I hope everybody listened to Ed Schultz.

[Blue_In_AK]

Today I'm proud to be an Alaskan. :)

[snowbear]

1. It was awesome to be there Blue!

I only bought the $25.00 tickets, but we got there early enough to sit in the 4th row -center- right behind the three rows of $100 VIP seats. They completely sold out of the VIP seats and I'd guess that the total auditorium was about 85% full.. Very good showing!!

The people who paid the big bucks went in early and had about 30 minutes with Big Eddie by themselves before the rest of us went in.

It was pretty cool meeting the two guys on Big Ed's radio show from Fargo. "Vern" who was at one of the ticket desks, and "Holmey" (James Holmes)<- yow! who basically ran the show.

What blew me away was how anxious people were to step up and talk! I figured they'd have a handful of people.. but when they asked anyone wanting to talk to go to one of the two mikes, the lines were NUTS!!! In the 3 hours of the show, there was no way they could get to all of them. It would've taken another 3 hours to let everyone there speak who jumped into those lines!

One lady who sat in front of me told me she was the Wasilla librarian who had been fired way back when.. As Big Eddie asked some of the people about that incident, I kept prodding her to go up and tell Holmey who she was (he would have gotten her right on the air) but she said she was too shy to speak in public. Bummer because Ed would've loved hearing from her!

Les Gara spoke a little about Troopergate, but the crowd kind of turned on him when he refused to tell Ed what if any consequences Palin could possibly face in the investigation.. Overly cautious I guess?

When Harry Crawford got up to the mike, the place erupted in applause.. Big Eddie said "you're either paying this crowd, or you run a mighty fine bar dude" (something like that).. Harry said "no, they just like my gumbo", then went on to talk about the Sarah the media doesn't know.. He did a great job.

Linda at Celtic Diva also did awesome.. as did a guy who calls KUDO a lot (Darrel), who is severely disabled.

There was also a 10 year old girl who got up and talked about polar bear habitat (she was adorable) and a 15 year old girl who explained why the upcoming election was important to her.

Tons of other people from all over Anchorage and the Matsu Valley came up and spoke.

I listened in for a little bit this morning to hear how it sounded on air, but the audio from the audience (at least on my radio) was pretty crummy.

Towards the end, Mayor Begich came up on stage and spoke to Ed about Alaska.. and when they had ended the radio show, Big Eddie gave the most impassioned speech about Obama and how vital this election is than I've ever heard anyone give.

He is an incredible speaker!!

Very fun time over at UAA ~~

[liberalaska]

2. I didn't get to hear it all on the radio

But I went on Saturday night. I brought my camera with me and got to go back in the VIP room and heard Ed talk back there for a while, then got to sit in the expensive seats, even though I only paid for a normal ticket. Carrying around a fancy video camera can get you into a lot of cool places.

It was a great day, with the rally at the Loussac and then the Big Ed show. It felt almost like caucus night, just a great reminder that we are not alone even though it sometimes feels like it up here.

But I couldn't listen because ever since the KUDO management decided to screw over their local web guy and go with some dude in Eastern Europe I can't get the streaming to work consistently, and I have a hard time tuning in after they fired Shannyn Moore. I only listen to Randi Rhodes and Thom Hartmann on there now, and will tune it to CC a little bit. We need a new progressive station in this town, or at least new management of the one we have. They fired their highest rated host for purely personal reasons. But I guess that is a rant for another time and place.

[snowbear]

3. You're right.. it did kind of have that same feeling as on caucus night!

I couldn't believe how many incredibly nice people I met!!

Did you go up and talk?

I didn't.. But I sure got a kick out of watching so many locals spill their hearts out like that..

Wasn't Big Eddie's chat with all of us something else after the show was over? What a speaker!! You could've heard a pin drop.. That was definitely an awesome way to top off a perfect evening..

[liberalaska]

7. I didn't get up to talk

I don't do well in front of large crowds, but it was great watching everyone else up there.

The end speech was great too. I had been planning on giving some of my energy rebate to some Dem candidates, and after everything that I went to and saw saturday I ended up giving more of it than I originally planned to.

[snowbear]

4. Oh yeah... speaking of Shannyn..

Someone I was sitting next to said that someone should have typed up a petition to pass through the crowd to gather signatures asking that they bring her back.

Not sure if it would've done any good.. but they had a point- it would've been the perfect timing to get a ton of signatures all at once!

It was neat seeing CC go up on stage with Big Ed briefly.. but geez, I sure miss Aaron and Shannyn..

Anyone here know where they are now?

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Shannyn's been blogging quite a bit.

I see pieces by her on ProgressiveAlaska quite often.

[liberalaska]

6. She will be back

Not on KUDO, but she will be back in a bigger and better way. The petition would have been great just to put in Cary's face. He fired her for purely personal reasons, he was intimidated by a woman who had only been doing radio for a year and a half who was much better at it than him. I was in the studio with her a few times and personally witnessed his petty behavior and his attempts and micro managing her show.

But if you liked her, and her ratings were the highest on KUDO for pretty much her entire run there so I am guessing people did, she will be back. There are things in the works. Or you can just watch TV or listen to other shows, she has been on Democracy Now, Thom Hartmann, Keith Olberman, Fox & Friends, Geraldo, and whole bunch of others this past week and will be on more.

She also has a blog of her own, most of the stuff get's reposted around and at alaskareport.com . Her's is shannynmoore.wordpress.com