Well, here they are...the 24 teams, top seed to bottom, that would've made the 2017 NCAA Division 1-A football playoffs had the NCAA decided to stage such an event:
1. Central Florida (12-0; AAC champ)/2. Georgia (12-1; SEC champ)/3. Oklahoma (12-1; Big 12 champ)/4. Clemson (12-1; ACC champ)/5. Wisconsin (12-1; Big Ten at-large)/6. Alabama (11-1; SEC at-large)/7. Ohio State (11-2; Big Ten champ)/8. Toledo (11-2; MAC champ)
9. Penn State (10-2; Big Ten at-large)/10. USC (11-2; Pac-12 champ)/11. Washington (10-2; Pac-12 at-large)/12. Miami (FL) (10-2; ACC at-large)/13. San Diego State (10-2; Mountain West at-large)/14. Troy (10-2; Sun Belt champ)/15. Memphis (10-2; AAC at-large)/16. Boise State (10-3; Mountain West champ)
17. Auburn (10-3; SEC at-large)/18. TCU (10-3; Big 12 at-large)/19. Florida Atlantic (10-3; Conference USA champ)/20. South Florida (9-2; AAC at-large)/21. Notre Dame (9-3; independent at-large)/22. Michigan State (9-3; Big Ten at-large)/23. Oklahoma State (9-3; Big 12 at-large)/24. Washington State (9-3; Pac-12 at-large)
All the won-lost records you see don't include the bowl games.
Can't wait to play these games (I'll be using Lance Haffner Games' 3-in-1 Football again)...and when they're all done and a new champion is crowned (unless Penn State repeats!), I'll get the scores and highlights posted.
I'm Jim Boston...thanks for reading this blog!
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Please give this man a chance!
Well, it finally happened.
That's right: The one thing University of Nebraska-Lincoln football fans (okay, Nebraskans in general) had been on their knees begging for almost all season long.
University of Central Florida head football coach Scott Andrew Frost is coming back to Lincoln to take the same job from Mike Riley...as soon as the Knights get through taking on Auburn in the 1-1-2018 Peach Bowl.
Maybe he's the savior the average Nebraskan's been looking for ever since Tom Osborne hung up his own whistle after the 1997 campaign...the one where Frost (at that time Big Red's starting quarterback) and teammates won the final ESPN-USA Today Division 1-A football poll (AKA coaches' poll).
That season's final Associated Press 1-A football survey went to Michigan.
Coming into this season's Peach Bowl, the Wood River, NE native (he'll blow out 43 candles three days after the bowl game in Atlanta, GA) has logged a mark of 18-7 at the Orlando, FL school.
And ever since his hiring became official on 12-2-2017, Frost (a man who played in the NFL from 1998 to 2003; he was a defensive back for the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) has been calling for unity.
His first news conference upon getting hired at UNL was packed; lots of former and current Huskers attended, as did plenty of current and former UNL officials...including Osborne.
One telling thing SAF said was: "I know what I'm getting myself into."
I sincerely hope rank-and-file Nebraskans do, too.
At one time or another, the previous seven (or more) UNL head football coaches have faced citizen calls for the pink slip...beginning with Bill Jennings (1918-2002), who had the job from 1957 to 1961, only to go 15-34-1 in the Star City.
People from Scottsbluff to North Platte to Kearney to Grand Island to Lincoln to right here in Omaha had called for the head of the legendary Bob Devaney (1915-1997), who went 136-30-7 overall (101-20-2 with Nebraska, his gig from 1962 to 1972).
They wanted Frank Solich (Osborne's successor who's now Ohio's head football coach) out. They called for Bill Callahan's firing. They wanted Bo Pelini to get shown the door.
And, of course, they just got through calling for Riley's head. (He went 19-19 with the Cornhuskers.)
Yep...they even, at one time, decided that Osborne wasn't good enough as Devaney's successor.
All Tom did was log a 255-49-3 record...all of that at UNL (for the fifth-best winning percentage of all time, .836).
With that in mind, how long will it take for disgruntled Nebraskans (not just gridiron lovers) to say it's time for Frost to go?
Every team there is has its ups and downs.
Nebraska football is no exception.
I just hope people around here will give Scott a chance to show the magic he gave UCF football fans.
And yes, it's going to take time.
This son of husband-and-wife high school football coaches (Larry and Carol) has the time...and that's what counts.
That's right: The one thing University of Nebraska-Lincoln football fans (okay, Nebraskans in general) had been on their knees begging for almost all season long.
University of Central Florida head football coach Scott Andrew Frost is coming back to Lincoln to take the same job from Mike Riley...as soon as the Knights get through taking on Auburn in the 1-1-2018 Peach Bowl.
Maybe he's the savior the average Nebraskan's been looking for ever since Tom Osborne hung up his own whistle after the 1997 campaign...the one where Frost (at that time Big Red's starting quarterback) and teammates won the final ESPN-USA Today Division 1-A football poll (AKA coaches' poll).
That season's final Associated Press 1-A football survey went to Michigan.
Coming into this season's Peach Bowl, the Wood River, NE native (he'll blow out 43 candles three days after the bowl game in Atlanta, GA) has logged a mark of 18-7 at the Orlando, FL school.
And ever since his hiring became official on 12-2-2017, Frost (a man who played in the NFL from 1998 to 2003; he was a defensive back for the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) has been calling for unity.
His first news conference upon getting hired at UNL was packed; lots of former and current Huskers attended, as did plenty of current and former UNL officials...including Osborne.
One telling thing SAF said was: "I know what I'm getting myself into."
I sincerely hope rank-and-file Nebraskans do, too.
At one time or another, the previous seven (or more) UNL head football coaches have faced citizen calls for the pink slip...beginning with Bill Jennings (1918-2002), who had the job from 1957 to 1961, only to go 15-34-1 in the Star City.
People from Scottsbluff to North Platte to Kearney to Grand Island to Lincoln to right here in Omaha had called for the head of the legendary Bob Devaney (1915-1997), who went 136-30-7 overall (101-20-2 with Nebraska, his gig from 1962 to 1972).
They wanted Frank Solich (Osborne's successor who's now Ohio's head football coach) out. They called for Bill Callahan's firing. They wanted Bo Pelini to get shown the door.
And, of course, they just got through calling for Riley's head. (He went 19-19 with the Cornhuskers.)
Yep...they even, at one time, decided that Osborne wasn't good enough as Devaney's successor.
All Tom did was log a 255-49-3 record...all of that at UNL (for the fifth-best winning percentage of all time, .836).
With that in mind, how long will it take for disgruntled Nebraskans (not just gridiron lovers) to say it's time for Frost to go?
Every team there is has its ups and downs.
Nebraska football is no exception.
I just hope people around here will give Scott a chance to show the magic he gave UCF football fans.
And yes, it's going to take time.
This son of husband-and-wife high school football coaches (Larry and Carol) has the time...and that's what counts.
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Just desserts?
I read this on the Internet yesterday:
"Matt Lauer fired from Today for sexual harassment"
I couldn't believe it.
I'm still, to this very day, thinking about his role in helping to create the garbage going on at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. (Do you remember the MSNBC special he hosted last year, where Lauer threw hardball questions at Hillary Rodham Clinton, then turned around and gave softball inquiries to Donald Trump...a man who spent eleven years on Matt's main network, NBC?)
Late this past Tuesday, NBC News Chief Andrew Lack told the 59-year-old New York City native to clean out his desk. And as soon as Today came on yesterday morning, coanchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb gave viewers the news about Lauer's firing.
Lauer threw two decades as show cohost down the drain.
One of Lauer's colleagues turned in a detailed complaint against his inappropriate sexual behavior, and it triggered a serious review by Lack and his colleagues.
It all stemmed from an incident the colleague reported took place in 2014, when NBC and most of the other Comcast networks were showing the 2014 Winter Olympics (held in Sochi, Russia).
Lauer's victim reported this to NBC's human resources department this past Monday; the next day, he got the pink slip.
Two years before the Sochi incident, Katie Couric (who cohosted Today from 1991 to 2006) was interviewed on Bravo's Watch What Happens.
Host Andy Cohen asked Couric to describe Lauer's "most annoying trait."
Couric's reply: "He pinches me on the [posterior] a lot."
'Nuff said.
From what I've read, it's not so surprising that Lauer would help deliver a proven sexual predator to the very top of American politics.
Compared to what just happened with Lauer, it's going to be very hard to remove Trump from the most talked-about political office there is...but we really need to be up to it.
Some of this information came from Jen Hayden's 11-29-2017 Daily Kos article about Matt's removal from the job he's best known for. (Jen, many, many, many thanks!)
"Matt Lauer fired from Today for sexual harassment"
I couldn't believe it.
I'm still, to this very day, thinking about his role in helping to create the garbage going on at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. (Do you remember the MSNBC special he hosted last year, where Lauer threw hardball questions at Hillary Rodham Clinton, then turned around and gave softball inquiries to Donald Trump...a man who spent eleven years on Matt's main network, NBC?)
Late this past Tuesday, NBC News Chief Andrew Lack told the 59-year-old New York City native to clean out his desk. And as soon as Today came on yesterday morning, coanchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb gave viewers the news about Lauer's firing.
Lauer threw two decades as show cohost down the drain.
One of Lauer's colleagues turned in a detailed complaint against his inappropriate sexual behavior, and it triggered a serious review by Lack and his colleagues.
It all stemmed from an incident the colleague reported took place in 2014, when NBC and most of the other Comcast networks were showing the 2014 Winter Olympics (held in Sochi, Russia).
Lauer's victim reported this to NBC's human resources department this past Monday; the next day, he got the pink slip.
Two years before the Sochi incident, Katie Couric (who cohosted Today from 1991 to 2006) was interviewed on Bravo's Watch What Happens.
Host Andy Cohen asked Couric to describe Lauer's "most annoying trait."
Couric's reply: "He pinches me on the [posterior] a lot."
'Nuff said.
From what I've read, it's not so surprising that Lauer would help deliver a proven sexual predator to the very top of American politics.
Compared to what just happened with Lauer, it's going to be very hard to remove Trump from the most talked-about political office there is...but we really need to be up to it.
Some of this information came from Jen Hayden's 11-29-2017 Daily Kos article about Matt's removal from the job he's best known for. (Jen, many, many, many thanks!)
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Just got to thinking...
Just got a few thoughts rolling in my mind right now...so, here goes:
*Quite a few people who've been sending letters to the Omaha World-Herald to protest the NFL players who are taking a knee during the playing/singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" have been asking those athletes to protest "on their own time." (Maybe such letters have also shown up in your city's newspaper or newspapers, too.)
Say those NFLers went on to confine their grievances over America's longstanding history of injustice to "their own time."
Once the word got out, how do you think the people attacking the NFL players following in Colin Kaepernick's footsteps would react?
I'll bet you the same way they are right now.
*One of the biggest myths out there in sports is that today's NFL players don't get involved in their communities.
You'd be surprised to find that many (if not most) of the players on the league's 32 teams are involved, in some way or another, in community work...be it through foundations or through some other kind of charitable work.
*I read yesterday that NBC's and MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell blew out 71 candles.
And I still can't help but think about Mitchell's role (as well as that of so many other Big Media journalists) in handing the Big Prize to a man who, from 2004 to 2015, hosted NBC's most famous stunt show (okay, reality show).
Last year, as Donald Trump sought the Big Prize, viewers of the news programs Mitchell appeared on (as host or as a guest) got the impression that the New Rochelle, NY native didn't "want to cover the Clintons anymore."
Well now, special prosecutor (and former FBI director) Robert Mueller is spearheading an investigation of the Trump-Putin connection that- let's face it- helped take 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue out of the Democratic Party's grip.
Heads are rolling right now...especially that of Trump's first campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
With that in mind, does the birthday dinner Mitchell enjoyed yesterday leave a bad taste in her mouth now?
Speaking of taste...hope you're enjoying today's Halloween candy! See you later!
*Quite a few people who've been sending letters to the Omaha World-Herald to protest the NFL players who are taking a knee during the playing/singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" have been asking those athletes to protest "on their own time." (Maybe such letters have also shown up in your city's newspaper or newspapers, too.)
Say those NFLers went on to confine their grievances over America's longstanding history of injustice to "their own time."
Once the word got out, how do you think the people attacking the NFL players following in Colin Kaepernick's footsteps would react?
I'll bet you the same way they are right now.
*One of the biggest myths out there in sports is that today's NFL players don't get involved in their communities.
You'd be surprised to find that many (if not most) of the players on the league's 32 teams are involved, in some way or another, in community work...be it through foundations or through some other kind of charitable work.
*I read yesterday that NBC's and MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell blew out 71 candles.
And I still can't help but think about Mitchell's role (as well as that of so many other Big Media journalists) in handing the Big Prize to a man who, from 2004 to 2015, hosted NBC's most famous stunt show (okay, reality show).
Last year, as Donald Trump sought the Big Prize, viewers of the news programs Mitchell appeared on (as host or as a guest) got the impression that the New Rochelle, NY native didn't "want to cover the Clintons anymore."
Well now, special prosecutor (and former FBI director) Robert Mueller is spearheading an investigation of the Trump-Putin connection that- let's face it- helped take 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue out of the Democratic Party's grip.
Heads are rolling right now...especially that of Trump's first campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
With that in mind, does the birthday dinner Mitchell enjoyed yesterday leave a bad taste in her mouth now?
Speaking of taste...hope you're enjoying today's Halloween candy! See you later!
Saturday, September 30, 2017
America's greatest living composers...today
77 years ago this past Sunday, a special concert took place at the California Coliseum in San Francisco, CA.
On Tuesday, 9-24-1940, America's top living composers and lyricists gathered together and entertained the audience in the City by the Bay.
*Albert Von Tilzer did his "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
*L. Wolfe Gilbert performed his anthem, "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee."
*Jerome Kern played his own "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" before guiding Tony Martin for "All the Things You Are."
*Carrie Jacobs Bond went to the piano to accompany singer Alan Linquist as he warbled her "A Perfect Day."
*George M. Cohan offered his "Over There," among other tunes in a medley of his big ones.
*And Irving Berlin wrapped up the festivities with his "God Bless America."
The whole thing was actually a two-part event put on by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (that's right, good ol' ASCAP). The event's title: "Cavalcade of Music: Those Who Make America's Music."
In what was billed as "the most notable assemblage of artists and composers ever gathered on one stage," thousands at the California Coliseum heard and saw over forty ASCAP members do their thing.
During the first half of the event (the afternoon session), the crowd heard American classical music. The evening session- what turned out to be the payoff half- went to this country's contributions to popular music.
That night, Berlin, Bond, Cohan, Gilbert, Kern, and Von Tilzer were joined by the likes of Harold Arlen, Harry Armstrong, Shelton Brooks, Hoagy Carmichael, Walter Donaldson, W.C. Handy, Billy Hill, Joe Howard, Ralph Rainiger, Sigmund Romberg, and Leo Robin...to say nothing of the team of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby.
Back on 7-9-2017, toward the end of the Ragtime to Riches Festival workshop about Bond, the 9-24-1940 festivities got a mention...and the question eventually came up:
"If they were going to put on a concert like this today, with America's greatest living composers, who would show up?"
Well, first of all, HBO or MTV or Showtime would be most likely to televise the event. (The 1940 soiree wasn't on radio...and we're lucky to have a recording of the whole concert because ASCAP commissioned a San Fran firm, Photo and Sound, Inc., to put the entire shebang on twelve 16" two-sided discs, playable at 33-1/3 RPM at a time when consumers were eight years away from being able to buy records at that speed.)
Second, the producers would probably have to rent out New York City's Radio City Music Hall, Los Angeles' Dolby Theater, or Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to hold the event.
Third, you're darn right you'll be able to get on your computer or smartphone or device of some kind and stream the show live.
Of course, it'd be televised live and in prime time. (Bet you they'd need three hours.)
They'd need three hours- at least that long- for the following tunesmiths:
*Burt Bacharach
*Neil Diamond
*Bob Dylan
*The twosome of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers
*Sheldon Harnick
*Another duo- James "Jimmy Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis
*Jerry Herman
*The team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland
*Rupert Holmes
*Billy Joel
*John Kander
*Carole King
*Robert Lopez (of "Frozen" fame)
*The duo of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil
*Alan Menken
*Lin-Manuel Miranda
*Willie Nelson
*Dolly Parton
*William "Smokey" Robinson
*Steven Schwartz
*Neil Sedaka
*Marc Shaiman (he did the music to Broadway's "Hairspray")
*Paul Simon
*Valerie Simpson
*Stephen Sondheim
*Barrett Strong (Norman Whitfield's old songwriting partner)
*Diane Warren
*Jim Webb
*Frank Wildhorn (helped bring "Victor/Victoria" to Broadway)
*John Williams
*Stevie Wonder
The bulk of this list was mined from the 2017 World Almanac and Book of Facts.
With that in mind, who would you add to this list? Which of these songwriters would you like to remove from the list?
What if you wanted to internationalize the list...and bring in living legends like Benny Andersson (of ABBA fame), Paul Anka, Bjork, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Bernie Taupin, Keith Richards, Rod Temperton, and Bjorn Ulvaeus (also of ABBA), just to name a few?
Could a special featuring America's greatest currently-living composers even hit today's TV screens?
Let me know what you think.
I'm Jim Boston...thanks for reading this blog!
On Tuesday, 9-24-1940, America's top living composers and lyricists gathered together and entertained the audience in the City by the Bay.
*Albert Von Tilzer did his "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
*L. Wolfe Gilbert performed his anthem, "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee."
*Jerome Kern played his own "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" before guiding Tony Martin for "All the Things You Are."
*Carrie Jacobs Bond went to the piano to accompany singer Alan Linquist as he warbled her "A Perfect Day."
*George M. Cohan offered his "Over There," among other tunes in a medley of his big ones.
*And Irving Berlin wrapped up the festivities with his "God Bless America."
The whole thing was actually a two-part event put on by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (that's right, good ol' ASCAP). The event's title: "Cavalcade of Music: Those Who Make America's Music."
In what was billed as "the most notable assemblage of artists and composers ever gathered on one stage," thousands at the California Coliseum heard and saw over forty ASCAP members do their thing.
During the first half of the event (the afternoon session), the crowd heard American classical music. The evening session- what turned out to be the payoff half- went to this country's contributions to popular music.
That night, Berlin, Bond, Cohan, Gilbert, Kern, and Von Tilzer were joined by the likes of Harold Arlen, Harry Armstrong, Shelton Brooks, Hoagy Carmichael, Walter Donaldson, W.C. Handy, Billy Hill, Joe Howard, Ralph Rainiger, Sigmund Romberg, and Leo Robin...to say nothing of the team of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby.
Back on 7-9-2017, toward the end of the Ragtime to Riches Festival workshop about Bond, the 9-24-1940 festivities got a mention...and the question eventually came up:
"If they were going to put on a concert like this today, with America's greatest living composers, who would show up?"
Well, first of all, HBO or MTV or Showtime would be most likely to televise the event. (The 1940 soiree wasn't on radio...and we're lucky to have a recording of the whole concert because ASCAP commissioned a San Fran firm, Photo and Sound, Inc., to put the entire shebang on twelve 16" two-sided discs, playable at 33-1/3 RPM at a time when consumers were eight years away from being able to buy records at that speed.)
Second, the producers would probably have to rent out New York City's Radio City Music Hall, Los Angeles' Dolby Theater, or Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to hold the event.
Third, you're darn right you'll be able to get on your computer or smartphone or device of some kind and stream the show live.
Of course, it'd be televised live and in prime time. (Bet you they'd need three hours.)
They'd need three hours- at least that long- for the following tunesmiths:
*Burt Bacharach
*Neil Diamond
*Bob Dylan
*The twosome of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers
*Sheldon Harnick
*Another duo- James "Jimmy Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis
*Jerry Herman
*The team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland
*Rupert Holmes
*Billy Joel
*John Kander
*Carole King
*Robert Lopez (of "Frozen" fame)
*The duo of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil
*Alan Menken
*Lin-Manuel Miranda
*Willie Nelson
*Dolly Parton
*William "Smokey" Robinson
*Steven Schwartz
*Neil Sedaka
*Marc Shaiman (he did the music to Broadway's "Hairspray")
*Paul Simon
*Valerie Simpson
*Stephen Sondheim
*Barrett Strong (Norman Whitfield's old songwriting partner)
*Diane Warren
*Jim Webb
*Frank Wildhorn (helped bring "Victor/Victoria" to Broadway)
*John Williams
*Stevie Wonder
The bulk of this list was mined from the 2017 World Almanac and Book of Facts.
With that in mind, who would you add to this list? Which of these songwriters would you like to remove from the list?
What if you wanted to internationalize the list...and bring in living legends like Benny Andersson (of ABBA fame), Paul Anka, Bjork, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Bernie Taupin, Keith Richards, Rod Temperton, and Bjorn Ulvaeus (also of ABBA), just to name a few?
Could a special featuring America's greatest currently-living composers even hit today's TV screens?
Let me know what you think.
I'm Jim Boston...thanks for reading this blog!
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Donald, have you ever read the Constitution in your life?
"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a b***h off the field right now. Out! He's fired. He's fired!'"
-Donald Trump at a recent special-election rally in Alabama
With Puerto Rico in a gigantic mess because of Hurricane Maria, among other huge issues, the head of the American people finds it more important to denigrate National Football League players who've taken a knee during the singing/playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" to protest bigotry, racism, and police brutality right here on these shores.
Vintage Trump.
YECCH!
Trump was in the Heart of Dixie on 9-23-2017 to help Luther Strange, the Republican who inherited- and is trying to keep- the US Senate seat that Jeff Sessions gave up to become this country's attorney general (or top shyster, now that Sessions has the top spot in the Justice Department).
All the former host of NBC's The Apprentice did was unleash the biggest day of protest in NFL history.
19 of the league's 32 squads participated in protests of some kind or another; in total, 200 players took a knee or sat down during what the late George Carlin called the world's only national anthem that mentions rockets and bombs.
And three entire teams- including the Pittsburgh Steelers- wouldn't even come out of the locker room for our national tune.
This time, some team owners (one of them was Washington's Daniel Snyder) joined those protesting players in solidarity.
Now if one- just one- of those team magnates would just sign the man who brought taking a knee during Francis Scott Key's claim to fame to football...
Right now, a lot of those teams are off to terrible starts on the gridiron. Week 3 of the 2017 NFL campaign is in the books, and the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants (a playoff team last season), San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Chargers [yep...they moved back to Tinseltown (their 1960 home as one of eight original American Football League teams) after spending the 1961-2016 period in San Diego] are still winless.
Seven more- the New York Jets, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints, Arizona Cardinals, and Seattle Seahawks (another 2016 playoff squad)- are 1-2-0 right now.
Maybe one of them could use a Colin Kaepernick...even as a second-stringer or third-stringer, if not as a starter.
All the former University of Nevada star was doing, starting with the NFL's 2016 preseason, was calling attention to racism and police brutality here in these fifty states.
He wasn't disrespecting the national anthem or the flag the song praises.
And the Constitution's First Amendment guarantees Kaepernick and America's other 321 million citizens the same right to take a knee, sit down, sprawl on the floor, etc., etc. to protest injustice.
Check this out:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech (emphasis mine), or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
If you've got a copy of the 2017 World Almanac and Book of Facts, crack open Page 511. You'll find the above paragraph.
Maybe that'd be something Trump can somehow get up the courage to do.
Oh, by the way, football isn't the only sport where players at any level you can name are taking knees in protest.
This past weekend, Bruce Maxwell of baseball's Oakland A's became that sport's first player to protest by kneeling during "The Star-Spangled Banner."
If Trump and other Republicans found out about Maxwell's feat, how would they react?
How about you?
If kneeling while someone sings his or her heart out prior to the beginning of a sports event doesn't cut it for you, what's a better way to protest injustice from sea to shining sea (and then some)?
-Donald Trump at a recent special-election rally in Alabama
With Puerto Rico in a gigantic mess because of Hurricane Maria, among other huge issues, the head of the American people finds it more important to denigrate National Football League players who've taken a knee during the singing/playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" to protest bigotry, racism, and police brutality right here on these shores.
Vintage Trump.
YECCH!
Trump was in the Heart of Dixie on 9-23-2017 to help Luther Strange, the Republican who inherited- and is trying to keep- the US Senate seat that Jeff Sessions gave up to become this country's attorney general (or top shyster, now that Sessions has the top spot in the Justice Department).
All the former host of NBC's The Apprentice did was unleash the biggest day of protest in NFL history.
19 of the league's 32 squads participated in protests of some kind or another; in total, 200 players took a knee or sat down during what the late George Carlin called the world's only national anthem that mentions rockets and bombs.
And three entire teams- including the Pittsburgh Steelers- wouldn't even come out of the locker room for our national tune.
This time, some team owners (one of them was Washington's Daniel Snyder) joined those protesting players in solidarity.
Now if one- just one- of those team magnates would just sign the man who brought taking a knee during Francis Scott Key's claim to fame to football...
Right now, a lot of those teams are off to terrible starts on the gridiron. Week 3 of the 2017 NFL campaign is in the books, and the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants (a playoff team last season), San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Chargers [yep...they moved back to Tinseltown (their 1960 home as one of eight original American Football League teams) after spending the 1961-2016 period in San Diego] are still winless.
Seven more- the New York Jets, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints, Arizona Cardinals, and Seattle Seahawks (another 2016 playoff squad)- are 1-2-0 right now.
Maybe one of them could use a Colin Kaepernick...even as a second-stringer or third-stringer, if not as a starter.
All the former University of Nevada star was doing, starting with the NFL's 2016 preseason, was calling attention to racism and police brutality here in these fifty states.
He wasn't disrespecting the national anthem or the flag the song praises.
And the Constitution's First Amendment guarantees Kaepernick and America's other 321 million citizens the same right to take a knee, sit down, sprawl on the floor, etc., etc. to protest injustice.
Check this out:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech (emphasis mine), or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
If you've got a copy of the 2017 World Almanac and Book of Facts, crack open Page 511. You'll find the above paragraph.
Maybe that'd be something Trump can somehow get up the courage to do.
Oh, by the way, football isn't the only sport where players at any level you can name are taking knees in protest.
This past weekend, Bruce Maxwell of baseball's Oakland A's became that sport's first player to protest by kneeling during "The Star-Spangled Banner."
If Trump and other Republicans found out about Maxwell's feat, how would they react?
How about you?
If kneeling while someone sings his or her heart out prior to the beginning of a sports event doesn't cut it for you, what's a better way to protest injustice from sea to shining sea (and then some)?
Sunday, August 20, 2017
David conquers Goliath...again!
Well, this afternoon, noted theater organist Dave Wickerham came back for another taste of the three-manual, 21-rank Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ at Omaha's Rose Blumkin Performing Arts Center.
It was the second time in three years that the Californian-turned-Arizonan-turned-Michigander concertized for the Omaha-based River City Theatre Organ Society.
And just as he did in 2015, Dave hit it out of the park.
Except this time, it was a tape-measure home run.
Dave kicked off his 2017 show with a "Happy" medley, where he hitched "C'mon, Get Happy" to "I Want to Be Happy."
Once the medley became water under the bridge, Dave- now the co-manager/organist in residence at the Crystal Theater in Crystal Falls, MI- told the huge audience at the Rose Theater that he wanted to take the Omaha crowd through several musical themes.
With that in mind, Dave went back to what's now the only concert-ready theater pipe organ in the whole state of Nebraska and delivered Scott Joplin's "Original Rags," then followed it up with a medley from "Mary Poppins," the 1964 theatrical movie that put Julie Andrews on the map for good. (All she did was pick up an Oscar for playing the title role.)
Keep the word "movie" in mind as you keep reading this post.
Before attending today's concert, I thought "Colonel Bogey March" was written for the 1957 big-screen smash (and seven-Oscar winner) "The Bridge on the River Kwai."
It wasn't.
The tune goes all the way back to 1914, when a man named Kenneth J. Alford (1881-1945) came up with the march. (His real name was Frederick J. Ricketts.)
When Dave played "CBM" today, he really made the audience feel it.
Another theme Dave wanted to touch on was the Great American Songbook...and the first move in that direction was to fire up "I'm Beginning to See the Light" and "Take the 'A' Train," two tunes made famous by Duke Ellington (who cowrote "Light" while one of his most famous arrangers, Billy Strayhorn, penned "'A' Train").
Leonard Cohen's most familiar number, "Hallelujah," got into Dave's menu...and gave lie to the idea that songs written right here in the 21st Century can't work if played on a theater organ.
And then...the Encino Man paid tribute to John Williams (that's right, five-time Academy Award-winning John Williams).
After the ensuing medley (the longest medley in this afternoon's concert), it was intermission time.
Fifteen minutes or so later, Dave got back on the now 90-year-old organ to play three dance tunes from the 1920s...two of which were "Doin' the Raccoon" (a 1928 ditty written by Raymond Klages and J. Fred Coots) and the more familiar "Charleston."
Then the audience was treated to a "Pie Fight."
Actually, the film's title is "The Battle of the Century," and it came out in 1927- the very year the then one-year-old Paramount Theater (the Rose's original name) received the organ Dave triumphed on.
And all that's left of this Stan Laurel-Oliver Hardy romp are the opening credits and...well, the three-minute pie fight (the biggest one ever filmed up to that time).
In years past, RCTOS concerts paired a big-name theater organist with a local act.
This time, the Rose Theater audience became the local act...in the form of an audience singalong. And after cuing up the three-minute-and-forty-second movie, Dave accompanied the crowd in longtime singalong favorites like "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and "Bicycle Built for Two."
Now it was back to the movies for Dave as he turned in a great version of the Oscar-winning "My Heart Will Go On," one of the many reasons the 1997 movie "Titanic" remains so memorable.
Time was running out on the performance, and Dave knew it...so he went on and knocked out two Cole Porter numbers, two by Irving Berlin, and two by George Gershwin in a "2-2-2" medley.
It's hard to stage a Rose Theater Mighty Wurlitzer get-together without a patriotic medley...and this year's edition passed the test, too. This year's patriotic tribute started with the theme songs from all five of America's Armed Forces branches (from "The Caissons Go Rolling Along" to a stirring, stirring version of "The Marines' Hymn"), went to "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)," and morphed into "America the Beautiful."
"God Bless America" and "You're a Grand Old Flag" would've made the cut, too...if they hadn't been part of the singalong.
We weren't going to let Dave get away to his next stop (Manchester, England) without an encore.
Result: Dave put an exclamation point on the end of his Rose romp by performing a classical piece. (Man, I wish I knew its title!)
If you like theater organ music and you've never heard Dave Wickerham, check his music out...whether it's in person, on YouTube, or some other way.
You'll come away happy, too.
It was the second time in three years that the Californian-turned-Arizonan-turned-Michigander concertized for the Omaha-based River City Theatre Organ Society.
And just as he did in 2015, Dave hit it out of the park.
Except this time, it was a tape-measure home run.
Dave kicked off his 2017 show with a "Happy" medley, where he hitched "C'mon, Get Happy" to "I Want to Be Happy."
Once the medley became water under the bridge, Dave- now the co-manager/organist in residence at the Crystal Theater in Crystal Falls, MI- told the huge audience at the Rose Theater that he wanted to take the Omaha crowd through several musical themes.
With that in mind, Dave went back to what's now the only concert-ready theater pipe organ in the whole state of Nebraska and delivered Scott Joplin's "Original Rags," then followed it up with a medley from "Mary Poppins," the 1964 theatrical movie that put Julie Andrews on the map for good. (All she did was pick up an Oscar for playing the title role.)
Keep the word "movie" in mind as you keep reading this post.
Before attending today's concert, I thought "Colonel Bogey March" was written for the 1957 big-screen smash (and seven-Oscar winner) "The Bridge on the River Kwai."
It wasn't.
The tune goes all the way back to 1914, when a man named Kenneth J. Alford (1881-1945) came up with the march. (His real name was Frederick J. Ricketts.)
When Dave played "CBM" today, he really made the audience feel it.
Another theme Dave wanted to touch on was the Great American Songbook...and the first move in that direction was to fire up "I'm Beginning to See the Light" and "Take the 'A' Train," two tunes made famous by Duke Ellington (who cowrote "Light" while one of his most famous arrangers, Billy Strayhorn, penned "'A' Train").
Leonard Cohen's most familiar number, "Hallelujah," got into Dave's menu...and gave lie to the idea that songs written right here in the 21st Century can't work if played on a theater organ.
And then...the Encino Man paid tribute to John Williams (that's right, five-time Academy Award-winning John Williams).
After the ensuing medley (the longest medley in this afternoon's concert), it was intermission time.
Fifteen minutes or so later, Dave got back on the now 90-year-old organ to play three dance tunes from the 1920s...two of which were "Doin' the Raccoon" (a 1928 ditty written by Raymond Klages and J. Fred Coots) and the more familiar "Charleston."
Then the audience was treated to a "Pie Fight."
Actually, the film's title is "The Battle of the Century," and it came out in 1927- the very year the then one-year-old Paramount Theater (the Rose's original name) received the organ Dave triumphed on.
And all that's left of this Stan Laurel-Oliver Hardy romp are the opening credits and...well, the three-minute pie fight (the biggest one ever filmed up to that time).
In years past, RCTOS concerts paired a big-name theater organist with a local act.
This time, the Rose Theater audience became the local act...in the form of an audience singalong. And after cuing up the three-minute-and-forty-second movie, Dave accompanied the crowd in longtime singalong favorites like "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and "Bicycle Built for Two."
Now it was back to the movies for Dave as he turned in a great version of the Oscar-winning "My Heart Will Go On," one of the many reasons the 1997 movie "Titanic" remains so memorable.
Time was running out on the performance, and Dave knew it...so he went on and knocked out two Cole Porter numbers, two by Irving Berlin, and two by George Gershwin in a "2-2-2" medley.
It's hard to stage a Rose Theater Mighty Wurlitzer get-together without a patriotic medley...and this year's edition passed the test, too. This year's patriotic tribute started with the theme songs from all five of America's Armed Forces branches (from "The Caissons Go Rolling Along" to a stirring, stirring version of "The Marines' Hymn"), went to "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)," and morphed into "America the Beautiful."
"God Bless America" and "You're a Grand Old Flag" would've made the cut, too...if they hadn't been part of the singalong.
We weren't going to let Dave get away to his next stop (Manchester, England) without an encore.
Result: Dave put an exclamation point on the end of his Rose romp by performing a classical piece. (Man, I wish I knew its title!)
If you like theater organ music and you've never heard Dave Wickerham, check his music out...whether it's in person, on YouTube, or some other way.
You'll come away happy, too.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
It's all about the fun!
I was so afraid that nobody was going to attend the 2017 Ragtime to Riches Festival.
As things turned out, the 7-9-2017 get-together drew six paying customers to Omaha's First Central Congregational United Church of Christ (same as on 7-10-2016).
The difference was...everybody had tons of fun this year!
Faye Ballard came back for her fourth R to R experience...and this time, fellow Illinoisan Nathan Beasley came along for the ride. (He'd just gotten through conquering the Junior Division competition at the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival, the Oxford, MS event where Faye serves as contest coordinator.)
This year's activities (everything took place at First Central's Memorial Hall) got started with a bang...with Nathan and Faye kicking off the 1:00-2:00 PM open-piano session.
(In the meantime, while the twosome were working out Luckey Roberts' "Pork and Beans," I was still trying to set up chairs so that people would know that an actual festival was going to happen.)
Our first R to R patron for 2017 came in during the open-piano session...and was blown away by Nathan's playing.
Now, if another function at her church hadn't taken her away from First Central that afternoon, she would've loved the rest of the thirteenth incarnation of the Omaha/Council Bluffs/Bellevue area's annual old-time piano celebration.
At 2:00 PM, this year's workshop began...and it focused on the woman who penned "I Love You Truly" and 174 other songs.
If you've forgotten about (or if you haven't heard of) Carrie Jacobs Bond, you're in a lot of company.
Bond (8-11-1862/12-28-1946) didn't even think of trying to get a career going until she was 31...when the catalyst was the drive to turn to something to support herself and her young son Fred.
Her first husband, E.J. Smith, abandoned her in 1887- after seven years of marriage. Then Carrie's next hubby, Frank Lewis Bond, died early in 1895 of an accident that a child caused by knocking Frank over and causing FLB to hit his own head on some pavement. (That child and some other kids were throwing snowballs and roughhousing in the Iron River, MI neighborhood where Carrie and Frank lived at the time.)
On top of that, Frank- a doctor by trade- was out of a job when the local mines shut down. And when that happened, CJB wanted to be the family breadwinner...but Hubby told Wifey to put that dream away. (Never mind the fact that when our twosome got hitched in 1887, Frank encouraged Carrie's songwriting efforts.)
With Frank under six feet of dirt, Carrie had to borrow some loot to move to Chicago, IL, where she rented an apartment building that served as the first music-publishing headquarters for her and Fred.
And then there were CJB's frequent bouts with rheumatism...bouts that kept her bedridden for weeks (if not months) and put her into a position where Bond's tenants ended up looking after her.
Those health issues caused her to have to sell off all her belongings until she and little Fred were down to the family piano.
Without those 88s, the two visitors one of CJB's neighbors asked her to look after one day in 1900-01 wouldn't have found- and played- "I Love You Truly."
And Carrie's career wouldn't have taken off...to the point where she not only became the first woman to make it big writing pop tunes, but also the first woman to take in a million dollars from composing ditties.
Plus: I would've had to build my 2017 R to R workshop around somebody else.
The workshop ended early (2:48 PM, Central time)...and that gave Faye plenty of time to get ready to be the first performer to give a 2017 Ragtime to Riches concert.
It was Ragtime 101 as the Champaign, IL native took to the church's 2015 Yamaha grand and launched her concert with "The Entertainer" and followed that up with Tom Turpin's "Harlem Rag," the first published rag an African-American composer ever came up with.
Next were three Ballard favorites: "Sailin' Away on the Henry Clay," "Mack the Knife," and "It Had to Be You." (Faye told the crowd that these were examples of songs ragtimers and stride pianists back in the first thirty or forty years of the 20th Century might've used in "cutting contests," where performers tried to top each other for audience applause.)
After the newly-retired office manager offered "Puttin' on the Ritz," she got back to rags...beginning with Scott Joplin's "The Cascades" and Irene Giblin's most famous number, "Chicken Chowder."
Faye's thirteen-tune set closed out with James P. Johnson's "Carolina Shout" and Zez Confrey's crowd favorite, "Dizzy Fingers."
And then...seventeen-year-old Nathan came up to bat.
He nuked it on that same Yamaha grand piano.
The Eldorado, IL native had the audience going right from the start, kicking off his concert with Eubie Blake's "Charleston Rag" and Andy Razaf's and Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose."
Just as Faye doubled up on Scott Joplin, Nathan did, too, offering "Maple Leaf Rag" and "Pineapple Rag..." in addition to "Swipesy," where Scott collaborated with one of his proteges, Arthur Marshall.
The Eldorado High School student added another Eubie Blake number along the way: "Fizz Water." And his superb command of the 88s continued, with tunes such as Joseph Lamb's "Bohemia," the Creamer and Layton tune "After You've Gone," Harry Belding's "Good Gravy Rag," and W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues..." the first published blues song ever composed.
Faye- one of otherwise largely self-taught Nathan's mentors- jumped in to turn "Pork and Beans" into a duet (this time, with both pianists working the Yamaha). She jumped back into the set right after his "St. Louis Blues" to team up with him on "Give My Regards to Broadway" and fellow George M. Cohan standout "You're a Grand Old Flag."
Beasley and Ballard were a hit together.
And it seemed like a great time to jump in and make it a trio.
So...I sneaked back over to the church's early-20th-Century Anderson & Newton upright (the workshop piano) and joined Nathan and Faye (both of them still at the Yamaha grand) for "Beer Barrel Polka" and "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey."
There it was...the Three B's.
Nathan consummated his conquest of R to R 2017 with his set's seventeenth tune, a standout version of "Ol' Man River."
It's up on www.youtube.com (along with some more efforts of his, Faye's, and mine)...and Nathan's version of "River" has proven highly popular. (Check it out if you haven't seen it yet!)
Well...at 7:00 PM, I ended up running the anchor leg of this year's Ragtime to Riches Festival.
And, thanks to a sore left pinky that I received a cut a couple of days earlier when I went in to rehearse at First Central Congregational, I kept threatening to drop the baton.
At first.
Even with a couple of bandages covering the cut on that left pinky, I wanted to keep in mind that I didn't want that cut to hamper the only thing I've been successfully able to copy from ragtime great Del Wood: Her sock action on the keys.
I wanted to lead the audience through a musical tour of America...but I thought I'd have time for only twelve of these fifty states.
So...I started out with a 1923 waltz from a Missourian named Charlotte Brackelsberg, "Carry Me Today, Away Back to Iowa," then went to a 1902 Paul Dresser number called "In Dear Old Illinois." (I ended up eventually jazzing up both tunes.)
Then things started to get more comfortable as my set progressed through "Back Home Again in Indiana," "Beautiful Ohio," and a 1913 Ballard MacDonald-Harry Carroll collaboration called "There's a Girl in the Heart of Maryland (with a Heart That Belongs to Me)."
Even a 1967 hit for the Bee Gees, "(The Lights Went Out in) Massachusetts," got into my set. (Well...the crowd didn't mind.)
Had fun with "Tennessee Waltz," "Mississippi Mud," "California, Here I Come," and a 1919 song written by the team of Dorothy Terriss and Ethel Bridges, "Hawaiian Lullaby."
By then, it was time to wrap things up...and I didn't want to go into overtime, knowing darned good and well it was time to "get everybody back to Nebraska."
Well, anyway...the six people who heard me play gave me the green light to perform the song I thought I'd have to cut out: "North to Alaska."
The whole thing ended with a 1915 Ray Sherwood-Bert Rule ditty called "I'm Goin' Back to Old Nebraska (Goodbye)."
Everybody DID have tons of fun at this year's R to R celebration...especially you-know-who.
Something Nathan told me just before R to R 13.0 got under way really helped: "I performed at an event where just three people showed up. And I still had a lot of fun."
Faye, Nathan, and I are coming back to First Central next July...and we hope to see you there, too!
As things turned out, the 7-9-2017 get-together drew six paying customers to Omaha's First Central Congregational United Church of Christ (same as on 7-10-2016).
The difference was...everybody had tons of fun this year!
Faye Ballard came back for her fourth R to R experience...and this time, fellow Illinoisan Nathan Beasley came along for the ride. (He'd just gotten through conquering the Junior Division competition at the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival, the Oxford, MS event where Faye serves as contest coordinator.)
This year's activities (everything took place at First Central's Memorial Hall) got started with a bang...with Nathan and Faye kicking off the 1:00-2:00 PM open-piano session.
Our first R to R patron for 2017 came in during the open-piano session...and was blown away by Nathan's playing.
Now, if another function at her church hadn't taken her away from First Central that afternoon, she would've loved the rest of the thirteenth incarnation of the Omaha/Council Bluffs/Bellevue area's annual old-time piano celebration.
At 2:00 PM, this year's workshop began...and it focused on the woman who penned "I Love You Truly" and 174 other songs.
If you've forgotten about (or if you haven't heard of) Carrie Jacobs Bond, you're in a lot of company.
Bond (8-11-1862/12-28-1946) didn't even think of trying to get a career going until she was 31...when the catalyst was the drive to turn to something to support herself and her young son Fred.
Her first husband, E.J. Smith, abandoned her in 1887- after seven years of marriage. Then Carrie's next hubby, Frank Lewis Bond, died early in 1895 of an accident that a child caused by knocking Frank over and causing FLB to hit his own head on some pavement. (That child and some other kids were throwing snowballs and roughhousing in the Iron River, MI neighborhood where Carrie and Frank lived at the time.)
On top of that, Frank- a doctor by trade- was out of a job when the local mines shut down. And when that happened, CJB wanted to be the family breadwinner...but Hubby told Wifey to put that dream away. (Never mind the fact that when our twosome got hitched in 1887, Frank encouraged Carrie's songwriting efforts.)
With Frank under six feet of dirt, Carrie had to borrow some loot to move to Chicago, IL, where she rented an apartment building that served as the first music-publishing headquarters for her and Fred.
And then there were CJB's frequent bouts with rheumatism...bouts that kept her bedridden for weeks (if not months) and put her into a position where Bond's tenants ended up looking after her.
Those health issues caused her to have to sell off all her belongings until she and little Fred were down to the family piano.
Without those 88s, the two visitors one of CJB's neighbors asked her to look after one day in 1900-01 wouldn't have found- and played- "I Love You Truly."
And Carrie's career wouldn't have taken off...to the point where she not only became the first woman to make it big writing pop tunes, but also the first woman to take in a million dollars from composing ditties.
Plus: I would've had to build my 2017 R to R workshop around somebody else.
The workshop ended early (2:48 PM, Central time)...and that gave Faye plenty of time to get ready to be the first performer to give a 2017 Ragtime to Riches concert.
It was Ragtime 101 as the Champaign, IL native took to the church's 2015 Yamaha grand and launched her concert with "The Entertainer" and followed that up with Tom Turpin's "Harlem Rag," the first published rag an African-American composer ever came up with.
Next were three Ballard favorites: "Sailin' Away on the Henry Clay," "Mack the Knife," and "It Had to Be You." (Faye told the crowd that these were examples of songs ragtimers and stride pianists back in the first thirty or forty years of the 20th Century might've used in "cutting contests," where performers tried to top each other for audience applause.)
After the newly-retired office manager offered "Puttin' on the Ritz," she got back to rags...beginning with Scott Joplin's "The Cascades" and Irene Giblin's most famous number, "Chicken Chowder."
Faye's thirteen-tune set closed out with James P. Johnson's "Carolina Shout" and Zez Confrey's crowd favorite, "Dizzy Fingers."
And then...seventeen-year-old Nathan came up to bat.
He nuked it on that same Yamaha grand piano.
The Eldorado, IL native had the audience going right from the start, kicking off his concert with Eubie Blake's "Charleston Rag" and Andy Razaf's and Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose."
Just as Faye doubled up on Scott Joplin, Nathan did, too, offering "Maple Leaf Rag" and "Pineapple Rag..." in addition to "Swipesy," where Scott collaborated with one of his proteges, Arthur Marshall.
The Eldorado High School student added another Eubie Blake number along the way: "Fizz Water." And his superb command of the 88s continued, with tunes such as Joseph Lamb's "Bohemia," the Creamer and Layton tune "After You've Gone," Harry Belding's "Good Gravy Rag," and W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues..." the first published blues song ever composed.
Faye- one of otherwise largely self-taught Nathan's mentors- jumped in to turn "Pork and Beans" into a duet (this time, with both pianists working the Yamaha). She jumped back into the set right after his "St. Louis Blues" to team up with him on "Give My Regards to Broadway" and fellow George M. Cohan standout "You're a Grand Old Flag."
Beasley and Ballard were a hit together.
And it seemed like a great time to jump in and make it a trio.
So...I sneaked back over to the church's early-20th-Century Anderson & Newton upright (the workshop piano) and joined Nathan and Faye (both of them still at the Yamaha grand) for "Beer Barrel Polka" and "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey."
There it was...the Three B's.
Nathan consummated his conquest of R to R 2017 with his set's seventeenth tune, a standout version of "Ol' Man River."
It's up on www.youtube.com (along with some more efforts of his, Faye's, and mine)...and Nathan's version of "River" has proven highly popular. (Check it out if you haven't seen it yet!)
Well...at 7:00 PM, I ended up running the anchor leg of this year's Ragtime to Riches Festival.
And, thanks to a sore left pinky that I received a cut a couple of days earlier when I went in to rehearse at First Central Congregational, I kept threatening to drop the baton.
At first.
Even with a couple of bandages covering the cut on that left pinky, I wanted to keep in mind that I didn't want that cut to hamper the only thing I've been successfully able to copy from ragtime great Del Wood: Her sock action on the keys.
I wanted to lead the audience through a musical tour of America...but I thought I'd have time for only twelve of these fifty states.
So...I started out with a 1923 waltz from a Missourian named Charlotte Brackelsberg, "Carry Me Today, Away Back to Iowa," then went to a 1902 Paul Dresser number called "In Dear Old Illinois." (I ended up eventually jazzing up both tunes.)
Then things started to get more comfortable as my set progressed through "Back Home Again in Indiana," "Beautiful Ohio," and a 1913 Ballard MacDonald-Harry Carroll collaboration called "There's a Girl in the Heart of Maryland (with a Heart That Belongs to Me)."
Even a 1967 hit for the Bee Gees, "(The Lights Went Out in) Massachusetts," got into my set. (Well...the crowd didn't mind.)
Had fun with "Tennessee Waltz," "Mississippi Mud," "California, Here I Come," and a 1919 song written by the team of Dorothy Terriss and Ethel Bridges, "Hawaiian Lullaby."
By then, it was time to wrap things up...and I didn't want to go into overtime, knowing darned good and well it was time to "get everybody back to Nebraska."
Well, anyway...the six people who heard me play gave me the green light to perform the song I thought I'd have to cut out: "North to Alaska."
The whole thing ended with a 1915 Ray Sherwood-Bert Rule ditty called "I'm Goin' Back to Old Nebraska (Goodbye)."
Everybody DID have tons of fun at this year's R to R celebration...especially you-know-who.
Something Nathan told me just before R to R 13.0 got under way really helped: "I performed at an event where just three people showed up. And I still had a lot of fun."
Faye, Nathan, and I are coming back to First Central next July...and we hope to see you there, too!
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Dear Democrats in Georgia's 6th House District:
You've got no excuses now.
If you want Donald John Trump out of there, you're going to have to vote for Thomas Jonathan Ossoff this coming Tuesday.
That's all there is to it.
You just can't afford to sit this one out...the way some of you not only sat out last year's US presidential election, but also the 2010 and 2014 midterms.
Some people here in America don't think any sort of anti-Trump resistance is taking place. After all, Democrats are 0 for 2 in special elections thus far this year. Kansans in what used to be Mike Pompeo's US House district rejected James Thompson, the Democrat who was trying to take the seat out of Republican hands.
And Montanans just got through demonstrating that they wanted Republican Greg Gianforte (who beat up a reporter, Ben Jacobs of The Guardian, on the eve of Big Sky Country's US House election, the effort to replace Ryan Zinke) instead of Democrat Rob Quist.
You folks are the firewall. You can't afford to wait until next year and cross your fingers.
Registered Democrats have GOT to end their history of staying away from polling places whenever there's a midterm election or a special election.
I mean, don't you understand, after all these years, that if you don't go out and cast a ballot, you give the opposition the choice?
Don't you remember how millions and millions and millions of Americans put their lives on the line- even gave up their lives- to expand the right to vote beyond White male landowners?
You've got no excuses. None.
The cat didn't eat your homework. What's more, if you electronically turned in your homework, the cat didn't walk across your laptop and hit "Delete."
Matter of fact, I researched Ossoff's platform and that of his opponent, Karen Handel (who, in 2007, became the first elected Republican to serve as the Peach State's secretary of state).
*First of all, the 30-year-old Ossoff has made suggestions that could save the US government $16 billion (an assertion Politifact agrees with). For example, if the government consolidated its data centers, it'd mean $5.4 billion extra to spend. And if the Department of Defense could try strategic sourcing, $4 billion would be freed up.
*If our businesses played with money the way America's government does, those firms would be in deep doo-doo. TJO wants to bring our government up to private-sector standards. (Think about this: The General Accounting Office found out that, in fiscal 2014, Uncle Sam made improper payments totaling $124.7 billion. Also, GAO found out 6.5 million active Social Security numbers have been set aside for people over the age of 112...despite the fact that only 42 such people the world over are currently drawing breath!)
*Jon Ossoff wants to promote high-tech and biotech research...at a time when today's GOP-led Congress wants to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control, one of Georgia's top fifteen employers.
*On top of that, he's out to prioritize STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programs, colleges, universities, and technical schools. Ossoff would like to let college students refinance their loan repayment programs and, in the process, reap the benefits of lower interest rates.
*Atlanta native Ossoff supports abortion rights and access to contraceptives.
*He doesn't want nonviolent drug offenders imprisoned. (With those nonviolent drug offenders clogging up the jails, where's the room for the convicted murderers, sex offenders, what have you?)
*Jon won't raise your taxes; in fact, he's in favor of lowering taxes for small businesses.
*Ossoff wants the United States to stay in the Paris climate accord.
*Although he doesn't want a single-payer health-care system, he's in favor of keeping the Affordable Care Act the law of the land. (Don't get him started on the proposed ACA replacement, the so-called American Health Care Act.)
*To top it all off, this son of an Australian mother will work for comprehensive immigration reform...the kind that strengthens enforcement along the US-Mexico border and makes a citizenship path for America's 11 million undocumented immigrants.
If you flip this platform around, you can just imagine what Handel's platform looks like.
Still, here it is:
*Handel wants to repeal the ACA (as did Tom Price, the new HHS secretary whose House seat Ossoff and Handel are after) and replace it with the AHCA...a proposal that, contrary to Republican assertions, reduces protections for preexisting conditions (in addition to taking health insurance away from at least 23 million Americans!).
*She's made it clear that she opposes the minimum wage: "I do not support a livable wage."
*Handel opposes abortion rights, government funding of Planned Parenthood, and embryonic stem-cell research.
*Karen wants to limit Uncle Sam's role in combating climate change; she'd rather leave it up to the states and their cities. What's more, she doesn't believe that we human beings are the biggest reason the world's average temperature has gone up.
*And, of course, Handel doesn't want an automatic (or any kind of) path to citizenship for those undocumented immigrants.
*Do you remember when the 55-year-old Handel was an executive with Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure? Remember when, in 2012, the foundation pulled back a $700,000 grant to Planned Parenthood to fund mammograms and other breast-cancer-related services?
The cutoff was completely and totally political.
And it had Handel's fingerprints all over it.
The same woman who purged voter rolls as soon as she became Georgia's secretary of state five years earlier.
So there you are, Democrats in GA-6. Take it from me, a man who, in 1986, failed to cast a ballot in an historic election here in Nebraska.
Two women- a first here in these fifty states- fought for Bob Kerrey's gubernatorial seat as he sought a seat in the US Senate. Instead of former Lincoln Mayor Helen Boosalis keeping the governor's mansion in Democratic hands,
State Treasurer Kay Orr put it back in the GOP's lap.
My excuse: "I ran out of time before I had to go to work."
I got raked over the coals for my decision...and ever since, I've made it a point to cast a ballot every chance I could get.
This one's too important to pass up...especially if you want Trump impeached and then convicted (before he and his people do further damage to America and its reputation).
Please...get up off your excuses and VOTE for Jon Ossoff!
Sincerely, Jim Boston
If you want Donald John Trump out of there, you're going to have to vote for Thomas Jonathan Ossoff this coming Tuesday.
That's all there is to it.
You just can't afford to sit this one out...the way some of you not only sat out last year's US presidential election, but also the 2010 and 2014 midterms.
Some people here in America don't think any sort of anti-Trump resistance is taking place. After all, Democrats are 0 for 2 in special elections thus far this year. Kansans in what used to be Mike Pompeo's US House district rejected James Thompson, the Democrat who was trying to take the seat out of Republican hands.
And Montanans just got through demonstrating that they wanted Republican Greg Gianforte (who beat up a reporter, Ben Jacobs of The Guardian, on the eve of Big Sky Country's US House election, the effort to replace Ryan Zinke) instead of Democrat Rob Quist.
You folks are the firewall. You can't afford to wait until next year and cross your fingers.
Registered Democrats have GOT to end their history of staying away from polling places whenever there's a midterm election or a special election.
I mean, don't you understand, after all these years, that if you don't go out and cast a ballot, you give the opposition the choice?
Don't you remember how millions and millions and millions of Americans put their lives on the line- even gave up their lives- to expand the right to vote beyond White male landowners?
You've got no excuses. None.
The cat didn't eat your homework. What's more, if you electronically turned in your homework, the cat didn't walk across your laptop and hit "Delete."
Matter of fact, I researched Ossoff's platform and that of his opponent, Karen Handel (who, in 2007, became the first elected Republican to serve as the Peach State's secretary of state).
*First of all, the 30-year-old Ossoff has made suggestions that could save the US government $16 billion (an assertion Politifact agrees with). For example, if the government consolidated its data centers, it'd mean $5.4 billion extra to spend. And if the Department of Defense could try strategic sourcing, $4 billion would be freed up.
*If our businesses played with money the way America's government does, those firms would be in deep doo-doo. TJO wants to bring our government up to private-sector standards. (Think about this: The General Accounting Office found out that, in fiscal 2014, Uncle Sam made improper payments totaling $124.7 billion. Also, GAO found out 6.5 million active Social Security numbers have been set aside for people over the age of 112...despite the fact that only 42 such people the world over are currently drawing breath!)
*Jon Ossoff wants to promote high-tech and biotech research...at a time when today's GOP-led Congress wants to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control, one of Georgia's top fifteen employers.
*On top of that, he's out to prioritize STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programs, colleges, universities, and technical schools. Ossoff would like to let college students refinance their loan repayment programs and, in the process, reap the benefits of lower interest rates.
*Atlanta native Ossoff supports abortion rights and access to contraceptives.
*He doesn't want nonviolent drug offenders imprisoned. (With those nonviolent drug offenders clogging up the jails, where's the room for the convicted murderers, sex offenders, what have you?)
*Jon won't raise your taxes; in fact, he's in favor of lowering taxes for small businesses.
*Ossoff wants the United States to stay in the Paris climate accord.
*Although he doesn't want a single-payer health-care system, he's in favor of keeping the Affordable Care Act the law of the land. (Don't get him started on the proposed ACA replacement, the so-called American Health Care Act.)
*To top it all off, this son of an Australian mother will work for comprehensive immigration reform...the kind that strengthens enforcement along the US-Mexico border and makes a citizenship path for America's 11 million undocumented immigrants.
If you flip this platform around, you can just imagine what Handel's platform looks like.
Still, here it is:
*Handel wants to repeal the ACA (as did Tom Price, the new HHS secretary whose House seat Ossoff and Handel are after) and replace it with the AHCA...a proposal that, contrary to Republican assertions, reduces protections for preexisting conditions (in addition to taking health insurance away from at least 23 million Americans!).
*She's made it clear that she opposes the minimum wage: "I do not support a livable wage."
*Handel opposes abortion rights, government funding of Planned Parenthood, and embryonic stem-cell research.
*Karen wants to limit Uncle Sam's role in combating climate change; she'd rather leave it up to the states and their cities. What's more, she doesn't believe that we human beings are the biggest reason the world's average temperature has gone up.
*And, of course, Handel doesn't want an automatic (or any kind of) path to citizenship for those undocumented immigrants.
*Do you remember when the 55-year-old Handel was an executive with Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure? Remember when, in 2012, the foundation pulled back a $700,000 grant to Planned Parenthood to fund mammograms and other breast-cancer-related services?
The cutoff was completely and totally political.
And it had Handel's fingerprints all over it.
The same woman who purged voter rolls as soon as she became Georgia's secretary of state five years earlier.
So there you are, Democrats in GA-6. Take it from me, a man who, in 1986, failed to cast a ballot in an historic election here in Nebraska.
My excuse: "I ran out of time before I had to go to work."
I got raked over the coals for my decision...and ever since, I've made it a point to cast a ballot every chance I could get.
This one's too important to pass up...especially if you want Trump impeached and then convicted (before he and his people do further damage to America and its reputation).
Please...get up off your excuses and VOTE for Jon Ossoff!
Sincerely, Jim Boston
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)