On this special back-to-school episode of Music In Time, host Evan McCormick unearths the story of CUTS--Columbia University Tunes and Stuff--a compilation album of undergraduate student bands released in 1984. To tell the story, Evan tracked down Tom Oritt, the student who spent his senior year putting the compilation together, from arranging funding via the student activities fee to generating interest from student acts, overseeing production of the album's 950 copies to arranging the release show at Barnard College's McIntosh Hall. Now 40 years later, Oritt and McCormick discuss the music scene in Morningside Heights in the early 1980s--on campus and even in the tunnels underneath (listen for the story). It's a love letter college rock, sonic creativity, and the possibilities that abound in university scenes.

...all for the inflation-beating price of $2.50!

Featuring choice "CUTS":
1. Token Entry - Listless
2. Boss Tweed - Needless to Say
3. Charlotte's Web - It's Not The Money, Man
4. Leap of Faith - Garden Room
5. The Rave-Ups - Pretty Face
6. The M-1 Alternative - Trapped In My Own Shadow
7. Quiche - Answer Man 
8. Jeremy - Love Time

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Music does not just exist. It exists in specific times and places, and in the sonic world of each individual listener who engages with it. That’s the basic idea behind "Music in Time," which explores the social and political context in which songs and albums emerge, are listened to, and reflected on over the years. Each broadcast focuses on a single album, detailing the social and political circumstances surrounding its release and moments in time that made certain music resonate anew. How is music shaped by these historical moments, and, in turn, how does it shape the histories that we remember?

By day, Evan McCormick is a historian at Columbia University, where he is part of the Obama Presidency Oral History project, interviewing a range of people — from cabinet members to ordinary folks — about their memories of the Obama years. By night, McCormick is a music lover and singer-songwriter, recording under the stage name Egan Caufield. For most of his life these two worlds remained separate, but after relocating to Catskill, in 2020, he chose to bring history and music together over the airwaves, and "Music in Time" was born.