MICK KAHLER'S WORLD

Back from a blogging break as I cover a few thoughts on some music related items.

Thanks to a recommending tweet from Trisha Yearwood I discovered a great new track from Nashville songwriter Jessi Alexander.  She co-wrote the Lee Brice hit “I Drive Your Truck” which is one of the saddest country songs of all time.  Jessi is married to songwriter Jon Randall who wrote another great heart tugging country tune, Brad Paisley & Allison Krauss’ hit, “Whiskey Lullaby.” Come March 27^th Jessi has a new album titled “Decatur County Red” due out.  The lead single from it is this song, and it doesn’t get more country than this.

With recreational marijuana now legal in Illinois, you can’t help but think of the many rock, pop and country songs that cover the subject of smoking weed.  My personal favorite is Brandy Clark’s “Get High.”  This song is a nice bookend to “Mama Drank” as Brandy notes how a few puffs of cannabis can help an overworked mother get through her day.

I was way late to the prom coming across Michael Ray’s song “Her World or Mine” which was released last year.  What I can’t figure out is how this get-you-where-it-hurts country track never made it close to number 1 on the music charts.

It’s now 40 years old but I still think Dire Straits’ “Skateaway” is one of the coolest sounding songs ever.  Mark Knopfler’s vocals are only topped by his unmistakable guitar playing.

I often see concert photos of singers and musicians who are wearing wristwatches while performing.  I have a problem with that.  When playing for fans, the time of day or night should NOT be a concern to those onstage.  I compare it to how casinos in Las Vegas don’t have clocks.  Forget about what hour it is, just play man!

JOIN TOGETHER WITH THE BAND

I’m a huge fan of Choir! Choir! Choir! This is where strangers get together at a designated location to sing classic rock songs. (You can find loads of their performances on You Tube)  Well last month I went online and registered with the Choir! Choir! Choir! organization. So if and when they plan one of their public singalongs in Chicago, I’ll be notified ahead of time and will try to show up to be one of their mass singers.

Some of my Facebook friends caught the latest song parody that Al Flash and I did for the WGN Morning News TV show.  We twisted Taylor Swift’s “Mean” into “Dean” as a tribute to their entertainment guru Dean Richards.  The tune and video went over very well with the show’s stars and Dean e-mailed me his thanks along with a cool tweet. 

It’s always fun to get that kind of positive feedback but what excites me the most is we finally have a female singer in our stable of talent.  Al’s daughter Michelle sang “Dean” and got plenty of well deserved compliments for her work on the song.  This means we can delve into and twist up plenty of popular songs originally recorded by women and have Michelle belt them out.  Not that Al and I don’t like to play rock star, but now we’ve got a much more palatable ace up our sleeve to deal to the world.

Next Week’s Blog: Remembering my trip to the 2000 Super Bowl.

“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.

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.