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Not Going to Be Ignored
A brief excerpt of “I Will Follow Him” on Weekend Edition sent me straight to the Internet to hear more. NPR hadn’t changed their format to Oldies. Instead of Little Peggy March, the artist was Lady Rizo. The clip aired during an interview titled “Lowbrow Is Where It’s At.”
There are several Lady Rizo videos on YouTube. I’m mostly interested in her unusual takes on well-known songs, such as her medley of “Nature Boy” and “Billie Jean.” Some of her performance-art pieces were recorded during a cabaret show called “Our Hit Parade,” which first caught my attention two years ago. East Tennesseans may get a kick out of her cover of Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors.”
Lady Rizo’s funny version of “I Will Follow Him” starts normally but as the tension builds, it sound like she’s a crazed stalker. Here’s the video:
Far Left of the Radio Dial
A free Kindle book got me to listen to the pledge breaks on our local NPR affiliate in a new way. “Diary of a Public Radio Slave” by Kerri Wood Thomson was offered for free on the day I ordered it in February. The amusing story is set at a radio station on a college campus in a snowier climate than here. I suspect that the book evolved from a blog Thomson started in 2006.
I had to ignore a few typographical errors and the chapter headings confused me. The days and times of the fictional diary entries didn’t seem to match the action in the chapters. Much of the story deals with the impending visit of “Sebastian Kohler,” a thinly disguised version of Garrison Keillor. The synopsis of the plot on Amazon.com and on the author’s blog gives away too much about the book’s ending.
Aside from those minor problems, the book is very good. The scenes of volunteers happily eating donated food was reminiscent of my own experience as a volunteer at our local public television station. Shortly after I read a chapter that mocked the artwork on t-shirts and coffee mugs offered as premiums, I heard real radio announcers offering similar items as gifts to Knoxville donors. In the book, there was a body part hidden in a line drawing of their city on the mugs and shirts. In my mind, I could only picture the Sunsphere.
As I neared the end of “Diary of a Public Radio Slave,” I found another Amazon freebie. “The Zombie Wilson Diaries” by Timothy W. Long looks like it could be pretty funny. My reading is in a little bit of a holding pattern as I await the arrival of my review copy of the new Body Farm novel, “The Inquisitor’s Key” by Jefferson Bass. I’m such a fan that I even sprung for the 99ยข to pre-order an e-book prequel called “Madonna and Corpse” that will be delivered to my Kindle on April 24.
Working Stiff
Dick Clark’s offices in Burbank were near a Mexican restaurant where we often had birthday lunches or good-bye parties for co-workers at KPWR and KROQ in the mid ’90s. I recall seeing Mr. Clark crossing the street, presumably going to NBC Studios. Dick Clark died yesterday at 82.
When I was just getting started at WAVA, I would run the Sunday morning countdown shows. Because our competitor aired Casey Kasem, we took what we could get. The station was running John Leader’s Countdown America when Leader was replaced by Dick Clark. Here’s another bit of trivia: Clark appeared in the final episode of “Perry Mason,” and played the villain. I saw a rerun of it a few years back.
He would call in to KLOS when he had something to plug but my most vivid memories of Dick Clark are from seeing him in action at the American Music Awards. Clark created the AMAs for ABC when the Grammys moved to CBS. I went to the AMAs a couple of times while I worked for KLOS, which was then owned by ABC. Before the show started, the unmistakable voice of Dick Clark could be heard telling audience members to get to their seats. During every commercial break, Clark would be on stage, telling us how many minutes or seconds were left before the show resumed. He wasn’t seen or heard on TV, only in the auditorium. To me, he was a superstar but that night he was playing the part of the warm-up guy. It made him seem very real and down-to-earth.
Monumental Clarity
There is a major anachronistic flaw in the movie trailer for “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” It shows a completed Washington Monument. On my last visit, I learned that an anti-Catholic group called the Know Nothings halted construction of the monument in 1855. It wasn’t completed until December 1884, almost 20 years after Lincoln’s death.
One of the comments I made on Twitter about the film caught the attention of Kate Reagan, the director of public relations and marketing at Lincoln Memorial University. She emailed to tell me about the new “Abraham Lincoln at the Movies” exhibit in the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum on the Harrogate campus. A year-and-a-half ago, my wife and I visited the museum to see a replica of Lincoln’s casket.
Kate suggested I record a public-affairs interview Steven Wilson, the curator of LMU’s museum. During the program, I got to gripe about the “Vampire Hunter” trailer in between my questions about Lincoln’s funeral and other bits of historical trivia. We also talked about “The Conspirator,” a movie I saw a year ago. I enjoyed the conversation and thought you might too.
Frank Murphy Interviews Steven Wilson of LMU - Lincoln in the Movies Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadWalking and Talking
The weather was supposed to be nice for the 14th Annual Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk. For the past week, the forecast called for a sunny day with a high temperature in the low 80s. Instead, we got a brief thunderstorm as the walkers circled the campus of Knoxville Catholic High School and All Saints Catholic Church.
For the third year, I was honorary chair of the Fun Walk. Since I am also president of the FBI Knoxville Citizens Academy Alumni Association, I arranged for the group to have a table at the event. Two volunteers handed out cards with a QR code for the FBI Child ID App for iPhones.
Like last year, we gave away a green bicycle from Regions Bank. My wife and I aren’t sure what exactly I said that made Fr. Ragan Schriver put his hand to his mouth. It might have been my joke about the green helmet protecting the regions of the brain.
The Kids Helping Kids Fun Walk has evolved from just a walk to a mini-festival with food, games and prizes. I collected extra donations for Columbus Home by making shout-outs over the P.A. When I saw Heather Tang and her family, I offered to make the shout-outs in the same French accent I had used the day before when Heather’s daughters were dancing as Wild Ducks in a scene from “The Ugly Duckling.”
When we started, I intended to go on the entire walk with Fr. Ragan, who was pushing his niece’s wheelchair. After one lap around the track, concerns about the weather kept me and the microphone near the public address system. It rained a little bit during the Walk. Most of the participants had returned to the stadium when we first heard thunder and I had to send everyone to their cars. As it turned out, the severe storm missed the campus but it was better to be safe than sorry.
The photos shot by Kim McCready help illustrate the large turnout. Kim’s camera also captured WVLT sports director Rick Russo supporting the cause by walking.
Ten, I See
March 27, 2002 was Wednesday of Holy Week. It was also the first day of my on-air audition in Knoxville. Over the weekend, I was reminded of my ten-year anniversary by the program director who hired me. My wife and I happened to run into Shane Cox and his wife at the store on Sunday and he congratulated me on ten years in Knoxville. I’m glad he recognized me, since I don’t look the same as I did back then.
On the night before my audition, I walked from my hotel on Summit Hill to Manhattan’s in the Old City. Before I left Burbank, I had searched online for any improv groups in Knoxville and discovered Einstein Simplified. I couldn’t have predicted that I would be performing with them on that same stage three months later.
I was on the air with Phil Williams on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. I remember two of the segments distinctly. There were three celebrity deaths that week, which is probably why we called Death Pool Dave to get his reaction. I found out later that the interview helped them decide to hire me. On Holy Thursday, Phil picked me up at the hotel and we went to a 24-hour supermarket. We bought Marshmallow Peeps so I could see how many fit in my mouth. We repeated the bit a year later and I surpassed my personal best.
I flew back to Burbank in time to attend the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at St. Finbar Church. I was one of the parishioners who had their feet washed during the ceremony. In the days that followed, my friend Pam Baker suggested that I wear my new sweatshirt in front of Hollywood landmarks and pose for pictures for the station’s website.
By the end of April, I had moved to Knoxville. I had a week or two to get acclimated before my first broadcast, which was a remote from West Town Mall during the station’s “Hands on a Harley” contest. I was thrilled that “Survivor” winner Tina Wesson came to the mall for an interview.
Sphygmomanometer Significance
Dollywood officially opens for the season today after a preview day for season pass holders yesterday. On Wednesday, they allowed local radio personalities to ride the new Wild Eagle, the first wing coaster to open in America. A similar ride will open at Six Flags Great America in May.
As I mentioned the other day, Dollywood’s public relations department mounted a camera on Wild Eagle’s front seat and had the deejays ride in the second row. Star 102.1 posted two of the videos on YouTube, including one of Dave Fennell and me on the new coaster.
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