About

“Thank you so much for your support. Honestly- I wish there were more like you.” – Garrison Starr, via Facebook, 6/29/2013

“According to the Old Media Outlets and miserable old so-and-so’s in general, the internet is keeping us all apart from each other, isoltating people in their houses in front of glowing screens, connected only to machines and mediocrity. This is pretty much the opposite to what actually happens, thanks in part at least to people like Dan Herman and Radio Crystal Blue who have, for over a decade now, been connecting music makers and music lovers all over the globe with an ecletic and exciting range of music which you’d never hear anywhere else” – MJ Hibbett

“Dan’s love for, and knowledge of, music is obvious but never pushed onto his listeners. Rather, his free-form style is an invitation to explore the artists he spins. As a music lover who, like myself, doesn’t like to put walls around “genres” – not that the term really applies – he constructs extended sets of the kind you rarely ever hear any more on over-the-air radio.” – Roger Silverberg

Now that so much radio is corporatized and Clear Channelized, Dan Herman has struggled to help keep to the genre of free-form radio  alive and well at Radio Crystal Blue.  I am old enough to remember when DJs had actual personalities and played music THEY LIKED (see the  documentary “Save the Music” for more on this important topic) rather than what the the corporate machinery has dictated….fighting against  the cloud of terrible sameness that seems to have descended on the music world, shutting out the weird, the innovative and the daring.  For music creators like myself, it is crucial that there are stations  like RCB that recognize the importance of what we do, many of us against all odds. Wendy Griffiths of Changing Modes  

Jamie Barnett via Facebook: “Thank you for being a for real curator – reminds me of the old days of WFUV, when a thrilling mix of musicians filled the playlists, and the DJs actually knew something about those they chose to play. Bravo for keeping it going..”

Debussy: “There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law. I love music passionately. And because l love it, I try to free it from barren traditions that stifle it. It is a free art gushing forth, an open-air art boundless as the elements, the wind, the sky, the sea. It must never be shut in and become an academic art.”

Satie: “Postulez en vous-même. (wonder about yourself)”

My future aspirations for the show includes  a real studio to work from. I do all shows at home.
My favorite artists ever…
Bettie Serveert: First 90’s alternative band that pushed the songwriting envelope
Elastica: Guilty pop pleasure I saw on their last US tour of in 1990.
Velvet Underground: Influential favorite from which I thoroughly explored rock and punk styles.
The Pixies: My first serious band crush…I have most of their albums.
Others I adore: The Breeders, Iggy Pop, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Primal Scream, The Orb, Throwing Muses, and especially Kristin Hersh.

I’m 53, born and raised in Brooklyn NY. I am back in Pennsylvania, after previously living in the NY/NJ/PA area, as well as brief periods in Washington state and Texas.
My earliest memories include hearing contemporary rock, oldies (what passed for oldies in the 70’s, country and the classic ‘beautiful music’ format from several FM radio stations in NYC. The actual first voices I heard sung on radio was likely Olivia Newton-John on WYNY or WHN (NYC’s former country-western station)  Without many luxuries in life as a youth I longed for some amount of self-expression and meaning to life, and my life in particular.  Along the way, WPLJ was a constant soundtrack to my 80’s days.
Soon I would move along to a station I would faintly pick up from Eatontown NJ, the former WHTG, 106.3 FM and learn from the voice of Matt Pinfield about great indie artists at home along with breaking artists from around the world.
My first concert: DGeneration, at Continental (NYC).  My first cassettes I bought were ones of Hendrix (“Smash Hits”), Neil Young (“Freedom”), Pixies (‘Trompe le Monde”), and some European techno compilations. Scouring trade magazines (Spin, Alternative Press), I quickly linchpinned my interests to other bands that drew from the sounds I enjoyed most (My Bloody Valentine, Catherine Wheel, the Orb, to name a scant few).

In 2000, while redefining my career goals for the umpteenth time, I stumbled upon the medium of Internet radio. I had already gravitated to the world of Web in 1998, and truly it opened my eyes and ears to new appreciation of the world about me, as I am sure any of you can understand. Voice chat in particular became one of my hobbies (remember Mplayer?), building friendships and acquaintances worldwide. In August 2000, I discovered that with my connection, as well as a slew of CDs, mp3s and the like, I could finally produce something more tangible and virtually ‘broadcast’ my thoughts, interests and love for music and related areas.  After a minute’s thought, I realized that this just might be my calling. I would be on Live 365 from 2000 to 2009.

I was very briefly on the Folk-DJ mailing list and collective, where by pure association I would get folk-oriented CD from very credible artists and promoters. One CD, Kris Delmhorst’s Five Stories, was truly special. Signature Sounds, which represented Kris, was the first indie-label to take a chance on me.  After heeding the call of the independents, inspired by particular radio muses (Vin Scelsa for one, the late Pete Fornatale, another), I have turned my focus much more outward.   In May 2002, through the chance meeting of a few notable musicians (Kathy Zimmer, for one),I became immersed in the NYC downtown scene once again, this time to align with the C-Note music venue  in the East Village.  This association lasted until 2005 and the venue’s closing, and I continued to promote artists with booking until 2009.
Finding a lack of available paid work in Philly, where I’ve lived from 2011 to 2014, and after going through nearly all my savings, I eventually moved to Tacoma, Washington in hopes of reinventing my life and seeing more of the world. 

Some of the influences I credit for my radio presence, apart from those I’ve mentioned are: Hearts of Space , and just about any old-time rock radio, such as what I’d hear on WNEW-FM. One of the secrets I learned was being personable, interactive with the music itself.

1/31/08 I met one of my radio heroes, the aforementioned Joe Franklin…at a celebration of Loretta Lynn’s music, with Jorma Kaukonen as the top star of the show. Joe says to me there really is no songwriter comparable to the writers of yesteryear “there was one Irving Berlin”.  He liked my voice right off, and suggested I keep doing what I’m doing,….and …in a couple of years…I’d be famous. Joe, the fame keeps expanding. Thank you for your ears!

I did a few fun things on stage:
Recited a portion of Jack Kerouac’s “The Railroad Earth” with the band Fellaheen as backup. I believe that was at the 12th Street Bar in the Village. It was filmed, but I have never seen the video.
Recited some Allen Ginsberg poetry, accompanied by Denise Barbarita on bowed guitar, C-Note, 2002. I have a photo on the Timeline page as evidence!

In front of the camera: I appear extremely briefly in the beginning and end portions as an extra in a Bollywood film “Anjanna Anjanni”
In 2016: Uncredited extra in the short film M.O.P.Z., directed by Todd Rohal.
2023: Contributed voice-over work to Matthew Broyles‘ dystopian radio play, Rewired.