April Baer
Hey--this is April--posting under a special friend's handle. (Really, I'm getting the hang of sharing a laptop.)
Is anybody else wondering if this contest will produce the pubcasting equivalent of Taylor Hicks? And what are the implications if that is, in fact, me?
Seriously, what are your needs from me? Tawk amongst yourselves.
delicious
diggHey April,
Our household has voted you our choice for the next Public Radio Host. We've been charmed by you since we saw you on LiveWire!. You can really write too. We GREATLY admire the decade of getting up at 3am you have already given humankind. How can you do that and still be so nice?
You represent the NW well--the new and the old, the nice and the edgy, the newsworthy and the sublime.
We hope you win! (though we'd miss you here)
Tiff and Alex
Thanks for the love! This is all a bit surreal. You guys going to the LW show next week? Come say hi--I'll be there.
Love of the American argot. You got it babe.
Postmodern trust. Whatever that is. Post-idealism journalism? Neither Washington Post, nor _Fox_-y modernism. April Modernism. Baer Modernism.
My mother's side of the family *owns* Cleveland and my daughter has just moved to Portland, and I've done consulting (french for part time work) there for years. Those cities once were slouchy, but Cleveland's got the Cleveland Clinic,the Rock n Roll Hall of fame and the riverfront. Portland has killer views and a Rose Parade and Festival to beat the band. Not to mention the NW.
I cannot believe you guys left Tulsa off your list for Slouching. On any intersection you have a gas station, a Baptist Church, a Pentecostal independent church (usually the paster got kicked out of the denomination and started his own so he can keep the Lexus) and a Convenience (beer)store.
Oral Roberts said he saw a vision of Jesus the full size of his high-rise hospital knocking on the buliding- referencing, "Behold I stand at the door and knock," he cleared all kinds of money from the old widows on that one. Too bad none of them looked up the verse...It refers to Jesus knocking at the heart of church people who have turned their backs on the poor in favor of a life filled with stuff.
If Jesus was knocking at ORU, he was saying, "Give me back my stuff so I can give it to folks who need it."
Tulsa is Slouch-Y!
(I lived in Tulsa while hubby #1 was an ORU student for 8 looooong years, and I'm sure the weatherman still goes on location to see if it's hot enough on the pavement to fry an egg- it always is...nice roses though.)
"Both faith and fear are the belief in things not seen." S. Franz
Curiously, Portland has a club called the Fez. A good club, with wicked Bhangra night last Saturday of the month.
hmmm. Or an interesting double-bill.
Jim Barfuss
http://www.publicradioquest.com/user/2824
“I've always been a joiner."
"Al" B.A. Joiner
Right, like I was saying... In addition to the previous two questions: I'd like to touch off the discussion on which city is slouchier: Portland (slack heavem, my current addy) or Cleveland (where slouch was invented).
Does anyone remember the X-Ray cafe near the burnside bridge? Our drummer once swung from a trapeze above the stage there with no pants on. Is that slouchy enough? That place was deliciously slouchy -- as was Satyricon. Our guitars were stolen from there and I was invited to a threesome by a lovely couple -- but I turned them down. Never played Cleveland but said drummer went into a truck stop there and came out -- you guessed it -- with no pants on. On second thought maybe the two cities are tied for slouchiness.
I've lived in both cities as well, and Portland wins. There's a University of Slack here (class attendance is appallingly bad).
As far as what we need? Less preciousness, more risk. Public radio stations need to trust that their listeners are grownups and can therefore handle all the things that grownups truly enjoy: truth, humor, humanity, actual opinions and music that's not an appropriate accompaniment to a nap.
In spite of myself and after years of resisting the show my parents love so --I am a fan of Garrison Keillor. If you are from the Midwest you know how well he nails it. I really don't know much about him, but I sometimes get the feeling he feels confined by public radio and its expectations of him -- and he works that too.
Still I can't help but think that deep down inside of him there is a rock-n-roll drummer who swears like a stevedore, swings from chandeliers, and takes his pants off at the drop of a hat. (Ummm just picturing that I might want to tone down that image a little bit. Besides, I am given to thinking there is such a person inside of everyone and that they just need a little help from me to channel it. Sometimes I am just dead wrong.)
Anyway, I do feel that on account of public radio Mr. Keillor is holding back. He is a Midwesterner, after all, so maybe just a little, but still. And not just him but other NPR hosts. Am I making any sense?
And based on what I know of public radio hosts, I think about 50% of them are holding back. I've met some who are EXACTLY like their radio persona - they got into public radio because they heard the more milquetoast hosts and said, "Say! That's where I belong!" Others got into it because they'd heard the moments of brilliance on some shows and strive to make more of them happen. These are what I like to call the "closeted interesting people" of public radio. You hear them read the news in a "fair and balanced" manner, but can hear a glimmer of the Person with a Personality underneath. I'm hoping that public radio will allow us to hear more actual humans in the future.
And thanks so much, Mavis, for the image of Garrison Keillor without pants. I thought it only existed in my dreams, but apparently it's a more ubiquitous fantasy than I imagined.
you're welcome -- and how sad that we spend so much time and energy trying to keep them up. the metaphorical pants, that is. well some try more than others.
Well, "Clevland Rocks" according to that Joan Jett/Michael J. Fox movie Light of Day. Which also features Michael McKean (post-Tap) in Joan's band, and Trent Reznor (pre-NIN) in a marching band.
That's slack heaven, ask the Couch Slouch, Norman Chad. They don't have the NFL because they got satellite dishes. Cleveland is up and coming again after recent events and Portland has a great music scene and luck on their side.
Is that slouchy? Do they have all-Shriner parades in Portland?
Jim Barfuss
“I've always been a joiner."
"Al" B.A. Joiner
All the others died or moved to Florida. The fez in the closet I stole off a monkey. The Shriner fezes (feez?) have their own special box.
Jim Barfuss
http://www.publicradioquest.com/user/2824
“I've always been a joiner."
"Al" B.A. Joiner
Who should ask for more?
Jim Barfuss
http://www.publicradioquest.com/user/2824
“I've always been a joiner."
"Al" B.A. Joiner
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