Month: December 2019

“Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to…” Oh let’s not forget, I want to remember!  I want to remember some New Year’s happenings from way back.  Yes, often times a New Year’s Eve night out celebration can turn out to be an overblown, overhyped, overspent popcorn fart of nothing, but sometimes they can be a lot of fun.  Here’s a few of mine from days gone by…

FINALLY MADE IT TO MIDNIGHT!  I was 10 years old the first time I managed to not conk out and stay up til 12 midnight and see the New Year in.  Every year my parents would order in pizza and we’d watch TV and find a good movie on one of the 5 or 6 channels available in the time of B.C. (Before cable) After the TV news, we watched Dick Clark in New York and the east coast New Year’s ball drop.  Sixty minutes later, the clock struck twelve in Elmhurst! As 1971 segued into 1972 I heard my neighbors outside yelling “Happy New Year” and banging pots with spoons to everyone’s enjoyment.  Twenty minutes later I was out like a light but we were IN a new year and I stayed awake to see it happen.

THE FREDRISKEN HAT TRICK- Three years straight, from freshman through junior year in high school the last night in December was spent staying overnight at my longtime friend Mark Fredriksen’s house.  Jim Briegel, Nick Ragona and Jon Carlson were also on hand for pizza, pop, snacks, poker and Tripoly;  this all happened in Mark’s parents’ large downstairs den/lounge.  The TV would be on and we’d catch the east coast and local New Year’s coverage. 

Junior year we were drinking more than soda pop and partying pretty hard while skitching from the back of Paul Greenberg’s Vega.  Paul had a case of Old Style beer in the back of his car with the hatch open. We took turns being dragged around the snow covered roads of the neighborhood on our bellies, with one hand hooked on the car bumper and the other on a beer.  Were we daredevils or dumbasses?  You take your pick.

FUN IN FORT LAUDERDALE

Earlier this year when Eddie Money died, I wrote about how his music tied into an insane New Year’s Eve I spent in Florida with four buddies. We were seventeen, liquored up in a bar and sucking face with any and every woman we happened upon that night.  You can click into the month of September on this site and scroll to September 15^th for that whole story.  It really was nuts, loads of fun and it was a miracle that none of us came down with mononucleosis.

A.W. SHUCKS IT’S NEW YEAR’S EVE!

I spent a couple of New Year’s Eves at the former great Elmhurst rock nightclub A.W. Shucks.  I was with my dear friend and mentor Lee Swanson and the onstage entertainment was Risk, the band he managed.  The first of these wing-dings was as we welcomed in 1983 and to close out the night I ended up onstage singing The Clash’s “Should I Stay of Should I Go” with Risk lead singer Joey DeMarco.  After that show stopper, on occasion Joey would summon me to join him for a last song of the night performance.   

WE DROVE ALL THIS WAY FOR THIS?

On New Year’s Eve 1984 pals Bobbo, Marko, Dave Potter and I drove more than four hours in a ridiculous blizzard to visit college friends for an alleged party in Galesburg, Illinois.  The bad news was there were no women there and hardly a party was happening. We drank a few beers and watched MTV til 2 am which proves not EVERY one of my New Year’s Eves was golden.

A BO DEANS NEW YEAR’S EVE

New Year’s Eve 1990 Marko and I were at the Park West for a BoDeans concert.  That was a great way to rock out the year as Sammy Llanas and the band did a perfect countdown to midnight in the middle of the song “Don’t Be Lonely.”  It was also a night for a rare blue moon and Sammy ended up singing “Blue Moon.” I remember all this because Marko rigged a set-up at home to record the concert which aired on WXRT.

HAWKS GAMES

Every once in awhile the Blackhawks, my favorite Chicago sports team, played a home game on New Year’s Eve.  I remember going to one of those games at the old Chicago Stadium and at least once at the United Center.  Some fans in the stands were sporting tuxedos and cocktail dresses with plans to hit some parties after the game.  I was dressed casually in jeans & sweatshirt then spent my post game time hitting a White Castle drive thru before going home to bring in the New Year.

THE MILLENIUM OF 2000

Remember the whole Y2K scare as we prepared for 1999 to become 2000?  I was at a neighbor’s party that night, only two doors from my house in case anything bad happened. Earlier that month and again on December 31^st my former radio boss and longtime friend Larry Lujack & I talked on the phone about all the disasters that COULD go down as the new century approached. Lar and I shared how both of us were really prepared for the end of times with stored water and non-perishable food.  On New Year’s Day Larry called me back, when I picked up the phone he said, “Well…(long pause) we’re still here… What a disappointment!”  We had a big laugh on that.

2009

December 31^st 2009 was the last time I went out for New Year’s Eve.  It was to attend a brother-like friend’s wedding.  Jason Vanderwoude was marrying the love of his life Lizzy Weninger in a beautiful candle light service in Geneva.  The reception took place at the historic Hotel Baker in St. Charles. The food, fun and the revelry that night was incredible!  After Jason & Lizzy’s party ended I hung out in another of the hotel’s ballrooms to see a great Beatles tribute band called The Cavern Beat.   Like many of the wedding guests, I opted to stay overnight at the hotel to avoid trouble on the roads. 

So those are a few examples of how I’ve wrung out old years and started new ones.  I’ll be staying in again this year because there’s a reason they call the evening of December 31^st ‘Amateur Night.  ” I prefer to enter January in a state of being alive.   

For those going out, please be safe, use your head, make good choices and stay alert.  

Oh,.and wherever you celebrate, whoever you’re with, Happy New Year!

NOTE:  I’m going to take a little time off from blogging (unless some pressing matter kicks in that merits my attention and comments) I’ll be back with you soon in 2020. 

Looking back on the past 355 days, it’s hard to rate how this year was for me.  Things just never took hold in definitive positive or negative ways.  I guess 2019 gets a grade of a ‘C’.

I stayed pretty healthy save for a two day battle of chills & fever a few weekends ago. However, back in February I suffered a badly gimped up knee after a fall on my icy driveway. My right leg stayed planted while my left slipped down and pointed out in an ugly way. Had the angle of my leg gone out just a degree or two further I would’ve had a Joe Theisman-like injury with surgery for sure.  I hobbled on a cane for five days and the left lower hinge didn’t totally heal for over a month.   

DOWNS & UPS

I attended the wake of former baseball teammate Brian ‘Bubba’ Mc Carthy who passed away from cancer. Bubba was a great guy and a year younger than me. His passing really blew my mind.  It’s just another reminder that our time in this life is limited.

The two days of York’s Class of ‘79 reunion was a fantastic time; filled with great laughs, reminiscing and happy reflections on the good ole days and what’s happened in the forty years since.  I was thrilled with the warm embraces and smiles shared with former classmates.

The Sammy Llanas surprise birthday show for my closest pal Bobbo back in June was another stone groove! The former BoDeans member and co-founder put on a helluva show with his band and it was the perfect way to close out Bobbo and his family living here in Illinois.  They’ve all moved west but the echoes of the good times had in that house are still heard.  And they always will be!

 On top of everything else, Bobbo became a grandfather for the first time to a sweet little buckaroo named Archer Ford Ciciora.

I saw Elton John in concert in February at the Allstate Arena. Captain Fantastic put on a fine show and yet it reminded me how much I miss my sister Marianne who was a fellow Elton fanatic and took me to my first several EJ concerts.

The swim season was a terrible letdown. This was due to the cloudy and cool weather we had all summer.  Of course as soon as East End Pool closed for the year we got sunny skies and temperatures in the high 80’s & low 90’s with loads of humidity for about a month.  Still, the laughs and bonding my fellow East End regulars and I did were fun as always. 

I saw lots of movies and really enjoyed the Beatles never existed fantasy “Yesterday,” “The Peanut Butter Falcon” and “The Sound of my Voice”, the documentary on Linda Ronstadt.  I thought the highly touted “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” was just O.K.  Finally as disturbing as it was, I was mesmerized by Joaquin Phoenix in “Joker.”  I still need to get around to screening “The Irishman.”

Musically, my favorite new track was Justin Moore’s “Some Day I Gotta Quit.”  This is a poignant song for those of us dealing with addictions and bad decision making.  I mean check out these lyrics: “Between the whiskey and the nicotine, the wrong girls in the right jeans and all the other fires that keep burning me I keep lit, it ain’t never gonna happen some say oh but somehow, some way, some day I gotta quit.”

Another favorite was “Buy My Own Drinks” by the female trio Runaway June. That song actually came out in August of 2018 so I was a little late to the prom for that one but no matter,.it’s still a great tune.

Naturally I could not get enough of the Ken Burns documentary PBS series on Country Music.

Work wise the 2018-2019 school year was my best in teaching. There were more challenges than anyone could count and I really shined as a consistent and reliable educator. (That was reflected in the pay raise I was given and the yearly bonus paid in the fall) 

So far, the 2019-2020 school year has been a rough one, I have a difficult class of kids with serious personality clashes. They can barely stand each other and all efforts to find common ground and peace for them have so far failed. Let’s see how the second half of the school year pans out.  Some sanity has been maintained thanks to my assistant Lisa Ivins. I attended Lisa’s wedding this year which was a good time that included some of the best food I’ve ever had at any wedding. 

We arrived at the 10 year mark since my mother died and the 5^th anniversary since my sister Marianne passed away.  Mom, Mary and my father who left this world in 1993 are never far from my thoughts.

Al Flash and I created several new parody music videos that aired on The Channel 9 Morning News, all of which were well received.  We have more shenanigans in store for that show in the New Year. 

I spent much of the year trying to be better to others.  This started with simple things like often times letting someone with just a few grocery items go in front of me in the check-out line at Jewel to writing letters to an elderly East End swim mate who is now in a nursing home. Also, I took more time than ever offering encouraging words and support to those who needed it, from my own students to Facebook friends and others. 

So 2019 is about to end and I look forward to turning the page and moving on to what will be my last year in my 50’s.  Yow!

What’s to happen in 2020? Who’s to say?  I don’t make resolutions because that’s a surefire way to see them not happen.  I just plan try to be better to myself and we’ll see where that takes me.

NEXT WEEK- Recalling some New Year’s Eves from my past.

I’ve been in a very nostalgic mood during this holiday season.  So I set the way-back machine to memories of the Christmases I enjoyed with my mother, father and sister way back when.  Here’s some of what I thought of.

**Being handed the latest Sears catalog and scanning the toys and sporting goods sections for things I’d like to ask Santa for.

**In the days before VCRs there was also my urgent calling out to my parents to check out a TV commercial that was on for some game or toy I wanted for Christmas. 

**The annual excited drive to Yorktown Mall each December to sit on Santa’s lap and offer up my gift wishes. 

**Some of those early Christmas presents gifts my sister Marianne and I asked for included games like “Ants in the Pants”, “Don’t Break the Ice”, “Sure-Shot”, “Hands Down”, “Bobby Hull Table Hockey” and the one that got me hooked into media, “The Say-It Play It” tape recorder!

**I also remember when Mary was starting to get more ‘mature’ gifts like her “My Sin” perfume and special hair care products.

**Stocking Stuffers ranged from the practical like tooth brushes and combs to the fun stuff like York Peppermint patties & other sweets. There’d always be a little stash of cash money and I’d land rolls of hockey tape and pucks to add to my ice time fun. By the time I was a junior in high school, mom and dad knew I liked the occasional oat soda, so I’d get a six pack of Michelob beer wrapped beneath my stocking.

**My parents had a real talent for gift giving drama.  They would always make sure the best or biggest surprise present Mary and I had coming was the last one we opened. One of the most special gifts I ever got was when unbeknownst to me my dad had a professional photographer take photos of our Boston Terrier ‘Molly’.  Pop was worried Christmas of ’89 would be our aging dog’s last so he wanted me to have a cherished remembrances of her.  The best photo was blown up to poster sized and framed.  Folks, my dad was the best!

**In the weeks leading to Christmas day my mom would bake seven or eight different cookies. She made loads of each type, my favorite being the round Buckeyes made of peanut butter with chocolate wrapped around them. All the cookies were stored in airtight Tupperware containers on our makeshift fridge, the table on our back porch, and a good portion of those treats were shared with relatives and neighbors.

**When it came to Christmas cards, mom didn’t just sign and mail them out.  She’d write thoughtful messages to each person on her list. There would be updates on our family and she’d offer personalized best wishes to every card recipient.

**My dad owned a beauty shop and in the weeks and days leading up to Christmas he’d come home with gifts from grateful customers.  There would be boxes of Fannie May Meltaways (a big favorite for all of us) and lots of booze; bottles of Crown Royal, Cutty Sark and Beefeater Gin.  But the craziest thing was all the cartons of cigarettes my dad would get.  Cartons of cancer causing smokes! Merry Christmas, right?  Like Pop, most of his customers smoked and they’d load him up with enough squares to last til Valentine’s Day.

**Watching Garfield Goose in the afternoon and waiting to see which holiday video would be shown that day. There was Frosty the Snowman, Suzy Snowflake and everyone’s all time favorite, Hardrock, Coco & Joe.”

** Each year, all four of us would contribute to putting up our Christmas tree, which was never done before Thanksgiving. At the bottom of the tree was a manger and animal set-up that my mom bought in her single years. Under the tree and manger there was a beautiful soft white blanket with a felt and sequined Joseph, Mary and Jesus stitched on it by my mother and sister.  Our cat Miss Priss loved sitting and sleeping on that blanket as the warm glow of colored lights blinked above her. Prissy was pure white and sometimes we could only tell she was under the tree by spotting her glowing green eyes.

**My paternal grandparents would come to celebrate with us on Christmas Eve then visit other family members the next day.  The last time my grandpa Kahler read us the story of Christmas from the Bible was as warm and moving as the first time he ever did it.

**By the time I was twelve, throughout the year my dad was working long hours at his beauty shop, mom did part time book keeping and waitressing, Mary was busy with her after school job in the dietary department at Elmhurst Hospital and I was playing organized baseball and hockey.  So having us all together for a few days at Christmas was very special.  Just the four of us exchanging gifts, eating great meals topped by those homemade cookies and exchanging hugs, kisses, laughs and love for each other.  Those were grand times!

My parents and Mary are gone and have been for years.  I always miss them but on Christmas day things can grow darker in wishing they were still here.  However, I have vivid memories of all we shared and that brings in some much needed light.  Those warm thoughts will never leave me.  And I thank God and Jesus for that!

I’ll close off with my all time favorite song of the holiday season and wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas.

NEXT WEEK: Looking back at how the year 2019 graded out for me.

December 7^th 1978 Chicago Stadium

We hit the way-back machine to 41 years ago this week.

 I was a senior in high school the first time I saw Queen in concert.  I always liked their music for the fact that they rocked hard on songs like “Sheer Heart Attack” and “Tie Your Mother Down” but could also sing the softer songs like “You’re My Best Friend” and “Love of My Life.” And the creativity of the hit “Bohemian Rhapsody” was mind blowing. Queen was one of those bands best appreciated when you see them live, full of big sound, lights, great musicianship and showmanship by one of the coolest lead singers ever in Freddie Mercury. (May he rest in peace) 

My buddy Dave Potter and I went together and the show had all the makings of a great time. It was a Thursday night so being out late wouldn’t be a big deal because Fridays in school were usually a breeze.  Add to this, “Potts” as we called him, picked me up in his two seat MG with a pizza from the place where he worked and a six pack of Stroh’s beer.  Our seats were in the mezzanine about three quarters the way back of the Stadium which worked to our advantage because Queen puts on a large, expansive show that needs to be taken in from a distance.

Queen’s entrance was novel one.  Their overhead lighting rig was mounted on a roof like structure that rested on the stage at a forty-five degree angle. When the houselights went out this ceiling of rows of red, green and white lights began to slowly rise to its full stretched out position above the band. The steps leading to Roger Taylor’s drum set had beaming spotlights in them which were blinding and dimming all night.  So Brian May’s searing guitar started up like a chainsaw while Taylor pounded out the beat to a much faster version of “We Will Rock You.”  John Deacon’s bass hummed its line and out of the dry ice and water infused smoke and lights arrived Queen’s grand maestro Freddie Mercury. 

Mercury eschewed the tight leotards and body stockings he used to wear in concert for a full on storm trooper outfit. He wore white wrestling shoes, shiny black pants, held up with red suspenders, no shirt plus a black leather motorcycle jacket topped with aviator shades and a leather pilot’s cap.  Freddie’s get up was similar to what Al Pacino would wear in the leather bar scenes of the movie “Cruising” a year later. At the time I was oblivious to the gay overtones of his stage wear. And what would that matter anyway?  To me, it looked beyond rock and roll.  It was Elvis’ “Jailhouse Rock” meets Marlon Brando in “The Wild Bunch.”

So the band plows through the “We Will Rock You” part of ”We Are the Champions” then rolled into the rest of their setlist.  We would get the whole regular tribal beat version of that two song punch to close out the show.  Queen was promoting their “Jazz” album so they brought us songs like “Let Me Entertain You”, “Bicycle Race” and the rowdy romp “Fat Bottomed Girls.”  Remember, this was 1978 so these guys were twenty five years ahead of the whole “big butt” admiration society thing that Jennifer Lopez and the Kardashians have pushed in our faces. (So to speak)  

Freddie Mercury alternated between playing his piano to being the full out in your face lead singer at the front of the stage. He held his microphone on a four foot metal pole and sometimes used it as a conductor’s baton.  The sold out crowd went nuts with every move he made.  During “Tie Your Mother Down” I remember being amazed at how four players could make such a huge noise.  Again, Brian May’s guitar had so much to do with that.

The band played “Bohemian Rhaposody” live until they got to the “I see a little silhouette of a man” part. That’s when the foursome left the stage and we heard a tape playing the multi-voiced choir’s refrains.  Queen returned when it was time to rock out with “So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye” and the close of the song.  Sometimes when seeing a live show you forget about a song or two in a band’s past and when it gets played you go, “Oh, yeah, I love that one!”  That happened near the end of the night when they covered “It’s Late” from the “News of the World” album.

The final encore was, “We Will Rock You/We are the Champions” and as the rockers took their final bows, we heard a recorded version of “God Save The Queen.”  Well done by the band as the stadium crowd roared its approval.

All four members of Queen played so well together but Freddie Mercury was the straw that stirred the band’s live drink.  Seeing interviews over the years it became apparent that away from the stage, Freddie was a very shy, low key kind of a guy; definitely a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on there.  I found it fitting Potts and I saw Queen on December 7^th, Pearl harbor Day, a day that in 1941 FDR said would live in infamy.  True enough, but Mercury, May, Deacon and Taylor made that night in 1978 one to remember too!

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG- Recalling Christmases in the Kahler household.