Georgie and the Boobirds

It's amusing to hear the political squawking heads spinning the fact that George W. showed up at the Nationals opener Sunday and - heavens! - some people booed.

Apparently, some folks like the guy, some don't. And this is a story...why?

I saw the tape and I'm not impressed; then again, I know serious booing - I'm from Philly....

Friday Fun Linkage

Since it’s Friday (and I’m a bit fried myself), I thought I’d forego the usual desultory philippics and gratuitous horn-tooting and append for your dancing and listening pleasure some of the more offbeat YouTube goodies from my collection. To wit:

My all-time baseball hero, Roger Maris...

Gary Owens as All American crime-fighter Roger Ramjet…

Some great East L.A. low-rider music...

A Solstice Carol worthy of H.P. Lovecraft…

Bambi Meets Godzilla...

A lesson in blues banjo...

Political satire from Roy Zimmerman...

Animated Lenny Bruce...

…and last but not least, the inimitable Captain Beefheart…

Baseball starts next week. Go Phils…

Well, it certainly beats the bejesus out of that Incredible Hulk movie from a coupla years back...

Best. Superhero. Movie. Ever...

Words Of Wisdom...

...from m'main man, Holland Cooke...

(Hey Holland, who's the voice off-camera; sounds hot...)

UPDATE: She is...

Hot Line, Hot Line, Calling On The Hot Line...

A recent entry on Radio-Info (a collection of radio industry message boards) is titled, “The Boss Using A Studio Hotline to chew out jocks while they're on the air.” (I trust this is self-explanatory to you non-radio folks; every DJ has a story about getting "hot-lined" by a butthead program director while on the air.) Here’s my own small contribution to the discussion:

The following story happened to a friend of mine while jocking at a CHR station in a certain Top Five market, circa 1977. (The DJ and PD (program director) shall remain nameless; if you're familiar with the East Coast radio scene from that era, you'd probably recognize both names...)

One night during my friend's shift (10P - 2A), the station's office line lit up.

The DJ picked it up. Heard a click as the caller hung up.

A few moments later, the office line lit up again.

The jock picked it up. Again, a click.

Thirty seconds later it lit up again.He picked it up. Click.

About a minute later the hot line lit up.

It was the program director.

"The office line is not to be answered after hours," he said. "If you answer it again, you may consider yourself out of a job."

The PD hung up.

Moments later, the office line lit up...

(By the way, if you don't get the title of this posting, here is a very cool blast from the past. Well, except for the Captain and Tennille introduction..)

Obit: Your Leeeeeeeeadah...

If there is such a thing as a great disc jockey, the recently-deceased Jack Armstrong was one.

It's especially sad that Armstrong in his later years found his own career options limited and wondered whether the industry still had a place for him. Meanwhile, we turn on the radio and the lack of real talent is so evident that even the industry puff piece publications no longer bother to ignore it.

Some may blame de-reg, but I believe it goes to a deeper, uglier issue: our culture's ever-increasing worship of mediocrity.

R.I.P. Jackson…

Still "Well Respected"

Caught the excellent flick Juno over the weekend, which features a clip from the Kinks' oldie A Well Respected Man. I gotta tell ya, it holds up well - much better than a lot of the music from that era.

And speaking of which, Jesse Walker of Reason reviews a recent Ray Davies bio here...

Now THIS GUY should have a talk show...

At long last...a celeb who actually makes sense when talking politics...

Crock The Vote

I'll say it again: the single best thing you can do as an individual to throw a monkey wrench into our sick, sordid political system and press for serious reform is to refuse to give said system the sanction it so desperately needs to function.

In other words: DON'T VOTE.

Yes...I'm serious.

No Static (or Future) At All

I'm increasingly convinced that non-political lifestyle talk (in all its possible variations) ain't gonna happen.

Not that there isn't a market for it - Gawd knows we could use some fresh programming on the airwaves now more than ever - but it seems to me that the industry has dropped the ball on developing any alternative to the same ol' same ol' (it's mostly a matter of very bad timing; the beginning of FM Talk came right about the time of consolidation, when the bottom fell out of everything).

Bottom line: the suits are less inclined than ever to take a risk. With a handful of notable exceptions, FM Talk (i.e. anything other than totally predictable "angry white conservative" talk) is stillborn (at least outside of morning drive).

I'd love nothing better than to be proven wrong on this. Bueller? Anyone...?

"The Truth, As Always, Will Be Far Stranger"

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, R.I.P...

Vox Boobous Populi

The syndicated Lou Dobbs radio show hit the air this week.

Great...more of the same uninteresting, pandering faux-populist crap (if this guy is "independent," then I'm a Saudi oil sheik). Just what we need - another snooze-inducing drone to displace a few more local hosts.

It's not about politics; it's about the ability to entertain. Sure Dobbs is good at getting a rise out of people; that, however is a cheap quality. It's how well you maintain after the shock wears off that tells the story (as others have learned the hard way).

By the way, ya gotta love the fact that Dobbs's San Diego affiliate is a station in Tijuana...

Brown Shoes Still Don't Make It

Kudos to John Stossel and the folks at 20/20 for their cool-headed look at a subject usually clouded by passion and demagoguery: underage sex.

Check out a sampling here. And if you're not a Zappa fan and you don't get the title of the post, go here...

Goes To Show Ya Never Can Tell

Am I hallucinating or did I just hear some talking head rattling on about the Spitzer thing and invoking the MANN ACT?!?

Somewhere right now Chuck Berry is laughing his ass off...

Obit: No Depression

No Depression, the music magazine that covered the roots/alt-country scene is ending publication.

I periodically (pun intended) picked it up over the years. While I shared ND's passion for the music, I was always put off by the magazine's smug left-wing politics, which they trumpeted at every opportunity without the slightest regard for pretext. Music coverage aside, No Depression embraced the most sophomoric brand of liberalism this side of Rolling Stone.

Still, it filled a need, and it will be missed. For a sample of alt-country in excelsis, check this out…

Coming soon to a computer near you...

Over the next few days I intend to record some comments for my podcast page.

Once I do, then you can comment and I, in turn will comment on your comments.

It'll be just like a talk show...sorta...

...except different...

Stay tuned; this should be good for a few laughs...

Got a twelve-sided die...

Gary Gygax, co-inventor of Satan's Game, and patron saint of nerds everywhere has died.

I've never played D&D, but I do have a story...

Once while shopping in a North Carolina bookstore circa 1985 I overheard a boy, about ten, asking his mother to buy a D&D game. The mom wigged out, responding with a barrage of feculae about how "Satanic" the game was.

I knew nothing of D&D, but from that day forward, Gygax became a hero of mine. I figured anyone who could provoke such a conniption from a Bible-thumping bubblehead was all right in my book.

R.I.P. Mr. Gygax...

Jolly bad show, old bean...

Not to get all political on y'all, but you do realize that if some hefty-lefty columnist had done what Drudge did with the prince, all the conserva-clone hosts would be falling all over each other hurling epithets like "treason" and such...

So when do you suppose our on-air friends will line up to hurl brickbats at their fellow-traveler Matt...

...yeah, yeah, I know...

...never mind...

...OK, you can stop laughing now...

...any time...