meestercranky
12-08-2007, 06:31 PM
this isn't Christmas music, but I guess I can put it here.
I love to listen to Jean Shepherd at this time of year.
You all know the movie A Christmas Story. You also probably know that it was based on the writings of Jean Shepherd, radio personality from WOR in New York.
Back when that movie came out I watched it and was struggling to remember why I knew the storyline and the voice. It wasn't until a couple viewings that it dawned on me: I used to listen to Shep tell these anectdotes and many others when I was a kid!
My dad was an amateur radio op as I am now, and when I was a kid I liked to sit up in my upstairs bedroom late at night trying to "DX" (receive distant stations) on my AM radio. It was quite common there in lower Michigan to pick up Denver, Thunder Bay Canada, Mississippi, and of course the great WOR, New York City. My dad assisted by running a 75-ohm flat wire TV lead around the roofline to create an loop antenna for me.
I used to lie in bed and listen to Shep tell the stories that would be woven together into this wonderful movie later, and many other great anecdotes about his childhood in snowbound Indiana during the Depression. Humorous, sometime stretching credibility, but always supremely entertaining.
Jean Shepard is now available in a podcast for free from iTunes store, and while many times it's not Christmas subjects, you can bet there will be some coming up soon on the rotation.
At any rate, I can now lie in bed at night with my iPod and listen to him weaving incredible images of the frozen power lines swaying in a blizzard, and his old man fighting the furnace, etc. :) It is part of Christmas for me, as much as the music.
If anyone is interested in these podcasts send me a private message and I'll try to figure out how to point you to them.
I love to listen to Jean Shepherd at this time of year.
You all know the movie A Christmas Story. You also probably know that it was based on the writings of Jean Shepherd, radio personality from WOR in New York.
Back when that movie came out I watched it and was struggling to remember why I knew the storyline and the voice. It wasn't until a couple viewings that it dawned on me: I used to listen to Shep tell these anectdotes and many others when I was a kid!
My dad was an amateur radio op as I am now, and when I was a kid I liked to sit up in my upstairs bedroom late at night trying to "DX" (receive distant stations) on my AM radio. It was quite common there in lower Michigan to pick up Denver, Thunder Bay Canada, Mississippi, and of course the great WOR, New York City. My dad assisted by running a 75-ohm flat wire TV lead around the roofline to create an loop antenna for me.
I used to lie in bed and listen to Shep tell the stories that would be woven together into this wonderful movie later, and many other great anecdotes about his childhood in snowbound Indiana during the Depression. Humorous, sometime stretching credibility, but always supremely entertaining.
Jean Shepard is now available in a podcast for free from iTunes store, and while many times it's not Christmas subjects, you can bet there will be some coming up soon on the rotation.
At any rate, I can now lie in bed at night with my iPod and listen to him weaving incredible images of the frozen power lines swaying in a blizzard, and his old man fighting the furnace, etc. :) It is part of Christmas for me, as much as the music.
If anyone is interested in these podcasts send me a private message and I'll try to figure out how to point you to them.