I've Got to Do It

On 5-15-2012, I went for a medical checkup for the first time in seven years. (Yes, I was long overdue.)

Turned out that my scorecard was one for three.

I found out that my blood pressure's normal (118/88)...but my cholesterol figures are at issue.

When my cholesterol numbers ought to be 200 and 100, the lab tests showed 220 and 151, respectively.

And yes, I was floored. I was stunned.

I asked the receptionist who'd called me with the information about my lab tests: "What can I do to bring my cholesterol down?"

She told me that a daily 30-minute walk would do that. So would cutting out red meats, cakes, and...my beloved Little Debbie snacks.

If you've ever had a chance to see the recently-released documentary "The Entertainers," you heard me talking about putting into my lunch box foods that can be eaten quickly...and Little Debbie snack cakes are some of those foods that can be eaten quickly.

Well now, I'm replacing regular beef, corned beef, and pastrami with chicken, fish, and turkey...and, in the meantime, I'm trading those LD Oatmeal Creme Pies and other LD delights for granola bars and cereal bars.

And I'm thankful that McKee Foods markets cereal bars (in addition to all those Little Debbie products)...because I hate the thought of throwing the Collegedale, TN firm under the bus.

At first, I thought I was going to force myself to starve, I felt that devastated at first. (Besides, I'm a big, big fan of burgers!! But being able to emphasize chicken, fish, and turkey will take the sting out of getting off beef.)

Taking the everyday walks will be the hardest part. 

Nevertheless, I've gone on two such walks since getting the call from Dr. Steven Weyhrich's office. (One was here in Omaha to make a car-repair payment...and the other was in Peoria last weekend, when one of this year's OTPP contestants, a first-timer named Diana Stein, walked with me to the riverfront.)

You can bet I'm going to fight to bring these numbers down...even if I have to walk around my kitchen for a half hour each day. (The 220-151 figure didn't happen overnight...and it's going to take a while- and determination- to reduce the figure to 200-100.)

Speaking of numbers...when I come back, I'm going to talk about something I've been able to take in for the first time since 2009: The Peoria experience.

Checkmate!

The weekend after I traveled to Des Moines (to see my younger brother, younger sister in law, and nephew) and to Madison (to check out the 2012 Wisconsin Film Festival), I made it to the Twin Cities...for this year's Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival.

That's right...the area that gave us James Arness and Peter Graves (to say nothing of Prince) became the second one to officially see "The Entertainers," that documentary about the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest (an event that's coming up next weekend).

The Minneapolis-St. Paul get-together has been taking place every year since the early 1980s (if not the late 1970s); this year's version ran from 4-12-2012 and finished up on 5-3-2012. The organizers treated moviegoers from everywhere to 300 films...and, as was the case at Madison's Wisconsin Film Festival, the Twin Cities fare ran the gamut from full-length features all the way to shorts.

70 of the 300 movies shown in Minnesota's biggest metro area were documentaries.

And all the motion pictures presented at the Gopher State festival were run at Minneapolis' St. Anthony Main Theater, overlooking the banks of the Mississippi River.

Festival organizers scheduled "The Entertainers" for 9:20 PM on Saturday, 4-28-2012...as well as for 3:30 PM the next day.

And both sets of audiences ate it up...as well as the live music "Perfessor" Bill Edwards, Ethan Uslan, and I were able to provide after each showing of the film.

In fact, the audiences liked "The Entertainers" so much that they voted it the International Film Festival's best documentary.

Meanwhile, I was eating up my stay in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

It's a great, great place to walk around in...especially the underground walkways situated around and through downtown Minneapolis. With the walkways, you get a climate-controlled environment where, in winter, you don't have to worry so much about freezing your hind end off (and don't have to worry about facing the same demise as a Popsicle in the summer months).

The restaurants in the MSP area are no slouches, either. Just like in Madison, they have Qdobe restaurants...and I had a chance to eat late-night tacos again as a result.

The last place I ate at in Minny offers a $12 burger. (And let me tell you, that burger DOES have an act!)

So does the hotel they put us up in. It used to be the local Milwaukee Road train station, but now it's the Renaissance Depot Hotel. They did a great, great job transforming this historic station into a hotel...and it's got so much Milwaukee Road memorabilia it'll make your head swim. (Oops...I mean it'll make your wheels turn!)

Speaking of act...now comes the next one in this journey.

The question isn't "Will it play in Peoria?" (After all, "The Entertainers" will be shown there on 5-25-2012 at 8:00 PM; the free showing will be one of the events at the OTPP Contest itself. And the contest will take place in a new venue: The Sheraton Four Points Hotel.)

The real question is: "How will they like it in Peoria?"

I'm going to the city that gave Richard Pryor to the world...and when I get the answers, I'll sure enough let you know.

I'm Jim Boston, and thanks for reading this blog!

This Madison's No Slob at All

After four years of preparation, planning, filming, promoting, and everything else that comes with trying to put a movie together, it's here!

The very first documentary about Illinois' World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, "The Entertainers," debuted on Friday, 4-20-2012, at 9:30 PM at the Chazen Museum of Art, on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

And the audience really enjoyed it.

The next day, at 1:30 PM, the film was shown again...this time at the school's UW Cinematheque.

And it was a hit all over again!  

The two screenings were part of the thirteenth annual Wisconsin Film Festival, a five-day event where 150 movies of all kinds- feature-length films, shorts, you name it- were showcased all over the UW-Madison campus.

"The Entertainers" struck such a chord with moviegoers at the WFF that they voted the production as the best documentary at this year's fest. (Michael Zimmer's and Nick Holle's baby bested 39 other documentaries.)

Four of the movie's performers- "Perfessor" Bill Edwards, Ethan Uslan, Faye Ballard, and I- came to Wisconsin's capital city to help promote the 93-minute effort.

And man, we had a ball!  

When Faye, Bill, Nick, Ethan, Michael, and I weren't watching the film, answering audience questions about "The Entertainers," or appearing on TV, radio, and/or the Web to talk about the movie, we ate.

And ate. 

AND ATE!!

One of the places we ate at was a sushi restaurant in downtown Madison; it was the first time I'd ever dined at a Japanese eatery.

And I've got to tell you: I'm GOING to learn to love sushi.

I've read where Omaha has more restaurants per capita than any other city here in the United States, but Madison sure gives the Big O a run for its money.

What's more, M-Town gives New York City and Las Vegas a run for their money, too, when it comes to energy...especially on the weekends. (It's one more place where you can get a burrito and/or a pizza at 2:00 AM.)

And it's a great, great place for a film festival.

All I've got to say now is: "Thanks, Madison, for your excellent support of the Wisconsin Film Festival...and for 'The Entertainers!'"

If "The Entertainers" gets to play in your town, and you love old-time piano, just RUN to that venue.

You'll be glad you did! (Hope to see you there!)

America's Favorite...and Second to None

That slogan was taken from a piece of sheet music written by Charles N. Daniels, one of the most prolific composers of the 1890s-1930s period, with songs like "Margery," "You Tell Me Your Dream, I'll Tell You Mine," and "Chloe." (That last one was one of the many he composed under one of his many pen names: Neil Moret.)

And don't forget that he published an 1899 Scott Joplin piece, "Original Rags."

The above slogan's also one that Charles' grandniece, Nan Bostick, adopted.

Nan was no slouch as a composer, either, what with winners like "Ragtime in Randall," "Bean Whistle Rag," and "That Missing You Rag."

I'm one of the many missing her, too. Recently, Nan lost her battle with lung cancer.

Nan was a veteran of many ragtime festivals nationwide, including California's Sutter Creek event (held every August since that get-together's 2000 inception) and that same state's West Coast Ragtime Festival.

She even performed at the Ragtime to Riches Festival, coming to the Omaha/Council Bluffs/Bellevue area in 2006 and 2007. (I remember when, at the 2006 festival, she jammed alongside another of that year's featured performers, Pat Boilesen.)

Nan Bostick really was second to none when it came to giving workshops; hers were some of the most entertaining workshops you'd ever attended.

One of her most famous workshops focused on the work her granduncle put together, starting in his Missouri/Kansas days...when Charles' "Hiawatha" touched off a brief craze for songs about Native American people.

Funny thing about it, "Hiawatha" wasn't about a Native American...it was about a Kansas town that bears said name.

I learned from Nan that during the 1897-1917 period, roughly 350 women composed at least one ragtime tune apiece.

And Charles N. Daniels got some of them published, too.

I've tried some of those pieces myself...and had a ball working on 'em. One of those numbers is "That Poker Rag," by Charlotte Blake. Others include Irene Giblin's "Chicken Chowder" and Nellie Stokes' "Snowball."

By the way...my favorite Nan Bostick composition is "Bean Whistle Rag." (You get to, as the sheet music says, ad lib...and have fun!)

She encouraged me to concentrate on giving workshops; Nan, somehow, liked the ones I'd given. (Well, to tell you the truth, I'd rather put giving workshops and performing together. But still...)

Nan was one of ragtime's best and most tireless researchers; it showed in every concert she gave and every workshop she conducted. I admire how she liked going to different schools nationwide to show children just what old-time piano's really like.

Nan...thank you for helping to show me (and plenty of other people) what old-time piano's really like.

Thank you for being part of my life...and allowing me to be in yours.

Since When Did a Bag of Skittles Become Dangerous?

It's been exactly five weeks now since 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed by a Sanford, FL resident named George Zimmerman.

And, like millions of other Americans, I'm still sick about the murder of perhaps the most talked-about teenager to ever come out of Miami Gardens, FL.

All Trayvon was doing was coming back from a 7-Eleven convenience store in Sanford; he was coming back to his father's fiancee's house in a gated community in that city of 54,000 people. Trayvon was trying to check out the second half of this season's NBA All-Star Game...played 19 miles to the south in Orlando.

And all he was carrying were a cell phone and his two 7-Eleven purchases: A bag of Skittles candy and a can of iced tea.

But that didn't matter to George, a 28-year-old who serves as a neighborhood watch captain in the gated community in Sanford.

In fact, the hoodie Martin was wearing- to say nothing of his skin color- gave Zimmerman enough "justification" to label young Martin as suspicious.

So that gave our neighborhood watch captain the impetus to call 911.

And it didn't matter that the dispatcher who took the call told Zimmerman NOT to chase Martin.

He chased him anyway.

After five weeks, no arrest has been made.

In fact, it might be that the police officer who checked out the scene- and bought the idea that Zimmerman's life was threatened by Martin, hence the murder- might have publicly (or privately) congratulated Zimmerman.

This is what happens when a state signs into law "Stand Your Ground" legislation.

The killing that took place on 2-26-2012 was THE outgrowth of a law now in 13 states here in the US.

The Sanford Police Department simply didn't do its job. And if Sanford's government leaders had shown any guts, they would've asked for Bill Lee's permanent resignation as the city's police chief.

There's so much- way too much- we don't know about the shooting of a young man who loved sports and, yes, WAS trying to get his life back on the right track. (That's why he went to Sanford.)

And I'm still wondering how spokespersons with the National Rifle Association (the group that's been on bended knees begging for these "Stand Your Ground" laws) really feel about this Central Florida murder.

How many hate-radio hosts (okay, talk-radio hosts) have been praising George Zimmerman for what he did? (Remember, last year, Neal Boortz got on his show and asked his listeners to pack heat and get those so-called "urban thugs." Does carrying a bag of Skittles make you an "urban thug?" Does wearing a hoodie?)

Bill O'Reilly, on his Fox Gossip (oops, I mean Fox News) Channel show, defended this vigilante. I can imagine how O'Reilly's network colleagues, such as race-baiter deluxe Eric Bolling (from The Five), feel about this incident in Sanford.

John Bush's silence is deafening. [After all, in 2005, when he was the Sunshine State's governor, he signed this into law. (And no, I can't bring myself to call him Jeb!)]

One thing I'm GOING to bring myself to do is this: I'm going to stand with Trayvon's parents- Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton- and millions of others to say: "Let's have some justice and get George Zimmerman in handcuffs! What are you waiting on?"

Coming Soon...to a Theater (or Some Other Venue) Near You!

Been waiting almost three years to type this out...and here it is:

The first-ever documentary about the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, "The Entertainers," is about to make its debut.

It's going to happen at the Wisconsin Film Festival, an event held from 4-18-2012 to 4-22-2012 in Madison.

And yep, I'm on my way to Wisconsin's capital city.

Nick Holle's and Michael Zimmer's (they're the movie's codirectors) project gets two showings- each at a different festival venue: Friday, 4-20-2012 at 9:30 PM and Saturday, 4-21-2012 at 1:30 PM.

Afterwards, Mike and Nick (who did the bulk of the filming in 2009 and 2010...after shooting "The Entertainers'" trailer at the 2008 OTPP Contest) will aim to get the documentary shown not only at different film festivals nationwide, but also at various ragtime festivals throughout the United States.

And one of those ragtime festivals will be here in Omaha.

So if you don't get a chance to come to the Wisconsin Film Festival or to this year's World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest (5-25-2012 to 5-28-2012 at Peoria's Five Points by Sheraton Hotel), maybe you'll be coming to Omaha for the Ragtime to Riches Festival (7-8-2012 at First Central Congregational United Church of Christ)...and if you're in the Big O that day, you're in for a real treat.

Had a ball getting involved in said documentary...and I hope you'll have a ball seeing the movie, wherever and whenever it's shown in your town.

Oh, by the way...R to R's showing of "The Entertainers" will take place at 4:15 PM, right after Nora and Mark Hulse play.

I Wouldn't Buy a Used ANYTHING from Any of These People

I wouldn't buy a new item from any of them, either.

They've had twenty debates thus far; I watch some of the discussion shows on TV...and listening to the four remaining Republican presidential hopefuls for 2012 makes me sometimes want to...sometimes want to vomit.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Willard Romney (I'm sorry; I refuse to use his nickname!) has been on both sides of far too many issues, be they REAL issues or the wedge issues Republicans have been dining on for decades. His father (that's right, George Romney, the one-time Michigan governor who ran for the presidency in 1968...only to become Richard Nixon's first HUD secretary) has got to be turning over in his grave over his son's desire to see the very industry that kept food on the Romney family's table go straight down. (Remember when Romney pere ran the old American Motors Corporation?)

Yes, I know, I know...Pennsylvania's old junior US senator, Rick Santorum, is being praised for his honesty and for the courage of his convictions.

Here's the thing about it, though: Santorum's convictions include having only the well-to-do (the GOP's main bankrollers) be able to see to it that their sons (and, just maybe, daughters) can get access to a real education. After all, he doesn't want state or federal government involved in schools.

And that leaves city governments and county governments. As strapped as they are today, how's it all going to look having them and only them bankroll public schools?

Oh, by the way, Mr. Santorum...not every parent in America today is equipped to homeschool his or her children. (Got that?)

I listen to one-time House Speaker Newton Gingrich and current US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and conclude that they're still in the race to massage their egos.

And all the ugly, racist things Paul and Gingrich (as well as far too many other Republicans, especially these last three years) have said- be they in newsletters or speeches- make me feel that, like Santorum and Romney, they're not fit to give the next (or any future) inaugural speech.

That's what the Republican Party amounts to today...and has ever since the mid 1960s.

WHY?

Back then, the people in charge of the party courted the Southern Democrats who turned their backs on the Donkeys after Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. (Strom Thurmond was one of those who switched to the Elephants at that time.)

The next time a presidential election came along, once Nixon got the 1968 GOP nomination, his campaign staff cooked up a "Southern strategy" to reel in all those Caucasian men angered over LBJ's decision to help make America live up to its proud promises.

One of Thurmond's trainees was Lee Atwater...the same Lee Atwater who helped Ronald Reagan get the greatest role of his career, then went on to enable Reagan's old veep, George Herbert Walker Bush, to become the first standing vice president since Martin Van Buren (in 1836) to win a presidential election.

It wasn't until Atwater was on his death bed that he decided, all at once, to 'fess up and admit that his racist views played a huge role in making that former CIA director into America's 41st chief executive.

Atwater's proteges are at work right now, 21 years after the former Republican National Committee chief died of a brain tumor. (And that includes ALL of the people who've taken out papers to get the opportunity to make Barack Obama the latest former president.)

Still wondering why Gingrich, Paul, Romney, and Santorum sound the way they do?

And then you've got these people's desire to tell women what to do with their bodies!

These four all are in favor of the amendment US Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) wants to push where any, any, ANY employer can opt out of providing access to contraceptives for religious and moral reasons. (This bill, if it becomes law, would allow CEOs to use any excuse they can think of.)

It's going to be a disaster for women here in the United States.

I don't know about these current Republicans. I feel nauseated over their desire to push this country all the way back to 1912...if they can't shift it all the way back to 1612.

Think about this.

If you're a middle-income person or a low-income person and you're thinking about giving any of these four men your vote on 11-6-2012, ask yourself if there's anything in it for you if you turn to the very people whose policies and attitudes helped pave the way for the Great Recession.

If they care so much about you and me, why are they so much more interested in telling women what they can do with their own bodies than in repairing America's economy?