I love radio. My first paid job in show business was a radio commercial (for Dees, if you know what that was), and one of my fondest memories as a teen was my gig as the assistant DJ on a show called I'M SO BORED WITH THE USA (after the Clash song)--a punk and new wave show on KRCL (I think!). Since then, my time in radio has been brief: most recently (10 years ago?) a gig as a correspondent on an old KPFK arts radio show called L.A. X-RAY. Now THAT was a fun show...
Stan Freberg, Bob and Ray, Firesign Theater, Jean Sheppard, Garrison Keillor, Harry Shearer, Ira Glass...so many of my favorite storytellers are those guys on the radio. One of the things I love about Los Angeles is that it is such a great radio town. I'd love to do more of it myself...but in lieu of that: two pieces I've been playing with for a while.
The shorter piece is an essay by my old friend Nicole Stansbury: STATIC. It's a piece about being absolutely, jaw-dropped-and-gaping lovestruck. I love that it is not sentimental or soppy, but it is heartfelt and sinewy. It's from her book THE HUSBAND'S DILEMMA. A great read, that.
The other one is about one marriage through 10 holidays across 10 years: SEASONS GREETINGS. It's a piece I wrote for my lovely wife Risa on the occassion of our 10th anniversary a couple of years back. What can I say about this piece? I like to think it's the right kind of sentimental...maybe A.R. Gurney or Ron Carlson? As to its origins, I have to fall back on one of Chris Offutt's lines in his "Guide to Literary Terms."
"Short Story: An essay written to conceal the truth and protect the writer’s family."
Guilty.
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