A Vast Wasteland

Those of you who follow history should be somewhat familiar with the great Newton Minow. Some 50 years ago, he famously stated that television was a "vast wasteland".

Ever scan the channels and realize just how right he was? And still is?

Although I don't actually elaborate too much on this thought, it leads to the idea that changes have taken place on TV that will change our perception of what the medium is all about. It was all set in stone the day David Letterman took his last bows.



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NEXT WEEK: Dianna Fryer has a conversation with Michael Wagener, record producer to the stars.

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Not Now, Can't You See I'm Drinking?

Well, not really. I made mention of actually video taping this episode. After the session, the video got lost somewhere. Bummer. Or maybe not so much. That end of the production of this show is still being developed. It's not that I am having issues and yes, I was drinking during the session BUT, the video somehow was lost. Operator error, for sure.

Anyway, in this episode I wanted to talk a bit about some of the more darker elements of show business. It is an interesting thing and many folks don't necessarily understand. The business we chose to be in is not an easy one to be in. Make sense?



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NEXT WEEK: All these channels and there still not anything good on TV.

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Howard Grimes - Part 2

Not much to expand on here. This is the second half of the conversation I had with Howard Grimes along with Jeff Janovetz and Mark Caldwell as it happened live on Radio Memphis.

There is a story in here Howard tells that will send chills down your spine. Fantastic stuff in this one.

If you haven't heard the first part of this conversation, check out last week's first.



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NEXT WEEK: How about a drink?

Howard Grimes - Part 1

Howard Grimes

When the phone rings and it's Mark Caldwell offering you one of the true legends of Memphis Music, you say, "Yes, please." and that is exactly how it happened. We happened to have a hole in our schedule for the Booze & Blues show on Radio Memphis and like that, Howard was in Studio B talking to Mark, Jeff Janovetz and myself.

Howard is a remarkable guy and a tremendous drummer. He started working at 12 with Rufus Thomas and got his first studio work at 14. He's still going strong.

In this first part of a two part series with Mr. Grimes, we talk the early days of Memphis music and we play some of the stuff from those days. This is an education on the history of the music from this town from a world wide known session guy.

A little note here regarding this episode. There is some music played in its entirety and was used courtesy of Howard Grimes with full permission.



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NEXT WEEK: Howard Grimes - Part 2

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Lucky Buddha: The Video

Okay, there I was thinking about saving the beer for another episode of the show. Then my show schedule kinda got booked and it would be a while before I could get to opening the thing up during a future episode of the show.

Thanks to the miracle that is the internet and this whole video concept, I got to thinking about why not just video the whole thing and make it an addendum to the original show.

If you haven't heard Episode 64: Lucky Buddha, stop now and go listen to that first, THEN watch this video.

Here's the thing, I am no sommelier and there is no such thing for beer drinkers. People who judge beer are beer drinkers. Nothing fancy. About as fancy as they get is Beer Critic. Nevertheless, if it comes to be a critic, then we all are critics and this video is fine example of that uneducated skill. Frankly, it doesn't matter what I think of a beer. If you like it, drink it.

Here is my take on the Lucky Buddha Enlightened Beer.



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A Lucky Find In An Unlikely Spot

Here is the beer.

Some of the things we all have to do is go out in the public and take care of little bits of usual business. You know, going to a random, big box home improvement center and some random grocery store. I know, mundane tasks. How is this even remotely interesting, you ask?

As the Buddhists like to say, it's never the destination as much as it is the journey. So true. This day was certainly a fine example of that saying. What started out as day of doing the usual things turned out to be a bit of an adventure with a pretty cool thing at the end. Happiness lies within, or does it?



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NEXT WEEK: Part 1 of 2 of a fascinating conversation with Howard Grimes.

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