dear jimbeau,

i had a Lithuanian friend in Chicago who told me that the way to tell a Lithuanian neighbourhood was that there was a bar in every other store front.  He was also an excellent dancer and once got up at a Greek restaurant where there were professional belly-dancers to dance beside one of them and demonstrated that he was an expert at the hip and belly movements.  The belly dancer was so impressed, she took a 5 dollar bill from her bra and stuffed it in his pants.  Of course, he used it to buy himself an extra ouzo for the evening...  (this was not intended as a slur for or against Lithuanians.  It’s a true story, i swear it!)  The King and I is an old favourite of mine.  Almost every melody was a hit, in my day.  The character of the King and that of Anna are superbly developed and the words of the songs are very appropriate to the story line.

Thanks in advance.  If possible, play it after 10, inasmuch as I will be in transit from the Fallsview Casino back to my apartment and will still be awake, as I'm entertaining my cleaning lady who is accompanying me to the Falls for the evening.  Her name is Alice if you want to mention a dedication to someone special.  Alice, her name and her demeanor are strictly retro so that they fit in well with an old fart, like me, of 75, whose memory for past events is much better than his memory for what happened at breakfast this morning... greetings from house to house.  i hope all things are ok with you and that the remark, to Peter, about the "exile" to the couch, was only a bad joke.  In my sad experiences, such a situation was taken very seriously and was a prelude to an ousting from the house, no matter who owned it, at that time.  In my good experiences, it was a welcomed move and clarified the relationships immediately.  Go figure!

Sent to Jim Berryman at WNED-FM as a request for his show from 9 to 12 every Saturday night.  He is in general very friendly, very humourous and very knowledgeable about classical music and jazz and interpersonal relationships from a male point of view.  He is the host of his own internet programme regarding men’s issues, mainly.  At WBFO-AM he is the chief engineer.  At WNED-FM, he creates most of the advertising slots.  He hosts the late afternoon and early evening slots from Tuesday to Saturday, Saturday being his long night, 5 to midnight, including hosting the PHC with Garrison Keillor.  I met him personally when he was doing the engineering of a classical guitar competition originated by Joanne Falletta.  I heard him say something and I recognized his voice and he acknowledged my brief communications with him that went before.

Jim is far and away the most entertaining hosts on the classical music station, which is now claiming to be losing patrons at an “alarming” rate.  I’m sure he and I both know that the station is losing its long time patrons because the other announcers are boring stiffs who act as if they are doing everyone a favour by playing opera and other boring classical music at high volumes and with great frequency.  The best Jazz station in the world is in Toronto and has extremely entertaining hosts and great rewards for maintaining membership, which is like WNED, worldwide at this time.  Even the folks who call to nail down a pledge are extremely friendly and understanding about seniors with fixed incomes.  Of course, Jazz is different than Classical; the selections are shorter, happier and engenders enough toe-tapping and head bobbing to feel really good.  I think there’s got to be a way to shorten presentations to a shorter and more lively selections, such as scherzos and overtures, as is done during fund drives.

Thanks for reading this Jim.  I hope your position is secure and that you’re not thinking of taking off and going elsewhere, without my permission.  I would certainly understand your frustration with those announcers that don’t pronounce, “Shshshtrrrrauauaussssssss,” properly.  And if I’ve said something offensive to you, I apologize.  Sincerely, I apologize.  It seems to be a personality problem with which I was born, that I say things sometimes that are accidentally offensive to some of my kith and kin.

Sincerely,

Izzy Sommers, MD

Welland, Canada

Sent to JBerryman@classical.com

Entered as a blog, June 22, 2013 on Blogger at

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