Studio 360 Kurt Anderson on Mel Brooks

   On today’s Studio 360 radio program 4/18/15 Spring Special Kurt Andersen started a question of Mel Brooks with the phrase,
“So you’re in the writer’s room of Your Show of Shows and…” then he asked how The 2000 Year Old Man comic routine got started. An excellent question at the start of an excellent interview.
   But… He missed a trick when he did not ask how Brooks got to be a writer on Your Show of Shows.
   Sid Caesar’s “Show” was the most popular program on TV (at a time when TV was just getting started).   

The 2000 Year Old Man was a groundbreaking moment in mid-century comedy, but the aim of that part of the Andersen's interview was to discover how Brooks got started. What were things like in the salad days?
The atomic moment, the big break, was not The 2000 Year Old Man but it was getting the start with Sid Caesar. The first question should have been, “How did you get to be a writer on Your Show of Shows? How did you get into the writers room?

12 Bars For Ramblin' Burt

Ramblin’ Bert Will Never Die.

One of my proudest moments was when I won a CD from Ramblin’ Bert.  I was listening to his blues show on WECS, the radio Station of Eastern Connecticut State University, and he had a contest.  First caller to identify the song wins the CD.  I called and won.  WOW!  He signed it for me and it sits proudly in my music collection. Ramblin’ Burt Cournoyer was a Blues connoisseur.  He could feel the sound, and he could share that feeling with us.  Now he’s sharing a mighty bass line with the heavenly choir.  

Born Alfred Bertram Cournoyer, in Webster, Massachusetts on December 29, 1938 he used a shortened form of his middle name as part of his radio handle.  We lost him on October 25, 2014.

He had an encyclopedic knowledge of Blues, from early roots music to contemporary, up and coming acts.  He was active in the Connecticut music scene and the Connecticut radio world.  It helps to understand the Blues if you live near a river.  
He started spinning sounds on WECS in the late 1980s.  Ramblin’ Burt would listen to blues anywhere and he’d talk about them anywhere:  bars, festivals, concerts, and even Elks Club talent nights.   

He was a stop on the blues circuit and everyone wanted to be interviewed by Ramblin’ Burt.  He had a gravelly voice and a Northern Connecticut Border accent that just went perfectly with the music he played.

J. Z. Zatowski of WECS tells us that he was instrumental in developing the blues library at the station.  “The Blues will be a little bit bluer without Ramblin’ Burt,” said Zatowski.  The Connecticut Blues community shares the sense of loss that must be felt by his family. His life enriched us all.  
There’s something about the Blues, something about rivers, and something about Ramblin’ Bert;  they just keep on rollin’.