Horror, girl gangs, mopeds and radio drama …on this week’s edition of The Saturday Six Pack

Interestingly, the staff designer at AM 1700, had the idea for me to pose with Charlton Heston on a scooter without knowing that, on this Saturday’s episode, I’d be talking with Autumn Rae, a founding member of the Femme Pedals, an all girl moped gang representing southeast Michigan. My plan was to talk with Autumn about the upcoming I Built It Myself moped rally, but, now, judging from the mail I’ve been receiving since the poster went public along with news that we’d be discussing mopeds on the show, I suspect we’ll be spending most of our time talking about the differences between mopeds and scooters. It would appear, you see, that we’ve unintentionally broken some kind of unwritten law of the Ypsilanti NoNos (No shit taken, No fucks given) by promoting a show in which mopeds will be discussed with a photo of a scooter. [The NoNos are an Ypsilanti-based group of vintage moped enthusiasts.] If this had happened a few weeks ago, I might have just laughed it off, but, given the violence we saw erupt recently in the parking lot of a Jo-Ann Fabrics between rival biker gangs over a perceived slight, I’m not willing to take any chances… Hence the following formal statement drafted by the attorneys of AM 1700.

“We know the difference between mopeds and scooters. Mopeds are for for the strong. Scooters are for the weak. We know that. And we meant no offense to the NoNos, who we both respect and fear greatly. The poster in question, we can assure you, was designed well before a decision was made to book Ms. Rae as a guest, and the intern who designed it has not only been let go, but told never again to step foot in Ypsilanti. If your code of ethics demands that you attack someone for the slight, though, we can tell you where she’s hiding. The important thing, as always, is that you not come after station management, or smash our windows, which would be expensive to replace.”

And we won’t just be talking about mopeds on this episode… We’ll also be joined by Josh Malerman, the author of the horror novel Bird Box, and member of the band The High Strung… the only group to my knowledge to have played Guantanamo Bay. Josh will be reading from Bird Box, along with his partner Allison Laakko, both of whom, I’m told, will be dressed as clowns for some reason.

And, as is often the case, we’ll be joined by our friend Jim Cherewick, who will be leading the Saturday Six Pack Orchestra, and local historian Matt Siegfried, who will be telling us about about Ypsilanti in 1840.

If you’d like to tell your friends and neighbors about the program, feel free to share the Facebook event listing. Or, better yet, print out a few copies of the inflammatory poster above, and nail them to the front doors of all the houses on your block.

AND, HERE, FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER TUNED IN TO THE SIX PACK BEFORE, ARE THE DETAILS ON HOW TO LISTEN:

Unless you live really close by, I’d recommend streaming the show online, which you can do either on the AM1700 website or by way of TuneIn.com.

And for those of you who aren’t yet familiar with the show, and need to get caught up, you can listen to the entire archive on iTunes.

One last thing. We love phone calls. So please scratch this number into the cinder block wall of the recreation room of whichever facility you’re doing time in… 734.217.8624… and call us between 6:00 and 8:00 this Saturday evening.