Show Bio
The Go-Go Radio Magic Show began as a beacon in the night for Prince Palu upon moving to Montreal in 2004. An attempt to create a sort of clubhouse where all were welcome, as long as they adhered to the one simple rule, don't be an asshole. After two and a half years of sending out his signal as the Friday night overnight DJ (midnight to 5:00am) at Concordia University's CJLO, Ian Macpherson answered the call.
With a musical ally on board the next step was to move to a more reasonable hour, but not before creating some legendary nights secretly tucked away in the beautiful Notre-Dame-de-Grace section of Montreal.
There was the time that the CJLO Christmas party was taking place across the quad from the station and after dropping by for a few pre-show drinks, Palu and Ian invited the entire party back to do the show. With a motley crew of rotating DJ playing music from any genre they chose it made for quite the spectacular event. By 5:00 am there were people strown all about the station, as our two heroes rode off into the sunrise. Sadly the recording of this show has been lost and it will go down as one of those parties that you just had to be at.
Oh, and who could forget the night of the squirrel incident? On a warm early September evening, Palu and Ian arrived at the front doors of the AD building on the Loyola Campus, as they had many a Friday night before, just before midnight. Usually at this hour there was only the friendly night watchman to greet them, but on this particular night there was a middle-aged man and his two twin boys standing at the top of the stairs just inside the building. The boys looked about late teens and probably new students as the school year had just begun. Not usually one to stick his nose in other peoples busy, Palu didn't pay much attention to these three strangers. Nor did he notice that they were not engaged with the security at all and where in fact standing perpendicular to the security booth, entranced by something or someone. Well that is all well and good but Palu and Ian had a radio show to get to, so Palu hooked around the men and asked for the station key. What he would soon find out was that the three men had been looking a frightened squirrel that had gotten into the building and didn't appear to know how to get out, it also happened to be right where he was standing. As Palu waited for the key, the squirrel decided that his dark brown corduroy pants were close enough to a tree and made a run for it. Spiraling up the legs and landing on Palu's crotch, the squirrel realized his mistake, made eye contact with Palu and launched itself at his face. With the reflexes of a ninja, Palu swung his bag around and knocked the rodent in midair, sending it flying threw the security booth window, to the horror of the poor security guard. As the guard ran out screaming, he luckily had the key in his hand, which Palu relieved him of, and our two heroes made off for the station.
In 2007 The Go-Go Radio Magic Show began its current run in the Friday 6:00 to 8:00 pm time slot. They have both become fathers while simultaneously raging against the dying of the light. Two middle-aged men with appetites for destruction and a penchant for afternoon naps.
Prince Palu
Prince Palu (aka Paul Brown) spent his childhood in Hamilton, Ontario, his twenties wandering in search of himself - Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Sapporo - and his thirties going back to school to study journalism at Concordia University. It totally made sense that he would sign up for classes in Notre-Dame-de-Grace, having already spent hundreds of hours on the Loyola Campus at CJLO during the first six years of The Go-Go Radio Magic Show. Being a music journalist was always the dream, so why not get some credentials from one of the most prestigious journalism schools in the country? Starting school with a toddler at home and adding another baby before the end, the three year degree stretched into a fourth and fifth year, but that just added to the fun of it all. Here is a selection of the pieces Prince Palu has written for other publications over the years:
Black Joe Lewis @ La Sala Rossa, April 10 2011
The Greenhornes @ La Sala Rossa, April 19 2011
Red Mass @ Quai des Brumes, April 9 2014
Profile of Red Mass, May 30 2014
Nancy Pants @ Le Plant November, 21 2014
Sturgill Simpson @ Theatre Corona, August 4, 2016
Tavis E. Triance & the Natural Way @ Divan Orange, August 24 2016
Dangereens + Barry Paquin Roberge @ Le Cactus, January 16 2017
Stranger Than Kindness ‘The Nick Cave Exhibition’ April 10, 2022
Young Guv “GUV IV” review, April 18, 2022
Michael Rault “Michael Rault” review, May 19, 2022
Horsegirl “Versions of Modern Performance” review, June 2, 2022
Oncle Ian
Oncle Ian (aka Ian Macpherson) grew up in Lachine, QC, a suburb on the island of Montréal, where as a child Ian would record “radio shows” on a portable tape recorder in a delightful instance of foreshadowing. Like all good origin stories, there was an inciting incident that would change the course of young Ian’s life. At the start of 7th grade at Lachine High School, a bona fide downtown cool kid arrived and with him the secrets of a world beyond the suburbs. After realizing that young Macpherson was worthy, he slipped him a copy of Pixies “Bossanova” and told him to have a listen. What came through his headphones wasn’t just a new sound, it was a shift in his perspective and changes were made on the molecular level. The doors of perception had been kicked wide open and a lifelong journey had begun. After high school, Ian would find himself working at Sam the Record Man, where his quest for musical knowledge and influence was taken into hyperdrive, and decades later it still has not let up.
Joining The Go-Go Radio Magic Show in 2007 was more than just adding a co-host, it was a prophecy coming to fulfillment. It had been foretold by Ian’s childhood friend and Palu’s better-half, Ms. Jenny Jam, in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1999. She knew both of these men and understood that they were kindred spirits. When she finally introduced them in 2006 the radio equivalent of a Big Bang was about to take place and in it’s wake has been two decades of Radio Magic rippling across the cosmos.
Here is a selection of some of the writing Ian has done outside The Go-Go Radio Magic Show website:
Duchess Says + Red Mass Disco 3000 @ Club Lambi, June 12 2012
Ty Segall + La Luz + The Nymphets @ Club Soda, September 22 2014