Transcript
BOB GARFIELD: We're back with On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: And I'm Brooke Gladstone with a few of your letters. First, Bob's excellent adventure as a country songwriter in Nashville drew a song response-- [GUITAR MUSIC]
MAN: [SINGING] TAG, YOU'RE IT-- CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. I'D LOVE TO SAY I LOVE YOU, BUT I'M SUCH A BUSY MAN. [CONTINUES UNDER]
BROOKE GLADSTONE: "As one who has long ago knocked on publishers' doors in Nashville," writes Mark Gover of Michigan. "I really loved the Nashville Bob story. The ending, bumping into Jimmy Carter, was just too incredible to have been scripted and probably a truer to life example of the human networks that in the end determine a song's fate. Thanks for the I'll-be-damned belly laugh."
BOB GARFIELD:David Stefan of West Reading Connecticut wrote that having worked in the music industry, he was, quote, "impressed with the final version of Tag, You're It -- it just proves once again that the technology of the recording studio can make almost anything sound good."
BROOKE GLADSTONE:Carl of Royal Oak, Michigan writes in desperation "Will you please tell me how to get the damned thing out of my head? I tried It's a Small World After All with no luck; tried Radar Love and MacArthur Park -- even I Did It My Way! All I have to say is -- Tag, You're it!"
BOB GARFIELD:Carl, try Tie a Yellow Ribbon -- [LAUGHTER] It works for me. Last week we re-broadcast our chats with liberal TV co-host Alan Colmes and liberal comic Al Franken about why there are no Limbaughs of the left. According to Paul Theeze of Glendale, Wisconsin "There already exists a liberal Limbaugh -- it is called Hollywood! Of course, unlike Limbaugh," he writes, "Hollywood usually makes no pretense of being anything other than fiction."
BROOKE GLADSTONE:Mike Blanche of Cedar Hill, Texas writes: "Your interviewer made it clear he was a liberal. He said he had to 'bite his lip' to listen to Limbaugh. Then he interviewed two liberals to ask them why liberal radio wasn't working. Why didn't you ask to conservatives -- say Limbaugh and Bill Kristol -- why liberal radio doesn't work? You might have learned a lot more. However I can tell you why Franken won't work," he writes. "He's just flat nasty. Not funny."
BOB GARFIELD:Bob Kaye of Washington, DC writes that our piece on the lack of a liberal Limbaugh "was hysterical but only because of the hug-each-other-and-cry sense of self pity that suffused the interview. You should have asked questions about liberal elitism. Can you really listen to Franken's response and not just smell the elitism? Or what about the liberal focus on victimhood or interest group politics? Finally there was the contempt that many in the liberal elite have for middle America. You could have done better." And he adds a post script -- "Can't stand Rush. Never could. Think he's a blowhard."
BROOKE GLADSTONE:It should be obvious that we've got nothing against blowhards on this program. We employ them -- so contribute to that mighty wind by writing to onthemedia@wnyc.org, and don't forget to tell us where you live and how to pronounce your name. [MUSIC]