The Free Ride Anthology (1997-2000)

To celebrate the then-recent addition of a CD burner to my computer, I made my first-ever compact disc release in April 2000. Having recently participated in the making of Adam Lindquist's limited-edition WENI Radio "Condiment Collection" 2-disc set, I was inspired to make a similar compilation.
Since Adam's set used many--but not all--of the commercials we and Kevin Hurley made for our imaginary "Free Ride at Five" radio shows, I set out to make a CD that included more of this material. For the sake of my friends at SUNY Fredonia, who did not have the WENI set, I used a few of the same ads. However, most of the ads (and other Free Ride items) that I used were previously unreleased.
Once I finished digitally transferring the "Free Ride" ads to my computer, I noticed that there was still plently of room to add other things onto this proposed CD. So, I then included recordings I had made with Adam Lindquist, with a special emphasis on Crowded House covers, and all the songs that we had written together up to that point.
After that, I still had more room. So, I dug deeper into the past and, inspired by my success within SUNY Fredonia's Improv Society that semester, wound up with...canned ham! The "Canned Ham Session" was a series of improvisational (and partly-musical) recordings I had done with four other people during my involvement in a disastrous CCC production of "Romeo & Juliet" in 1997. This session is important because it gave birth to "Canned Ham Island", a 13-minute improv story that later was transcribed and became one of the first items to appear on my web site (which was created that same year).
So, in combining my sessions with "Free Ride", Adam, and "Canned Ham" (plus some miscellaneous one-off items), I now had a CD that was ready for the masses. The tracks are:

Adam & DASjr, Crowded House covers, Soul Full Cup Coffeehouse, 1-14-1999: This was an open-mic performance that we did to only a few people because heavy snowfall had closed the shop.

1. It's Only Natural
2. Fall at Your Feet- with Amelia Harnas
3. Weather With You- with Jamie Kirby

The DASjr/Lindquist Compositions, 1998-2000: These are all the songs that Adam and I had written together up to May 2000. They are presented here in the order that we wrote them.

4. The Thing That Sucked From Below- Take 1 of 2, recorded during "Free Ride" sessions
5. Spending Time With You- another performance from 1-14-1999
6. Retro Man theme- demo, unused song written for the movie, recorded duing a Retro Man taping session
7. Private Industry in Space- with me taping (and talking), but not singing or playing; recorded at a family party at Adam's house
8. Doing the Who (improv)- with Amelia and Adriana Harnas, recorded while hanging out at Amelia's house
9. (Theme From) My Show- recorded digitally at Adam's house, used at end credits for first episode of "My Show"
10. You've Got Mail- from the same session as Track 9, but recorded first

Audio project, SUNY Fredonia, Spring 2000: This was a sound collage made using a MacIntosh computer program. It was later burned onto a CD, and I got an A for it.

11. Prey of Birds

"Free Ride at Five" Sessions, 1998-1999: Most of these ads and fake news reports were recorded in the WGMM radio studio where Kevin Hurley was working at the time. Tracks 13, 16, and 22, however, were recorded as audio projects in SUNY Fredonia in Fall 1998. All items were written by me, and produced by Kevin, except where indicated below.

12. Backstreet Boys- liner ad, with Kevin
13. Dairyland Longhorn Cheese- ad, produced by DASjr
14. When People Almost Get Hurt- ad, with Kevin, Levi Corcoran, and Corey (not the Corey from David's College Anthology)
15. Influx of Poodles- "CNN news" report, Kevin with Cynthia Clark, written by Kevin, co-produced by me
16. Yamaha- ad, produced by me
17. Counseltron 2000- ad, with Kevin
18. Pixie Sticks- "CNN news" report, with Kevin
19. Hey Hey It's The Monkees- ad
20. Jesus Christ- ad
21. Mickey Mouse- "CNN news" report, co-written with Kevin
22. Goodboy Tires- ad, produced by me
23. Corning Community College- ad, with Kevin and Levi

Canned Ham Sessions, Corning Community College, 3-13-1997: This was recorded between performances (two in one day) of "Romeo & Juliet". The performers are me, Grant Blackburn, Dion Clark, Jeff Spencer, and Larry Wilcox.

24. Four Guys On Crack- musical jam in the green room, with Larry Wilcox not yet in attendance
25. Why Can't We Get Along- improv song, with Larry Wilcox having arrived by now, and everyone is now on the stage
26. You're Our Favorite- ad-lib message, a take-off on something our director, Clare Reidy, had been saying throughout "Romeo & Juliet" rehearsals
27. Canned Ham Island- improv story, complete version

Backstreet Boys Parody, Summer 1999: This song was also from a "Free Ride" session at Kevin's station. Like many of the other "Free Ride" recordings, this track was never used for an actual show (Only two complete shows were recorded, the first of which did not include me, and is lost anyway).

28. (As Long As I Have) Viagra- with Kevin, Davette Glover, and friend Nancy (ends with a comment by Adam, recorded at the same station the next day, when Kevin & I called him and played him the song)

TRACKS 7-8: previously on Simple Wisdom's Skeleton Songs
TRACKS 14, 17, & 20: previously on WENI Radio's Condiment Collection
TRACK 27: previously (in edited form) on David's College Anthology

COMMENTS: This was a fun collection to do, and fun to listen to. My practice with the Sound Forge WAV files editing program paid off, and the technical success of this compilation later inspired me to create a "DASjr Experience" CD-Rom that same semester, as well as a "DASjr Anthology" CD later that year.
Sound quality for these recordings ranges from very good (taped from a hand-held recorder) to excellent (many of the radio recordings). Performance quality ranges from weird to good.

TECHNICAL NOTE: Although some of these tracks had appeared on Simple Wisdom and WENI compilations, this disc mastered them from the original tapes instead of copying them from the other CDs.