Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Have a Great Thanksgiving!

I'll be back at my blogging desk on Monday.


Today's Best Tweets



Here are some tweets that caught my eye today...





Anita S ‏@Chezhdchick
A kid scores 138 points in a D-III basketball game. His team won by 75 points against a BIBLE college. Coach is so going to Hell for this

Forbes ‏@Forbes
In Hollywood, there are bombs and then there are disasters. The biggest movie turkeys of 2012: http://bit.ly/10qCNq2

Huffington Post ‏@HuffingtonPost
Larry David's Thanksgiving special isn't quite as heartwarming as Charlie Brown's http://huff.to/RTyArb

Jimmy Greenfield ‏@jcgreenx
.@MegganRenee Chicagoans would happily eat fog for breakfast if it wasn't that nasty vegan fog. Give us some meat fog!

Robin Baumgarten ‏@WGNRobin
25 flights cancelled at Midway airport. 244 at O'Hare with 90 minute delays. UGH!!

chuck swirsky ‏@swirsk054
Fot those leaving early for Thanksgiving please travel safe. Emotions run high at the airport or in traffic so just take it easy, Chill.

DRUDGE REPORT ‏@DRUDGE_REPORT
Two TV news anchors quit on the air... http://drudge.tw/T3RtXb

Greg Sargent ‏@ThePlumLineGS
ICYMI: Mitt Romney very well may end up with 47 percent of the popular vote: http://wapo.st/RRPOW0

POLITICO ‏@politico
Newspaper disciplines copy editor for adding 'allegedly' to 'Obama was born in Hawaii:' http://politi.co/TPCUVS

Chris Rock 'Oz' ‏@chrisrockozfan
I really love everyone's inspiring posts on Facebook. I love them so much they've inspired me to stop checking Facebook.

Doom and Gloom

The latest from the Stones...

Art Vuolo

If you've been in radio, you know the name Art Vuolo. He's the man that has trekked across the country videotaping air personalities doing their thing for the past forty years or so. His first audio aircheck, by the way, was his fellow Ann Arbor buddy John Records Landecker in 1966. That story is in the upcoming "Records Truly is My Middle Name".

According to the RAMP Newsletter, Art is venturing onto the other side of the camera this weekend. Here are the details...


As radio's reigning "Best Friend," legendary videographer Art Vuolo has seen the inside of hundreds, possibly thousands of radio stations during his exemplary career. Usually that view is from the "Visitors" side of the console... but all that is about to change, as Art boldly prepares to temporarily switch teams, slap on the cans and play for "Home" this Sunday, November 25. That's right -- Art will gallantly attempt to assume the deceptive easy role of DJ and do an online Oldies show from Cleveland, which will delivered worldwide over the prestigious Internet. Art's temporary home is wixy1260online.com, a tribute to the legendary WIXY-AM 1260 that reigned from 1965-1975...The Art Vuolo Radio Experience™ will rule the Interwebs this Sunday from 3-6pm ET, so please stick a Post-It note on your monitor as a reminder...To give you a rough idea of the level of professional entertainment you are in store for, Art posted this true story on his Facebook page -- "Haven't jocked since 1989 when I took the needle off a record while it was playing on the air!"

Another Publishing Supermerger?

A few weeks after the last publishing supermerger was announced (Penguin & Random House), another one is being rumored. This would also merge two of the existing big six...Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster.

Harper Collins is owned by News Corp (Rupert) and Simon & Schuster is owned by CBS (Sumner). I'm not sure what would happen to the world if an unholy alliance between Rupert Murdoch and Sumner Redstone was formed.

I'm predicting locust and frogs falling from the sky. But that's just me. I could be wrong.

Cubs 365, November 21

On this day in 1905, future Hall of Famer Freddie Lindstrom was born in Chicago. Freddie was a big star in New York for the Giants. In his rookie season of 1924, he came up late in the year and led the Giants to the World Series. He had many great seasons in New York, especially 1928, when he finished 2nd in the MVP voting, but the Chicago boy (Lane Tech grad) must have been thrilled when he became a Chicago Cub in 1935.

Not only did the Cubs go to the World Series that year, they set a record that still stands today by winning 21 games in a row.

That turned out to be Lindstrom's only season in Chicago. He played one more season in the big leagues, but retired after the 1936 season at the age of 31.

Fred settled back in his home town after his career was over, where he got to see his son make the big leagues with the White Sox in 1958. The senior Lindstrom was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the veterans committee in 1976. He passed away in 1981, and is buried in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Alice's Restaurant

It was released 45 years ago today, and is now played once a year or so on some hippie radio stations. I still like it--but I think once a year is about right.

Today's Best Tweets



Here are some tweets that caught my eye today...



Frank Caliendo ‏@FrankCaliendo
BREAKING: Millions of Bears fans suffer concussions after watching #MNF game and banging their heads against the wall.

USA TODAY ‏@USATODAY
Kevin Clash resigns as Elmo in wake of sex scandal http://usat.ly/Sc4JKn

Al Hughes Dukes ‏@Alsboringtweets
Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash has resigned. This is the perfect opportunity for Grover to take over

Rick Bayless ‏@Rick_Bayless
Tune in to Martha Stewart's Thanksgiving Hotline! I'll be on today at 1 p.m. (central)- Sirius XM Satellite Radio Channel 110!

New York Daily News ‏@nydailynews
Bad nudes! San Francisco mulls nakedness ban in sign of city's takeover by sticks-in-the-mud http://nydn.us/UG7DFA

Mark Glaser ‏@mediatwit
Conservative media does its own soul-searching after Obama's reelection (BuzzFeed) http://bit.ly/UcUebW

USA TODAY ‏@USATODAY
Report: Jill Kelley took multiple flights at taxpayer expense: http://usat.ly/TOaqvD In one instance, she flew with Gen. Allen to D.C.

The Associated Press ‏@AP
Unemployment rates fall below 7 percent in 23 U.S states as job market slowly heals: http://apne.ws/10mXgfd

ProPublica ‏@ProPublica
Who's who in Murdoch's circle? A total of 17 people have been charged in phone hacking scandal. http://propub.ca/y9XZrD

Funny Or Die ‏@funnyordie
Larry David reminisces about Thanksgiving in Brooklyn in this animated holiday special: http://ow.ly/frwR4



The Christmas Song

By Paul McCartney.

People Magazine has the behind-the-scenes recording of the song. It sounds great to me, but then again, I'm slightly biased.

Who Will Run The Tribune Now?

This is from Tom Taylor's column this morning, and just reading between the lines, it doesn't sound good...

L.A.-based Oaktree Capital and Angelo, Gordon led the committee of creditors in the marathon Tribune Chapter 11 battle, with JPMorgan Chase as the main banker. Oaktree and Angelo, Gordon will convert their debt into equity in the new Tribune Company (expected to be run by former News Corp. executive Peter Liguori, says the L.A. Times). Oaktree also is a backer of station owner and syndicator Cumulus Media – and it’s the major sponsor of small market specialist Townsquare Media. So Oaktree’s view of the radio station business spans all the way from the very largest markets (through Cumulus) to the smallest ones.

When I see the words News Corp. and Cumulus, I get a little nervous.

Cubs 365, November 20

On this day in 1866, the future first commissioner of baseball was born, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

He is best remembered as the man who banned the Black Sox for life, and saved the game from the evils of gambling, but Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was a Chicago Cubs fan long before he took over baseball, and remained a Cubs fan until his dying day.

He was named a federal judge by President Theodore Roosevelt during the heyday of the Chicago Cubs championship run.

As a judge, he became nationally famous for standing up to the richest man in the world, John D. Rockefeller. While he was beloved as a trust-busting judge, Landis was also a regular at West Side Grounds, home of the Chicago Cubs. He openly rooted for the Cubs against the White Sox in the 1906 World Series, something White Sox fans never forgot. When the Cubs moved to what is now Wrigley Field, he was a regular there as well. He loved baseball and watched it intently, leaning forward in his seat, devouring every moment of the game.

During World War 1, Judge Landis became even more popular with the general public. A fervently patriotic nation cheered the judge who threw the book at anyone who dared speak ill of his country (which was against the law at that time, thanks to the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918). It was during this era, however, that gamblers began to take over Landis' beloved game of baseball. With horse racing banned by President Wilson during the war, the gamblers shifted their attention to another sport--the national pastime. Rumors swirled during the 1918 Series (which featured Landis'Cubs), and then reached a fever pitch during the 1919 Series between the White Sox and the Reds.

When a Cubs player (Claude Hendrix) was accused of sports betting on another game in the 1920 season, baseball owners knew something had to be done. The idea of naming Landis Commissioner of baseball actually came from one of the minority owners of the Cubs, Albert Lasker. He was an advertising mogul in Chicago who realized that the game would be forever tainted if it didn't act. Who better to save the game than the man who stood up to Rockefeller?

Landis accepted the job and became as tough on players who gambled as he had been on Americans disloyal to the War. After his harsh punishments against the White Sox players (and several other players in the following years), rumors of game-fixing virtually disappeared from the game. While a sport like boxing (which was just as popular back in those days) slipped into an underworld morass, baseball emerged more popular than ever.

The credit for that goes to a Cubs fan...Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Father Knows Nothing

This week's Father Knows Nothing column is called "A New Romance Language".

You can read it here.

The Temptations & The Supremes

From the Olde Disc Jockey's Almanac, this little tidbit from 45 years ago today...

November 19, 1967…Diana Ross and the Supremes sang "In And Out Of Love," the Temptations sang "Don't Look Back," and the two groups performed a medley of each other's hits on CBS-TV's "The Ed Sullivan Show."

Today's Best Tweets



Here are some tweets that caught my eye today...



John Arguello ‏@CubsDen
Levine hints at big, mult-player trade involving young players. | Cubs Den http://www.chicagonow.com/cubs-den/2012/11/levine-hints-at-big-mult-player-trade-involving-young-players/

Brett Taylor ‏@BleacherNation
#Cubs: Cubs Have Re-Signed Shawn Camp for $1.35 Million Plus Incentives http://bit.ly/QpBmrh

Sarah Spain ‏@SarahSpain
Wow! Maryland to the Big Ten (via ESPN's Brett McMurphy) and Rutgers likely to announce move to Big Ten tomorrow (via ESPN's Dana O'Neil).

BobVorwald ‏@BobVorwald
If Jim Delaney grabs 6 more teams, he can slap an "s" on the conference logo and name and all will be good. #BigTens

Dave Wischnowsky ‏@wischlist
Rutgers and Purdue are the most private-sounding public state schools in the country, in my opinion. #B1G

Newsweek ‏@Newsweek
David Petraeus steered the course for exit in Afghanistan. So why was he no match for his biographer? http://nswk.ly/10ftWr1

Gawker ‏@Gawker
Elmo sex scandal back on? Accuser recants recantation, says he was pressured to settle http://gaw.kr/IdOO7h

ThinkProgress ‏@thinkprogress
Marco Rubio flirts with Creationism, says he’s unsure how old the Earth is http://thkpr.gs/SIVcc6

Tanqueray ‏@Tanquerayusa
A 750 ml bottle of Tanqueray will make about 17 T&Ts for your Thanksgiving party. And for that, everyone will be thankful, guaranteed.

New York Daily News ‏@nydailynews
Will poop-shy Americans ever embrace high-tech Japanese toilets? http://nydn.us/RODw0D

Bubba the Love Sponge

Would you believe that Bubba is involved in another scandal? Remember he was involved in the Hulk Hogan sextape scandal (it was with Bubba's wife), and now it turns out he's in the middle of this Jill Kelley/Petraeus scandal too. From Tom Taylor's column this morning...

"The Petraeus mess has drawn in Tampa’s Bubba the Love Sponge. The tentacles of what comedian Stephen Colbert referred to as a “Pentagon”-shaped mystery have reached further into Tampa. The New York Daily News says Bubba’s March proclamation that he would “deep fat-fry a Koran” got the attention of Tampa’s Jill Kelley. The paper says she “wrote the mayor, saying that then-CIA Director David Petraeus and the top commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, had asked her about ‘getting this dealt with.’” Obviously, they didn’t want to further inflame Muslim sentiment. The mayor said his office was “working on it,” and Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn also told Kelley – the frequent email chum of General Allen – that “this Bubba the Love Sponge is a complete moron.” Now it’s Bubba’s turn. The WHPT (102.5) morning personality was “reportedly part of a crowd outside Kelley’s Tampa mansion on Friday.” And he’s not too happy about the mayor’s “moron” judgment. He told the Tampa Bay Times “I will make it my mission to destroy this guy…I am his political death sentence.”

Oh, and by the way, about a month ago, Hogan's lawsuit against Bubba was settled. I must have missed this. Found the details on TMZ...

"Hulk Hogan has settled his lawsuit against his ex-BFF, Bubba the Love Sponge, over the sex tape scandal...Financial terms of the settlement were not released, but clearly a public mea culpa from Bubba, real name Todd Alan Clem, was part of the deal.Bubba played the apology after coming back from a commercial break ... and the audio was sped up and hard to listen to ... just like a legal notice at the end of a car commercial.

Major Garrett

He was the White House correspondent for Fox News in the early days of the Obama Administration, and now it looks like he's back in the same role in the early days of the second Obama Administration.

But this time it's with a legitimate news operation: CBS.

Cubs 365, November 19

On this day in 1862, one of the most famous players in Chicago baseball history was born. His name was Billy Sunday.

The story of his fame began in the summer of 1886. Sunday was out carousing in Chicago with his fellow players Mike King Kelly, Ed Williamson, and Frank Flint on Van Buren Street, nearby the many famous decadent State Street saloons. They were totally drunk, sitting in a gutter, and the sun was coming up. While they tried to rouse themselves, a gospel wagon drove up and conducted a service. Sunday recognized the songs from his childhood in Ames, Iowa and saw the light at that moment. He said to his buddies: “Boys, it’s all off; we have come to where the roads part.” He swore off booze forever, and dedicated himself to God. He would later be one of the leading voices in favor of Prohibition.

He still played baseball a little longer, but he now he was playing with God on his shoulder. When he became one of the most famous evangelists in America, he would tell the story of the day God helped him in the field.

“I saw the ball coming out to right field like a shell out of a mortar, and it was up to me. There were thousands of people out in the field, for the grandstand the bleachers had overflowed. I whirled and went with all my speed. I was going so fast that day you couldn’t see me for the dust. I yelled to the crowd ‘Get out of the way!” and they opened up like the Red Sea for the rod of Moses. And as I ran I offered my first prayer, and it was something like this: ‘God I’m in an awful hole. Help me out, if you ever helped mortal man in your life; he me get that ball. And you haven’t much time to make up your mind. I am sure the Lord helped me catch that ball. It was my first experience with prayer.”

But not his last. After he quit baseball he toured the country as an evangelist—using incredible theatrics to get his point across. He was a friend to Presidents, and one of the most famous people in America. The song “Chicago Chicago” includes a line about him: “The town that Billy Sunday could not shut down.” Some say the ice cream sundae was even named after him.

But it all began with a bunch of ballplayers sitting in a Chicago gutter in 1886.