A Ford Not A Lincoln

I’d opine on the death of the great James Brown here, but I said it much better on my radio program on 12/31. If you want to hear that, hit that seven day archive at www.wrek.org .

They bury Gerald Ford tomorrow. I always kind of liked ol’ Jerry as a politician (what little my young, at that time, mind could understand) who kind of straddled a middleground and tried to get things right. Still, the only President I have seen in person (he spoke at Peachtree High School  in the spring of 1976, a year and a half before I started 8th grade there) and I was always a little envious that in our seventh grade mock election Andrew Nunns got to portray Ford while I was roped into being Jimmy Carter. The guy actually taped a segment for NBC’s Saturday Night when that crew were ripping the piss out of him on a weekly basis, was a football star at Michigan, survived the Warren Commission and invented the WIN button! OK, those Whip Inflation Now buttons kinda sucked. But he did have a darn catchy re-election theme song that, thirty years later, I remember most of and he almost made it possible for the vice-president’s wife to be someone my dad dated in high school (my dad dated Elizabeth Hanford later Dole, FYI) and the vice-president he did have (Nelson Rockefeller) flipped off some hecklers. So he was an interesting guy, Gerald Ford, and I’ll have a decent memory of him.

Another reason to check out the seven day archive of the 12/31 Personality Crisis is to hear my new promo which makes a “light-hearted (?)” statement about what might happen to the station.

And though you should always check out WREK 24/7, you could also figure out a way to listen to some of the excellent music programming the BBC provides. Huw Stephens’ indie show on BBC One has introduced me to a band called Tall Pony who have a song called “I’m Your Boyfriend Now” that’s sort of silly lyric-wise, but musically reminds a bit of the icy synth stylings of early Ultravox/Human League. (the only other song I’ve heard by them really sucked, so I’m wary of pushing you to investigate them further.) I’ll play “Boyfriend” this week and let you guys decide what you think. There’s also a couple of live concert programs of worth (one recently featured the Stones’ 1971 Leeds show) which will soon air live performances from Hawkwind (from 1972 or 1973) and Guided By Voices and all these shows are also on seven day archive, imagine that.

So remember President Ford, listen to WREK/the BBC and, having seen “The Mayor Of Sunset Strip”, I hope your existence is of a happier one than what Rodney Bingenheimer seems to have.