Monthly Archives: March 2009

links for 2009-03-25

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links for 2009-03-20

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FWD: THE BEST SHOW on WFMU MARATHON WEEK TWO! TEDDY! AIMEE! PFT! HODGMAN!

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Well, this space is underused. Might as well re-blog:

Hello everybody! It’s Tom Scharpling, the host of The Best Show On WFMU, heard every Tuesday night from 8-11 PM EST over at WFMU (91.1 FM/www.wfmu.org) .

WFMU is in the middle of its fundraising marathon, and I will be doing my second and final marathon show this Tuesday March 10th from 8-11 PM EST, asking for your pledges to keep WFMU up and running for another year.

Remember, WFMU is COMPLETELY LISTENER SPONSORED. We don’t take sleazy corporate grants or government subsidies or any of that stuff so that we can bring you freeform radio that is 100 percent free – that’s the beauty of not having ties to The Bad Guys.

Would anybody else allow us to do 35 minute Scharpling & Wurster bits? Or take some of the calls we take? No! WFMU is the only place in the world that would give us the freedom that makes the show what it is.

Yes, we’re doing a fundraising show this Tuesday March 10th. But it’s going to be anything but boring. We have GUESTS!

The amazing TED LEO makes his return to The Best Show marathon, playing songs for pledges! This is his third year doing this, and it’s an absolute highlight. And this year he’s going to be joined by a few awesome people. The wonderful AIMEE MANN will also be on hand to play some songs for your contributions!

That’s enough, right? Wrong! The one and only super comedian and host of VH1′s Best Week Ever PAUL F. TOMPKINS will be in the studio!

And last but not least the legendary author/actor/computer spokesman JOHN HODGMAN will join us with some very funny surprises! It’s going to be a show for the ages, so do not miss it!

So call and pledge 1-800-989-9368 or pledge online at www.wfmu.org this Tuesday March 10th between 8-11 PM EST!!

In addition to your money going to a worthy cause, you get stuff back. Everybody who pledges 75 bucks or more automatically gets The Best Show On WFMU’s MIRTH MUSIC AND MAYHEM: A PREMIUM IN THREE PARTS. This is our best premium to date, and one that people will be talking about for years! Allow me to break it down for you:

The MIRTH part of the pack is an ALL NEW SCHARPLING AND WURSTER CD, with stuff written and recorded for this CD. This marathon is the ONLY time you’ll ever have a chance to get it — it goes out of print as soon as the marathon ends!

The MUSIC part is insane — an all-star various artists tribute to the Paul McCartney album RAM called “TOM” featuring ALL NEW AND ORIGINAL RECORDINGS from artists like:

tom

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
TED LEO
AIMEE MANN
PORTASTATIC
DANIELSON
DUMP
THE BLACK HOLLIES
THEHANK IV
THE BARBARAS
JAMES PANTS
THE SPIDER BAGS

and so many more!

They recorded these songs JUST FOR THIS CD, and once my marathon show is over, IT IS GONE FOREVER. Talk about collectable, right? RIGHT?!

And finally the MAYHEM part of the deal: A really cool ENVIRONMENTAL TOTE BAG with the famed ‘Dogmo’ logo on the side and a FRIENDS OF TOM MEMBERSHIP CARD that you can only get during this marathon!

So if you want it, YOU MUST PLEDGE DURING MY SHOW THIS TUESDAY MARCH 10th BETWEEN 8-11 PM EST! That is the only way to get my premium! The RAM tribute, the Scharpling & Wurster CD, the tote bag — they all GONE after Tuesday night! So pledge!

And the number to pledge is 800-989-9368, or do it on your computer at www.wfmu.org DURING MY SHOW this Tuesday March 10th from 8-11 PM EST!

Oh, another thing – anyone who pledges $1000 or more to my show gets an insanely special premium: “Taste Of Newbridge”, a limited edition TEA blended by T Salon & T Emporium just for this marathon! It’s a high-end tea combining ‘a black tea base with notes of caramel, chocolate, vanilla and a touch of Mandarin orange rind!’ Each tea comes in a container featuring customized Best Show packaging and a quote from Philly Boy Roy! The retail value on this is almost a hundred bucks, and this is the ONLY chance to ever get it!

There are also a ton of prizes and whatnot that you get for different pledge levels. There are also prize levels at $150, $365, $500, $1000 and $3000, and the station takes care of you big-time with a TON of awesome prizes and shirts and CDs that you can’t get anywhere else for those respective levels. AND IT’S TAX DEDUCTABLE! You can check them out over at www.wfmu.org/marathon/pledge.php

tote

And you don’t have to pay the pledge when you make it – the station will send you a bill in the mail. So if you want to pledge but don’t have the money in your hand tonight, don’t sweat it! Just pledge now and pay later!

If you aren’t able to make your pledge during my show, you can email me your pledge and I will write it up for you! Just send it to toms@wfmu.org, and give me your full name, mailing address and pledge amount.

Remember the date — this Tuesday March 10th from 8-11 PM EST. We will be joined by TED LEO, AIMEE MANN, PAUL F. TOMPKINS and JOHN HODGMAN all live in the studio, helping raise money to keep WFMU on the air for another year!

I’m counting on you! This Tuesday night March 10th between 8-11 PM EST! 800-989-9368! www.wfmu.org! Do the right thing and strike a blow for The Good Guys!

Thank you.

Tom Scharpling.

PS — Also, do me a favor and SPREAD THE WORD ON THIS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! Post it to message boards! Put it on blogs! Twitter! Facebook! MySpace! Friendster! Tell anyone and everyone you know about the WFMU marathon!

The Crown Diner Review

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This originally appeared on The Coast’s site but when the restaurant closed, the entry ended up being buried on my user page.

I wanted to like the Crown Diner. It has a great location, interesting view, the idea of forgoing processed foods is admirable and the modern diner environment appeals to me. The name seemed kind of lame, but I can look past that if the food and service are good.

The first two times I went (once with coworkers and another time for my girlfriend’s birthday alongside her coworkers), the wait was ridiculously long. Not the end of the world, considering it was still a “new” establishment. The real issue was that our food, which was healthily sized, tasted underwhelming. The fish and chips and the clubhouse may have been big on portions but they were small on character. And the fries, were boring (which seems to be the consensus with people that both like and dislike this place). These meals didn’t change my life, but they also didn’t make me sick. Starting out, I would give this establishment a pass.

Since I have been going out for brunch every Sunday for the past several years and we decided to give the Crown Diner another chance. Especially since it wasn’t busy and could accommodate our party of ten. Well, at least it looked like it could, superficially.

On the food side of things, I had a cheese drenched skillet and my poached eggs were always hard. Again, not the end of the world, but when a server asks you specifically how you would like them, you assume they are actually going to arrive in that style and they are not administering some sort of informal egg hardness pole. The place was starting to lose some of it’s appeal and maybe this was beginning to explain the availability of tables.

I don’t fault a restaurant for not being family friendly. There are not a lot of children downtown in the first place, so whenever I go anyway with my daughter I assume I will be in the minority and take what I can get. I am always in a position to bail (after paying my bill, of course), if I feel I am inconveniencing the staff or other patrons. They don’t call them the terrible twos for nothing.

For starters, calling your restaurant a diner is an interesting choice for a place that is trying to be upscale (same could be said for having a pop cooler and a fish tank, but I digress). Anyway, this isn’t about agism as much as it is about ignorance on the part of the owner. The real issue is the way in which the this gentlemen handled a recent situation. Our group of five adults and five kids visited on a typically quiet Sunday. Another long wait ensued, but let’s chalk that up to being short staffed. Maybe someone called in sick, hung-over…whatever. Not really my problem, but I won’t let that spoil our visit.

We were seated between a fish tank and pop cooler, given kids seats, had our orders taken, kids were coloring away, we were given the correct food (after the expected “wait”), properly billed for the food and we, as is customary with adequate service, tipped as felt necessary. Instead of the chef coming out to see how our meal was, he just hovered over us as we paid in the foyer and then, as all but one of our group left he motioned to him with his hands to get out of his restaurant as if he was sweeping us out the door. Shocking. Almost unbelievable. Like I said, not a busy place and he had already took our money. No one had said anything to us prior to this encounter and I know our children did not destroy or steal anything. A glass of water was spilt, but mostly on our own stuff.

If there was an actual issue, he should have addressed it like a professional. Maybe even like a man and not like some sort of a child. I believe my daughter understands this better than he does. When we called to complain after getting home, it turned out that this chef was actually owner of the establishment and, to put this in some sort of perspective, explained to us that he was from a fine dining background and isn’t used to this kind of thing. An odd thing to say, seeing as he so quickly learned to lower his own standards and learn how to heat up frozen fries. It was almost as if this person was a grown man and never crawled or walked the earth as a child. He just couldn’t wrap his head around serving children, even for money. It is too bad “customer service” wasn’t an growing concern at his previous job, which I would assume would be Grafton Connor Group’s 5 Fisherman or Chef’s Room and not their Esquire or Sunnyside Restaurants.

Long story short, it looks like it was our problem for picking his place and it is their problem to drag proper customers in not only fill our seats but perhaps all the empty ones that were around us. I suppose the owner could learn to understand service, but I think I will have to settle with a lesson in word of mouth marketing first.