Month: September 2014

Dad, and corporal punishment

I wrote my father a very angry letter, expressing great disdain for his use of corporal punishment. As a result of my letter, dad stopped talking to me for about six months.

spankingOne of the issues the National Football League has been dealing with this month involves Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson [being] indicted for allegedly hitting his son with a switch [small tree branch] until he left open wounds and welts. Interesting to me that Charles Barkley, former National Basketball Association star defended the behavior as of the culture. But Cris Carter, Hall of Fame wide receiver who played primarily with the Vikings, passionately decried as something better left to an earlier time.

When we did something wrong, or perceived to be so, my father used this brown leather strap Continue reading “Dad, and corporal punishment”

M is for Michael Douglas is 70 (tomorrow)

I managed to miss some of Michael Douglas’ iconic roles,

Michael_DouglasIn the 1960s and 1970s, I used to watch The Fugitive and Cannon and Barnaby Jones, virtually all the Quinn Martin productions, including the cop show The Streets of San Francisco. It starred Karl Malden as the wise senior partner, and Michael Douglas as the impetuous junior partner.

I didn’t really know who Michael Douglas was, except that he was the son of Kirk Douglas, the guy whose jaw was so square that the mimics on the Ed Sullivan Show just had to grit their teeth to “do” him. Continue reading “M is for Michael Douglas is 70 (tomorrow)”

#1 songs on my birthday, 1974-1983

I share a birthday with Peter Wolf (b. 1946) of J. Geils.

Bee_Gees_Stayin_AliveMy friend Dan Van Riper sent me this list of all the #1 songs since August 4, 1958.

I have links only to the middle tune, the song of my birthday. You can go to the website and hear the other contenders. If I’ve heard it before, I won’t play it again. If I’ve never heard of it, I’ll play it once. But I won’t listen to the adjacent tunes. My goal: am I happy with THAT choice to celebrate my birthday? Or (as will be the case in the latter stages of the game), I have no idea?

2/9/74 Love Unlimited Orchestra – Love’s Theme
3/2/74 Terry Jacks – Seasons In The Sun
3/23/74 Cher – Dark Lady

Don’t particularly remember the Cher song. Unfortunately, I DO remember the drippy Seasons in the Sun, which I HAVE heard by someone else, to better effect. So, I pick yet another instrumental.

2/22/75 Average White Band – Pick Up The Pieces
2/29/75 Eagles – Best Of My Love
3/8/75 Olivia Newton-John – Have You Never Been Mellow
Continue reading “#1 songs on my birthday, 1974-1983”

The salvation that is Ask Roger Anything

it doesn’t seem quite so onerous when YOU ask me to write about the very same topics. Why IS that?

At some point last month, I happen to notice that I had 3600 blog posts published on this blog. This is not really worthy of noting here, but I did mention it on Facebook, adding “millstone or milestone.” At which point, someone said something correct – about it being either one or the other if I let it, or something like that; I can never find anything on FB, even things I write myself.

I was having a terrible time in that period completing posts. I had plenty to write about, but few posts were coming together. Part of that was how terrible the news was Continue reading “The salvation that is Ask Roger Anything”

Leonard Cohen is 80

Judy Collins and Leonard Cohen each had a huge impact on the other’s career

Leonard_CohenI don’t have a lot of the music of Leonard Cohen, “Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist.” I have a lot of Leonard Cohen music.

OK, I only have one or two of his albums, on vinyl, and none on CD. He is an acquired taste as a singer, yet I must say that I’ve added his new album, Popular Problems, to my wish list, and not just because he could use the money.

But I have a number of songs written by Cohen and performed by other artists Continue reading “Leonard Cohen is 80”

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