Thursday, October 25, 2012

OPEN THREAD: Been to Bahston . . .

.  .  .  and not by the channel the last several days.  So consider this an open thread.  Music talk, Dan talk, kickass-lives-of-The-Hardline talk, you name it, it's yours.

I'll just mention one thing I heard a few days ago that I really enjoyed:  In the 5:30-6 am segment, Junior engaged in Writing Talk with George and Gordon.  About how hard writing is.  He talked about how he started off blogging with some frequency, and how it has now dwindled to about once a month or so.  (SEE:  www.tickettribute.com, last heard from July 23.) 

Like any art, writing is hard, if you do it right.  You try to write it carefully the first time, and then go back and edit, carve  it down, get rid of anything that gets in the way of your point.  (First rule -- have a point.)  My sometimes lengthy articles are not good examples of the writer's art, but then, it was easy to write them because I seldom did the things that one needs to do to produce a really sparkling slab of text.  I am a speedy typist, which tends to bypass the governor between thought and page.  And now I sometimes use the amazing Dragon speech-to-text software, which, if injudiciously employed, is also an enemy to reflection.

An offbeat topic for TWMSG, and a very fine way to start one's day.

Junior's blog:  http://juniormiller1310.blogspot.com/.   Check it out.

The comments are yours.

16 comments:

  1. Just had to point out that the first rule of writing is and always should be sh*ty first drafts. Writing carefully first? Don't bother. Get everything down and then go back and fix and fix and fix and... that's the way to good piece of writing.

    Mainly, writing is hard because it's so damn time-consuming.

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  2. Corby just introduced and concuded a segment as "the obligatory Rolling Stones segment."

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  3. Maybe they are reading this blog...

    Too much music. Giving me a headache. Hard drive shutting down. Turning on RaGE.

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  4. They started this bit over the last couple weeks. They have been making fun of how much minor Rolling Stones news is leaking every single day in the tabloids.

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  5. These guys are no Gordon Keiths or George Dunhams, but I had to laugh at The Hardline's imitation of the Sturm-Miller-T.C.-Farting Guy-Corby trip to Oklahoma this weekend. Mike claimed that the Junior "Oooooo" ("Ghost Junior," or maybe "Junior Ghost," it's escaping me, they called him) was a sound that Junior actually made at some time that no one seemed to remember. Whatever. Lightened a long drive home.

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  6. I don't understand your obsession with tweaking the tickettribute guy. We get it, he posts even less frequently than you do. Between the two of you we almost have a regular blog.

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  7. I'm not tweaking him -- I think he's got great stuff. More.

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  8. In the early days, Junior used to make a sort of "ooooh" or "eeeeeeeewwwww" noise when something struck him as revelatory. Think Johnny Carson character, except it wasn't an act. And of course, it wasn't as over the top and creepy as the guys make it out to be. But then again it wouldn't be a funny impression if it wasn't over the top.

    Count me in with the too much music talk on The Hardline camp. But if they have to do it so much, then for the love of Pete can they at least mix it up a bit? Young, Petty, Stones, Steely Dan, over and over and over and over again. Surely Danny can bring something fresh, something different to the table? I understand why Mike does what he does: he's old and like what he likes, and that's that. I get it. Corby. Not so much. Ever since his analysis of Nirvana and their "Nevermind" album, I can't take anything he says about music seriously.

    Actually, I'd rather hear them talk about something, anything, else but music. At the very least I wish they'd give it a rest for a few weeks. Several people have commented that it seems like The Hardline has become a show about them and for them, and the listener, who cares. I sometimes feel a bit that way. But the one thing I have begun to think is that the experience of eavesdropping in on some good friends having a casual and interesting chat, just like the ones you and your buddies have, is becoming less interesting on a more often basis.

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  9. Let me add that there is no alternative in their specific market to turn to. So in a way, they're, for me, becoming the lesser of, in this case three, evils. Honestly, if Coop and Nate or Ben and Skin were on at the same time, I'd probably find myself frequently flipping over to them. Don't get me wrong, The Hardline still has its moments. Many moments. But it has grown stale. And like I said, the once always interesting conversation isn't all that interesting anymore. Maybe they ought to switch some things up? The last thing they introduced was The Pool Party. When was that? 4-5 years ago? And let's face it, all it is is What's on Mike's Mind for Danny and Corby (and What's on Mike's Mind Part II for Mike). I remember the old days when they'd come back from dry dock they would shake things up. They'd get rid of staples, introduce new things, and bring back old things.

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  10. Something they did last year was do an animated tv series bit with Mike. I think it would be cool to do that with pop music and Danny. Make him listen to a full Katy Perry or Beeber album and then review it.

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  11. Finding myself nodding my head at the previous two superb comments.

    I'm probably more tolerant of music talk than most, but I noticed the other day that my attention was wandering during much of the presentation, music and non-.

    This goes back to a complaint that listeners had well before I came on the scene -- apparently no show prep.

    While that can lead to a kind of charming anarchy, the line between that and seeming simply not to care is very fine, and The Hardline has started to hover perilously close to it.

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  12. It looks like the new weekend Tickerman's tryout has come to a close, at least on the evidence of today's programming, which features Bruce LeVine.

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  13. I think comments about "Racist Corby" and "the obligatory Rolling Stones segment" are indicators that they are reading this blog. Or maybe they are seeing a lot about it in their email.

    Here's an idea - put Corby back in the yuck monkey chair and get Redbeard or George Gimarc to cohost.

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  14. Anon Ron, I don't know if you were being facetious in your suggestions, but you know what?, if THL insists on making the program more and more about music and music related topics, then why the hell not? Get someone who really knows music, all sorts of music, and Dallas/Ft. Worth music and music history in particular to co-host with Mike "The Music Man" Rhyner. Put Coorsy back into the yuck monkey role and let Danny become the third host in what will for all intents and purposes be The TIcket's music show. If you're going to do it, then do it all the way, and do it right.

    Not to toot my own horn, but if we hear Mike being referred to as "The Music Man," then we know for sure that they peruse this fine blog.

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  15. The new ticker guy will be in tomorrow morning, Plainsman.

    KT

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