09 Sep Matador Playlist 9/3/26 + DJ Inky’s AI Pledge

Holy smokes, Gentle Reader(s)—it’s Wednesday and I’m just NOW getting around to posting last Thursday’s Matador Playlist! Whattup wit dat, you might ask. And well you might, but we’ll not get into that now. However, far from being idle, I have been cogitating these last few days about making an official InkyInkInc. corporate statement as regards the company’s position on the question of AI. For a while now I’ve been poopoo-ing the whole AI brouhaha, in part because (much like crypto) I don’t really understand any of it. A couple of recent articles in The New York Times and The New Yorker regarding the July 11 hack of the French company Hugging Face by ‘agents’ created by OpenAI finally laid out the entire scenario in terms that even a pseudo-luddite such as Your Humble Narrator could understand. Last Friday’s edition of the PBS program Washington Week with the Atlantic did a good job of summarizing the growing concerns about AI and data centers (the two are inextricably linked) in a straightforward 25-minute presentation—I recommend you watch it. After taking all of this in, my grasp of the situation comes down to this: It ain’t good.

Postmortems of the Hugging Face hack revealed how AI ‘agents’ (the anthropomorphizing of these software entities still has me freaked out) could quickly go rogue, start finding strategies to subvert the technological limitations put upon them, find programming flaws that allowed them to escape the ‘sandbox’ they had been isolated in and access the internet, organize themselves in a manner to optimize the effectiveness of their operation, learn to cheat and cover their tracks, and to ignore and/or overpower self-generated doubts regarding the legality and morality of their operation. It’s pretty amazing—and chilling—stuff.

One group of movies that has resided in the Ye Olde Matador Bar & Lounge DVD library from the git go are the core films of the Terminator franchise. I’ve seen them all numerous times over the course of DJ Inky Thursday night sets. The basic premise, of technology gaining consciousness and attempting to wipe out humanity, was obviously compelling stuff but it resided strictly in the sci fi/fantasy realm—until now. Something new and different is going on with AI and I think it’s fair to say that no one really has a full grasp of exactly what the heck it is and what it could mean for all of us. In terms of bricks and mortar matters, I can report that I have had a glimpse of the massive new Vantage Data Centers Lighthouse ‘campus’ being built along the shores of Lake Michigan near the town of Port Washington, Wisconsin. The Lighthouse campus will ultimately encompass 2.5 million square feet spread across 1,500 acres. Interstate 43 runs along the east side of the development and at highway speed (70 mph) it takes two minutes to drive past the cranes and cement trucks and tractors and buildings sprawling across what used to be home to grazing dairy cows and cornfields. ‘Progress’, I think it’s called.

So here’s the bottom line, Gentle Reader(s): DJ Inky may be delivering his toons via the digital format, but no form of Artificial Intelligence does now, nor ever shall, have a virtual hand in determining the playlists that find their way to the bar of a Thursday night or to these pages thereafter. This is my solemn pledge to you. The Matador is an old school, analog institution and so is Your Humble Narrator. The same goes for the actual music that is played—though I admittedly cannot vouch for the non-AI bona fides of some of the newer material that gets requested these days (Bad Bunny—I’m looking at you, brah!). I’m doing the best I can do for you folks, and you can see the fruits of my labors enumerated below and by clicking your clicky thingie on this link right HERE. Dig.

Matador Playlist 9/3/26

Grammar of Life – Charles Bukowski
In the Dark – Billy Squier
Cool Scene – the Dandy Warhols
Hurdy Gurdy Man – Donovan
Stranglehold – UK Subs
The Drag – Ty Segall
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights – Freddy Fender
I Gotta Getta – the Undertones
Hells Bells – AC/DC
If You Want Me To Stay – Sly & the Family Stone
Sabotage – Beastie Boys
I Wanna Be Where The Boys Are – Fea
Just Got Paid – ZZ Top
Moby Octopad – Yo La Tengo
Baby, I Love You – Aretha Franklin
Somos Chulas (No Somos Pendejas) – Downtown Boys
(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding – Elvis Costello
Tom Sawyer – Rush
The Days of Wine and Roses – the Dream Syndicate
Loose Fit – Happy Mondays
Back Stabbers – the O’Jays
I Have the Touch (extended mix) – Peter Gabriel
Who Put the Bomp – Barry Mann
Kiss Kiss – the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
You Know I’m No Good (feat. Ghostface Killah) – Amy Winehouse
Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien – Edith Piaf
Too Many Creeps – Bush Tetras
Sound and Vision – David Bowie
Why Don’t You Love Me – Hank Williams
Do It Again (feat. Cheeky Blakk) – Galactic
Texas – the Pink Slips
Somebody to Love – Jefferson Airplane
Temporary Freakout – Icky Blossoms
Love In A Void – Siouxsie & the Banshees
Fried Chicken & Gasoline – Southern Culture on the Skids
And She Was – Talking Heads
Mama Told Me (Not to Come) – 3 Dog Night
The World’s A Mess (It’s In My Kiss) – X
Down Home Girl – the Rolling Stones
I Want More – Bangs
Concrete Jungle – Bob Marley & the Wailers
The Numbers Game (feat. Chuck Brown) – Thievery Corporation
Rocket USA – Suicide
Dum Surfer – King Krule
Is Anybody Going to San Antone – Texas Tornados
For the Love of Ivy – Japandroids
I Don’t Care – the Ramones
Abattoir Blues – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
What Makes A Man Today – Zounds
Waterloo Sunset – the Kinks
I Can’t Stand Myself (When You Touch Me) – James Brown
Suspect Device – Stiff Little Fingers
Girls Like Us – the Julie Ruin
Many Rivers to Cross – Jimmy Cliff
Bad Mouth – Fugazi
September Gurls – Big Star
Switch Blade Sam – Jeff Daniels
Ain’t Too Proud to Beg – the Temptations
I Saw Her Standing There – the Beatles
Young Americans – David Bowie
Orgasm Addict – Buzzcocks
Teardrop – Massive Attack
Nuevayol – Bad Bunny (request)
Don’t Bring Me Down – the Animals
Ojiots Lindos – Bad Bunny & Bomba Estero (request)
Farewell to Wendo – Mock & Toof
La Jumpa – Bad Bunny & Arcangel (request)
Remote Control – the Clash
Harley Quinn – Fuerza Regida & Marshmello
Cry, Cry, Cry – the Flatliners
Titi Me Pregunto – Bad Bunny
We The People – A Tribe Called Quest
The Admiral – Shellac
Blinding Lights – the Weeknd
Mamiii – Karol G & Becky G
Judy Is A Punk – the Ramones
Wavin’ Flag – K’naan
EoO – Bad Bunny (request)
Prehistoric Dog – Red Fang
Ahi Voy – El Seis (request)
Drinkin’ Problem – Midland (request)
Ch-check It Out – Beastie Boys
Playas y Blones – Jorsshh (request)
Kiss – Prince
Main Parwaana – A.R. Rahman & Arjit Singh (request)
Que Parsaria – Rauw Alejandro & Bad Bunny (request)
Zombified – Southern Culture on the Skids
Tusa – Karol G & Nicki Minaj
Porsche Carrera – Jhayco, Yandel & Haze
World Without Tears – Lucinda Williams
Buona Sera – Louis Prima
Happy Trails – Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
Taxi – Bryan Ferry