John Records Landecker's First Downstate Appearance for "Records Truly Is My Middle Name" (August 9 in Danville)

If you've read John's book "Records Truly Is My Middle Name", you know how much he's going to enjoy appearing at the 76th annual Georgetown Fair in Danville, Illinois. It's a good ol' fashioned country fair, like the kind he used to attend with his Grandma and Grandpa Records.

Here's the lineup (other than John's appearance) on the day he is appearing...

Saturday, August 9th

8:00 a.m. – American Dairy Goat Association Sanctioned Sr. Dairy Goat Show (Milkers) – VanBuskirk Arena

8:00 a.m. – Registration for Pretty Baby Contest

9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. – Release-Home Ec. Entries

9:00 a.m. – Pretty Baby Contest – Sponsored by GRHS Class of 2004

9:00 a.m. – Llama and Alpaca Show

9:00 a.m. – Open Poultry Show

1:00 p.m. – Ponytail & Piggytail Contest

1:30 p.m. – Pedal Tractor Pull

1:00-5:00 p.m. – Kiddie Day at the Carnival (Armbands)

5:00 p.m.-Close – Armband Night in Carnival

7:00 p.m. – Demolition Derby – Sponsored by 94.9 K-ROCK & NAPA Auto Parts, G & K Inc.

Yeah baby! John's event is called "Saturday Night at the 70s". The radio station WITY is sponsoring him. They are running promos already.

Eckhartz Press publishers Rick and Dave will be there too. I'm bringing the kids. Looking forward to it!

E-books

The E stands for Eckhartz...but we do actually have these nine books available on e-book. Our tenth one ("Best Seat in the House") is coming out via e-book soon.

RIP Johnny Winter

The albino blues guitarist died yesterday at the age of 70. His obituary is here.

I never met Johnny, but I met his brother Edgar. (Johnny was basically Edgar with tattoos.) When I worked at WPGU in Champaign, and I was working the late night shift, I used to play my share of Johnny's music on the air. One of the songs I played was this one from Woodstock...

Now Moonves Wants to Buy CNN

The story is in Bloomberg today.

It looks like this year's media mogul secret meeting in Idaho has started another round of consolidation fever. Short term gain for a few guys, and destruction of American information for the rest of us. Fantastic.

I'm getting tired of being vigilant. Somebody else can take this job for awhile.

Mike Magee's Day Off

Who is Mike Magee? Reigning MLS MVP. Pretty clever spot. Featuring cameos from Hope Solo, Thiery Henry, Michael Bradley and others.

Lost in the Ivy-palooza

Eckhartz Press author Randy Richardson has been all over the place promoting his great murder/mystery "Lost in the Ivy".

Last week he made an appearance at the Beverly Arts Center on the south side. Thanks to Penny Golden for her nice work on that interview in front of a live audience.

This week Randy has made some appearances on Chicago-based podcasts.

Here he is on: All Write Already!

And here he is on: the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (CCLaP) Podcast

But I think our favorite thing he's done lately is this post at Wrigleyville Nation. It's about the Cubs great Ken Hubbs, and how he inspired the main character of Randy's book "Lost in the Ivy".

Naturally, "Lost in the Ivy" is available in trade paperback right here at Eckhartz Press.

Sheepherders

Thanks to "AK" for this one...

Casey Kasem

This story keeps getting creepier and creepier. From this morning's RAMP newsletter...

A month after legendary air personality Casey Kasem died in a Washington hospital, we were shocked to learn that he still has not been laid to rest. Danny Deraney, who represents Kasem's daughter Kerri, told NBC News that Kasem's second wife Jean has the rights to Casey's body but has not yet arranged for him to be moved out of a Washington morgue.

Merger Talk

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has been trying to buy Time Warner. The first offer was rejected, but he's supposedly going to come back with a sweeter offer, according to this morning's trade publications. Obviously this is a terrible idea. The last thing anyone wants (other than two or three guys that will get rich) is one guy controlling an even bigger chunk of the media. Especially that guy.

But even if he succeeds, there is one part of Time Warner that he will definitely NOT be allowed to own. That's CNN. There's no way the FCC would allow that, and neither would Congress.

So can you guess what CNN is worth if he forced to sell it? Would you believe $5 billion? That's what this Reuters article claims.

A little radio advice

A radio host in Boston, Kirk Minihane, is in trouble for words he said about Erin Andrews and her interview of Adam Wainwright at the all-star game. According to Radio Online, here's what he said...

"What a bitch! I hate her! What a gutless bitch! Seriously, go away. Drop dead. I mean, seriously what the hell is wrong with her?"

OK, I've heard worse, but at the risk of sounding a thousand years old, I have some advice for Kirk and the other broadcasters out there. See that thing you're talking into? That's a microphone. That microphone is supposed to be connected to an automatic switch that turns on a filter inside your brain. You're no longer allowed to just say whatever comes into your mind. There are seven words, for instance, that the filter always catches. (My filter still works at home with my kids). If you have a half-way decent filter, it should also catch your words before you wish death upon a living person, or call a female reporter a bitch, which if I can get picky here, isn't even the correct usage of that term in this case.

In fairness to Kirk, he has apologized, but I still find it hard to believe that the passion of this particular moment (Adam Wainwright throwing a few fat pitches to Derek Jeter, and a reporter allowing him to get off the hook for it in an interview) so inflamed him that he couldn't control himself.

Then again, this could be why I've never worked in sports radio.

FCC Website Crashes Because of Net Neutrality Comments

The FCC needlessly started up a firestorm. They are now reaping what they sowed. Their website crashed because every thinking human being (other than the three or four media giants who will personally profit from destroying the internet as we know it) is AGAINST THIS STUPID IDEA, and is letting them know it.

Thank you.

The Comcast Viral Phonecall

I've always hated Comcast.

This call is confirmation that I don't hate them needlessly.

It's gone viral, and for good reason.

They're Flying Off the Shelves!

We just picked up boxes and boxes of new books because you've been ordering so many copies. "Best Seat in the House" is flying off the shelves. We completely sold out of our first run, and we're loading up for more. Can't wait for the big book signing at Murphy's Bleachers at the end of July (July 27th at 3pm).

"Behind the Camera" was just ordered by a university in Los Angeles, which is going to use the book as part of the curriculum. (Youngsters, I hope you realize Mr. Quinzio's salty language is just to help acquaint you with the real world). Boxes and boxes are going out in the mail today.

"Records Truly Is My Middle Name" is making a resurgence too. John will be making his first downstate appearance to promote the book (in Danville, Illinois in August), and that's spiking sales too.

Thanks for all of your support!

Promotional Video for "The Daly News" on Eckhartz Press

Another great production job by Tommy Kaempfer...

Play Dead

Thanks to "KK" for this one. I know my college buddies will enjoy it...

The Paul-Warren Selfie

The kid's name is Tom White, and yes that's exactly who you think it is behind him. Pretty cool selfie.

Although, if you think about it, it's not that strange that these two would hang out. I'm sure they were the only two billionaires in Omaha at the time. And, if I'm not mistaken, they aren't that far apart in age. McCartney is 72. Buffett is 83.

Jeff Schwartz

The former Loop, Score, and CKG executive Jeff Schwartz has a new gig. He's the Corporate EVP of Yahoo! Sports Radio

I interviewed Schwartz a few years ago. He's a very colorful character.

One Last World Cup Post

I promise this is the last one.

Just wanted you to know that the World Cup final set ratings records for ESPN and Univision.

Oh, and that the Onion had a very funny take on it: Germans Humiliated After Winning World Cup 6.38 Seconds Behind Schedule

OK, back to normal now.

World Cup Pool

I entered and ran a World Cup pool for about thirty of my soccer pals via Yahoo, and won it by a pretty large margin. This morning I looked at the overall rankings on Yahoo, and I finished in 1194th place in the entire country, and 1315th place in the world.

Not bad.

I'm sad it's over. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this one.

Honoring the Special that Honored the Beatles

From today's RAMP Newsletter...

The Recording Academy proudly announces that The Beatles: The Night That Changed America -- A Grammy Salute has garnered six Emmy Award nominations...The six nominations for The Beatles: The Night That Changed America -- A Grammy Salute include "Outstanding Variety Special," "Outstanding Writing For A Variety Special," " Outstanding Directing For A Variety Special," "Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction For A Variety Special," "Outstanding Music Direction" and "Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Variety Series Or Special."

Possible speech for awards night: "It's an honor to be honored for honoring the 4 lads who honor the music."

For the German-Speakers

In German, it's a pun. It means "Thank God" and it happens to have the name of the German player who scored the World Cup winning goal...