FALSE POSITIVE WZBC - 90.3 FM Newton Thursdays 10PM - 2AM with Paul Collegio [www.PaulCollegio.net]

Show Description: A common thread in just about every incarnation of my show over the years has been a fascination with uncertainty. This time around, that obsession is even more sharply focused in "False Positive." False Positive deals with misconception, disinformation, untimely transition and events whose sequence may, at first thought, seem illogical. False Positive lives in that realm of self-doubt where action is not necessarily governed by reason, where myth is often mistaken for knowledge and where truth has many interpretations. Consequently, it is a place where one bridges gaps and assigns meaning according to one's own personal science. False positive brings to the mixing board a no-holds-barred approach to the No Commercial Potential oeuvre. It is not at all uncommon for a False Positive listener, and, in fact, for the False Positive DJ, to discover links between genres previously considered incompatible. We accept individual tracks at face value. Or we cut them up and reform them into something new. Or we combine and overlay. We sit and quietly listen to an isolated moment. And we hope for the best. False Positive is fascinated with tension and release, expansion and contraction, the burlesque of irony and the pornography of literalism. False Positive seeks to evoke extremes of sentiment, conflicting states of mind that somehow logically follow from one to the next, and jarring transitions from one state of conciousness to another. False Positive is freeform based, conspiratorially motivated and exactingly executed. Genre-bending is key. God, I sound WAY too serious, don't I? The fact is, the concept behind all this, while important, is secondary. Above all, the show must sound listenable and be seamlessly entertaining. The goal is to create a specific vibe (see above); I just try to put myself in that vibe when planning my sets. I measure my success by the comments of the callers, which brings me to the next question... The listeners: False Positive listeners are a challenging group. Many times I will get a call from someone offering their suggestion for a wild mood-shift that somehow fits the moment, whether it be a stylistic shift while maintaining a lyrical theme or vice versa. Or perhaps they see some obvious connection to something else which I am altogther missing. An active listener is crucial to the show, and thoughtful, pertinent requests are always encouraged. The name: The term "False Positive" is, in itself, a contradiction. It takes advantage of the fact that one of the words in the phrase must be untrue; otherwise, the phrase itelf cannot be true. It's a suggestion of deception or incongruity perpetrated by a figure of relative importance. You have been lied to, that is certain, but by whom? While False Positive makes no promise to ever answer that question, we certainly enjoy the ride that its pondering may provide. False Positive: In Perpetua Paradoxica. The music: Well, obviously this is the prime concern; it's why you listen to a particular show. Either you like it or you don't. I suspect that individual tracks are not specifically what an average listener to any NCP segment is after; rather, some identifiable trait that sets a tone for a block of time is what is appealing to most listeners. Because the basis of this show is one of uncertainty, I'm not going to describe the actual music to any great detail; if the overall sentiment in the show description excites you, then I'm sure the music, the specific record labels and the artists need no introduction. Best Live Shows Attended: .Dead Can Dance - November 1990 Berklee Performance Center. The closest music has taken me to ecstasy. .Bauhaus - 1981?, The Paradise. And getting to meet Ivo. .Simple Minds - 1983, The Channel. Supporting New Gold Dream. Pure Magic. .Zoviet France - 1990, AAS220 Providence. .Etant Donnes - 1989, Worcester Artist Group. Silver-painted naked French Men beating each other up. .Gang of Four and Native Tongue - 1981?, The Rat? Amazing. First Records Ever Owned: Heh. I started buying records when I was old enough to walk. I grew up in a Brooklyn household in the early 60's with a much older brother who collected early rock and roll 45s and a father completely absorbed by Hi-Fi exotic music. So, my earliest days were saturated with Martin Denny birdcalls, Time Series 2000 ping-pong experiments, the omnipresent Pursuasive Percussion record and the gliding falsettos from the Flamingos, the Heartbeats and the Channels. Though I was fascinated by records from the moment I climbed into my brother's lap and watched a 45 spin around on the record player, the first record I ever bought myself was purchased in 1964 with a dollar bill given to me by my grandmother. Walking home with my mother, I begged her to take me into Seidman's record shop on Bay Parkway. All the older kids used to hang out there after school, smoking cigarettes and pestering the owner to spin the newest 45s on his clunky old Califone. I was anxious to buy my own records and be just like my brother and his friends. So I bought a copy of "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes. This would become a weekly ritual, and I would spend every gift-dollar given to me by a doting aunt, grandmother or other peripheral relative on another 45, a habit that has carried on for nearly 40 years (though the gift-dollar thing is history). The earliest records I remember buying myself are: Kind of A Drag (The Buckinghams), The Rain, The Park and Other Things (the Cowsills), Bus Stop Bus Go (The Hollies), Turn Down Day (Cyrkle), and Bang Bang (Cher). But the record obsession started long before that. Other influential songs from back then are: In The still of the Night (the Five Satins), Cruise to the Moon (The Chaperones), Rubber Biscuit (The Chips), My Memories of You (The Harptones), Heaven and Paradise (The Meadowlarks) and Guided Missiles (The Cuff Links). Looking at these records, they all have one thing in common: they flourished despite being independently produced by what can accurately be described as rock's first-wave of independent record producers. As I got older, and learned more about the music, punk rock came torpedoing onto the scene and I couldn't help notice the similarites between the two movements. That's essentially how I bridge the gap between these disparate genres, and why making connections where none are thought to exist is so important to me. Anyway, somewhere in this world is a picture of me taken when I was three years old, wearing footsie pajamas, holding a copy of Duane Eddy's "Because They're Young" in my hands. That is, officially, the first record I ever owned. What I wouldn't give to be able to put that at the top of this web page now... The ten albums I must listen to at least one more time before I die: Various Artists - Teenage Party (Gee Records, 1956) New Order - Movement (Factory Records, 1981) Various Artists - The Fruit of the Original Sin (Crepuscule, 1982) The Paragons Meet The Jesters (Jubilee Records, 1961) Murray The K's Golden Gassers (Chess Records, 1961) Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup (Duophonic, 1995) Dead Can Dance - Spleen and Ideal (4AD, 1985) Various Artists - A Factory Quartet (Factory, 1981) Eyeless in Gaza - Rust Red September (Cherry Red, 1983) Mother Tongue - Open in Obscurity (Touch, 1987) The definitive information source about Paul Collegio is at my [website]. However, you can avoid all the noise and go directly to my [Fabulous Lifestyle Links] pages for hundreds of links that inform my show. My [Music] pages give you more of the stuff you see here, including links to my show playlists, events and schedules on the show and access to recordings I have for sale and trade. Please feel free to [contact] me. Thank you and Goodbye.