{"id":3589,"date":"2015-06-25T07:58:37","date_gmt":"2015-06-25T14:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/?p=3589"},"modified":"2026-02-26T22:30:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T05:30:59","slug":"i-want-my-veee-jay-veee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/2015\/06\/25\/i-want-my-veee-jay-veee\/","title":{"rendered":"“I Want My Veee-Jay-Veee!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, usually I spend my efforts on the site, to promote the things I’ve done in my career. I mean, it *is* my<\/em> site. It’s truly all about satiating my ego, and self-aggrandizing behavior.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However…I was recently gifted a piece of my childhood. Thanks to documentary filmmaker Eric Green<\/a>, I got to relive the existence of V-66<\/a>! Now…unless you lived in Boston, during the period 1985-86, you have no idea what I’m talking about. See…due to whatever stupid political-business-backroom dealing that didn’t get done, Boston was slow to wire the city for cable. If you lived in the inner city, you either couldn’t see MTV, or it was so expensive, nobody could afford it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But, even still…in early 1985, 4 years after MTV launched, Boston got something different. We got our own *local,* Music Video TV station! You heard me correctly. We had a local version of MTV<\/a>. It was staffed with VJs, and took requests, and played music from *local* artists as well as the biggest videos of the time. Now, I know it sounds like nothing more than a public-access cable show…<\/strong><\/p>\n

WRONG!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It really was a professional broadcast station. Run by two ex (and future) radio guys. They had a vision. And, for a short time, they nailed<\/span> it. The station was responsible for resurrecting Aerosmith’s career, during their leaner years. They also turned me on to great bands that would eventually break out of Boston. Bands like Extreme, The Del Fuegos, & ‘Til Tuesday. Plus, tons of unsigned local bands like The Drive, Axminster, O-Positive, and East Boston’s The Stompers. And they actually made Boston-based videos from songs that we all knew. It really was our own MTV. I wanted to work there!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I could go on forever about how cool it was. But, the DVD<\/a> does that just fine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I will say this: The guy that ran it, understood what it took to make a true impact in the lives of their audience. It’s a philosophy I’ve always admired, and try to espouse whenever possible. No matter how good the song, or in this case, the video, there *has* to be something more that snags the attention of your audience. V-66<\/a>, did that. I’ve always tried<\/em> to do it during my (now) 30 years doing this. I happen to be good friends with the station’s former Music Director (Hi Roxy!). 30 years later, she’s still<\/em> killing it in the business.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So…I just want to say a huge “thanks” to Eric. For taking the time to put the film together. And, for tossing a copy my way. You’re the man!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mostly…I want to thank John Garabedian, Arnie Ginsberg, and everyone who made V-66 so special.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because, I love music. Part of the reason…was V66!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, usually I spend my efforts on the site, to promote the things I’ve done in my career. I mean, it *is* my site. It’s truly all about satiating my ego, and self-aggrandizing behavior. However…I was recently gifted a piece of my childhood. Thanks to documentary filmmaker Eric Green, I got to relive the existence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[40,32,47],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3589"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4115,"href":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3589\/revisions\/4115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/neanderpaul.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}