I'm working on my application to Arcadia Publishing for a book featuring postcards from Springfield and it's an interesting process. They want biographical information and a reference (!) besides 20 images with captions and a chapter breakdown. I've got a good chunk of the postcards I need for the project and have found that I probably need a checklist to bring to flea markets with me as I've duplicates of some images.

I recently did a story about a new Arcadia Publishing book on Springfield firefighters.

For author Bert Johanson, his new book on Springfield firefighting "Images of America: Springfield Firefighting" was due to a happy accident.

Johanson is active in the Connecticut Fire Museum, which is housed at the same location as the Connecticut Trolley Museum in East Windsor, Conn. He and his wife Nancy had finished a book on Hartford Conn. firefighters for Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series when he met William Pooler, whose family has had a long history of being firefighters in Springfield.

Pooler's grandfather was Noah Pooler, a city firefighter from 1907 to 1942. The elder Pooler has assembled a collection of photos of his colleagues, the station houses and scenes of actual fires.

Johanson told Reminder Publications once he saw that collection he knew he had "the nucleus for a new book."

But the Johansons needed some additional help that came from Fred Rodriguez, a 29-year veteran of the Springfield Fire Department. Rodriguez was able to help the Johansons identify many of the people shown in the photos.

Additional photos came from Geoffrey Neilson of Wethersfield, Conn., Raymond Pond of Agawam and the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum.

The book has a history of the Springfield fire fighting effort dating back to 1792 when the community purchased its first hand-pump engine, "The Lion." The photos take readers through the history of the department from its volunteer days to when horses drew steamed-power pumpers to when the city became one of the first all motorized departments in the nation.

Johanson believes Springfield might have been the first motorized large city, although he said that Oklahoma City, OK. claims to have been the first.

The bulk of the book's photos depict the department in the later days of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century. Johanson said that being a firefighter was considered a great job in those years due to the steady income it afforded, even though prior to World War One, firefighters in the city only had one day off a month.

Johanson, a retired transportation manager for a Hartford, Conn. business, said he was impressed that so many of Springfield's original fire stations are still standing with several still in operation. He said that most of Hartford's old stations have been demolished.

This is Johanson's seventh book for Arcadia Publishing, and he said he would love to compile a book on Springfield's trolleys. He is very involved with the Connecticut Trolley Museum as well and has written several books on various trolley systems.

For more information on the book, log onto

Arcadia Publishing

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Dream girls and fever dreams are in this week's DVD column.

Dreamgirls: Two-disc Showstopper Edition

Musicals are not my favorite genre, but I was drawn to "Dreamgirls" because of the music and of its notoriety. The Broadway show that inspired the film had drawn criticism because it was a depiction, although altered, of the life and career of The Supremes.

"Dreamgirls" tells the story of a slightly fictional African-American girl group who suffers from the pressures of fame and success. The story is so close to the bone of Motown, its head Berry Gordy and The Supremes, that Dreamworks and Paramount, the stow studios that produced the film, actually apologized to Motown personnel if they were offended by it.

The film starts out more as a conventional musical. There are dramatic scenes that advance the story and are supported by musical numbers. As the film progresses, though, it becomes much more operatic with the characters speaking through the music and the plot carried by the songs.

This shift is accompanied by the change in the style of music. At the beginning the film begins in the early 1960s the music is more traditional R&B. As the story progresses the music changes to the more sterile pop that typified the Supremes and other Motown acts.

My own musical tastes are such that I enjoyed the first part of the film much more than the latter section.

Directed by Bill Condon, who wrote the screenplay for the movie "Chicago," the film suffers from too much music. The performers are capable of good dramatic performances and frankly I wanted to see more of that instead of hearing faux Supremes tunes.

As the Dream who gets dumped, "American Idol" contestant Jennifer Hudson is the revelation here. Her voice and acting abilities are dead on. I thought it was interesting casting to see Beyonce Knowles in the Diana Ross role. One wonders if art was imitating life a little bit here.

Eddie Murphy is excellent as James "Thunder" Early, the raucous soul singer who is forced to change his style.

The second disc gives you everything you could possibly want in extras including audition footage, extended versions of many of the musical acts and documentaries. Pack a lunch if you're going to try to view it all in one sitting.

For more information go to www.paramount.com/homeentertainment.



The Screwfly Solution

Director Joe Dante is well known for his ability to produce horror and fantasy films that deftly blend humor with drama. In his new film, part of a Showtime horror series, Dante demonstrates he can play it very straight with the result being a serious and affecting horror film.

Based on a short story by James Tiptree, Jr., the film is about an outbreak of violence against women that is spreading around the globe. At first it seems like a series of hideous coincidences, but then it's clearly an epidemic.

Running just an hour, Dante shows what can be done with a taut effective script, good performances and effective direction. There are a lot of horror directors who could learn from him.

If you're a horror fan, seek out "The Screwfly Solution."

For more information, go to www.mastersofhorror.net



The Film Crew: Killers From Space

Imagine how Peter Graves must have felt. In 1953 he had a prominent role in director Billy Wilder's "Stalag 17." Just a year later he was working for Billy's brother, W. Lee Wilder, who spent his career churning out pretty terrible low-budget films such as "Killers From Space."

Graves was able to get through it. He has had a long and respectable career and thanks to The Film Crew three of the former creators of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" we all can get through a viewing of "Killers from Space" without twitching and crying.

"Incompetent" and "inane" are two words that come to mind about this story of a nuclear scientist who is abducted by aliens with ping-pong ball eyes (literally).

The Film Crew's commentary is pretty darn funny and I'm looking forward to their next release. So far it's been two for two.

For more information, log onto www.shoutfactory.com

Kung Fu Hustle: Axe Kickin' Edition

OK martial arts and Hong Kong movie fans, you want to know what are the differences between the 2005 DVD release of this Stephen Chow kung fu comedy and this latest release. Well, I'm not entirely sure.

The back of the DVD box states this version contains footage not seen in the American release and has a bunch of cool documentary extras. I've been going around the Internet trying to nail down just how much good stuff we had previously missed and as near as I can tell there's no definitive answer!

This version is "approximately 100 minutes" which is what the running time is noted for the previous edition. Yet one source lists the Hong Kong version as 99 minutes. Oh, what is a film geek to do?

Well, enjoy this package that features Chow's biggest success to date. I have to admit I didn't care for the film very much when I saw it in the theaters largely because it was so different from the other Chow films I've seen. Chow is one of the most popular comic actors in Hong Kong films and this film was a big departure for a guy known for silliness.

A second viewing of this tale of redemption, though, left me with much greater appreciation. It is both funny and moving.

As a director, Chow loves to make references to other movies, both American and Chinese. I'll let you guess where in the film he tips his hat to the Roadrunner. This action comedy is probably unlike anything you've ever seen before.

Be adventurous and try it one Saturday night.

For more information go to www.kungfuhustle.com
© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

My comments on American- made products hit a chord with several readers last week who sent in letters to me...one for and one against.

If you're serious about trying to consciously buy more American-made products, there are some interesting Web sites that can help, including

Shop union-made

that directs consumers to products made by union labor.

By the way, I found another American made brand of jeans as well: Pointer Brand. More information is located at

Pointer jeans

. Prices for standard jeans range from $29.45 to $41, depending upon your size.

Here's another angle to this on-going issue to consider: we have heard for years that government officials and think tankers believe the United States is heading to an information-based high tech economy. I remember former Governor Michael Dukakis advocating such a vision when Massachusetts was a center for the computer industry in the 1980s. Remember Digital? Wang?

I think Dukakis had a vision of technocrats supported by entry-level service jobs. I liked him, but he was dead wrong about this view of the state.

Anyone who is talking about that today is either behind the times or just not telling the truth. Everyone in the high tech field has been threatened by the continual out-sourcing of those jobs to qualified people in foreign countries who will gladly work for a fraction of what Americans want and need.

There was a story earlier this year about a Pasadena, Calif. publisher who was hiring a writer in India to cover local city council stories. She was going to do it by phone and e-mail.

Now I think this is patently ridiculous and I hope the Flying Buendo Brothers do as well but clearly there is a mind-set among some business owners to do whatever is necessary for short-term profits regardless of those actions' effects over the course of three or five years.

But who knows if this if something freakish or a trend?

And remember that more and more of our food is coming from foreign countries and you might not even realize it. Beef, for example, can be stamped with a Department of Agriculture seal and not be raised in this nation. Although Congress passed legislation in 2002 that mandates detailed labeling, the legislation is not going into effect until next year. And according to Food and Water Watch, food industry representatives are working to weaken the legislation.

The more money we send out of the country in the form of wages or the cost of goods, the weaker our nation becomes.

Here's my mantra: buy as much as you can from locally owned businesses and as much that is made in this country that you can afford.

***

Speaking of trends in the press, I must have been sick the day the memo went out that female reporters should kiss public officials as a way of greeting. I see this more and more and frankly it bewilders me.

Yes, it's great to be friendly with the officials you cover day after day, but giving them a hug and kiss might prove to be an impediment to asking a hard question.

I know it's a question of style and, yes, I come from a fairly uptight family where hugs and kisses to casual acquaintances was not the norm.

It's just when you ask a question bound to irritate someone, a habit of kissing them just seems to be awkward to say the least.

Of course, I've noticed the use of the "air kiss" a lot. That's a phenomena I don't understand either. What's the point of smooching into the air and pretending it's a moment of some sort of affection?

To the mayors, state reps and senators and others I see regularly, don't worry about me. It's going to be a firm handshake instead of a kiss, I promise.


© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Shameless plug time...the book's publication date is Nov. 1. Go down to the link to Bear Manor Media at the right and tell them you want a copy! Several! They make great Xmas presents...maybe not as good as a Chia Pet, but not bad!

Okay Steve...I changed it! I changed it!

An initial inquiry to Arcadia Press has resulted in some interest in a postcard book featuring Springield. I'm working on the proposal and rounding out my collection.

In the meantime, I published this rant this week. I received a reaction from a reader who stated that tariffs and other protectionary trade policies would only result in a greater trade imbalance. He advised folks who could afford to buy American to do so, allowing "the poor people to shop at Wal-Mart."

The trouble isn't the fact that Wal-Mart has policies that have weakened American manufacturing, the problem is that it's the only game in town for many Americans. It's great to have free will but your free will as consumers is controlled by your paycheck and the availability of products. Control the distribution and you control a shopper's free will.

And perhaps there is a rich person store where one can buy top-of-the-line tube socks, dish racks and other mundane necesssities of life that the poor folks like me couldn't afford. We have to settle for the stuff made in China at the Wal-Mart.

And in Springfield, a city of 152,000, we have a sputtering K-Mart and a dirty nasty (literally) Wal-Mart. Take your choice! Thank the consumer gods there is a Target and a Costco nearby.


You know we like to fool ourselves. We go through life thinking that walking around the office is going to take care of that extra donut we had that morning or it doesn't really matter if that empty water bottle makes its way into the trash instead of the recycling box.

All of us do it.

Recently I needed a pair of jeans. I went to the Wal-Mart because they have fat guy sizes and selected a pair that cost me under $20.

They fit fine. The price was right, but I did something that I shouldn't have: I supported the gross trade imbalance in order to get something quick.

At this time when we're at war, some people would think how we buy a pair of jeans is a pretty trivial matter. It is, of course, unless you're a person who has worked in manufacturing and have seen the steady decline of that sector of our economy for years.

The all-American blue jeans a fashion icon representing this nation around the world is scarcely American any more. The company that invented the denim jeans, Levi Strauss, moved its last American manufacturing facility to Mexico in 2003.

Here in Western Massachusetts we ought to be pretty sensitive about such things. Since the end of World War II, our manufacturing has seen a steady erosion.

In the chase for increased profits, we seen businesses relocate first to the South to avoid union labor, then across the border and finally to places such as China.

Add the country-destroying legislation of NAFTA and the ballooning trade imbalance with nations such as China and we have a huge problem on our hands that few politicians want to talk about.

I'm all for making money, but the short-term effort to boost the bottom line has meant a decrease in the number of people who can afford anything but the cheapest of goods. The more cheap foreign stuff one buys, the less of a chance that American manufacturing can come back. It's a vicious circle.

Without having decent paying manufacturing jobs, there are less opportunities for people to have a vehicle to reach middle class status.

I've not decided whom I want to support for president, but I can tell you I'd be interested in the first candidate who speaks of repealing NAFTA and reinstituting tariffs that protect our manufacturers.

I doubt that any of them will want to tackle such an un-sexy topic of re-building the manufacturing base, though.

So the next time I need jeans, I'm getting a pair from Gusset (www.gussetclothing.com), one of the few American-made brands of jeans left. They cost about double than what I've been paying, but at least I know my money is staying here paying some fellow American a wage hopefully something close to a living wage.



***

Speaking of fashion, I've been wearing my summer Panama hat (made in the U.S.A, by the way, and bought locally at The Brim and Crown in Springfield) and from some of the reactions I've received one would think I had dyed my hair purple and spiked it.

Wearing something other than a baseball cap is considered radical these days.

It's just a hat and a venerable style at that.

I must admit I'm compelled to wear hats. It's my DNA. My dad wore a wide variety of hats and the hat-wearing habit was imprinted at an early age.

I'm not going to apologize.

Now I must admit I've been tempted to cram a press pass under the band and whenever I wear it I feel the spirit of Karl Kolchak (you young people can look him up on the Internet) bubbling through.

Thankfully, I don't have to chase any vampires.

Just a warning, I'm going back to the Brim and Crown for a snap brim fedora for the fall.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Gosh, has it been almost a week since I last posted? This has been a brutal week at work and I've been incapable of summoning the time or energy to post anything.

There's a lot I'd like to write about, but for the sake of my employment I really can't. It's not that I want to defame my bosses or complain about works conditions, it's that I'd like to write about Springfield, Chicopee and Holyoke in a more candid manner. I can't though, as my comments would undoubtedly affect the way I do my job.

You see reporters and editors are forever walking a line between being insiders and outsiders. Yes, we know things, and folks like to treat us like best friends until of course we have to write something negative and then we're in the freezer. We're also quite jaded about the political process and yet we're True Believers as well.

There are many, many times I'd like to say what I really think, but as all journalists, especially ones in local markets, I must always exercise a certain level of restraint.

The level of ego-drive maniacs and morons in local governments is astounding. Statements any more specific than that become the subject of libel, though.

There's a lot of censorship I do to protect people from themselves such as the local mayor who dropped the "f" bomb a few times when describing certain members of that town's council. He did so during an on-the-record conversation. Now he knew the game. He could let me know what he thought without feeling threatened.

Let me say that in every town I cover there are some honestly good elected officials who are succeeding in making a positive difference. There are also in every town some first-rate chowderheads whose re-election to their positions defy all logic.

That's why I seldom write about local politics here – and if I did I wonder just how many people would give a damn.

I'm cleaning my home office as one book is now done and I've got two more in the hopper. For some reason I actually feel good about bothof them since both have received some initial interest from a publisher. Here is one of the items that has come to the surface....Charlton Heston's Christmas cards.

No, the acclaimed actor and conservative didn't send them to me. Max Fleischer's daughter Ruth gave them to me. She was on his mailing list as he had done several films directed by Richard Fleischer. She asked me if I would like them and I thoought it was fairly surreal thing for me to have so I took them.

But now what do I do with them? Would someone reading this post want them? They're handsome photos taken by Heston's wife Lydia.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Howie Carr, columnist for "The Boston Herald" and long-time talk show host for WRKO in Boston has jumped ship and has left his regionally syndicated show in the lurch. I wrote the following as a response in my column last week:


With the departure of Howie Carr from the local airwaves, one wonders who fill his sport on WHYN AM. Hmmm.let's see, like Howie, I'm in my fifties, my hair is thinning and I'm not svelte. I'm a working newspaper guy and I have broadcast experience. Some people like what I do and some don't.

Of course, my politics are different than his and I'm not one of the beautiful people. I'm not making the money nor have the lifestyle Howie has. I actually give out Halloween candy, too. Maple High Six Corners isn't an exclusive neighborhood. I'm not obsessed with gangsters. I actually buy clothes.

That might count against me. And, unlike Howie, I actually love this region.

I know one thing for sure. It would be refreshing if a local radio station actually had original non-music programming during the afternoon drive period. The conventional wisdom in the industry is to put syndicated programming in that time slot.

Now in reality, the chance Clear Channel, which owns the station mentioned, wold invest in a local host is pretty slim. The economics for a syndiacted show are much more attractive. Most syndicated shows are offered on a barter basis...you get the show for free as long as the national commercials play and you have time for local spots. No host is necessary and neither is a producer. All you need is someone at the controls making sure everything runs correctly.

Marky Mark and I have been exchanging some e-mails and responses on other blog postings on this subject. Not to repeat myself (but I will), to me it's more important to have local programming regardless of its ideological bent than to have stuff off the satellite. I know the chance for a local host to be a conservative would be good as it would match the other shows on the schedule. But I care less about that than I do hearing local voices discussing local events.

Would I perfer a liberal or a moderate? Sure. But trying to reverse the trend of the dominance of canned national opinion on local radio is more my priority.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

You know, you've got to trust a publicist about setting up a time for an interview and the person who put me in touch with comedian Paula Poundstone arranged for me to call her at 9:30 a.m. my time...6:30 a.m. her time. She was remarkably gracious about the time and very politely asked if I could call her back later than morning. That impressed me.

During a telephone interview there are the sounds of vacuuming and children in the background, but that’s typical for working mother and comedian Paula Poundstone.

Poundstone, named one of the 100 greatest stars of comedy by Comedy Central, balances a performing career and being a mother of three children. She will be appearing Aug.18 at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield.

Poundstone is also a regular on “Wait! Wait! Don’t Tell Me,” the weekly news quiz show heard on National Public Radio including WFCR and WAMC. When asked if she prepares for the show that will test her knowledge of the week’s events she said, “Sadly, I do cram. But it does no good.”

She didn’t audition for the program, but was asked by the producers and has appeared for the past six years. Originally, she would go to a local NPR in Los Angeles and be connected electronically to her fellow contestants and host Peter Sagal.

But now the show is taped live either on the road or in a theater in Chicago and Poundstone said, “It’s definitely better.”

“Before I was a ball player in a batting cage,” she said. She added she likes actually seeing her fellow cast members.

The live tapings mean travel, though, and Poundstone said it can be difficult being both a parent and a touring comedian. Generally, she tries to be away from her home and family only an average of eight days a month.

And when she is home she focuses on her family duties.

“When I’m home, I’m really home,” she explained.

Poundstone started her comedy career at age 19 in 1979 performing in Boston. She said she had no responsibilities at that age and “rode the wave of that time” – a time that she called a “renaissance of stand-up comedy.”

She said she had “no particular skill or talent” but was in “the right time and the right place.

“I went around the country learning and having fun, when it was fun,” she said.

She credits Robin Williams for attracting attention to the new generation of comics and for allowing random thoughts and non-sequitors to be part of the new comedy landscape.

Although her act is not known for profanity or adult material, Poundstone said “the stupidest thing” for a comic to worry about today is language.

“My goal is to entertain people. I don’t want to say things that are mean,” she said.

She added she doesn’t deliberately want to insult people and that words are not as important as intent.

She admitted she is not as in tune with changes in stand-up comedy as some of her colleagues because many of her performances are at theaters rather than nightclubs. The advantage, she said, is that people really want to be at her shows and they’re not drinking.

Today, there are fewer venues for aspiring comedians. She said that a recent club appearance she noticed several young comics who drove an hour and a half just to be able to appear a few minutes at an open mic night. She explained that in the 1980s and ‘90s, in a city such as San Francisco, she could do three open mics during one evening.

When asked if she had pursued the sitcom career route as so many other comics had done, Poundstone said with a laugh that she hadn’t rejected sit-coms, they rejected her.

She said that her efforts to develop a sitcom hadn’t made it as far as being a pilot. She said that when she first started exploring a career in television she didn’t understand the language used by television executives.

This was apparent on the ABC variety show she did in 1993 that lasted three episodes. She recalled networks officials using phrase such as “We’ll leave you alone.” “We’ll give you time to develop.” and “We want something different.”

She thought the show was an interesting experience that presented some “really great ideas.”

She realized that there are “only a handful of people lucky enough [that]when an executive said those words they mean something.”
After her cancellation she had lunch with another ABC executive who was interested in having Poundstone host a daytime program. She recalled she was uncertain over whether or not that would be a good move for her until the exec said, “We’ll leave you alone.”

“I’ve had a lot of good lunches out of show business,” she said with a laugh, although she added she no longer discusses businesses over a meal.

Network execs aside, Poundstone said, “I love my job. I’m the luckiest comic in the world.”

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Please go over to That's 30, my blog on media, for today's posting.

Well, our Springfield didn't win the Simpson's movie contest and I'm a little disappointed. I thought the video that was produced was solid and funny and should have been a contender (we came in fourth).

Springfield VT won the national contest. Please, no gloating Steve!

Some of the people at work didn't vote for ours which drive me nuts. For our community this was not so much about having a premiere, but about economic development and civic pride. Too many people kick the crap out of Springfield and this effort was designed to do something different and positive.

Supposedly we still getting some sort of "special" screening whatever that means. I'm still seeing the film, but it would have been great thing for this city to land a little more positive national press.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

From the October 1938 ediition of Popular Science is this three-page spread on the cult film "The Terror of Tiny Town," the infamous midget Western.

I've tried to watch this production but it is so exploitative that I always turn it off. It's not like the Westerns aimed at African-American audiences starring Herb Jeffries that were made about the same time. Their goal was to create a Western hero for black audiences.

I doubt though there was a clamor from the community of little people for this film! We're supposed to be amazed the midgets are "normal" within the context the film establishes.

Made on a low budget by Sam Newfield, one of the auteurs at PRC, the film is a pretty standard B western only with little people. They ride ponies instead of horses. I bet this thing was exhibited for years.

Go over to youtube and search for it. There's a variety of clips.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Marky Mark wants me to answer his question about who cares about local radio programming.

He wanted to know if I care before he posts a new installment of our on-going volleyball game.

At the risk of being repetitive, I do indeed care about the amount of local airtime and as I have already written, the general public cares, or at least the people I speak with, also would like to see more local time.

Please note I'm not in the favor of the Fairness Doctrine. I believe in the free marketplace, HOWEVER, the airwaves do not belong – unlike publishers' presses – to the owners of radio stations. They are licensed by the government to serve the public good. If Clear Channel or whatever other media company doesn't like that they can go to the unfettered world of the satellite.

Hour upon hour of syndicated programming does not serve the public good. I don't care if it's liberal or conservative.

This isn't an arguement about ideology. It's about an economic model of a public utility that doesn't serve its consumers well.

To recap: no to the Fairness Doctrine. No to government censorship. Yes to mandated local programming, no ideology indicated.

Okay, I hope this clarifies my position. I know the fate of the Western world rests upon it!

The ball has been vollied, but not spiked to Marky Mark's side of the court.

Hey, when in beautiful Holyoke Massachusetts visit the Volleyball Hall of Fame! The birthplace of volleyball!

Housekeeping notes...revised link to Heather Brandon's new blog...added Bill Dusty's blog...my publisher...and more!

©2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Movies, movies, movies! And a new post on my animation blog!

The return of the "Mystery Science" guys is highlighted in this week's DVD column.

The Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark

Like many people, I mourned the passing of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," the innovative television show set up hundreds of cheesy movies. Now, though, three of the Mystery Science" principals are back doing essentially the same act, only on straight to DVD releases.

Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett are "the Film Crew," three guys who've been hired to provide commentary tracks to obscure movies because their boss has decided that every film deserves a commentary track.

Their first assignment is perhaps one of the very worst films I've ever sat through which through their work became one of the funniest something called "Hollywood After Dark." Shot apparently in 1961 or '62 but not released until 1968, this black and white exploitation film wants to have its intellectual cake and eat it, too it's supposed to be deep and philosophical and titillating at the same time.

Director and writer John Hayes apparently had the idea he was going to tell a hard-hitting emotional story of two people on the fringes of Hollywood. Rue McClanahan (yes, from "The Golden Girls") stars as a would-be actress making a living as stripper who falls in love with a bitter junkyard attendant. The result is a pretentious, poorly acted, terribly edited movie punctuated with nudity-free strip routines.

The Film Crew does a great job with this subject and it's the kind of production that's gets better with repeated viewings.

It's great to see these guys back in action.

For more information, log onto www.shoutfactory.com

This is Tom Jones

You have to hand it to Tom Jones. While many of his contemporaries from the 1960s music scene have become parodies of themselves, Jones has ridden the wave of musical trends and stayed afloat. Like Tony Bennett, Jones is actually relevant to the current generation of music lovers.

Time-Life has now released a three-DVD set of eight of Jones' ABC variety shows from 1969 and 1970. The set includes new introductions from Jones as well as archival interviews.

The only reason to watch these shows is the music. Jones looks a little overwhelmed and uncomfortable gabbing with guest stars or participating in skits. The moments where he looks most at home is when he is singing.

Performers such as The Who, Mary Hopkin, Burt Bacharach, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin, Little Richard, and Aretha Franklin joined Jones on his show, providing the set with some great performances.

For Jones fans, this set is essential and is probably the first of a series.

For more information, log onto www.timelife.com.

Engineering An Empire

My mom always tried to get my brother and I to do something constructive during summer vacations by insisting completing math and English workbooks would be "fun."

I love my mom.

I've got a 2007 suggestion that might work a bit better. This 12 documentary set might be the cure for those kids who think history is boring.

"Engineering an Empire" is a great combination of travelogue, mystery, archeology and history and looks at civilizations from the British Empire to Russia under the Czars to the ancient Mayans.

Peter Weller, the actor known for his role as "Robocop," is the host of the series and has some legitimate history chops himself he lectures at Syracuse University on the Roman Empire.

This is fascinating stuff that kids and adults should like. You'll learn and not even realize it!

For more information log onto www.historychannel.com.

She

My friend Frank Lapointe lent me a copy of this recently- released colorized version of the 1935 adventure/fantasy film and I was pretty excited about the prospects of viewing it.

"She," for many years had been considered a "lost" film. There are literally thousands of movies most of the silent era that no longer exists. Negatives and prints were either trashed years ago or allowed to decompose.

Generally the motion picture industry has done a pretty lousy job of preserving its own history.

Sometimes these films do turn up in private collections or in foreign archives. Some have proven to be well worth watching while others might deserve to stay lost!

"She" was a major film produced by Merian Cooper, the man who brought us the original "King Kong." The movie adapted a popular adventure novel by H. Rider Haggard about the queen of a hidden nation who can live forever thanks to a mysterious blue flame. The queen, known as "She Who Must Be Obeyed," is waiting for the return of her great love and he arrives in the form of a distant ancestor who is following up on a cryptic story passed down in his family.

This is a lot of fun for those of us who enjoy movies from the 1930s. Helen Gahagan's performance as the queen is deliciously over the top and the film has a handsome epic look to it.

And the color? I hate to say this, but I liked it. It was tastefully done by people who actually wanted their color choices to have reflected the time this film was made.

The disc has extras including a feature of the colorization process and has an interview with special effect legend Ray Harryhausen, who endorsed this process.

For more information, log onto www.legendfilms.com

Pumpkinhead: Ashe to Ashes

This will be the last Sci Fi Pictures release I will ever watch. I just don't have enough time left to endure yet another cheapjack piece of tripe from the cable channel.

This one is the third "Pumpkinhead" movie. The first, directed by Academy Award winning make-up artist Stan Winston was a great little film about a grieving father who turns loose a demon of vengeance on the teenagers who accidentally killed his son. The father, played by the great Lance Henriksen, quickly regrets his decision and battles the monster himself in order to save others.

The film had a deep emotional core, which made it a cut above the typical monster movie. It also had Winston's great make-up for the demon.

This new film does have a cameo by Henriksen we all have to pay the rent but has none of the attributes of the first film. It's merely an excuse to present a series of gore sequences that get old and stupid very quickly.

Director Jake West doesn't even have the skill to let us know when and where the action takes place. It's supposedly today in the deep, deep South, but who knows?

And who cares? In the old days this film would have received third billing at the drive-in and shown at about 2 a.m.

Yeech.

If you must learn more, go to www.SonyPictures.com.

Previews of coming attractions: I will finally address Marky Mark's question about why I won't admit the media is leaning left in this country! Will Mark succeed in wringing that out of me just like my promise not to vote for Hilary Clinton? Stay tuned!....Plus selected shorts: Terrors of Tinytown! (pun intended)

Yes, I know you’re reading this before the Fourth of July and you have other things than politics on your mind. I wonder, though, whether people even think about the reasons for the celebration between lighting up that illegal firecracker, taking a trip to the beach or deciding what to put on that hot dog at the family picnic.

I tend to think we’ve forgot as a society the risky experiment this country represented to its founders and first citizens. Generally we tend to take for granted the freedoms we have today – those that were denied to so many over 200 years ago and those that this imperfect republic denied to many years after that.

I’d like to remind you what the holiday is all about. Don’t worry, I’ll skip all of the reasons why we wanted to form our own nation and I won’t correct the funky spelling:

“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

“Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”

Isn’t it a fascinating concept that government should serve the people and not the other way around?

Too many people seem content today to not only allow their freedoms to become eroded in the name of political expediency and to disengage from the process of governing their town, their state and their nation.

In our nation’s history there have always been people who are eager to assume the power that others have abandoned. I know it’s a cliché, but in order to have a republic such as ours we actually need to be part of it.

Let someone else make the decisions? Well, the result can be seen in the pithy definition of the word “liberty” by another great American, newspaperman and Ambrose Bierce: “Liberty: One of imagination’s most precious possessions.”

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Sorry for the lack of activity, but it's been a taxing week at work. I've got a lot to post this week, though, including an article on the making of the only-to-this-date midget Western, "The Terror of Tinytown."

Some folks on the right wing like to talk about how the press in general is left leaning. Generally, I find a lot of reporters to be mistrustful of anyone in power – left or right – and the corporate ownership of most media tends to produce products that advance their own status quo agendas.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) recently released an analysis of talk radio that is pretty eye opening for folks who feel that somehow talk radio isn’t “big” media and that it isn’t dominated by a single point of view.

Take a moment to go to http://www.americanprogress.org/pressroom/releases/2007/06/radio_release.html and read the whole report for yourself.

Here’s one of their major points: radio stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission are supposed to serve their local area. Are they actually serving the public good by running one kind of viewpoint and eliminating most local programming?

From the report: “Our analysis in the spring of 2007 of the 257 news/talk stations owned by the top five commercial station owners reveals that 91 percent of the total weekday talk radio programming is conservative, and 9 percent is progressive.

“Each weekday, 2,570 hours and 15 minutes of conservative talk are broadcast on these stations compared to 254 hours of progressive talk—10 times as much conservative talk as progressive talk.

“A separate analysis of all of the news/talk stations in the top 10 radio markets reveals that 76 percent of the programming in these markets is conservative and 24 percent is progressive, although programming is more balanced in markets such as New York and Chicago…

“Our conclusion is that the gap between conservative and progressive talk radio is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system, particularly the complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements for broadcasting, and the relaxation of ownership rules including the requirement of local participation in management…

“‘There is little free speech or free choice in a market system that pushes out one-sided information 90 percent of the time on the radio,’ said John Halpin, senior fellow at CAP. ‘Radio stations are licensed to operate in the public interest. Promoting one point of view over all others does not meet any reasonable public-interest standard. We need to restore the original purpose of broadcast licensing – to ensure that radio stations are responsive to local and community needs.’”

Interestingly, they found that corporate-controlled radio is conservative, but radio stations owned locally or by women and minorities tend to be progressive.

Here are their suggestions: “This analysis suggests that any effort to encourage more responsive and balanced radio programming will first require steps to increase localism and diversify radio station ownership to better meet local and community needs. We suggest three ways to accomplish this:

• Restore local and national caps on the ownership of commercial radio stations.

• Ensure greater local accountability over radio licensing.

• Require commercial owners who fail to abide by enforceable public interest obligations to pay a fee to support public broadcasting.”

This was published in one of our papers on Monday morning and I already have received a letter saying that liberals want to supress freedom of speech by eliminating conservative radio. I'm convinced no matter what I write, people simply read what they want to believe.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

A couple of things...you can't imagine my delight that Zippy the Pinhead was in Western Massachusetts!

You never know just when a reference to Western Massachusetts is going to pop up in the national press.

Mike Bissonnette, the mayor of Chicopee, was a little surprised, but delighted, to see Al’s Diner, a Chicopee landmark, as the setting for the June 15th “Zippy the Pinhead” comic strip.

Started as an underground comic book over 30 years ago, Bill Griffith’s mentally challenged creation goes through life as a sort of idiot savant. Griffith uses his character to make pithy observations on life and politics.

I’ve been a Griffith fan for years, myself.

In the strip Zippy is sitting at Al’s Diner and says, “Al, is Chicopee real or is it a state of mind? Because if it’s real I may have to re-order all my priorities.”

Bissonnette loved the strip and fired off an e-mail to Griffith about it. Griffith wrote back, “Zippy gets around. He’s been to Al’s Diner in a few strips over the past eight of so years. People keep sending me new fotos [sic] of the venerable joint, so I feel compelled on occasion to revisit. I drove into Chicopee a few months ago on a drive to Vermont ands thus the reality of the town was planted in my pinhead. I can’t tell you how connections get made when I’m writing a Zippy strip – it just happens and I watch and obey.”

If you’re intrigued, log onto www.zippythepinhead.com.

And more reaction from my review of "The Ghosts of Abu Graib."

I received another letter about my review of “The Ghosts of Abu Graib” this week. Here it is:

“Kudos to the Pat Henry letter about ‘The Ghosts of Abu Graib.’ I also credit ‘The Reminder’ for having the courage to publish it. Mr. Henry stated what I have felt for the past year about the Reminder Editorial Page – most of the time it drags this once fine newspaper down to the ‘Valley Advocate’ level.

“What is the ‘Valley Advocate’ level? Just look at the businesses that advertise in this newspaper and you will get the gist. View the advertisers in ‘The Reminder’ and you will see quality people and businesses.

“In my view, a reader can get the pulse of a newspaper by reading the editorial section. I strongly feel ‘The Reminder’s’ editorials since Mr. Dobbs came on board has cheapened this newspaper.

“Respectfully, Bob Maccarini, East Longmeadow”

Let me explain something: it takes no great courage on my part to print letters that criticize an opinion I’ve expressed. One of the purposes of any community newspaper is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas. I believe in this responsibility and I try to print as many letters as possible regardless if they are critical or not.

I do disagree that under my management the editorial content of our four community weekly newspapers has been “cheapened.” I have a file full of letters of thanks from individuals and organizations who believe the stories presented here and the advocacy our staff has provided has helped the communities we serve.

If anything, we are not always able to fulfill every request for coverage or sponsorship of an event due to the limits of our resources.

Disagreeing on politics is part of the American way and it’s reflected in these newspapers.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Don McLean during 1982 interview at Riverside Park, West Springfield,MA photo by G. Michael Dobbs


Don McLean came to Springfield recently to play with the Springfield Symphony in a pops concert. I was given a pair of comp tickets since my paper had ran an advance piece on the show that included an interview with McLean.

I didn’t conduct the interview as I had interviewed him many years ago and found it to be such an unsatisfying experience that I swore off listening to his music for many years.

I had been a huge fan of his and when “American Pie” was released I thought in my dopey junior year of high school kind of way that he was speaking to me . I loved his stuff.

I saw him perform at Springfield College in the 1970s at a concert marred by some heckling. He was good, though.

I had an idea in 1982 to start up an alternative weekly newspaper for Springfield and decided to do up a dummy issue. When I heard Mclean was going to be performing at Riverside Amusement Park (now Six Flags New England) I thought an interview would make a good story to add to the prototype issue.

I made the arrangements and was joined by several other writers at the park. We all watched him perform and then approached him for the interview time.

He said he and his band wanted to ride some rides before they had to do the next show and so we all waited 45 minutes.

When he returned, he ignored us and started jamming with his group. Finally I walked up to the stage and told him that if he didn’t want to talk with us then he should have the decency to tell us so we could go home.

He stopped playing to say that he really didn’t like to do interviews, but he knew he had to do them. He then spoke with us.

The alternative newspaper went nowhere. The story and photo were never published until now.

Eventually I started listening to his music again, breaking one of my cardinal rules about pop culture: I loathe supporting jerks.

How was his recent show? Well, he has maintained much of his outstanding vocal quality and actually spoke to the audience a little with some humor and charm. The hall was almost sold out and there were a lot of hard-core fans there. Overall, it was a treat.

But I didn’t stand in line to buy a book or CD.

So from 1982…

Singer-composer Don McLean was riding high in 1971 when his monster hit "American Pie" was released. Although McLean has said he could have had a very profitable career if he played the recording industry's game, he chose to do it his way. Even though he released five albums since "American Pie," he has not appeared in the musical forefront until last year with his remake of Roy Orbison's "Crying."

Now, McLean 's career appears to be gaining momentum with his new album, "Believer." We caught up with McLean at a recent appearance in Massachusetts.

How does it feel to be in the spotlight again?

"'Well, I supposed I never worried about it, you! know. I figured it would happen eventually. I have a lot of faith in myself where that's concerned.

To be here a while and to be gone a while; I kind of like that actually. I don't think I'd like to be in the middle of everything all the time. I'm happy I've got the chance to sing for a lot of people now. If it changes back to the way it was, that's okay, too.

"I've made some wonderful world tours; been all around the world many times and have made a large following in a lot of countries in those years.

“Now, my country is coming around to my music."

Have you learned to cope with the popularity of “American Pie?” Have you had audiences unwilling to give other songs a chance?

"No. Did you see the show today? Certainly they liked a lot of the material today, and a lot of the people there weren’t fans, but were just people here at the park. So, I feel that's a pretty good acid test.

"I'm used to playing for the public, and there's lots of songs I've written they think highly of, such as 'Vincent' and 'And I Love You So.' So, when I start singing them, I think a lot of people don't realize l’m responsible for them. They just know ‘American Pie' and now 'Crying.' That's the purpose of a concert anyway to get more specific about your music."

Why haven’t you had a hit record since “Vincent?”

"There are several factors involved when you have a record company promoting you, determined to break you, so to say, break your career – make it happen. There's a lot of artists in the past 10 years, I think, who can say this. They were on big record labels in the early '70s, and now are gone. They're still out there. I was lucky I had record companies still interested in me after all these years.

"I wasn't on that many labels. I was on United Artists for six years, and I made six albums for them. Then, I was on Arista for one album, and that was supposed to be a three-album deal, but Clive [Davis, president of Arista] didn't like the work I did in Nashville [on the 'Chained Lightening' album] so I decided to look elsewhere and that took a year and a half. There had been a real change in the taste of the record people, and singer-songwriters were a thing of the past.

Do you think your career would have been much different if you had been given more help from your record companies?

"I think, probably, if the record companies had worked with me during those years, that all the things that are happening now would have happened then because people have known me for many years. It's that if you can't get those people who bank
you to work with you, then you're out in the cold until you break in again, and that’s what I did.

"I felt inside that this was the right time for me, and for a song like 'Crying' because it shows people what I can do musically from a whole other perspective."

You once termed disco as “musical masturbation.” What trends do you see in music now and what do you think of them?

“Well, they're still masturbating. It's just that they've found different ways of doing it, I guess.

"I don't hear much in the way of freshness out there. A lot of people imitating Bob Dylan, that's what I hear everywhere."

"I never asked their [the music industry's] permission. I just sort of did it [his career]. I don't give a damn if I fight with a record company or if they get behind me. if have to wait five years to do what I have to do, I will. It doesn't matter to me because I have a lot of faith in my abiities to communicate with music."

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Why do the corporate types who run so much of the nation's media want to eat their young?

I had the pleasure of covering the "Talkers Magazine New Media Seminar" in New York recently, the annual two-day event in which talk show producers, hosts and syndicators meet to discuss the industry.

"Talkers Magazine," by the way, is published right here in Springfield and is considered the Bible of that industry.

Being a former radio guy, I find this event very interesting. It's fascinating to see the parallels between what is happening in radio and what is happening in newspapers.

There are several points common to both mediums. One is that corporate owners have gutted the resources many stations need to produce the programming people want to hear.

The other is that what draws people to radio is good local programming.

There's a nice contradiction.

"Talkers Magazine" publisher Michael Harrison shared his formula for survival: investing in local talent and solid programming.

His remarks were well received. Clearly, the folks at the conference understood what he was saying.

Sadly, the same advice should be given to newspapers.

According to a report in this month's New England Press Association newsletter, paid circulation for daily newspapers have dropped. Could it be that newspapers execs, in an effort to bring the bottom line up to the demands of their corporate masters, have cut away at the very things that have attracted readers?

I would love to hear the reasons behind weakening the very elements that attract consumers in the first place to a product. I think we have developed a short-term mentality in business that reassures people that looking beyond the next quarter isn't necessary.

A recent story in "Mother Jones" magazine argued that rates of profits for newspapers were higher than many other industries. Reports of the demise of daily newspapers may have been slightly exaggerated. I'm not sure to what end as all of these doom and gloom stories may have persuaded some advertisers to take their business elsewhere.

In response to the "crisis," many newspapers have placed their hopes on creating products that are not traditional daily print products. There's some wisdom there. It's good to seek out ancillary markets that bolster your core mission.

But is the core mission of daily newspapers still producing a daily news product? For some publications, I would argue, it isn't. The mission has shifted.

Too many media entities have placed a whole lot of eggs into the Internet basket. That's fine, but there are still issues to web sites about attracting enough eyeballs to justify advertising rates and attracting new readers along with established consumers.

A newspaper web site should give readers something different that adds to the print product. The issue, there, is making an investment that might take years to recover, as the Internet is still a medium in its infancy.

What does this issue mean to consumers? To maintain the republic, people need information about the town and state in which they live, much less the nation. It's difficult for people to know what's going on if the amount of local news in newspapers, and on radio and television has been cut in effort to grow some fat cat's paycheck. Manipulation of the masses is a lot easier if people don't have the information they need to make decisions.

What can people do? Write the publishers and station managers about dissatisfaction with their local news vehicle. Too many wire reports? Too many weather forecasts? Too many Paris Hilton stories? Not enough real news?

Consumers need to be vocal about their news. Granted there are local publishers (well, at least one) who doesn't accept criticism very well and will belittle readers who express a negative opinion. Don't let that bother you.

Support the publications and stations that have made a commitment to local news. Let us know (yes, I think we've made a commitment to local news) what you like and what you don't like. And please patronize advertisers who finance local news vehicles.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I've read the script and it's very funny. I can't wait to see the final production. People here are viewing this effort as another way to put our city on the national stage. The fact that people and organizations have made donations of time, equipment, talent and money to make it happen points to how serious the production is taken.

Seen above (first photo) Marty and Max Langford are actors along with Scott Kittredge (in a Homer mask) for a gag that will be quite funny, but I can't reveal here. (Second photo) Kittredge goes over a scene with actor Matty Blake.

Langford produced and wrote the great indie science fiction thriller "Magdalena's Brain," and Kittredge has been making short films that have played in festivals around the country.

SPRINGFIELD – Local filmmakers volunteering their time and talents started
production last week on the city’s video entry into a national contest that
could bring the premiere of “The Simpsons” movie to the City of Homes.

Or is that the “City of Homers?”

Springfield, the oldest city with that name in the country, is one of 14
communities competing for the honor of being designated as “the” Springfield
and the home of the cartoon family. Other Springfields include those in
Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, New Jersey, Florida, Michigan,
Kentucky, Nebraska, Colorado, Louisiana and Vermont.

The communities must show their “Simpsons spirit.”

Participating communities must postmark their three to five minute
entry, which must contain key props sent by 20th Century-Fox studios, by
June 23. The studio will then post the videos on the “USA Today” web site
and the nation will get to choose the winner.

Because the competition brings national attention, local organizers were
taking the production very seriously. Details about the script and the
nature of the video weren’t released, although at a press conference
conducted last Tuesday, political consultant Tony Cignoli revealed that
Senator Edward Kennedy had agreed to take part in the video.

Kennedy shot his sequence in Washington, D.C. on June 8, but what he
said or did wasn’t revealed.

There has been an effort from groups in other Springfields to try to
learn about competing approaches to the video assignment through news
accounts.

Cignoli said he views the production process in the same way he thinks
of a political campaign.

“We need a national vote,” he said.

At the Tuesday press event, the video’s executive producer, David
Horgan, a local filmmaker best known or his recent feature “Cathedral
Pines,” said city officials have been contacted by the “London Times,” the
BBC and Israeli radio about the contest.

“This video is going to be seen by the world,” Horgan added.

Horgan announced that Ed Brown of New York Sound and Motion would be
providing editing services. Brown’s Springfield-based company includes ESPN,
CNN and A&E among its clients.

The video began shooting at the Veritech studios in East Longmeadow on
Thursday afternoon. Production continued this past weekend with scenes
staged in Agawam on Friday and Saturday and WWLP in Chicopee as well as a
climatic scene shot in downtown Springfield on Sunday. Additional scenes
were also shot on the Veritech sound stage.

Marty Langford, the primary author of the script and one of the video’s
directors, explained that in order to meet the deadline the production teams
would begin editing the footage before the last scene is shot.

The local filmmakers who are also donating their services include Scott
Kittredge, Warren Amerman, Karl Kopopka and Joel Katon. Amerman, Katon,
Kittredge, Horgan and Rob Daviau also made contributions to Langford’s
script.

Langford confirmed that everyone is a volunteer on the production.

Over the course of the week the name “Homer” appeared in lights on the
top of Monarch Place.

“We are excited about the buzz that his campaign has generated for our
Springfield. Ours is the first Springfield established in the Untied States
of America. Springfield, Massachusetts has been the home of many other
firsts - from the first American automobile (The Duryea); the nation’s first
armory (George Washington’s) to the Indian Motorcycle and the first frozen
foods (Birdseye). We wanted to help our hometown to come in first again in
this nation-wide competition,” Monarch Place owner, Paul C. Picknelly, said.

***
On the Veritech set on June 14 at 4 p.m., Kittredge was the director of
the day and was wrestling with donut placement – not just any donut, but a
strawberry frosted donut with sprinkles. Key Simpson’s icons, such as Home’s
signature snack, must be worked into the video. One member of the production
had to visit several donut shops in order to find a sufficient supply.

Luckily, Kittredge said they have enough pastries so there are spare or
“stunt donuts.”

The actor on set was Matt Blake, a stand-up comedian who has been in
national commercials and is the host of “Sidelines” a web-based sports show
on www.nbcsports.com. Kittredge conferred with Blake on how to enter the
scene and how to play it. Blake used his skill as a stand-up comedian to
bring bits of business to the scene and later Langford said Blake was
brilliant.

It takes several takes before Kittredge okayed the scene and then the
production crew continued on until 7 p.m. with some outdoors footage.

The next day Kopopka is the director of a sequence in which Langford and
Kittredge are pressed into duties as actors along with Langford’s son Max.
Shot behind the Veritech building, passing motorists may have been confused
by the sight of a man struggling with a Homer Simpson mask.

***
At the Tuesday press conference, Brown said the finished video would
show viewers the state of the film and video industry in the area.

“You don’t have to go to New York City for a commercial,” Brown said.

Horgan said the video is a “way to speak about Springfield as a place on
the rise.”
© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Hey, here's a little vintage Fleischer to liven up your day.



Just a Gigolo

Here are some DVD reviews. "Black Snake Moan" is truly a victim of inept marketing. Some of my co-workers saw the DVD on my desk and assumed it wa some sort of porn! Luckily I made sure they understood it wasn't or I would have been outof a job.

The Lost Tomb of Jesus

Yes, this highly publicized documentary, that was originally broadcasted, during Easter season is now on DVD in a 105-minute cut.

I didn't make a point of watching the Discovery Channel broadcast largely because of what I thought was a tasteless ploy to belittle the meaning of Easter by implying the resurrection of Christ was myth rather than reality.

The publicity did little to help this thoughtful and fairly balanced film. The premise is that in one family tomb discovered in Jerusalem in 1980 there were ossuaries (bone boxes) for a family whose members included Jesus son of Joseph, Maria (Mary), Mariamene (Mary Magdalene), Joseph, Matthew and Judah, son of Jesus. Could these be the resting places for Jesus and his mother? Why is Mary Magdalene there? Were they indeed married?

At first glance this film fits within the veritable cottage industry concerning questioning the life of Jesus thanks to "The Da Vinci Code." It is not sensationalistic in its approach. There are no conspiracies instead there is an interpretation of a group of artifacts.

A very interesting film, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" should stir up conversation among those people interested in revisionist history.

For more information, log onto www.jesusfamilytomb.com



Reno 911: The Complete Fourth Season Uncensored!

Oh those wacky fake Reno, Nevada, deputy sheriffs! After four seasons this largely improvised comedy still walks on the edge. A parody of "Cops," a camera crew follows the exploits of a group of Reno police as they blunder through what they think as crime fighting.

There are some great shows in this collection such as the one in which a Hooters-style restaurant decides to sponsor the Sheriff's Department and make everyone wear pink hot pants. Another favorite episode guest starred Paul Reubens as a citizen patrol member who out-smarts the Reno deputies.

Extras include profiles on each officer that were assembled for this collection.

For more information, log onto www.paramount.com/

homeentertainment.



Black Snake Moan

Halle Berry received an Oscar for her sexually charged performance in "Monster's Ball," but I doubt Christina Ricci will even get a nomination for her role in "Black Snake Moan."

Why? Both films were art house movies that deal with redemption and forgiveness. Both films have scenes in which the lead actress is nude. Both films have an "artiness" about them: the black of white photography of "Monster's Ball" and the fable-like quality of the "Black Snake Moan" script.

"Monster's Ball" was a minor hit and got Ms. Berry an Oscar. "Black Snake Moan" was hustled quickly in and out of theaters and will not be the subject of an Oscar campaign.

I blame it on the chains. For some reason, Paramount decided that emphasizing the chain that Samuel L. Jackson's character Lazarus uses to confine Rae (Ricci). The result was an advertising campaign built around images that made the film look some sort of soft-core porn.

While not completely successful, the film is a very interesting look at three broken people. Lazarus is trying to deal with his wife leaving him for his brother. Rae and Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) are a young couple trying to support each other. Ronnie suffers from anxiety attacks while Rae was sexually abused as a child and is wildly promiscuous.

The three characters collide when Ronnie leaves for a hitch in the Army. Rae gets high, is raped, beaten and abandoned. She is found by Lazarus who attempts to change her. Because she wanders while hallucinating, Lazarus chains her to his radiator.

But the film is about more than just that scandalous image.

Director and writer Craig Brewer had a hit with "Hustle and Flow," and while I can not thoroughly recommend this film it can be a hard film to watch at time as it swiches gears from realism to fable it does provide a very interesting two hours.

And by the way, I liked it far more than "Monster's Ball."

For more information, log onto www.paramount.com/homeentertainment.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Response to DVD review...I'm sure Marky Mark would agree with this reader.

Here's a letter I received this week from Pat Henry in East Longmeadow about the review I wrote of "The Ghosts of Abu Graib":

"The Reminder described this documentary as 'chilling' and 'disturbing.' It then gratuitously offered the observation that 'most people watching this film [would] question the basic foundations of the conflict itself.' I don' t know how the reviewer could make any connection between a POW camp incident and a UN-sanctioned military action. In English class we call this a non sequitur.

"What I found more chilling and disturbing than forcing captives to wear women's underpants over their heads or be threatened by leashed police dogs, was seeing men being drilled in the knee or the head by an electric drill, having an eye gouged out, having a throat slit on TV with a long knife, men forced to watch their daughters raped in front of them, and burned U.S. soldiers hanging from a bridge. That's what the enemy is doing, and televising, and bragging about every day, while we hash over granting Geneva Convention rights to them. Please give us a break and send reviews like this to the Valley Advocate where they belong."

The reason I thought this film was "chilling" was that I was raised believing we are the good guys. Our military personnel, though, are not perfect and in the heat and chaos of war some have indeed committed terrible acts of violence.

Because of my up bringing I saw these incidents as tragic reminders of the costs of war the destruction of morals and ethics, the erosion of standards. I saw these as I'm sure many Americans did as isolated and not institutionalized incidents.

That's why Abu Graib stood out as such a black spot on our military. We are supposed to be the liberators in Iraq. We operate on a higher moral plane than the terrorists who have committed atrocities. And yet people in command positions made decisions to take a much lower road for the first time in modern U.S. history.

We diminished ourselves by taking actions we had never taken before. Doesn't that mean anything?

Abu Graib was a prison operation, not a POW camp. We were detaining massive groups of people in the hopes of capturing terrorists, but innocent people were hurt. How did that help our cause?

The photos from the Abu Graib inflamed the Middle East even more, hurting our war effort even more.

That's why it was chilling and tragic to me at least.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

I spent this weekend in NYC attending Talkers Magazine New Media Seminar, a great industry gathering of talk radio producers, hosts and syndicators. I've been to my share of media conferences, but none have been as good as this one in presenting information that is fluff-free.

There were a lot of name hosts there, including Ed Schultz (first photo), the number one progressive host in America. Michael Harrison (last photo) is a seasoned radio vet and the publisher of Talkers.

Oh yes, Stephanie Miller one of the best radio hosts on the planet and someone with looks built for television, was there as well. Miler's show is very fast-moving and funny.

Talkers is considerd the Bible of the industry is produced right here in Springfield, MA.

Everytime I attend one of these conferences I get itchy to get back into radio. I know the chance of that happening is slim to none, but the five years I was on the air doing talk were a pleasure.

Oddest moment: being in the john and hearing G. Gordon Liddy in there as well. I never thought I would share an intimate moment with a convicted Watergate felon. Liddy actually seems to have a sense of humor and perspective about things and didn't seem to be as much as an ideologue as some of the other hosts.

Fanboy moment: Trying to speak with Stephanie Miller at the cocktail party. I walked away as I just didn't want to come across as a geek stalker just to to compliment her.

Moment of realization: that Sean Hannity probably actually believes his conservative line of crap.

NEW YORK CITY – With the growing popularity of satellite and Internet radio, questions about the survival of traditional radio swirled around the tenth annual New Media Seminar this past weekend.

And Michael Harrison, the publisher of Talkers Magazine, the Springfield, Mass.-based Bible of the radio talk show industry, had the answer: invest in programming and talent.

AM and FM radio must “have the best programming anywhere,” Harrison told the hundreds of people who gathered for the two-day event.

“We have to invest a lot of money in products – the opposite of what they’re doing now,” he said.

Harrison said that new technology is “a force of nature that can’t be stopped.”

Walter Sabo, an industry consultant, said that dominance for a medium is based on its stars and that good locally produced radio shows can save AM and FM radio.

Sabo noted, though, that radio must be part of new communications technologies such as cell phones, which could and should have a radio receiver. He also said stand-alone radios need to be over-hauled.

“When was the last time you saw a cool design for a radio?” he asked the audience. He then added that most radios today look like they were made in Russia in 1965.

Erica Farber, the publisher of “Radio and Records,” said that 95 percent of listeners are consumers of traditional radio, but without access to cell phone customers radio could become an “antiquated device.”

The seminar attracted hundreds of talk show hosts, programming executives, station owners and others. The future of the medium wasn’t the only topic presented at the conference, which also tackled freedom of speech issues post Don Imus and the growth of progressive or liberal radio.

Ed Schultz, whose nationally syndicated show is heard locally on WHMP AM, said that he and his wife attended the New Media Seminar four years ago and were laughed at with their vision of a liberal radio program in a medium
dominated by conservatives.

Four years later, Schultz is top-rated in many markets and his show is making money. He said other liberal hosts have to “knock down the stereotypes.”

Schultz said he talks about sports and fishing as well as politics on his show and the mix has worked for him.

“You’ve got to make it interesting. You’ve got to live your life on the air,” he said.

A panel of program directors was divided if they would have fired Imus, who made a racial remark on his show. Some, like Program Director Jack Swanson of KGO in San Francisco, said he would have fired Imus and then resigned himself, as he obviously hadn’t done his job correctly.

Others said Imus should have immediately been suspended.

David Bernstein, the new vice president of programming for Air America, said that Imus, a broadcaster with a lengthy track record of making outrageous statements, was “following orders” and doing what his employer expected.

Freedom of speech issues were also addressed by hosts Alan Colmes and Jim Bohannon who spoke prior to the presentation of the annual Freedom of Speech Award, which was given this year to conservative talk host Michael
Savage. Bohannon told the audience there are many “lines” today in radio that a host could cross accidentally – racial, sexual, and scatological, among others – and these lines move all the time.

“Broadcasters tap dance in a minefield,” Bohannon said.

Colmes quoted Sinclair Lewis, the first American author to win a Nobel Prize for literature, in his comments: “I love America, but I don’t like it.”

Colmes said that while he might despise what Savage says, he wouldn’t want to live in a country where Savage can’t speak out. If that was the case, Colmes said he knows he would be next.

Harrison then explained that Savage was receiving the award this year because as a conservative he has broke way from the conservative host pack by criticizing President George Bush. He also emphasized that he doesn’t like what Savage says on his show, but that “if we don’t understand the First Amendment, we don’t understand America.”

“Without it, there’s no America. If you want to defend America, defend Freedom of Speech,” Harrison added.

© 2007 Gordon Michael Dobbs.

Eddie Murphy's new comedy, a great television show and a disturbing documentary are in this week's DVD column.

Norbit

All great comedians have developed personas or styles of comedies. Charlie Chaplin had his tramp character. The Marx Brothers were anarchists. Jim Carrey is a maniac. And Eddie Murphy is now the guy who specializes in multiple roles accomplished by his considerable acting ability and tons of make-up by the great Rick Baker.

There's not much new ground here in "Norbit," though. Murphy has portrayed multiple characters before. He has played in fat suits before. He has been a female character before. He has also been the lead character in an unlikely romance.

So what is new with "Norbit" is the over-the-top villain in Rasputia, the bigger-than-life woman who attaches herself to meek and sweet Norbit early on in life. Rasputia is right up there with Cruella de Vil as a movie bad girl. The problem is she's plenty hateful, but not too funny.

In fact, this film made me laugh just three times. I have to admit, though, I was fascinated by the illusion of Murphy playing multiple roles and the DVD's extras explaining that process were very interesting.

All in all, this is a sub-par comedy.

For more information, log onto www.paramount.com/

homeentertainment.



Mission: Impossible Season Two

Time to climb into the time machine and go back to 1967 when my brother and I would end our weekends by staying up late hey, we were farm boys and it was a school night to watch "Mission: Impossible."

With intricate plots, a cool dispassionate style and the second coolest theme song on television "Peter Gunn" remains the best "Mission: Impossible" had it all.

The trouble is whether or not it still does.

Paramount has released the second season of the show, the first year with Peter Graves portraying the leader of the team that undertook a weekly covert assignment. What made the show different from other spy movies or shows is that it was a procedural drama. Every week we saw the challenge and the formation of a plan.

Of course there were some twists along the way, but this had a far more realistic feel than the James Bond films.

So do these shows hold up after 40 years? I'm happy to say, "Yes!" What I like about them is their central concept of tripping up a bad guy in such a way that their hand is never seen. Oh yes, I still have a crush on Barbara Bain. Sigh.

I much prefer these original shows to the recent Tom Cruise sort of re-makes.

For more information, log onto www.paramount.com/

homeentertainment.





The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib

I bet you forgot about this footnote in the history of the Iraqi War, but you shouldn't and this chilling film underscores why.

This film is about how the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison came about and the impact the revelations made on the war effort. It questions how our troops are deployed and the effectiveness of torture in gathering intelligence.

Most importantly, it looks into how a group of Army Reservists could fall into the mindset of not questioning the very behaviors they had been taught to avoid by living under the rules of the Geneva Convention.

Extensive interviews with the soldiers involved in the torture and Iraqis unjustly imprisoned at Abu Ghraib and later released are matched with still and video images of the torture incidents.

This is strong stuff. I can't help but think that most people watching this film wouldn't question the basic foundations of the conflict itself.

For more information, log onto http://www.hbo.com

/docs/programs/ghostsofabughraib/index.html.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

So can my friends and relatives who support this administration possibly comment on the following debacle? For the life of me I can't understand why there are still people who think that Bush and Company are right when so much of what they do is desperately wrong.

So did you hear about the American taxpayer-funded Arabic language television station that is supposed to win over the hearts and minds in the Middle East, but has been actually presenting pro-terrorist and anti-Semitic messages because the Americans who run it can't speak Arabic?

ABC News has the story on its web site here dated May 22

It seems the Bush Administration has allocated $63 million a year to the station but doesn't have a clue what it's broadcasting.

Amazing, isn't it?

How would you use $63 million a year? More cops on the street? More recovery efforts for New Orleans? More teachers?

And what about the border patrol guard on the Canadian border who apparently ignored the message he was to detain and isolate that idiot attorney running around the world with damn near incurable tuberculosis?

Which one of them has the least regard for public safety?

Do you wonder why we are so paranoid about the Mexican border, but the Canadian border gets scant attention from a homeland security status? Maybe it will now.

***

I hope someone is going to do a sociological study of the baseball cap soon as I find it amusing that on one end we have guys who carefully preserve the metallic stickers on the bills of the hat, while on the other we have kids spending $40 or more getting a hat that is pre-worn.

Can you imagine the sweatshop in China where they make perfect hats in one section of the factory and then another unit takes a sander to them? What the heck do you think those workers think of us?

For that matter I wonder what these folk think as they make all of the "decorative" stuff one finds in dollar stores or the Christmas Tree Shop? What are they thinking as they're spray painting garden gnomes?

***

You know I've been wondering if people who watch local television news really want to be scared all the time? Everything on their tease commercials is somehow a threat or an answer to a threat.

Life is scary enough just with day-to-day stuff. Do we really need more fright?

Conventional wisdom is that sex sells, but if you're afraid of FCC fines, then I suppose the next best thing is a little homegrown terror.

In the spirit of cooperating with my electronic colleagues, allow me to make some suggestions when a slow news day threatens:

"Is your dog thirsty? We'll tell you how a filled water bowl can make a difference."

"Experts say pasting a $20 bill on your forehead and walking through an urban center at 2 a.m. is asking for trouble. We'll tell you how to avoid that danger."

"Looking both ways before crossing a street saved this local boy's life. Find out how turning your head and looking could save your life, too."

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

More from eBay!

I couldn't resist this item: a British publication aimed at boys ("Boy's Cinemas" gives it away) that presents novelizations of action pictures.

This one features my favorite cowboy star Tom Tyler, the B-western star who had one of the most interesting careers in movies.

What is so amazing is that a western such as "Riding Through" is no great shakes and yet it's treated here as a major production worthly of some uncredited writer adapting the script into a novella.

The story is illustrated with stills from the film and I was interested to see that apparently this picture – independently made – was distributed by the British arm of Universal in the United Kingdom.

The weekly publication had several other novelizations as well as movie news.

My friend Richard Gordon, the last of a generation of indpendent filmmakers, told me he and his late brother Alex (also a notable indie producer) read "Boy's Cinema" regularly. And look what happened to them!

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs

Hey, I want these two fonts based on the title cards of Fleischer cartoons! I know I'm not an graphic artist, but I still want them.

I want to use these on stationary, etc. They are beautiful.

Fleischer fonts