Alabama & Clarence

Love The Worley's  from True Romance.  A Quentin Tarantino written film from the 90's.

Twas The Night Before Pink Slips

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the nation, not a creature was stirring at the radio station.

The microphones were lonely and the listeners were too, when Clear Channel opted to fire a few.

The stockings were hung on the tower with care, in hopes that the boss will hand you a spare .

On DJ's and Sales, and promotions they rule... and your wallet.. yes... they control that too.

And never before is that more clear.. than the day they send you to pack up your gear.

The Radio DJ's - the front line players... are the first to go when they're peeling the layers.

Some of  us have our dignity and pride... others just don't know WHAT to decide.

 Owners, Managers, and Programming Gods... please take a bow.. ... applause applause.

Now take a bonus - and another one fast.  We'll not even notice, when you fall on your ass.

This kind of madness is radio's story ... But meet Karma, my friend, in all her glory.

The Toys of Our Childhood

The world of toys will obviously change from generation to generation but as I go to look things to get for my young nephews and nieces this year, I wish I could just go get them all of the stuff that we ...  the last of the baby boomers ...  got for Christmas.

My favorite Doll wasn't Barbie... It was Beautiful Chrissy!  My sister Bonnie got her blonde sister Velvet, and their hair pulled out of a hole in their head... and she could have the short sassy look or long beautiful flowing locks.  For my 30th birthday I got Chrissy back from my Aunt Margaret!  She had taken the dolls and put them away for us knowing what it would mean to us someday.. and she was right.

The simple act of making this thing go down stairs... pure and utter JOY.  The SLINKY!

My cousin Jerry had this one.. the Rock Em Sock Em Robots...and we played for HOURS on end.

 

The reason I loved going to Grandma's house so much.... that's where we left the Lincoln Logs!

Hours and Hours of fun!!

How could we forget the Ker Bangers Click Clack toy... or as some of us called them... KNOCKERS. 

Don't remember actually getting The Barbie Camper... but my cousin Brenda did and it provided days, weeks and even months of entertainment for us.

And finally every boy in my life... grew up knowing the pure excitement that Hot Wheels brought on Christmas Morning.

When you wake up on that magical day, I hope you experience even half the joy that these toys brought to us growing up.  Happy Holidays!

George Carlin ~ The American Dream

George Carlin on the American Dream

In light of the blood bath yesterday at Clear Channel, not to mention the demise of my own job the day before Thanksgiving, it's important to keep things in perspective as to WHY this is happening in radio today.  George Carlin put it best in his monologue, The American Dream:


Youtube Video of George Carlin's "American Dream"


There's a reason that education sucks, and it’s the same reason it will never ever ever be fixed. It’s never going to get any better, don’t look for it. Be happy with what you’ve got. Because the owners of this country don’t want that. I’m talking about the real owners now, the big, wealthy, business interests that control all things and make the big decisions.

Forget the politicians, they’re irrelevant.

Politicians are put there to give you that idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations, and they’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the State Houses, and the City Halls. They’ve got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies so they control just about all the news and information you get to hear.

They’ve got you by the balls.

They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else. But I’ll tell you what they don’t want—they don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking.

They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interest. You know something, they don’t want people that are smart enough to sit around their kitchen table and figure out how badly they’re getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago.


They don’t want that, you know what they want?

They want obedient workers, obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it.


And now they’re coming for your social security money.

They want your fucking retirement money; they want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street.

And you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it all from you sooner or later because they own this fucking place.

It’s a big club and you ain’t in it! You and I are not in the Big Club. By the way, it’s the same big club they use to beat you in the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head with their media telling you what to believe, what to believe, what to think and what to buy.


The table is tilted folks, the game is rigged.

Nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. Good honest hard working people, white collar, blue collar, it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on. Good honest hard working people continue, these are people of modest means, continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don’t give a fuck about them. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about…give a fuck about you! They don’t care about you at all, at all, at all.


And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care.
That’s what the owners count on, the fact that Americans are and will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white, and blue dick that’s being jammed up their assholes everyday.

Because the owners of this country know the truth, it’s called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.

All I want for Christmas...

Dear Santa,


1.  I know you are not God, but please just bring some piece of mind to me this Christmas.  Like they say in the world of recovery, please grant me the serenity to except  the things I cannot change,  the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

2.  On top on serenity, courage and wisdom if you could keep me surrounded by loving people while I'm off work and make sure I'm in the right place, at the right time, for both my family and my career, that would be awesome.  Wait... I'm talking to God again.  What do I want from Santa?

3.  Oh... I know.. .keep me in a "thriving" mode, and see to it that I don't slip into a place where I'm just "surviving".   

4.   I know... I need a car Santa.  Look out for Larry the Lumina in the meantime.  Oh wait.. I went back to talking to God again.

5.  Laughter...that's it!  Bring lots of laughter to me this holiday.  That heals everything.  Oh... .and forgiveness... that heals all that laughter does not.  OK... sorry to keep confusing you with God.. I will go have a chat with Him now.

Your pal,
Crystal

Happy Holidays And Your Services Are No Longer Needed

The day before Thanksgiving Midwest Family Broadcasting called us all into a mandatory meeting scheduled for 1:00 in the afternoon.  This is far too familiar because my 30 years in the the radio industry has certainly shown me time and time again, that this fun thing I've chosen to do for a career, is about as cut throat a business as any.

When a mandatory staff meeting is called during the weeks that lead up the holidays, your station is about to do what is referred to as a 'stunt'.  The format changes to holiday music at the very moment the bosses walk into a staff meeting, only to read a statement out loud that takes less than one minute, basically saying that your services are no longer needed, but they hope you have a great holiday.  With that, you are asked to get your keys and purses, and leave the premises immediately.  This time it was surreal, to say the least, but one has to keep in mind that business is business, and these guys had a plan, and it simply didn't include us.  What a shame, because this radio station might have been running on a shoe string budget, but it was filled with folks who really cared about the "on air" product.

Sly is the reason I moved to Madison.  His show is one of the most interesting talk shows on the air anywhere!  I was his News Anchor and Co-Host and they had just put our station on the FM dial. I kept saying that Sly in the Morning should have been syndicated across the country because there is simply nothing like it in anywhere else.  He is a Progressive leaning "shock" jock who truly lives in that world of politics.  He and I just got each other! We had instant chemistry on the radio and undoubtedly he will be a part of my life forever!   His best friend is Senator Russ Feingold, who actually showed up to Smokey's Supper Club for my birthday dinner a few weeks ago.

To be on the radio in Madison during the Wisconsin Uprising was one of the great honors of my life.  To be one of the broadcasters delivering the news to the hundreds of thousands of protesters on the streets of our city gave me an intense sense of pride literally every day that I was privileged enough to do it.  To have Sly sitting there giving me an education in politics and history was yet another big WIN for me.

 Sly and Willie on WTDY at the Labor Temple

 Shawn Prebil and me at the Labor Rally in 2010

 Sly on the air - and drawing a crowd as usual

Dylan Brogan and Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney

The really good news here?  I get to spend some quality time back home in Indiana for the holidays.  I plan to savor every moment I have with friends and family right now.  Thank God for them.  I've lost a couple of great friends over this passed year, and of course those kind of earth shattering events teach us that life is too short.  As I head into a new year, in a new job, and maybe even in a new city, I've learned to embrace the good and the bad ... and least I'll enjoy the ride!  

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