More great Scary Radio

Hey – for those who had any interest in my last post about spooky radio stories, there are 100 of them free for the listening here.
This is some good stuff, too – The Lux Radio Theater production of “The Phantom of the Opera,” “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” “Donovan’s Brain,” “The Ghost and Mrs. [...]

Please tell me it’s the pills…

Rush Limbaugh has apparently accused Michael J. Fox of faking the effects of his Parkinson’s disease in a series of commercials supporting political candidates who support stem cell research.
“He is exaggerating the effects of the disease,” Limbaugh was quoted as saying on his radio show. “He’s moving all around and shaking and it’s purely an [...]

Dilbert creator re-mapping brain, speaking again

Dilbert creator Scott Adams, who has been struggling with a brain disorder called Spasmodic Dysphonia, has apparently begun re-mapping his brain to allow himself to speak again.
From his blog:
My theory was that the part of my brain responsible for normal speech was still intact, but for some reason had become disconnected from the neural pathways [...]

Night of the Living Networkers

Tonight I went to UNCG to cover Microsoft VP Robert McDowell speaking to students about the importance of networking before they mixed with local business leaders in the Cone Ballroom.
They called the event “Schmooza Palooza” – and it lived up to its name. You can read all about it in Thursday’s News & Record.
For me [...]

Oh, THAT’S where Krusty lives…

I have to be up in six hours to go to a wedding and I’m up looking over an obsessively detailed Map of Springfield.
What is wrong with me?

Somebody up there likes me

ROME, Italy (AP) — Harrison Ford says he feels “fit to continue” to play Indiana Jones despite growing older.
Ford, 64, said at the inaugural Rome Film Festival on Friday that he was delighted to team up again with directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas for the film. Lucas co-wrote and executive produced the earlier [...]

¡Ay, caramba!

Another great Halloween offering:
All 16 ‘Treehouse of Horror” episodes from The Simpsons, online, for free.

"Lawyers, Guns and Money"

Lex pointed this out on his blog – one of my favorite songs, Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns and Money” being perfromed by The Wallflowers and Jordan Zevon on Letterman.
This version of the song is from the Zevon tribute album, Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon.
The album also includes Zevon songs performed by the [...]

Blogging, writing, thinking

Have been re-reading Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs for about a week now.
Klosterman is one of my favorite writers – and in a way his career is very comforting to me. He had been writing for daily newspapers in North Dakota and Ohio for eight years when he wrote his first book, became [...]

Reader’s Choice Awards or The Tyranny of the Majority

Well, the Go Triad Reader’s Choice Awards are in.
And…well, Jesus.
One of the great things about living in Greensboro, one reason I think so many people stick around after college or come back after leaving, is that we have a lot of great local bars, restuarants and entertainment venues that are local and unique – not [...]

Spooky radio

Great Halloween deal at the Boing Boing Digital Emporium:
Thirty-three spooky old-time radio shows for $1.99.
Some of the shows included in the package:
Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” Mercury Theater show from 1938, The Weird Circle, Dark Fantasy, Inner Sanctum, Murder at Midnight, The Creaking Door, X Minus One and The Shadow.
Thirty three hand-picked shows, [...]

First the Dolls, now The Stooges

Oh yes…
NEW YORK (Billboard) — Reconstituted punk pioneers the Stooges have spent the past week recording their first album since 1973 with producer Steve Albini in Chicago.
The as-yet-untitled set is due next year Virgin, home of Stooges frontman Iggy Pop.
Pop, drummer Scott Asheton and guitarist Ron Asheton are joined by bassist Mike Watt, who is [...]

Interesting times

It seems several board members at Greensboro 101, the city’s premiere blog aggregator and engine for citizen journalism, have resigned in the wake of the posting of a leaked, confidential report into the Greensboro police department.
It occurred to me this weekend, when copies of the report were flying around, that this might happen – a [...]

"When You Were Young"

For those who saw my post on The Killers’ new album, Sam’s Town:
This is the band on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, where they played three nights. This clip is their first single, ‘When You Were Young” – which feels to me like it has Springsteen all over it. Lead singer/songwriter Brandon Flowers has been talking for [...]

ConvergeSouth and the State Fair: only similar on the surface

Things I learned at ConvergeSouth:
1) It’s a little disturbing to meet people you’ve only talked to online every ten minutes or so. Even people whose pictures I’d seen on their blogs (Ben Holder, David Wharton) I didn’t recognize until I saw their name-tags. But, in the end, it was nice to come face to face [...]

Farewell to CBGB

NEW YORK (CNN) — CBGB, the legendary rock club long associated with the bands that spawned the punk-rock music scene, closed its doors early Monday morning after a farewell performance featuring poet-musician Patti Smith.
The closing brought the demise of a New York institution after 33 years.
—
Full story here.
CBGB, the only (functioning) legendary rock club too [...]

Magic Bus

Fastforward column from this week:
GREENSBORO — Downtown bars and clubs are packed on a Saturday night. Cars roll up and down Elm Street in a futile search for parking, passengers pointing out their windows to the bar where they’re going to get that perfect martini, the comedy club where the show is starting in 10 [...]

The Winnah and still Champeen: Jim Beam

People who know me know I love Whiskey. Especially bourbon. Especially Jim Beam. I keep a bottle of their Knob Creek in the cabinet at home at all times and it is, more often than not, what’s in my glass when I’m out drinking with friends.
It seems Jim Beam Black (their 8-year, 86 proof bottle) [...]

Vexed In The City: "When are you getting married?"

New Vexed In the City column in today’s N&R:
My girlfriend and I received three wedding invitations this summer. Three couples, long-time friends of ours, are all tying the knot.
As we enter our mid-20s, it’s that time in our lives: Friends are getting married left and right.
Which means, of course, that people are beginning [...]

The Trouble with Trekkies

Christie’s is auctioning off Star Trek memorailia.
I’m not a Trekkie (er…Trekker), but last weekend I bought a bunch of the original Stark Trek episodes on VHS at Ed McKay’s for fifty cents each. Some classic episodes – Spock in a mating lust-induced fight to the death with Kirk, a young Ricardo Montalban in his first [...]