Daves Blog

First and foremost I want to thank each and every one of you who have found your way to my BLOG.  I also want to thank those of you who have chosen to write meaningful comments.  I want you to know that I read every comment you leave.  I do not, however, post any of them.  It’s nothing personal.  Really, it’s not.  I don’t post comments mostly it’s because I’m too lazy to do a proper job of it.  But the other big issue is that most of the comments I get are SPAM.  I get everything from ED & name-brand watch ads to land deals & ways to trick search engines.  There’s just no way I will post SPAM comments.  But I will turn those e-mail addresses into SPAM-bait.

Over the weekend I added a page to my site where I will post every e-mail address left with a SPAM comment.  Over time, various address-harvesting bots on the internet will find them and pass them along to the lists used by spammers.  Those addresses will then be overwhelmed with SPAM.

Of course that says maybe.  What is more likely to happen is that I will have to begin blocking IP addresses.  When someone leaves a comment I get all sorts of information, including the IP address it was sent from.  So I could go to the trouble of blocking repeat spammers but that’s probably much more trouble than it’s worth.  So for now I’ll just add your little address to my ever-growing SPAM-bait page.

Have a nice day.

~Dave

I took the kids to see some model rockets launch a month ago and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  So I bought a few kits and we built rockets and learned how they work.  Yesterday was the August launch day for the rocket club we visited so we loaded-up the Mommy Van and drove to a forest preserve in Glen Ellyn for a sunny afternoon of ballistics.

Mike’s rocket was the ready-to-fly Estes Riptide.  All it needed was a motor and it good to go.
Suzie’s model needed assembly.  It was an Estes Alpha kit which consists of a cardboard tube, a plastic nose cone, and 3 fins made of balsa.  We painted it fluorescent pink with black accents.  Everyone who saw it thought it looked very cool.
Mine was an Estes Big Bertha that I painted white with black accents.
 
We launched Mike’s first and it performed flawlessly!  The wind was coming in from the west so the launch rods were angled to account for the added drift.  Even with that, Riptide landed about 50 yards upwind.  Amazingly, it landed right on the path from the parking lot!

Suzie’s CrayRock (Crayola Rocket) didn’t fare so well.  It was the victim of a faulty motor.  It went up about 20 feet then flew straight into the ground.  When the parachute deployment charge fired it drove the nose cone 2 inches into the ground!  Damage was minor and was repaired with some glue and masking tape.

My rocket was up next and it flew well, although not very high.  Big Bertha needs a Big Engine.  Next time for sure!

Mike’s 2nd launch was similar to his first.  I had switched from parachute to streamers and the landing was actually closer to the launch zone.

Suzie’s 2nd launch was picture-perfect and recovery was remarkably easy – just the way it’s supposed to work!

Mike’s 3rd launch was another beauty but instead of flying into the wind it went straight up.  The winds carried it about three-quarters of a mile down range, well into the swamp.  I went looking for it but I don’t think we’ll ever see it again.

Suzie’s 3rd launch fell victim to another bad motor.  This time CrayRock barely got off the pad when it dove into the crowd.  When the ‘chute charge went off it made a rip in the body that is not repairable.  One of the fins also broke off in the melee.  CrayRock Mk 2 will fly next month!

Despite our losses a good time was had by all.  And the Quest Model Rockets will be hearing from me.

~Dave

I decided to get rid of an old sidebar/cabinet the other day.  It belonged to a long-deceased relative and has already made the rounds within the family.  But I did not want this piece tossed into the back of a garbage truck.  It was a beautiful item, polished ebony finish with reliefs of Japanese themes.  The interior had some damage to its laminate but this was a solid piece of furniture.

So I place an ad on Craig’s List in both the Free and Furniture sections.  The responses came fast & furious!  Within 5 minutes I had 3 messages asking if it was still available.  One person e-mailed 4 times asking if it was available, what time could she pick it up, what is your phone number.  Another gave me a sob-story about her brother’s suicide attempt and wanted to know if she could give me a deposit to hold it until Tuesday evening, blah, blah, blah…

While dealing with all these messages I saw a car pull up and watched as two people loaded the cabinet into the trunk.  Success!

I went back to CL and edited my posts to state the item had been picked up.  I still got two more e-mails: One asking if it was still available(!) and the other from Sob-Story.  I then realized the proper thing to do is delete the posts so I did and I’ve received no additional e-mails since.

Here, for your enjoyment, are the e-mails I received and the responses I sent.  These are NOT edited – they are as received & sent!

Desiree 7:02pm             Hey I would like to now if I can go pick up  Japanese Theme Side Bar?
Me        7:35pm             It is on the curb – you are the 1st reply – bring a truck and some help – I will not help load it.

Elvis     7:07pm             Hello, is of still there ?
Me        7:35pm             It is on the curb – you are the 2nd reply – bring a truck and some help – I will not help load it.

Shelia   7:09pm             I would love it. I can be reached by email at: *******@att.net or by phone at ***-***-****
Me        7:36pm             It is on the curb – you are the 3rd reply – bring a truck and some help – I will not help load it.

Desiree 7:55pm             O ok. Just tell me what time we can go pick it up?
Me        7:57pm             It is on the curb now – it will be there until someone takes it or until trash pickup Tue morning

Desiree 8:01pm             Can I go pick it up right now?
Me        8:03pm yes

Desiree 8:08pm             Ok. Can I have a number of where I can call you to let you know of when I get there plz.
Me        8:09pm             It is on the curb – I do not plan to be home.  Come and get it if you want it – 1st come – 1st served.

Pokella 8:14pm             “ΘI0T„�E€8€�€Δ
Me:       8:15pm             ???

Shelia   8:22pm           Thanks for your quick reply. I gues I didn’t read the ad as well as I should have. I have had a lot going on. I just back in the house from visiting my brother who tried to commit suicide Monday and today I was busy at the hospital because they are talking about moving him to a state hospital for futher evaluation and help. I wish you had still had the bar in the house beacuse maybe I could pay you a holding fee till Tuesday when I could get the truck and help to get it. But with my brother and all I don’t have time till Tues.
I also lost my job in April 2010 and am being forced to moved by the end of Aug 2010. Oh well.. thank for answering so quickly with your email. You wouldn’t believe how many people don’t even bother answering one way or another.
I guess I just lose out once again but at least I got to see your beautiful Japanese bar and to see something that beautiful lifts one’s spirits at least for a second or two.
Thank you.
Sheila ***-***-****
Me                    8:24pm     It is gone – picked up 5 mins ago.

Shelia               8:30pm    Thanks for the reply. As I said…Once again…lost out. Whether it be CL or life.. I’m tired of trying. Why bother. The result is always the same.
I don’t expect you to respond to this reply. I merely wanted to vent or reply or whatever.
Thank you and kind regards.
Sheila

Pokella             8:45pm     ”ΘI0T„�E€8€�€Δ
Me                    No Reply

(received after the post was edited to add “TAKEN!”)
Eva                   8:52           can u tell me where its at 773*******
Me                    9:03           No idea – it has been taken.

So the lessons I’ve learned:
People will take things that are free
People are idiots

More about idiots to follow.

~Dave

The 4th of July holiday is always more fun when it falls on a weekend.  This year the 4th was a Sunday so that meant 3-day weekend for yours truly.  But since things rarely go as planned, this one turned into a disaster.

Despite my previous rants, we decided to go with Postini for mail filtering.  I made the appropriate MX record change Friday afternoon and planned to check-in at various points over the weekend.  My 1st attempt was Friday evening around 6:30.  Within 2 minutes of being connected my link failed.  This was VERY annoying, but not the end of the world.  I had a patch from HP so I drove back to the office, applied the patch, and promptly lost both network cards in the server.  A 3-hour call to support ensued at the end of which I still had no network connectivity.  The tech said she would have a replacement motherboard sent but that would not happen until Tuesday because of the holiday.

So I decided to buy a pair of PCI-express network cards and install them Saturday morning.  I was the 1st one in the CompUSA store at 9am and found exactly what I needed.  As I pulled into the office parking lot at 9:45 I was greeted by a ComEd truck.  The driver told me the power was out and that he needed me to open the back gate.  When we got out to the pole we found a dead bird at the base.  We assumed that to be the cause of the outage so Dexter (his real name) replaced the fuse and closed the circuit.  Still no power so the problem must be further on up the line.  And I’m sure Dex would have found it, too, if not for a line down in the street a couple of towns over that required his immediate attention.  So I gave him my cell number and asked him to let me know when he would need me back.  I locked-up and took my server home to work on it to the extent that I could.

I called the ComEd service line later on but I couldn’t get any sort of acknowledgement so I decided to return the server, with the two new NIC’s.  The lights were still out but a flashlight helped me make the connections.  I once again locked-up and drove home.  I received a call around 4pm from another ComEd repairman but he didn’t have any update for me.  The automated system said repairs should be completed by 5pm but I wasn’t about to hold my breath.  When I called again at 5pm the system said repairs should be complete by 10pm.  Whatever.

Sunday morning, bright and early, I called ComEd again and this time they had no reported outages for the address in question.  So I drove in yet again and was pleasantly surprised to see the light on over the front door!  I entered the building and happily turned-off the alarm.  I was so thrilled I could finally put my server issue to bed and maybe salvage some part of my holiday weekend.  When my SBS server came up I checked its network settings and made sure everything was connected.  I was able to access it from my desktop and the whole thing looked OK until I tried to get on the internet.  My SBS box handles all the internet traffic so I immediately thought one of the new NIC’s was messed-up.  I have another server with a similar configuration and it couldn’t access the ‘net either.  That meant a call to AT&T.

If there is a Hell, it is filled with people trying to reach Tech Support at AT&T.  We spent a good two hours on the phone, trying to determine the exact point of failure.  The initial call was not successful.  It wasn’t until I returned to the office an hour later that we were able to isolate the problem: the WIC module in the router had failed.  Support created a request to have a replacement sent and I made of point of asking if it would be shipped on Monday. 

AT&T’s Tier 1 & Tier 2 was out-sourced to Malaysia (or someplace like it) a long time ago and they don’t know from US holidays.  I was assured that it would, in fact, ship on Monday for a Tuesday delivery.  I passed that info along to the boss and went about the business of enjoying what was left of my weekend.

Late in the afternoon of the 4th we looked online for fireworks displays in our neck of the woods.  We decided to make the trip out to Beecher, IL for their 10pm show.  As we drove into town we could see the streets lined with people and their lawn chairs, blankets, etc.  Beecher hosts a 4th of July Festival that reminded me a lot of the Carnival that Dolton used to hold every year (before the gangs and the Shaws took over).  We found the corner of a side street next to an open parkway and plopped-down in the middle of a dozen-or-so other families.  The fireworks show was perfect!  We were far enough away that the explosions weren’t deafening, while still close enough for a good, unobstructed view.  I think we’ll go back to Beecher next year on the 4th.  Only we’ll get there earlier in the evening so we can enjoy their Festival.

The ride home was wonderful: driving along the expressway at 65mph with the top down on a warm, summer night is almost as good as having the boat out on the lake.  We stopped at a McDonald’s and ate under the stars.  And a good time was had by all.

As previously mentioned, the 4th was on a Sunday this year.  For most towns this works out pretty well.  For the village of South Holland, this is nothing short of a crisis.  There is still a strong Dutch/Hollander influence at work in South Holland so there was no celebration on the 4th.  Instead, they held everything on Monday, the 5th.  And that included their fireworks display.  So we got to enjoy 2 shows over the weekend – nothing wrong with that!  In fact, the South Holland show was quite spectacular!  We found a small rise in the terrain near the firing line and parked our oversized blanket and non-matching lawn chairs.  The show lasted almost 30 minutes and the finale was amazing!  Great job South Holland!

Tuesday morning did not go so well.  My first task was to verify if AT&T had shipped the part.  They hadn’t.  I then had to break the news to the boss, who was not happy.  My next job was to start working the phone to find anyone with a compatible WIC or router I could get my hands on.  I struck pay-dirt with a friend-of-a-friend at a telecom company in Schaumburg.  I was able to borrow an older router, complete with T1 WIC, and get it in place by 1:30pm.  We were still experiencing some flaky, inconsistent internet issues but we were once again able to send and receive e-mail.  Finally, I could take a deep breath, look around, and assess the damage.

Wednesday came and went in a blur.  The replacement WIC arrived at 10am but I did not install it until late in the afternoon.  It worked as expected so I was able to focus on the internet problems.  But by this time it was too late in the day to deal with and since I had a new motherboard on the way from HP I didn’t want to create any new problems.

Thursday also slipped by in a flurry of phone calls to various contacts and vendors, looking for a backup for our troubled T1.  The motherboard arrived for the server but that had to wait until after hours.  Sometime around 5:30pm I shut down the server and performed the motherboard swap.  Windows booted after a couple of false-starts but it refused to become a part of the network.  I had left the RealTek NIC’s installed so I could transition smoothly back to the built-in NIC’s.  That didn’t work so well.  I ended-up having to disable the built-in NIC’s.  After that, the server booted with full network access.  Our e-mail is moving in and out like nobody’s business and the internet has never worked better.  I just wish I knew why.

~Dave

I’m the IT Admin for a small manufacturing company.  We have an Exchange server for our e-mail.  In the year I’ve been here we have used Trend Micro’s anti-spam and AV app.  It’s not a bad product but I’m always looking for better/faster/cheaper.  So I’ve been researching anti-spam systems.  They seem to come in three flavors: On Site App; On Site Appliance; Hosted Solution. 
Trend Micro is in the 1^st category – it’s an app that is installed on the Exchange server. 
The 2^nd category covers products made by Barracuda and others.  It’s a box that sits in your equipment rack – all your inbound and outbound mail pass through it. 
The 3^rd option is a service that filters your mail before it gets to your server.  You tell your mail record to point to the service and they do the scrubbing before passing your mail to your server. 

I’m leaning toward Door #3 as having the best reliability and lowest overhead.  One of the highest-rated contenders is Postini.  Postini was one of the pioneers of this technology and became a leader early on.  A while back they were purchased by Google, and that should have been a good thing.  Sadly, that seems not to be the case.  I want to use and like Postini, I really do.  So I went to postini.com and filled-out the online form to have a sales rep contact me.  And then I waited.  A couple of days later, when I still hadn’t heard from them, I went to the web site again and filled-out the form and waited.  I repeated this process every day last week.  I then went searching for a phone number.  I found this one: 866-767-8461 and blew in a call.  I got voicemail.  There’s a big surprise.  I have now used Postini’s online request form 6 times and have left 5 voice mails for them.  And still no one has contacted me.  Is this really the state of business service in this country?  More searching, ironically, using Google.  I found a non-toll-free number: 650-253-0000 and after wading through their phone tree I finally pressed 0 and eventually got a live person.  I told him I needed to reach Postini Sales.  He put me on hold for a moment but when he came back on he announced that he did not have a phone number for Postini.  Really?  The world’s largest search engine doesn’t have a phone number for Postini?!  Un-freaking-believable!  I believe we have a winner in the 2010 Irony Awards!  Quick: someone call Alanis Morissette!

~Dave

My 9yo daughter has been involved in Girls On The Run, a national organization that promotes healthy kids through physical activities, specifically, running.  She joined-up back in February with the goal of running in the group’ss 5k event that was held last Saturday.  I was all for it until I learned I had to get up at 5am on a Saturday to witness the event.

We hauled-out just after 5 so we could be at the school by 6:15 so the bus could leave at 6:30.  We got there on time but the bus didn’t.  In fact, it was a good 30 minutes late.  And even when everyone was onboard we still had to wait for someone who was really late.  That sort of thing irks me.  All the other parents were able to get their little darlings to the school on time – we should have left the stragglers.  I’m OK with waiting a few minutes but 45?  Some people need to learn the hard lessons in life.  Like what happens when you’re not where you’re supposed to be on time. 

Eventually, the bus pulled out and deposited us in the parking lot at Montrose Harbor, in the rain.  I knew this wasn’t going to go well when I realized we got off the bus about a mile from where the organizers had things setup.  And it rained almost the entire time we were there.

In very short order my 7yo son got restless so I took him for a walk.  In the rain.  We looked at boats in their slips in the harbor.  In the rain.  We watched a group of men move their sailboat from a fenced area into the water.  In the rain.  We watched a helicopter remove air conditioning units from the roof of a building.  In the rain.  Then we walked over to the beach.  In the rain.  Eventually we walked over to the finish line and watched as the 9yo daughter finished.  In the rain.

Shortly thereafter we all piled into the bus and made our way back to the school parking lot.  It stopped raining the moment we got on the road.  Of course that only last for a few hours.  Then the real storms rolled in.  But that’s a different story.

~Dave

This weeks Friday Feature on WXRT is Muddy Waters and The Cure.
Once again, they have managed to pair two artists that could easily stand on their own and I’m beginning to take it personally.

Muddy Waters, aka McKinley Morganfield, is the father and architect of the Chicago Electric Blues sound.  His body of work could easily consume an entire day’s worth of musical programming.  XRT has a long tradition of paying slightly more than lip-service to The Blues.  They are a sponsor of the Chicago Blues Fest; they feature a 1-hour Blues show on Monday nights called Blues Breakers; and they’ve interviewed every major Blues act over the last 30 years.

The Cure is still the idol of Goth-loving teens everywhere.  Robert Smith and his group have created some great, interesting music and even inspired an homage from South Park.  I count their albums among my favorites, especially “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” and their compilation “All Mixed-Up”.  They, too, have enough work out there to support a Friday Feature of their own.

To borrow a line from the late, great John Belushi:

But no-o-o-o-o-o-o-o…

Once again we’ll be limited to hearing the same few songs WXRT plays on any other day of the week.  We’ll be “treated” to all the songs we always hear whenever the computer allows the DJ to play anything from either of these artists.  Guys: What’s the point?

So I am once again calling on the Powers That Be at WXRT and CBS to either kill the Friday Feature outright or re-make it into something worth hearing.  Norm?  Are you listening?

~Dave

We went to see the Cubs play Monday night.  It was the 1^st time in several years that I’ve been in Wrigley Field.  I had a choice of dates and I probably should have picked a game in June, after the last frost on The North Side.

It rained all day in the south suburbs and we were concerned the game might be canceled, like the Sox game in Detroit.  But as we rode the Metra Electric line into the city we noticed that it had not been raining north of 55^th Street, give or take.  So things were looking up for the evening’s ball game.

When we stepped out of Millennium Station on Randolph, the air was noticeably warmer; very windy, but much warmer.  We proceeded to the Red Line on State Street and held on for dear life as the CTA L Train rocked and rolled its way to the Addison Street Station.  It’s a short, 1-block walk to the ballpark and after being assaulted by a dozen vendors begging us to fill-out their forms to win the prize, we made our way up to our seats.  We were in the section called Upper Deck Reserved, which gives a damn-fine view of the playing field.

If you’ve never been to Wrigley Filed, excuse this small commercial break for the Chicago National League Team.  Wrigley is a beautiful, old ball park that, if given the chance, you really should visit.  Pick a date in June or July.  The ivy is this other-worldly shade of green and Cubbie Blue is unlike any other blue you’ve ever seen.  And even though the Cubs are perennial losers, it’s still a great way to spend 3 hours of your life.

And now back to our BLOG, already in progress…

Game time was 7:05 and we found our seats around 6:30.  Once settled-in, I headed for the nearest restroom and concession stand.  There’s a uniquely-male aspect to stadium restrooms: the trough.  Guys stand shoulder-to-shoulder and do their business.  It’s efficient.  The problem with guys is that, for the most part, we don’t really care where we do said business, which is why I wish I had brought my camera with my.  The 1^st thing I saw when I entered this particular men’s room was a ½-circle trough.  All the other troughs were straight.  It was then that I noticed the bright-green sign: “Sink”.  One can only wonder how long that sink existed without such a sign.

Moving on…
There were 3 of us so I bought 2 beers, 2 bags of peanuts, and a large Pepsi.  The total was $26.  I know I shouldn’t sound like such a suburbanite but that seems a bit steep.  The beers, your choice of Old Style or Old Style Lite, were $6.75 each.  Can’t you buy a whole keg of that stuff for about $10?  Reminds me of an old Australian joke: Why is American beer like making love in a canoe? Because it’s fucking close to water!

I got all the way back to the seats and hardly spilled anything!  The cup carriers at Wrigley leave a LOT to be desired.  So we settled-in, wrapped the blankets around us, and proceeded to watch a mediocre ball game.  The wind was initially blowing straight-in from the north, right over the left field wall, not to mention directly in our faces.  Later, the winds shifted NE, off the lake, and colder.  The game was anything but an offensive battle.  The Cubs scored 1^st but Colorado tied it.  The Cubs then went up 2-1 but thanks to a less-than-stellar pitching change, we watched the tying run get walked-in during the 8^th inning.  That’s when we decided to give it up for the night.  It was after 9 and it’s quite a journey getting back home.

We visited the restrooms on the way out of the park and walked back up to the EL platform.  The train arrived in short order and this time we all got seats!  And then the real fun started: a couple of college-aged girls started getting into it with each other, hurling insults back and forth and generally screeching like a couple of cats in heat.  It was amusing and amounted to nothing.  It helped us all pass the time while awaiting our stop.

We found ourselves back in Millennium Station about 20 minutes before our train was scheduled to depart.  There’s a bar there and I asked about the score of the game.  Turned out they were headed for extra innings.  So there was hope for the North Siders yet!  We boarded our train and watched the stations go by.  The overnight trains make most of the stops and the ones that weren’t scheduled were all requested by various passengers.  We started talking to one gentleman who found the score of the game on his phone.  I suppose I could have looked it up on mine if I cared.  Anyway, it turned out that the Cubs won in 11 innings.  Good for them!

The train eventually made its way to our stop. We found the Mommy Van and I proceeded to get everyone back to their respective homes.  I was in bed by midnight and was only kept awake by the Polish I had in the 5^th inning.  All in all, not a bad night out.

~Dave

I was invited out to a bar last night.  This, believe it or not, is pretty unusual for me.  The event was Celebrity Bartender Night at Prairie Fire in Chicago.  The Celebrity Bartender was WXRT’s very own Lin Brehmer.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a downtown Chicago bar.  I had forgotten that high rent = high drink prices.  I started the evening with a Goose Island India Pale Ale for a mere $6.  No Sam Adams at Prairie Fire – not good.  Lin arrived a short time later, at exactly 6pm, and was immediately surrounded by hotties!  OK, I’m a little jealous.  The whole thing was a charity event and it is up to the guest suds-slinger to come up with a specialty drink, something that is not already on the menu.  Lin’s was called Rumor & Innuendo.  It’s a generous shot of Maker’s Mark, a splash of Calvados and not nearly enough apple cider.  It packs a punch so I stayed with my IPA. 

The evening progressed well, the pitcher for Lin’s charity filled with 10’s and 20’s, the Cubs game was on one TV, and the Blackhawks game was on the other.  Both Chicago teams lost.  I met a few local radio names like Tom Couch, currently doing production work on WDRV.  He’s an XRT alum and I had heard his name for years.  It was great meeting him.  I was surprised to learn that nobody had pointed out to him that WDRV’s tagline: “The Soundtrack of Our Lives” has the acronym “The STOOL”.   To his credit he thought that was pretty damn funny.  I met Jason Thomas, one of XRT’s younger DJ’s – nice to put a face with a name and a voice.  Mindy from the Marketing Dept hung out for a while – absolutely adorable and despite her telling me otherwise she doesn’t look a day over 25.  Same thing for the equally adorable Beth from WSCR.

The evening ended just before 10 and I was home and in bed 45 minutes later.  Not bad for a Tuesday.  And the best part was that I actually slept through the night for the 1^st time in several weeks.  Bonus.

~Dave

This week the WXRT Friday Feature is Jimi Hendrix and Elvis Costello.  Most people would think this is a great combination: 2 great artists being featured throughout the day – how could you go wrong?!  Think about it for a minute.  Both Jimi and Elvis have substantial catalogs of work.  Both artists are played on XRT on a regular basis, at least their most popular songs.  So what’s wrong with featuring them both on the same day?  We won’t get to hear anything from either artist that we don’t already hear every other day of the week.  But wait, you say – they’re FEATURING them – of course we’ll hear more of their music.  No, not really.  Here’s why: Like every other successful commercial radio station, WXRT has a very tight programming format.  Like most stations, they use a computer system to “guide” their musical selections.  And lest you think I’m making this up, I’ve been in the studio and I’ve seen it in action.  Any given DJ is allowed to pick only so many songs from each of the various categories.  Oh sure, they still get to decide what song to play next but the choices are limited by what’s been played and what’s in “heavy rotation”.  What this means is that even when it comes to the Friday Feature, you will only get to hear 1 or 2 songs an hour by the featured artist. 

The Friday Feature starts with Lin Brehmer’s show at 5:30am and ends at midnight.  So during those 18 & ½ hours you might get 24 featured artist songs.  Split those 24 songs between 2 artists and you’ll be lucky to hear 11 songs from each.  And they will be the same popular, over-played songs that you’ve already heard a million times.  If you’re real lucky, someone might play some obscure version of a well-known song, but don’t hold your breath.  According to Wikipedia, Hendix has 3 studio albums, 2 live albums, and 2 compilations.  Declan McManus, aka Elvis Costello, has over 30 albums plus compilations.  Think you’ll be treated to  anything from “Live at the El Mocambo” or “For the Stars”?  Fat chance. 

So tell me, Mr. XRT Program Director (I’m talking to you, Norn Winer!): Just exactly what is the point of still having a Friday Featured Artist?  It really can’t do anything for ratings – people will listen regardless.  Is it just a lame nod to your glory days, back when XRT was still privately owned?  Is it something you can hold out to your audience: Look how cool we are – we have a featured artist!  I’ve got news for you, Norm-o: WDRV does a superior job with their Thursday Artist Profile.  They may not go much deeper into any given catalog but they have segments throughout the day discussing facts about the artist that most of us probably don’t know.  And their “Drive’s Live at 5” segment will have 2 live tracks by the featured artist, and they’re usually something not often heard.

So Norm, I say to you: It is time for WXRT to abandon the Friday Feature Artist.  Or overhaul the piece to make it relevant.

Happy Friday,

~Dave