Bill Lueders from the Isthmus shares some of his writings from the past few years . . . catch my interview on his book!
Ok, this is in a interesting example of all my worlds colliding.
WORT COMMUNITY RADIO
WORT was doing their pledge drive, which is still going on. And you should pledge. Why does that matter? Well, they were asking the hosts of A Public Affair, which I host every other Tuesday, to interview people who wrote books or had other connections so that we could give away premiums related to the interviews. I immediately thought of Bill Lueders. How much fun would that be? To turn the tables on the guy that usually asks the questions . . . so I asked him, he said yes. So I interviewed him last week. It was a little nerve-wracking and took a lot of time to prepare, but it was fun! You should listen!
RAINBOW BOOKSTORE
Anyways, rewind a bit. I went down to Rainbow Bookstore to buy Bill Lueders book, Watchdog: 25 years of Muckracking and Rabblerousing. And of course, I bought three books, all local authors. When’s the last time you went to Rainbow Bookstore and bought a book?
I READ A BOOK
The whole thing! Tho, I have to admit, I skimmed a little in the middle, as I was familiar with some of it already. I typically don’t have time to read books, but this one was perfect. I could pick it up, read a short piece and then run off and do something else. I really loved the book. Of course, it was about Madison, so I was very interested and I learned a bit of our history. But even more than that, I really liked reading the earlier Bill Lueders and I want to see more of that. He was downright radical. He makes great progressive points. He raised issues that no one else was raising and he hopefully made a difference. That’s the kind of journalism I love. The opinion pieces were awesome and clearly my favorite part of the book. The “getting personal” part was also interesting. Getting to know the man behind the writing. And finally, the investigations, the part where much of the action really happens. It really is a great book, you should get a copy and read it.
WYOU COMMUNITY TELEVISION
I just didn’t find a way to work in WYOU . . . there must be a way . . . oh, there is . . . I think I heard Luciano taped the reading Lueders did at Rainbow and it will show on WYOU. I don’t have any other details, but his show runs on Thursday at 7:00 and when I get more details, I’ll let you know!
Disclaimer: Just so you know, for full disclosure I volunteer at WORT and volunteer and am on the board of Rainbow and WYOU, and did one piece of freelance work for Lueders at the Isthmus, and may do more in the future. But I really did like the book. 🙂
