What do Wayne’s World, Morgus the Magnificent, and Captain Kangaroo have in common? Not necessarily a lot. But neither does the content on the new public access channel Ogus from Metairie entrepreneurs that bills itself as the “turtleneck sweater of public access television.” Or something like that.

It may even be called the “Yacht Rock of Public Access” or as co-founder Michael Wilson boasts, “The PBS of the 21st Century.”

Whatever it is, it is the Krang-like brainchild of the Soundass Production team made up of UNO graduate film student Grant Lambert, elusive noise rocker and Andrew WK prankster Eric Arnouville (better known in the music community as Feck), and the aforementioned Michael Wilson, a digital media specialist who normally runs a broadcast network out of Natchez, Miss. In a recent sit down with Lambert and Arnouville, which included an acrostic poem pitch regarding the business model, the entrepreneurs explained the complex wundershowzen that is the Ogus network.

Lambert states the business model came about from a desire to unite independent content (much of it composed by he and his friends) in what he calls a “town square of creativity” and reiterates that although it is the “PBS of the 21st Century” at its core, both he and Arnouville hope that the platform remains free.

 

“You’d be on an exclusive streaming service that emphasizes low budget and local artists instead of a smaller film in a bigger streaming site that has way more curated content to sort through,” Arnouville explains of the benefits to Ogus.

They currently have on their galaxy of entertainment roster independently made comedic films, music videos by the Soundass crew (that includes jazz players Lee, Ford and Clark, brothers of Lambert), and reviews of  B-horror films such as the Ghoulies series. You can even watch a plethora of fair use flicks.

“We just added [other] classics like Father’s Little Dividend, The Great Gabbo, and The Night of the Living Dead!” the two exclaim in unison. They are also adding a short one act play about Dracula being a single father.

But the Ogus.biz boys aren’t just interested in streaming locally generated content and old fair use movies. Filmmakers and content creators are welcome to submit for their network which is able to stream via Roku, Amazon Fire, and desktops. The two quip that their obscurity has made them “much worse” and has even led them to develop their own 21st Century digital answer to Clippy, the tragic hero of Microsoft’s early days.

“We’ve developed the 21st Century version of Clippy meets Paul Newman,” says Arnouville of The Moss character they animated. And the two content creator mavens prattle off a list of projects they have in store for the digital entity to come. Arnouville and Lambert believe him to be the first (albeit debatable) virtual leading man.

Ogus leaves little, if nothing, to the imagination as it crams a Troma-load of programming promises down one’s throat, but the affable Arnouville and Lambert assure early Ogus onboarders that the best is yet to come.

And OffBeat readers will have a chance to experience the magic. On Valentine’s 2021, we will host via our Facebook an Ogus livestream event where the Soundass Boys (if you can figure out who they are) will take requests from everything ranging from Michael McDonald to Elvis Costello to Harold Faltermeyer. These guys may be maniacally manipulating the metrics of livestreams but hey, at least they can play.

Join the Ogus boys for a Super Sexxxy Valentine’s All Request Evening Sunday, February 14 from our Facebook page and take a chance and see if they can accommodate your request. After all, these boys from Metairie aim to please. To watch, click here.

To submit your work for consideration, email [email protected].