I spent a number of years working at a commercial radio station. Very early on I was taught how to "tease". A "tease" is something you say to keep the listener listening through a commercial break. Teases are always simple and vague. Examples of teases are "Coming up next I've got music from an artist who has just announced his tour dates, including a show in this area" or, "After the break I'll tell you about a guy who who makes his clothes out of lollipop sticks". The hope is that you will suffer through the commercials to find out which artist will be performing in the area or what kind of whack-o dresses in lollipop sticks.
This is a blog version of a tease...
Remember my friend, Jeff? He's the guy who was told by the town of Stockbridge, MA, that he was no longer able to help his friends work on their cars. I wrote about it over a year ago. The posts were titled "The Stockbridge Saga" and broken down into 3 parts... Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
As far as the actual writing goes, they were not my best posts. They were too wordy, too rambling and maybe a bit too opinionated. But, good or not, the reaction to those posts was incredible. They were picked up by automobile forums around the world. They were picked up by mainstream automotive and non-automotive publications. I received countless e-mails. All were in support of Jeff (Well, almost all. A few people wrote to correct my grammar and punctuation. Whatever.) Lawyers offered to help Jeff pro-bono. (Jeff already had an attorney.) ZBA members from other towns and cities chimed in in support of Jeff. Car clubs offered to hold rallies in Stockbridge. One person - I'm dead serious here - put all 3 of my posts to the tune of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant", recorded it and sent me an MP3. To this day I still get e-mails. They come from all over the world. One said "I am just now understanding the United States foreign policy. Could you now please explain your domestic laws?" Uh, no, I can't.
Anyway... Here's the "tease"... The matter went in front of the Stockbridge ZBA again last night. I attended the hearing. One of Jeff's neighbors (who read my blog posts) approached me in the parking lot after the hearing...
(Resurrecting my big time radio voice here, I say...) "All that and more coming up next..."
