Authored by: MarkS on Sunday, June 11 2006 @ 08:00 PM

D Ro played a bunch of his grassified tunes on his morning show when he was on WFNY, which used to be WXRK (KROCK). It was fun to hear a new twist on some classics. He was unceremoniously yanked off the air last March, after a squabble with the management.

Roth was interesting at first, but ultimately, he wasn't quite up to it. He had some pretty interesting bits, a live electric guitarist, B Young, "track blasting" over music beds and the occasional song, coming out of a break. He's really into funk and older R&B, Soul, etc., which was fine by me. He was always laughing at his own jokes, but wasn't as erudite or informed and I think that maybe a little too much was riding on his shoulders. I think he's still in court trying to get his $4Million.

It was fun to hear DLR talk insider talk about the music biz, or about performing. He did a few interviews that were of interest, but his questions weren't as probing, or as interessting as I would have liked.

He's not Stern and there isn't any point in trying to beat Stern at his own game. The whole frickin' station went all talk after Stern left. Very stupid and they lost a lot of their audience. I stuck it out just to hear what would happen. There aren't any good hard/alt rock staions and what they do play on FNY is a bit diluted with other stuff. Now I listen to the Hip Hop station- Hot 97- and NPR. I can take small doses of Reggaeton.

After several months of sudden personnel changes and shift switches, usually without any warning, they seem to have settled into a schedule they like. Talk shows during the day, music after 7 pm and on weekends. All of the talk shows suck except for Penn Jillette, who has an hour from 2-3. I used to Listen to Booker and his crew, but he left for the morning slot in Philly.

There is something compelling in Jillette's loudmouth gravelly tone. His self promoting carny barker, which serves Penn & Teller so well, is hard for me to turn away from. He's pretty funny and I can't help smile or laugh when you hear him laugh. He talks a lot about free speech and atheism and he is usually winking at the audience. He has guests who are fellow jugglers and magicians who regail us with war stories of their worst performances and a few insider tips and tricks.

David Lee Roth is crazy. Crazy from the heat.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Authored by: JIMO on Sunday, June 11 2006 @ 10:30 PM

I'm with Bill. Every pimply, sexually-frustrated high school kid's god in the 80's has thrown a mental bearing or two. And he smiles like Snoopy after hamming it up for the Peanuts kids.

That being said, the guy should have his radio contract paid up. Stern was right, the whole industry is filled with spineless assholes. They offer no resistance as the government robs them of their free speech, and then blame personalities for poor ratings and refuse to pay up. I hope he wins.

---
There's always gotta be a reason for something.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Authored by: MarkS on Sunday, June 11 2006 @ 10:45 PM

I'm with Bill. Every pimply, sexually-frustrated high school kid's god in the 80's has thrown a mental bearing or two. And he smiles like Snoopy after hamming it up for the Peanuts kids.

Maybe they were already screwy, but we just never noticed.

He does have this really cheesy showbiz grin. After the getting fired from 92.3 Free FM, he's probably happy to be anywhere. Hey! I just flew in from Rutland and boy are my arms tired! Ha, ha, ha. Thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here at the Kwiniaska Golf Club all week. Thank you...

What's funny is that one day last fall, before he left, Stern faked everyone out and had a DLR impersonator do the morning show for about an hour, or two and everyone was freaking out. Some news stations even reported that the transition had already taken place. I'd like to know how Stern found out that DLR was going to be his replacement.

I just thought to myself: Oh, far out. He's gone.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Authored by: DanZ on Monday, June 12 2006 @ 06:22 AM

I've always enjoyed the phenomenon of an outrageous performer or a celebrity with an overdeveloped schtick, even if i'm not into the genre: Elvis, Liberace, Hefner, DLR, Jillette, Stern, etc. And while DLR's "Jump" was the most lame performance of a song I've heard in my life (and painful to watch), he's trying to do something that many singers have done w/ success (i.e. cross a song into another genre) - he just failed on that one. On the other hand, let's look at the lyrics:

Well can't you see me standng here
I've got my back against the record machine
I aint the worst that youve seen.
Oh cant you see what I mean ?
Might as well jump. jump !

For an outlandish, gay, aging, rocker, he's certainly taking some big jumps and trying to live a large life. I, for one, respect the guy, in spite of his silly-putty grin.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Authored by: amy on Tuesday, June 13 2006 @ 01:25 PM

[ Reply to This | # ]

Authored by: evening on Tuesday, June 13 2006 @ 02:38 PM

thanks a lot, amy.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Authored by: billsimmon on Tuesday, June 13 2006 @ 06:46 PM

My eyes! My EYES!!!!

[ Reply to This | # ]

Authored by: DanZ on Wednesday, June 14 2006 @ 05:58 AM

I love that guy.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Authored by: sillyoldbear on Friday, June 16 2006 @ 03:28 PM

Yeah, he's mellowed out quite a bit in his old age... ;)

[ Reply to This | # ]