As most of you already know, the Northern Alliance of Blogs stepped in for Hugh Hewitt as he went on a top-secret mission at one of our nation's fine military colleges, the Naval Academy at Annapolis. (We're not entirely sure about this mission, but the Elder claims that he has the goods, complete with pictures.) The Northern Alliance took over Hugh's show on both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, driving his listeners to consider Dead-Air America as their back-up radio choice in the event Hugh takes any more time off -- even though they were playing Marcel Marceau's Greatest Hits (Dance Remix Version) all night Wednesday in LA.

I can't tell you how much fun it is to be in a radio studio with terrific guys like the Elder and JB from Fraters Libertas, King Banian from SCSU Scholars, and Big Trunk and Hindrocket (who was unfortunately out of town for our national debut) from Power Line. I got to meet James Lileks for the first time, he of the mellifluous voice and lightning-quick wit (George Soros is Ernst Blofeld? How the heck does he do that?). If you've read his Bleat, then you have a good sense of the man: friendly, intelligent, gracious, and willing to chat at length with me as soon as I bought a $25 autograph. I can only read the J, dang it! But most of all, Mitch Berg from Shot In The Dark deserves the credit for handling the center position like the pro he is. He was fabulous, and he's just as good on our weekend show, too.

The Elder posted his thoughts on the show earlier today at Fraters Libertas:

And it was a helluva lot of fun. Working with Generalissimo Duane was a pleasure. He is a true radio professional and knows his craft well. He also has a tremendous sense of humor and, as often happens on our Saturday show, many of the best lines and much of the best conversation took place off the air during breaks. Best of all Duane played his own bumps, not the musical flotsam and jetsam that Hugh usually subjects his listeners to. Thank you Generalissimo.

Duane truly made us as good as we can be -- insert your own joke here -- and not only kept us on track but kept us calm, relaxed, and focused. At the same time, he had no problem joining in the fun and foolishness of the moment and pushed us to be ourselves on the air. I thank you, Duane, and sorry about the peasants with pitchforks and torches outside your house that we somehow inspired. And thanks again for taking us out with "Tijuana Jail," a great Kingston Trio record. I wanted to cement my reputation as a world-class square, especially after endorsing "Tom Dooley" the night before.

But most of all, I want to thank Hugh, and no kidding -- we've done five local shows total and he gave up six prime-time hours to this bunch of amateurs, a real leap of faith. I challenge you to find a radio talk-show host that would turn his show over to a group of his fans like he has, or that would use his influence to create two local radio shows like he did out here this winter with us and Dwight Rabuse. I'm still amazed at his generosity, and now that I've gone through a bit of the prep that he does, I'm even more amazed at the consistently high quality of his show.

Thanks for tossing us the mike, Hugh and Duane. Hope we took good care of it for you.

If you caught the show on the air or over the Internet, I'd love to hear from you -- drop me a comment with your reviews!

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