Month: November 2019

Every once in a while I have lots of little things on my mind and I splay them all out in a blog.  Today is such a time for doing this.

I’m not a parent, just an uncle to a sweet niece and nephew who grew into fantastic adults.  Still, I teach kids with behavior issues and I know a bit about children and what parents need to do to ensure their kids behave properly.  Last week at Sport Clips while waiting for my hair to be cut I saw a father who didn’t know what the hell he was doing with his four year old son who was also waiting for a hair-cut.  I bet that dad asked his son a dozen times to sit down next to him in the waiting area. Instead, the kid ignored dad and pulled out a bunch of suckers from a treats bucket, re-arranged and dropped some tubes of hair products on display and kept running in and out of the entrance door, which rang a bell to alert staff that someone new walked in the shop.  This father never got up to physically sit his rambunctious boy next to him and there was no firm assertion of the situation. He just sat there helpless. If this little boy is like this with dad at age 4, I’d hate to see what goes down when the kid is 14.   

Last month I had a serviceman come to my house for a repair issue.  I won’t mention what company and you’ll understand why in just a second. The guy was very nice, helpful and took care of matters in half an hour.  There’s just one problem, the man had incredibly awful body odor.  I really didn’t notice it at first because he went right to work on the issue at hand. While this serviceman toiled away in my bedroom I sat in the living room and killed time watching TV.  After I signed off on the work and he left my house I walked into my bedroom and the smell almost knocked me over.  Opening both windows didn’t help and neither did a liberal spray of Febreze.

Despite keeping the bedroom windows open all night while I slept on the living room couch, the smell remained and would not fade.  Three days later nothing improved and I ended up having to wash all my bedclothes, I gave my rug a major vacuuming with foam carpet cleaner and scrubbed my walls with diluted bleach and a sponge.  Then and only then did the smell of this service guy go away.  It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode “The Smelly Car” where a car porter’s B.O. permanently polluted Jerry’s car.            

I have a new favorite actress.  It’s Sasha Alexander who co-starred on ‘Rizzoli and Isles” and did some nutty love scenes on several episodes of Showtime’s “Shameless.”  I first noticed Ms. Alexander on a rerun of “Friends” where she played an entertainment reporter interviewing Joey.  Sasha Alexander reminds me of a younger Susan Sarandon. She has a look and aura about her that is very much a turn-on without being blatantly slutty.  The most erotic body part we have is the brain and this woman emits something special from her persona.  Plus the name ‘Sasha’ is pretty cool.     

Until she announced a newfound career in porn this fall, I had not heard of actress Maitland Ward. She used to star on the TV show “Boy Meets World” but I never watched that series.  So I went online and checked out one of her adult videos.

My take is that Maitland Ward has an average looking face, giant fake boobs and a really ugly tramp stamp tattoo (is there such a thing as a pretty ‘tramp stamp’?) Finally, pardon the crudeness, but her bajingo looks like Bill Murray’s mouth in “Caddyshack.”  I’ll take a hard pass on watching anything else Maitland Ward does.

MOVIE TALK-Positive buzz is happening for the Agatha Christie-like whodunit comedy “Knives Out.” 

Due out soon is the war epic “1917” and there’s “The Rise of Skywalker” as the Star Wars series wraps up. I’ll probably get around to seeing those movies and here are the trailers for two films I’m really looking forward to seeing.   

Speaking of movies, reports say there will be a sequel to the freaky smash hit “Joker.”  Director Todd Phillips bet on himself and did not take a salary, opting for money on the back end if “Joker” became a hit.  Word is Phillips will rake in about 100 million dollars for his work.

So for those who saw how the movie ended, how can there be a sequel?  There’s rampant speculation that all that happened in the “Joker” was all in Arthur Fleck’s twisted imagination.  We’ll see.

So let’s review: Misbehaving bratty kid, smelly repair guy, hot actress, not so hot porn star & movie talk. O.K. I think I’ve covered all that’s on my mind.

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG- Remembering a magical night with Queen.

As Thanksgiving approaches, we often think of what we’re thankful for.  Family, our health, warm home and good employment are often reflected on.  So this year I thought I’d go with a different list of things for me to be thankful for.  This is a small compilation of my life’s experiences working in radio, teaching and personal goings on that I’m grateful for.

So For These Things I am Thankful:

Over 25 years of experiencing the roar of the old Chicago Stadium crowd when a Blackhawk player scored a goal.

Getting to hug and kiss the Stanley Cup in 2010.

Sitting courtside while covering Bulls games for WLS in the mid-80’s and watching Michael Jordan’s early career wizardry.

Witnessing the attempted first Chicago Cubs night game at Wrigley on 8-8-88 from the roof top at Muprhy’s Bleachers.  (and many other games from there as well)

That my father got to hear the eulogy I wrote for him a few days before he slipped into a coma and passed away.

Being recruited and hired by Larry Lujack to produce his show back in 1985; then staying Lar’s friend until his passing in 2013.  

Seeing David Bowie act in “The Elephant Man” at the Blackstone Theater.

The songwriting of Hank Williams, Alan Jackson, Sammy Llanas, Brandy Clark, Pete Townsend & Tom Petty.

The fact that Ray Price singing “For the Good Times” still brings me to tears. 

The guitar mastery of Mark Knopfler.

The never changing singing voice of Don Henley.

The country soul of Vince Gill, Clint Black and George Strait.  Meeting all of them was also a huge thrill.  And yes, ditto for Garth Brooks.

Seeing Neil Young play a solo acoustic concert for a small gathering of fans at the Channel 11 studios.

How the lyrics to Steely Dan’s “Midnight Cruiser” always take me back to my teen years and all the fun I had with my friends.

My first time concert memories of Elton John, The Who, Queen, Springsteen and the Eagles.

Private encounters with Glenn Frey, John Mellencamp and Bruce Hornsby to name a few.

Surprising scenes in “Mad Men” like when Don Draper’s real identity is revealed and what happened next.

Being an early adopter of “The Seinfeld Chronicles” TV series which morphed into “Seinfeld.”

Masterfully  written movies like “The Godfather”, “Tender Mercies”, “Hannah and her Sisters”, “House of Games“ A Face in the Crowd” and “The Prestige” to name a few.

The touching eulogy scene in Waking Ned Devine, the Easter homily in “Chocolat” and the endearing words in a closing letter heard in the sorely underrated movie “Dean.”

The thrill of sitting in a dark movie theater watching previews of films I know little about yet, then seeing my movie.

The creative bond of music & comedy that helped form the special friendship I have with Al Flash. 

 The longtime ties of brotherly love I have with my pals Bobbo and Marko. 

Seeing the happy tears of relief from parents whose children have grown, developed and found a home at our school.

The beaming smiles of my students when they grasp a concept that seemed to be too hard to get before.

The excited calls of “Mr. Mick, Mr. Mick, Mr. Mick” I get from kids who want to add their feedback to a discussion we’re having on a lesson.

The hospital bedside farewell talk my grandpa Kahler and I had before he left us over 30 years ago.

Happy Thanksgiving!

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG- Hitting To All Fields.

It’s time to catch up to several things I’ve been raving about to anyone who’ll listen. Last weekend I saw “The Good Liar” starring Helen Mirren and Ian McKellan.  The story has a great script, aces acting and fun twists of suspense and trickery .  This is one of those movies I did not want to end.  This teacher gives it a B+.

The documentary “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” is another great watch. It’s narrated by Ms. Ronstadt with cool stories from peers like Dolly Parton, Emmy Lou Harris, Bonnie Raitt and Aaron Neville, plus former lover J.D. Souther, music entertainment mogul David Geffen and other associates.   

It’s amazing how everything Linda Ronstadt attempted in music was so well done and successful.  From singing pop and country hits for years to the success on Broadway in “The Pirates of Penzance”, big band recordings with Nelson Riddle plus she delved into her family’s Mexican roots with Spanish sung albums. 

Of course the downer of “The Sound of My Voice” is the revelation that Linda Ronstadt’s life has been compromised by Parkinson’s disease.  At the end of the movie there were many sniffles from folks in the theater and yes, I too had to wipe away some tears.   I gave this one a grade of an A.

If you don’t get a chance to see “The Sound of My Voice” (it will eventually air on CNN, who co-produced the project) then check out this link to a CBS Sunday Morning feature on Linda Ronstadt. 

One of my all time favorite country singer-songwriters is Clint Black and he just issued live album titled “Still Killin’ Time.”  The concert tracks find Clint in fine voice, thirty years after releasing his monster five hit singles debut album “Killin’ Time.”  Plus there are bonus tracks including “This Old House.” Black sings that one with help from artists Travis Tritt, Trace Adkins, Darius Rucker, Steve Wariner, Sara Evans, Dierks Bentley and Michael Ray. 

You can check out the video for “This Old House” here.

I’m embarrassingly several years late to the prom for the phenomenon of Choir! Choir! Choir! Musicians Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman recruit masses of strangers together in various cities and get these instantly formed crowds to rehearse then sing classic rock and pop songs with chilling harmonic arrangements and interpretations. Tom Petty’s “Free Falling”, REM’s “Losing My Religion” and Patty Smith’s “Because the Night” are just a few of the songs you can catch on You Tube. However below is my favorite, as Talking Heads’ founder David Byrne sings the lead with help from a cast of many on David Bowie’s “Heroes.”    

Last month Elton John released his autobiography “Me.” While a ghostwriter helped on this project, the stories are told through the large framed sparkly eyeglasses view of the former Reginald Kenneth Dwight turned pop and rock superstar Elton John. 

Being a longtime fan of Elton’s, much of what’s in the pages are tales I was familiar with.  Still, I found unknown to me pieces to Mr. John’s story like the personal insights to his failed 1984 marriage to a woman while being a gay man.  Elton also covers a more recent anecdote, his dealing with and subsequent defeat over prostate cancer.  There’s also an inside look at a failed attempt to do a duets concert tour with Tina Turner. It turns out Tina Turner can be quite the difficult artist!

Elton John’s sobriety is chronicled but this was the part of the book I felt a bit let down by.  He talks about what led him to Parkside Clinic at Lutheran General Hospital for treatment of alcoholism, drug addiction and bulimia in 1990.  However, I wanted to learn more about the physical and emotional challenges he went through when detoxing from booze and cocaine.  Elton makes it sound like his biggest problem in rehab was learning how to work a washing machine and accepting the program’s rules on phone usage.  Being a longtime addict he had to have gotten dope sick and gone through hell physically and mentally while in treatment.  We get none of that in the book. 

Still, “Me” is a real eye opener for any Elton John fan and more than worth the time to read.

PLAYING CHICKEN

Finally, there’s been all the hoopla over Popeye’s chicken sandwich that has had people fight and even kill over the damn things.  Last week I sampled one (after a 15 minute wait in a drive thru lane) and it was pretty darn good.  Three days later after getting some recommends for it, I checked out the chicken sandwich from Fry the Coop. Wow!  Bigger and meatier and just a couple bucks more than Popeye’s offering but much better!  I’m not into super spicy eats so I opted for the basic sandwich and fries. Next time I’ll ask for it plain with just mayo, because I don’t like having cole slaw or pickles on my sandwiches.   I teach at a school in Oak Lawn and live in Elmhurst and the two Fry the Coop locations are in those two towns!  How lucky can a guy get?

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG- Things to be thankful for.

I see that singer-songwriter Marc Cohn is coming to play Space in Evanston on November 12^th and Chicago’s City Winery on November 13^th.  Just another couple of concert stops for the guy who brought us the hit song “Walking in Memphis” but I have a fun story to share about Marc that goes back almost 30 years.

Back in 1991 I was producing the Murphy in the Morning Show on Q-101 and we had Marc Cohn booked to be with us the morning after his concert at the Park West.  “Walking in Memphis” was still on the Q-101 playlist but Murphy was concerned the guy might be kind of low key and not so entertaining on the air with us.  I went to see Cohn’s concert and could tell pretty quickly Murf’s worries were for naught.

In between songs, Cohn was engaging his fans with dry clever banter.  At one point he told the crowd this was his first time ever in Chicago. Then he said when arriving for the sound check that afternoon someone handed him one of those pink message notes titled “While you were away.”  After a pause, the fans  cracked up at the irony. 

Anyway, the message Marc Cohn got was a request from a man to dedicate a specific song to the guy’s girlfriend.  Cohn mentioned the woman’s name saying the next song was for her from her man.  Then he launched into the ballad “True Companion” which is a tailor made wedding proposal song.  As the melody started up, a young couple sitting right in front of me locked into a tight embrace with the woman nodding her head ‘yes’ and crying tears of joy.  She had just been proposed to with an assist from Marc Cohn! It was a really cool moment.    

After the concert I rounded up the couple and explained Marc would be on our show in the morning. I made arrangements to call their apartment when Cohn was on with us. We had a keyboard set up in the studio for the singer’s visit and after re-telling the proposal story at the Park West, he sang “True Companion” to the newly engaged couple live on the air. The bit went off really well.  It’s fun when circumstances fall together so seamlessly. I sometimes wonder if that happily betrothed couple is still married. I hope they still are each other’s ‘true companions.’

During his time on the show Marc Cohn seemed to as we imagined, a serious musician. Yet he surprisingly agreed to Murf’s request to twist up the chorus of “Walking in Memphis” and sing it on the air like this, “Listening to Murphy, listening and trying to win me some cash, listening to Murphy, but boy do I think that guy’s an ass.  He’s an ass.”

This is just one of many quaint little stories I experienced during my almost twenty years in Chicago radio.  A little fun and irony became a well crafted segment on the air. I’ll always remember the piano playing Cohn for being so appeasing to that young couple and such a good sport with us.    

Sadly, the loving you forever sentiment of “True Companion” didn’t pan out so well for Marc Cohn.  After having two sons with the woman he wrote that song for, there was a divorce. A couple years later he married ABC Network news anchor Elizabeth Vargas. Together they had two sons but ended their marriage in 2014 after Elizabeth’s third stint in rehab for alcoholism.  Besides his marital ups and downs, in August of 2005 while on tour in Denver,   Marc Cohn was shot in the head during an attempted carjacking. The bullet barely missed his eye and lodged near his skull.  Cohn was hospitalized for observation but released in less than a day.  The shooter was caught, convicted and sentenced to 36 years in prison.  Marc Cohn kept his wit throughout this ordeal saying doctors told him he was “The luckiest unlucky guy they had met in a long time.”

Take a listen to this classic wedding song from Marc Cohn.

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG: Reviews of 2 films, a song and a book.

It happens every year, is about to happen again and it’s not something I like.  I’m talking about late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel’s annual airing of video clips of parents telling their children they ate all the kids’ Halloween candy. This year Kimmel’s show aired a rerun the day after Halloween but once again he asked parents to send in videos of them pulling this scam on their youngsters.

Thanks to the immediacy of social media, these videos are easily processed and this week we’ll be seeing more sad little faces in this stupid bit. The pranked kids, anywhere between the ages of 3 and 10, react as you would expect.  When learning their candy stash is gone they show puzzlement, shock and then the sadness kicks in. Next up we see showers of tears among audible cries of “No!  Why?  Waaaa!”

Yeah, Kimmel, that’s REAL comedy there pal.  Ugh.  Now let’s get one thing straight, I am a comedy fan. I’m far from humorless.  Just take a look at most of my Facebook posts and this blog’s website too.  Back in my in school days I was a wisecracking class clown and during my radio career I made my bones being a clever quipster, wacky thinker and occasional smart-ass. 

Needless to say, I dig funny.  However, telling children the candy they Trick or Treated for all day and night has been eaten by their parents is NOT funny.  It’s cruel and it pisses me off knowing there are idiots out there who take sick pleasure in this bit.  As much as I’m a fan of and occasional contributor to the WGN Morning News show, it’s disappointing that they replay highlights of Kimmel’s annual kids prank and they too laugh at it.  Larry Potash and Robin Baumgarten, you’re better than that.

Young children are rightly brought up to trust their parents above everyone else.  Mom and dad or mom and mom or dad and dad are the guiding lights to their kids and to see parents take that light and turn it into an offensive laser beam of hurt blows my mind.  I know the ruse is a temporary one but why would anyone want to inflict this kind of pain on their own youngsters?  Kids will grow up to many disappointments and letdowns in their life and getting this faked out ‘the candy is gone’ shtick is totally unnecessary.

What amazes me further is a couple years ago Jimmy Kimmel’s wife gave birth to a son with a rare and serious congenital heart defect.   During this tough time Kimmel choked back tears on his show while talking openly about what his newborn baby named William ‘Billy’ John  was going through. There was eventually the good news that at three days of age baby Billy underwent successful surgery to correct the problem and all is well now.

So Jimmy Kimmel had a son with a serious heart problem and yet he’s encouraging parents to share videos as they break their kids’ hearts with news that their Halloween candy was gone and not to come back.  I just don’t get the logic.  I wish Kimmel would wise up and drop this annual scamming bit.  Comedy is a subjective art and everyone likes and laughs at different things. For me, the Halloween ‘candy is gone’ scam belongs in the trash along with old rotting pumpkins.

NEXT WEEK’s BLOG– A fun concert memory.