Soul Country is taking America by storm

Posted on November 29, 2016 by bvanrysdam

Anybody want to take a guess at who has the number one song on iTunes today? Bruno Mars? The Chainsmokers? Andy Grammer?

Nope, it’s the pride of Porter, Texas; Sundance Head. Never heard of him? Then you must not watch NBC’s The Voice. The program is hosted by Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys and features various levels of competition to determine who America thinks has the best voice.

Sundance busted out “Me and Jesus” during Monday nights show. The song, written by Tom T. Hall, quickly rose to the top of the iTunes chart. Sundance starts it off slow and than takes off like a freight train features a sound that is reminiscent of the Soggy Bottom Boys from the move “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou”.

Sundance looks like your atypical county musician, but there is much more to his repertoire than those cry in your beer songs. Check out his cover of Cyrus’s “Climb”. Not only does he perform it in front of Cyrus, it’s only his voice and guitar. No professional musicians backing him up, it’s just a guy and his guitar and he blows everyone away.

Sundance has music in his genes. His dad, Roy Head was in the band The Traits, best known for their 1965 hit, “Treat Her Right.” When he was 20, Sundance recorded with ZZ Top through a friend from his dad. 13 years later, Sundance started to play music professionally.

A contestant during season six of American Idol, Sundance finished in 13th place becoming the first American Idol contestant in history to score a recording contract with a major record label, Universal Motown, without finishing in the Top 12.

His band, aptly named Sundance Head plays all over Texas, but with his exposure and popularity on the rise, you better catch the self-proclaimed founder of Soul Country while you can.

Smart vs. pleasant

Posted on November 10, 2016 by bvanrysdam

“My number one priority is making sure president Obama’s a one-term president.”
— Senate Minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky

“We all want what’s best for this country. That’s what I heard in Mr. Trump’s remarks last night. That’s what I heard when I spoke to him directly. And I was heartened by that.”
— President Barack Obama

I believe you can judge a person not when they’re winning, but when they’re losing. How they respond tells a whole lot about their character. That’s why I was pleased to hear President Obama take the high road when meeting with reporters after the Trump/Clinton election.

It may just have been rhetoric and maybe he really doesn’t believe what he says, but tone matters. Back in 2008, Sen. McConnell felt it was in the best interest of the country to do whatever he could to not allow Obama a second term. You can argue that, blocking Obama would be in the best interest for the country, but do you really want to say it like that? Could we at least put some lipstick on the pig?

I may have missed it, but I don’t recall the kind of bombastic language this year by presidential candidates in the past elections. Deplorable and nasty soon became buzz words for both parties to rally around. I realize the country is divided, but maybe it’s because of our tone of discourse. Maybe if we step back, listen (now there’s a concept) and work at addressing our issues in a calmer manner we can get more things done. I understand not everyone will be able to do this, I’m just saying it would be nice to see a little more of it.

I think Elwood P. Dowd in the film Harvey summed it up best when he said; “In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.” Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.”

Changing the station

Posted on November 8, 2016 by bvanrysdam

Having spent most of my adult life in talk radio, I always like to keep up with what’s happening on the airwaves. People come, people go and there is the usual craziness, but then I came across two stories that make me glad I have no part of that industry anymore.

The first comes from Miami and WAXY (790 The Ticket). It seems Dan Le Batard is furious with management because they told him not to talk about a penis surgery story. Le Batard supposedly went on a rant, challenging the station to fire him.

“Nothing matters to me more, than you don’t control what comes out of my mouth,” Le Batard said, “and we’ve got someone going crazy locally right now, saying they’re gonna yank us off the air if we continue to talk about this. And what I’m telling you right now is: fire me. Not only never do that again, fire me now if you want to control me that way. NOW…. yank me off the air now. Fire me now, cancel my contract now…. because this is infuriating…. you do not control what comes out of my mouth.”

Nice to see him take a stand on such an important issue.

And then there’s St. Louis talk host Bob Romanik.

In recorded ads played this week on AM station KZQZ, sandwiched between ads for local St. Clair County “Freedom Coalition” politicians, Romanik referred repeatedly to County Board Chairman Mark Kern as a cross-dresser and “faggot.”

The ad, which has Tiny Tim’s 1968 recording of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” as background music asks

“Have you also been lying about your sexuality and sex life? … Mark ‘Sweetcakes’ Kern, not a wolf in sheep’s clothing but a very small man in women’s clothing. You have now earned a new name. … To all the people of St. Clair County, you’ll be known as Mark ‘The Faggot’ Kern, a faggot forever.”

According to the St. Louis Dispatch, At least one listener complained. Romanik responded on his talk show Tuesday that anyone who thinks he doesn’t have the right to speak his mind can “kiss my red, white and blue, hairy, stinky old ass. … I can question anybody’s sexuality.”

Romanik, who claims he is not perfect, pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud in 1999, admitted to defrauding two banks of about $1.5 million to build topless nightclubs in the metro-east. He was ordered to serve 20 months in federal prison.

Fortunately, there is a solution to all this; turn off the radio.

Why are NFL TV ratings down?

Posted on November 7, 2016 by bvanrysdam

Something strange is happening with the NFL. No, it’s not that the Dallas Cowboys have a shot at playing in this year’s Super Bowl at NRG Stadium with a backup quarterback, but rather TV ratings are down.

How down? Ratings giant Nielsen is reporting Monday Night Football is down 20 percent. Sunday Night Football is off by 18.5 percent and Thursday Night Football is down 21.8 percent.

The NFL is blaming the “unprecedented” interest in the presidential election, but someone who knows a little about sports and broadcasting has a different theory.

Back in 2014 when the NFL signed an eight game Thursday Night Football deal, Mark Cuban predicted that the NFL was overreaching and would soon see an implosion.

“I’m just telling you: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they’re getting hoggy,”said Cuban. “Just watch. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way. I’m just telling you, when you’ve got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns on you. That’s rule No. 1 of business.”

Now to be fair, there could be many reasons for the decline if viewership.

Games are filled with commercials and penalties and take way too long to play. Back in 2013, The average length of a game was three hours and 12 minutes and included 20 commercial breaks with more than 100 ads.
The match-ups have been terrible. When the announcers are talking about whether or not they make their beds in the fourth quarter of the Tennessee – Jacksonville game, you know it’s a snoozer.
Smart phones give fans access to game information with real time scores, stats and news without having to watch the actual game.

Granted we are only talking about a handful of games so far, and now that the election is here and the World Series is done, ratings could return to last year’s numbers. Still one wonders how worried the league is over what could be a ratings tremor, or seismic shift.

What the hell was she thinking?

Posted on November 2, 2016 by bvanrysdam

The longtime Democratic strategist Donna Brazile was shown the door at CNN (technically she resigned, but the saying “don’t let the door hit you in the ass when you leave” comes to mind).

Brazile, who enjoyed offering her opinions on politics like Kim Kardashian likes selfies, was a mainstay for the network for many years. While you might not agree with her opinions, most reasonable people could respect her intelligence and knowledge of current events. So what happened?

Brazile informed/leaked/tossed a bone to the Clinton campaign about a question they could expect during a Democratic primary debate. CNN claims no one from their channel tipped her off, and suggested it came from TV One host Rolando Martin who co-moderated the debate or someone affiliated with Martin.

Not mincing words, CNN president Jeff Zucker reportedly called her actions “unethical” and “disgusting” In an editorial meeting.

This calls into question the practice of news organizations hiring partisan operatives. Their loyalties are not to the network, but more to their parties and candidates. While they may have educated opinions, that’s all they are; opinions.

“CNN never gave Brazile access to any questions, prep material, attendee list, background information or meetings in advance of a town hall or debate,” a CNN spokeswoman said Monday. “We are completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor.”

While not surprising, it continues the narrative that what we see on so-called “news” channels, really isn’t news. It’s a bunch of talking heads who enjoy trying to be the smartest person in the room.

Governing in the dark

Posted on September 13, 2016 by bvanrysdam

There’s a lot of dirty business that takes place with Municipal Utility Districts (better known as MUD districts). The Houston Chronicle recently reported on the power these districts have to levy taxes, sell bonds and make home-owners lives miserable.

Now there is a decent argument to be made on why MUD districts are needed. They provide valuable infrastructure to communities that are unincorporated and help in the development of new neighborhoods. That being said, citizens might be better served if some of the rules governing them were changed.

For example, I live in Montgomery County Mud District #84. Recently residents became concerned because the bills they were receiving were much higher than normal. One homeowner posted on NextDoor.com that their Aug. 2016 water bill was $363 with the sprinklers turned off (bills usually run between $80 – $110 during summer months).

Obviously, that kind of increase causes people to ask questions. One resident did some research and discovered that none of the board members lived in Montgomery County. So how could they serve you ask? Because each board member owns exactly .1148 acre, which according to chapter 54 of the Water Code, allows them to sit on the board and make decisions.

Satellite images of where the properties owned by the board members are located show what looks to be a carefully thought out and pre-arraigned agreement. The property sits right next to the water plant, all tucked together in nice and neat parcels. Can you say buddy-buddy?

Location of property owned by MUD 84 board member.

Close up image of properties owned by MUD 84 board members.

Now to be clear and fair, this is not illegal and is actually a common practice. Developers need to issue bonds before construction begins (who wants to move into a neighborhood with no water or sewer system), but there are some steps that can be taken. One, require a board member to actually live in the county for one full year. Setting up little plots of land for people to buy so they can be on the board just does not pass the smell test, even if it is totally innocent.

Another step is for board members to be more visible. Want to ask them a question? Good luck with that. Home owners are required to turn into super-sleuths to uncover their identities, let alone get in touch with one. I’m sure that as in any public (or in this case, semi-public office), it can be a thankless job, but there has to be something appealing to be on the board, or why would anyone do it in the first place?

MUD districts like Montgomery MUD #84 hire companies like Wheeler & Associates to handle the tax and collection services and Municipal District Services to collect bills. Both website offers lots of information on tax rates and how to pay bills, but try to find information on board members. And, don’t bother looking at the Home Owners Association website, you find anything there either. No you need to contact Schwartz, Page, & Harding (legal representation for MUD 84) regarding the identities of the MUD 84 board.

Again, no one disputes the need for MUD districts, they serve a very important function, but could we have some level of accountability and/or transparency?

See you on the radio

Posted on August 29, 2016 by bvanrysdam

Charles Osgood announced he is retiring this fall from his “Sunday Morning” program on CBS Television. For those of you unaware of this gem of a broadcaster, shame on you. You have missed out on what could be argued, the greatest storyteller of all time.

Notice I did not say journalist. Osgood was a master at informing his audience of events in a way that drew you in and would not let you go. It today’s world of shrinking ratings and fragmented audience’s Osgood delivered the goods. “Sunday Morning” continues to be a ratings leader, with a year-to-date audience of nearly 6 million viewers, it consistently tops rival Sunday morning news shows.

I first heard him on the radio where four times a day, Osgood found stories to share with his listeners; from major national news, to human interest essays. His ability to use words to paint pictures left all of us who wanted to write for a living feel inferior.

When I heard he was leaving TV, but would continue to host The Osgood File, I wondered if radio stations still even carry it. It had been years since I heard it in Houston. Sadly, I discovered Houston is one of two top 10 markets where the program is not broadcast (Atlanta is the other).

Somehow, stations in NY, Los Angeles and Chicago can spare four minutes so that their listeners can learn and be entertained by the man known as the CBS News “Poet in Residence”.

Taxes in Texas

Posted on August 8, 2016 by bvanrysdam

There is always a lot of talk about taxes in Austin. One of the selling points politicians like to make is reminding people we have no state income tax (other states with no state income tax are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming).

That sounds really good, until you ask yourself how Texas pays the bills without one. The answer is sales and property taxes. Texas has the 12^th highest sales tax in the nation at 8.17 percent (Tennessee is the highest with a 9.46 percent).

Texas also has a higher-than-average effective property tax (Fifth highest in the nation). This has gotten the attention of Austin lawmakers who are crying foul and looking to find ways to have municipalities cutback on their tax rates, but education officials say not so fast. Thanks to Austin cutting back on funding for education, schools and other government entities look to property tax to fill the gap.

A 2010 report from the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute found funding for education in Texas to be “antiquated”. The study group was co-chaired by Dan Patrick, now Texas’ lieutenant governor.

While an argument can be made on both sides of the issue of state income taxes, one thing seems to be very clear, not having a state income tax hurts the poor. Why? Because a state income tax is based on what a person earns. Sales taxes are considered regressive because they don’t change based on a person’s income. Someone making $15k a year pays the same tax for a gallon of milk as someone who makes $150k annually.

If you look at taxes paid as a percentage of income on the poorest to the wealthiest, Texas ranks fifth in the nation for having the most regressive state tax system. The poorest 20 percent pay 12.6 in taxes compared to the middle class (8.8 percent) and the top 1 percent (3.2).

Much like the federal tax system, the Texas tax system needs some fixing. It’s a simple question; how do we want to collect money to pay for state services. The answer? Well that’s a little harder.