esrosedotblog

I was a faithful listener of "Car Talk" for many years.

Well, not all of it. Parts. And mostly because I liked listening to the Magliozzi brothers, both MIT graduates incidentally.

Then I moved away from Boston and didn't follow them anymore although they were on NPR nationwide for a very long time.

Now, we have lost Tom. He is the one on the right. The older and wiser one with the maniacal laugh.

Tom Magliozzi, Popular Co-Host Of NPR's 'Car Talk,' Dies At 77

Sad. And I can't help noting that he was my age less a year.

I don't remember him or them at MIT but it is nice to know that we shared that.

I am losing peers. It made my father depressed and worried every time one of his friends would go. I try not to let that happen to me. At least the worry part. But it is difficult not to personalize it in that way.

I would rather personalize it with the memory of all the laughs I had with these guys. I didn't learn fuck all about cars but I sure got a lot of happiness out of it.

Labels: automobiles, nostalgia, radio

A voice from my past is stilled.

Tom Magliozzi, co-host of 'Car Talk' on NPR has passed away

The "Tappet Brothers" hosted a radio program on WBUR for many years. All about cars and their care.

You did not have to care about cars to enjoy listening to their banter. They were funny and covered a wide swath of culture. Talk. Talk. Talk.

Apparently a lot of people listened in and came to love these guys.

I think the thing about the show other than the personalities is that they helped us see that our unconscious love of our vehicles could be made plain and enjoyed and you didn't have to be a gear head.

In America, everyone has a car but very few know anything about them.

Tom and Ray fixed that. With great entertainment value.

Here is Tom's obituary in the NYTimes.

It keeps on running. Great fun.

Labels: radio

With John gone it has been very quiet in the house.

Not that he makes a lot of noise. But he does have a sound. Sounds.

Yesterday the silence got pretty strong and I turned on the FM radio. KUSC. The LA classical station. The only classics we can get.

All music all the time.

And not a lot of talk although during the day some of the announcers think their job includes lame humor and comment. The music is a little more easy listening during the day as well.

I had forgotten how nice it is to have a sonic blanket.

I am in and out. I listen, then not and then something catches my ear and I am into it. I have even walked to the radio and stood there, rapt.

We do not have "stereo" anymore, incidentally. A sophisticated sound system like we used to have is now wasted on old men. Acuity has gone. I am not deaf but the wave lengths are attenuated. Besides, the big Bose radio player is very good indeed.

It is a lot like WCRB or WBUR in Boston. Not NPR which we do get but is too much of an ego fest for me. When did these assholes get on board?

Of course, WHDH in Boston had Robert J Lurtsema in the morning for decades. More arch you could not get. A lonely bachelor, now deceased, who took it out on his audience. A lonely mama's boy.

But that is long ago and far away. At least he kept it down to a low basso profound drone and sort of became part of the aural landscape. Here, not so much. Intrusion. Fucking jokes. But it is all we have here so I am grateful.

Labels: music, radio

They are trying to revive the Lone Ranger.

They even got Johnny Depp to do his kind of twist on the role of Tonto.

I love Johnny, god knows, but there is no way he is Tonto.

I don't know Armie Hammer very well. They have him as the Lone Ranger. I can't say whether he fits or not.

The fact is, no one can really play these roles if we have to watch them and take the mental image from listening to the radio voices at the same time.

That is the thing about radio drama. Everyone who listened formed their own pictures. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month.

Look.

Let's back up a minute.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto were radio characters. They played for years until radio drama went belly up. They were among the last to go. But when the top forty and the canned formats came on, to say nothing of television where you got to see the people, for chrissake, They disappeared into the ether. Forever.

The first visual representation of these characters was in comics which actually did a fairly good job in reproducing the feel of the dramas.

Remember, comics are rather nonspecific. They are just lines on paper. They use benday dots. Close, close up they are all space.

Then, television. Jay Silverheels played Tonto and he was a dead ringer for my mind view of Tonto. Maybe because I had seen him early on and he was the only visual indian I knew about and so I put him in the mental role before he had the one on teevee.

The Lone Ranger guy? No way. Impossible.

There are a lot of problems when you try to make the Lone Ranger "real" on television or anywhere else.

The first problem is the mask. My mental image of the mask was actually not reproducible in fabric or other material. It was a face mask which melded with my hero's being. Seamless. I remember they used to use this for suspense. Bad guys would talk about removing the mask. Horror. They might as well have talked about taking down his pants and looking at his ass.

A great drama device.

No man is able to wear that mask.

If you remembered this at all, you will remember that no one could ever tell you what the Lone Ranger looked like. My mind could handle this.

But after a minute one could always tell you what the Lone Ranger on television looked like. He looked like a wimp.

The other thing is the voice.

From the beginning, the role was played on radio by several guys but the one I heard, the one that counts was Brace Beemer. A deep baritone with a slight nasal twang. He personified the Lone Ranger the only way that we ever knew him. They were smart enough never to allow his face to be shown in publicity or anywhere else. I once sent for an autographed picture (I did that a lot in those days) and got back an 8x10 glossy with a funny kind of shadow on the man's face. They had finessed it. Good for them.

At that time there were a host of programs on radio, no television yet, which had the same impact. Many could not make the transition to television because the voice actors didn't fit the image. Soap operas, other dramas aimed at kids, kids only shows. All the same. Even well known stars were at risk. Jack Benny made it. Fred Allen (ugly as hell, a prune) didn't.

They have resisted using the Lone Ranger in the super movie. Or any other kind except for serials and B movies. Awful.

The review of the film, today in the Times, is not kind.

Good.

I hope the fucker flops.

I don't want a world where they do "the treatment" on my Lone Ranger and I will not see it. Johhny or not.

It is a butcher job from the first minute they project a picture. And I will have no part of it.

Listen to this. I didn't hear the first episode which was presented the year I was born but I am sure that I joined them 6-7 years later.

There is a lot of music at the beginning. Imagine. I have never been able to listen to the William Tell Overture without seeing them again. Hi-Yo Silver, Away.

You will first hear him at about 12:00 minutes. Well, when he rides in for the first time.

Labels: films, radio