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With the big date set for surgery on April 29, I am attempting to clear the deck of unfinished projects. Not confident that all will be completed but this one is unquestionably a must. A mere three days prior on April 26, against considerable odds, will mark the 45th wedding anniversary of Cathy and I. Including over a dozen location moves and trauma both expected and unexpected, through ups, downs and occasionally even sideways situations we have somehow endured. Although unalike in just about every category, at times diametrically opposed, we are easily a pair of the most stubborn humans in history.
From my perspective, I still see that 18 year old vision of Natalie Wood meets Annette Funicello in a tube-top and full-on Angela Davis Afro that I refused to sell a Lynyrd Skynyrd record to in 1975 at Harmony Hut in East Brunswick, NJ. Instead, I gave her a copy of Dave Mason’s “It’s Like You Never Left” with a promise that if she didn’t like it, all she had to do was return it for the Skynyrd album of her choice. Of course we met at a Record Store. I have not really spent much time in the studio. Lately sleeping seems to occupy the bulk. A few nights back, in between dreams and thinking about the last 45 years I headed to the studio and fired it up old school. I had an opening song (a new one from The Swell Season) and a closing, a song we always dance to. Actually, the only song we ever dance to. This is what came out. Love You, Cath.
The PLAYLIST is HERE
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Next up is a full series of blood tests, as I get ready to see exactly how the doctors plan to attack the unwanted growth. I must admit that the more news I read, the less I’m sure I want to continue as this is simply no longer the country I’ve spent just about 69 years in. What a clusterfuck. If anyone is upset at that comment, do yourself a favor and search Berlin 1933 in whatever you use for that kind of stuff. Read about it and then get back to me.
Cathy has been my taxi to and from every doctor visit and our new car game is to do the nazi salute to every Tesla we encounter. Yes it’s childish but it does make me laugh, and that’s all I’m interested in right now… a brief giggle. Cathy, Anastasia and I want to send our love and support to Cathy’s cousins, Elizabeth, Leslie and Chris who are being put through the emotional ringer with lie after lie published in the press. It’s tough enough to lose their beloved Father, but the coverage has been beyond the pale. Don’t believe everything you read. Thanks to all who have sent support, financial or emotional. Both are greatly appreciated. Please enjoy the show! click for 24Bit .flac DL 
The first voice you will hear on this episode belongs to the late Pete Fornatale, who passed away in 2012 at the tender age of 66 the date was April 26. That would have been my 32nd Wedding Anniversary. I know that because it was my Mother’s Birthday, a date I would never forget, marking the perfect date to get married. Insurance against becoming “that guy” a popular sitcom storyline back in the day. The dufus husband that never remembers. I guess music isn’t the only way I’ve tried to plant seeds during my lifetime. I was glad to get to know Pete, who was truly a lovely man, his voice very much a part of my formative years as the long time (mostly) Mid-Day Host at WNEW-FM in New York. I was proud to pick up his long-running syndicated program “Mixed Bag” (named after a Richie Havens album) and a very early zealot of this new channel, along with his manager Chris Hall. I suspected that Pete and I had a similar philosophy regarding music presentation, and was able to confirm it after our first few conversations and visits. The commercial radio era Pete spent the bulk of his career was really the golden period in my opinion. Due to the new rule disallowing the simulcast of an AM and FM signal… see here There were openings popping up for musically astute listeners, especially obsessed musicologists (cough)with a desire to attempt communicating their vision. I was hooked on that approach from the first 15 minutes of listening to NY’s WOR-FM from my Central Jersey location. It made perfect sense since I loved a variety of music since childhood. I was becoming annoyed at hearing the same song, like it or not, upwards of a dozen times a day on 77 WABC, WMCA or when further South WFIL and WIBG out of Philadelphia. A good history lesson can be found Here
There you have the spark that ignited a tuned-in generation to communicate on a grand scale about culture… art, film, justice, politics and especially music. Minus the agenda. Without “Freeform Radio” it’s possible in my mind that proof provided by festivals like Woodstock, the touring and music industry appearing to be printing money, the enormous profit potential of the economic might of Baby Boomers coming of age was staggering. If you sold anything at all, this is where the target lived. I believe the same target is still out there and has been every generation since. The problem, as usual, is money and greed. Freeform Radio will never, and has never been a ratings magnet. It was never designed to be. When presented with this opportunity by Dave Logan and Lee Abrams at my interview I even asked Lee how I could trust the guy cited as largely responsible for the demise of my beloved Freeform, namely him! Dave I kind of knew, this was my first meeting with Lee. His response after a good laugh was, “Hey, it’s not my fault they are still doing the same shit I came up with in the 70’s? We are blowing it up, and re-invent. This will be a boutique station, 2 to 3% will find it and never leave. But many will pre-set it.” No dumbing it down, no censorship, no commercials and no sales manager with offers of appearance fees or quid pro quo? Really? Where do I sign? I am about to enter a zone where I have to see a lot of medical people, so that is the impetus for posting a batch of things in a relatively short period. I loved looking back at the stuff in this episode but it really is just the start of the story. There were two distinct periods of the channel and the next one would find me actually working with some people that directly inspired me. I’ll log that for Summer listening. I have a few things almost ready to tide you over that I will post before treatment begins and make sure to stay until the absolute end, as I tacked on a recording made by an audio animator we’ll call “Ben.” This is how you get through the unending stress and workload when trying to launch something brand new. One of the most talented I have ever seen at that job, but like 97% of the initial crew, he came with special extra features. When nerves are frayed and little things (like burning popcorn in the microwave) can be just about to go nuclear., he had the superpower and mad skills to slip into a studio and emerge with a piece like the one you will hear at the end, piped through the entire programing department’s desk phones.He saved lives that man. I thank every one of you for the support, encouragement and love over the past 7 years! With Zukerfuck and Captain Chainsaw no longer worthy of my time and attention, I will do the best I can to keep you updated. You are always welcome to reach out directly, I’m easy to find. It’s been seven friggin’ years, people. I love every one of you.
Playlist can be found if you click here and scroll down.
From November 2022. https://www.mixcloud.com/marrone/from-the-basement-195-positive-vibes-for-roberta-flack/  Found It..... Clickety Clack
A fair question to ask would certainly be, “I thought he was sick, what’s with all this activity?” Two words… necessity and preparation. While I have been down this road before the process is just as different as the types of cancer. Lymphoma is treated with chemotherapy, simply meaning “drug therapy.” The level of intensity directly responds to the patient’s current medical condition. Of course I had absolutely no knowledge of anything at this point. Thankfully, I was also no deer in the headlights and neither was my family.
For the initial meeting with a highly regarded Oncologist, Dr. Edward Lee in Columbia, Maryland, Cathy and I were expecting to meet a distinguished professional of Asian descent. Imagine our surprise when a tall, kind of familiar looking guy bounds toward me with a big smile and hand outstretched shaking mine. “Mike, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I know this certainly isn’t the best of circumstances but my associate is kind of freaking out. He is a diehard Lofter and thinks it's the best radio he’s ever heard in his life. I’m a listener and love it too but he is next level. He’s been listening to you since XM started and you are suddenly gone, they have really messed up the programming and now he finds out you’re our new patient. Would it be okay if he comes in to meet you?” I turned to Cathy and asked, “Where’s Alan Funt?” Then it hit me! He looks like Will Ferrell. Everything is connected, It gets clearer with each passing year. Since entering the office I couldn’t help but notice the huge monitor on his desk containing a full screen outline of a body with numerous sized black marks distributed throughout ranging from neck to feet. As soon as we all became acquainted and seated I pointed to the monitor and asked, “Is that me?” He instantly shut it off while answering, “Yep, that’s you.” I countered with, “Well shit Doc, I guess smoking cigarettes since age 13 was a mistake, huh?” He laughed and said “Nothing to do with it, your lungs are fine.” Cathy is still pissed at that. I laughed and told him he reminded me of Will Ferrell and he laughed. Cathy agreed and he turned the monitor back on. Pointing to the screen, Dr. Will, as he became from this point forward, leaned in. All the marks you see are Large B Cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Since it is located in both hemispheres of your body in terms of stages… this is a 4. Just to make sure I understood the scale I asked if that was 4 out of 4 and he quickly said that definitely it was. But he either still had a grin on his face or he really was Will Ferrell. He shut off the monitor again, leaned closer in looking right in my eyes and said “You know what, Mike. I’m going to be totally honest with you. If I had to have cancer, this is exactly what I would want.” I looked at Cathy and could tell she was still pissed about the smoking comment and most likely didn’t clearly hear my new buddy Dr. Will’s diagnosis. She’s has genetic hearing loss primarily in the range of the human voice since her teens. I was getting confused. I shook my head and all I could come up with was “Really?” He stood up, walked around the desk and said, “Oh yeah! We can cure this, not remission… CURE.” I stayed with, Really? He laughed and with pretty much the same zeal I would display having uncovered previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix recordings and continued, “Absolutely! In your situation, although the cancer is scattered from neck to ankle (instant stage 4) and there is a lot of activity it has yet to penetrate any organs. Oh, it’s going to suck BUT we can cure it.” He was 100% correct on both predictions. The R-EPOCH Chemotherapy regimen is brutal. I’ll leave that for another day. On the way home I explained in detail to Cathy and she asked how I remained so calm and was laughing and stuff. I had been really sick for a while and for the previous two years had a 40 foot flame up my ass from the suits at Sirius who had been trying to get me to quit once I made the mistake of turning sixty. I got tired of arguing with them because I knew this was now a corporate entity and the soul and mission was over. I still didn’t own a suit, abhorred corporate politics and policies and was not going to dumb the programming down. I turned to Cathy and smiled and said something like if anyone could understand why I was chipper it could only be you. It’s me, not our 18 month old daughter, our only child after 14 years of marriage that was the subject. I was relieved, not afraid in the least. When it’s your child in the ER (ironically the same one that they modeled the famous TV show of the same name on) and you have rushed to Boston from The North Shore in a snowstorm and they are waiting outside for your arrival because this is serious. When you find out it’s not Leukemia but something that could be worse called Evan’s Syndrome that you have never heard of. She had to have Chemo before her second birthday and they installed a Broviac Tube (that will still be there when she turns 4) since she was too small for a shunt. She is purple from head to toe when I pick her up after the tube installation because her platelets are crashing along with her red and white cells. What are platelets anyway? That’s why I was joking and laughing when we were hanging out with Dr. Will Ferrell because it wasn’t about my daughter, it was about me and I’ve lived my life. And that’s what got me through it because all I had to do was remember bringing her home from yet another week in the hospital when she was about 4 years old, Mom with her every second. We were both exhausted. But this kid wanted to play. “Dad, let’s play wiffle ball!” I couldn’t believe it, so out we went and I taught her how to pull the inside pitch over the neighbor’s fence. I did have to back her off the plate a few times but soon enough she was doing just what I told her she would. She then came in and danced in my studio to “Lust For Life” by Iggy, her favorite song and pulled out the first Cars album from the wall, “Play this one, Daddy! ”We lived another day. Anastasia is 30 now and still has a monthly infusion which she administers herself, here at home with us. She's my hero. What I worry about is what happens when we are gone? The other stuff… fuck it. Enjoy the show and thank you for listening. DL
PLAYLIST? HERE
Please join me in sending love and light to the remarkable Sri Rama Lama Ding-Dong, David Johansen. Details are HERE.  Thank You and I love each and every one of you… Once again this ragamuffin gaggle of the musically obsessed, drawn together by their shared delight in discovering a radio station actually existed with a human speaking to them, not at them. In fact, there were a few and all were different but somehow the same. Celebrating the joy and wonder of music… together. Communicating. fostering a community as if their life depended upon it like oxygen and water. Simple, right? When done correctly it sure does sound that way, but in truth it is anything but. Music is a powerful force, a mysterious trigger that can flip a switch in your very being that makes everything better. It’s a scientific fact that listening to music is the only process that utilizes every area of the human brain. Prior to Friday I had spent about six weeks, hate-binging True Crime TV and lowest common denominator video programming to numb my brain and psyche. My studio was quiet and precious little time was burned in my eternal grail, the search for the perfect segue. An old friend and workmate called to check in on me, which is where the line “Yo, Mike… what the what?” came from. “You okay?” We met at Jem Records and he was the first person I came in contact with that actually had more records than me. More than a decade later we were both working at Rykodisc, me in charge of Radio Promotion and he ran the Distribution side of the business. Suddenly, I knew what I had to do. After confessing what was going on it happened. You happened. The switch flipped and the very same people that have been there since my life exploded in 2017 proved they were once again up to the task of reaching out. Offering concern and encouragement and most of all… love. It’s all we need, you know. I feel like a very lucky human and I have the collective “You” to thank for that. And my old pal, Jim Cuomo. Former leader of Fireballet, of course he was the drummer. And lead vocalist. DL Cranking up the way back machine. Jim Cuomo and his band Fireballet. The second LP.  Can't leave my old pal out there alone. Here's me in rehearsal for the play "Little Me" I played Patrick Dennis.  Here's a one minute video preview This is the player from hearhis.at Mixcloud Player Need a PLAYLIST? click
 You people are really something special. I tried to answer everyone personally but the lift to my spirits demanded something special back. I am only posting this here, it will get a regular release in a few days, but I just finished and made this for you, all of you that listen hard. 24Bit .flac audio and .txt playlist await HERE. I love you and thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Some answers, insight and tentative plans.
Let’s start with the biggest news. Yes, I am sick again and it appears to be Cancer. Not a reboot of Stage 4 Lymphoma. Lung Cancer. This one is all on me as a lifelong smoker. I seek nor deserve any sympathy as I’ve known for at least the last 40 years that this would be the likely outcome. Although I have tried to quit countless times, it is the one vice I have never been able to shake. I bought my first pack of Newports for the modest sum of 35 cents, which was about a nickel more than a gallon of gas when I started driving 4 years later. I am once again prepared to do what I can to survive, but learned a long time ago that one never “battles” cancer, you attempt to hang on and survive the treatment and try to keep a smile on your face. Doctors say it was detected early which is always good. Needless to say, this is the reason there have been no new shows and I never shared the debut of the new series, “Planting Seeds.” The news came two days before I was going to post it. I am posting it here but it’s not quite finished and there are a few other things that I’ve been working on that will also be posted shortly. Which brings us to the next biggest point. I have pulled all my stuff off Facebook and will not be going back. I left Twitter when it became X and at this point have little interest investigating Blue Sky or whatever it’s called. I still have my own website (https://mikemarrone.com) and have remained on Linked-In (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemarrone/) as that has always been work focused. Whatever I have posted already and in the future will always be available free. It will continue to be available through my site and streaming on Mixcloud (https://www.mixcloud.com/marrone/) and Hear This At (https://hearthis.at). I ask that you spread the word to anyone that may be interested and please post links to my personal site if you are still using FB, X or whatever. I will miss keeping up with old friends and family on FB, but the bullshit and torrent of outright lies, hate and tribalism is something I simply cannot tolerate any longer. I still have the same beliefs and views and am neither Democrat or Republican, but will mostly keep them to myself going forward. I don’t have the extra bandwidth to argue with anyone who still holds fast to racial or gender superiority, when we all have the same blood. I promise to get back to posting about MUSIC regularly on my site as it can only help. As Bob Marley said, “One good thing about music is when it hits you feel no pain.” One love to all. 
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Mike MarroneDad, Husband, DJ 
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