A Woman from Cairo

Val Landi’s new novel, of A Woman from Cairo, sounds like a page-turner:

“A young Egyptian documentary film maker is recruited by the highest ranks of al Qaeda to create a documentary in Afghanistan about the leadership of the Holy War. The prologue of the book describes the accidental filming of the assassination of The Sheik, a fictionalized Osama bin Laden, and the film maker’s escape with the film footage to Pakistan and eventually back to temporary, fleeting safety in Cairo.”

The novel is in pre-production but there’s a website and the author has a blog.

Masthead Images

A list of masthead images used here at smays.com since we moved to Typepad. All photos by smays unless otherwide indicated:

Town Grill, Jefferson City, MO
Ecco Lounge, Jefferson City, MO
Sunrise Over Learfield, Jefferson City, MO (David Sprague)
Waffle House, Destin, FL
Missouri River, Rocheport, MO
KBOA, Kennett, MO (John Reeder)
Boogie Board Boy, Destin, FL
Sunset, Destin, FL
Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO (David Sprague)
Joe Browning, Memphis, TN (unknown)
Delta Fair Midway, Kennett, MO (Charlies Jolliff)
Delta Fair Midway, Kennett, MO (Charles Jolliff)
Stonebrook Acres Pond, Jefferson City, MO
Whistler, BC (Barb Miltenberger)
KBOA Studio A, Kennett, MO (John Reeder)
Church Attic, somewhere in Mississippi (Charlie Peck)
Parking Lot, Jefferson City, MO
Chili’s, Jefferson City, MO
Day Cruise, Destin, FL (Barb Miltenberger)
Mt. McKinley, Alaska (Jeff Bassinson)
PR Technology Luncheon, January 10, 2006, Clayton, MO.
State Capitol, Madison, WI, Photo by Jackie Johnson, February, 2006.
Joe Browning, Church St., Kennett, MO (Photo by Trish Wareing)
Missouri River, South of Cooper’s Landing 5/28/06
Strip Club, Downtown Kansas City 10/21/06
Whiteout, Kim Lang’s back yard (in or near Omaha, NE – March 1, 2007)

Small town radio: 1976

When my brother moved to Indonesia, he stored a bunch of boxes at our father’s house. After dad died and we sold the house, I lugged the boxes back to Jeff City. My brother and I went through them this week and discovered the treasure above. My hair is gray now and may someday be gone, but I will always have this.

“Captain Banana, who spends most of his days disguised as a mild-mannered local radio personality, will emerge Saturday to serve as master of ceremonies for the American Cancer Society dance-a-thon to raise money for cancer research. The contest will begin at 7:00 p.m.; tickets are $1 at the door.” — Daily Dunklin Democrat, May 12, 1976.

100 Greatest Rock Songs

Radio Randy insists this list is not ‘his’ top 100 rock songs, just “the most familiar songs of our generations.” He promises to post his list later. Whatever the distinction, it’s a pretty good list. At least as good as Lucas Davneport’s list.

Randy’s daughter, Jessica, comments: I hate to say it, but you’ve got a list full of old white guys in recovery. Oh well…its only rock and roll.

Video iPods peg the cool meter

video iPodA video is part of most of our presentations to universities when bidding on the athletic multimedia rights. I’ve never been at one of the presentations but I’ve seen the videos. Lots of snap, crackle and pop. In a recent presentation, our guys loaded up some video iPods (the sexy black ones) with the pitch video and threw in some highlights (TV and radio); a bunch of still images and anything else they could get their hands on. Very high cool factor. The university folks can’t keep such goodies but they can auction them off for a charitable cause or something. The point is, something magical happens when people get these things in their hands. The ear buds go in and they are in…the…zone.

Speaking of iPods… I was in a meeting with some department heads recently where blogging and podcasting came up as marketing tools. I opined that you really need to have and use an iPod to understand the podcasting phenomenon. The head of the division was running the meeting and told each of the department heads to purchase an iPod and learn how to use it. Smart move.