Mid-Valley Mutations

Dimestore Radio Theater Presents: Movies On the Radio! (Labor Day Special, 2026)

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It’s Labor Day here in the Lava Lamp Lounge, and that means that the Dimestore Staff are enjoying the day off, while we listen to some “Movies On The Radio,” in our “Day-And-Date” style. Here are two broadcasts, both originally aired on September 7th, both from deep in our radio history.

First, it’s a Lux Radio Theater presentation of the lost 1927 film, “Is Zat So?” A tale of a scrappy boxer, and his manager, who wind up working temporarily for the brother of a woman who is getting married to a terrible man. Can our crew of wealthy and steet-smart ne’er do wells settle both romance as well as their boxing matches, with equal comedy and sportsmanship?

Next up, we offer an installment of The CBS Radio Master Theater, with their story, “Killer’s Helper.” Moving up in the company often means that you’ll be spending time with the boss, but when the bosses wife asks you to help her kill him, to really give you a leg up, how far will you go to secure your future in the company?

It’s old time radio on your new-fangled device! Enjoy!

Enjoy!

The King Dot & Mike Baggetta Show!

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It’s Two Weeks of “Mike Check, One Two, One Two” on Mid-Valley Mutations. All Part of Our End Of Summer Non-Bummer!

First off, we have an in-studio visit from Sam of The King Dot, a local musician who books a lot of shows, plays a lot of music, and has some shows coming up in the Mid-Valley. We let him DJ for the night, feature some of his music, and get the low down on Sam’s history in music in the area, and how The King Dot got started. It’s a cool hang, and you get a sense of what it’s like for us to hang out when we are out, talking about music. I am a big fan of the new King Dot album, Dead, which is available both Digitally, and on LP! Get yours today!

Then, we get into our interview with Mike Baggetta, Jazz guitarist, music philosopher, and performer in mssv and Case Sueño. Mike is going on tour soon with Mike Watt and John Herndon, and will be playing a show at Blast Off! here in the Mid-Valley.

We get into ALL the details, and talk a lot about what making music means to us. It’s a very casual, but very deep conversation about why it’s all important. This is, of course, a setup for our show NEXT week, where we have the members of Coronation Wound IN THE STUDIO, to plug the 9/11 Show, and the 9/26 show with Baggetta and Watt. It’s very exciting, and we’re just getting started!

So: join us next week! You won’t regret it.

Enjoy!

Be Seeing You.

Dimestore Radio Theater #176

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It’s the last show of the summer, and almost as if we planned it this way, we bring you, “Poor Sound Quality Theater,” to wrap things up this time. Four stories with less than stellar sound. Four chances to misunderstand the dialog! It’s everything mid-century media is all about, and we’re here to bring it to you, in the lowest fidelity we can imagine.

First, it’s another story from Richard Diamond, who finds himself wrapped up in a case involving a crime family run by a matriarch, a client that wants to help set things right in spite of their history of wrongs, and an encounter with Pete Rococo, someone Diamond sent to prison many years ago, and is out, again, now. Next, it seems like a simple case of local thugs trying to move in on Rocky Jordan‘s business, forcing him to let them operate their moneychanging racket out of his Cafe. But when Rocky pushes back, he’s framed for assault, and as the revenge gets worse and worse, Rocky is ultimately framed for murder. And he and Captain Sam Sabaya prove Rocky is innocent, before it’s too late?

After an installment of Dimestore Revelations and another trip through The Century documentary feature, we bring you another installment of Blackstone The Magic Detective, where a simple trick using a ladder of glass and mirrors is used to catch a thief, after which, Blackstone teaches you a trick involving three coins and patience. Lastly, we bring you another installment of X-Minus One, with a story called, “Prime Difference.” It seems like a good idea: get a duplicate of yourself made so you can have it spend time with your wife while you party it up with your friends. But when she seems to be happy with everything too, how much longer can he live with the secret?

It’s old time radio on your new-fangled device! Enjoy!

Enjoy!

Howlin’ At The Doom Part 8: Another Round For Woody & Harry

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We pick up where we left off, as we buy another round of drinks for both Woody Guthrie and Harry Dean Stanton, to men both born on July 14th, and both men who seem to be on opposite sides of the same coin.

In addition to the features we were sampling before, we bring in a few more bits and bobs from other parts of culture, to flesh out the story of two distinct personalities in American Culture.

Be Seeing You.

Dimestore Radio Theater #175

WFMU Playlist & Interactive Live Chat (The Digital Salon)

It’s another four stories for us to enjoy, as we delve straight into the heart of Mid-Century radio. First, Richard Diamond finds himself back out on a dude ranch, as he is set to find out is a victim died accidentally… or by murder! Meanwhile, a member of a group of tourists, on a package deal through Cairo, winds up lost after an encounter with Rocky Jordan, and soon Rocky himself is immersed in an oil drilling scheme, a plot to kill one of the tourists, and, of course, the local Cairo police. How will he survive this encounter?

After another installment of Dimestore Revelations and The Century, we find that Blackstone visiting a local circus, only to find that the money turns up missing too after. Can he and Rhoda determine who is using magician’s tricks to take advantage of this circus? Finally, we offer the X-Minus One tale, “Target One.” Many years in the future – 1990, to be precise – a group of survivors, all victims of a terrible nuclear holocaust that has devastated he world and the people, discover a way to travel back in time, and decide they must do the only rational thing they can imagine: kill Albert Einstein BEFORE he makes his incredible scientific breakthroughs. But will it work?

It’s old time radio on your new-fangled device! Enjoy!

Enjoy!

That’s Where The Fictional Quality of Music Money Comes From! (Retrocast)

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We review two different and complementary episodes of our show from the first couple of years, first with a vinyl / electronic mash-up, and then, with two long performances by the old house band for our show, MKUltramegaphone.

“That’s Where The Music Comes From!” was from January of 2017, where myself and horridus of devilsclub DJ’s in our own particular style, for the majority of the show. Then, in, “The Fictional Quality of Money,” from July of 2017, finds the MKUltramegaphone band in full form, stretching out over a full hour.

Music and Money. There’s a connection, for those who listen, and seek.

Enjoy!

Be Seeing You.

The Val & Tom Show

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We are getting very excited about Mike Watt’s return to the Mid-Valley, and getting asked to open for him yet again. This time, I have assembled a trio to perform with: Tom of Ghosts of Ghosts, and Valerie of Eila Star, and the three of us play to deliver our particular brand of experimental pop with a bass guitar lead. During this three hour show, Tom and Val pick the tunes, we pump up the show happening on the 26th of September at Blast Off and the one on the 11th of September at The Grand Theater, both here in the Mid-Valley. It should be a pair of nights to remember, and I was excited to spend this show with these two folks.

Enjoy!

Full Show

Just the Live Performance

Be Seeing You.

Dimestore Radio Theater #174

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As we settle into our new time here, earlier on Mondays, we continue to offer what we do best: four stories, each week, from our ongoing series. First up, we have Richard Diamond, who is helping the police investigate a murder that happened on a vibrating table, at a hair clinic for the bald and balding. But in order to flush out the killer, Diamond might have to become more than just a deputized cop, but a hair care client, as well. The, over on Rocky Jordan, we get a case of “Maltese Falcon,” as a priceless artifact is wanted by the very rich, and as the story progresses, murder, duplicates, and a number of people all wanting the artifact will do almost anything to retrieve, “The Lotus Cup of Amin Ra.”

After an installment of “Dimestore Revelations,” we continue with our documentary feature, “The Century.” Then, with Blackstone The Magic Detective, we run into a pool table parlor trick that is not only the undoing of a diamond thief, but offers Rhoda and Blackstone a new kind of trick they can perform. Lastly, in, “Double Dare,” an installment of X-Minus One, we find an alien race who has challenged human scientists to re-create technology that is from another world. Are our scientists up to the task? Tune in, and find out…

It’s old time radio on your new-fangled device! Enjoy!

Enjoy!

On Vacation (Retrocast)

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We find ourselves unexpectedly On Vacation this week, as we attempt to have some form of Summer Break before it’s too late. With that in mind, we dug out this show from 2020, where we revisit some Tiki Records, and try to find a way to relax and enjoy the time off. We have some travel guide style help along the way, and we cap it all off with a “Quiet Village” re-mix, along with plenty of other mutations along the way. Special Thank You to Mr. Moistache, who engineered this episode, while I was out of town.

We cap things off with a live performance and interview with “The Limit Club,” from a broadcast that aired originally on 11 August 2012, hosted by Miss Rikki. I was the engineer, and also got in on the interview, too. The sound is less than perfect; someday, I want to rebuild this episode, from the ground up.

The original “On Vacation” can be found here, with different production, and a different third hour, with an episode of The Adventures of Philip Marlowe rounding things off. The original broadcast had a slightly troubled history: On 30 March, 2020, the show was live-streamed via video on Facebook, but few people saw that, the audio was imperfect, and the video was lost almost immediately. A re-mastered, and re-produced audio version was broadcast on KLFM.org on 29 April, 2020, and was available as a podcast on that same day, but a number of factors, the podcast episode was not always available. In 2022 I made a Sheena version, that aired then (almost on the anniversary of the original mix.) This version is a little different, new production, and is the first time that the video and better audio have been synched, let alone the first time the video has been available to see at all since March of 2020.

On Vacation

(This show uses samples throughout the broadcast taken from a series of YouTube videos that can be found here, here and here.)

HOUR 1

Part I: Safari

01.) Polovetsian Dances * The Trans-World Symphony Orchestra * Edmond De Luca’s ‘Safari’ * Somerset Records (1958)

Part II: Lure of The Unknown Love

03.) The Breeze And I * Ferrante & Teicher * Pianos In Paradise * United Artists (1962)

Part III: Deep Night

10.) Mambo Buda * Tito Puente * Cuban Carnival * RCA Victor Records (1956)

HOUR 2

Part IV: Lotus Land

17.) Twelfth Street Rag * Sol Hoopii * Master of The Hawaiian Guitar Volume One * Rounder Records (1977)

Part V: Way Beyond Today

22.) Rupe Rupe * Terorotua And His Orchestra * Lure of Tahiti * ABC Paramount Records

Part VI: When I Wake Up In The Morning.

27.) Quiet Village Re-Mix * Mini-Mutations * 30 March 2020 * Mid-Valley Mutations (2020)

…using…

28.) Quiet Village * Les Baxter * Les Baxter’s Original Quiet Village * Capitol Records (1964)

Hour 3:

32.) Aloha Oe * The Surfmen * The Romantic Lure of Hawaii * Somerset Records (1960)

The Afterparty:

33.) “The Limit Club” LIVE! * Miss Rikki & Austin Rich * 11 August 2012 * Closet Radio

Be Seeing You.

Dimestore Radio Theater #173

WFMU Playlist & Interactive Live Chat (The Digital Salon)

Austin is out of town this week, but Mr. Fab is engineering and lending a hand, so that you can hear the show, anyway! And we have another regular installment of our program: Richard Diamond, Rocky Jordan, Blackstone: The Magic Detective, and X-Minus One. There’s also another bit of our documentary feature, The Century. But more than anything, it’s another step forward as we review the past and consider it now, here, in the Future.

It’s old time radio on your new-fangled device! Enjoy!

Enjoy!