Obscurorant 2.0 » The Life and Times of the Broadcast Kid

Turn Your Radio On

The Silver Fox — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:11:17 +0000

Radio was enormously important to me growing up. I remember (and I will no doubt date myself here) tuning in to Casey Kasem’s weekly countdown because it was important to know what songs to listen to, and what was cool and there was no internet thirty years ago to tell me these things or help me sort through my options, of which there weren’t a lot circa 1982. Later on I started to go to school in Boston and when the guys turned on WFNX (back when it was legitimately different from anything else you were likely to encounter on the airwaves, excluding the college stations clustered ‘left of the dial’ whose existence I somehow * overlooked ) radio again showed me things, sounds, that were different:

A lot of what was cool and exciting about radio has vanished into the corporate maw, but there are still good listens to be had in the Boston area, even outside the college stations we’re fortunate to have here. My current favorite radio station is 95.9 WATD, broadcasting out of Marshfield. The station is a favorite because:

-It is locally owned and operated, which means you will hear Boston and New England accents, no generic radio voices, and lots of charmingly inept commercials for local businesses. I like this – WATD sounds like it is broadcasting here in Massachusetts, not Anywhere, USA. Yay local flavor!

-It is a full-service station, featuring not only news, traffic, weather and music, but other, more eclectic programs. I’m not actually interested in a radio show about birds or boating but I think it’s cool that people who are passionate about these things can find relevant shows on the radio.

-It still plays the music that was considered ‘oldies’ when I was growing up, several times a week. I can’t think of anywhere else to find this music, since WODS now plays considers music from the 80s to be ‘oldies.’ The Oldies With Ron Dwyer show fits the bill perfectly, with a large variety of old pop songs. You’re just as likely to hear an obscure B-side as a #1 hit, just as likely to hear Perry Como as Elvis. Yesterday’s Memories is a fine show as well.

But what really won my affection is WATD’s latest programming addition: the Alternative . I gripe about WODS playing songs from the 80s, but I wouldn’t mind an ‘oldies’ show or format aimed at my generation. I just want it to be a good one, and Chris Atwood’s show fits the bill. Any DJ that spins (Feels Like) Heaven is all right with me. I just wish WATD would give the Alternative more than one Friday per month.

I should also mention Easy 99.1. You may insert your joke about the middle-aged dude listening to a radio station called Easy 99.1 here, but if you like Sinatra, adult pop, or the Great American Songbook Ron Della Chiesa’s Strictly Sinatra definitely worth a listen.

*Somehow = I was clueless, a condition that would continue to trouble me until well into my second decade of life.

Fool Such As I

The Silver Fox — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 02:10:41 +0000

You never know what piece of flotsam will call to life a long-slumbering memory. If you view these pictures of Libraries of the Rich and Famous and scroll down to the last one, you’ll learn that the library depicted is enormous (70,000 books worth $4 million) and belongs to noted academic Richard Macksey. Many years ago, as an appallingly clueless freshman, I enrolled in one of his classes. The exact name escapes me, but it was detective and mystery fiction, from its more traditional forms to The Crying of Lot 49 and Borges’ work. As I said above I was clueless. I never took another class with Mr. Macksey, never read Proust and needless to say never got anywhere near his famous library. Later in my collegiate career I demonstrated I still hadn’t learned anything by taking a class with Orest Ranum and again managing to remain ignorant of the man’s career and accomplishments and exactly how much one could learn from him.

I still plan to attempt Proust though, and maybe I can teach my children to be less oblivious of the opportunities life puts in your path.

I Wanna Be Sedated

The Silver Fox — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 04:06:26 +0000

It is both surreal and terrifying when your ER doctor asks if you have a preferred neurosurgeon. The predominant emotion at any given moment that follows will be determined by the level of opiates flowing through your body at any given moment that follows.

We did not have a preferred neurosurgeon. We did however, find ourselves with an excellent one. He did a fine job, making the incision right along the edge of my hair. You wouldn’t notice the scar unless you already know to look, but it’s there, following the arc of the widow’s peak on the right side of my head. I have gotten in the habit of tracing the path of the scar with my fingers, absent-mindedly rubbing it while I read, or think, or stare at a computer screen.

In the right kind of light, if I tilt my head to the correct angle, I can see the slightly raised bumps on my head that mark the location of the dime-sized pieces of metal (titanium steel I believe) that covered the holes and held my skull together following the surgery.

This morning when I walked into the kitchen Herself kissed me and said “Happy Brainiversary.” I’m delighted to be here to celebrate.

Why You Been Gone So Long

The Silver Fox — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:27:06 +0000

In the end I caved and Dicken’s Christmas Stories is now living in my car until I have a chance to return it to the library. I have it mind to take another run at Mr. Dickens, maybe with A Tale of Two Cities, but that will be further down the road. Someday. Maybe. Perhaps. There are an awful lot of books out there, or on my shelves waiting my attention, that I know I will enjoy reading.

When my daughter started to take a strong interest in books, I began to cast my mind back to ‘lost’ books, dimly remembered books from my childhood and adolescence, faded away into vague memories until recalled to clarity through copious internet searching. For instance…

One of these lost books I could only recall as a picture book (maybe books) about a ghost living in a New England town that I would read when visiting my grandparent’s house in Salem. Turns out Robert Bright wrote a whole series of books about Georgie the ghost, of which my grandparent’s owned the first two, Georgie and Georgie to the Rescue. I hunted down a copy of Georgie (sadly all the books seem to be out of print) which Madeleine loved* and literally read to pieces.

A Google search of ‘Norway’ + ‘sleds’ + ‘gold’ returned to proper memory Snow Treasure, by Marie McSwigan, a story of Norwegian children smuggling gold out of their occupied country by sledding it past the German army. I read this book at least a dozen times when I was in grade school. Supposedly it was based on a true story, though there now seems to be some doubt about that. Snow Treasure is still in print, so I can look forward to reading to my kids when they’re old enough. I also dredged up from the recesses of my mind The Black Stone Knife, by Alice Lee Marriott, a book so forgotten it possesses no reviews on Amazon. But I loved it once, or at least read it many times. Not sure if I’ll introduce this one to Dashiell and Madeleine.

I’m still trying to track down the name and author of a book set during the American Revolution, in New York City if I’m remembering correctly, featuring young adult, or maybe child, protagonists, spying for General Washington. I think. I maybe confusing it with another forgotten title set during the Revolution and taking place on the coast and involving small boats. Yeah, not a lot to go on there.

*So taken was Madeleine with Georgie that she named her stuffed cat Herman, after Georgie’s feline friend. This is a high honor, since very few of Madeleine’s numerous stuffed and toy animals have actual names, instead being addressed by such descriptive terms as ‘Black Dog’ or ‘New One Dog’ or ‘Bunny.’

Winter Beats

The Silver Fox — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:44:58 +0000

Here are two things you may not know about me.

1. I love Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It is my absolute, favorite holiday story, a position formed by multiple viewings of multiple versions of the tale courtesy of the UHF stations of my youth. It seemed then that at any point of the Christmas season one could sit down, turn on the tube, twist the dial, and tune into a Christmas ghost story, with dark and scary moments that stood out against the Rankin and Bass productions that littered the 70s. My 7th grade English teacher made the actual text assigned reading and I discovered I loved it as much as the movies, more in some cases, as I had never much cottoned to the musical adaption with Finney and Guinness. A few years later George C. Scott’s turn as Scrooge in the 1984 television film became for me the perfect Christmas special, not least because it adheres faithfully to Dickens’ original story.

2. Apart from A Christmas Carol, I have never read any of Dickens’ work. Not a single one of his books was ever assigned to me again, not in high school and not in college. Ten or so years ago I attempted Oliver Twist, but made it only halfway before succumbing to boredom and the allure of other, more appealing titles.

I offer up these two facts so that you might understand how it is I came to be wrestling with a copy of the Oxford Illustrated edition of Christmas Stories as we head into February. The book was on display at the library and I thought ‘Oh, I love A Christmas Carol. Surely I will love these other Christmas stories Dickens wrote.’

So far I can only say ‘not so much’. Over the course of several weeks I trudged through The Chimes, the second Christmas tale Dickens wrote (after A Christmas Carol.) It contained all the moralizing and none of the magic his first effort, failing to fulfill the story-teller’s first obligation: to entertain. The goblins (or ghosts – I’m still not sure who was doing what) of the Chimes are not the least bit interesting and pale in comparison to the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

Christmas Stories remains on my nightstand and I tell myself I will continue the struggle, at least to the extent of attempting The Cricket on the Hearth, the next story in the book, but I do have piles of other books that are far more tempting. I think Dickens and I might just call it quits.

N.B. I have a tumblr blog, at least for now. We’ll see where it takes us.

Summertime

The Silver Fox — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 01:21:48 +0000

I’m sure that at some previous point on this blog I’ve made mention of Shorpy, the historical photograph blog. I enjoy the site for many reasons, not the least of which is that occasionally a pictures or pictures of local interest will be posted. This past week there was a photo of Nantasket Beach, as well as several shots of Paragon Park and the roller coaster that once resided there. Paragorn Park was dismantled in 1984, the only remnant the carousel that both intrigues and terrifies my daughter.

I have to confess that I never visited Paragon Park. Apart from the Salem Willows, the only one of these places still remaining, the local attraction that loomed largest in my childhood was Lincoln Park. I went there for a neighbor’s birthday several years running, and I went there through school, as a reward for being a crossing guard. The park was on its last legs during these years, with a rickety wooden coaster that eventually killed someone ,and decrepit dark rides such as the Pirate’s Den and the Monster Ride, filled with paper mache figures that we, in a fashion typical of horrible little boys, enjoyed mocking and spitting on, in between hopping out of the cars.

Down All The Days

The Silver Fox — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:52:05 +0000

The magic of the internet returned to me two much-loved and long out-of-print albums, and now I share with you. Feel the love.

Cowboy Songs – National Geographic

I received this as a two record set for Christmas 1976, and played the hell out if it the next five years -my first exposure to American standards such as Red River Valley, The Streets of Laredo and Jesse James. I have no idea what happened to the LPs, but you can go here to download a copy.

Tiny Days – Scruffy the Cat

I can’t remember how I discovered Scruffy, but I owned a cassette of Tiny Days by my junior year of high school. Then I went off to college in Baltimore and found to my surprise that plenty of folks I met were into this Boston band. On one memorable occasion the band played an impromptu show at our fraternity house, much to the neighbor’s delight. Great party though. Great memories. You can find Tiny Days here – I highly recommend a listen.

And here’s a bonus: the Raindogs’ Lost Souls, another record from another great Boston band. I’ve been listening to this one a lot lately.

Help I’m Alive

The Silver Fox — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 02:57:59 +0000

Did you hear? I had brain surgery, of the emergency variety. Got a great big scar to prove it and I’m told my head will beep next time I’m wanded at the airport.

No lie though, that was some scary shite.

Going Mobile

The Silver Fox — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:52:35 +0000

Last weekend Herself, the Rocket and I took ourselves down to New York. Photos can be found here.

Meanwhile, the Rocket has been practicing her walking around skills – video here.

This was my first trip ever to New York where I a) was in bed by 11 PM both nights and b) did not consume all the beer purchased. Madeleine loves her FAO Schwartz stuffed dog though, and Herself and I enjoyed yummy cocktails at Bubby’s. The Bees Knees was just that, although next time I’m getting a Calvados Sidecar.

Legends of the Dumb: A New Hope

The Silver Fox — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 00:54:45 +0000

Among the many ridiculous things my friends and I believed, was the notion that a being able to ‘stop its molecules,’ as our scientific vernacular had it, would be able to freeze itself and thus remain suspended in midair.

During backyard games of Star Wars figures, this strange – and useless – ability was ascribed to Hammerhead. How and why, I have no recollection. But it did give the otherwise peripheral figure of Hammerhead a peculiar touch of class.