him on a regular basis regardless of the fact that it virtually always ends in disaster. At this point in my life I would be willing to trade a great deal for that kind of weekly scenario.

In stark contrast, and historically, Woody Allen has had to woo, hire, date, marry and then divorce his women taking many years and much cash to do so. Wain does it in 5-8 minutes every week, amazing!"

- - -

I cried like a baby when I got news of Peter's death this morning. First thoughts were for how sorry I am for the 4 ladies he leaves behind. Their loss is too sad to know. I'm crying for the fact that Peter's friends all don't get to love him back here as much as he loved us.

Then I turned back to thoughts of how fast, immediate and final his last seconds must have been - doing what he loved - body surfing on LBI - surrounded by friends who love him in my family - catching waves one minute -then without warning .... drowned and not revivable a minute later.

Peter went out in style as the answer to "who would be third?" - the same day as Farrah and the King of Pop. I absolutely KNOW he loves this badge of honor bestowed upon him.

I think he's telling us all a lesson learned right now - I imagine he's saying that all the hardship and all the bullshit we all experience - and sadly sometimes create - is meaningless. All that means anything is love and friendship and family and doing as best as we can to work and contribute - and especially this....to make as much fun as we can while we're here.

I'm praying for his family for our pal Peter.

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