I woke up this morning with the Randi Rhodes story ringing in my ears and I saw the bar of soap. I'll get to the bar of soap in a minute. In case you missed it, 'Air America' talk show radio host Randi Rhodes has been suspended for verbally whacking Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro at an appearance in San Francisco on behalf of Clear Channel's KKGN. Randi called both women "f---ing whores". Better yet, here's the video...
Back to the bar of soap. In the 70s there was a picture of Don Imus with a bar of soap in his mouth. The photo was blown up for bus and subway posters and it became the I-man's signature. If you had never heard nor seen Imus until you saw the picture, you immediately knew what he was all about. It reminded me of the old Levy's Rye Bread posters that you saw in the 50s with faces of people that you wouldn't see in shul saying "You Don't Have To Be Jewish To Love Levy's Rye Bread". That was one of the most effective ad campaigns of all-time. So too was Imus eating the bar of soap. I'm not sure who came up with that but my bet is on Gloria Gibson a.k.a. "Gibby" who was WNBC promotion director at the time. I was fortunate to inherit Gibby when I became P.D. in 1976...
Randi Rhodes is the latest recipient of the 'bar of soap' award for bashing fellow liberals, Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro. It's more than interesting to note that Randi Rhodes is a host on the ultra-liberal "Air America" radio network. Have we gone full circle now with liberals bashing liberals? I don't know much about Air America but I remember when the network was launched five years ago two of the hosts were Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, both of whom could get cranky at the drop of the word 'Republican'. Mention 'Conservative' and they would go ballistic. I guess things have changed...
10 Timeline Memories:
- 1841] 'Happy Trails': President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia one month after his inauguration becoming the first president to die in office. Harrison, who served the shortest term of any president was 68 (4/4)...1964] General Douglas MacArthur dies of natural causes at 84 (4/5)...1976] Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes dies from kidney failure at 72 (4/5)...1981] Bob "Bear" Hite of Canned Heat passes away from a heart attack at 36 (4/5)...1992] Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton succumbs to cancer at 74 (4/5)...1998] Legendary Country artist Tammy Wynette dies in her sleep at 55 (4/6)...2006] Gene Pitney is found dead in his Cardiff (Wales) hotel room during a UK tour. Pitney dies from natural causes (4/5)...
- 1930] Twinkie munch: Hostess Twinkies are invented by bakery executive James Dewar, who washes his down with a drink he invented (4/6)...
- 1968] Struck down in his prime: Tragedy strikes in Memphis as Martin Luther King Jr. is gunned down while standing on his balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel. King was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers (4/4)...
- 1973] The birth of the DH: The Yankees' Ron Blomberg becomes baseball's first designated hitter, walking in his first at-bat against the Red Sox in Fenway (4/6)...
- 1982] Chapter 11: Record World Magazine, which was founded in 1946 as "Music Vendor" and changed its name to "Record World" in 1964, folds (4/5)...
- 1983] Jimmy V for victory: Jim Valvano's North Carolina State Wolfpack upsets mighty Houston, led by Clyde Drexler, 54-52 to win the NCAA title. Valvano is seen running around for someone to hug after the win (4/4)...
- 1991] Tragedy in the air: Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and 6 others are killed when a helicopter collides with the Pittsburgh Senator's plane over a school yard in Merion (PA) (4/4)...
- 1993] What timeout?: Michigan's Chris Webber calls a timeout his Wolverines don't have, resulting in a technical and loss of the ball. North Carolina wins its 3rd national title (second under Dean Smith) 77-71 (4/5)...
- 1995] Alfonse's folly: Jokester/Senator (NY) Alfonse D'Amato uses a mock Japanese accent to ridicule judge Lance Ito and his handling of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. D'Amato did this in a phoner to a radio station (4/4)...
- 2001] No mo hits: Red Sox pitcher Hideo Nomo no-hits Baltimore to become only the 4th MLB pitcher to pitch no-hitters in both leagues (4/4)...
Music Memories:
- 1958] Debuted on this date: "Johnny Mathis' Greatest Hits" LP debuts on the charts for a then-record 490 weeks, 10 years - but who's counting? (4/5)...
- 1960] Recorded on this date: "Are You Lonesome Tonight" - Elvis Presley (4/4)...
- 1963] Heard on the radio on this date: "It's My Party" by Lesley Gore who heard her first record on WINS coming home from school (4/6)...
- 1963] Number One on the radio: "He's So Fine" - Chiffons (4/4)...1973] "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia" - Vicki Lawrence (4/4)...
- 1964] Top 5 on the charts: 1) "Can't Buy Me Love", 2) "Twist and Shout", 3) "She Loves You", 4) "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and 5) "Please, Please Me"...all by The Beatles (4/4)...
- 1985] "We Are The World": An estimated 5,000 radio stations simultaneously play "We Are The World" to raise money to feed those starving in Africa and the U.S. (4/5)...Harvey Mednick considers this one of the proudest moments at R&R for he and Dwight Case. Ken Kragen receives an award at that year's NAB convention for his work on "USA For Africa" which was benefited by the "We Are The World" promotion...
- 1993] Rocking the ground: Ground is broken in Cleveland for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (4/5). Someone on Youtube loves Cleveland...
Commentary:
I'm proud to announce the launch of 'Mel Phillips Now & Then', my new website on Monday, April 7, 2008. Done in a blog style format, it will contain all the features you enjoy now. It will stay free of charge and if you're getting this post now, you'll get my new website every day starting Monday. 'Mel Phillips Remembers' will be maintained and updated with archival data with the good stuff moving to MPN&T. See you Monday...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
(4/4) Jamie Lynn Spears (17), David Blaine (35), Robert Downey Jr. (43), David E. Kelley (52), John Hannah (57), Christine Lahti (58), Craig T. Nelson (64), Hugh Masekela (69), Clive Davis (76) and Maya Angelou (80)...
(4/5) Agnetha (ABBA) Faltskog (58), Michael Moriarty (67), Colin Powell (71), Billy Bland (76) and Gale Storm (86)...
(4/6) Zach Braff (33), Marilu Henner (56), John Ratzenberger (61), Roy Thinnes (70), Billy Dee Williams (71), Merle Haggard (71), Ivan Dixon (77) and Andre Previn (79)...
Timeline Countdown: One day until the Final Four, 3 days until the NCAA Championship Game, 15 days until Passover and 29 days until the Kentucky Derby...
