My lady and I saw Ira Glass at the Herring Auditorium last night and it was delightful. I don't mean we bumped into Ira as he took in a concert, he was in fact "the concert." He started off with the lights down in the theatre and then his distinctive voice came on and he talked for 3-4 minutes in the dark and then the lights came up and he talked for nearly 2 hours about his stories, career and the pathetic excuse for journalism that crawls towards us from local newspaper and television sources across the nation. He was great. He got me thinking about NPR and PRI and so I'm listening to it this morning on the computer as I design a house to build on Google Sketchup 7. (a very cool program once you get the hang of it)
Public Radio often catches the news that falls through the cracks or is reported by other organizations but passed over. This morning was no different but even NPR missed this little tidbit that I am reporting to you now:
Manuel Noriega was Rick Rolled by the United States Military in 1989.
It was "Operation Just Cause" and the U.S. was trying to get General Noriega out of Panama so they directed loud speakers at the palace he had holed up in and played the following list of music:
I know it's tough to read, the original link is here. But you will see that "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley is on the list. For those of you that don't know, if someone gets you to listen to this song it is know as getting "Rick Rolled." It's a hellish experience and my faith in the U.S. Military is restored knowing they have been using the most brutal torture tactics available to protect us. If you're wondering why General Noriega is in the news once again your guess is as good as mine.
I also see "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath and "Paradise City" by Guns and Roses on this list. That rocks.
2 comments:
I respect Ira Glass and I enjoy listening to This American Life and maybe it's just me but doesn't he have a bit of monotone going on? Even the radio ad for his show his voice has no emotion or excitment. perhaps that's the way you have to be in order to not let things get to you, like some of the more depressing shows he puts on. I don't know. I think he needs to step off the mic and concentrate on producing.
In other news, during the 1990 Gulf War my brother flew medivac heli and some of their missions were to fly through the desert blasting hardcore eighties rock ballads to scare dudes out of their rocky sandy fox holes. Awesome.
Love the blog front page pic.
Actually, it was on Morning Edition that I heard about Noriega being Rickrolled. But maybe it was the local host, not Steve Inskeep. I thought it was such a hoot that I posted it on Facebook!
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