FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2009
Friday, June 26th, 2009A one-two punch to our popculture lives…
…a lot of high school graduates will be remembering the night of June 25, 2009… for more than just the night they got their diplomas or watched the valedictorian get sick… the news of Michael Jackson’s death ignited like a brush fire through our world just as a lot of ceremonies were getting under way…
…I don’t want to get sentimental or preachy over what some could easily call entertainment and popculture news, especially with the life and death struggle of ideology happening half a globe away… but the deaths of Michael Jackson… and Farrah… should serve as a pausing point for all of us for who they were;… to borrow from Pink Floyd… bricks in our wall. If we are going to let popculture seep into our lives and take our attention away from eating and breathing, then we have to put away our snide analysis and acknowledge part of our own lives are gone with these icons…
…it would have been great to see what the 50 year-old Michael Jackson could have done with his songs and his stage career in the next couple of months… for all his increasing eccentricities and scandals as he got older… when you stripped away his public figure of bizarre behavior…and there was no telling how much of that was calculated… there was always… always… that gifted songwriter and performer… as a rock music fan… and radio talk show host… I also spent part of my life making an income as a party and club DJ playing Michael Jackson’s songs to dancing crowds during his peak… and nothing… no other artist… could cure a lull on the floor faster than throwing on the beginning beats of “Thriller” or “Billie Jean”… and you know what… at the right time… that is still true today… how corny I feel right now saying this, but… thank you, Michael Jackson… I hope you are moonwalking… wherever you are…
oh… one more thing… we really have to rethink our current celebrities… how many of these current packs of pretty people have any underlying talent that would qualify them for a legitimate enduring legacy, other than a lifelong rash?… email me some names of current popculture figures who could last more than one season of a forgettable “reality” show… or the time it takes for the fake tears of a 
sham political talk show host to dry?… it reminds me to be more careful about who I choose to be bricks in my wall… -Brian
…it’s the same Brian Smith from WICC 600, Connecticut, until The Great Layoff a few weeks ago… and before that, Connecticut’s number one morning show formerly on WPLR…
THE VOICE… is playing all Michael Jackson songs with a heavy emphasis on the early years of the Jackson 5 this morning at the Prognosticator Cafe and Grille… someone asked about the one glove he was wearing at the stove… but that is only because The Voice burned his right hand helping Poncho Joe fix the radiator in his ‘65 Mustang last Tuesday… but what about this week’s News from The Voice… it’s right there on the placemats by the cash register… here’s what The Voice brings us this week… in his own 
words… “…Boxing Saturday Night results -MLB-NFL-,GREAT NFL CAMP PHOTOS & Big Tennis at WIMBLEDON**********AND A NEW FEATURE WORDS OF WISDOM FROM THE VOICE & BRUCE LEE******* “… and may I add… of course… the CHEERLEADERS… so if you can’t make it down the The Prognosticator to see The Voice in person… you can read his picks and see his pics by clicking on “SPORTS PICKS” over there on the right, or just click (here)…
GOT ANY NEW HAVEN COLISEUM MEMORIES?… one of those projects I’m involved with is a CPTV big-time documentary about the (now demolished) New Haven Coliseum… if you have any momentos… ticket stubs… souvenirs… photos… videos.. memories… stories… about the New Haven Coliseum… and you think they would make a good addition to the documentary, email me… and I will hook you up with the producer… to email me, click (here)…
THANK YOU, AMY P… for sending us the scan of the Earth, Wind, and Fire concert ticket stub… from what she thinks… was 1979…
FACEBOOK… GOOD OR BAD?… this isn’t for a formal documentary… this is Brian putting together information about our current culture… has Facebook improved your life?… or made it worse?… how about the other services? do you remember MySpace?… are you Twittered-out?…or perhaps you have resisted the fad… email me with your experience… click (here)…
TO EMAIL BRIAN… with a big-time job offer… or just a “yo!”… click (here) for the address…
HELLO to my NBC TODAY SHOW friends… on the outside in the plaza and inside the show as well… (by the way… I will work for food… oh, and cash…)
Thank you for checking in with the online edition of The Brian Smith News and Variety Show… at least that is what is was last known as on the radio… during this summer, updates here may be as few as two or three times a week as I try to secure an income…
UNPLUGGED: BECAUSE WE’RE CURRENTLY IN A STATE OF … UH, RADIO SILENCE… feel free to email your friends (or enemies)… and tell them to check out BrianSmithRadio.com… thank you…
I am currently appearing with the Bridgeport Bluefish baseball team during their home 
games as their onfield “game show host” between innings… if you haven’t been to one of their games, stop by and check it out… the turf at The Ball Park at Harbor Yard has been completely replaced with Kentucky Bluegrass… the food is terrific… parking is close and safe… and the baseball is fun and much more affordable than heading out-of-state… check out the Bridgeport Bluefish website, click (here)…
NEXT GAME: BRIDGEPORT BLUEFISH PLAY MONDAY NIGHT… KIDS EAT FREE…. BALLPARK AT HARBOR YARD… 7:05pm game…
…here’s the weather for Connecticut/Long Island/NYC…
for more Connecticut weather, click on CTWeather.com…
RITA’S ICE OF BRIDGEPORT… my new addiction is the vanilla ice layered with vanilla custard… Rita’s Ice is one of the excellent foods you can get at a Bridgeport Bluefish game at the Ball Park at Harbor Yard… ask for a sample… or stop by their store near Treeland and Vazzi’s on the Bridgeport/Stratford line… say hello to Dan,Jeff,Dominick, and Kevin… or the rest of the great staff… and I’m saying this as a fan… tell them Brian Smith said to ask for the frozen custard/ice dish… check out their website and daily flavors, click (here)…
POWERBALL… there was no winner Wednesday, so Saturday, it is worth… $25 MILLION
MEGAMILLIONS… no winner Tuesday, so TONIGHT… (Friday), it is worth $81 MILLION
CONNECTICUT LOTTERY WINNING NUMBERS… not a prediction… these are yesterday’s, click (here)…
IRV PINSKY… lawyer… and a guest on my various programs… call Irv at 1-800-IRVINGS…
NEWS OF THE WEIRD… a terrific weekly collection of strange, true news from Chuck Shepherd, for this week’s edition, click (here)…
thanks for listening… have a safe weekend… see you Monday… -Brian
ROLLER COASTERS IN CONNECTICUT… Lake Compounce, Quassy… Boulder Dash… Zoomerang… take a tour… pictures, click (
CELLPHONE CAMERA PORTRAITS… as cell phone cameras improve… some photographers are using their simplicity to create new art… see a gallery, click (
TEN SUGGESTIVE AUTOMOBILE PRINT ADS… from different eras of advertising history.. see them… click (
Beatles… Rain… click (
Bob Dylan… A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall… click (
NEW HAVEN COLISEUM BEFORE THE WRECKING BALL… Thanks to long-ago intern (and now graphics software mogul) Joe Carrano for sending the scans of his tickets to the Stone Temple Pilots show and the WWF Raw is War battle from the New Haven Coliseum… if you have any tickets… mementos… stories… memories (good, bad, strange, altered state of being), let me know… it’s for a CPTV documentary about the New Haven Coliseum… my email info, click (
last week at the Prognosticator Grill and Cafe… he made the pancakes look like basketballs… all was good until Poncho Joe tried to dress like his own mother to come back for more… this week, The Voice is back with his uncanny predictions for this weekend’s action… BASEBALL… NASCAR… NFL CAMP PICTURES… SATURDAY NIGHT BOXING… and more, including… CHEERLEADERS… to see what The Voice knows… click on “SPORTS PICKS” on the right, or just click (
TV SHOOT AND OTHER WEIGHTY MATTERS OF SELFISH VANITY… as if securing income wasn’t enough of a battle… now I’m determined to take off the extra pounds I’ve put on over the last couple of months… I’ve got some television and video projects I’m working on in July and the camera tends to add a few pounds to petite people, so for Oreo-addicted palookas like me, it’s off to the gym…
SICK COOKIE… NESTLE RECALLS COOKIE DOUGH… the raw Toll-House Cookie dough could make you sick… story, click (
CHECK YOUR FLY… THE PRESIDENT SENDS ONE TO THE GREAT GARBAGE CAN IN THE SKY… if you haven’t seen this week’s video of President Obama whacking that fly during a CNBC interview, here it is… click (
RICK’S CUSTOM SQUIRRELS… here’s a guy who takes discarded squirrel pelts… and with some taxidermy magic… turns them into works of art… or at least little furry conversation pieces… for the story, click (
TIME FLIES HISTORIC FACT: O.J. THE RUN… 15 YEARS AGO TODAY… remember the white bronco chase through Los Angeles…? That was 15 years ago today… for a look back and some video, click (
CORNWALL, CONNECTICUT… LIVING JUST A FEW FEET AWAY FROM THE TRACKS… story in today’s New York Times about people living in houses with… unfortunate locations… including one in Cornwall… for the story, click (
CRASH ON I-95 THIS MORNING CLOSES HIGHWAY IN FAIRFIELD… story from The Connecticut Post, click (
ANCHOR’S AWAY… SUSAN CHRISTENSEN LEAVING FOX 61 AFTER FRIDAY… click (
MILEY CYRUS AND BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FIGHT THE SCALPERS… try to get their tickets to their fans without the expensive middle man… should scalpers be allowed to buy and sell concert and show tickets?… the ethicist from The New York Times ponders, click (
SAAB STORY: GM SELLS CAR… COMPANY… General Motors has sold their SAAB division to a small car company in Sweden that currently makes and sells only 18 cars a year… story, click (
MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND: PUPPY SURVIVES FLUSH DOWN TOILET… 4-year old thought it needed a bath… story, click (
ALLIANCE, OHIO… PANTY THEFT NOT PETTY THEFT…. 25 year-old panty burglar + 300 pairs of underwear = 9 year jail sentence… click (
