If you look up the word "Ragonk" in the dictionary, well, you won't get very far. That's because Ragonk isn't actually a word. In truth, it's more of a meme. So what the hell is up with Trees hosting a concert this weekend (and one with a pretty damn good local lineup) called "Ragonk-a-Thon?" Well, it's a joke. Kind of. And it all stems back to one fateful miscue by local sports newscaster T.C. Flemming from Sportsradio 1310 FM The Ticket. Local music, you see, is a flat circle.
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T'was October 2014 when it all went to hell for Flemming and the great moment Ragonk was born. On a sunny afternoon while discussing a Cowboys injury report, Flemming made the verbal miscue of all miscues: Instead of saying "Rolando," he mistakenly said "Ragonk." And, well the rest is history. And by history we mean an endless meme that's taken over social media, the airwaves and day-to-day conversation for P1s of the popular station.
Ragonk is currently being used by everyone: Flemming's fellow Ticket hosts (who know how to embrace some organic branding when the opportunity arises), calling in P1's, Kid of Kid'n'Play fame during concerts, drunken stand up comedians. It's shorthand for telling someone "what's up" or "how you doing" or "I listen to too much radio during the day." I feel lame for saying this, but there are like four teams in my fantasy basketball league who use a version of the term for their team name. I have at least six text messages that are just people finding new ways to work Ragonk into the conversation. Hell, Ragonk has become so popular that it even received it's own 15 for 15 from midday host Bob & Dan (aka one of their mini radio documentaries that resembles ESPN's prestigious 30 for 30 series.)
And maybe it was going to one day go away. Maybe like all cultural moments it would just disappear to the ether. Poor TC Flemming was trying to live, and move past it, though his life was derailed by the world's love of RAGONK! Full of social media, on-air use and then seemingly out of nowhere the Ragonk--a- Thon hit. Now it may never go away.
The Ragonk-a-Thon, as is the case with so many other outlandish concerts ideas in Dallas, is the brainchild of none other than Gavin Mulloy, aka the king of Deep Ellum. (Boy, is he going to hate us calling him that...) As with so many other great (great?) ideas, sports fanatic Mulloy came up with the idea during a late-night drinking session.
"Back in December I was drinking at Three Links with Sealion, and Bummer Vacation, and I was like 'Let's do a show!'" Mulloy recalls of the show idea. "Sealion hadn't played a show at Trees yet, and I'd wanted to get them in there. We started talking about Ragonk and I said lets call it 'Ragonk-a-thon' and there it was."
If it all started off as a bit of a lark, the show quickly proved to be a savvy marketing move: "When we put it online I started getting texts within and hour that they were talking about us on the Ticket," Mulloy explains. "They got a hold of us, said they wanted to giveaway some tickets and here we are."
And that's how the Ragonk Force of Sealion, Bummer Vacation, Son of Stan, The Azalea Project, and the Outfiit TX came together to not only take over Trees, but take over the airwaves of the Ticket. Needless to say fans of both are getting their money's worth on Saturday night. Who can turn down a night of local music full of Ragonk-themed songs and Ticket jokes?
Sadly, the Outfit TX has had to drop off the show this week due to illness. And there will likely be at least one more key player left in abstentia come Saturday night: Flemming himself. The whole Ragonk phenomenon is all in good fun, of course, and the bands on those organizing the show are avid listeners of the station. But for poor Flemming, his life has apparently just been too upended by it all to embrace it. When we contacted on the Ragonk-A-Thon, he declined to comment. Seems at least one person isn't enjoying all the Ragonk hoopla.
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