We're Not In Toto Anymore, Kansas

I'm sure Sen. Sam Brownback would approve...

Mr. DJ

As you probably know, the radio industry has been seriously screwed up the last few years, what with consolidation and syndication eliminating oodles of jobs (Clear Channel, the target of most of the griping was sold last week, resulting in an out-and-out bloodbath as CC staffs in dozens of markets were cut loose).

Now, it looks like - finally - things may be about to turn around. As a friend of mine put it, "Live 'n' Local Radio will make a comeback when Wall Streets calls for it." It looks like that is finally starting to happen. Check out this article from Forbes.

As for me, I'm in a pretty good position right now, being gainfully employed outside the business and not having to scuffle for work with all those other guys (many of whom, sadly, are good friends of mine). My strategy for now is to sit tight and wait...

A Loathsome, Offensive Brute - Yet Somehow...

I see where the "hecklers" are now SUING Michael Richards (douchebag lawyer Gloria Allred is behind it - figures. As Phil Hendrie once noted, the most dangerous place in California is between Allred and a TV camera).

Let's make something clear: Richards' rant was inexcusable, but the hecklers were hardly the innocent victims they're made out to be. They're HECKLERS! By all rights, they should have been tossed out on their ears the minute they started acting up (any reputable, well-run comedy club would have done so without hesitation).

Look at it from the perspective of the other customers: you shell out your hard-earned dough to see a show, have a few laughs, only to have some brainstem across the room decide he's gonna show his friends at the table - along with everybody else in the room - how cool and he clever he is by vocally disrupting the proceedings (And no, don't give me that line of bullshit that it's all part of the comedy club experience; you wouldn't put up with that crap at a music concert: "Hey Sinatra! YOU SUCK!").

Hecklers are not cute. They're not clever. They obnoxious jerks who ruin it for everybody else.
Again, not that two wrongs make a right, but let's face it: hecklers are assholes...

Milton Friedman, R.I.P.

If you've never seen Free To Choose, the mini-series based on the book by the late Milton Friedman, I recommend it highly.

Check it out here.

Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean

Sad to report that Rhythm & Blues queen Ruth Brown has died. Ms. Brown scored hits in the early fifties, making her a member of the original generation of rock 'n' rollers. In later years she devoted much of her energies to getting better royalty deals for the early R&B artists.

Ruth Brown was the Real Deal. Britney who?

The Further Adventures Of Captain Clueless

The folks who host this here blog have made some changes. It took me a while to figure everything out, even to the point where I could log back in.

How long?

Check the date of my previous posting...

A Good Day

Wow...Rick Santorum and K-Fed get the Old Heave-Ho within hours of each other.

Maybe there is a God...

None Of The Above

As Boobous Americanus beats a path lemminglike to the polls, I sit back and offer this delightful piece from the folks at the Cato Institute...

Sign Me Up...

St. Louis talk host Paul Harris has come up with a brilliant idea:

Make it possible to put politicians on the Do Not Call List...

Never happen of course, but a guy can dream...