Trial Balloon: December 17, 2008 Archive

I'll play some songs today for a woman whose dream is to go to New York City before she turns 40. New York may be the world's most celebrated city, song-wise. I don't think any three minute ditty can plumb the depths of a true NYC experience, but I'll rely heavily on one attempt from the musical "Annie".

Being on Radio Heartland makes it possible for me to play something from "Annie" without worrying too much about the fallout. When Jim Ed and I were on The Current (and even on Classical MPR) people would wince if word got around that we were consorting with the Loud Orphan. The cover of the disc is an unmistakable bright red. A ripple goes through the crowd when I take it out of the library, like the triggering device has been unlocked on a nuclear warhead. Doors close. People take cover under their desks. For hipsters and sophisticates alike, Annie represents everything that is impossibly brash and insufferably precious about Broadway.

That's why I'm so fond of her.

Fashion shifts from time to time, and you never know when something "out" will become "in". Though it's hard to imagine what could possibly change the way our cultural trendsetters feel about Annie, the musical.

Perhaps a revival. Starring Britney Spears. At Folsom Prison.

Peter Ostroushko will also make an appearance on the show today. It's his victory turn after reducing us all to tears last Thursday with that quiet version of "You Are My Sunshine".

He's got a show coming up at the Fitzgerald this Saturday, so there's a lot to talk about, but Peter is not an easy guest for the lazy disc jockey. He's got a brilliant mind and is an eloquent speaker, it's just that he won't spew a torrent of words to fill the dead spaces in anyone's radio program, thank you. Interviewing Peter Ostroushko is what I imagine deer hunting is like. You prepare yourself, you take up your position and you wait.

Something good will come along.