Mary McCaslin's Roundup
June 27, 2002
Last Friday I listened to KZSC
Bushwackers Dan Orange and Sleepy John discuss the serious blow to radio sation
KAZU's local programming. Talking with them were Clytia Fuller and Robin
Roberts. Clytia's show, Heaven's Bar & Grill, follows the Bushwackers each
Friday morning on KZSC.
Robin Roberts and J. T. Mason have
co-hosted the Roadside Cafe on KAZU
weekday mornings for the last couple of years. And both have hosted
other shows on that station in the past.
J. T.'s program, My Sister's House, aired Thursday mornings for
many years. It was a beloved part of the great selection of folk / acoustic
radio shows heard on the Monterey Bay airwaves.
As of Monday, June 17, what had been
coming for some time finally occurred. The powers that be, in the person of
John McNally and the CSU Monterey Bay Foundation, finally put the screws to
KAZU's remaining local programming and have greatly expanded NPR and PRI
programming. For months they had been downsizing long running shows such as Out
on the Dusty Trail. Last year Dusty Trail was moved from Wednesday afternoons
to Saturday afternoons, seemingly to usher on Prairie Home Companion. Dusty
Trail lost an hour in that transition, going from three hours on Wednesdays to
two hours on Saturdays and was about to be cut down to one hour, ten minutes of
which would be devoted to news.
Long time Dusty Trail host, Mike
McKinley, along with co-host Mark Varner, decided to forgo the hour long drive
from the Santa Cruz area to Pacific Grove each week to be on the air for less
time than it took to get there. To me it felt like Mike and Mark were driven
off of the air.
This is just one of the beloved
programs that made KAZU what it used to be. Steve Kane's great Rock `n' Roll
Hospital got the ax and Sunday afternoon's Rags to Wishes is also gone from the
program schedule that I downloaded from the KAZU web site. Other local programs
will get the same treatment: either complete removal from the air waves, or a
substantially reduced time slot with re-scheduling to fit between all that NPR
programming. Looking at this program schedule, I don't see many local programs
listed other than the Roadside Cafe and a sprinkling of half hour talk shows.
From eight to ten on week nights
there is a large block that just says "Music". From ten to midnight
for all seven nights of the week there is another block that says
"Music". I guess what music it will be is yet to be determined.
I'm sure that one argument that
McNally and his allies will rely on for purging the local shows from the KAZU
airwaves is that these types of shows can be heard on other radio stations
throughout the Monterey Bay. Radio station KUSP carries a bluegrass show, the
Pataphysical Farm, which airs Sunday afternoons. And KUSP also airs Cindy Odom's Celtic show on Saturday mornings,
so why burden KAZU's schedule with a Celtic show? Why indeed.
That very logic should be reason
enough for KAZU to carry the BBC World
News Service and dump at least some of the NPR programming because it's already
being heard on KUSP and KQED. One is left to deduce that this big change must
be tied to a substantial permanent financial upgrade for the station and by
extension, its management staff.
I cannot believe that the radio listeners of the Monterey Bay have
not been aware that KUSP and KQED already carry NPR programming. Between those
two stations the broadcast area from Santa Cruz to Big Sur is well served with
a healthy portion of NPR. So why would
KAZU listeners insist on a change from the unique local programming that was
the hallmark of the station to something they could hear in two other spots on
the radio dial?
Two strong memories of KAZU come to
mind, one very recent and one a couple of years old. The recent memory is of my
in studio visit and interview with Robin Roberts on Thursday, June 13. After
many attempts over the last year to make it down to KAZU, I finally got there
to play a couple of songs and talk about the Girls From Santa Cruz benefit
concert that I was playing with Ginny Mitchell and Lacy J. Dalton on that
coming Saturday.
Like most performers, I have been
interviewed many times. Some interviews are great, some are ok and some are
best forgotten. My interview with Robin was a true highlight. She was focused
without being intrusive, asking
questions that I appreciated as her subject and would have appreciated as a
listener. She also made a very astute observation about how performers singing
live during radio interviews do not
look her in the face. I had noticed myself closing my eyes or looking down or
up or anywhere other than at the dj during interviews over the years, but Robin
was the first interviewer to bring it up. Certainly I would not have mentioned
it, but she did. I explained that while it may seem that performers appear to be
looking the audience "in the eye", they may be looking just above the heads of those seated in rows
of chairs in front of them.
Robin made sure that the concert I was there to promote was
mentioned often and with all pertainant info. Her interviewing style is
friendly and sincere and it was one of the most enjoyable interviews I've done
in recent years.
The other memory I have of "the
old KAZU" was driving down HWY 1, returning to Santa Cruz from a gig in
Sonoma a couple of years ago. Rags to Wishes was on the air and I was passing
the section of beach where the hang gliders congregate and fly overhead. The dj
was playing some great vintage `30s or `40s music and it was one of those
memorable scenes. The music with the beauty of the area and all those hang
gliders was just really something.
I guess memories are all we are
going to have of a once great radio station.
GRATEFUL
DAWG
If
you missed Grateful Dawg when it played at the Nickelodeon last year, or
would like to see it again, it is now available to rent on video. This
documentary, filmed by David Grisman's daughter Gillian, is a chance to see a
marvelous piece of music history. I could watch it many more times and enjoy it
every time.
The music was great and the respect
these two musicians had for each other and the music they played together was a
joy to behold. This piece was shot over a period of years, judging from the
various shades of gray in Grisman and Garcia's hair. In some scenes David's
hair was a lot darker than in others, and I just cannot see either him or Jerry
dipping into the Grecian Formula.
When Grateful Dawg was released some
reviewers were critical of the fact that nothing about Jerry Garcia's drug use
was included in the documentary and it just focused on the musical history
shared by these two tremendously talented musicians. Personally, I found the
exclusion of drug references very refreshing.
What Jerry Garcia gave to the world
was a substantial legacy of great music. The same is true of David Grisman. And
what shines through over and over is how much Jerry Garcia truly loved
traditional folk music. That's good enough for me.
THE
OTTER OPRY
Speaking of David Grisman, there is
a connection between David and our very own local bluegrass concert series, the
Otter Opry. This connection is guitarist Eric Thompson, who was in the New York
Ramblers back in the 1960s with David Grisman. In fact, there are a couple of
photos of Eric with David and other young bluegrass musicians shown briefly in
the aforementioned Grateful Dawg documentary.
On the night of Wednesday, July 3rd
the Otter Opry presents its third concert featuring the Bluegrass Intentions.
Members of the band include Eric and Suzy Thompson, who play dynamite fiddle
and is a great singer. Former member of the Dry Branch Fire Squad, Bill Evans
plays banjo. The group is rounded out by Alan Senauke, who is an extrordinary
vocalist and High Country's longtime banjo player, Larry Cohea, who plays bass
with the Intentions.
The Sibling Bros. open the show,
which will take place at the Santa Cruz Veterans Hall in downtown Santa Cruz.
The music starts at 8 p.m. and kids under 12 are free. Call 338-0618 for more info.
Here's another name coincidence: A
few weeks ago, a singer named Eric Thompson played up at Henflings. The Eric
Thompson in the Bluegrass Intentions is not the same person, though both have
connections to the Grateful Dead.
Well, that's about it for now. Stay
in touch. Happy Trails.
E-mail
Mary McCaslin at roundup@marymccaslin.com