All The Excess!

What's that Blake Lawrence up to? This....

2010-02-14T23:46:00.012-05:00

CHILLTRAX, that's what! All The Excess! had to take a back seat while Blake built "The World's Chillout Channel."

Radio Danz CEO Bernardo Passariello offered Blake the opportunity to program a 24/7 chillout stream, and Chilltrax officially debuted on February 15, with a fully functional and interactive web site soon to follow at www.chilltrax.com.

As the companion stream to Radio Danz, Chilltrax offers music from artists who have roots in dance music but slow down the tempo for a more laid back mood. Labels for Chilltrax music include downtempo, trip-hop, smooth electronica, lounge, and chillout.

Blake is Chilltrax Program Director, ably assisted by Music Director Bill "DJ Beatdaddy" Hutchcroft. The voice of Chilltrax is former WQCD/New York midday empress Deborah (Rath) Howell.

Blake promises that Chilltrax will be 100% Ryan Seacrest-free.

...and this

2010-02-14T18:38:00.000-05:00

Subscribe to the Danz 20 Podcast with Maxwell House, the podcast version of the dance music countdown show heard every Friday at 6pm ET and every Sunday at 8pm ET on Radio Danz.

Interesting fact: Blake Lawrence and Maxwell House have never been seen in the same room at the same time.

All The Excess! is officially on hiatus.

2010-01-26T01:51:00.004-05:00

We
do
plan
to
return.

What's happening to A.T.E.!?

2010-01-22T22:19:00.007-05:00

Maybe you've noticed that the postings have been slim here at All The Excess! since the holidays. Since before the holidays, really. What's the reason, you ask?

As fellow blogger Johnny Van Suedanbitter might say in non-sentence form, "Not sure."

Maybe...just maybe...it's because the longer we go since our last paycheck from a radio company, the less interest we have in the business. Are we alone in that?

Like fellow blogger Johnny Van Suedanbitter might answer his own question using a sentence fragment: "Probably not."

What alarms us is that our interest in making fun of the radio business is also waning. We thought that would last forever.

But nowadays, making fun of the radio business is too easy. Radio is a parody of itself. That makes All The Excess! a parody of a self-parody, which is as confusing to us as Chinese finger cuffs.

Look around. Latest "big" talent hires? Carson Daly. Nick Cannon. Meanwhile, Brandmeier, the DSC, Lex and Terry, and countless other talented radio people are in forced heel-cooling mode. Citadel is in bankruptcy while the same chiefs who led them to Chapter 11 keep sacking the best warriors in the tribe. How 'bout that Glenn Beck? And for two more fingers down your throat, the ever-sensitive Rush Limbaugh. Make it two HANDS challenging your gag reflex: Ryan Seacrest!

"HD Radio" is a punch line that needs no set up. And here's perhaps the ultimate example of self-parody: The Lowry Mays Excellence In Broadcasting Award.

So we're experiencing "quiet time" here at A.T.E.! until we get that all sorted out. Will we be back and snarky as ever someday? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But check back and see.

We can't predict what we don't feel.

Email blake (dot) lawrence (at) alltheexcess (dot) com.

2010-01-20T00:39:00.001-05:00

"What, all you guys do lately is post these goofy TV spots?"

Well, we're not going to apologize for it. We've been busy with another creative project, and it's about damn time, don't you think?