WA2K Radio is now on the air

I'll tell you one thing: he needs a bacon double cheeseburger and a beer
-- stat!

Good morning, listeners.

We appreciate Dr. Laura Lola's response to another Laura, and feel that she gave sound advice to the family.

The computer equipment in our FM section is malfunctioning, so I was a bit timid about checking out the link because of the spam that I received this morning from our write in listeners, one which is just a small envelope with nothing on it or in it.

C.I., We love you just the way you are. As a matter of fact, Johnny Elvis does have a square jaw.

George, I think we had better ask our resident chefs about that fast food.

In honor of our spammers, we feel obligated to bring you this bit of musical news: Please scroll down as I had to delete the commercials and things don't exactly come free here:

















Python Spamalot on Broadway!


p2pnet.net News:- Under the If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em banner, Hormel Foods Corp is apparently going to give a gold can of SPAM to the first 100 people to buy tickets to the musical extravaganza Spamalot, based on the Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie.

The show is slated to run in Chicago from December 21 to January 23, and preview in February on Broadway in February next year, says the site.

Monty Python's Spamalot, "features a chorus line of legless knights, men in tights (with legs), killer rabbits and sexy dancing divas creating some of the most unforgettable musical production numbers you will ever see in the theatre on this evening!" - says Broadway in Chicago.

That makes a change from 1996 when Hormel sent its legal eagles after Muppet Treasure Island. Among the featured performers was Spa'am, and Hormel wanted it expunged.

It failed.


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

Good Morning!

Before I purchase my ticket to Spamalot, I would like to extend Happy Birthday wishes to all the remarkable personalities born this 8th day of December:

1542 Mary, Queen of Scots (Linlithgow, Scotland; died 1587)
1765 Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin (Westham, MA; died 1825)
1865 Jean Sibelius, composer (Finland; died 1957)
1886 Diego Rivera, muralist/painter (Guanajuato, Mexico; died 1957)
1894 James Thurber, humorist (Columbus, OH; died 1961)
1930 Maximilian Schell, actor (Vienna, Austria)
1933 Flip Wilson, comedian (Jersey City, NJ; died 1998)
1937 James MacArthur, actor (Los Angeles, CA)
1939 James Galway, flautist (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
1943 Jim Morrison, singer/songwriter (Melbourne, FL; died 1971)
1949 Mary Gordon, writer (Long Island, NY)
1953 Kim Basinger, actress (Athens, GA)
1964 Teri Hatcher, actress (Sunnyvale, CA)
1966 Sinead O'Connor, singer/songwriter (Dublin, Ireland)

1925 Sammy Davis Jr., singer/actor (New York, .Y., died 1990)


Always articulate, Sammy never attended school of any kind; performing since the age of five, he was largely self-taught.

He lost his left eye in a car crash when he was his way to record the theme song for the Tony Curtis film, Six Bridges to Cross (1955). He wore an eyepatch for sometime after that, but Humphrey Bogart ultimately convinced him to unmask when he told him that he didn't want to be known as the kid with the eyepatch.

All about Spam:




http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/python/Scripts/TheSpamSketch

Thanks, Raggedy, for your report on celebs here at WA2K radio. I still remember Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison. Glad he's still around.

Sammy Davis was a reject from the Rat Pack. His version of "What Kind of Fool am I", was fantastic.

Lola, I have always adored Monty Python. What a clever and funny show.

Thanks for the skit material. Hormel has learned a few things about advertising and sales.

Back later with more music from WA2K radio.

for our first tune this morning, a little song by L Cohen:
It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Non-fiction book review: The Nine Nations of North America
One of my favorite books from 1980-81. We might benefit if we used this book's concept for understanding the problems of the Middle East and the artifical countries created mostly by the British to protect it's oil interests after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. ---BBB

The Nine Nations of North America
by Joel Garreau

Out of print, but available via:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-titleid=30000&ve-field=none/qid=/002-2455530-2728033

SOME REVIEWS:

"Forget what you learned in any geography class you ever had. Forget what tourist brochures tell you about 'their' part of the nation. And once you've forgotten that, read this book and learn what really constitutes North America both politically and sociologically. Joel Garreau has produced a masterwork that should be required reading for every citizen. Even if you think you know your part of the country, Mr. Garreau will provide an update to your knowledge that takes your from " knowing " to " understanding ". And without any apparent prejudice. Whether he is relating cities to areas or peoples to states, he gets it right and in an amazingly readable fashion. Is your company considering transferring you to Seattle? Read about Ecotopia. Do you fear that new position in Kansas City? Peruse the section on the " Breadbasket " and re-think the issue. Mr. Garreau had the presence of mind to realize that our country was a larger entity than 50 states and some off-shore islands. " The Nine Nations of North America " draws everything together and, for once, North America is at peace with itself. And, hopefully, its neighbors. On a personal note, I've given perhaps 600 copies of this book since it was published in 1980. Don't let that date deter you: It's as relevant and accurate now as then. Mr. Garreau loves North America and so will you. Just put yourself in his most competent hands and re-discover the greatness of our part of the planet."
--------------------------------

"This book is a beautiful 'tour-de-force' of the socio-cultural patchwork we call North America. His insights are right on target and sometimes prescient (remember, he wrote this in 1980.) Helpful for planning vacations, moves or pilgrimmages. A must for thoughtful people everywhere."
----------------------------------

"Twenty years ago I read Raymond Gastil's 'Cultural Regions of the United States' and found it very interesting, so when I spotted the title of Garreau's book I bought it immediately, thinking that North America was an apter field for such researches than just the USA. No doubt, Garreau has some very interesting ideas. His choices for designating the nine nations are sound and appeal to the imagination as well. I was especially impressed with some of the conclusions he reached, back in the late '70s, (the book came out in 1981, so all the research was done prior to that). His view of south Florida and its connection to the Caribbean and South America proved extremely prescient given the events of 2000. The "MexAmerican" future of much of the Southwest is coming to pass. His predictions about the future of hi-tech in New England and environmental concerns in 'Ecotopia' (northwest Pacific coast) also impress the reader of two decades on. But overall, I felt that THE NINE NATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA fell through the cracks. Garreau really never defines what he means by a 'nation'. Is it different from a 'cultural region'? What are the defining characteristics of other world nations that may resemble one or more of the North American 'nations'? Does the author find any similarities? Are economic realities often the basis of nations? [Looking at Africa I would say no.] Secondly, his interviews and researches are extraordinarily diffuse, amounting sometimes to an unbelievably scattershot approach, hoping to hit something valuable. Time and time again, I found myself wondering, 'What does this have to do with defining a nation?' A total amateur myself, who has never attempted any work of the sort, I still felt that I could have rounded up more evidence in support of my argument than Garreau did. The reader often loses sight of any argument at all. The author's style is eminently readable, pleasant, and entertaining. He obviously has a great sense of humor. Whether that is enough to carry a reader through 390 pages is up to you.

He discusses 9 different regions of America, with a map showing the boundaries. He calls them New England, The Foundry, Dixie, The Islands (of Caribbean/Florida), MexAmerica, Breadbasket (midwest), Ecotopia (west coast), Empty Quarter, and Quebec. He shows how each has its own distinctive culture and economic climate. Published in 1981, but still rather a good read.

As a look at the arbitrary and somewhat meaningless nature of national and state/province borders; every continent ought to be looked at in this way! If you can only live and explore one part of it, 'The Nine Nations of North America' has plenty to say about the rest.

Non-fiction book review:Edge City: Life on the New Frontier
Another book I learned a lot from in 1991. It's amazing how Joel Garreau's insights and predictions tend to come true. ---BBB

Edge City: Life on the New Frontier
by Joel Garreau (1991)

SOME REVIEWS

"A thought-provoking account of the new urban centers that are developing on the edges of major metropolitan areas in the U.S.
First there was downtown. Then there were suburbs. Then there were malls. Then Americans launched the most sweeping change in 100 years in how they live, work, and play. The Edge City."
-------------------------------------

"Readable... a fascinating transcontinental tour... Mr. Garreau has the ability to categorize and clarify trends before they are apparent to the rest of us. His instincts are sharp, and his arguments are often persuasive...Edge City... is a provocative introduction to demographic and business patterns that are likely to becom more important as the twenty-first century edges nearer." -- New York Times Book Review.
------------------------------

"After the suburbanization of America in the 50's, when people followed new highways out to new one-family homes, came the malling of America in the 60's and 70's and then, in the 80's, the high- rise office buildings that brought the jobs suburb-ward and added critical mass to dozens of 'urban' clumps now bigger than many of the major old cities they surround. Today more people commute to work along the edge than into the old downtowns. Garreau (The Nine Nations of North America, 1981) devotes separate chapters to different 'Edge City' regions, using them as springboards to tackle several issues. Among these are the restriction of civil liberties where the village center, as in New Jersey's Bridgewater township, is a privately owned mall; the enforced conformity in residential communities like those near Phoenix that are run by a corporation rather than a municipal government; the complications of race and class around Atlanta; the conflicts between developers' ideas of highest and best use and preservationists' devotion to sacred sites, as in the newest battle at Bull Run in Virginia. In general, Garreau approves the Edge City trend, which he justifies with a simplistic market-capitalist assumption that if that's where people are, then that's what people want. He pretty much ignores, to name just two major counterarguments, the effects of federal spending policies that favor highways over inner cities, and the wants of the people left behind or deliberately excluded from the Edge facilities. Even on issues he does consider, such as quality of life and culture on the Edge or developers' motives for building, he avoids much hard evidence and harder questions. Still, a provocative work that brings to popular attention a major restructuring that is, as Garreau says, all around us but largely ignored by professional architects and planners. "
-------------------------------------

"Garreau's rather indifferently written tome, originally produced as a series of Washington Post articles, describes the phenomenon of Edge Cities that have sprung up in various areas of the nation, usually in close proximity to intersecting highways and urban areas. These entities are found in former rural or residential areas and contain office and retail space, a population that increases at 9 a.m. on working days, and a local perception of the Edge City as the final destination for mixed-use shopping, jobs, and entertainment. Garreau describes how developers, planners, politicians, and others have combined in such areas as Northern and Central New Jersey, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta, Phoenix, Southern California, and the San Francisco Bay region to erect these new entities. He also discusses such interesting trends as the newly emergent black upper middle class in the Atlanta environs and the neo-Civil War battle to preserve the Manassas battlefield site in Virginia from developers."

dys, your song made me shiver. I can still remember that lovely Chinese girl putting a flower in the barrel of a soldier's rifle.

BBB, I am going to have to learn speed reading in order to cover all of your excellent book reviews. .

I was intrigued by the conception of the U.S. as a growing regional reinvention.

We at WA2K radio need to read and to listen.

Good ole Cohen.........now play the one about Frist We Take Manhattan, it fits right in......

Reading Democrary is Coming makes me feel like I'm at a funeral. We all had hopes.....when will the back lash begin? How many hurt before it starts?

and for Sammy:

WHAT KIND OF FOOL AM I?
Sammy Davis, Jr.

What kind of fool am I
Who never fell in love
It seems that I'm the only one
that I have been thinking of

What kind of man is this?
An empty shell-
A lonely cell in which
an empty heart must dwell

What kind of lips are these
That lied with every kiss
That whispered empty words of love
that left me alone like this

Why can't I fall in love
Like any other man
And maybe then I'll know what kind of fool I am.

What kind of clown am I?
What do I know of life?
Why can't I cast away the mask of play
and live my life?

Why can't I fall in love
Till I don't give a damn
And maybe then I'll know what kind of fool I am

-the man would come from his little hiding place. No one knew it but he never went home. He slept at the station. He was kinda the jantior/security guard. he liked it like that. H smiled and looked about. It was another great day here and he was off to do his daily chores. His windex in one hand, paper towel in the other. He went about making usre that all the glass and chrome was in pristine viewing order... A fine it would be... he could feel it in the air. -

Seed, to me, the ability to make things sparkle is what poetry and prose is all about.

Ladies and gentlemen in radio land, please be apprised of the fact that doing a good job at what we do is the most blessed talent of all.

-as he cleans he starts to whistle a melody and softly breaks into song-

Thrid Eye Blind
"Semi-Charmed Life"


I'm packed and I'm holding
I'm smiling, she's living, she's golden
And she lives for me
She says she lives for me
Ovation
She's got her own motivation
She comes round and she goes down on me
And I make her smile
It's like a drug for you
Do ever what you want to do
Coming over you
Keep on smiling, what we go through
One stop to the rhythm that divides you
And I speak to you like the chorus to the verse
Chop another line like a coda with a curse
And I come on like a freak show takes the stage
We give them the games we play, she said
I want something else
To get me through this
Semi-charmed kind of life
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye
The sky it was gold, it was rose
I was taking sips of it through my nose
And I wish I could get back there
Some place back there
Smiling in the pictures you would take
Doing crystal myth
Will lift you up until you break
It won't stop
I won't come down, I keep stock
With a tick-tock rhythm and a bump for the drop
And then I bumped up
I took the hit I was given
Then I bumped again
And then I bumped again
How do I get back there to
The place where I fell asleep inside you?
How do I get myself back to
The place where you said
I want something else
To get me through this
Semi-charmed kind of life
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye
I believe in the sand beneath my toes
The beach gives a feeling
An earthy feeling
I believe in the faith that grows
And the four right chords can make me cry
When I'm with you I feel like I could die
And that would be all right
All right
When the plane came in
She said she was crashing
The velvet it rips
In the city we tripped
On the urge to feel alive
But now I'm struggling to survive
The days you were wearing
That velvet dress
You're the priestess, I must confess
Those little red panties
They pass the test
Slide up around the belly
Face down on the mattress
One
Now you hold me
And we're broken
Still its all that I want to do
Feel myself with a head made of the ground
I'm scared but I'm not coming down
And I won't run for my life
She's got her jaws just locked now in smile
But nothing is all right
All right
I want something else
To get me through this
Semi charmed kind of life
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye

WOW!

Semi-Charmed must be part cobra, Seed.

A now, brief message from our sponsors...

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<A class or primary school students singing lustily & out of key>:
We're happy little Vegemites, as bright as bright can be.
We all enjoy our vegemite for breakfast, lunch & tea.
Because we LOVE ot Vegemite!
We all ADORE our Vegemite!
It puts a rose in every cheek!

http://www.vegemite.com.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.welcome

Thank goodness, Msolga. A new sponsor. and an absolutely delightful jingle. You might even get our American listeners to try Vegemite.

To all our WA2K listeners and staff:

The station owner has been having some trouble with the radio computers. They are quite slow, and appear to be stubborn in connecting. Our janitor, singer,writer, is also our fix it man, so I do hope he'll do something to polish up the equipment.

Still trying to find the bit of trivia on the connection between the blue bird and the state of happiness.

<hmmm, I was about to investigate further, and then saw it is purveyed by Kraft, cough>

Does it make a nice glue, then?

Absolutely, osso!
Vegemite is useful for many things, as well as for eating! Great if you're caught short & need some axle grease, for example. :wink:

Medical study.
************
Women's Ass Size Study
>There is a new study out about women and how they feel about their asses! I thought the results were pretty interesting:
>85% of women think their ass is too fat...
>10% of women think their ass is too skinny...
>The other 5% say that they don't care, they love him, he's a good man, and they would have married him anyway.