If you've been a fan of the genius of Phil Hendrie as I have, you know that there is a BIG difference between the Phil of old, vs the Phil of new. It is almost too depressing to get into a recital of all of the things that are different now in Phil's show than what he used to deliver to us, but let me highlight one of them: Phil now is way too angry. He has been preaching to us for a year, now, about how we needed to look the other way concerning Obama's past associations, how it is time for a new age of American politics, blah, blah, blah. It seemed that he forgot COMPLETELY about the magic talent that convinced legions of us to follow this man to the ends of the dial.
I remember listening to Phil from KFI over the internet in 1998. I had a radio buddy who also loved the Mad Hatter, and I went to the extra trouble to construct a crude recording mechanism for capturing the daily stream of radio comedy: I would use my hand-held voice recorder, sitting in front of my bulky computer speakers, to record this man's brilliance.
This, of course, was before the advent of archived radio shows on third-party servers, or the RIAA's lawsuit, forcing all radio stations to halt their online radio streaming, for fear of being sued by the artist's union for not compensating their voice actors for the increased audiences to which their voices were being broadcast.
Alas, nowadays, one has to patiently put up with DAYS of monologue, diatribe, and preaching to find just one jewel of aural ecstasy from the man. I know, because I catch the feed straight from Talk Radio Network nightly.
It is sad.
It really makes a man clutch his old recordings of Phil in a new way. Snivelling, almost whimpering, I treat these decades-old wav files of Phil as if they were The Arc Of The Covenant. It seems like a different world since Obama got elected last week...and Phil didn't come back.
He has kept up his anger and his preaching, despite getting exactly what he wanted: Obama's election. Like a little child who puts up with a raging father day in and day out, waiting endlessly for the time when ol' Pop will get too drunk to continue his terror, then pass out...I was waiting on Phil.
Hell, I wanted the election over a LONG time before now, but not only out of exhaustion of the mainstream media's fawning over Barry, but because Phil's show was being COMPLETELY monopolized by the issue. I, mistakenly, was thinking that the Old Phil would return to the airwaves after he got what he wanted.
This was not to be so. Dammit.
Without an election to rail about, Phil seems to be fumbling around to find something, anything, to rage about. Now that the air is free of political conflict in a big way, he seems to be hunting in deeper recesses of society for something to remain angry about. Is it the increasing joblessness our nation is facing? No. How about the stock market? No.
Phil is now filling much of his air time each night with: Dr Dobson, of Focus On The Family. See, Phil is a practicing Catholic who hates preachers. He tries to convince the listener that his criticisms of Dobson are bona fide because he attends mass regularly, and therefore tells you and I what the real truth is.
This is all about homosexuality and how Prop 8 failed in California last week. Like the many protestors who pelted the Westwood Mormon churchgoers with epithets and hatred, Phil needs a target to focus his anger on. It isn't the African American or the Latino communities, but it should be. They were the two voting blocs who were largely responsible for passing Prop 8.
Nope, instead, it is a gentle old soul who tries to help those of us who may need a little guidance in life. And not just the kind of guidance suggested by those advocates in the streets, or even Phil himself. Just what else of substance is there to absorb, if not meaningful life lessons from those dedicated to the cloth? Desperate Housewives? American Idol? Howard Stern?
I'm sorry, but the philosophy coming from 99% of the airwaves, be it tv, radio, or even the internet, is vapid and moronic. So many churches have become nothing more than businesses, also. Finding something that speaks to the better angels in us is rare, these days, without being attached to money. Why pick on a radio speaker who is loved by millions, asks nothing of you and I in the way of monthly subscriptions, and speaks from a deep well of care and thoughtfulness?
Well, last night, in day 3 of Phil's [boring] rant against Dr Dobson's induction into the Radio Hall Of Fame, an African American man called in to offer Phil a little insight. Up until now, Phil had been assaulting Dr Dobson for quotes on family instruction that came from the Daily Kos, which obviously hates things like Focus On The Family.
The interaction went something like this:
CALLER: You know, Phil, I've listened to Dr Dobson for 20 years, and if anyone ever got on his program and said that they hated homosexuals, he wouldn't have anything to do with them, and would condemn that kind of thinking immediately.
PHIL: Well...
CALLER: I mean, you don't have to HATE homosexuals to be against Prop 8. Dr Dobson has NEVER said that we should hate anyone, much less homosexuals.
From there, the conversation stuttered along, with Phil trying to pin some specific advice he found "weird" (allowing a young son to shower with dad once to see the male genitalia), on Dr Dobson, which this lifelong listener of Dobson had NEVER heard. It just fizzled out, bringing to the forefront how vacant this presentation of Phil's is these days.
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