THURSDAY--Another Edition of:

With the weekly tip of the hat to JIMMY CANNON

NOBODY ASKED ME BUT.........

1) Pres. Obama seems to be over exposing himself on TV because there is a saturation point when interest is lost and the office becomes debased.

2) Sometimes Less is More.

3) The Emmy Awards are a bore. The winners were deserving of the awards and also had the least viewers which tells us about common denominators, taste, and network’s lack of wins.

4) Isn’t it hard to squeeze just a few lines into what could be an essay?---see above.

5) Have confirmations gotten as gaudy and “over the top” as Bar/ Bat (whoever heard of that aside from caterers) Mitzvahs? Best see “Keeping Up With The Steins” for perspective. Laugh and learn.

6) Some of the best artists are not in the mainstream and an evening spent at their venues is usually more satisfying than the big dollar and big name appearances.

7) How is it possible for the drug plans to have high co-pays and “doughnut holes” when some stores will sell you the generic versions of many for $10.00 for a 90 day supply?

8) If you truly believe you can become invisible you may well be right when you get into some super market checkout lines and the clerk keeps up a running conversation with the clerk on your other side. You are invisible. Have a Nice Day!

9) The late Peter Ustinov would be very upset with all those buses that flash “Have A Nice Day” on their front because he would not be able to respond to people who said that to him with his great riposte---“I HAVE OTHER PLANS”.

10) Why do people pay much money for discreet hearing aids and then stick the wireless cell phone things in their ears?

11) Utah has it right. Cell phones and texting while driving is more dangerous than drinking and driving and Utah has passed the strongest law against it. Perhaps initials are called for--- DWT---driving while texting/talking.

12) The answer to “How Many Roads Must A Man Walk Down Before They Call Him a Man” is, if you are religious--ONE. The aisle leading to your Bar Mitzvah or Confirmation. Then they have a party and everyone acts like a child again.

13) I am glad that Larry David, Mad Men, and House have started new seasons and still think Hugh Laurie should have gotten the acting award since he has truly enveloped his character in a difficult and different characterization for him.

14) It was gratifying to see the response to last Sunday’s Traditions program on WFDU.

15) I am glad to see that WFDU programs the eclectic variety that other stations don’t and/or have “dumped” in, sometimes, very unceremonious ways.

WHAT IS THAT OLD LINE....

Have I got a deal for you---click over to The Almost Daily Rooster for some music and words of import. I never export anything and will, at some time, beat the Collier Brothers at their own game---it is a generational thing and an urban legend. E L Doctorow has a new book on that subject---novel and not factual.

The link is above and also on the right side of this page---and here is a hint as to the content:

See you at THE ALMOST DAILY ROOSTER and we can talk about this and what it means.

AN UNFORTUNATE PROGRAM UPDATE AND SOME COMMENTARY

If you scroll down a bit you will see some of the items on the schedule for this coming Sunday. There is a sad addition to the planned programming. A remembrance of MARY TRAVERS.

MARY TRAVERS 1936-2009





Over the years I had the pleasure of meeting Noel Paul Stookey a number of times and some very brief contact with Peter Yarrow. I never had the pleasure of meeting Mary Travers but I recall some things about her that impressed me and made me feel that this was---as the Yiddish expression goes---"a real mensch".

Quite a few years back ---before I was doing a radio show---I called Harold Leventhal's office about the possibility of getting tickets for a Carnegie Hall concert with Pete Seeger and he said to stop by his office and pick up a pair for whatever they cost (always the business man--bless him). I was "wowed" when I realized I was sitting behind PPM in the audience and Mary graciously chatted with this awed unknown. Harold Leventhal, when I called to thank him, said in his gravel like voice--"...glad you like the show , Tony". OK he had me mixed up with someone else. So much for fame.

At one of their first "reunion" concerts I just loved the line she used on the stage at a Westchester, NY venue---"...anything different about us, folks? PAUSE. They are bald and I am speaking". What a great sense of humor.

A brief time of being just MARY without PPM led to long lines, as I recall, at a venue in Newport RI.

Recently she appeared in a documentary on PBS and, sadly, was there with all the tubes she needed for her condition. My take was that she felt the commentary for that documentary was more important than her personal appearance. Few people---well, Farah Fawcett comes to mind---are that open.

There is no sense in my repeating all the comments that have been posted elsewhere and the radio and TV comments here---"soundtrack of a generation", "meaningful music", "talked the talk---and also walked the walk"(I made that one up--though true ). Suffice it to say she is a great loss to a generation and even more so as a "mensch" in a world that needs more such folks.

As to program notes. The thing to do is to tune in on Sunday and read below for the other people that will be remembered that day in addition to some of the new artists that I am sure will admit a debt to people of Mary Travers' generation for their creativity and content.

Program Notes as the Title Says--And Some Other Items

On Sunday September 20 I will be presenting a few items that should be of interest to you on both programs:

TRADITIONS: For a few brief minutes I would like to commemorate and remember a member of the WFDU staff who passed away recently and who I was proud to call "friend". We will, besides some music he might have chosen, play an interview we did with Iris DeMent some years ago while sitting in a car on a very rainy day---and the punch line to that is quite interesting. I will mention it.
Our usual features can be expected with the addition of a segment to commemorate what would have been this artist's 86th birthday and how artists in other genres picked up on his songs and created a major cross over hit for him--- and his estate---and you will, surely, hear the maestro himself with a fitting ending song. No picture here---you figure who it is.

SUNDAY SIMCHA: More than La Shona Tova I cannot say. The New Years program is all fresh and new as it should be for the coming of the New Year. We shall go to the river in some traditional and nontraditional ways and also hear some classic cantorial music.

FINALLY: I had written on THE ALMOST DAILY ROOSTER that most of the items will be posted on this site except for some items that might be more appropriate there. Along with new videos from time to time. There are a few items there now that you might find of interest and that I hope you agree with. If not please feel free to leave comments.
Should you be tennis fans or just fans of proper decorum I think you will consider this an appropriate item to discuss .

You can access The Almost Daily Rooster by clicking on the above link or one of the side of this page.

THURSDAY--Another Edition of:

With the weekly tip of the hat to Jimmy Cannon

NOBODY ASKED ME BUT:


1) The U S Tennis Open has been a wonder of physical abilities that seem almost impossible.

2) The price of attendance, transportation, food is something that truly makes TV viewing (with its better views) confirm the cliche---the best things in life are free. You do have to pay for the electric and the TV.

3) There was a time when a President spoke to schools it was considered an honorable and special event.

4) Did people mind when W read to the kiddies---and the Towers fell?

5) I have to wonder why people use debit cards. Credit cards let the card company carry the debt interest free for a month and the debit cards have heavy fees for overdrafts.

6) Credit Card companies are the Shylocks of the modern era and if Shakespeare were alive he would have some comment more lyrical than mine. I still do not think he was Anti-Semitic---perhaps Anti Usury ==which we have forgotten about given the Banks and the Credit Cards.

7) Texting while being alive is becoming the bane of society---driving, social occasions, whatever. Whatever happened to the current contact with whomever you are with?

8) WFDU is truly the only place on the radio dial where some creativity and reality ( forget TV) is allowed. OK the pay is not great---$0 but the commercial ones have sold their souls for who knows what. Perhaps for the honor of reading the announcements.

9) I am saddened to hear of the passing of Paul Bain. A person I considered a friend and colleague at WFDU. Would that he had not suffered for so long.

10) Amreeka sounds like a great film to see and one I shall as soon as it is in my area. A Palestinian family in America and all that cultural chasm encompasses.

A PROGRAM PREVIEW

I do hope you will be with me on September 6 on TRADITIONS when I will be presenting a special segment featuring the brilliant new Box Set that Smithsonian Folkways has issued in commemoration of 50 Years of THE NEW LOST CITY RAMBLERS.

You will surely find this insightful and interesting and the recordings and the booklets that come with them even more so.

Traditions airs from 3-6 PM ET and we stream on the web at www.wfdu.fm

The program will also be archived there for 2 weeks.

It is actually 50 Years and this is an earlier album cover as you can see.