Daily Archives: July 6, 2010

Bob 'Wild Child' Oakes, Transported

Published July 6, 2010

Sure, you’ve woken up with him every morning for years. But you barely know the man.

WBUR’s Bob Oakes remembers the summer of 1975:

Cassettes blasting for hours and hours on the road in my summer of 1975 coast-to-coast-to-coast tour with friends in Bob’s Ford Window Van — the one with six huge speakers in the walls, shag carpet on the floor and a bed in the back. From Massachusetts to Wyoming and Colorado and California and back, it was Bob the “Wild Child,” too many stories, most never told and never repeated.

Yeah, it’s for real. Bob traveled back in time last night, to Tanglewood, for an evening with James Taylor and Carole King. You must read his review.

Requisite Heat Wave Post

Published July 6, 2010

Token heat wave photo (AP)

Token heat wave photo (AP)

It’s hot. Ninety degrees as I write. And the heat won’t let up for days. It’s the first heat wave of the year, which always brings the predictable heat-wave stories.

They’ve all been done. The socioeconomic implications? Yup. Crime? Done. How to identify heat stroke? Funding for municipal pools? Old people without air conditioning? The demand on public utilities? Water sales? Sunscreen advice?  Lost productivity? Global warming? DONE.

In the morning news meeting today, we puzzled over how to cover a serious public health emergency without resorting to clichés. We decided to ask you.

How should we cover this story today? How is the heat affecting you right now? Are you laying asphalt today? Are you at the beach? (Why are you reading my blog on a day like this?)

While I have you, here are a few helpful resources for the weeklong swelter: