I got a neat present in the post today; David, from the UK, sent me an autographed photo of Jessie (KAT) Wallace! So, thanks much, David! Also, although we have been in the studio, I’m sorry to say that the sessions are closed, as I was inquired about this from a fan in Orange County this morning. Unfortunately, her computer is on the brink of crashing so maybe she’ll catch the message here.

The winners of the Diary contest have been chosen and Ed will announce them April 2 so stay tuned to the Freedom Man site ya’ll. Speaking of “Ya’ll”, I don’t know if Ya’ll know this but my family is from San Antonio Texas and I was reading about how the DIXIE CHICKS (or, “Dixie Chunk”, as I used to call ’em) dissed Dubya, saying he embarrased them to be American (stand in line, sisters, stand in line). Well, wouldn’t you know it; Oklahoma and Arizona DJ’s started encouraging people to destroy the Gal’s records. And now it’s great news that “People are outraged that The Dixie Chicks said they were ashamed to be from the same state as the President.”

Now, if I had a DIME for every relative that uttered THAT line, I’d be on an island right now, sipping a Manhattan, eating mangos. Funny, cause I almost wanted to go BUY a Dixie Chicks record after that comment. Almost. So then, I came up with a plan; what if I called a Texas radio station and said that I was, um, upset that Bush was from my family’s home state? So I called the station in the city where old Dubya lives, 91.7 FM KVRX, and asked for the main DJ.

“Hello, is this the Austin station for the University of Texas?” “Yes it is, Sean speaking. Can I help you?” “My name is Mike Randle and I have a record that was released in 2000 called, My music Loves you (even if I don’t). Ever heard of it?” “Uh……can’t say that I have.” “Ever heard of LOVE?” “LOVE, as in Arthur Lee and LOVE?” “Yes.” “Oh yeah…you play with him? IS he on the record?” “No. Well, yes, I play with him but he’s not on the record.” “He ain’t on it?” “No, he’s not.” “Huh.” “Listen, uh, Sean, I’m calling from L.A. and I ‘m out of minutes so this is costing me a fortune. I wanted to know if you stopped playing Dixie Chicks when they made that comment about the President and also I wanted to know, if I made the same comment to you, right now, would you be willing to ban my record as well, even going so far as to encourage your listeners NOT to buy my record, or if they did buy it, tell em to burn it.” “Fist off, we’d never play the Dixie Chicks on KVRX. Secondly, no one I know even knows about your record so how could they smash it? And thirdly, we would never stop playing someone’s record for a reason as stupid as that.” “Well, they did it in Oklahoma and in Arizona; you think Texas is better than them places? They said destroying the Dixie Chicks CDs is the Patriotic thing to do, plus it shows support for our troops.” “Did they say anything about the troops or just about Bush?” “I think just about Bush.” “We’d never get invloved in something like that. This is a college radio station and people listen to us as an “alternative.” They wouldn’t be interested in us being just another source for belligerent nationalism.” “Wait, Sean, are you suggesting fascism is emerging in our beautiful land of the free? Man, when Ashcroft gets his hands on you…” (Laughing) “Listen, I’m just saying that opinions seem, atleast to me, seem to be suppressed.” “So you aren’t gonna tell people not to buy my record, are you? “No.” “Well, how about telling them to buy it then?” “Gotta go!”

And with that iI got my bags together for my Virgin Flt., terminal 2, LAX to Rotterdam, via Heathrow. Somewhere, there’s a drink with my name on it.

Mike Randle