GJ Willis' Art Notes

Today, in fact all this week I’ve been listening to the 98 Rock Morning Show in anticipation of the arrival of Josh Spiegel as there new news guy. If you can recall Josh used to do the news for the Big O and Dukes Show until 98 Rock showed up one day with a suitcase full of money. He starts up on 98 Rock this Monday.

Anyway, this morning on The 98 Rock Morning Show they got a caller who was asking about Ed Norris who was the topic of discussion at the moment. He wanted to know how he got arrested because he said the whole thing was before his time. Kirk and Mark went into an earnest explanation about Ed Norris. At the end of their explanation the caller immediately said, “Ar!” Ar! is the official sound of the Big O and Dukes Show.

News guy Josh Spiegel originated, “Ar!” It was his shortened form of, “How You Doing Out There Everybody!“ He even had a cute little baby, ”Ar!“ sound. In fact when I hear Ar! I don’t think of the Big O and Dukes Show I think more of Josh Spiegel. I wonder if they’ll be getting a lot of Ar! calls next week?

This of course makes me wonder, Who owns Ar! ? Is it Josh Spiegel or Infinity Broadcasting? Ar! was first heard in this market while he was an Infinity radio employee. This makes me wonder will Josh legally be able to mention his ”Big news window” and his assistant Agnes? Does Josh own the creative license on these concepts or does Infinity Radio own them?

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a white shirt sleeved blouse and a patterned broomstick skirt. I like wearing broomstick skirts because they don’t have to be ironed....

THE COMMUTE HOME:

On the way home at about 5:45 pm Red Bull van pulled up at the Timonium light rail stop. It had a giant can of Red Bull on the roof. It also had California licence plates. When it stopped the very attractive looking blonde driver and blonde passenger got out and asked if any one wanted a Red Bull. The driver and passenger were a thin, healthy looking, blonde man and woman. They were obviously models hired for there looks. Anyway, after they made there announcement a lot of people went to the car and got a free Red Bull.

I didn’t get in line because I’m not sure if Red Bull is an alcoholic beverage or not. I don’t drink and I didn’t want to be stuck carrying around something I don’t drink. It’s kind of hard to tell from the design of the can. After every one who wanted one got there free Red Bull the attractive looking couple sped off.

Also yesterday I saw a group of Cindy Sheehan supporters gathered in front of the State Office building across the street from the light rail station. My train was coming and I didn’t have enough time to stop and take a picture of them.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I wore green slacks and a short sleeve blouse with a sweetheart neckline. The soft cotton blouse was white and had a pattern of red roses with green leaves on it.

MORNING COMMUTE:

I missed my light rail train this morning because of an altercation that occured in the 7 -ELEVEN between a crazy or on drugs man who made himself a cup of coffee and refused to pay for it and a 7 -ELEVEN worker. It was scary. I kept feeling afraid that he might have a weapon on him. The man behind the counter immediatly got on his phone and called the police. The crazy or on drugs man kept yelling at the other 7 -ELEVEN worker, "I'm the king! I'm the king!", as he held up the cup of coffee.

Luckily, there was already a police car parked out in front of the store. The policeman eventually got the man to move away. The police officer was a very tall, big, black, bald intimidating looking man.

I still can't understand why the man behind the counter was still on the phone with the police giving them information about what was going on and where they were located. The situation was solved....

On light rail after all the 7 _ELEVEN drama, I saw a man with actual vinyl records in his hands. He didn't look old but then again was bald. It's kind of difficult to judge the age of bald men.

THE ED NORRIS SHOW
Ed Norris with Big O and Dukes is a more serious show than the Big O and Dukes Show. He was great when he was on for just one hour a day. However, since the former Baltimore City Police Commissioner got off of house arrest and is now on for the entire four hours he's really dragged the show down. Bring back the funny! Unmuzzle Chad Dukes!

Personally, I think they should just give Ed Norris his own show. Why did he have to hijack their show to the point that it's no longer called the Big O and Dukes Show but instead is called The Ed Norris Show With Big O and Dukes? Let's face it he's more law enforcement oriented and O and D are comedy oriented. Well, at least Chad Dukes is..... Hey, If I wanted serious talk radio I'd be listening to WBAL, not WHFS.

Right now it's almost like they (Big O and Dukes) have one foot out of the door already. They have put in an audition tape for the Opie and Anthony Show's very own Golden Ticket competition. Five winners get a spot on Opie and Anthony's XM High Voltage channel. I hear Ceasar, there phone screener was in New York last week dropping off their audition tape. I understand that Opie and Anthony liked there audition tape so much that they played it on air. I personally don't know because I don't have satellite radio.....yet.

So far Opie and Anthony have added Ron and Fez to there XM channel. Here's hoping that O and D make it on there as well and off the train wreck that is Baltimore's Infinity Radio.

98 ROCK JOINING THE 21ST CENTURY?

Shocking!! Absolutely Shocking!! Today, I heard Mr. Brightside by The Killers being played on 98 Rock during Sarah Fleischer's shift. This is shocking because 98 Rock is a station that appears to have not changed it's playlist since 1985. They play stuff like Led Zepplin, Motely Crew, and Metallica.

WHAT I'M WEARING:
Today, I have on a dark blue polo shirt that has my company's logo on the sleeve. I don't work in place where we have to wear uniforms. One year they were raising funds for something and offered workers the opportunity to buy a polo with the company's logo on it. I believe this was around the time we started up a company baseball team. The baseball team by the way is now defunct.

I also have on blue jean capri pants and tan leather flip flops.

Today is the anniversary of the day that the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Aaron Presley died. I usually spend the afternoon listening to the Don and Mike Show’s Annual Elvis Death Day Show. Normally it’s a fun show jam packed with Elvis music and funny Elvis trivia and stories. However, today’s show was different.....

It is a known fact that Don and Mike take unscreened calls on their show. It was the very first call of the day that made me seething mad. It was an insensitive man who wanted to know how Freda died. Then the next thing you know his girlfriend/wife was laughing in the background. I was sickened! The man(Don) had just lost his wife(Freda) in a car accident! Then the girlfriend/wife got on the phone and asked rather jovially, “How’s Freda?” I just couldn’t believe the insensitivity of those two!!! It was as though they were getting a rise out of kicking someone down who had just lost his wife. In my opinion they were the two most vilest callers I have ever heard. They weren’t human they were sub-humans!!! After they went away I though that the show would get back on track to being funny again.

Then the next thing you know there call was followed up a little later by another vile person. This one said in a taunting tone to Don, “You can dish it out but you can’t take it!“ I couldn’t believe his delightful tone in kicking down a man who had just lost his wife! I have never in the history of listening to the Annual Don and Mike Elvis Death Day show wanted to go to the homes of callers and punch them in the face.

I just do not understand the lack of humanity that those two callers had. Are they the types who would taunt and make fun of people to their face who had just lost a loved one. If so then they are truly sick people in need of serious psychological help.

Eventually, much later the show did get back on track to being funny.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on dark blue slacks and a blue blouse that has various shades of blue daisies on it.

jamesblunt, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This is a picture of James Blunt who sings a brilliant new song called, "You're Beautiful".

MY TOP 10 BILLBOARD MUSICAL PREDICTIONS:

I have really been taken by this song I first heard on
Virgin Radio called, You’re Beautiful sung by singer/songwriter James Blunt. Locally, the song has been picked up by WTMD and I understand that New York’s WPLJ has added it to there play list.

Who is James Blunt you ask? Blunt is a handsome hippie looking former British Army officer. He hails from a British military family. He spent 5 years in the Army and was a part of the Kosovo peace keeping mission. Judging from his song, “You’re Beautiful”, he is a very intuitive songwriter. Even Elton John has sung his praises about Blunt’s talent.

I, a non lover of ballads and slow songs find, You’re Beautiful, simply amazing. The lyrics are highly relatable and I can’t get the melody out of my head. I can just see this song being played at weddings and on late night request shows. Listening to this song is like listening to the story of your life. The story of the beautiful girl or guy that got away because you suddenly realized that it can never be because they are way out of your league.

So far the song has spent 5 weeks at number #1 on the UK pop charts. I suppose I’ll have to wait a couple of months to see if Carrie Fisher’s former houseguest shoots to the top of the US charts like he did in the UK and the rest of Europe. Blunt’s cd is due to be released in the US in October.

I rarely make chart predictions but I have a strong feeling that this one will be top ten if not on Billboard’s Pop chart then Adult Contemporary charts.

By the way I found a video stream for James Blunt’s song.

Another song I feel has a great future on the charts is Daniel Powter’s song Bad Day. This is another song that I discovered on Virgin Radio. I’m not sure if WTMD has picked it up yet. By the way Powter is a Canadian. Not that I think that’s bad or anything....

I also found a video stream for Daniel Powter’s song.

I guess I’ll have to wait a couple of months to see if either of these songs chart in the US.

That’s it for my future Billboard Top Ten Predictions. Only time will tell if I have a good enough ear to predict how the US charts will treat Blunt and Powter’s singles. If they both manage to make it to Top 10 I’ll be simply over the moon with joy.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I’m wearing a semi-monochromatic theme of powder blue. I have on a powder blue v-neck top and powder blue slacks. The colour is broken up by my beige sandals.