Kava's Radio Soup

I've moved this site to http://www.examiner.com/x-448-SF-Radio-Examiner

2009-03-07T10:00:00.001-08:00

Please come see me here: http://www.examiner.com/x-448-SF-Radio-Examiner

you can subscribe...I get paid a penny every time you visit...yayyyy

thanks...radio fans

brad

Bill O'Reilly Attacks Everyone But Christians

2008-11-10T20:16:00.000-08:00

Once again this loofa loving commercialist starts his season of hate.
Read about it here:
http://tinyurl.com/3jr46o

Will Karel Keep His Job at KGO?

2008-11-09T08:57:00.000-08:00

Read my latest blog entry here: http://tinyurl.com/62bwlr

I'm thinking about moving my whole operation over to the Examiner Website. Frankly, it pays a lot more than these goofy Google and Amazon ads. None of you click on them and buy anything....
I make about a penny a hit at the Examiner, which is adding up fast.

Any feedback??

Find me over there and subscribe at www.examiner.com, sf radio examiner.

Hannity and O'Reilly, Si; Rush Limbaugh, Savage, NO

2008-11-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

The day after the majority of the country's voters celebrated the election of a new, Democratic president, talk hosts Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly took the high road.

Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage went back to the sewers and, like monkeys in a cage, started throwing the dung.

It's sad that this is the state of "talk" radio, which really is less about discussion than shallow thought and the kind of name calling you would hear in a grade school playground.

In Hannity's first show he said he would wait to see what Obama does and instead of continuing his pre-election bashing, he started questioning what the Republican party should do to improve its standing with voters. (No one can make the case that these shows are anything but partisan.)

O"Reilly also stepped back, saying he would analyze anything Obama did with an open mind. On his TV show that night, he broke a story I didn't know about Sarah Palin: McCain advisors said she didn't know that Africa was a continent. She thought it was a country and that South Africa was the southern part of that country.

And this was the woman John McCain thought was capable of the presidency?

Also, O'Reilly's staff reported, Palin was talking to the person she thought was the president of France but was really a radio prankster, without clearance from McCain.

And lastly, that not only did she spend more than the $150,000 she claimed for clothes at Nieman Marcus, but that she shopped for her husband and family at the expensive haberdashers. "Wasila hillbillies" indeed.

(This is the first time I have ever used O'Reilly as a source for breaking news, the first time I saw he was fair and balanced.)

PLEASE READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

Obama Nation to Savage Nation: Shut Up, Liar

2008-11-05T05:54:00.000-08:00

All last week after he gave his "endorsement" of John McCain, narcissistic talk show host Michael Savage claimed that his nod moved the Republican candidate up in the polls.

Over and over, in his school marmish way, the man born Michael Weiner claimed that his listeners would determine the election. Not could, but would. It was ridiculous on its face, but no one ever calls him on his lunacy.

He had me fearful that this country could really be that dumb. After all, it elected the failed administration of George W Bush not just once, and mounted an even more ignorant candidate in Sarah Palin.

It was a night of glee to see the Savage Nation for what it is. A load of bull, led by a charismatic but powerless demagogue.

Savage, by the way, is behind the energy drink Rock Star, which his son owns and the rest of his family sits on the board of.

You can buy plenty of other drinks, without supporting this racist homophobic hustler.

Letter to Right Wing Radio

2008-11-05T05:31:00.001-08:00

Dear Rush, Sean, Ann, Bill et al:

I have a request in the interest of the country we all love so much. Give the new president 100 days, the time the mainstream media has traditionally laid off an incoming chief executive, the same amount of time you would ask for your candidate had he won.

Three months of unity, sort of like we had after 9/11, when people rediscovered what it meant to be American, as our freedom and peace were threatened.

As President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama said tonight, the country had been more divided during the Civil War, and it healed its wounds, under the leadership of another Illinois senator. How about letting Obama settle in a bit before you renew your junkyard attacks? I know, it may not help the ratings, propelled as they are by anger and fear. But you know, and I know, a truce and an open mind could be the best thing for a troubled country.

Give him the respect that John McCain gave him tonight, the acknowlegement that he is president to all of us, and that we need a leader who can mend the divide, but can only do so if we give him a chance. McCain showed class while his booing followers didn't, showing pride in serving a president, even one who just defeated him. You can lead those voters who now feel disenfranchised out of the hatred, into the kind of America you who profess to love so much in the name of patriotism.

You just spent a year calling him a socialist, a communist, a dictator, a Muslim, a terrorist, a Manchurian candidate, a follower of a white-hating preacher, a hate monger, a man supported by U.S. enemies, a man who will tax you to death. You heard little or none of the same vitriol from the other side. You saw instead a concerted, organized campaign that stuck to its message, included the Joe Sixpacks and real Joe the Plumbers and brought a surprising landslide of a vote.

How about stepping back for a bit and looking at the possibility of a united America, one that can take on its problems together, crossing party lines. Show some real patriotism. Support your new Commander in Chief as if he were your own---which he is. Give him the respect you would want from the other side, and show your listeners that you really do have some class.

Focus for a minute on the way Obama tried to include a great Republican, Lincoln, at least taking the first step toward mending the fence.

It was one of the highlights of a great speech, the kind of statesmanship, you must admit, that is too rare in American history and deserves to be celebrated when we see it.

"Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity.

"Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too."

Here's how Lincoln asked for the same thing from both sides of the Civil War in his second inaugural address. Maybe you could keep it in mind today and until next May.

"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan–to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."

You are the opinion leaders and you know it. Your words on the radio ring through the population. This is your chance to show us how much of it is an act to scare the population into listening more, and how much is genuine love and concern for this country.

I'll be listening. And if it's back to the same old hate talk, I'll turn it off.

English radio prank lands DJs in hot water

2008-11-03T08:26:00.001-08:00

Let's say that English radio scandals are a bit jucier than ours...and maybe harder for us to understand.

If I have this right, comedian Russell Brand, who hosted this year's MTV Video Awards, was fired for making a prank call to Fawlty Towers 78-year-old actor Andrew Sachs, saying he slept with his granddaughter.

This was after Sachs missed a scheduled radio interview, and it sounds like something Howard Stern would do.

But, in this case, not only has Brand and partner Jonathan Ross been suspended, but the granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, admited it was true, and apparently works as a pay by the hour dominatrix.

Check some of the details here.

In outrage about the scandal, Britains are also finding out that radio execs at government-funded BBC are making more than $1 million pounds each. It took a sex scandal for someone to realize that?

Meanwhile, Ms. Baillie, who is calling for Brand's firing for breaking a confidence (this is against the law?) is part of a burlesque troupe called the Satanic Sluts (which might be illegal in some U.S. states).

Howard Stern only wishes he was in the middle of a scandal like this here. People would remember him. You can hear his mind working...maybe if I slept with one of the Bush daughters....oh no...I'm married now....

Stern, by the way, used to be one of America's top shock jocks. He's now on Siriius Satellite Radio, which charges $15 a month to hear him.

Can anyone tell me if he's still funny?

AWAAAAAAYYYYYY: M.DUNG returns to the airwaves

2008-11-03T00:44:00.000-08:00

M. Dung, who flew to San Francisco fame with his "Idiot Show" on KFOG-FM, will relaunch the wacked-out musical extravaganza Sunday November 16 on KYCY-AM (1550).

Dung, whose fans include Les Claypool of Primus, was last heard on KDBK in 1992--a 16-year hiatus.

He promises to bring the goods again.

Here's an excerpt from his bio at www.idiotshow.net:

My radio journey began in Allendale, Mi. I was a student at Grand Valley State Colleges now known as Grand Valley State. The year was 1977 and I was the Program Director at student radio WSRX, my overnight guy stopped showing up for his show from midnight till six am, so I started doing it myself to keep the station on 24 hours. I lasted about a week before chucking the station’s format to do something else...I went nuts...yelling...playing anything and everything...taking live calls on the air...just to stay awake for the 6 hour show.

How I got the name M. Dung is another story :) in 1977 everyone was punk and a guy named Dung caught on quick, soon the “Idiot Show” was the talk of the campus and I found myself with an unexpected hit.

During my senior year I landed my first professional radio job at WLAV in Grand Rapids, Mi. I was “Mike Richards” from 7-12pm :D WLAV was a top 40 station on the am dial. The sister station was WLAV-FM a 50,000 watt FM serving half of Michigan.

Enter Dave Logan... Dave came to work at LAV-FM from the LOOP in Chicago, his roommate used to listen to me on WSRX doing the Idiot Show! I would work at WLAV from 7pm-12mid, race over to WSRX to do the Idiot Show from 12mid-6am OOWWW!

Logan found out mild-mannered “Mike Richards” was really the crazed M. Dung he would listen to with his roommate and laugh his ass off...he hired me to do that very show on a 50,000 watt commercial FM radio station!

Big money to study the future of radio

2008-11-02T08:28:00.000-08:00

Check out this conference being held Nov. 14-16 in Santa Cruz to study the ways the Internet can be used for radio news and for the future of media.

KUSP-FM's (88.9) Margaret Rosas got $327,000 for the study and conference from the Knight Foundation. You can see the other big winners here. She calls her project, Radio Engage, a way to collate news from other sources onto a station's website. Her station no longer has a news department and does a terrible job covering the local community, when it used to be a community beacon.

I don't know...what happened to hiring reporters, who are trained in synthesizing, organizing and critically analyzing material from sources into something credible?

I know that during the Santa Cruz fires she talks about here, I had to turn to the KSCO-AM to get some real live breaking news in my car. But she says her website went from 15,000 to 90,000 users a month, which is significant.

Sorry to say the deadline for new applications was this weekend, but there's always next year.

Sarah Palin Gets Pranked by Canadian Radio Team

2008-11-01T23:35:00.000-07:00

Check it here: http://tinyurl.com/6z5pat

No American show would have the balls to try this these days and face possible FCC licensing repercussions.

Jewish Radio Station Owners Upset by Swastika Cartoon

2008-10-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

Read my column in Examiner.com today here.

Follow the link and search my name: Brad Kava and that will get you there. Don't ask me why it won't directly link....probably some right wing conspiracy.

I get paid for your clicks...help a guy out!!!! I need it. Sign up for the RSS feed from examiner.com. I'm getting better pay at that site, although this one gets a lot of play. I don't know why I haven't earned one cent from Google ads, but I haven't. Not one.

KGO (Yawn) Announces Solar Powered Transmitter

2008-10-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

photo courtesy www.bayarearadio.org)

San Francisco Number One rated talk station KGO-AM (810) had a big announcement today that left me less than thrilled.

They hyped it in ads, saying that it would come at 10:30 on 10/30...and the radio boards were abuzz with speculation.

Over at ba.broadcast, "experts" claimed that they were announcing who would be the new 10 p.m. host, the slot that has been fought over for the better part of a year, since embarrassingly vacated by Bernie Ward.

One claimed that Karel has bought a house in the Bay Area, so it would be him (a call to Karel proved that one false).

Another claimed that Alex Bennett, who was celebrated along with Mickey Luckoff by the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame, would get the show. (ha. no way).

Still another claimed that his sources knew that KGO would open an FM signal.

(All these so-called experts "swearing" they knew the truth, tells you why reporting on the Internet can be so...shall we say...dubious?..and why traditional methods of fact-checking, sourcing and not reporting something until it is confirmed still are needed in our instant gratification culture.)

The speculation was a lot more interesting than the result.

At 10:30 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a guest on the Ronn Owens show, tripped the switch that opened up the connection to a solar-powered unit, partly sending electricity to a transmitter. Great. Whatever. Good for them. It meant a whole lot more to the station than to the listeners.

Bravo. Anything solar is ok by me, but why waste self-congratulating airtime on it.

If I were them, I'd be a lot more worried about KCBS's announcement that it has put news on FM. What does that mean? That the news station may finally bump KGO off the top ratings slot, by combining ratings from the FM and AM. It will cut into the bottom line, which is the bottom line for the folks at Citadel, and the ad rates it can charge.

A little quote from Jack Swanson, KGO program director, today. He is going over the new People Meter figures, which can not only tell him who gets the highest ratings, but what listeners tune into when they push the button away from KGO.

"It's like we now have the Hubble telescope focusing on planets, instead of a telescope under cloud cover. We can see so much more."

Ben Fong-Torres Says Goodbye to KFRC

2008-10-20T19:52:00.001-07:00

KFRC-FM (106.9) really had a great style for oldies, with some big name local talents, including Ben Fong-Torres, the former Rolling Stone editor and current SF Chron radio columnist.

He dropped me a sad note:

"If you haven't heard: CBS Radio just announced that KFRC is being replaced with the programming on KCBS; at a meeting this morning, KFRC staffers were told the station is over as of today. Since then, it's been just music, liners & commercials. Dave Sholin, Celeste Perry, Sue Hall, Jay Coffey, Dean Goss (fill-in/weekender)--all gone.

CBS is saying they'll keep the KFRC call letters on FM and run KFRC music online and on the HD-2 channel linked to 106.9. Up to now, it'd been the opposite. KFRC was on HD-1, KCBS on HD-2.

oh--needless to say, my show, Backstage, is out the rear door. 52 shows, 100 or so hours (there were some repeats); absolute fun. That's what radio is: fun and heartaches."

cheers,

ben

--
Ben Fong-Torres

CBS Puts News in Place of Oldies at 106.9

2008-10-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

Ever since it lost Howard Stern, CBS has been stumbling around like a drunk trying to find his way home in a blizzard. Or like moody John McCain.

It keeps trying things and dumping them (remember David Lee Roth, Stern's first replacement?).

Well, a year after beefing up KFRC-FM (106.9) as an oldies station, it will now simulcast its AM news content on the FM signal.

I give it a year.

Two years ago the signal was an FM talk station, home to Adam Carolla, the Doghouse and Darian O'Toole, which fizzled out. I liked that one. The ratings didn't.

The New York based network is moving the San Francisco oldies programming to its HD2 station, and online at www.kfrc.com.

“With this announcement we are ensuring our listeners will have access to the superior news and information they’ve come to rely on no matter how they choose to receive audio content,” said Doug Harvill, Senior Vice President and Market Manager for CBS Radio San Francisco. “And not only that, having the station on the FM radio platform will afford us the opportunity to amass even more consumers of the station.

“The benefits of this move are plentiful – from improved sound quality and ubiquitous distribution, to increased brand exposure. We’ve always had a great product and we’re thrilled more people will be able to experience what in excess of one million already do on a weekly basis.”

I don't really get it. The only way I'd look for news on FM is if I was on that band for NPR and wanted to catch CBS without having to push the extra button over to AM. Not exactly a big motivator.

What do you think?

PS: speaking of Howard Stern, did you see that the New York Times chess column Sunday was about him? Check it here.

By the way: CBS was fourth in the San Francisco ratings for listeners over 12; KFRC was 23rd. If CBS combines both signals, it could possibly beat KGO, which is No. 1, in the ratings.

SuperBooty Versus Skippy: My Column in SF Weekly Today

2008-10-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

This turned out to be a fascinating story. Who knew?

You can find press about the history of the Skippy legal battle here. What ran as a short column in the SF Weekly could be a bigger story, I think....Check it out here.

The sad thing is: I really like both characters I interviewed. Mark O'Hara is a colorful, charismatic guy trying to make ends meet in the world. Among his other projects, he is starting a company to lease electric cars. Smart idea, since the cars require more maintenance, at first, than others. Hear his music here.

Joan Tibbetts is a classy woman, sharp as a tack, who went through the first depression and sees a lot of similarities to current times. Check her views at the afforementioned www.skippy.com. She owns the right to the site, not the peanut butter company.

They are both passionate about their subject. Tibbetts has spent years fighting for the Skippy name; O'Hara has been a touring and recording musician with a 15-piece band, in an era when that means a lot more work than money.

(Drawing: the original Skippy, courtesy www.skippy.com)

KBAY Cuts Traffic Reports

2008-10-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

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Brad Kava

S.F. Radio Examiner

Brad Kava has been a journalist for 26 years, with the Kansas City Star, the Bradenton Herald and the San Jose Mercury News. He wrote music and radio columns for the Mercury News until July 2007. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and Rolling Stone.

KBAY Cuts Traffic Reports: Says Listeners Don't Want Them.

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KBAY Cuts Traffic Reports: Says Listeners Don't Want Them.

1 comment

courtesy Kbay

In answer to a reader here, KBAY (94.5) general manager John Leathers says the easy listening music station has cut traffic reports during its popular Sam and Lissa Morning Show, not because of costs, but because that's what listeners want.

Says Leathers:

We felt traffic reports were not a core reason our listeners were either tuning into us or staying with KBAY

· Although people certainly may have “appreciated” the occasional traffic report, statistics show most people in Silicon Valley in 2008 get their traffic info from sources other than a “music focused” station like KBAY (Handhelds, In car services like Navteq, online, stations that do traffic every 5 minutes, etc.)

· Had there been no other viable source(s) for South Bay traffic, we would not have considered such a move. As such, there are NUMEROUS/COUNTLESS sources for South bay traffic as it is

· As such, we wanted to devote the bulk of our morning airtime to the things an overwhelmingly majority of our listeners told us were important: music, the chemistry/interplay between Sam and Lissa, Sam and Lissa’s phone interaction with listeners, etc.

· We believe eliminating the relatively few traffic reports we did every morning helps us broadcast a better morning show.

Radio Equalizer Owes KGO an Apology

2008-10-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

Brian Maloney, the self-proclaimed "Radio Equalizer" predicted back in August that KGO would fall from its perch atop the San Francisco ratings heap this fall. He was wrong, according to the latest ratings.

I told you back then that he would be proven wrong.

This is the preliminary report from Arbitron, by way of Radio-Ink, which shows that news stations were stronger than one could expect. KGO, KCBS and KQED were in the top four.

In a study of 18-34 local ratings show heavy listening to urban (read minority) stations, something that has provoked a battle in New York, where Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has claimed that minority stations were being treated unfairly in the new ratings system.

New York to Sue Arbitron over PPMs

2008-10-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says he plans to sue Arbitron over its use of the new Portable People Meters, which use a beeper-like monitor to determine exactly what stations listeners have tuned in. The new techology replaces a system where people kept diaries to tell surveyers what they had on---leading often to people "voting" for what they liked, rather than an actual fair study.

However, Cuomo says, according to Radio Ink, that a "significant and improper decline in ratings under a PPM system would cause minority stations to suffer drastic reducttions in advertising revenues," which would "distort the marketplace and severely harm and possibly destroy minority broadcasting in New York."

I don't buy it.

So far PPM results have been skewing more toward rock than urban stations, but I suspect it's because white males were being underreported in the diary studies. They just didn't bother to fill out the paperwork. Women did, and it led to a plethora of soft rock and urban stations.

Minority station owners claim that their listeners are less inclined to wear the monitors because they aren't fashionable. I don't buy that either. Minorities are often early adaptors to a lot of technologies (although they may argue that if they are still listening to conventional radio, not satellite or Internet, that would show they are in the late wave of adaptors).

San Francisco has been using the PPMs all summer, and I'll be curious to see the final results here. They should come out next week.

Leo Laporte on the Computer is Better than on the Radio

2008-10-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

I'm at www.leoville.com this morning, watching Leo Laporte, "The Tech Guy," tape calls for his weekend radio show, which I usually tune in.

But why listen, when I can watch at my leisure and hear all the calls, not just the ones that make the show. Plus, his feeds during the commercials are funny. You see him in his studio, eating brown rice sushi and getting a feel for what the show is REALLY like.

Also: he's taping his December 27 Segment 2 right now...amazing that I'm watching it three months early.

He's on 40 hours a week doing tech talk, on the web. I can't hear it in my car, but while I'm doing chores around the house, it's awesome. You can also twitter him during the show and get a response.

The web is becoming more and more competitive with commercial radio, and it's got to be frightening. It's a matter, though, of making it a habit. I forget to tune in a lot of my favorites on the computer, but always remember in the car.

Save Pandora

2008-09-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a letter from Pandora founder Tim Westergren asking for help:

Hi, it's Tim from Pandora;

Today, thanks to the extraordinary support of many Pandora listeners, we took a giant step forward when the House of Representatives supported Pandora and Internet radio and passed the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008. Now we need your help so that the Senate will pass it also - and quickly... The finish line is in sight!

After a yearlong negotiation, Pandora, SoundExchange and the RIAA are finally optimistic about reaching an agreement on royalties that would save Pandora and Internet radio. The legislation would give us the extra time we need to finalize the deal.

Please call your Senators Monday morning starting at 9:00 (Eastern) and ask them to support the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008.

The person who answers the phone in your Senator's office may ask for the bill number - it's H.R. 7084 (if they ask for a Senate bill number, you can assure them that in this unusual case, the Senate is actually voting on the House bill number).

Senator Barbara Boxer: (202) 224-3553

Senator Dianne Feinstein: (202) 224-3841

If the phone is busy, please try again until you get through. These calls really do make a difference.

Thanks so much for you ongoing support.

Tim

Dennis Erectus Needs Help

2008-09-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

The great KOME-FM DJ Dennis Erectus has been hospitalized since having a heart attack almost two years ago, and his friends are trying to put together a collection of his great moments on the air to sell and help pay the bills.

They are asking fans to send any tapes of Dennis's old shows. Contact jamieearl@yahoo.com if you have some and can help out.

Erectus, was wild and crazier than Howard Stern in the 80s and his shows were like weird Goth plays. They were a highlight on the San Jose radio dial, and helped KOME become a nationally known station.

He was doing overnight engineering at KEZR-FM and was on his way to the station after Thanksgiving dinner, when he had a heart attack, collapsed alone, and lost oxygyn to his brain.

He is beloved in the San Jose and San Francisco radio markets.

"This stinks..." David Letterman catches John McCain in a big lie

2008-09-24T22:48:00.000-07:00

watch this to the end.

America: The New Nigeria

2008-09-24T06:49:00.001-07:00

Great Internet email, forwarded by David Sturtz, CEO of RepairPal:

Dear Mr. Taxpayer,

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion USD. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gramm, lobbyist for UBS, who (God willing) will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a former U.S.congressional leader and the architect of the PALIN / McCain Financial Doctrine, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. As such, you can be assured that this transaction is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully,

Minister of Treasury Paulson

Did any radio money show predict the crash??

2008-09-22T09:21:00.001-07:00

I listened to a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking on the radio this weekend by the longest-running syndicated business show host, Bob Brinker, of "Money Talk," who has been broadcasting for two decades.

Brinker was largely blaming the current crash on Senator Phil Gramm (R-Texas) and President Bill Clinton for a 1999 bill that repealed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which prevented banks from owning other businesses and creating a conflict of interest.

No problem there. Deregulation has allowed bank and money CEOs to play fast and loose with the American people's money, and is now letting them continue to have their jets and mansions, funded by the taxpayers.

But here's my question. I don't recall Brinker complaining about this in 1999 and encouraging his listeners to take action. Nor did I hear the man, who is a market timer, warning his audience to get out of the financials six months or a year ago.

But I admit, I may have missed these things. I'm not a religioius enough listener, so I need your help. Did any of you get warned by Brinker or another analyst to sell before the crash? If so, drop a comment here, so the rest of us can start listening to a prognosticator with a real clue, not just another person with 20-20 hindsight.

Brinker claimed yesterday to run a nonpartison show, but that's a lot of bull. I listened enough over the years to know he was a huge Bush supporter over the past two elections, so clearly his future money vision isn't that great, unless you consider flushing 10 billion a month into an Iraqi toilet a smart move.

Michael Savage got it right

2008-09-18T08:50:00.002-07:00

I have to say, the man I usually consider to be the slimiest on radio, got this one right. He posted a commentary from Air America on his Web site, and launched his own campaign supporting the work of Elliot Spitzer today.

I've always suspected that special interests took care of Spitzer....like HE was the ONLY politician using expensive hookers? No way. But he was the one taking on fraud in banks and insurance companies, including AIG.

This great article points out how the Bush administration helped its friends in the banking industry, while avoiding at all costs bailouts for the home buyers who were steered to predatory loans.

And you should have heard Rush Limbaugh today, trying to blame the problem on the Clintons for forcing banks to abandon policies of not lending to minorites!!!! and going too far the other way and making them lend to minorities who couldn't pay the bills.

That blowhard is worse than Hurricane Ike.

NPR explains AIG

2008-09-18T08:50:00.001-07:00

You know I listen to way too much commercial radio--so you don't have to. But when you really want to know about something complex, you usually have to turn to the noncommercial dial.

But, with all the talk about AIG's failure and the government bailout, I heard no one, until today, explain what AIG did wrong.

Finally, on Morning Edition, NPR economic expert Adam Davidson explained that the problem was AIG's fairly recent entry into bond default insurance, which it began a decade ago. The gist of it is this 70 trillion industry covers banks when bonds default, called credit default swap.

And unlike, say, when a house burns down and it doesn't mean that all houses in the area burn, when a bond fails, it shakes confidence in bond buyers and many fail together. Thus, AIG, which started this often cloaked level of insurance, takes a big hit.

The global economy is based on banks lending each other money all over the world, and if their insurance policies don't pay off, the system could seize up. That's why the government was compelled to help AIG.

This is the first and most clear appraisal of the current economic crash that I've heard. You can catch more at NPR's Planet Money blog: www.npr.org/money.

Pink Floyd's Richard Wright Dies

2008-09-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Here is the New York Times' obit

Here is Wired Magazine's

I'm going to go listen to Dark Side of the Moon in his honor. Now there really won't ever be a real Floyd reunion. Sad days indeed.

Anyone have any special Wright memories??

Google Monopoly: About Time Someone Jumped on This

2008-09-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a great NY Times column about Google's ad monopoly, and it's search to stretch it even further with a Yahoo deal. READ HERE.

The gist of it is that Google gives NO customer service and is arrogant when a customer tries to get help with Ad words or Ad sense or any of its businesses. I know. I've called and emailed to find out why this blog makes zero money, and been rebuffed.

I've been waiting for consumers to rise up and protest, and am glad to see it's happening finally. How about you? Have you cracked the Googleplex's walls and figured how to make your blog live up to the hype of creating riches...or anything??

In my dealings with the company that promises to do no wrong, I've found plenty that is bad. I hope the justice department hears plenty of complaints from others if they agree.

DEMOfall jam:me and don clark, from the wall street journal

2008-09-13T06:39:00.001-07:00

NPR hits a homerun on 9/11

2008-09-11T16:43:00.001-07:00

While right wing rant radio hosts were doing another a pig in a poke and ignoring any issue deeper than fake charges and name-calling, NPR did some remarkable programming for the seventh anniversary of 9/11.

Terry Gross on Fresh Air had a self-proclaimed "conservative Catholic," ret. U.S. Army Col Andrew J. Bacevich talking about foreign policy, with a level of depth and insight you won't find anywhere else.

Now a professor at Boston University, Bacevich lost his son in the Iraq war and has written a potent book: The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism.
Hear and read part of it at the link.

Among the points this West Point graduate made were that the move since 1776 of American globalism is less about the spread of freedom than about capitalist expansionism.

"The foreign policy implications of our present- day penchant for consumption and self- indulgence are almost entirely negative," he says.

He also did something you would never hear on reactionary radio: He praised Jimmy Carter for taking a stand during the energy crisis and asking Americans to cut back and be less wasteful and more contemplative about the overuse of resources. For that he was reviled by the right and by Ronald Reagan, who asserted that it was America's role to use whatever it wants, conspicuous consumption be damned. There will always be more, Reagan and his minions asserted. And there was more: more debt, more spending, more passing off the problems to future generations.

A truly refreshing take from a military man who still defines himself as a staunch conservative.

Later, NPR followed up with a report on the West Point class of 2002, the first officers to take charge after 9/11. Fascinating. Simply great radio. A college class on the airwaves.

It was impossible to switch back to the same old stupid talk about pigs and lipstick and really showed the lack of depth on commercial airwaves.

Lipstick on a Horse's Ass

2008-09-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

I was blissfully away from the electronic media for three days, perched with the best and the brightest entrepreneurs in the country, at the DEMO conference in San Diego. One of the 72 websites debuted was one that detected spin in the media, www.spinspotter.com, an interesting application that looks at printed media, and supposedly sorts out words that indicate bias.

LIke we need a Web site to do that?? Just turn on the radio, as I did today. It's all spin, lies and videotape.

The lipstick on a pig quote was all I heard about, one of the dumbest chapters in a media world that seems to have no bottom.

For the record, you can see in this story, that the expression "lipstick on a pig" was used by Dick Cheney and John McCain (who used it about Hilary Clinton twice). You could also hear the quotes at www.npr.org "All Things Considered."

BUT what I heard disgustedly today was hosts playing Obama's comments out of context (in fact, his talk has NOTHING to do with Sarah Palin or any woman. He was referring to the Republican party trying to pass off the same old ideas and dressing them up.

Any media member who played that quote without the context before it is at best irresponsible, but more likely just a shill for the Republican party, which has its claws into the broadcast industry nearly 24/7 (and they once called it the liberal media).

Barack Obama called it what it was, another Republican out of context hit piece, like the Swift Boat campaign that turned John Kerry into a coward, and George W Bush, who hid from the Vietnam War, into the President.

Maybe KGO-AM's afternoon host Gil Gross said it best. With the new People Meter, which measures exactly what people are listening to, radio managers can tell that a conversation about the economy gets far fewer listeners than one about an out of context, inflammatory hit piece, like the pig comment.

Sadly, if he's right, we've become a country of horses asses...and no lipstick is going to fix that.

If only the Republicans could run a country as effectively as they run a smear campaign.

John McCain vetted her???? Perez Hilton really vetted her

2008-09-02T21:51:00.001-07:00

Check this picture , and start the goodbye Sarah clock.

Also, I have a friend who lives very near her in Juneau, who told me that the people there don't care for her much because they are more liberal and because she wants to move the state capital to the larger and more accessible Anchorage.

If that picture is for real....which I guess it is....I don't know what to say. According to reports, Palin's daughter is following in her footsteps. Sarah got married eight months before having her first child.

Finally, we have someone who makes George W. seem classy. And GW makes a lot of us miss Nixon. Sad days indeed. Most peculiar mama.

More Perez Hilton here.

And another Palin post here.

Man, talk radio is going to have a FIELD DAY with her. Maybe McCain IS a genius. No one will notice he's incontinent with her around.

I guess all this really brings one thing home. It's like our parents used to say when we were kids. ANYONE can be president.

This woman is one heartbeat away from it. If McCain won and she ended up the leader of the free world, that would be more outrageous than the most outrageous novel's plot line.

Then again, we have a president who can't pronounce the word NUCLEAR and speaks with a Texas accent even though he was raised and schooled in New England boarding schools. That's pretty ludicrous too.

Big Shock: Limbaugh Blames Liberal Media for Knocked-Up Candidate's Daughter Investigation

2008-09-02T10:39:00.001-07:00

I should have known. The drug addict Rush Limbaugh blamed the liberal media for his candidate's problems.
It's the same tactic he uses all the time, including when he was being investigated for his drug addiction (remember when he bought hillbilly heroin in a Denny's parking lot?)

Limbaugh blasted the media for ruining the life of Britney, uhh, Bristol Palin, by covering her pregnancy. He also claimed that the media kept hands off the children of Democrats.

He seems to have forgotten his own jokes at Chelsea Clinton's expense, recounted here by Molly Ivins:

On his TV show, early in the Clinton administration, Limbaugh put up a picture of Socks, the White House cat, and asked, "Did you know there's a White House dog?" Then he put up a picture of Chelsea Clinton, who was 13 years old at the time and as far as I know had never done any harm to anyone.

When viewers objected, he claimed, in typical Limbaugh fashion, that the gag was an accident and that without his permission some technician had put up the picture of Chelsea--which I found as disgusting as his original attempt at humor.

And here, courtesy of a great story in Fairness and Accuracy in Media:

LIMBAUGH: "You know the Clintons send Chelsea to the Sidwell Friends private school.... A recent eighth grade class assignment required students to write a paper on 'Why I Feel Guilty Being White". '... My source for this story is CBS News. I am not making it up." (Radio show, quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times, 1/16/94.)

REALITY: When Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times called CBS, the network denied running such a story. Ellis Turner, the director of external affairs for Sidwell Friends, told Roeper: "There is no legitimacy to the story that has been circulating.... We're anxious to let people know that this story is not true." The essay topic would be particularly difficult for the 28 percent of the school's student body that is not white.

And today, in the guise of reporting about coverups, he mentioned Al Gore's teenaged son's problem with drugs and driving, and Joe Biden's son's problem with lobbying for the banking industry (he helped pass the worst bankruptcy bill in history, signed by George Bush).

Limbaugh got both of these stories from...duh...the mainstream media.

What will Rush Limbaugh say about Bristol Palin???

2008-09-01T21:43:00.001-07:00

The last thing I heard Rush Limbaugh talk about last week was what a great job John McCain did in picking unknown Alaska governor Sarah Palin and keeping the pick a big secret.

He was implying, that McCain's campaign was better than Obama's because some press found out about Obama's VP pick a few hours before the message went out in text messages. (Not that McCain knows how to text, or use a computer.)

Anyway, the 17-year-old daughter of this potential VP is five months pregnant and the news broke on Labor Day (no pun intended).

I'm dying to hear what El Rushbo has to say about this one. Any guesses? Will he suddenly celebrate 17-year-old children running out and getting pregnant? Will he praise parents for not teaching about birth control and not supervising their teenagers? Will he claim, as McCain is doing, that the presumptive nominee really knew about the pregnancy when he was picking his vice? Will he claim that family matters should be kept out of the election, as Barack Obama has already said?

You tell me, I'm dying to know.

And what about the rumors that Palin's four-month-old, Trig, is actually Bristol's first born? That was floating around Mr. Bush's Internets Monday....and apparently triggered the Palins to tell the truth about their daughter

My bet? McCain didn't vet her carefully enough, anymore than the Republicans vetted what to do in Iraq, and she will be off the ticket, replaced by either Joe Lieberman or Mitt Romney.

Here's an interesting excerpt from a New York Daily News story about Baby Daddy Levi Johnston.

Besides his hard play on the ice, Levi Johnston was also a bit of a hell-raiser off it - another reason Bristol may have been smitten.
State troopers popped Johnston last year for snagging some king salmon out of season in Moose Lake, records from Alaska wildlife enforcement show. He had to pay $370 bail.
On his MySpace page, Johnston proudly declares: "I'm a fuckin' redneck."
"I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing," he says on the site.
He also warns that if anyone messes with him, "I'll kick ass."
The Web site, before it was removed, appeared not to have been accessed for a year.
On it, he admits to having a girlfriend.
On the part where it asks about children, he wrote, "I don't want kids."
Mark Okeson, the assistant principal at Wasilla High School, told the Chicago Tribune that Bristol started her junior year last fall, in the town where Sarah Palin grew up.
He said Bristol inexplicably transferred to an Anchorage high school midyear, leaving Levi behind.
"I never heard the story why," he said.

All of this would be moot, except for the hypocritical family values crowd, going on about abstention and claiming kids shouldn't be taught about sex. Now, they laud this 17-year-old for keeping her baby.

These are the same folks who think gays shouldnt get married or have kids and conveniently choose to ignore the fact that the Dick Cheney's daughter is gay and has a kid.

Who can blame us for pointing out the hypocrisy?

Bernie Ward press release

2008-08-28T22:24:00.001-07:00

Aug 28, 2008 12:25 America/Los_Angeles

Former Talk Radio Host Sentenced to 87 Months in Prison for Distributing Child Pornography

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bernard V. Ward, 57, a San Francisco resident who previously worked as a radio station talk show host,
was sentenced today to serve 87 months in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of
the Criminal Division announced.

On May 8, 2008, Ward pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography through the Internet. According to the plea documents, Ward
admitted that in December 2004, he used an online screen name to engage in an Internet chat conversation with an unknown individual also using a
screen name. During that conversation, Ward admitted that he sent an image of child pornography depicting nude children engaged in sexually explicit
conduct via his e-mail account. Ward also admitted that he used the same e-mail account to distribute 15 to 150 images of child pornography to other
individuals. These images involved prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, some with sadistic, masochistic or violent conduct.

The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Steve Grocki, Jennifer Leonardo and Michael Yoon of the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and
Obscenity Section and investigated by the FBI.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

CONTACT: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs,
+1-202-514-2007; TDD, +1-202-514-1888

Web Site: http://www.usdoj.gov/

Rob Fisher
Manager, Media Relations
PR Newswire

Bernie Ward found guilty: but where are the other 100 pornography viewers?

2008-08-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

I heard the news of KGO host Bernie Ward's sentencing from a press release, sent out by the U.S. Justice Deparment...or a contractor it hired.

Prosecutors patted themselves on the backs, like stars or athletes, for ridding the streets of this danger to society, a man who viewed disgusting and illegal images of children in sexual and painful poses.

But where were the other 100 people in the investigation? Where were their prosecutions? Where were the backslapping prosecutors for the people he was emailing with?Where was the investigation of them?

This was political judicial grandstanding at its worst, selective prosecution.

And just as I am writing this, Christine Craft is saying the exact same thing on KGO-AM (810) radio.

Bravo Christine.

It's a disgusting, unfair show by our Justice Department. Unless, that is, I'm going to receive press releases from them for prosecutions of all of the other child pornography viewers.

Madonna Pisses off McCain Campaign

2008-08-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

Read this article about Madge launching her new world tour and the complaints from the McCain campaign.

Now the great irony: Madonna is now under contract with Live Nation, the Clear Channel spinoff that has Clear Channel's executives on its Board of Directors.

Clear Channel's Lowry Mays is a staunch Republican, who strongly encourages his executives to donate to Republican campaigns. I've heard stories of him buttonholing them at various company functions and reminding them to tithe some 10 percent of their salaries to the cause.

Politics and music, such strange bedfellows.

Cindy McCain abandons half sister, claiming to be an only child?

2008-08-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

There's a great article in the New York Times today tracing Cindy McCain's wealth..a must read.

NeoCons are always talking about the "mainstream" media and what it leaves out. I'd like to hear just one of them bring up this McCain story, particularly the part about her abandoning her father's first daughter.

The relevance is that we're already hearing about Barack Obama's half brother in Africa living on $1 a day, as reported in Italian papers. The great irony here is that Cindy McCain similarly has avoided her half sister, even claiming at her father's funeral that she was an only child, while her half sister sat in a front pew.

Given the fact that Cindy represents most of McCain's earnings and seven homes, it is relevant.

And while we're at it, we hear nothing about John McCain having an affair with Cindy while he was married, and abandoning his first wife while she was ailing, ala John Edwards.

I can't decide if Obama should take the high road on this stuff, or do what his opponents do, and "Swift Boat" McCain: dig up the dirt on his family money, Cindy's father's mob connection (which reportedly had a journalist murdered) and his infidelities.

I heard KGO-AM evening host Gene Burns the other night claiming that Obama should avoid negative campaigning...but notice that McCain's numbers swelled after he started honing his negative chops in TV ads aired during the Olympics.

I'm afraid that's all that most of this country understands: name calling and ignorance, like some giant pro wresling match. How else can you explain the success of Karl Rove and GW?

Is Pandora going down??? Tragic if true

2008-08-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

An interview in the Washington Post with founder Tim Westergren makes it sound likely:read here.

This is really a big death for Internet radio. He's got a great site, that has given jobs to many musicians. It's one of the best ways I know to find new music, using Pandora's DNA system to find like music.....

Really sad.

KGO in ratings trouble, or another "analyst" jumping on bandwagon too soon

2008-08-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2008/08/san-franciscos-kgo-takes-huge-tumble.html

Radio Equalizer Brian Maloney reports that KGO has taken a big dip in the first third of the summer ratings, now that the ratings are done by People Meters, monitors that can report exactly what people are listening to.

Regular readers of this column know that we've seen other so-called experts make big predictions based on one or two-thirds of a book, and be embarrassed when the final book came out. I'll take betting action that Maloney joins their ranks.

If he were more than a neo-Con shill, he would tell his readers that the summer book is always slower for talk radio anyway. People are on vacation; kids are out of school and dominating the family radio with music; urban stations and music stations crush talk on the beach.

Besides, KGO is in first place with the 12 and up demo, the public one that counts for its claim of being No. 1 for 30 years. As for 25-54, if the station continues its trend as he shows and ranks 18th, it really would be in some trouble for advertisers. That demo is the one they use to buy ads, figuring that people between those ages spend the most and don't have buying habits ingrained (both not true in this new age, where 60 is the new 40, I would add).

BUT, what Maloney also doesn't figure is that with the political conventions heating up this month, and school starting in August, KGO will likely get a big bump, back up to its usual high numbers. (Although I'm burning out on the election talk already. They should have rationed it earlier, and waited for the conventions to step it up.)

I think the guy has jumped the gun...and not without some real motivations (see this post to get a feel for his absolute bias). Who would call KGO and Citadel's ranks "ultra liberal?" And who would begrudge the station a good party for an unprecedented 30 years of success? (And no, I didn't get an invite, even though I hosted and guested on shows there many times, at all hours.) Although I agree that not inviting all the engineers, prodcers and rank and file is tacky, tacky, tacky on Mickey Luckoff's part.

He is right about one thing: dropping Melanie Morgan will prove to be a huge mistake for KSFO, which shows up 22nd now in the morning, when it was in the Top 10 with her. No one gets rid of a hugely popular morning host on top. It's just plain stupid or greedy. I only wish she would go to another station and make them suffer for it.

So, we'll see what happens when the monthly trends turn into the summer book. I bet Maloney eats crow.

PS: I've been saying for a long time that KGO should start thinking more about younger listeners. Most of its hosts are out of the 25-54 demo and so are their topics (Ronn Owens is a big exception. He's in touch with what's going on out there, in part because of his teenage daughters. Hell, he had Tommy Chong on yesterday and didn't make any pot jokes. Yeah, right.) Karel touches younger and cooler demos and Pete Wilson used to. (So did Bernie Ward (pun intended). But I'm not sure who else there is the least bit hip. (The news staff is.)

I appreciate their loyalty to tried and true staff. But when one leaves, maybe they should be thinking of younger, rawer talent.

When I did a tryout, my first topic was police crackdowns on San Jose nightlife, and the phones raged with younger callers. It's not a topic any of those others would know about unless it was in the newspaper first. (Enlightened self-interest alert here, but regardless, it's something Mickey should think about when he looks at filling host slots).

PPS: Thanks Pen Press Club for keeping me posted on this. You should get their daily newsletter!

(Photo: from Maloney...KGO staff gets down at party)

El Tri in Salinas...con mi

2008-08-18T18:23:00.001-07:00

Savage loses again...follow the money

2008-08-18T14:51:00.001-07:00

Radio huckster Michael Savage has dropped his suit against the Arab American organization CAIR.

You can read an objective account of the news here. www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi

As a blogger, I have serious questions about Savage and his smarmy attention-seeking attorney, Daniel Horowitz.

This is the third apparently frivilous suit Savage has dropped after getting rebuffed by the courts. In the last one he sued the University of California for not hiring him as the dean of its journalism school, a ridiculous waste of legal time, considering he had no credentials for the job. Savage also lost suits against Web sites Savage Stupidity and Savage Sucks, trying to shut them down.

In his retraction of this suit, his lawyer casts aspersions on CAIR, acting as if Savage was afraid of some other repercussions. To an objective observer, CAIR's use of Savage's sound bites was in keeping with fair use, the same fair use that Savage uses in playing sound clips from other media on his own show and on his Web site.

The bigger question is this: where is the money he raised? He claims on air that it cost $150,000 to file his actions, a figure that seems exhorbitant at best. And he claimed on air that thousands of listeners donated. One wonders just how much was raised and where it went.

Savage has a questionable history with donations: he raised close to $1 million as a tax exempt entity for his Paul Revere Society. The tax exemption was pulled by the IRS and the State of California, and there has been no public accounting since 2004 of where the money went, and to what non-profit ends.

One can't help but wonder why Attorney General Jerry Brown,who received $5,600 of donations from Savage, hasn't investigated this.

One of the Jesus Twins shot by police

2008-08-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

I always wondered what became of those obnoxious, over-the-top singers who appeared on Howard Stern's radio show in 1997 and deluged him with requests to put them on his movie soundtrack.

They were obnoxious, loud, pushy, cocky and entertaining. You loved them or hated them, not unlike Stern himself.

Turns out life didn't turn out well. One of the brothers, Eric, was shot by police last week in Los Angeles, in "suicide by cop," in which he pulled a gun and held it until police shot him. This was reported by the other twin, Jeff, who is now a dog trainer in Texas.

It's a sad end to the duo, who were so cocky, they turned down record offers looking for something bigger.

Hear their music here, at their myspace page.

Read the transcript of Jeff's appearance here, on Mark's Friggin Howard Stern summary.

Jeff said his brother suffered from manic depression, and they only found out about it after their show appearances in 1997. Almost anyone listening could have told him that. Those guys were either great actors, or sick pups.

Some aspiring psychiatry student should do a study of the rest of Stern's "wack pack" guests. There's plenty of illness to go around.

PS: I defy anyone to read through the entire transcript of one of the recent shows and tell me they are interesting. Meanwhile, they still haven't turned my Sirius off yet, and I was glad about hearing that segment. But reading these transcripts....it's sheer drudgery. Like I'm supposed to care if Sal gets invited to Howard's wedding?

It makes me wonder if he wasn't better on commercial airwaves, where he had enemies to bump against and stay on the air.

A good reason NOT to vote for McCain: his

2008-08-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic on Michael Savage's website of the toad-like host with the Republican contender.

Savage, if you haven't been up on the news, is the one who recently claimed that Autism is a "made up disease." Savage claimed he was taken out of context, but you can hear the whole episode here and judge for yourself.

That move drew protests to radio stations....but the best way to get rid of a greedy host you don't like is to boycott the advertisers who sponsor his show and the products he owns.

Note the hat: Savage's son owns RockStar, the energy drink, and his family is on the board.

Tell your local stores they should carry the product, unless they support a man who says that women aren't smart enough to vote, that China should be nuked, that gays are destroying marriage. Read this profile to see some of these things, as well as the pornogaphic letters he wrote to Allen Ginsburg, wanting to put a camera in the writer's rectum.

Is it time to renew or forget Sirius??

2008-08-07T03:53:00.000-07:00

Check my blog on it, over here.

What do you think? Should I pay or should I go?

San Jose Jazz Festival: Strong Lineup..and not just jazz

2008-08-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty blown away by the lineup for San Jose's Jazz Festival this weekend.

Check the Calendar here.

Plenty of years I've just camped at the blues stage, and there is plenty of reason to do that again: Big names such as James Hunter (the next Boz Scaggs), Eddie Turner, Gary Smith, Joe Bonamassa. That alone is a brilliant festival.

But then, on other stages you have John Densmore from the Doors doing a jazz thing (pictured above); one of my favorites ever, Zakir Hussain (a fixture around the Grateful Dead..and an Indian superstar) with George Brooks; Les McCann and Lonnie Smith; Tony Lindsay from Santana.

And I've only scratched the surface...

All for only $10.

I'm glad to be taking a stay-cation this year. This is a festival worth traveling a long way to.

Apple's Latest iPod Update Killing Car Players

2008-08-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

I updated my iPod 160 gig classic last week, put it back in my car....and CRASH. My Pioneer F-BT90 no longer recognized it, would no longer charge it and got stuck in a loop that wouldn't let it play. Ever.

I took it to Lott's in Santa Cruz, where I bought the Pioneer, and they said a lot of people have been having the same problem since the update, no matter which stereo they bought, Kenwood, Alpine, Pioneer...

I'm seeing similar problems at avic411.com
Apparently the upgrade switched the way the iPod outputs worked with car stereo connectors, another in a series of Apple flubs this month, along with Mobile Me. This one made my iPod not mobile at all.

BUT: there was a happy ending.

I went to the Apple store in Los Gatos, because the same iPod wouldn't hold a charge. They gave me a new iPod with the old version of iTunes, and I'm back up and running. I would have gone out of my mind with frustration if it had happened any other way.

Two negatives made a positive.

I really love the iPod and the Pioneer. Nothing better than cruising Highway 17 and saying: "Play Radiohead," and having it play. Or telling it whom to call.

I feel like I own Kit, the Knight Rider car.

My liner notes discs are doing great

2008-08-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

My biggest goal (yeah I think small) was to get listed in All Music Guide, the definitive website for musicians.

And I have, six times. See here.

But what's really cool is that the last three discs I wrote liner notes for are all charting pretty big right now.

See here.

Great to see that Jason Ricci is back on the blues charts. His never-ending tour is starting to pay off.

Also great to see that the Legendary R&B Revue will be playing the Bay Area, and Delta Groove artists are all over the San Francisco Blues Festival coming at the end of Sept.

See lineup here.

Many of the folks playing are the ones I saw in Mississippi last March and I HIGHLY recommend you check them out. Ruthie Foster will blow your mind and the All Star Revue is just that: a great collection of major talents, some you may hear for the first time (Mike Zito and Kirk Fletcher will blow your minds).

Also great to see that Delta Groove signed the 2 man wrecking crew, a group owner Rand Chortkoff saw playing for the first time on a truck bed in Clarksdale...and he got out the pen and paper immediately. I was there and they really were awesome. Their disc comes out Oct. 21...and will set the blues/rock world on fire. Think George Thoroughgood meets the White Stripes and Lightnin' Hopkins.....the real shit.

Sarah and Vinnie return on ALICE Radio

2008-08-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

Here's the story I did for the SF Weekly, breaking the return of Vinnie to ALICE.

It's really good news. I like Vinnie on the air, always have. Off the air too. He cracks me up, and for my money is a lot better than the last guy they had, No Talent. I mean No Name.

Check it out.

PS: this was the first place to run the return story. Everyone else cribbed from it.

Great List of Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame Inductees

2008-07-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (July 16, 2008) — Seventeen local broadcasting legends, including
longtime favorites Alex Bennett, Rosie Allen, Renel Brooks-Moon and Dave Sholin, are members
of the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame’s Class of 2008.
Four of the Bay Area’s most popular sportscasters — Bob Fouts, Russ Hodges, Don Klein and
Roy Storey — are members of the latest class, as is the “World’s First Airborne Traffic Reporter,”
Hap Harper.
The latest group of honorees — the third to be enshrined — will be inducted during a public
ceremony on October 1 in Berkeley. More than 6,000 votes were cast online and in person during
the open balloting period, which ended on July 1.
The complete Class of 2008, listed alphabetically, includes:
® ROSIE ALLEN — Currently the co-anchor of the KGO (810 AM) Afternoon News, Rosie
began her local radio career at Oakland’s KNEW and San Francisco’s KNBR. She moved to
ABC-owned KSFX (103.7 FM) in 1976 as public affairs director, before joining co-owned
KGO a year later as weekend talk show host and part-time news reporter/anchor. In 1984, she
became co-anchor of KGO’s afternoon newscast.
® ALEX BENNETT — Bay Area born and raised, Alex started his broadcasting career at San
Rafael’s tiny KTIM (1510 AM), which he used as a springboard to success in New York City
at WMCA and WPLJ. Upon his triumphant return to San Francisco, Alex became morning
man at KMEL (106.1 FM), KQAK (98.9 FM, “The Quake”) and KITS (105.3 FM, “Live
2
105”). He later hosted a technology-oriented talk show on the CNET Radio and, since 2003,
has been one of the stars of Sirius Left (Channel 146) on New York-based Sirius satellite radio.
® RED BLANCHARD — One of broadcasting’s zaniest personalities ever, Red Blanchard
bridged the gap between radio’s network-oriented “golden age” and the disc jockey-driven
“modern era” in the 1950s. Working with a cast of oddball characters – most of them his own
invention – Red gained a fanatical following with his live program on KCBS (740 AM), one of
the last radio shows to be performed before a studio audience in the Bay Area. Popularized the
1950s catch-word “Zorch!”
® RENEL BROOKS-MOON — Renel’s remarkable career has led her from being one of the
last personalities on the original KFRC during its “Big 610” heyday in the 1980s to being one
of the ringleaders of KMEL’s pioneering “Morning Zoo” to full-fledged stardom as host of
“Renel In The Morning” on 98.1 Kiss FM since 1997. The Oakland-born graduate of Mills
College, known to many as the in-stadium voice of the San Francisco Giants, received the most
votes during this year’s Hall of Fame voting, being named on more than 27% of all ballots cast.
® BOB FOUTS — The voice of San Francisco 49ers football in the 1950s, Bob was also a
popular sportscaster and commentator on KSFO (560 AM) as well as on Bay Area television.
His son, the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, followed in Bob’s footsteps as
a respected broadcaster.
® BILL GAVIN — Perhaps best known for creating the industry-standard record tipsheet The
Gavin Report, Bill Gavin was a pioneering disc jockey who created and hosted “Lucky Lager
Dance Time,” which garnered an extensive audience throughout the western United States. In
1958, three years after he began “Dance Time,” Gavin parlayed his knowledge of music into a
mimeographed tipsheet covering Top 40 records, which quickly became a “must read” for
radio station programmers throughout the industry. Bill Gavin died in 1985 at the age of 77.
® HAP HARPER — Radio’s original airborne traffic reporter, Hap was a Marine Corps
lieutenant and pilot during World War II whose friendship with KSFO’s Don Sherwood led to
an on-air role as in-the-air weather reporter. Spotting an auto accident on the Bay Bridge one
day, Hap described the aftermath and helped create a new industry. In addition to KSFO, he
also was a popular personality on KFRC, KNBR and the combined KSFO/KYA-FM. Howard
“Hap” Harper passed away in 2006.
® MIKEL HUNTER HERRINGTON — An innovator, entrepreneur and radio original,
“Captain Mikey” – also known on the air as “Hot Rocks Hunter” and “Oil Can Harry” – was a
Top 40 disc jockey at San Jose’s KLIV (1590 AM) and helped to pioneer the album rock
format at the Southbay’s KOME (98.5 FM); he later repeated that success at L.A.’s KMET. A
noted wine connoisseur, he relocated to Napa later in his career, working at KVON/KVYN
within a cork’s throw of the vineyards. Named to the San Jose Rocks Music Hall of Fame
(2007). Mikel Herrington died in 1997 of leukemia at the age of 62.
3
® RUSS HODGES — Educated as an attorney, Kentucky-born Russ Hodges arrived in San
Francisco in 1958 as the voice of the transplanted Giants, working alongside Lon Simmons
(BARHOF Class of 2006) for a dozen years on the team’s radio broadcasts. Known for his
trademark call of “Bye bye baby” on Giants’ home runs, Hodges attained baseball immortality
for his legendary call of Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ’Round The World” (“The Giants win
the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!”) in 1951. Inducted into the broadcasters’ wing of the
Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980, Russ Hodges passed away in 1971 at the age of 61.
® DON KLEIN — One of the Bay Area’s most versatile and knowledgeable sportscasters, Don
Klein served as the play-by-play voice of University of San Francisco basketball, Stanford
football and basketball, San Francisco Seals baseball and hockey, and San Francisco 49ers
football. During the Niners’ glory days in the 1980s, Klein was behind the microphone to
describe all of the memorable plays for six amazing seasons. His broadcasting career spanned
more than fifty years, including as sports anchor on KCBS (740 AM).
® MICHAEL LUCKOFF — The monumental success of San Francisco’s KGO (810 AM) can
be attributed to many factors – great talent, great programming ... and the skilled direction of
Mickey Luckoff, who has served as president and general manager of the station since 1972.
Under his watch, KGO has remained solidly atop the local radio ratings — a position the
station has maintained since the summer of 1978 — while becoming one of the most honored
radio stations in the history of the industry.
® DUDE MARTIN — At the forefront of the Bay Area’s burgeoning western music scene from
the 1930s through the 1950s, Berkeley-raised Dude Martin (born Steve McSwain) and his
band were a staple of local radio and nightclubs. In addition to leading his own western
orchestra, the Nevada Nightherders, Dude hosted programs on KLX, KYA, KSFO and KGO
over the years; at KGO, his morning radio program of familiar tunes, interspersed with
conversation, led to his next venture as one of local television’s first stars on KGO-TV. He
passed away in 1991.
® TERRY McGOVERN — Currently one of the most popular voice actors and coaches in the
industry, Terry McGovern arrived in San Francisco fresh from KDKA/Pittsburgh in 1968 to
become one of the greatest stars of star-studded KSFO (560 AM). His next stop led him to
progressive rock powerhouse KSAN (94.9 FM; “The Jive 95”) during its apex under the
direction of Tom Donahue (BARHOF Class of 2006). Terry later morninged at K-101 and
KSFO/KYA-FM. Beyond radio, Terry is a successful actor who appeared in countless motion
pictures (including “American Graffiti” and “Mrs. Doubtfire”) and numerous television shows.
® DOUG PLEDGER — There was a time in Bay Area radio during which it was nearly
impossible to miss hearing Doug Pledger on the air – as morning man on KSMO and KKHI
(both at 1550 AM), KWUN (1480 AM) or KNBC/KNBR (680 AM), host of specialty
programs (“Pledger Plays The Classics,” “Pledger Plays Polkas”) and advertising pitchman. A
University of Wisconsin graduate with a degree in law, Pledger made his name originally as a
4
sportscaster before settling in as one of San Francisco’s most popular announcers. Later owned
San Mateo’s KOFY (1050 AM). He passed away in April 2008 at the age of 89.
® DAVE SHOLIN — Another of San Francisco State University’s endless stream of talented
broadcasters, Dave Sholin – “The Duke” – got his start at San Jose’s KLIV (1590 AM) and
KARA (105.7 FM). Having quickly built a reputation for having a “golden ear,” he was hired
by the legendary KFRC (610 AM) as music director; he cemented his reputation by being
named Music Director of the Year by the Gavin Report as KFRC pulled off an unprecedented
string of seven consecutive Billboard Major Market Top 40 Station of the Year awards. Later
named national music director for KFRC’s parent company, RKO General, he took the job
one step beyond by creating a series of RKO Radio Network specials featuring stars such as
Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart and Stevie Wonder, as well as a historic interview with John
Lennon and Yoko Ono conducted only hours before Lennon’s murder. Dave Sholin is
currently the morning host at Classic Hits KFRC (106.9 FM).
® ROY STOREY — Another member of the Class of 2008’s stellar group of sportscasters, Roy
Storey excelled in all fields but was unparalleled when it came to describing ice hockey on the
air. His long career included stints behind the microphone for major league baseball recreations
on KYA and for one of the earliest sports-talk programs in the mid-1950s on Oakland’s KLX.
Roy was also the color and play-by-play voice of the San Francisco 49ers (alongside fellow
inductee Bob Fouts), the Western Hockey League Seals (alongside fellow inductee Don Klein)
and the NHL Oakland Seals. He was the radio announcer for hockey matches at the 1960
Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, and was the voice of St. Mary’s College basketball for many
years. In addition, he was a news anchor at 1260/KYA in the 1970s.
® RUSS “THE MOOSE” SYRACUSE — One of KYA’s famed New York imports in the
early 1960s (along with Gene Nelson, Tommy Saunders, Peter Tripp, Johnny Holliday and
Larry Brownell), Russ The Moose served as captain of the “All-Night Flight” on “Super Freak
1260,” dive-bombing bad records – and some commercials that didn’t appeal to him – while
serving up tasty laminated yak fat sandwiches to his insomniac passengers. His local career also
took him to KFRC (on two occasions), KSFO (three times), KNBR (once) and back to KYA
(for a total of four stints). A legend among his fellow broadcasters, Russ The Moose passed
away in 2000 at the age of 70.

The Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame’s Class of 2008 will be celebrated during a gala ceremony and
luncheon on Wednesday, October 1, at the Doubletree Inn on the Berkeley Marina. The
ceremony, presented jointly by the Bay Area Radio Museum and the local chapter of Broadcast
Legends, will be open to the public. For reservations, please visit www.BroadcastLegends.com.

# # #

Marconi Radio Award Nominees Announced

2008-07-14T07:08:00.001-07:00

The Wolf and KOIT from SF score big:

Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker.com!

From: "NAB Media Relations"
Date: July 14, 2008 6:11:40 AM PDT
To: totomtaylor@aol.com
Subject: 2008 NAB Marconi Radio Awards Finalists Announced
Reply-To: mediarelations@nab.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT
July 14, 2008

Kristopher Jones
202-429-5486

2008 NAB MARCONI RADIO AWARDS
FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

WASHINGTON, DC – NAB announced today the finalists for the NAB Marconi Radio Awards honoring radio stations and on-air personalities for excellence in broadcasting. The winners will be announced on September 18 at the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner & Show held during The NAB Radio Show at the Austin Convention Center.

The finalists are:

Legendary Station
KOIT-FM San Francisco, CA
KSTP-FM Minneapolis, MN
WBLS-FM New York, NY
WBT-AM Charlotte, NC
WSM-AM Nashville, TN

Network Syndicated Personality of the Year
Glenn Beck, Premiere Radio Networks
Bob & Sheri, Greater Media Charlotte
Neal Boortz, Cox Radio/Dial Global
Steve Harvey, Premiere Radio Networks
Kidd Kraddick, Yea! Network

Major Market Station of the Year
KBWF-FM San Francisco, CA
KIIS-FM Los Angeles, CA
KOIT-FM San Francisco, CA
WBLS-FM New York, NY
WMAL-AM Washington, DC

Large Market Station of the Year
KOA-AM Denver, CO
KSDS-FM San Diego, CA
WEBN-FM Cincinnati, OH
WLNK-FM Charlotte, NC
WSWD-FM Cincinnati, OH

Medium Market Station of the Year
KKOH-AM Reno, NV
KSTZ-FM Des Moines, IA
WLAV-FM Grand Rapids, MI
WNCT-FM Greenville, NC
WTUE-FM Dayton, OH

Small Market Station of the Year
KAIR-FM Atchison, KS
KBHP-FM Bemidji, MN
KITX-FM Hugo, OK
KOFM-FM Enid, OK
WGIL-AM Galesburg, IL

Major Market Personality of the Year
Eric & Kathy, WTMX-FM Chicago, IL
Grandy & Andy, WMAL-AM Washington, DC
John & Ken, KFI-AM Los Angeles, CA
Glenn Ordway, WEEI-AM Boston, MA
Ryan Seacrest, KIIS-FM Los Angeles, CA

Large Market Personality of the Year
Amos Brown, WTLC-AM Indianapolis, IN
Bob Conners, WTVN-FM Columbus, OH
Cornbread, WIL-FM St. Louis, MO
Kelly, Mudflap & JoJo, KYGO-FM Denver, CO
Moon & Staci, KSTP-FM Minneapolis, MN

Medium Market Personality of the Year
Corey & Jay, KDJE-FM Little Rock, AR
Tony Gates, WLAV-FM Grand Rapids, MI
Dave Kane, WCMF-FM Rochester, NY
Jim Villanucci, KKOB-AM Albuquerque, NM
Don Weeks, WGY-AM Albany, NY

Small Market Personality of the Year
Mark Clark, KRCH-FM Rochester, MN
George & Katie, WAXX-FM Eau Claire, WI
Kate Hayes, KOZT-FM Fort Bragg, CA
JJ Thomas, KOFM-FM Enid, OK
Will & Barry, KITX-FM Hugo, OK

Spanish Format Personality of the Year
Diamond Boy Luis, KXOL-FM Los Angeles, CA
Los Hijos De La Manana, KTTA-FM Sacramento, CA
Marimar, KMYX-FM Bakersfield, CA
Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo, KSCA-FM Los Angeles, CA
Omar & Argelia, KLVE-FM Los Angeles, CA

AC Station of the Year
KSTZ-FM Des Moines, IA
WJJR-FM Rutland, VT
WLIT-FM Chicago, IL
WLYF-FM Miami, FL
WTMX-FM Chicago, IL

CHR Station of the Year
KHKS-FM Dallas, TX
WKFS-FM Cincinnati, OH
WKST-FM Pittsburgh, PA
WNCI-FM Columbus, OH
WSTR-FM Atlanta, GA

Country Station of the Year
KMFX-FM Rochester, MN
KSON-FM San Diego, CA
KYGO-FM Denver, CO
KZKX-FM Lincoln, NE
WFMS-FM Indianapolis, IN

News/Talk Station of the Year
KFI-AM Los Angeles, CA
KKOB-AM Albuquerque, NM
WBEN-AM Buffalo, NY
WJBC-AM Bloomington, IL
WTMJ-AM Milwaukee, WI

Oldies Station of the Year
KQQL-FM Minneapolis, MN
WBHF-AM Cartersville, GA
WMXJ-FM Miami, FL
WNCT-FM Greenville, NC
WOLX-FM Madison, WI

Religious Station of the Year
WFMV-FM Columbia, SC
WLIB-FM New York, NY
WMIT-FM Black Mountain, NC
WTLC-AM Indianapolis, IN
WVEL-AM Peoria, IL

Rock Station of the Year
KBZT-FM San Diego, CA
KOZT-FM Fort Bragg, CA
WAPL-FM Appleton, WI
WMGK-FM Philadelphia, PA
WSWD-FM Cincinnati, OH

Spanish Station of the Year
KMYX-FM Bakersfield, CA
KNRV-AM Denver, CO
KNUV-AM Phoenix, AZ
KSCA-FM Los Angeles, CA
KTTA-FM Sacramento, CA

Sports Station of the Year
KESN-FM Dallas, TX
KGME-AM Phoenix, AZ
KXNO-AM Des Moines, IA
WEEI-AM Boston, MA
WGR-AM Buffalo, NY

Urban Station of the Year
WBLS-FM New York, NY
WFXC-FM Raleigh, NC
WHQT-FM Hollywood, FL
WKYS-FM Washington, DC
WPHI-FM Philadelphia, PA

The NAB Marconi Radio Awards were established in 1989 and named after inventor and Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi.

About The NAB Radio Show
The NAB Radio Show is the largest annual convention for radio. This year's show, Sep. 17- 19 in Austin, delivers a one-of-a-kind networking opportunity for station professionals representing all format and market sizes and is co-located with the R&R Convention. More information about The NAB Radio Show is available at www.nabradioshow.com.

Online registration is now available for news media reporters interested in covering The NAB Radio Show. Click here for additional information.

About NAB
The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for America's broadcasters. As the voice of more than 8,300 radio and television stations, NAB advances their interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs. Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new opportunities in the digital age. Learn more at www.nab.org.

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Daytrotter.com: stealing radio's thunder

2008-07-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

Sean Moeller, from www.daytrotter.com.

Sean Moeller is a guy that radio stations are going to come to hate.

He's doing what they used to do, so far under the radar, that by the time they realize what he's up to, it will be too late.

The Rock Island, Ill. native has built an amazing retro recording studio out in the middle of nowhere, and they are coming. Indie rockers, up-and-comers, established rock stars, such as Carly Simon, Ani DiFranco, Amy Mann and Amos Lee, and some 3 million fans are finding his website (daytrotter.com), his analog studio, Futureappletree1; and the pizza parlor that houses their live shows. (They are also booking a 1,500 seat opera house.)

Death Cab for Cutie liked his setup so much, they recorded a version of their newest disc for him and released it on Daytrotter before it came out on their major label, Atlantic.

Indie rockers, (including the Bay Area's, Jolie Holland and Mates of State have been by. So has Of Montreal, the Cold War Kids and Bonnie Prince Billie. Moeller, a 29-year-old former music journalist, hopes his now rare tape and analog recording equipment will snag Neil Young, a musician who has always favored the old, warm sound.

"Most people these days have a Mac book and that's their recording studio," says Moeller, who started the site to help musicians who weren't getting the attenttion they deserved. "You can argue it doesn't sound nearly as good. A lot of these bands have never even recorded on tape, and they love it when they hear the results."

The sessions are notoriously informal. Bands use borrowed equipment, trade instruments and have fun, while engineers Patrick Stolley and Brad Kopplin roll tape. They are now doing five sessions a week, giving Daytrotter visitors for free, 20 new songs.

Moeller and Stolley came up with the idea while working day jobs, Moeller writing for the Rock Island newspaper and Stolley painting houses. The name was random, says Moeller, partly related to his love of horseracing.

The gas crisis has helped immensely. Rock Island is two hours from Chicago and two from Des Moines, a perfect pitstop for bands to stage a concert and make some money, or just stop and record for fans, before heading back to the road. It's one of those largely ignored places where boredom inspires a religious ferver for music and teens looked longingly down the Interstate-- and finally someone is bringing it to town.

Two years ago the site was a word of mouth thing and Moeller's talent for finding solid new acts got the buzz rolling. Now bands and labels are contacting him. They are even advertising there. Warren Haynes' new disc has a featured ad, as do Brooklyn, New York's Shannon McArdle and Little Rock Arkansas' American Princes.

They'd rather play for 100 passionate fans in Rock Island, than in some big city clubs where attitude is more important than music, says Moeller. The site also has a staff of artists, who, like 'zines of yore, add spice to their presentations.

"We are doing what radio used to do," says Moeller. "When I was in high school there were two or three stations I didn't hate. They used to play Nirvana and actual rock and roll. Groups would appear on the stations and when concerts came around, they would have vans pull up outside. Now, nothing is getting played but Three Doors Down and Nickelback. There are only three or four cool stations left, and a lot of cities are hurting for that."

Savage Nation = Sewage Nation

2008-07-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

Nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage, who vehemently opposes the Fairness Doctrine, Thursday gave a good reason why we need one.

The man who calls liberalism a mental disorder and is the third most popular host int he country, spouts his own insanities regularly, most of them veiled and not so veiled hate speech.

Thursday he claimed the fires in California were set by Iranian terrorists. His proof? Well, he said, if the rangers who patrol the forests caught a Middle Eastern terrorist with a blowtorch, "the mean-faced, clip-haired, wide-waisted woman would have to consult a 50-page manual about what to do" and would never make an arrest.

Plus, he said (and I'm paraphrasing here) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had once made a speech saying that Islam would light a fire in the West.

Now, I know that most intelligent people put this guy's rants in the same category as those supermarket tabloids that tell you that Laura Bush was impregnated by aliens, and so his talk should just be categorized as freedom of speech and ignored.

And the Fairness Doctrine, which requires stations to give equal broadcast time to both political sides, is cumbersome and convoluted at best.

But such irresponsible and incendiary speech really argues for it. There is a tendency to believe the electronic media, more than, say what you would see in a supermarket checkout line. Because the airwaves are owned by the people and licensed by the government for them, there is an expectation that what is broadcast has been checked out and found responsible by the government and its agency, the Federal Communications Commission.

Consciously, or unconsciously, what you hear powerfully beamed over 50,000 watts has an implicit ring of truth (despite all the ads promising larger penises or wealth from the skies).

No one expects to hear something so irresponsible, and so damaging, as a claim that Iran is attacking the U.S. It's in the category of Orson Wells's "War of the Worlds" broadcast, and frankly, responsible broadcasters would pull that plug on Savage just for throwing out a statement like that with no proof.

You have an option though.Don't listen. And don't buy Rock Star energy drink, which his family owns.

For more info: www.mediamatters.org, www.salon.com for a great profile on Savage

Sam and Lissa switch times because of the People Meter

2008-07-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

People have asked why KBAY's morning team of Lissa Kreisler and Sam Van Zandt have cut their time to 9 a.m. from 10 a.m.

Kreisler says it's a direct response to the People Meter. The station figures that after 9 a.m. is when people listen at work and don't want to hear as much talking.

The popular San Jose morning show used to go from 5:20 a.m. to 10 a.m. It will now air from 5-9a.m.

Stations will be experimenting and trying all kinds of new approaches this summer, as the Meters go into effect. (see my earlier post on the topic).

The goal will be to hold listeners longer, with fewer station IDs and shorter blocks of commercials.

Keep me posted if you hear something different and want to know why.

Arbitron People Meter Explained

2008-07-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here's my story in the SF Weekly, which, freelancers take note, pays very quickly and well.

http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-07-02/news/arbitron-brings-its-portable-people-meters-to-bay-area/

Rush Limbaugh, told you SUV's were great and the war in Iraq was great

2008-07-07T16:54:00.000-07:00

I'm posting radio items on www.examiner.com and www.sfweekly.com

Check em out.

Here's the latest Limbaugh post:

Rush Limbaugh is the perfect example of why Reagonomics failed

POSTED July 7, 4:15 PM

Best and worst.com, photo

THE more I think about Sunday's New York Times profile of Rush Limbaugh, the more I see that he and his ilk are at the heart of America's problems today.

Here is a guy who has had mega millions of success, and what does he do with his money? He lives alone in a palacial 25,000 square foot mansion, with royal French trappings. He has five half a million dollar cars. He has a $50 million plane.

His idea of a trickle down economy is that he has been known to tip the commoners who serve him in restaurants as much as $5,000.

And he has no guilt for any of it. In fact, he'd tell you, this is what being successful in America means.

Frankly, it's disgusting and should be for anyone with a sense of history or conscience.

Limbaugh is a proud throwback to the days of conspicuous consumption, when robber barons lorded over the masses like monarchy.

Obviously in a capitalist society, he is among the greatest of achievers.

But let's compare him for a minute with two other successful capitalists: Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the world's richest men, who have devoted a good part of their lives to using their fortunes to help others through a massive grant program.

These are men who understand that in true "trickle down" economics, you have to make sure that your money helps those who most need it. Limbaugh would say their philosophies reek of socialism, but even his hero Ronald Reagan assumed that those who had great wealth would use it to benefit society as a whole.

I don't think owning five $450,000 Maybecks or whatever obscene cars this lonely man drives, is the kind of economic stimulus Reagan was talking about. Then again, based on the breaks his and other Republican administrations have given the super rich, maybe it is.

Keep in mind, too, as you fill your gas pump these days, Limbaugh spent years championing SUV's and gas guzzlers as an American right, as a way to show that one has made it.

When I think about that, and his deafness, I realize that it's not only music that he can't hear, but he is dear to the voices and the lives of average Americans.

For more info: www.nytimes.com, www.rushlimbaugh.com, www.mediamatters.org

Classic Michael Savage

2008-07-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

Savage today, proclaimng that his "freedom of speech" speech was the greatest speech about the topic since Thomas Paine said "Give me liberty or give me death."

Did any of the blatherheads who follow this blow hard pick up on it?

Patrick Henry uttered that line, not Thomas Paine.

And this guy, like the Bowery Boys' Slip Mahoney acts like he knows what he's talking about. Most of the time, it's snake oil. Lies and snake oil.

His freedom of speech speech, by the way, was a pompous blather that he gave when he received a freedom of speech award from Talkers Magazine, the mag's lowpoint. It was given because Savage, unlike some conservatives, had negative things to say about George Bush. It was really a pathetic move by Talker's publisher Michael Harrison.

Savage, who said he would attend the awards dinner, opted out at the last minute, sending instead a video speech, that he now sells on his website, more snake oil.

This guy's greed has no bounds. One of his former producers was talking to him while he ate cole slaw at the back of the Marina Safeway, and threw away the container without paying.

When the producer asked about paying for it, Savage said: "Why should I? They'll never know."

I suspect that's the same attitude he has about the $1 million he raised for the Paul Revere Society, before it had its tax exemption pulled.

Jerry Brown...where is the money, and why have you done nothing about holding his former nonprofit accountable???

"They'll never know...."

In a New York Times profile out this Sunday, Rush Limbaugh had this to say about the Seweage Nation host: "He's not even in my rear view mirror."

Rush was even better on Bill O'Lielly: "Ted Baxter. He's Ted Baxter."

I love it.

O'Reilly, by the way, was the favorite host of Mercury News former television writer Mike Antonucci. Birds of a feather.

Just a third of July rant.

Thanks. and have a happy fourth.

The Amazing Aces rock Plaza Cesar Chavez

2008-06-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

And the kids join in!!!!

My New Car Stereo Seriously Cuts into Radio Time

2008-06-29T11:12:00.001-07:00

This is for my friends at AVIC 411 so you can see how this controversial unit works...It's gotten mixed reviews. Pioneer released a letter apologizing for the problems for "early adaptors," which is incredibly frustrating. When you pay more than $1,000 for a product, you expect it to work. These guys treat it like a website that is released before all facets are complete.

I don't buy it...But I did buy it. As you can see from my fairly lame video, the pluses outweight the minuses for now, and I'll wait for Pioneer to make a software patch to get it up to speed (literally).

Hey, if the video sucks, at least fast forward to the end, when you can hear my friend's joke.
And,I have to say, right now my favorite radio station is my iPod...with 6,000 songs on random shuffle, it builds great sets, connecting musical themes like the best disk jockey.

And I like all the songs. No wonder music radio is in a bit of trouble.

Hawaiian Music Hurt by Santa Cruz Fire

2008-06-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

APTOS -- Hawaiian music lovers across the county had their listening schedules thrown off by last week's Trabing Fire.

The blaze, which scorched 640 acres, also knocked out power in the Larkin Valley area, which temporarily halted broadcasts by KAPU, the all-Hawaiian music radio station that has a broadcast antenna on Trabing Road.

KAPU hasn't broadcast its trademark island tunes since around 3 p.m. Friday, according to Norman Markowitz, a member of the station's board of directors and one of the station's volunteer DJs.

Flames crept up to the base of the antenna and might have damaged it, he said, but the damage can't be assessed until the antenna can be tested after power is restored to the area.

"It all depends on PG&E," said Markowitz, who goes by the handle "Kaukini Norm." "They're working very hard."

Power won't be restored for a few days, said a Cal Fire spokesman.

Meanwhile, the station has been receiving phone calls and e-mails from listeners curious where the music has gone.

Markowitz said listeners yearning for a Hawaiian music fix should check out the station online at www.kapu.org, which has recordings of several interviews with Hawaiian artists as well as links to local bands and music samples.

The station, which transmits at 104.7 FM, began operation in September 2004 as a low-power station; it uses a

52-watt antenna, which allows coverage from the edges of Santa Cruz to Watsonville. A link on the station's Web site encourages viewers to write letters to the Federal Communications Commission requesting that KAPU be licensed for 100-200 watts, which would increase coverage to most of Santa Cruz County and hopefully swell the ranks of listeners, now estimated at roughly 5,000, according to Markowitz.

There is a strong interest in Hawaiian music and culture in the Santa Cruz area, Markowitz said. Local musicians who play Hawaiian music often visit the radio station, located in Watsonville, to perform live on the air.

"We're one of the hubs of groups of people that love all things Hawaiian," he said. "It's an important part of the Hawaiian community in Santa Cruz."

Contact Keenan Weatherford at 706-3254 or jcopeland@santacruzsentinel.com.

Sirius Trouble if the Merger is depending on Howard (Yawn) Stern

2008-06-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

I still check in, but if I were paying for Sirius because of Howard Stern, this would be the time I'd be asking for my money back.

The newness of the swearing is over; he can't round up A-list guests because his numbers have dropped so much from his days on terrestrial radio; and frankly, success is killing the entertainment value of Howard Stern.

Now that he's living the Hamptons lifestyle, tooling between mansions, and happily set to be married, the angst, the danger and the edge are plain gone. The spark has dimmed from the (not so) shock jock's show.

Today the talk was about who Stern would invite to his wedding, and frankly, it was about as boring as hearing any stranger doing his wedding planning. AM talk radio was on fire by comparison.

And then, worse than the show itself, is what they call "The Wrap Up Show," in which producer Garry Dell'Abate (or more accurately, Dell'Aboring ) and John Hinds discuss the most "dramatic" moments of the show. And I thought postgame baseball analysis was dull.

Today the big question, stated breathlessly by Dell'Aboring, was: "Should Howard invite Lisa from his news team to his wedding, because she wishes she was marrying him?"

You couldn't even goof on them for being so serious about the topic. They just didn't have any real material to work with. Maybe this is their way of preparing listeners for his annual endless summer sabbatical of repeats.

And here's the real problem. Stern always had something or someone to be mad at: his program directors, the FCC, the women who never wanted him. But he's got everything he wants these days. He's got the money; he's got the girl; and he can say what he wants on the air.

His contract is running out, and the more I listen, the more I think that this time Stern will stride off into the Hamptons sunset, before he ends up even more boring and irrelevant than Imus.

Nice take on Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother

2008-06-23T05:59:00.001-07:00

PINK FLOYD ATOM HEART MOTHER
Uploaded by allainraphael

Alejandro Escovedo Joins Bruce Springsteen and the Boss's Manager

2008-06-15T23:26:00.000-07:00

This is the news I'd hoped for for years....As long as I've been loving Alejandro Escovedo, which is about 15 years.

The guy was rock's best unknown talent, and I always compared him to Bruce Springsteen, saying that his songwriting is on the same level, but his fame is nowhere to be found.

Well, finally, Springsteen's manager Jon Landau signed Al, has him appearing on Letterman, Conan and Jimmy....and had him jam with Springsteen in Houston...not on a Bruce song, but on one of Al's..

Check the video, posted on Springsteen's site here.

Now, if only Eric Clapton would find Jason Ricci and Bill Miller would get discovered by Bono or Chris Martin, my favorite unknowns will finally get their due.

At least this shows that persistence pays off.

MOBY Grape's Skip Spence gets a great tribute

2008-06-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

Members of the Santa Cruz group, the White Album Ensemble, who have paid tributes to the Beatles for years, take a big step this month covering the music of Skip Spence, with Spence's son Omar (pictured above) doing the singing.

The group includes Doobie Brother Tiran Porter, who sings backups and Dale Ockermann, who plays with the Funky Meters and Mighty Mike Schermer, among others.

I heard them on KPIG's live music show "Please Stand By" Sunday and was blown away.

They really captured the blissful side of Spence's music. Spence, an original member of Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape, was a sad fixture around San Jose before his death, a bearded homeless guy suffereing mental problems who hung out at Santa Clara and 10th streets.

The band will perform his music live at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz June 20.

Led Zeppelin were huge fans of Moby Grape, playing their songs at Zep's first rehearsal. Robert Plant performs on a Skip Spence tribute album, "More Oar," as does Tom Waits and Beck.

Spence's son is the music director of Elevation, a new age ministry in Santa Cruz.

This should be a great show, well worth checking out.

Radio Soup Writer Wins Two Awards

2008-06-06T06:43:00.001-07:00

I'm in shock. I wish now that I had gone to the awards ceremony. To tell you the truth, I was afraid of what I might say to some of the mediocre minds who were instrumental in laying me off. I'll be curious to see how the Mercury News covers the story.

One day in this space you will read some of the true stories behind life at the Mercury News, that my lawyer says I can't print yet.

Meanwhile check out the list of Bay Area awards here at www.penpressclub.org

Here are the ones I won:

Columns-Feature
FIRST PLACE: San Jose Mercury News, “Male Call,” Jeff Thomas
SECOND PLACE: San Jose Mercury News, “Columns by Brad Kava,” Brad Kava
THIRD PLACE: San Jose Mercury News, “East Side/West Side,” Joe Rodriguez

Feature Story of Light Nature
FIRST PLACE: San Jose Mercury News, “Eat My Sports,” Daniel Brown
SECOND PLACE: San Jose Mercury News, “What If No One Calls,” Brad Kava

Well, thanks to anyone who voted for me and to the Press Club for having the ceremony. If I had been able to afford a ticket, I would have worn my "Will Write For Food" shirt and how come the guys who took my job didn't win any?

Help Save Internet Radio

2008-06-04T23:51:00.000-07:00

read this story in the LA Times

and see the letter below on radio soup from Pandora founder Tim Westergren.

I wrote about this situation a year ago at the Mercury News...and It's getting worse than anyone could have imagined. We all thought logic would take over and people would realize that these draconic fees would crush a budding, wonderful business.

And the steamroller keeps moving forward.

I know so many people who love Pandora and have found new music there, the way we used to find it on conventional radio. Don't let this music lover's tool be taken away by greed and ignorance.

Real artists will be hurt more than anyone can imagine. It's harder and harder to find real music, in the deluge of commercial pap on the regular airwaves. We'll even lose links to great broadcasters such as KPIG and KCRW.

Alan Colmes: Rotato Host

2008-06-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

I just heard the freshest thing I've heard on talk radio in a while, although apparently a lot of listeners weren't smart enough to pull it off.

On his nationally syndicated show, which I pick up on KSCO-AM (1080), Alan Colmes had a chain of listeners fill in for him while he nursed a sore throat. It started awkwardly, but blossomed into something as interesting as Ronn Owens lets listeners get on for 30 seconds and say whatever they want.

Colmes took the first call and then that caller became the host who would take the next call and on and on. Later he picked callers at random and had them interview each other to find out what they had in common...brilliant! Really felt like a slice of America, folks chatting on the porch.

Great stuff....fresh...different....a new twist on a format that can sometimes get as stale as week old news, and as predictable as a Sean Hannity rant.

Neil Young FInally Announces Archives (cool video)

2008-06-02T06:04:00.001-07:00

Plea to help save Pandora, the great Internet music service

2008-06-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

Hi, it's Tim from Pandora,
I'm writing today to urgently ask for your help. Our future and that of all webcasters is being threatened by the actions of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). In an effort to cripple Internet radio they have defied Congressional direction to negotiate reasonable performance fees and are trying to shut us down.
In spite of overwhelming opposition, including from thousands of musicians, they have blatantly pursued a strategy of undermining the process, making outrageous demands, and trying to run out the clock, hoping we will just quietly fade away. There is only one way to stop this violation of the public trust, and that is by mobilizing the collective will of our listening audience.
I am writing to you because your Senator is on the crucially important Senate Judiciary committee. It would be tremendously helpful if you would take just a minute to call your Senator:

Senator Dianne Feinstein: (202) 224-3841

** When you call, please tell them your home town, and ask them to support the Brownback Internet Radio Equality amendment that will be considered in the Judiciary Committee this Thursday.
This amendment sets webcasting royalties at the same level as those paid by satellite radio, which would compensate musicians fairly and allow web radio to survive. For more info on the bill, please visit: www.savenetradio.org

I hope you'll take just a few minutes to call. It's easy to do and it will truly, truly make a difference. As a young industry, we do not have the lobbying power of the RIAA. You, our listeners, are by far our biggest and most influential allies.
Thank you very much for your support,

-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)

Excerpt from a compelling book about shock jocks and hate talkers

2008-06-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

This book by Rory O'Connor looks like a solid portrayal of at least one of these hate talkers, Michael Savage.

Check it here.

He's even got the Savage letter to Allen Ginsburg wanting to put a camera in Ginsburg's rectum and take photos.

Sure, some people change with age...but to go from a gay waiter to a gay hater...that's more than extreme. It's pretty clear from this short bio that Savage has some serious issues. But you already knew that.

Here's an excerpt that should be read to all the morons in the Sewage Nation:

In his first and only novel, Vital Signs, the protagonist (a fortyish Jew named Samuel Trueblood who shares many of Savage's biographical details) says, "I choose to override my desires for men when they swell in me, waiting out the passions like a storm, below decks." There are Savage's years with Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti, including a note to Ginsberg that read, "Watched a tourist from New Zealand taking pictures of Fijian people in the marketplace [and] thought of inserting my camera's lens in your A-hole to photograph the walls of your rectum." These days, his attitude is outright hostility, with, for instance, his continual assertion of a "homosexual mafia" trying to control the state of world affairs. Savage has also said that gay parenting is "child abuse" and that the sight of a gay couple "makes me want to puke."

Who were all those suckers who donated to his suit against the Arab group CAIR? The same type of lunatics who used to follow Jim and Tammy Bakker?

Conservatives out of ideas?

2008-05-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have to say I was loving listening to Rush Limbaugh yesterday, as he bashed his party's flag carrier John McCain, with the kind of vigor he usually saves for the Clintons.

McCain had offended the porker host by questioning the profiteering of telecommunications execs, an affront to those who claim there is a "free market," (not one that gets government boosts at every opportunity, something that McCain seems to understand).

I wanted to call in and say, "Rush, if this is the best your party can offer, what does that say about your party?"

But a great New Yorker piece said it for me. Check out "The Fall of Conservatism" here. It traces the roots of the current movement to Richard Nixon's attacks on the left, and shows that the current batch of conservatives, with their propaganda wing on radio, knows how to win elections far better than it knows how to govern.

Mississippi: Home of the Blues

2008-05-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows that Mississippi is the home of the blues. It's the place Robert Johnson supposedly met the Devil at the Crossroads and was given the vision of the music, like Moses getting those tablets.

But until I went there, I don't think I really understood the blues, and I've been a big fan most of my life.

It didn't take a Devil to make this music. Just hanging in this land of blistering heat, sweltering cotton fields and bottomless poverty, the soul of this sad and heroic music quickly became clear.

The blues is living in a see-through home, where you can see always see daylight through the cracks in the wood walls.

(Tunica moon)

It's feeling like you are underwater, always weighted down by the humidity and heat. And this is only spring.

It's looking at buildings and not being able to tell if they are about to be torn down, or are open for business.

The blues is going to the local pharmacy, which has a quaint 1940s-style ice cream fountain, and an armed guard because people are cashing pay checks here to pay their phone bills. Even the cops are on line to pay their bill at noon, before the phone is shut off.

It's seeing Muddy Waters shack reconstructed in the lovely and new Blues Museum in Clarksdale (built in the old train station), and realizing that you can see the same shack, occupied, just down the street. (PS, every blues musician I met said he stole a piece of Muddy's shack for inspiration...and Billy Gibbon's of ZZ Top has a guitar made from it. Either that thing is going to fall down, or it's not all original anymore.)

(Muddy's cabin)

It's getting a bucket of crawfish and fighting hard with them for a tiny sliver of poor man's lobster, and knowing your hands and clothes will smell of it for a week.

It's smoking allowed just about everywhere. Why the rush not to die?

It's hearing music on every corner, late into the night. And then, when the bars close, jamming until dawn, and basking in a little bit of cool air.

I was passing through too briefly to attend the Blues Awards in Tunica, Miss. at a new Harrah's casino. Despite being new, there was a lot to be desired in this Disneyfied version of the blues.

The only food in the hotel after midnight was from vending machines or a hamburger stand and the vending machine was broken. The best thing about it? The air conditioning. And the wireless connection worked.

The awards were nice, especially seeing them go to people over 60, 70, 80 and hearing them say, "good things come to those who wait." I saw Bettye Lavette drunk in the hotel, dancing. I saw big winner Bobby Rush in the elevator. He had to skip getting two of his awards because he had to pack and hit the road by 3 a.m. for his next gig.

I saw too many bluesmen carrying their own bags through the airport.

Next day, I went to Clarksdale, the small town by the crossroads of Highways 61 and 49, a place of Baptists and blues. Realtors here put crosses on their signs, letting you know of their devotion: money and God.

Others try to capitalize on the blues. There's a cotton museum in town, that was never open while I was there, but you could see the big bale of cotton outside.

The rock museum had a lot of posters and a guy playing boogie woogie piano, who wanted $5 for the privilege of seeing his artifacts. "I gotta make a living."

I had been in Japan a few weeks earlier...and Mississippi was a lot more alien. I asked a woman for a bag to carry the T-shirt I bought from her.

"What?"
"A bag."
"A what?"
"To carry the T-shirt," I said with the same hand signals I used in Japan.
"Oh, you mean a sack. I haven't heard a Yankee talk in a long time."

The locals were friendly enough. More friendly than in Japan. They came right up to me and started talking, where ever I was. They could tell I wasn't from there, and were curious about why anyone would visit.

Yet, in all that poverty, the actor Morgan Freeman has a five star restaurant, and owns part of a blues club that has big-name talents all week long and draws more tourists than locals.

That's the real blues. The people born in the middle of it don't really listen much. A hip-hop club would do better.

Soul singer Jackie Payne, from Alameda, outside Ground Zero

me at delta hardware...

Backstage photos from Phil Lesh's last show

2008-05-20T07:13:00.001-07:00

Here are some images of the last night at the Warfield.

Hey Lesh fans, wanna check out the hottest young jam band in the country? Check out some Jason Ricci videos below. He is the Derek Trucks of harmonica...and his guitarist is the Derek Trucks of guitar....check it out. You'll know what I mean.

PS: Lesh obviously has great ears, picking up on Jackie Greene, Trucks and others early.

REVIEW: Phil Lesh and Friends Close the Warfield

2008-05-19T10:41:00.001-07:00

"This is like the old days,"Phil Lesh told the sold-out crowd at the last night of his 5-night Warfield run, the last night the leased venue will be controlled by Live Nation, which bought Bill Graham Presents, the company that ran the theater for three decades.
"We play what we feel like playing. I don't know Jerry, what do you feel like playing?"

WOW. Lesh, who spent the first four nights playing entire Dead albums, this time tried some wonderful experiments. He Bob Weir and drummer John Molo opened the first set as a trio, running through the Beatles "Come Together" and the Dead's classic jam, "Dark Star."

"We've always wanted to do that," Lesh said. It harkened back to the days when the Dead was the most experimental band on the planet, and it was refreshing after all these years without leader Jerry Garcia to front the long, strange trip.

A long wonderful night followed, lasting from 9 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., with an after party thrown by the Live Nation folks for their employees starting after that.

The band changed with each set: Jackie Greene and Larry Campbell did a bluegrass set, like Garcia used to do; Greene and Tim Bluhm from Mother Hips did a spacier set too. Lesh, Mark Karan and band played Dead tunes, like the Sugar Magnolia below.

They closed the night with "I Know You Rider," with its chorus "Gonna miss me when I'm gone," "Truckin," with the line "What a long strange trip it's been," and "And I Bid You Goodnight," which closed old Dead shows in the 1969 era.

This was the kind of week that makes you glad to be a Californian. Deadheads in other states and countries can only lust about the still blooming musical fruit we get here on a regular basis...

This was a night for the ages, and a week that will go down in Dead history.

O'Reilly dance remix...i love the Internet

2008-05-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

The real Bill O'Reilly

2008-05-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

cept for the toupe...what a dork...

Buzzing off the Phil Lesh shows

2008-05-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Phil Lesh is covering Grateful Dead albums in order, as part of his farewell to the Warfield shows...

Here's a report I filed for Premiere Radio network....All I can say here is that the Workingman's Dead/American Beauty show was so good, so focused, so well played and adventurous, that I want to be a Deadhead again. It was some of the most joyful music I've heard in decades.

I'll be back Sunday....with a video....dying to see whether they play all albums in order, or skip to just the studio ones.

Also, I had written about Jackie Greene years ago from a singer/songwriter festival at Villa Montalvo, in Saratoga. Nice to see him taking on this role. I knew he'd be big and he really has been the best thing to happen to Phil and Friends in years.

Bands have recently gone back to play entire old albums live (Roger Waters with "Dark Side of the Moon," for example)--but the Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh took it to the limit this week, revisiting the Dead's LP career in order for a week. Friday night was the first time in four decades that Deadheads knew exactly what to expect next, as Lesh and friends covered "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty," the two 1970 albums that helped bring the jam band into the mainstream, with tightly-focused country rock songs and big radio hits such as "Casey Jones" and "Truckin'.'" Of course the band stretched them like Silly Putty. They sped up the "driving that train/high on cocaine" line faster and faster to close out "Casey Jones." Guest Teresa Williams led an almost a cappella "Attics of my Life" and sparked some of the best singing in Dead memory. Lesh's band included Larry Campbell on guitar, violin and pedal steel, John Molo on drums Steve Molitz on keyboards and Sacramento singer-songwriter Jackie Green, who does a great job channeling the voices of both Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia on vocals, piano and guitar. They were joined on songs he recorded with the band originally by David Nelson, of the New Riders of the Purple Stage. Guitarist Mark Karan joined them Wednesday night, as they played "Aoxomoxoa" and "Live Dead," and Weir guested Tuesday for 1967's debut "The Grateful Dead" and 1968's "Anthem of the Sun." The five-night set, spread over six days, ended Sunday and marked the closing of San Francisco's Warfield Theater, which was being taken over by AEG, after being operated for more than 30 years by Bill Graham Presents and Live Nation. The Dead collectively and in offshoot bands were the musicians who played the most shows at the theater, including a long 1981 run that was recorded for two LP's. Crowds outside the 2,200 seat theater were as thick as those inside. Deadheads set up a marketplace along San Francisco's Market Street and danced to recorded band tunes.

Back from Clarksdale Miss, home of the crossroads

2008-05-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

That was Jason Ricci, the headliner of the 12-hour-long Delta Groove records show, Friday. Lot's more to come in a bit.

Stones fans and Zeppelin fans should check this band out. I think they are the best band on the road today.

Here's more:

Tokyo Stories: Jake Adelstein and the Mob

2008-05-11T17:21:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of my recent Tokyo trip was meeting Missouri-born cop reporter Jake Adelstein, who covered police for a daily newspaper in Tokyo, and has run afoul of the mob there.

I didn't want to write anything until this article came out.

You can see why when you read it. Adelstein says he thinks this story may save his life, getting attention on the hit that has been ordered on him, and on the lack of response from law enforcement. I hear other newspapers, including the LA Times, are following the story today.

Adelstein took me and my friends around Tokyo, to a Euro-trash bar opening party and to a quaint jazz club. He had cops living in his house and watching him 24/7....but never mentioned, as he does in this story, that the Japanese mob likes to take out people around their victim as well.

I knew I felt a little twitchy around him for a reason.

Regardless, radio hosts will want to book him when his book comes out...He's a great story teller and has views of Japan that no other American has seen. At his home, he showed me a tape of a mob ceremony that members had to pay $10,000 a piece to view.

One inch wide; two miles deep; the Japanese mind

2008-05-05T19:11:00.001-07:00

So says my friend Andrew Morse, who fancies himself a journalist.

Morse gave me an awesome tour of Tokyo, including a series of small bars in districts tourists rarely find. The bars seat nine or 10 people, and each has a specialized theme.

We saw three that did nothing but play blues music; one that only played the music of the Who; one that just played old jazz on vinyl records.

They were glorious, my favorite things about the spotless, thriving city of 12 million. You could walk in and communicate with music, the universal language, even when there was no common verbal language.

At one bar called Bar Comforts, the owner picked up a guitar and jammed with me on harmonica. All by telepathy. Then, he played the music of harmonica player Little Walter, on whom he was an expert.

That's when Morse made his comment about the Japanese mind.

"He won't know other music. He won't know rock, or reggae. But he will know everything about the blues. And maybe just a small piece of the blues, like 1938. But he will know everything about that. One inch wide, two miles deep."

I had some further proof of the Japanese love for music when I visited Tower Records there (it survives there; Japanese still buy disks and don't steal the music with downloads). There were two obscure Delta Groove albums I wrote bios and liner notes for, displayed prominently: "Command Performance," by the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Band; and "We Can Be Together," by Sean Costello, who died in mid April.

I've never seen them displayed stateside and had to buy them with the Japanese writing. I can't believe I had to travel 9,000 miles to find some great Delta blues.

I'll take the two miles deep, if it means that you get into what you are into with this kind of passion. Even, if it means you have to dress up like the Mariachi on this page.

(PS: I'll be at the Blues Awards in Memphis Thursday, with Delta Groove artists Jason Ricci, Jackie Payne and Steve Edmonson.)

Hell hasn't frozen over, but Savage got it right

2008-05-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

He's slowly sounding more liberal, back to his 1960s purse-toting, gay-loving self, slamming Republican corruption and joining with animal rights groups.

I agree strongly with arch conservative Michael Savage's view of the Kentucky Derby and the shooting to death of the filly Eight Belles. Of course, Savage was reaching out of the box himself and agreeing with PETA.

I thumbed through 13 newspapers yesterday, including the New York Times, and never saw mention of how the young champion horse was killed.

Every story said it was "euthanized," implying that it was given some kind of humane lethal injection. Not one paper reported what probably happened: the horse was shot in the head, right there on the track, surrounded by drapes, so the public couldn't see.

Why wasn't the horse taken away by ambulance and treated, one wonders?

Some reports said that because both legs were broken, it couldn't make it into the truck.

Bull.

Savage got the reason right: Insurance will pay for a prize horse that dies in a race on the track, but won't pay for an injured horse that has to be treated and won't race again.

It's all economics, as is this disgusting "Sport of Kings."

You think in a country where we can transplant a heart, that we can't repair a horse's broken legs and let it live a life grazing peacefully?

PETA notes that in Europe, horses aren't allowed to race until they are three and their bones have fully developed. In the States, they start at 18 months, making them more prone to injury.

Also: there were 20 horses crowded on the field. Why? More betting money.

I'm disgusted with American journalism for not telling its readers and viewers how the horse is "euthanized, " and even for using this euphemism. What happened to telling the truth, to reporting the full details?

If someone shot a bank teller in the head, would they call that euthanasia too?

Every newspaper in this country is running scared, afraid to offend its readers and more importantly, its advertisers.

With half-assed reporting like this, maybe we really won't miss newspapers when they are gone.

They are euthanizing journalism right before our eyes.

Glory Glory Japan, Heaven for Electronics

2008-05-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

As I walked around the biggest electronics store I'd ever seen in my life in the "Electric City" district of Tokyo that is also called Akihabara, the strains of a familiar song kept jumping into my brain.

It had happy Japanese words and was repeated over and over. What was that tune?

OMG: It's the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" with new peppy words that sounded like they were saying this is a happy place to shop. It's the theme song of Akihabara, which is a huge Times Square-like district devoted to electric necessities and toys ,and it has me wondering: is the Battle Hymn based on some ancient samurai tune, or did they rip this once solemn song from the public domain?

On weekends costumed anime characters wander around. The rest of the time, people with bullhorns shout out the latest sales.

Imagine the biggest Fry's you've seen. Add seven stories to it and high end products with testing rooms and then multiply it by 30 buildings and you have Akihabara. Don't forget to throw in a handful of goofy restaurants where Japanese women in Merry Maids costumes will bat their eyes at you and talk to you, if you buy a $20 cup of coffee (no pictures allowed, the signs say).

Basically, I wanted EVERYTHING there except the maids. The new tube amplifiers for iPods are genius. An iPod never sounded this good. I went back three times to listen, just waiting for the day I can afford one (a great system would be $3,200). They make the music sound "anarogue," as one of the jazz cafes I visited, that played only vinyl records boasted.

And, oh yeah, the toilet seats.

They may not be a big conversation piece in the States, but 70 percent of the homes in Japan have heated toilet seats with built in nozzles that shoot warm water at your private parts.

It seems that every foreigner who tries them thinks about buying one, and there are big toilet seat sections in the Akihabara stores with directions and advice in English for foreigners. There was a steady stream of them in Akihabara, including a Russian cardiac surgeon I talked to, asking about toilet seat voltage.

For a minute I thought that this could be my fortune, bringing the greatest toilet seats the world has known back to the U.S.

Then, I found out San Francisco entrepreneur Scott Pinnozzotto has done even better, building his own Swash seats for Brondell, and selling them at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

There goes my shot at the anarogue system.

The mainstream media ignores corruption in Iraq, even when Congress hears about it

2008-05-03T01:45:00.000-07:00

Read this depressing story in Mother Jones....Hello...talk show hosts.....why didn't I hear about this on the radio..

Hey, Dr. Bill Wattenburg....you helped get us over there, how about a reality check now??

Don't Miss KGO Live: a chance to meet your favorite hosts

2008-05-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

This is really a great event: the Bay Area's most popular station brings out its hosts for a huge meet and greet.

Get the details here.

Like Snake Oil Salesmen, Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly and Savage Got Rich Off the Suckers Who Believed Their Lies

2008-04-22T01:40:00.000-07:00

They made fun of liberals, calling them traitors, victims of a mental disorder, unpatriotic, Communists and the enemy within.

Now--as the endless war is bankrupting this country, much the same way that the Soviet Union's fight to conquer Afghanistan did more to help topple communism than all of Ronald Reagan's bluster--these slimebags are saying what the liberals said eight years ago.

This war was about oil. It was conducted by people who didn't have a clue about Mideast foreign policy. The promised payout --that Iraq would cover the expenses--has never been delivered.

And much of the half a trillion dollars of tax money used to fund it ended up in the hands of administration corporate friends who supplied the troops.

I'm hearing these things from conservatives! But I'm not hearing apologies. I'm not hearing them say they were idiots for calling protestors traitors, or for falling for the lies and subterfuge from the Bush White House.

You want to see what this war is really like? Watch this video.

Meanwhile, in a just world, these snake oil salesmen on the right (and don't forget Ann Coulter, who is allegedly not a man), should be tarred and feathered, not buying houses in the Hamptons.

FCC Jonathan Adelstein on Ronn Owens

2008-04-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

What do we get from media consolidation?

"Computers playing music and people yelling at each other"

Less news; less variety; less depth; less meaningful content.

Owens is doing a good interview with this FCC commissioner, who is in the minority on the commission, right now...

There are hearings being conducted at Stanford today, with the commission.

Ronn Owens nominated to National Radio Hall of Fame

2008-04-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

Ha.

I should slam people more often. I took a jab at KGO-AM (810) morning host Ronn Owens, and a day later, he gets nominated to the Hall of Fame! It's like if you want to buy a successful stock, just buy the one I sell. That always works.

Here's the press release, and make sure to vote for Ronn. It won't make his head any bigger; nothing could so that.

But he really deserves the recognition for doing great radio for so long.

Also, if you see the post below about losing friends lately, it makes me realize, we have to pay tribute to people while they are still here.

PS: thanks to Gene Burns for doing a show based on my SF Weekly column today. Radio fans will want to tune into KGO's archives, at www.KGO.com to hear today's 7 p.m. hour, where listeners cast their votes for who should take Bernie Ward's show.

NATIONAL RADIO HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES POSTHUMOUS INDUCTEES

AND CLASS OF 2008 NOMINEES

Three major local personalities from Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles have been selected for induction into America’s only National Radio Hall of Fame (NRHOF).

Jess Cain

Long-time morning talk-show host on WHDH/Boston, Jess Cain began as an actor and appeared in more than 20 plays before and during his radio career. The “morning man”, who passed away in February 2008, was the first voice many New Englanders heard for 34 years. Cain was beloved for finding humor in everyday moments with his song parodies, quick wit, and impressions.

Bob Collins

Collins was a top-rated and much-loved morning show host on WGN/Chicago from 1986 until his death in 2000. Known to his fans as “Uncle Bobby”, his show featured conversation, music and Collins’ folksy charm. The native of Florida had a regular afternoon show when he was only 14 years old and spent time at stations in Milwaukee, Los Angeles, San Diego and Miami before finding a home at WGN.

Dick Whittinghill

Whittinghill began his career as a movie and television actor, as well as a recording artist who once sang with Tommy Dorsey’s big band. From 1950 to 1979, he established himself as the most popular morning disc jockey in Southern California at KMPC/Los Angeles. His creativity and brash personality earned him millions of loyal fans, as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a statue in the Hollywood Wax Museum. Whittinghill died in 2001.

“These three great broadcasters are gone but they should never be forgotten by the millions who invited them into their homes and hearts,” said Bruce DuMont, Radio Hall of Fame Chairman.

The three posthumous inductions will take place during a live national radio broadcast from The Renaissance Chicago Hotel on Saturday, November 8. Westwood One will produce and distribute the one-hour broadcast at 10 p.m. EST.

The National Radio Hall of Fame also announced its 2008 nominees in four other categories who must now participate in a national online balloting process. The 2008 nominees for induction into the NRHOF are:

NATIONAL – ACTIVE

* Bob Costas, the host of his own syndicated radio show Costas on the Radio, a weekly two-hour interview show distributed on Premiere Radio Networks and heard on over 160 stations and XM Satellite Radio.
* “Focus on the Family”, was founded in the mid-1970s by Dr. James Dobson, a psychologist, lecturer, and author; internationally syndicated and is heard on over 4,000 stations worldwide.
* Dr. Laura Schlessinger, a no nonsense cultural commentator since 1974, her show is distributed by her own production company to more than 270 stations and can also be heard on XM Satellite Radio.
* Howard Stern, outspoken personality who has changed radio’s landscape, he has established himself as one of the most popular and controversial radio hosts of all time and can be heard on Sirius Satellite Radio.

NATIONAL – PIONEER

* Art Bell, longtime host of the paranormal -themed radio program Coast to Coast AM distributed by Premiere Radio Networks.
* Ralph Emery, a country music icon, Emery began his career as the late-night disc jockey on country music’s flagship WSM/Nashville.
* “Gang Busters”, law enforcement reality series created by Phillips Lord and hosted by Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf that aired on NBC, ABC, CBS and Mutual.
* Barry Farber, known for his Southern drawl, intensity, and conservative views, he began his on-air career in New York in 1960 and later a national host on ABC.

LOCAL OR REGIONAL ‑ ACTIVE

* Howie Carr, outspoken, conservative commentator, he has been on the air for almost two decades in the Northeast U.S., currently on WRKO/Boston.
* Steve Dahl, a fixture on Chicago radio since 1979 he redefined the medium of talk radio as one of the first “Shock Jocks”, currently on WJMK/Chicago.
* Bob Grant, dubbed as the inventor of controversial radio, he has been on the air for over 40 years, currently on WABC/New York.
* Ronn Owens, versatile host on KGO/San Francisco since 1975, he covers discussions ranging from local issues, international issues, politics and pop culture.

LOCAL OR REGIONAL ‑ PIONEER

* Gary Burbank, born Billy Purser, he began his radio career in the mid 1960s, he took the name Gary Burbank as a tribute to radio and TV legend Gary Owens and his famous Laugh-In introduction formerly heard on WLW/Cincinnati until the end of ‘07.
* Harry Kalas, made his major league debut in 1965 calling games for the Houston Astros before being hired as “the voice of the Philadelphia Phillies” in 1971.
* Charlie Tuna, over 40 years in radio, one of the original DJ’s at the legendary KROQ and most recently hosted “Charlie Tuna in the Morning” on KBIG until 2007.
* Jim Zabel, broadcasting on WHO/Des Moines for 62 years, he has served as “the voice of the Iowa Hawkeye’s football and basketball” teams.

The national online balloting will begin on May 1st and be monitored by Votenet, a highly respected online vote tabulating firm. Voting ends at midnight on July 15th, after which results will be tabulated and ratified by the Steering Committee of the NRHOF.

Voting is free and open to the public as well as major radio industry leaders. However an online registration will be required. Please visit www.radiohof.org to learn more.

Sean Costello, one of the great young bluesmen dies at age 28

2008-04-16T08:43:00.001-07:00

I don't have the details yet, but I'm sad to learn from the Delta Groove Web site that Sean Costello died.

His recently released disc, "We Can Get Together" is a tour de force among young blues musicians. The beautiful thing about it is that it doesn't follow a formula, or have a slavish love for one genre or another.

It was recorded in Atlanta, using his hometown friends, and it wanders through the types of music bar bands there play, from rock to gospel to blues to country (young Lynyrd Skynyrd built a following there). The same bands built huge, eclectic repertoires, and Costello's disc showcases all of them.

The album was getting good reviews and Costello, who got his big public start backing Susan Tedeschi on her first disc, was scheduled for blues fests around the country.

I wrote the bio on the Delta Groove Web site, and, man, he was a pain to work for. But I relay that in the best sense. He was meticulous and went over every detail with a microscope. He kept apologizing for it, but I was happy to work with a musician who cared so much about the details, not to mention a younger guy who knew more about the blues than I do.

He also hung out with Levon Helm and dated his daughter Amy, musicians who added to his eclecticism.

Do me a favor: check out his music at Delta Groove
and/or his myspace
and leave a comment for a man who held a piece of the future of the blues.

Here is a last interview with Sean: click on A1 artist near the top.

It's not radio or music: but a great parody of Steven Jobs and Apple Marketing

2008-04-16T00:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1811646

Ronn Owens slamming the Olympic torch protestors really has me missing Bernie Ward

2008-04-15T23:23:00.000-07:00

It's sad to watch old friends getting churlish and too comfortable.

Last week Ronn Owens was lamenting the protesters who risked their lives climbing the Golden Gate Bridge to make a pro-Tibet statement, and--gasp--were tying up traffic.

Owens called for them to be strictly prosecuted, the same thing he said eight years ago about Iraq war protestors. (He later apologized, noting that they were right about the war and he was wrong.)

His callers were even worse: one woman from Marin, who claimed to support the free Tibet movement, was angry because it was making her late to the Giants game.

Another man said the protestors were taking away human rights, like the Chinese government.

Owens said that guy was "a bit" overstated.

A bit.

In the old days, Owens and his ilk would have celebrated the protest, as they should. This is the city that has made protest an art, a cause celebre, a reason for thousands to trek to the West Coast and move to a bastion of liberal ideals.

As host Karel says: San Francisco is a blue city pretending to be red, these days. In the old days, he said, people would have lit up a joint and headed to Golden Gate park in honor of the protesters.

I even called Owens, upset and anonymous, noting that the protesters were doing what Martin Luther King would have suggested: peacefully calling attention to an unjust government.

Owens argued that King wouldn't have protested something half a world away. I don't believe that. Selma was just the beginning of his dream. Like Gandhi, King would have taken his message around the globe.

Owens also suggested that the protesters should have taken the protest somewhere else, not a place that would tie up traffic (or be seen by people and covered by the media?).

I can just hear Owens and his callers in Selma, during the civil rights protests in the sixties: "I'm all for civil rights, but I was on my way to the debutante ball and those horrible Negroes made me late. Couldn't they protest on streets we don't use?"

Anyway, as I listened to Owens, I really got to missing Bernie Ward, who before his child porn prosecution, was the most ardent and intelligent liberal voice on the air here (although I'm enjoying a Hannity-less Alan Colmes on KSCO-AM 1080 lately.)

You can read my post in the SF Weekly on who will take Ward's spot.

I'm going to do more for this weekly, which allows writers to have a political voice. Much missed from our current dailies.

REVIEW: Tom Petty and Mudcrutch at the Santa Cruz Civic

2008-04-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

So, I guess you CAN go home again.

That's how it seemed Monday, as Tom Petty reformed Mudcrutch, the Gainesville, Florida high school band he started 38 years ago-- and left five years later for the lights of LA--and brought them to Santa Cruz on the second night of a two-week tour of California.

"You've come to the right place if you're looking for some good old hippie music," Petty told the sold-out house, as if people in Santa Cruz are looking for much else.

The two-hour show was an excellent mix of rock stardom, and down home fun, filled with covers and songs from the album the band recorded last year (due April 29).

The thing that made it great was what made last week's Bruce Springsteen show such a revelation: Petty seemed to be more out to have fun and play music than to worry about fancy stage sets or rock star trappings.

The setlist was rich in lovingly picked covers including two Dylan songs, ''Rainy Day Woman #12&35," during which the audience exploded for the "Everybody must get stoned" chorus; and "Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I'll Go Mine)," once a stormy set opener for Dylan and the Band. Not to mention Dave Dudley's "Six Days on the Road' and bluegrass great Bill Monroe's "Love, Please Come Home."

If Petty was rediscovering his high school roots, there was a great irony there thinking that years after he covered those songs, he played them onstage with Dylan on tour, and recorded with Dylan in the Traveling Wilbury's.

But maybe this was less about Petty's journey through the past, then his former bandmates getting a chance to share in the rock and roll future they missed. Three Heartbreakers, including Petty, guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench were joined by old Mudcrutch members, Tom Leadon on guitar and vocals (he's former Eagle Bernie Leadon's brother) and drummer, and drum teacher, Randall Marsh.

The band opened with an unlikely traditional ballad, "Shady Grove" and ended 18 songs later with an old rocker, "High School Confidential."

In between highlights included a ripping version of the Byrds' "Lover of the Bayeau," where the double guitar attack by Leadon and Campbell really showed why Petty, on bass, is fired up to stand between the duo.

The other great song of the night was a long jam on "Crystal River," a wonderful spacey number that caught all the best things about the sixties long form jams. Inspiration shot off the players like sparks.

Some of the Leadon country rock tunes were leaden, but his guitar playing, wilder and looser than Campbell's, made for a dynamic duo.

Yeah, it was a little tough hearing a night of Petty with no old Petty songs.

But it was also historic, seeing the first regular priced show of a tour (they played a Malibu benefit Saturday) by a band that members say they want to keep together as a regular entity, not just a one-off.

Sometimes the biggest moments in rock history come from the least expected shows. Who else has reformed a high school band 38 years later and made it work? I suspect Petty fans will be talking about this one for a long time.

“Shady Groove”
“Orphan of the Storm”
“Six Days on the Road”
“Scare Easy”
“Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)”
“This is a Good Street”
“Lover of the Bayou”
“Queen of the Go Go Girls”
“Oh Maria”
“Topanga Cowgirl”
“The Wrong Thing to Do”
“Bootleg Flyer”
“June Apple”
“House of Stone”
“Love Please Come Home”
“Crystal River”
“Rainy Day Women #12 & 35″
Encore:
“Summertime Blues”
“High School Confidential”

Alkaline Trio, and dozens more on BFD lineup

2008-04-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

THE SUMMERS’ BIGGEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC BASH
IS ANNOUNCED:

LIVE 105’S BFD 2008
ALL TICKETS $10.53

Tickets on sale Sunday, April 20

San Francisco, April 14, 2008 – Live 105 listeners and alternative rock lovers get ready as tickets for BFD 2008 go on sale April 20 for the summers’ biggest music extravaganza. Performing on 3 stages - connecting the Live 105 music communities - over 30 acts will perform on Saturday June 7 at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. Doors open at 11:30 and show time is Noon. Tickets are an incredible recession proof $10.53 (plus applicable charges).
Bud Light Festival Stage performers from Noon-8:30 p.m. include: Cypress Hill, Pennywise, Flogging Molly, Alkaline Trio, The Kooks, Everlast, Anti-Flag, MGMT, Atreyu, Airborne Toxic Event, Flobots, Whigs and Middle Class Rut.
Artists in the Subsonic Tent from 3 p.m. – 11 p.m. include: Moby, Mstrkrft, DJ AM, Santogold, Steve Aoki, Lyrics Born, Mike Relm, Playradioplay, DJ Omar, Richard Oh, Hot Tub, and DJ Miles from Live 105.
And as usual Aaron Axelsen and crew have assembled the best of the local scene on the Soundcheck Local Music Stage from 1p.m. – 6 p.m. with appearances by The Phenomenauts, Love Like Fire, Here Here, Magic Bullets, Apside, The Hundred Days, Federalists and Action Design.
Pre-Sale for Live 105 activists is Thursday April 17 at 10 a.m. through Friday April 18 at 5 p.m. General on-sale is Sunday April 20 at 10 a.m. at www.LIVENATION.com. Additionally, Friday June 6 the traditional Live 105 BFD pre-party will be held at 330 Ritch and Mezzanine will host the after party. Both these events are 21 and older.
For all the info and more visit www.live105.com.

Tom Petty playing Santa Cruz Monday with his original band, Mudcrutch

2008-04-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

How many rockers call up their bandmates from their first high school band, 35 years after becoming famous, and hook up for a disc and tour?

That's the big buzz about Tom Petty's show in Santa Cruz Monday, with his first band, Mudcrutch.

Read more about it here.

The Beatles didn't do it for Pete Best; the Stones haven't done it for Mick Taylor. Pink Floyd tried, but it was out of the question to do it for Syd Barrett.

I think this is great, historic stuff.

You can read a review Monday night here.

Hear Mudcrutch here.

MIni Review: Curtis Salgado at Moe's Alley: A Name You SHOULD Know

2008-04-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

Curtis Salgado, for whom the first "Blues Brothers" movie was dedicated, played a great set at Santa Cruz's Moes Alley last week.

It hurt that the audience was so small on a Sunday night.

This guy is a master, a pro, who inspired Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi to become the Blues Brothers, after they saw him playing clubs while Belushi was filming "Animal House," in Eugene, Oregon.

Salgado knocked out the house, and then, during a break, went into the audience to talk to fans...Great stuff.

Catch him next time he comes to town.

Emergency Room Overcrowding Corrected

2008-04-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a topic every conservative talk host takes on wrongly, according to this study.

You've heard them all blame illegals for emergency room overcrowding.

Here's another answer:

Study says the uninsured aren't to blame
By Suzanne Bohan
Bay Area News Group
Article Launched: 04/12/2008 01:38:54 AM PDT

Contrary to popular perception, the uninsured aren't to blame for emergency room overcrowding, according to a new study from the University of California-San Francisco.

"There's an extremely wide misunderstanding that it's the uninsured" flocking to emergency departments, said Dr. Linda Lawrence, a Fairfax physician and president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

From 1995 to 2005, the number of annual visits to ERs rose from 97 million to 115 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - a 20 percent increase. Yet between those years, the number of U.S. hospitals offering emergency care declined by 9 percent.

During roughly the same time frame, the number of visits to ERs by the uninsured actually declined from 15.5 percent to 14.5 percent, the study reported.

Meanwhile, from 1996 to 2004, the number of insured patients visiting an ER who also had a regular doctor increased from 22 percent to 29 percent.

The primary cause of emergency department overcrowding, the new study noted, is a lack of capacity to admit ER patients into the hospital. These patients can be "boarded" for hours and even days in emergency departments, occupying a bed while ill or injured patients idle in waiting rooms.

Randi Rhodes Quits Air America, After SF Appearance

2008-04-12T08:40:00.000-07:00

Let me direct you to the right, scroll down to the radio news and read the story about the liberal host who called Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro ho's.

Who says only the right is allowed to engage in bad taste?

Then again, the same could be said these days about almost all politicians.

But the right doesn't get punished for it, as when Michael Savage claims that no minorities or women firefighters were killed in 9/11, or that the Chinese are "little devils" who should be nuked.

Yesterday he complained about the bad tires on his new expensive Mercedes. He should have seen Sarah Silverman's "Jesus is Magic," for its take on Jews who buy Mercedes. Oh yeah, Savage likes to pretend he's not Jewish so his redneck, KKK fans won't realize it.

Although I have to admit, he's struck a truthful chord of late, saying the the Republicans and the Bush administration are the most corrupt politicians in history, because of the bailout of Bear Stearns and the privatization of war services, such as food preparation, in Iraq.

He's right about that.

Trouble is, a true schizophrenic, the next day he calls liberals who say the same thing, traitors. And his fans don't seem to notice the bipolar discrepencies.

Festival Summer: Value Added to music in a slumping economy

2008-04-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

From the New York Times, an interesting story.

Concert Industry Is Banking on a Festive Summer

By JEFF LEEDS

Published: April 11, 2008

LOS ANGELES — Rock fans across the country who can brave the heat will have ample opportunities to see acts like Jack Johnson, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and the Raconteurs take the stage in an array of unconventional settings as part of the concert industry’s increasing wager on summer music festivals.

Faced with an audience that has been atomized by the dizzying music choices available online, concert promoters are straining to book diverse shows in whatever open space is available, be it a ranch in Michigan, a soccer field in Colorado or a racetrack in Maryland.

In a slumping music business such events pack a box office punch: the top five American festivals generated a combined $60 million in ticket sales last year, according to Billboard magazine’s estimates.

At least four new festivals will make their debuts this summer, raising the total to more than a dozen. Various concert promoters are already warning of the dangers of oversaturation, and point to the clutch of stars headlining multiple festivals.

The most extreme case: Jack Johnson, the laid-back singer-songwriter who has released the top-selling album of the year so far, is booked for at least five festivals, including two on the second weekend in August: the inaugural All Points West event in Jersey City and the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore.

The risk of overlapping talent lineups means that each promoter must try to suffuse his event with a distinct flair. In Michigan, where organizers of the first Rothbury festival (July 3 to 6) have booked the Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer and Snoop Dogg, fans can attend yoga sessions or sit in on a discussion of energy independence with a Stanford professor.

But there is no guarantee that all the events will survive. Promoters of a planned festival in Vineland, N.J., canceled it to avoid direct competition with All Points West. Sales at some of the new events have been uneven, promoters say. The Mile High Music Festival in Denver (July 19 and 20), featuring the Dave Matthews Band and John Mayer, is regarded as a breakout hit; the outlook for All Points West, featuring Radiohead for two nights and Mr. Johnson on the third, is more uncertain, based on early ticket sales.

The established festivals do not appear to be suffering much. Lollapalooza, which was reimagined as a two-day festival in the lakeside Grant Park in Chicago in 2005 after sputtering as a touring attraction, is seen as an especially strong draw this year (Aug. 1 to 3), with Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine and Kanye West among the acts.

Charlie Walker, a partner in C3 Presents, Lollapalooza’s promoter, said sales were roughly 15 percent ahead of last year, with three-day tickets selling for $175 to $205.

“It’s a big marketplace,” he said. “We’ve got a little ways to go before we see any saturation.”

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which began in 1999 at a polo field in the desert two hours from Los Angeles, stunned fans this week by adding Prince to a lineup that had been branded as underwhelming. (The event’s previously announced headliners included Roger Waters, Portishead and Mr. Johnson). Organizers of the festival, which runs from April 25 to 27 and customarily draws as many as 60,000 people a day, said before the Prince announcement that they were not concerned that it had not yet sold out. Last year’s edition sold out in February, mainly because of its booking of a reunited Rage Against the Machine, an event that Coachella’s promoter, Paul Tollett, called “an anomaly.”

All the festivals, however, are coping with another X factor: whether the faltering economy will dampen ticket sales. That has not stopped organizers from trying to woo well-heeled fans and corporate clients. Lollapalooza offers private cabanas, with an all-day buffet, for $25,000 and up for parties of 20 or more. Bonnaroo, held on several hundred acres of Tennessee farmland, where fans camp for the weekend (June 12 to 15), is marketing V.I.P. passes, which include access to a private prefestival party and special restroom and shower facilities, for $1,169.50 per pair. (Scheduled bands include Pearl Jam and Metallica.)

In general, rock festivals have built their reputations by offering fans the chance to pack months of club crawling into one weekend and discover new favorites. But some talent managers caution against the idea that emerging acts can build their names through playing the full complement of festivals, where artist sets are sometimes abbreviated, and fans can be distracted.

Mike Martinovich, who manages the rock group My Morning Jacket, said the band had agreed to play the two most established festivals, Coachella and Bonnaroo, and turned down other offers to keep from seeming like too much of a commodity. “Doing a whole tour of festivals would be disastrous,” he said.

And some promoters worry that similar talent lineups will limit the festivals’ collective appeal. Mr. Tollett said the fear was “that it could become homogenized, and everyone have the same bill and the same sort of feel at the festival.”

“If every one of them is just a McFranchise,” he added, “there’s a specialness that’ll be lost.”

Artie Lange walks off Stern? Smells like a stunt

2008-04-10T15:22:00.001-07:00

Here's a Newsday story about the broo-ha-ha today.

The day before a week vacation, something comes up that will have the audience scrambling to the radio when the cast comes back.

Been there; heard that before.

But the satellite station has to earn Sterns billion somehow.

New York Times Praises Tony Lindsay; Slams Eddie Money

2008-04-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

Jon Pareles of the New York Times today gave a glowing review to Carlos Santana's performance, and had these kind words for Tony Lindsay:

The band has skillful singers: Tony Lindsay leaning toward R&B, Andy Vargas rooted in salsa, although both of them sing in English and Spanish (and a few words of French). Yet its strongest voice is Mr. Santana’s guitar, which constantly asserts itself between vocal lines before taking over fully.

Then, in reviewing MTV's Rock the Cradle, the talent show for children of rock stars, they had this to say about Eddie Money:

Mr. Money turns out to be the most demanding presence on the show. “I’m a stage father, I just can’t help myself,” he explains. (What he doesn’t say is how he came to look vaguely like an old woman.)

One of the great mysteries of the world remains why children of successful singers — or actors, directors or microbiologists — don’t simply say to themselves, “You know, I think I’ll take up plumbing.” When, during a rehearsal, Mr. Money reprimands his daughter that she “blew the bridge” in her rendition of “When I’m Gone,” you hope she’s thought about graduate school.

Radio is far healthier than it is getting credit for

2008-04-10T06:15:00.000-07:00

Check this excerpt from Tom Taylor's Radio-Info newsletter.

Radio’s far from being out of the race – but.

94% of Americans tune to AM/FM radio once a week, and three-quarters of those in the January Arbitron/Edison “Infinite Dial” research say they’ll continue to listen as much as they do now. 1 in 5 say AM/FM radio has a “big impact on their lives, second only to cellphones.”

But I’m afraid that radio’s traditional inferiority complex and the turnover in executives, PDs and marketers from the 1980s and 1990s have left a pervasive attitude that things are only going to get worse.

That could be 180 degrees off – or a self-fulfilling prophecy. Arbitron/Edison pick on some specific issues, such as radio’s loss of the image as “the place to discover new music.” Radio “still leads the Internet, but its advantage has been cut in half.”

And judging from the psychology out there – just pick up a Rolling Stone or other music magazine – you’d think nobody was using radio for music.

The Infinite Dial study says “young people are unlikely to turn back to over-the-air radio itself for discovering new music, but they may try Internet options provided by radio brands.”

Simple stuff would work: Edison’s Tom Webster says stations could set up Wikis appealing to local bands (“post your mp3s, bio and schedule here”) and clubs.

That position’s still wide-open in most markets. Another important avenue to explore: connecting to existing social network sites, instead of trying to re-invent them. Check the fast-read 63-page “Infinite Dial” slide presentation at either the Arbitron or Edison sites.