Ebony Hillbillies at Flushing Town Hall

It is always nice to have a concert venue in the neighborhood as I have reported several family outings to Flushing Town Hall.  We were supposed to see the Ebony Hillbillies back in February, but a snowstorm necessitated it to be rescheduled to last night.  We were all tired after seeing the Mets in the afternoon, but this group was certainly very entertaining.

The Ebony Hillbillies are described as one of the last black string bands in the United States. This two hour concert featured songs from many musical genres.  Some of the audience members danced up a storm.  The group members are:

• Norris Bennett
• Henrique Prince
• William Salter
• Newman Taylor Baker
• Gloria Thomas Gassaway

Mets 7 Miami 3

It was a little cold this afternoon as we made our first trip of the the season to Citifield.  Of course, I bought the yearbook for the 52nd time.  We walked around the stadium for a while and the walked up to section 518 where we met Alan Berman.

There are many new faces on the team as the Mets try to improve on their 74-88 2012 record. John Buck drove in 4 runs and David Wright got 3 hits as the Mets beat Florida 7-3.

Game recap

Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour Begins its 2013 Leg

Since Bob Dylan is approaching his 72nd birthday, he deserves some time off from his legendary Never Ending Tour.  The last concert was November 22 at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn attended by yours truly.  The tour resumed last name at the Alumni Arena at SUNY Buffalo.  Below is the set list from Bob Links page compiled by Bill Pagel.  I am glad to see he played some songs from the recent Tempest CD.

1.	Things Have Changed (Bob center stage, Donnie on pedal steel, Duke on reddish orange hollow body electric, George on drums with brushes)
2.	Love Sick (Bob center stage, Donnie on electric mandolin, Duke on red hollow body electric)
3.	High Water (For Charley Patton) (Bob center stage, Donnie on banjo, Duke on red hollow body electric, Tony on standup bass)
4.	Soon After Midnight (Bob standing at grand piano, Donnie on pedal steel, Duke on red hollow body electric)
5.	Early Roman Kings (Bob standing at grand piano, Donnie on lap steel, Duke on red hollow body electric, Tony on standup bass, George on drums with brushes)
6.	Tangled Up In Blue (Bob sitting at grand piano, Donnie on pedal steel, Duke on red hollow body electric, George on drums with brushes)
7.	Pay In Blood (Bob standing at grand piano, Donnie on pedal steel, Duke on red hollow body electric, George on drums with brushes)
8.	Visions Of Johanna (Bob sitting at grand piano, Donnie on electric mandolin, Duke on red hollow body electric)
9.	Spirit On The Water (Bob standing at grand piano and harp, Donnie on pedal steel, Duke on red hollow body electric, George on drums with brushes)
10.	Blind Willie McTell (Bob center stage with harp, Donnie on banjo, Duke on red hollow body electric, Tony on standup bass)
11.	Beyond Here Lies Nothin' (Bob center stage with harp, Donnie on electric mandolin, Duke on red hollow body electric, Tony on white 6 string Fender bass)
12.	What Good Am I? (Bob sitting at grand piano, Donnie on pedal steel, Duke on red hollow body electric, Tony on white 6 string Fender bass, George on drums with mallets)
13.	Thunder On The Mountain (Bob standing at grand piano, Donnie on lap steel, Duke on red hollow body electric, Tony on white 6 string Fender bass, George on drums with brushes)
14.	Scarlet Town (Bob sitting at grand piano, Donnie on banjo, Duke on red hollow body electric, Tony on white 6 string Fender bass, George on drums with brushes)
15.	Highway 61 Revisited (Bob standing at grand piano, Donnie on lap steel, Duke on red hollow body electric, Tony on white 6 string Fender bass, George on drums with brushes)
	(encore)
16.	Ballad Of A Thin Man (Bob standing at grand piano and harp, Donnie on lap steel, Duke on red hollow body electric)

Beatles Song of the Day - Drive My Car

I don't here this one much on the radio. Many Beatles songs have been burned out by overplay on the radio

Opening Day of the Baseball Season

It was very rare as both the Mets and Yankees were home on opening day.  I had to go to work, but my trusty iPhone kept me advised of the scores.  The Mets did very well as the usually do on opening day and beat the San Diego Padres 11-2 featuring a grand slam home run by Collin Cowgill.  I think Cow Bell Man may have to change his name.  The injury riddled Yankees lost 8-2 to the hated Boston Red Sox.

Recap of the Met game

Recap of the Yankee game

Review of WHN: When New York City Went Country

Radio is so much different today than it was from 1973-87 when 1050 WHN played country music in New York City.  Between internet radio, SiriusXM, and HD radio there are so many choices.  Today, I listen to more radio on my computer than I do on my radio.  I can tune in almost any AM or FM station over the country and even over the world by putting in the proper URL in my browser.  Regular readers of my journal know that I am all over the place listening to different stations in different formats.  Back in the 1970s and 80s we only had access to the local AM and FM station.  During that time frame music radio was making a transition from AM to FM.

During the 1970s and 80s I was not quite the radio enthusiast that I am today.  For the most past back then I listened to WABC, WYNY and WCBS-FM.  Back when I was a student at the University of Rhode Island from 1972-74 I just loved Salty Brine on WPRO.  I have always been interested in the history of radio broadcasting and the many personalities who have graced the airwaves over the years.  I read the various radio message boards, but only occasionally throw in my two cents in to the discussions.  I found out about the following book:

Salamon, Ed. When New York City Went Country. Los Angeles: Archer Books, 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2013.

As soon it became available I bought it for my Amazon Kindle.  I really don’t like schlepping books on the subway any more.  Since I had several newspapers, magazines, and books to read, it took me a couple of weeks to get to it.  Today, I had a few hours, so I turned off my radio and computer and took the time to read this book which I enjoyed immensely.

The first thing I realized was that I should have listened to WHN more often back then.  I would listen to the Met games on that station, but I rarely listened to country music since I was so much into rock ‘n roll radio.  Ed Salamon gives a prologue discussing the history of WHN from its inception to the adoption of the country music format in 1973.  He was the program director during most of the stations’ country music era and thus the book reflects his experiences with the on and off the air personalities.  I certainly enjoyed the anecdotal and chronological approach that he used.  I found out much about the station.

Since one time WMCA was the program director for a while at WHN many of the former Good Guys including Jack Spector, Ed Baer, Joe O’Brien and Dan Daniel were on both stations.

• Several WCBS-FM personalities including Dan Taylor, Mike Fitzgerald, and Gary Clark (Gary Semro) appeared on WHN.

• Many country music personalities were guest Djs.

• The station sponsored many country music concerts in the NYC area.

• WHN was actually the second biggest radio station in the world with adults 25-49 behind WABC

I enjoyed the book and recommend it for radio enthusiasts like myself and for people in the business.  Most radio listeners are likely not aware of what goes on behind the scenes at a major radio station.

Ed Salamon properly credit’s the people he interviewed for this book.  In the text he mentioned a few articles that discussed the station.  As an academic librarian I noted that there was no bibliography at the end of the book.  It would be useful to supplement the interviews with information from trade magazines.

There was a reunion for the 40th anniversary of the country format at Hill Country Restaurant.  Photos may be seen at Matt Seinberg’s Facebook page.

There was also a reunion on WFDU radio.

The publication of the book also coincides with the return of country music to New York City radio on WNSH (94.7 FM)

Visiting the Jewish Museum on Good Friday

Since Karen and I were both off from work today, we took a subway ride to the Upper East Side to visit the Jewish Museum on a Catholic holiday.   I just researched my own journal and found out I was last there on December 24, 2007.

There were permanent and temporary exhibits there.  There was an interesting exhibit from the newly established design firm Sagmeister and Walsh.  It was something different for the day.