Mike Feder Tribute to Lynn Samuels - Thursday, 12/29

One of Lynn's favorite people, Mike Feder, will be talking about her on Thursday on PRN.FM at 1PM

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com

Also, he'll be doing a tribute on SiriusXM Left 127 on Saturday night starting at 6PM EST (and taking calls about 30 minutes into it)

Comments

[TruckerGitty]

I had read, Lynn was laid to rest today. Does anyone have info on this??? Billy, Thank you for the pod casts. It's hard Because every-time I listen I cry. Yes thats right Truckers R cry baby's! At least us that have a soft spot for Lynn! Always has been!!!

[Laura]

Here's what AVM graciously posted in another comment thread. PS Billy, thanks for the new 'comments' space.

This makes it all too real http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=82559434 Lynn's Findagrave entry

[TruckerGitty]

Thanks Laura I posted there. But also read on twitter- "@scottmsommer Scott Sommer
2day we laid friend & great radio persona @lynnsamuels 2 rest. Taught me so much about radio & friendship. I miss her. #WBAI #WABC #siriusxm" I checked this morning and couldn't find a obit.

[jason]

I really enjoyed Mike's tribute and I'm looking foward to his Saturday show on Sirius. As someone who's only been listening to Lynn since 2006, it was really great to get a lot of insight to her personal life. I don't feel like he was too harsh on her, minus calling her unattractive.

[Blooming Idiot]

Anytime I hear Lynns voice I cry.

[White Man In Hammersmith Ballroom]

I am glad Sirius is repeating the Bey/ Bennett tribute Saturday morning, first on Sirius Left at 7 and then on Stars 2 at 10. The tribute was na wonderful memorial to Lynn's memory. I will give a pass to Grumpytrucker who complained about the tribute based on the fact that he is mourning like he rest of us and needsna place p vent his ange. Trust me, Richard Bey did a fantastic job, especially the third hour.

[White Man In Hammersmith Ballroom]

Sorry abut the typos again! Fucking iPad., hard to type at 2 in the morning.

[Logan Waters]

Lynn tribute page, with:

Mike Feder's tribute show.
Bey/Bennett tribute show.
Lynn's final shows.

http://sameritech.wordpress.com/

Great job, Mas Snave/sameritech.

Thanks!

[Joann Jovinelly]

It is so bittersweet to listen to Lynn's final shows, yet I would eagerly pay for more. Anyone have any ideas about how her work may be archived? And to her family: Perhaps some paper ephemera could be saved for a tribute website? I'm sure she had plenty of lists, personal writing, articles she had cut out, photos, etc. I want her life to be celebrated, damn it. She was taken from us far too soon. I love you, Lynn. Thanks for all the laughter over the years.

[lana]

I just can't believe Lynne is gone. I can hear her voice in my mind, "Who gives a F**K". Sometimes, I am sitting quietly wondering how she would view 2012, and the Mayan calender 21Dec2012. It just seems so odd that she left us too soon. Sorry Lynne fans if wasn't for her 1pm=3pm Sirius show, I don't know how I would have gotten through the most difficult times of my life. Billy, how can we have a Lynne Samuels tribute so all her fans can get together to pay our tributes to her. I've called her many times & yeah, she hung up on me, of course Lynne did that sometimes. I will miss Cindy, Mark, the truck driver & his grandson calling in.

[grumpytrucker]

I encourage everyone to listen to the repeats of Richard Bey's tribute.

If you get something out of it, good for you. That's what it's about.

But it wasn't mourning or venting on my part... I just found it to be 3 hours of the most uncomfortable, awkward, half-hearted, self-serving, politically motivated and clueless radio I've ever heard.

But by all means, knock yourself out.

Am looking forward to hearing the tribute tomorrow on Left at 6 pm.

And thanks Billy for putting up a new thread.

I still can't believe Lynn is gone.

[Gail]

Check out WBAI's web site (http://wbai.org/) for info on 2 shows that will be paying tribute to Lynn tomorrow. The shows are not solely about Lynn but should be interesting anyway.
Also, Bob Fass mentioned Lynn on his show last night. He was one of the first people to put Lynn on the air when she was his sound engineer at WBAI.

[Logan Waters]

So about Mike's tribute...

He was slow getting started, but once underway things got interesting quickly.

Mike has always been nothing if not honest on-air, and honesty is what we got with Lynn's eulogy.

Mike said some unflattering things, some shocking things, some complimentary things.

Mostly Mike said sad things, or at least told us about things we'd never have known... that were tinged with sadness.

It was a real insider's look at Lynn's early BAI years, and I appreciated hearing it.

But I must say I felt worse after Mike's "alt funeral service" than before.

For me, this has been strangely like a relative dying... Very, very odd and disconnected at first.

Especially when someone from the person's job comes to the funeral and enlightens us to a side of the deceased that we may not have known was there.

What did everyone else think of Mike's show?

[grumpytrucker]

I wasn't able to hear it.

Don't have speakers working on this laptop.

Can you give me the unedited Cliff's notes?

I can't believe I could hear anything shocking.

Racism? Yawn.
Whore? Been there, done them.
Lesbian? Send me some pics, please.

I think most of us.. while jarred by this.. still have some perspective.

All I give a shit about Lynn was that she was cool to me and let me terrorize her website and that she cared about me.

And she was great radio, of course.

[catnipper123]

I hate to be critical of these guys who tried to pay tribute to Lynn but I think what we're all probably missing is Lynn as experienced by the listeners.
Neither Richard or Mike listened as regularly as any of us. Mike said he listened just now and then.
The rest of us listened every chance we got and some of us (guilty) planned their lives around her shows.
Richard and Mike didn't know/love Nina.
They didn't know/love the callers.
They didn't know her opinions - as many of the posters have poignantly reminded us- to everything from plastic bags to killer dogs to Ron Paul to Whole Food dates to Stephen King and Patti Smith to well you all already know.
I know she's gone (I guess) but my ears were aching to hear something familiar and comforting - her music, her callers, her voice.

[Logan Waters]

Cliff notes ver?

Sure, although I won't do Mike justice...

So he started off talking about how he'd met Lynn at WBAI, describing the the station as the most incredibly leftist entity with an antenna attached in the Western hemisphere.

He said Lynn was the Loudest Human Being In The World - both on-air and in person. That she was a virtuoso of cursing - in person as well as on-air.

He remarked that for all the talking Lynn did, she didn't like to talk about her personal life much at all - not the really deep stuff. Like...

She had several long-term relationships with men. All of which ended badly, some of which were abusive (on the men's part).

Said that Lynn could have had a much bigger career if she could have just toned-down the accent. But, of course, this was Lynn. So that was impossible.

He said that Lynn's radio "persona" was closer to the real Lynn than any other radio personality he'd ever met. So that being a Lynn listener was pretty darned close to actually knowing Lynn.

He said that Lynn was all heart - but we knew that part.

Mike was the (new) assistant manager @ WBAI when they met. She came in to see him (her hair looking like she'd run a lawnmower over it), screaming as she made her way down the hall.

"Goddamn it, are you the new guy here? You fired George? Are you some kinda goddamn dictator, you goddamned idiot?" And so on, really, really angry.

So, Mike shut the door.

Lynn... kicked the door in (!) and offered to throw Mike out the window. Then she got really nasty.

Mike, having a temper himself, and being a big guy... picked Lynn up, and threw her on the floor!

Lynn... looked up and smiled.

And they were friends ever since.

Mike mentioned how Lynn was disappointed from having been fired by WABC - three times - for not toeing the "conservative" line.

And she was disappointed by being marginalized and moved by Sirius, of course.

Now comes the shocker.

Mike said that what really, really broke Lynn's heart was - hang on to something - Matt Drudge.

He said that she "fell in love, platonically" with Drudge when he she was his call-screener on ABC. That she used to fly to FL to visit him.

And that, one day, he just called off the relationship, cold.

Mike said she never got over it; never got over Drudge.

Now having heard Drudge, this makes as much sense to me as Lynn having fallen in love with a wombat, and being depressed when the wombat moved to Adelaide and called it off.

But Mike meant what he said, and I believe him.

Ultimately, he said, Lynn was an incredibly lonely person.

He said that more than anything else, Lynn wanted love.

How very sad.

How very human.

I hope that now, at last, she knows love.

**********************************

Phew. No more Cliff notes for me...

[MontanaMaven]

Thanks for this open thread. I was in despair all this week with the thought of not hearing Lynn on Saturday and Sunday. I need a f**king Lynn support group or I am "doomed", "doomed", I tell ya. And I agree with grumpytrucker that some of the Richard Bey tribute was awful and not a fitting tribute by yammering on about Obama mostly in the first 2 hours. Why have Mark Thompson on to talk about Obama? 3rd hour was the best. Alice from Arkansas was my heroine by calling in and giving Richard a piece of her mind. (If you can only listen to one hour,listen to the 3rd with Alice. And Drew and Terry made wonderful points about Lynn as Cicero, a philosopher.) That's f**king right! She had real conversations because unlike most radio hosts, she listened and didn't interrupt to show how much smarter she was than anybody else.
What a talent! What a unique voice.
"We're doomed".

[Walter Graff]

Don't know if many of you know but Lynn was a call screener for Drudge and then for years was his staunchest supporter constantly telling folks to go to his website every day. When she died he buried a little link to her obit and now that I look its gone. What a loser. Just posted both in his report news box on the lower right of his website and emailed him to tell him what I think about how he treated a woman who did more for him than anyone. I wish you all would do so to.

Go to his site and look in the lower right column. It's a box that says "Send News Tips to Drudge". Let him know there how you feel about him brushing of Lynn and then email him at

drudge@drudgereport.com

I said:

Shame on you!!! All Lynn Samuels did for you over the years, working with you and publicizing you and your website, and her death is just a link to a obituary that you seem to have since eliminated. Shows the kind of person you are. Loser!!!!

[nick, matawan nj]

we're fucked!!! lynn is gone. she was a comedic genius as well as an intellectual giant. there are only a few radio personalities even worth bothering to listen to. i could, and did listen to her live and on replays every chance i got. sirius should be ashamed of themselves for reducing her on air time especially when they have so much garbage on thier stations.
the fucknuts that run sirius should be downsized themselves.
i'm almost embaressed to admit how affected i am at lynns passing as i dont remember being this sad at most of my relatives wakes. i will continue to listen to any podcasts available of this most brilliant and loving individual. missing you tremendously lynn!!!

[grumpytrucker]

I can totally see the Drudge thing.

Totally.

He's a (tell me who this sounds like) scowling, curmudgeon who thinks/knows that he's smarter than most others. And a loner. And he wore a fifties style newsman's hat.

Plus, he invented an idea that changed the whole fucking world. Using technology. Which, I know Lynn always said she was no good with technology, but then she'd talk about tons of gadgets that she owned that I don't. She had everything. Multiple everythings. She was a techno geek. Regardless of how savvy she may have been.

I know you all are programmed to reflexively hate Drudge because of his politics. But put all that aside.

If you were a 60's leftist woman who was a curmudgeon and a loner and super interested in technology and grew up in and around newsrooms...

And in strolls a tall, scowling, angry guy wearing a newsman's hat like he just walked out of 50's Cary Grant movie... and oh by the way just revolutionized the entire world with way news is disseminated... using cutting edge technology that you don't even know how to operate yet...

You would fall too.

Thanks tons, Logan.

As far as emailing Drudge. I heard Alex Bennett saying that Drudge owed her more. But Lynn was not a household name. My Dad is very politically in tune and 65 years old... and he'd never heard of her. So I consider his mention to be very gracious. If he made her the top story, his readers would have been like, "Who?"

And as far as Lynn wanting love... that's ALL of us. I think that's the way most people live and die. Even the people who are married... we all know these people... most of them I know are fucking miserable and hate each other. I can only think of two couples that I know where I'm like... "Those two are in love with each other." The rest of them have an arrangement that either works a little or they tolerate.

Anyhoo... thanks again so much Logan.

I'm realizing now that I don't really have anything to do with my computer. I used to stop the truck and throw it open.. spend about 30 seconds doing work and then go to Lynn's site and start hurling insults.

Now I don't know what to do.

[jay]

I dont know what to do either. What I have been doing is driving... listening to uploaded shows from last month and laughing out loud...but I have cried some also.. never would have guessed that I would be this upset !

[Alice from Johnstown PA]

Just a note to explain the two Alice's. There is Alice from Arkansas and Alice from Pa. We both have called a number of times but I believe Alice from Ark is more well known, but I, Alice from PA...Johnstown PA have listened a long time and called her frequently and emailed her once in a while. I am the one who called into Richard Bey's Memorial Show and called him out on his Obama BS and I said Lynn would be furious at the Obama pillow fluffing.
Alice from PA

[Laura]

I remember you, Alice in PA. Your conversations with Lynn were always lengthy and interesting as Lynn clearly enjoyed talking to you! I'd recognize your voice when you'd call. Your push back on Richard Bey was just as exciting for me the second time around! HA! Good for you! I heard it again today when I tuned-in for the third hour of "the tribute". Lynn brought so many interesting people into our lives; I'll miss hearing from you, Alice in PA. --Laura

[a dedicated fan]

I recall back when Lynn was on WABC (don't remember the exact dates) and Drudge was directly after her show, she would stay as a guest on Drudge's show for about half an hour into his show. I continued to listen to his show after hers because I knew that she would always stay, but it was always jarring how much more pedantic, patronizing and ultimately, boring, he was than she was. I couldn't listen to him once she left.

[Arkinsaw]

Yes, it was Alice in PA. And this Alice was cheering her on from Arkansas. You Alice were the best part of the show. I didn't call in because I have issues with Alex, and it totally pissed me off that he was there, spewing his theories of why Lynn hated him. He posted on his Facebook page the following, "Some say the reason was that back in the ‘70’s I snubbed her. Personally, I don’t even remember meeting her."

That's classic Alex. He doesn't remember her because he's totally ego-centric. Can any of you believe that if you had met Lynn you wouldn't remember her? Lynn disliked Alex because he's a self-centered prick who does no show prep and screwed over a friend of hers. I listened to him say on the show that she was wrong, but given the choice, I know whose word I believe.

To listen to him say he did show prep all the time? What a lie. He reads the news in the NY Times. And Albert gives him a list of stories every morning. That's his show prep. Then he doesn't remember most of what he's read. Compared to Lynn he's a no talent hypochondrical boring hack.

Well, sorry to go on about Alex. I guess I'm in the anger stage of grief.

Alice in Arkansas