Rollins - Fanatic!, Volume 1

Table of Contents

For Mick Geyer 1953 - 2004

Thanks: Indie 103.1 and Mike Steele, Engineer X, Heidi May, The Buzzcocks, All who tuned in every week, Mitch Bury of Adams Mass. A Special thanks to Carol Bua who worked countless hours finding and correcting more mistakes per page than any manuscript Ive ever handed her. If the writing in this book makes any sense at all, it had little to do with me.

JOE COLE 4.10.61 - 12.19.91

At some point in April of 2004, I started getting letters from people telling me about a radio station that was worth checking out called Indie 103.1. The letters said that the station was playing really good music and giving a great amount of attention to the Rise Above benefit record that I had worked extensively on the year before.

I got off tour and checked out a broadcast on Indie of Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones who had a slot from noon to 2 p.m. and it sounded really cool. Steves got some serious taste in music. The overall vibe of the station seemed great, they played new indie stuff as well as old punk rock and didnt bother with the ultra mainstream elements of music.

Right around that time, my manager called me and said that there was this station called Indie 103.1 who wanted to give me a slot on the station. I took a meeting with them and they seemed like good guys. I explained that I was interested in having a show but wanted no playlists to stick to. I would abide by the rules of Colin Powells chubby son and the FCC but past that, no one was going to tell me what to play or I was out of there. They said that was cool with them and so I started immediately.

An engineer was assigned to me. His name is Engineer X. I asked X to come over to my office so we could hang out and talk about all things music. I figured if I was going to spend a lot of time with this guy, I better get some non-studio time with him. So, X came over and we hung out and I found out quickly that he was a good guy and he knew a lot about music. I figured we would get along just fine. X ended up being one of the cooler people Ive met in a long time and he turned me onto some good bands.

I had to come up with a name for the show. I picked Harmony in My Head for a few reasons: it is my favorite Buzzcocks song and since I was going to be playing all kinds of music, I wanted to get the idea across that I like what I like and its all one kind of music to megood.

On May 17th, I did my first of 27 broadcasts, Monday nights, 7 to 9 p.m.

By the 2nd broadcast, I had started annotating all the songs I played and posted them on the Harmony In My Head site in case anyone was interested in what they heard and wanted to know more. Since listeners can stream the station on the internet, I was getting letters form all over the world telling me that they were enjoying the show and all the different kinds of music I was playing. In fact, it seemed that the farther out I took things, the more people liked it. I have to say that I was a little surprised by that but happy nonetheless.

As the shows went on, I worked harder on the annotations after getting such great e-mails telling from listeners who were downloading them and hitting the record store. Its always fun to be able to turn someone else onto music youre into.

By the time the 2004 Presidential Election rolled around, I had started playing CDs of men reading from the Koran at the top of the broadcast and dedicating the show to all the mullahs and mullettes on the west side. Engineer X became Sonic Jihad Brother X and the show became a weekly hajj as we made our way to music mecca. So, if you see some references to jihad and all the rest in some of the annotations, now you know the reason why.

Indie being a Clear Channel station, I figured its the least I could do.

This behavior was inspired by this one bitch motherfucker I encountered there a few weeks into my time as a Monday Night Sonic Jihadist. It took weeks for the station to issue me a key card so I could gain entry to the studio, our music mosque, if you will. I found myself having to meet up with Sonic Jihad Brother X outiside after the evening prayer so he could let me in. On one of these Monday evenings, I was outside the mosque door and a man who was on his way in kindly allowed me to walk in with him. Almost immediately a man came up to me, got in my face and asked me what my business was there. I told him I had a little show on Indie 103.1 and I didnt have a key card yet. I got to the studio and put my box of CDs and notes down only to find this waste of mammas good cooking, who I dubbed Corporate Man, right behind me. He got in my face again and asked again what I was doing there. I told him that I was A.) not employed by him and B.) had a weekly radio show. This really got to him I guess and he did that thing men do when challenged, they lean into you like youre supposed to be frightened. He did that and said, Ill need your name, sir. I closed off the distance, got very much in his face and said my name loudly and slowly, then I spelled it and reminded him that there wasnt a day in the week that I worked for him. He freaked out and scurried away to have a word with the guy who ran the station. I asked X if I was fired and he said no. I cant promise that you will like this book or any of the music detailed herein but I can promise you with all certainty that Corporate Man came very close to getting bitch slapped by yours truly. If youre reading this you stunted coward, Mullah Henry is always ready to personally deliver the fatwa you so desperately need. Anyway, it was around then I declared war on conventional radio and several weeks later, my show became a full-fledged FM Jihad.

Weeks and months went by and my Monday evenings became a cool ritual of getting off work, taking my crate of CDs and notes down to the radio station and getting it going with Engineer X. After the show was over, I would go back to the office, make the last edits and changes to the annotated notes and send them off to Tony to post them on the site. I would then answer all the mail that came in and send people the notes so they wouldnt have to wait until the next day. It was a great time and I never thought I would find myself looking forward to Mondays.

I left Indie 103.1 because my work load for 2005 looked like it would have me out of LA more often than not, so with great regret, I sent in my notice informing Mike Steele that my last show would be the last Monday of 2004. I had a great time there and everyone was completely cool to me, even when I ripped U2 a new one in the middle of the stations 24 Hour U2 marathon, prompting a virtual ton of angry e-mail and the threat of a class action suit. U2 fans are a sensitive bunch and not used to feeling the H8. Well, the road to music Mecca is rough.

So, what the hell is this book anyway? This book is the answer to many e-mails I received after I stopped doing the show. The letters expressed remorse that the show had been martyred and that they had not had a chance to download all those annotations before I pulled the site down. I got so many of those letters, it caused me to put all the annotations together into one file and send it out to the people who requested it. In January I was in Europe and every morning as the bus rolled across the continent, I would find myself re-reading the lists, adding to them and cleaning up mistakes. One thing lead to another and before I knew it, I had added over forty thousand words to the damn thing.