Danny Bloom’s newspaper obit song: Praise from Carl Bernstein and at least 1/2 an Ear
In the newspaper love department, I’m a piker compared to Danny Bloom, an American journalist living in Taiwan.
Check out a YouTube of a song he wrote, I Just Can’t Live (Without My Snailpaper). I linked to it earlier from my semi-traitorous post telling how my old factory town newspaper in Ohio could use the Internet more effectively.
Now I hear that Danny’s song has two new fans from the old Washington Star, for which he was a freelance cartoonist. “Delightful,” says Carl Bernstein, mentioned in the song, which in effect is an obit for the paper editions that the Web is imperiling.
The other fan is Diana McLellan—half of The Ear, the memorably impish gossip column at the Star. The Ear was a partial inspiration for The Elephant in The Solomon Scandals. Louise Lague was the other half.
“I bet you’re the only writer of a musical obit for newspapers in the world,” Ms. McLellan tells Danny, shown at right. “What energy! What rhythm! Long may you wave.”
So far, All Things Considered has not acted on Danny suggestion to play Snailpaper. That’s a mistake. Perhaps Danny can score at On the Media. Ideally, too, he can hear from someone else in his song, Ben Bradlee, editor of the Washington Post in the Watergate days.
Related: Ning site for Washington Star alumni (where I found the newsroom photo) and a Facebook group and blog called “Overheard in the Newsroom.” Also see how Chris Meadows of the TeleRead e-book site reacted to Danny’s song.
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March 6th, 2010 - 20:13
Hear! Hear! and Here! Here! Long may your new novel shine in both print and ebook editions and find its audience on its own terms. Go go go, maestro!
March 14th, 2010 - 11:01
Thanks, Danny! — Divad Namhtor