I enjoyed the forum, and you did good, but as you say, I'm sure it was hard to get a word in edgewise.  John Jay is an eloquent speaker, who does tend to run on, but he is interesting.  And, you did good for the home team! I got the feeling that you were the only dem on there.  In Humphrey's discussion about the differences among the three regions of Tennessee, the accents displayed by the panel says it all.  John Jay has that Old South, Nashville accent, and Tom has the mountain accent, and you have a nice Knoxville accent.  Cool!

Chris Lydon couldn't resist injecting a few cliches in his descriptions of geography.

Yeah, I thought the repeated "Beale Street Blues vs. Dolly Parton" meme was more than a little condescending. He did manage to ask some intelligent questions about the reasons for historic loyalties in each of the three Grand Divisions though, and he followed up with intelligent questions for all the panelists.

Randy, I thought you did very well on this program. Your insight into the election was cogent, well-articulated, and intelligently reasoned. If I'd been on the air with Hooker, I'd have been reduced to stammering and mumbling something about admiring his chutzpah or something equally stupid. The man's a legend; although he has become a gadfly shadow of his former self, he's just as fiery as ever.

--Socialist With A Gold Card

Eeeeuuuugh.

Yankees talk funny.

Did you think Christopher Lydon sounds a little like Garrison Keillor?

And don't forget, in East Tennessee we're all hillbillys.

Off topic, but what the hey. For what it's worth, Knoxville was home to the live Tennessee Barn Dance on WNOX on Saturday evenings. Archie Campbell was one of the hosts of the show for a time. For a while, the show was broadcast live from the old Lyric Theatre (opera house) on Gay Street (now the First Tennessee Bank tower).

But, yeah, the Midday Merry-Go-Round is usually supposed to be the show of noteworthy recognition when talking about musical history around here.

Carry on.