The Hardline -- The Curtains Part (Slightly)

The Hardline boys made one of their rare forays into commenting on the nature of their partnership today. I forget the context, but Corby had said something naughty, and Mike was complaining that if he had said it, the music would have come down and it would have been dumped. Danny then referred to Mike as the “Patriarch” of the show by way of suggesting that Mike’s role was to “keep the monkeys in line” (and, the implication was, to lend some dignity to the proceedings by virtue of his age and seniority). That is, Danny and Corby were arguing that they were allowed to get away with impish misbehavior that Mike should not be associated with and should be discouraged from pursuing. Mike objected that he wanted to be every bit as disruptive (I forget the actual word he used) as monkeys Corby and Danny.


Corby and Danny were right, and this supports something I have written several times in the past:  The one thing missing from the Hardline program since the departure of Greg Williams (which I favored) is balance. Mike has become infantilized because he can’t compete with the barrage of juvenilia issuing from the Danny-Corby axis in the way he used to, when he had some support, however sporadic, from the Hammer. He can’t beat ‘em, so he’s been trying to join ‘em, and it’s a little sad to hear.

I actually have a solution to what I perceive in this one problem with the Hardline, and I’ll sketch it out sometime in the future. (Would need to stretch over a few posts.)  In the meantime, I thought today’s colloquy showed some interesting program self-awareness.

Gordon Keith -- My Ticket Confession

Gordon Keith is one of the most talented creative performers in the metroplex. He can be very, very funny, and he’s rarely dull even when not so funny; he’s an excellent and sometimes an amazing mimic; he can be an appealing performer on television; he’s a musician. And think for a minute the volume of original material he has to turn out – O-Deck, Gordo’s Corner, the 8:40 fake interview – those are every day. Admittedly, they’re not all closely scripted, but they all swallow time to create. And he pulls together the Muse in the News stuff. There’s a Quick column; for awhile there was a weekly TV show to create. A blog to edit. Tweeting. And he does other stuff, including a 4.5 hour radio show five days a week, the odd TV news spot. I mean, he doesn’t always score, but that output is astounding. I am an admirer.


But this is, after all, My Ticket Confession. Today, I am confessing that there is one tic that I would like to see Gordon – the Musers generally – eliminate for all time, never to reappear, and that is: Accusing George Dunham of having said something, or taking some position, off the air that he is not acknowledging on the air. When he starts in on that it brings the Muser show to a screeching halt. It seems to happen a couple of times a show; and simply accusing someone, however lightheartedly, of not telling the truth, day after day, simply isn’t funny. It isn’t witty, and it isn’t interesting. It’s just a tired bit. And Gordon doesn’t just hit the gag and move on – he just keeps at it and at it, seemingly every time. I reach for the dial.



Even 30 seconds of NPR is too much. Please stop this exhausting and tedious bit.

What Would It Be Like to be George DeJohn's Friend?

Would you be able to figure out whether the doctors you were hanging out with were medical doctors, or, you know, those other kinds of doctors he has on his show?

Would you wonder how he knows all those amazing things, such as that taking vitamin C tablets actually decreases the amount of vitamin C in your body?

Would you be dreading the 22nd day of your friendship, fearing that he would say "See, if you'd started on my plan 21 days ago  .  .  .  ."?

Would he introduce you to people as "My good friend, Mr. X"?

Would you be uneasy about the number of times he uses the word "cleanse"?

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Hey, I listen almost every week.  Wish I looked like George D.  Wish I were George D.

Latest Turn-the-Channel Commercial

The Texas Lottery "I think the elephant is trying to tell us something" ad.  One joke, and it's a witless and unfunny one.   And yet another ad where the product is associated with unappealing, stupid people.

It won't stop me from committing the unappealing, stupid act of laying out money for lottery tickets, but it comes pretty close.

Followers, You Do Exist

Google Blogger is experiencing difficulty displaying followers on the blog page.  I understand that numerous users are experiencing this problem.  I have temporarily removed the "Follower" gadget from the page while Google tries to fix it.  I can see in my "Dashboard" (settings) page that you're still there -- you're just anonymous. 

Thanks for following.  If it isn't too much trouble, I would be grateful if you would go through the "become a follower" routine again and, if you are able to do so, select "public" rather than "anonymous," and that may solve my problem.  Of course, it's my problem and not yours -- so whatever you do, keep following.  If there's one thing this country needs, given its near 100% unsatisfactory leaders (both sides), it's more followers.

Again, many thanks.

Mark Elfenbein -- A Very Unique Broadcaster

I'll have more to say about Mark Elfenbein in the future. In general, I think he has a terrific show.

Something occurred to me the other day as I was listening to the program: He is the most explicitly Jewish program host on any station I can recall in the past several decades in the several markets I'm familiar with. There may be programs and even entire stations dedicated to subjects of interest to members of the Tribe -- I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about a general-interest talk-show host. His inflections, his insertions of Yiddish phrases and words -- that just isn't something you hear a lot in these times of homogenized talk radio.

I find it refreshing and charming, although from time to time the Tribal references are a bit . . . inside and forced. But it's a really unique cadence for a radio host -- especially a sports radio host -- and The Ticket deserves some credit for programming a host of his particular flavor for local programming on a Sunday morning, when they could be running some of the unbearable syndicated stuff.

Overall, a well-done, aurally distinctive program.

The Plural of P1

No one cares about this except me. I think. That's OK.

The plural of "P1" is "P1's"; it is NOT "P1s."

Plurals of words ending in numbers are formed by adding 's.

Now -- what is the plural possessive of "P1"?

If one wanted to write about the passion of more than one P1, I would think it would go:
"the P1's' passion."

But I dunno.

The Internal Clock of the P1

I'd be interested to know if other P1's have developed the ability to sense when a block of advertisements + traffic + TicketTicker are about to end, even if they're not listening throughout the break. (Maybe a lot of P1's find the Tickers interesting and wouldnt' miss them. I could do without.) I have found that I can switch to another station, or turn the sound down if an ad is particularly annoying, and know within a few seconds when to turn back to the station or restore the volume when the hosts are about to return.

I've thought about actually timing the ad blocks for the different shows to eliminate all the filler with greater precision, but that would bespeak a level of anality to which even I would not confess.

Apologies to My Followers . . .

. . . all three of you, for my failure to offer any new tidbits for awhile. I've been studying up on how to use Blogger and saving up some tasty topics for this intimate group. Thanks for your patience, and thanks for recommending this site to other Ticket listeners.