Month: December 2022

2022 is wrapping up and 2023 approaches. So, here’s my personal look back and a look ahead.

SCHOOL– This year was the usual adventure at our therapeutic day school as we saw two more of my seniors graduate in May and three students transitioned to improved placements.  For 2023, I have three more seniors set to graduate and another kiddo who can be done after summer school.  Our new principal has been fantastic and while the first semester of this school year was chippy (with some rowdy fighting students) all is getting better within the population.  And our staff, especially my assistant Miss Cat, is aces up.

HOME IMPROVEMENTS- Adding to my freshly built front steps, I had a new walkway to the steps installed and a new all white vanity brightened up the bathroom. My landscaper did a great job keeping my yard looking good and I appreciated his hard work.  For 2023 I’m getting new back steps, a new side door to the garage and I’ll patch up and re-seal my driveway.

MOVIES- There wasn’t a lot to see on the big screen in 2022 but I did enjoy “Top Gun 2: Maverick”, “Where the Crawdads Sing” and “Elvis” to name a few.  “Elvis” got me to fully appreciate what a great and important song “If I Can Dream” was and remains.  For 2023 one movie of interest would be “Cocaine Bear” and for a goof maybe the “Barbie” film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling will be worth seeing next July. 

SONG PARODIES– Al Flash and I had several more music videos played on the Channel 9 Morning News, with all of them being were very well received.  Robin Baumgarten’s engagement to Mr. X proved to be fertile ground for us to exploit.  Robin is aware we know the identity of Mr. X but until she reveals who the guy is to the world, we still have one final tune and video on hold but ready to air.  2023 will start off with another of our year in review videos done to the melody of Lil Nax X’s “Old Town Road.” 

DENTAL FIX-UPS- An eleven year absence from a dentist’s chair yielded five cavities in my pie hole. Even my dentist was impressed my teeth didn’t have more issues.  For 2023, I learned my lesson and will see Dr. Fornatto, every six months.  My next appointment is in mid-March.

WAKE-UP CALL- The deaths of five men I knew (four of whom were former classmates) was a stunner.  Three of them were in what was believed to be in very good health yet they dropped dead from heart attacks.  My summer physical showed improvements in my own health but I can do better and am working on it now and for 2023.  Summer swimming was great as I got up to over a mile a day in laps at East End Pool. Getting back into the water at the Courts last month has been a small beginning to better health.  Like I said, I can do much better and need to do much better. 

BOOK IT! I know you’ve heard this before but my media memoir, “Raised on the Radio” has gone through its final, final edit!  Jim Libovicz, a very astute literary man and my friend for 55 years, did a great going over on the eighty-one thousand word manuscript.  Now I need to line up some photos, get a cover and roll it on to Amazon as an E-book.  I hope to get it out by May.  Maybe “Raised on the Radio” will be the beach read for the summer. 

So that wraps up 2022.  It was a pretty decent year for me, no, make that a damn fine year with more blessings and good things than I can count and that’s a lot.

 I wish all of you a Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year to all!

NEXT BLOG- Not sure when (mid-January?) and about what. Stay tuned!

When talking about music with others, on occasion the question will come up, ‘Which do you like better the Beatles or the Rolling Stones?”  My answer is always The Who.  Yep, The Who, without question.

As a fan since 1970, I first saw the band in concert back in 1979 (minus the late Keith Moon) then again in 1980.  So, when Pete Townsend and company announced their 1982 “Farewell Tour”, I was all in to see them live.  I saw all three shows they played at the Rosemont Horizon with the best of those concerts being the final Chicago area gig on December 8^th.

But the band wasn’t done with their farewell road run.  The final gig was set for Friday December 17^th at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens.  It was a pay per view event that would be simulcast on radio stations across the U.S.

Needless to say, me and some close pals, also fellow Who fans, Bobbo, Marko, Willie, Pross and some others wanted to watch this concert from good ole Elmhurst Illinois.  Bobbo got his father, who was always tinkering with electronics, to come up with an unscrambling device so we could watch the pay per view event without paying.  Don’t ask me how that gadget was put together because I barely know how a can opener works.

Since the concert was to be simulcast on one of Chicago’s local rock radio stations Bobbo asked me to bring my kick ass stereo (with great Klipsch Heresy speakers) to his house so we could blast up the sound while watching the show.  That afternoon I hauled over all the audio gear and we set it up in his house’s rec room. I brought along my stereo cassette recorder with two new ninety minute Maxell high quality tapes so we’d have an audio keepsake from the concert.

That night the guys came over to Bobbo’s. There were cold beers to drink and as showtime approached we tuned in to a TV test pattern, nervously waiting to see if Bobbo’s dad’s video thievery gadget would work. It did and the show was on! We slipped through the technological cracks. We hijacked The Who! Way to go Mr. C!

Opening with “My Generation” and rocking for twenty-four more songs, The Who was in fine form, probably relieved that their cross-country long goodbye was wrapping up that night. Townsend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle and drummer Kenny Jones even played one of my favorite lesser known Who songs, “Naked Eye” along with the fun and rousing “Squeeze Box.”  The encore closed out with Entwistle howling out the rock n roll oldie “Twist and Shout” and I remember all of us singing along at the top of our lungs to it too. 

It was such a fun night. We were all care free as the start of our college winter vacation kicked off in proper rocking fashion.  After the concert ended, we went to Elmhurst’s popular watering hole Oscar’s for more drinks.  I brought along the freshly recorded cassettes of the show and got the bar staff to play a bunch of cuts on their house sound system.  I still have those audio cassette tapes and they still sound great.

That pay per view (without paying) night with the hi-jacked Who happened forty years ago.  Forty years ago, we were all so young, full of hopes and dreams of what would happen to us through the rest of college and beyond.  The good news is Bobbo, Marko, Willie, me and the others on hand that night are still around; healthy, happy, some of whom are retired.  You can’t ask for much more than that.

Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey are what remains of the original four band members. While The Who so famously sang, “Hope I die before I get old”, they got old but they’re still touring.  Thanks for all the music guys and some great memories too!

NEXT BLOG- A personal review of 2022 and a look ahead to 2023.

5:30 – 8:00 a.m. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. (that’s my usual time) fed Trouble some roast chicken and fixed myself a bowl of Cheerios with milk and blueberries.  Ate that while online checking emails and updating my Facebook post for the day.  Next, I watched the first 90 minutes of CBS Saturday Morning. Saw a cool feature on a wild animal preserve with beautiful lions, tigers and other big cats who’ve been abandoned by assholes. Also, an interesting interview with director Darren Aronofsky whose new film “The Whale” comes out next Friday.  I look forward to seeing that one, featuring Brendan Fraser in a comeback role.

8:00 – 12:30 a.m.  Headed to the Courts Plus for a swim but saw the parking lot was packed and decided to delay that and gas up my car for the week.  I used a rewards card from BP Amoco and filled up at the station in Villa Park.  After that my car went dead!  No power, no revving, nothing! This problem came out of nowhere. The towing service I called didn’t answer but there was a tow & repair place right next to this gas station.  One of the guys came over and gave my car a needed jump for 40 bucks.  (Saved me on a pricey towing fee) I brought my ride over to JMS Auto in Elmhurst, owned by my friend Jeff Durante.  That’s where I always get my car worked on and it turns out my dying battery was still under warranty so in 15 minutes time Jeff and his crew loaded me up with a new battery (no charge) and I was out of there.  Jeff refused any money for the labor work.  He’s the best!

I swung back to the Courts Plus and the early work-out people were leaving in droves. Got a great parking spot then hit the pool for a thirty-lap swim. Thirty laps are my minimum in the pool, with more laps to come.

 Next, I spent time in the dry sauna having an interesting chat with a woman named Olga from Ukraine as we talked about diets and exercise.  She’s married with her husband often away since he works for the U.S. Department of Defense.  Olga shared the benefits of what a vegan diet has done for her, her son and her husband. She wasn’t pushing this animal product free eating plan on me (some vegans annoy others doing that) but it was interesting to hear how she thrives on that daily diet.  Yet, I have friends who are total 180’s as they live healthy lives eating beef, eggs, whole milk and other animal products. 

A hot shower followed and I got home to make a supplement drink. Then watched what I saved on my DVR including “My 600 Pound Life” and NBC Today Show Saturday which had a wild report on a ten year old Picasso-like artist who’s selling his paintings for 6 figures!  That feature will be shown to my students on Monday.

Sorry soccer fans but I missed the U.S. loss in the FIFA Tournament.  (Soccer is not my thing)

 12:30 – 6:30 Spent time on my PC editing the annual year end wrap-up parody song Al Flash and I send to the Channel 9 Morning News.  Each year we do it to the melody of the Lil Nas X hit “Old Town Road.” The 2022 review tune looks to be a fun one.  

Next, I started reading and outlining notes for “Winter’s Bone,” a book we’ll be reading in English class come January.  I know the story well and hope to show the film when we finish reading that 200 page book.  “Winter’s Bone” is one of my favorite movies from the last 20 years.

6:30 – 11:00 p.m.  Cooked two lean meat burgers with pickles for dinner and wrote up quiz questions for the first half of “Winter’s Bone.”  Had “Gone Girl” on TV while I worked.  I also chatted on Facebook instant messenger with a couple of friends. Last, I swept & mopped the kitchen before tuning in to SNL and hitting the sack. 

I know what you’re thinking; “What a wild and carefree life of excitement you lead.”  Well, somebody’s gotta do it, why not me?

NEXT BLOG- The night we hijacked The Who.