We were on our way to Lakewood when my wife suddenly turned down the radio and murmured, "I think I'm finally getting old."

"What do you mean?" I asked with due caution. In my head, Admiral Ackbar was barking, "It's a trap!"

"I hate everything on the radio today," she explained. It occurred to me we hadn't taken a single car ride in two weeks without hearing Charli XCX brag about how fancy she and, by extension, Iggy Azalea are. Granted, Azalea's the rilles', but surely we'd prefer a bit more variety in our musical offerings? My better half was right to kvetch, but not about the music itself. The problem with radio isn't music, my friends, it's the radio. Simply put, the business of FM sees little percentage in exposing its listeners to anything but the dozen songs selected for national exposure two months ago. And if you're still listening to AM radio, well, you're probably hunting for tornado reports or play-by-play commentary on your grandkid's high school football game.

Rest assured, friends, people do still make plenty of music that kicks ass, offering passion, intelligence, creativity and vitality in thundering waves of earhole righteousness. The problem is, you need help finding it. That, of course, is where NWCZradio.com comes in. Full disclosure: noisecrafters NWCZ hosted our Volcano Radio for 19 episodes. We've had our metaphorical hands in each other's financial pockets a few times over the years, not that they offered much beyond movie stubs, unpaid beer tabs and petrified Altoids. As you may expect in a community of struggling wordsmiths, our besties tend to run short on moola as well.

That's where you come in. Yes, it's another crowdfunding plea, but this time it's all but painless. Drop by Kickstarter to check out NWCZ's campaign. The station isn't asking for much, to be honest, just a few thousand bucks to buy much-needed computers, a sound board and other Web-friendly audio equipment. What do you get? Potentially, a lot: an hour as the station's artistic manager and programmer, for example, sets you back a mere $300. A donation of $700 earns a barbecue and blues shindig in your own backyard. Be the envy of all your friends, and/or the bane of your neighbors' existence! Or, if that seems too, pardon the expression, fancy for your blood, fork over a lousy five-spot to earn a cool sticker, plus the self-adoring glow of baseline generosity.

NWCZ thanks you. The Weekly Volcano thanks you. Most of all, my wife and I thank you, for helping us extract that damn "Holy Grail" worm from our ears at long last.