Month: November 2020

My annual Thanksgiving Break started on Friday November 20th at 3 pm. And I did a few things.

Home work– I continued the purging of things I no longer need or use, lots of junk being wheeled out on garbage day. I filled in a couple of small basement wall holes thanks to Flex Paste and my snow blower is now prepped for the impending winter weather.  Finally, when cleaning a closet I found a pair of slippers I thought were lost. This, two weeks after I started wearing my newly bought Ugg slippers.

Meals– I’ve been on a salmon eating kick of late.  One good hunk of that fish and some vegetables and I’m stuffed for the day.  For Thanksgiving, I enjoyed ham from Honey Baked Ham along with loaded smashed potatoes, corn and Hawaiian brand rolls. Dessert was chocolate chip cheese cake from Elmhurst’s Lezza Bakery.

TV Watching– I was locked in to several NFL games for two weekends plus the two games played on Thanksgiving. (Sad that the Steelers-Ravens game had to be postponed due to COVID 19) Here’s hoping the Bears can eke out a win against the Packers to close out the weekend.

You Tube brought me an hourlong interview Bob Costas did with Glen Campbell back in the 90’s.  The late Rhinestone Cowboy s told great stories about working with artists from all musical genres.  You Tube was also where I caught the documentary “Desert One” which tells the whole story of the 1980 attempt to send in special forces to rescue U.S. hostages held in Iran. 

On Netflix I liked the creepy mystery/thriller “His House” giving it a “B” grade.  Then there was “Hillbilly Elegy” a film based on the bestselling 2016 novel by J.D. Vance.  Reviews for this movie were not great but I gave it a C grade.

Netflix also premiered the ageless Sophia Loren in “The Life Ahead” which was a well done B+.

The new edition of HBO’s “Real Sports” had a wild feature on how hallucinogenic drugs have been curing former pro athletes of their depression and other post career emotional issues. Former Blackhawks star Daniel Carcillo was one of the athletes who turned to this method and he no longer has suicidal thoughts.

HBO also ran the interesting documentary “The Mystery of D.B. Cooper.”  It’s the tale of the famed sky-jacker who in 1971 parachuted out of a passenger jet with a paid ransom of two hundred thousand dollars.  Four different suspected “D.B. Coopers” stories are examined.  If one of them was the stunt pulling Cooper, then the other three tried to ‘hi-jack’ that American folklore story as their own.  

Finally, I did an On Demand viewing of “The Last Movie Star” with Burt Reynolds pretty much playing himself as an aging former box office movie king.  Interspliced in the movie were real clips from old Reynolds’ movies and it was a decent B- watch.

Writing– In between meals and TV watching, I wrote and edited what will be my final blogs for 2020.  The last one should be posted around December 20^th before I take a holiday break.  Al Flash and I worked on a couple of song parodies plus I outlined the first of a trilogy of short stories that are Pandemic related.

Black Friday- As I do each year, I celebrated the day after Thanksgiving as “Clint Black Friday” which meant only listening to Clint’s music all day.  The real Clint Black ‘liked’ the meme I tweeted him, he does that every year.

Most Important- Finally, I gave thanks for the overload of good things in my life.  I do this every day, not just on Thanksgiving.   Forget playing the lottery, I’ve hit the jackpot and hope you have too!

NEXT BLOG:  More opening lyrics to songs.

As a lifelong music fan, I’m always interested to learn the inspirations and process in the writing of well known songs in pop, rock and country.  If you don’t already know the stories behind these songs, you will now. 

“WITCHY WOMAN”- The Eagles- It’s no secret I’m a lifelong Eagles fan and this 1972 hit single has a fun story behind it.  Guitarist Bernie Leadon came to band mate Don Henley with a low key music riff that had a tribal feel to it.  Henley penned the words ‘witchy woman’ not as a nod to the occult but to a woman who is enchanting and seductive.  At the time, the Eagles drummer was reading a biography of Zelda Fitzgerald and pictured her to be a muse in his writing.  It’s been speculated the lyric, “She drove herself to madness with the silver spoon” was a reference to Zelda’s time in a mental institution. The ‘silver spoon’ was used to dissolve sugar cubes with absinthe, a popular 1920s alcoholic drink distilled from the wormwood tree and called “the green fairy” for sometimes inducing hallucinations. Pretty heady stuff for 1920’s Hollywood.  

One more note on “Witchy Woman”, it was featured on an episode of ‘Seinfeld’ as Elaine tried to get her boyfriend to adopt that tune as their song. She tried to do the same with “Desperado” but that song was his own.  That song was also on an episode of ‘Dharma & Greg” as Dharma’s mother noted she once dated Don Henley and was certain she was the inspiration for “Witchy Woman.” 

“LYIN’ EYES”- The Eagles- The story behind writing this 1975 hit is documented in “The History of the Eagles” documentary.  Glenn Frey and Don Henley were hanging at the L.A. restaurant Dan Tana’s. The place was a hub for lots of beautiful women and the two Eagles talked about the stunning lasses who were out cheating on their husbands.  They spotted one very hot young woman with a fat, wealthy man who was much older than her.  Frey commented, “She can’t even hide her lyin’ eyes.” There was the groundwork for a great song. Glenn and Don were living together at the time and put the words and music together in pretty quick order with Frey carrying most of the freight.

One side story on Glenn Frey; he was a slob when living with Henley. Glenn would take the butts of burned out cigarettes and leave hundreds of them standing on end all over the house.  Don Henley said the leftover butts looked like little buildings in a city.   Frey also earned the nickname ‘Roach’ for leaving the tiny remnants of smoked marijuana joints all over the same house.

“THE VALLEY ROAD”- Bruce Hornsby- This brightly played track came out in 1988 off Hornsby’s sophomore album “Songs from the Southside.” The original music video showed a bunch of local folks marching around playing instruments; but this belies the real message of the song.  It’s about the daughter of a wealthy land owner. The girl takes up with a poor country boy working on the farm. That country boy shows her what they do down the long valley road and a pregnancy happens. The song’s story unfolds with the lyrics; “Out in the holler they were talking in a whisper, everybody noticed she was gone awhile. Somebody said she’s gone to her sister’s. Everybody knew what they were talking about.”  Yes, this young girl got an abortion then came back around “like nothing really happened.”  As for the poor country boy he was “Good enough to hire, not good enough to marry, when it all happens nobody wins.” 

A quick side note on Bruce Hornsby— In my radio days I had the opportunity to hang with the piano playing song man on three different occasions, once as his personal escort/tour guide when he came to Chicago for a radio station event. I’m happy to report Bruce Hornsby was one of the most affable, normal acting music stars I’ve ever met and a total class act!

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG-  Some more great opening song lyrics.

A few blogs ago I wrote about some of the memorable experiences I’ve had when watching movies in theaters.  Certain scenes and outcomes of films have been burned in to my memory banks and it’s fun to relive some of those happenings.

“Glory” 1989- When marginalized Civil War soldier Denzel Washington was being whipped on his bare back and shed a single tear, I shed my own tears.  I saw this movie alone and think it’s the first movie that ever got me that emotional.  Denzel won a Best Supporting Oscar for his amazing work in that film.

“Field of Dreams” 1989- When this sappy baseball flick ended, I was walking out of the theater among a full crowd of movie goers and saw grown men sobbing.  I thought, “Dudes, walk like you got a pair!” What made me want to cry was that I paid full price for this maudlin piece of crap movie.

“Forrest Gump” 1994- When this movie came out, my mother refused to see it with me. She didn’t like the simpleton way Tom Hanks’ title character talked in the previews. I came home giving high praise to this now classic film.  A couple of weeks later, mom relented and asked if I would see it with her which I happily agreed to.  When Jenny died, my mom was a sobbing mess and noticed I wasn’t crying.  She elbowed me in the ribs and whispered, “What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you crying?”  I explained to her I was a bucket of tears when I saw it the first time.

“The Shawshank Redemption” 1994 I loved every minute of this movie but don’t know if I was ever more surprised at a plot twist than when inmate Andy Dufrain escaped from Shawshank Prison. (Sorry if this is a spoiler to anyone.  You’ve had 26 years to see the damn film) This story had me lulled into the comfortable idea that Andy was staying forever at Shawshank and his ‘redemption’ would be in learning to live the best life possible despite being wrongly convicted.  When Warden Norton tore that Raquel Welch poster off the cell wall and we see the hole and tunnel Andy dug, it was so stunning and crazy. I truly never ever expected that prison break to happen.

“The Usual Suspects” 1995- I saw the trailer to this movie many times before getting to the theater to see it. The good news was unlike so many film previews, this one gave away zero plot twists or spoilers.  When the close of the story was happening I was POSITIVE I figured out who was Keyser Soze’.  Imagine my shock when I learned how wrong I was. And I was fine with being so off with my deductive reasoning. 

“Fargo”1996- I saw “Fargo” by myself at the Piper’s Alley Theater the first weekend it was out.  I like checking out movies before everyone starts buzzing about them and this was one of those.  When this black comedy ended, I remember the lights went up and everyone in the theater stayed seated and we all kept looking at each other.  Strangers were smiling and talking to each other remarking on what an unusual film we just saw.  I’ve only experienced that kind of happening a few times in the theater and this one was pretty cool.

NEXT BLOG– A new round of stories behind songs.

When it comes to music of all types, I’ve always been a lyric driven listener.  A song could have a great beat and sound but if the lyrics don’t match up to that melody, I can’t get into it.  Back in his WLS radio days, dee-jay Tommy Edwards had listeners call in to guess a song from which lyrics he quoted.  Tommy would usually use the song’s opening lines.  With that in mind, I thought I’d post up some of my personal favorite opening lyrics.  There’s no way I could cover them all in one blog so here’s just a few tune openers.

“The Mississippi Delta was shining like a national guitar. I am following the river down the highway through the cradle of the Civil War.”(‘Graceland’ by Paul Simon)

This IS my very favorite opening line ever.  It evokes so much in vision and feel.

“With her killer graces and her secret places that no boy can fill. With her hands on her hips oh and that smile on her lips because she knows that it kills me.”  (‘She’s the One’/Springsteen)

Bruce’s track from ‘Born to Run’ is a close second for me.  A song about wanting someone so bad in spite of the fact that you know the outcome isn’t going to be a good one.

“You walked in to the party, like you were walking on to a yacht, your hat strategically dipped below one eye, your scarf it was apricot” (“You’re So Vain”/Carly Simon)

Did Carly write this song about Mick Jagger or Warren Beatty?  Who cares?  It’s a finely framed indictment of a suave and thoughtless Romeo.

“We’ll be fighting in the street, with our children at our feet. And the morals that they worship will be gone.”  (‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’/The Who)

There’s not a better defiant set of words.

“Son, she said, have I got a little story for you, what you thought was your daddy, was nothin’ but a…”  (‘Alive’/Pearl Jam)

A realistic mini story that’s been told to many a child over the years.

NEXT BLOG– More of my favorite moments at the movies

I’m a proud ‘word nerd’, always was, always will be.  As I write in the almost finished memoir “Raised on the Radio”, my inability to draw good pictures in grade school made me turn to the English language to express myself.  Writing to state ideas, comments and jokes, that’s how I worked my way to and through over twenty years in big city radio.  As a Special Education teacher, I still use those skills.

Currently in the English vernacular, there are some words and expressions I need to address.  Some I like and some I cannot stand. 

 “Woke”- This word is a popular one used on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.  “Woke” is the current term for “being aware of something.”  It started with social causes where someone would say, “Aren’t you woke to global warming?”  Or, “You need to get woke to racial injustice.”  Hey, I’m fine with knowing about these social concerns, just not with using that word “Woke.”   It sounds stupid, trite and over-used.  Now “woke” is used for being aware of anything on the American spectrum. “Man, you need to get woke to Baby Yoda” or “Get woke to pumpkin spice lattes.”  I looked up some other commentaries on “woke” and as early as 2018 essayists were already saying “woke” is dead.  Terms like “hip to”, “into” or “aware of” work better anyway. Let’s take the word “woke” and put it to sleep.     

“Drops”- Using this word in terms of something new coming out for sale or public consumption has been around for at least ten years.  You hear it on TV or radio, “Hey the new Beyonce album drops at midnight tonight” and “The I-Phone 50 will drop next week at Apple Stores.”  Careful folks, you drop that I-Phone and you’re gonna have a cracked screen on that pricey device that wastes too much of your time.  The best is hearing middle aged TV journalists and entertainment reporters throwing the term “drops” into their daily works.  Do you know how stupid and desperate to seem cool that sounds?  Reminds me of the late 60’s and early 70’s when an older person would try to relate to younger people by using the term “groovy.”  Just keep it traditional folks, when the new Springsteen album comes out, you just say, “It comes out on so and so date” or “The new Wonder Woman movie hits theaters in December.”  Give it up wannabe hipsters and drop the term ‘drops’ from your talk.

Play Ball- For years, sports talk media and baseball announcers have tried to substitute traditional jargon in the game for new words.   Home plate or the plate is often referred to as “The Dish.”  Sorry, eject that term.  It’s silly.  Others have tried to call the foul pole the “fair pole.”  Nope, I cry foul on that one.  Same goes for those sportscasters who say so and so “went 3 for 4 today with 3 RBI.”  Get real with your English folks, if there’s more than one RBI in the stat, then it is ALWAYS RBIs, PLURAL! 

 The only different term in baseball that I DO accept is calling the pitcher’s mound “The Bump.”  As a former hurler, I like that substitution.

FORGET TERMS LIKE ‘THE DISH’ INSTEAD OF ‘THE PLATE’ AND MORE.

The ‘T’ is silent- A decades long time irritation for me has been people who pronounce the ‘t’ in the word “often.”  Sorry, pronouncing the ‘t’ in often makes you as if you’re superior to others.  Just be normal folks, and lose the ‘t’ in often.

Just Google “Often” and read this-

Do you pronounce the T in often?The \t\ is silent. Why? Often has a medial /t/ that, like similar words such has “hasten” and “soften,” was once pronounced and is typically silent.

Self Correction- For as long as I can remember, when saying the word ‘both’ I somehow threw in an ‘L’ sound into it. I would pronounce the word as “bolth.”  I have no idea where this came from and nobody ever called me on this idiocy.  This finally came to light when I heard Garth Brooks talking about how years ago he heard one of his daughters say both as “bolth.”  He realized she picked that up from a hired caregiver.  As soon as I heard Brooks discuss this, I dropped the ‘L’ in my saying “both.”

Double terms for a single meaning– Finally, someone tell me why ‘fat chance’ and ‘slim chance’ mean the same thing.  Help!

Call me a curmudgeon, a stickler, prickly or a…you know what,.but the afore mentioned language louse-ups needed to be addressed.   I feel much better getting all this out in the open.  If and when I think of more terms to cover, I will do so.  You know me, when it comes to the English language, I ponder its usage often.  WITHOUT pronouncing the ‘t.’

NEXT BLOG- Sharing some great opening lines to songs.

Watching a new TV commercial for Applebee’s, they’re using the old Tim McGraw song “I Like It I Love It.”  The lively chorus, “I like it, I love it I want some more of it” fits the idea of enjoying good eats with family and friends.  Applebee’s has been using other songs like John Sebastian’s “Welcome Back”, Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible” and the theme from the TV show “Cheers” but the mid-90’s Mc Graw song seems to work best.

I still say some chain restaurant needs to use the old Paul Revere and the Raiders track “Hungry” in commercials.  “I’m hungry for those good things baby, hungry through and through, I’m hungry for that sweet life baby with a real fine girl like you.”

UPDATE ON WEEKEND UPDATE

Saturday Night Live opened their TV season with several straight weeks of live shows leading up to and through last week’s election.  Lots of political sketches and fun laughs were had and Jim Carrey has proven to do a good Joe Biden send-up.  However, Weekend Update’s Colin Jost and Michael Che have only been so so.  Their lines are O.K. but these two guys have taken to giggling at and commenting about each other’s jokes and approach.  It’s annoying. Guys, just deliver the lines, let us decide the merits of your humor.  (And no, I’m not jealous that Colin just married Scarlett Johansson.  Scar-jo did this to make me jealous.  He can have her!)

WHERE’S MYERS?

Speaking of SNL, I got curious over whatever happened to their alum star Mike Myers.  Yes he made a cameo in the Queen movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” plus  two ill-fated seasons of him hosting a strange reincarnation of the 1970’s “Gong Show.”  Other than that, the normally prolific Myers has been off the grid.

I looked up Mike Myers on IMDB and he does have an Austin Powers 4 movie in the works along with an un-named project for Netflix. So maybe we’ll see more of the Canadian comic’s work before too long.

One thing Mike Myers did a few years ago that is definitely worth seeing is the documentary “Super Mensch” which Myers directed.  It covers the amazing career and life of show-biz manager Shep Gordon.  Check out the trailer for what was a fine piece of film making on a versatile show-biz mover and shaker.

BROOKE, WHERE ARE YOU?

I have a love/not so much a fan thing going with CNN afternoon news host Brooke Baldwin.  I enjoy Brooke’s reporting and interviews but often take issue with how casually her on camera clothing choices can be.  In the warmer months, you’ll see Ms. Baldwin wearing skin baring tank tops and other summer garb that are more conducive to attending an outdoor pool party than they are reporting on the Presidential election and other serious news.

However, Brooke Baldwin isn’t on CNN right now.  A few weeks ago, on the 10^th anniversary of working at CNN she posted a cryptic Instagram message saying Jake Tapper would ‘hold down’ her hour until after the election.  Baldwin insists it’s not a health issue (she was very ill with Coronavirus in April) and “It’s not my choice.”

This piques my curiosity.  Here we were in the heat of the election and pandemic and Brooke Baldwin has been pulled off her popular afternoon hosting show.  Something’s up and I can’t wait to find out where she lands, if not still at CNN and more important WHY was she taken off TV.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBIN!

Me and my song parody partner Al Flash often contribute bits of humor in music videos to the Channel 9 Morning News.  One of our favorite subjects is co-anchor Robin Baumgarten who has a great sense of humor and is a fun muse for us to play to.

Here is the latest annual birthday song Al and I put together for Robin. 

NEXT BLOG- Coming to terms with certain terms.

Arguing over and fretting about politics, I’ve been as guilty as anyone of doing it.  I’m embarrassed over the hours I wasted with aggressive Facebook comments, tweets, re-tweets and the like.  For the past 4 years I’ve been going back and forth with e-mails with longtime friends who are on the opposite side of my views.  The bottom line is I’m never going to change their minds and they’re never going to change mine either. It’s a stalemate. We live in a country more sharply divided than ever before and with social media those divisions grow deeper and more irreparable with each volley of arguments.  I’ve had more than enough.

Folks, all that time and angst over this stuff is just not worth it.  Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s still important to vote and have an interest in American politics.  It’s also important to peacefully protest and try to have things changed for the betterment of the masses.  But you (or at least I) need to keep things in perspective and respect the limits of persuasion.  So many people have their heels dug in to their ideas and to engage in getting opposing views to change their minds is wasted energy. It doesn’t amount to a hill of crap.  One thing I’ve learned in teaching students with behavioral issues, NOBODY wins in a power struggle.

This year on election day after our students were dismissed, we teachers and staff had some personal wellness activities to work on through a new program focused on resiliency.  Much of this program has to do with mental wellness as we continue to slog through the current pandemic.  There were survey questions to answer and personal reflections to make.  I got some positive insight from the activities and there will be more mental and physical wellness issues to engage in with in this program.  I sure could use them!

On election night I watched the 5:30 network news, clicked on some Facebook comments then shut down my concern and worry about politics.  Earlier in the day I voted and that was the best voicing of personal choice I could make.

I spent the rest of the night watching The Godfather and Godfather Pt. 2. I let go the concerns over who won each state and the local political races as well.  During commercial breaks I also logged on to Amazon to order a new alarm clock and a new pair of slippers which will be needed come the cold winter months.  It’s time for me to end my concerns over which states are blue, which are red and the like. 

I’m sure this de-politicizing is going to take some time and the positive after effects will bloom in the coming days, weeks and months.  Hey, I’ve already got a new alarm clock and warm slippers to look forward to, so that’s a start.  As it was so eloquently put in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:

EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT IN THE END, AND IF IT IS NOT ALRIGHT, THEN IT IS NOT YET THE END.

I’ll close off this blog with what is my mantra in these crazy times.

NEXT BLOG- Applebee’s, SNL, Mike, Brooke & Robin.

Baseball season is over (shortened as it was) but I’m hitting to all fields.

A silly thing happened a couple Fridays ago.  I left my car unlocked but parked way in the back of the driveway. I usually keep it in the garage but neglected to do so this night. In the front seat I had a red Solo cup filled with about 10 bucks in coins, a case of bottled water and a jug of cat litter.  The next morning my cup of coins was stolen and 2 bottles of Ice Mountain water were taken from the case of 24 packaging.  Apparently, I had a thirsty thief rip me off.  However, the crook didn’t own a cat.

Driving down Roosevelt road between Villa Park and Lombard I noticed within one mile there is not one, not two but three cigarette sales stores.  One just has a big sign saying “Cigarettes”, then there’s one called “Cigarette Town” and my favorite is a brand new shiny green and white lighted place called “Dr. Smoke.”   Dr. Smoke?   Ugh and a hard pass!  

That reminds me of my teen years when I heard about a Stone Park house of prostitution called “Smoker’s Health Club.” That was back when Manheim road in that town was loaded with strip clubs. One such place was a frequent stop for a University of Illinois big wig who got nailed for misappropriating school funds. He had a habit of tipping many a stripper there.  Anytime my U of I attending buddy Willie and I would drive by, he would point to the strip club and proudly say, “That’s where my tuition money went!”

Speaking of men and women, I just fell into watching a hilarious show on TLC.  Every Sunday night you must check out “I Love a Mama’s Boy.”  It’s a reality show of men and women living together but they’re not yet married.  The problem being these men put much more priority on their mothers than their fiancees. I can’t see any of these guys marrying because of their mom’s interference. And their women, all smart attractive ladies, are idiots for hanging in there. In the first episode I saw, one mother urged her son to buy his lover a new silk black robe to spice up his sex life; but then he bought his mom the VERY SAME ROBE!  How gross and creepy can that be?

Now don’t get me wrong, my mother (RIP) and I were very close but she WANTED me to marry.  Sorry, mom, haven’t met the right girl yet.   We used to speak out similar lines to an old “Seinfeld Episode.” 

Mom- “When are you gonna settle down and get married?”

Jerry- “I’m still looking.”

Mom- “How long are you gonna look?’

Jerry- “I’m going for the record!”

Finally, with the pandemic and Covid cases increasing at alarming rates, I realized many of us, myself included, are living like Charlton Heston in the classic 70’s movie “The Omega Man.”  The world is in the grips of a deadly virus, many are dying and others are shutting down their lives to stay healthy, just like Heston’s character, Col. Robert Neville. 

My life is literally staying home to watch TV, driving to school to teach and making a once a week trip to Jewel and the gas station.  Outside of an occasional drive thru burger or home take-out delivery, THAT is my life.  In his top floor penthouse Robert Neville had a brass bust of Julius Caesar to talk to, I have my cat “Trouble.”  I also have my close friends on the phone and Facebook, but all of us are dealing with shrunken lives as we await a vaccine. 

NEXT BLOG: Applebee’s, SNL, Mike, Brooke & Robin.