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The Man Who Told A Christmas Story by Donald Fagen of Steely Dan

T

TTalkradio1

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2008/12/the_man_who_told_a_christmas_story.html

"I was introduced to Shep, as his fans called him, by my weird uncle Dave. Dave, who was a bit of a hipster, used to crash on our sofa when he was between jobs. Being a bookish and somewhat imperious 12-year-old, already desperately weary of life in suburban New Jersey and appalled by Hoss and Little Joe and Mitch Miller and the heinous Bachelor Father, I figured Dave was my man. One night, after ruthlessly beating me at rummy, he put down the cards and said, "Now we're gonna listen to Shepherd—this guy's great." The Zenith table model in the kitchen came to life midway through Shepherd's theme music, a kitschy, galloping Eduard Strauss piece called the "Bahn Frei" polka. And then there was that voice, cozy, yet abounding with jest."
 
To me Shepherd was one of the greatest storytellers ever. He also turned this kid onto radio , still at it 40+ years later too.
as for his personal life,,, I never knew him personally, just from the radio, so no judgement
 
I have copies of some of Jean Shepherd's radio shows that A Christmas Story were based off of that I found online and listen to them every Christmas season to go along with the movie.
 
Shepherd was an active ham radio operator. Because of his notoriety, he did several special projects for the ARRL (the ham radio publicity and lobbying organization) back in the day.
 
I first discovered Jean Shepherd in the 70s near the end of his radio career on WOR. He used to do an hour at around 9PM I believe. I listened whenever I could.

About 15 years ago, I purchased a DVD of Shepherd's radio shows spanning 40 years or so, and I still marvel at how I can immerse myself in them for hours at a time. Shep may have distanced himself from his radio career later in life, but being an audio storyteller was his biggest talent. His shows hold up well even today.

His radio programs are widely available in different formats. Definitely worth (re)discovering.
 
I used to have on the trusty GE clock radio many a night. I believe he was on WOR from 10:15 to 11 pm in those days. One show I remember dealt with the fascination he and his pals experienced, as they followed around the garbage trucks in 'Hohman Indiana'. Forty five minutes about things people threw away.

I'd considered Shepherd to be the coolest nighttime thing since Steve Allen (both of them wits basically out of Chciago). It was a generational phase to me, or an adolescent rebellion stage, but the perception remained that Shepherd was one of the hippest, most mischievous, funniest and irrerevent voices I had heard ...... while my own Dad came off like Shepherd's 'Old Man'. Incurably square. No doubt the age difference, no?
Shepherd was born two weeks before my Dad was born!

* * * * * * *

@ Sack : 100% agree about the personal lives and foibles of some luminaries. Nowadays such flaws and blemishes are in the headlines every day, it seems. Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson, many others. Too many others.
I turn on music or the radio to be entertained. I don't care about the underlying warts or scandalous screwups. Heck -- I get the idea that all of those times when some of these people got busted or divorced or OD'ed or for public urination or drunkenness just may -- MAY -- have had those setbacks and handicaps mold part of their persona.

Great article by Fagen! Thanks, TTalk!
 
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