I, Ripworth Smopsley, was born by the Greenbrier River in Marlinton, West Virginia. Unfortunately, I cannot remember anything I did before 1965. I may have fought in the Revolutionary War, made soap with Proctor and Gamble, prospected for silver in Nevada, conducted exobiology research for SETI, and hung out with Ponce De Leon's descendents at the Fountain Of Youth in Puerto Rico, but no evidence or memories remain to confirm any of this.

Learned to play piano. Started composing. My mother is composer Elizabeth Bell, whose style tends to be atonal and dissonant, which probably has an influence on my musical thinking. My father is astronomer and SETI director Frank Drake.

Moved to Puerto Rico for two years.

Discovered rock & roll. The Monkees, The Beatles, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane. Decided to become a rock star.

Resided in Ithaca, New York, for the next ten years. Have had a lifelong fascination with geography and maps.

Started drumming on desks at school with my hands. Got pretty good and fast at desk drumming. Was making up little minimal riffs/melodies on piano. Had been taking piano lessons off and on all this time.

Heard "Burnt Weeny Sandwich" by the Mothers of Invention and felt enlightened. I decided there was a whole world out there of avant-garde arts for me to explore. Complicated rock music was a good thing. My friend Robert "El Roberto" Cropf taught me about avant-garde literature and music. I started writing plays. Had my first post puberty girlfriend.

El Roberto and I collaborated on some creative projects. I started experimenting with tape recorders and electronics. Began collecting percussion instruments. Experienced jazz, 20th century classical, and electronic music, and other "modern" art and literature. Took a composition class. Wrote plays.

Got some congas and became a conga player. My first jam sessions, as a percussionist with some jazz musicians. My name became Erik Von Rippy, the name I used for 25 years. Discovered Beat literature, became a devotee of "On the Road". Traveled to Puerto Rico and discovered salsa music. Recorded "Ballad of Babe", my first solo multitrack rock song prototype. Lost my virginity. Got a kalimba. Ran away from home. Dropped out of high school. Wrote lyrics to "Drop Out". Wanted to be a teen rebel. Created "Down in Drainville", my first full-length electronic tape piece. Was briefly "baby-sat" by Mollie Katzen (original Moosewood Cookbook author).

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First suicide attempt. Moved out of my mother's house and into off-campus housing in Ithaca. Rediscovered rock & roll and its stimulating powers. Was initiated into the strange world of reggae. Sat down at somebody's drum set and bashed around on it a bit, and soon was pounding out a driving beat, although I had never been taught or played a drum set before. I was given the set. Jammed with people fairly frequently, particularly "El Tomas" Chupp, El Marko, and Stephen "Mr. Duck" Drake. Hitchhiked from Ithaca to San Francisco. Rode back on a hippie bus called "Blue Goose", a prototype of Green Tortoise, and wrote "The Saga of the Blue Goose", my last play for 10 years. Played first gig as a conga player with jam band Riplocks Rasp and the Wandering Slit. Was frequently in the audience for Zobo Funn Band and Peabody Band, two Ithaca bands with distinctive influential styles. Became a vegetarian.

Continued jamming frequently with the above mentioned people. Had an exciting love affair in the spring which ended bitterly and I became severely depressed and suicidal. Played drums briefly with Raccoon Alley Jug Band, the first band I played in that did real songs. Acquired a second drum set and incorporated it with the first into a large double set. Probably about this time had started to write the songs that are in my long-term repertoire. Started traveling from Ithaca to New York City. Had heard about punk rock, and in October went to CBGB and saw Richard Hell & The Voidoids, who were good enough to inspire me to become a punk rock fan. In December I traveled to Oberlin, Ohio to visit my brother, and entered Harkness, which I loved at first sight. The beginning of my longest love affair with a building. Harkness is a vegetarian cooperative dormitory at Oberlin College, with a notoriously creative open-minded populace.

I moved back and forth from Ithaca and New York City a few times. I was very taken with punk rock, new wave, and reggae. I was a frequent regular at CBGB OMFUG, which had low cover charges in those days, and saw many important bands of that era. My favorite was The B-52's, who I first saw as an unknown opening act for another unknown band on a Tuesday night with an audience of 5. In Ithaca during the summer I played congas in rehearsals, although not performances, with the Peabody Band, who were the most professional band I would play with for many years. Acquired a cheap organ, which became my sole keyboard for 10 years. In December I briefly played in my first punk band, The Droogs, as a drummer, playing at the Audition Night at CBGB.

Continued to frequent nightclubs. Was physically attacked by James Chance of The Contortions at Max's Kansas City. Living in New York City. Visited Oberlin a few times. Discovered the Harkness Nightclub, which became an institution for me for many years. The Harkness Nightclub was a big show that happened once a semester at Oberlin College, where anybody could perform anything, which inspired many memorable evenings of enthusiastic chaos and entertainment. I was usually heavily involved in the production of the shows. Got a Vox Beatle amp and a bass guitar, which I pulled the frets off of in emulation of the Zobo Funn Band's fretless bassist. Was playing often with guitarist El Marko, who had moved to New York City when I did. Wrote songs that were vaguely punkish in character, but melodic, on my organ. Played with esoteric neo-surf band The Egotones and more basic rock/punk band The Ex-Minds, on drums. Had love affair with Norma Jean, a crazy blonde model/escort glamour weirdo. Became a bike messenger. Lived in groovy Little Italy apartment owned by Mafia types, across from the original Ray's Pizza. First of many failed attempts to form my own band.

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Got depressed. Worked as a bike messenger. Played drums in a punk rock band called The Beatels. Moved to Oberlin. Began love affair with Laura Humburg. Played timbales in the Oberlin Can Consorium, a steel drum band, for their first ever shows. Formed The Bunnies with some Harkness friends. The Bunnies were a fun conceptual new wave band that for their brief existence was extraordinarily popular in Oberlin, in a screaming teenybopper way, as well as with certain Deadheads and art punks.

Did some multitrack song recording, which until 1985 was done using 2-track reel-to-reel tape recorders. Played at Finney Chapel, Oberlin's largest auditorium, with The Bunnies and as pick-up drummer for Tiny Tim. Moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts with Laura Humburg. El Marko visited and he and I and Laura formed The Ex-Beatels. We played at a party with The Del Fuegos, who had formed in Oberlin and had also just moved to Boston. Their drummer didn't show up and I sat in with them on drums. Went to see a lot of cool Boston new wave bands.

Got depressed in Cambridge, so Laura and I moved to New York City, so I could hook back up with El Marko, who at that time was my best musical colleague. We re-formed the Ex-Beatels, and soon Laura and El Marko began a love affair. Laura broke up with me, and I got as depressed and suicidal as I ever will have been. I was hospitalized and medicated and bitter as hell. We never played together again. In autumn I visited Oberlin and formed a pickup band call the Pickup Trucks that was the first band to play all Rippy songs, playing at a Harkness Nightclub. At the time I was living in a big apartment in a heroin-dealing zone of the Lower East Side (no, I don't do drugs).

Took bass lessons with Jimmy Greenwood, after having dabbled with the bass for a few years. Fooled around with reggae a bit. I hooked up briefly with Stephen "Mr. Duck" Drake and Josh Korda, playing strange bubblegum candy pop on a little drum machine thing. Met Ira Dostioffski, a songwriter/guitarist/keyboardist with whom I did some practicing and recording but no performing. Joined a band with Michael Shenker playing composed progressive rock, called Operatorio. Got interested in hardcore punk, the fast variety that was becoming mildly popular at the time. I was terribly depressed in New York City, so I left Operatorio and Ira and moved back to Ithaca. Played in a reggae band called Inna Fyah as a percussionist. Lived for a time with some anarchist punks and contributed to their zine. Was very poor and ate at a soup kitchen and went on welfare temporarily. Recorded "Songs To Get Depressed About" which was my first full length song collection "album".

Formed Ithaca reggae band Skattered Lights. Wrote many songs. Acquired an electric guitar, distortion box, and a glass slide and started playing slide guitar with open tuning. Not blues, though. Moved to Oberlin. Formed Bag-O-Wire with some students. I was bass player, singer, and songwriter, playing uptempo hardcore tunes I had written, at the Harkness Nightclub. This band was short-lived. Began recording "Songs To Live And Die For," some of the songs I had been writing that year. At the very end of the year, Mr. Duck came to visit me, and helped me buy a 4-track cassette recorder, and showed me how to use it. We recorded some 10-second songs.

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Played drums in the pit band for a musical, "Messianic Blues." Became enamored of Hüsker Dü. Learned how to drive. Completed recording "Songs To Live And Die For," my second full-length song collection. This was basically the first presentation of my more or less current style of solo multitrack rock orchestration, as well as my propensity for fast tempos. Also, heretofore unmentioned, over the years I have on numerous occasions performed at Harkness Nightclubs, playing a few of my own songs on the piano. Moved to San Francisco. Played briefly on drums with hardcore punk band Crash n' Burn. Worked in a hotel as night watchman and also did telemarketing. Began 2 1/2 year relationship with Margaret Burns. Conceived the concept and titles for "The Sound No One Wants to Hear."

Visited Oberlin at the beginning of the year and wrote my first play in nearly 10 years, "The Saga of Katie The Beautiful," which also became my first play to ever be performed, which took place in Harkness. Back in Frisco, I joined eclectic funk/jazz/international/rock/religio/bizarro/art band Bardo, as a bass player. This turned out to be a very prestigious gig. As a bassist I was replacing Matt Malley, who later became part of the Counting Crows. Bardo played many shows in the San Francisco area, sharing bills with many acts, including J.C. Hopkins, Victoria Williams, The Survivors, Camper Van Beethoven, and others. A smaller version of Bardo sometimes appeared as an acoustic act called The Bebob Brothers, in which I played small percussion things. I was exhorted by band leader Aldo Perez to "upgrade" my equipment, so I got a really good fretless bass, and a really good bass rig, which I still use to this day. The drummer, Dave Mihaly, was also playing in a radical alternative world beat band, Stick Against Stone, who I was a fan of. When he heard their bass player might be leaving, he recruited me to fill in. I performed with Stick Against Stone at a large auditorium in Frisco called The Farm, opening for the short-lived Kantner Balin Casady Band, which was led by some former members of Jefferson Airplane. This was probably the largest audience I have ever played for. After that show Stick Against Stone's original bass player changed his mind and I was promptly dropped. In the autumn Bardo did a short "tour," playing in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. Moved into Haight Ashbury house, called Bardo Mansion, later Rippy Mansion, which would remain my home for the next 8 1/2 years.

Recorded album with Bardo at Tom Mallon Studio in Frisco. Afterwards fired from Bardo due to musical and ego conflicts with Aldo. Played with some guys in a short-lived band playing Rippy songs. Began recording "The Sound No One Wants To Hear", my concept album about depression, anger and frustration. Began by recording drum tracks for all the songs during a 2 day session. The idea for the album was to have many fast one minute songs, basically punk but with much musical exploration, particularly in rhythmic and sonic areas. I would work on this album for 7 years. Traveled to Oberlin in spring, and wrote first of several short plays conceived for performance at Harkness Nightclubs. Also hooked up with friend Booie to form Erik And Mike, a folk/hardcore/cover/comedy act for Harkness Nightclubs. In the summer I did my first solo cross-country road trip, which became a regular major activity for me, often spending several months out of the year searching for America. This was done in "drive away" cars until 1994. I was very inspired by my 1987 journey in which I was gone for 2 months. While visiting New York, I received some tapes from Mr. Duck, including one called "Frequent Ruins" that consisted of some partly finished instrumental songs. He suggested that I add my own parts to it. While driving back through Nebraska, I decided that Nebraska was very lovely and inspiring to me, and that "Frequent Ruins" should be a concept album about Nebraska. Returned home and began the writing and recording for "Frequent Ruins". In December, joined macrotonal/alternative/grunge band Hozomeen, on bass.

Played full-time in Hozomeen until August. Of all the bands I've played in, I felt Hozomeen was the most satisfying, in terms of being on the same level musically, in temperament and work attitude. We played several poorly attended shows in Frisco, including opening for then unknown White Zombie. Unfortunately, we were plagued by some bad luck and the public's disregard for our greatness and Hozomeen broke up by the end of summer. That summer I hooked up with punk/bluegrass/pop band Harm Farm, who had just moved to Berkeley from Oberlin. I played a couple of shows with them on both bass and drums, but was uncommitted and dropped. The band members at the time were Morgan Fichter, Brad Pedinoff, and Tom Hallenbeck. Continued working on "The Sound No One Wants To Hear" and "Frequent Ruins."

Bought a synthesizer. Visited Ira Dostioffski in the spring, and he suggested that we record two albums together, one album of his songs and one album of my songs, at the recording studio in his Jersey City home. They would be engineered by his housemate Dave, and Ira and I would play all the instruments. I agreed, and after a couple of cross-country road trips, I landed in Jersey City, New Jersey, and begun work on "Drop Out Of Your Mind," which was a collection of many of my more light-hearted earlier songs. I also worked on the basic tracks for Ira's songs. I traveled to Jersey City 4 times over the next year to work on these projects. When I was back in Frisco I continued working on "The Sound No One Wants To Hear" and "Frequent Ruins."

Worked in Jersey City on "Drop Out Of Your Mind." Played a few shows in New York City with Ira, the two of us as a duo called The Pies, playing our songs on the guitar and bass, and also with songwriter Ross Owens as The Unknown Relatives, in which I played drums. Finished "Drop Out Of Your Mind" at the end of August. Never finished the album of Ira's songs, because Ira never actually began recording his parts. While in Frisco, continued working on "The Sound No One Wants To Hear" and "Frequent Ruins." In October, joined rock/pop/sampler band Low, who is not whichever "Low" is famous now, but was the first Low band, with songwriter/singer/samplerist John Vanderslice.

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Played bass in Low, playing regular shows in Frisco until our breakup in July. My close friend Katy Allen, who had been in all my plays performed in Harkness during that period, worked as my manager in California for a little while, trying to promote "Drop Out Of Your Mind" to no avail. Had a short long-distance romance with New York singer/songwriter Suzie Unger. In September, visited Oberlin where I began writing my full-length play, "We're Gonna Win!" Continued working on "The Sound No One Wants to Hear" and "Frequent Ruins."

Was in Oberlin during the winter, writing "We're Gonna Win." Produced a performance in Harkness. Directed by Katy Allen, rehearsed for a month, performed at the end of February. My first full-length play production. Also acted in it, as in all my plays. Took singing lessons back in Frisco. Bought 8-track recording equipment, and began using that for recording. Played triangle and conga with After The End Of The World Coretet, a jazz group consisting of former Bardo members, who I sporadically sat in with. Visited Oberlin in September, where I was a passenger in a car crash in which I broke 6 ribs and a clavicle, and punctured a lung. Recuperated nicely and returned to Frisco. Continued work on "The Sound No One Wants to Hear" and "Frequent Ruins".

My financial fortunes changed upon receiving insurance money from car crash. In December, finally finished creating "Frequent Ruins" and "The Sound No One Wants to Hear". I printed them out on cassettes, with professionally designed J cards.

Made "Freedom Tastes Of Reality," a short cassette of some cover and original songs I had been working on, to be given to friends along with "Frequent Ruins" and "The Sound No One Wants To Hear." Tried to promote the latter 2 tapes, sending them out to record companies, radio stations, and magazines. No one was interested, except Cargo Records, who strung me along for a while until I got pissed off. Meanwhile, 1994 was a strange year for me, in which I felt myself freed from the obligation I had created of completing those 2 albums, and I spent most of the year traveling around America, often returning to my Frisco home and then leaving again within 2 weeks. At one point in May I completely disappeared for a month. Bought a new set of congas. In December bought a minivan, my first car, which freed me up to take even longer road trips. Began my current ongoing process of sporadically frequent recording of songs, unbound by obligations imposed by preconceived album concepts.

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Moved to Oberlin. Adopted new small town lifestyle, after having been a city dweller for many years. Bought Hammond organ and electronic drum set. Worked at a pizzeria for a few years. Got a haircut. Saw a psychiatrist and was diagnosed as having disthymia, a debilitating depressive disorder, which explained much of the suffering that has permeated my life. Became "status quo" granola maker at Harkness. Played drums with slacker student band Gross Munderstang. Sang in the chorus of college production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado." Walked dogs at animal shelter. Wrote and performed first of several short Harkness Nightclub plays that later became "The Excavation Of The Midnight Shaft."

In summer, went on large-scale journey across America. In September formed The Band With Pants, with drummer/songwriter Trevett Hooper and some other students. The band focused on playing fast versions of some of my short songs, as well as some of Trevett's songs. I was the front man. We played some shows in Harkness and Oberlin College. Bought a PA system and electric 12-string guitar. Rented a rehearsal studio in Lorain, Ohio.

Risa Gumpp joined The Band With Pants. The band seemed to be on a successful path, being quite respected by our peers. My grandmother died, leaving me some valuable antiques and a sizable inheritance. In the summer we recorded a polished short demo tape in our studio. Soon after, Risa left the band. The band broke up, being unable to secure adequate replacement musicians.

Traded in electronic drums and bought a real drum set. Bought house in Oberlin. In summer, went on massive geographically focused road journey across America. In autumn, soundproofed and set up my basement as a music studio. Began volunteering at a soup kitchen. During all these years, have continued to write and record songs.

Completed writing the entire "Excavation of the Midnight Shaft" series. Large scale production of the play that spring, directed by Liz Latimer, with a cast and crew of around 50 people. Performed at Jones Field House in Oberlin College. This was probably the largest artistic production I have ever created and undertaken. Played with Trevett briefly in a half-assed resuscitation of The Band With Pants. In the summer, traveled to California where I began a love affair with a glorious massage therapist named Alice Moore. Underwent large-scale campaign to sell "Excavation" to other theatre companies, which failed. Bought a CD recorder. Was in Nevada with Alice for millennium New Year.

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Alice moved to Oberlin to joyfully cohabitate with me. Continued to write and record music, but no more plays. Changed name to Rip Smops. In autumn, put out 4 song promotional CD, "My Heterosexual Girlfriend." Began volunteering for the Earth Science Corps of the U.S. Geological Survey, doing field work updating topographic maps. Alice tried to work on promoting my music.

Began creating website. Was member of the Lorain County (Ohio) Transportation Bicycle/Pedestrian Subcommittee. Bought an old clavinet. In February I was kicked out of Harkness, because of some malicious slander spoken by a certain disturbed individual (who I did not actually know) with a political agenda. This caused an ugly uproar in Harkness, and I am sadly no longer a member of that beloved community. In the spring I was introduced to Brazilian rock band Black Maria, who were playing shows in Ohio, and played with them in my basement a few times. The keyboard player travelling with them, Luciano Cordoni, stayed on in Oberlin after the band returned to Brazil, and he and I wrote and recorded some songs together. In the summer Alice and me went on a grand road trip to Nebraska and North Dakota. While we were away in June, our obnoxious aggressive cat disappeared. In August, I went to West Virginia and hiked 60 miles in 6 days. In October, our missing cat returned and is now quite sweet and loving. In November, put our a 4-song CD called "Enlightened Oberlin", with the songs I recorded with Luciano. We're called The Oberlin Gruffets.

Got mad about the irrational patriotic hysteria sweeping the country and composed a diatribal essay entitled "September 11 Is Over". Ripsmops.net website is presented to the world in its complete form, having finally found a reliable webmaster. I still don't use computers, and I've never actually looked at anybody else's website. Was called a "Luddite" by several people who are obligated to spend money updating their equipment every year. In April, a composition of mine entitled "A Hug From Truth", with words by friend David Ray, was performed at Oberlin College by a french organist and a couple of conservatory voice majors. Named my basement/studio "El Sotano Del Alamo". Completed my field work project for the U.S. Geological Survey, updating the Kipton, Ohio topographic map, a task I performed on bicycle. On July 1st, I got engaged to Alice Moore. Began planning upcoming wedding extravaganza. We decided to have it in the Nevada desert the next year, and flew out there in September to scout out locations. Continued to record and write songs.

In January I traveled to Curitiba, Brazil, for 3 weeks. Spoke Portuguese and ate strange sugary food. Lived with the mother of Black Maria's lead guitarist, who spoke no english. The Oberlin Gruffets performed at Era Sò O Que Faltava, a Curitiba nightclub, opening for Black Maria. I also visited llha Do Mel and Iguaçu Falls, which was probably the most amazing sight ever seen by Rippy. Back in the U.S.A., spent most of the spring preparing for the Big Wedding. Wrote a song called "Eliminate Freedom" which satirizes the government's elimination of freedom. I left home for the summer, in order to get married. Stayed in Gold Point, a Nevada ghost town, where our wedding reception took place. On July 1st, I married Alice Moore at Lunar Crater in Nye County, Nevada. It was a beautiful, stressful, fun, and unforgettable event. We spent our honeymoon in many locations in Utah and Nevada. I drank thousands of gallons of water out there. (That's why it's so dry now.)

Upon returning home, we adopted an Ohio Dark-tailed Wagger dog named Qloey. Had a second wedding reception in Oberlin in September. Created two EP CDs: "Eliminate Freedom", some noisy rocking songs with topical lyrics, and "Beautiful Frustration", which has me just playing keyboard or guitar and singing without extra overdubs. "The Sound No One Wants To Hear" was mastered by Oberlin engineer Tom Bethel. Resumed piano lessons after 30 years. Did volunteer work for local presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.

Early in the year, I released 5 CD’s: “Eliminate Freedom”, “Beautiful Frustration”, and the CD releases of “Drop Out Of Your Mind”, “Frequent Ruins”, & “The Sound No One Wants To Hear”, previously available on cassette. In my zeal for archiving the elements of our fabulously entertaining wedding, I compiled a 5-CD anthology of the various wedding musics, and spent a few weeks working with a video editor on our wedding movie. At this time I also worked in the shipping department at the campaign headquarters of a losing presidential primary candidate.

After years of secretly preparing and practicing, I finally mustered the courage to become a solo musical performer, singing my songs accompanied by only a keyboard or guitar. I have been dreadfully afraid of playing live without a band, yet assembling a group of musicians capable of successfully playing my music has so far been a frustrating impossibility. I played in a few shows in Cleveland, Oberlin, and New York City. My fear of solo performing has been mostly replaced by trepidation of dealing with the music business, after several very discouraging experiences. My audiences, however, have been wonderfully supportive.

For twelve years I worked on rerecording the songs from my early album “Songs To Get Depressed About”. This project has been completed. It is my first new full-length release since 1994.

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It was a very long, hot, dry summer. Grasshoppers, bees, peaches, tomatoes, steeply rising gas prices, and natural disasters. Continuing our sick national tradition of deifying the recently deceased, the most popular musician of 2005 was Johnny Cash. Rip Smops faced increased discouragement in most attempts to promote his music.

I released the CD remake of Songs To Get Depressed About. Played briefly with a laid-back band called Soul Proprietors, opening for Richard Thompson at Oberlin’s folk festival. Submitted my music to CD Baby, joined the Pie Of The Month Club, and wasted a bunch of money on an A&R networking company named Taxi, who wouldn’t help me one bit because they said I didn’t sound enough like Franz Ferdinand or The Killers.

During the long, hot, dry summer, I embarked on a lengthy cross-country road trip, on which I explored ghost towns in Nevada and performed at a French restaurant in Los Angeles. When the summer finally ended in October, I holed up alone in my basement for the dismal winter, writing and recording more of the sounds you don’t want to hear.

Received a banjo as a Xmas gift, and immediately adopted it as an integral force in my multi-instrumental repertoire. Having never played one before, I was now writing, performing, and recording songs with it. Attempted to book a solo tour of the northeast U.S. and was snubbed at every turn by uninterested club bookers. I was the only solo act at the Cleveland Music Festival, where I faced an audience of drunken Cleveland "music fans"' backs. I finally got the message and gave up on being a solo performer.

I played drums and occasional banjo in local original rock group A Mad Mans Theory. Also put in many thankless volunteer hours for victorious senatorial candidate Sherrod Brown, working in his campaign office with a bunch of snooty cell-phone gabbing interns. And saw the Beach Boys at the Lorain County Fair.

In September I was initiated into fast-spreading secret men's organization The Mankind Project or New Warriors. I'm not allowed to tell you about it.

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Alice was away for most of the year, doing stuff in Mexico and attending midwifery conferences, classes and such. Had to be a bachelor. I visited her in San Cristobal De Las Casas, Mexico in May, and rinsed my toothbrush in the bathroom sink. I got salmonella and E. Coli, which developed into diarrhea, sore throat, coughing fits, bad stomach acids and cracked ribs. I was sick for over four months.

Was an active member in the Oberlin He Man Lunch Lovers Club and the Map Appreciating People Society. Played bass in the Soul Proprioters, doing a lot of winery gigs, until quitting in rock snob exasperation due to their degeneration into a shameless oldies combo.

In October I completed my long planned traversal of the Great Plains on U.S. Route 83, fulfilling a geography nerd dream of mine. When I got back, I became a radio DJ on local college station WOBC, doing a weekly 2AM late night show with a different theme each week.

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