Tuesday, January 18, 2011

DicksnJanes Podcast #280: longlivethebeats

The Scarborough Dude talks about the Beats, free speech, the White Hand Society, the joy of podcasting and more.

FYI: The person who wrote the story about Johnson fcking Kennedy was Paul Krassner; McGill published the story, and so not to be outdone, Sir George printed the cartoon. Both university papers were temporarily shut down, but not for long.

Links about Paul Krassner here and here.

Music:
Mad World - Tears For Fears - 80s British Gold
Letter to John Clellon Holmes - Dana Colley - Jack Kerouac - Kicks Joy Darkness

5 comments:

Rob Lee said...

It's good to hear that someone else was having trouble with the level of media saturation that Sgt. Ryan Russell's funeral got, at least in Toronto (not sure how much it dominated in other markets). Like you, I believe that it's appropriate to pay tribute to those who serve the public in dangerous jobs (the police and fire services, and others not so often in the public eye) and sacrifice their life protecting ours.

But the enormous coverage of Sgt. Russell's funeral, as well as the unprecedented turn-out (both from the public as well as from other services), leaves me wondering what's changed in the zeitgeist to cause that to happen.

John Meadows said...

Great podcast Dude, and I share both your and Rob's concern over the media reaction. I have a rather cynical theory: Ryan Russell was the first officer killed in the line of duty since the G20 debacle last year. The image of the police took a beating (rightfully) as a result, and a death like this was a perfect opportunity for the police and their media friends to reestablish the image of "the thin blue line": authority figures to be admired, respected, and never, ever questioned, especially at budget time, or when they demand your ID or right to be somewhere...

I remember turning on CFTO news, when they said they were dedicating the entire newscast to the one story, and it felt like I was watching CNN, the network that loves nothing better than to cover just one big story at a time, ignoring the rest of the news.

Scarborough Dude said...

I'm so relieved to read both your posts on this (John & Rob); I was wondering if I was alone in my feeling that there was something wrong about the excessive media coverage. In fact, I held back somewhat, but was thinking too about the G20 backlash and also the upcoming police budget. Thank you for the reassurance.

Rob Lee said...

Katherine had the same feeling that the media coverage was a little (OK, a lot) OTT too. No question it merited *some* coverage but the bandwidth devoted to it was seriously out of whack. I suspect John's assessment of it being used to restore some of the lustre lost in the G20 saga could well be a significant factor.

And Dude, when you talked about newsroom staff not being allowed to challenge whether to devote the bulk of their airtime to the funeral or give it an appropriate amount, I think more of the blame rests on the competitive nature of commercial broadcasting - none of the stations would risk being the one to lose by "not doing the right thing" in comparison with the others. There is safety, as well as cowardice, in numbers...

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed "leafing"through your rather impressive 'Beats' collection. As a long time Bukowski fan, I was chuffed to see a contribution from him amongst the Ram Dass, Kerouac, Burroughs, etc...the podcast was also engaging...so nice to hear that your son has returned safely and that you're pleased he went ahead with his adventure. It's all good!!
Singapore Sam