Friday, May 01, 2009

Finally Friday...

Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday.  On Air America radio, I put forth a theory as to why... Chrysler was never sexy enough to be immortalized in song.  Think about it...there are no great songs about Chryslers!


I put  together a musical tribute to the American car, but the Chrysler was conspicuously absent.   Listen for yourself here. 

Today on Air America (noon-3 ET), I shared some suggestions from a listener who challenged me on that assumption.  The list includes songs that mention the Chrysler in passing, including The B-52s Love Shack,  Barenaked Ladies If I Had a Million Dollars, and Lyle Lovett's Here I Am.  All great songs.... but the references to the Chrysler automobiles in each song are not very complimentary.  The only song that's really about the actual car that I could find is Jan & Dean's Little Old Lady from Pasadena!  Think about the image...  I think you'll agree that my theory still holds up!

The Swine Flu (I mean H1N1 influenza A) is still topping the news.  But you know, once again, it's an example of history repeating... We had a similar swine flu outbreak back in 1976, and then-President Gerald Ford wanted to stave off a pandemic, so he told all of us to get the Swine Flu vaccine.  Check out these PSAs that ran on TV:  



I found that video on Glenn Garvin's blog at MiamiHerald.com.  Glenn is the Herald's TV editor, and he'll join me today at 1:00 ET to talk about the 24-hour news cycle and how it skews the stories, plus May sweeps (yes, it's that time again) and more...

But back to the Swine Flu... sorry, I can't do the R2D2 thing...  You don't want to catch it, especially if you don't have health insurance.  I've been an outspoken proponent of Single Payer Health Care.  If you don't know what that means, please listen to the first hour of today's show... I'll be joined by a couple of doctors (one from academia, one from private practice), who'll explain it in practical terms.  And Ralph Nader will join in for the last segment of hour 1 to give his take on it.  Find out more about single payer at PHNP.org (Physicians for a National Health Program) and Nader's organization, at www.singlepayeraction.org

And we heard from Adam Kokesh, one of our most outspoken anti-occupation Iraq war veterans, who announced the formation of an exploratory committee for a run for Congress in 2010 on today's show.  A site encouraging the run is up at www.draftkokesh.com, and he's now also launched www.kokeshforcongress.com.  

I'll be back on Air America next week... Monday - Friday from noon-3 ET.   Listen live at airamerica.com/live,  check out the chat room at airamerica.com/livevideo, and call in at 866-303-2270.

1 comments:

Unknown said...

It's sad enough that Pontiac is being killed off, now Chrysler is becoming a Fix It Again Tony. Do you need to pick on them? :-\

http://www.allpar.com/history/songs.html

Sadly Nicole your theory holds up. But if you go in to TV and movies it doesn't. God Bless the General Lee and those Duke Boys.