Reading
Because we haven't posted in a while, I thought it might be a good idea to add some things. First, we'll post something I just put on Facebook, and I hope you enjoy it. Below, we also intend to say something about Radio (hint: I'm in favor of it).
But first, that post (it's long).
When I was a child, my dad introduced me to the adult writing of H. Allen Smith. Smith was a humorist whose career went back to the late 1920s, but he was very popular during and after World War II. He was friends with Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, and a bunch of other famous folks. He wrote books with titles like, "Life in a Putty Knife Factory," and "Low Man on the Totem Pole." He also wrote a couple of novels, one of which was made into a movie, "Rhubarb," about a cat who ended up owning a baseball team.
One of Smith's friends and mentors was a writer with whom most modern people are unfamiliar, H.L. Mencken. Mencken lived his whole life and wrote/reported in Baltimore. He also wrote a couple of books on the American use of English. He also covered the Scopes trial and if you ever saw the film, "Inherit The Wind," Mencken was the basis for the reporter character played by Gene Kelly.
Last night, I had a bit of trouble sleeping and I read the Daily Beast on my phone. As it happens, they excerpted a book that's just out, which has Mencken's writing about a major fire that hit Baltimore (in 1904, if I remember correctly) and took out about a square mile of its downtown. The writing was an absolutely delightful read and if you have a few minutes, you might still be able to catch it at the Beast.
If any of you have familiarity with Mencken or Smith, I'd love to hear your recollections, and I fully realize that I'm likely whistling in the dark. That said, I hope you read an enjoy the Mencken piece.
Radio
One of the reasons I haven't posted, is because I haven't been "on the air" for several months, since GoingBeyondRadio.com, went off (I'm still not aware of why that happened, but I'm reasonably sure it was nothing I said).
I looked into a couple of Internet radio networks, and have pretty much settled on talkshoe.com, but we had some technical issues to resolve, and we did that, except I still haven't had time to test what a guest phone call would sound like.
Time really is the issue. I started an additional business earlier this year, and I'm happy to say it's taken off pretty well. But it's kept me busy. Hopefully we'll do the test and be on-air again soon. Watch here for announcements.
Thanks for your attention, and we'll see you on the radio.
Jeff
