Redneck Radio Network

Who are these people, anyway?

2009-01-30T07:20:00.000-08:00

Everybody knows that rednecks can't be geeks too, right? That has always been the conventional wisdom; which is how the Redneck Radio Network came to be the under-the-radar, low-flying, heat-seeking truth-missile of comedy that is now found on Ustream. Nobody was looking for geeky rednecks, and all of us involved in our little network slouched, slumped, and back-doored our way to number 17 on MySpace's Country/Redneck comedians. That's right. The Doghouse with Baddog, the RRN's flagship webcast, is now rubbing elbows with some cool comedy acts in the USA.

In June of 2007, all of us found our way to NowLive. Brokenpole (Jonathan Sparks) and his wife, Smokinbeaver, (Sharon Sparks) went there so that they could interact with each other. The two of them (Broken and Smokin) were living apart 90 percent of the year due to Jon's contract job with a nuclear power plant. Baddog, (Bob Dilts) Meroll and C-roll (Marty and Casey Rollins) and their extended families came to the "Social Broadcasting" website in order to do live, improvisational comedy. We all met, including Marty's wife, Tina; and Amanda and Shelly Dilts (Shelly is Bob's wife, Amanda the daughter) and from that moment on a hot, sticky June afternoon internet history was experiencing the vagina-ripping birth contractions of something more than a comedy webcast.......Then we met Pastor Rick. Yea, verily; the rednecks would surely perish in the flames of eternal perdition if it weren't for the spiritual guidance of our internet preacher, Pastor Rick Hope of Lillian, TX. We all lean heavily on Rick. It is in his show that we all come together to pray, and hope that God won't get too mad at us for some of the foul jokes that we make. Rick loves us all without judgement, which shows that Texans aren't immune to the Dumbass gene.

Enter the International Glamour-Puss of All Media, the lovely and talented Ester Goldberg: from the moment that Meroll and Ester exchanged their first loving insults, a connection was formed that spawned the Bus Ride to Hell. There was a particular Sunday afternoon show that we all did on Nowlive when I think all of us knew that something magical was happening. I think it was Meroll who threw down the gauntlet; challenging Ester Goldberg in a Hellen Keller Joke deathmatch. When the Hellen Keller jokes degenerated to dead-baby jokes, there was an almost audible CLICK that occurred when the planets of old, glamour-filled Hollywood lined up with the rusted-out pickup trucks on Redneck Road.

The summer of 2007 was a scorcher. California was on fire; and in the deep south, it was hotter than a blistered pussy in a pepper patch. In their little corner of the world, the rednecks were burning up the internets. At some point, the admins at NowLive asked the show hosts to try to remain on-air as long as possible, so that NowLive could test it's durability. Never to be the ones to pass up an opportunity to break some shit, the Rednecks rallied around Baddog and crew; helping them stay on-air continuously in a 137-hour marathon. Bob, Shelly, and Amanda rotated in shifts and kept up a constant dialog with callers and chatters without playing music. Every Monday thru Friday, at 7pm Eastern time, the Doghouse with Baddog went live; rain or shine, holiday or no holiday. The Doghouse established a reputation for consistency that is unparalleled. The same consistency is continued on Ustream. Every Monday thru Friday, at 7pm Eastern, 4 Pacific you will find the Doghouse is live.

Living by the philosophy that "it ain't funny if it ain't real", The Redneck Radio Network has opened the book of our lives to the world. It would be pointless for us to take ourselves seriously at all, so we let y'all into our lives. Hell, laugh at us. We sure as hell do. When life boils down to a choice between laughing and crying, the members of RRN almost always pick the laughing part. The rest of the world seems to enjoy laughing at us, too, hence our success on MySpace.

Don't worry, though, y'all. There is no chance in hell that the Redneck Radio Network will ever get too big for our britches; not with Meroll's hemorrhoids, Brokenpole's broken pole, Baddog's tendency to break his own ribs out of hormonal angst, and C-roll's job as mayor of Lackanookie. As we have since we started this populist adventure back in June of 2007, we intend to continue. Our loyal audience is what keeps us coming back to do shows. Folks who have followed us to Ustream from Nowlive especially deserve our heartfelt thanks and love. Y'all are some crazy mammyrammers, and possibly mentally ill ones, too. You know who you are. I wouldn't presume to call y'all out in public, Warmachine, AndrewPainter, Marywallace, Jessie Odell, Ripper, Eboe, Sapphiregoth, TiggerWarrior, QueenBeeYatch, Ramona, kenny C, Kaeos,Fozzie, Realvee, Shocker, and Zazz. Y'all have total anonymity.

We are going to post this little missive in several places on the internet. Wherever you find this, stay tuned for more updates. I'll be posting bios and curriculum vitae for the individuals in our little network. They should be interesting, seeing as how our particular collection of misfits, bums, ex-sailors and porn addicts are reluctant to talk about their individual pasts.

The Doghouse with Baddog is number 17 on MySpace redneck/country comedy. Check out the videos there, y'all. (www.myspace.com/doghousewithbaddog )

(DoghouseWithBaddog show)
(Redneck Radio News show)
(Wake up Call with Broken and Smokin show)
(Sunday Mornings with Pastor Rick show)

(Doghouse with Baddog Dog Blog )
(Redneck Radio News Blog )
(Reneck Radio Network Blog )
(Morning Rant blog )

(www.redneckradionews.com )
(www.redneckradionews.tv )
(www.redneckradio.tv )

(doghouse twitter )
(meroll twitter )
(croll66 twitter )
(brokenpole twitter )

Casey Rollins (c-roll66)

Chief Science Officer

Redneck Radio Network

More Twitter Stuff

2009-01-29T19:25:00.000-08:00

Image via CrunchBase

For the last couple weeks, I have been putting a lot of effort into Twitter. As a result, I've added 800 or so followers. Us rednecks had predicted much earlier that Twitter was going to be a powerful and ubiquitous tool, and we acted upon our prediction by investing much time in Tweeting. See our podcasts on Ustream for The Doghouse and Redneck Radio News. I started using Twhirl to keep up with what's going on in the Twitterverse. Twubble helped me find people to follow. Twitter.grader helps me keep track of how I'm doing. Twittercounter measures my progress, and TwitterKarma helps me manage all my followers and those I'm following.

Microblogging is fun. I've met some interesting folks recently, and I'm really digging that. See y'all on Twitter, mammyrammers.

2009-01-13T12:42:00.000-08:00

I received a DM yesterday from a Twitter friend, @RightWingNews, thanking me for following him on my favorite little social app. I was checking his blog and found this interview with Benjamin Netanyahu right there on the front page.

My regular readers understand that I am not a conservative. I reject the label, and I also reject the liberal nomenclature, as well. I guess if I had to sum up my politics with one word, I couldn't do it. The closest that I can come to stating a political affiliation is that I'm a libertarian/anarchist/humanist/independent/green/blue-collar/environmentalist/Rasta/Scots-Irish redneck. Okay. I've gotten my political perspective out there so I can say that if I could, I'd cosign on everything that Netanyahu said in the interview at the above link. Everything that the former PM of Israel said about Iran, especially. The reality is that Hamas may as well be wearing Iranian military uniforms, because Hamas is doing Iran's dirty work, with the support of the Iranian government. Israel has shown what I believe to be amazing restraint in not flying to Tehran and leveling all of their government buildings. I wonder how we would react here, if Mexico, Cuba, or Canada were lobbing missiles over here? I'll tell you this: Hamas doesn't give a ratfuck about the Palestinian people. Their hatred of Israel and the Jewish people overrides any concern over the lives of real, innocent people. I promise you that Israel will quit bombing the shit out of Gaza if Hamas would leave, taking their missiles with them. The Israelis are past trying to achieve revenge for every death. If the Jewish people attempted to exact vengeance on every nation or people that has tried to wipe out the Jews, they'd just say "fuck it" and nuke the world. If Hamas will quit launching rockets and killing people in Israel, then the Israelis will quit their military ops in Gaza.

For Palestinian noncombatant civilians in Gaza, life is hell. Does anybody think there is a chance that the Palestinians will focus their hatred on Iran, for giving Hamas money and weapons? There have to be some reasonable folks left in Gaza......or have they been killed already? Sigh. I dunno, either.

Greedy execs are killing business

2009-01-10T18:05:00.000-08:00

Image via WikipediaI was checking up on Twitter today, and was directed to this blog by Paul Gram. Paul writes about the failure of Costco to maximize the customer experience. Preach, Paul, preach on my brother! Although we don't have a Costco where I live, I am very familiar with the experience that Paul had as he was leaving his local Costco. I say this to Paul and all of my readers: the reason why Costco and other retailers have issues with customer service is because of greed.

How in the world does one get from point A, which is an employee refusing to acknowledge a customer's thanks, to point B, which is greed? Bear with me, and I'll try to make this clear below.

I work for a major retail chain, part-time. Prior to my hire, I went through two interviews, a piss-test for drugs, took a stupid, unscientific test to determine whether or not I would steal from the store or do drugs on the job, and questioned intensively about my product knowledge. The pay for such an intense screening process: seven bucks an hour. After my hire, I was completely untrained in the actual mechanics of my job, i.e. things like training on the use of the company's accounting software. Every retail store has their own unique software on their cash registers, where each bar code is scanned and tracked, and the accounting is done for credit, cash, and check transactions. Instead of the practical training which would have really helped me to make sales quickly and efficiently, I was given a couple of hours of head-noise on VHS dealing with the company's "ethics and culture". Supposedly, ethics are a very important part of this retail chain's culture; the truth, though, is that the place where I work is a business, and their precious ethics go right out the window when there is a dollar on the line. I've known our customer service center to be totally unresponsive to customer complaints, and to deliberately make it difficult or impossible for a customer to receive the support promised (in writing) on signage all through the store.

Since the bulk of all retailers pay less than subsistence wages to their employees, business suffers. As Paul found at Costco, surly employees cause huge customer dissatisfaction. Most of the time, retail front-line workers are poorly compensated, and have no real incentive to perform at their best; especially for an employer that treats their front-line, non-management employees as if they are a disposable commodity. There is no incentive to go the extra mile to keep customers returning. As a result, customers are under-served, under-appreciated, and sometimes turned completely off to doing business at a given store. Employees that are treated as dispensable, disposable assets never perform at the level of workers who know that they are highly valued by their employers.

Greed is the prime reason for disgruntled, surly employees. It is the greed of the people at the higher levels of management that is responsible for surly attitudes. By keeping the lion's share of the profits for themselves through bloated salaries and ridiculously large bonuses, there is only a smattering of money left for the front-line workers. How is this bad for the company's bottom line? High turnover costs real dollars. The hidden costs are greater than a little revenue lost to training new people, however. Poorly-motivated employees do not sell products very well at all. This hits any business right on the bottom line, and hits hard. I have learned through my own experiences at work that great things can be accomplished with small numbers of people, if the people are properly motivated and work as a team. While employed at Talladega Superspeedway as a horticultural worker, I found out exactly what can be accomplished by a bare minimum of employees. Although TSS is the largest track owned by the International Speedway Corporation (based in Daytona, FL), Talladega has the fewest employees. With less than fifty people on site, including management, twice a year the track hosts a quarter-million people attending races. The small facilities maintenance staff of twenty at 'Dega maintain over 3,700 acres with the smallest budget of any ISC track. What makes Talladega Superspeedway different from other racetracks? The workers who maintain the track are all experts at their jobs, self-motivated, and treated with respect by the management. There is really low turnover there, which means that the company's braintrust remains intact from race to race and year to year. The braintrust is important. Having the same people on the staff year-to-year simplifies many issues for the management team.

Retail stores would benefit greatly by following the ISC's example at Talladega. If a given retail store could count on the same employees season-to-season and year-to-year, the braintrust would remain intact; also, the active retention of workers would increase worker morale. Again, happy sales staff sell more product. Do I need to provide references for that fact? I'm too tired to hunt down the statistics for my readers. Sorry, but I think we can all agree that happy workers are harder workers without having to dig up a statistic for y'all......we all know that I ain't talking out of my ass, here. As long as retailers pay ridiculous salaries to their greedy middle and upper managers, they will continue to reap negative benefits. They will make money, but not as much money as could be made with a properly-motivated workforce. Am I getting through to anyone? Am I off-base? Please comment and let me know.

Of Piracy, Goobersmoochers, and the Hairy Eyeball

2009-01-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

Image by Grant Neufeld via FlickrOkay, Mammyrammers. It's 2009, and the world is crazier than it was in 2008. America is getting ready to swear in (on multiple levels) a new President, our economy is sucking rocks, and according to BreakinNewsOn, Israeli ground forces are crossing the border into Gaza even as I type this blog into Google Documents. The world economy ain't looking great, either, and conflicts around the world are heating up. Piracy on the high seas is now a real problem.

Wait. Pirates? No. Really? Pirates?

In all this craziness, how the fuck are we supposed to live our lives and go on as if all this crazy shit wasn't happening? The answer: Oh, hell. We aren't supposed to pretend it ain't happening, assholes. Like it or not, this crazy, fucked-up world is the only one we have right now, and we need to be paying attention. We need to pay attention, folks, because if we don't, our politicians and supposed "leaders" that led us into this clusterfuck will continue to drag us all into a sewer of war, rape, and horrible television. If you don't know why things are so fucked-up in the Middle East, then find out by reading about it. In real books. I get a lot of my current news from the internet, but I do not believe for a second that the internet tells a complete story about anything that happens in real life. Be suspicious, fellow rednecks. When you hear one of our beloved politicians make a statement alleging to be fact; do not accept that statement as fact until you have verified it for yourself. Sometimes the best verification is made offline, in print. Sometimes, the truth is only attainable through constant observation of a given subject. In other words, watch what those fuckers in power DO, damn whatever they may be saying.

Okay, I could go on for a long time exhorting my fellow rednecks to do their civic duties, but what the fuck. You goobersmoochers will figure it out, or you won't. Basically, you can only trust friends and family, and sometimes you gotta keep a hairy eyeball on your family. There really was no point to this post, other than to call my loyal readers a few filthy names, post a couple of links, and generally make an ass of myself before I have to go to work. Hey, if I have to go out in the wet, I may as well try to make y'all miserable, too. See y'all tomorrow night on Redneck Radio News at 7:30pm Central, 4:30pm Pacific.

A stingray is eating my johnson

2008-12-31T19:49:00.000-08:00

Image via WikipediaA few minutes ago, my dad came to me to tell me something he'd seen on the Animal Planet. Apparently, some nature photographers were shooting some underwater stuff, and came upon a stingray. The photographer got a little too close for the stingray's comfort, and the fish got pissed off. It was pissed-off enough to bite the photog. on the dick. That's right, that stingray bit old dude right on the dingus, and made him bleed.

What is it with underwater science and stingrays? Look, folks; stingrays want to be left the fuck alone. If they don't stab you in the heart with a barbed death-tail, they'll try their damnedest to bite your cock right the fuck off. Me, I'm not going swimming in salt water. I don't wanna die, and I don't want to live the rest of my life knowing that my favorite dick was eaten by a stingray and became shit on the ocean floor. I'm just sayin.

Conquering Web 2.0 with TwitPWR

2008-12-30T19:29:00.000-08:00

Image via CrunchBaseTonight, after The Doghouse with Baddog, we had our usual post-production conference call. (okay, that means we stay on Skype when Baddog goes off-air at the end of the show) In our conversation, Baddog turned me on to TwitPWR. Just like Twitter itself, TwitPWR is a very simple app. It's real power lies in the access to the profiles of prolific Twitterers. Through following and interacting with the other folks using TwitPWR, you can not only make new friends, but you can learn an awful lot. I'm particularly interested in the posts by the folks who are doing online marketing and are professional career-and-life haxors.

Immediately after following some folks, I got their direct messages, and replied to some of those. The folks who sent me the messages were some very nice, very bright folks who have things to say that are relevant to my life and my online career. If any of my newest Twitter friends are reading this, thank you for responding so quickly. I have enough links to interesting blogs now to keep me occupied and informed for quite a while. I'll be subscribing to some of your blogs, and keeping up with them on Google Reader.

Almost all of my regular subscribers are using Twitter, so y'all don't need me to tell you how practical the application is for keeping track of the people who matter to you. I won't preach to the choir about Twitter's power here, 'cause I've already posted on it before. I'd provide the link, but again, y'all have already hooked up on Twitter. Thanks for reading, mammyrammers......and to those who were there at The Doghouse tonight......as usual, thank y'all for making the show worth attending. The RRN thanks you.

2008-12-29T12:12:00.000-08:00

Image via Wikipedia

I'm now at about 14 hours into my first testing of Google Chrome, and my initial impression is that Chrome is a winner. Google has remained true to it's clean, uncluttered philosophy in building the GUI, and visually, Chrome is exactly what you would expect from Google. The folks at RRN's favorite search engine continue to hold the respect of hardcore code-monkeys, haxors, and /b/lurkers (you know who you are) by keeping the interface simple and clean.

I've always admired the power lurking beneath Google's clean interfaces. For folks that spend most of their working hours on the internet, flexible, powerful apps are the Phillip's screwdriver in our toolkits. In addition to Gmail and Googletalk, I use Google Documents daily, and find all of them to be fast and efficient applications.

Chrome is a very unobtrusive browser. It does lots of things for you without thrusting it's busy-ness in your face. Like a good butler, it's always ready to hand you your trousers without being obvious about it. Other folks on the web will break down it's functionality with regards to how Chrome accomplishes it's tasks. As a user, I'll just say that it works, and works well so far. I'll keep y'all apprised of it's long-term performance as I use it more, and as more applications become Chrome-friendly.

redneckradionews.com gets a facelift

2008-12-28T21:17:00.000-08:00

When we decided to get back on the air with Redneck Radio News, Meroll staked out the .com address, and quickly put up a site so that we would have a place to do some newsy things. Unfortunately, my brother has all the aesthetic sense of a black fly larva. Luckily, though, his common sense won out, and Meroll unleashed the mighty Baddog on the website, and so we got a facelift, Doggy style. Go check it out. Much thanks to Baddog for the new look.

Tommy Emmanuel and Jake Shimabukuro

2008-12-27T15:37:00.000-08:00

It's a wonder both instruments don't burst into flames.

Marijuana, vigilance, and good citizenship: three things that could make our country great

2008-12-23T11:14:00.000-08:00

Image via WikipediaTrust in government and trust in media have been on my mind a lot, lately. Like most of you reading this blog, I get my news from the media, 'cause I am not myself a journalist. I depend, as you do, on elected leaders to make responsible decisions and to accurately and honestly account for those decisions. Today I'm feeling a little stupid, and more than a little misled by our politicians and our mainstream media. Oh, there is nothing in particular that is making me feel that way today. I'm going to offer an example of what I'm talking about, but the topic that I'm discussing in this blog is only one topic among many, many others about which our government has lied and the mainstream media has allowed to pass without review. I picked this one because I ran across this post on the Wired Blog Network this morning, and it seemed as good a topic as any to point up the message that I'm trying to put out there in this blog.

Allright, I think we all know that the government of the U.S. takes a dim view of the sale and consumption of marijuana. There are many reasons for this, dating all the way back to the days when cotton was king, and the cotton industry wanted to put the hemp industry out of business. Ever since the 1930's, the effects of smoking or otherwise ingesting marijuana have been exaggerated and vilified by our government and the major business industries and their lobbyists who see a humongous financial threat to widespread cultivation of Cannabis. To those of us who believe that weed is good medicine and a useful plant, being lied to in public about Cannabis is so normal that we have become sensetized to the lies, and rarely rise to challenge them any more. Well, in this article in Wired, the author shows us how our former Bush-appointed Drug Czar, John Walters, has been travelling the country spouting multiple lies in his quest to keep weed in prohibition. The topic of the article is marijuana potency and the extent to which it has increased since the 1960's. As the article shows; although the THC content of our beloved Weed has increased, it has increased to nowhere near the levels that John Walter has been touting in his travels across the U.S.

Follow the links in the Wired blog, and you'll find a couple more interesting links posted by the author, links which bolster the author's main point, and give credit to sources. The first link of interest in this RRN post goes to this post on Slate. The other link of interest is to an abstract in Addiction which documents the levels of increased potency of weed, the scientifically documented increases.......not the levels alleged by Czar Walters.

Have you got all that? Have you followed the links and read them? See, this post isn't about weed, drug culture, or the state of our drug laws. I am more interested here in the fact that a member of our government is deliberately misstating facts in public, and the mainstream media isn't picking up on it or reporting on it. By mainstream, of course, I'm referring to most print and all television news outlets. Today, I could care less about how you feel about marijuana or the War on Drugs....I want to make the point that we cannot trust everything we read in newspapers and see on television. It's not that the media outlets are deliberately lying to us; that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that due to money, lawyers, and laziness, we as citizen voters cannot be lazy. We cannot sit on our asses and only take in what mainstream media sees fit to spoon-feed us. Our government officials are every bit as venal and corrupt as the rest of humanity, and the fuckers will lie to you and me in a heartbeat if it suits them to do so. It is our job to stay informed, and to investigate...to think critically about the information that we receive. Internet media is only marginally better than the mainstream, in that intellectual laziness isn't merely confined to television. I used the Wired post because it was a well-researched article, and I was able to do my own checking as to the accuracy of the author's statements. Knowing the counter-culture bias of Wired, I still have to be skeptical, and ask myself how to verify what I read, even though I have a relatively high level of trust in what I read on Wired.com. I'm not trying to pimp out Wired Blog Network; neither am I trying to pick at them. It's just a fact that in this time it is best to question everything you hear and see in the media, and verify facts yourself before placing too much faith in what you are being spoon-fed.

On the Redneck Radio News every Sunday we discuss news and world events for a solid hour. We discuss serious topics and use humor to make our points. One of the points that we try to make every show is that we as citizens must hold our elected officials accountable for their actions and words. The main point of a bunch of redneck comedians taking on serious topics, though, is to let everyone know that we are paying attention. We want our audience to participate, too, and bring their own beefs to the show to discuss. You see, the main drift here is that in order to be good citizens and properly perform our own civic duties, we must all think critically about the news that is presented to us. We cannot be lazy. As hizzonner Supreme Court Judge Louis Brandeis put it, "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing", or something like that. Part of doing SOMETHING is using our brains; the skeptical part of our brains that wants to go, "oh, yeah?"

You mammyrammers have an assignment for the next Redneck Radio News this Sunday. Come to the show with one example of how you have been lied to either by the media or government, and have at least one fact to back up your allegation of the lie.....oh, what fun we shall have.......

See y'all Sunday.

The RIAA sees the light? Probably not, actually

2008-12-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

Image via WikipediaWhile browsing the web, I found this article about the RIAA. It seems I don't have to sweat anymore every time I use Limewire to "discover" music. Yay for the home team. I'd love to tell ya that the music industry saw the light, and had a total change of heart. Of course, that's not the case. It boils down to ugly PR, slumping sales, and more ugly PR. Check out the blog link.

So many social networks, so little time......

2008-12-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

Image via CrunchBase, source unknownA quick note before I get ready for work: I reactivated my Facebook page last night. I didn't really want to, in all honesty. I'm not knocking Facebook, here. I deactivated my account some time ago because I just couldn't spend the time posting things there and keeping up accounts all over the damn interweb in every social network that exists. I elected to stick with MySpace and NowLive, and focus on keeping this blog up-to-date. (See how well THAT worked out. Hah.) Well, since RRN has made the switch to Ustream and since we have achieved widget superiority (everyone say, "Thank you, Baddog".) it now seems that yet another great effort is required to reach the next level with our webcasts. The Redneck Radio Network now has widgets, blogs, video, audio, etc, all over the web, and our presence will be increasing even more in the immediate future. Go to my Facebook page, subscribe, and tune in to the shows on the widgets embedded there. Do it, you mammyrammers.

Corporate greed proven to cause rectal bleeding

2008-12-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

Image via WikipediaYeppers. I know that here lately I've woken up with a sore ass and an I.O.U. in my hand signed by Congress and corporate America, several times a week, it seems. Well, this morning, my brother Marty woke up feeling the same way, and expressed his feelings with his usual eloquence. I'd advise strolling over to his Blogger page and giving his blog a good read.

Ustream's rising alexa's lure rednecks.......

2008-12-11T12:41:00.000-08:00

So far, so good. The Doghouse and RedneckRadioNews have made the switch to webcasting at Ustream, and the entire Redneck Radio Network has been re-invigorated. Last night in the Doghouse, there were 89 people in the chat for a while. Not bad numbers to be getting on one website. Our shows now, however, play live on multiple websites. There is a widget on this page, too, where our Mogulus.tv channel plays all day and goes live when we do.

I had remarked in this blog, as well as on MySpace that big things were going to be happening with this network; moving to Ustream is only the beginning. Meroll, Baddog, Brokenpole, Smokinbeaver, myself, and our viewers, even, have begun to mine a comedy vein and it looks like the mother-lode. Already, the Rednecks have posted song parody videos that are getting lots of play on myspace and elsewhere. Meroll is busily recording and editing new material every day, and Baddog is creating videos and posting them as fast as his paws can work the keyboard. More audio and video comedy is in the works, folks. Follow the links, and you'll see what we are up to. Don't forget to come to the Doghouse every Mon-Fri at 7pm Central to see us at work, streaming live. Redneck Radio News goes live every Sunday at 7:30pm Central. Wakeup Call with Brokenpole and SmokinBeaver will be moved to Ustream on December 20. If you haven't already, subscribe to this blog, and go to Ustream and create a profile, so you can follow our Redneck shows. See you mammyrammers in the shows........

Christmas in The Doghouse

2008-12-09T10:23:00.000-08:00

The Doghouse Crew would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Doggy style.

The Doghouse picked up and moved

2008-12-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

The old RRN blog has been suffering from neglect lately. That's gonna change, 'cause some big changes have recently been made to the Redneck Radio Network. No, we haven't dropped any members to our rather loose confederacy, nothing like that. We have, however, added new shows and changed broadcasting platforms......something like that, anyway. I'll explain.

Due to the election, Meroll, myself, Baddog, and Brokenpole decided to do a political show on NowLive, appropriately named as the Redneck Radio News. We had fun there doing our show, but then our show started experiencing audio issues. The problems weren't resolved, and we all decided to try doing our show on Ustream. We had already experimented over there, and found that Ustream's technology is pretty damn good, making the move an easy one. Baddog kept the Doghouse running on NowLive, as did Brokenpole and Smokinbeaver with Wakeup Call. Tonight in the Doghouse, though, the problems got so bad that Baddog said "to hell with it". The Doghouse mantra has always been, "if you can't eat it or fuck it, then piss on it and walk away", and that's exactly what we did. Baddog shut the NowLive show down, and within minutes the Doghouse with Baddog was broadcasting on Ustream, live and in excellent audio.

You don't actually have to go to Ustream to listen to the show. It can also be found at the links listed below:

http://www.redneckradionews.tv
http://www.redneckradionews.com
http://www.myspace.com/reddirtgeek
http://www.myspace.com/baddogcrew

Rednecks to the rescue

2008-10-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this blog because one of my fellow rednecks is in need. I ain't gonna mention any names, but you know who you are.

Brother, if you need anything you know who to talk to. Marty or I will do anything we have to in order to see you in a better situation. You know that you have friends who love you, and will be here for you. I am here, Brotherman, and solidly in your corner. You don't even have to talk to me about what's going on.....we can just chill out and talk about the entertainment industry. Whatever you need, Brother, is what we will talk about.

You are not alone. Your family has your back. Hell, we'll even wear Michigan jerseys if that's what it takes. Talk to you soon, Bro.

A great indie artists caught my ear........

2008-08-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

I have a soft spot for independent musicians. I seek them out, and thanks to MySpace, occasionally indie musicians seek me out. That was the case when I got a friend request from Julie Downs on MySpace. I don't routinely accept friend requests from every musician that hits me up on my personal MySpace. I usually give them a listen, though, and if their music appeals to me, I'll add them. When I gave the music of Julie Downs a listen, I knew nothing about her at all. The four songs that she had posted on her profile were all solid, well-written and performed songs. I then started following up all her links and such on her MySpace page so that I could find out more about Julie and listen to more of her music. Doing that, I found her video blogs on CMT's website. More importantly, though, I listened to enough of Julie's songs to know that I had to buy them. I know of no higher compliment to give an artist than to purchase their work, and I bought Julie's music. Regular readers of this blog know that I don't pay for anything on the internet, but I broke a personal speed record getting to itunes to purchase "Cellophane" among others..... I think you should do the same. Typically in a music review, the reviewer describes the music, so the reader will know whether it will appeal to a given musical taste. Well,shit.....y'all knew I wasn't normal or typical when you started reading this blog. Follow the links. Julie's MySpace page and her web page can tell you far more than I'm willing to. You will want to give the music a good listen. Trust me on this. Have I ever steered you wrong before?

Cool music that beats the heat

2008-07-31T08:50:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaI've spent considerable time on YouTube in the last couple weeks, checking out some of the incredible musicians that are posting their videos for the world to see. In case y'all ain't figured it out yet, I'm fond of strings. I'm not particular about what form the stringed instruments take, be they guitar, mandolin, harp, or ukelele. Follow the links and stuff, and you'll (hopefully) enjoy these selections as much as I do.

For true virtuoso finger-style guitar, check out Pete Miserendino. In particular, his performance of CSN's "Suite Judy Blue-Eyes" left me amazed and breathless. If you are a fan of great guitar-work, you may already be aware of Pete's mad skills. If not, then acquaint yourself with Mr. Miserendino, post-haste.

While I'm still on a guitar kick, I'll recommend the videos of Lauren O'Connell. Lauren is pretty young, but holy shit, batman, the girl can play AND sing. Her YouTube page has her videos, and they should not be missed. If I ever get a chance to see this chick play live, I'm going to be there. Even if you don't particularly like folk music, and feel that the genre is saturated with artists, Lauren O'Connell should still turn your head with her original lyrics, voice, and crazy-amazing guitar-playing.

I've saved the most delightful for last in this blog. If you are not familiar with Julia Nunes, then I'm happy to introduce you to her in the embedded video below. Yeah, that's a ukelele that she's playing. I've spent several hours watching all of her music videos, which are very much worth watching. I'm not sure what impresses me most about this young lady. I'm not sure if it's her voice, her string-playing, her ambitious covers, her original tunes, or her video editing......there's a lot to be amazed at, honestly. Enjoy.

A red-blooded record label kicking much ass

2008-07-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

In the blog below this one, I give y'all some good music to search for on Limewire. Well, the cd that I ordered arrived two days ago, and I was so impressed with the record label itself that I have to blog about it here. The Meat Purveyors are on the Bloodshot Records label, and this blog is meant to give props to Bloodshot. Firstly, the cd only cost me 12 bucks plus shipping. Fourteen songs for twelve bucks is a good deal. The thing that made me sit up and take notice, though, was that my cd was shipped out on the same day that that the label received my order. That, my friends is a very good thing, and much appreciated by this cheapskate blogger. I encourage all of you to go to Bloodshot's website, and take a listen to their artists. If you wanna listen before you buy, go to Accuradio, click on the Twang choice under the Country drop-down menu. Then scroll down till you see the Insurgent Country link. The link is a radio station showcasing the artists on Bloodshot Record's label. I'm listening to the station right now, and loving it. If you are a true redneck, you'll love it, too. Don't cheat yourself, just follow the links, people. Love y'all.

Music for your narrow asses

2008-06-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaThe last couple of weeks have been interesting, musically, for me. I've been steered by friends to several artists that were previously unknown to me. I thought I'd post this blog to share some of that with everybody. Good music is not meant to be kept to one's self, is it?

I was already familiar with the work of The Meat Purveyors, but last week I was reminded of them by Shoutcast Radio on Winamp. I'm tempted to describe their music as Bluegrass, but these are texans playing this music, and bluegrass just doesn't quite do it......Give them a listen, and see what you think. I actually paid money this week for one of their albums, purchased from TMP's label, Bloodshot Records. If you like your redneck music to be flavored with a strong dose of black humor, The Meat Purveyors will fill a need.

My friend Chase went to Bonnaroo this year, and saw Newton Faulkner live; he then phoned and gave a hearty recommendation. I'd never heard of Newton, but I'm glad to discover his music now. Great singer-songwriter credentials, with some virtuoso guitar-playing. Definitely somebody whose music I would purchase.

My friend Heather posted a MySpace bulletin with one of Julia Nune's YouTube videos. Wow. I spent several hours over the last couple days watching this girl's videos..she plays a ukelele sometimes, and sometimes an acoustic guitar. Check out her duets, and her covers of "Build me up, Buttercup" and "Jesus Walks" Check out all her videos and watch for this girl in the future. I'm gonna buy her cd, myself.

Lastly, the older brother turned me on to Last FM. This is a social music-discovery site. I could tell you more about it, but their website does a better job of it than I can. The website's application, once downloaded, will check over the music on your hard drive, and help you discover new music while you listen to your own media player. You can also find music on their website using the same application. It's an interesting social network idea, and a great place to find stuff you haven't heard before that you will probably like.....it's sorta like a music version of del.icio.us, colliding with sattelite radio and good Artificial Intelligence.

Enjoy the music, mammyrammers.

A year spent on the Busride to Hell: Doghouse birthday bash

2008-06-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaToday is a great day; a historic day in the (short) history of Social Broadcasting. The Doghouse with Baddog is celebrating one whole year of webcasting tonight, at 7pmEastern, 4 Pacific. Wow. One year, and counting.

Baddog and crew have created a unique webcasting niche for themselves in internet comedy. Every show is different, and the events completely unpredictable from start to finish. All of the freedoms that the internet provides have been explored by the host, Baddog, his crew, (Sexy Shelly, Amanda, Brokenpole, Smokinbeaver, and myself .) and all of the people in the chat. Over the course of the year, we have pushed past barriers of morals, self-restraint, respect, subject matter, and good taste with wild abandon, earning the Doghouse the title of "First stop on the bus ride to Hell". On several occasions, whole shows have been taken up with yo mamma jokes and dead baby jokes. There really is no way to know where a given show will go in two hours on NowLive. We never know exactly who will show up for the show on Mon-Friday....sometimes Ester Goldberg appears and curses everyone within reach of her dulcet voice; sometimes the Doghouse voices reach such far-flung places as Great Britain and Australia.

Some memorable internet wars have used the Doghouse as a public battleground. Although such things are discouraged, no-one can say that Baddog is skeered to confront unpleasantness when it's time. Hey, we prefer a drama-free environment, but the Doghouse crew is perfectly capable of stuffing our feet in our own and all other mouths, too...such conflicts have created a very tight-knit crew and a roomful of very faithful regular visitors for every show. Admission to the Doghouse is free, and access to the warmth of the cast, crew, and audience is unlimited to people who can behave themselves well enough to get along with the drunks, porn addicts, toenail biters and rednecks that are at home in the gutter. I mean, the Doghouse. Yeah.

Tonight will be a special show......don't miss it, you miserable bunch of mammyrammers and goobersmoochers.

Plurk. Plurk. Plurk, y'all

2008-06-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaSorry for the severe drought in updates lately. I have a new job, and it's taken a while to adjust to a new lifestyle of gainful employment. I haven't been internet-idle, though. Even though the new job has prevented me from being in the Doghouse on NowLive as often as I'd like, I have been there some, and also at That's Estertainment over on Ustream. I even put together a Ustream show myself.

While getting used to using Twitter, I have begun following iJustine. iJustine is plugged in to social media, to say the least, having shows all over the net, like her Ustream show, for instance. The nice lady also turns her followers on to new, funky social media items, and today I signed up for one of her recommendations. I'm trying out Plurk, to see how it works and if it's something that I'll keep and add to my social media lexicon. Follow the link, and see if y'all think it's something you would like, as well. For a little more about it, check out iJustine's blog. Hope to update this site more often, in between work and play.

Carpe coleatum.

The Doghouse fans save the show

2008-05-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaThe Baddog of NowLive was called by his work to travel to Flushing, NY yesterday, and so Baddog was unable to host his own show. When the Dog is out of commission like that, his friends step up and host a show for him, so that all the Doghouse fans will have a place to hang out and make each other laugh. Last night, I hosted the Doghouse Fill-in show for Baddog, and the Doghouse fans showed up and created a great show. Baddog's idea for celebrating Mother's day was to have a show where everybody brought their best Yo Mamma jokes, as in "Yo Mamma is so nasty, she sweats Crisco."

Ordinarily, I hate hosting shows. I'm not very comfortable being the center of attention, and sometimes experience stage fright before a show. To the stage fright last night was added a cluster headache. I felt for most of the night as if my right eyeball was gonna pop out of my head, but honestly, I had more fun last night than I've had on the air in a long, long, time; due entirely to the support of the fans of the Doghouse. Everybody got in the act, posting YoMamma jokes and Dead Baby jokes, keeping them coming for two solid hours. I laughed my ass off for two hours, forgetting about the headache and stage fright. The Doghouse folks really made the show. I was just there to read them from the chat board. Baddog can really be proud of the audience that he has gathered over the past year. His fans are some of the best people in the world, and they really made my job easy last night. I would like to thank Dr. Myth, Fozzie, DanielfromScotland, Andrew Painter, MadMardagian, Shocker, Justmountndewme, QueenBeeyatch, Estrella, realvee, Brokenpole, Smokinbeaver, findingnino, michaelhawaii, warmachine, Kaeos, ghslex07, psychicangela, and o, God, I know I'm forgetting some peeps. If y'all don't see your names here, please forgive me for leaving you out. Every one of you did the Baddog proud last night. The Doghouse fans rock.

Google Documents, Skype, and OpenOffice as tools for the telecommuter part three

2008-05-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaIn my last two posts on telecommuting, I've laid the background information to give my readers an idea of why the topic is on my mind, and I've named the free applications that I believe are the most useful for creating, writing, and editing documents. In this post, I'm going to talk about how I've used the applications that I have already named, and how these applications can be used by anyone in their work, and how to use these applications in a secure manner.

Google is your best friend. I'll say it again, Google is your best friend. Although not perfect, Google is simply the most amazing company on the internet. Remember in my first post, I discussed a project that I completed with my friend Pascal? We worked on the project together using Google Documents. While on Skype video calls, we shared the project documents, and wrote and edited the project using Google Documents. Google Docs allow two people to edit THE SAME PAGE OF ANY DOCUMENT AT THE SAME TIME with all edits showing up in real time for both or all users sharing the document. Yeah. For anyone who has ever had to write and edit documents worked on by more than one person, (such as S.O.P's, cGMP documents, help manuals, etc.) the ability for more than one person to be making changes and discussing the changes in real-time is a huge development, and one that has the potential to save many, many payroll hours. Pascal and I were able to talk about the changes to his project, make the corrections, and get instant feedback from each other over Skype. If we weren't Skyping, one of us could make a change to a page, and leave a note for the other, knowing that the edits would be seen as soon as the other person opened their gmail account. Neither of us had any prior experience with Google Docs, but the learning curve was extremely shallow. Anyone familiar with word-processing applications will be able to use Google Documents with ease. Google has excellent help pages, and they describe the features of all of their applications very clearly so that the average user can use Google products with little or no time spent in familiarization.

Skype is a great piece of work, too, when it comes to free voice and video communication. Skype was invaluable to Pascal and I while we were doing his school project. There is no replacement for being able to see the face of the person with whom your are talking. Face-to-face video conversations enable us to read the subtle cues that facilitate clear communication. Skype's video features are easy to use, and require no visits to the help page to figure out. It doesn't take a super-geek to download the application and use.

In the business world, security is a huge concern, to say the least. No-one wants their private business communications to be intercepted or hacked by their competition, the media, or even some jackass who gets off on posting hacked communications in public forums. All Skype conversations are encrypted. Skype's encryption algorithms are approximately on the same level as late 1980's National Security Agency data encryption. What this means is that although not necessarily completely un-hackable, anyone attempting to hijack a Skype conversation would need a huge amount of computer power, equivalent to a supercomputer. Very few people have access to that amount of power, and thus Skype conversations are extremely secure from hackers and agents of corporate espionage.

Google also provides a means of free, encrypted data transmission. Simply login to google using the https://gmail.google.com address. By adding the "s" at the end of the http connection, the user is logging in to the "secure sockets layer". This allows the user to send their documents to the receiver encrypted and secure.

I have just listed a couple of different free applications that are available to the telecommuter and their employers. In order for a business to switch over to telecommuting employees, there are a few more downloads that are necessary to facilitate the process. I'm seriously considering starting a consulting business to help employers make the transition, and I'm wondering if it's a viable concept. I would appreciate some feedback from my readers on this. What do y'all think? Just because you're a redneck doesn't mean you're ignorant, and all comments will be appreciated.

By the way: Sorry about not posting the third part of the blog yesterday. I had to go earn some real dollars during the day yesterday, and was wiped out after co-hosting The Doghouse with Baddog on Nowlive.com and supporting That's Estertainment on Ustream.

Part three out tomorrow.......sorry

2008-05-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

Been a long, busy day, and I'm too tired to blog....but I will finish the telecommuting blog tomorrow. My apologies, folks.

Google Documents, Skype, and OpenOffice as tools for the telecommuter, part two

2008-05-06T12:27:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday's post was by way of giving some background so that it will be a little easier for the reader to understand where today's thoughts are coming from, and to illustrate why exactly I'm thinking in the way that I am today. I've been unemployed for a while now, and seeking work that I can do from home; telecommuting, in other words. I have found a high level of unreliability of employers who post writing jobs on the internet. Most “work from home” job listings are complete bullshit, and I have performed technical writing for a customer, only to be unpaid for my efforts, so I'm kinda careful these days about where I look for writing/editing jobs. As I illustrated yesterday, even conventional writing jobs are out there, but the employers want more face-time in person than is strictly necessary in order for the actual work to get done.

With fuel costs being what they are, there will be a lot more folks like me looking for work that does not involve spending large chunks of their paychecks on gasoline just to get to and from work. I believe that employers are far behind the times in acknowledging exactly how much money could be saved by having more of their employees work from home.

Let's take a quick look at where the savings lie for the employer. Most white-collar office jobs these days are performed on a PC or a laptop, and on the telephone. I believe that there are substantial savings out there for a lot of employers who are paying to maintain work-spaces for employees who could be working at home. The cost of heating and cooling physical spaces is high, and getting higher. By having employees who are working from their own home-offices, employers can eliminate some of the space that they are maintaining which is occupied by workers who could be doing the work from their own homes. Companies with large amounts of workspace devoted to employees who could possibly telecommute could downsize their physical plant, and lease the unused workspace to another company that could fully utilize the space. Another place for savings could be in the amount of space devoted to breakrooms, snack machines, and restroom facilities. Parking spaces also could be liberated, reducing the amount of paving to be maintained in a physical plant. Also, through using free, encrypted VOIP applications such as Skype, face-to-face meetings can be conducted and text messages exchanged, saving some money on paying for and maintaining large switchboards connected to land-based telephone lines. I think, too, that some money-savings are there when it comes to purchasing and maintaining servers and computer neworks inside companies. When you are using someone else's bandwidth to conference, exchange and store non-confidential data, etc., a large amount of cash flow can be saved.

The savings and job-satisfaction for the telecommuting employee are huge as well. Granted, some people just aren't good time-managers, and would not be able to work efficiently at home. I think that number is smaller than most employers think, though. I know that when I'm working from home at my own pace, I am a highly productive person. With travel-time to and from the workplace eliminated, my mind is more able to focus on individual tasks, and I am much, much happier without having to think about how much of my income is being burned as gasoline and lunches. Even with the distractions that come up at home, I am still able to focus more intently on what I'm doing at this keyboard. Here's a case in point: I began typing this post at 12:56. It is now 1:22pm, and I'm almost done with the writing portion. I am only going to put down one more paragraph, which should take maybe five more minutes.

I was gonna try to complete my thoughts here today, but it looks like this post is gonna end up as a three-part thing. I want to explain how telecommuting can be accomplished using free applications, open-source programs, and low-cost secure data-transfer applications. I'll do that in tomorrow's post, and lay out my idea for a consulting business to help employers make the transitions that I've been laying out in today's post. Tomorrow, I'll talk more specifically about Google Documents, Skype, OpenOffice, and some encrypted data-transfer applications. Please feel free, dear readers, to go ahead today and leave comments on what I've already written. What do you think about the things that I've already talked about? Am I being clear enough on how telecommuting can save substantial amounts of real dollars to employers? Please let me know what you think about what I've written so far. Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

Google Documents, Skype, and OpenOffice as tools for the telecommuter

2008-05-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaI don't think I'll be posting many or any links today on this blog. Instead I'm gonna relate some occurrences from last week, and talk about something that has come up. For two days last week, I was exchanging emails with a lady who had potential to be an employer. The job was posted on Craigslist as a writing/editing job. The lady produces newsletters for several different corporate law firms located in a major city here in Alabama, and her office is an hour-and-a-half drive from my house. The job would mostly consist of editing her work, with a little bit of writing, and it was a part-time job. The sticking point, and the reason why I withdrew myself from consideration for the job is that it would have required a twice-weekly drive for face-to-face meetings with the lady to discuss the editing/writing assignments. For the amount of money offered, it would not have made sense for me to spend the money on gas to make the trip for the face-to-face meetings.

I could not have worked with the lady. While I'm sure that she's very nice in person, our emails revealed a resistance, suspicion, and fear in her personality that would have made working for her a trial instead of a joy. Where did the negative feelings come from? Well, I tried to convince her that it was absolutely unnecessary for anyone to make a drive to her office in order to perform the job that she was was offering. For writing and editing, a good word processor and a broadband internet connection are all that is really required. This lady was completely attached to the idea of using Microsoft Word to produce her documents, which is a ridiculous requirement. I tried like hell to describe to her a better, more efficient way of producing and editing copy, using OpenOffice and Google Documents. The lady was totally unwilling to consider using the free tools that I mentioned, simply because she is unfamiliar with them and completely unwilling to investigate the worth of free, Open-source tools. The thing that really got to me, and the biggest reason why I withdrew my resume, though, was her insistence on the twice-weekly in-person face-time. Her reasons for requiring that had nothing to do with communication, and everything to do with her distrust of the person working for her. I explained the concept of Skype, and it's ability to enable a video conference. She had heard of Skype, but was unwilling to download it and try it out, even though she already had a webcam and a microphone. What came across clearly in our email discussions was her need to physically see her employee, and oversee their work habits (micromanage, in other words) to ensure herself that she was getting her money's worth. I won't work in a distrustful environment, and so her requirements were deal-breakers for me.

OpenOffice, Google Documents, and Skype are excellent, free applications that enable telecommuting, especially in a writing/editing situation. Last year at this time, my friend and business partner Pascal was working on a school project in Amsterdam. Pascal was enrolled in a university in the Netherlands pursuing a degree as a multimedia engineer. He had to produce a promotional cd as part of his final exam, and he asked for my help with the project, since he was able to talk his instructor to allow him to produce the project in english. I agreed to help him by editing his documentation, and also by supplying him with still images, audio and video clips. We used Google Documents to produce and edit the written documentation, and we Skyped extensively during the project. The point that I'm making is that without spending money on anything except broadband internet, Pascal and I were able to complete a complex project and communicate in video conference with us being separated by over 7,000 miles. We worked together with intense focus, and did the whole project using only about 20 hours of my time, total.

So last week I was kinda pissed and discouraged by the attitude of the lady whom I contacted for a writing/editing job. I realize that Alabama is a backward place in some ways, and that talking employers into agreeing to a telecommuting employee in this state is gonna be a foreign idea for a lot of people. This is going to have to be a two-part blog, because this post is long, and I don't want to tax my readers with so much text at once. In tomorrow's post, I'm going to offer some analysis of telecommuting in light of gasoline prices and efficient use of workspace. Today I wanted to give everyone a little background for the ideas that I will be presenting tomorrow. Stay tuned, folks, strong message follows in one more day.

Google helps the little guy place TV ads

2008-05-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaI told y'all that Twitter was gonna come in handy. I was checking up on the people that I've recently began following, and Jim Long gave me a great head's up.

He posted a link to this article, which gives details of Google's new TV ads. Yep, you read that right. Now, with a Google account, you can put advertising on television from your computer. If you haven't followed the link yet, do it now, because it gives more info than I currently have at my fingertips.

The reason why I bring this up, after someone else has already posted the details, is this: Most of my readers are involved in social media, and probably every one of my readers has a Google account. Also, this page deals with several social webcasts, on both NowLive and Ustream. Show hosts and independent producers take notice of the article. Everyone who reads this blog is heavily connected on the internet, and this topic is relevant to us all. Independent producers, social-broadcasting show hosts, and independent artists of all stripes are now enabled to advertise their products and content on television using Google. What? Oh, yeah. That's right, folks. We independent rednecks can worm our way into mainstream consciousness from our desktops and laptops. Of course, first, the ad content must be prepared, but Google is apparently offering some assistance with that, too. Wow.

I've only had a couple minutes to absorb the meaning of Google's TV ads, but I can already see it's relevance to my life and that of my friends who read this blog. I'd also like to comment here on the speed with which I obtained the information that I have, by following someone on Twitter who is more plugged into media sources than myself. Thanks, Jim, for putting out the tweet. I now have even more food for thought on social media than I did before, and quite a bit more to think about regarding Google and it's relevance to daily life, on and off the internet. Wow. It's gonna take me some time to digest the implications.

Somebody needs to comment, here, and start a discussion. I would appreciate a little feedback on whether this type of post is interesting to my readers (few though they may be).

Keep your ass up-to-date, mammyrammers

2008-05-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaAs I mentioned yesterday, and in previous posts, I'm researching social media, and trying to come up with something original to say on the topic. This is harder to do than one would think, and today's post will show a little bit of why.

I use StumbleUpon quite a bit when doing research, and today I was stumbling through several topics, trying to come up with something to post here today. As my regular readers know, I recently joined the Twitter community, and today this blog caught my attention. The author tells a lot better than I can how and why he uses the service. If you are interested in keeping yourself informed of the latest social trends on the web, I suggest reading this article.

I have already put the article to use. After a cursory reading, I took the author's hint and began following two sources of news on Twitter. One is BreakingNewsOn, and is self-explanatory on following the link. I also began following Jim Long.

I'm still gathering data, and not sure exactly what to think about the explosion of social media and it's consequences for society. The topic is huge, and some of the feelings that I have about the phenomenon are conflicting. Sometimes I think this is a good thing, and sometimes not. Either way, I'm still thinking, people, and I'll let y'all know something soon (I hope). In the meantime, I plan to keep using Twitter, blogging here, keeping my MySpace page up-t0-date, and Exploring Seesmic, and interacting with as many peeps as possible on all of the social media sites that I'm currently using. Oh, yeah, and I'm still gonna be in The Doghouse every weeknight at 7pm Eastern, 4pm Pacific.

New Blogging tool keeps me from effing it all up

2008-04-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

Image by poketmonster via FlickrFor the last week or so, a small, orange button has been appearing at the bottom of all my posts on this page. The buttton is there because I have been testing a new widget, called Zemanta. Zemanta is a helpful little widget that uses Firefox to hunt up relevant links, pictures, articles and tags when I blog.

I've been testing Zemanta for about a week, giving myself a chance to see how it works before recommending it to the readers of this blog. So far, the only blog engines that work with Zemanta are Blogger, Wordpress, and Typepad, although the creators of Zemanta are working to integrate the service with other blog engines. So far, I can give this little widget the "thumbs-up". I have been using the photos recommended by it, as well as some of the links and tags that come up. I'm not sure how this thing works, but it's pretty damn slick. It's a pretty useful tool if you, like me, blog almost every day. It keeps me from having to search through Google Images to find relevant photos, which is a time-saver.

I haven't forgotten my promise to blog more about social media, folks. I'm still researching the topic, and using several social websites that are new to me, gathering data and my thoughts before blogging again on the topic. Specifically, I'm investigating Twitter and Seesmic more thoroughly, using both services to get a feel for their relevance in my life, and also checking to see how others are using them. There will be a report later, I promise.

Beer, Beer, Beer, Beer, Beer

2008-04-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaToday I am posting on a topic that is near and dear to the Redneck heart. Let's talk about BEER, and specifically a website devoted to our favorite beverage. Beer Utopia is dedicated to discussing beer, drinking beer, honoring the history of beer, and yes, recommending good beers to drink.

Complete with articles detailing the different types of beer, video blogs about beer, and recommendations for great places to drink beer, Beer Utopia is an excellent website, maintained with love for the topic. I especially like the articles on the different types of beer, i.e. ales, porters, lagers, etc. Informative and entertaining, I recommend subscribing to this website if you, like me, are a lover of liquid bread.

"Pussy Song" rocks Ustream and the Comedy Store

2008-04-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia Last night my good friend Ester Goldberg performed in a live webcast from the Comedy Store in Hollywood. Those of us watching the show on Ustream had a fantastic time. Actually, there really aren't enough superlatives to describe The Big Show and the fun that Michael Airington in his portrayal of everyone's favorite old Jew broad brings to his live stage show. I've blogged about Michael and Ester on these pages before, but last night's show was a special treat indeed for Ester's internet fans, hence this blog.

I have been a regular attendee of That's Estertainment since Ester was a personality on BlogTalkRadio. That's Estertainment is a social webcast, in that Ester interacts with her listeners in a chatroom and on the phone. Insults and love are exchanged in equal measure, but the comedy in the show is strictly unscripted and improvisational. That's Estertainment is always fun, and those who show up to participate are always left with big smiles and the joy and delight that true belly-laughs bring. Michael Airington is a character actor who truly understands the degree to which laughter can heal wounds and positively affect people's lives. In That's Estertainment and the Ester Goldberg character, Michael is spreading the healing power of laughter through intensely personal interaction with his audience.

What made last night such a special treat is that Michael's (and Ester's) fans who know him only through the internet were allowed a free visit to The Big Show, which is Ester Goldberg live on stage with an orchestra, props, and a live audience. A lot of the comedy is improvisational, but Ester's stage show is carefully crafted and professional, showcasing the hard work that goes into creating a character from whole cloth. In The Big Show, Michael's talents as an actor are showcased when Ester begins channeling Elvis, Carol Channing, Paul Lynde, and other famous Hollywood personalities. The impressions are spot-on, and leave the audience gasping for air. I personally have been longing for the chance to see Michael's stage show, and I'm very grateful to The Comedy Store and Ustream for making it available to watch for free.

If you are unfamiliar with Ester Goldberg, follow the links in this post and watch the videos that Michael has posted on the Ester Goldberg MySpace page. If you don't hurt yourself laughing, then you really need to see a mortician...'cause you definitely have no pulse.

2008-04-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaI've been doing a lot of thinking lately about social media; how to use it, and it's relevance to my life and the effect of social media on human interaction. I have recently joined the Twitterers of the world, and also involved myself in the Seesmic community. I've been on MySpace for a few years, and have been webcasting on NowLive for almost a year. I have used social media to promote my writing, and have been exploring it's uses for professional reasons for as long as I've been a netizen.

While there is no doubt that social media have very important uses as tools for promoting business and professional endeavors, I've actually gotten more personal benefits than professional ones. Through my webcast on NowLive, I've formed bonds with some people that have become as important to me as the members of my blood family. Sometimes I'm amazed and awed by the power of the friendships that have been formed through trying to do a little comedy in a public forum. My circle of friends has expanded far beyond the borders of the State of Alabama to include parts of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the middle East. Amazing stuff, people.

I'll be doing some more blogging about social media in the coming days, and will try to show how I've used this phenomenon, and how it has come to have such an important place in my life. Stay tuned, folks.

Yay, a way to send your naughty bits with a self-destruct

2008-04-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaThere are a few things of note today. First off, last night was the 21st wedding anniversary of The Baddog and SexyShelly, of The Doghouse with Baddog on Nowlive.com. So everybody that didn't wish them a happy anniversary yesterday better get on the stick and give them your best wishes today.

I Stumbled across a couple of interesting links to share with my readers. Ever want to send an email that you didn't really want to hang around very long? Maybe you've wanted to send a naughty picture of yourself or somebody else, and didn't send it because you weren't sure that you could really trust that it would be quickly deleted by the person you were sending it to. Well, the folks at BigString have fulfilled a need. This is an instant-messenger service that allows the sender to designate how long it will be viewable by the recipient. These IM's can't be saved, and can't be printed. Heh. Personally, I can think of a couple of uses for this little IM client. Use your dirty little imaginations, fellow rednecks, and I think you'll see a few uses, too.

The next link is more for everyday use. Sometimes you need to look up a word in an online dictionary. MetaGlossary (beta) is there for you. Just enter a word or phrase, and this web application will look it up for you, and give you lots of choices for use. MetaGlossary also has a plugin for Firefox, which is a handy thing to have if you are a blogger. Check it out.

I'm tempted to spend money on this stuff

2008-04-22T13:52:00.000-07:00

For today's post, I decided that, rather than turning my readers on to a cool web application, I'd turn y'all on to some good music. My buddy Pascal in Amsterdam sent me a MySpace message about a band from Pikeville, Tennessee. The crazy Dutch bastard has excellent taste in music, and probably knows more about roots rock-and-roll and American Country music than any American that I know, and when he recommends a band or a musician, I pay attention. Pascal sent me a MySpace message asking me to listen to Carrie Hassler and Hard Rain, so I did; and of course, I was glad that I did. Carrie Hassler and Hard Rain are a country/Bluegrass grouping whose music will warm the heart of any country music lover, redneck or not. I could describe their music, but I would rather that y'all check it out on their MySpace page or their website. I like their stuff so much, I'm even tempted to purchase their music, and y'all know I don't like to pay for anything. If that's not a powerful enough recommendation for you, then kiss my ass.

New widget for RRN

2008-04-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

Just for fun, after Stumbling on this little widget, I added it to the sidebar of this blog. Now everyone who comes to this blog can see where Junior is during the NASCAR season. Hey, this is a Redneck blog, you know, and how could I hold my head up as a true redneck without having some NASCAR stuff on my blog? Schmap also has other types of fun widgets to put on your blog, and they make it pretty easy. It took less than 3 minutes to install this particular one on this page, so I can testify as to it's ease of use.

Happy Birthday to Sexy Shelly

2008-04-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

Oh, yeah. It is Shelly's birthday, and we will give her seven flavors of hell tonight in The Doghouse on Nowlive. Don't miss tonight's show at 7pm Eastern, 4pm Pacific. I think Shelly is 83 today, but she may be turning 84, I'm not sure. We'll ask her tonight.

Oovoo is cool......get it, dammit

2008-04-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

You heard me. Get Oovoo and talk to me. My email address is dirtysouthmouth@gmail.com

Don't make me tell you twice, you fuckers.

New Vlog profile for Seesmic

2008-04-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Below is the video profile that I just recorded for Seesmic. I probably won't post any more links today, 'cause I'm working on my resume. Like the song says, "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades". Heh.

Yeah, I need glasses

2008-04-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

While Stumbling around looking for interesting weblogs, I found this review of a very inexpensive source for eyeglasses. I am supposed to wear glasses for reading and working on the computer, and as soon as I get a new prescription, I'm going to check out Zenni Optical. I'm a cheap bastard, and this place is ideal for a guy like me to obtain eyeglasses. If anybody checks these guys out before I do, let me know what you think in the comments.

Weed-whacking with the shakes

2008-04-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

Change the look of your gmail, and social video blogging

2008-04-10T15:09:00.000-07:00

I am an obsessive email-checker. Yes, it's true, and I'm properly ashamed that I check my gmail account 400 times/day. Since I'm checking it so often, sometimes the white background that is the gmail standard gets on my nerves and bothers my eyes. Yesterday, while Stumbling for cool stuff, I found this website that tells you how to change the look of your gmail to something darker and easier on the eyes. It's done through a Firefox extension, but I'll let the link tell you what you need to know. I promise, though, that it only took 3 minutes and two mouse clicks to achieve a new, easier look to my gmail.

I also discovered Seesmic, a very new social video blogging site. Follow the link, and see what it's all about. I've tried it, and hopefully the embedded video will appear below. See y'all in the Doghouse

Stealing Wifi, and sending big files made easy

2008-04-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

I awoke this morning at a totally unChristian hour with a toothache. While I was waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in, and also some benadryl that I took for a poison-oak rash, I trolled the internet looking for some interesting links to pass along to my readers. I found a few items that may be of use to all of us.

Don't you hate it when you try to send a large file through your normal email program and it takes ages to upload? Well, I found this cool, free, open-source application. I should say that I re-discovered it, because I found this one some time ago, and actually used it to send a large video file to a friend. MailBigFile works as advertised. Try it, and see.

If you travel a lot with a laptop, you may sometimes find yourself in need of a wifi connection, and no idea where to go to steal a good signal. Enter WiFinder. This cute little website will tell you where to go to find a good signal so that you can surf, jump on NowLive, or check your gmail. They list over 30,000 known wifi sources around the world, and their database is growing every day. If you are a travelling laptop sort of person, you should bookmark this site.

I hope to see all y'all tonight in the Doghouse with Brokenrib. Selah.

Twit like a damn fool, and the future of Internet TV

2008-04-08T08:46:00.000-07:00

While Stumbling a couple weeks ago, I found a cute little social web app, called Twitter. When I first saw it, I thought that, while it was an interesting little text-messaging application, I really didn't think it would be useful for me. MySpace and NowLive occupy much of my "social" computer time, and I figured that I don't really need a text-message program to let folks know that I am taking a nap, or eating dinner, etc. The more I read about this little application, though, the more I like it, and I have decided to download it when I come back home from a job-seeking trip this afternoon. If you want to see what uses Twitter could have for you, check out this article.

Another topic that is on my mind lately is, of course, my writing and how to sell it. The internet is not kind to me in the money-getting way that I would like, and so far I have made zero dollars off of my internet writing. Internet TV seems to be a good market for my stuff, if I can just figure out how to get someone to actually pay for it. I found this thought-provoking interview with the creator of Quarterlife. The article really didn't answer any of my questions about how to make money with my writing, but it does illustrate the thinking in the internet television industry. I'd be interested in anyone else's comments and suggestions about how to sell writing to this industry.

The old bitch finally got a webisode up

2008-04-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

This morning over on KoldCast, Ester Goldberg, everyone's favorite old cocktail-drinking jew broad finally got her first webisode of showbiz schmooze to appear on the website. It's about time, is all I have to say about that.

Last night, at That's Estertainment over on Ustream, we all had a great time insulting Ester and laughing; that is, until several of us got booted from the chatroom for typing the word Twat. It first happened to Allie Cheslick, who was on the phone with Ester at the time. After she got booted, I typed TWAT into the chat, and lo and behold, I got booted, too. Someone else typed the same word, and we were all three banned from the chat. I laughed for a while. It was obviously just a technical glitch, and I'm sure Ester raised hell with the admins of the website, and we'll be able to rejoin the chat next week. That was the first time I've ever been kicked out of a chat for cussing, and I'm so proud of myself.

You stole my joke, you bastard!

2008-04-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

This morning I got my daily dose of celebrity news from Ester Goldberg's blog, Views from a Broad, and one of the items there caused me to do some thinking, and I decided to write about it here. It appears that Dane Cook is being accused of stealing jokes from Louis CK. Now, I have no idea whether it's true or not that Cook stole any of Mr. CK's material; and that's what I want to talk about. Over the years, I've heard rumors of theft of jokes leveled at Robin Williams, Carlos Mencia, Norm MacDonald, and Steven Colbert. I'm really not sure what to think about this sort of thing. It's very, very difficult to come up with a joke that is truly original. I've personally ripped off Shakespeare, as has every comic that has ever tried to tell a joke, frankly. Let's be honest, folks. When it comes to comedy material, everything has already been done. Technology and communications may be progressing at light speed these days, but the human condition is not. Everything that could possibly be done in humor has been done somewhere, somewhen, by somebody other than you. That's just a fact of life, like it or not. Most of comedy is in timing and delivery of the line. That fact is the same whether we are talking about standup, sitcoms, or the written word. Katt Williams, a comedian that I admire, has some of the funniest delivery, ever. I'm not calling Katt a thief, here, but his observational comedy is commenting on human conditions that have existed for time immemorial. In his standup routine, one of his common themes is "Life is short". Now, Katt ain't the first person, or even the first person to deliver that line, and I don't hear anybody accusing him of being a joke-thief. Katt's delivery and timing are completely and utterly his, though. Nobody can do his material in the same way as Katt Williams, period; and that, my friends, makes his material unique and un-stealable. Robin Williams is another comedian that I admire, and I can't see anybody stealing his stuff, either, because his delivery cannot be duplicated. I've seen folks try, but they just ain't Robin Williams. Joe Rogan is one of my favorite comedians, and he has been one of the loudest voices accusing other comics of stealing material. You can check out Joe's side of the story here, and browse around on his site to find the video where he confronts Carlos Mencia, and the articles where he faced some professional difficulties because of the Rogan/Mencia feud. According to Ester's blog, (link above) Joe is also an accusing voice in the Dane Cook joke-theft deal. I'm nervous about this sort of thing. See, I like Joe Rogan, and I think he is a funny motherfucker. I also like his commentary at UFC matches. I'm nervous that his reputation as a funny comic and knowledgeable UFC fan is going to be eclipsed by Rogan's self-appointed role as modern comedy's Joke Police. I'd hate to see that happen to such a talented guy. Like I said, I'm not sure what to think about all of this. What do my readers think? I'd be interested to read some comments on this topic. For a couple more blogs on joke theft, follow the links here and over here.

2008-03-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

Today, I have a few more links for my readers; just a couple things to help out. I haven't actually tested this one, but it is a file converter. Someone asked me last week in a NL show if I knew how to convert a music file from mp4 to mp3, and I didn't know. Well guess what? I found that link, so someone try it out and let me know if it works.

I found a post for 25 interesting/useful websites. I did check a few of these out, so I'm passing on this link for you guys to check out and use/entertain yourselves. Happy Surfing!

Comedy cures Syphilis

2008-03-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

I want to talk about comedy and why I do it, and why the other members of RRN do it. At Redneck Network Radio, we do comedy. Sometimes we are funnier than other times, but always the effort is made to entertain, and make people laugh. We do this because there is healing power in laughter. We also do it because comedy is the highest form of truthtelling that any society on Earth condones. We are all in this loose network because we are friends who care for each other and because we enjoy interacting with each other in a public forum. There are times for all of us when we are upset, stressed, tired, or just plain bummed. Some people retreat from others under those circumstances, and withdraw from human contact to sort things out. At times, I'm one of those people. Most of the time, though, when I'm not feeling my best for whatever reason, I want the company of my friends. True friends are there to help build you up and make you better than than you are. My friends at RRN are true friends, and we do try to build each other up, and help each other. Sometimes this is accomplished by a well-timed insult. The insults that we sling at each other often have a grain of cold, hard truth at their core, but we use comedic insults to tell each other these truths, because friends don't lie to each other. By making each other laugh, we heal broken hearts, ease the pain of loss, and spread joyful salve over each others psychic bruises. Comedy offers that salve to the world at large. The best comedians have always done this with their comedy. Ruth Buzzi, Rodney Dangerfield, Milton Berle, Richard Pryor, Johnathan Winters, Soupy Sales, George Carlin, Gilda Radner, Lily Tomlin.....I could go on naming these comedians who knew intense personal pain, yet gave of themselves and their comedy and their truth to the rest of us; to point out the hard truths, and make us laugh at them. For a modern example of what I'm talking about, check out this YouTube video with Jon Stewart. In the video, he is telling some nasty, aggressive, hard-hitting truths to the idiots of CNN's Crossfire. He's cracking jokes the whole time, and yet he is still skewering mainstream media for letting all of us down. Yes, he gets laughs, but the laughs in no way detract from the hard truth that he is telling. All of the above describes and explains why I do comedy. I am a writer, and telling the truth accurately and with integrity is the highest aspiration of any writer. Well-crafted sentences and flowery prose really ain't in it, to be honest. Those things are hallmarks of good writing, but if the writer fails to tell the truth, then the writing is just a bunch of useless words. Good, well-written and funny-as-hell comedy is the highest form of writing....at least, that's the way we see it at RRN. We want to tell each other the truth, and we want to tell the truth to our audiences, and using comedy to get our truth and our love across to people is our goal. That's why we do what we do. Res Ipsa Loquitor

Great links for my readers

2008-03-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

While trolling through the internet early this morning, I found some websites that may be of interest to the readers of this blog. I was looking for some funny stuff, and I found this page which contains a whole bunch of video blogs. There were some funny ones there, and also some serious ones. Check it out. Everyone who knows me knows that I don't pay for SHIT on the internet. I am always looking for the free stuff. Today, I found a link that is very, very interesting to a cheapskate like myself. Introducing Songbird, the free internet mp3player/music search engine. Follow the link and check it out. It comes highly recommended from several sources, detailed at the website. Res Ipsa Loquitor

Times, they are a-changin

2008-03-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

Marty and I are changing some things around in Brotherly Love. We tested some things out on Monday night's show, and we are gonna stick with the changes, and make a few more. Our numbers have dropped somewhat, mostly due to the fact that Marty and I weren't really trying hard to bring anything to the webcasting table. When we first started Brotherly Love, we did a Southern Word of the Day segment in every show. We introduced the world at large to such words as mammyrammer, goobersmoocher, sidity, etc. Everyone looked forward to that, and I'm not real sure why we stopped, unless it was just a lack of inspiration. Well, we are bringing that segment back to the show, except sometimes we will make it a complete phrase instead of just a word. This will educate those of you not fortunate enough to live in the South about our preferable lifestyle. We are adding an additonal two segments to the show, as well. We have noticed that Yankees, Mid-Westerners, and Californians do some things, and get away with some things that just couldn't happen here in the south. Now, before y'all get all steamed; not all of the crazy shit that y'all do is bad. In every show, however, we will highlight some incidents and behaviors that happen elsewhere that just can't happen in the south. The other segment will be things that happen here that can't happen outside of the South. We know that we are a little crazy down here, and that our craziness has a unique flavor; so, every show, we will let y'all in on some of our dirty little secrets, too. These changes are for y'all. We want to provide better entertainment to go along with our usual bullshit. We don't intend to make Brotherly Love into something that it's not, though. Marty and I have no plans to do interviews or contests. We may indulge in a little friendly betting, of course, as usual, and our crew of faithful listeners are welcome to offer us any wagers that y'all can conceive in your dirty little minds. We just want to offer y'all a little more for coming to the show, is all. We feel that the best people on NowLive come to our shows, and we love y'all, and want to give something back to you. We'll be on the air again tonight at 8:00 Central, 6pm Pacific as usual. Come see us, and join in the fun. Res Ipsa Loquitor

Warning! That's Estertainment will make you piss yourself

2008-03-23T15:44:00.001-07:00

Let's talk about everyone's favorite old Jew bitch, Ester Goldberg. Ester used to have a show on NowLive, and before that with BlogTalkRadio. Now, Ester's show, That's Estertainent, can be found over on Ustream. That's Estertainment is an unscripted live webcast, where the red-headed International Glamour Puss of all Media fields questions and comments from her audience. Estertainment is an interactive weekly event, soon to be webcast twice weekly. At the moment, That's Estertainment airs every Sunday at 6pm Pacific. Soon, also, Ester will be doing a live show on the new internet television site, Koldcast.

Ester Goldberg is actually a character created and performed by the talented actor Michael Airington. Michael has been in show business for over 30 years, and Ester is only one of many characters that Mr. Airington has portrayed in his (rather) accomplished acting career. Michael has also taken An Evening with Paul Lynde on the road, to much audience and critical acclaim. When Michael puts on his makeup and steps into a role, he becomes the person whom he is portraying, whether it's a real person or a fictitious character like Ester Goldberg. His impressions are spot-on, and accurate down to the tiny details. Comedy is the forte' of Mr. Airington. Live audiences everywhere have pissed themselves laughing at the jokes and improv of Mr. Airington. I would tell his entire story here, but so much information about Michael is to be found on his MySpace page. I recommend following the links that I have worked hard to include in this blog...on his and Ester's MySpace page, Michael has included many video clips of his various acts. I have watched them all, and came close to pissing myself at all of them.

I count it an honor that Michael is my friend. My biggest regret is that I spent ten years in Memphis, TN, while Michael was on the radio in Nashville, and I never once caught his show there. Marty and I discovered the Ester character on MySpace, and have followed Estertainment from BlogTalkRadio to NowLive. Michael has moved his webcast to Ustream, and every Sunday you can find us there at That's Estertainment, exchanging loving insults with the old Jew broad, and laughing a lot. In our rather tense and hectic lives, That's Estertainment gives all of us a place to go and laugh, and interact with an entertainment industry veteran. Michael is a good-hearted soul, always ready to offer encouragement and advice to others trying to break into the business. The entertainment industry is a tough one, and it is a pleasure to meet someone in that industry that still has a heart, and hasn't sold their soul to obtain success. Follow the links, people, and I promise you will laugh your ass off.

Res Ipsa Loquitor

Come to the Doghouse and get paid

2008-03-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

Last night in the Doghouse, we announced a promotion to drive traffic to both the Doghouse and to our websites. If the Doghouse gets 69 people or more IN THE CHATROOM, CHATTING, we will reveal how each person participating in the show and reading the blogs will make money. This is not a scam. The Doghouse is not Yuwie, we are not a pyramid-scheme. We have real money to give away.

Actually, the above isn't entirely correct. Money won't be given out solely for appearing in the Doghouse. If we get our target of 69 chatters, though, we will reveal, in detail, how each person participating in the show can get this money. There are specific actions that each person will have to do to obtain the cash. How? The Redneck Radio Network is having a scavenger hunt. It won't work like a typical scavenger hunt, where only one person or a few people win a prize. Everyone who participates and follows the instructions will be paid, if they discover the prize.

Tune in to the Doghouse tonight at 4pm Pacific, 7pm Eastern to find out how to get the money. Please be on time. If you arrive late, and ask to have the instructions repeated to you, we will do our best, but understand that this is a promotion, intended to not only increase the audience of the Doghouse, but also to promote the blogs belonging to the Redneck Radio Network. The purpose of the Doghouse Nowlive show is comedy, and personal interaction. We are not Yuwie, and will spend only a limited amount of time explaining this promotion. Our focus is to have fun with the show, and enjoy the company of our NowLive friends. The goal of this promotion is to have traffic on our blogs, and increase the chatters in the Doghouse, hopefully making some new friends on the way. Our sponsors are interested in numbers. If we don't get the numbers, our sponsors will not pay the cash....it's that simple. The numbers must be present in the Doghouse, and they must happen on the blogs, or the money won't be there. Participation is the key, in the chat and on the blogs, and that is where the money will be presented to you.

You must be logged in to NL as a user, and present in the chatroom, not just listening from the front page. Come to the Doghouse, and have fun with us.

Casey is pissed

2008-03-20T15:57:00.000-07:00

Last night in the Doghouse with Baddog, a stupid loser calling himself TheEffBomb entered the chat with the declaration: No Fat Chicks Please. Baddog, the show host, had a computer crash and was unable to even see the chat board, or get back into his own show to block the offensive shithead. I took over heaping verbal abuse on EffBomb, because it was all that I was able to do.

The type of humor that is represented by the Effbomb loser isn't humor at all. It is a lashing-out of a deeply insecure person. Eff doesn't give a rat's ass who he hurts, so long as he hurts someone. It's genuinely pathetic, and totally ignorable if it weren't for the fact that good people are hurt by idiots like that. NowLive admins try their best to stop shit like that from happening, but they can't be everywhere at once to catch folks like that who come into other host's shows to practice their low antics. That's right, the EffBomb is a show host. He has his own show. Why he chose to come to the Doghouse to offend people is beyond me to figure out. Presumably, Baddog has blocked him from doing it again, but the damage is done.

This to the Effbomb: You are a pathetic, insecure little boy. You have been blocked from Brotherly Love, and won't be unblocked. No big loss to you, I'm sure, but you won't be able to come to our show to vomit up your loser's ideals. As a show host, you degrade the network that gives you a platform. Maybe one day you will grow a pair of balls and make your little fat jokes in person, in a venue where you can have your ass kicked. I doubt it, but it could happen.

To the owners of NowLive: Do what you will. You are not necessarily to blame for Eff's antics, but this isn't the first time that the ignorant fuck has behaved that way in a show that is not his own. Keep allowing him to be a show host, and you will continue to watch your Alexa ratings drop, because the majority of folks on the internet really don't appreciate Eff's brand of non-humor, and will go elsewhere when shitheads like him are allowed a platform. If this were the first offense for him, I'd be inclined to drop you a line of warning privately, but fuck that. Eff made his statements public, and not for the first time. NowLive has had a chance to deal with the problem and block his IP....he's spat in your face, and in the faces of the more tolerant individuals on the website. I like being part of NowLive, and I hate to see the network being fucked over by a stupid, scared, insecure little boy. Don't even think of approaching me with rancor over my calling him out on this blog, or speaking my mind about him on my own show. If you are angry, take your anger and place it where it belongs: squarely at the EffBomb.

Res Ipsa Loquitor

2008-03-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what prompted Meroll and I to name our podcast Brotherly Love. Okay, that's not true. The actual name came from the sick, demented mind of HeathermfingB on NowLive fame. After hearing my brother and I insulting each other on the air in one of our earlier podcasts, she suggested that we call our show Brotherly Love. It's been a wild ride ever since. In the early days of NowLive, the technology was in beta testing, and the most preferable way to host a show was through Googletalk, which crashed repeatedly. We stuck with it, though, and with NowLive, and these days the shows usually run smoother, with fewer technical glitches.

Meroll is a crazy bastard. In his younger days, he was a Navy SEAL. His vocabulary definitely reflects on his days as a sailor. He and I decided from the beginning that we would not censor ourselves, or allow our show to be censored. Brotherly Love is a show for grown folks, and adults are the audience that we cultivate. Our humor is not for the faint-of-heart, or for those who can't stand a little cussing and bathroom and bedroom humor. Our crewmembers fit right in with us, and everybody goes with the flow.

Sometimes, people on NowLive fuck up, and attract the attention of the Brotherly Love Court of Public Opinion, and must face their peers in an online courtroom. The slightly less-than-honorable judges, Meroll and C-roll, are hanging judges of the old-school variety. Check out our podcasts on I-tunes or in the link to your right. You'll see what I mean.

Enough about us....I have to go pee on Meroll's pillow now, just to let him know that I still love him. Tune in to Brotherly Love on NowLive on Mondays and Wednesdays at 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific. You will be entertained, we promise.

Dysfunctional Sisterhood raises the estrogen level at NowLive

2008-03-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

The redneck women on NowLive needed a show for themselves, so my sister-in-law, Tinaroll, decided to create Dysfunctional Sisterhood, cohosted by Sushiroll and Smokinbeaver. These three women discuss topics of importance, not just for redneck women, but women and men of all backgrounds. Past topics have included “Piloting your Pussy”, “Internet Romance”, “Online Ho's”, and circumcision. No topic is off the table, and the opinions and sound advice of Tina, Sushi, and Smokin flows freely.

My only quibble with Dysfunctional Sisterhood is that the estrogen content runs so high that Tina sometimes loses her sense of perspective, and has been known to stop her show to come to the other side of the house to beat the shit out of me. She can get a little sensitive sometimes, and gets violent when I suggest that she might have an Adam's Apple, or the chest of an eleven-year-old boy. She's touchy about stuff like that, is all I'm saying.

Whether you are a woman looking for advice on relationships, or a man who might want to know how to keep from having the shit beaten out of you, the ladies of Dysfunctional Sisterhood are there to help. Check out their show on Sundays at 7pm Eastern, 4 Pacific on NowLive.

2008-03-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

Today I was gonna take a break from reviewing the shows on RRN, and give everybody some links to visit, finding some weird news stories to give everybody a chuckle. Something happened, though, to make me change my mind, and tell everyone who visits this blog a little bit about love; love as experienced and expressed in the shows of RRN.

A friend and supporter of RRN, (and potentially a member, too) is having some very hard times at the moment. I don't want to mention names, and frankly, names are not relevant here. It's enough to know that someone that I and other folks at RRN care about is having a tough time. It hurts my heart to know that someone that I care about hurts. I'm not unique...among the folks at RRN, there is a lot of love and sympathy when one of our extended family is feeling pain. Hell, every single one of us involved in RRN is having a tough time right now. We all have families, and face daily the trials and fuckups of ourselves and our blood relations.

Blood families have more of a tendency, in my experience, to drag us down rather than build us up. I don't know why it's like that, but it is, and I'll leave that topic to another blog. I'm thinking today of my CHOSEN family; the group of friends that I have accumulated in my 41 years, and of the extended RRN family. Even though I've gone through many hard experiences with my chosen family, I have never been pulled down...I've always been lifted up by the love that I feel coming from Jon, Sharon, Bob, Amanda, Laura, Arch, Tina, Marty, Kelly, Rick, Shelly, Lena, and all the loyal folks in the chats and on the phones when I've had my own problems and trials. When a member of my chosen family is hurting, I hurt with them, and yet am strangely lifted up by our communal love at the same time. We insult each other daily, but all insults are strictly to get all of us to laugh at ourselves and each other.

Come to the shows on RRN. The love that we and our loyal chatters feel for each other is real. Especially come see us if you know how to love. If you don't know how to love, come anyway, and participate in the shows. We will show you how to love, and be loved in return. If you have a burning issue, or personal grief, talk to us. Many, many times we have stopped our comedy to rally around someone who had serious problems, and tried to help them work through their issues. Sometimes, we have only been able to cry with each other, and pray together. Sometimes, it's all that is needed. Get to know us, and be welcomed into the best family on the internet.

Everybody needs a little Wakeup Call with Broken and Smokin

2008-03-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

The best place to spend your weekend breakfast is definitely at Wakeup Call with Broken and Smokin on NowLive.com. Brokenpole and Smokinbeaver are one of the more famous couples on NowLive. Running the show from Morongo Valley, CA and Vicksburgh Mississippi Broken and Smokin take callers from everywhere and interact with the chatboard, playing music, comedy and generally starting everyone's day off with a laugh. Smokinbeaver is the Mama to all of us Redneck Radio freaks of nature. Keeping tarantulas at Casa de Cholla Putamente in Morongo Valley, Smokin ain't afraid to give all of us a dose of the truth delivered with love and profanity. Brokenpole, well.....the poor bastard does his best to shepherd his unruly flock, with plenty of advice from Pastor Rick, NowLive's internet Clergyman in Extremis. The regular chatters and callers swap affection and verbal abuse freely (and sometimes social diseases) with the Host and Hostess.

Everyone is welcomed cheerfully at Wakeup Call with Broken and Smokin, and sometimes abused mercilessly when necessary for comedic value. No one is safe, no subject taboo. If you are awake on Saturdays at the un-American hour of 6am Pacific, treat yourself to the best wakeup call you'll ever get, at home or on the road.

The Doghouse with Baddog kicks ass

2008-03-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

For the opening few blogs, I've decided to showcase one NowLive show at a time, to introduce each one to it's (potential) audience.

Last night, (Friday) was the last night of Beerfest at the Doghouse. Baddog made a foolish bet that he could out-chug Brokenpole. It turns out that Smokinbeaver, Brokenpole's wife, beat Baddog, as well, on cam for the whole world to see. Last night was actually fairly typical of Doghouse entertainment. Many a low insult was thrown at other participants of the chat. The whole chat room watched some of the funniest beer commercials ever. These were pushed from the media board where other NowLive members were posting the YouTube videos. It was fun, loud, vulgar, and at times obscene, once the show went off the NowLive PG-rated widget at the top of the hour.

The Doghouse is an international webcast. One of the Crew members, SaphireGoth, is British. She joins the show from her home in Eastbourne, U.K. In one night of webcasting, the Doghouse chatroom hosted a representative of every one of the British Isles, and Amsterdam. Everyone loves the host, Baddog, and his crew of drunks and sex fiends because the Crew is just stupid enough to actually say what they think (which is usually X-rated) on any and every topic. All insults are exchanged with love and passion. In the Doghouse, after all, the proper greeting for one's peers is an internationally-recognized "fuck you".

Follow the links, peeps, and tune in to the Doghouse on NowLive at 7pm Eastern, 4pm Pacific every Monday thru Friday. You'll be welcomed and well-fucked before you leave the show, trust me.

Redneck Radio Network hits the Blogosphere

2008-03-14T12:20:00.001-07:00

Yup. Here we are. Today this page is created to showcase the webcasts of everyone who is part of the Redneck Radio Network. None of us broadcast on the radio....we all do our webcasts at NowLive. Heh....as a company or a formal network, Redneck Radio Network does not even exist. We are a collection of friends and family engaged in internet entertainment...check out our shows, and see what we are about. In the next couple days, we will add some more stuff, so subscribe if you like. If you don't like, well fuck you. We'll drink your share of the beer.