I didn't think Linsanity would hit Triple M, but it has happened. The story of the Harvard graduate who went from sleeping brother's couch in New York City to becoming a huge sensation in the NBA is now being felt here in Madison. One of our favorite musicans Eric Hutchinson has decided to tweak one of his new songs to fit the Linsanity crazy.
The original was "Watching You Watch Him", but Eric has a new version he wants to share with you.
Since today is President’s Day, I thought it would be a nice to honor some of the Presidents people don’t think about often with some random facts.
Our eighth President, Martin Van Buren took his four year salary in one lump sum at the end of his term. It was $100,000. He probably would have done the same, if he won the lottery.
Our twelfth President Zachary Taylor pastured his old Army House, Whitey, on the White House lawn. I wonder who was in charge of keeping the White House lawn clean?
Our fourteenth President Franklin Pierce installed the first central heating system in the White House. I don’t imagine he installed it himself.
Our nineteenth President Rutherford B. Hayes’ wife, Lucy Ware Webb, was known as "Lemonade Lucy" because she refused to serve alcohol in the White House. She probably wasn’t very popular in Wisconsin.
Our 21st President Chester Alan Arthur enjoyed walking at night and seldom went to bed before 2 A.M. He had 24 wagon loads of old furniture and junk removed from the White House before moving in. He would NOT be a good candidate for the show Hoarders on A&E.
Our 29th President Warren G. Harding was the first President to own a radio. No word if he listened to Gabby on Triple M.
Where's Colbert? by Jonathan's Jabberings,posted Feb 16 2012 4:44PM
Stephen Colbert is missing! Last night, Comedy Central showed a repeat episode of The Colbert Report despite the fact new episodes were scheduled for the entire week. Published reports say audience members were only told of the cancellation a few hours before the show.
The Colbert Report is cancelled for the rest of this week “due to unforeseen circumstances,” according to officials at Comedy Central. For the last several months, Colbert has been exposing the hypocrisy of Super Pacs donations to candidates in this year’s Presidential election.
What’s up?
Did he get the secret powers in Washington mad?
I doubt it.
I hope it’s not a personal tragedy in Colbert’s life. He has already had his share of personal tragedy. Long before the date 9/11 meant anything to all of America, it was a sad day for Colbert.
On September 11, 1974, Colbert’s father and two of his brothers were killed in a plane crash. Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 crashed while attempting to land in Charlotte, North Carolina. His two brothers were enrolling at Canterbury School in New Milford.
Colbert was just ten years old at the time. His father, James was vice president for academic affairs at the Medical University of South Carolina. Whenever Colbert shows a clip on his show he always refers to a producer named Jim. I’ve often wondered if it’s a small tribute to his father.
Both Colbert and John Stewart do amazing and important work on a network that features stand-up comics, obnoxious cartoon characters and two-star comedy movies. They’ve raised the consciousness of many people in America with the biting satire on the ridiculous things both the Republicans and Democrats are doing in Washington.
Let’s hope Colbert’s absence is a stunt to expose more political nonsense and that it’s not a personal tragedy.
Butch and Bon by Jonathan's Jabberings,posted Feb 13 2012 12:47PM
Adele may be making the most headlines for her six Grammy wins, but Wisconsin also received some kudos last night.
When the Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl took the stage to accept Best Rock Performance, Madison’s very own Butch Vig was at his side as the producer. What makes this album amazing is the way it was made. Butch and Dave went old school when it came to producing Wasting Light. It was made in Dave’s garage. Granted his garage is probably a lot nicer than yours or mine, but it was an all analog production with the edits being made by literally cutting recording tape and pasting it back together. Dave gave a great speech and was sure to thank Butch for making it all possible.
The Wisconsin other treat at the Grammy Awards came from Justin Vernon who goes by the stage name Bon Iver. He won for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album. He literally gave a shout-out to Eau Claire, when accepting the award for Best New Artist. I wonder how many times Eau Claire has been mentioned on the Grammy stage? I’d guess never. I especially liked Bon Iver’s speech because he recognized all the musicians who deserve to be on the big stage, but will most likely never get the chance.
This proves Wisconsin is more than just cheese curds and the Green Bay Packers.
Why You Need Me by Jonathan's Jabberings,posted Feb 9 2012 5:45PM
Editor’s note: Jonathan seems to be rather comatose these days when it comes to writing blogs so we’re having his cat, Baxter write some this week.
Hi Humans,
Since my meal ticket owner is too lazy to spend five minutes writing a blog, I have to pick up the slack. Many people criticize cats saying we’re lazy and we don’t contribute to planet earth.
There’s always talk about how all the other living things contribute to society. For example, the bees making honey, dogs providing companionship, the dung beetles are against equal rights for gays and lesbians, Rick Santorum eats all the feces in the world. Wait I may have gotten those last two mixed up. No, I think I got it right.
Anyway, the point is everyone thinks cats make no contribution to the world and we just lounge around waiting to bite the hand that feeds us. This is not true and now there's finally a study to prove it.
The study finds that if all the cats in the world disappeared, you’d be in deep (food that Rick Santorum likes to eat). Cats play a giant role in rodent control. The average cat kills eleven rodents every six months. Studies have found that when cats are removed from an environment, the rat population can quickly quadruple.
That would cause two huge problems. One, we'd all be overtaken by rodents. And two, those rats would get into grain supplies around the world, and eat and contaminate a countless amount of the supply.
That could even lead to famine, especially in places where food is already stretched thin.
So the next time you see a cat walking by or you go to a friend’s house where a cat lives, be sure to thank that feline for saving the world’s food. Just don’t get too close because we might bite.
Editor’s note: What's the only consistent thing about Jonathan’s blogs these days? He doesn’t seem to be writing any. Despite offers unlimited cold water from the radio station’s drinking fountain, our morning guy has been rather demotivated. Since at least tens of people are looking for entertainment from this highly viewed microcosm of the web, we’re going to start having guest bloggers in this space.
This week’s guest blogger is Jonathan’s cat, Baxter.
Greetings Humans! I have to apologize for Litter Cleaner’s Jonathan’s lack of interest in this blog, but I’m here to entertain you.
Here’s a bit of gossip from the cyber world. Have you heard about Cat Fancy’s twitter feed? I’ve been a subscriber to Cat Fancy for several years. I also subscribe to Feline Froufrou and Spontaneous Kitten. I’ve outgrown the Spontaneous Kitten, but I still subscribe because I like the easy crossword puzzle on the last page. It’s not as easy as People Magazine’s. Let’s be honest, my clumped litter can solve People magazine’s puzzle!
I digress. This story is about some people who have created a twitter account for Cat Fancy, but they are not really associated with the magazine.
Here are some of the tweets sent by “Cat Fancy”:
Papa cat finally tells kittens about his other secret family in Cleveland.
Cat opens Chinese restaurant as an excuse to own several fish tanks.
Oh no! I think Mr. Mittens picked the lock on the gun safe.
Seeking cats 18-25 for "cat next door" adult entertainment. Requirements: be in good shape; not afraid of being naked; be a cat.
These are brilliant! I’m so angry I didn’t think of doing this myself. I want to cause some havoc in the world of Twitter.
Does Dog Fancy already have a twitter account?
Yes? Shoot!
How about Ferret Weekly?
Dang!
Goldfish Monthly?
You’ve got to be kidding me!
Modern Woman?
It’s available?!
Great.
Hello Twitter World. Check out @ModernWoman3000 on Twitter!
People often ask me if I get nervous being on the radio. When I first started in this business, I would get a few butterflies in my stomach before going on the air, but not anymore. People also ask if I get nervous hosting Live from Studio M sessions or being the emcee at a big event or standing on a stage in front of a few hundred drunk concert goers introducing a band. Again, the answer is no, no and no.
There is still one thing that does get me nervous and that's going to a school to talk to kids about radio.
I'm not really sure why I get nervous, but I was invited by my friend Angela Poster to speak to her fifth grade class at DeForest Middle School about radio and more specifically ads on the radio.
She told me this class of about 20 kids between the ages of 10 and 11 are working on adjectives by writing commercials for a project. I came to the class with lots of material because she told me I had to fill about 30 minutes.
I'm glad she didn't ask me to talk about the proper way to introduce a band at a concert because that would have taken me about 2 minutes. Introducing a band can be reduced to about five steps:
1) Ask the crowd if they're having a good time
2) Ask the crowd if they're ready to see (insert band name)
3) Say you can't hear them
4) Repeat steps 2 and 3
5) Get off stage
Explaining to kids about the ins and outs of advertising is much more complicated. I brought several different examples of commercials such as the testimonal, the tearjerker and the tickler. (I decided to call a humorous ad a tickler because I had already come up with two other 't' names.)
Everyone seemed interested and then I opened it up for questions. The questions were good. The kids asked why I got into radio and how early do I have to get up in the morning. However, my favorite question was "Are you famous?"
I told him if he had to ask then the answer is no.
However, I thought I was being a little to harsh on myself so I decided to use a line from an old radio friend. I then told him I'm world famous...in Madison.
Madison's summer music festival season kicks off this weekend with Brat Fest at Willow Island, where there are more bands than you can shake a bratwurst at! Check out the Brat Fest website to plan your itinerary.
Next up is the Marquette...
John Fogerty is making the talk show rounds this week, stopping in to see David Letterman Tuesday and Wednesday, and the ladies of "The View" on Thursday.
He's promoting his new album, "Wrote a Song For Everyone" which comes out next Tuesday...
It's a miracle that both Jonathan and KItty wanted to hear Barry Manilow this morning. They were not alone. Plenty of Fanilow's called in to vote yes. One caller claimed to have seen Manilow in concert 25 times!
The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, it is another gorgeous Monday, fit for another great show at the Crystal Corner tonight.
Through locking ourselves in the barn on Irish Lane, tossing some ideas around, as well as a few choice beverages to...
Hey everybody, we were thrown for a loop by the twist this week, but were able to make one of our "oldie but a goldie" songs fit the mold.
We have a few songs that we have played consistently over the years, and we are very happy that we will be...
We just received word of what this weeks twist is, and...oh boy. We need to take our "signature song" and cut it to only 2:30 without going over. Amberstein does not simply play 2:30 versions of our songs...so this could be interesting.
Last...
In 1984, Rockwell rose to number 2 for 3 weeks in 1984 with "Somebody's Watching Me." The backup singer for the song was Michael Jackson. How did Rockwell get Jackson to help him? Well, Rockwell's real name is Kennedy William Gordy and he...
Have you heard the song "Rumble and Sway" yet on Triple M?
The singer sounds like a raspy blues dude who's definitely been around the block a few times....but surprisingly, Jamie N. Commons is only 23 years old!
He was born in England, but...
Madison's summer music festival season kicks off this weekend with Brat Fest at Willow Island, where there are more bands than you can shake a bratwurst at! Check out the Brat Fest website to plan your itinerary.
Next up is the Marquette...
John Fogerty is making the talk show rounds this week, stopping in to see David Letterman Tuesday and Wednesday, and the ladies of "The View" on Thursday.
He's promoting his new album, "Wrote a Song For Everyone" which comes out next Tuesday...
It's a miracle that both Jonathan and KItty wanted to hear Barry Manilow this morning. They were not alone. Plenty of Fanilow's called in to vote yes. One caller claimed to have seen Manilow in concert 25 times!
The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, it is another gorgeous Monday, fit for another great show at the Crystal Corner tonight.
Through locking ourselves in the barn on Irish Lane, tossing some ideas around, as well as a few choice beverages to...
Hey everybody, we were thrown for a loop by the twist this week, but were able to make one of our "oldie but a goldie" songs fit the mold.
We have a few songs that we have played consistently over the years, and we are very happy that we will be...
We just received word of what this weeks twist is, and...oh boy. We need to take our "signature song" and cut it to only 2:30 without going over. Amberstein does not simply play 2:30 versions of our songs...so this could be interesting.
Last...
In 1984, Rockwell rose to number 2 for 3 weeks in 1984 with "Somebody's Watching Me." The backup singer for the song was Michael Jackson. How did Rockwell get Jackson to help him? Well, Rockwell's real name is Kennedy William Gordy and he...
Have you heard the song "Rumble and Sway" yet on Triple M?
The singer sounds like a raspy blues dude who's definitely been around the block a few times....but surprisingly, Jamie N. Commons is only 23 years old!
He was born in England, but...
Stephen Colbert is missing! Last night, Comedy Central showed a repeat episode of The Colbert Report despite the fact new episodes were scheduled for the entire week. Published reports say audience members were only told of the cancellation a few hours before the show.
Since my 
People often ask me if I get nervous being on the radio. When I first started in this business, I would get a few butterflies in my stomach before going on the air, but not anymore. People also ask if I get nervous hosting Live from Studio M sessions or being the emcee at a big event or standing on a stage in front of a few hundred drunk concert goers introducing a band. Again, the answer is no, no and no.
