The Ink-stained Wretch with G. Michael Dobbs, News and Views from Western Massachusetts

This week on the podcast, I had a very interesting discussion with Christopher DiMauro about the rebirth of an organization in Springfield honoring Italian culture. Chris, along with his wife Lisa, has become very well known in the region for a series of podcasts, which I detailed. We also spoke about podcasting, the status of media in the region as well as some of his future projects. To stay current with Chris and Lisa with their efforts, be sure to follow DiMauro Media at https://www.facebook.com/ArtintheGame.

Gary Hallgren is a very respected illustrator, painters and cartoonist and is my guest thos week.

In the days of the undergound comix in the ealry 1970s, Hallgren was part of the Air Pirates, a group of artists who decided to parody the characters owned by Walt Disney.

They were sued by the Disney company and a judge found their work to fall outside of the protections of freedom of speech and was deemed as copyright infringement.

The judgement did not prevent these artists from going on with their careers, I'm happy to report.

In years following, he had a limited series of comic books from Marvel and did work for MAD and other humor magazines. He is the artist for the nationally syndicated comics strip "Hagar the Horrible."

Gary's artwork is being featured in an exhibit at the Art for the Soul Gallery at Tower Square in downtown Springfield. MA. "A Retrospective: 1971 – Presents: Gary Hallgren" features a wide range of his paintings and sculptures.

The exhibit is on display through Jan. 19.

Gary excels in taking elements of popular culture and looking at them through his own lens. For instance, there are refences to Blondie and Dagwood, Buck Rogers, Nancy and Sluggo, among others. There are metal sculptures made by found objects. He mixes and matches different mediums in a work of art.

There will be a pop-up shop of crafters at the gallery on Dec. 15 and Gary will be in attendance.

One of the most over-used words on the English language is "expert." There appears to be millions of experts out there, especially about media trends. On today's podcast, though, I have the pleasure of speaking with a genuine expert, Michael Harrison. Michael is the publisher of Talkers, once a magazine and now a website that covers the talk radio industry. It's been called the bible of the industry and rightly so. Take a look for yourself at www.Talkers.com. I've known Michael for years and have been privileged to have attending many of his annual conferences. I view him as not an authority about talk radio but in media as well.

Michael was an early advocate for podcasting. He saw how technology could change listening habits and that podcasting freed broadcasters from a schedule to develop a much larger audience.

There was a lot to cover and we didn't get to it all, but and Michael and I will speak again in the future.

Also on the podcast, I talk about our local media and its status, which is discouraging at this point.

I had the privilege of speaking with Carrie Salso of NEPM's "The Rundown" and political consultant Anthony Cignoli about the election results from micro to macro recently. I think, if you are a politic wonk (as I am) you will enjoy the discussion.

This week on the podcast, we have a two-fer. I've conducted interviews with both Congressman Richard Neal and his opponent in this election, Nadia Milleron. They were undertaken as part of my gig as the host of "Government Maters" on Focus Springfield.

First up is Milleron, an independent who is both an attorney and a farmer from Sheffield, MA, who came into prominence questioning safety issues after she lost her daughter in a place crash. She said that if elected she would caucus with whichever party has the best idea about a bill.

Then will be Representative Neal, the former chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and a very prominent, though low key, longtime member of Congress. Neal recently came under some criticism from a story posted on Politico (https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/24/richard-neal-son-congress-lobbying-00181853) about ethics issues regarding his lobbyist son. Neal addressed that issue and others in the conversation.

One of the things I love about Western Massachusetts is the fact it's home to everyone. There are so many ethnic groups here adding a great deal of culture and diversity to our region.

I regularly have promoted small business and businesses owned by what is called minority owners. We frequently see stories about Black, Hispanic and women owned businesses but there is a new group of people who are adding businesses and jobs to our area and that's Indian immigrants.

In this edition of the podcast, I spoke with two business owners Raj Sanghvi of Chicopee, who owns two businesses there, and Dinesh Patel who is the owner/ managing partner of the Springfield Marriot.

In my commentary I speak about the reasons people vote. Thanks for listening!

This week on the podcast, I spoke with a fellow Springfield guy, David Starzyk, who has had a very diverse and successful acting career. He has been on stage, in films and on television .

He has acted with people such as Valerie Bertinelli, Eva Longoria, Betty White, Don Johnson, Charlie Sheen, James Spader, Robert Urich, Eric Braedon, Mary McDonnell, among others and has appeared on shows such as NCIS, Magnum PI, Veronica Mars, Hot in Cleveland, SWAT, Criminal Minds, Bones , Mad Men, and many many more.

He's the type of interview with whom I could spend hours talking.

My rant this week is about the removal of the 136-year-old granite bench from a downtown Springfield park. As you might guess, I'm not happy about it.

Today on the podcast is a conversation I recently had with state Sen. Jake Oliveria that was broadcast over Focus Springfield. We talk about what's going on in the Legislature and his opinion about the ballot questions facing Massachusetts voters next month.

Also I get a bit peeved at actions in Springfield that resulted in the removal of a 136-year-old granite bench from a historic park.

This week on the podcast, I get to discuss local and state races with a guy whose political acumen I admire and respect, Matt Szafranski. Matt, an attorney and writer, is the founder of Western Mass Politics and Insight blog (https://wmasspi.com) and has been writing about politics since 2006.

We talk about the outcomes of the recent preliminary and what's coming up in November besides the presidential election.

After that discussion I'll share my opinion about the sale of the historic Paramount Theater in downtown Springfield

Hi folks. Every now and then I will be featuring an interview with someone who isn't from Western Massachusetts and this week is one of them.

I traveled up to the Mountains of Madness in Vermont to talk movies with my friend Stephen R. Bissette. For those who may not be familiar with him, Steve is a highly acclaimed and very influential artist whose work on the "Swamp Thing" comic book as well as his own creations such as "Taboo" and "Tyrant" have earned him fans around the world.

He is also as movie crazy as I am – perhaps more so if that is possible – and has contributed commentaries to many DVDs and Blu-Rays, most recently to the Vinegar Syndrome releases of two classic big monster films "Gorgo" and" Reptilicus." He and I have collaborated on two commentaries – those for the animated feature "Fritz the Cat" as well as "The Lady and the Monster" on the recent collection of Republic Studio horror films released by Kino Lorber.

Steve has written several books about film: one about David Cronenberg's movie "The Brood," as well as several volumes about Cryptid Cinema – movies that feature in Steve's words, "Bigfoot, Bayou Beasts and Backwoods Bogeymen." His books are available on Amazon.

I brought my high school scrapbook to the meeting as I thought it could spur a conversation about a once great summer tradition, drive-in theaters. And I was right.

The ads in newspapers for the movies playing at the local drive-in fascinated me as a kid as many were movies of which I had no knowledge. I used stare at them and wonder, "What is this thing?" Even after I got my driver's license, I wasn't able to go to the drive-ins as we had a family farm and staying up late at night just wasn't prudent.

Of course I watched movies at every other time I could!

So go to the concession stand and get some snacks, adjust your car seat, hang your speaker on your window and get comfy for a trip back to the drive-in on this edition of The Ink-stained Wretch with G. Michael Dobbs.

And yes, that's an actual drive-in speaker I'm holding in the photo.