The Vig

Starting December 7, Aaron “Geek in the City” Duran and  a cast of thousands will be writing and performing live radio dramas each Sunday night on KCMD AM970 (radio home of your Portland Pilots!).  The first two plays sound spectacular:

The first play, A.Z. (After Zombies), takes place in modern-day Portland, Oregon, with one crucial difference: the zombies have come, bringing death, bringing despair, and putting humanity’s very existence at risk. A small group of determined survivors must fight starvation, the elements, and each other—knowing that the price of failure is the extinction of the human race. You’ll never view the dark, rain-slicked streets of the Rose City the same way again.

The second play, The Crimson Mist, is also set in Portland, but this time it’s Portland circa 1943. Crime is rampant, corruption is epidemic, and only one man stands between our fair city and the grip of evil…The Crimson Mist. Written in the style of such classic superhero serials as Doc Savage and The Shadow, The Crimson Mist is a return to the elements that defined the radio adventure series: bold, courageous heroes (and heroines!), sinister villains, crackling, fast-paced dialogue, and the satisfying –though suspenseful– triumph of good over evil.

I’ve been priviledged enough to be invited to a few of this group’s gatherings over the last several months.  They’ve been kicking this idea around since the spring.  I’m glad they’ve finally gotten it off the ground.

Do tune in.  These folks are all true radio fans.  They’re going to put on a fantastic show.

Adam Curry has this fantastic quote he’s been using for years.

There are no secrets, only information you don’t yet have.

I was reminded of that yesterday while I listened to the Rick Emerson show.  He had CNN correspondent Steve Kastenbaum on discussing the Wall Street roller coaster.  During their conversation, Kastenbaum dropped a whopper.  He said the likelihood of another depression was minuscule because we have faster access to so much more information now than we did in 1929.

Has he been paying attention at all?  The reason we’re in this crisis is because of the unprecedented amount of secrecy among our financial institutions.  Just look at the bailout.  No one knows what any of these mortgage backed securities are worth, which is why no one can trade them.  That’s a lack of information.  And it’s that continued lack of information which spooked the markets today.  Will the government pay too little for the securities?  Too much?  Who knows?

The credit default swaps which brought down Lehman were done almost entirely in secret.  How in the hell is anyone supposed to make heads or tails of this without basic information? Yet the meme persists that everything has been laid bare.  It simply hasn’t.

You should do yourself a favor and check out this week’s episode of This American Life.  It deals with what exactly happened and why the bailout was required.  Some fascinating listening.  Had Paulson made that same case on 60 Minutes (CBS would have undoubtedly given him the entire hour had he requested it), I think the bill would have passed the first time around.  Instead, he chose to speak in obscure code.  I’ve no idea why.

Listening to Rick Emerson the other day, he played a clip from Donald Trump.  The Trump was offering advice on what he would do in this particular real estate market.

“Go make an offer,” he said, “banks are sitting on thousands of properties they don’t want.  Go on down and grab one.”

An interesting point, and one that I don’t think is too far off the mark.  Ultimately this is what must happen.  There are those who want 20% down, but I think that’s wishful thinking.  Especially right now.  If banks could set reasonable terms on these properties, I think there would be tons of renters like myself who would be glad to take a house off their hands.  But it has to be affordable.  I won’t be spending over $150k for a home.  I just won’t.

With this thought in mind, I thought it would be fun to play with a mortgage calculator to find out exactly how much I can afford.  This way I’ll know when the time is right for me to jump in.  So I Googled “mortgage calculator” and hit on the Wachovia site.  After punching in the numbers, it spat a bunch of options back at me.  According to them, a person in my income bracket can afford a $419,000 home.  At 5.5%, my monthly payment (principle plus interest) would be $2,368.  Are they high?  That’s my entire take-home!  And don’t even get me started on the 5/1 Jumbo ARM.  Are they seriously still offering these things?

Sheesh.

We have a long way to go.

Dylan B. had some harsh words last week for friend of blog, Rick Emerson.  I understood his sentiment, but didn’t share it.  Emerson, for all his talk, ultimately hates the Republicans more than he does the Dems and it shows on his show.  That said, he’s an equal opportunity offender.  Not that he’s on the same level (and Rick would be the first to admit this), but Jon Stewart is too.

Rick opened his show yesterday with a discussion of the lipstick on a pig controversy.  You can listen to it here.  After a few minutes, I got disgusted and turned the station.  To Limbaugh, actually.  If I want to hear someone riff on the day’s Republican talking points, I’ll listen to the master.

Rick has decided the lipstick comment was aimed at Palin, and as proof, he pointed to Obama’s pause between the first and second half of the joke.  A pause for effect.  It wasn’t.  What it was was a realization he’d just stepped in it, and a decision to go on anyway.  It’s reminiscent of watching old Simpsons episodes when Sideshow Bob would step on a rake.  That’s how I saw it, admittedly through a very biased filter.

Sidebar: NPR actually had a great bit today where they went back and found McCain using the lipstick on a pig analogy back in April when discussing Hillary.  Was that sexist?  It will be interesting to hear McCain’s response to that, if he even gets asked.  End Sidebar.

So that’s fine I guess, but it was Rick’s revelry that finally turned me off.  It’s just over-the-top and uncalled for.  Like I said, if I want to hear that crap, I’ll go listen to Rush or Lars.

I probably should have called in right then and put in my two cents.  And next time I promise I will.  Rick has hundreds of listeners out there who are as passionate about Obama as I am.  I hear from them daily.  Maybe one or two of them called in to voice their displeasure.  I hope they did.

Listen, I love Rick Emerson.  Outside of Dwight Jaynes and Jack Bog, there has been no bigger advocate of my blog than he.  It’s just that, like Dylan, I wish he’d stick to the pop culture and geek stuff and maybe lay off the politics a little.  At least for now.

Arizona Cardinals: They seem to be getting B-pluses for their draft yesterday. I still don’t get the Dominique Rogers-Cromarte thing. The Deion Sanders seal-of-approval is just too much for me to overcome. I wonder if they’ll come to regret not drafting Mendenhall and cutting Edge. We should know around week six or seven. They loaded up on much needed defensive ends in the 2nd, 4th, and 6th rounds. Throw in Tim Hightower and Brandon Keith, and I guess they did alright. Between Thanksgiving night at Philly and December 21 at New England, it’s going to be a tough year for the Cards. It may well turn out to be a blessing in disguise though, as Matt Leinart will stink the joint up, forcing the Cards to go QB in next year’s draft. And won’t that be fun.

Man City: A dumb loss to bottom-dwelling Fulham isn’t going to do anything to quiet the whispers that Sven Goran Eriksson may soon be out of work. Of course the whole of England would welcome his permanent deportation, I suspect, but still. The guy knows his soccer football. And the team is much better off with him running the show than they were with Pearce. As with all sports, you don’t fire the coach you have unless you believe the next one will be better.

Roger Clyne: Rick Emerson has talked me into seeing Clyne three times now in the last probably year-and-a-half. Each time I go and wait for the religious experience to hit me like Jake in the church. But it never does. Is it because I don’t listen to the cd’s I’ve bought? Is it because I’ve never visited Circus Mexicus? Is it because I think the show, especially Saturday night’s, is a little…forgive me Rick…cliché? I’m not sure I can put my finger on it. Clearly I need to see Clyne another three or four times before I form an opinion.

Diamondbacks: I was out with friends this afternoon when I should have been watching Webb vs Peavy. The Diamondbacks’ top-three pitchers (Webb, Haren, and Owings) have been lights out for the first month. Add in the Big Unit as the #4 starter, and visions of October can start dancing in one’s head. It’s way early yet, but who in the West is going to catch them?

Scalia: Say what you will, and you will. I liked the 60 Minutes interview.

You think there ought to be a right to abortion? No problem. The Constitution says nothing about it. Create it the way most rights are created in a democratic society. Pass a law. And that law, unlike a Constitutional right to abortion created by a court can compromise. It can…I was going to say it can split the baby! I should not use… A Constitution is not meant to facilitate change. It is meant to impede change, to make it difficult to change.

Pass a law.  Hmmmmm……

Portland Winter Hawks:  Hypothetical.  Let’s say I’m jazzed about hockey right now.  I watched the Stanley Cup playoffs this weekend and was mesmerized.  And let’s say I decided to pony up and get season tickets for next year.  Leave everything else aside…  Is there anyone in the office who can cash the check and assign me my seats?

The new Vancouver Freddy’s:  Normally I make the drive down to the Hollywood Freddy’s.  I really like that one.  Last night though I tried out the new one off SR-14.  Its nice and all, but they’re going to have a tough time living the whole opening week stabbing thing down.  The lady who checked me out summed it up well when she suggested customers wouldn’t let them live that one down for a while.  And she’s right.  Say what you will about “my” Fred Meyer store up at 79th and Highway 99, I never hear about people getting stabbed there.

I’ll be on Rick Emerson’s show this afternoon sometime between 1:30 and 2 discussing the top-five Bruce Springsteen songs you’re not likely to hear on the radio.  Rick can be heard on AM 970.  Or, if, God forbid, you’re stuck in Astoria, Queens, you can listen to the live stream here.

Just a heads-up, I’ll be on Rick Emerson’s fine radio program Tuesday at 2pm.  We’ll be discussing politics, pop-culture, and probably something random.  Do tune in, won’t you?

The People’s Champion Gavin Dawson will be sitting in with Rick Emerson on Thursday between 2 and 3 pm.  I’m sure they’ll be talking all things local radio and Rick will no doubt encourage Dawson to free himself and get a “real job”.  I’m sure if you call in though, you can get his take on the Blazers, the Timbers, and even the Champions League.  Oh Dawson can talk soccer if you let him.

You can listen live at 970 on your AM dial or you can check out the podcast, available at 970.am.

Entercom, in their infinite wisdom, whacked two good ones earlier this week while I was down in Salt Lake City.  First, longtime KGON jock Mike Turner was let go.  I’m not 100% on it, but I think he’d become a Jack of All Trades for Entercom.  At least I seem to recall hearing him pop-up on more than one station over the last few years.  Lynn at OMI said it best when she said he’d been spinning records since the Beatles were still around.  The single best thing KGON has going for it is their personalities.  From Iris to Marty to Glynn to Gloria, they’re like listening to old friends.  That station is comfort food for me.

Also let go this week was Gavin Dawson.  The People’s Champion!  He was hands down the smartest guy at KFXX.  He’d been there for seven years, working his way up from coffee boy all the way to hosting Blazer post-game shows and a weekend morning show.  He was/is the one of the best NBA minds around.  If pressed, he could probably name 80% of every NBA roster off the top of his head.  There was a time I could have done that, but I completely lost interest in the league about a decade ago.  Dawson, along with ESPN’s Bill Simmons, brought me back in.

I’ve only met Dawson once.  I was invited to a radio guys poker game.  Dawson was the best player there, but ended up finishing out of the money.  As I recall, I did alright.  We’ve also exchanged emails a few times but not for a while.  I’ve heard second-hand that he took umbrage with a post I wrote on my OregonLive blog taking Canzano and The Fan to task for not acknowledging they were wrong about the 2006 draft.  Canzano was specifically beside himself when the Blazers took Tyrus Thomas (later traded to the Bulls for Aldridge) over Morrison.

The Blazers went on to fire Steve Patterson the day Adam Morrison’s Charlotte Bobcats came to Portland, so no mea culpa was given.  Nor has one ever been given.  Except by Dawson.  I should have pointed that out.  I didn’t and that was my fault.

Dawson’s a tireless worker who crated a helluva situation for himself at The Fan.  Entercom let a good one go.  Here’s hoping he can find a new gig quickly.  Are you listening Rick Emerson?

I guess there are a few of these Oceanic Airlines billboards around town. This one happens to be on Grand Ave. just north of Division Street. Rick Emerson mentioned Portland will play a prominent role in Lost this season. I’ve yet to see the show, so I couldn’t tell you what any of this is about. Is it a clue? Is this? How about this? I couldn’t tell you.

I might start getting paranoid about all this viral marketing. Fortunately the Parepin is helping to smooth me out.

1/15/08 update:  If you found me on a MySpace blog, let me know where so I can give credit.  Thanks!