Anyway, the Stoned Ranger was born purely of insanity. When I was younger, I got to visit a neurologist once a week. (We are talking like from when I was 7 to when I turned 14.) I was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.) I was very hyper and also grew up with a speech impediment. People did poke fun at it until I learned how to ignore it. I was very fidgety and still am. I did not live the normal teenage life because I was going from doctor to doctor. I rose up against teachers and got into fights with other students quite often. My parents wondered what was wrong. I believe that my parents didn’t like the fact their child was a nutcase so to speak.
When I was 16 years old and years thereafter, I believed my life was going to go nowhere. That I would be some fuck up. So I said fuck it and started partying like crazy. I drank so much your head would spin. I went to school drunk on many different occasions. It was an easy way for me to deal with the bullshit I put up with in school. For one, I think school is bullshit because it doesn’t prepare you for anything. I feel that teachers really don’t give a shit about students as a whole. I think they like to concentrate on the easy ones. You know, the ones that do well. The ones that have difficulties, most teachers could give two shits about. If you are different, you are considered an outcast. The only way you can impress a teacher is if you have a talent. That is why I earned admiration of very few teachers. They thought I had a talent for writing. (I still dispute that to this day.) Next thing I know, I was being brought to the principals office and got myself kicked out of school and was deported to STEP, which was a behavioral disorder school.
Now going to this BD school, I didn’t learn how to behave better. I learned how to take better drugs and how to build bongs. I learned how to become a bigger asshole. Yet, I felt like I belonged because most of kids there were like me. The so-called outcasts of society. I ended up seeing more doctors and was diagnosed with 5 different things. I was interment explosive, depressed, needed anger management, whatever…doctors nowadays don’t know that head from their ass so they just come up with shit. I mean really, you tell a doctor something is wrong, they say you’ll be OK, and write you a prescription. Now tell me dear readers, how many times has that happened to you? Anyway, back to me.
I left my house at 17 and started living life on my own. It has been that way ever since, and it has been hard. Yet it wasn’t until I turned 21 when I decided to bring the Stoned Ranger out. A character I created in high school out of imagination came to life. I did a show in my friends backyard, and I sucked. So I practiced on trying to make Ranger more tolerable. It eventually worked as on May 19, 1998, The Stoned Ranger became public.
The website “The Strictline Web Invasion” came to be and my first tales from the Strictline was written. 5 years ago this month. Although everything I wrote did not make it to the site, it was still blatantly in your face. Some found it funny, others disturbing. And some wrote it off as stupidity. I felt like I could start a career. I started WHCM radio shortly before that as a member of the news team as I read news 4 times a week. People said I was really good.
So I felt radio, something I dreamed about back when I was younger would be my calling. However, I needed to do something different from what was out there at the time. So I put together a very shitty demo tape that at the time I was so proud of, and gave it to about 100 stations. Of course, it went nowhere. If you would like to receive a copy of the tape, just e-mail me and I will be more than happy to get you a copy of it. So in order to keep the Ranger out there I created more shows in my friend’s backyard. The whole Stoned Ranger thing was basically a joke to most people, but some people loved the character. Here is some dip shit who talks so much shit, it is coming out of his ears.
I felt alive. I was creating something. I was proud. Then in Fall of 1998, it happened. I got my very own air shift on WHCM Mondays at 9am affectionately known as “Strictline on WHCM.” I was fired after one month after pranking people on the air and daring Student Activities to call me instead of station management. I was stupid what could I say? So I took my leave and continued to write Tales. I wrote one particular Tales that almost got me thrown out of school because I bashed staff and the adviser of the station. The website became “The Stoned Ranger’s Computer Virus” and I promoted the site worldwide. Many people didn’t want to see the site due to the virus thing and all. I didn’t do shows because I did a show in December as an answer back to WHCM that was a total failure. I think 6 or 7 people showed up, plus one of the artists ditched out too. I kept up with the site though. (May-Oct 1998 is lost because the old site crashed.)
So then in 1999, I was ready to do some more shit. I did a few more shows in the backyard of my friend but then started renting out places to have bands play and shit. The shows would drain me of finances and I would have to work my ass off to make the money back. Yet I still kept going and since I knew I wasn’t going to be on radio anytime soon, I looked into cable access. I was turning 23 and had dinner with my mom and dad at Giordano’s in Rosemont to celebrate my birthday. It would be the last day I ever heard my mom’s voice as two days later, she had a heart attack and after being on life support for 10 days, she passed on. She was the biggest supporter of everything I did. When I went back to school, she was very happy. I spent 17-21 out of school and being a total fuck up so it was nice to see me with some direction in my life. I went to class for SRTV shortly after that. Although it was one of the toughest periods of my life considering that I ruined my relationship with my girlfriend due to my emotions being all fucked up, and I was working extra hard to forget about things. I survived. SRTV became reality January 13, 2000. The first official taping of the show in the studio in Mt. Prospect.
Since then, SRTV has been on the air religiously except for a 6 month suspension over some really petty shit. I have become a target for many people who believe they are better than me, as well as people who find me annoying. Yet, I have been appreciated for my efforts by fans here and there who say they watch the show every Thursday. Some have even said they have parties for the show as well as tape it every week. I never thought I could get such a reaction out of people through my writing and my mindless ramblings on TV. To all of you thank you.
My goal still has not changed. I want to get on the radio and cause chaos. I want people to hear a very different radio show. Whether you like SRTV or not, you must admit that it is unlike anything you have ever seen before. The Stoned Ranger is someone like no other. It is hard for me to separate the character from the person. Mike Casaccio is a person that has had much baggage to carry over the years, and the Stoned Ranger has thrown it in the trash for him. Mike is a nice guy, the Ranger is not. Mike is smart, the Ranger is kind of stupid at times. I have been working very hard over the last 5 years and feel like it is paying off. I am at Columbia and this semester has been hell. I have been engaged in an internship and still need to work 40 hours a week to survive. Fucking insanity. However, it is almost over and we will bring you your regular scheduled SRTV and there will be no more gaps. In fact, the next SRTV will be a special 2 hour show.
Thank you for reading this, and thank you for listening and watching. Whether you love or hate, I appreciate that you take time out of your day to give me 5 minutes to an hour. Peace be with you.