Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout! That’s how a show is supposed to go. Definitely, definitely not perfection, but it’s getting closer to just nitpicking. Now the errors I make would result in a tenth of a point reduction instead of a whole point reduction on the judges scorecards. And to think, all this talk and I didn’t really even get a chance to watch the Olympics this year.

           Andy Austin was a fantastic guest as I was sure she would be. I’d never met her before and I hadn’t talked to her until this week, but I have read her book, Rule 53: Capturing Hippies, Spies, Politicians and Murderers in an American Courtroom. After reading a book, you tend to for a psychological connection to them. You get the erroneous feeling like these recounting are shared memories though you’ve never actually met the author.

           There’s a strange side note that went no where. In the end Andy did a tremendous job being her charming self while Dobie and I tried to ask all the right questions to pull the best stories from her. There were two questions that I did not have enough time to ask, which is impressive considering it was an hour-long interview. One was, “What didn’t make it into the book?” After so many years seeing the court system close up and holding a mirror to it, I would think that she probably already has enough great stories to fill two or three more books. I also wanted her to talk about losing her son. In her book she tells of his death in a car accident on Lake Shore Drive. There were multiple casualties, therefore a big news story. When a colleague called to ask her how her son was doing in the hospital, Andy told her that he passed away. “Without even covering the phone,” Andy writes, “the reporter shouts to a copy editor, ‘Three dead!”’ Despite the callousness of the moment, Andy said she felt comforted by the press being around, TV vans parked outside of her home. Though a sensitive subject, I’d have loved to hear her expound on that.

           As part of Andy’s segment, we had a first on the show tonight. In the world of radio, it seems like playing a CD would be a small accomplishment, and it is, but we simply haven’t done it before and I didn’t know for sure how to bring it up until the Doo-Wop Diner guys told me during our frequently frantic Diner-to-Mothership Connection-swap.

           During the week, I drove down to Chicago to meet up with Tiffany Carter to record excerpts from the book. She is, hands down, the most talented actress I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. I was very blessed to have her donate her time and abilities to a feature film I directed called “…and Introducing Brian.”

           It’s very easy to slack off as a director when working with Tiffany because she seems to have the power to read my mind and direct herself. There was one section where I had a note, but I wanted to see her first take without mentioning it, and, just like on the movie set, she was on top of it before I could say anything.

           Here are the clips (also found in our store page):

           Can you guess where the over dramatic music comes from? This one’s a long shot. Ben Folds played with the Western Australis Symphony Orchestra and that is the beginning of the song “Evaporated.”

           I can go on and on about how great Dan Melone is and how my book wouldn’t be anywhere near the same had it not been for his contributions, but I’ll save that gushing for another day as I’m sure we will have him on again, plus this blog’s getting a tad long.

           Lastly, Jason Davis joined us for a bit and here is his short list of Must-See Horror Movies and other classics: