15.09.11
The A.V. Combine: Is this what you expected after your retirement?
Don Shelby: No, I thought a hammock. I meditating I’d be at the lakes a lot—I haven’t been for two months. And so, no, this is noticeably not exactly what my wife had in mind. I started, as a kid, in theater, and then went to the College Of Conservatory Music in Cincinnati, and was surrounded by all of these musicians and singers, and working in melodic theater and light opera. I actually started off as a assign-up artist. I wanted to be an actor, but I couldn’t peach, except for the blues, which I still do occasionally with my karaoke machine downstairs.
AVC: Not in public, though?
DS: I have in actuality sung the blues at the Fine Line on several occasions. And we had a blues band—a WCCO blues combination for several years. It’s still in existence, though I’m not the lead choirboy anymore. I think they’ve retired my microphone. But I’m in ecstasy here [in the theater], because it’s taken me back to my original love. The actually is, any anchor person in the world who tells you otherwise would be lying, but we’re in this point because we’re big show-offs. And we were show-offs in high school. Once you get in, then the journalism starts growing on you. You get in and you tails of out, well, I better learn something here. You figure out what works and what doesn’t, and you appear out that it’s a public service—that it’s not remarkably about you. But, anchors get into it because they’re people pleasers and they’re seeking an audience. You can take to task the managers of ’CCO this now—I wouldn’t have wanted you to say anything a year ago—but I would have done this [anchoring] for about $1.50 an hour.
Source: A.V. Club New York