Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Good pipes 

A great part of subbing for Prager yesterday was my first time on the air with James Lileks. The voice is what strikes you, not because of his diminutive stature but because he doesn't really sound the same to me off the air as on, and the on-air voice has a song-like quality. Singing is easier on the vocal cords than talking (for most people, unlike Joe Cocker or Tom Waits), and it seems to me his words come out easier, more melodious, when one puts the mike in front of him. I have been a singer, but my on-air voice doesn't have that quality unless I'm reading a bit of text (in which case, inexplicably, I get this Virginian accent that is the legacy of my first wife. I try very hard not to sound like my New Hampshire roots.) Unlike Mitch, who attacks the mike for talk radio as if he was fronting his Iron City Houserockers -- though not as bad as Margaret seems to think (and we've seen David, dear, and you might want to linger before the half-the-caf at the co-op next week) -- James is as placid as John Edwards' hair.

As James reported today, Gnat was in tow, and I had to whip out the camera phone for a shot. Gnat understands property rights, unlike Sam who's possessed her iBook. This accounts for Gnat's ho-humminess. Sam will receive a copy of Steal this iBook soon.



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