Seven Words You Can Never Say...About George Carlin

Shy, Retiring, Timid, Dull, Tepid, Unfeeling, Aversive? Not a chance.

George Carlin, a personal hero of mine, was not afraid of words. He was not afraid to dissect them, challenge commonly accepted meanings of them or even go to jail for them (as he did in the early 70's for disturbing the peace for uttering the infamously famous 7 dirty words you can't say..." at a show in Wisconsin.

Carlin's 6 o'clock News with Hal Sleet, Biff Burns, etc. was the first recollection I have of him. However, as a seventh grader, I was brought into his world through "Class Clown" and "FM & AM." My best buddy, Bill Rosenfeld would do dead-on impressions of Carlin and we would laugh for hours.

I, like many others, will miss him, because he taught us that there is nothing more subversive than a thought-provoking idea. I consider myself provoked. I'd say "Rest in Peace, George", but he'd probably say something like "rest in peace?--Fuck it, I'm dead."

Watching the Color Pictures Flying Through the Air

Tom Snyder, curmudgeonly, cerebral TV celebrity newsman and talk show host succumbed to leukemia at the age of 71. No that anyone though that he would ever live that long, the way he smoked. However, as a kid growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Snyder was a giant. Who else interviewed John Lennon, Ayn Rand, and Charles Manson? And he interviewed that person for an hour--can you imagine?

With his constant banter with people both on and off screen, he spoke as if it he didn't give a damn who was on the receiving end of the TV camera, the show was for his entertainment and elucidation. He said, “I have never fallen in love with my own voice, but I've always had an attraction for it.”

So Tom, if you are out there, "Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air."