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Perhaps a Boor (or a Bore), but Imus Makes It WorkBy PETER APPLEBOME
Published in The New York Times: November 4, 2007ON THE SAW MILL RIVER PARKWAY — Forget, for a moment, the Rutgers women’s basketball team and all that. Here’s one drive-time driver’s opinion about Don Imus’s old morning show. It wasn’t very good.
You switched the station whenever his wife, Deirdre, came on to expound on green cleaning products or he began sputtering yet again that thimerosal causes autism. You turned off Bo Dietl’s completely unfunny mangled English, half the celebrity journalists back to hawk their books and the annoying cackling of his posse of middle-aged homeboys, celebrating one another’s bon mots.
And here’s another opinion. It was much better than almost anything else on the radio. Depending on your mood and tastes, on New York radio there are the blissfully literate and informed grown-ups like Brian Lehrer and Leonard Lopate on WNYC, the hyper-tasteful music wonks at WFUV, the standing army of the all-news nation on WINS and WCBS. Wherever you are, the NPR station is one of America’s wonders.
But as Michael Harrison, editor and publisher of Talkers magazine, put it, there isn’t really anything on the radio like Mr. Imus, with his unscripted and sometimes revelatory interviews with politicians and authors, his hit-or-miss humor, his ecumenical bad taste and cranky neither-left-nor-right politics.
“Imus had a marvelous niche offering a nonstop parade of top contemporary newsmakers who you actually hear in an unpredictable setting, as opposed to the predictable, sanitized way you see them on television,” he said. “Sure, he could be curmudgeonly, and nasty and weird. So what? No one forced you to listen. If you don’t like it, listen to someone else.”
There were two kinds of reactions last week when it was announced, inevitably, that Mr. Imus would be returning to the air, on morning drive-time radio on Citadel Broadcasting starting Dec. 3: from those who spend much of the day in their cars and those who don’t.
If you grew up around New York in the 1960s, you grew up with radio, whether it was Cousin Brucie, Big Dan Ingram and Scott Muni on WABC, Jean Shepherd’s baroque soliloquies on WOR, or Bob Fass’s Beckett-like free-form excursions on WBAI. It’s where you got your music, much of your inspiration and assorted blasts from distant planets, like the Billy Graham sermons that used to air on Sunday nights. Radio mattered.
Now, as Mr. Harrison laments, it matters a lot less. You get your music from the iPod or the computer download; you get every flavor in the cultural medicine cabinet from the Internet.
“Radio’s becoming marginalized,” he said. “Cars are like the last bastion where AM radio has a captive audience, but even there children today don’t think of cars as the place where you listen to the radio. They think it’s where you get to see cartoons and Barney videos.”
Still, for people who drive a lot, radio is still almost all there is — the last uni-media zone. Yes, you can listen to music CDs, and I’m addicted to audiobooks. But if there’s any romance or pleasure left to driving in America (a big if), part of it’s inseparable from what’s on the radio.
If you were on the road Friday morning, you heard what felt like Week 100 on A-Rod and Joe Torre. (Can people really listen to this much sports talk?) On the obscure corners of the dial (if your car still had a dial) you could find sweaty preachers howling from distant churches, confident market gurus and pitchmen selling herbal remedies and get-rich schemes. It’s the flea market of American media.
On the main destinations, where the talk tilts male and right, even the excesses were predictable. In the slot Mr. Imus will fill on WABC, a substitute host, Jeffrey Lichtman, lamented that we hadn’t gone after the right “psychotic, Muslim, fanatic animals,” meaning Iran, but added that the United States could still bomb both Iranians and Iraqis. “I’d send the biggest bomb possible that would kill the most people. All those people that show up in their stadiums with their eyes bulging and their tongues hanging out saying, ‘Death to America.’ I’d drop a bomb the same size as that stadium.” Anyway, 9:27, let’s get the traffic and weather.
I’m not a member of Imus’s club. My only brush with him came when he lambasted me for a few days a lot more vigorously than he did the Rutgers women. (Long story. It was all shtick.)
But anyone who listens to the show knows he insults everyone, though this time he did it entirely inappropriately on the cultural third rail. Even the “shock jock” label seems a little tired (given what’s out there, how shocking can radio be?), but if, as rumored, he’ll return with a black co-host, maybe he’ll get the contemporary ground rules right next time.
We could do better, but in the prefab world of commercial radio, we usually do worse. For all his flaws, Imus is closer to the spirit of what radio used to be than almost anyone out there.
i think a lot of us posting on this board already have advanced credits, or at least honorary degrees…. some of us might have that PhD thesis (or is it a LuD, rachel?) underway. 🙂
(on the other hand, some of us might consider studying obsessive-compulsive disorders….)http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/arts/music/28pare.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin
not sure how long this link will last — NY Times 10/28, Jon Pareles article — includes mp3 links, too. 🙂
Joe, you are very fortunate to be able to see Lu in a small place! That sounds so good, I am tempted to fly over for this show, myself… NO STADIUMS, svp!!
I saw her 5 times this year, and each performance was very different. The one prediction I can make is that no show is predictable. I saw a raw, loose, emotional performance (Jazzfest in New Orleans) and a smooth, flawless show (in New Jersey), an energized rockin’ show (near Philadelphia), and in-between. I saw the last show in New York, which was lovely — the album set was sweet and even a bit melancholy, and the second set with guests David Byrne and David Johansen was fun, like a party.
There can be uneven spots — for example, she re-starts her songs sometimes because she wants them to be right — and these things affect the audience in different ways; some do not like these rough edges. My advice: Have no expectations, and enjoy the moment as a creative act. Her voice and songs are always extraordinary, and her band is just amazing.
(Others on this site are more knowledgeable than me, and I am sure can tell you a lot more.)
The live CDs of the El Rey and NYC are great and I recommend them both; however, she does seem more “at home” at the El Rey. (To order, you have to click at the bottom of the home page, not on the “store” link.)
A small, intimate club in Paris will certainly be interesting. I am envious!
I’m sure some people involved in this “experiment” of on-demand concert CDs may feel like they opened a big can of worms at times (I’m sure they’ve asked: is it worth it?), so I’d just like to say thanks again to IJ and others involved for making this happen. It’s worth it! 😀 Being able to get live recordings of these concerts — legitimately — is very cool. I sincerely appreciate it — and I hope you can expand it to more shows in the future.
We can all find flaws and make suggestions, but it’s probably a good idea to keep in mind the original concept of these recordings. Which was, as I got it, kind of like an “official” bootleg recording of the concert. The CD was created, under serious time constraints, the night of the concert. And it was offered to the audience that very night, almost as a souvenir of that show. It was only after a lot of demand here on the website that it was even made available by mail. But it is still the same CD you would have picked up right after the concert — not something intended to be a slick, commercial release, in a boxed set, and not remastered in a studio. I like that it’s “live and in the moment” — as someone here said about a Lucinda performance. I love the LA recordings — and I can’t wait to start listening to the NYC CDs. In my mind, these recordings have a lot of qualities that are better than studio albums. I got my money’s worth, and more. And am grateful. So, thanks y’all.
on the other hand, I am very happy…
@Ray wrote:
Hey, maybe Lucinda wants to pitch in tonight — she could sign the disks she packs up!
should have picked up the NY cds at the last NYC show, but the line was long…. and I needed to re-live the show over a beer. I know my shortsightedness will be worth the wait.:)
Worth the wait? What can I say … The package just arrived, and the self-titled album — my favorite album, and the only night I got to see in NY — is signed by Lucinda! Chance? Serendipity? I am thrilled… and touched.
Thank you Inside Job. Thank you Lucinda! 😀 😀 😀
to alter a lyric…. “None of my love has been taken for granted….”
IJ, thanks again. Can you tell us whether the packages were mailed Priority Mail, which would be great ’cause that takes just a few days, or Media Mail, which could take considerably longer (esp. to the east coast)? Either way, all your efforts are appreciated. 🙂
You’re a good man, Lefty. I only know about him from the posts currently in the forum — and, sadly, there are just a couple that we can read now. (I tried.) If there are archived posts from SonO — and it appears there must be many — maybe they could also be re-posted for those of us who missed them.
I’ll honor him by listening to the music choices that he shared with us… Peace to SonO.
Thanks for the “back story”, IJ. Considering how chancy the second sets were, this show was impressive and came off really well. A week later, I’m still hearing (and smiling to) Lu’s duet with David Johansen on Jailhouse Tears. Man, that was just great! But it was all good, and I am really happy to have been there.
So — again — i’ll bang the drums for a release of second set CDs!!! How about a compilation of LA and NY second sets? While I’d love 10 disks, one for each second set, I’d be happy with 3, or 4 or 5 — whatever you can put together with permissions/rights from the other artists.
8)found this blog on the 10/4 show — interesting: it includes a picture of David Byrne on his bicycle (outside Town Hall?)!
http://solitaryshowgoer.blogspot.com/2007/10/lucinda-williams-town-hall-october-4.html
thanks for the personal attention to this, Inside Job. You should have a little sticker or stamp for each shipment that says “Packed With Care by Inside Job!” … Hey, maybe Lucinda wants to pitch in tonight — she could sign the disks she packs up!
should have picked up the NY cds at the last NYC show, but the line was long…. and I needed to re-live the show over a beer. I know my shortsightedness will be worth the wait.
We tend to think every business is set up like Amazon.com these days, but in a way it’s nice to know that (for this weekend, anyway) these Lucinda cds are being handled the same way as some upstart garage band. A guy stuffing boxes in a basement or someplace (and you’re the guy!). Seriously, we all really appreciate your hard work — and forthrightness. Thank you. 🙂
Regarding the audio CDs and the second sets —
i have no idea of how difficult/expensive/miserable it may be to get permissions/rights from other artists, but i’m sure it’s complicated — so i’d be content (even happy 🙂 ) if you released second sets with only some of the artists. Say you can only get 6 or 7 out of 10 artists on board — go with that! These are not studio releases, they’re kind of like “official” bootleg recordings (I love that quality), so in my mind the best we can get is just fine…. Yeah, I want it all, but don’t hold it all back because of a few artists.Just a thought (and others may not agree).
A word of thanks also, for the album set releases. It’s a very cool concept and I am very happy with the way they came together (under pressure).
Vanlutz, thanks for noting that youtube post of Passionate Kisses. I agree with your comments about the show being brilliant.
That video pretty much sums up what is both great and uneven about Lucinda. And to see the greatness, we have to take the uneven part along with it.
Yes, she starts off in the wrong key, and yes gets a little confused, and Flappy helps get her back. But that night, in the audience, I felt that particular “false start” made the concert more interesting, more intimate, sweeter, in a way. I think she handled it deftly — and charmed everyone. It was funny when she kept strumming and very softly said, “I’m starting over….It’s the wrong key … it’s too high.” She was totally disarming when she said, “I’ve blown my entrance!” You can hear how the audience is with her the whole time, clapping, laughing. And then when she re-starts, everybody is clapping along in time with the song. And she does the song beautifully. It was a lovely moment. I’ll take uneven moments like that any day.
😀I know I’m joining the conversation late, but I’ll add some more observations about this last show…. Sorry, no notes, no setlist for the second set, just memory….
I thought the LW album portion was a lovely performance. She seemed in a good mood, secure, comfortable. The false starts did not interrupt the flow or change the mood, imo. (They were minor, in the context of Lucinda and false starts. It’s good to have that context. 😉 I felt she was totally comfortable with her re-starts this night. A little neurotic, as usual, but certainly not “off balance”…. On one re-start she even joked about needing to “keep the legend alive”. )
By the time she introduced Asked for Water Gave me Gasoline, she seemed surprised that it had gone so fast — said something like “are we on the last song already?” to the audience. It surprised me too. I thought the first set went fast — and pretty smoothly — and there was nothing i’d refer to as a “rambling mess” or lucinda “unnerved” (with due respect to DavidK’s opinion). Were there actually 7 false starts? Honestly, i thought there were only 3 or 4 — and not a big deal. Shows how differently we can interpret the performance….
Lu didn’t offer up as much chat as on the LA recordings. Maybe she’s tired of repeating the stories. That was fine. So, what was great? It was Abandoned that caught me in that old Lucinda Williams way — an emotional hook, a little chill. I felt it. Crescent City made me smile. Side of the Road was just sublime, with lu on acoustic and doug adding minimal backing. First time I’d heard that song live; it was simple and beautiful. I’m very happy i got to see her perform this album.
Jim Lauderdale joined her through much of the album set and it was great to see the two of them together on stage. I think that also added to her comfort level. The audience was great, no attitude, no inappropriate shouts, appreciative and basically just loving the show.
During the break, Fionn Regan was introduced by Lucinda as “the Bob Dylan of his generation” (gracious of her), sang one of his songs with an interesting old acoustic guitar and harmonica. He thanked Lucinda, and the audience. (It was Politeness Night.) I have to admit I have no idea what he sang, but it sounded good (yes, very dylan-esque) — he’s clearly talented, I’ll check out his songs.
The second set was certainly looser. … But it seemed almost as is Lu wanted the guests to take over for her. It was much more the guest’s show than hers. It was her party and she seemed to want David Byrne and David Johannsen and friends to sing at her party. Well, how cool is that? I agree with homosacer and sanantonio rose, and would like to have heard more Lucinda songs, but I can’t complain. It did, at times during the second set, seem like it was a Talking Heads show. (no complaints about that….) I think Byrne did 4 songs — and the encore was a single song — his. Lu told the audience David Byrne rode his bike over to play. Love that image. 8)
Heaven was great. On Buck Naked, Lu and Susan Marshall would come in on the word “naked”. There was something funny about them singing the word naked. (Yes, I am in 7th Grade)
She was obviously thrilled introducing the two Davids — and jumping up and down like a little girl on stage, smiling, when they played.
As I recall, the second set started with a Jim lauderdale song. Very nice, country. Again it was Politeness Night — thank yous all around.
Susan Marshall is an incredible vocalist — first time i’d seen her (Lu said she sang with Cat Power). Her rendition of Piece of My Heart was awesome — there is no other word — what a voice (better than Janis?). It blew me away.
I’ll add a couple more exclamation marks to I’ve Lost It’s on the Over Time duet with lu and David Byrne.
Jailhouse Tears with David Johansen — couldn’t have been better… funny… and believable.
The band was just incredible playing with the guests. It’s a privilege to see these guys play. Amazing.
Joy was performed without Riders on the Storm (not even a hint of the Doors) — I was expecting Riders to come in….
Since “the book” has once again become a hot topic on posts for the other night’s shows, I’ll note that there was a catch-your-breath moment when the stand fell (I think during Joy). Lu was back toward Butch, no one noticed the stand — with a messed up lyric book — on the floor until Lu came forward to sing — and had to stradle it. It took a fair amount of time (maybe a couple of minutes) to get things right again, but no crisis. She finished the song just fine.
I have to say my only disappointment with this Town Hall show was the quality of the sound. In the balcony (front row, center), it kind of sucked for Lucinda’s voice. And — pretty much — for Lu’s voice only. The band sounded great. The two Davids were fine. Jim was good. But the subtlety, warmth, softness and depth of Lucinda’s voice did not seem to carry. Anybody else notice this in the balcony? Was it just this night? Was it only my seat? (Maybe I was spoiled by those two recent performances at the Keswick Theatre and William Patterson….. Actually I think Lu’s voice sounded better outside at the brewery show in Utica!) It wasn’t “full”, I noticed it, it bothered me, and I was disappointed because I wanted to hear (and I wanted my friends to hear) everything her voice can offer. For the self-titled album, especially, i thought that was a shame.
She brought Tom Overby out onstage to introduce her honeybee, gave him a kiss. Sweet.
I thought it was kind of a winding-down, happy concert… It was different from what I had expected listening to the LA recordings, but I didn’t really know what to expect after reading about the other NYC nights … It was a great night. As they say, a good time was had by all. Including Lucinda, I think. 😀
by all accounts, the LA shows kicked ass. But the discussion of this NY show leaves LA in the dust. I am mesmerized. 😯
very happy to get to see tonight’s (Thurs) ST show — warts n all, whatever comes our way….
Bring it, Lu. 8)
Today’s Times review has what matters in the last two sentences here:
“Her agitation seemed circular; it never went anywhere, and it was still there by the end of the night. The music contained all the important information. It went somewhere.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/arts/music/04luci.html?ref=music
nice blog of the show here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-budd/lucinda-williamsgetting_b_66953.html
