Last week I ran across an iMix listing all the music on iTunes that was used in the late nineties television show La Femme Nikita. One of the songs listed was “Sunset Bell” from Love Spirals Downwards’ 1998 CD, Flux. I hadn’t heard of that licensing deal before, even though I was hanging out pretty heavily with Ryan in 1999, when the show was aired. So I decided to check around on Google to try and find out if it was really on it or not. I found 4 pages of results all listing “Sunset Bell” on episode #305 of season 3, though some listed it as the 1994 Ardor version. Now I was thoroughly curious.

I found out that season 3 was just released to DVD this past summer, so I rented a copy of the disc in question. There was a song featured throughout the show prominently that sounded suspiciously based upon “Sunset Bell,” but was obviously not either version. Actually, there were two pieces; one had a little boy singing off-key, and the other a woman singing rather darkwave-esque — both with lots of reverb and ambient keyboard pads. I’m thinking that they probably decided to have someone create music with the vibe of Ryan’s song so they didn’t have to pay Projekt.

I’d still really like to know if “Sunset Bell” truly was on the TV show or not. If it was, then we need to contact BMI to see about collecting back payments for television airings. From our experience with Dawon’s Creek, these shows can continue to air for years all over the world. Ryan wasn’t with BMI until recently, but they still may be able to recoup some of those songwriting fees. Plus, it very well may be airing somewhere still. I don’t suppose anyone reading this has a copy of the show in question, do they? Super fan, anyone??? For that matter, does anyone here know how to contact Jennifer Ryan Fuller, the girl whose vocals Ryan recorded for “Sunset Bell”???

Forgot to mention that I posted a holiday greeting mp3 for the use of podcasters on podshow promo site. Adam used it for the second installment of his Christmas music podcast project, but anyone can feel free to use it on their podcast as it’s a generic one, not specific to any show: Anji’s Holiday Greeting

No, that’s not my new DJ name, though it would be a cool one!

Man, I actually woke myself up saying, “I can’t find the records fast enough” in my sleep last night. I was dreaming about being at a rinky dink radio station and having the DJ ask me to take over suddenly without explaining the setup to me. They were using a crappy all-in-one stereo with only one turntable, so I couldn’t figure out how to switch records smoothly for segues, and the mic system was hard to figure out as well, so I was just making a mess of things. Then I couldn’t find where they kept the vinyl at, and it was so dark that I couldn’t really see anything. I found what seemed to be a light switch, but when I flipped it on, nothing happened – ala Waking Life. (Do you think it’s really true that you can’t turn a light on in dreams?)

So, anyway, the first song was ending and I was digging through a cabinet of badly filed 45s, and somehow came accross a magazine with a flexi disc in it (boy does that give away my age!) so I ripped it out and threw it on the turntable only to hear “Hey Ya” come on really loud! The other DJ was sitting on a beatup couch in the station lounge, and I ran out and said, “What do I do? This is supposed to be a jazz station!” thinking that I needed to flip Outkast off mid-song. The DJ replied, “Did you find this record at the station?” I said yes. “Then I guess you can play it,” he surmised. Now, if only that had been the case at KUCI, where all of my DJ anxiety stems from… Isn’t it funny that 6 or 7 years later, I’m still having nightmares about my first experiences as a college radio DJ? Sheesh!