A Journalist Remembers
• You can’t always get the story you want • Clapton, Jackson and Orbison: off-limits • Once, twice, three times a loser One of the best rock shows ever filmed was underway and I couldn’t talk my way past the bouncers at the stage door. I had tried, since landing in L.A., to get a … Continue reading Thwarted
I think it's worth noting that in 1980, what we called the counterculture had only been around for about 15 years. So breaking into a Monday Night Football game with the news of the murder of John Lennon was actually a debatable decision. Hear Howard Cosell lose the off-air debate to "Dandy Don" Meredith, and … Continue reading Monday Night Football, Dec. 8, 1980
• Idle googling turns up not one but two Natalie Merchant profiles • Idle gossip about her and Michael Stipe had to be addressed, I guess • An unplanned blog post. Surprise! The ROTR will return to hibernation. In a spasm of boredom the other day, I googled my name and up came a YouTube … Continue reading These Are Days – 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant, Michael Stipe, Cat Stevens and Salman Rushdie
• It was the first year with a Rap category and a Hard Rock/Heavy Metal one, too • So, how did that go? • The struggle for Grammy relevance was real . . and still is Evil Duke: Put them in the iron maiden. Ted: Iron Maiden? Bill & Ted: Excellent! [air guitar] Evil Duke: … Continue reading How Bogus Were the ’89 Grammys?
• Cramming thousands of kids together on a Florida beach used to be a good idea • “Where the Boys Are” in 1989 • Rick Nielsen is blasé about half-naked ragers In a post-Covid world, one imagines, an annual ritual such as spring break on America’s beaches will be revived safely . . . if … Continue reading Superspreader: Spring Break
• Talking hockey over dinner with Kate Hudson • I ❤️ Toronto • Watching hockey in enemy territory I’ve spent time in five of Canada’s big cities. Toronto is my favorite (although I’ve yet to visit Vancouver). My first visit was to attend a game in the first Canada Cup series in 1976. Maple Leaf … Continue reading Almost Famous in Toronto
Newly-found negatives from a positive summer concert site "More Park photographs, Mom!" Canned Heat, Edgar Winter, John McLaughlin The story of how I spent my summer vacation in 1972 can be seen here, in "The Park -- ‘Weekend Woodstocks’ in NW Ohio Cornfield." And, a couple more photos in "I Shutter to Think." I was … Continue reading Barefoot in the Park
• From Woodstock to the Waldorf, I’ve been in Carlos' fan club • His Hall of Fame Induction • Tea time in the lobby By the time I got to Woodstock in August of 1969, all I knew about Santana was a nugget picked up in some alternative music paper: the band was managed by … Continue reading Oye Cómo Va, Carlos?
• Lyle Lovett and the Reverend Al went down old town road decades ago • Wasn’t hard to get Green to sing in a Grammy interview • Funny how time slips away This post is “dedicated” to Bob Mugge for making a film that boosted my appreciation of the soul legend Al Green. My longtime … Continue reading Country According to Al Green
• A documentary that takes me back 49 years • When protest was patriotic . . even then • Sounds like an ESPN 30 for 30: US vs. John Lennon During the height of the Covid 19 lockdown, when every night brought a new adventure in streaming entertainment, I came across a documentary released in … Continue reading Ten for Two
• Austin’s annual music festival makes for a pretty routine CNN piece • The biggest name to interview there was Matthew Sweet. But that’s the point * At least I survived another visit to Texas without being hauled into court Me & Texas just haven’t always gotten along. There was that time a sneaky prosecutor … Continue reading SXSW
• Not an ideal time to interview an idol of mine • Under the spell of a quack, Brian Wilson visits CNN • This piece was no fun . . fun . . fun It’s most unfortunate for me that the two times I was in the close presence of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, … Continue reading A Beach Boy’s Life
• I snapped. Had a near-meltdown at the Grammy Awards * Outtakes: How radio reporters make sausage, revealed • YANC explained I don’t often lose my temper and yell. I’ll get mad, alright. But sarcasm and passive-aggressive remarks under my breath are my more likely relief valves. Only one girlfriend and my ex-wife figured out … Continue reading I Am NOT Touching Your Tape Recorder!!
• I was a lefty shot on a right-winger’s squad • Caught on a live mic: one pissed-off teammate • I doubt we played a conservative style of hockey Lou Dobbs is an anchor on the Fox Business Channel, and – as I write this – a staunch defender of, apologist for, and unofficial advisor … Continue reading Playing Hockey for Lou Dobbs
• Now it can be shown: Art Garfunkel bails on an interview • He opened up to the NY Times, then shut down at CNN • I didn’t set out to ruin his day I wrote about Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon’s erstwhile partner, a year ago January in a piece about unpleasant experiences I had … Continue reading Assignment: Garfunkel
• A transcendental television moment with the Eagles' Don Henley • The difficulty of making a green new deal with a determined developer. • Sour grapes about no Concord stand-up I can’t possibly complain about a career that took me around the world, let me meet and talk to fascinating people and rewarded me handsomely. … Continue reading Not On Walden Pond
• Why she found Grammy world friendlier than Oscar land. • The Prince of Tides junket revisited. Can you spot the error? • Shooting her “through the grease.” I lumped Barbra Streisand into a category of diva, along with Beyoncè, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, and the Spice Girls in a blog … Continue reading Happy Birthday, Barbra
• But a 1994 interview went forward anyway • Brutal Youth, boxed sets and bootlegs • You’ve heard the story, now see the video In a blog post here last year, I told the story of what a trouper Elvis Costello was when he showed up for an interview with a temperature over 100 and … Continue reading Elvis had the Flu
• The Siege (1998) presaged 9/11. • One of its writers has a new novel due out that predicts a pandemic and quarantine • How life imitates art . . and can make prophets out of artists The Siege was a box office bomb, if you’ll pardon the expression. But -- as one of its … Continue reading New York Locked Down
• Two months of soap opera in a ‘90s Manhattan courtroom • A thicket of therapists weighed in on the most intimate details of the tabloid couple • A wacky trial gave way to a Waco siege I don’t know if Woody Allen molested his 7-year-old daughter. You’d think I might have some idea. I … Continue reading Throwing the Book at Woody Allen
• This one goes out to the band I love • My date for an early R.E.M. concert has a Rapid Evaluation Mishap • I finally get to interview them . . after they lose their drummer The first time I saw R.E.M. perform live, my date pronounced them D.O.A. My arrival at network radio … Continue reading R.E.M.embered
• Random photos cluttering my desktop • Some seen elsewhere but never on this blog . . until now! • Some worthy of the Hall of Shameless Posing, some not Some will say I have a big head. Hell, I will say that. At least if we're talking in terms of physical size. I thought … Continue reading Insta(matic)gram
• Can you believe it was 40 years ago? • Revisit The Miracle on Ice this week • Here’s a complimentary Miracle Media Guide I often claim I can turn anyone into a hockey fan by taking them to a college or pro game, sitting them in the right place – where they can see, … Continue reading Do You Believe?
• New photos of Muhammad Ali unearthed, prompted by HBO documentary • Thrill to The Champ wolfing down his salad while I sit by, snapping photos • The Tale of the Table I can't say enough about the HBO documentary, Ali & Cavett - The Tale of the Tapes. In the Sixties, The Champ and … Continue reading Rare Slides: The Greatest
• 40 years ago, ballplayers saw a strike coming without being tipped off • Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt and Dallas Green talked to me about unemployment and gardening • Come the World Series and I’m unemployed The drumbeat in the spring of 1980 – louder than a Houston Astro banging on a trash can – … Continue reading A Striking Baseball Story
• Like caption contests? So did ABC PR in the Eighties • Marketing Mark with Mild Snark • Try this at home! In every newsroom I ran, I would post random news photos or headlines of an odd nature and invite my fellow radio colleagues to contribute funny captions. So I was pleased and surprised … Continue reading Thanks, Caption Obvious
• Lies and the lying liars who launched Air America • You can call me Al and Rachel and Marc’s radio colleague once upon a time • The slow-motion train wreck that was supposed to take down Rush Limbaugh They were among the luckiest documentary filmmakers ever. The photos and clips in this post are … Continue reading What’s Left of the Dial
• From Christian Rock to Porn Rock . . . whatever that is. • Radio News: Little podcasts sent wirelessly to your AM-FM device. • Ozzy Osbourne, Blackie Lawless, Stryper, Public Enemy, Kool Moe Dee and Yoko Ono One thing I liked a lot about my broadcast career was that I spent a lot of … Continue reading Rock On Radio
• Maybe if by "rock" you mean something else entirely • In a 1998 interview, the heat was on • A gorgeous visage . . . revealing what? This is not about Whitney Houston's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It's just triggered by it; it reminded me I have a CNN … Continue reading Whitney Houston, Rock Star?
• Remembering Pete Seeger and Aretha Franklin • Sometimes memories come in a color • They come flooding back with the passing of people I was fortunate to meet When Pete Seeger died in 2014 and Aretha Franklin passed away in 2018, I hadn’t yet created this blog. On those sad days I put down … Continue reading The Color of Memory
