Month: February 2024

No Losing My Lunch- Early February marked a special anniversary for me.  It was around February 5^th or 6^th of 1991 when I last vomited.  I remember this because I producing the Murphy in the Morning Show at Q-101 at the time and it was a little over a week before our Valentine’s Day boudoir photo promotion. As the show started at 5:30 a.m., I had to run to the bathroom to get sick.  After cleaning up, I thought I could make it until the show’s end.  But half an hour later I made another dash to the men’s room and got sick again. This stomach flu  sent me home for the rest of the show and the whole next day.  In 20 years in radio, it was the only time I ever had to leave my post due to illness.  So now my puke-free streak is at 33 years.  Let’s see if I can do another 33 years.

Unlike Flounder in “Animal House”, I’ve remained puke free for over 33 years now.

Eyes Closed Shut- Whenever I get a haircut, I keep my eyes closed throughout the trimming.  I think this goes back to the days when I had longer hair with bangs and a haircut would leave strands of cut hair falling in my face. Nowadays, I don’t open my lamps until the cutting is done and we’re ready for final approval from me to Brittany, my stylist at Sport Clips in Elmhurst.

Sweet Treats & More– If I’m ever going to shape up physically, I need to stop rolling thru the drive-thru at Stan’s for their red velvet doughnuts.  Those sweets are like chewable heroin!

Stopped Up. My kitchen sink’s pipes need a cleaning out so I called the good people at Dhamer Plumbing for service. I grew up with Jim and Jerry Dhamer as their family’s house was right behind ours. Jerry was senselessly murdered back in 2006 and that crime has yet to be solved. However, the family business continues to thrive and is celebrating 50 years of plumbing services.  For the past year or so I’ve been clearing my clogs by boiling a huge vat of water and dumping that in my sink.  It DOES clear the drain but I get clogs starting up two weeks later.

Time for some pipe cleaning in my kitchen sink.

Watch out for that hole. Whenever I get my oil changed at Jiffy Lube, I always let the workers there roll my car into the service area.  I have this unexplainable fear of driving into the open spot on the floor where they do their work.  Also, I’m not real crazy about getting my wheels in the right groove when going through car washes.

Pool It. We’re less than three months away from the opening of East End Pool and the summer swim season and I can’t wait to see my ‘summer family’ again.  East End Pool is a family friendly place and everyone dresses appropriately for the warm sun and refreshing water. 

With that said, I wish that famous models and actresses would lose the wearing of thong bikini bottoms that are shown all over the show-biz websites. We get it, you have a cellulite and pimple free turd-cutter, now stop. 

Look, I’m as much a woman watcher and admirer as ever, but that butt floss look just smacks of desperation or as the kids would say, “Looking too thirsty.”  We can blame this decades long booty fetish on Jennifer Lopez and those godawful Kardashians but haven’t we seen enough of bare ass cheeks?  As I’ve said before, that string up the crack looks so uncomfortable and worst of all, unsanitary.

I could not voice enough support for this fashion sign.

Finally, two weeks ago I pre-sold my writing about the late great Glenn Frey.  With the Eagles coming to town next week, I’ll post up the blog that shares the couple of times I got to fly in the same orbit with the Eagles co-founder.

Honestly speaking, here we go.

So far, the new season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” has been weak.  Three episodes in, about 40 minutes per show and all I’m seeing and hearing are pointless confrontations that are not funny and LOTS of yelling.  This smacks of desperation on the part of Larry David and his cast.  This 12^th season is the show’s last one and to be honest, even season 11 was just so-so. David should’ve closed out with season 10 when he opened his own coffee shop to spite a rival. 

The late great Carl Reiner once said sitcoms should run no longer than 5 seasons.  After that, the originality and the comedy run dry. In most cases, I totally agree.  As much as I was a fan of the “Seinfeld” show from the get-go, the last season of the series was awful. I reviewed the plots of that final season and out of 24 episodes, only 5 were good in my opinion. There were many plots where Jerry and the gang had turned into the Lucy show with slapstick situations that barely got a chuckle from me.  Many a sitcom has run out of laughs but have still gone on.  M*A*S*H, “Friends” and “Big Bang Theory” are prime examples of shows that stayed around too long because they were so popular but no longer entertaining. Forget about ‘jumping the shark’, sitcoms have a limited shelf life and after that time has elapsed, that shark is dead in the water.

So far the first 3 episodes of the final season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” have been pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty bad.

On the subject of TV, I’ve heard all good things about the latest season of HBO’s “True Detective” which just wrapped up.   I need to catch up on this one and hope all the positive reviews are true.

Two TV stars delivering great stuff right now are Jon Stewart and John Oliver.  Stewart has returned to doing “The Daily Show” on Mondays only and his first two appearances have been stellar.   His on target skewering the ages and feeble minds of both President Joe Biden and Donald Trump was aces work.  Wickedly funny and smart, Jon Stewart makes me look forward to Monday nights.

This past Sunday, John Oliver returned from hiatus to his “Last Week” show and was hilarious as ever.  Oliver caught up to subjects like the trials of Donald Trump, the Republicans who ran and left the race for President and a special mention and mocking of Chicago’s infamous “Rat Hole.”  Then John did a thought provoking and accurate ripping of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.  Oliver has put out a sincere offer to pay Thomas 1 million dollars a year for the rest of his life IF he retires from the bench in the next 30 days.  There was more to this takedown of Thomas and if you get a chance to catch it on reruns this week, by all means do so!

I can’t make up my mind on the attractiveness of “Euphoria” actress Sydney Sweeney who is now seen in movies and even the Rolling Stones video for their song “Angry.”  (Like she cares what I think.)  Ms. Sweeney does have a smoking hot body (can I still say things like that?) but her face often shows odd expressions that are less than appealing.  Hey no matter.  She is all over red carpets, commercials and happens to be the most in demand blonde bombshell next to Margot Robbie.

Blonde bombshell Sydney Sweeney wowed the folks at the People’s Choice Awards.

Speaking of Margot Robbie, who’s acting and producing talents I admire, I tried three different times to watch the “Barbie” movie and only made it thru the first ten to twenty minutes before giving up.  I’m not saying “Barbie” is a bad film, it’s just not for me.

Movie wise, until the Oscars happen on March 10^th, there’s not much in the way of new films to look forward to.  One of the recent bombs released last week was “Madame Web.”  How bad is this flick?  Since Valentine’s Day, its box office totals are only at 15 million dollars.  To make things worse, “Madame Web’s” star Dakota Johnson admitted to not even seeing the finished product on screen.  Here’s a tip to the folks at Marvel and DC Comics, the super hero movie genre is dead as Dillinger.  Time to come up with something new and original.

Terrible reviews and anemic box office numbers spell doom for Madame Web and probably the whole superhero movie genre. Time to give that a rest.

Next blog- Some Personal Truths.

Got a few things on my mind so let’s get to it.

This past Saturday I attended an emotional memorial service for my dear friend Tom Hassler. It was two months to the day since he left us.  Ever the smart and practical one, Tom’s wife Linda let the holidays and the post-holiday time in January run through before having this mass.  As I’ve noted before, Tommy sure married the right woman. The service was beautiful and it was so good to see Tom’s family including his brother Pete and many friends as we honored his life.  It was a relief to comfort each other and reflect on our buddy. Tom and Pete were the first two best friends I ever had and nothing will ever change that.  I love them both and always will.

R.I.P. Tom Hassler. A great guy gone too soon.

On to brighter news.  The recent Super Bowl saw me winning one of my two bets, so breaking even is better than losing.  Villa Park’s Crazy Pour Sports Bar is where I place my legal wagers.  Still, I don’t bet often. To quote the late great Bears linebacker Doug Buffone, “He who gambles lives in shambles.”

Crazy Pour is where I go to place my legal bets.

Netflix has an excellent new documentary that true crime fans will love.  It’s called, “Lover, Stalker, Killer.” Its twists and turns are pretty wild!

Music Notes– Two months ago, I got clued into Texas native Sarah Jarosz thanks to her appearance on CBS Saturday Morning.  Sarah’s folk style/Americana music reminds me of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s works from the early 90’s.  Still, Jarosz has her own originality with the just released “Polaroid Lovers” album bringing us songs like “Jealous Moon” (I love that song title) and “Runaway Train.” Check out these tracks and notice Sarah plays an eight string guitar which is a little unusual.

On March 29^th, three days after he turns 55, Kenny Chesney is releasing the “Born” album. It’s his first set of new songs in four years and a major stadium concert tour will follow starting in April.  The first single, “Take Her Home” is a winner, ditto for the video.

One of Kenny Chesney’s good pals and former concert mates Tim McGraw is set to start his own road run next month.  The “Standing Room Only” tour matches him up with Carly Pearce and will play in arenas across the country including a May 31st show here at the United Center.  Recently, McGraw issued clips of him doing an acoustic set in New York with one of the highlights being a new take on his early 90’s hit “Don’t Take the Girl.”  This version is even more tender and heartfelt than the original release. 

NEXT BLOG- Remembering Glenn Frey.