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BILL BROWNSTEIN, The Gazette October 4, 2009 On the subject of benefit host Mitch Melnick, the popular radio jock is now donning another hat. He can be caught on the Internet in his Melnick Underground webcast, which is taped Saturday afternoons at his favourite haunt, Hurley's Pub. As Melnick admirers have come to know over the years, the man is more than a sports authority. He is also among the most knowledgeable of music lovers in the city and, without question, the most loyal Bob Dylan fan around. (Melnick is off to Boston in a few weeks to catch his hero in concert.) Melnick Underground will give viewers as much of the skinny on new Habs D-man Jaroslav Spacek as on indie-rock sensations the Stills - his guests on last Saturday's web-cast. But the program is mostly about getting Montrealers revved and in the right mood for the ultimate religious show in this city: Saturday night hockey at the Bell Centre. "If SportsNight 360 were still on the air or if there were another show on Saturday evening that would get fans in the mood for a hockey game, I don't know if I'd be doing this," says Melnick, once the host of his own TV sports show on Saturdays. "There's no local (English) sports show on TV. There's no local music shows on TV. Apart from the news, there's no local shows - period. "This webcast is an opportunity to draw on my friends in the community, in the media, sports and music, to hang for half an hour. The goal is to get the show on the website by 6:30 p.m., but it's also to have some fun." What it's not about, according to Melnick, is making money. He is using his own to produce and promote the show. "I have a long history of not being about making money," he muses. He is referring to Billy Bob Productions (in which he was a partner with Lloyd Fischler and Gary Silverman). The company brought dynamite music acts to town - like folk legend John Prine - but never got rich in the process. "Someone once sang: 'Money doesn't talk - it swears!' " Melnick adds. He knows darn well who that someone is: Dylan. Still, if the webcast does take off, Melnick would not be averse to bringing the show to the tube: "There's just this huge void out there - and it should be filled." Melnick Underground is available at the website www.mitchmelnick.com. |
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