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Archive for July, 2007

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Jul 30

To the late, great Tom Snyder

“Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch
the pictures, now, as they fly through the air.”

His was one of the first broadcast radio voices that I fell in love back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I had never heard of his infamous talk show The Tomorrow Show, the show on which a rather surprising number of truths were revealed, heated arguments were held, and stories were told. All I knew was the voice, his mellifluous recounting of the news of the day and his patient pleasantries with most of his callers. It ushered me to bed every night of the school-week, informing and soothing, paternal and

Then one night it was over, and I was devastated in its passing. Though others would try to fill the void, late night radio quickly disappeared from my life. And then came CNBC, a show which Tom seemed to take as seriously as one might take a quiet evening with some close friends. He sought nothing more than to entertain, not to stir controversy as he had in an earlier era, but just rather to share some quality time with his viewers, guests, and crew. It wasn’t the 3-hour nightcap that I had once enjoyed, but it sufficed.

Celebrity came again to Tom with his friendship to David Letterman, and he left the quiet folds of CNBC nights to the arguably more obscure realms of CBS late, late night. I have to admit that I didn’t follow him there, feeling somehow that it wasn’t the same anymore. It wasn’t the intimate Tom Snyder now, but rather a slight return to the more gregarious host of years past, the same one that Dan Ackroyd immortalized in Saturday Night Live. The Late, Late Show still lives on with the charismatic Craig Ferguson at its helm, someone I hope Tom would have admired and felt a fitting successor.

Though he is gone, it warms my heart to imagine that his voice still carries out through the cosmos, searching for a few more listeners before it dissipates into nothing.

Jul 27

Two Reasons to Smile

Both items above represent two important groups that I followed late in high school and throughout my time in college - Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the Squirrel Nut Zippers. The former of the two, MST3K, was a show on television that showcased different terrible movies each week, on top of which the show’s cast would add their own commentary. It ran for 11 years, starting out on a small, Minnesota public-access cable channel, quickly making its way to a then very young Comedy Central, and finally retiring on the SciFi channel.

The show ended its run in 1999, and its production team went off to make their ways. Mike Nelson, the show’s head writer and second main character (the show’s co-creator Joel Hodgson was its first) wrote a few mildly successful books, but eventually found his way back to movie commentaries with a little start-up called Rifftrax. Recently, a couple of his MST3K alumni joined him on that project, which provides mp3 audio commentary tracks for more well-known film and television projects (eg. 300, Lost, etc.).

Returning to their obscure (and usually terrible) cinematic roots, The Film Crew series will again unite their funny commentary with these gems of bad cinema. There first of a thus-far planned 4 DVD series is out now, and its a fantastic film from the 60’s called Hollywood After Dark starring…you’ll love this bit…a young Rue Mcclanahan as a starlet stripper!! The commentary is just as enjoyable as I remember it being with MST3K, and the movie is just as awful as many they showcased. If you enjoy making fun of bad movies, or just want to see what Blanch du Bois looked like back in the day, go check it out!

While you know what I was constantly watching back in my dorm days, you’re probably wondering what I listened to on my portable CD player whilst biking around UCF. The Squirrel Nut Zippers were one of my favorite swing/folk bands back in the 90’s when swing dancing was making a major comeback. They didn’t quite rise to the popularity level of say a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy or a Brian Setzer, but I loved them even more.

There music ranged from soulful, Billy Holiday-esque jazz to frenetic swing to unusual, experimental instrumental. There only pop-chart experience was with Hell, a song that I’ve now had the privilege to sing and play with my band on at least 3 occasions! I also was fortunate enough to catch one of their rare appearances in Orlando at the Social (then called the Sapphire Supper Club). They’re excellent musicians all around, both recording and performing, and now after a 7 year hiatus, they’re back touring again! Though they don’t yet have any new tracks being released, I’d gladly recommend any of the 5 albums currently out now (though my favorite is definitely Perennial Favorites pictured above).

So yeah, two great reasons to smile!

Jul 24

“That’s no moon…”

A local man in Seminole county faces up to 15 years for mooning a minor in a nearby car.

Can someone in law enforcement PLEASE catch a clue and stop wasting time (ie. our money)? This story adds another brick in my wall of evidence that our sex offender laws are an often misused and blunt legal instrument. High school sweethearts and road rage mooners should not be lumped together with real sexual predators, forced to carry the same scarlet letter around as modern-day monsters.

Unfortunately, this kind of issue just doesn’t market well in our world of 30-second sound bites and overly-simplistic political punditry. So really, if our electorate can’t deal with issues more complex than catching evil-doers and seeing more money in their paychecks, is it a surprise that our elected officials can’t seem to write or enforce nuanced laws?

Jul 19