IF THE VISION of rock promoter Bill Graham created the framework and example for the popular music concert industry, when you speak of the creative influences that brought about the lavish productions we see (and are massively overcharged for) today, you would have to start with the legendary Chip Monck. Known as "The Grandfather of Rock 'n' Roll Productions", from Woodstock to the Fillmores East and West, from Broadway to concert halls and showcases of every magical magnitude around the world, if it was THE tour or act of the day during the past 45 years, chances are Chipper was at the helm. We met during my stint with Bill Graham Presents some 30 years ago and as a friend and mentor, he has certainly been one of the most influential people of my adult life. Living down under these days, he continues to be the "go to" guy around the globe for live entertainment. Happy 71st Birthday, Chipper! And on behalf of all of us, thanks...
COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT: Almost daily on OP's in fishwraps across the land and social networks like FaceBook and MySpace, I see endless complaining about the poor quality and inadequate amount of assistance going to places like Haiti and Chile. The public outrage no doubt began with The Shrub and Brownie and the Katrina debacle, but my quesion is this...why is it that I have never heard one of these complaints come from the selfless volunteer workers who have taken time off from their own jobs, at their own expense; people who are actually at these struggling locations, doing something about it? If you feel the need to and can give, God bless you. If you don't or can't, please, be polite enough to restrict your comments to kudos for those that do. Otherwise, zip the lip, wouldja?...
THE MOST EXPENSIVE hardcover out there is a toss up between the U.S. Tax Code or the 2011 Federal Budget, and personally, I'm going to have to go with the former. While people from both sides of the aisle will agree there is too much in this budget proposal (and when has that ever not been the case?), the fact is that much of next year's budget is necessary and will eventually go away, whereas the Tax Code is mostly long term special favors for high-end campaign donors and is detrimental to the nation for at least two specific reasons: It reduces the actual and fair amount of income to run our government, and that process gives unfair access and influence to individuals and corporations where the creating of our laws are concerned. Sometime soon, I'll present my "no brainer" solution, but until then, I suggest we all look ahead to the next election cycle and think seriously about hiring a new bunch of authors for both...
ALMOST BOOKED: A friend here in IF was recently ticketed for driving without a valid license. He didn't have one because the Bonnieville County courthouse and the state of Washington where he used to live messed up some paperwork and couldn't get it together to issue him a new one. Long story short, he went to court and was cut a deal by the District Attorney that if he got the mess cleared up in a month and was issued a new license, the charges would be dismissed. He had his license three days later and when he went into the DA's office to show proof and have the case dismissed, was charged $86 instead of the promised dismissal. Asking the attorney why he had to pay to a reduced charge rather than have it dismissed as promised, the DA replied with a sophorific, "I got the powa" grin,..."Uh, do you have that promise in writing?" It is possible that corruption and abuse of "powa" is no longer illegal in Idaho?...
FARMS IN BERKELEY: If you're from or spent any time in NoCal you've heard those dairy commecials on the radio, some of you even having tried finding them the last time you slipped into town for a Top Dog (Northside station, of course) or headed over to Haas Pavillion to catch my CAL Bears as they prepare for a long run in this year's Tournament. But Ginger Lewis Reed of Clovis tells me that she has one even more bizarre and hers isn't hard to find. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fresno Philharmonic. What's next, The Intelligent Gun Lobby of Wyoming?...
MUSICAL BOOKENDS: Just when you think you've seen it all comes a movie I am happy has been made, but never once ever believed would be. "Saint Misbehavin: The Wavy Gravy Story" reveals the true story of cultural phenomenon Wavy Gravy – a man whose commitment to making the world a better place has never wavered. Wavy (real name Hugh Romney) is known as the MC of the Woodstock Festival, a hippie icon, clown, and even a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor, but he also co-founded SEVA, an organization that raises funds to help end preventable blindness in Third World countries and Camp Winnarainbow, an arts and humanities summer camp for kids. Often referred to as "the illegitimate son of Sister Theresa and Groucho Marx", I have known Wavy for more than three decades and am proud that his work continues. The movie stars Wavy, Larry Brilliant, Jackson Browne, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, The Grateful Dead, Odetta, Bonnie Raitt, and Wavy's wife, Jahanara and premiers on the 14th at SXSW and will be screened at the Rock and Roll HOF later this month. Cool beans...
WE HAVEN'T DECIDED if the Lounge will remain open on the weekends, and as we are still tossing around format ideas, we'd love to hear your thoughts on anything you might wish to opine on,. Until then, enjoy the next couple of days and remember that you can ever go back and make a new beginning, but you can begin again and make a new ending. Cheers!...
Friday, March 5, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Signs of the Times
WORRIED A LOT less about the state of our youth coming of age these days. Sure, today's kids face a much larger list of distractions and temptations than we did back in the days of drive-ins and a dime bag, and what we read about on the front page above the fold makes me cringe sometimes, and I'm still cool and hip and all that (can't you tell from my use of the words cool and hip?). But an old friend from high school now residing in Davis, CA tells me that last Saturday morning, a group of her son's friends showed up at the house to start his 16th birthday celebration right (and early), by taking him out to breakfast. That is so beyond cool...it's...BOSS! I'm going to go out on a limb here and chalk it up to good parenting. So kudos, not only to the kids who did the deed, but to the parents there in Bicycleland who showed them the way...
I HAVE A very good friend from my days in Stockton. Known him almost 40 years, love him to death. We even roomed together for a year or so durning the Ronnie Ray-gun era. For the last few months we've been going back and forth, debating this or that political issue on FaceBook; all of it well intentioned, most of it good natured. Yesterday, I learned the neice of a colleague from my BGP days was kidnapped down near San Diego and had been found dead. I posted a notice of condolence and later in the day, my childhood friend responded: "To bad that girl wasn't packing, then maybe she could have met the threat on equal terms." Here's a thought: maybe if there were real, tough, enforced gun laws, this 17 year old girl wouldn't have had to meet the threat at all. I wish the girly-men hiding behind the long-unnecessary 2nd Amendment because they are afraid someone is going to take their pop guns away were as tough as this young woman was forced to be. Rest in Peace, Chelsea...
THEN AND NOW: In 1977, at the Oakland Coliseum Stadium; The Eagles, Steve Miller Band, Heart, The Atlanta Ryhtym Section and Foreigner. Ticket Price: $12.50. July 12, 2010 at the Lodge in Sun Valley; James Taylor and Carole King. Ticket Price: $50. Of course, if you want to get in an hour early to grab the really good seats to this General Admission show, it's only $250. Oh, you wanna shake their hand before the show and go backstage afterwards for a glass of champers? $500 smackeroos...EACH.
I have been in love with Carole's music for 40 years and JT's almost as long, and to see them together accompanied by all the old gang from the Troubadour days; guitarist Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, drummer Russ Kunkel and bassist Lee Sklar, famous in their own right as "The Section", is something not even I would have dreamed would happen one day. Now I've worked with and love them both, and $50 for a general admin. show isn't all that bad.But an extra $200 to get in an hour early? And another $250 for a quick handshake and a glass of domestic? Yeah, I know...this is a benefit for one of Carole's Rocky Mountain causes, but Geez Louise! Dylan was right: the times, they are a changin'. What's that?...Oh yeah, of course I'm goin'. Whatya, NUTS?...
THERE IS A call center here in IF, Center Parnters. For the last few weeks, I've been hearing radio ads stating "We're expanding and we've got a position just waiting for you!". I'm thinking hey, maybe the recession has turned the corner? Cool beans. Yesterday, I run into a friend of mine, Patti, a trainer at CP. I ask her what's going on, wondering if maybe they reeled in some new accounts and bought the building next to them (for all the "expanding" going on). Seems it's not so much they are expanding as it is they can't keep anyone employed. Word is, and not from Patti, middle management is squeezing the front liners so hard, they'd rather be unemployed than work for "The Dragon Lady". I've heard of promised bonus structures changing without notice, quotas raised and hours to meet them cut, etc., etc. I'm guessing that word of mouth in our little hamlet won't be filling those phone desks anytime soon. I've heard similar management/employee squabbles from current and former employees at Qwest and Wal-mart. Bus101: "Good attitude creates good job performance". Management training ain't what it used to be...
ONE OF THE several pies I have my fingers into these days is a non-profit I started last year to help raise funds for the teachers, students, schools, and academic clubs here in IF. It's had a slow but steady first year; we've given a couple of scholarships, helped some schools add some much needed equipment to their classrooms, etc. I read in the local fishwrap a few weeks ago about one of our high school's choral groups losing the funding for their accompanyist. I called the instructor and then went out and managed to get some very nice raffle prizes donated from local businesses, figuring they could probably earn about a half to three-quarters of what they'll need for next year in about a week. Several days later, I receive an e-mail telling me that her kids had gone out and got together some prizes for a Silent Auction held at a recent performance, and that comparatively speaking, she was rather disappointed in the prizes we were offering, and therefore she was going to have to pass "this time around". When did we start criticizing the manner in which someone does us a favor? Even better was the instructor's "this time around" conclusion. I adore teachers and their profession, so maybe it's just that this particular teacher is involved in the arts. You know how those performance types can be. Oh, that sound you hear? That is a fog horn, noting that for this particular instructor, the ship has sailed and there will be no return to port. And yes, after finding other student groups in need who appreciated the opportunity, there was more than enough money raised to have paid for her accompanyist. Here's hoping, sincerely, that acapella is in vogue next year...
I FEEL SO much better now, knowing that our vaunted legislature in Boise has our backs; more importantly, the backs of our teachers and students. When asked about yesterday's 128 million dollar cuts in the 2011 State Education Budget, 4% of which will come from teacher's salaries, State Senator Jim Hamond (R-Couer d'Alene) responded: What's likely is that we will not damage our schools, because those teachers in the classroom are there, and they want to be paid well, but they're not they're for the pay. They're there because the love the kids and they love improving their opportunities by providing the best education they can." And this guy was elected? Here are my questions to Senator Hammond: Does that mean that if they don't come back to work becuase of what you've decided on their pay, that they don't care about the kids? Since you did not cut the pay of the legislators, who like to present as fact that you are in this position not for the money but so that you may serve yor constituents, does that mean that because you made these cuts to teachers salaries and not your own that you are there for the pay and that you don't love the kids or want to provide the best education you can?"...
AND FINALLY, I'm driving down Broadway yesterday afternoon, where I see the requisite homeless/down on his luck/unemployed man, with his requisite pup, at the turn-into Wal-mart; a sturdy leather leash in one hand, a Starbucks Grande Sumpthin' in the other. I roll down the window and ask him how someone in such dire straits could afford a $3 cup o'Joe and our down and out man about town replies, "Well, I dint get no foam". Times are tough all around.
I HAVE A very good friend from my days in Stockton. Known him almost 40 years, love him to death. We even roomed together for a year or so durning the Ronnie Ray-gun era. For the last few months we've been going back and forth, debating this or that political issue on FaceBook; all of it well intentioned, most of it good natured. Yesterday, I learned the neice of a colleague from my BGP days was kidnapped down near San Diego and had been found dead. I posted a notice of condolence and later in the day, my childhood friend responded: "To bad that girl wasn't packing, then maybe she could have met the threat on equal terms." Here's a thought: maybe if there were real, tough, enforced gun laws, this 17 year old girl wouldn't have had to meet the threat at all. I wish the girly-men hiding behind the long-unnecessary 2nd Amendment because they are afraid someone is going to take their pop guns away were as tough as this young woman was forced to be. Rest in Peace, Chelsea...
THEN AND NOW: In 1977, at the Oakland Coliseum Stadium; The Eagles, Steve Miller Band, Heart, The Atlanta Ryhtym Section and Foreigner. Ticket Price: $12.50. July 12, 2010 at the Lodge in Sun Valley; James Taylor and Carole King. Ticket Price: $50. Of course, if you want to get in an hour early to grab the really good seats to this General Admission show, it's only $250. Oh, you wanna shake their hand before the show and go backstage afterwards for a glass of champers? $500 smackeroos...EACH.
I have been in love with Carole's music for 40 years and JT's almost as long, and to see them together accompanied by all the old gang from the Troubadour days; guitarist Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, drummer Russ Kunkel and bassist Lee Sklar, famous in their own right as "The Section", is something not even I would have dreamed would happen one day. Now I've worked with and love them both, and $50 for a general admin. show isn't all that bad.But an extra $200 to get in an hour early? And another $250 for a quick handshake and a glass of domestic? Yeah, I know...this is a benefit for one of Carole's Rocky Mountain causes, but Geez Louise! Dylan was right: the times, they are a changin'. What's that?...Oh yeah, of course I'm goin'. Whatya, NUTS?...
THERE IS A call center here in IF, Center Parnters. For the last few weeks, I've been hearing radio ads stating "We're expanding and we've got a position just waiting for you!". I'm thinking hey, maybe the recession has turned the corner? Cool beans. Yesterday, I run into a friend of mine, Patti, a trainer at CP. I ask her what's going on, wondering if maybe they reeled in some new accounts and bought the building next to them (for all the "expanding" going on). Seems it's not so much they are expanding as it is they can't keep anyone employed. Word is, and not from Patti, middle management is squeezing the front liners so hard, they'd rather be unemployed than work for "The Dragon Lady". I've heard of promised bonus structures changing without notice, quotas raised and hours to meet them cut, etc., etc. I'm guessing that word of mouth in our little hamlet won't be filling those phone desks anytime soon. I've heard similar management/employee squabbles from current and former employees at Qwest and Wal-mart. Bus101: "Good attitude creates good job performance". Management training ain't what it used to be...
ONE OF THE several pies I have my fingers into these days is a non-profit I started last year to help raise funds for the teachers, students, schools, and academic clubs here in IF. It's had a slow but steady first year; we've given a couple of scholarships, helped some schools add some much needed equipment to their classrooms, etc. I read in the local fishwrap a few weeks ago about one of our high school's choral groups losing the funding for their accompanyist. I called the instructor and then went out and managed to get some very nice raffle prizes donated from local businesses, figuring they could probably earn about a half to three-quarters of what they'll need for next year in about a week. Several days later, I receive an e-mail telling me that her kids had gone out and got together some prizes for a Silent Auction held at a recent performance, and that comparatively speaking, she was rather disappointed in the prizes we were offering, and therefore she was going to have to pass "this time around". When did we start criticizing the manner in which someone does us a favor? Even better was the instructor's "this time around" conclusion. I adore teachers and their profession, so maybe it's just that this particular teacher is involved in the arts. You know how those performance types can be. Oh, that sound you hear? That is a fog horn, noting that for this particular instructor, the ship has sailed and there will be no return to port. And yes, after finding other student groups in need who appreciated the opportunity, there was more than enough money raised to have paid for her accompanyist. Here's hoping, sincerely, that acapella is in vogue next year...
I FEEL SO much better now, knowing that our vaunted legislature in Boise has our backs; more importantly, the backs of our teachers and students. When asked about yesterday's 128 million dollar cuts in the 2011 State Education Budget, 4% of which will come from teacher's salaries, State Senator Jim Hamond (R-Couer d'Alene) responded: What's likely is that we will not damage our schools, because those teachers in the classroom are there, and they want to be paid well, but they're not they're for the pay. They're there because the love the kids and they love improving their opportunities by providing the best education they can." And this guy was elected? Here are my questions to Senator Hammond: Does that mean that if they don't come back to work becuase of what you've decided on their pay, that they don't care about the kids? Since you did not cut the pay of the legislators, who like to present as fact that you are in this position not for the money but so that you may serve yor constituents, does that mean that because you made these cuts to teachers salaries and not your own that you are there for the pay and that you don't love the kids or want to provide the best education you can?"...
AND FINALLY, I'm driving down Broadway yesterday afternoon, where I see the requisite homeless/down on his luck/unemployed man, with his requisite pup, at the turn-into Wal-mart; a sturdy leather leash in one hand, a Starbucks Grande Sumpthin' in the other. I roll down the window and ask him how someone in such dire straits could afford a $3 cup o'Joe and our down and out man about town replies, "Well, I dint get no foam". Times are tough all around.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
One olive or two...
As it said at the door, welcome to the Three Dot Lounge.
When asked by numerous friends and colleagues to start up a blog, I immediately said no. Upon reflection however, I see this as a great time saver. Get all the garbage out of the way first thing in the morning and reduce my daily FaceBook time by an hour or so. This will bring temporary joy to my wife.
Very temporary.
The Lounge is a tribute to the late, great Herb Caen, who columnized and idealized The City (San Francisco) for more years than most of you have been around. His style and grace were matched only by his powers of observation and ability to communicate what he saw to his readers. If you're looking for any of that here, fuggedaboutit. But I am happy to send you to the Master of Baghdad by the Bay at: http://www.sfgate.com/herbcaen/ . There will never be another like him. And so, with due respect...
This time of year
Though I loathe the cold (I know, what the he** is he doing in Idaho?), this is and will always be my favorite time of year. In a 75 day period, you get The Super Bowl, high school basketball (playing now, at a school gym near you), The Crosby (sorry, I'm old school and still, after 25-plus years, refuse to call in the AT&T National Pro-Am), the start of Spring Training, the NCAA Basketball Tournament, The Oscars and Opening Day. Let me save some time for those of you who are going to cry out (or write in) "What about the NBA All-Star Game?" Pro basketball has been nothing but a running slam dunk contest ever since Larry and Magic left, except of course for the few years afterwards when Michael was still around. But now everyone wants to BE Michael, and no one ever will be, so why bother? Moving on...
Respect for our Fathers
Those of you who know me know I hold very strong opinions about the, with all due respect, Nimrods, who we elected to run this little corporation we call the United States of America. What you may not know is that I am neither a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or a conservative. The main reason being that, for as long as I have been old enough to pay attention, both parties have had their respective heads buried so far up there "where the sun don't shine", I would have been too embarassed for them to affiliate with either. But what has my garments in a bunch today is that I am sick and tired of members of either party or ideaology claimning they have the foggiest idea about what the Founders "intended" when they wrote anything; or worse yet, when they get on the tube with a Talking Head and say, "this is what the American people want". I have never ONCE heard any politician immediately precede follow that comment with anything even remotely resembling something I agree with.
So, to Barack and Mitch, and Harry and Nancy, and all the other Corporate Whores within a six block radius of the Reflecting Pool, SHUT UP!...
While You Were Sleeping
In the hopes of keeping our children's attention correctly focused on their studies and not the latest boob on the tube, my wife and I circumsized the connection to our DirectTv. Since the invasion of the digital signal, however, we now can receive two of the "Big Three" local affiliates, NBC and CBS.
When we last visited TV Land (collectively, not the cable station), NBC had control of the comedies with Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier, etc., etc. and CBS had a couple of good dramas going and that Survivor thing where normal folk play Robinson Crusoe, live in mud and eat berries and whatnot, except for that little hobbit of a man who walks out of the jungle every episode in a pair of fresh Dockers. So a few days before the Super Bowl, we hook up the plasma and CBS is now this monsterous juggernaut with at least two nights of outstanding drama and at least a half dozen killer half hour sitcoms...and that funny little guy popping out of the jungle in his freshly pressed Dockers. ABC, a loser since NBC's "Must See TV Days" of Cosby, Cheers and ER on NBC, have even lost their single once-redeeming feature, Monday Night Football, to their Big Daddy, ESPN; itself a joke except for the three or four times a year they let Berman out of his oxygen tank to remind people of the days they were phenomenal.
Hey, when did MTV quit playing music?...
Four Days in Heaven
Tomorrow at around 9AM, I receive what has become one of the great joys of my life: my grandson Aiden will begin a four-day visit in our home while his parents are out of town on a business trip.
BOO-YAH!!!
Forget the classic grandparental drivel I swore I would never recreate, or the inability for this extrordinary young lad to verbally communicate his needs or wants (he'll turn 10 months old Sunday after next), requiring me to relearn "babyscream". Or even the scent-loaded diapers that increase in wreakage with the introduction of each new vegetable and are so abysmally odiferous they make brussel sprouts smell like cotton candy. Forget all of that.
This tyke is the joy above almost all other joys. The impromptu rhapsodies created with his furious pounding on the piano, the endless conversations between Aiden and our dog Huck through the sliding glass door. The wide-eyed look of magical fascination when the large flourescent in the kitchen comes on and goes off and then back on again. The smile that accompanies this and other activities are worth more than all the bank bailouts, seedy corporate campaign donations and fraudulent Medi-care calims...combined.
These are the moments that validate everything else.
Lousy bosses, crowded lines at the overpriced grocery, high taxes, drugs, and gangs, and war.
Anything connected to anyone referred to as a "celebutante".
Five minutes with Aiden and all the ills and disractions and madadies of life that you have wrongly allowed to get under your skin, are now something akin to that lone, pesky fly buzzing around your head at 3:30 in the morning. Only now, you're holding two full cans of Raid.
I can proudly play peek-a-boo, or watch the great old Disney movies, or listen to that paino recital. I can become the magic man who can make the lights go on and off, or the uber-grandpa who always knows right where the Vanilla Pudding Packs are hidden. I can make the Rubber Ducky pop out of the bubbles (again, to the heart-stopping smile of the century) or fill his sippy cup with juice and watch him suck it down like a Hoover Wet-Vac just suped up by Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor. I can grant his every request, fill him up with sweets and become his best friend.
And then send him home to mom and dad when it all wears off.
When asked by numerous friends and colleagues to start up a blog, I immediately said no. Upon reflection however, I see this as a great time saver. Get all the garbage out of the way first thing in the morning and reduce my daily FaceBook time by an hour or so. This will bring temporary joy to my wife.
Very temporary.
The Lounge is a tribute to the late, great Herb Caen, who columnized and idealized The City (San Francisco) for more years than most of you have been around. His style and grace were matched only by his powers of observation and ability to communicate what he saw to his readers. If you're looking for any of that here, fuggedaboutit. But I am happy to send you to the Master of Baghdad by the Bay at: http://www.sfgate.com/herbcaen/ . There will never be another like him. And so, with due respect...
This time of year
Though I loathe the cold (I know, what the he** is he doing in Idaho?), this is and will always be my favorite time of year. In a 75 day period, you get The Super Bowl, high school basketball (playing now, at a school gym near you), The Crosby (sorry, I'm old school and still, after 25-plus years, refuse to call in the AT&T National Pro-Am), the start of Spring Training, the NCAA Basketball Tournament, The Oscars and Opening Day. Let me save some time for those of you who are going to cry out (or write in) "What about the NBA All-Star Game?" Pro basketball has been nothing but a running slam dunk contest ever since Larry and Magic left, except of course for the few years afterwards when Michael was still around. But now everyone wants to BE Michael, and no one ever will be, so why bother? Moving on...
Respect for our Fathers
Those of you who know me know I hold very strong opinions about the, with all due respect, Nimrods, who we elected to run this little corporation we call the United States of America. What you may not know is that I am neither a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or a conservative. The main reason being that, for as long as I have been old enough to pay attention, both parties have had their respective heads buried so far up there "where the sun don't shine", I would have been too embarassed for them to affiliate with either. But what has my garments in a bunch today is that I am sick and tired of members of either party or ideaology claimning they have the foggiest idea about what the Founders "intended" when they wrote anything; or worse yet, when they get on the tube with a Talking Head and say, "this is what the American people want". I have never ONCE heard any politician immediately precede follow that comment with anything even remotely resembling something I agree with.
So, to Barack and Mitch, and Harry and Nancy, and all the other Corporate Whores within a six block radius of the Reflecting Pool, SHUT UP!...
While You Were Sleeping
In the hopes of keeping our children's attention correctly focused on their studies and not the latest boob on the tube, my wife and I circumsized the connection to our DirectTv. Since the invasion of the digital signal, however, we now can receive two of the "Big Three" local affiliates, NBC and CBS.
When we last visited TV Land (collectively, not the cable station), NBC had control of the comedies with Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier, etc., etc. and CBS had a couple of good dramas going and that Survivor thing where normal folk play Robinson Crusoe, live in mud and eat berries and whatnot, except for that little hobbit of a man who walks out of the jungle every episode in a pair of fresh Dockers. So a few days before the Super Bowl, we hook up the plasma and CBS is now this monsterous juggernaut with at least two nights of outstanding drama and at least a half dozen killer half hour sitcoms...and that funny little guy popping out of the jungle in his freshly pressed Dockers. ABC, a loser since NBC's "Must See TV Days" of Cosby, Cheers and ER on NBC, have even lost their single once-redeeming feature, Monday Night Football, to their Big Daddy, ESPN; itself a joke except for the three or four times a year they let Berman out of his oxygen tank to remind people of the days they were phenomenal.
Hey, when did MTV quit playing music?...
Four Days in Heaven
Tomorrow at around 9AM, I receive what has become one of the great joys of my life: my grandson Aiden will begin a four-day visit in our home while his parents are out of town on a business trip.
BOO-YAH!!!
Forget the classic grandparental drivel I swore I would never recreate, or the inability for this extrordinary young lad to verbally communicate his needs or wants (he'll turn 10 months old Sunday after next), requiring me to relearn "babyscream". Or even the scent-loaded diapers that increase in wreakage with the introduction of each new vegetable and are so abysmally odiferous they make brussel sprouts smell like cotton candy. Forget all of that.
This tyke is the joy above almost all other joys. The impromptu rhapsodies created with his furious pounding on the piano, the endless conversations between Aiden and our dog Huck through the sliding glass door. The wide-eyed look of magical fascination when the large flourescent in the kitchen comes on and goes off and then back on again. The smile that accompanies this and other activities are worth more than all the bank bailouts, seedy corporate campaign donations and fraudulent Medi-care calims...combined.
These are the moments that validate everything else.
Lousy bosses, crowded lines at the overpriced grocery, high taxes, drugs, and gangs, and war.
Anything connected to anyone referred to as a "celebutante".
Five minutes with Aiden and all the ills and disractions and madadies of life that you have wrongly allowed to get under your skin, are now something akin to that lone, pesky fly buzzing around your head at 3:30 in the morning. Only now, you're holding two full cans of Raid.
I can proudly play peek-a-boo, or watch the great old Disney movies, or listen to that paino recital. I can become the magic man who can make the lights go on and off, or the uber-grandpa who always knows right where the Vanilla Pudding Packs are hidden. I can make the Rubber Ducky pop out of the bubbles (again, to the heart-stopping smile of the century) or fill his sippy cup with juice and watch him suck it down like a Hoover Wet-Vac just suped up by Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor. I can grant his every request, fill him up with sweets and become his best friend.
And then send him home to mom and dad when it all wears off.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
