WSAU: Big City Cat

Steve Forbert is a musical survivor. He survived scuffling on the streets of New York in the 1970s, busking in train stations and sleeping in rat-infested apartments. He survived the "New Dylan" tag which was the kiss of death for so many would be troubadours of that time. He has survived the health problems that come with age and he has survived the implosion of the music industry and is still out there on the road and releasing new music as well. I bring this up, not only because I'm a big fan ever since his sparkling debut 'Alive on Arrival" hit my desk at 90FM in 1978, but he has a new album out and a new autobiography on his life in music is out this week. First the book...it's called Big City Cat:My Life in Folk-Rock" and is co-written with Theresa Boyd. I can't wait to dig in. He left Meridian Mississippi in the mid 70's and made his way to NYC where he played whereever he could (even opening for The Talking Heads at the punk rock shrine CBGBs). After his first LP was released (filled with excellent tunes) he actually had a radio hit on his next LP. Most of you will remember Romeo's Tune ("Let me smell the moon in your perfume"). After the high of that 2nd Lp "JackRabbit Slim" he struggled to sell records even though the albums that followed were very good. Luckily he had his battered old acoustic and he could always hit the road which he did....often releasing live versions of his shows on many LPs and cds over the years. His newest project is an LP called "The Magic Tree" which is twelve new tracks and to be released on October 26th. After 40 years on the road he is still bringing it both live and on record. I've seen him a few times over the last few years and although his world-weary voice may be an acquired taste for some it will grow on you if you let it. And the songs...damn the songs are great. You can check out his entire catalog at steveforbert.com. Don't stream (the artists make nothing on that)...buy the music and help these artists make a living. A new documentary about the very funny Gilda Radner! Coimg to theaters September 21st. As Elementary ends its run on CBS, HBO is bring us the Sherlock Holmes character re-cast as a British-Japanese woman. I plan on checking it out as it is getting good reviews but I'm not sure I'll be able to tolerate a show with all subtitles. Who would you choose for the MVP of the Milwaukee Brewers this season. Most, I would imagine would pick Christian Yelich but, like any successful baseball team, one player cannot do it alone. Lorenzo Cain, Jesus Aguilar, Josh Hader, Jeremy Jeffress and Jhoulys Chacin have all been instrumental in the rise of the Brewers. It's unfortunate that winning the division is seen by many on social media as necessary to deem the season a success. Josh Hader set a Brewer franchise record this week for the most strikeouts by a reliever. If you are reading this and are a Badger basketball fan...I have a pair of tickets to the Garding Against Cancer event happening this Friday night at the Hilton Garden Inn in Rib Mountain. Badger hoops coach Greg Gard will be there with lots of silent auction and raffle events. There is dinner and music and all money raised stays in Central Wisconsin to fight cancer and help folks with treatment costs. i'll give the tickets to the first person reading this who e-mails me at tom.king@mwcradio.com...please be sure you can use the tickets. If you want to attend you can get more information at gardingagainstcancer.org. How concerned are you about the Packers with or without Rodgers? Things to annoy you today: Donald Trump once claimed in a speech that he helped dig people out of the rubble at Ground Zero. It was just another lie. You should also remember that shortly after the towers came down, Trump crowed that he now had the tallest building in Manhatten. Not only was it completely tone deaf (his usual) but it also wasnt true. Trump also appeared on Alex Jones internet crapfest "InfoWars while running for President and called Jone's reputation "amazing". Jones, is a 9-11 truther who thinks it was an "inside job". The conservative group "Right Wisconsin" in a piece by James Wigderson criticized the new athletic upgrades to the Milwaukee School system including his alma mater Milwaukee Vincent. One quote in the piece stands out "The new stadium is part of an $11 million improvement in athletic facilities for Milwaukee Public Schools presumably so the little convicts can have the best facilites before being sent to the penitentiary." Trump's #1 mouthpiece, Sean Hannity said last week that Barack Obama spent too much time talking about himself. No, really Hannity said that with a straight face. As compared to his man-crush Trump who manages to make every tweet, statement, speech or interview (no matter the subject) all about him. Obama's successful two terms grate on Hannity so much he spends big chunks of his show flat out lying about them. This nugget from reporter/lawyer Seth Abramson...The $7.7 million the Mueller investigation has actually cost (not the $28 million that Trump claims) is EXACTLY one-tenth of what America has paid for Trump to go golfing since his inauguration. That's right, his golfing has cost us $77 million. A trial in Baltimore has revealed that cops there carried toy guns to plant on people they shot. As the East Coast braces for Hurricaine Florence the news broke this week that the Trump Administration has diverted nearly $10 million dollars from FEMA to fund immigrant detention centers and deportation efforts. Of course, Trump said yesterday that they will tackle Florence like they did Puerto Rico of which he said yesterday "I actually think it was one of the best jobs...an incredible unsung success". Does he know that is a lie or does he actually believe that? Maybe he's listening to Limbaugh who said that the warnings of damage and destruction is propaganda to sell climate change. According to Web MD 45% of diabetes patients had gone without insulin because of the price. Insulin costs fractions of what we pay here in other countries. Quotes of The Day "Donald Trump spends all day talking about his "accomplishments". Brack Obama didn't have to. They spoke for themselves."-Tony Posnanski "When I served in the Senate, I never doubted the legitimacy of the nomination process for a Supreme Court nominee. But after the way Barack Obama and Merrick Garland were treated, its clear the process is off the rails."-Russ Feingold "The fact that Kavanaugh would almost certainly rule to protect Trump from investigation is another sad part of this illegitimate process. But these new documents show Kavanaugh's lack of truthfulness alone disqualifies him."-Russ Feingold "Brett Kavanaugh has to be set off into the junk pile of history. His positions on returning women to second-class citizenship, his attitude about doing the same for the LGBTQ community, his desire to elevate presidential powers, and more will set our country back immeasurably."-Andrew Zimmeren "We should be talking about impeaching Kavanaugh and booting him from the DC Circuit for committing perjury. Not promoting him to the highest court in the land."-Brian Fallon "The Supreme Court's history is littered with problematic justices and ethically challenged bankrupt figures. But very rarely do we get a glimpse of that before they're confirmed. Kavanaugh is unfit. End of story."-Jared Yates Sexton "Trump has never been as teflon as his supporters think or his opponents fear. He's an unpopular president at a time when the economy would make almost any other president popular, and corruption is driving his numbers down even further."-Ezra Klein "I want to make this clear: We journalists know what it is to hustle, to pursue, to dig, to uncover. MANY have died in pursuit of the truth. Having Donald Trump call us--as a collective--dishonest, enemies of the state...while he lies and lies and lies...it is unforgiveable."-Jeff Pearlman "One of my least favorite things about the patriarchy is partly what Serena Williams talked about: there is this fiction that women are emotional and irrational compared to rational, cool-as-a-cucumber men. Except when women get upset, we don't shoot up schools and churches."-Juila Ioffe "Its kind of hilarious, if you think about it. All these guys who voted for Trump. Now they can't watch the NFL, they can't ride their Harleys, they have to burn their Nikes, they can't go to Starbucks or watch Netflix, and they have to love Vladimir Putin and hate the FBI. I mean, if this was a practical joke, it would be one of the greatest practical jokes of all time."-Jimmy Kimmel Songs of The Day (Happy Birthday to Gerry Beckley who was one-third of the band America and turns 66 today. Three of his songs from my favorite America LP "Homecoming"