Thursday, January 19, 2017

An Astro, a Ranger, and an Expo

Congrats to the newly inducted members of baseball's Hall of Fame: Jeff Bagwell, Ivan Rodriguez, and Tim Raines.

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McCartney Sues To Regain Rights to his Songs

It has always stuck in Sir Paul's craw that he doesn't own the rights to the Beatles songs. He never has.

At first they were owned by the band's publishing company. Then they were bought by Michael Jackson. Then Jackson sold them to Sony.

Paul has been filing suits and trying to get his hands on his songs ever since, but this latest gambit is probably his strongest. The Hollywood Reporter has the details.

Let the man have his songs! He (co)wrote them for Heaven's sake.
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More Praise for Gel Strong

Eckhartz Press author Mark Gelinas is a lucky man. He has beaten back the deadliest of cancers twice (pancreatic). He has chronicled that struggle in his beautiful book "Gel Strong".

And the Gel Strong community has reacted with constant praise and love. Here are a few more examples that hit his cell phone this past week...

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Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Obama Pardon


Some of Obama's more controversial pardons and commutations (Chelsea Manning) are getting the most attention, but this piece on WBEZ's website points out another less-controversial one.

One of my favorite sluggers from the 60s and 70s, Willie McCovey, has been pardoned for his tax-evasion convinction. He never actually served any time for the offense (he was sentenced to two years of probation), but it remained on his record.

I won't make an assessment about the merits of that pardon, but "Stretch" has been in poor health for many years now. This should cheer him up.
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Pat Colander in the Chicago Tribune

Congrats to Eckhartz Press' very own Pat Colander for this piece by Philip Potempa in the Chicago Tribune...

Editor and author Pat Colander of Miller has a new book that is generating plenty of ink and also accolades in the publishing field. She grew up on the south side of Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois and Purdue University Calumet, the latter of which just welcomed her as a new faculty member in the communication department. Her new book is called "Hugh Hefner's First Funeral and Other True Tales of Love and Death in Chicago" (2015, Eckhartz Press, $15.95).

Colander was a writer for both "The Reader" and "The Chicago Tribune" in the 1970s and 1980s, and several of those most strange stories she penned serve as the yarns of love and death in Chicago that are featured in her new book. The book title is taken from her details of the shocking death of Bobbie Arnstein, the executive secretary to Hugh Hefner and hailed as the woman behind the man who created the men's magazine empire. Other tales in the book range from a tour of the old Cook County morgue and the investigation that led to the capture of the Tylenol tampering killer.

On Saturday night, Colander was one of the winners at Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year awards ceremony. On Jan. 28, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., she will be discussing and signing copies of her book at Miles Books, 2819 Jewett Ave. in Highland. FYI: (219) 838-8700 or www.eckhartzpress.com

Colander is also still fascinated by the death of candy heiress Helen Brach, who was the subject on one of her earlier books, "Thin Air: The Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Helen Brach," published in 1982. Colander said even though the book has been optioned five times for film rights, she was never impressed with any of the finished screenplays. Actors Tom Berenger and Richard Gere were connected with previous potential movie versions.
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Bill O'Reilly Scores Trump Super Bowl Interview

Variety has the details.

The man who has settled two different sexual harrassment lawsuits will be interviewing the man accused by twelve different women of harrassing them. The subject is sure to include serious whining about liberals whining. The whining loop cannot be broken.

My guess is this new defamation lawsuit against Trump won't come up...unless of course they whine about it.
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Eric & Kathy Renewed

Eric and Kathy have renewed their contracts, so Chicago's top rated morning radio show will continue to roll on.

Radio Ink has the details.

Over the years I've interviewed all the members of the show multiple times. You can check a few of those out here.

I remember the humble beginnings of the Eric and Kathy show. I was recruited to come in and produce the show when they were still located out in Skokie (before Eric was hired) and I declined. But I recommended a friend of mine for the gig, and he was the perfect hire. John "Swany" Swanson is still their producer 20+ years later. (He also co-wrote "The Radio Producer's Handbook" with me. For a blast to the past, check out this interview of the two of us from Lake Magazine in 2004. We were interviewed by ABC-TV news reporter Andy Shaw).
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Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Troubled Times

Dig this Green Day song...

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Solid Gold

I can't begin to explain how much I love this video...

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The White Wash Press Corp

What is Trump planning to do to the press in retaliation for covering him accurately and quoting him correctly using his own words? Tom Taylor's NOW column has a preview...

Radio talk-hosts likely gain more prominence at the Trump White House. Donald Trump would probably enjoy tweaking the establishment press by having a lightning rod like InfoWars host Alex Jones visit 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Or some of the other radio talk show personalities who picked up his banner last year. Like many other things in the Trump administration, things are fluid. But you’ve probably heard about the option of relocating the press corps out of the White House to the Old Executive Office Building, or elsewhere. Part of the thinking (says Trump spokesman Sean Spicer) is the chance to “involve more people, be more transparent, have more accessibility” compared to the 49-seat West Wing press briefing room. And, per The Guardian, Spicer says that’s because “a lot of talk radio and bloggers...can’t fit in right now...because they’re not part of the Washington elite media.” Meaning the officially-accredited White House press corps. Spicer says letting talk radio hosts ask him or Trump a question would be “a positive thing...it’s more democratic.”

For those of you cackling at the payback to the press, be careful what you wish for. With all these people in the room, Trump can avoid ever talking to actual trained professional reporters--the essential Free Press that has been the hallmark of this country. Reality is about to be replaced by fever-swamp fantasy. Or as the Trump spokesman put it..."it's more democratic".
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Someone's Gettin' Paid

For all my friends in the radio biz who struggle to make ends meet thanks to the ridiculously heavy debt load your company uses as an excuse to say they cannot pay you more, you might not want to read this little tidbit from today's RAMP newsletter...

There was major cause for celebration in the upper echelons of iHeartMedia and Cumulus, as it was revealed via separate 8-K filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that both companies will be showering sweet bonuses upon several of their key executives -- on January 10, 2017, the Board of Directors of iHeartMedia, Inc. approved a form of retention bonus agreement and individual retention bonus amounts for Bob Pittman , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer -- $1,750,000; Richard J. Bressler, President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer -- $1,750,000; and Steven J. Macri, Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance -- $750,000.

But wait! There's more! The Board also approved the "2017 Key Employee Incentive Plan," under which Pittman and Bressler will be eligible to earn an aggregate bonus of $7,000,000 and $3,000,000, respectively. That Incentive Plan runs from January 1, 2017 until December 31, 2017. All the fine print is included in the 8-K filing.

Meanwhile, over at Cumulus, the compensation committee of the Board of Directors of Cumulus Media Inc. approved a one-time compensation award payment of $1,087,500 to company President & Chief Executive Officer Mary G. Berner, "in recognition of, among other things, her exceptional efforts and contributions during 2016, both individually and as a member of the management leadership team, in the initial phase of the Company's operational turnaround plan and ongoing operational and financial restructuring."

Both companies are still in serious financial trouble. iHeart will never get out from under their mountain of debt, and Cumulus is essentially a penny stock these days...but somebody's gettin' paid. It just isn't you.
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Obama and the Cubs

I got a little verklempt during the ceremony. Even Jose Cardenal was there! Here's Theo's speech to Obama...

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Monday, January 16, 2017

RIP Gene Cernan

Great man. One of the astronauts I idolized as a boy. The last man to walk on the moon. And without question, the best singer the surface of the moon has ever heard...

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Hilarious

This is just funny...funny is funny.

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The Cubs are in the House

The White House...





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SNL Takes on Trump

I didn't watch it on Saturday night, but I did see this tweet today, which made me go back and watch it.



Some pretty funny stuff here. Thanks Mr. Trump for the reminder...

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Martin Luther King Day

I post this song from Tom Clay every year on MLK day. It seems more appropriate than ever these days...

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Bobby Skafish in Hillside

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Chicagoland Record Show in Hillside yesterday. Bobby Skafish got a chance to meet a lot of fans and sell lots of books to people who were really passionate about the music. It was like being in the world's greatest record store. I'm just happy I didn't bring more money with me. I walked out with a stack full of wax.

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Chicago Writers Association Awards

Really enjoyed myself at the Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year Awards. Our very own Pat Colander (Non-fiction book of the year) and Randy Richardson (Special Recognition) were given awards. Well deserved! Proud of them both.

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A Transition in Attitude

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Friday, January 13, 2017

Typing Joke

Not sure if the youngsters will get this one...

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Arrive Early! Seats Fill Up Fast

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Getting Ready for Inauguration Day

Thanks to "DR" for this one...















My old boss Dave Logan also weighs in...


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Everyone Loves Michelle

Seriously...I'm gonna miss these two.

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The Future of Mike & Mike

Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic have been an ESPN Radio team for nearly twenty years.

Radio Ink suggests that will change soon, with Greenberg going to television.

Nothing has been announced officially about the future of the radio show.
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Thursday, January 12, 2017

Minutia Men, Episode 34


EP34 – Rick and Dave discuss colons, Trump tweets, Jenkins making a bad choice, a Cub on Rick’s street, and Rick’s brush with Harrison Ford

Listen to it here.
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My Weekend Plans



I'll be there on Saturday night to see Eckhartz Press author Pat Colander pick up her "Book of the Year Award" from the Chicago Writer's Association at the Book Cellar in Chicago.

Come on out for a fun night.

Details here.


Bobby Skafish will appearing at the Chicagoland Record Collector Show in Hillside this Sunday, January 15th from 8:45-Noon, and I'll be there too.

Click here for more information about the show.

Bobby will be selling and signing copies of his acclaimed new Eckhartz Press book "We Have Company: Four Decades of Rock and Roll Encounters"
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Ratings for Obama's Farewell Address


These are pretty big numbers: 34 million people tuned in. Five of them were in my house. I made the whole family watch it. I will never understand the hatred some people feel for this classy man and his classy family. I will miss him.

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Score Shuffles Lineup

From Tom Taylor's NOW column...

Chicago’s “Score” WSCR/670 re-works the lineup after the retirement of 25-year personality Terry Boers. CBS Radio programmer Mitch Rosen’s moving Jason Goff from middays to PM drive, alongside Dan Bernstein. They’ll work 1pm-6pm. New to 9am-1pm middays with Matt Spiegel is newly-hired Danny Parkins. Chicago native Parkins left town in 2010 and has been anchoring afternoon drive for Entercom’s sports KCSP/610 in Kansas City (which means he’s been through some historic highs with the MLB Royals). His last day in K.C. is tomorrow, and he punches the timeclock in Chicago next Tuesday. Mornings on the Score continue to be Mike Mulligan and Brian Hanley (“Mully and Hanley”), and Laurence Holmes does 6pm-10pm. WSCR truly did score last year with the World Series-winning MLB Cubs – in the station’s first year with the team.
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It's Real Now

Last night while we all slept, the Senate passed a budget resolution that is the first step towards killing Obamacare. One Senator attempted to add a provision keeping the pre-existing conditions ban (something President-Elect Trump promised to keep over and over again). It was voted down.

My 21-year-old son with a pre-existing condition is about to live in a country in which he will never be able to obtain private medical insurance. Ever.
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Sanity

During his press conference the President Elect called CNN "Fake News" and belittled a reporter from there, while taking a question from an actual "fake news" website Breitbart. He conflated the BuzzFeed leak with the well-sourced CNN report. Fox News was all over CNN and "the mainstream media" yesterday, who did absolutely nothing wrong. But there was one voice of sanity...

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Memes

I know it's wrong, but this whole story has a Clinton cigar, Dick-Cheney-Shoots-His-Friend-In-The-Face comedy gold type of feeling to me. I've never wanted to flex those old comedy writing muscles more...



Here's another good one...

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Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Monica Crowley Plagiarism

This is another big scandal. President Trump's nominee for strategic communications at the National Security Council is having her book pulled by Harper Collins because portions of it were determined to be plagiarized.

TV Newser has the details.
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Fox News Quietly Settled Sexual Harrassment Case for Bill O'Reilly

This is not the famous "lufa" case from a decade or so ago. This is a new one that allegedly occured in 2011,featuring Former Fox News anchor/reporter Juliet Huddy.

Sounds like that Fox Newsroom was no picnic for women over the past few decades.
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Biggest Story Ever or Completely Untrue?

What a bombshell last night. I think it's important to take a breath on the Trump story about being personally (pee perversion) and financially (Russian money) compromised, and the story about his campaign allegedly co-ordinating with Wikileaks during the campaign (which would be impeachable--immediately) until we let legitimate reporters and investigators vet the story. Right now it's pretty unsubstantiated. If its true, he's a goner. But it could be another example of fake news.

Of course for comedy purposes, I think he'll understand my stance on this. I will absolutely believe this Trump story... Unless he produces his long-form pee certificate.

Here's a smattering of the tweets flying around last night...







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Tuesday, January 10, 2017

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

See below. It was also used for McCarthy hearings, Teapot Dome hearings (the last time a Cubs owner was part of a presidential administration), and Wall Street banking hearings during the Great Depression. Sounds about right...

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U2 Delays Release of Album Because of Trump

From The Hill...

The album was "pretty much complete," and then the election happened and "suddenly the world changed."

“We just went, ‘Hold on a second – we’ve got to give ourselves a moment to think about this record and about how it relates to what’s going on in the world,'" the guitarist said.

I have friends who get very upset when artists like the Edge (and Meryl Streep) express their political opinions. I get that it bums them out when their favorite musicians or artists so strongly disagree with them. It bummed me out when Cubs pitcher Jake Arietta tweeted that he would personally drive every celebrity out of the country when Trump won. It will probably make me look at him a little differently when he pitches for the Cubs next year.

But that's the point, really. These celebrities are taking a big risk when they speak out. They are potentially hurting their own brands and their own profitablity by upsetting half the country. They know that. They do it anyway because they feel very strongly about whatever they are speaking out about.

It's called the free market. The free marketplace of ideas can lead to the free marketplace of money leaving their pockets. If it bugs you that much, that's the appropriate way to respond. Telling them they can't speak out is ridiculous.

A celebrity named Trump certainly didn't hold back his beliefs before he became a politician.
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RIP Marty Zivin

I never met Marty Zivin, but I corresponded with him many times over the past thirty years. He was a radio guy, inside and out. It's been pretty obvious to his facebook friends (I was one of them) that this day was approaching. Marty posted as often as he could, and didn't hold back with statements of despair and grief. It's a real bummer that he's gone.

Robert Feder has the details.
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Ben Fights Back

I did notice that Casey Affleck failed to thank his big brother Ben during his Golden Globes acceptance speech. Ben got back at him on Jimmy Kimmel.

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Overrated?

Colbert hits back at the thin-skinned man about to become president.

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Media Watchdogs

Who will be keeping an eye on the media from the 115th Congress? Tom Taylor's NOW newsletter has the names...

The 115th Congress begins to organize itself, and Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn rises to chair the House Telecom Subcommittee. She’s from the Nashville area and has shown interest in issues important to the music community. Blackburn succeeds former Oregon radio station owner Greg Walden as chair of a subcommittee where she’s shown herself to be a sharp questioner of witnesses. New Jersey Republican Rep. Leonard Lance is the new Vice Chair. Greg Walden now has the seniority to chair the full Energy & Commerce Committee, succeeding Michigan’s Fred Upton. Broadcasting & Cable’s John Eggerton has the rest of the Telecom Subcommittee, chosen by Walden – John Shimkus (from Illinois), Steve Scalise (Louisiana), Bob Latta (Ohio), Brett Guthrie (Kentucky), Pete Olson (Texas), Adam Kinzinger (Illinois), Gus Bilirakis (Florida), Bill Johnson (Ohio), Billy Long (Missouri), Bill Flores (Texas), Susan Brooks (Indiana), Chris Collins (NY), Kevin Cramer (ND), Mimi Walters (California) and Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania. Reps. Walters, Costello, Brooks and Flores are new to the subcommittee.
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Monday, January 09, 2017

I thought he might be dead

Hard to believe he returned to the game just one play later. No way would I have let him back out there.

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Bobby Skafish in Hillside

Bobby Skafish will appearing at the Chicagoland Record Collector Show in Hillside this Sunday, January 15th.

Click here for more information about the show.

He'll be selling and signing copies of his acclaimed new Eckhartz Press book "We Have Company: Four Decades of Rock and Roll Encounters"
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KSHE

I first heard of the radio station KSHE when I was in college in Champaign. I was working at WPGU and a former WPGU employee came to speak to us. He was the program director of KSHE; Rick Balis. Rick later became my boss at the Loop in Chicago, before returning to KSHE.

I mention this because Rick and KSHE are in the news today, courtesy of the RAMP Newsletter...

KSHE 95/St. Louis was one of the very first radio stations to play rock music on the FM band, and now, almost 50 years after its November 1967 birth, KSHE is the longest-running rock station in the world. Today, in honor of its half-century of excellent service to the Rock format, KSHE launches "The KSHE 50th Anniversary Real Rock Museum" at kshe95.com.

KSHE PD Rick Balis said, "So many talented people have contributed, throughout our 50 years, to make KSHE 95 what it is today. It's actually amazing. More amazing, though, is the incredible listeners that we have had and have today. It's rare. And, we cherish those relationships. The relationships are 'generational' -- grandparents, their kids and the kids of those kids are listeners today." Balis added, "The KSHE 50th Anniversary Real Rock Museum is a tribute to both the contributors and the listeners."

Congrats to Rick and KSHE for this achievement.
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Book of the Year!



I'll be there on Saturday night to see Eckhartz Press author Pat Colander pick up her "Book of the Year Award" from the Chicago Writer's Association at the Book Cellar in Chicago.

Come on out for a fun night.

Details here.
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Championship droughts

This is a great point. I was thinking this too during the Detroit Lions game on Saturday night...

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Praise for "Monkey in the Middle"

Of all the books we've published, I think "Monkey in the Middle" has the most potential as a movie...and I'm not just saying that because Dobie and I have actually written the screenplay.

This review of the book came in the other day from Nate Weatherup...

So two months ago Dobie Maxwell gave me a copy of his book Monkey in the Middle to bring back to LA for a mutual friend and I told him I would, on the condition that I got to read it first (once an English teacher...).

Dobie is a Milwaukee native and longtime Chicago comic. He's one of the first professional comedians I ever met - he hosted my first audition showcase at Zanies in September 2009 - and was definitely the first to ever compliment me on my act and encourage me to keep at it. I've always respected him as a comic and as a mentor, so I just thought it would be fun to read his story, and find out just where Mr. Lucky got his roots.

I got about 70 pages in before life became life and I ran out of free time. I picked it back up two days ago and burned through the last 300 pages about as fast as I've ever read anything.

This book is phenomenal!

It is an incredible, almost unbelievable (unless you know Dobie), story told by a master storyteller: it's compelling, it's unpredictable, and it's laugh out loud funny and emotionally devastating simultaneously. It is straight-shooting honesty and unapologetically flawed. It's Dobie in paperback.

It's the most I've enjoyed reading a book in a very long time (and again, English teacher, I read an awful lot of books).

Go get this book. Do it. Do it now. (Click here)

I have one recommendation before reading it, however - go see his show first. And I say that for three reasons:
1) after seeing the show you'll say "ah, that makes sense," about every three pages.
2) reading the book with Dobie's distinct, Wisconsin, doesn't-give-a-rats-ass voice in your head just makes it that much more enjoyable.
3) it's just a damn good show.

Thanks, Dobie, for the years of kind words and advice, and for one hell of and amazing read.

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The Golden Globes

Her line about the Hollywood Foreign Press being most hated in the country was funny. "We are Hollywood, we are foreigners, and we are the press." Good job. The speech against Trump, however, will get her in some trouble with half the country...



But to me, Steve Carrell and Kristen Wiig were the highlight of the night...

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Clemson or Bama?

I was almost certainly going to root for them anyway, but this clinches it for me.

The coach of Clemson replicated the mood and vibe of the Chicago Cubs clubhouse this year.

Go Clemson!
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Friday, January 06, 2017

An Unexpected Ally in the Anti-Media Consolidation World

Long time readers of this blog know that I've been a crusader against further media consolidation. I wrote my first novel ($everance) about the damage and ridiculousness that ensued after the previous consolidation, and I've been a tireless advocate of anyone who helps promote this same cause.

Today I found out something that I'm having a hard time processing. The Time Warner/AT&T merger that has been proposed, and which I assumed would sail through now that the Republicans will once again control the FCC, has an important enemy.

If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, I have a VERY unexpected new friend.

Would you believe it's Donald J. Trump? Variety has the news.
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Showing his fingers

The man who famously dubbed Trump a "short fingered vulgarian" is meeting with Trump today.

Graydon Carter, the current editor of Vanity Fair--and a constant subject of Trump's angry tweets, supposedly requested the meeting. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that one. I suspect Trump will show him the length of at least one finger.

Today's also the day Trump gets his security briefing from the intelligence community. I'd like to hear the conversation in that meeting even more. I suspect the president elect will be seeing the lengths of a few fingers himself.
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3-year-old rocks Clementi



When I was a kid and started feeling a little too big for my britches, my father used to say "Mozart was composing concertos when he was five."

Always shut me up. This video will serve the same purpose for my boys.
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Wisdom

Thanks to "OG" for this one...

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My Favorite Redneck

What he said...

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Thursday, January 05, 2017

New PD at WGCI


WGCI-Chicago (107.5fm) has named a new program director. His name is Johnnie D.

All Access has the details.
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John Oliver's One Liners About Trump & Putin

These are great...

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The Ten Most Uplifting Songs According to Science

This is a really interesting article in Inc. This is a list put together by a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Gronigen in the Netherlands. How did he come up with it: "The formula I came up with takes the number of positive lyrical elements in a song, and divides that by how much a song deviates from 150 bpm and from the major key."

Gotta admit, it's a pretty uplifting list. The number one song on this list is my middle son Johnny's favorite song in the whole world.

10. Katrina and the Waves--Walking on Sunshine
9. Gloria Gaynor--I Will Survive
8. Bon Jovi--Livin' On A Prayer
7. Cyndi Lauper--Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
6. The Monkees--I'm a Believer
5. Survivor--Eye of the Tiger
4. Billy Joel--Uptown Girl
3. The Beach Boys--Good Vibrations
2. ABBA--Dancing Queen

And this is the number one most uplifting song. It was never released as a single, and it was never a hit, but it really is an uplifting song. Makes you want to go out and do stuff...

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Why did CNN air a special about the band Chicago?

I admit that I taped it, and I'm a fan of the band, but I was wondering why in the world CNN decided to air a special about them on New Years Day. Was there something new that happened to the band? Not really. They were inducted into the Hall of Fame...nearly a year ago. Sure, they are about to go on a tour...but they do that every year. Not exactly newsworthy. Are they suddenly popular again? Nope.

So what's the deal?

The Washington Post asked the same question, and their media writer Paul Farhi delved into it.
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Outgoing FCC Nomination

From this morning's Tom Taylor NOW column...

Obama re-nominates Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel to the FCC. It’s not unexpected, and its success depends on whether Trump’s FCC policy team thinks Rosenworcel is the most acceptable Dem they can find (and get confirmed by the Senate). She’s certainly got the experience at the Commission, having joined in May 2012 to serve out an unexpired term. That term expired in mid-2015 but she was permitted to stay until the end of the 114th Congress. Jessica literally just packed her stuff and bade farewell on Tuesday – and now she’s on President Obama’s list of nominations submitted to the Senate. Obama also re-nominated Brent Nelsen and David Arroyo to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. For now, the FCC has four members – Republicans Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly, and Dems Mignon Clyburn and outgoing Chair Tom Wheeler. Last night, Wheeler said “I applaud President Obama’s reappointment of Jessica Rosenworcel to the FCC, and hope that Congress will act quickly to confirm her nomination.” Among her supporters is the conservative Parents Television Council.

On January 20th when Tom Wheeler steps down, there will be only three members of the FCC. Look for the Republicans to slow walk this nomination (despite her obvious credentials) so that they maintain control of FCC until a new Republican chairman can be named.
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Wednesday, January 04, 2017

James Corden's Emotional Tribute to George Michael



At our family Christmas party all the nieces and aunts in Bridget's family launched an impromptu George Michael dance party. That was a pretty cool scene. Michael obviously affected people in many different generations. A great musical talent.
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Congressman's Son Grounded for Dabbing

What is dabbing? It's striking a certain pose (popularized by Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton) while dancing.

A Congressman's son tried to do it during a photo op yesterday with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and Ryan thought he was about to sneeze. Pretty funny. Although not funny to his dad, Representative Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), who grounded the lad.

Story is here.

The only reason I know about dabbing is because every time I try to take a photo of the soccer teams at our club (Green White), the kids try to strike that pose.


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Midday change at WLIT


Brooke Hunter was released on Tuesday by WLIT (93.9fm in Chicago). She's being replaced by Robin Rock, who worked here before.

Robert Feder has the details.
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A poignant trailer

This documentary debuts on January 7th on HBO. What are the odds of this? Sad that both has passed over the last week.

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The Pro-Weed Lobby

This is a pretty good example of why the pro-weed lobby is making such slow progress. We're mobilizing, we're mobilizing, we're mobilizing. Crap, now we're high.

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