The quality of the voice has little to do with singing. Placido Domingo can sing, but so can Willie Nelson. Singing depends on weight and balance and knowing when to shut up. It’s not a matter of normal intelligence, because most singers can’t do simple math or parallel park: They sing the way Hank Aaron […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Return of the Kickapoo
On June 14 and 15, for the sixth year in a row, the Grand Village of the Kickapoo Park–a few miles northeast of LeRoy, about an hour away from Springfield–will be the scene of color, sound, and dancing, as many from the four directions of Turtle Island (as North America is known) gather for an […]
Posted inOpinion
Canned radio
A.J. Woodson knows how to say no. As a late-night deejay on WNNS-FM “Lite Rock 99,” he has received hundreds of phone calls over the years from listeners wanting to hear their favorite songs. If the song was on the station’s playlist, Woodson was happy to oblige. If it wasn’t, he wouldn’t. Or rather, couldn’t. […]
Posted inOpinion
The consequences of war
If President Bush launches his pre-emptive war against Iraq, where will it leave America spiritually, economically, and politically? According to the President, we will have a short and successful war that will kill or maim innocent Iraqi civilians and some innocent American soldiers–but not enough of them to stop the people of Baghdad from cheering […]
Posted inOpinion
Good words
Rob Eure recalls his first visit to Springfield. He wasstanding in a line of tourists outside Abraham Lincoln’s house, but he knew he’d bring a new view of the Confederacy back home to old Virginia. Eure says something similar happened last year when he spent several months in Africa and Eastern Europe. As a Knight […]
Posted inOpinion
Statewide magazine struggles to cover Illinois politics
What a great time for a magazine dedicated to Illinois politics. The Democrats own Illinois again. Its leader, Governor Rod Blagojevich, is the son-in-law of a Chicago ward boss. Its head law enforcer, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, is the daughter of Illinois House Speaker and Democratic Party Chairman Mike Madigan. Not that the other party […]
Posted inOpinion
Nice guys finish first
The rumor that had seemed obvious since last week turns out to be true: WTAX-AM 1240 has hired broadcasting veteran Bob Murray to host its morning drive-time “news watch”–the same shift left open back in February, when WTAX fired the rabblerousing Donald “One-Eyed Jack” Jackson. So in essence, Murray–who prides himself on being a gentleman–is […]
Posted inOpinion
Unequal time
Over the last month, local news has bristled with nasty swipes at any and all who publicly opposed the war with Iraq. There’s a sad, wide gulf between the two groups who have followed the event most closely, who track every bootstep and weep for each life lost on the battlefield. Despite reporters’ shorthand, nobody […]
Posted inOpinion
From the top down
One of the stated major objectives of the American war in Iraq is to establish a “democratic” form of government. Yet when we look at the way decisions were made in our war policy, American democracy itself is found to be seriously lacking. The decision to go to war was one of the most important […]
Posted inOpinion
Young Americans
“Consider the life of a teenager: You have parents, teachers, telling you what to do. You have movies, magazines, and TV telling you what to do. But you know what you have to do. Your job, your purpose, is to get accepted.” So said Harry H., the nastily-nicknamed, wizened-beyond-his-years pirate radio jock in the 1990 […]
Posted inOpinion
Strange embedded fellows
Welcome to what NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw calls “the greatest televised event of the history of humankind.” The Iraq war has become a place where journalists and politics make strange embedded fellows. When networks go wall-to-wall with any story, they move fast to brand their coverage. It gets a catchy name, dramatic music, and flashy […]
Posted inOpinion
The world is watching
Lee Kyong-hee in the Korea Herald, Seoul Last Saturday afternoon, the host of a popular radio news show in Seoul pleaded with Korean parents to keep their children from television. It was hours after a thousand Tomahawks had pounded Baghdad. Watching the city reduced to smoldering rubble and its skies ablaze with soaring columns of […]
