Songs for Me and Robert Neville

4 Oct

My wife and stepdaughter just left for the week at the beach. Next week, my wife and I are going to a real place – Santa Fe, New Mexico. However, that is happening next week. At the moment, I have the house to myself. This might be fun for a night, but I am certain that it will get old relatively soon.

The house has been quiet, and, in an attempt to break the silence, I turned on some music. The problem is that I have gravitated to songs with certain themes. I have listened to “Alone Again” by Dokken and followed that up with “Tired of Being Alone” by Al Green. Of course, there is “I Drink Alone” by George Thorogood.

On top of that, “Lonley Days” by Bee Gees is fitting for the occasion. In fact, it goes well with “The Lonely Man” by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Jackie Wilson sang “Lonely Teardrops“, which can only be shed by only the lonely. Luckily, the iPod has “Only the Lonely” by Roy Orbison. Merle Haggard sings about “Going Where the Lonely Go“. I do not know where that is, but I wonder if “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” plays there. If not, then maybe The Beatles do.

All of this adds up to being lonesome, and there are a ton of songs on my iPod that deal with that.

“Are You Lonesome Tonight?” by Elvis Presley

“The Blue Side of Lonesome” by John Prine and Mac Wiseman

“I’m a Lonesome Fugitive” by Merle Haggard

“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” by Hank Williams

“Lonesome Loser” by Little River Band

“Lonesome Valley” by The Fairfield Four

“Lonesome, On’ry and Mean” by Waylon Jennings

I could go on by listing “Solitary Man” by Neil Diamond and “Solitude” by Billie Holiday, but it might be time to stop listening to this kind of stuff. The iPod needs to change themes to something like “The In Crowd” by Ramsey Lewis or “You’ve Got a Friend” by James Taylor. After all, the zombie apocalypse has not hit. There has to be other people in the world. Certainly, I have not become Robert Neville.Neville

Everyone knows who that is, right?

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Movie Wisdom – Robert De Niro Edition

1 Oct

My stepdaughter saw The Intern and came home talking about how much she liked it. As she talked, I wondered if she had ever seen a Robert De Niro movie before. As we older folks know, he has appeared in some great films.

I do not know if I will see The Intern, but I have seen a lot of his movies. With that in mind, I figured that we should look into those movies and see what words of wisdom we can find.De Niro

From Bang the Drum Slowly

Everybody knows everybody is dying; that’s why people are as good as they are.

From The Godfather: Part II

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

Good health is the most important thing. More than success, more than money, more than power.

From The Deer Hunter

When a man says no to champagne, he says no to life.

From The Untouchables

Never stop fighting till the fight is done.

If you’re afraid of getting a rotten apple, don’t go to the barrel. Get it off the tree.

From Goodfellas

Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.

From Cape Fear 

If you hold on to the past, you die a little each day.

Every man has to go through hell to reach paradise.

From Casino

When you love someone, you’ve gotta trust them.

Take chances and drive fast.

From Heat

I say what I mean, and I do what I say.

From Ronin

Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt.

Either you’re part of the problem or you’re part of the solution or you’re just part of the landscape.

There is something outside yourself that has to be served.

Everyone’s your brother until the rent comes due.

All good things come to those who wait.

At the end of the day, we are likely to be punished for our kindnesses.

From The Good Shepherd

Everything is a secret.

Friends can be enemies, and enemies friends.

You have to look behind the words to understand their meaning.

From Silver Linings Playbook

The world will break your heart ten ways to Sunday.

 

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Bad Moon Rising

29 Sep

Last night, we went outside and looked at the eclipse of the Supermoon. It was cloudy, but, in my mind, it made the event more cool. As the clouds floated by, we could see the eclipse behind them. The special effects people on a scary movie could not have done a better job.

As we looked into the night sky, the words of Creedence Clearwater Revival entered my mind.

I see the bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin’.
I see bad times today.

It is a great song, and the words were fitting. However, some people took those words to heart and believed that the eclipsed Supermoon heralded the End Times. I have been reading about these people and wanted to tell them that their idea could not be true. As I wrote in an earlier post, the Second Coming has already occurred. I was there when it happened.

As this day progressed, I began to think that their beliefs may have some merits. Seriously, think about some of the strange things that have gone on.

Facebook went offline, and the lives of many people were altered forever. I read about it on Twitter, which did not have any Apocalyptic problems.

NASA announced that there is water on Mars. That means the Martians that seeded our planet may still be around. If they are still around, then they may show up and punish us for bad behavior.

The night before the eclipse of the Supermoon, Mick Jagger performed on a Nashville stage with Taylor Swift.Mick Taylor

That may have been the true sign of the End Times. At least, it was the final death knell for Rock and Roll. If that is the case, then there is no reason for humanity go survive.

It is enough to make someone crawl into a bunker filled with canned goods and a ham radio. I only hope that the radio picks up real music from Creedence Clearwater Revival and Mick Jagger in the days before he was Taylor Swift’s BFF.

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Garage Sale People and the Rules They Should Live By

28 Sep

This weekend, we had a garage sale. Actually, my wife had a garage sale. I just took the stuff to the garage and stood around while she used her salesperson charms. That means she had to deal with those known as Garage Sale People – the ones who scour newspapers for sales that might have a hidden treasure.Garage Sale

Some Garage Sale People like to show up early. When they read that a sale starts at 7 a.m., then they show up at 6:30 a.m. After all, you have to arrive first to get the best stuff. On Friday morning, I went outside to put my stepdaughter’s lunchbox in the car and found people roaming around the driveway.  During our conversation, I learned that they thought about knocking on the door but decided against it. If they found something before we came out, then they were going to leave money on the table. However, that brings me to a trait of most Garage Sale People.

I took my stepdaughter to school, and my wife came out to help them. Whenever they picked something up, they asked her if she would less for it. She politely said, “No, ma’am.” In reality, she should have said, “I put $2 on it because I wanted $2. If I wanted $1, then I would have priced it at $1. By the way, we paid $30 for it, and it has hardly been used. If you feel the need to haggle over a dollar, then watch me throw it in the trash. I would rather throw it away than sell it to someone too cheap to hand over $2.”

Garage Sale People see a garage sale as a challenge where bargaining is the rule of the day. That is too much like a car lot. We did not drag this stuff out of the house to play a game of wits. Everything should be straightforward. $2 means $2. If you do not want to pay it, then put it down.

Other Garage Sale People are busy and cannot make it during the prescribed time. Our sale ended at noon. My wife put the stuff in the garage; closed the garage doors; and took a nap on the couch. She was tired because of the Garage Sale People who showed up early. Anyway, someone knocked on the door at 1 p.m. and asked if the garage sale was still going on.

My wife explained that it was over, but they asked if they could see what was left. She took them to the garage, and they looked around. Of course, late arriving Garage Sale People like to skim the items before leaving without buying anything. They would probably haggle, but, in their eyes, the good stuff is gone. Those are the same eyes they could have used to see that the garage sale is over, which means the good stuff is most assuredly gone.

I write all of that to write that Garage Sale People are usually rude. They are so blinded by the prospect of getting something for nothing that they lose sight of proper behavior. With that being said, here are some garage sale rules that I think should be followed.

  1. Arrive at the sale during the scheduled time of the sale. If the stuff is there 30 minutes before it starts, then it will be there at the starting time. On the other hand, the stuff will not be there an hour after it is over.
  2. Pay the price. If someone does not want to pay $2 for something, then they do not really want it.

There you go. Two simple rules for Garage Sale People to ignore.

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Melancholy Serenade

26 Sep

Yesterday, a feeling of melancholy washed over me. I was sitting in a chair and watching the rain through the window.

The rain could have been the reason. The garage sale could also had been the reason. I have always had a hard time getting rid of stuff. I can remember thinking as a kid that when I threw away the bubblegum wrapper I would never see it again. Yep, I was a strange child and am probably a strange adult. When the sale was over, I walked into the closed garage and looked at the remaining items. It was quiet, and I was alone. That was when the wave hit me, and my staring at the rain was the result.

While watching the rain, I knew that a blog post had entered my brain. However, the title hit stronger than the content. From somewhere in the back of my mind, the words “Melancholy Serenade” shot to the front. Usually, titles come to me while writing the post. Something in the text will lead me to it. This was completely different, and I knew that these words came from something that I had read or heard. It was something that I knew but forgot that I knew.

To figure it out, I went to Google. What did we do before Google? I guess we had to go to the library and look up stuff. Anyway, there it was. “Melancholy Serenade” was the theme song for The Jackie Gleason Show.Gleason

I have read about Gleason’s life and career, and I guess that something about those words stuck. Of course, I may have realized that those words matched well, and I could not have been creative enough to think up a title like that on my own.

Oh yeah, there is also “Melancholy Serenade” by Tchaikovsky. However, he was nowhere near the music man who Jackie Gleason was.

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My iPod Has Issues – Losing Bill Dance and Finding Eddie Feigner

24 Sep

We are having a garage sale, and everyone knows what that means. We are dragging out stuff that we forgot we had. Some of it is coming from the attic. Some of it is coming from our closets. Some of it is coming from the Land of Discarded Items.

In the process, I am giving up the autographed Bill Dance t-shirt that I got when the famed fisherman made an appearance at the Hollywood Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. It is definitely a sacrifice to give up something that cool.

However, some cool things are staying. While digging for artifacts, I came across a booklet celebrating the 25th Anniversary of The King and His Court. If that name does not mean anything to you, then let me explain. Eddie Feigner was a fast pitch softball pitcher who traveled the world with a four-man team. They took on all comers and won over 9,000 games. Along the way, Eddie “The King”  Feigner did tricks with the ball. There are a few people around here who played against them. I need to collect stories and write a post about them.

Anyway, we have dragged a bunch of stuff into the garage and are ready to do business. Hopefully, we will make some money. Every quarter counts.image-2

To commemorate the event, I have decided to look into my iPod and see what it is doing.

“Be Careful Who You Love (Arthur’s Song)” by Hank Williams, Jr.

“For the Good Times” by Isaac Hayes

“Judy” by Frank Howard

“Hardline” by Tom Kimmel

“Memphis Exorcism” by Squirrel Nut Zippers

“Clubbed to Death” by Rob Dougan

“Up On Cripple Creek” by The Band

“Kansas City Shuffle” by J. Ralph

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon and Garfunkel

“Alone Again” by Dokken

“Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

“Ruby (Are You Mad at Your Man)” by The Osbourne Brothers

“I Wanna Ummm With You” by Stacy Mitchhart

“Thirteen” by Big Star

“Still and Always Will” by Vintage Trouble

“T for Texas” by Tompall Glaser

“Dazed and Confused” by Led Zeppelin

“The Peacocks” by Howard Alden

“The Wind, The Wind” by Dean Martin

“Tomorrow Never Comes” by Ernest Tubb

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The One About Erwin Rommel Riding a Motorcycle Through Tennessee

23 Sep

I was flipping through the channels and found a documentary about Erwin Rommel. I watched it for a few minutes but eventually lost interest. My mental quota for documentaries about Nazi Germany has been filled for a while. However, the documentary brought to mind a story from long ago.

When I was a kid, I heard that, before World War II, Rommel traveled to Tennessee a studied the military tactics of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a southern cavalry general who operated in these parts.

Yes, I was the kind of kid who found that kind of story interesting. I was the kind of kid who knew who those people were.

Anyway, the story continued with proof. Apparently, there was an old hotel register in Waverly, Tennessee that had Rommel’s signature.Rommel

Through the years, I have thought about this story and never questioned it. I have told people about it. Heck, I have even mentioned it in class. However, I never thought about digging into it and finding out what happened….until last night.

I typed a bunch of stuff into Google about Erwin Rommel, Tennessee and Nathan Bedford Forrest. I did not find much, and I began to worry. If he was around here, then something would be written about it. The only thing I could find was an article called Second Guessing the Past – The Desert Fox and Mississippi at hottytoddy.com. For those who do not know, “Hotty Toddy” is a cheer at the University of Mississippi, which will not make my colleague from Mississippi State University all that happy.

I encourage you to read the linked article, but I need to offer a synopsis. The writer traveled to West Tennessee to track down a story that he had always heard about Rommel visiting the state. People told him stories of seeing Rommel riding a motorcycle and talking to him on their front porches. The memories of these sightings were as vivid as if they had just happened.

He found out that Rommel was in Clinton, Tennessee and signed a hotel register. The hotel, which no longer exists, even placed a plaque on the room where he stayed. It was called the “Rommel Room.”

After visiting Clinton and talking to people who met Rommel, the writer visited Manfred Rommel and asked him about his father’s trip to the United States. It turns out that Rommel never made the journey. The son was told the stories of people who met his father, but he insisted that his father never traveled to Tennessee.

Reading, the article will provide you with a better sense of the story, but chances are that Rommel was never in this state. The story that I was told and repeated never happened. Heck, the story I heard was wrong about the town. However, it makes me wonder about memory and legends and all sorts of things that historians have to deal with.

People were convinced that they met Erwin Rommel and were convinced of a signed register proved it. Did they make it up? Did they tell the story long enough that they started to believe it? Did they actually meet a German officer who was riding around on a motorcycle? If so, then who was he? Did he introduce himself as Rommel? Since Rommel did not become famous until World War 2, why would meeting him before the war be considered a big deal? Did they meet a traveling German and assume it was Rommel after they started hearing his name?

It is a simple story, but it leads to question after question after question. I only know that it is a story I have heard for years, and it is one that a lot of people believe. It is even mentioned in The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, which is a good site because I have an article on there. It would be nice to know its origins and how it came to be thought of as fact.

That would make a better documentary than the one that I turned off.

 

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The Barn in the Distance

21 Sep

This afternoon, we attended my wife’s family reunion. It takes place at this time every year, and it is always held in a small town just across the Cumberland River. There was a good crowd and plenty of great food. People talked about everything that has happened since the last reunion. There was also talk of football, upcoming weddings and town gossip.

My wife and I got into a short spat about The Blind Side. In fact, that subject has become a running quarrel for us. I do not like the movie, and she thinks I should. It has been in my mind to write a post about the reasons of my movie discontent, but I will probably leave it alone.

Anyway, we tend to argue about important things. Of course, there is this movie. Then, there was the time we debated the proper way of folding towels. Also, some of you may remember reading about the argument of long-sleeved shirts.

Hey, I have to pick my battles.

The reunion took place in a nice city park. Our pavilion sat next to a creek and a walking trail. There was also a playground and some softball fields. However, my eye was drawn to a barn in the distance. It sat on a hill and, from our vantage point, was fronted by a field scattered with round bales of hay. There was something about the setting that struck me as scenic.image

I wondered about the barn. I wondered who owned it. I wondered what was in it. Something made me want to climb the fence and walk across the field. It was one of those places that pulled me in and made me feel the need to be part of it.

Eventually, I took the walking path to the fence to take the picture that is in this post. There was not a good angle, and, as I have been told many times, I take terrible pictures. The angle also changed my view of the barn. It did not look as magical as it did from the pavilion. I suppose that several factors made it appeal to me from the spot. The sun. The shadows. The grass of the field.

Those things made the barn in the distance a mirage I could never reach. The closer I got the more different it would be. I have seen paintings that make you want to step into the canvas and look around. The barn in the distance was real, but it had the same effect.

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Thoughts of Volleyball, Bourbon and the Roman Empire

19 Sep

My wife is getting her coffee pot ready, which is something I completely do not understand. My stepdaughter is sitting in a chair and messing around on her phone. Daisy Dog is in the other chair checking out the scene. I am at the kitchen bar typing a blog post and sipping on a glass of Blanton’s. If you do not know what that is, then you have not lived.Blanton

We just got home from the opening night of a volleyball tournament. The team suffered their first loss of the year, but it was during the round robin part of the schedule. Tomorrow, it gets serious. The plan is to make it back to the team that beat us and return the favor.

It is interesting to watch parents who have middle school kids playing a sport. Some are calm. Some are boisterous. Some are cocky. Some just look worn out.

The tournament is being held at the local high school, and, as we left, a football game was going on across the way. The crowd was cheering. The band was playing. The public address announcer was making announcements.

I have always found it interesting to listen to a game from outside the stadium, but I cannot explain why I feel that way. It is like being part of something but being separated from it at the same time. At times, I have felt that way in real life. It also makes me imagine a Roman walking by the Colosseum while the crowd cheers for blood.

I know. My mind can go to some weird places.

Well, it looks like everyone has started to move. My stepdaughter just walked into her room and shut the door. My wife just took off toward the other end of the house. Daisy Dog is still here and so is the glass of Blanton’s.

I think I will sip on it for a while.

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Who Is Pete?

17 Sep

When my wife gets frustrated, she exclaims, “For the love of Pete!”

(Before I go any further, I should say that my wife is not a time traveler from the early 1900s, and she does make comments that are more 21st Century sounding.)

When she says that, I start wondering, “Who is Pete, and why do we care about his love?” For that matter why do we care about Pete’s sake?

It turns out that Pete is an euphemism for God because people do not want to take God’s name in vain. After all, God plays an important role in our eternal existence. Blaspheming against Pete is not that big of a deal because he does not have anything to do with that.

However, using Pete as a euphemism leads to another question. Why Pete? There are plenty of other sayings that have been created to avoid breaking the commandment against blasphemy.

Gosh

Golly

Gosh Darn

Jiminy Cricket – although he seemed like a pretty good guy in PinocchioJiminy Cricket

Egad

Gadzooks

Anyway, you get the point and can see how those words replace words at would be blasphemous. However, Pete just does not fit in the list.

As near as I can tell, Pete is Saint Peter, the apostle that Jesus said would be the rock upon which the church would be built.Peter

This means that Pete actually had a role in our eternal life. If he had not spread the news of the church, then religion would be a lot different. In other words, taking Pete’s name in vain may not be a great idea.

Of course, Pete may not be Saint Peter.

I used to work with a guy named Pete, In fact, he is the only Pete I have ever known. Well, that may not count because Pete was his nickname, and I am certain that he would not want me to reveal his real name on a blog. Surely, he is not the Pete that everyone talks about.

It really all comes down to this. I have no idea who Pete is, but I want him to know that I hear about him all of the time.

 

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