Gifts to the Valley

From the vaults.

In the spirit of the season, let me give you a few jewels from deep within the catacombs of my legendary archives.

First let's unwrap this program from an appearance by the Grateful Dead at the Springfield Civic Center on June 30, 1974. This is the front cover. (click to enlarge)



Here is the first inside pages. The capsule review of the Dead's career to that point is quite good. (click to enlarge)



Notice in the top left corner advertisement there is a Loggins and Messina concert coming up with a little known band opening for them called The Doobie Brothers. Loggins and Messina would soon break-up and fade away but the Doobies would become enduring superstars. (click to enlarge)



Notice the price of the albums. (click to enlarge)



This is the back of the program.



Here is a 1993 program guide for WNNZ when I had a Sunday radio show. (click to enlarge)



At one point this was a promotional contest WNNZ ran. (click to enlarge)



Before he actually announced he was running for mayor of Springfield, Mike Albano told this first of many lies.



When former City Councilor Tony Ravosa ran against Richard Neal for Congress in 1992 he had the following cartoon as part of his promotional material. Shown sitting atop the Springfield Newspapers building is publisher David Starr, manipulating his puppet Richie Neal while his editors look on. The paper was called the Union-News in those days. (click to enlarge)



Once upon a time, in a kingdom long ago and far away (yet still quite familiar) there lived a brave young knight the people called SIR ANTHONY THE MAVERICK. He resided in the "Fiefdom of Homes" called ARSONVILLE where the Knights of the Roundtable, all except SIR ANTHONY, lived by the motto, "Go Along to Get Along." But SIR ANTHONY lived by a different motto: "Time for a Change!"

The other Knights of the Roundtable took orders from the COURT PUPPETEER and the evil town crier, THE STORYTELLER. But the COURT PUPPETEER and THE STORYTELLER and their band of MERRY MONEY MAKERS preferred to work in the shadows, away from the public's view, and so they had KING RICHARD THE FIRST serve as their pawn and to shield ther evil deeds from view. If anyone tried to challenge KING RICHARD, or expose THE PUPPETEER and his band of MERRY MONEY MAKERS, THE STORYTELLER would weave a web of lies to turn the people against KING RICHARD's enemies.

So it was, that when SIR ANTHONY discovered that the wicked TAX COLLECTOR was burning down the peasant's shacks, in order to collect the insurance, the brave young knight called upon THE STORYTELLER to alert the people of the evil deeds. Instead, THE STORYTELLER, afraid that the scandal would tarnish the glory of KING RICHARD and upset the MERRY MONEY MAKERS, told the people that SIR ANTHONY was a villain and a maverick who was disloyal to the sacred code of "Go Along to Get Along."

THE STORYTELLER (who like all bullies was a coward at heart) finding no lies suitable to discredit SIR ANTHONY, chose instead to attack SIR ANTHONY's family. THE STORYTELLER harrassed SIR ANTHONY's father, the owner of a humble tavern, with unsubstantiated tales of petty infractions of Arsonville's business codes (while turning a blind eye to much more serious transgressions by THE MERRY MONEY MAKERS).

But the people were not fooled. They had seen brave SIR ANTHONY stand tough against THE STORYTELLERS relentless attacks, and they recognised at last that SIR ANTHONY was their true champion. One fair day in November, the people took to the streets, waving their brooms and exclaiming, "More than the streets need cleaning!" as the multitudes descended on their polling places and swept KING RICHARD from his throne. From that day forward, with SIR ANTHONY to defend them, the people of Arsonville lived happily ever after.

THE END
(of the King and his Court)

Pine Point's Doyle the Twig Painter did this portrait of me in 1992.



For a long time activist Eamon O'Sullivan had a nasty feud going with Springfield Newspapers editor Larry McDermott. I never knew fully what it was all about, but it got quite personal at times, as the letters below show. Eamon apparently accused the paper of not being able to cover Springfield adequately because so many of their top personnel lived in Longmeadow. McDermott responds by calling Eamon "a deeply bitter and beaten man." (click to enlarge)



Eamon in turn responds with an intimidating attack of latin phrases. (click to enlarge)



Someday, somebody (me?) will write the modern history of our Valley, and it will be better than any soap opera there ever was.