Cotolo Chronicles

Tough times, part 9

2010-02-28T20:21:00.000-08:00

Some times tough times come in many different forms. If it isn't bad enough to have a rotten global economy, along comes a rotten global foundation, literally. Two major earthquakes over the past few months have given a deeper, more intense view of these tough times.

Financial ground is one thing when it shakes but the very ground people live upon shaking means crumbling, critical injury, deaths, destruction and very few places to sit. You think you got it tough not being able to pay a bill, try being in those two places where big earthquakes took down whole cities and displaced thousands of people --the ones who lived!

The world is in disorder and though that is nothing new in general these are our times and we have to live in them, hoping that the rest of our lives, even if we live to be a hundred or more, times are not as tough as they are now or are going to be as this documentation of our tough times continues.

Tough times, part 8

2010-01-19T08:20:00.001-08:00

Someone said to me recently that tough times are getting tougher. I pondered. Do they get tougher or become tougher? And just how is it to be measured?

It is a sliding scale, this matter of toughness. For some it is as tough as it can become (or get) and that makes it the toughest. Certainly toughest is tougher than tough but the sliding scale depends upon the individual's ability to handle tough, not tougher or toughest. Certainly no one who handles tough badly can handle tougher, making tougher toughest, in that case. And if a person is handling times being tougher, then that person may have been handling tough well.

But can it become (get) the toughest for those who are handling tough and tougher? Tougest is tougher than tough, right? So where does the misery end? Is lard the answer to what will make us happy during tough times?

Tough times, part 7

2010-01-04T17:39:00.000-08:00

There's an old saying: When things get tough, the tough get things. Wait, that isn't it. Here it is: When the going gets tough, the tough get goint. Yes, that is it and doesn't it make sense in these tough times?

You have to be stronger, not wiser, when tough times arrive, no less when they stay. You have to flex your muscles and get to it, whatever it is, and do it, whatever must be done. This is no atmosphere for the weak.

Get going, be tough in these tough times. Don't just breathe, growl. Don't just walk, trot. Step everything up a notch, maybe two notches. These are times for us to show whoever needs to be shown that we can survive, thrive and strive, no matter the hurdles we must jump.

Tough times are good for your circulation, too. A recent survey revealed that more people had less problems with circulation during tough times than those who had trouble with circulation when times were soft, easy and downright lame.

We can turn this thing around, people.

Tough times, part 6

2009-12-23T07:32:00.000-08:00

So just when you think you are getting used to the toughness of the times along comes a day that becomes tougher than the day before. This makes you wonder: "Will the days get tougher and tougher until they defeat me? And when I am unable to fight back, to survive, will my life be over? If so, how long will it take for me to die after the defeat?"

The negative thoughts come faster than a runaway train hits a parade and that counter-productive situation drains you of the very energy you need to fight these tough times. One muse be able to harness enough sunshine to blow up one's behind to ward off the thoughts of destruction that can destroy you.

Finding sunshine for self-blowing purposes is more difficult than ever. It is as tough as all the tough things in these tough times. Sunshine is everywhere when the sun is shining but can we all share it so we can each have enough to blow up our behinds and quash the destructive thoughts?

Tough times, part 5

2009-12-09T22:21:00.001-08:00

Be that as it may, and it may or may not be, we are deeper into tough times than most people want to believe, for to believe times are this tough is to admit there may be more tough times ahead, or imagine that if times become tougher we will all implode without warning.

How to deal with times this tough is something even Charles Dickens would not know. He wrote: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." But Dickens didn't know of time that were not bad and good, like these times, these tough times that are void of anything easy. What would he write today? It would have to be: "It was the toughest of times, it was the toughest of times."

That would not go well with anyone, though it would be true.

Tough times, part 4

2009-11-30T10:42:00.000-08:00

Just how tough is tough? For some tough is rougher than for others and for others rough is tough. But these tough times have not had mercy on those who have more than others. For those with abundance, tough has had its affects.

Tough is not as relative as you may think, because tough times make ripples and ripples reach those who a lot of people think are beyond being touched by ripples. Like Jesus said, "A stone in a pond creates ripples that reach to the shore." Well, maybe it wasn't Jesus who said that but it should have been because the whole ripples thing needs to be understood by all of us, living and dead.

Ripples are rough and they reverberate to all walks of life. Rough ripples shake the foundation and in tough times those ripples can fracture a foundation. This is what we are all feeling in these times, in this new millennium which grows older by the day. It is so important that you accept that these tough times are being shared by those around us, away from us and without us.

Tough times, part 3

2009-11-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

During tough times it is difficult to become motivated on a Monday. During very tough times it is even harder to pick oneself up --no less someone else-- and dive into actions that may make tough times less tough.

Mondays are the worst days during weeks during tough times because for most people they are the start of another week of tough times and that is a burden that most people despise during tough times. Tuesdays are a bit better, Wednesdays better than Tuesdays, Thursdays way more pleasant than the day before, Fridays ripe for expectation of a good weekend and Saturdays are the portal to drunken stupors, the savior moments of the week during tough times.

The trick to beating the weight of Mondays during tough times is twofold.

First, you can pretend it is Saturday and get pee-eyed drunk. Second ... well, maybe there is only one trick.

Tough times, part 2

2009-11-20T09:08:00.000-08:00

Tough is right. This morning in a bread line I was told they were out of bread. How humiliating is it to be in a bread line that runs out of bread? That is just one more instance of today's tough times. We all remember easier times, right? There were times when you went to a store to buy groceries and the store owner ran the joint (in fact he smoked a joint) and you could run up a bill just for the freaking sake of having credit with the place. Those days are kaput and let me tell you that the kaput pile is heightening.

Tough times

2009-11-17T09:00:00.001-08:00

It is true these are tough times all over but no one seems to realize that tough times have been all over all of the time and throughout all time. Today people are looking at doom as if doom is something new, something that doesn't rhyme with "room" or have a meaning that isn't sewn through the ages. These people are wrong and it would not surprise me if now and again these people try to take their pants off over their heads.

Tough times are part of all times and to think that these particular tough times are worse than other tough times is a wasted thought. People who spend time pondering that should think more about pastry. The toughness of times is always represented in times as times pass and, as the song reveals, as time goes by.

This is why we are presenting a series of essays addressing the tough times and our contemporary poisonous thought about their qualities of doom. Sure, tough times can kill you but there are worse things. Please check in here and other places on the internet for our continuing essays on tough times and how you can cope with them.

... and the world laughs with you

2009-11-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

Don't miss the Nov. 12 program as our host reveals the 10 funniest jokes in America, as judged by veterans of media comedy.

Have your Cotolo Chronicles notebooks on hand and be sure to record this show or download it later and pass the jokes around.

Remember we are live on Thursday nights, 9 to 11 p.m.

Death of a Salesman

2009-10-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Book-booking rumor

2009-10-16T09:52:00.001-07:00

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. -- Sources close to the Cotolo camp have leaked that a major book deal is brewing for the "Godfather of Internet talk radio" and that meetings in the City of Brotherly Love have already taken place.

The long-awaited autofiction autobiography, said to be titled Arrive Late, Leave Early and Do Nothing Inbetween, is rumored to be the book discussed at FlavorMillPublishers in Philadelphia.

No one would go on the record but a person close to the publisher's offices indicated that three men and one women, all dressed in black (one had red shoes) were in a meeting about a Cotolo book last Tuesday, though it could have been Wednesday or Friday, said the source.

"There is no doubt about the fact that this book has been touted for some time," said a recent book critic who has given thumbs up to each of the Cotolo books now available at Lulu.

Memories abound

2009-10-05T08:35:00.001-07:00

The many remembrances in the storied life of Frank Cotolo appear as brief essays among the contents at:

Frank's blog

Please take some time and enjoy the unique approach to biography, as universally presented by the "Godfather of Internet Radio," Frank Cotolo.

A, B, C, Dee and FC

2009-09-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Cotolo Monthly returns to Wild Bunch Radio the first Friday in October.

Dee Shellhammer, the fabulous one (pictured), debuts as the Godfather's co-host. "These two have more chemistry than Frankenstein's monster," wrote one critic.

You can call in and talk to Frank or Dee or both at the same time and be a part of alternative broadcasting's greatest and most original hosts --originals from the classic days of Internet radio.

Be there!

Another sexy movie

2009-09-12T11:02:00.001-07:00

How did this scene (video below) from the move 'Orgy of the Dead' escape the list for sexiest movies ever?

Tilton's the tops!

2009-08-10T18:15:00.001-07:00

Saving Paul

2009-08-01T09:35:00.001-07:00

Our good friend Paul Williams, who exclusively appeared on our show many times, needs help.

Please go to his website, read the home page and see what you can do.

Loud and clear

2009-07-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

What happened that week when the program turned into a buzz instead of its topic becoming one? Here's the scoop:

It is, technically, a BR-345-UCS (Unilateral Condenser System), though this UCS version, rebuilt by Japanese sound engineers, is low on condensing due to a new diode connection that verifies the signal by adjusting the volume to anti-clipping density. Now I know you might not understand that entirely but see if I care.

Click here on more of this featured article.

Goodnight Fred

2009-07-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

Jack stuff now available

2009-06-14T18:36:00.001-07:00

Take all of your pennies or some of your paper money and get to Cafe Press to binge on Jack Cotolo's great designs, now available on shirts and stuff.

Yes, that is the same Jack Cotolo you must recall from his father's broadcast, Cotolo Chronicles. Jack is an award-winning artist at 16 and is now offering original art on shirts and stuff.

GET IT HERE!

Wear it and be popular for wearing it. Remember that it could become a major collector's item one day not so far away from today.

We'll see

2009-05-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Is it possible? Word is leaking from the Cotolo camp that some kind of video presentation may be added to the weekly broadcast. Once dismissed as a dumb thing to do, word from insiders now say that Cotolo may be having a change of heart, basically due to a window of opportunity.

"We may be able to pick up more listeners," a source told the alternative press because the mainstream press did not care to get a quote. "The source we are considering would allow many more listeners to log in without hitting the live bandwidth server with a deep, financial impact."

Stay tuned.

'Wall' whacking

2009-04-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

Since legendary rock-music producer Phil Spector was convicted of second-degree murder in the six-year-old shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson, a disappointed fan base for the controversial Spector has begun to do the unthinkable: dismantling the famous Wall of Sound.

Read the entire article here.

(Pictured: the author disguised as Phil Spector in court; photo by L.J. Michelich)

Going, going, arrived!

2009-04-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

Recently there were five studies developed to find a link between a person moving to a country other than his or her native country and that person experiencing a heightened measure of creativity.
Continued ...

SRN remembers

2009-04-21T08:58:00.000-07:00

Ten Years of SRN Mediaworks - State of Grace

Chronicling some interesting memories of the past 10 years, here is video recorded in downtown Toronto, Washington D.C., Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Niagara Falls, Taipei, Markham, Ontario and SRN One's current hometown, Woodbridge.

Special thanks to Clay at Toronto Experimental Artists for providing the permission to use their music. This track, State of Grace by David William can be found on their compilation TEA Volume 4 which can be bought at http://www.teasouth.com.

Support indie!

Behind the scenes

2009-04-08T07:57:00.000-07:00

The mascot debate

First brought up at a meeting in 1998, the notion of obtaining an animal to help promote our program was quickly dismissed by the person who would have been assigned to bathe the creature. No one had brought up the idea again until recently and this time it caused some discussion. "What animal would anyone suggest?" said Irving.

Click here on more of this featured article.