Right now the general public does not know the choices they have when it comes to free music radio on the net. You don't have to listen to commercial radio! Yay

WHAT THE HECK Christmas flying by so quick! So much stress before the day gets here. It feels exactly as last year but I'm older and THATS stressful. Thanks!!!

Think about how great or sucky the OO's were. Ten years ago I did not possess a cellphone nor a computer! Cable TV was big, now the web has taken over--comment-

People objecting to wind turbines are idiots! Funded by r limbau they say "they make too much noise!" How can wind farms make noise? Perhaps coal factory smoke?

I can't believe I actually lived in Huntsville Alabama. WHAT THE HECK was I thinking? I lived a pretty inexpensive life, but it was also pretty empty. Empty AL.

Top five movies of the past decade: Star Trek, Amelie, 40 Year Old Virgen, Nacho Libre, & Napolean Dynamite. Leave me your top five in the comment spot below!

Job searching in the Bay Area has lead me to discover a couple things. One: there's lots of jobs but lots of people trying to get those jobs. Two: Don't give up

MY TOP TEN ALBUMS FOR THE DOUBLE OHHHH DECADE!

This is a picture of me with the birthday dog...

Now the top ten in no particular order...

• "American Idiot" Green Day
• "Breakaway" Kelly Clarkson
• "Taking the Long Way" Dixie Chicks
• "O' Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack" Various
• "Funhouse" Pink
• "Rock Steady" No Doubt
• "12 Gardens Live" Billy Joel
• "Get Born" Jet
• "Both Sides of the Gun" Ben Harper
• "Days Go By" Keith Urban

PLEASE leave your comment with YOUR top 10 ALBUMS for the past 10 years! Thanks!

Slow: my dad was slow, my wife's grandfather was named Slo, I sometimes move very very slow. Embrace your slowness. Life moves much too fast. Be slow...it's ok!

Difference in married people house shopping:: Man says "how noisy is this neighborhood?" Woman says "how good is this school district?" Big bus drives by..+kids

I love how former bosses are afraid of "transparency". In radio, ALL the gm's are hiding secrets! I'd like to say they were all republican, but some were dem.s.

Live 105 playing Sunday am what they played Friday pm. Radio's so dang lazy! Liking public radio way over corporate! Podcasting over terrestrial. Creative best!

MIKE ASKS WHAT THE HECK from his phone...everyone likes to avoid bills. Avoid these bills...Bill West & Bill Jones. Radio should b run by humans not robots! Ugh

Cumulus media moved me 2000 miles & let me go after 15 months. I built a new station-my replacement kept all I did. My boss didn't fire me face 2 face. Nice!

I'm happy to turn 41. Well, not happy really, just resigned. That's the name of a great Michael Penn album, by the way. 41 is the new 20 + 21.

Texting my blogs has been like tweeting. Condenscing thoughts is a bizarre process. Brevity is the soul of wit. But when does wit have soul?

I don't like to talk about good things that might happen cuz i'm afraid of jinxing them. But it's more fun to talk about that than failures.

It's amazing going from a sitting & watching mentality to a do attitude. From internet nerd to painting your house. My hands are full of paint.

Today's what the heck...taking the plunge and tearing out a wall. Though not a full wall i was trying to avoid demoing when fate & my wife's dad pushed.

I love writing these from my cell!

Don't have the latest internet connected cellphone but I can write this blog through texting on my phone. Enjoy these quick little blogs being written to you from "wherever".

This is similar to my new podcasts which are Mike's PODCAST PICNIC. I am recording video podcast from "wherever" talking to all sorts of interesting folk.

Today's WHAT THE HECK??? Why doesn't everyone podcast and blog? Everyone, from what I can tell, has lots to say. Yeah, people are busy with work, kids, job, pets, etc, but just hit record while all that's going on. That would be hella interesting.

Just hit record.

My first text blog. Living in ca is a blast! Don't move here if you don't have a cheap place to stay for a while. You need all the help you can get!

My Last Blog For A While...So Lots to Cover!

Behind me and my trusty man purse is the Jersey shore. What a fun trip and beautiful day that was! I am 40 and I have never been to New York. I've heard so many stories, friends of mine who have gone, but being there was absolutely amazing.

I saw 2 movies this past week that had to do with New York City...how rare is that to find a movie about New York? Yes, just about every movie ever made takes place there. As I walked the streets it seems every corner was the set of some movie I saw. But the two movies I saw this week, "Adventureland" and "Julie and Julia," had New York figure some way into the plot line.

First off, today's WHAT THE HECK! Why do all these movie critics like "Adventureland?" (I saw it on DVD, by the way, where most people will see it.) The movie is the most boring draggy no point piece of film I have seen since "Married Life" (oh, do NOT see this movie, it will depress you and give you a headache). I'm tired of movies making pot some kind of cool thing. This isn't 1979 anymore! Seth Rogan at least stopped toking by the time he did "Funny People" (or not as much). "Adventureland" was supposed to show the 80's the way they really were. The soundtrack was supposed to be the quintessential 80's soundtrack. I heard a Cure song and one from girl band Expose. The rest sounded like it came from the 70's (Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love" wasn't being played by ANY radio station by the time the period of the movie takes place). For a MUCH better movie (that makes better use of REAL 80's songs even though it takes place in the modern day) see "(500) Days Of Summer." That movie drags a little but at least its approach is fresh.

I'll admit "Julie and Julia" drags a bit, too, but, it takes on the monumental task of tying together 3 amazing personalities: Julia Childs, Julie who tries to make all Julia's recipes, and FOOD ITSELF. Food is a character in the movie; it is an object of love. Stanley Tucci is fantastic as Julia's husband. Meryl Streep does a fantastic job portraying Julia without being a caricature. Nora Ephron directed and wrote the screenplay. She put her love of New York in it as well as the heartbreak of wanting to be a New Yorker but having to live outside of it due to economic reasons. There is other heartbreak in this movie with Julia and Paul Childs not being able to have children. This only takes part in a small sequence in the film, but there is so much in this movie that takes place in only an instant that is meant to convey so much more. The movie is over 2 hours because there is so much to cover.

Which makes me think, why do movies out today have to be about silly passe topics like pot or cgi created creatures that no one cares about? New ground needs to be covered by the film, tv, and story writers of today, not relying on outdated themes. Maybe a lot of pot is consumed in the making of these movies so they need to put it in the movie since it's an object of love.

In any case, I was so glad to spend some time in the city that has been the set for many a film. Oh, and don't listen to people that tell you New Yorker's are less than friendly. Outside of the tourist areas, I met some extremely nice natives who were more than happy to talk about the city and talk to me about my current home, Alabama. It turns out that Southerners aren't necessarily as hospitable above the Mason Dixon line. One food server told me that while New Yorkers tend to be laid back, patrons that hail from the Bible Belt tend to be quite rude and impatient.

That's another WHAT THE HECK? I looked at my Facebook under one of the photo's I uploaded from my NYC trip and someone who is very Southern wrote she wouldn't visit New York even if you dropped her in the middle using a helicopter! I wrote back she should take the subway because it's much more fun.

I think a lot of people in my current surroundings have no clue what New York, L.A., or San Francisco are like. You can blame it to the high cost of travel, but for others I think it's they just don't want to leave. They don't want to explore. Of course, I find this ridiculous since I came here from there and was very willing to explore. I've lived in the South for 2 years now, and in 11 days I will be heading back to California.

I will miss a lot about the South. There is definitely an amazing hospitality among some of the people here. The countryside is so beautiful. The BBQ is so delicious! The birds are amazing, too. I have heard so many bird songs I have not heard any where else. I won't miss the mowing and the holier than thou attitude of a lot of people here. I won't miss the rampant unchecked urban sprawl, the lack of proper community planning. I won't miss the lack of adequate restaurants (fast food abounds). But that's just about it. I liked it here while I was here (except for the job I had and the good ole boys club attitude I had to deal with which I wrote about in previous installments). Luckily, I'll still have my house here which I will rent out.

One more great thing about living here in Huntsville: the best public library anywhere! I never checked out a book, but the CD's! What a fantastic selection!

That's it for now. I'll write again after I get settled in CA which may take a while. Please leave comments and check out all my links on this page to keep track of Mike's One Minute What the Heck and Michael Matthews. Let me know what your WHAT THE HECK is so we can discuss it. Talk to you soon!

Sorry if this blog "dragged."

Mike

Without CGI There Would Be No Comic Con

There I am standing on the corning of "Bull Street". How fitting!

This is one of the many fascinating squares of Savannah. Even if you've never been there, you know one particular square fairly well. It was the set for Forrest's tales in "Forrest Gump."

This city is fantastic. My wife and I spent five days there but we could have spent five months. While on this trip we brought along our lap top. I was tempted a few times to write a blog, but I focused on just observing all that was Savannah. I left work at home, if you call this work (no pay is involved!).

We've been back for a while. I haven't blogged because nothing has really hit me lately. I guess I'm pretty bad at this. I started writing because I found I had some strong opinions about stuff. Lately, however, the only thing that has really been bugging me is the massive propaganda machines you see everywhere. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise, but what really gets me is how people just swallow what they hear. Some even swallow and become crazed robots for whatever machine's fooled them.

Today's WHAT THE HECK?!? Why don't we stop and take the time to just...take the time?

I was thinking about Comic Con a few weeks ago. People went dog-on-dog crazy about this thing eventhough when you look closely at the movies offered, yes, there's some imagination and creativity involved...but isn't it all just so much CGI fluff?

On You Tube lately they've been showing one of the episodes of the old Bill Bixby TV show "The Hulk" where he gets a special guest visit from Thor. These, of course, are characters ripped right out of comic books. It's amazing this show was even on the air with the cheapest special effects in the world! The Hulk was not a CGI created character, it was a real person named Lou Ferrigno (who you might have seen lately in "I Love You Man") just covered in green make up and wearing greenish eye contacts (which were only made for movie studios at the time---not in massiv circulation until the 90's when brown eyes suddenly really could turn blue). Thor was...well, just silly. His costume looks like any Viking costume you can pickup at the local latex stinking Halloween shop. At the time this was really the only comic book based TV show on television or in the movies for that matter simply because people could not be bothered by the low tech effects. It required you to use your imagination. That is, until CGI came along...

One of the movies talked about at Comic Con is a remake or a "reboot" of "Tron". That was one of the first movies (if not THE first movie) to use extensive computer graphics. This movie also challenged people to use their imaginations (the effects were pretty low tech despite the scale of the movie). A computer could not yet depict an entire luxury liner going belly up into an icy ocean or massive robots punching it out in an action packed racist movie. Now, Tron will be flushed out with all the latest computer generated imagery and people won't have to use their imaginations. They'll just have to sit there and let the fake visuals pummel them into submission (and take their hard earned money in the process).

These movies that use these effects are what I call part of the ADD movement. I know someone whose DVD library is full of "ADDDVD's". I can see why he's hooked. So much eye candy stimulating the brain, you can't help but be at the very least slightly amused. But where is the art? Even drawn animation has been COMPLETELY replaced by computer animation. Eye candy is winning over. And as a result, the sugar from this candy is decaying our brains. It's already happened. How come nobody cares that all our movies are just remakes of things we've already seen: TV shows, comic books, even older movies? Sure, "it's all been done before," but why aren't we complaining about it? We just go to the theater and hand them our money and there by enabling the movie companies.

There is so much hoopla about the new sci-fi movie "District 9" because Peter Jackson, who directed many movies that were remakes of older movies or famous books, took a chance on a new director and a story that had never been heard or seen before. As I write this, the results of its first week have not come out, but I hope they are good.

So in the end I say, like your dentist, AVOID SWEETS! Avoid the eye candy that rots your imagination! Go out there and look for the originality. If you can't find it, create it! I will be your biggest benefactor! (Even though, this job don't pay zip!)

Companies With Their Heads in the Sand

Wow!

Yes, that was about the size of coffee I would need every day to get through my last job. The stress at that place was unimaginable, and every day something completely dysfunctional happened.

From what I've heard, the company is still behaving the same way.

Radio, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, is a dysfunctional business. Not that it should be, it just is. We live in an ever-changing world where technology is constantly being redesigned and pushed forward. Communication is absolutely sacrosanct, yet so many radio people prefer to live in the 1950's. "Oh, don't be ridiculous! Radio will never be threatened by the Internet or satellite radio. Those ipods are just a fad! People will be listening to those little transistors till the end of time!" My last job had the worst communication from its managers. People would write emails but ignore all etiquette and decency.

Here is a little bit of an email I received. I won't name names, but this came from someone who had no power over what I, as a radio performer, was doing. Mind you, I was hired as someone to be a radio performer for the time period of afternoon rush hour. You MUST entertain people during this time period; it is demanded of you. Even on music formats, mornings and afternoons need to be entertaining. Some stations let their nights be entertaining, too. Most keep the midday, from 10am to 3pm, pretty music intensive. My show was music intensive, but when I did speak it was always for less than a minute and always entertaining. Here is a piece of the paragraph-long email:

Yesterday, I heard you trying to imitate a French accent. No more warnings. Keep it straight and play the music.

"Keep it straight." Read: Keep it boring! That's what your radio stations today want from their jocks. Boring. Do you know why I was doing a French accent? I did it for 2 seconds and it was part of a joke! I didn't do my whole show in a French accent. By the way, I am quite good with many accents (you can hear by clicking on the Santa Fe Cafe samples to the right). I can even speak a little French and was coached specifically on French pronunciation. But this is communication in radio: It's only purpose is to treat employees like little spoiled kids that constantly need reprimanding.

Radio has no idea what world it's living in. It thinks it's still in the world of "Mad Men" where discrimination and sexism run amok and employees are made to be kept down. We live in a new world! Radio apparently doesn't know that and has never looked out the window.

The way I was kept down runs totally contrary to how an organization should be run. Even the book Managing For Dummies says in a situation like this, everyone loses! "Your employees lose because you aren’t allowing them to stretch themselves or to show creativity or initiative. Your organization loses the insights that its creative workforce brings with it. Finally, your customers lose because your employees are afraid to provide them with exceptional service. Why should
they if they’re constantly worried that you will punish them for taking
initiative or for pushing the limits of the organization"?

Today's WHAT THE HECK??? Why are companies like this allowed to keep running? You know what, they're not. They're the ones that are filing for bankruptcy. Try as they may to blame the economy or blame Obama for not bailing them out, they're own worse enemy is themselves and their failure to grow with the times. I use radio as an example because it seems the most pronounced in fighting everything it SHOULD be in today's world. The managers and the owners behave like the spoiled children: Not willing to try something new or something that is needed.

If you want your employees to "keep it straight" and keep their noses buried in the past, good luck. Your company will die out in this very different world you refuse to live in. Have fun keeping up. Enjoy the coffee you'll be downing.

2012 Will Be a Very, Very Interesting Year!

That's me with a very cute dog named Madison. She's a Yorkshire Terrier and she loves to attack my round bald head. She must think I'm a mobile doggy toy only when you bite me I don't squeak...I squawk.

So this picture was taken yesterday, the third of July, not too long after I saw online that Sarah Palin is resigning.

Today's WHAT THE HECK?!? Sarah is really preparing for 2012, NOW in 2009? Her term was up next year, but what can 4 years do to make her the first female president of the U.S.A.?

First off, if I was a Republican right now, I'd feel like I did as a Democrat back in 2000 when we really had no main leader in the party. Then I'd be looking at SP and saying...SP? I was really hoping when she first exploded on the scene last year that she'd be a breath of fresh air. Someone that I'd be happy seeing being the next vice president.

People on the right say she was side swiped by the media. Katie Couric was too harsh on her. All the media outlets went after her poor defenseless pregnant daughter. How dare they! It's the media's fault!

I am SOOOOO tired of hearing the media blamed for what really is someone who doesn't know how to carry herself in front of the cameras. Ronald Reagan blew away everyone in 1980 when he took office and began to show both parties that he knew how to work that camera. He knew how to work the media. He was the Great Communicator. In the couple of months before the election that Sarah Palin was in the spotlight she only showed that she has no idea what she's doing in that department.

Who knows, maybe she would have been the best VP we ever had. Maybe our country would be completely out of its financial doldrums right now because of her. She tried her best at the very end by actually showing up on Saturday Night Live to poke fun at herself. However, she could have toured with Madonna, there was no way of stopping the Obama Express.

I will be so interested to see what she does. I have friends like her: Conservative, hard working moms, thick Wisconsin-whatever accents. I think I might like her if I got to know her, but the people behind the scenes of the GOP will take her and mould her and make her into something I unfortunately might despise. I think she's someone who takes direction well. She said she was a maverick, but when she was being moulded by the GOP late last year before the election it was painfully obvious: the clothes, the rhetoric. You could tell when she was lying. This concerns me.

So on this Fourth of July weekend, say a prayer for this country, say a prayer for the people who will vote for president in 2012 (Obama VS Palin?), and say a prayer for all the world's problems that we may have smart cool-headed leaders solving them.

Speaking of heads, I think I've just about wiped all the little dog slobber off of my bald cabeza.

Music and the 80's Generation's First Big Goodbye

That's my crazy radio DJ face.




Very frightening. It's a fun job, no money in it, but for a type like me that enjoys a wide swath of music it fits me.

When I first started in radio in 1986 there were at that moment no Michael Jackson hits getting played in tight rotation on the station I interned at. That would all change when he released the first single from his "Bad" album, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", a duet he did with Siedah Garrett. After that there were number one hits with "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", (the next single, "Another Part of Me", from the Disneyland ride Captain Eo peaked in the top ten but not at number one) "Dirty Diana", and "Smooth Criminal."

After that I start to lose track of what went number one for him. I know he had a very intricate "live action mixed with animation" video that MTV used to play all the time called "Leave Me Alone" but that hardly got played on the radio. When his next huge hit "Black and White" came out I was working formats that didn't play him much (or didn't play his fast songs, just his ballads like "Will You Be There" and "Heal the World"). Meanwhile, his sister Janet was all over the radio and had pretty much been so since her 1985 album "Control".

Today's WHAT THE HECK? What the heck is wrong with us, with anyone, for slamming this man now at his shocking untimely death? We all know he lead a life that most of us question, but look at what will be his REAL legacy, his two amazing albums "Off the Wall" and "Thriller". Both those albums taught us how to let loose and have fun. Michael was not ashamed of his high falsetto. Eddie Murphy and others poked fun at it, but he knew he could rock like the best guitar gods in his own uncompromising way (he even enlisted a guitar god, Eddie VanHalen, to play the crazy solo on "Beat It"). Without him, I doubt we would have been so willing to open the doors for Justin Timberlake and others who sing high and dance like we wish we all could.

In the months and years to follow, we'll get the whole story on why he died so young. We'll maybe hear of even more controversies: What did he do while staying in the middle east? Why did he hit such economic hard times? What is the legacy of his children? How many plastic surgeries were ultimately involved in the expanse of his entire life and why was he so vane?

He is the first of the 80's pop generation to leave us so soon. He had such a lasting impact: He is like an Elvis or a Sinatra though there will be those who call that blasphemy. Those people have their ears in the sand and have no idea what greatness we were listening to from Michael's earliest years playing with his family to 1995 when he enjoyed his last number one hit ("You Are Not Alone" which broke records for making it to number one so quickly).

When you work in radio, especially a top 40 station, that plays the same songs over and over again, you get to know each and every note of certain songs. I am honored I got to hear every note of Michael's.

Conan VS Jimmy

Everybody wave high to Buddy! Buddy's a French Bulldog/Boston Terrier mix (according to the owners who are fairly certain of his origins). My wife loves this dog and we would be taking him with us to California if the whole exodus wasn't going to be so cumbersome already.

We will be moving our own stuff across the 5 or so states back to Cali. Yeah, stagecoach style. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to it. I like to travel, but moving traveling is not the same.

So keeping my mind off that, I've been watching and thoroughly enjoying the new Conan Tonight Show. Yes! I'm sure everyone 60 plus has stopped watching, but Conan knew that and even did a funny bit about it. Everything that guy does makes me laugh. Even stuff that looks like it's falling flat busts me up. His interviews are engaging and long enough to get to the point before either the guest becomes boring or before they infringe on the time of the next guest. I was prepared for the William Shatner interview to be dumb and mindless, but the interview went a hilarious direction when we found out Bill can't make the Vulcan peace sign! He ended up flipping Conan off. Coco jumped up and ran around the stage like he had just set off a bomb, but it was just Conando knocking it out of the park again!

Compare this to Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy can't listen to his guests. Why he doesn't, I have no idea, he would only get a much better interview out of his guests. Instead he's talking over his guest with the latest funniest thing he's come up with . This turns the guest off and they shut down. Jenean Garafalo had a great solution: She just came out and never stopped talking. Jimmy didn't have a chance so he shut down and we could hear every bit of JC's bizarre and twisted rant.

Jimmy needs to learn how to edit like Conan. His comedy staff does not know when to cut rope and move on. If my wife and I watch Late Night we fast forward through his first segments. That is where he shows his lamest "hey, I'm funny and so are my writers" bits. I don't understand: He has the best band on television. The Roots are phenomenal and the only great bits are when Jimmy incorporates them in some way. I wish the band had its own show.

Oh yeah, so today's WHAT THE HECK?!? Why don't the Roots get their own show? Why didn't Conan get the Tonight Show, like TEN YEARS AGO! And Conan, thank you thank you thank you for bringing Andy back (and keeping Max Weinberg and the whole band just changing the name). Andy is being used in a much better capacity than he did when he first started with Conan back in 1993. Then he was tyring to be an Ed McMahon. Now he's like a crazy heckler from the audience. He's being himself and Conan and the rest of us love him for it.

By the way, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, I don't watch TV on TV. I watch it off the Internet. Less commercials. I watch when I want to. I don't have to mess with all the minutia of TiVo. Yes, admit it, all those recording systems are a FREAKIN' HEADACHE! You end up becoming a slave to them: Too many shows, some activate and take over the TV, plus it COSTS DOUGH!

So thank you Buddy for starting us off on this blog today. You may not even understand what TV is, but in the end your precious face is what amuses us more than anything! Please go chew up someone's TiVo!

Leaving Alabama and Saying Goodbye to Huntsville!

What am I doing?

Oh, in this picture, I'm eating my vegetables. Actually, this is a wall outside of a store in Huntsville called Anthropology. This picture was taken almost 2 years ago. Now the wall is brown with dead plants and soil falling out. It's a metaphor for Huntsville: Businesses open and then 1 to 2 years later are dead and falling out.

Aside from that darling hat, you might be wondering a couple things: First, Mike doesn't get enough fiber? Also, Huntsville has an Anthropology? Isn't that a store found in BIG sophisticated cities like New York and San Francisco?

Yes! That's what I thought, too! It opened shortly after I arrived here, so I was feeling optimistic about picking Huntsville to live in: Even though the ACTUAL job was located 45 miles to the west in Athens, yet I was told this was a Huntville job (and this was supposed to be a Huntsville radio station servicing Huntsville--from 45 miles away?!?).

Let's just say a LOT of false pretenses came into play when I took this job. My wife and I did all the research we could, and some of it was right: Houses ARE less expensive. It is VERY humid. There are LOTS and LOTS of engineers and phd's here. However, my general manager NEGLECTED to fill me in about important logistical truths: That the transmitter for the radio station DIDN'T EVEN EXIST yet. That I would be required to drive a HUGE TRUCK all over the territory sometimes covering hundreds of miles in ONE day (Huntsville and its surrounding cities are completely spread out). That I would have virtually NO SAY in who I could hire for my staff. That he, the general manager who should be focused on selling advertising, dictated to me how the station should sound even telling me HOW I SHOULD SOUND.

Today's one minute WHAT THE HECK?...What Am I Doing?

I am GETTING THE HECK OUT OF HERE! And by "heck" I definitely mean HELL!

This town is far too hot, too conservative, and too interested in church for me to stay here. A study of people who voted for Obama found that 67 percent said they don't go to church. That compares to 64 percent who voted for Bush in 2004 who said they went to church MORE THAN ONCE A WEEK! I guarantee that ENTIRE 64 percent came from Alabama, home of the biggest gaudiest churches in the south...or maybe not, since I hear Texas wins that award. And I have done some church research: I found people who go are either looking for a love interest or are frustrated American Idol wannabees who want to go to a "rock concert" every Sunday. Then there are those who are replacing a crutch: drugs, drinking, smoking. Or there are those trying to bury their homosexual feelings: If I go to church with my (husband/wife) and am seen in public with them and my kids then I MUST BE HETERO! And Jesus said homosexuality is an abomination (that verse still missing from the original text).

And people love their Rick and Bubba morning radio show here (see one of the previous blogs for a full explanation of their show). And I am so sick of the word "Bubba." Yes, Alabamans are proud of this word because they invented it, but it's just a variation on the word "Baby." Just say "baby" over and over again real fast until it devolves into "bubba." Very innovative, AL! And I am tired of all the fast food and no nice bike paths and no public transportation and the spoiled unruly kids and all the stupid red t-shirts promoting the state's college football team and the never ending hype of college football and the good ole boys club and the golfing and the non-descript southern accent that sounds like a mix of Texas and Georgia and the long lines to new restaurants that are owned by national chains and the blank stare you get when you tell people you're moving back to California "AND I CAN'T FREAKIN' WAIT!!!"

I know somewhere someone is reading this and saying, "Don't let the AL door hit you on the way out!" Well, thank you. I tried loving your state. I tried loving your relaxed cholesterol heavy way of life. I tried getting into saying roll tide or war eagle and I tried liking your culture. BUT ALL I GOT WAS A PINK SLIP IN RETURN! All I got was HIGH CHOLESTEROL! All I got was BUG BITES BUG BITES BUG BITES! And all I got was extremely jaded.

I tried. When I get back to the state of the continuous sunshine and traffic jams, and am finally able to wear shorts without gallons of Off sprayed on them, I will tell folks the south is a wonderful place to live. And I'll say move there now!

And when they leave I'll think about how they're setting out upon a fantastic adventure...and how I'll be able to get their parking spot.

I Love "Saturday Night Live"...On Hulu!

"Saturday Night Live" has been busting me up lately. I will never watch it on TV, though. I love watching it on Hulu, where they strip it down to just the main skits.

Kristin Wiig is the reason for the resurgence. She is the most talented comedy actor I have seen in a long while, and she is brilliant with her observations of how certain types of people act. Her impression of a crazy, older Target cashier is amazing! She does a fantastic Nancy Pelosi. If a skit is lagging, she immediately jump starts it with her presence.

The rest of the cast is fantastic and the return of Jimmy Fallon once in a while for the "Barry Gibb Talk Show" with Justin Timberlake is strange and hilarious. Of course, Andy Samberg is doing a tremendous job, too.

Today's WHAT THE HECK has to do with why I won't watch the show on TV...too many commercials! On Hulu or if you go directly to NBC's website you can watch the main skits of the show with maybe a one minute commercial at the most. Why do people even watch TV anymore? I heard Brian Williams talking in his whiny voice during Jay Leno's last week (also online) that "guys like us" are into the way things used to be. We don't want change. Let's look at the benefits of watching shows online: very few commercials (something that Brian's show is full of, he admitted as much on Jay's show) and I HAVE CONTROL (except for when the TV network decides to pull a show). I have not had my TV on in over a year and you know what? I don't have to. All you need is a nice big computer screen and you're set (what once was a "monitor" is now a canvas).

Oh, 2 more WHAT THE HECK's. As you've read right here on this blog, it is this blogger's opinion that at some point in the not s0 distant future that there will come to fruition the GREAT RADIO UNIFICATION THEORY. This is where all radio stations will just rebroadcast feed from one of what I see is 5 main sources. I'm not sure what these sources are, but there will be NO local radio dj's to broadcast their shows. It will all come from these "networks" similar to the way TV works now with the 4 major networks. I see this happening due to the shrinking advertising income radio stations are getting today and how people have so many better choices for media at their disposal.

This theory took a step closer to coming true this week when one of the mainstays of the radio business, the newspaper where all dj's looked for the latest news and jobs, Radio & Records, folded (or will fold tomorrow). All those die-hard conservative old fogies who populate the dial today are shaking in their record-company-bought boots for what this means. All these guys had this paper on their desk, whether they read it or not. Now it's gone. I'm serious, this is like we as Americans waking up one day and finding the Lincoln Memorial gone. An integral part of what it means to be an American would be lost. Radio is going through something like this now.

However, radio NEEDS TO CHANGE. Earlier this week, from out of nowhere, a weather microburst hit my house. Rain, hail, lightning, the wind swirling like a tornado taking shape, and the local media SAID NOTHING. We tuned to all the local radio stations...nothing. We checked out the local TV stations...nothing. We looked at all the websites that belong to the local media...nothing. The only way I had to find out about this disastrous weather was by accessing a local doplar radar. As I have said in past blogs, the Internet is the fastest, easiest way to get information in time of need. You don't have to wait to hear what's going on, you get it instantly. Of course, that assumes your power and your Internet connection stay on. A perfect situation would be radio giving us information, but since it's busy running a computer program with no dj's in the studio, we must rely on the Internet. Radio and TV have taken away the last important reason (and, in reality, the foremost reason) for their existence.

Wow, from Kristin Wiig to the death of all known media. This blog covered a gamut.

Don't forget that you live in the digital age! You can get information and entertainment whenever YOU want! Get familiar with your computer and your search engine, and speaking of which, a new search engine just launched so now you have even MORE ways to find what you want. If you don't know how, your next search should be this topic..."HOW TO SEARCH ON THE INTERNET!"

A Sign of Being Old and Being "Over It"

I am going to get around to doing a podcast at michaelmatthews.podomatic.com, but first I must blog.

My WHAT THE HECK?!? My BACK! This week I was hit with a pain right in that small back region. I think part of the cause was lifting something rather heavy in the garage without using my legs and the growing stress upon the realization that my wife and I are REALLY MOVING!

It just makes sense...or it makes no sense. We are moving back to a state whose houses are now at a price we haven't seen in years, yet we're leaving a state and a city that is the best area to find a job according to a new study. We've got a real estate agent now, so we've jumped out of the plane, now we've got to pull the rip chord.

Maybe that's a little dramatic. We could take the house off the market and stay if we want. But do we? Yeah, jobs are abundant here in Huntsville, Alabama, but who enjoys working for a "good ol' boys" club? Maybe you like it: the smoking cigars on a golf course while cheering Cheney on finally making his PUNXSUTAWNEY GROUND HOG MOMENT to try to prove he was a good dad to us after all. "Everything I did, I DID IT FOR YOU! You have NO IDEA WHAT I WENT THROUGH to keep this country safe! You may be all smitten with this new president guy, BUT HE HAS NO RIGHT TO CRITICIZE WHAT I DID TO KEEP YOU SAFE! Now I'm going back underground to breathe my secret life-extending gas and I'll come back out when you REALIZE WHAT A GOD I AM!"

It'll be nice to leave an area that is so gaga over such a ridiculous Rush-Sean-wannabe radio show as "Rick and Bubba." In California they have that show absolutely NO WHERE! I will tell people about it there and they will laugh at me! Really? They have a show like that? Well I guess that's the South for you! I moved to this part of the country with AN OPEN MIND. I thought people here weren't the stereotype. I was willing and ready to be proven wrong! Yep, I was wrong.

Maybe the pain in my back is a little voodoo on me for being negative about all this. But at this point, I'm no longer negative. I'm feeling more positive every day.

Now I positively need some Motrin.

The Great Americana Radio Format and Why It's Gone

The high point of my radio career was somewhere around 2002. The corporation that owned us happened upon their one good idea...to let me be more creative and have more control of my radio show. They also decided that on Sunday evenings they would play 2 hours of "Americana" music.

Americana falls somewhere between the triangle of folk, rock, and country. It would be an awesome format to work for if radio was indeed experimental in that way anymore, which it is not. You literally play the cleverest lyricists, the best musicians, and sometimes the deepest music. I know there's KPIG in Monterey, but that is the exception to the rule. They have done a fantastic job staking a claim in the world of Internet radio before anyone else did. They play new music by Americana artists and throw in some classic rock songs. You really can not predict what you're going to hear.

When we did this format, I was fortunate enough to get a lot of the Cd's that were sent to us. I still have them, and still listen and party like it's...well, 2002.

Here's my WHAT THE HECK!?!...Some time in 2004, idiots in corporate decided to clamp down. Actually, the guy they put in the position to do it at the local level ended up being pretty cool, and he was successful in explaining to me his reasoning for executing corporate's wishes. Clutter and consistency were the main words he used. My question in hindsight though is what did we sacrifice creatively by making those changes? The actions we took ended up making radio more repetitive and less unpredictable.

"Well, listeners like predictability. Radio should be an appliance. When you flip a light switch, you expect to see light." The day radio was explained to me as an appliance was the day I should have bailed. That was NOT what I signed up for. I like radio because of its potential: you could paint a million pictures and stretch the imagination from your words and by playing with sounds. Some DJ's used the music itself to paint a picture or make a comment. Those days are gone.

By the way, KPIG is the perfect example of what I talked about in a previous blog: how radio stations will die and be taken over by one main station...the "Radio Unification Theory," if you will. KPIG started out on just one frequency in Monterey at 107.5FM. Now it can be heard on 4 more frequencies throughout California including 94.9FM in San Luis Obispo and 1510AM in San Francisco; basically covering most of California's coast. The last "group-thunk idiot company" I worked for would never take a chance on a station like this. I have heard people that worked at the corporate level that said "that format doesn't work" and they should have long since given up the ship. Yet this format has now grown to 4 more frequencies and has built a business model that only shows it can spread to MORE stations. Looking at my ex-employers and how they've forced mandatory furloughs on their employees showing how their ship is in its final mount before the whole thing goes underwater at the foot of the iceberg, I would say they were wrong yet again! Corporate radio has no incite in matters like this, and thus its current down spin.

Look up Americana on the Internet. I'm sure you'll find a group worth listening to. The cool thing is a lot of these artists tour frequently and EVERYWHERE so you're bound to see them in your local (or somewhat local) venue soon. Till then, I'll be pulling out The Gourds or the Old 97's out of my CD rack and giving them a little listen...probably ripping them to my computer so they'll come up in my Windows Media Player. At least my WMP has good taste in music.

Here's Some Folks that REALLY Don't Know What They're Doing!

I was speaking to a former coworker whom I had not spoken to in almost ten years. We were recently reunited through Facebook. I would like to thank that free social network for aiding in an online conversation. We were talking about the amount of money that was thrown at certain things back in the day.

In this situation, the guy I used to work with was hired by the radio station to "wrap" a van. This involves sticking various vinyl and I don't know what to the outside to create the logo that's "bigger than life" on the vehicle.

He was telling me how the name the radio station picked, "kiss", was already used by a prominent station in nearby Los Angeles. The evil empire Clear Channel owned the rights to the name and had some legal stipulation that nobody in a 100 mile radius or something couldn't use the name. Now my friend claims he kinda knew this was the case, but since he was paid by our ignorant radio station to wrap the van, he did it.

A week later they got a "cease and desist" and my friend was told he had to re wrap the van with the name "hits." Yes, hits and kiss sound very similar. Hits was a better name, actually, because that's what the station was really playing and since it was new it works to be very clear as to what you are.

A few months later, evil empire, who had bought many stations in this town, changed a radio station to the name "kiss" and directly competed against "hits."

Here's my WHAT THE HECK...aside from my friend getting paid twice, in today's world, in today's radio, HE WOULD HAVE ONLY BEEN PAID ONCE. I guarantee it! Then he would have been told to take a one week furlough, even though he works independently.

And why didn't the company that owned "hits," I believe it was Cumulus, not do any legal research to see if there was any problem using that name in the first place? I mean, it would be so obvious to any large radio corporation that this was an infringement.

This basically shows what I mentioned in the last blog, that radio today has NO IDEA WHAT IT'S DOING. It says it bases everything on research, but honestly, that research doesn't exist in reality. Most research that I saw done was calling people on their landlines, and who today really still uses that? Everyone under 40 is using cellphones. Why use a land line unless you're a business, and the researchers weren't allowed to contact businesses, only private residences. Everything is dictated to each individual radio station from a huge corporation (and by dictated, I mean in the most condescending way possible--you should have heard some of the conference calls I was on! I was treated like a delinquent child!). These choices are made on faulty research.

Oh, and these radio stations love pushing to the top conservative extremists like you hear all over the AM. Thank goodness they or their employers aren't running the country right now! People complain about the stimulus package and the amount spent. You can bet with a conservative party IT WOULD BE TWICE AS MUCH! The conservatives are taking the other side now because that seems to be the popular view...do nothing and just suffer. Why change, nothings wrong. My head is perfectly fine buried in sand!

It's a different age. We need to behave differently. Radio, however, will continue to keep its head buried.

Why American Radio is Failing

The land of FM AM is about to transform completely from what it was. The "good old days" of radio are long gone. The economic structure and the media landscape has changed so much from what it was twenty, ten, even five years ago.

As I traveled through Germany, I saw how possibly the radio world would change. Across the country, Germany has radio stations that deliver the same feed on multiple signals. It would be like hearing one of the channels on Sirius throughout the entire country, but every time the signal would fade or disappear, your radio would know what the next frequency was that carried that signal. That was how are rented car's radio worked. When switching from one frequency to the next to keep the station, you could hardly hear the difference. You hear a moment of static and suddenly the static disappears. The radio knows where to switch to.

American radio is basically doing the same thing now. So many stations carry the same syndicated morning show, the same syndicated evening and overnight shows. Many stations also carry syndicated afternoon shows now. So what's the difference between that and Germany? American radio stations try to sell the "local" angle of their stations, even when their play lists are dictated from their corporate owners. Most DJ's are reading "national" news and avoiding the local angle since it's more work. Most DJ's are prerecorded or "voice tracked." There is no "live" anymore. There is no "local" anymore...so why are our American stations lying to us?

My WHAT THE HECK is for radio. You already are forcing your employees to take mandatory work furloughs (a la Arnold in California) or laying off entire staffs reducing all radio stations to just one working "air talent" and the rest syndication (or non-DJ jukebox stations). You already give no stations their own choice for what they play; it ALL comes down from "on high." You are fighting against what you used to call "non-threatening media" like Internet radio and pod casts. Soon, Internet radio will be in every one's cars and they'll be much more choice than between AM, FM, or XM.

Radio, you are done!

Just pack it in, do what Germany's doing, quit lying to the public, QUIT LYING TO HARD WORKING RADIO EMPLOYEES! Here's what sucks about radio...the lying! I was once told by a radio manager that "perception is reality." If I say I have a chance for you to win a million dollars, that sounds big. What I don't tell you is you're competing against other stations and against unfathomable odds. Radio sucks because it's run by OLD OLD MEN that are still living in some glorified past that has LONG SINCE GONE! These old men, this good ol' boys club, stays in power due to RADIO'S CONSERVATIVE NATURE and no one dares unseat them.

I guess the "all mighty dollar" will finally have to do it for them.

Mike M Goes to Washington...and Across the Pond

Well it's been about a month since I last wrote. I have had a lot of travels and incites into this world we live in. I went to Germany and Washington DC. One place had me learn a completely different language and the other showed me what this country's all about. Eye opening on both accounts.

First, my one and only WHAT THE HECK for the moment is when in DC and getting food from one of the snack bars around the parks there, you do NOT get free refills. Oh, and that's the case in Germany, too, for the most part. Yes, I know practically ALL the museums in DC are free, but come on, making me pay for a WHOLE 'NOTHER DRINK when you're just going to put the soda in the same cup? Wake up, it's 2009!

There are so many WHAT THE HECK's I wanted to write but didn't have Internet access so I'll have to do my best to remember all of them. The picture you see is of me in front of the first historic monument I saw on my DC trip. What a heart-pounding moment when I first saw the Washington Monument, then the Capitol across the massive park they call the Mall. I'm glad that at least the leaders of this country see these landmarks everyday while running the place so at least they're reminded of who and what they're serving.

Ooo! I'm thinking of some juicy WHAT THE HECK's so check back soon!

The World Has Spoken...and We Are FINALLY Listening!

Well, the world has changed since we last spoke. It has gotten very, very interesting. There are some people that would like us to believe that our current leader has NO IDEA WHAT HE'S DOING. Well...how does it feel, now??? That's how WE FELT for the PAST EIGHT YEARS!!!

Today's WHAT THE HECK??? When will people stop with the AMNESIA???

Here in Alabama, the biggest morning show is Rick and Bubba. These are two guys from Birmingham (from where I am writing to you now...I'm in a coffeehouse called OKafes) and they syndicate their show to several states...of course nothing really further west than Louisiana. This morning they made sure to raise a stink about Obama bowing to the prince in Saudi Arabia. The fact is, this supposedly light hearted morning show will pitch a stink about anything our new president does. They basically are in lock step with Hannity, Rush and anyone else subscribing to the "bash our president now that he's not a republican" newsletter.

Remember, not so long ago, a president that did everything he could to destroy any relationship with any other country on this planet? At least this president is making the appearance of getting us on track with the rest of the world. He bowed to a Saudi prince...didn't the last guy in the White House completely black out any reference to the Saudi prince, going out of his way to protect him and his family, when the 9/11 report was released? Amnesia. Whine whine whine. Bleeding heart conservatives.

Alabama is a good ole boys haven. Wherever three true blooded Alabaman MALES get together, there is sure to be bad mistakes made. In my last job, it was my immediate boss and my boss at the corporation level who "friended up" and threw my California rump out and brought in another Alabama male to complete "their link." Kennedy warned us of "group think." Here in Alabama it's "good ole boy GROUP THUNK." The need for tradition and the hatred against the unknown or the unfamiliar is at such an unmatchable level here. Don't move here from another state unless you plan to be forever lost in the fringe.

By the way, the day Americans don't observe other country's customs WHILE IN THAT COUNTRY is the day you and I will be asked to leave the planet...permanently. They have been saying for 40 years that it's a small, small world. Technology has shrank it down. Finally, in 2009 we have an administration that understands this. Alabama needs to digest this fact, too.

My minute's up. Maybe a nano over.

Blogging As The Sky Falls Down

So yesterday in my blog I complained about how the weather people were always wrong. Well, I'm still right about that basic observation, but the one's working on the local tv station did a fantastic job last night as ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE and, yes, the winds came, the tornadoes came, the thunder and lightning came. They did something that I think will morph into something bigger in years to come: a blog that was constantly updated as people wrote in with questions about specific areas being hit by the impending weather. You could read the answers and scroll up to see if the question you were wondering about was answered earlier. Fantastic idea. Of course, I could see this on cellphones (at no extra cost) in the future.

Todays WHAT THE HECK??? My podcast yesterday (at http://michaelmatthews.podomatic.com OR http://michaelmatthews.mypodcast.com OR just to the right in that column there). I went to start the show, and when I start I don't like to stop. It's only 30 minutes so what the heck, I should be able to get through it. However, all the thunder rumblings and lightning flashes coming through my window overlooking the Messy Desk TOTALLY THREW ME OFF!!! Not to mention, like an idiot, I didn't turn my lights on. It was 4:30, why should I? It's summertime basically so we should have light outside till 6. But no! When severe weather is on top of your head there's generally not so much illumination. So much for getting through that snap bang article about Kava, the drink from Fiji.

So to sum up for today's minute, these are tough times. I'm hatin' on the shrinking local media outlets, but not on the hard-workin', on-the-front-lines people who are giving it all they've got to give us as much of the same service as we had once upon a time when those same businesses had twice or three times the staff. I salute you my brothers...ex-brothers since I'm out of that biz.

And here's to you, you hard workin' individual who found time to actually read this blog. Enjoy the weekend, you deserve it!

Calibama Weather Poorcasts

Let me quote for you the weather forecast as of 7pm last night:

A strong storm system will kick off showers and thunderstorms as early as tomorrow (Thursday) morning. Some heavy rain is possible as well as strong wind gusts.

Let's look outside shall we? This morning, right now, there is sun so blinding I've had to tip my window shades. Not a cloud in the sky. WHAT THE HECK???

Back in California, no one could get the forecast right either. There's a guy named Fritz Coleman, who's been doing the tv news weather forecast for at least 30 years and even had a slogan "Fritz said it would be like this." We never went by what he said. In California, since everyone is spoiled, it's just assumed we're going to have sun, but how much HAZE are we going to have? And along with that, how much smog? Maybe it was asking too much of poor Fritz, but we could hardly go by anything he said.

Here in Alabama it's ten times worse! I know this because I was on the other end of that doppler radar. The information is so sketchy, all you get is a couple arrows and lines and an occasional triangle. Of course, you would think my local tv could get the best meteorologist they can to interpret this. No! Radio and tv stations locally, probably all over the country by this point, just rip and read (now cut and paste) whatever's on the AP weather wire, and that ain't based in my town!

Times are hard. My local media, newspaper included, is holding on by a thread. Not to mention, the old media model has been shifting for years now and is finally coming to a head: tv stations are cleaning house, radio stations ARE being run completely by ONE person, newspapers are migrating to online and downsizing to a 3rd of their size in the process. Meanwhile, the weather is better predicted by that little yellow almanac you bought at Lowe's.

That's my minute. Gotta go out and enjoy the sunny day.

Germany Travel Tips WHAT THE HECK?!?

I have been waiting for a very, very long time to go back to Germany. You see, I have relatives there on my mom's side and I have been wanting to go back with my wife of almost 5 years and my mom of, well, my entire life. Yes, she will sort of be the interpreter but she is also someone whom I think Germany is not the same without. I went back 22 years ago with a friend of mine and he and I had fun, but mom adds a different dimension. She's a tour guide and a, well, mom all in one!

Booking the flight was easy! Air fare there (now that's a rhymey sentence) is shockingly low right now. You see the adds pop up everywhere from Facebook to your gmail. Getting a passport can be a little tricky, but my wife and I took care of that a few years ago (around the time Mexico said they were needing to see passports...not that I was on a Tiajuana run).

Now today's WHAT THE HECK??? If you want to rent a car in Germany YOU CAN'T GET AN AUTOMATIC! That is, unless you double the amount you're paying for the rental. That means roughly everybody from 28 years of age to 0 can't drive over there (unless they don't want any brautwurst spending money). I have also noticed crazy rates on car rental insurance which just about everyone needs since it most often is not covered in your normal insurance plan. Oh, and air conditioning? EXTRA! This almost feels like Hawaii: everything comes with a price tag.

I'm also told ketchup in a FAST FOOD RESTAURANT will cost you extra. That's great for my diet since now I won't step foot in any of them over there, but do you see a pattern here?

Why the animosity towards us? Is this all W's fault? And by the way, what's with everyone poking fun at Geitner's delivery and blaming the market's fall on such? Do you remember the last president? At least the current administration is making corrections. Everyone's gotta complain about something. Which is what I'm doing till right NOW since my minutes over...bye!

The Dues and Don't's

So back when I got it in my head when I was 17 that I wanted to be in radio, I realized it might take a while to ever make it to where the DJ's that I heard were. I was prepared. The first words I heard out of the night DJ who couldn't wait to exploit me but at the same time give me my big break was, "You gotta pay your dues."

Today's WHAT THE HECK?...people who exploit other people in the name of "Paying Their Dues."

In today's world, the whole concept of paying dues should be thrown out the window. We don't have time for that anymore. No one should be allowed to do anything for free. We live in a world where Keynesian economics are at work, and that requires money getting in to your hands so you can pay me for a service that in turn I will pay someone else for their service and so on and so on thus spreading money through out our society.

Not only that, but telling someone to "go make my coffee" or nowadays "go buy me a Starbucks" is just ridiculous superiority "holier than thou" attitude. WHAT THE HECK!?! Radio (and other areas of the entertainment industry) overuses interns more than any other industry. Radio is filled with egomaniacs who love people being subservient to them and doing their work for them. If an investigation was ever made about this, the results would be pretty staggering. In my early days I remember going out on a chore that included stopping at a supermarket to buy a magazine that the DJ said a listener said she was on the cover of. (I guess that wasn't so bad because he gave me money for the magazine and I was trustworthy enough to give him back the correct change.)

Yes, success takes hard work and dedication. But what lacks in this world (and particularly in my last place of employment) is recognition for hard work and dedication. My last year in radio had me working for free and for long hours EXACTLY THE SAME as when I started radio 22 years ago. Two things change in 22 years, your waste size and your patience...and hopefully your income.

Bottom line (and I hate blogs that end with "bottom line" some where in the final paragraph) is where ever you work, do NOT give in to that "paying your dues" crap. Work hard the hours you do work (no Twitter, no Facebook), but Saturdays and holidays (unless you get another day in the week off for compensation) are YOUR DAYS and YOUR REWARDS for giving it your all during normal business hours. Yes, go above and beyond, but remember that you will NOT be rewarded and NO ONE WILL RECOGNIZE IT. That's just the cold, hard facts of today's world and that's my minute.

Life Here in the South

Growing up in California, you get used to constants like beaches, traffic, and smog. Here in the South, the constants shift to churches, waves from cars, and occasionally a colossal WHAT THE HECK?

I'm not sure if I specified in my last blog that I moved here to Alabama to start and run a country station. Yes, a guy from California running a country station...wouldn't you want a guy from Nashville or at least from some part of Texas? A very cool guy in the company, however, believed in me so my wife and I set out for Huntsville. We were excited about the change and the opportunities.

When we got here we quickly acclimated to the little differences. Where we lived in California was sometimes known as "Bakersfield by the Sea', so we weren't total city slickers. The complete absence of Trader Joe's did upset us, but then at the end of last year Nashville got one which is only an hour and a half hour drive.

The area of California we were from had it's trees, but nothing like the scale and magnitude here. Plus the cool rivers and lakes. It was upon trying to take a picture like the one above that I came upon my latest WHAT THE HECK?

Someone broke into my car. On my Facebook page a friend wrote, well, this wouldn't happen in Amish country! They said, infact, you wouldn't even have a car! Though I know I'm not in Amish country, I did think with the abundance of religious fervor and good Christian attitude every where that we wouldn't have some one break into a car in a busy parking lot. But that's not the case in Huntsville, it's a city like any where else...though with no graphitti (as compared to where we were in CA where it was every where!)

So keep an eye on your stuff, now more than ever. These are desperate times. The desperate station I worked for let me go as it desperately tried to hold on to the bottom line. The guy breaking into my car was desperate though all he got was an mp3 player that only worked out of the left ear. Keep waving from your car, but don't forget there are also people that don't wave that have no faith in anything we call humanity. Despite some little bumps, I still got faith.

That was a little more than a minute.

My First Entry for Mike's One Minute What the Heck

Hello, and welcome to my first blog. I have wanted to do this for soooo long, especially after the events of December 15th.

That was a Monday if you recall. Not the best day of my life. I was driving into work, driving a large over sized truck that's only purpose was to promote a radio station. Driving the roads around the Tennessee Valley is not the easiest task in such a beast, but I learned to manage it over the year that I worked for the company that in mere minutes would let me go. I should have known something was up the way two coworkers who were privy to the upcoming event scurried like cockroaches when the kitchen door opens.

I don't want to dwell on this turn of events, suffice to say that this replayed over and over again. Yes, across the US where the unemployment rate rose from 6 to 8 to 10 percent, but also at this company where soon many more employees were asked to leave. This is the state of radio. You may not listen every day to your "favorite station". You may now find yourself relying more on your ipod since it gives you much more variety than anything over the airwaves. You may have discovered podcasts, much like I did, where normal people talk about normal things--infinitely more interesting than anything heard on the dial!

My first WHAT THE HECK? WHAT THE HECK radio? You were a fantastic artistic medium for so many years. I guess I was in denial about how you really were. Not long ago you began the change of life and became the utterly desperate creature we see today. Desperate because you are clinging to life. No one cares about you. The digital age has passed your staticky carcass by! There is no need for your boring, trite, and uninteresting promotions any more. Good bye!

Thanks for reading my first blog. Other observations are on the way as well as a cartoon character I recently resurrected named "Gnat-Man"; you'll see him in future "effizodes".

Enjoy the weekend!