Music notes

(1) On Dion DiMucci's newest album, in amongst the blues songs from Skip James, Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson and such, he has an original named "The Thunderer". It's about, of all people, St. Jerome! (The guy who translated the Bible in Latin, the translation known as the Vulgate.) Check it out!

(2) On The Amazing Race 12, there is a team of a grandson and grandfather, Nicholas and Donald. Apparently, they're the son and father-in-law of Robbie Fulks, the sometimes-country recording artist. If they're anything like him, then I'll guess that the show's editors must cut out an awful lot of FCC no-nos, because does Fulks ever spew them!

04 November 2007 WUSB 90.1 FM

Bob Longman -- Sun 12:30-2:30 pm -- 04 November 2007
(N=the album's new to WUSB)

All The Ways You Wander -- Brooks Williams -- Hundred Year Shadow
I Still Miss Someone -- Johnny Cash
Speak Into Me -- Christopher Williams -- When I Was Everything
Who Is Not Afraid? -- Charlie Peacock -- Lie Down In the Grass
I'm Still In Love With You -- Al Green
Good Stuff -- Eric Bibb -- An Evening With -- N
Yellow Guitar -- Kate Campbell -- Monuments
Mary -- Maeve
Awake -- Peter Mayer
How Deep Is Your Love -- the Bird & the Bee -- Please Clap Your Hands -- N
Happiness Runs -- Storyhill
Along the Way -- Doug Wamble
Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven -- Jimmy King -- Live at Monterey
the Backbiter -- Cephas & Wiggins
You Can't Hold On (to a Love That's Gone) -- Holmes Brothers
Missing You -- Johnny Rawls-- Heart & Soul -- N
Tunnels -- Donockley & Bainbridge
Let Us Get Together -- Marie Knight -- Let Us Get Together -- N
Beijing (Widescreen mix) -- Iona UK -- Songs For Luca
Wolves (Shepherd's Dog) -- Iron & Wine -- the Shepherd's Dog -- N
Lay Down (full-length mix) -- Melanie
Feels Good -- Take 6 -- Feels Good -- N
Big Boy Blue -- Ella Fitzgerald/Mills Brothers
I'm Through With Love -- Arthur Prysock
Artillerie Lourde (Heavy Artillery) -- James Carter -- Chasin' the Gypsy
But Beautiful -- Betty Carter -- I Can't Help It
Too Marvelous For Words (1940s) -- Nat King Cole
Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans -- Take 6 / Aaron Neville
Boyd's Bounce -- Professor Longhair

Jimmy King @ Monterey, with a traditional -- ... but nobody wants to die [which is how you get there].
If you've never heard the full-length Lay Down, do so. It's a gospel-sound full-out celebration w. Edwin Hawkins & co.
Prysock gets really deeeeeep.
When he visited WUSB, Allen Toussaint spoke a lot about how he patterned his piano and musical styles on Longhair in his youth.

WUSB FM / wusb.fm, 21 October 2007

Bob Longman WUSB 90.1 Fm / wusb.fm Sun 11:30-2:30 pm 21 October 2007

America --- Simon & Garfunkel
Wild, Wild Heart --- James O'Malley
Doin' Nothin' --- Phil Keaggy
Snowman -- Jan Krist
Everybody Knows -- Ryan Adams -- (single) -- N
Morris of Arabia (In the Sahara) -- Myron Cohen
Somebrightmorningblues -- Peter Case -- Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John -- N
Let's Go Out -- Devon Sproule -- Keep Your Silver Shined -- N
Eyes On the Prize -- Mavis Staples -- We'll Never Turn Back-- N
Java Jive -- Manhattan Transfer
Shanghai Moon -- Cosmos w. Dawn Ho -- Aiming For the Stars
Dreaming My Dreams With You -- Waylon Jennings
Sinners' Prayer -- Rod Picott -- Summerbirds -- N
Lula Lula Don't You Go To Bingo -- Boozoo Chavis
I Know What's Going On -- Joan Osbourne -- Breakfast In Bed -- N
Take Time to Know Her -- Percy Sledge
Take Time To Know Her -- John Mooney
Change -- Gospel Hummingbirds
Substitute For Life -- Real Group -- Commonly Unique
A Thousand Things -- Real Group -- Commonly Unique
Road to Hope -- Hilary Scott -- Road To Hope -- N
Juan Loco -- Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Falling Star -- Tom Prasada-Rao
Jazz n' Samba -- BR6 -- Here To Stay -- N
Don't Fix What's Broken -- Cadence

Just another note on Cold Case

...and what is typical of so many shows, especially those of Jerry Bruckheimer, but most typical of Cold Case.

Once again, as it has done repeatedly over the years, time and again, the show writers of this Sunday's segment once again made absolutely sure to trash marriage. Once again, romantic affairs are portrayed as a healthy way out of a stymying marriage. This has been said by so many show biz sources that many people are actually beginning to believe it. And it may well be true in a few instances. But here in real life, whether in the 1930s (the show's setting this week) or today, the vast majority of the time affairs don't make people stronger, they make people more foolish. They don't make people's lives more real, they play into people's fantasies. They don't build up, they destroy. Far, far more often than the other way around. And we always think of ourselves as the exception, when we are really the rule.

An affair is not someone standing up to break their chains. Much more often, it is a surrender to our own worst enemy, which is usually ourselves. But do you think a Bruckheimer show will ever say that? And am I being a [male tool] by asking that they start being real about it?

I'm almost mad. Can't get really mad, though. I met Allen Toussaint on Saturday, saw the Patriots win Sunday on TV, and then saw the return of Amazing Race !!

For Halloween

check out these links :

http://www.spirithome.com/halloween.html

http://www.spirithome.com/ghosts.html

Have fun!

At least I know who I'm not...

A note on the Robert Longmans that I am not :

1. I was not the lead live broadcast engineer at the BBC for many years, who was instrumental in their live casts of Parliament sessions. He was, in many ways, a broadcast pioneer.


2. I was not the town smithy in Easington UK in the 1850s.
   Nor am I his probable ancestor who married a woman named Mary, who soon after his death married the son of the Rector of Easington, Thomas Mallory, in the 1650s.


3. I was not witness to the wedding of William Dowling and Ann Longman, 30 Oct 1785, at St. Mary Bourne, Winchester Anglican Diocese


4. I was not a poet/writer in Lancashire UK around 1350.


5. I was not the Anglican minister of Placentia NF starting in 1759.


6. I did not live in Tingewick UK in the 1890s.


7. I was not the son (1785 - 1850) of William & Matilda Longman.


8. I did not marry a Jane Hodges in Corton-Denham, Somerset UK, whose son was Charles Longman (b. 1722). (Though I could be related to him.)


9. I am not the president of Central Surveys Inc.


10. I do not head the Australian Electoral Office.


11. I was not he who agreed to the Protestation of 1641, in Stalbridge, Dorset UK -- nor would I have done so.


12. I was not his probable descendant, a woodman from Hilton in Dorset, who at the time of the 1881 census was an inmate at the Poole Union Workhouse.


13. I am not a credit officer at the Rural Community Assistance Corp. (though I have read articles related to his work)


14. I am not the Laparoscopic Surgeon in Bristol UK.


15. I did not marry Hillary Carter (Hillary was b. around 1954). (Or anyone else :( )


16. I was not a fencer at Oberlin College (class of '62)


17. I did not marry Hannah Scouse in Wherwell UK on 12 Jan 1767, nor marry Rachel Becket in Wherwell UK on 25 July 1785.


18. I am not Group Technical Director at Plasmon.


19. I am not in any way involved with USA Shout Media.


20. I am not the Longman who is affiliated with Green Living Now.


21. I am not the antitrust legal counsel at Kasowitz, Benson LLP. That Robert is also an officer of a group that works with the world's needy women and children, Heartbeats Of the World. His wedding to Chin Quee was written up in the New York Times (16 July 1996).


22. I am not the consultant who was quoted in several news reports as having heard the Cory Lidle plane crash.


23. I was not the 1800s British thief (whose real name, as far as I can tell, was Phineas Henry).


24. I did not serve in the US Navy at sea on the USS Montrose in the Korean War.
    (However, I am the son of a Marine who served on land in battle during that war.)


25. I am not the one who raises show cats in Sussex UK.


26. I am not a staff lawyer for the Washington State legislature.


27. Guitarist Richard Durrant's record label was not named after me or my family.



28. I am not a leader in the Saskatchewan Miniature Horse Association.


29. That sure wasn't me who was a leading character played by Linus Roache in the British TV show Seaforth.


30. I did not publish scandal rags (newspaper/flyers) in New York in the 1900s. (Though I may be related to him.)


31. So far as I can tell, I am not related to the Longman family that founded a major publishing company in the UK. (If someone has other information, I'd love to know.)


32. and, I most certainly, absolutely am not the one who, under the apparent pen name Bob Longman, wrote the rated multiple "X" so-called 'underground classic' book titled 'The Debutante Whore'. (Believe it or not, I get occasional emails asking me about that.)

Charismatic report card -- 2007 pt 1

How is the charismatic movement doing in regards to some of its most basic aims or signs of the Spirit's work? Not too good, from where I'm watching.

Let's take one of the aims : "Spontaneity, openness, freedom and joy in
praise and worship."

When I first wrote on this one in 1996, I was taking note that many mainline-church charismatic congregations were stiffening. Since then, that process has definitely continued. In many cases, the stiffening has taken them away from charismatic freedom to a rather frozen form of liturgical orderliness that feels like what they were originally objecting to. (This can't be blamed on the mainline liturgical renewal, a separate thing which is also beginning to show signs of stiffening and has never really been friendly to any charismatic input -- to its serious detriment, as I see it. They both in some way attempt to address the same situation in worship -- a palpable lack of spirit.) In any event, worship in many formerly charismatic mainline congregations has become, well, lifeless. It took on liturgical forms, which can be good, but then left the Spirit at the door, which is deadly. When returning to liturgy in freedom, the most important thing is that they use each traditional form based on what it means and what it does, and then feel free to modify the traditional form so it can better carry out that form's core purpose(s).

To be blunt, with the exception of some Anglican circles, mainline-Protestant Charismatics have not only failed to bring freedom and joy into their denominations' worship, they have for the most part lined up with leaders whose actions have been killing the Spirit in worship for decades -- the very ones who created the dead atmosphere that mainline Charismatics used to rail against. Instead of real spontaneity and empowerment of local worship leaders, they're straitjacketed into watching the 'experts' for the next 'acceptable' new thing. Those who didn't line up that way have for the most part headed out the door to independency.

Add to that a sense among Christian leaders that the mainline Charismatic movement's time has passed, and thus they are free to totally ignore them. The former part is true, unfortunately. The latter part is a continued serious breach of the near-absolute responsibility and duty to listen to, understand, bring to bear, and fully and fairly account for, all the parts of their church, whether in vogue or out of vogue. (But that's for a different rant....)

The independent churches and church networks have a different problem. They are not aware of their own set patterns of worship - they don't think they have any. Thus they don't know when they're just vamping for time, or when they are not maturing from an earlier set of experiences. Many of the newer worship leaders are keenly aware of charismatic worship's obsession with "me" and "I", and are working hard on ways to keep that sense of "my" intimacy with God and yet also be into "You" and "us" and "together". They're a promising development. Yet when the newest hit worship song makes the rounds, it's still usually an "I me mine" song, or is prone to misstate God's promises as if done by push-button. HELLO -- God is not focused on just you!! Worship leaders also have to be careful that certain false teachings about prosperity or about the end-times do not start worming their way into the worship service. Also, they must be more cautious about talk of receiving divine power -- power-talk can breed power-addiction.

So there are still signs of worship life in the independent circles. There may yet be some new positives coming from there. But for the most part, the non-Anglican mainline-Protestant charismatics have lost their first love. It's sad, but it's true. And if you're one of the exceptions, as a mainline-Protestant charismatic and/or a worship leader, you need to think hard and pray harder, in hopes that maybe you can be a part of a new and different thrust within the mainline churches, less stuck on worship rules and more firmly connected to the Holy Spirit as found in Scripture. A thrust that is self-consciously not an extension of the previous movements.

Blueberry's Razzberries

Some for whom nose-ick is too kind a descriptive :

(1) Ever and always, Ann Coulter. The Coultergeist. I heard she's got a new book out this week. That means we can expect a series of super-outrageous comments that will get this group or that group annoyed, angry, or afraid. She's got talent -- a talent for saying just the thing that most reflects hatred of somebody or some group. Usually, when some right-wing pundit says something, there's someone among those I know who will echo that sentiment; you can't get much further out there than these few. But when she made her comments about the 9/11 widows, even they couldn't stand it. She makes Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh seem like Strawberry Shortcake and the Care Bears. I finally found the book in a store, right below Colbert's new book. Colbert, of course, lampoons the right by making stupidly extremist comments in character. But when someone writes in a tone that actually trumps the lampoon, what do you do? That's Coulter. So you'll buy the book, and reward the hate-talk? Not me.

(2) It's back -- the commercial with the guy whining "waaaaaa-ha-haaa...I maxed out my credit cards, so I can't get the new car I wanted....waaaaa!" And radio listeners all over the NY Metro are saying, "MAN UP! Stop spending on trivia and stick to the real needs, will ya?" "Waaaa... but my credit is bad...waaa!" And the listeners cry, "So you're the one who's been getting those loans that never should've been granted, ruining the credit picture for the rest of us!!! I'll sue the pants off you!!!"

(3) The *&%$#!@*! ticket scalping companies that sucked up all the Hannah Montana tickets. The punishment should be to throw them unprotected into an auditorium with tens of thousands of screaming, angry little kids who couldn't afford the tickets at the outrageous prices they're charging. I know -- that's inhuman, but as they suffer, the next set of would-be pro scalpers might think twice. Why, it would be far better and far more real that Kid Nation!

TV execs dreams could become nightmare

When the baseball playoffs started a week or so ago, the TV channels who were covering them were licking their lips and preparing for a feast. The Yankees made it, so did the Red Sox, and the Cubs. Just think : a New York-Boston AL championship (guaranteed to go all seven games, all long and tense), followed by a possible New York-Chicago or Boston-Chicago superstar World Series, with one of the two mega-ratings national-drawing teams plus all of Chicago panting for an historic miracle.

Well, now the dream has turned bleak. Three of the first round series were minimum-game sweeps, mostly with uneventful wins. (Try getting the full load of ad dollars from that.) Both the Yanks and the Cubs are out of it. So much for the mega-market matchup.

But it could get worse : if Colorado blows through Arizona (quite possible), and Cleveland defeats the Red Sox (a very remote possibility), the television nets/cable channels could have a series where the only people watching will be from two medium-market cities. I'll still be watching it, like any real fan of the game itself. But for the most part, the East, West, and South Coasts won't be. Then, what kind of money can they ask for next time, what with this latest example of the risk side of sports advertising? I can picture TV execs squirming and sweating in bed at night, watching their dream payday convert into a horror movie nightmare. And how they suddenly get religious enough to pray that Papi and Manny can send Cleveland back home.

WUSB radio show Sun 30 September 2007

Bob Longman Sun 12:30-2:30 pm 30 September 2007
http://wusb.fm/

song -- artist -- album
Nobody's Fault But Mine -- Toby Walker -- Just Rolled In -- N
Cry Cry Cry -- Johnny Cash
Train of Love -- Jimmy Dale Gilmour
Amazing Grace -- Daniel Lanois/Aaron Neville -- Acadie
Desperate For Love -- Over the Rhine -- The Trumpet Child -- N
Somebrightmorningblues -- Peter Case -- Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John -- N
Go Boy -- Zap Mama -- Supermoon -- N
Walk On By -- Ian Moore -- To Be Loved -- N
The West Was Burning -- Martha Scanlon -- The West Was Burning -- N
Road to Hope -- Hilary Scott -- Road to Hope -- N
Confetti -- Lori McKenna -- Unglamorous -- N
On the Way -- Abra Moore -- On the Way -- N
You -- Al Green -- I Can't Stop
Need You Now -- Gurf Morlix -- Diamonds to Dust --N
Happy Ending -- Chuck Prophet -- Soap and Water -- N
Question -- Moody Blues
Blues Boy -- Phil Minnisale -- N
Prayer Song -- Danny Flowers -- Tools For the Soul -- N
How Deep Is Your Love -- the Bird and the Bee -- Please Clap Your Hands -- N
Got To Do Better -- Eric Bibb -- An Evening With -- N
Till Then -- Mills Brothers
Victory At Sea -- Bill Morrisey -- Come Running -- N
I Cover the Waterfront -- Don Byron
Too Marvelous For Words -- Nat King Cole

Prophet's new album shows he's ready to step forward. Bibb has a new live concert album; the track played here is a new(er) song. Gurf has recorded many albums -- mostly for others.

Griping about Cold Case

... no, not beer. I mean the TV show. I like the show. But there's one thing that really, really bugs me about it.

This past Sunday's show was a great example of it.

Teen girl is murdered. A quarter of the way through, we find out that she was part of a 'chastity circle', of teens who make a commitment not to have sex at this point in their life due to faith in Christ. I immediately thought, 'here it comes again...'. Sure enough. All the ghastly stereotypes about committed Christians get trotted out once more. In this case, of course the youth pastor had sex with a teen (or at least enjoying himself as she eagerly spoke her fantasies, apparently more than once), of course one of the girls was skilled at controlling the others, of course the couple was having sex and getting pregnant, and of course there was the closet homosexual who was denying it. (That's right, the youth pastor and all four of the other teens fit a stereotype.) And the dead girl got stoned (who stones but religious folk?) by all four other kids, taunting her and calling her slut and other hateful taunts while they were killing her.

The show, like many shows and just about anything loosely connected with Jerry Bruckheimer, has a steady track record on this. Nuns are shriveled biddies or closet Nazis (unless of course they're acting against a dogma, in which case they're always heroes). Fundamentalists (which by their definition includes evangelicals, charismatics, religiously conservative and even moderate mainline Protestants and Catholics) are mad bombers, guilt-trippers, crooks, or sex perverts. Religious ideas are always not only part of the problem, they are portrayed as its root cause, and must be smashed for the sake of the show's absolutist definition of 'personal freedom'. It's relentless. I can think of only one Cold Case episode in which religious faith and those who have it were treated with any real respect (a show that intersected two schoolyard murders last season, to the tunes of U2). Otherwise, it's been treated as a relentless enemy. The stereotypes are not entirely lies, mind you. I myself have known perv pastors, shrill nuns, hateful churchgoers. But I also know of a whole lot more who aren't - they're really fine people who really live their beliefs. They have to live under the burden not only of the bad ones, but also the hateful stereotypes that others foist upon them. Do I really have to say that they're not hate-filled? That they'd no more think of stoning someone to death than you would? Do I have to say they're the opposite of dangerous? If I do have to say that to you, then I have to say another truth to you : you're a raving bigot, and you have no business trying to foment more of your bigotry. And yes, I do know, very personally, what certain tightly-held dogmas can do to one's life. I also know that it is precisely my faith in Christ, shaped rather strongly by that same Bible they seem to hate so much, that has as a very practical, real-life matter led me to a life of caring and loving, in spite of the brutality of life that is (in reality) worse where the faith isn't than where it is. That is the truth. Can you portray that?

Of course, the show doesn't really believe in the reason teens join such groups either -- that is, to establish at least some level of sexual self-control. Even the attempt is ridiculed as being an inevitable 99% failure, and the people who make those commitments as invariable liars who are just looking for cover for their secret behaviors. They don't think it's even healthy to band together to at least try; better to feel free to have sex whenever you want to. In that view, their evidence is how often the effort fails. HELLO THERE -- teens are humans, and are still learning about the side of themselves that's their own worst enemy. That's all the failures mean. And many of these youth circles are quite aware of that, applying grace instead of law. (Yes, even many of the evangelical-based ones.) Sure, some don't; some can be quite cruel. But teens of all stripes and in all groups can find cruelty easy to do; being religious doesn't stop them from being teens.

I wonder what would happen if the youth pastor didn't go sexual toward one of them? If the couple could actually be shown as really dealing with their desires instead of just lying? If someone actually was trying to be a true friend to the dead girl? Couldn't they do even one of those? That, I propose, is much more of a reality than the predictable script way. They could've still had a good murder mystery without having everyone turn evil. But then the show wouldn't have reinforced its favorite set of prejudices in the minds of the public.

It seems that the one group that's fair game for bigotry nowadays is any sort of conservative Christian. NO. There is no such thing as 'fair game'; it's always unfair, always wrong. All bigotry rots your soul out. All bigotry undermines public life. ALL of it. It seems that conservative Christians are far from being the only ones who need to learn that. I hope more people tell the TV show makers that.

A P.S. : I'm not one of those who likes to rant about this sort of stuff. It makes me sound shrill and far right-wing. (They've jumped on the same episode with fangs out.) But I'm not at all a right-winger, a rabble-rouser, or much of a ranter; you can check me on that. But Cold Case's willingness to feed prejudices about a certain group of people has to be called to task. That's way more important than making their political point, because their political struggle is supposed to be largely about getting rid of prejudices. Do as you say, please.

Another look at charismatics, 12 years later

Looking back on the points made 27 years ago by Charismatics at Geneva, I can only feel a great sadness. For I look at the landscape of what had then been the the robust, energetic Charismatic movement, and what is there now, the mainline part of it becoming either spent (Lutherans, for example) or reshaped and tamed in a manner better suited for the powers-that-be (like Catholics and Methodists). The 'Third Wave' part of it isn't in much better shape, for while there are many congregations within it that are better than ever, the overall impression is that they've lost their vision, and are being blended into a veriety of new mini-movements, or are being taken up by some larger movements that have little to do with following Christ.

I'll use the points from Geneva that I addressed 12 years ago as a starting point. When I do this, please remember that I am an outside observer, a mainstream Christian who is clearly not (by nearly all of the movement's own self-definitions) a charismatic, and never has been. I am simply a believer in Christ who insists on being in dialogue with a movement that, even at this stage, is still the main shaping force for many millions of Christians the world over. A believer in Christ who believes that mainstream Christian leaders are still seriously shirking their responsibility as Christians by choosing not to be in real dialogue with them.

In 1980, Charismatics at one of their many conferences saw a series of marks of the Spirit that they believed were present in their movements. These included :

• New openness toward the healing power
  and the lordship of Jesus;
  
• Renewal of spiritual life of the church in
  local congregations;
  
• Spontaneity, openness, freedom and joy in
  praise and worship;
  
• New interest in the Bible as God's living
  Word;
  
• Deeper experience of the reality, holiness,
  and transcendence of God;
  
• Deeper interest and new openness in regard
  to the essential doctrines of the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, his
  death and resurrection, confirmed in experience;
  
• Renewal of the service of healing for the
  sick;
  
• Lay leadership;
  
• New incentive for evangelization, missions
  and witness in the power of the Spirit.
  

I'll be going over these in upcoming weeks.

Bob Longman Sun 12:30-2:30 pm 23 September 2007
wusb.fm (90.1 FM, Stony Brook NY USA)

title -- artist -- album (if any) -- notation
(N=new, R=request)
--------------------------------------------
No Love Is Free -- Tom Griffin -- 40 Years Later -- N
Mountains o' Things -- the Duhks
Stop By Anytime -- Devon Sproul -- Keep Your Silver Shined -- N
Between Friends -- Rollyn Zoubek -- Hinge
Victory At Sea -- Bill Morrissey -- Come Running -- N
the Deep -- Claire Holley
Let Someone Love Me -- Solomon Burke -- Make Do w. What You Got
Hang Out With the Moon -- Diana Jones -- The One That Got Away
Scarborough Fair -- Simon & Garfunkel
Away Down the River -- Alison Krauss -- 100 Miles or More -- N
Light Years -- Caroline Peyton -- Intuition
Right On Time -- Eric Bibb -- Natural Light
Lies (That I Have Known) -- Patsy Moore -- Regarding the Human Condition
Eyes On the Prize -- Mavis Staples -- We'll Never Turn Back -- N
Al 'n Yetta -- Allan Sherman
the Trumpet Child -- Over the Rhine -- Trumpet Child -- N
Let Us Get Together -- Marie Knight -- Let Us Get Together -- N
All My People -- Hope Nunnery -- Wilderness Lounge -- N
I'm Gonna Change My Ways -- Peter Case -- Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John -- N
Lelilungelo Ngelakho -- Soweto Gospel Choir -- N
Late In the Evening -- Spanish Harlem Orch/Paul Simon -- United We Swing -- N
That Was Me -- Paul McCartney -- Memory Almost Full -- N
She Remembers -- Tim Grimm
Feels Good -- Take 6 -- Feels Good -- N
Water To Drink -- BR6 -- Here To Stay -- N

----------------------------------------------

It's strange, how so many of the TV shows Allan Sherman mentions in Al 'n Yetta (from the '60s) can still be seen on some cable channel. Case's song is about wanting to repent -- but wanting it not quite enough. The Trumpet Child is eschatology through the grid of supper club music. Bill Morrisey (with Phil Minnisale) is appearing Sunday 2pm at the University Cafe here on the Stony Brook campus. Catch you there?

radio show WUSB and wusb.fm, 11:30 am - 5 pm

Bob Longman Sun 11:30-2:30 pm 16 September 2007

Fool Like Me -- Porter Waggoner -- Wagonmaster N
Georgia Moon -- Pierce Pettis -- State of Grace
How Can I Meet Her? -- Everly Brothers
Kneeling Drunkard's Plea -- Johnny Cash
Confetti -- Lori McKenna -- Unglamourous N
Thank God -- Alpha Band
Cold Cold Heart -- Hank Williams
I Want To Be Ready to Meet Him -- Chuck Wagon Gang
I Can't Stand Up Alone -- Tom Kimmel -- Shallow Water
Ontario -- Diana Jones -- The One That Got Away
the Razor's Edge-- Carrie Newcomer -- My True Name
Patience and Hope -- Dan Bonis -- Delivering the Cake
Sweet Evalina -- Aengus Finnan -- Fool's Gold
Along Came Jones -- Ray Stevens

=========================================

Alone With You -- Joan Osborne -- Breakfast In Bed N
You -- Abra Moore -- On the Way N
Somebrightmorninblues -- Peter Case -- Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John N
Water Works Fine -- Eric Bibb -- Natural Light
Walk On By -- Ian Moore -- To Be Loved N
My Own Eyes -- Mavis Staples -- We'll Never Turn Back N
When the City Comes -- Chuck E. Costa N
Light Years -- Caroline Peyton
The Trumpet Child -- Over the Rhine -- The Trumpet Child N R
Crazy 8s -- Mae N
Must Have Done Something Right -- Relient K -- Five Score N
Nod Your Head -- Paul McCartney -- Memory Almost Full N
Plena Con Sabor -- Spanish Harlem Orchestra -- United We Swing N
La Hiedra Venenosa -- Los Straightjackets -- Rock En Espenol N
Wounded Me Wounded You -- Jan Krist -- Live at Calvin College N
Shanghai Moon -- Cosmos -- Aiming For the Stars N
Still Here -- Cosmos -- Aiming For the Stars N
Silver Bells -- Amandine -- Solace In Sore Hands N
I Got the Dirt On You -- Toby Walker -- Just Rolled In N
Walking On the Moon -- Eliza Gilkyson -- Tom Russell tribute N
Hot and Cold -- Flynn -- The Answer's Not Enough N
Made to Love -- TobyMac -- single
You'll Want Me Back -- Ethel Waters
Tu Scendi dalle Stelle -- Luciano Pavarotti -- Xmas
Twelve Gates -- Marie Knight -- Let Us Get Together N

==================================================
Jazz On the Air

I'd Love It -- Benny Carter Orchestra
Don't Worry 'Bout Me -- Ella Fitzgerald
Wrapped Tight -- Coleman Hawkins
Heading Home -- Joshua Redman
Coctails For Two -- Benny Carter Orchestra
Sweet Lorraine -- Nat King Cole
Can't Teach My Old Heart New Tricks -- Benny Goodman
Ooh Pop A Dah -- Dirty Dozen Jazz Band
Take the A Train -- Just 4 Kicks
Trouble Don't Last Always -- Allen & Allen R
But By the Grace -- Harrison & Blanchard
Ain't That the Truth -- Don Byron
Pink Champagne -- Lionel Hampton R
Ain't Nothing To It -- Fats Waller
Habanera 3 -- Kamikaze Ground Crew -- Postcards From the Highwire N
Yes and No -- Branford Marsalis -- Random Abstract
Gotta Travel On -- Ray Bryant
Show 'Nuff -- Red Rodney
Banished -- David Murray N
Joie De Vivre -- Dewey Redman
Old Music Master -- Nat King Cole
When Diana Dances -- Charlie Peacock
Happy-Go-Lucky Local -- Duke Ellington
Of Kindred Souls -- Roy Hargrove
But Not For Me -- Sarah Vaughan
All Too Soon -- Duke Ellington w. Ben Webster
Don's Idea -- James Carter
Make Sure You're Sure -- Joshua Redman
Tapajack -- Ray Anderson -- Alligatory Band
My One and Only Love -- Ella Fitzgerald
Yes Or No -- Jose Rizo N

Commercials can get weird, pt 1

Take, for instance, the Dux Bed radio spots. I remember the first one I heard, lo so many years ago. They apparently accidentally sent their first rough run-through to 880 AM -- the announcer sounded sleepy and badly out of breath, and didn't even mention his name (though the voice was easily recognizable to me as that of Pat Summerall, the sportscaster). It was unedited, and poorly written. But since then, there have been a dozen or more ads over the years, each one sharply done.

The latest one, though, stands out. In it, Summerall talks about -- get this -- how much he loves getting to bed with his wife. And he does it with such breathless, joyous longing that he's getting high on it even as he's doing the commercial. Wow. 77 years old, and the old kicker's still got kick!

On the other hand, the considerably younger onetime darling of commercials, Britney Spears, hasn't been doing so many of them lately. Now that she looks so, well, ordinary. I'm hoping her young sister Jamie-Lynn (the Zoe Girl who has a great face, and whose body should fill out in the next few years) is taking note as to what not to do and how not to handle fame. Or more precisely, I hope she learns not to sell herself out to the drive for fame.

Still Here.

------ but not on the radio, lately, at least not on my time slot. First, Riverhead's Polish Town festival, then Fiddle & Folk festival, then Bradstock. All are worthy shows, and I'm glad to step aside for them. I think next up is Valerie Wilcox, with Classical, my usual alternator. So it's a long time between playlists.

When I get back, there'll be new old stuff from Coleman Hawkins, Caroline Peyton, and David Brenner, and new new stuff from Hillary Scott, Bill Morrissey, and Mae. Also, acappella fans will get a dose of Cosmos, a superb band from Latvia.

My personal life? Oy vey... They dump me before they pick me up. I once dated Kim Possible, but when we got to commitment-time, she wouldn't promise anything for sure. For a few weeks I dated Hello Kitty, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get her to smile. And then there's Wonder Woman -- all she wanted from me was to do weird games using her lasso. (...tugging on my virtual necktie...) So I went to a matchmaking service. They made me pay for the phosphorus.

Then I went to another one, Yente To The Cosmos. They're not kidding -- they hooked me up with a six-eyed warted silica crawler from Alpha Centauri. We met on neutral ground, at the Tattooine Cantina. As the band played, she smiled, and said, "let's dance". Right... dance with a partner with no feet, lubricated by goo. As we held each other, I was noticing her eyes. I was looking into two of them, but the others were checking out four other guys! She left with one of the clarinet players. Hey, I can't keep this up -- interplanetary dating doesn't come cheap.

0-for-August. The story of my life (sigh).

personal morality and public religion

I was just catching some of the latest that Cristiana Anampour wrote about those "Teen Mania" youth rallying publicly in Frisco for a stronger sense of personal morality.

On the one hand, I see those groups. Major league crowds of young folks turn out. Do I know kids like these, committed as they are? Yes. I can tell you that their commitments came about not because of the rally group, but rather they were looking for someone to rally them on such matters, and the group came along.

Can they sustain that commitment? Some will, most won't. I say that with sadness. Because I really believe that they are far better off (happier, more whole, more able to devote to one another, and less likely to get disease) by not having sex at least until they have first wound their lives into another's. I really believe that some things are better off not tried; I've seen too often when someone tries these activities and gets hooked or has it turn ugly or even deadly. I've seen bad attitudes on one thing infect attitudes in other parts of their lives. I've seen with my own eyes and in my own life that self-control is critical to becoming a healthy adult, and how lack of it can stand in one's way.

Is our youthful "moral decline" all the fault of the "godless pop culture"? No. The urges are biological, psychological, and sociological. The body is geared to desire. The mind is geared to love intimately and be caught up in another. The soul longs to fit in, not just because of peer pressure but because people are inwardly constructed to be a person among other people and not someone separate or alone. Those things are part of what God has put into them. However, pop culture as it is now constructed talks a good game of individual freedom, while it undermines the discipline and ridicules the self-control needed to make it real freedom instead of a stealth captivity. There's a lot of good going on in pop culture, some really-true truths from people whose aim is still true, even if they misfire sometimes. (Who doesn't?) And many kids have gotten pretty good at finding it -- in fact they do a better job of finding it than my own "do your own thing" generation did at that age. (Not hard to do...) They're also smarter, if not wiser, about their own sexuality. But most of the time, pop culture celebrates the kind of lives that wreck a person or causes them to lose their sanity, or at least keeps them spending. It feeds a constant craving of attention or excitement, laying itself prostrate before the almighty buck, titillating and stimulating until the mind can't think straight from all the sensations and complications. Increasingly, it breeds a cynicism about living that rumbles ever louder under its ground.

But aren't I afraid of the right wing, the lurking fascists, the dominionists? Yes. From the part of Christianity I deal with, I know them well. I know how they kinda slip their ideas into everything. I do know how much they believe that they should be in charge of our country and our world. (I can say that about some of their opponents too; those opponents are just much less likely to use stealth and force to get there.) But not all conservatives, evangelicals, or even fundamentalists are dominionists; in fact they predominate only in some parts of the Pentecostal camp. Most people who are out there cheering on the conservative causes are ordinary people who live their lives pretty much like everyone else, with all the crazy quilt of conflicts between their morality and decision-making in daily life that everyone else has. And sometimes they choose better, and sometimes they don't. I am completely unafraid of those people, even as I must stand against the confining social vision and love of the halls of power of Dobson, LaHaye and dominionists, whom I do sometimes fear. The ordinary conservatives are every bit as much a part of America's backbone as the left's ordinary people, and like anyone else they have every right to a full place at the table - including a right to have a say in determining what that place is. These people are not an enemy. The more certain sectors (mostly from the Democratic Left) treat them as an enemy, the easier it will be to coalesce them with other ridiculed middle-Americans into a new silent majority, to once again be manipulated by politicians. That's why I hate so much to see them lampooned, ridiculed, and dismissed. We're still paying for the last time we let that happen.

It is not anti-freedom to try to develop a sense of public morality, one that stretches beyond just the issues of pluralism. It is not anti-freedom to publicly encourage stricter forms of personal morality -- public address is the only forum wide enough for it. A weak sense of personal and public morality erodes the ground on which freedom stands. Does that mean I'd support the Teen Mania rallies? No. I don't think their approach is real enough, it encourages youths to bypass important questions. But I don't oppose it either, because I really do believe in encouraging a clear moral vision for one's personal life, and that can only be done if the culture allows social space for it. It does not do so now, as proven by the constant protests against them. And we all eventually pay for that. That, I believe, is an absolutely critical public issue.

radio playlist, 19 August 2007, WUSB

Bob Longman Sun August 19 2007 11:30am-1:10 pm
WUSB 90.1 FM Long Island NY and coastal CT
http://wusb.fm/
includes Down Home Country fill-in.

The Family Who Prays -- Louvin Brothers
Stormy Waters -- Jimmy Martin/Sunny Mountain Boys
Come Thou Fount -- Claire Holley -- Sanctuary
Not What I Had In Mind -- Kelly Willis
He'll Have To Go -- Jim Reeves
The River's Gonna Run -- Sam Bush -- Laps In Seven
Honky Tonk Blues -- Hank Williams
Cowboy Camp Meeting -- Sons Of the Pioneers
Horse Wrangler -- Roger Welsh
Watch Man -- Hope Nunnery -- Wilderness Lounge -- N
Ticket to Heaven -- Tammy Rogers
Unglamourous -- Lori McKenna -- Unglamourous -- N
You Don't Have Very Far To Go -- Lucinda Williams -- Tulare Dust (Haggard tribute)
Silver Wings -- Marshall Crenshaw -- Tulare Dust (Merle Haggard tribute)
Thank God I'm Free -- Vicksburg Quartet
Why Me -- Kris Kristofferson
Whispering Pines -- Johnny Horton
Tears Falling Down -- Rosanne Cash
The West Was Burning -- Martha Scanlan -- The West Was Burning N
Walk On By -- Ian Moore -- To Be Loved -- N, R
Up Above My Head -- Maria Muldaur & Tracy Nelson
Death Don't Have No Mercy -- Marie Knight -- Let Us Get Together -- N
I Heard the Angels Singin' -- Eric Bibb
In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down -- Ella Fitzgerald
3 Minutes on 52nd St -- Lionel Hampton
Goody Goody -- Ella Fitzgerald

This week's show was pre-empted by special coverage of the Riverhead Polish Town Festival, hosted by Matt Mankiewicz and Teresa Zapolska. Teresa was in fine spirits and lots of good friends of the station and of polka stopped by at the fest to see here. A good time was had by all.

The pick on this week's abbreviated show was some first-rate pop-rock from Ian Moore. Are you listening, radio folks?
The description of the Watch Man in Nunnery's first verse gives such a strong mental vision...
When left to my own instincts, it's either Ella or Nat. Here, Ella briefly turns soul singer. Wow.

A review of the return of WCBS-FM

In New York radio, the big news this year has been the return of the mother of all oldies stations, the big fish in that medium-sized oldies pond, WCBS 101.1 FM. It departed from the scene two years ago as the ratings were dropping, not only in key demographics like mid-20 year olds and males (not the target audience anyway), but also in the 30s and 40s year olds. older males, and women. No advertisers, no station. (There was little hard evidence that ads had ceased to be effective, but one could hardly resist concluding that it had started to happen.) So, they changed to a Jack-format. There are several of these around the country -- faceless, characterless, almost voiceless, iPod shufflers. They boasted "we play what we want", which meant that they had jack-poor taste. Would that sell in New York? It quickly became clear that it wouldn't. Then, CBS brought in a PD who used to run a major SF Bay Area oldies outlet until it folded (similar demo problems, plus owner problems). I heard that and thought, oh my, they'll bring the oldies back when this jack thing is all jacked out. Sure enough, that's what they did, keeping that Jack director.

Okay, Bob, so enough radio shop-talk. What's the station like?? It's pretty much like what it was the last two months before it closed. Their morning and early afternoon shifts are familiar voices, the music of the '60s thru '80s is featured, Mr. G (my fellow Hofstra alum Irv Gikofsky) is back doing morning weather, they still try to bring on radio legends as best they can. They key on personalities, which is important anywhere but is crucial in New York. The last few months before closing, they had made futile changes such as dumping doowop and lessening ballads. Those changes only made things worse. They've undone that in a minor way, by once in a while playing a "Hall of Fame" pick (with a brief lead-in to say it's coming). Indeed, those lead-in montage/announcements for older oldies and for country (which is also segregated out of the main mix) may be the best new thing they're doing, because they need to create a trained/educated/spoiled audience that's easier to keep because there's few other places for them to go to get the quality they want.

Problems? A few.

Their flattened signal makes the songs, especially the mid-60s stuff, have a sound like the record's trying to be heard past other noises. If it wasn't so 'brightened', it'd be almost like having the voices wash out. Do that to recordings that have that problem to begin with (like 'Dancing In the Streets' or 'Go Now'), and it becomes really difficult to pick out the voices. The percussion becomes like sand. They need to address this, through both their broadcast settings and getting clearer copies of those songs, because it's quite distracting at times, and those recordings simply sound better on some other stations.

Also, they could try expanding the format. I hear you -- "are you nuts? It's already unmanageably large!" No, it wouldn't be. I mean expanding in both directions, selectively. I find it hard to believe that the audience would go running if once in a blue moon they heard, say, "Count Every Star" (the Ravens) or "Nature Boy" (Nat Cole) or "Dream a Little Dream" (Louis & Ella). Or for that matter, "The Game of Love" (Santana & Branch) or "Bailamos" or "Could I Have This Kiss" (Enrique Iglesias). The key is to be selective, with high-quality tracks that don't sound like big band or hip-hop. This is called "spicing". It creates enjoyable radio experiences others don't have, it's too rare for noticeable turnoff, and it spoils the audience. For all their playing on peoples' memories, they sometimes forget that their listeners are still alive and are still making great memories, including while they're listening to your station. The main music, the 'audience education', and the spicing can all be part of that.

Also, they should become the place to hear famous artists upon their death. What made them so big in their kind of music? Once again, it's a way to spoil, and the death-time guilt and curiosity factors would lessen button-pushing.

In its later years, WCBS was slower than snails on things that were happening with oldies artists. Like, for instance, the pre-rock rock side of Louis Prima when it was getting popular thru its use in commercials, or Johnny Cash as his popularity rose. Many little waves of popular attention to oldies acts were just plain missed. I hope the new WCBS does better with that.

Anyway, it's good to have a broad-format station back on the FM dial. People can relax from tending to their iPod mix for a while.

WUSB, Sun 12:30-2:30 pm, 05 August 2007

Know -- Christopher Williams
Hang Out With the Moon -- Diana Jones
I Got the Dirt On You -- Toby Walker -- Just Rolled In -- N
A Little Room to Breathe -- James O'Malley
Drip Drop -- Mint Juleps
On Broadway -- Mint Juleps
You've Got A Friend In Me -- Randy Newman
Love -- Joni Mitchell
Forgiveness -- Cephas & Wiggins
You Will Be My Ain True Love -- Alison Krauss & Sting -- A Hundred Miles or More -- N
Tu Te Vas (You'll Lose A Good Thing) -- Los Straightjackets -- Rock En Espanol N
Sugar -- Ethel Waters
Louisiana 1927 -- Sonny Landreth
Masquerade -- Sam Hill
All My People -- Hope Nunnery -- Wilderness Lounge -- N
Unglamorous -- Lori McKenna -- Unglamorous -- N
I Second That Emotion -- Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
You -- Abra Moore -- On the Way N
In This Temple... -- Sufjan Stevens
Woke Up This Mornin' -- Eric Bibb
Eyes On the Prize -- Mavis Staples -- We'll Never Turn Back -- N
Getting Somewhere -- Allison Moorer
Something New -- Lisa Moscatiello
Seahouses -- Dave Bainbridge
You Still Believe In Me -- Beach Boys
Eyes of A Child -- Moody Blues
Ice Cream Song -- the Dynamics -- First Landing -- N
Water To Drink -- BR6 -- Here To Stay -- N
Waters of March/Rhapsody In Blue -- BR6 -- Here to Stay -- N
Love Is Here To Stay -- BR6 -- Here To Stay -- N

Delectible new stuff from Toby; he may be talkin' to you..... Classic Moodies, with a slightly different end mix.
Politically-charged Mavis -- hey, she really was there, and still is. Bainbridge of
Iona doing solo wonders. Landreth doing Randy Newman. Smooth soul
from the Dynamics. C-Dub starts off; the acappella Brazilian jazz of BR6 finishes off.