[78-L] Testing ^

[David Lennick]

Ken "Silver Showcase" wrote:
> David Lennick wrote:
>> RUSSELL BARNES wrote:
>>   
>>> Testing the connection
>>> _________________________________
>>>     
>>
>> Kenneth, what is the frequency?
>>   
> 
> 
> I'm Kenneth, and my answer is "not enough!"
> 
> (Did we, or Dan Rather, ever find out who "Kenneth" was?)
> 
> -- Ken(neth)
> __________________________________

Funny you should ask. Wackypackia says someone was finally arrested and that 
someone had orchestrated the attack, but I can't figure  why.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Rather
On October 4, 1986, as Rather was walking along Park Avenue in Manhattan to his 
apartment, he was attacked and punched from behind by a man who demanded to 
know, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?", while a second assailant also chased 
and beat him. As the assailant pummeled and kicked Rather, he kept repeating 
the question over and over again. In describing the incident, Rather said, "I 
got mugged. Who understands these things? I didn't and I don't now. I didn't 
make a lot of it at the time and I don't now. I wish I knew who did it and why, 
but I have no idea."

The incident and Rather's account led some to doubt the veracity of Rather's 
story, although the doorman and building supervisor who rescued Rather fully 
confirmed his version of events. The story entered popular lore and remained 
unsolved for some time. The incident inspired a song called "Kenneth, What's 
the Frequency?" by the band Game Theory in 1987. In October 1990, the phrase 
"What's the frequency, Kenneth?" appeared in an issue of the Daniel Clowes 
comic Eightball[50] as part of the serialised graphic novel Like a Velvet Glove 
Cast in Iron, and was revealed in a later episode to be a key part of the 
Mister Jones conspiracy theory[51]. In 1994 the band R.E.M. released the song 
"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" on the album Monster. The phrase became the 
subject of many jokes over the years and slang for a confused or clueless 
person. Rather was a good sport about it, and actually sang with R.E.M. during 
a soundcheck prior to a gig at Madison Square Garden, New York, which was shown 
the following night on The Late Show With David Letterman before their 
performance of Crush With Eyeliner.

In 1997, a TV critic writing in the New York Daily News solved the mystery, and 
published a photo of the alleged assailant, William Tager. Rather confirmed the 
story: "There's no doubt in my mind that this is the person." "William Tager's 
identity as the man who attacked Mr. Rather was established in the course of an 
investigation by my office", said New York District Attorney Robert M. 
Morgenthau[52]. Tager also admitted assaulting Rather. Tager is currently 
serving a 25-year prison sentence for killing NBC stagehand Campbell Montgomery 
outside The Today Show studio in 1994.

In the December 2001 issue of Harper's Magazine, writer Paul Limbert Allman 
concluded that Professor Donald Barthelme (who died in 1989) had somehow 
orchestrated the attack through other unnamed persons, citing unusual passages 
in Barthelme's writing, including the phrase "What is the frequency?", a 
recurring character named Kenneth, and a short story about a pompous editor 
named Lather.[53] The article was adapted into two plays, both entitled 
"Kenneth, What is the Frequency?" The first was by Ian Allen and Monique 
LaForce and debuted in Washington, D.C., in 2003.[54] The second, written by 
Allman himself, premiered in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2004.[55]

In the 2006-07 graphic novel Shooting War, the fictional Dan Rather of the year 
2011 it portrays has adopted the personal motto, "The frequency is courage."

--dl