Mid-Valley Mutations

Stranger Than Fiction w/ Mr. B on Freeform, Portland (22 March 2026) (Edited Aircheck)

Playlist

I offer my continued thanks and gratitude to Mr. B of the “Stranger Than Fiction” radio show, who promoted our tour yet again on his show on the 22nd of March. Above you can hear an edited version of the full, two hour show, with just the relevant moments.

Here’s more information about this tour:

24 March 2026 on “Mid-Valley Mutations,” Sheena’s Jungle Room / WFMU

03 April 2026 in Eugene, Oregon at The Cowfish

04 April 2026 in Portland, Oregon at The Portland Arts Collective

05 April 2026 in Corvallis, Oregon at Manyworld. 

Information about The Cowfish, The Portland Arts Collective, and Manyworld.

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And, this will be on the heels of Austin’s “mini radio tour” of the Bay Area.

Be Seeing You.

The Future of When. Lived In.

WFMU Playlist & Interactive Live Chat

The most interesting thing about The Future of When is that everyone has a prognostication that never really reflects what will happen, but feels like it should. In many ways, The Future of When is about possibilities from another universe, another timeline, another reality than ever fully manifested. Through long digressions regarding the Unisphere and advanced telephony of the mid-century, we discuss the future of space travel with Bandit, Listener Robert calls in of a story of what he though the future of soap was, and will be, and Aaron in Minneapolis returns with a sequel to his previous Mid-Valley ghost story!

The mix gets nice and thick when we get to it, and I even pull out my bass for a couple improvised jams that felt right in the moment. It’s certainly a nice glimpse into once kind of future, that exists on this radio program, every week.

Be Seeing You.

Dimestore Radio Theater #159s

WFMU Playlist & Interactive Live Chat (The Digital Salon)

An interrupted shower causes Richard Diamond to just miss a pair on the run in the wake of a dead messenger on his doorstep. Richard will have to get dressed and get sharp if he wants to navigate his way through a counterfeiting operation. Meanwhile, Rocky Jordan seems to have fallen out of favor with and old friend, who then turns up dead, and embroiled in a case that involves the police, some missing documents, experimental jet fuel, and more! Plus: it doesn’t take long for Blackstone to help deduce that a ghost and a grandfather clock that doesn’t keep good time have much more in common than initially thought. And lastly, in a re-run of, “At The Post,” we find another intersection of Sci-Fi and the characters of the street, as a horse-racing expert cracks open a circumstance where aliens are responsible for some pretty terrible things… all in the same of recording our culture, for the future.

Enjoy!

Stranger Than Fiction w/ Mr. B on Freeform, Portland (15 March 2026) (Edited Aircheck)

Playlist

Mr. B of the “Stranger Than Fiction” radio show in Portland, Oregon, was kind enough to include some music by Don Haugen and Austin Rich, and talk up the “Willamette River Basin” Tour that is happening at the beginning of April. Above you’ll hear a 15 minute chunk of Mr. B’s show, where he plays some music by Austin & Don, and you can hear a few more moments from his show. You can find the complete two-hour program, which features a lot more music by other artists, either streaming from the Playlist (linked above), or from this link.

Here’s more information about this tour:

24 March 2026 on “Mid-Valley Mutations,” Sheena’s Jungle Room / WFMU

03 April 2026 in Eugene, Oregon at The Cowfish

04 April 2026 in Portland, Oregon at The Portland Arts Collective

05 April 2026 in Corvallis, Oregon at Manyworld. 

Information about The Cowfish, The Portland Arts Collective, and Manyworld.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And, this will be on the heels of Austin’s “mini radio tour” of the Bay Area.

Be Seeing You.

The Future of When. Marathonin’. (Week 2)

WFMU Playlist & Interactive Live Chat

It always seems like a bit of a whirlwind to me each time, but yet again, our Marathon has come, and with it, another chance to show listeners what we do, how we do it, and give you a chance to get a little something out of the deal, too. This year was no exception, of course, and we made it a point to try and get all vinyl records as Prizes this year, and the fact that Sun Ra Boxed set didn’t last long is a sign I’m doing something right.

We continue to work our way through The Future of The Past, with more inclusions from records that were given away to donating listeners. A few folks mentioned in the Digital Salon that they even got the Sheena’s keychain, and for that we are grateful, as it is very fetching, and will look good any way you use it.

This mix gets nice and thick, and aside from a couple of tech issues involving a Velvet Underground CD and whatnot, we get really into Nuclear Power, Sinclair’s Dinoland, and many other aspects of the way the past saw the future. We cap things off with a future-forward past performance from the beginning of March, where Mini-Mutations tackled some of these same themes… in front of an audience.

We manage to raise a fair amount of money, and we gave away almost everything. That’s not a bad way to cap off a Marathon.

Be Seeing You.

Dimestore Radio Theater #158 – (WFMU Marathon Week 2!)

WFMU Playlist & Interactive Live Chat (The Digital Salon)

It’s our second Marathon show of the season, and we pull out all the stops, giving away vinyl records and listening to some incredible Mid-Century broadcasts, to help raise a little coin for WFMU and Sheena’s Jungle Room.

In one of the more gruesome installments of Richard Diamond, “The Man Who Hated Women,” puts the police and Diamond on the hunt for a brutal murderer who has a particular grudge against women. Then, we check in with Rocky Jordan, who has to kick out of his bar a man with a gun, only to find that a young couple is looking for this person, and moreover, the man with a gun seems to have left behind a valuable diamond. We close this week with a story from X-Minus One, “The Scapegoat,” where we find out how far a journalist will go to get an incredible story, and how it is easy to judge a circumstance from the outside.

Over the last two weeks we raised a good chunk of change for WFMU and Sheena’s, and we even gave away all of our prizes last night. But I you are still looking to donate, then you might want to get the Sheena’s Jungle Room Keychain Premium!  This fetching Keychain that will look good no matter how you use it.

And next week we return to our regular scheduled programs. See you in the Digital Salon!

Enjoy!

The Future of When. Marathonin’. (Week 1)

WFMU Playlist & Interactive Live Chat

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the time of year when our radio station kicks into “fundraising” mode seems to come sooner and sooner every year, and already, it is Week 1 of our Marathon!  We hope that you consider donating to our humble cause, and in exchange, I have LPs that I will mail to you, for your donation.

But that’s not all! Bandit calls in to offer their take on why radio and community is important. Aaron In Minneapolis – with the help of some modern software – calls in with a Mid-Valley ghost story, relating to the future, and to the people and places that make the Mid-Valley so special. And: I continue to cut and paste with samples and music regarding the Future of When.

Stay tuned, as we will have more LPs to give away next week, more Marathon Fun happening at WFMU, and more chances to help keep something fun and uplifting running smoothly in your community.

Be Seeing You.

Dimestore Radio Theater #157 – (WFMU Marathon Week 1!)

WFMU Playlist & Interactive Live Chat (The Digital Salon)

The Marathon is here again, and WFMU is hard at work, trying to raise the money they need to keep things going. We always appreciate the chance to help, and I always feel grateful that WFMU and Sheena’s Jungle Room make me feel so welcome. This week, I open up the show more, to talk about the Marathon, and give listeners a chance to win some excellent prizes, for their donations.

We open the show with an installment of Richard Diamond, who finds himself in a case very similar to The Maltese Falcon, but with an Ivory Statue of Kali at the heart of the matter. But it’s much more complicated for Rocky Jordan this week, as an unusual incident at The Cafe Tamborine leads to Sam asking Rocky to get involved with a woman, in an effort to find out who is the Perfect Witness. Finally, we present another installment of X-Minus One, where we get a young person’s perspective on a historic moment in history, as everyone around him tries to come to terms with how we will, “End As A World.”

We raised a fair amount of money during the show, a few people even opted to get the Sheena’s Jungle Room Keychain Premium, this fetching Keychain that will look good no matter how you use it. And tune in next week, when I’ll have more LPs to give away, for those who donate in the name of Dimestore Radio Theater!

And, of course, we’ll have more from your favorite Mid-Century Media Outlet, Dimestore Radio Theater!

Enjoy!

The Future of When. Again.

WFMU Playlist & Interactive Live Chat

As we continue my journey through the Sleepcore on the picsandportraits YouTube Channel, we – Again – journey through the future of the past, and try to find the various ways that I can jam along with the flotsam and jetsam of 20th Century AV. It was such a difficult and wide-ranging journey that I even had to pull my bass out, to make up for other equipment failures that I’ve been struggling with here in the Lava Lamp Lounge. Still, we managed to bring you three hours of retro-futurism, in an effort to consider the sort of timeline of which we seem to have been robbed.

The lines were open, but silent, and not everything was rainbows and lollipops, but we did manage to stick the landing, and have settled into a routine and a format that could be sustainable, baring any particularly unforeseen mishaps. We close going places this show had NEVER gone before – with the work of ABC, no less – and along the way manage to connect the dots back through the Circle Jerks, The Flaming Lips, old-school ska, the 39′ World’s Fair, Camper Van Beethoven, and so much more.

Be Seeing You.

Dimestore Radio Theater #156

WFMU Playlist & Interactive Live Chat (The Digital Salon)

In our first hour, we have an encounter with a street photographer – who hands Richard Diamond to get wrapped up in a case involving “The Photographer’s Card,” – is enough to get his working with his old unit on the police force again. Meanwhile, it’s a Cairo version of The Maltese Falcon, as Rocky Jordan manages to get involved in a hunt for “The White Beetle,” a case that puts both him and Sam in danger!

After a short diversion to discuss some Dimestore Revelations!, we offer another installment of ourVaudeville documentary.  Blackstone The Magic Detective discusses how he once found himself solving a case where an Organ was ultimately the killer, and in our finally story on X-Minus One, we find a case of government interference, as an inventor wants to be able to test in possibly-dangerous creation out on human test subjects, something that couldn’t possibly go wrong, could it?

More from your favorite Mid-Century Media Outlet, Dimestore Radio Theater!

Enjoy!