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Show # 69. July 1, 2006.
"The Publicist."
(Michael Levine Guest Hosts). |
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In episode # 69 you'll meet The
Publicist or guest host,
Michael Levine. No single individual has
ever represented as many moods as the man who
will occupy The Many Moods microphone
in Vinnie's absence. Referred to by the late
Steve Allen as
"the Michael Jordan of Entertainment Public
Relations," Levine represents celebrities from
such diverse backgrounds as Jon Stewart
to Dave Chappelle; from Bill O’Reilly to
Ozzy
Osbourne; from Michael Jackson to Nancy
Kerrigan;
from Demi Moore to Michael J. Fox; or from
Prince
to Kareen Abdul-Jabbar.
Among those that he publicized was Don
Barrett(pictured above, bottom
row-right), author of
Los Angeles
Radio People, who in turn brings daily
publicity to and chronicles the lives of those
that are part of the Los Angeles radio
community, past and present. Known as the "L.A.
Radio Historian," Barrett will visit with
Michael during the first hour to talk about how
he pursued his passion in mid-life.
Can you qualify yourself as being a person that
is "on purpose?" Find out during the second hour
in what Daniels refers to as perhaps one of the
most important hours and certainly most
spiritually fulfilling and inspiring hours of
all his shows. Guest Adam Christing
got things started. He is the web author of
The Meaning of Life, where he observed that
"hollywood actors are famous for being 'stuck
up.' But, as conceited as some of them are,
we’ve yet to hear an actor win the Academy Award
and then thank themselves." Says Christing, "we
mistake productivity for purpose," among many
gems of wisdom that require you to take
Micheal's advice from the opening of the show
and get yourself a pad and pen.
Author Steven Kotler then
joined Levine to talk about his recently
released book,
West of Jesus: Surfing, Science and the origins
of Belief. In April 2000, Kotler discovered
he had Lyme disease. Three years later, his
health still shaky, girlfriend gone, and
spiritual compass askew, the L.A. freelance
writer decided to pack two surfboards and hit
the world's beaches. Kotler investigates an odd
story he heard about a mythical surfer who could
control the weather with a baton fashioned from
human bone. The search takes him from Topanga to
Oahu to New Zealand; along the way he encounters
the oft-repeated response from his surfing
brethren that "surfers can't control the
weather." In the end "the Conductor" proves as
elusive as the perfect wave, but the fun, of
course, is in the hunt. He spoke of the hardest
thing any of us ever encounter in our lives:
Making a Decision.
Foremost attorney, professor, political
operative, and Fox News commentator,
Susan Estrich(pictured above, bottom
row-left) spent time with Levine at the top of
the third hour. He described her as "one of the
real thinkers in American Politics." Estrich
opened by saying that the word that typifies our
times is "confused."
Finally in the final hour, Vinnie's guest host
spoke to Many Moods pop culture anchor,
Crista Curtis. From Crista's
first day on the show, she made a bold admission
that Christianity and her Faith came first in
her life. Levine wanted to spend some time
getting to know Crista and how it is that she
survives as a Christian in a largely secular
society. For more than a half hour he put tough
questions to her and then concluded that she
(like so many in secular life), "lives in a
hermetically sealed world with everyone on their
friends list having like-minded views."
Michael Levine is the author of 17 books,
including the best-selling PR book of all time,
Guerilla P.R. and has also provided
un-paid media counsel to three U.S. Presidents;
Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
with his 20-plus years experience and as founder
of LCO - Levine Communications Office
in Los Angeles, where he spent several years
hosting his own talkradio show on K.R.L.A. 870
AM and is still frequently featured on lots of
local and nationally syndicated shows, both
radio and television. The first half hour is
especially not to be missed, as he tosses out
many great thoughts that according to this
self-described radical moderate, "are things
that hopefully you'll think about a second
time." Said Levine, "people respect wisdom, but
obey pain."
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Show # 68. June 24, 2006.
"Nuttin' for Conservatives."
(Barry Gordon Guest Hosts). |
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This was the first of a few times The
Many Moods of Vince Daniels would be minus
Vince Daniels, though two of
his moods would still be on hand to join guest
host, Barry
Gordon who at the time hosted his own 3-hour
talk show, From Left Field on K.C.A.A.
Barry's theme song was Supertramp's "The Logical
Song" which opened each hour here on episode #
68 (after Vinnie's theme of course). These 3
hours began with a reminder, "Well look out!
There is a liberal in the house today" as Gordon
sat alongside Vince's resident conservatives,
announcer Jay Boatman and pop
culture anchor, Crista Curtis
for a spirited first segment discussion on
"Family Values" and specifically the topic of
Abortion.
Other than that, there is Nuttin'
for Conservatives (an obvious
play on words to the man who at age 6, recorded
the holiday hit single, Nuttin' for
Christmas). While a true liberal in every
sense of the word, Barry believes that he may
actually have EVERYTHING for right-wingers that
are willing to keep an open mind and learn. A
man who has a real grasp of politics and
political climates, Barry Gordon has the
distinction of being not only a California
Democratic Congressional candidate in 1998, but
was also the longest-serving President of the
Screen Actors Guild, having served 7 years
and 1 month - a full year longer than his
predecessors, Ronald Reagan and
Charlton Heston.
On the table in the first hour was the topic of
political corruption, in light of then-current
news surrounding local congressmen, Jerry Lewis
and Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Barry believes "it
is more of a systemic problem rather than a
partisan problem." Joining him was guest,
Alex Knott, political editor
for
The Center for Public Integrity. In a second
hour devoted strictly to California politics,
guests were the two Democrat contenders for
Attorney General. Former California Governor and
Mayor of Oakland, Jerry Brown(pictured
above, middle row-left) called in, and in a
separate segment, Los Angeles City Attorney,
Rocky Delgadillo(pictured
above, middle row-right) joined the show as
each defended why they would be best suited for
that office.
In what has thusfar been a full course meal,
dessert was served in the final hour with a
visit from Chef Harry Schwartz(pictured
above, bottom row) who has been featured
numerous times on PBS along with his hundreds of
regular appearances on NBC's "Today Show." On
this show he talked about his book,
Fit
Foundation:
A Guide to Help Achieve Good Health for
America's Overweight Youth. Barry Gordon has
enjoyed regular roles on T.V. through the years
on such series as Fish and Archie
Bunker's Place, and recently in the role of
the rabbi on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.
You might know Barry as the voice of the Nestle
Quik Bunny and also as Donatello on the animated
series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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Show # 76. Aug. 19, 2006.
"It's the Crista Curtis
Show." |
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For the longest time, Vince Daniels had no
intention of including this show on his website.
When asked what made him change his mind he
said, "over the years you gain a better
perspective on situations. On the day this show
aired, I was on the freeway heading off on
business and was only able to catch the first
half hour. On the one hand I was very impressed
that
Crista Curtis
who was ordinarily somewhat reserved in her role
as my pop culture anchor, would be able to take
such command of an entire program. In the first
part of the show however I heard a lot of
glaring mis-hap's such as microphones not being
turned up for her co-hosts. Naturally I thought
the entire 3 hours would continue like this, but
I was wrong."
When Vinnie returned from his trip, he
re-listened through the rest of the show and
heard something different. "The technical
problems were instantly corrected, and as the
show progressed, I felt more at home with Crista
and her two sidekicks, as if we were all slowly
starting to become friends. Crista has unfairly
caught a lot of flack for being overly rigid in
her thinking. The Crista that you hear in this
episode is an everywoman. In many ways she
reminded me of the Mary Richards character on
The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She
is a good person who wants to spread a lot of
Love while recognizing that we have a lot of
problems in the moral constructs of our society.
She and her friends just wanted to make a
difference in their own way - but also have a
little fun in the process. Over the past 2 years
these were the things that stood out for me and
why I felt it necessary to not only include it
on my site, but also regard it as a TOP 30
show."
Indeed It's the Crista Curtis Show and joining
her were neighbors and friends, Mike Bacich and
Melissa Ameluxen who acted as her co-hosts for
episode # 76 which opens with a day in the lives
of this trio and somehow segues into a sensitive
subject for Crista: the disappearance of her
beloved cat, Napolean. Featured in the bumper
music throughout the show are "B" sides of
well-known artists, including Barenaked Ladies
and the song "Shopping" which leads to a segment
about shopping stories and the shopping habits
of our hosts. Also discussed is the social
networking site, Myspace
and whether Curtis or Melissa were considered
too old to be using it. In the tradition of this
show Crista offered much variety, including a
somber segment in the final hour where she paid
tribute to her friend, Dena who was diagnosed
with melanoma cancer.
Daniels' invitation to Crista to host his show
was due in large part to her ties to the local
Inland Empire communities. Joining the crazy
train of Curtis and company were guests, Mike
Richmond, local campaign coordinator for Arnold
Schwarzenegger's 2006 re-election bid for
Governor. Richmond called in from the California
Republican Convention in Los Angeles. Many
Moods political pundit,
Jeff
Greene talked about
redistricting. Greene is a political consultant
for O'Reilly Public Relations in Riverside. This
would be his first visit to the show. Finally, a
conversation about California's energy crunch:
how it happened and why it happened during the
summer this episode was originally broadcast.
Joining the show were Dave Wright, General
Manager for the City of Riverside Public
Utilities and Viet Tran, a
representative with
Southern California Edison to discuss why the
"heat storm" that summer brought on a record
increase in consumption.
Note ... Crista's
singing talents are on display by clicking her
name in the first paragraph above. You can also
enjoy her from the very outset as she adds her
own unique interpretation to the "Absolutely
Everybody" theme song that opens the first hour.
This was edited-in from an episode broadcast on
April 28, 2007 (not on the TOP 30) when Vince
was late in starting his show and Crista decided
to provide the missing soundtrack.
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Show # 60. June 10, 2006.
"The Tapestry of Torment."
(Rebroadcast. Restored Version). |
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What you'll hear when you first turn on
this podcast pretty much tells its own story -
yet it's not even the real story, just a
sidebar. You'll hear K.C.A.A. news anchor,
Mike Wood from the very outset of the 3
hours reminding listeners not to call-in to the
show. This is because moments before he went
live with his top of the hour newscast, Wood had
been receiving a number of phone calls from
listeners wanting to be involved. Interestingly
enough, this was not to be a live broadcast, but
an encore of a show that was barely 2 months
old.
Shortly after The Tapestry of Torment
originally aired on April 22nd, 2006 station
manager, Daren Lane called Vince Daniels
to pass along a message from C.E.O., Fred
Lundgren who in his own words would later tell
Vince of that show, "it was the best thing to
ever air in the 3 year history of my radio
station, and at your earliest convenience I want
it to play again!"
It was intended to be a one time special
program, simple in its scope. It ended up
spawning a replay, and two follow-up sequels.
The idea was to provide "perspective and pain"
as outlined in the notes for episode # 60. It
was also outlined in a poignant, cryptic opening
from Daniels' image voice,
Bruce Barker, calling it "a program by, for
and about childhood sexual abuse at the hands of
clergy." The idea, said Vince "was to lead the
radio audience by the hand into a movie theater
where covering the walls would be a tapestry
showing all of the victims and survivors of
clergy sexual abuse. There might be
commonalities in the stories that you hear, but
the layering and the textures are different."
Investigative journalist, Jason Berry
has been covering this scandal in the Roman
Catholic Church for over two decades. He is also
the author of several books on the subject,
among them
Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests
and the Sexual Abuse of Children and his
most recent,
Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the
Papacy of John Paul II. Berry joined Vinnie
early on in the first hour to offer his
perspective as a prelude to how this crisis has
manifested itself in the life of the church.
The crisis is also heard in the voices of the
victims. Two of them will be heard in the second
hour which was presented with no commercial
breaks. The Survivors Network of those Abused by
Priests,
SNAP was well represented in-studio with a
mini-meeting of hearts sharing their pains,
without being interrupted or judged. Southern
California S.N.A.P. regional director, Mary
Grant was on hand as a sole guest (end of the
first hour), and then appeared along with fellow
survivor, David Guererro for an hour that
perhaps best exemplified why this special needed
to be rebroadcast.
As this was the first time an experiment of this
nature had been tried on a commericial AM talk
station, other SNAP survivors could not find the
courage to come to the studio that day, but
did call in during the third hour. Others
dropped by the station 5 months later for the
follow-up Tapestry show.
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Show # 80. September 16, 2006.
"Mind Control and the
Mellowtones." |
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On August 27, 2005 Vinnie and his former
co-host, Mikey Mondavi did
their last regular show together from internet
station, W.P.M.D. For the first time on that
day, the two tackled the topic of cults,
specifically the Church of Scientology. Three of
their guests, Steven Hassan,
Dave Touretzky and Tory
Christman, along with Mondavi, made
their first broadcast appearance on Mind
Control and the Mellowtones when they
gathered at K.C.A.A. to revisit a discussion
that brought both critics and supporters alike.
Having moved back to his native Georgia, Mikey
(pictured above-left) found himself in
California on business but took some time for
his first love, radio. With the exception of pop
culture anchor, Crista Curtis
who was also featured in this episode, it was
like old times for a duo that onlookers and
listeners saw as one interchangeable hosting
component. In fact, in what he often referred to
as "Mikey's theme," Daniels departed from his
familiar opening during the first hour and
instead featured a few short clips that were
heard previously on The Many Moods,
including Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington's
classic instrumental, 'In a Mellowtone.' "I had
the pleasure of working with a guy that really
turned out to be a good friend. Mikey and me
were pumped after a show and both fed off of
each others energy," recalls Vinnie.
First up to lay the groundwork here on episode #
80, was Hassan. Having spent 3 decades as an
activist on the frontline exposing cultish
activities plus providing counseling (what some
call "deprogramming"), Steven is a mind control
expert with
Freedom
of Mind Institute to focus on cults in
general. Much of his own personal experience
dates back to the "Moonies." Steven appeared for
about a half hour.
During the second hour, Touretzky (second
row-bottom), Scientology's most vocal critic
joined the show by phone. He is with the Center
for Neural Basis of Cognition and a foremost
professor at
Carnegie
Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Also part
of that discussion and an in-studio guest was
Tory Christman who got out of Scientology
after being a 30 year member and described it as
"escaping out with my life." In addition,
Touretzky and Christman discussed Narconon,
a drug treatment program which they call "a
front group for Scientology"
The subject of Narconon would take on a life of
its own as the third hour got underway with
guest, Greg Beha who is the
father of a young man that still had a drug
problem and in the Summer of 2006, had attended
Narconon. When Beha's son got wise to what the
program was really about, wait till you hear
what they did to him. Somebody else that had a
chance to hear it was Clark Carr,
President of Narconon International who guested
in this extended segment with the irate father
who demanded of Carr a refund of the $23,500.00
that he paid for the program. Things would get
heated right up to the final 11 minutes of the
show when Scientology's Los Angeles Director of
Public Relations, Bob Adams
(second row-top) made an in-studio visit calling
former longtime member Christman (above-right)
an "apostate." With Tory, Mikey Mondavi, Crista
Curtis and an assortment of callers all
clamoring for time to answer this guest, one of
the more telling signs of Scientology's need to
control the message was on display when Adams
asked Tory to remove her headsets reminding the
host, "it's just you and me Vince. It's you and
me now."
A Video Podcast is also available which features
the 6 key segments of this episode in order of
appearance. Simply click the screens below. If you'd prefer to listen to the
entire broadcast, simply click the device
directly below to the left.
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Show # 120. June 30, 2007.
"Rock The Boat with Jay
Boatman." |
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This would serve as a follow-up to the
previous weeks show where Jim Gilchrist,
Steve Eichler and Ed Williams guest hosted
and urged listeners to tell their senators
to vote against an unpopular amnesty bill.
The following Thursday, the voices of the
people were heard and the bill went down to
defeat.
Well, it was now two days later and Vinnie's
guest host for this week was anxious to get
right into it - because the first hour
music memory happened to be a song that
he once adopted as his very own theme. After
you hear it, you'll know it's time to
Rock the Boat with Jay Boatman,
as The Many Moods announcer opened
episode # 120 to the accompanyment of The
Hues Corporation, and indeed would shake
things up a bit and not allow the issue of
immigration to die on any senate floor.
This would be Jay's third time doing double
duty for Daniels. It would also be his most
stand-out performance. In her first official
full show as co-host,
Pamela Baird (who flowed nicely with
Jay) would be introduced. From her opening
hour, she was an instant hit with listeners
who called to welcome her. As the show moved
along, she would get a chance to chat with
film critic, Steven Greydanus
of "Decent Films Dot Com" on the hot movie
releases, in addition to taking part in
heated discussions, such as the
controversial subject of eminant domain, or
why guest host Boatman went against the
grain of listeners and found himself
favoring the amnesty bill. All the while she
kept her smile, her wit and her keen sense
of balance.
Even during weeks when Vince was unable to
do his show (and for this and the previous
episode, he was away on business), he knew
how important it was to leave his show in
capable hands and to be sure the show is
tackling issues leading the news, even if
the hosts take a side that Daniels doesn't
agree with. He recalls that particular
Saturday coming out of a meeting. "It was a
beautiful Summer Saturday. It was the noon
hour and the company was having a bar-b-que
outdoors. I remember going inside for a
moment to log-on to KCAA internet T.V.
because I was curious to see how it was
going on my show. Unfortunately there were
no speakers on the computers but I could see
Pam and Jay sitting there in the studio both
talking and gesticulating. They were so
dedicated and so into it. I remember turning
to my boss who was watching me watch them on
television, and I was so touched to see
this. I said to my boss, 'there they are,
two of the greatest people that I know.'
That was my best memory of this show, and I
guarantee that this podcast sounds
as great as it looked."
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Show # 77. August 26, 2006.
"Country leaves the Big City." |
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This one offered a pre-recorded
Jay Boatman opening billboard. Don't
get too mesmorized by his dulcit tones however.
Jay was not able to join us for episode # 77.
Many Moods pop culture anchor,
Crista Curtis played co-host in this
stand-out show with former KIK-FM/Orange County
air personality, Tom Anthony, a
broadcasting instructor at Cal State Fullerton.
Comprising all of the bumper music and memories
will be songs exclusively from the genre of
country-western and bluegrass music. Merle
Haggard once sang "Big city turn me loose and
set me free," and as you'll learn here in
Country leaves the Big City, a
week before this show, the # 2 radio market -
Los Angeles lost its only country station,
K.Z.L.A. 93.9 FM that had been faithfully
serving up modern country music to listeners for
26 years. The # 1 market, New York City also has
no country station to boast of. Why is that? Do
we have to go out to the country to find country
music?
Beginning with the second hour, Vinnie, Tom and
Crista hosted a two hour panel discussion that
included former assistant program director of
K.Z.L.A., Tonya Campos. Three
of her air personalities, Shawn Parr,
Whitney Allen and Brian Douglas
had a chance to say an emotional so-long to
their longtime listeners, something they did not
get a chance to do on K.Z.L.A. the week prior.
They also speculated on whether or not this
format will resurface anywhere in L.A. or would
instead rapidly disappear from the rest of the
major radio markets. Several months later,
broadcasting magnate
Saul Levine
in a format change to one of his AM (and later
FM) stations, brought this music and many of the
above named personalities back to Angeleno's.
When Anthony worked the all-night shift at
K.I.K.F. in the 1980's and 90's, it was an FM
country station that not only had a presence in
Orange County, but also portions of Los Angeles
and remembers it was at a time "when we started
trending toward country music and when it was
hip to live anywhere and listen to this stuff."
Tom goes back over 20 years in radio and has not
only heard "the dumbing down of country," but
recalls when it started coming back to its
roots.
Another broadcasting instructor,
"Country Craig" Breit, (Vinnie and
Jay's old boss at W.P.M.D.) lives up to the old
song, "I was country when country wasn't cool."
He provided his old records and sampled some Bob
Wills, Johnny Cash, Red Foley, Kitty Wells, Hank
Thompson, Patsy Montana, and a surprise; what he
called "the song of the century," George Jones
and 'He Stopped Loving Her Today' from 1980.
Breit's W.P.M.D. continues to program 12 hours
of continuous overnight country and bluegrass
music every Monday through Thursday from 9PM to
9AM (PST). The music of other mainstays will be
sampled, including Willie Nelson, Hank Williams,
Dolly Parton, George Strait and Garth Brooks,
among others.
Much appreciation goes out to some truly
wonderful people who kept this show alive with
phone calls and e-mails during (and for several
weeks after) this broadcast and became real
friends. This website is an invaluable forum to
learn about the culture of Country Music, past
and present. Through their tireless petitions
and campaigning, the fans on this board rallied
at a unique time in history and perhaps
single-handedly returned Country radio to at
least one major market. Stop by and check out
CountryBoards.com.
During the first hour, Daniels welcomed
Rev. Greg Boyd, the pastor at Woodland
Hills Church in Minnesota. Boyd has been
criticized for telling his congregation "when
the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably
loses. When it conquers the world, it becomes
the world. When you put your trust in the sword,
you lose the cross." Dr. Boyd was the subject of
a New York Times article called,
"Disowning
Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor
Rattles His Flock.". Vinnie hopes he
can rattle some of us too.
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Show # 86. October 28, 2006.
"The Man Who Could Be Governor." |
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With episode # 86, we met The Man
Who Could Be Governor of California,
with "could" being the operative word. Incumbant
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cruised
ahead into a second term in the 2006
gubernatorial election in the days following
this broadcast.
Many Moods announcer, Jay
Boatman, and pop culture anchor,
Crista Curtis joined Vinnie for
a mostly roundtable discussion about why the
independent party candidate never seems to make
enough headway in major elections. With the
exception of former Minnesota Gov. Jesse
Ventura, can a big state like California finally
embrace a candidate like Libertarian,
Art Olivier
(pictured above, left) for Governor, or for that
matter, the Green Party's
Peter
Camejo? Since the two major parties exclude
them from debates, Daniels excluded the major
parties during the 3rd hour when Olivier and
Camejo (pictured above, right) talked to each
other and with you, the voters of the golden
state.
Art Olivier joined the show at the top of the
2nd hour for a roundtable discussion that
examined the interesting phenomenon of why
people cry out for an independent candidate, yet
never elect them. And what about the 2-party
system? What about the people that defend the
Democrat and Republican parties to their death?
Toward the close of the 1st hour was former
Marine and Vietnam-era veteran, Leo J.
Chapinski, Sr. whose entire family were
Democrats from 1900 to 1965, and then from 1966
to sometime this year, were registered
Republicans. A whistleblower in recent years,
Chapinski is currently employed by the State of
California as an Employment Program
Representitive, who files unemployment insurance
for both citizens and non-citizens. At one time,
Leo was a candidate for Oceanside city council
where he ran his campaign on the philosophy that
"if you put a proposal over the picture of the
jackass or if you put it over the elephant, I'm
the type of person who won't vote for an animal,
but for the right thing."
Steven Greydanus, resident
movie critic and the web author of
Decent
Films Dot Com was on in the second half of
the opening hour to review The Prestige
and Flags of Our Fathers. Keep in mind
that even though the film reviews that he offers
you on these podcasts are of movies no longer in
theaters, he also keeps a backlog of all of his
reviews and you can always find them on his
website.
This was a great show and a few of the moments
to remember came during the debate with an
aggitated Peter Camejo. This part should not be
missed. All in all the entire 3 hours was an
honest discussion on the splintering of both
major parties along with a look at two areas the
Republican party seems to be falling down on:
the current open borders policy and the rules of
engagement. It's an episode that is actually a
good primer on how to vote - whether we're
talking about a 2006 off-year election or
frankly, any election.
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Show # 104. March 10, 2007.
"Vigilance, said the Patriot." |
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Indeed this was a treat for our usual
studio triad that features Vince and his
announcer, Jay Boatman and pop
culture anchor, Crista Curtis.
Also sitting alongside them at K.C.A.A. in the
San Bernadino "Carousel Mall" (where she would
normally join the show via telephone) was
Many Moods etiquette expert,
Samantha
von Sperling (pictured above, left) who flew
in from New York to Hollywood for a few days.
Samantha revealed that her adherence to a belief
in never mixing religon with politics came from
her upbringing where she often saw that old rule
being broken at home. In the first hour during
her segment that takes on everything from
politics to pop culture, Crista manages to mix
in some religon too. You'll hear how successful
she was at trying to engage Samantha in
discussion. In an ironic twist, in the 3rd hour
you'll hear where all of Sam's expertise in
proper manners is demonstrated as she sat back
while two military men went at each other.
Vigilance, said the Patriot was
the direction of episode # 104.
The patriot was none other than
Minuteman Project originator, Jim
Gilchrist (pictured above, right), who
has been characterized by George W. Bush as a
vigilante. Jim appeared in-studio as part of a
follow-up to a previous program where Daniels
spoke of a coup de etat that was staged by other
members of his Minutemen organization. He
listened to that show and wanted to come on the
air and put it all on the record. Two frequent
guests were listening and also called in to
challenge Jim. Colonel Ray
(formerly of KCAA's Daily Briefing Show)
phoned in at the half hour break wanting to know
where the money he donated went. Nick
Anthony called in toward the end of the
show. The fireworks were underway as they both
kept him ever vigilant in his defense of what he
felt the Minutemen have always stood for.
Right before Gilchrist, appearing during the
final half of the 2nd hour (and very
appropriate) was Scott Hammons
who has put together a very no-nonsense site
that gives you exact real-time numbers of
illegal immigrants in this Country - as they
arrive; also exact dollar figures detailing
monies wired to Mexico since January of 2006.
Also the numbers of Anchor Babies born in the
U.S. since 2002. Scott will talk about
Immigration
Counters.com.
From the top of the second hour, a new
semi-regular show contributor debuted. Vinnie
welcomed James
Hibberd, senior reporter for Television
Week magazine as his T.V.critic and updates
anchor. For his opener, Hibberd looked back on
the 25th anniversary of the premiere of the
medical drama, "St. Elsewhere" (cast photo
featured above, center) of which season number
one had just been released on D.V.D. A
comparison/contrast to a contemporary primetime
medical drama, Grey's Anatomy will also
be offered
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Show # 100. February
10, 2007. "100 Shows Later."
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This show opened with a narrative by Vince Daniels and some moments
unheard since September 8, 2000, the first time
he took on the Vinnie Daniels moniker. As you'll
hear him say, "I never thought I'd make it but
here I am, 100 Shows Later."
For many radio personalities remembering their
very beginnings in the business is often a
familiar story akin to a childhood dream when
they sat at home and loved the sound of a
favorite D.J. they emulated. Daniels will
always associate his love for radio with a
marching band playing, a referee blowing his
whistle, and the sound of High School Football
in full swing on a Friday night. This is not
remembered through the eyes of a teenager
however. On this particular Friday night, Vince
was already 40 years old, and on this night, his
radio career would truly begin. From the outset
of this special Many Moods, Vinnie
narrates a special 7 minute opening that looks
back on that night. For episode # 100, he
recalled a night when the concept of a
talk/variety show was still a few months away.
This was a different kind of show, and not done
'anniversary' style with a lot of clips.
According to Vince, "it will be short on clips
yet long on history and guests and will only
feature seminal moments over the 6 years of this
program. In fact, it will begin at the beginning
... before there was a program." In fact it
began with a tape from that September night, of
which Daniels says in the opening, "a tape,
originally thought lost to history, was recently
discovered." It features the sound of
play-by-play announcer, Nick Pecarich
calling the game at Bellflower Stadium where
Gahr High School went up against Mayfair. The
man that Vince claims can "make the smell of
popcorn somehow waft through your speakers," is
also the man that for all practical purposes,
created Vinnie Daniels. You'll hear how Pecarich
made Vince go on the air, bringing to an end a
streak of many years where he refused to crack a
microphone. "If it had been anyone else, I
honestly would have walked out of the station
and never came back. But Nick loved radio. In
the hour that I sat and listened to him while I
was being trained to run the board, I even
thought to myself that if anyone could get me to
open up, Nick could. For that time, that's the
kind of role model I needed."
After this special opener, Vinnie continued this
historical perspective with
Cerritos
Community College Professor of Radio, TV and
Film, Craig Breit who is very
much part of this story and some may say even
orchestrated Vinnie's getting back into radio.
He'll talk about that period in time from the
end of Football season, to January, 2001 when
The Many Moods of Vince Daniels would
premiere with Show # 1. Breit also recounts how
the show moved from Wednesday nights after being
off the air for the entire year of 2002, and
returned in early '03 to what became its regular
home, on Saturday's. Featured at the close of
Craig's visit was a television theme that
inspired the full Vince Daniels Show title.
John Potter, who was on the sports staff
that first night, joined Vince in a segment
featuring the various 'co-hosts' of the show
through the years. In the Fall of 2000 to be
sure, Potter assisted Daniels on the post game
shows, however for the first month of The
Many Moods he also teamed up with Vinnie on
Wednesday nights, until he went on to get his
own weekly sports talk show. After that, no
co-hosts were used until October of 2004, when
Mikey Mondavi came aboard and stayed with
the show for about a year. Several months after
Mikey joined the show he was made "political
anchor" when Chuck Dickinson
and Kimberly Carlisle took over
co-hosting. This lasted only a few months and a
clip of them is featured. (Potter and Mondavi
guested together in this segment with Potter
in-studio). After Chuck and Kimberly departed,
Mikey returned to the co-hosting chair and then
soon returned to his native Georgia. Due to his
inimitable success, Vince swore that he would
never hire another person that he would call his
co-host. With Mondavi's blessing, Jay
Boatman was brought on and named the
"announcer." Jay also joined in this segment
with John and Mikey.
The second hour featured the semi-regular
contributors of the show. When Vince moved to
Saturday's in 2003, his first 3 contributors
were brought aboard. Jerry Sluciewicz
and George Gamble are Vinnie's
rotating money and financial news experts.
Steven Greydanus is the movie
man. Jerry sent in a taped greeting and Steven
appeared by phone to explain his unique
philosophy behind being a film critic.
Nick Anthony was brought aboard to do
Sports in February of 2003, but played a more
pivotal role as show producer later on. Before
Nick, Vince had a few other producers which he
paid homage to. The former "H.T.O.S." host was
also responsible for making the transition
happen for Vince from his old station, to
K.C.A.A. Nick was supposed to join in the
segment with Steven and Jerry, but had to move
himself to the third hour.
Then it's a little levity as you meet the female
semi-regular show contributors.
Stephanie Frasco joined the show in May
of 2005 with her self-styled Stephanie's
Segment.
Crista
Curtis and Samantha von Sperling
came with Vince to K.C.A.A. in April of 2006.
Crista is the pop culture anchor. Samantha is
the "Manners Moment" etiquette expert. Somewhere
in the middle of that segment was a rare visit
with K.C.A.A. CEO, Fred Lundgren
who called to "congratulate the Vince
Daniels Show on its 100th program and to say
that I'm happy to extend your contract an extra
52 weeks." From his lips to God's ears (not to
mention the listening audience), that same
contract was made meaningless by Lundgren on
July 9th - only 5 months later. Less than a
month after that on August 4th, The Vince
Daniels Show would exit K.C.A.A.
The third hour recalled the various "themes" of
the show over the past 100 episodes. Included was musical themes, and the two songs that
have served Vinnie either as the opening or
closing of his show. His first theme song was
"Video Killed the Radio Star" by the group, The Buggles. A variation of that theme
is still
used in the closer. In May of 2005, along with a
new producer (at that time) and the inclusion of
Chuck and Kimberly as short-lived co-hosts,
"Absolutely Everybody," sung by Vanessa Amorosi
was brought on, and is the only thing that has
remained in the show from that era. Since only a
portion of those songs are ever heard, with this
episode you will hear them in their entirety. In
September of 2005 Jay brought a new theme to the
opening when he began his announcing career in
earnest, by billboarding each show. This is a
theme that remained a staple.
Vince Daniels' first guest, both on his old
Football post-game shows and on his first "Many
Moods" show, was his friend, political operative
and motivational speaker, Mike Altman.
When Mike first appeared in the Football days,
he came on by phone. Subsequently all his
appearances were in-studio. For this show, he
too went back to the beginning as he appeared by
phone battling a cold. This would also be his
final appearance as life has him going in a
million places while he tries to enjoy
retirement too. Mike reminded us of what he said
the first time he was on the show. In fact it
was what he said ABOUT the show, and where he
saw it going. Joining in this landmark broadcast
during the final hour was frequent caller
David Lopez, known to K.C.A.A.
listeners as "Dave from Corona." Rather than
picking up the phone, Dave drove down so that he
could sit in and meet all the many moods.
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Show # 107. March 31, 2007.
"Sinatra, table for 4 please." |
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Kim Johnson returned to
The Many Moods to co-host with Vinnie,
who was still on his quest during this time for
a permanent female sidekick. She was keeping
herself busy as host of her own K.C.A.A. talk
show,
Overground Railroad.
The first 45 minutes proved to be a meeting of
the minds (and co-hosts) as Daniels' former
partner, Mikey Mondavi visited
by phone with Kim and Vince. At this juncture in
the search, Vince wanted to hear from someone
who understands the heart of The Vince
Daniels Show and has his hand on the pulse
of the show as a whole. No matter if it was a
female or male he was looking for, Mikey knew
best the characteristics they must contain.
Whenever Mondavi appears on the show, Vinnie
opens with what he calls 'Mikey's theme,' or "In
a Mellow Tone" by Louis Armstrong and Duke
Ellington. But it was the playing of Frank
Sinatra music that caused Mikey to scold his
friend from the outset. "How dare you play a
song from ol' blue eyes when I'm not in the
building."
The bulk of episode # 107, Sinatra,
table for 4 please went to special
guest, Joe Randazzo, who for
close to 10 years hosted Sinatra and Friends
on KFMB and K-POP in San Diego. Randazzo shared
stories and also Frank Sinatra music memories
until sometime into the third hour. In fact, all
of the music, including the songs going in and
out of breaks, plus the "memories" that start
off each new hour were exclusively the music of
Sinatra, including cuts like "Angel Eyes" that
were played in their entirety.
The first song he recorded in the late 1930's
was "All or Nothing at All." This is how the
second hour opened, followed by the Sinatra
story from the beginning - from the day that
Francis Albert was born. Some knew him as
'chairman of the board,' and some never knew
him, or had the pleasure of meeting him in
person. Randazzo had that opportunity offered to
him, but chose instead to respect Frank's
privacy. Joe is a man that had attended more
than 100 Frank Sinatra concerts. You'll hear
some real stories, and debunking of many of the
myths and misconceptions surrounding this 20th
century legend.
The balance of the final hour turned to a
Scientology update in a more general way. In
past weeks Vinnie had turned his attention to
their Narconon Stonehawk drug treatment
facility, but for this show wanted to hear from
guests Keith Henson and
Dave
Touretzky, outspoken Scientology critic and
Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in
Pittsburgh. Henson is first up as he provided an
update on his current battle with the Church,
which led him to prison for a brief stay several
weeks after this broadcast. For more background
on Henson, go
here.
Col. Ray paid an in-studio
visit to warn Daniels of the ramifications of
his constant challenges to the Church and to
urge him to get off this topic. While he did
this out of care and concern, out of the same
care and concern, Touretzky encouraged Vinnie to
stay the course, and explained his reasons for
why he respectfully disagreed with the Colonel.
In the end, our host maintained that whether
he's doing a nostalgic segment about a dead
music artist, or consumer advocate reporting on
a drug treatment center that he believes should
be shut down, it all makes up material that
comprises a "show." Co-host Johnson argued that
Vince needed to take a harder look at the power
he truly has behind his microphone.
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Show # 112. May 5,
2007. "The Darndest Guests." |
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For those that were not tuned-in to
K.C.A.A. the night before this Vince Daniels
Show originally aired missed a nice plug on
The Bob Morgan Show by none other than
longtime Southern California air personality,
Bob
Morgan himself. We felt that Bob's kind
words were so thoughtful (and right-on) that it
was worthy of being shared and enjoyed as an
added bonus in the opening two minutes of this
podcast.
News anchor, Melissa Chavez was
away on this particular Saturday. For Vinnie and
his announcer, Jay Boatman,
those few extra minutes of airtime meant that no
news was good news - which was a darned good
thing. It all worked for this episode (# 112)
that featured The Darndest Guests.
Best remembered for his interviews with children
in Kids Say the Darndest Things,
Art Linkletter, age 94 at the
time of this appearance, joined Vince and Jay
during the first hour as the show got underway.
Linkletter was abandoned as an infant, adopted
and raised by a preacher. He first showed his
entrepreneurial spirit by sorting through
discarded lemons at a local fruit-packing plant,
picking the least-obviously rotten fruit, and
selling it door-to-door. He hosted House
Party and People Are Funny on CBS
both on radio and later on a new invention
called television.
Linkletter's daughter Diane committed suicide in
1969, allegedly under the influence of LSD (the
story that Art maintains). An autopsy revealed
no drugs in Diane's system, but that didn't stop
the "killed by LSD" story, and Linkletter
quickly became one of America's most prominent
spokesmen for the War on Drugs. He was appointed
to President Nixon's National Advisory Council
for Drug Abuse Prevention. Art also appeared on
ABC in July 1955 to officially dedicate the
Disneyland theme park. He returned 50 years
later to re-dedicate it. He was also Grand
Marshall of the 2003 Tournament of Roses Parade,
along with being the author of the best seller,
Kids Say the Darndest Things.
Art Linkletter gives over 70 lectures each year,
and has even booked a lecture on his birthday in
2012 when he will turn 100. "I go out speaking
mostly to large audiences of seniors, without
notes, for an hour to an hour and a half on
different scientific subjects," says Linkletter.
" 'Old' often means a sinking back into oneself
because you don't hear as well, and you don't
talk to anybody, and so you regress. And while
that is not brain death, it is brain disuse and
misuse." On this show, he espouses the belief
that "our lives are lived in 3 parts." In
addition to taking calls from fans, Art
concludes the hour by recounting some of the
darndest things that have been said to him by
kids.
Often thought of as America's Rude Awakening,
"The Neal Boortz Show" is a
morning show that originates from WSB/Atlanta
and is syndicated on close to 200 stations
across the United States. Boortz joined the show
from Georgia at the top of the second hour. On
the air and on his website,
Boortz.com
Neal admonishes, "Don't believe anything you
read on this web page or, for that matter,
anything you hear on The Neal Boortz Show unless
it is consistent with what you already know to
be true, or unless you have taken the time to
research the matter to prove its accuracy to
your own satisfaction." On numerous occasions,
Boortz has cautioned his listeners to take no
heed nor place any credence in anything he says,
as he is merely an "entertainer."
His third book (co-authored by Georgia
Congressman, John Linder) entitled
The Fair Tax Book explains the proposal to
implement a national retail sales tax in lieu of
the federal income taxes, payroll taxes, estate
tax, etc. The hardcover version held the # 1
spot on the New York Times bestseller list for
the last two weeks of August 2005 and remained
in the top ten for seven weeks. The paperback
released in May 2006 contains additional
information and an afterword. It also spent
several weeks on the New York Times bestseller
list. Boortz states that he donates 100% of his
royalities from the FairTax book to charity and
has commented on his radio show that he has not
made one cent from the book.
In previous shows where Vince explored the Fair
Tax, he had been wanting to ask some questions
of Mr. Boortz. On this show, he got his chance.
Among the topics: why the poor are not rich, and
steps they can take to put themselves into a
better bracket. Just prior to the final hour,
Daniels kept the discussion going when he
welcomed another point of view. He welcomed back
Dick McDonald, a man who
devoted his life to helping the rich avoid taxes
- in other words he helped the rich get richer.
His first 10 years were spent as a CPA at the
then international accounting firm of Arthur
Andersen & Co doing tax returns and tax
planning. For those 10 years he did the personal
tax work of the richest man in the world: J.
Paul Getty. For the next 30 years he spent
creating and operating tax shelters for the
rich.
Nowadays, McDonald is a writer who has switched
teams. Instead of working to make the rich
richer, he is working on making average
Americans richer. He claims that if average
Americans can convince Congress to get out of
the way, all of us can use our capitalist system
to become millionaires; even those without the
education or even the desire to become rich.
You'll learn of Dick's "rise up theory of
economics," in stark contrast to the oft-touted
trickle down theory. To understand how
his rise up method works, be sure to
check out his
Rise Up! website.
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