WOOL-FM » Gary Smith

I Killed A Cat

Gary Smith — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:22:24 +0000

I killed a cat last night. It was hunkered down in the middle of the road, not in that pose that cats strike when they’re going to pounce, not lying stretched out like a cat in a sunny window. It was hunkered down the way I assume a suicide bomber might wait alongside a dusty [...]

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I’ve Got A Secret

Gary Smith — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:33:23 +0000

As they carted him off to the asylum from his mother’s house, Nietzsche was muttering. “Everything has a secret meaning!” “Everything has a secret meaning!” He was 53, just my age, and he was tied to a chair, I’ve been told, alternately shaking and nodding his head. Apocryphal or otherwise, it’s hard to remain unmoved [...]

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Learning From The Monsters

Gary Smith — Sat, 14 May 2011 22:36:57 +0000

London, 2 May 2011 Dear Friends, You’ll be happy to hear that my trip abroad is going very well and I’m learning volumes about the development of community radio around the world. I’m hopeful that, on my return, I’ll be even more able to forge a course forward that will bring us to our longed [...]

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Radioke: A Matter of Life and Death

Gary Smith — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:07:30 +0000

What a peculiar array of merchandise at the Rite Aid this week! Customers are confronted at the door by a giant chocolate rabbit named Mr. Bink, dressed in a 19th century vest and dangling watchfob. Not just one or two, but an army of Mr. Binks, all stand at attention like NATO forces on the [...]

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A Starry Night

Gary Smith — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:31:15 +0000

When you think you have it figured out, watch your back. Round Two of Radioke’s new season was a doozy. To start, I think it was the first day one could refer to as “Spring” and keep a straight face. At my house there are still snow banks up to my chest; even the early-blooming [...]

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Radioke and Other Magic Words

Gary Smith — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 04:16:55 +0000

WEDNESDAY Along the canal, the snowbanks have turned a patchy gray. Bits of dormant earth peek out here and there, more a premonition than a promise of spring. But anything can happen, unfortunately, and one has the eery feeling that winter is still lurking around the corner of the post office. On one of these [...]

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To The Bar-ricades!

Gary Smith — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:21:13 +0000

A smart old economist once said, “History repeats itself: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” Clearly, that gloomy old coot never went to Radioke. In our case it’s more like, “the first time as comedy, the second time as glory.” You see, based in Vermont, we’re into recycling. So we’ve taken [...]

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Buckwheat Zydeco Is Coming To Bellows Falls

Gary Smith — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:51:16 +0000

Grammy-winning music legend performs Thursday, February 10! The son of a Louisiana farmer, Stanley ‘Buckwheat’ Dural was born in 1947 and while still a boy began performing as an organist with American originals like Joe Tex and Clarence Gatemouth Brown. In 1976 he joined Clifton Chenier’s band and found his love for zydeco and took [...]

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Radioke Round 5 & Finals

Gary Smith — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 04:08:19 +0000

This morning I got myself in motion early to visit the mechanic. I’ve been driving the same thirsty Chevy for ten years and, trust me, it has its share of problems. But I’m not yet ready to consign all those miles to the junkyard. Sometimes we need to take stock of what we have and [...]

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Round Four Winners of Radioke

Gary Smith — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 03:57:20 +0000

So you probably don’t know this but I have a donkey and three sheep. They live in the barn, of course, and today was the first day of really cold weather. When I went down to feed them they were persnickety and it didn’t take long for me to learn that the self-filling frost-free water [...]

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Ticky Tacky, etc.

Gary Smith — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 19:32:02 +0000

There’s something about the holidays that gets on my nerves. Obviously, I’m not alone. We live in a world of artifice and this is never more true than at the holidays. Artifice gets on my nerves. It will surprise no one that the insult of artifice goes way beyond Christmas trees made of polycarbonate ticky tacky. It [...]

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Round Three Winners of Radioke

Gary Smith — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 03:54:03 +0000

Last night the moon was nearly full. The crowd came out in droves to cheer their favorites and to threaten the status quo. In fact it was the biggest Radioke audience yet and damn near a hundred people found chairs and drinks in the common room at 33 Bridge Street. Though hardly common, it’s an [...]

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Winners of Radioke Round Two Announced!

Gary Smith — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 02:53:33 +0000

It was a big crowd at 33 Bridge Street and we had a new crop of enthusiastic singers of all ages. But victory went to John Luther of Acworth and Ruby Mcadoo of Putney who will compete in the finals on December 18. There were heartfelt performances from Dwight Smith, L’il Hillary, Rusty Buckets, and [...]

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Winners of Radioke Round One Announced!

Gary Smith — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 02:46:38 +0000

Black Sheep Radio’s first round of Radioke was a rousing success. In front of a screaming crowd of Radioke fanatics, our ten contestants bravely faced the music and sang their karaoke hearts out. Meanwhile, three regal judges dished out copious praise and uninhibited admonishment: The Honorable Jayson Munn scolded several contestants with “This is not [...]

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To Blog Or Not To Blog

Gary Smith — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 17:02:04 +0000

When I was a kid, after lights-out, I listened clandestinely to WPRO-fm, which came in the air, all the way from Providence, RI, to my house in Newport County. My father forbid it at bedtime, but I listened anyway. With a little speaker plugged into a clock radio and snaked beneath my pillow, I could [...]

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