Morning News

Well, as you know, we’re going to be seeing a few changes in the mornings here at CBS 2. Don, Roseanne and Ed won’t be on the morning show anymore, but you’ll still see plenty of them later in the day. Roseanne will still be doing the 11 a.m. news with Harry Porterfield, and you’ll see her reporting in the afternoons too. And you’ll see Don and Ed doing the weather on the 11, and on weekends as well.

And we’re all looking forward to the start of something brand new here at CBS 2. Starting Monday, expect to hear discussions, opinions and maybe some heated debates between some of the foremost experts in sports and finance, respectively – Dan Jiggetts, Mike North, Terry Savage and Mike Hegedus. Susan will be doing news and traffic updates, and Mary Kay will be doing the weather. Check out “Monsters & Money in the Morning” at 5 a.m. Monday morning.
And finally, yes, the rumors are true. This is the last entry for the CBS 2 Morning News blog. We won’t be updating this blog after today. But we’ll have a whole new and exciting page for our new show. Look for it on Monday morning.

Here are some well-wishes from Ed and Roseanne.

Later.

-30-

You may notice a theme here.

Leaving on a Jet Plane - Peter, Paul & Mary (You may think this John Denver-penned oldie is wimpy, but it got Ed dancing and swaying.)
Beautiful Day - U2
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Boom Boom Pow - The Black Eyed Peas
The End of the World as We Know It - REM
Please Don't Leave Me - Pink
Say What You Need to Say - John Mayer
The End - The Doors

But maybe you do want something more family-friendly this weekend. Well, you could always go out in the backyard and build a snowman, and then pretend that he’s Parson Brown, and threaten to have him defrocked for stealing from the collection plate.
But it’s in the single digits. You could get frostbite. And there isn’t a lot of snow on the ground anyway.
Well then, why not look at some other people’s snow sculptures? You’ll have the opportunity through Sunday right along Michigan Avenue in Grant Park, and the sculptures you’ll see will be a little more sophisticated than snowmen with carrot noses and eyes made of old batteries.

One of the sculptors, Bryan Lane, talked with Roseanne and Ed this morning.

Snow sculpting is on through tomorrow at 3 p.m., and you can cast your vote for the best sculpture tomorrow between 11 and 4 p.m. There will be an awards ceremony (open to the public) at the Chicago Hilton & Towers’ 3rd floor Waldorf Room.
 For more about Snow Days Chicago, click here.

Catcher in the Rye is no The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy. And in much the same fashion, “Killer Joe” is no “Lizard Music” or “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.” It’s not a family play by any stretch of the imagination. It features violence, graphic nudity and some characters you might not care to be friends with. Its plot line revolves around a sexual predator and cop who has been hired as a hit man and a coarse family who lives in a Texas trailer park surrounded by pot, beer and laziness.
Tracy Letts’ “Killer Joe” premiered in Chicago back in 1993, and in the words of CBS 2 and Chicago Tribune Theatre Critic Chris Jones, it “shocked and scandalized Chicagoans by amorally delivering sex, attempted matricide, extreme violence and three-dimensional nudity right to their laps.” But it also became a hit in New York, Edinburgh and London. And now, it’s returning to Chicago for a new run.
Chris Jones has a review of “Killer Joe,” now playing at the Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway (773-549-1815), as well as “Mary’s Wedding,” the story of a young British woman and a Canadian farm boy who find each other just as World War I is breaking out, now at the Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St. (773-338-2177.)

Maybe your brain categorizes The Catcher in the Rye with A Tale of Two Cities and The Great Gatsby in the mental file labeled “High School English.” Maybe you’re looking back in bewilderment now that your high school English class even allowed you to read The Catcher in the Rye which isn’t as graphic and smutty as Naked Lunch, but features prostitutes, pimps, and drunken loneliness in a New York City that wasn’t quite as glamorous as the one we know now. Maybe you see yourself in Holden Caulfield, the original rebel who set the stage for everyone from Benjamin Braddock (of the movie “The Graduate”) to Charlie Bartlett (of the movie “Charlie Bartlett”.)
Or maybe you’ve never read the book and don’t know jack about it, and like many people who have only ever seen the title, you think it has something to do with baseball.

Either way, you probably heard that J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye as well as Franny and Zooey and a few other classic titles, died on Wednesday at the age of 91. And you might also know that Salinger was a fairly weird guy. Even though he would be alive for about 45 more years, but the last thing he published was a 1965 New Yorker story, “Hapworth 16, 1928.” He staunchly resisted the celebrity that The Catcher in the Rye had brought him, refusing interview requests and fan mail and reportedly writing in a cement bunker at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire. In a 2000 New York Times interview, his daughter said his personal and spiritual habits tended toward the bizarre. He practiced Zen Buddhism, but also practiced Scientology, homeopathy and Christian Science, drank urine, and sat in an orgone box. And he “spoke in tongues, fasted until he turned greenish and as an older man had pen pal relationships with teenage girls,” the New York Times story says.
And he also fought every effort to adapt his story or showcase his life. Billy Wilder, Elia Kazan, Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein all wanted to turn Catcher into a movie, but Salinger refused. And just last year, he sued to halt publication of John David California’s book 60 Years Later, an unauthorized sequel to Catcher that depicted Holden in his 70s.

But now with Salinger gone, there’s one burning question – what’s in that safe?
Some people think the mysterious safe in Salinger’s house in Cornish, N.H., has finished, unpublished manuscripts that could take the literary world by storm and make Harry Potter and other modern pop lit look like child’s play. But they could just be scribbles and junk for all we know. And the Salinger camp refuses to comment.
So what is in that safe? Is J.D. Salinger set to become an earth-shattering posthumous celebrity? We’ll see.

(Photo: Robyn Beck/Getty Images)

The Black Eyed Peas are today’s ubiquitous pop group that absolutely everybody knows. They’re what the Backstreet Boys were in 2000, the Spice Girls in 1997, Ace of Base in 1994, Franz Liszt in 1842. You know at least one of their songs if you don’t live in a cave. And in all likelihood, one of their songs that you do know is “Boom Boom Pow,” which was released about a year ago and became their first U.S. No. 1 single. And it’s a fairly catchy song; one of those songs that gets stuck in your head after you hear it and you don’t mind.
But one songwriter from Aurora and singer from Chicago aren’t such big fans of “Boom Boom Pow.” They think the Black Eyed Peas stole it from them.
About a year before “Boom Boom Pow,” songwriter Manny Mohr and singer Phoenix Phenom released a song called “Boom Dynamite.” And they say “Boom Boom Pow” sounds way too much like their song, right down to the “boom boom” refrain. Moore and Phoenix Phenom say they sent a copy of “Boom Dynamite” to Interscope Records, the Black Eyed Peas’ label, in hopes that Fergie would sing a song together with Phoenix Phenom.
But now, they want damages and a share of past and future profits from “Boom Boom Pow,” and a songwriting credit on future pressings of the album.
So do they sound similar? You can decide for yourself:
Boom Boom Pow
Boom Dynamite

Now of course, we all know this is hardly a new issue. Some people say contrary to what we all want to believe, there is no musical composition that’s totally original. But some of them are just a little more unoriginal than others…

• In a 40-year-old case that everybody knows, George Harrison was sued in 1970 because his song “My Sweet Lord” sounded a little too much like the oldies radio staple “He’s So Fine” (“doo-lang, doo-lang, doo-lang”) by the Chiffons. Harrison said he knew the Chiffons song, but said he wasn’t intending to copy it. But the judge found him liable anyway, saying even subconscious plagiarism is still plagiarism. So if you have a dream in which some incredible song plays and you’re quick enough to sing it into a tape recorder when you wake up, be sure you listen to it when you’re fully awake and alert. It might have been Pete Seeger singing some jaunty folk song called “Book of the Town” in your dream, but in the light of day, you may discover that it’s actually the exact same tune, and mostly the same words, as “Bye Bye Love” by the Everly Brothers (true story.)

• These days, you don’t hear about people copying melodies too often anymore, subconsciously or consciously. It’s not like it was when grandpa was a young man driving around in his Volkswagen Beetle and heard “Surfin’ USA” by the Beach Boys on the radio, then remarked, “That sounds a lot like ‘Sweet Little 16’ by Chuck Berry.” These days, grandpa drives around in his Volkswagen Jetta and hears “I’m Ready” by Cherie, and he says, “That is ‘Urgent’ by Foreigner.” Then he’ll hear “SOS” by Rihanna and say, “That is Tainted Love by Soft Cell. And then he might hear “All Summer Long” by Kid Rock and say, “That is ‘Werewolves of London’ by Warren Zevon. And it’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd too.”
Sampling. What would the pop music of the past 20 years be without it? Some artists welcome repackaging of their work; Sting took the stage with Sean “Diddy” Combs for “I’ll Be Missing You,” which is rapped over “Every Breath You Take” by the Police.
But some artists don’t find sampling so amusing. Vanilla Ice always tries to explain that there’s an extra note in the opening riff to the infamous 1990 song “Ice Ice Baby,” but David Bowie and Queen didn’t quite agree on that point. They sued him for sampling “Under Pressure” without permission or giving them any credit. The case was settled out of court. And I didn’t realize this until reading about it, but the repeating string arpeggio in “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by the Verve is actually from an orchestral recording of “The Last Time” by the Rolling Stones. The Verve requested and got permission to use it, but they had to give up the song’s copyright and hand over all the royalties to Mick and Keith.

• And in seemingly the most absurd case, John Fogerty got sued for his 1985 song “The Old Man Down the Road,” because he allegedly copied another song’s melody. The other song was “Run through the Jungle” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, written and sung by… you guessed it, John Fogerty. (He had given up the rights to publisher Saul Zaentz.) Fogerty won, but he had to prove the songs were distinct.
 More on this subject here.

Beer for My Horses - Toby Keith
Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - Beyonce (You must admit, it's pretty catchy.)
Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
How Sweet It Is - James Taylor
Crazy in Love - Beyonce
Pretty Vegas - INXS
New Soul - Yael Naim
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend - Rosemary Clooney
Soak up the Sun - Sheryl Crow

And remember, starting on Monday, it's all about sports and finance - two subjects that can easily get as heated as the traditional politics and religion. Join Dan Jiggetts, Mike North, Terry Savage and Mike Hegedus for Monsters & Money in the Morning.

Here's a chat that Rob Johnson had yesterday with Dan Jiggetts, a former Chicago Bear and a Harvard scholar:

(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

If you’re not up for thinking about heavy, serious subjects like unemployment and economic recovery, how about thinking about the newest, hottest tech toy instead?
If you’re reading this, you’re presumably on the Internet, which means you’re not living in a cave somewhere typing all your documents on an Underwood manual typewriter or using a feather quill and a sheet of vellum. And if you’re on the Internet, you have probably at least heard about the iPad.
So are you excited and enthused about the iPad? It’s not a totally new concept, but many say it may be the first tablet computer that really catches on. It fills the gap between the iPhone and the laptop. It’s half an inch thick and weighs a mere 1.5 pounds (compare that to your old Dell computer from the days of Windows 95.)
It has a virtual QWERTY keyboard on the screen. You can use it to look at photos, write e-mail, listen to music, watch movies, watch YouTube video in HD, and perhaps most impressively, read e-books and newspapers – without having to deal with the tiny screen size of a cell phone. You can also get iPhone apps on your iPad, and there will be iPad apps coming soon too.
And Steve Jobs says he can fly from San Francisco to Tokyo watching video all the way, and never have to charge the iPad up.

So that’s Apple’s sales pitch in a nutshell. But are you excited and thrilled about this? Or are you thinking to yourself: “I already have an iPhone, and a laptop, and a netbook, and a Kindle, and I actually like a nice hardcover paper book from time to time. There’s nothing on this thing that I don’t already have.”
You’re not alone either way, and the starting price of $500-$800 depending on how many bells and whistles you want might make you question whether it’s a good investment. But look how the iPhone and iPod have taken off. The iPad may indeed be the proverbial next big thing.
Although, there is a little bit of disappointment with the name Apple chose. To us men, a pad describes pretty much any flat, planar and usually soft object with a fair amount of surface area – a launch pad, a sketch pad, a padded room, etc. But to women, the first association for the word “pad” is feminine hygiene.
Out in the world of blogs and social networking, people have been taking this word association problem and running with it. PCWorld Magazine says just two hours after Jobs demonstrated the iPod in his big announcement yesterday, “iTampon” was out-trending “Apple’s iPad” on Twitter.
And unfortunately, it looks like the comedians of the world might have gotten to the name “iPad” before Jobs himself. Someone also dug up an old “Mad TV” skit from 2007, in which two women are talking about a new electronic feminine hygiene project supposedly made by Apple. What’s it called? You guessed it, the iPad.

Anyway, here’s Ed’s report on the iPad.

Here's what Ed said in his Tech Blog

And here's more:

CNET Live Blog Coverage Of Apple Event

Slideshow: Apple Unveils iPad Tablet

Video: Technology Expert Chimes In

Unfortunately, I had commitments yesterday evening that kept me from watching the State of the Union Address. But I’m pretty well caught up.
As predicted, President Obama focused on jobs and the economy. He said he would still pursue his broader agenda of changes to health care, energy policies and education, but job creation is the top priority.
He conceded that with regard to the economy, “the devastation remains,” with one in 10 Americans unemployed and the burdens of working harder for less pay and not making enough to accumulate any savings remains.
He said he “hated” the bank bailout, and it was “about as popular as a root canal,” but he said, “when I ran for President, I promised I wouldn't just do what was popular -- I would do what was necessary. And if we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today.”
On the same premise, he defended the stimulus plan: “Economists on the left and the right say this bill has helped save jobs and avert disaster.” And he gave some concrete examples – a window manufacturer in Philadelphia who got to add two more work shifts, a small business in Phoenix that will triple its workforce.
He called for a new fee on banks, which brought thunderous applause from Democrats and stone silence from Republicans.
And on a different topic, he said he would work with Congress “this year” to repeal the “don’t ask don’t tell” ban on openly gay and lesbian Americans from serving in the military. But in a concession to the right, he didn’t commit to a moratorium on the practice in the meantime or issue a deadline more specific than “this year.” Still, the gay community has been disappointed in Obama and his lack of attention toward them, and this may assuage some of that disappointment (right after the address, the Human Rights Campaign announced a new "Voices of Honor" campaign to organize veterans and lobby Congress to abolish the ban.)

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell delivered the rebuttal from the Republicans. His comments were about what you’d expect – big government is the problem, free markets are good, regulation and taxes are bad. He called for enacting policies that “promote entrepreneurship and innovation, so America can better compete with the world,” and said “over-regulating employers won't create more employment; overtaxing investors won't foster more investment.
“Top-down one-size fits all decision making should not replace the personal choices of free people in a free market, nor undermine the proper role of state and local governments in our system of federalism,” he said. “As our Founders clearly stated, and we Governors understand, government closest to the people governs best.”
Of course, Obama is a Keynesian who thinks the government needs to step in and spend money sometimes to keep the economy from total collapse. This violates the conservative doctrine that favors laissez-faire capitalism with as little regulation as possible, but Obama supporters credit Obama’s Keynesian policies with keeping us from sinking into another Great Depression. We have higher unemployment than anyone would like right now, and Republicans say Obama needs to be held accountable for that. But Democrats argue that if the federal government had just lived by the principles of Milton Friedman and ignored the financial crisis brought on by the subprime mortgage meltdown, unemployment would likely be much higher. Obama said that himself, in fact. And of course, we must remember that the first bailouts for the so-called Great Recession came under President George W. Bush.
So are Obama’s faltering approval ratings going to go up? Is the bitter partisanship going to subside? Time will tell.
Here are Political Editor Mike Flannery’s comments on the State of the Union Address:

9 to 5 - Dolly Parton
Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
My Doorbell - The White Stripes
Streetcorner Symphony - Rob Thomas
Floridays - Jimmy Buffett
Circus - Britney Spears
Chelsea Dagger - The Fratellis
Brand New Day - Sting

And as you've probably heard, something completely different - to paraphrase Monty Python - is coming to CBS 2 in the mornings next week. We’ll have lively talks about two things we Chicagoans are passionate about – sports and finance – with a panel of some of the foremost experts on each subjects – Dan Jiggetts, Mike North, Terry Savage, and Mike Hegedus.
Monsters and Money in the Morning debuts at 5 a.m. this coming Monday. But for a preview, here’s a little chat that Rob Johnson had with Mike North yesterday.