Barnes Newberry has been off-the-air for going on a year, after ten years of hosting his “Highway 61 Revisited” show on WUMB (UMassBoston). Barnes had what can be termed a “falling-out with management,” and I’ve really missed listening to him on Saturday mornings. I’ve been told there is the possibility of Barnes returning to the airwaves sometime in the Spring. Here’s hoping he can put it together. Stay tuned!
Prue Bury sent this note to her friends today:
Think this is worth while.
Thank you
There’s a daily radio news program based here in Boston, called The World, that’s co-produced with the BBC World Service. They explain the cuts that are being implemented:
[audio:http://media.theworld.org/audio/012620113.mp3|titles=The World: WGBH Boston]Internet access in Egypt has been cut. Whether or not the protesters intend to overthrow the government in favor of a Muslim-based system, the fact is that the value of radio is obvious in these situations.
This just in — Pop music impresario Don Kirshner has died. In more than one way, “Sugar, Sugar”, with Ron Dante and the non-existent Archies, is Kirshner’s ultimate accomplishment as a music publisher and manager.
The Archies – Sugar Sugar
Uploaded by scootaway. – See more comedy videos.
In the 70’s, “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” featured an eclectic mix of bands. Here is a fantastic set with the Ramones at their Punk Rock peak.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6o_t2Q_gkg
Longtime Boston sports writer-caster Steve Buckley has a column in the Boston Herald announcing that he’s gay. The news has been picked up by media outlets in Boston and New York, the Huffington Post, and Keith Olbermann tweeted it:
Boston Herald sports writer Steve Buckley: I’m Gay http://bit.ly/fiX6YM Buck’s a friend of 17 yrs & has my full support & friendship
I hope that the unpredictable world of baseball will support Buck too. Knowing his reputation therein, I think it will.
Thirty years ago I worked at a newspaper with Steve — or Buck, as he’s often called — and although he never said or did anything to indicate he wasn’t straight, I’m not surprised by his admission, for reasons I won’t go into. If anything, my love of art, and my utter lack of interest in any sport other than long-distance running, may have given Buck reason to suspect that I was gay. I think Steve Buckley coming out is good and great, and he deserves praise and encouragement.
Buckley’s been a fixture on Boston sports radio station WEEI for years, and today he went on the air to talk about his announcement. You’ll find some of the program on the audio player.
[audio:http://audio.weei.com/hosting/media/weei/1598200/w-stevebuckley-howthischangeshisjob-010611-bs-weei.mp3|titles=WEEI The Big Show: Steve Buckley comes out]The Rally to Restore Sanity (and/or Fear) was a huge success — a quarter of a million people huge. It was obviously a response to Glenn Beck’s Rally to Restore America, and I don’t understand why Jon Stewart won’t acknowledge that. I know he didn’t feel well during his interview with Rachel Maddow a few days ago, but I’m still surprised by how many of the points he made were exercises in mental “gymnastics” (I’d like to use another word, but I’ll resist the temptation).
Stewart apparently felt slighted by Bill Maher’s criticism of the rally. I suppose that could be taken as a sign of respect for Maher, whose style is too snarky to do what Jon does, and his appeal isn’t as broad, so he never could have gotten 250,000 people to gather together. Maybe Maher is jealous of Stewart’s success. Maher sure was delighted when he was at the center of an election recently, with his video clips of Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O’Donnell.
The moments with Maddow when Stewart was joking he did fine, but when he got into the particulars of how he views political media, he got lost in his own internal dialogue. He was particularly bogged down in his discussion of how Bush got us to invade Iraq. Stewart seemed to be saying that Bush’s fervent belief that Saddam Hussein must have had WMD somehow absolves the former President of blame. He really lost me 35 minutes into the interview, with the line, “It’s true depending on where you start the pursuit.” He had to go all the way back to FDR and the internment of Japanese-Americans to find a moral equivalent to Bush not taking the chance that Iraq wasn’t actually a threat??
In the past, Jon Stewart has taken the media to task for not doing its job, and for failing to ask the tough questions. Then he got CNN to cancel the rancorous show Crossfire because it was just a lot of shouting. His complaint with MSNBC doesn’t seem to be with the content, as much as the way Olbermann and Maddow present it. Stewart’s insistence on having meaningful interviews after the jokes and skits on The Daily Show attracts a surprising array of guests, but he doesn’t have a monopoly on style or substance.
I wouldn’t say that Jon Stewart has let success go to his head, but the gist of his attitude is, “I’ve got it right, and the rest of you are just poisoning the political well by shouting from opposite ends of the political spectrum.” If Stewart wants quieter, less emotional, discussions, then he should look beyond cable TV and promote the always excellent PBS News Hour. He could have brought a copy of that network’s guidelines to read during the interview with Rachel. It’s interesting that Leher included the comment, “I am not in the entertainment business.”
Brian Sibley‘s been busy! He has an 8-part series called The Musical running on BBC Radio 2, and his book Harry Potter Film Wizardry comes out in October.
