But my wallet isn't ready for me to retire right now.
Even with a company 401(k) and a personal retirement fund, the money still isn't plentiful enough right now for me to say: "That's it, I quit, I'm moving on!"
Last week marked the first time I ever told any of my superiors at my present place of work that I was ready to hang it up.
Anyway...it all stemmed from heat I took on 3-17-2020 from the machine operator I was supposed to replace as first shift (hers) morphed into second shift (mine).
"You're late," she told me.
It was 2:56 PM (Central time).
If you're on second shift where I work, you're supposed to report at 2:55 PM. (And I manage to do so the vast majority of the time.)
For the last several years, things had gotten to the point where I end up eating lunch at the factory before I get to my machine(s). And this did happen this past St. Pat's Day.
Thank you, Internet.
Previously, I'd eat my lunch right here at home prior to shoving off for my plastics-factory job. (By the way...since I work second shift, and the second half of second shift is when most Americans watch prime-time TV, I call the meal break we get on second shift "dinner." Or else I just call it a "meal break," anyway.)
Since the incident, I've been trying to leave earlier for the factory...and been trying to eat lunch at home again before going to work.
On alternate Mondays, I go to the laundromat...and 3-23-2020 was one such Monday.
I clocked in at 2:45 PM (something I strive to do each and every workday), ended up eating lunch at the factory (because of the laundry load before that), and hurried to get to my machine on time.
Got there at 2:55 PM...right on the dot.
Still, I was unable to escape the wrath of the same coworker from first shift: "Why you in such a hurry?"
I let it all hang out and confronted her.
I was still upset the next day about the two incidents...and told her to get off my back and leave me alone.
What's more, I mentioned the two incidents to the supervisor on first shift and the supervisor on second shift. Plus: The chief on first shift reported the two incidents to the company's human resources department.
All of that helps.
But then, I've been thinking about the increasingly demanding nature of work at the factory...and about the fact that I'll turn 65 this November.
And I've even been thinking about the effects the coronavirus pandemic has had on people's lives. (For instance, the three places I've been going to to practice music- one of them the church I go to- have abandoned or cut their office hours for the time being.)
As a result, I've found myself with extra time for writing...especially screenplays.
And blog posts, too!
We're getting ready to slam into a new workweek at the factory...and I'm going to gear up to go through it.
And I'll keep trying to build up that retirement chest so that I'm ready.
My childhood fell between the middle 1950s and early 1970s...and for television fans here in the United States, that meant that variety shows were all over the dial. If you watched, for example, The Ed Sullivan Show, you'd more often than not get to see your favorite rock/R&B act...about a half hour after Ed introduced one of those smooth pop crooners on the show.
In fact, my first eight years of life (1955-1963) were a period when America's music industry was trying to figure itself out. In early April 1957, for instance, Perry Como's "'Round and 'Round" was Billboard's Number One pop hit...only to be displaced a week later by "All Shook Up," by Elvis Presley.
And "All Shook Up" rode high for nine weeks...until knocked off the top spot by "Love Letters in the Sand," by Pat Boone, a man whose records, by then, had one foot in the Presley ethos and the other in the Como system.
Industry leaders, as a group, loved the old Tin Pan Alley styles...but knew the newer styles were where the money was.
Even so, some of the biggest hits of the late 1950s through, really, the middle 1970s, owed something to the way pop music sounded in the 1890s-1920s period...when ragtime, followed by jazz, caught America's attention.
With that in mind, here's a list of ragtime/honky tonk-influenced rock/R&B/pop songs recorded from 1956 to 1974:
1. "The Green Door," Jim Lowe (Dot 14586; r*5, *1, 1956)/2. "When I See You," Fats Domino (Imperial 5454; r*14, *29, 1957)/3. "Sugartime," McGuire Sisters (Coral 61924; *1, 1958)/4. "The Stripper," David Rose (MGM 13064; r*12, *1, 1962)/5. "Alley Cat," Bent Fabric (Atco 6226; *7, 1962)/6. "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer," Nat King Cole (Capitol 4965; r*11, *6, 1963)/7. "Washington Square," Village Stompers (Epic 9617; r*22, *2, 1963)/8. "(Down at) Papa Joe's," Dixiebelles (Sound Stage 7 2507; *9, 1963)/9. "Southtown, USA," Dixiebelles (Sound Stage 7 2517; *15, 1964)/10. "Java," Al Hirt (RCA Victor 8280; *4, 1964)/11. "Daydream," Lovin' Spoonful (Kama Sutra 208; *2, 1966)/12. "Spanish Flea," Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (A&M 792; *27, 1966)/13. "I Love Onions," Susan Christie (Columbia 43595; *63, 1966).
14. "Winchester Cathedral," New Vaudeville Band (Fontana 1562; *1, 1966)/15. "Lady Godiva," Peter and Gordon (Capitol 5740; *6, 1966)/16. "Words of Love," Mamas and the Papas (Dunhill 4057; *5, 1967)/17. "Hello Hello," Sopwith "Camel" (Kama Sutra 217; *26, 1967)/18. "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman," Whistling Jack Smith (Deram 85005; *20, 1967)/19. "Like an Old-Time Movie," Scott McKenzie (Ode 105; *24, 1967)/20. "Cab Driver," Mills Brothers (Dot 17041; *23, 1968)/21. "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde," Georgie Fame (Epic 10283; *7, 1968)/22. "Cinderella Rockefella," Esther and Abi Ofarim (Philips 40526; *68, 1968)/23. "Indian Lake," Cowsills (MGM 13944; *10, 1968)/24. "Those Were the Days," Mary Hopkin (Apple 1801; *2, 1968)/25. "Goodbye," Mary Hopkin (Apple 1806; *13, 1969)/26. "Abergavenny," Shannon (AKA Marty Wilde) (Heritage 814; *47, 1969).
27. "Is That All There Is," Peggy Lee (Capitol 2602; *11, 1969)/28. "Rag Mama Rag," Band (Capitol 2705; *57, 1970)/29. "Gimme Dat Ding," Pipkins (Capitol 2819; *9, 1970)/30. "Mississippi," John Phillips (ABC Dunhill 4236; *32, 1970)/31. "In the Summertime," Mungo Jerry (Janus 125; *3, 1970)/32. "Rubber Duckie," Jim Henson's Ernie (Columbia 45207; *16, 1970)/33. "Honky Cat," Elton John (Uni 55343; *8, 1972)/34. "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree," Tony Orlando and Dawn (Bell 45,318; *1, 1973)/35. "Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose," Tony Orlando and Dawn (Bell 45,374; *3, 1973)/36. "Who's in the Strawberry Patch with Sally," Tony Orlando and Dawn (Bell 45,424; *27, 1973)/37. "Last Time I Saw Him," Diana Ross (Motown 1278; r*15, *14, 1974)/38. "Nothing from Nothing," Billy Preston (A&M 1544; r*8, *1, 1974)/39. "Steppin' Out (Gonna Boogie Tonight)," Tony Orlando and Dawn (Bell 45,601; *7, 1974).
The chart positions were taken from Joel Whitburn's "Record Research," compiled from Billboard's Pop chart, unless indicated otherwise; r*= the record's position on Billboard's R&B chart.
See you next time, and thanks for reading "Boston's Blog!"
I guess it's more than fitting to write this on the eve of the so-called CFP championship game.
And I won't get to give you the results until at least this coming September, since the folks at Dave Koch Sports won't release the 2019 college football files for the company's Action! PC Football game until this coming September.
But the field for this season's "shoulda-coulda-woulda" NCAA Division 1-A football playoff is mind-blowing for this one reason:
All but one of the 24 teams won at least ten games apiece in 2019.
And that's not counting the actual bowl games.
By contrast, last season's 1-A playoff field featured 18 ten-victory squads (not counting the bowl games).
Well, anyway, here's how the 2019 Division 1-A field shapes up:
1. Ohio State (13-0; Big Ten champ)/2. Louisiana State (13-0; SEC champ)/3. Clemson (13-0; ACC champ)/4. Boise State (12-1; Mountain West champ)/5. Memphis (12-1; AAC champ)/6. Oklahoma (12-1; Big 12 champ)/7. Appalachian State (12-1; Sun Belt champ)/8. Georgia (11-2; SEC at-large)
9. Oregon (11-2; Pac-12 champ)/10. Baylor (11-2; Big 12 at-large)/11. Utah (11-2; Pac-12 at-large)/12. Notre Dame (10-2; independent at-large)/13. Penn State (10-2; Big Ten at-large)/14. SMU (10-2; AAC at-large)/15. Navy (10-2; AAC at-large)/16. Air Force (10-2; Mountain West at-large)
17. Alabama (10-2; SEC at-large)/18. Minnesota (10-2; Big Ten at-large)/19. Florida (10-2; SEC at-large)/20. Cincinnati (10-3; AAC at-large)/21. Wisconsin (10-3; Big Ten at-large)/22. Florida Atlantic (10-3; C-USA champ)/23. Louisiana-Lafayette (10-3; Sun Belt at-large)/24. Miami (OH) (8-5; MAC champ)
Okay...how'd Ohio State slip in ahead of LSU?
All twelve of the Buckeyes' 2019 foes (Wisconsin and Ohio State tangled twice; the second time was at the Big Ten title game) were in Division 1-A; a club earns 50 quality points for defeating a winning D-1-A squad and 45 quality points after beating a Division 1-A team that had a .500 or worse campaign.
On the other hand, Louisiana State took on a Division 1-AA team, Northwestern State of the Southland Conference. The Tigers crushed the 3-9 Demons...and earned just 35 quality points for doing so. (Had the Demons enjoyed a winning season, LSU's victory would've meant 40 quality points.)
Now...about Boise State and Memphis skating ahead of the College Football Playoff committee's fourth choice, Oklahoma.
First of all, the MWC champion Broncos and AAC kingpin Tigers each saw their D-1-A opponents rack up 77 victories apiece...while all the Division 1-A teams that met the Sooners totaled 76 wins.
And so, the next tiebreaker kicked in: Conference records.
That's how the team from Idaho won out. Boise State went 9-0 in Mountain West play...while Memphis turned in a American Athletic Conference mark of 8-1.
One interesting season, 2019.
Usually, nine wins would be enough to earn a 1-A squad an at-large berth. Instead, San Diego State, UAB, Central Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana Tech, and Virginia- to say nothing of Auburn, Iowa, and Michigan- couldn't get in this time. (And the Blazers, the Rainbow Warriors, and the Cavaliers would've gotten automatic bids if they'd won their conference championship games.)
And one of those nine teams would've been crying had the field been expanded to 32 contingents.
One interesting season, 2019.
Can't wait to play these playoffs.
One of the biggest claims to come out of this rapidly-concluding 2019 is that, since becoming the majority party in the US House eleven months ago, the Democrats haven't done a cotton-picking thing.
Don't believe it.
For even one millisecond.
Besides turning Donald Trump into just the third chief executive to get impeached, the Nancy Pelosi-led House of Representatives has passed the following bills:
*HR 1 (the For the People Act of 2019)
*HR 5 (the Equality Act)
*HR 7 (the Paycheck Fairness Act)
*HR 8 (calling for background checks on gun sales)
*HR 9 (the Climate Action Now Act)
*HJ Resolution 37 and SJ Resolution 7 (both directing the removal of Uncle Sam's forces from unauthorized fighting in Yemen)
*House Congressional Resolution 24 (calling for the Mueller Report to be made public)
*House Resolution 183 (condemning anti-Semitism and condemning anti-Muslim intolerance and bigotry against non-Caucasian people)
*HR 259 (the Medicare Extenders Act of 2019)
*HR 271 (to condemn Trump's efforts to take health care away from rank-and-file Americans)
*HR 375 (amending the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 to reaffirm the Interior Department's green light to take land into trust for indigenous tribes)
*HR 986 (Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act of 2019)
*HR 987 (designed to strengthen health care and lower prescription drug costs)
*HR 1500 (Consumers First Act)
*HR 1585 (the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019)
*HR 1644 (made to save the Internet)
*HR 1994 (SECURE Act/Gold Star Family Tax Relief Act)
*HR 2480 (Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act)
*HR 2513 (Corporate Transparency Act)
*HR 2722 (the Securing America's Federal Elections Act)
*HR 4617 [the SHIELD Act...drafted to make sure what happened (namely, Russian interference) in the 2016 election doesn't take place again]
*On 12-19-2019, the House passed the USMCA agreement (the replacement for NAFTA), 385-41.
That's just the tip of the iceberg.
By 11-15-2019, the House had passed almost 400 bills (resolutions excluded)...but when you add this country's Senate to the equation, you find that in total, Congress had, by said date, passed just 70 bills.
Most of the bills still stalled in the Mitch McConnell-run chamber are common-sense ones. What's more, legislation such as background checks, 'Net neutrality, and a reauthorized Violence Against Women Act has gathered proven bipartisan support.
McConnell's Senate thinks nothing of confirming 150 of Trump's nominees to the federal judiciary.
It's all because Senate Republicans are unwilling to take the tough votes Pelosi's House has made...and laid out there for the upper chamber to take up.
And...yes...USMCA now awaits a Senate vote, too.
Much of the information you're reading came from Ella Nilsen's 11-29-2019 article on https://vox.com, "House Democrats have passed nearly 400 bills. Trump and Republicans are ignoring them."
We'll see what happens with these bills in the months to come as vanloads of Senate Republicans (including Moscow Mitch himself)
fight to save their hides as they come up for reelection.
Well, I finally got around to it.
I wanted to get this done way back in January, but lots of circumstances (including my joining the creative community Stage 32) took precedence.
So did a change from using Lance Haffner Games' old 3-in-1 Football to Dave Koch Sports' Action! PC Football. (Don't worry...all the games I played using 3-in-1 still count.)
Folks, without further ado, this is how the coulda-shoulda-woulda 2018 NCAA Division 1-A football playoffs shook out (seeding in parentheses):
FIRST ROUND: Appalachian State (9) 20, Northern Illinois (24) 14; Boise State (16) 38, UAB (17) 21; Louisiana State (20) 38, Army (13) 28; Cincinnati (12) 26, Kentucky (21) 14; Utah State (14) 28, Penn State (19) 21; Syracuse (22) 42, Fresno State (11) 34; Washington (15) 28, Buffalo (18) 14; Washington State (10) 35, North Carolina State (23) 30
SECOND ROUND: Clemson (1) 44, Appalachian State 38; Michigan (8) 45, Boise State 10; Oklahoma (5) 42, Louisiana State 31; Cincinnati 24, Central Florida (4) 21; Ohio State (6) 21, Utah State 16; Notre Dame (3) 33, Syracuse 17; Washington 31, Georgia (7) 28; Alabama (2) 31, Washington State 17
QUARTERFINAL ROUND: Michigan 28, Clemson 27; Oklahoma 38, Cincinnati 21; Ohio State 38, Notre Dame 17; Alabama 31, Washington 3
SEMIFINAL ROUND: Oklahoma 33, Michigan 7; Alabama 16, Ohio State 14
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Alabama 31, Oklahoma 24
This set of playoffs resulted in the second straight season with an SEC team in the driver's seat...and just the second shoulda-coulda-woulda title for the Crimson Tide (the first one took place in, surprisingly, 2014).
And it made an MVP out of the Tide's field general, Tua Tagovailoa.
Well, that's it. Time to go back and see how the current season shakes out...so that a 24-team field for 2019 can be determined.
I'm Jim Boston, and thanks for reading this blog!
Well, it finally happened.
After two long years and eight long months, the United States House of Representatives has initiated an impeachment inquiry.
The last straw?
That former host of TV's The Apprentice decided that withholding $400 million in US funds, supposedly earmarked for Ukraine's defense, to get dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden would be a great idea.
This is, by no means, the only impeachable offense committed by a man who kept NBC happy from 2004 to 2015. Heck, the site https://rootsaction.org lists 23 impeachable actions as of 8-8-2019...the eve of the 45th anniversary of Richard Nixon's resignation from the White House, for crying out loud.
Take just Donald Trump's violation of domestic emoluments, for example.
His lease of Washington's Old Post Office Building alone would be enough to get him kicked out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue...and, according to the General Services Administration, that lease is a no-no.
Speaking of Washington...at least somebody on Capitol Hill is paying some sort of attention to this country's Constitution. Somebody on Capitol Hill still cares about preserving the Constitution...and not just its Second Amendment.
It's the Democrats who control this country's House.
And it's the Democrats in the Senate.
And don't forget Congress' three independents...US Sens. Bernie Sanders (VT) and Angus King (ME) as well as US Rep. Justin Amash (MI).
This past February, House Democrats passed a bill calling for background checks on future purchasers of guns. It was one of 49 bills passed in the four months since the Donkeys regained control of the House.
The only reason we don't have background checks right now, lower prescription drug prices yet, or an infrastructure deal in place is the same reason the Equality Act and the Green New Deal aren't law yet:
Senate Republicans won't bring these bills to a vote in the upper chamber.
They're the same Senate Republicans currently fighting tooth and nail to defend their 73-year-old meal ticket...the one who used to end every telecast of his with: "You're fired!"
The way I see it, the only way to get these bills up to the Senate and get these bills to become law is simple.
And drastic.
Some people are going to have to do it kicking and screaming...but it's got to be done if America's going to remain a constitutional republic and not the police state Mitch McConnell, Steve King, Trump, and Co. crave so much.
Here it is:
We've got to stop putting Republicans in office...and we've got to stop reelecting incumbent Elephants.
Think about it.
Last year, when Rob Richards teamed up with the Fremont, NE barbershop chorus known as the Pathfinders to deliver the Rose Theater's annual River City Theatre Organ Society concert, I didn't get to blog about it.
Had to rush right off and go to a church function afterwards.
No such circumstances this time around; I just got back this afternoon from the 2019 RCTOS extravaganza at the Rose.
I enjoyed it...just as I enjoyed the 2018 offering (despite it running overtime and me having to worry about lateness to that church function I committed to).
Still...when this year's bill was announced, I had mixed feelings. (That's my tough luck.)
I was excited to find out Brett Valliant was going to play the Rose's three-manual, 21-rank 1927 Wurlitzer pipe organ. (Saw one of his YouTube videos- the one where he played "Build Me Up, Buttercup-" and got excited.)
And, in 2005, I saw pianist Robert Glaser perform his brand of jazz at Omaha's since-closed Grande Olde Players Theater, which, at the time, put on a monthly jam session for local jazz performers.
Since then, I've loved Robert's way with a tune...his flair for turning a familiar song on its ear (such as "Ticket to Ride").
Today, Robert brought his Sing Sing Swing Orchestra to the venue at 20th and Farnam. Like Brett, Robert and his seven fellow instrumentalists in Sing Sing Swing play up a storm. And the band's featured vocalist, Julie Baker, sings up a storm.
Julie was the first female performer to be part of a Concert at the Rose since...2011, when another Nebraska big band, the sixteen-member Swingtones, shared the bill with Ballet Nebraska and organ great Dave Wickerham. (At that time, pianist Jennifer Novak-Haar and saxophonists Deb Lund and Sarah Stratton were in the Swingtones.)
Well, if you dig into "Boston's Blog's" archives, you'll find a post built around Lady Gaga's 2016 observation that the music business is a...well, you know, a boys' club. Not just in rock, R&B, pop, and country, either.
And that's why I had mixed feelings (flinch).
So...I bit my tongue this afternoon.
And opened up my ears.
And heard Brett wow the audience with tunes like "Vanessa," "Tango Tedesco," the "South Pacific" gem "Bali Hai," "Atlanta, GA," Pietro Deiro's "Pietro's Return," Disney mainstay "Go the Distance," "Maple Leaf Rag," "Over the Rainbow," "Little White Lies," and "You Raise Me Up..." to say nothing of a medley of selections from a Gioachino Rossini opera, 1817's "La Gazza Ladra," or "The Thieving Magpie."
Almost a century after "La Gazza Ladra" debuted, theater organs started popping up, and the first people to play them in public often took operas and other classical works and adapted them for those Mighty Wurlitzers and competing brands. (They weren't initially called "unit orchestras" for nothing...and Brett showed that today.)
After a fifteen-minute intermission, the man from Wichita, KS came back to fire up "Wake Up and Live."
He then turned the show over to Robert and Co.
Sing Sing Swing jumped out of the gate with "In the Mood" before Julie jumped up to sing 1964's "L-O-V-E," Nat King Cole's next-to-last chart single during his lifetime.
"One O'Clock Jump" followed before Julie grabbed the mike back from Robert to sing "That Old Black Magic." The two of 'em teamed up to sing "Chattanooga Choo Choo," and then it was all instrumental after that, with the orchestra teaming up with Brett to do "Sing, Sing, Sing" and an encore of "In the Mood."
Well...what can I say, after they had me moving in my seat to the music?
How about...encore?
