Radio Free Norfolk!!!

Bangalottaguys? Its Sunday, April 17, 2011, I'm pretty damn pissed off, and this is the Side. Why am I angry? Because my town sucked just a little bit more this week and my pal got the raw end of the stick.

VIVA LA RESISTANCE!!

Recently my favorite radio station changed formats, which is very annoying, but worse they got rid of my favorite radio show, The Mike and Bob Show. I've talked about the show on here before, mainly discussing the strange circumstances of their previous sidekick, Manny Fresh. This radio show has been around over ten years. They have a strong and loyal following. So why were they canceled?

I did some digging and came up with this message from the radio station's own. Here's the main reason sited for the changes:

All radio stations in the United States are affected by Arbitron ratings. The Arbitron company changed their radio rating system about a year ago. This new rating system has had a very negative impact on many talk shows and morning shows on music stations nationwide. Unfortunately, under this new system, the ratings for The Mike and Bob Show on 96X were much lower than the ratings during our music hours, and that is the only reason that I felt I had to make a change.

OK, now if low ratings are the case and the show is not acquiring and keeping listeners and sales for advertising on the show was down then there's a definite problem here, but something doesn't add up. The show has bounced back and forth between afternoons and mornings a few times. Most recently its been in the mornings which worked out better for the three dudes involved and their family lives. But here's another bit from the owner's massage:

Prior to the change in the rating measurement system, the Mike and Bob Show was very successful and popular. Under the new ratings system, this was no longer the case.

Hold the phone. The show was doing great, but the company that does ratings changed how they do things and now its not doing great? And this change has impacted radio talk shows nationwide showing lower ratings? So we're to take it that everyone across this great land is just tired of listening to radio talk shows, including in this area which has a talk show that is popular?

This honestly smelled like a conspiracy. It was time to do a little digging, and by little I mean it took about five minutes to uncover the problem. Four of those minutes was waiting for the computer to turn on and the internet to come on. I may have also gotten a snack.

Arbitron, the company that does these ratings has been sued repeatedly for putting out flawed data, with one case even handled by the Florida Attorney General. There was another one handled by the New Jersey Attorney General in which Arbitron had to pay up, big time. So there's a definite problem with the ratings system. I've always wondered how shows and music with such high ratings typically ended up being a lot of crap and for a while I just thought that this awful stuff just had a huge audience that I'm not a part of. Now, I'm starting to think otherwise.

And here's a big old nail in this here coffin from Arbitron's own site:

PPM ratings are based on audience estimates and are the opinion of Arbitron and should not be relied on for precise accuracy or precise representativeness of a demographic or radio market.

Frakking wow.

So this company is making guesses and giving opinions and radio stations listen and make changes accordingly? I want that job! There'd be a lot more Warren Zevon songs on the radio I'll tell ya that!

So, should The Mike and Bob Show be back on the air? Probably, unless they just weren't selling any advertising which I really doubt considering how many remotes they did and appearances they made. And yes, I am biased. I called into that show regularly. I hang with Bob at Kings. He's a friend. All those guys were friends to their listeners. It was the longest running FM talk show in the area, and there's reason for that. It was a good show. It helped make a lot of people's commutes a lot more bearable. When word got around that the show was gone and, that took a bit because there was no announcement or send off, that station lost a lot of listeners. And yes it seems messed up that a show that's been around for over a decade didn't get a nice send off, but if they did and word had gotten around in advance then those listeners that Arbitron says don't exist would have rallied like the last stand in INDEPENDENCE DAY and made things very difficult for the station.

Honestly, I truly think the Dudes have a case against Arbitron. But things don't end there.

MUSIC!!

Typically this is the part where I include a video of a song I'm either really digging now or on occasion something that plays into what I was previously talking about. Well, there's a lot on my mind concerning music because not only did 96X remove their premier radio talk show, they changed their format. 96X kicked off in the early 90s. In this area there were only two choices in rock and roll stations, and they're both still around now. One plays classic rock, and other plays classic rock and newer stuff with a leaning towards hard rock and heavy metal. Thing is in the early 90s that's when Alternative Rock started coming to forefront and it was different from anything I had heard on the radio around here before.



It was this new, exciting sound that I really dug and it was a lot of unfamiliar territory. When I tuned into 96X then I knew I was likely going to be hearing music i had never heard before. The old, tired rock songs that I had heard all my life and probably knew all the words to weren't here. This had a new different energy. It was the energy of my generation and we were making music.

There was the Seattle music blow up and that had a lot of airplay, but fortunately it went beyond Nirvana and Pearl Jam. They also weren't afraid to pump out some punk rock besides the Ramones and the occasional Clash tune.



It was pretty much a "screw the big hair and make up" we just want to rock mentality. And when things shifted in alternative music and there was something popping up that was weird and different but still pretty damn awesome you knew the X would probably being playing it, and usually about a year before any other station around here was playing it and calling it new music.



No joke, Chris and I were driving to Heroescon in Charlotte, NC and rocking out to "Superman" by Three Doors down when it was brand new. The following year we were driving to the same con and that song was being played on another radio station and being called "new music". Some of the more tired stations are still playing that damn song like its the newest, hottest thing out.

The station changed formats once before to top 40 and every listener cringed to hear boy bands and Brittany frakkin' Spears being played on the X. Predictably it went over like a fart in a submarine and the X returned to its roots. But now there's Arbitron ratings and they're saying that the listening audience is made up of twice as many dudes as ladies, and they're hoping to even that out a bit.



That's not going to work because there's other stations in the area actively courting female listeners to the Point that tuning into the stations markedly increases a person's estrogen levels. The new sound is coming off like a heavy dose of adult contemporary music has been infused but still keeping a little of the old stuff to help us transition. The only old out on there now is the Late Late Rock Show which features indie music and less featured stuff.

And even if the numbers are completely accurate (which at this point is extremely doubtful), so what if more guys listen than ladies? Is that a reason to try to blend in with what a bunch of other stations are doing? Yes, music shifts as different influences and vibes become prevalent. If you had said back in 1992 there'd be a popular punk rock bands featuring some violins and sometimes bagpipes people would have thought you were nuts. And yes, the alternative sound that came from Generation X in the infancy of the station is long gone, however that's now reason not to stand out from the homogeneous rabble on the radio.

Right now the music that spoke to my generation doesn't have home on the airwaves in my town. Most likely, it'll be back because if listeners want to here the type of stuff they're playing now they've already been following different stations that have been playing it for years. The X went from the leader to the led.

And with that I'm going to be listening to a lot more CDs in my car.

Alright, that's going to do it for today. I'm going to go be ticked off about things. See y'all, Wednesday.

You is dead to meh, Bobby Fresh!!

I love it when a plan comes together. Its Sunday, January 16, 2011, I watched The A-TEAM movie the other night, and this is The Side. The movie was great. For those who haven't seen it, the team is trying to recover stolen plates so that people can't print unbacked US currency since that could destroy the entire economy. Makes me wonder if they're going to take down the Federal Reserve in the sequel.

I got suckered and suckered hard in other news. Mike and Bob were discussing best sidekicks on their radio show with the new Green Hornet movie coming out this weekend. I'm driving down the road and the first one that popped into my head was Kid Flash because when I was a kid, if I was going to be a superhero sidekick, that's the one I wanted to be. So i call, and actually made it through and on the air. I give my answer for quality sidekick as Kid Flash, to which Bobby responded with a "Flash sucks" which is really a legitimate analysis considering the current writing and direction of the character, but in the heat of the moment I responded with a "Get bent" and descended into a squabble as to defending the character based, stupidly enough, on his power set as opposed to the character himself.

I am truly ashamed of my inner fanboydom, and for that shame coming out into the open, I blame Bobby Fresh. He is my Tully Blanchard.

So now I must redeem myself, so let's do this thing.

SIDEKICKS: THE TOP 10!!

The ones I dig and why they are awesome.

10: Tonto. The Lone Ranger was pretty cool to me as a kid and Tonto was awesome. He always had some special skill of trick up his sleeve.

9: Rusty the Boy Robot. "Comin' atcha!" The original graphic novel was weird stuff, but cartoon series was a hoot and half.

8: Little John. I've liked the character in almost every incarnation I've seen, especially the Phil Harris voiced bear. A big guy who is good with a staff? I want him on my team.

7: Kato. When you're martial arts kid growing up Bruce Lee is the man. Watching him as Kato on the old TV series was awesome.

6: Wonder Girl. The only reason that I don't rate her higher is that she doesn't work often enough with Wonder Woman. She's more of a hero in her own right, but still kind off maintains a sidekick status.

5: Robin (Dick Greyson) There's no denying how awesome Dick Greyson is. He was the first of the superhero sidekicks. Its almost impossible to think about Batman without having Robin to back him up.

4: The Squire. Beryl Hutchinson rules. She is a lot of fun with a ton of heart. Comics are markedly better whenever and wherever she turns up.

3: Robin (Tim Drake). Rating him over Dick? That's right. He did complement Batman better with his computer skills. A solid detective in his own right he was also very dangerous in a fight.

2: Kid Flash (Wally West). Ah yes, the character that was at the root of the argument. Wally was the first sidekick to fully take on the role of his mentor. We watched him grow into the role as well. His back story as Kid Flash was a tale of faith being rewarded. He'll always be my favorite superhero sidekick.

But wait, that was only the number 2 position! What about the number 1 spot? That's right, its occupied by a classic character who doesn't need spandex to stop crime.

1: Doctor John Watson. This Afghan War veteran was always ready to aid Sherlock Holmes when the goings got rough. An able bodied student of Holmes's method, he had no problem jumping into the thick of things to help solve a case.

MUSIC!!

Bobby Fresh likes Lady Gaga, so in honor of that, I won't be playing any Lady Gaga. Ever.



So TAKE THAT, Bobby Fresh! I know you'll lose sleep over this scathing post and my refusal to ever put Lady Gaga music on here! Vengeance is mine! And with that, I'll be listening to him again on Monday on 96X, and seeing him at Comic Kings at their new location soon. As for the rest of you, see y'all Wednesday.

Drag Queen Stones Manny Fresh!!

Sweet car-honkin cripes! Its Wednesday, December 15, 2010, parts of me are currently frozen, and this is The Side. It is frakkin' cold out there. This of course doesn't surprise me since in recent months the caterpillars have been exceptionally fuzzy and certain spiders have been quite large. The future is easy to predict when you know what to look for.

We're in for another winter that'll have us all yelling, "where's all mah Global warming at?!"

BOOZE TIME!!

Tis the season for good times, like Christmas parties. Many of those parties will indeed involve booze. So if you're going to drink, be responsible about it. Mike and Bob had a couple of officers in the studio to get local legend and internet avenger Manny Fresh hammered so we can see the effects of boozin' it up and see what kinds of tests they administer. This was in between Manny attempting to drunk call and drunk text girls at about eight in the morning requesting weird sex. Good ol Manny, always keepin' it classy.



To be honest, it was some of the funniest radio I've heard in a long time, but it also managed to be pretty educational as well.

So, from a former bar doorman and lush, drive safe and drink smart. I want to guys around next year.

THE NAME GAME

Looking at the word itself Celebrities are supposed to be people who are celebrities. However, in the age of information in which privacy is as valuable a commodity as any, celebrities are often looked at with a microscope by the masses waiting for them to do something scandal worthy. It makes me wonder how much clout do these people actually have away their fields. Obviously a big name musician has some pull with record companies. Big name actors get better treatment in Hollywood. However, its the public that makes these people big names. Now, some of them are prepackaged garbage like Justin Bieber and folks just fall for it. Others have some talent so people pay attention.

Currently, there's a list of celebrities who are trying to keep a woman from getting stoned in Iran. For those of you reading this who are outraged that these celebrities have come out against marijuana, I would like to congratulate you on being temporarily coherent enough to navigate the internet. And no this has nothing to do with marijuana, it has to do with a court deciding that a widow should have rocks thrown at her until she is dead. Obviously, this is a bad thing, however I don't think this list will carry much weight. Call me crazy, but I doubt the court system in Iran care too much about what Robert Redford thinks.

Still, its good that these celebrities have seen something that they feel is wrong and have decided to come out against it. In the world of celebrities, what you say and do has consequences. Say the wrong thing, and you risk ticking off your fan base, and next thing you know you used to be a celebrity.

Names have weight. Attaching your name to something has meaning. Even if you're just a guy with a blog. Celebrities often have their pet charity that they like to contribute to and draw attention to. Me? I shaved my head for charity and raised about $300 to help fight pediatric cancer. Its a modest sum, but I was happy to do it. That was before I got on Twitter and Google Buzz and also at a time when this blog had about five followers. I'm wondering if I do it again will the result be different now that my name out there more.

I'm not a celebrity by any stretch of the imagination. Not much to be celebrated here. But names have weight, and I'm wondering how much mine weights and what good I could with it.

CONVERSATIONS WITH PEOPLE

Recently, my cousin related to me the instance that he first saw an openly gay person in real life. It was at a party, and outside one complete with a bonfire. Everything is hunky-dory and them a guy shows up completely in drag. This was a first for my cousin on multiple levels. The obligatory hushed comments were made, but everybody was having a good time except it seems for one guy who really liked to hate on some gays. He insulted the guy dressed as a chick very loudly and very openly culminating in him calling the guy a "fucking faggot".

Now of course such things are considered hate speech and this guy should have had the masses decry his outburst. We are a civilized society after all should be celebrating diversity and all that other hippy crap. So that drag queen did what any other drag queen should do in a situation such as this. He took off his heels told somebody to "hold my shoes" went over to that guy and bap bap bap BAP. Then he thanked the person for holding his shoes and the party continued.

Unfortunately, this took place before such things as camera phones and YouTube, but it doesn't matter because there's no way to spin getting your ass beat down by a drag queen. That kind of event is spread by word of mouth, much like the epic tales were told before the advent of written language.

I stood there listening to my cousin relate this event and thought to myself, "Well I'll be damned. It really does get better."

MUSIC!!

Harmonica and cow bell? Hold on to your hats, folks!



Alrighty, pee on the fire and call in the dogs, I'm hangin' it up for today. I'm going to go put on about twenty pounds of clothes. Stay warm, people!

The Black Glove closes on Manny Fresh!

Hoo boy. It's Friday, September 24, 2010, and in a startling change of pace I'm not ready for the weekend. Got the annual Beach Workout tomorrow and I'm still putting together what I plan on teaching.

However, someone else has much bigger problems.

MANNY FRESH R.I.P.

Previously I covered a plot against local radio personality Manny Fresh. I fear things may have progressed. I'm not sure he's going to survive the weekend.

At this time he prepared to meet someone who he knows on the internet that claims to be an old acquaintance that has reconnected with Manny via Facebook. That should raise a few alarms in and of itself, but more disturbing is that Manny has not executed his normal cyber jujitsu to properly vet this person. Combine this with recent events and I fear there may very well be a conspiracy to destroy Manny Fresh.

This Facebook person is allegedly a woman who is promising the one thing that is known to have power over Manny: weird sex. Manny has accepted the bait hook, line, and sinker. But could this alleged woman be the Jezebel Jett to Manny's Bruce Wayne? Could this be part of a larger ploy to utterly destroy our BatManny? His defenses have been dropped making him quite vulnerable. In fact he heading into this weekend's activities against the very vocal admonishments of the rest of The Mike and Bob Show.

There has already been a few cyber assaults on Manny which he has fended off in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, I fear his Achilles heel. That early assault on the part of the Manny Fresh Sucks Guy could have been some early sparring to determine the extent of Manny's abilities. The moving of the radio show to the morning might be a Machiavellian ploy to deprive Manny of sleep thus impairing his judgment. And now over the last few weeks Manny has been lured into the cunning web of this e-black widow. And there's the ever present threat of Peter Criss Mask, who it the utter wild card in this equation.

This has to be one giant conspiracy. A trap that is so intricate that Manny is already caught. He just doesn't know it yet.

Will Manny Fresh survive the weekend? Will he have to call upon the assistance of his associated Hat-Club and The Silver Fox to aid him? Will he have to become the Manny Fresh of Zur En Arrg to survive? We'll have to wait until Monday to see if Manny is still on the show.

The suspense is killing me.

COMIX!!

Leading off with SUPERGIRL #56 which had our hero doing exactly what I like to see those wearing the red "S" doing: having big space adventures. Kara's off to try to save Bizarro World, which means some sweet Bizarro fun. Sterling Gates knocks it right out of the park in delivering out of the world adventure, but keeping our heroine emotionally real and grounded.

This storyline is a real treat. We have Supergirl working her way through some heavy emotional stuff. We have some really hysterical Bizarro stuff. And we have big nasty sci-fi world threatening stuff. I am typing 'stuff' a lot because my high English teacher Ms. Warren hates that word for inexplicable reasons known only to herself, and frankly none of us liked her.

This book did pull a bit of a stunt in its big reveal in that the art on the double-splash page is sideways. Well done stuff. It forces me to pay attention. That and the image is absolutely stunning.

On to LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #5 in which we have Paul Levitz working really hard to redeem the Geoff Johns creation Earth-man who I think most of us wouldn't mind seeing get his ass kicked every other issue. This title is still winning me over. Its got a lot of overcome. I don't like the circumstances in which it came into being. I don't like that some good folks got screwed over in the deal. I definitely don't like the majority of the costume designs. Still, Levitz makes it a pretty enjoyable read.

THE SKYROCKET #3 hit the stores the week wrapping up Mike Federali and Os Petroli's freshman effort. We get some more world building. The working relationship between Sam and Agent Evans is firmly established. Oh and there's a mad scientist with tentacles coming out of his back who is trying to kidnap Sam and make her wear a sailor outfit. OK, I made that last bit up. Wanted to make sure you people were still paying attention. The story is pretty solid stuff as well as the art. It could use a bit more rendering, but I think Petroli is definitely on the right track. This series has done a good job of world building and there's tons of possibilities for it so I'm looking forward to seeing what's next.

I found ATOMICA #1 sitting on the shelf today and it seemed like a good reason to give something new a shot. My pull list has been hemorrhaging titles lately. This book has stopped the bleed. It’s light fun with the emphasis on science adventure. The origin story seems almost Silver Age with a scientist, Doctor Colluns, doing some experiment. There’s an accident and an explosion and when the smoke clears we have a girl with amnesia in the middle of it with an amulet that gives her super powers. The storytelling is almost hokey, but it’s saved from that by being so earnest. Our heroine mixes it up with would-be kidnappers and seems surprised by every new power she manifests. What is very refreshing is that Rose isn’t angsty over her plight. She doesn’t spend panel after panel and page after page going on and on about her lost memories or where she could have come from. Instead she shows the kind of guts and pluck that reminds me a lot of early issues of Erik Larson’s THE SAVAGE DRAGON. Sure, she has problems and questions about herself, which I’m sure will be dealt with in later issues, but for now Rose a.k.a. Atomica is on the scene and ready to help.

MUSIC!!

With all the excited of Manny Fresh's impending demise I need a little Pink Floyd to calm my nerves.



OK, that's it for today. Have a great weekend, and good luck to Manny. Hope you're alive and still have all your vital organs on Monday.

The internet has gone mad!!!

Good morning class, it is Wednesday, June 30, 2010 and in the S M T W T F S daily abbreviations you will notice that we are entering yet again the WTF portion of the week.

BATTLEGROUND: SCANS DAILY

BIRDS OF PREY #2 came out a little while back and I didn't pick it up. The shop was out so i didn't see it and I'm a little on the fence about the book. I love Gail Simone's writing. I absolutely adore it. However, I really don't like Ed Benes artwork. However, Linda tipped me off as to the big controversy around the issue. Two of the supporting cast died. Well, there's a big problem here, because one of them was gay and in grief for the murder of the man he loved and swore to protect, took his own life. This sparked much outrage on one site especially since the issue came out in the middle of Gay Pride Month.

Wait, it gets better.

Madam Simone was a member of that site. Note my use of the word 'was'. So when people started getting pissed off, she responded saying how she understood that people were upset at the deaths of two liked characters. However, she didn't like people trying to pin her with the reputation of killing off gay characters. Now, many people on there continued to be very civil to her. They didn't like what happened to the characters, but bad things happen to characters. Being gay or any other type of minority in comic book does not automatically give that character a magically fabulous force field that prevent bad stuff from happening to them. But of course some people on the site were claiming that the deaths played into a bunch of different tropes. 'Tropes' is a word that people use to make themselves seem smarter than they actually are. Most of them don't know what it really means, so I want you all to know it means 'ferret'.

The kicker is that Simone got a warning from the site administrators about the content and her discussing it. And she left the site. I don't blame her. This is flat out stupid. I have the book. I've read it. That part of the story was not about hating gay people. I've seen Gail Simone's twitter. She seems to really like gays. Especially gay men. In pirate costumes. Kissing. So, the site administrators with the righteous indignation spurred by social justice gave her an official warning, thus proving that they suck, because we can't have Gail Simone killing off gay characters in the middle of Gay Pride Month even though she created those characters to begin with. She obviously created them years and years ago in an insidious plot to make people like them and once liked, she would wait until Gay Pride Month to kill them horribly and really stick it to those pesky gays.

Yeah. Scans Daily. You fail. You had one of the best writers in comics on your boards chatting with your members, and she left because of your moderators. Ponder that for a while.

YOU CAN'T HIDE IN THE INTERNET

The Saga of Manny Fresh continued over the weekend as yet another Twitter account joined the e-battle royal. "Manny sucks sucks" was pretty much the anti-anti-Manny. We all wondered where the insanity would end, but end it did because Manny Fresh's detractor made some mistakes. The first of which was a text message that appeared on Manny's personal phone.

It was on like a Filipino Donkey Kong.

This was a step too far, and the quarry had grossly underestimated Manny Fresh. The internet may provide people with some anonymity, but that can't stop Manny Fresh. The noose was tightening and Manny had a lead on his e-nemesis when Manny Fresh Sucks made a tragic mistake on twitter by posting this:

KELLYS ON KEMPSVILLE HAS NO AC. ITS HOTTER THAN @VAMANNYFRESH 's BUKKAKE SCENE IN HIS PORNO DEBUT. 9:45 PM Jun 27th via Twitter for iPhone

Whoops. Not too long after, Manny had a tweet of his own confirming that the AC was indeed broken. Yeah, bad move letting the internet know where you are and good old Twitter let Manny know that his target had an iPhone. So, when Manny spotted a guy with an iPhone looking around the bar rather frantically he had his prey. Of course the guy said he was just kidding with all his trash talk, and the tone of his Twitter account has changed quite a bit.

Two lessons to learn: talking trash online isn't worth squat, and the internet cannot protect you from Manny Fresh.

So that's the end of that drama but there could be more in store as Optimous Prime is being held hostage next to some ammunition and a stripper's used panties. There's to be a clandestine exchange for a particular Peter Criss mask atop the Dominion Towers parking garage.

I smell... double cross.

POP POLITICS

President Obama has a lot on his plate. He's got to deal with people at war with the country, the economy is in pretty rough shape, that oil is still leaking, and Lady Gaga might get a million followers on twitter before him. And now there's folks who would like him to get his twitter on.

Look, anyone who thinks the President is actually personally providing any content to that Facebook page is fooling themselves. And frankly, with all the security problems Facebook has I'm amazed he has any presence there at all. I know social media was a big factor in him getting to the White House, but now he's got an actual job to do, and he spends too much time whoring out to the media anyhow.

Although if Lady Gaga beats Obama in this she's going on my dead pool list. No way will Obama let there be a bigger pop star than him. Remember what happened to the King of Pop? Just sayin'.

THE JERK IN THE MIRROR

And speaking of Michael Jackson, I wonder if Chris Brown's crying fit on stage during the Michael Jackson tribute was due to the wave of irony crashing down upon him that he was singing in tribute to a man who grew up in an abusive household. Actually it was a very fitting tribute in that after his death everybody seems to have forgotten that Michael Jackson, while a great artist, was a creepy bastard who quite likely enjoyed the company of children in ways no one should, and after the tribute and crying fit everyone seems to have forgotten that Brown beat the hell out of his girlfriend. Seems he's popular again.

Folks seem to be suffering from memory loss.

MUSIC!!

And speaking of dirtbags:


When this video came out the kids were like "OH MY GOD!! Those people from AMERICAN PIE are in a video!!". We now say the same words, but for an entirely different reason.

POP QUIZ!!

1: Do you read Gail Simone's comics, and if so, what are you reading?

2: Is there anyone on the internet that you ever hunted down and confronted? If not, who would you want to?

3: Who is your favorite teenage dirtbag?

Alright troops, that is it until Friday. Leave comments, discuss, make fun, etc. Big thanks to Linda for turning me onto the Gail Simone story, and big thanks to the Mike and Bob Show for putting some links up to the blog. See you Friday.