LOST IN THE MUCK… What rhymes with duck? Squid felt in luck when this cephalopod saw the I. H.A.T.E. T.H.E. MUCKY DUCK Facebook fan page. “Waiting in line to get inside this bar is ridiculous,” the page proclaims. “And the bartenders are douchebags.” Squid got a further explanation from the anonymous page creator, who would only identify himself as JP. “This group was started collaboratively by everyone in the Monterey Bay area who completely dislikes or Had A Terrible Experience (H.A.T.E.) at the Mucky Duck,” the anti-fan wrote. The new page had 525 fans at press time, many trashing the place and cursing… kind of creating their own sleazy, digital bar scene. The whole thing reminded Squid of Texts from Last Night – it’s funny, but make sure you’ve got hand sanitizer ready. The Duck, based on its line to the dance floor, and its Facebook base of more than 2,500 fans, seems to be doing something right. Sure, the Duck sometimes sucks, but Squid is not one to hate on any nightclub, especially when local dance-offs are thinning with venues closing.

DRIVE TIME Squid’s all in favor of experimentation, whether in dead tree journalism, the Internet world, or the airwaves, but some changes leave Squid wondering what’s going on. Case in point: KAZU’s recent move of All Things Considered, one of public radio’s most popular programs, from 4pm to 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Squid asked KAZU general manager Doug McKnight, who responded: “[We] made a number of changes in our mid-day programming to reflect listening trends. In the case of All Things Considered, we moved Marketplace from 6:30 to 5:30pm in order to continue our hour programming at 6 with The World. People leaving work at 5 still have a half hour of ATC. We now start All Things Considered at 3pm because our ratings show the commute begins at that hour.” Hmm. Maybe KAZU knows commuters leaving at 3pm – Squid wouldn’t mind the early exit. But Squid hopes this is one corporate decision that doesn’t drive listeners to that AM dial.

OBAMA GOES BROADWAY… A recent piece in the local daily opposed the seemingly harmless idea that Seaside’s Broadway Avenue be given the additional name Obama Way, raising the rhetorical red flag: “Should Mount Diablo in the East Bay be renamed Mount Reagan?” Squid doesn’t meddle in affairs to the north, but the symbolic move seems low-cost and appropriate, given Fort Ord’s history as the most successfully integrated military base in the land. The chatboards are instead proposing (seriously) former mayor Jerry Smith. That’s a trade Squid could live without.