Rise Up

This commercial sure fired up this Falcons fan for 2010.

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Keep it Simple, Stupid

At this point in my life one thing has become clear: it is time to simplify. For most of my adult life, shoot all my life, I have been a packrat. Well, it is time to purge. Most of my mess is in small things I’ve kept such as audio cassette mix tapes, tiny electronic parts (patch cords and adapters galore), the list goes on: hand tools, doo-dads, and what-nots. I justified all this clutter by saying, “It’ll come in handy or be worth something some day.” Well, it seldom did. Today, while browsing my Netflix queue I stumbled upon a show that is right up my alley called American Pickers. A new show featured on the History Channel, it follows two guys on a mission to buy junk that they can later sell for a profit. They go around the countryside of the American Mid-west finding individuals willing to part with some of their clutter (for a price). Sign me up for their jobs. I identify both as a hoarder and a seeker.

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This brings me to my mission with this particular blog. The statistics feature in the backbone software of Aircheck and the Peanut Whistle weblogs has been a marvelous tool. It has directed me in the types of posts that you, the reader, like to read. In fact, the number of readers and how they discovered this little blog is part of the Blogger software. I have not quite learned how to interpret all the numbers, but I have a pretty good idea that we’re not setting the blogosphere on fire. That is why big changes are coming to this site in the next few days or weeks. Look for my two Blogger blogs to consolidate into one. The Peanut Whistle will become part of the Aircheck instead of  a separate site. I had considered shutting down both altogether. Merging the two is the more logical course. “Less clutter, more sanity” is my new motto.

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©2010 Neal Rhoden. Aircheck blog. All rights reserved.

Cloak and Dagger

In what seems to be a segment on one of those Saturday Night Live fake commercials the CIA is now openly recruiting through television ads. About a month ago I saw one of their commercials for the first time and thought it was a joke—the production values of the spots are first rate, like a mini-movie. Maybe it is part of some new transparency in our government. Recently I visited the website and found out that the American international clandestine service, the Central Intelligence Agency is in fact looking for new recruits. Bravo.

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©2010 Neal Rhoden, Aircheck blog. All rights reserved

Glam Country

I saw Keith Urban this morning on the Today Show. He did a great job in the interview and the song that followed. Thanks to High Definition, I noticed generous use of stage make-up and wondered how old Waylon Jennings or Willie Nelson would think of this new-fangled Country style. Today’s Country is more like the Glam Rock of the early 1970’s. Urban appeared more like David Bowie than he did the Outlaws he tried to emulate (not to mention he’s Australian, for crying out loud). Don’t get me wrong I am a little bit Country and a little bit Rock-n-Roll. Okay, maybe calling new Country “Glam” is a bit extreme, but it’s not the real deal.

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©2010 Neal Rhoden, Aircheck blog. All rights reserved.

Pluggin’ Away

Born out of TV talk shows—probably, the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson—the term “plug” came to mean that an actor or performer came on the show to promote their latest project. Today I’m plugging my blogs with our latest YouTube vids.

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Here’s the “stuff”

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My TV promo. Be here!

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©2010 Neal Rhoden. Gospel Aircheck blog. All rights reserved

Feudin’

Without a doubt one of my favorite pastimes is TV game shows. Years ago I’d spend hours watching the likes of Matchgame, The Price is Right, Press Your Luck, Jeopardy, The Joker’s Wild, Let’s Make a Deal, and the list goes on. None were, perhaps, as original as Family Feud starring Richard Dawson; the daytime version I began watching on ABC in the late 70’s. Hosts have come and gone, but I always considered Dawson the best, with Ray Combs a close second—until now. Steve Harvey has inherited hosting duties on the now syndicated version of the show. He is hilarious. Harvey brings back personality and a flawless sense of humor to the role that I found lacking in previous replacements. Also, the show is true to the original rules of the game. Just for fun here is my informal ranking of the hosts:

1. Steve Harvey (2010-present)
2. Richard Dawson (1976-1985 & 1994-1995)
3. Ray Combs (1988-1994)
4. Louis Anderson (1999-2002)
5. Richard Karn (2002-2006)
6. John O’Hurley (2006-2010)

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©2010 Neal Rhoden. Gospel Aircheck blog. All rights reserved.

Mr. Microphone

“I’ll be back to pick you up later,” the young man announced from his convertible to the blonde stranger standing on the curb. His voice had been mysteriously amplified over his car stereo. One of the wonders of the late 1970’s, Mister Microphone was one of those $19.95 as-seen-on-TV wonders that everybody had to have. A toy, really, it was a cheap wireless mic that sent a signal via FM that was tuned in on a nearby radio affording many hours of fun—such as picking up chicks. I assure you no young woman has ever been wooed by one of these novelties. Sorry Romeo.

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©2010 Neal Rhoden. The Peanut Whistle. All rights reserved.

Deal Me!

What a fantastic time was had by all! Last Friday night I played announcer for a live version of the classic game show Let's Make a Deal!

The butterflies abated at show time; I was once again in my element, although this type of audience participation show never entered my repertoire until then. I brought along my "Traveling Microphone" (thanks Paul Harvey) to get that larger than life blast out to the traders.

I think we surprised everyone who once thought I was an unassuming bench warmer in the church that hosted the game show fund raiser. I noticed a few puzzled faces in the crowd trying to reconcile that voice with my face.

Our "Monty Hall" was one of our regular musicians in the church who is used to the live audiences and is not shy. He kept the crowd well entertained with deals donated from some of our local businesses. Of course I provided the Jay Stewart to his Monty Hall. We referred to each other by our new found stage names. One thing I learned: the TV pros make it look much easier than it is.

It was all in good fun, though. We'll need some tweaking before it's ready for prime time.

Stay tuned

©2010 The Peanut Whistle. All rights reserved.