Mike Schulz discusses with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra what a low box-office draw this Memorial Day was — you have to go back to 1995, the summer of Caspar, for a lackluster opening that couldn’t be blamed on a pandemic. Schulz wasn’t expecting Furiosa to break records, being a Hard-“R”-rated film. Still, it must have been tough for him to watch a film crash and burn, financially, in quite the manner that Furiosa, a film devoted to crashing and burning, did.
River Cities’ Reader publisher Todd McGreevy talks with WQUD Morning Show host Pat Jones, who’s taken over the spot from GM Aaron Dail, re recent highlights, both online and within Issue N° 1021. These include the Reader‘s entries for its Spring 2024 Photo Contest (with the winning entry, Kevin Richard Schafer’s “Secret,” as well as the image you see before you) and articles by Kathleen McCarthy (Scott County Appointments to Elected Offices Keep Records Secret and Not Transparent), Rochelle Arnold (Carbon Wolves Pause, For Now), and Ezra Sidran PhD (What We Know Now a Year After the 324 Main Street Disaster). Transparency is the issue’s theme, in particular the QCA’s perennial observance of it in the breach. Forthcoming regional events include the May 28 show by Chicago, a band that’s been together for nearly sixty years and would likely continue for another sixty, were humans not such frail animals, vulnerable at last to the ravages of age. (Jones mentions how his brother would break out the latest Chicago album every time he broke up with his high-school girlfriend — leaving one to ask, How many girlfriends did he have, really? Because Chicago had an album for every year of the Seventies and every other year of the Eighties. That seems to be the window, anyway.) McGreevy also boldfaces Bruce Walters’s Buried Stories: Louie Bellson (1924-2009) as a recommended feature, as local history shot through the lens of gravesites retains a certain evergreen fascination. Walters, who has contributed essays and illustrations for many years, will submit his final work for the Reader, as he is at work on a book — props, Bruce, and thanks for the memories. . .
On today’s show, originally broadcast live on TNTRadio.live, Todd McGreevy & Jason Bermas discuss the recent cover story in the June 2024 River Cities’ Reader: What We Know Now a Year After the 324 Main Street Disaster. Excerpt: Former Davenport City Administrator (who was paid more than $338,000 annually by taxpayers in 2023) Corrine Spiegel, hired the department heads that mismanaged two of the city’s biggest disasters in modern history – the 2019 flood wall failure and the 324 Main St. building collapse – secured a $1.6MM payment for emotional damages and lost wages in secret without a city council vote until after the 2023 municipal elections. Continue reading May 24, 2024 Bermas & McGreevy Talk $1.6MM Nothing Burger + Fractional Vote Counting in Iowa→
Mike Schulz discusses with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra the films that he brought for them from the sea. The haul this week was considerably more plentiful than the one film Schulz saw (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes). Such privations forced them to talk about TV shows. They appear to be stuck in that mindset, as they find other stuff to discuss other than film. Like their childhoods, and whether or not they had imaginary friends.
On today’s show, originally broadcast live on TNTRadio.live, Todd McGreevy explains the function and importance of the Grand Jury process. Todd also comments on the tragic 2023 collapse of The Davenport – a six-story apartment building in Davenport, Iowa that was generally considered by residents and the public to be noticeably “not up to code” and suffered as a result of poor management, malfeasance and corruption. Watch then entire Jason Bermas first hour at https://tntvideo.podbean.com/e/todd-mcgreevy-on-the-jason-bermas-show-18-may-2024/
Mike Schulz has only one full-fledged film to discuss with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, directed by Wes Fall and starring Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H Macy. Compared to the bravura direction of Matt Reeves (2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes), Fall’s is workmanlike — that is to say, competently executed. Competence, particularly in this era, isn’t anything to disesteem outright. Nonetheless, one returns to the words of the Twentieth Century dramatic critic John Mason Brown: “The more one has seen of the good, the more one asks for the better.” If you can tell a story well, then good on ya; but if you can make that story stick in peoples’ heads for decades to come. . .
Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra continue a prior discussion of their mutual fondness for Marcia Strassman, of Welcome Back, Kotter and MASH fame,
On today’s show, broadcast live on TNT Radio, Todd McGreevy comments on the problem with bureaucracy taking over on the local level as exampled by recent reporting from River Cities’ Reader on how Scott County appointments to elected offices are keeping records secret and not being transparent. Full video episode at this link here: https://tntvideo.podbean.com/e/todd-mcgreevy-bryce-eddy-on-the-jason-bermas-show-04-may-2024/
Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra just can’t seem to get enough of each other. They discuss the habit of recent films to distinguish films as pre- and post-COVID pandemic and the seeming return of sex to the cinema, sans Purex. And not a moment too soon, apparently.
