Pribek

It’s hot out there for sure. I had a little car trouble this afternoon and my neighbor, John, came and bailed me out; thanks, John.

Tom Snyder passed away from complications associated with leukemia at 71. I was a fan of the Tomorrow Show. I started watching because of the musical guests. He had acts that you would not see anywhere else. I saw The Grateful Dead (with Ken Kesey by the way), the Allman Brothers, Elvis Costello, U2, the Dixie Dregs, you get the picture it was a wide variety. At first, I didn’t like Snyder because I got the impression that he didn’t know anything about the music. He would always ask things like, “Why do you play so gosh darn loud?”, and he would be talking to some band like Kiss. He had kind of an attitude about it. It sometimes seemed that he didn’t really want some rock band on his show but he had to do it because some record company was pushing it.

It was a long show, originally 60 minutes, if I remember right, and then later expanded to 90 minutes. It seems like a lot of the musical guests I remember were on the longer format. It seemed like they were looking for stuff to fill up the show. It was nice because, he would have the bands play several songs in their entirety and interview them as well. Snyder always had a heater lit up and smoke curling through the air. Sometimes, due to the late hour I’m sure, the guest was half in the bag.

After I watched the show a few times, I really started to enjoy Snyder. He wasn’t at all pretentious. He was quick witted. He even seemed to start warming up to the rock and roll a little, except for the loudness. I do remember him complimenting the Dead repeatedly because they played acoustic instruments. Anyway, I got to the point where I was watching the show even if he didn’t have a musical guest. I liked the interviews. I guess you could say he won me over.

I watched the show he did in the ’90s and it was good too. It seems like it wasn’t quite the same vibe. You never knew what was going to happen on the Tomorrow Show. There really isn’t anything like it anymore.

Berlin has named a street after Frank Zappa in an industrial area that was formerly part of East Germany. Frank-Zappa-Strasse has a nice ring to it. Who would you like to see have a street named after them?

We Have A Winner!

Watermang, who comments here from time to time, came up with the correct answer, the Atlanta Rhythm Section was the band who released the album Dog Days. I saw the ARS live one time and they were a steamroller. I remember they opened with the song “Large Time” and they came out of the chute playing hard. I liked their records a lot but live, at least when I saw them, they took it to another level.

Watermang, a copy of “Trouble Ain’t Over” is on it’s way.

I liked doing the contest so look forward to more in the future. I was asked why the contestants were asked to email rather than just comment. I want to avoid any disputes about who got the correct answer first. Some comments need to be moderated, especially first-timers it seems, and some don’t. I wouldn’t want someone with the correct answer waiting to be moderated while somebody else beats them to it. I will look into other possibilities.

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Sunday.

Just look at the word, a day–with sun. That’s pretty good. The word Sunday should conjure happy thought then, right?

Then, how come there are no happy Sunday songs. Let’s see; “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” by U2, “Gloomy Sunday” by Billie Holiday, “Sunday Morning” by The Velvet Underground, “Sunday Morning Coming Down” by Kris Kristofferson; all good songs but not what you would call uplifting. If anyone can think of a happy Sunday song, let me know, I sure can’t.

If you are looking for something to do on Sunday, go to Mr. President’s fine blog Textual Relations and check out Sunday Submissions. This is where the Pres features pieces of writing submitted by guest writers. This week he is spotlighting a piece that I wrote (and dutifully submitted), “The Culture Of More”. I posted the article here on Thursday but the version at TR has extra bonus content that is not in the original version.

It’s a good blog, Mr. President tackles a wide variety of topics and there are interesting comments as well. Go look.

The phrase “dog days of summer” crossed my mind as I went outside this morning. As it turns out, we are in the “dog days” according to wilstar.com….

The brightest of the stars in Canis Major (the big dog) is Sirius, which also happens to be the brightest star in the night sky. In fact, it is so bright that the ancient Romans thought that the earth received heat from it. Look for it in the southern sky (viewed from northern latitudes) during January.

In the summer, however, Sirius, the “dog star,” rises and sets with the sun. During late July Sirius is in conjunction with the sun, and the ancients believed that its heat added to the heat of the sun, creating a stretch of hot and sultry weather. They named this period of time, from 20 days before the conjunction to 20 days after, “dog days” after the dog star.

I find that interesting. It has inspired me to have the first ever “Trouble Ain’t Over” contest. If you know the name of the band that released this classic L.P. (band name has been edited out of the photo) click on the “Send me an email” link in the sidebar to your right or HERE. The first reader with the correct answer will win a copy of my C.D. “Trouble Ain’t Over”, shipping included.

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This is regarding the sad news about the two news helicopters that crashed and the four deaths that were a result of the crash in Phoenix yesterday.

Could this tragedy have been avoided?

This quote is from My Way News.

Earlier on Friday, Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris suggested the suspect could “be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy.”

If the suspect had decided to not get in a police chase the accident would have been avoided.

The reporters and the pilots were just doing their jobs. The story was valid news and should be covered.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said the pilots of the five news helicopters and one police chopper over the chase were not talking to air traffic controllers at the time, which is normal.

If you have ever been in an accident with another vehicle, you know that police and insurance companies have a basic criteria to determine who is at fault. That is, who had the last chance to avoid the accident? That is why, in any accident where one car hits the rear end of another car, the driver who rear ended the other is always at fault. Even if the driver in front slams on the brakes for no reason, the guy in back of him had the last chance to avoid a wreck.

The tragedy in Phoenix should have been avoided because the news helicopters were unnecessary. Sure, it’s news but we don’t need to see live coverage of police chasing a work truck. Six helicopters in the same area, dead reckoning, sounds more dangerous than the actual chase.

If one of these stations decided they weren’t going to cover the chase scene, people would just tune in to the ones that were. Why is that? People watch these things because there is an element of very real danger. The chase could end in a crash or a shootout. So, they are not watching for the news value, they are watching for the entertainment value. Thus, the news presentation is really an entertainment show fighting for ratings.

It’s even worse than that. The news shows are adding danger to an already dangerous situation just by being there. They are inserting themselves into the news and, in this case, becoming a tragic part of the story.

If Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris has the audacity to charge the suspect with manslaughter or even murder then, he should charge the news directors and the station owners with the same thing.

If the collective consciousness of the consumer is so morbid that we demand this type of needless reportage; so be it. If that’s the case then. what do we gain by shifting the responsibility away from those who have the actual power to avoid such an incident?

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