This Just In ...
Kevin Fischer is a veteran broadcaster, the recipient of over 150 major journalism awards from the Milwaukee Press Club, the Wisconsin Associated Press, the Northwest Broadcast News Association, the Wisconsin Bar Association, and others. He has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for over three decades. A longtime aide to state Senate Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature, Kevin can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, "InterCHANGE," on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, and heard filling in on Newstalk 1130 WISN. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their lovely baby daughter, Kyla Audrey, in Franklin.
The best album cover?
Last year marked the 25th anniversary of the compact disc or CD.
Small in size, convenient, easy to track, and better sound quality……..these qualities make the CD invention a wonder of technology.
The bad news is that the advent of the CD meant the virtual disappearance of a lost art, the great album covers.
A fascinating pop culture debate would be what is the best album cover of all-time.
You’d certainly get a lot of votes for Sgt. Pepper.
Honey by the Ohio Players, too.
If you pose the question to Dolores Erickson, she’d answer in a heartbeat with no doubts whatsoever as to her choice: Whipped Cream & Other Delights by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.
She calls it, “the world’s most famous album cover,” and she may be right.
Mind you, Erickson is far from objective.
Erickson happens to be the woman on the cover.
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Yep, that's Dolores in all her glory.
She appeared on many other album covers in the 60's, like this one.....
She appeared on many other album covers in the 60's, like this one.....
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But it's the Whipped Cream cover that got Erickson all the attention.
Imagine that.
Not too long ago, there was even a re-issued re-mix of the album for its 40th anniversary with a new cover (and model).
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Imagine that.
Not too long ago, there was even a re-issued re-mix of the album for its 40th anniversary with a new cover (and model).
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Here's a more contemporary picture of Erickson holding the Herb Alpert LP and the first album she appeared on, Nat King Cole's 1960 release, "Wild is Love."
The Seattle Times reported in 2005:
Erickson was friends with Alpert and Jerry Moss, cofounders of A&M Records. So she was a natural when photographer Jerry Whorf, who had shot the Nat King Cole album, got the assignment for "Whipped Cream." They had Erickson flown out from New York for the shoot in Whorf's Los Angeles studio.
"I thought, 'Just another job,' " Erickson recalled.
Whorf draped a sheet over her lower body (she was three months pregnant) and slathered her mostly with shaving cream. Actual whipped cream was used only on her head.
Erickson got about $1,500 for the day's work, typical of what she was earning in those days.
Whorf gave her the outtakes, in which the shaving cream had dripped to reveal a little too much flesh.
"My husband was very conservative. I tore one up. It was too much." She saved the other outtake, which she now sells for $50, autographed.
"Whipped Cream" sold more than half a million copies, was in the top 10 for 61 weeks and won four Grammy awards (though not for best album cover).
This is all wonderful nostalgia, but where am I going with it?
The Orlando Sentinel is running a poll, asking readers to choose the worst album covers.
I've looked at the lengthy list and they're all really bad.
But in my view, none were as bad as this....
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Remarkably, Michael Yon writes the stories of Iraq the mainstream press refuses to report
There’s a buzz about former Green Beret Michael Yon’s new book, Moment of Truth In Iraq because it’s an insider account of what’s truly happening that American news consumers simply aren’t getting.This embedded reporter has spent more time than any other journalist with American marines, soldiers, and special ops teams patrolling the streets of Iraq.
General David Petraeus describes Yon and his new book:
"He's fearless... provides a candid, soldier's-eye view... from the very unique perspective of being there with them for weeks and months at a time... delv[ing] deep into the human component."
Moment Of Truth In Iraq offers untold stories you won’t see on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, or read about in the New York Times. From the inside cover:
· The American commander fed up with phony Al Qaeda 'documentaries' that showed terrorists shooting at bombed out American vehicles as if they had beaten us in open battle. The commander and his men staged the "bombing" of a broken down truck, then when the terrorists came to put on their act, Navy SEAL snipers killed every one.
· The exploits of the great "Deuce Four" battalion that became the center of a "warrior cult" dreaded by terrorists and revered by Iraqis.
· Think Iraqi soldiers can't fight? Read about the elite Iraqi SWAT team taking down a terror cell for the murder of four American soldiers and a brave Iraqi guide.
· Think Americans are occupiers, not liberators, of Iraq? Tell that to the wounded Iraqi interpreter, who, convinced he was about to die, begged his U.S. commander to have his heart cut out and buried in America.
· Learn why so many Iraqi boys dream of becoming American soldiers.
Author/columnist Austin Bay wrote about one of Yon’s vignettes:
Here's the situation: Yon was accompanying the commander of the 1-24 Infantry, Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla. A terrorist had shot a young sergeant in downtown Mosul. Kurilla spotted a black Opel and -- playing a professional's hunch -- the chase was on. The three men in the Opel abandoned the car and ran. Kurilla, his command section and Yon (with a camera) left their personnel carrier and gave chase on foot.
Yon picks up the story:
"There were shops, alleys, doorways, windows. Shots were fired behind us, but around a corner to the left LTC Kurilla began running in the direction of the shooting. He passed by me and I chased, Kurilla leading the way. There was a quick and heavy volume of fire. And then LTC Kurilla was shot.
Kurilla was running while he was hit in three places including his femur, which was shattered. The commander didn't seem to miss a stride. He did a crazy judo roll and came up shooting. ... Bullets were hitting all around Kurilla. The young second lieutenant and specialist who were part of Kurilla's crew that day were the only two soldiers nearby. Neither had real combat experience ... the interpreter had no weapon. I had a camera. ... I screamed to the young soldiers, 'Throw a grenade in there!' but they were not attacking. They didn't have grenades ... or the combat experience to grasp the power of momentum. Help arrived in the form of one man: Command Sergeant Major Prosser. Prosser ran around the corner, passed the two young soldiers, who were crouched low, and me, and started firing at a man inside who was trying to shoot Kurilla with a pistol. Prosser shot the man at least four times with his M4 rifle. But the American M4 rifles are weak. The man just staggered back, regrouped and tried to shoot Prosser. Then Prosser's M4 went black (no more bullets). Prosser threw down his empty M4, ran into the shop and tackled the man. I saw the very bloody leg of CSM Prosser inside the shop. He appeared to be shot down and dead. I saw Prosser's M4 on the ground."
Yon picks up Prosser's rifle, grabs a magazine, fires three wild rounds attempting to save Prosser as four more soldiers arrive. Yon writes: "Prosser wasn't dead, he was fighting hand to hand while the terrorist was trying to bite Prosser's wrist, but instead he bit into the face of Prosser's watch. Prosser subdued him by smashing his face into the concrete. The combat drama was ended, so I started snapping photos again."
Quite a piece of prose -- terror, courage, physical combat action, choices bad, good and maybe made palpable and immediate in the fearsome detail of direct experience.
Yon’s book cover is a famous photo of a soldier caring for an Iraqi girl killed after a suicide car bombing.
Putting it in perspective, Franklin
Ponder this question.
Here are some of the top Franklin news stories from the recent past.
What do they have in common?
- Notorious sex offender Billy Lee Morford is allowed to move back and forth between Milwaukee and Franklin with the state failing to notify Franklin
- Franklin High School voting age students are gathered into a closed door Assembly the Friday before the vote on a $78.2 million referendum where the issue is discussed
- The Franklin School Board adopts a school tax levy increase of 5.9% after the Board announced it would be 5.6%. It’s learned later that the increase was not the 5.9% announced to the public, but a whopping 11.7%
- The Buckhorn Christmas tragedy
- Sex offender Steve Hanke moves into Franklin in violation of a city ordinance. For now, a Milwaukee County Judge has ruled Hanke can continue to live in Franklin close to a middle school
- Franklin city tax levies continue to go up well above the rate of inflation
- A citizen panel’s recommendation is ignored, and the Franklin School Board pushes a very unpopular set of referendum questions that include an expensive new high school
Think about the stories on that list.
What do they all have in common?
They’re all controversial.
Check.
They’re all very serious.
Check.
Here’s something else they all have in common.
To some degree, they are all more outrageous and scandalous than the brouhaha over “Boomgaard,” the name selected to identify the 27th Street Corridor.
Before I go any further:
DISCLAIMER FOR EVERY SINGLE BLOG KEVIN FISCHER WRITES ABOUT BOOMGAARD FROM 5/4/08 UNTIL HIS LOVELY AND MUCH YOUNGER WIFE, JENNIFER FINALLY DOES HIM IN: KEVIN FISCHER ENTHUSIASTICALLY SUPPORTS THE VISIONARY BIG PICTURE CONCEPT OF THE S. 27TH STREET CORRIDOR, BUT HAS PROBLEMS WITH THE NAME, “BOOMGAARD DISTRICT” AND HOW IT CAME TO BE (i.e. zero input from public).
The Boomgaard Forum
Earlier today, FranklinNOW's Greg Kowalski blogged the following regarding the Boomgaard issue, having received correspondence from NOW Online Editor Mark Maley:Greg:
I just wanted to give you a heads up that the following attached has been sent to the mayors and aldermen of Oak Creek and Franklin. Also attached is the transcript of the more than 100 reader comments we received on this topic.
The attached comments and letter were emailed tonight to all officials and will be hand-delivered to the city clerks of both communities tomorrow morning.
Feel free to share any or all of this information with your readers.
Mark Maley
NOW Online editor
Along with that note he sent me the letter he e-mailed both Councils of Franklin and Oak Creek:
May 5, 2008
Franklin and Oak Creek elected officials:
For the last 10 days, FranklinNOW.com and OakCreekNOW.com - the local community Web sites run by Community Newspapers and the Journal Sentinel - have asked readers to weigh in on the decision to name the 27th Street Corridor the "Boomgaard District."
Readers were asked to post their comments on a community forum on both NOW sites...and the response was overwhelming! We received more than 100 comments...and they're still coming in.
I suspect the vast majority of these people are folks who will never show up at a Common Council meeting or call their alderman to express their opinions. So, if it was not for this forum (and the comments posted on local blogs) their voices might have gone unheard. Yet, I think - for the most part - these views are just as valid as those who do attend council meetings or pick up the phone to call their elected officials.
Because I believe it's important for these voices to be heard, I have taken the unusual step of printing out all comments we received on this topic and making sure it got in the hands of the elected officials of both communities.
I am well aware that some of the comments in the attached document are made "tongue in cheek," and I'm also aware that most of them are anonymous. But the comments in the attached document are worth reviewing, as they likely reflect the views of thousands of your constituents.
If you would like to discuss further, I can be reached at (262) 446-6630.
Sincerely,
Mark MaleyNOW Online Editor
Pick up the phone, make the call for Mom
Six out of every 10 people reading this blog who plan to celebrate Mother's Day will go out to eat.
Today is Tuesday.
Mother's Day is this Sunday.
Kids, if you haven't made reservations, do it ASAP.
Mom deserves it.
