'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Baron Dave Romm
Joe Scruggs I
By Baron Dave Romm
We interrupt all the flag waving to invoke a higher cliché: The children are our future!
There's one simple trick for dealing with kids that a lot of people -- and a lot of musicians -- haven't quite twigged to: Don't talk down to them. Sure, toddlers get baby talk and pre-schoolers have a smaller vocabulary and organize ideas a bit more simply. But kids know when they're getting the auntie "Oh, you're such a big boy!" routine. And they know it pretty young.
Too many musicians think they're singing to the Barney or Teletubbies age group, driving adults crazy and not helping the older kids much. But some reach kids and grownups too. The Wombles and the Banana Slug String Band get it right. And so does Joe Scruggs. In another gem gleaned from defunct local children's radio station Radio Aahs, I came across this guy, and now have six of his CDs. I'll review three this week and the other three next time.
Bahamas Pajamas has great songs that kids can relate to and grownups will appreciate. Youngsters might not know quite how to deal with a New Baby but they know all about the Bathtub Blues. But the best songs (by my not-quite-grown-up tastes) are more playful. He joins "those colorful Cackatoos from Caracas... the Psychic Singers!!" for the title song, a really nifty calypso wordplay done in counterpoint with singing birds. When Joe does a traditional tune, he improves on it. My favorite song from these three (indeed, my new favorite song that I play over and over and have played for friends as well as on the air) is Humpty Dumpty. Sung in nearly a cappella reggae with island back up singers, the nursery rhyme is dragged into the modern era.
Ah, but Humpty Dumpty played on that wall,
And Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
And all the King's horses and all the king's men,
They could not put Humpty together again.
Now they called the king's horses
And what did they say?
They looked at poor Humpty
And they just said, "Neigh!"
One of the king's men said,
"What can be done?
I think we're going to
Have to call Nine One One!"
Even Trolls Have Moms features the Twilight Zone Home, with full tv show theme and Rod Serling-style intro, all about how things mysteriously get lost around the house. Inappropriate let's kids know that when they hear a bad word they should discuss it with their parents. Swing and Sway is described as an Activity Song where kids get to play being a kangaroo, penguin, panda and so on. Even Trolls Have Moms gets kids to realize that dragons have to brush their teeth. Presumably, after they eat dinner cooked in a microwave ala Nuke It. Flying Round the Mountain is an update of the traditional tune, a must for aging boomers (and their grandkids):
She'll be flying in her jet plane when she comes.
She'll be flying in her jet plane when she comes.
She thought she'd make some change giving rides on her new plane,
And she'll be flying 'round the mountain when she comes.
Deep In The Jungle is produced a bit differently, with several of the songs having female backup singers for doo-wop arrangements, as in the title song updating the Just So Story (I think) about how the crocadile catches monkeys. This is described as an Activity Song, as are several cuts including his gentle update of the Eeensy Weensy Spider. The CD encourages kids to Read A Book, have their mom use a magnet to attach a Refrigerator Picture and appreciate their Grandmas & Grandpas. Another traditional song that gets updated is Rock and Roll MacDonald, which starts off as a Barbershop Quartet singing about animals then slides into rap about making rock music. Since getting kids to ask questions is important, I liked the short song Who Knows? . "Who knows where the rainbow goes?" A nice, gentle song with great harmonies.
All the CDs have lyric sheets, and the hellojoe.com website has samples. Highly recommended, even if you're not going to share with all the other kids.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia with a radio show, a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. He reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E here, and you can hear the last two Shockwave broadcasts in Real Audio here (scroll down to Shockwave). Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air, and I'm collecting extra-weird stuff for a possible CD compilation.
Reader Comment
Re: Bill Maher
Hi Marty,
I am so disapointed in Bill Maher's show.
I thought that when he went to HBO he would really cut loose, but instead he seems really nervous that he or a guest might not be PC.
I wish he'd just go back to a half hour with a diverse panel. He reminds me of my really stupid Republican brother who can't defend his beliefs and sort of wimps out when I start challenging him.
I don't even watch his show anymore. Am I a minority in this?
Take care and keep up the good work.
Rose G.
Thnaks, Rose! You're not alone. Each week I've been progressively more disappointed in the Maher show.
At least he offers guests, like Aaron McGruder, Connie Rice, Janeane Garofalo, Ted Rall, and Arianna Huffington, who seem to scare most broadcasters.
OTOH, Bill rolled his eyes at Aaron McGruder like my 15-year old niece does on report card day. ('Just get over it' - 'Whatever')
Reader Reading Suggestions
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, breezy, pleasant day.
Didn't get the garden planted. Oh well.
Jo, the (remaining) lizard's terrarium was cleaned today. Seems most of this week's supply of crickets made a break for it during the cleaning, but, the kittens had fun chasing the crickets. Will pick up more crickets in the morning.
Tonight, Monday, CBS has the Big Dance, with the Syracuse Orangemen vs. the Kansas JayHawkers. It'll fill most of primetime, but just to be 'safe', also planned are
a RERUN 'King Of Queens', and a RERUN 'Raymond'.
On a RERUN Dave (from 8/27/02), are Chris Elliot, Eliza Dushku, and Dixie Chicks.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Eddie Griffin, Katherine Heigl, and Breaking Benjamin.
NBC offers a FRESH 'Fear Factor', followed by a FRESH 'Third Watch', and then a FRESH 'Crossing Jordan'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Winter, and Lucinda Williams.
On a RERUN Conan are Tom Arnold, Tom Everett Scott, and Mark Knopfler.
On a RERUN Carson Daly (from 1/15/03), are Ashton Kutcher and Exies.
ABC has scheduled a 'Iraq War Coverage', then a FRESH 'The Practice', followed by a FRESH 'Miracles'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Arizona Diamondback Curt Schilling, model Leeann Tweeden, and this week's guest co-host David Alan Grier.
The WB offrs a RERUN '7th Heaven', and a RERUN 'Everwood'.
Faux has a FRESH 'Boston Pubic', followed by a FRESH 'Married By America'.
UPN has a RERUN 'The Parkers', followed by a RERUN 'One On One', then a RERUN 'Girlfriends' and then a RERUN 'Half & Half'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
During a visit to Wright State University Friday, April 4, 2003 in Dayton, Ohio, retired World War II Air Force pilot Col. Gail Halvorsen, known as the Berlin Candy Bomber, holds his book to show how he dropped candy from his plane to children in Berlin during the war. Col. Halvorsen wants to do the same for the children of Iraq.
Photo by David Kohl
Army Band Buddies Reunite
Dave Brubeck
Nearly 60 years after entertaining troops during World War II, jazz pianist Dave Brubeck and his former Army band buddies have reunited.
But it was mostly stories, not riffs, that were swapped Saturday by the 11 band members at the home of organizer Slim Tanner. Eighty had attended the last reunion, in 1980.
Brubeck, 82, joined the Army in 1942. In 1944, he was about to be sent to the Battle of Bulge when a Red Cross act needed a pianist. Brubeck volunteered and eventually started his own Army jazz band.
At the reunion, the band members showed they still know how to put on a show. Tanner performed a duet by himself, donning costumes and singing male and female parts.
The veterans wanted to honor Brubeck, but he wouldn't let them.
"We're all great musicians," said Brubeck, whose "Take Five" was the first jazz recording to sell more than a million copies.
Dave Brubeck Reunion
Dave Brubeck
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Film About Hawaii Lawmaker Premieres
Daniel Inouye
Daniel Inouye has been many things in his life — a war hero, a public servant, the state's first congressman, a city prosecutor, a U.S. senator and a husband and father.
His life is now chronicled in a new documentary film, "Daniel K. Inouye: An American Story," which premiered Saturday night at a gala Pearl Harbor event on Ford Island near the USS Missouri. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, gave the keynote speech at the viewing.
Inouye, dressed in a dark suit and wearing a golden floral lei, saluted sailors as he walked the red carpet to the premiere.
About 1,000 people attended the sold-out showing, including Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Gov. Linda Lingle and former Gov. Ben Cayetano.
"I think his life is something that everybody can admire, regardless of party," Lingle, a Republican, said of the veteran Democrat. "His own personal history is inspiring to anybody who knows it. He's certainly a hero to the state of Hawaii."
The 56-minute documentary was created by Honolulu filmmaker Heather Giugni, who began in 1998 conducting hours of interviews with Inouye and his present and former colleagues, such as fellow Democrats Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia. Giugni also went through libraries and decades worth of photographs and television footage.
In the documentary, Inouye speaks candidly about his memories of the attack on Pearl Harbor and how he lost his arm during combat in World War II as a member of the mostly Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
For more, Sen. Daniel Inouye
Two monkeys sit on the back of a pickup truck while being transported home after finishing their collecting coconuts in Chumporn province, Thailand Saturday, April 5, 2003.
Photo by Apichart Weerawong
Suspends British Tour
Paul McCartney
Sir Paul McCartney, Britain's best-known living pop star, lost his voice and had to suspend his first tour of his native land in 10 years.
"I woke up this morning with virtually no voice," ex-Beatle McCartney said.
The superstar singer-composer went hoarse after his opening night Saturday before an audience in Sheffield and had to disappoint fans looking forward to a second, Sunday-night appearance in the northern English city.
"I've been doing all that I can to try and get my voice back and I tried singing a couple of numbers at a sound check this afternoon," McCartney said in a statement released by the show organisers:
"But nothing has worked and so I am afraid I have to cancel this show in order to save the other gigs on the tour," he added apologetically:
"We'll be back to do the show here at some other time."
Paul McCartney
Reviewing Media Ownership Again
Senate Panel
A divided U.S. Senate Commerce Committee will again delve into the thorny issue of what limits should be placed on media ownership before federal regulators finish overhauling those rules in June, a committee official said on Sunday.
The panel will likely hold a hearing on the subject before the Federal Communications Commission plans to issue the revamped regulations on June 2, committee staffer Bill Bailey told reporters.
The agency is considering overhauling a 35 percent cap on how much of the national television audience one can reach, common ownership of multiple stations in a market, and whether a company can own a newspaper and a radio or television station in a single market, among others.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell set that deadline to finish the rulemaking but some on the Senate committee -- Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, and Wayne Allard of Colorado -- have pushed for a delay until the public can comment on the new rules that could change the media landscape.
The new public airing of the subject could prove to frustrate Powell who last week called those seeking to delay the adoption of new rules as "noisemakers" who are merely trying to prevent change.
Powell has said he expects the rules would not be eliminated but liberalized after a federal appeals court questioned their justification. Depending on how far the agency goes, it could set off a wave of mergers and acquisitions.
Senate Panel
Keeping It Real Next Season
MTV
MTV Networks, the Viacom unit that operates MTV, MTV2, VH1 and Country Music Television, unveiled fully stocked development slates at its upfront presentation to advertisers on Friday.
While no new programming was announced, the networks outlined their strategies for capturing their target audiences.
Reality television is still big at teen-focused MTV, which said that a third season of "The Osbournes" will premiere June 10 at 10:30 p.m. Brian Graden, president of entertainment at MTV and VH1, sought to distance MTV from what he described as the increasingly mean-spirited streak running through the broadcast networks' entries into the genre.
"At MTV, it really provoked some soul-searching," leading the music channel in the direction of reality shows more reliant on "dramatic storytelling," he said.
To that end, such new reality programs as "Surf Girls," "Duets," the Magic Johnson-hosted streetball competition "Who's Got Game?" and another season of "Making the Band II" with Sean "P. Diddy" Combs will begin on the network in the coming months.
MTV
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Hired By Arabiya TV
Peter Arnett
Dubai-based Al Arabiya television said on Saturday it had signed up veteran U.S. reporter Peter Arnett to help cover the U.S.-led war in Iraq days after he was fired by U.S. network NBC.
The news channel said Arnett, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam War coverage, joined its three-man team in the Iraqi capital Baghdad two days ago and that he had already appeared on live broadcasts.
British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror and Belgian television outlet VTM have since hired Arnett, who gained international fame covering the first Gulf War for CNN in 1991.
Peter Arnett
Four 4 months old polar bear baby 'Vilma, left, visits - accompanied by his mother 'Vienna' for the first time their open-air enclosure at the zoo of Rostock, northeastern Germany, Friday, April 4, 2003.
Photo by Thomas Haentzschel
CMT To Pay Tribute Tonight
Johnny Cash
Music videos became popular nearly 30 years after Johnny Cash had his first big hit, but the legendary baritone will be paid special tribute Monday night by Country Music Television.
The cable network is devoting a segment to Cash on its life Flameworthy Video Music Awards, set for 8 p.m. EDT.
Vince Gill will emcee the tribute, which will showcase several singers including Cash's daughter, Rosanne Cash.
Awards, voted on by fans, are presented in 11 categories, including video of the year. Among the nominees due to perform are Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Shania Twain and Kenny Chesney.
Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow also will perform their duet, "Picture," a surprise hit that landed Rock a male video of the year nomination. Rock's true duet partner, actress Pamela Anderson, will co-host the show with Toby Keith.
Johnny Cash
Country Music Television
Town Petitions for Griffith Statue
Mount Airy, N.C.
This community wants its own statue of Sheriff Andy Taylor, and it's doing something about it.
About 7,500 residents and fans of "The Andy Griffith Show" signed a petition asking TV Land to erect a likeness of Griffith here in his hometown.
The cable network, which airs "The Andy Griffith Show" and other classic shows, already plans to erect bronze statue of Taylor in the state capital of Raleigh. The statue in Raleigh would be for all of North Carolina, a TV Land spokeswoman has said.
Mount Airy is said to have been the inspiration for the fictional town of Mayberry, which Sheriff Taylor watches over on "The Andy Griffith Show."
Mount Airy, N.C.
Andy Griffith Show
Mount Airy
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Embedded Journalists
No Replacements
Even as more embedded journalists pull out of their assigned slots with military units in the Middle East -- for a variety of reasons ranging from injuries to personal family emergencies -- Pentagon officials say they won't change the rules that bar news organizations from replacing embeds who leave or switching them from one military unit to another.
Col. Jay DeFrank, director of press operations for the Department of Defense, said he understood that some newspapers may need to move reporters and photographers out of their embed assignments, especially if the war takes more than a few weeks, but stressed that the rule still stands. "When our forces are engaged in ground combat, it is no time to bring in a new journalist to the environment," he said this week. "Having a journalist there complicates the situation already. Having a new person does it more so."
More than 600 journalists are traveling with units from all four branches of the U.S. military as embedded correspondents under the pilot program. Among the rules that the reporters and photographers had to agree to before becoming embedded was that they would give up their slots if they chose to leave. However, now that the length of the war seems more in doubt than during the initial attacks, some editors have told E&P they would like the flexibility of being able to replace embeds if the fighting lasts for weeks or months. As E&P reported Monday, many top papers are already naming or even training replacement reporters.
In recent weeks, at least 10 embedded journalists have left their slots, according to DeFrank, who said another 20 or so have asked to leave, but changed their minds when they were reminded the spots would be gone.
No Replacements
An antiwar protester puts a protest poster up on the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Sunday, April 6, 2003. Antiwar protesters are planning a large antiwar rally at Hillsborough Castle in protest of the arrival of President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair who are due to hold a war summit at the castle on Monday and Tuesday. Poster shows a picture of George W Bush and text reading: 'War Criminal in Belfast'.
Photo by Peter Morrison
The Ideal Home Show
Toilet Roll Browser
An internet toilet roll browser and a net-enabled chopping board are among cutting edge designs at the Ideal Home Show.
The show, which runs at London's Earls Court exhibition centre until 6 April, is home to a variety of strange gadgets.
Design graduate Andrew Cubitt has taken the humble toilet roll and turned it into a hi-tech news and information service.
A unit installed in front of a toilet on the cubicle wall provides up-to-the-minute information on products, stocks and shares and lottery results.
People can even print off the information on a standard toilet roll.
Toilet Roll Browser
Wedding News
Sumner Redstone
U.S. media magnate Sumner Redstone, whose Viacom conglomerate owns television networks MTV and CBS as well as Paramount film studios, on Sunday married Paula Fortunato, a schoolteacher, in a ceremony in New York City.
Crowds gathered outside Temple Emanu-El on the Upper East Side of Manhattan as billionaire Redstone, 79, appeared with his bride, 40, the daughter of a cardiologist from New Jersey.
Actor Sylvester Stallone and singer Tony Bennett were among the stars attending the afternoon wedding, which was followed by a reception at the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue.
The couple met two years ago on a blind date arranged by mutual friends at investment bank Bear Stearns & Company.
Redstone's previous marriage ended in divorce last July after 55 years.
Sumner Redstone
Australia's Richest Man
Kerry Packer
Australia's richest man Kerry Packer is reportedly recovering in hospital after emergency keyhole heart surgery to clear blocked arteries.
Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Packer, 66, was rushed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Wednesday after suffering acute chest pain since late last week, when he was briefly admitted to hospital for observation. He was said to be recovering on Friday.
In 1990, he suffered a severe attack in which his heart stopped beating for six or seven minutes during a polo match.
"I've been to the other side, and let me tell you son, there's f...ing nothing there," he famously commented after the incident.
He went under the surgeon's knife for a heart bypass operation the following year and has been in and out of hospital in both Sydney and New York several times since.
Kerry Packer
Vandal Cuts String on Rodin Sculpture
'The Kiss'
A vandal cut the string an artist used to bind together the nude lovers depicted in Auguste Rodin's sculpture "The Kiss," the museum displaying it said Saturday.
Artist Cornelia Parker wrapped the famous piece in a mile-long spool of string for display in a modern art exhibition at London's Tate Britain art gallery. Called "The Distance: A Kiss With Added String," the museum said the string emphasized the confining nature of romantic relationships.
A man attacked the piece and damaged the string, the museum said. Conservators were examining the sculpture but the museum said it did not appear to have been harmed.
The three-month exhibition, "Days Like These," began in February. Afterward, the string will be removed from the sculpture.
'The Kiss'
Tate Britain
Small Town Puts Cannabis onFlag
Novozybkovo
Some 250 kilometers southwest of Moscow in the Bryansk region, a yellow, green and white flag now flies above the town hall. In the top left-hand corner is the plant more widely known for its hallucinogenic qualities and for being depicted on T-shirts and student posters.
For Novozybkovo, a quiet provincial town of 43,000 that suffered greatly from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, the plant is a symbol of a long-gone glorious age when the town was a vital cog in the country's navy.
In the 18th and 19th century, Novozybkovo was a major supplier of hemp, the tough coarse fiber of the cannabis plant. A factory in the town supplied the Russian Navy with the hemp used for ropes, and the plant was honored when it was placed on the town's coat of arms in the first quarter of the 19th century. Russia's defeat in the Crimean War in 1856 had a crippling effect on the industry, and the decimated Russian Navy's need for hemp died out, said Oleg Dunayev, who works at a local museum and helped the town pick the flag's design.
Hemp was cultivated until the start of the 20th century but died out completely with Stalin's campaign to set up collective farms.
Indeed, the only protests in Novozybkovo, city officials said, have been from local Communists. They didn't like the color of the flag and wanted it to be red.
Novozybkovo
Black vultures eat a dead bull near the shore of the Paraiba river, near the city of Sao Joao da Barra, about 225 miles (360 kilometers) north of Rio de Janeiro, April 6, 2003. The toxic spill from the factory in Minas Gerais state flowed down two rivers this week, causing unspecified environmental damage and forcing regular water supplies to thousands of households in Rio de Janeiro state to be cut off. The spill of 320 million gallons (1.2 billion liters) of toxic waste from the pulp bleaching process, mainly caustic soda, to the rivers Pompa and Paraiba do Sul last weekend has left some 600,000 people without regular water supply.
Photo by Bruno Domingos
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
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'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
