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Starting the day in Hell…
Last night, on our way home from the MRI, we stopped at my daughter Penny’s to pick up our dogs where they were staying all day. Getting out of Cassandra‘s car and walking toward her house, I tripped over the base of my grandsons’ basketball net… painted black and invisible at night… and fell hard on the driveway and impacted my already weakened left side.
Getting up off the ground required really focused assistance from Elly and the girls who brought out a dining room chair for me to pull myself up using my right arm. This took about fifteen minutes and made my girls worry a lot.
While I don’t seem to have broken any bones, nor did I open any of the breaks I had in August/September, but my right arm hurts too much when I try to lift it that I’m really worried about what they are going to try to do at today’s exam in Hagerstown.
I spent the night switching between ice packs and a heating pad on my left shoulder and I have a little more movement, but not much, this morning. Elly made me a new ice pack for the morning.
I hope this doesn’t have the effect of cancelling Friday’s surgery on my head.
Hey Radio Fans… I’ll be on from 10:30 to Noon today…
This will probably be the last time in the next two weeks that I can be on the air, given my forthcoming hospital visit next week. So… I’ll be thrilled to get your call-ins on “Talk To Me” (304-876-5369).b You can talk about anything you want to, as usual, or make an esoteric music request that you challenge me to find in a few minutes… it’s always fun for me.
If you are not in the 50 mile radius of WSHC at 89.7 FM, Shepherdstown WV, then you can go to 897wshc.org/listen-live. There are folks all over the country who listen, now (and a few friends in other countries) and I look forward to playing for everyone.
So, tune in this morning to “Talk To Me”. BTW, my daughter, Cassandra (from Connecticut) is my guest this morning. You can talk to her, too.
– Bill
Related articles
- My congratulations to Stephen Skinner…My best wishes to Elliot Simon (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
- Hey radio fans… we have a special schedule today due to football season: (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
Looks like I’m on a revised schedule and a doctor change for brain surgery…
My wife, daughter and my son (who just came in from Wisconsin to see me) have just returned from a long morning and early afternoon in Georgetown (northern DC) where we have been at the hospital and physicians‘ center at the University.
It now seems that this is where everything will take place with the actual surgery one week from today. Tuesday we’ll have to go down again for more testing.
My new doctor comes with a very fine reputation and many years of experience. The hospital is one of the best rated in the country (something the Hagerstown hospital was far from) and it looks like they know what to do. The results of the surgery will take out part of the tumor, discover what kind it is and whether it needs chemotherapy, radiation or both. Then I will have an idea of how much living I will be able to expect… realizing that there is no 100% cure here.
I now have much more need to research the idea of a brain tumor and how it will continue to effect my life. When you are 66 and facing something major like this in your head, it is also concerning how much life there will continue to be to effect.
I can, however, do my radio show tomorrow morning on WSHC, Shepherdstown. If you aren’t in our 50 mile radius for 89.7 FM, go HERE and listen live on line. Tomorrow I’ll be on from 10:30 to 12:00 ET and I look forward to calls and requests (and I think my daughter Cassandra is going to do the show with me.)
Hope you all had a better day than I did. – Bill
(thanks to my daughter, Cassandra Corrigan, for the photo.)
Related articles
- Brain Cancer Chemotherapy (cancercenter.com)
- Brain Cancer Grading (cancercenter.com)
- Patients With Deadliest Of Brain Cancers Benefit From Repeated Surgeries (medicalnewstoday.com)
- Five Early Symptoms of Brain Tumor (healthybodylife.com)
- Helping M.D.s Help Brain-Tumor Patients (research.microsoft.com)
My congratulations to Stephen Skinner…My best wishes to Elliot Simon
The election finished in West Virginia with results I predicted on the air.
So we have a wonderful guy going to the State House of Delegates representing us here in Jefferson County.
Although I consider myself glad to know both Skinner and his opponent, libertarian Republican Elliot Simon, who does the radio program “Common Sense” on Saturday Mornings just before my show, “Talk To Me”, on WSHC radio in Shepherdstown, I must say it is Stephen’s politics that I agree with. It does not surprise me that he won.
I’ll be glad to have Elliot’s full time attention back on our Saturday Morning broadcasts. I’m sure he disagrees with me, but I hope we will still cordially greet each other between shows.
Related articles
- Hey radio fans… we have a special schedule today due to football season: (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
Hey radio fans… we have a special schedule today due to football season:
My “Talk To Me” show will be on WSHC this morning from 10:30 AM to Noon. We’ll have 90 minutes for your eclectic song requests, discussion of politics with 3 days to go until all of this is decided, and perhaps some comments on the results of Sandy.
If you are too far away to call in at 304-876-5369 remember you can also Listen Live at our web site from anywhere in the world. Just go to 579WSHC.org and click on “Listen Live” and you can join our regular morning call-in group (join Ralph, Stu, Bobby and Oinky and the rest of the gang… we’d love to have you on the team.
Elliott Simon’s shown is on before ours from 9:00 to 10:30 AM.
OK… I’m putting my show together so I can get out of the house on time.
Busy weekend for me.
This is a busy weekend as Elly and her Sustainable Shepherdstown group are
having a pot luck supper at our house and we have to do a lot of cleaning today and tomorrow morning. This morning I was up early and cleaned the first floor bathroom. After my radio show I’ve been assigned to the living room… much better than the kitchen!
Tonight we have a movie preceded by a dinner with an old friend of ours who is coming into town because she ha a daughter at Shepherd. So we have a weekend that is really filled up and I’m still getting over my recent health problems which I’m likely to be doing for the next couple of months. Ain’t life great.
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- How to Make Your Household Routine More Fun and Effective (standingonedge.wordpress.com)
- Pick the Home Organizing Approach that Works for You (apartmentguide.com)
- Get Your Space Cleaned Up in a Hurry (apartmentguide.com)
- Clean House: Use A Cleaning Bucket or Caddy (ext.homedepot.com)
Saturday Morning and I’m getting ready for the 11 o’clock show…
Our regular schedule at WSHC (89.7 FM) is back this week, so my show, Talk To Me, is on from 11 AM to 1 PM and I’ll be taking calls from listeners at 304.876.5369. Remember, if you are not in our listening area (which unfortuneately ony covers about 50 miles around Shepherdstown, WV) you can listen live on the web site: http://897wshc.org.
As usual, I am putting together the list of songs I’d like to play on the show, but I expect my regular callers and more will call in with hard to find requests (which I usually pull out of the air) and their music, as usual, outplays mine. It’s really worth listening to if you have a desire to hear work from the 40s, 50s or 60s. Those are the years most of the requests fall into.
I also expect Ralph Petrie to show up around noon for one of my favorite parts of the show, The Petrie Dish. Ralph brings in his historic music list which really educates all of us on the history of rock ‘n roll.
I love the Saturday show and I hope you might as well.
I’VE GOT THE MORNING RADIO SHOW ALONE…
John is away this morning so I have to do the Winners & Losers show alone from 7:30 to 9 on WSHC (89.7 FM). To listen on line live from anywhere go to http://897wshc.org.
Elly, of course, is upset that she has to get up so early to take me into the station. John usually picks me up on his way in.
So right now I’m putting my music list together. I’ll be taking requests for music at 304-876-5369 if you want to hear yourself on the air.
Finding something to do to keep from going mad!
I’ve had a bad day today… physically tripped up by a small seizure while I was doing dishes and an afternoon of trying to stay awake. This is, unfortunately, what life has become… I can’t drive (by law…until I’ve gone a year without a seizure as certified by a doctor) and, since Elly works (which I can’t do outside of the house), I bounce off the walls and am bombarded by televised boredom. If it were not for my laptop and the internet I might as well be in a coma.
So I guess I’m going to start writing something outside of my blog. There is a joy in constructing ideas out of words which I am beginning to look forward to each morning. What I do with what I write is not apparent right now, but I expect it will be realized sooner or later.
I’m tending toward creating a radio drama that I might be able to add to my Saturday show at WSHC, or do with John on the Friday morning show. I’ve been researching radio scripts from the 30s and 40s and I find them fascinating. Some are funny, some are adventures, all of them are strongly character-based since there is little opportunity for scenery (other than sound effects) in radio work.
When I get something finished I’ll let you know.
Related articles
- TT: When radio wasn’t (artsjournal.com)
- Lean & Hungry Theater to Perform and Record Radio Drama Version of The Winter’s Tale, December 4 and 5 (prweb.com)
My radio show is short and earlier today…
Shepherd University is loaded with alumni this weekend and there is a home football game which is covered on WSHC starting at 11 AM. That means that my show, Talk To Me, is only 1 hour long and starts at 10 AM.
I’m putting my short list of songs on my playlist now and that will keep me from blog posting until I’m back home after 10 AM.
If you want to listen at 10, but are outside of the fifty mile or so tuning radius for 89.7, you can listen live on the WSHC web site:
http://897wshc.org. When you get there, click on “Listen Live”.
Related articles
- Why do we do what we do? (profkevinwilliams.com)
- Oct. 10 Senate debate in Wheeling is canceled (wvgazette.com)
- Back on the radio this morning… I’m so glad! (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
Back on the radio this morning… I’m so glad!
I’m over in the outer studio at WSHC 89.5 as Elliot Simon finishes up the last hour of his show. I’m setting up my music list for the two hours I’ll be on the air from 11 AM to 1 PM (and, by the way, if you are out of our very small listening area, you can hear the show on the internet by going to http://897wshc.org/ and clicking on “listen live”. Actually, I have friends and family all over the country who listen, so I know we have the reach.
This is the first time in several weeks that I’ve been able to do the show, since I had my accident, broke a bunch of bones and was in the hospital, then laid up at home for quite a while. When I was finally able to move around last week we went to Wisconsin for my son’s wedding, so I missed last Saturday as well. But the “Talk To Me” show is back on today… if you want to call in and talk or request a song, the number is 304-876-5369.
Since this is one of my favorite activities, this is a happy day. I hope my pal Ralph Petrie gets in for the12 to 1 hour so we can have the segment we call “The Petrie Dish”… no one knows more about popular music history than Ralph and it’s fun to get questions answered.
Bye, now… tune in if you can.
Back on the blog…but this will be slow.
Saturday, in the early afternoon having returned home after my WSHC show, I had a seizure walking up the basement stairs from the laundry. The next time I knew anything, I was being rolled into an MRI at Jefferson County Hospital.
Everything else, to me, is blank.
It looks like I fell down the stairs, hit the concrete floor and slid over to a wall with a stack of paintings on it.
Fortunately, Elly was just returning home and heard the thud. When she found me she couldn’t wake me up so she called 911. They got me to Jefferson.
I have six broken ribs, a broken shoulder blade and a cracked collar bone… all on the left side.
Any movement on my left side or moving my left arm meant excruciating pain. I screamed a lot. JCH then decided I needed specialty trauma care abd sent me down to Inova Fairfax in Virginia… a place if you were my worst enemy I would NOT send you.
I finally got out last night. Now comes six months of healing and pain reduction.
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- Jockey suffers broken collar bone after spill at Churchill Downs (wave3.com)
Just came home from the morning radio show…
John Case and I did Winners and Losers on WSHC this morning and, as usual, we had a pretty good show… especially with our regular callers Ralph Petrie and Stu Brown.
I’ve been thinking lately about how much I enjoy doing the two radio programs I’m on each week (got my Saturday show, Talk To Me, tomorrow from 11 to 1) and don’t really know what I’d do without them. Fortunately John picks me up and drives me home on Fridays and my wife gets me to the station on Saturdays and Ralph Petrie drives me home. As long as this keeps up, I have no problems.
So now I’m putting together the song list for tomorrow morning’s show, plus picking a couple of comedy bits from the Bob and Ray collection, and going over various talking points to cover. Lately I’ve been getting quite a few call-ins — especially challenge requests for rare songs — so the show has been quite a project.
If you want to call in tomorrow, the number is 304-876-5369… and no matter where you are, you can listen live on the internet at http://www.897wshc.org.
West Virginia interaction: JohnCase responds to Senator Manchin…
My good friend and radio personality John Case received an e-mail from Senator Joe Manchin (D – WV) which, to all appearances, supports many of the subjects which we on the left do as well. John points out that this is a ruse… and, of course, with an election coming in November, Joe is trying to make himself look OK to Democrats.
Here’s the correspondence:
On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 9:27 PM, Joe Manchin <info@joemanchinwv.com> wrote:
Dear John:West Virginia is still recovering from the storms that did so much damage these past few weeks. The power is back on, but families lost their groceries, saw their fuel expenditures rise, and many, many people lost pay because businesses weren’t operating. What more evidence do we need that American infrastructure needs improvement?
But in the middle of our suffering in West Virginia, the Army Corps of Engineers announced that it had awarded a $94 million contract to provide reliable electricity for Helmand Province, Afghanistan. That’s right – while thousands of West Virginians were without power just a short drive away, the federal government decided it would be a good idea to spend all that money halfway around the world to buy electricity for a country that doesn’t even want our help.
I went to the Senate floor and I let my colleagues know that I am very frustrated and angry about this, and that I’m not going to just sit by and watch Washington treat West Virginia like it’s less important than Afghanistan. Now that West Virginia is officially asking for federal disaster recovery help, I’d like the folks in Washington to hear what you have to say, too.
Add your name to my petition and leave your thoughts for the record on my website.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you build a bridge in West Virginia, we won’t blow it up. If you build a school, we won’t burn it down. In fact, we’ll be very appreciative. And if you help us invest in a more reliable electric system, we will use that power to make this country stronger, to power this nation’s economy, and to provide good-paying jobs.-Joe
John’s response:
I am sorry, Senator Manchin, but — while I am glad you are opposed to further unnecessary
expenditures in Afghanistan — I will not support you for re-election. I believe that candidates who espouse, as you do, Republican talking points on energy, the president, climate change, and other matters should be defeated. I will not vote Republican — so I am not planing to vote for you.
I think voters who are tempted by racism or ignorance, or simple misinformation about the future of coal and the its costs/benefits to West Virginia, to vote for you — should really get to enjoy the full consequences of Republican policies you are pursuing — why get it half-baked and stale from you, or Gov. Tomblin for that matter. Get the full dose of political poison!
By the way — I have a radio program on weekday mornings in Shepherdstown. Maybe I have it all wrong! Feel free to call in to WSHC Listen Live line from 8-9 AM Tues thru Friday, 304-876-5369, if you would like to discuss this.
very truly yours,
John Case
Host, The Winners and Losers Radio Program
WSHC, 89.7 FM / 897wshc.org
Shepherdstown, WV
Of course, the odds of Joe Manchin calling into the Winners and Losers radio show are greatly weighted to “no show.” John is correct that this so-called Democrat really seems to be a Republican (as does Earl Ray Tomblin) – from not supporting the President in the Senate to publicly affirming that he will NOT attend the Democratic Convention.
Thanks for making this correspondence public, John.
Related articles
- I’m really tired of hearing how Obama is costing WV coal jobs. Not True! (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
- Jay, Manchin ask Obama to OK state disaster request (wvgazette.com)
- Why Joe Manchin Flees From Barack Obama (powerlineblog.com)
- Manchin to skip Democratic National Convention (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
- Top West Virginia Democrats RSVP ‘No’ to DNC Convention (nymag.com)
- W.Va. Dem brass skipping DNC (politico.com)
- Some Democrats to skip their convention (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
- Manchin Questions Afghan Aid After Mass Power Outage at Home (wsaz.com)
- Manchin links state storm outages to Afghan aid (wvgazette.com)
Back to the Radio…
I just got into the WSHC (89.7) studio and I’m setting up for my 11 – 1 show. Given the Shepherdstown Street festival combined with the number of trees that came down in the storm last night, getting in here took longer than I expected.
Elly did the driving, since I am banned from doing it for at least six months (assuming I have no more seizures.) It’s another hot day out but the studio is AC’d and relatively comfortable.
If you are outside of our area you can listen on the web at http://www.897wshc.org.
Paul Krugman’s Book “End This Depression Now” is available…
… and I bought a copy yesterday at my favorite bookstore (The Four Seasons, in Shepherdstown WV). I have to admit I received a discount since I had a $5.00 certificate which I won playing a riddle quiz on WSHC on Thursday morning, but I would have bought it anyway.

Paul Krugman
Krugman thinks the country’s economic problems are solvable, and he uses his book to lead us to the solutions.
“We didn’t have a plague of locusts, we were not hit by a tsunami, there wasn’t some act of God that created this terrible situation. It was acts of man.”
…Krugman said yesterday to a Netroots Nation conference in Rhode island. he also commented on the NY Times reception of his book:
“The New York Times Book Review is run by Sam Tanenhaus, who is very much a neocon, and makes a point whenever a progressive comes out with a book to find someone who will attack it. It’s not really an attack, but the reviewer is shocked at the lack of respect I show for ‘highly respected people,’ I think he uses that phrase.”
Another thing Krugman said, which may show up on my Quotes of the Decade series:
“If you don’t know multiple people who are suffering, then you must be living in a very rarefied environment… you must be maybe a member of the Romney clan, or something.”
Related articles
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- Estonian President Explains His Twitter Tiff With Paul Krugman (politicker.com)
- Paul Krugman: Reagan Was a Keynesian (economistsview.typepad.com)
- Paul Krugman on why austerity is a recipe for ten more years of a Depression. (americablog.com)
- Paul Krugman Demolishes Conservatives At Night, Too (polentical.com)
- Brittan on Krugman on Keynesianism (cafehayek.com)
- Krugman and Stiglitz: Our Most Widely Ignored Public Intellectuals (economistsview.typepad.com)
Over at Mellow Moods having coffee after the show…
Not a bad show on WSHC this morning… a lot of song request challenges (and I found all of them) from my regulars and nothing went wrong with the equipment (Ta Dah!).
The weekend looks lovely. After coffee, I’m on my way over to our now up-for-sale town house to get some hardware off the garden fence. Then back home to make up the sleep that I DIDN”T get last night.
Hope you all have a great weekend.
Over at WSHC putting my morning show together…
… and listening to Elliot Simon who is on right now spewing his libertarian blather to anyone listening. I’m tuning him out of my head while I write this.
Right now I’m selecting the Bob and Ray episodes I’ll be playing and adding some songs to my playlist (although as of late we have been playing a lot more requests from listeners and I rarely get halfway through any preset list of songs.)
It’s nice outside right now but there is rain predicted for this afternoon, right when Elly and I are driving to DC to eat with Linda and Cecil and see the Synetic Theater‘s production of The Taming of the Shrew.
As I write this I realize how difficult it is to compose a post and hear Elliot at the same time… burbling about regulation on oil speculation.
I’ll be back later.
To my readers: sorry for such a late start today…
I didn’t get any sleep last night – half an hour at the most – and then I had to go in to cover for John Case on the early morning show on WSHC. When I got home around 9:45, I fell asleep for the rest of the morning until two barking dogs decided to tell me it was lunch time.
Anyway… I haven’t browsed the news yet, or figured out what is going on for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we are going to DC to see a production of The Taming Of The Shrew with our friend’s Linda and Cecil. Oh yes, I’ll still be doing the Saturday morning radio show, but we’re on the sports-related short schedule tomorrow, so the show will be from 1o – 11 AM.
If I can get to bed early tonight I’ll be all ready for WSHC… and this blog… in the morning as usual.
Saturday Morning and I’m getting ready for my radio show…
“Talk To Me” is on WSHC FM from 11 Am to 1 PM today and I’m getting my music list and discussion topics ready for the broadcast. If you are outside of our local area (we’re a very small university radio station at Shepherd U.) you can listen by going to the web site at http://897wshc.org/listen_live/index.html. and feel free to call in and, well, talk to me: 304-876-5369.
We have only one line, so if someone else is talking you’ll have to wait til they are done (and my regulars, Ralph and Stu, talk a lot.) I also don’t answer the phone when I’m playing old Bob and Ray cuts.
Elly is going to Frederick, MD, this morning for a student Graphic Design Portfolio Review for the Blue Ridge AIGA… this the third time she’s done the portfolio review and she’s going there with our friend, designer Jill Harner. That gives me most of the day to myself, so after the show I’ll be going back home to continue unpacking at the new house.
Another Saturday in West Virginia.
Good Morning on a lovely Saturday…
I’m over at WSHC (89.7 FM) getting ready for my 11 AM show (which you can also listen to on the internet from wherever you are at http://www.897wshc.org/listen_live/index.html.)
Last night Elly and I went to Shepherdstown Film Society where we have spent many enjoyable Friday nights. The film was George Clooney‘s Good Night and Good Luck which was about Edward R. Murrow‘s exposure of Senator Joseph McCarthy on CBS television news. Filmed in black and white and very cleverly using visual and sound clips of the actual Army McCarthy hearings and other 1954 or so contemporary television videos, Clooney, who plays news director Fred Friendly, and Richard Straithern, who plays Murrow, bring off performances that arfe damned close to reality.
Todd Cotgreave, the CEO of WSHC, did the film introduction last night and ran the discussion afterward and those of us who stayed around for it had an enlightening conversation on McCarthyism and that period in American history when so many people were accused of being Communists.
As a follow-up to last night’s conversations, I’m going to play some of Bob and Ray’s 1954 radio sketches from their Mary Backstayge Noble Wife soap opera where Ray Goulding did an amazing parody of Joe McCarthy. It will start with Bob Elliott discussing what they were doing in the Backstayge series and he will also play some original McCarthy material. Then I’ll play one of the episodes which deal with the real-estate hearings in Skunk Haven, NY, protesting Harry Backstayge’s building of a 14 story home. Commissioner Carstairs (the McCarthy character) is the lead prosecutor of the case and it is quite funny.
So many people who wanted to attack McCarthy in the 50s avoided doing it out of fear that they would be falsely labeled as Commies. The fact that Bob and Ray could do their imitation and not suffer from it is because, as usual, they were remarkably non-poltical. I’ll be playimng these clips sometime during the first hour of my show (from 11-Noon).
Tune in if you can.
Related articles
- History since then vindicates Joe McCarthy: Read Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s Reply to Edward R. Murrow (trutherator.wordpress.com)
- This Day In History: Edward R. Murrow’s See It Now Airs McCarthyism Episode (1954) (euzicasa.wordpress.com)
Waiting for John Case to pick me up…
This is my 9th and, hopefully, last day without a car. John’s picking me up to get to the 7 AM warmup for our Friday morning show on WSHC.
According to the Honda dealer, my new Fit should be ready to pick up after 3 this afternoon and I’ll be driving again and much poorer.
We’ve already named the car The Hearse, since it is black… or, as Elly says, we’ve never had a black car. The other choices were white or teal (which Elly refused to get.)
Now we have two Fits… Elly’s is a grey 2008 version. I think it’s a pretty good car… we haven’t had any complaints. Even though it’s small, there’s a lot of room in it.
Anyway, I’ll add more later when I get the new wheels and drive ’em around.