Friday, March 31, 2006
I Went to a Concert and a Church Service Broke Out...
This is borderline MyTunes material, but I just got back from a great show at the historic Sheldon Concert Hall tonight. It was a double feature with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the Dixie Hummingbirds! I lucked out and got a seat front and center first row in the balcony, best seat in the house if you ask me. This is a small room, so the balcony is not far from the stage. The Dixie Hummingbirds were a treat to hear; they feature only 1 original member these days, but have added a young bass who delighted the audience by plumbing the depths of his range. I wasn't familiar with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band but I am definitely a fan after hearing them tonight. They brought back the Dixie Hummingbirds to close out their show and it suddenly turned into CHURCH! It was a very joyous way to end the evening. Only fitting, I guess, since the Sheldon was a revival meeting hall in a former life.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
One Slip o' the Tongue...
Yes, it's been too long between writings - just haven't had too much to write about lately.
Until today.
A big ol' stink has arisen in the St. Louis area re: an unfortunate 'radio personality' on a local talk radio station. The poor man was doing his show yesterday and in the midst of praising our Secretary of State, meant to say a certain word, but instead said another word that sounds very similar to it (click on the link - I shall not repeat the word). The word he said is commonly used as racial slur. Did he misspeak? Did he really mean to say it? Is he a filthy stinkin' racist? A huge debate has stirred up as a result of predictable coverage in local print and electronic media.
Regardless, the man did himself no favors by immediately acknowledging his mistake, apologizing all over himself in the process. He hastily segued to a commercial break and to make a long story short, he was fired almost immediately and the radio station manager apologized on-air in short order. Today we learn that he has been suspended from his teaching job at a local chiropractic college.
This is one of those situations where nothing good can result of its outcome. My questions are:
1) He had a 'delay' (OH #$%#@!!) button he could have used to prevent his words from ever seeing airtime. Why didn't he use it? Many a radio announcer has been saved via that route. It could be that he panicked, radio not being his first occupation. He had been on the job only 2 weeks, after coming over from a local low-watt talk station.
2) Did he really misspeak, as he claims? How do you make the mistake he made? Only he knows what his true feelings are. If he truly is a racist, then he deserves to be condemned as such. But then again, why would purposely say such a thing knowing he was deep-sixing himself?
I feel bad for him, as his radio career, and likely his teaching career are being destroyed over one little bit of malfeasance. Now, I don't condone any racist speech and am not personally a racist. The God I serve is not, so neither am I. The radio station's hands were unfortunately tied, as they are now mostly owned by the St. Louis Cardinals baseball club. They can't be associated with anything remotely racist so the radio host had to go. Local radio industry insiders are reacting with a mixture of disgust and amusement at the radio station manager, as he is not held in high regard for his management style. (Side note: The radio station in question dumped most of its personalities and hired new "edgier" hosts when the Cardinals ownership took over in January.)
My concern is the disturbing amount of media coverage this incident is receiving. The sad fact is that nowadays, our culture loves controversy. You make one mistake in public, and it's worldwide within seconds. "Put it out there and let it blow up" seems to be the rule. As of this writing, the story is the headline on Stltoday.com and it's even made it to Drudge.com .
Tom Calhoun is a veteran local radio man and offers a reasoned commentary in his blog.
What do my faithful readers have to say?
Until today.
A big ol' stink has arisen in the St. Louis area re: an unfortunate 'radio personality' on a local talk radio station. The poor man was doing his show yesterday and in the midst of praising our Secretary of State, meant to say a certain word, but instead said another word that sounds very similar to it (click on the link - I shall not repeat the word). The word he said is commonly used as racial slur. Did he misspeak? Did he really mean to say it? Is he a filthy stinkin' racist? A huge debate has stirred up as a result of predictable coverage in local print and electronic media.
Regardless, the man did himself no favors by immediately acknowledging his mistake, apologizing all over himself in the process. He hastily segued to a commercial break and to make a long story short, he was fired almost immediately and the radio station manager apologized on-air in short order. Today we learn that he has been suspended from his teaching job at a local chiropractic college.
This is one of those situations where nothing good can result of its outcome. My questions are:
1) He had a 'delay' (OH #$%#@!!) button he could have used to prevent his words from ever seeing airtime. Why didn't he use it? Many a radio announcer has been saved via that route. It could be that he panicked, radio not being his first occupation. He had been on the job only 2 weeks, after coming over from a local low-watt talk station.
2) Did he really misspeak, as he claims? How do you make the mistake he made? Only he knows what his true feelings are. If he truly is a racist, then he deserves to be condemned as such. But then again, why would purposely say such a thing knowing he was deep-sixing himself?
I feel bad for him, as his radio career, and likely his teaching career are being destroyed over one little bit of malfeasance. Now, I don't condone any racist speech and am not personally a racist. The God I serve is not, so neither am I. The radio station's hands were unfortunately tied, as they are now mostly owned by the St. Louis Cardinals baseball club. They can't be associated with anything remotely racist so the radio host had to go. Local radio industry insiders are reacting with a mixture of disgust and amusement at the radio station manager, as he is not held in high regard for his management style. (Side note: The radio station in question dumped most of its personalities and hired new "edgier" hosts when the Cardinals ownership took over in January.)
My concern is the disturbing amount of media coverage this incident is receiving. The sad fact is that nowadays, our culture loves controversy. You make one mistake in public, and it's worldwide within seconds. "Put it out there and let it blow up" seems to be the rule. As of this writing, the story is the headline on Stltoday.com and it's even made it to Drudge.com .
Tom Calhoun is a veteran local radio man and offers a reasoned commentary in his blog.
What do my faithful readers have to say?
Monday, March 06, 2006
Monday, Monday...
How is everyone today? The day dawned partly sunny and cool, not bad for March.
As we march ever onward toward Spring, I have begun planning my annual home improvement schedule. Last year at this time I was deep into planning my kitchen remodel project, which took place last April. This year it's bedrooms--mine and my brother's former room. It will involve refinishing the original wood floors, new paint, baseboards, etc... Also tentavively on the list is repairing my sometimes-leaky basement. It leaks in the same spot every time it rains unusually hard or over a prolonged period of time. I've scheduled a basement waterproofer to look at it today. I expect it will be a very expensive project, so that's why it's tentative.
My garage door has gotten things off to an unexpected start by breaking a spring on Thursday so I'll be shelling out $300 for a pair of new ones. The repairman clamped it together temporarily and advised me to use it "sparingly," which means 'don't use it because it could break again while your car's inside and then you'd be screwed.' So my car gets parked outside during the 5 working days it takes to get the new springs.
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Enjoyed a nice time celebrating my sister-in-law's birthday Friday night. Her birthday is exactly one month later than my brother's, believe it or not. The Parents and I and them had a nice dinner at Cunetto's House of Pasta (I tried Tiramisu for the first time ever!) then The Parents adjourned to see a movie while the Young Folks adjourned to a hip birthday bash with friends in the city.
I finally saw Cinderalla Man on Saturday night. The roles were cast perfectly, in my opinion and I liked the film.
Another concert with the Metros on Sunday afternoon. The rehearsal was rough Tuesday night so I wasn't expecting a great performance, but we "acquitted ourselves well" as the critics say. It was a gray and gloomy day more suited for sleeping than singing, but we overcame and sang pretty well. One of the singers hosted a swingin' post-concert party at her home deep in the woods of Wildwood, in far west St. Louis county.
The Oscars went pretty much as I thought they would. I'm not a big movie-goer so I had no favorites picked to win. I do like Philip Seymour Hoffman, so I'm glad he won for Best Actor. Especially glad that his career has recovered from "Twister." : )
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As we march ever onward toward Spring, I have begun planning my annual home improvement schedule. Last year at this time I was deep into planning my kitchen remodel project, which took place last April. This year it's bedrooms--mine and my brother's former room. It will involve refinishing the original wood floors, new paint, baseboards, etc... Also tentavively on the list is repairing my sometimes-leaky basement. It leaks in the same spot every time it rains unusually hard or over a prolonged period of time. I've scheduled a basement waterproofer to look at it today. I expect it will be a very expensive project, so that's why it's tentative.
My garage door has gotten things off to an unexpected start by breaking a spring on Thursday so I'll be shelling out $300 for a pair of new ones. The repairman clamped it together temporarily and advised me to use it "sparingly," which means 'don't use it because it could break again while your car's inside and then you'd be screwed.' So my car gets parked outside during the 5 working days it takes to get the new springs.
--------
Enjoyed a nice time celebrating my sister-in-law's birthday Friday night. Her birthday is exactly one month later than my brother's, believe it or not. The Parents and I and them had a nice dinner at Cunetto's House of Pasta (I tried Tiramisu for the first time ever!) then The Parents adjourned to see a movie while the Young Folks adjourned to a hip birthday bash with friends in the city.
I finally saw Cinderalla Man on Saturday night. The roles were cast perfectly, in my opinion and I liked the film.
Another concert with the Metros on Sunday afternoon. The rehearsal was rough Tuesday night so I wasn't expecting a great performance, but we "acquitted ourselves well" as the critics say. It was a gray and gloomy day more suited for sleeping than singing, but we overcame and sang pretty well. One of the singers hosted a swingin' post-concert party at her home deep in the woods of Wildwood, in far west St. Louis county.
The Oscars went pretty much as I thought they would. I'm not a big movie-goer so I had no favorites picked to win. I do like Philip Seymour Hoffman, so I'm glad he won for Best Actor. Especially glad that his career has recovered from "Twister." : )
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