Love is all around: Busy Doing Nothing with Charlie

Listener comments!

11:59am βrian:

What we talk about when we talk about safety pins.

12:01pm listener james from westwood:

Welcome back, Charlie!!

12:01pm Michael:

This is my safe place. Hiya Charlie.

12:03pm Mayuko:

Hello Charlie!

12:06pm Charlie:

Hello ßrian, James, Michael, Mayuko! Happy to see you:)

12:06pm annie:

i'm here, but listening to Chris M's opening tune

12:07pm Charlie:

Hi annie, and where is "here," anyway?

12:08pm βrian:

"Here" is Charlie's Love Den, no?

12:08pm sugarwolf:

Hellooo

12:12pm Charlie:

hello, unadorned, original sugarwolf :)

12:12pm judy from croton:

Tralala and hello from lunch break here in a littered parking lot on the Long Island Sound

12:15pm βrian:

Is Bosco at hand, Judy?

12:16pm listener james from westwood:

Our second sing-along of the day!

12:20pm βrian:

Is a lament-along a thing?

12:20pm annie:

well, here was there on another pop-up. now i'm "Here"

12:20pm jan:

Hi Charlie- lovin petula!

12:20pm Charlie:

Hi Judy!

12:21pm Charlie:

and Jan!

12:21pm judy from croton:

Go Charlie, basso profundo

12:22pm testingwithfire:

Good morning from Honolulu airport, Charlie and fellow loafers. Headed back to mainland, no desire to do so.

12:22pm βrian:

We all need a bunny kick from time to time.

12:23pm listener james from westwood:

We're part land, part temporary autonomous zone.

12:24pm thatpatsmith:

Land sakes, Charlie

12:29pm Charlie:

hey there, testingwithfire
hi, thatpatsmith
the more the merrier

12:29pm listener james from westwood:

This LL is a good'un.

12:31pm listener james from westwood:

Judy, Judy, Judy!

12:35pm Goyim in the AM:

In the ever popular category of "Damn it, I always get those two mixed up", Lisa Stansfield and Tracey Ullman. I think it's the eyes.

12:37pm listener james from westwood:

Love love love this Stansfield track.

12:38pm listener james from westwood:

Yorkshireman I once worked with knew her in uni and said she was an aces person.

12:38pm ndbob:

afternoon Charlie and everyone!

12:39pm Dominick:

YA!

12:39pm listener james from westwood:

I always imagine this track is Dr. Strangelove diverting himself in the War Room between trips to the remaining nuke-war survival rations.

12:43pm Parq:

There's a lot of laughing to keep from crying these days (more than just the political situation in my case, though I wouldn't bore you with the details), and so literally laughing out loud at the Strangelove-Beatles mashup felt really, really good. Even Mrs. Parq laughed out loud.

12:43pm annie:

Mr Blandings?

12:52pm Charlie:

Hey there, Goyim, Bob, Dominick, Parq!

12:53pm Charlie:

annie -- yes, good call!

12:53pm sugarwolf:

I like all the versions I've heard of this song. Even Lola Falana singing it Italian!

👻

12:54pm doctorjazz:

Hi all, meetings (yuck), back now for the rest of nothingness.

12:56pm Charlie:

sugarwolf -- i would *love* to hear lola falana sing that song in italian!

12:56pm Charlie:

and hi, doctorjazz

12:56pm judy from croton:

Oh no, Bosco's at home. What time is it? Oh, he's projectile peeing in the laundry (clean) basket right around now.

12:57pm judy from croton:

Judy is the fifth worst name ever.

12:59pm Charlie:

what are the first four?

12:59pm sugarwolf:

@Charlie: look up Lola Falana and Gira Gira on YouTube.

Don't look at any recent Lola Falana videos, she found religion and in a super unfun way :(

12:59pm annie:

aaawww, we love our pets, right??

1:00pm βrian:

I used to think "Gretchen" was awful until I heard it pronounced by a northern German speaker. That was lovely!

1:02pm JtotheK:

Hi everyone.

1:05pm Charlie:

hi there JtotheK

1:10pm jan:

Hmmm- love the one your with... what kind of advice is that?

1:11pm Parq:

Jan, lots of people get that wrong. It's not, if you can't be with the one you love because you're out of town, it's, if you can't be with the one you're love because she dumped you.

1:13pm βrian:

Nah, it's just love the ones you're with — plain and simple.

1:15pm Parq:

Well, you know best, of course. In that case, I agree with Jan -- it's a pretty bad attitude.

1:16pm still b/p:

I always thought it had an unavoidable note of "uptight fidelity is for squares, man, and less fun," in it.

AP story on the passing of Mose Allison said his music was "covered by many in the rock world, including Van Morrison, The Who, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, the YardBirds and even the CLash.:

I thought the phrasing "even the Clash" was odd and unnecessary.

1:16pm βrian:

Less wurst works for me.

1:18pm JakeGould:

Hello!

1:20pm βrian:

Once in, there's no way out of the mosh pit of love.

1:20pm Parq:

That "touched me" jape reminds me of a great scene in "School of Rock". The protagonist has been busted as a fake teacher and he is trying to explain to parents and teachers that he has nonetheless forged an emotional bond with his students. He makes the fatal mistake of phrasing it as "I have touched these children, and they have touched me."

👻

1:25pm doctorjazz:

Warning-recently deceased set in progress... :(

1:26pm geezerette:

Howdy!

1:27pm still b/p:

Funny to think that even in the 70s Leon and his music already had such a seasoned, storied feel.

1:27pm Charlie:

how now, still b/p!
howdy, JakeGould!
well met, geezerette!

👻

1:28pm doctorjazz:

Peggy Lee doing Leon is pretty cool!

1:29pm geezerette:

she was so classy.

1:29pm Charlie:

still b/p -- yeah, that phrasing is unnecessary and displays some prejudice or ignorance.

1:32pm βrian:

So does the current symbolism of the safety pin retain any reference to punk culture?

Or what?

1:35pm βrian:

Where's Tony Randall? Doesn't he have a song for us?

1:35pm still b/p:

Obit habits irritate regularly. For example, writers way too often want to tell us what a musician or actor or other artist is "best known for." I say go ahead and list noted examples of the work, but don't claim to know what an artist is best/most widely known for. That's mostly unnecessary, and sometimes inaccurate, at least from my armchair.

1:37pm Uncle Michael:

I'm sorry I wasn't around earlier.

1:37pm annie:

@ βrian: or will they wear more or less, now that there's a new standard?

1:37pm Dominick:

still b/p -- Leon was an old hand at the biz by the 70s

1:39pm Charlie:

Uncle Michael! Glad you're around now:)

1:40pm still b/p:

Oh, I know -- just interesting that he felt like an older soul with what that creative & performance soul had accumulated in those earlier years, when there were still decades more to come!

1:41pm βrian:

From the Ramones to the Spongetones.

1:41pm Charlie:

Obit for an obit writer: "best known for making pronouncements about what the deceased was best know for"

1:43pm geezerette:

hahaha Charlie :),

1:44pm Uncle Michael:

If one lists award-winning work, it's *probably* what an artist is best known for, and makes no presumptions about the reader.

1:44pm Parq:

That stuff drives me crazy, too. I call it the "Curse of Best Known For" and it's afflicted everyone from Leon to John Gielgud ('best known for his role as the beloved butler in Arthur"). And Charlie @1:41, you've nailed it as usual.

1:46pm Uncle Michael:

"Best known as the subject of this obituary" would often be correct.

1:47pm geezerette:

hee hee, UM!

1:49pm geezerette:

Best known for beng known is a huge category too.

1:49pm Uncle Michael:

Paul Drake was such a dick.

1:49pm βrian:

Local Man's Death Prompts Obit

1:52pm Parq:

"Bob Dylan was probably best known as the crusty, cheerful host of a satellite-radio oldies show."

1:52pm βrian:

I can't have lunch until you're done, Charlie, and I'm *starving*!

1:53pm ndbob:

excellent show Charlie!

1:53pm still b/p:

If another writer of an obit or profile tells me someone had an "unlikely" start or background for their later field, avocation or fame....I'm gonna...gonna snarl and grumble some more, that's what.
It's part of the whole family of maddening overuse and infestation of cliches that often explicity say, "You might think..." or "If you think this...you're wrong" or "think again." Crazy, crazy how flooded journalism and commercial writing is with that EVERY DAY! If you start noticing it each time, it can make YOU crazy (or just me; assumptions about others are the problem, after all). I started collecting them a few years ago. Intervention needed for me soon, maybe.

1:54pm Charlie:

all right, ßrian, I'll wrap it up:)

1:56pm Listening Out There:

Hey...is this thing on?

1:56pm listener james from westwood:

still b/p: We in the copy editor cadre hail your anti-cliché policy.

1:56pm Uncle Michael:

still b/p, it might get better. But for now, only time will tell.

1:57pm βrian:

Ok, use your best cliches, and write an obit for today's show.

1:59pm geezerette:

Thank you Charlie!

See you later,funny people!

2:00pm listener james from westwood:

Was hearing that as "no bugs in our house," and I thought, your lips to the FBI's ears....

Many thanks, Chaz, and do hope the cold sees its way out soon!

2:01pm still b/p:

I had a news director 35 years ago who said the majority of stories, in broadcast sphere, at least, end with some version of "only time/the future will tell."

2:02pm Michael:

Workin' Workin' Workin'. Many thanks Charlie for providing a fun and thoughtful soundtrack!

2:03pm Uncle Michael:

Thanks Chahley!

2:03pm still b/p:

Good music, thanks, soothes the snags and piques.

2:04pm Charlie:

Thanks, everyone -- glad you could make it today!

2:04pm Charlie:

So, what's everyone doing now?

2:05pm Michael:

Hope you have some recipes and cooking tips next week.

2:29pm doyle:

missed the show, but damn, many of my favorites!

2:47pm Charlie:

Hi doyle!
@Michael -- next week's show will be a tribute to fat people and to food! Just listening to the show will be fattening.