When I was young my parents would listen to John Dunning’s “Old Time Radio”. It was a show on KHOW, where my mother also had a Sunday evening show about finding deals in Denver. “Old Time Radio” was rebroadcasting of old radio shows, complete with Lucky Strike commercials. At the time I knew it was neat. To listen to these old shows, mysteries, westerns, I didn’t always have the patience for them, but listening to them made me feel safe and warm.
I knew that WAMU had an old time radio show, because I had heard the host helping out with the fall fund drive. I just turned on “The Big Broadcast” because I screwed up my radio and I don’t know if I’ll manage to get it to play my ipod anymore. At the moment I don’t mind, though I’m sure that particularly apathy may pass.

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Originally uploaded by Rachel Ariel.

Snowy Sundays are perfect for laundry and reading. Which is what I’ve been doing all day, though it didn’t actually start snowing until about two hours ago. I haven’t gotten dressed, I haven’t showered, I’ve just been drinking tea and reading and listening to music that was old when my dad was born.

I’ve stopped waiting for the phone to ring, stopped hoping that the people who say they will call will call. It’s a disappointing, but also liberating feeling.

The streets are pretty deserted, and I have a feeling it would be a good afternoon to go to the grocery store, which i need to do desperately, but I can’t quite bring myself to get dressed and venture outside. And that is also part of the beauty of Sundays (that, and eating cookies for breakfast).

I have been a pretty huge Badly Drawn Boy fan for the last three years. I saw them at the Cat’s Cradle during the 1+1=1 tour, and had the wonderful opportunity to hang out with them after the show a little bit while a radio colleague of mine interviewed the different members for our college station. About six months ago I caught snippets of a Badly Drawn Boy song in Target commercials. Of course the hipster in me recoiled a little bit, thinking “oh crap, now everyone will love him”, but I got over that quickly, as it makes me happy when the things and people I love are succesful. I didn’t care that Damon Gough had “sold out”, Target, on the whole, is a fairly harmless company when compared to some of its competitors (though not to hear Planned Parenthood talk about it, though that is a whole other issue).

Sunday night however, I saw something that made me reasses my thoughts on the matter. Trackback… When I finally bought my copy of 1+1=1 in 2005, I read the liner notes (because I’m compulsive like that) and found that Badly Drawn Boy had been involved with a carbon neutral program for the production of the album. I don’t have the exact information in front of me at the moment, but I will add it when I get home. What the partnership means is that Badly Drawn Boy paid to offset the production of harmful carbon emissions created in the production, packaging and distribution of 1+1=1. I thought that this was an amazing program to be involved in, and Badly Drawn Boy rose exponentially in my esteem. I used the carbon calculator to examine the ways in which I could reduce my own carbon emissions. I rode my bike more. Not that all of these things were a direct result of the band, but to give some context.

Imagine then my debilitating disappointment to hear Something to Talk About in a Hummer commercial Sunday night. Beyond Bob Dylan selling out to Victoria’s Secret (a company which uses virgin growth for their catalogues), this was upsetting because of the pure hypocrisy of the action. I understand that there are all sorts of issues at stake in areas of marketing, intellectual property, negotiations with labels, and such matters about which I know very little. I also know however that artists negotiate their contracts, and that even while including the ability to sell songs for commercials, it is possible to say that they won’t allow the songs to be sold to specific companies.

I love Badly Drawn Boy’s music. I really enjoyed spending time with Damon Gough and the members of his band. I love his lyrics and his melodies. Returning the music that I have legally purchased does not send a message, but I don’t think I will be purchasing any future albums. Additionally, I find it disconcerting that the thread to discuss this issue on the band’s official website has been systematically shut down.