The Big E - Just One Difference

At The Big E Radio Booth - But Nobody's Here

The Eastern States Exposition - The Big E in West Springfield, Massachusetts - is the sixth largest fair in the USA and the biggest on the Eastern Seaboard.    Its bigness isn't the only thing that doesn't change much over time, so it's not a destination I feel the need to visit every year.    That consistency provides something comforting about making the hour journey up there.   I know that was especially true right after 9/11/01.  That was when I did some remote broadcasts on WDRC from the Connecticut Building on the Avenue of the States, my favorite section.   It was such a relief getting out of the solitary studio and being among thousands of other people trying to deal with one of the most shocking chapters in American history.   Maybe I missed it at an unmanned "Big E Radio Booth", but I didn't see any radio stations live on location during my visit.    Perhaps it says a lot about how broadcasting has changed.   Maybe the listeners don't miss it, but this was one opportunity for broadcasters to get out of their isolated studios in a big and interactive way you don't get at a car dealer or furniture store remote.    The rest of the Big E continues to offer unusual and high ticket products, livestock galore and food that is all certifiably unhealthy.   I didn't try something called Fried Kool-Aid, sticking with your basic hot dog and soft serve cone.   My wallet still managed to feel a lot lighter afterwards.   See you later in a few years, Big E! 

Who Doesn't Get It?

"It's a Southern thang and y'all don't get it!"    I saw that quote around a picture of  a Confederate flag.    For months now, everyone traveling along a stretch of Route 16 in Colchester has also been treated to a "stars n' bars" flag prominently displayed in front of one of the trashiest properties in town.    You can't look away from this symbol of Dixieland - it's sticking way out onto this state highway.    I know that some images of the Confederacy are often included as symbols of a self-proclaimed redneck America, but anyone who thinks it is perfectly cool to shove a Confederate flag in my face is displaying an outrageous level of ignorance.   In this age of a return to far right wing politics not seen since the fifties, many extremist hate groups, politicians and broadcasters are even pushing reactionary agendas that make 1955 or even the pre-1860s era seem like the good old days.   Over 620,000 people died in this bitter dispute over slavery and preservation of our union.    Despite a devastated postwar South and continued suppression of civil rights for another century, we have made great strides in breaking down these barriers.   There's no going back.   Confederate battle flags belong in museums or historical reenactments.    They are not acceptable in telling our first black President that you won't let him take your guns.    When I visited Alabama in the 1990s, I saw a compelling exhibit at Birmingham's Civil Rights Museum, advances in American rocketry at Huntsville and a proudly charged up football crowd at the University of Alabama's opening game.   Those images should represent the South.    The Confederate flag should represent a bygone and no so nostalgic chapter in American history.   

Destinations Past

Yours truly (front) in 1968 at Frank Davis Resort, Moodus 

When Linda and I took our dog Oreo to the Moodus section of East Haddam for a walk in one of Connecticut's newer state parks, little did I know that a wrong turn would take us into one of the creepier properties next door.   As we entered what looked like the remains of one of many resorts that used to dot the Moodus landscape, it dawned on me that I'd been here before in the sixties on a day trip with grandparents and cousins.   A quick Google search confirmed that the former Sunrise Resort had gone out of business in 2008 and was sold to the State of Connecticut.   It was known as the Frank Davis Resort when I was originally there.   I remember the day rowing down the nearby Salmon River, diving into a huge pool and eating in a big hall.    These days, only a couple of buildings at the entrance, cracking pavement and a few old basketball hoops remain after vandals and demolition crews moved through.   Check out this commercial and video taken after it closed and before most buildings were demolished.     Being there this year brought me back to a time 45 summers ago that seemed so different.    The decline of these resorts - a smaller scale version of New York's Catskills - shows how more sophisticated types of recreation have replaced these venues more likely to be owned by a family than a conglomerate.   There was a time when working class families only had an opportunity to escape the heat of the city by coming to these resorts.   Now that supersized theme parks, cruise liners and tropical beaches have become must-see destinations for the masses, I wonder which generation is actually missing out.

A Dangerous Gamble By The World

President Obama is absolutely right.   Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime has crossed a red line by the use of chemical weapons on over 1,000 of their own citizens.   This flaunting of what has been an accepted norm in warfare since the end of World War I is totally unacceptable.   It's not about deposing Assad at this point.   It's about punishing someone for using these weapons and letting them know that the consequences would prove devastating.    Teaching a tyrant this lesson is worth the effort, except for one thing.   Nobody's on board... not the American public, not the British Parliament, not the UN Security Council.    Russia and China are up to their necks in financial interests in Assad's Syria.   Sunni-dominated Arab states like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would like nothing more than hitting Assad hard, but they refuse to join the US out in the open.   Iran, Iraq and their Hezbollah puppets out of Lebanon have helped shore up the Assad regime.   Many refuse to believe the evidence because they don't want to believe the United States.   Secretary of State Kerry has made a compelling case for a military strike, but what is the point of teaching a bad guy a lesson if most of the world refuses to listen?    The world gives a pass on chemical weapons at its own peril.    I'm afraid all the Obama administration can really do is provide a bully pulpit to the world about the folly of looking the other way.    Our own moral imperative has diminished as we failed to punish Saddam Hussein for gassing Iranians and Kurds, hurriedly went into and out of Somalia, ignored the Rwanda disaster and failed to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.   Sadly, it's going to take a more spectacular chemical attack to get the world to get past the politics.   President Obama has become a voice in the wilderness.    It's sad.

Roxy Mornings: Mission Accomplished

I admit to being a bit surprised when I heard who had been named to be the new host of the 100.9 Roxy FM morning show.   Franco made quite a name for himself for years in the New London market as a very upfront personality on Q-105.   The new Roxy FM is more music intensive, including in "AM drive" where four live announcer breaks an hour are confined to sixty seconds each.    Then at 8:00 AM, a 100-minute nonstop commercial-free music marathon kicks off.   In that environment, Franco will undoubtedly make adjustments and I'm sure his bosses will as well.   He starts September 4th, and I do wish him well.   He knows radio programming, has paid his share of dues, is as psyched as anyone I've ever witnessed and has been very positive about what I've done in this interim period.    As someone who's been on the receiving end of disappointment more than once in a profession we love, I can certainly appreciate when something works out.    I'll continue what I was originally brought in to do with the knowledge that I accomplished my Roxy morning mission in a positive way.