Last night, after another very long week (well, actually two very long weeks), I finally started work on the first part of a program to celebrate the 16th anniversary of my radio show. It was my intention to only work for an hour and then watch the Republican's performance piece. I got lost in my task and missed the debate. I just saw the first 15 minutes of it on the internet. I had great difficulty with the Fox News website (Fox News hosted the event), having to restart the debate webstream 3 times, watching a different commercial each time. I finally got the first section to play without crashing. Then it suddenly ended, and according to the website, the stream moved on to section 2 of the debate. The only problem was that it was section one repeated. These problems occurred at 7 something o'clock in the morning, on a major corporation's website, i.e. not a heavy traffic time. If ever there was a metaphor hanging the air like a bunch of over ripe grapes....
In the few minutes I got to see, candidate Marco Rubio played the role of attack dog. The general demeanor of the proceedings degraded so quickly that within the first five minutes the leading candidate was defending the size of his genitals. I suppose it was something of a victory that he didn't use crude language. The audience hooted and hollered with delight, similar to what one might hear from a group of children egging on the participants in a school yard brawl. Perhaps it didn't help matters that a couple of nights ago I watched a 1942 movie called "Hitler's Children". It was a wonderfully melodramatic and lurid account of life under the growing influence and strength of the Nazi regime. It opens with a schoolyard fight between freedom loving American children and heavily indoctrinated Fuehrer loving German children. It was based on a once famous book, "Education for Death", which was also the source material for a Disney short of the same name.
Here's a clip from the movie's opening (all that is available on the internet - there is a trailer on the Turner Classic Movies website, but its embed code doesn't work) just ignore the subtitles, please...
(and yes, that's young Bonita Granville, who played Nancy Drew, wielding the baseball bat).
The Disney version
(if you get the bothersome 'world's best' flag on the lower left hand corner, it can be clicked off. Oh, by the way, if you're going to watch this, I suggest using the full screen function.)
I had to remind myself that the alleged debate was a forum of candidates seeking to be the leader of the most powerful nation on the face of the Earth. Of course, it probably doesn't matter anymore - our Presidency is beginning to resemble a ceremonial leadership position not unlike the monarchs of Great Britain. The real authority and power lies elsewhere. Pun intended. Considering the consequences of electing any of the candidates in last night's entertainment (and the moneymen behind the curtain), I have begun to consider that Armageddon might not be that bad of an idea after all.
Last week's radio show escape didn't focus on a particular month and year. It was one of the jukebox style shows I've been doing lately, and took note of a number of birthdays. Thus, there are performances from singer Mildred Bailey (2/27), bandleader Jimmy Dorsey (2/29), singer Dinah Shore (2/29), bandleader Glenn Miller (3/1), and composer Kurt Weil (3/2). Sadly, I only fit in one piece (at the opening) for Desi Arnaz (3/2). And there was one song with a lyric by Dr. Suess (3/2). My 'senior moments' continued - a reference I made to a Lucha Libre mask came out as something on the order of 'leecha lubra'.
As the anniversary program is at hand, I'm wondering if it's time to give up the show. Perhaps it's time for a nice blowout and graceful exit while I can still manage it. I'm fairly certain that this rumination has more to do with other problems at the station, and the time I spend trying to keep everything there moving forward. Each week it seems I have less and less time for my own show, and a much harder time focusing on it. My work on it lately has left me feeling disappointed in myself. I'm not enjoying it any longer. I realized some time ago that I was having a wonderful time when I wasn't the Board President, and wasn't managing the station. My work has rebuilt our show schedule and bank account to about the same place things were when I stopped for not quite a year and a half. It took not quite a year and a half to accomplish that feat. Well, enough of my whining. Here's last week's show.
As always, I hope any listeners enjoy my truly meager efforts.
