Media Nation

It’s not as though Charles Laquidara hasn’t gotten in trouble for his political views before. Years ago, he was nearly fired from WBCN (104.1 FM), now part of the CBS conglomerate, for going off on an advertiser that helped manufacture Agent Orange.

Now it’s happened again, although this time it appears that Charles quit. The Boston Herald’s Inside Track reports that Laquidara decided to stop doing his show for WBOS (92.9 FM) — from semi-retirement in Hawaii — after station management informed him that he was being too political. Among his alleged sins: playing Neil Young’s “Let’s Impeach the President,” from “Living with War,” his best album in years. (And not just because of Young’s political point of view.)

The Herald report follows more than a week of intrigue. On Aug. 17, Clea Simon wrote in the Boston Globe that Laquidara’s ‘BOS program, “Back Spin,” had been canceled. Phil Redo, an executive with WBOS’s corporate owner, Greater Media, called the decision “a mutual parting of the ways.” Laquidara would only tell Simon that he’d been “wanting more time to kayak.”

Laquidara was unhappy with the Globe article and what he called its “smug” attempt to correct it, so he wrote a letter to the paper that he’s reproduced on his blog. Among other things, he says, “With six months left to go on my contract, I resigned — end of story. Just because WBOS accepted my resignation (not that they had any other choice) does not automatically mean the word ‘mutual’ comes into play.”

WBOS has not yet taken down the Laquidara page from its Web site.

The Herald item is based entirely on unnamed sources. Laquidara declines to comment, and Greater Media official Peter Smyth sort-of denies that Charles’ politics were an issue. But if I had to bet, I’d say that the Tracksters got this one exactly right.

Laquidara, for those of you who may be new to Boston, was a legend at ‘BCN in the 1960s (he replaced Peter Wolf) and ’70s, back when the station was an independently owned “underground” operation devoted to experimental music and left-wing politics. The station — and Laquidara — were famous for playing everything from John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” (F-bomb intact) to Monty Python bits, Miles Davis and, on occasion, Tchaikovsky. Along with “News Dissector” Danny Schechter, ‘BCN in those days was simply the only station that mattered if you were young and antiwar. Here’s Charles’ bio.

As WBCN came under corporate ownership in the 1980s and ’90s, his show, “The Big Mattress,” became increasingly conventional. Eventually he was shunted off to sister station WZLX (100.7 FM) and, finally, retirement. Even toward the end, though, Laquidara brought an intelligence and a consciousness to the air that is long gone.

For one hour a day, Charles was back. And now he’s gone again, unless you want to try tuning in here on Wednesdays between noon and 4 p.m.

Blogger is actually up and running — amazing.

I have a question. I’m trying to find a site that would give me a month-by-month breakdown of rainfall in Boston for 2006 to date, as well as historical figures. It seems like something I should have been able to Google up in a minute, but no luck. Given that Blogger’s been down more than it’s been up, I’d appreciate it if you could e-mail me. Thanks!

It usually takes a few listens for a new Bob Dylan album to sink in, so a week from now I might be raving about “Modern Times.” Right now, though, I’m a little disappointed.

A couple of days ago I, uh, obtained an MP3 version of the album, which doesn’t come out until next week. I’ve listened to it all the way through just once, but my first reaction is that it sounds like leftovers from 2001’s “‘Love and Theft.'”

The song that’s got me hopping right now is “Rollin’ and Tumblin’.” But it doesn’t sound any different from the Muddy Waters original, except that Muddy could sing better. Dylan does add some new lines, like “Some young lazy slut has charmed away my brains,” which all the critics, including the Boston Globe’s Joan Anderman, are making sure to include in their reviews.

“Thunder on the Mountain,” “Someday Baby,” and the downbeat “Nettie Moore” and “Ain’t Talkin'” are all promising, and Dylan’s wreck of a voice at least sounds no worse than it did five years ago. But none of the songs stands out like “Tweedledum & Tweedledee” or “High Water,” both from “‘Love and Theft.'” And let’s not even try comparing “Modern Times” to his transcendent 1997 comeback, “Time Out of Mind.”

For an absolutely hilarious review of “Modern Times,” check out Alex Petridis in the Guardian. He manages to give it four stars (out of five) while still getting in a few shots, at his fellow critics as much as at Zimmy. It’s very British. For example:

Certainly, Dylan has enjoyed an artistic renaissance, in that he published a fantastic autobiography and stopped releasing records that made you want to rip your own head off with embarrassment — but that alone isn’t enough to explain the mania that greets his every action. Perhaps it is linked to his 1997 brush with pericarditis and intimations of mortality; praise him unequivocally now, while he can still read it.

Andy Gill’s song-by-song breakdown in the Independent is worth reading, too.

The MP3 version I’ve got is pretty murky, so I’m looking forward to picking up the CD. It’s may not be great Dylan, but on first blush it sounds like pretty good Dylan. And, yes, that’s good enough for me.

Chet Curtis has a blog. I always knew he was a new-media type.

The gubernatorial debate wars, simmering beneath the surface for a while, break out today in the Herald. The headline refers to the media consortium organizing the debates as (of course!) a “Globe-led group.” Near the bottom of the story, we learn that the consortium also includes “WGBH (Ch. 2), WCVB (Ch. 5), WHDH (Ch. 7), New England Cable News and WBUR (90.9 FM).”

Yet to fire back are Jon Keller of WBZ-TV (Channel 4), who was trying to put together a Nov. 1 debate without the consortium, and, of course, the Globe.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of media organizations’ working together when they ought to be competing, so I say good for Keller. But for the Herald to use this as a pretext for tweaking the Globe is kind of ludicrous.

The Herald also gives big play today to the Boston Newspaper Guild’s decision to take out anti-Globe radio ads. Sound clips included.

Dan Shaughnessy on Wednesday:

It’s always a story when Manny takes a day or two to rest his hammy. During Ramirez’s spectacular six-year stint with the Red Sox, he annually misses a few games with a sore hamstring. It works every time, because when it comes to tweaked hamstrings, only the patient truly knows how he’s feeling. It’s the athlete’s equivalent of the fourth grade boy who won’t go to school because he has a headache. There are no grounds for a challenge even if you have suspicions.

Gordon Edes today:

Ramírez will undergo tests this morning, including an MRI, said manager Terry Francona, who did not have much detail to offer on the condition of Ramírez’s knee but looked and sounded concerned that this may be more than a minor tweak. Indeed, it raised the possibility that a Baseball Prospectus website report by Will Carroll that surfaced during the All-Star break, that Ramírez has been playing with a small tear in his meniscus — the same injury that has sidelined catcher Jason Varitek — will be proven correct.

Disgraceful.

Tony Massarotti gets the final word: “He is human, despite our perception of him, and so you cannot help but wonder: How many times is Manny Ramirez left shaking his head? How many runs must he knock in and how many home runs must he hit before we start to see Ramirez as a man who is needlessly banging his head against the wall?”

How to draw the online boundary between news and advertising? At the New York Times this morning, you don’t. I just watched in horror as a couple of fish swam out of Oscar Peterson’s suit and into a nearby Westin ad.

Here’s the link, although it might not work — I’ve reloaded the page twice, and the Westin ad became a Gateway come-on and, now, a Chase promo. But good grief. News sites have to make money, and, as John Heilemann observes, the Times is doing a better job than most. There are some lines, though, that you just shouldn’t swim across.

Earlier today Media Nation received a private e-mail from J.M. about my first Theo item that ended with this: “What does that say about the stewardship of Theo and the owners? Seems to me they took a World Series winner and dismantled it.”

It’s a serious notion, worth analyzing. So, sorry for the baseball obsession today, but here we go.

At the end of the 2004 World Series, the Red Sox had a problem: its championship core was either aging or declining for other reasons, and couldn’t be expected to perform at the same high level in 2005 or beyond. Keeping the team together was not an option. Don’t believe me? Consider who they’ve gotten rid of over the past two years and why:

Not-so-dumb moves

Pedro Martínez: This was the big one — Petey was #1A to Curt Schilling’s #1 in ’04. But he didn’t want to re-sign with the Red Sox, so he was leaving in any case. And he’s been hurt a lot over the past two seasons, something that was eminently predictable.

Derek Lowe: His well-documented personal problems made it a given that the Sox would let him go. You’d like to think he could have turned it around after his astounding post-season performance, but he had a lousy ’05 for the Dodgers. He’s pitching better lately, though.

Orlando Cabrera: Yes, in retrospect the Sox should have signed Cabrera rather than obtaining Edgar Renteria. At the time, though, virtually every knowledgeable baseball person believed Renteria would be an upgrade. And now the Sox have Alex Gonzalez, the greatest defensive shortstop ever to wear a Red Sox uniform.

Bill Mueller: The oft-injured third baseman is probably finished following yet another knee operation. A fine player and a class act, but it’s a good thing the Sox picked up Mike Lowell.

Mark Bellhorn: An overachiever in 2004. Mark Loretta is a huge upgrade. For that matter, Tony Graffanino was a huge upgrade.

Kevin Millar: No explanation needed.

Dumb moves

Johnny Damon: Yes, I was among those who thought Coco Crisp could grow into a more-than-adequate replacement for Damon, and maybe he still can. But what Damon brought to the Red Sox, both on and off the field, is harder to replace than we realized at the time. Caveat: It’s possible that, like Pedro, he wasn’t going to re-sign no matter what. Damon might just see himself as someone who was born to play in New York.

Bronson Arroyo: This move is actually looking less dumb, not because of Arroyo’s recent slump, but because the Sox are worse than we thought. Wily Mo Peña might be a star in a couple of years, and we’re now officially in wait-till-next-year mode.

Bottom line

If Damon was willing to sign, then letting him go was the dumbest move that Theo and company have made since October 2004. And if that’s the worst you can say, then that’s not so bad.

As for whom the Sox have brought in to replace the guys they lost, well, that’s another story. Josh Beckett has obviously been a huge disappointment, but he’s got a world of talent. If he can listen and learn, he may yet be a star. Crisp was hurt, and I suspect he then started pressing. Seanez and Tavares were obviously busts. Timlin got old. Wakefield, Wells and Clement got hurt. And the absence of Varitek colors everything.

Epstein wasn’t that good when his decision to trade away Nomar turned to instant gold, and he’s not that bad now. Let’s see what he does this off-season, which should be the least tumultuous (i.e., no gorilla suits) of his short career.

The talk shows and the sports pundits are turning against Theo Epstein. Let’s stipulate that this is not his finest hour. But I think he deserves credit for not trading away the team’s future.

If Jason Varitek hadn’t gotten hurt, the Red Sox would probably be on their way to the playoffs right now. I think we’ve all seen in the past few weeks how much he means to the team, especially to the young pitchers. A guy like that can’t be replaced.

But — if Varitek had stayed healthy, and the Sox had also picked up Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle, the Sox would still be lucky to make it past the first round the playoffs. There are way too many holes on this team, starting with Josh Beckett and the brutal middle-relief corps.

You might trade Jon Lester, Craig Hansen and/or Manny Delcarmen if you realistically believe that could get you into the World Series. But it would be idiotic to trade away the future in order to make marginal improvements to a team that still wouldn’t have what it takes.

Are there moves Epstein made that look bad? You bet. Johnny Damon apparently meant even more to the Sox than we realized when he was here. Bronson Arroyo could have provided some stability to the back end of a rotation ravaged by injuries and ineptitude. Bringing Coco Crisp and Josh Beckett here might prove to be a mistake, although I suspect they’ll both be a lot better next year.

But keeping the kids was not a mistake. This team isn’t worth the sacrifice.

Media Nation readers know my stand on Bob Dylan: I’m for him. Still, this brutal Washington Post review of a recent Dylan show strikes me as being right on the mark. (Thanks to M.T.S. for passing it on.)

I’ve seen Dylan live twice — in 1986, with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and in 1989, with a small band anchored by G.E. Smith. He was pretty good the first time, so-so the second. I’d like to see him once more, if only because he obviously can’t keep doing this forever.

But live performance is not his strength, and hasn’t been since the mid-1970s. His blown-out voice, almost appealing on record, just doesn’t work in front of an audience. And it doesn’t help that he often seems indifferent to the whole thing.