DJ of the week: Lucky Day Johnson
This week's DJ of the week was Lucky Day Johnson, Pizza FM's DJ with the most pizzazz. (Did I use the word pizzazz because it looks like the word "pizza?" Possibly.
Michelle: Alex! What is your year and major?LDJ: I’m a freshman in the College of Business majoring in Marketing.M: Tell me a little bit about your show!LDJ: I make a conscious effort to play jazz from a lot of different time periods and sub-genres. A lot of radio shows play the same two dozen songs on a loop, or stick to bands that are so similar to each other, you miss where one song ends and the other starts. I like to include a lot of radically different songs in my broadcast to keep the audience on its toes. Every Tuesday night is unique, and I try to play different songs and artists every show, but on a typical night I might start with some instrumental trumpet (Coltrane and Art Blakey), then transition to the Big Band era (Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald), switch to electro-swing (Caravan Palace and Parov Stelar), transition to swing revival (Brian Setzer and Nikki Yanofski), stop by the crooners (Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole), bask in the glory of Broadway (Cole Porter and Leonard Bernstein), briefly visit some retro cover artists (Postmodern Jukebox), and end with some smooth jazz (Dave Brubeck and Chuck Mangione). It’s quite a ride.M: What's the meaning behind your name?LDJ: ‘Lucky Day Johnson’ is a very feel-good name, and I try to run a feel-good show. I like the way it rolls of the tongue; ‘Lucky Day Johnson’ has three words and five syllables; two in the first word, one in the second, and two in the third. David “Doc” Herrold, who arguable invented radio broadcasting, and Mr. New Vegas, the sweet-voiced radio personality in the latest Fallout game, both follow the same pattern.M: Do you speak any languages besides English, and if you could speak any other language in the world, what would it be?LDJ: I’m a first generation American; my dad is Spanish and my mom is Greek, and I speak both Spanish and Greek fluently. I’d like to learn Japanese someday. I tried learning Chinese in high school, but it was way over my head.M: If you could hang out with any person who has ever existed, who would you hang out with, and why?LDJ: Benjamin Franklin would be cool to meet, not from his being a "founding father" and all, but because his reactions to cars, TVs, and airplanes would be hilarious to watch.
LDJ: I’m looking forward to any single Postmodern Jukebox releases in the next couple of months. Everything those guys do a cover of is just brilliant. If you don’t believe me, look up their version of "Thrift Shop."M: Which celebrity do you think has the greatest hair right now? And no, I am not famous enough, so you can't say me...LDJ: Miley Cyrus’s buzz cut looks pretty sweet…M: If you had a 3D printer, what are three things you would create with it?LDJ: A pizza, a globe of the world, and a binder clip to hold bags of pretzels closed after they’ve been opened so they don’t go stale. I’m a man of simple tastes.A good (Pizza) man, Alex. You too can be a good, classy citizen of Pizza FM nation by tuning into Tuesday Night Jazz on, you guessed it! Tuesdays from 10 pm - 12 am with the one and only Lucky Day Johnson!