Random Thoughts: August 2012

I still am in a flux. I see Obama and Romney, and indifference is my feeling. I thought as these months went on I would feel passionate about ONE of the candidates for President, but, I am still in limbo. And, the channels and websites that promote the agenda of these gentlemen are of no help. I read or watch one, I feel the position of said candidate. I switch over to the other aisle of thought-- and, I feel differently. I am a fairly intelligent person, as you are also, no doubt [ because you read my blog I know you have smarts!], but, where is the truth in all this? One side cannot be all right and the other wrong. If you lean a certain way politically, you will always believe the friendly sites and disbelief the opposition sites. A few blogs back I wrote that I like to live my life in the middle on most things because that is where the truth resides, I believe. But, where is the middle with these two? The comedian Richard Belzer, himself an strong liberal, has a great analogy for the parties. He says, picture the American people riding in a bus going off a mountain ridge. If the driver is a Republican the bus is going 80 miles an hour. If a Democrat is driving it is going 40 miles an hour. Fast death or very fast death. I will vote because I owe it to the many who have fought for my right to do so. But, I am getting tired of every election voting for the lesser of two evils..... ''Elvis On Tour'' was on cable last night to honor the 35th anniversary of Presley's death. I had never seen it before and was glad I watched it. The King was just that, a Mighty King. Forgetting the silly outfits that he wore onstage Elvis still had the power to captivate in 1972. Wisely, the film shows Elvis knee deep in music. There are a few side comments by him and his father, but, the focus is the man and the music. I always thought Elvis was wise to not give press conferences too often because he was not the best of public speakers. When someone is not articulate talking in front of the public they generate a reputation of not being very smart [ George W. Bush has this stigma]. Elvis did not need to be verbal with his audience. He let the music sing his words. The stage presence was still going strong in 1972. The voice was still strong and his karate moves now brought a smile to my face instead of the derision it once did. There are few close-ups of Elvis in this film. I must admit that I was trying to see his eyes. Part curiosity if he was stoned, to be sure. But, also, the eyes are the window into the soul for a performer and I wanted to see if Elvis still had joy in them. From the snatches that I saw he still seemed to be happy to be performimg in front of his fans. In another part of the film there is a montage sequence of him--- supervised by the young director Martin Scorsese--- where we see Elvis kissing his many admirers and co-stars. There is one shot, however, that best catches Elvis, the person. He is in the limo after one of his concerts. He is staring out the window with his hand touching his chin. His face has lost about ten years in this shot. He looks like an innocent angel. For that brief moment he looks happy and comfortable. He is not ELVIS PRESLEY, but, simply, Elvis..... Brian Urlacher and Jenny McCarthy have apparently split up. I am pointing out the obvious to you all because chances are that you are suffering the grief as deeply as I am. Gee, it seemed like such a fairy-tale romance between these kids. A notorious lousy husband and father hooking up with a notorious Hollywood hosebag. How did it not survive??? Well, we must trudge on to find our heroes someplace else. Let us look around at other famous tales of love among the rich and powerful. I see Jennifer Anniston is engaged. Thank goodness, because I know the gal hasn't dated much since her break-up with Mr. Angelina Jolie. Jennifer went through the phone book looking for guys to hook up with after her divorce until she found the right fella. I wonder if Tom Cruise is borrowing that book now. Cameron Diaz must be lonely also. After dating Major League Baseball, and, a few football guys, she too, is lost for love. Do not get me wrong--- I like a woman who likes to have fun, but, really, girls, date a plumber or a sales guy, or, a guy from Schaumburg, Illinois, 60193. Back to Urlacher. I always liked his playing on the Bears, but, I never thought of him as one of the greats, certainly not a Butkis or a Buffone. The Bears need him strong for the upcoming season, and, his knee being scoped worries me greatly. The Bears have lined up a good, potent offense this year, but, you need to have the ball to do this....... Comedy Central had their recent roast of Roseanne. I never have liked this women. She is too coarse and has an unpleasant demeanor to her. I do not mind profane, but, she is not funny to me and I cannot understand her appeal after all of these years. She is popular. Her show was number one for several seasons. I personally do not like profane women acting disgusting. Men do that. I want a woman to have a little more class than a man. That is the reason I will not watch the movie ''Bridesmaids''. I do not mean to sound too old here. I have a fairly strong knowledge of comedy and its history to back up my argument. Good, mean-spirited, naughty humor is very welcome to me by a woman. On the same roast, a young comic named Amy Schumer hit a home run by playing it dirty. But, she wasn't harsh and crude. Neither was Katey Sagal, who was quite funny on the podium. Carrie Fisher was a disappointment to me. I am a fan of hers. She is very quick with the quip and a great storyteller. That is why I was surprised that she didn't take a joke better on the roast. When a barb was thrown her way, as all the comedians take shots at each other, she gave many a stone-face reaction to the slam. And, she seemed compelled to answer every insult by trying to top the comic--a comic no-no. Carrie Fisher is still head and shoulders above the vile Roseanne. Carrie can be dirty, but, wrap that around with wittiness. Roseanne will never be funny for me, I am confidant to say......

A Few Words About Your Duties...

Since we are, sadly, in the middle of another Presidential campaign I thought it might be nice to quote from five extraordinary men and their most famous speeches. I think you will see a link between all of them.... '' Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that a nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate-- we can not consecrate-- we can not hallow-- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consegrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last measure of devotion-- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth''--- Abraham Lincoln, ''The Gettysburg Address'', November 19, 1863.....'' But, as you already know your rights and privileges so well, I am going to ask you to excuse me if I say a few words to you about your duties. Much has been given to us... And we must take heed to use the gifts entrusted to our care. It is not what we have that will make us a great nation, it is the way in which we use it. I do not undervalue for a moment our material prosperity, like all Americans, I like big things. Big prairies, big forests and mountains, big wheat fields, railroads and big factories, steamboats, and everything else. But we must keep steadfastly in mind that no people were ever yet benefitted by riches if their prosperity corrupted their virtue.''--- Theodore Roosevelt, July 4, 1886..... ''What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace-- the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living-- the kind that enables man and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children-- not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women-- not merely peace in our time but peace for all time. I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all of the allied air forces in the Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by the wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations unborn. Today the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need to use them is essential to keeping the peace. But surely the acquisition of such idle stockpiles-- which can only destroy and never create--- is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace. I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war-- and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.... Our problems are manmade-- therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.... So, lets not be blind to our differences--- but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breath the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal''----- President John F Kennedy, American University, June 10, 1963.... ''Hand in hand with freedom of speech goes the power to be heard, to share in the decisions of government which shape men's lives. Everything that makes man's life worthwhile-- family, work, education, a place to rear one's children and a place to rest one's head-- all this depends on decisions of government, all can be swept away by government which does not heed the demands of its people. Therefore, the essential humanity of men can be protected and preserved only where government must answer-- not just to the wealthy, not just to those of a particular religion, or a particular race, but to all its people. And even government by the consent of the governed, as in our Constitution, must be limited in its power to act against its people, so that there may be no interference with the right to worship, or with the security of the home, no arbitrary imposition of pains and penalties by officials high or low, no restrictions on the freedom of men to seek education or work or opportunity of any kind, so that each man may become all he is capable of becoming... I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ' We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.' I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.... And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ' Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!' ''- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, ''The March On Washington, August 28, 1963... '' It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance... But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.... Some men see things as they are and say 'Why?'... I dream things that never were and say, 'Why not?' ''---- Robert Kennedy, ''Day Of Affirmation Speech'', June 6, 1966...... And, so, those are the words. The men who spoke them were not saints-- notice that they say '' men '' in these speeches, but, not ''women''. However, the overall feeling of these speeches is of human understanding. As we follow the tragic comedy of the upcoming Presidential election it is nice to remember that there were giants who walked among us at one time. Brilliant men who preached peace. Brilliant men who preached togetherness of human beings. Brilliant men who wanted a better, non-violent world. That is the link of all of them..... Oh, and one more link, ---- all were shot not many years after these speeches. Roosevelt survived, but, the other four went down in death to violence......

Elvis

He seemed to be a little boy lost. Lost in a world he could not comprehend. The radio legend, Steve Dahl, used to say that Elvis was like the ''Jethro'' character in ''The Beverly Hillibillies''. Steve called him ''Jethro on drugs''. That is a funny description, but, also, a penetrating one. Jethro was a southern boy thrust into a fortune, surrounded by people who wanted to use him for his money. Add music and prescription drugs and you have Elvis... The 35th anniversary of his death is coming up. The faithful will go to Graceland and pray for him. There will be candlelight vigils and open weeping for his passing. That is fine. It is a tribute to what he meant in their lives. That is the heart of what an entertainer should be: someone who takes you away from the problems of life and gives you a fresh breath of life for a few minutes. He was no saint, but, he was no sinner either. He was a boy from a small town who was given a great gift.... He gave that gift in spades. When he burst on the national scene in 1954/ 1955, he was what the public was looking for. Well, really, the white youth was looking for. He had that sneer. He had the voice. He had stage presence. He had the killer looks. And, he was white. This last desciption is very crucial because basically Elvis sang the black man's music. R&B, mixed with the white music of the South. It had been around for many years, but, the music needed a symbol. That symbol needed to be white, for no black music would be played on white radio stations. This was based on racism, pure and simple. Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Ray Charles, etc, all had in talent what Elvis did, but, not the color. Elvis was the Perfect Storm.... This is not written to diminish his impact. He was sensational. An absolutely electric performer. Even in later years-- when he was fat and bloated and a parody of what he once was-- he still rose up and showed that true talent never leaves. But, in the 50's, he reigned supreme. He put attitude in the music. There was sexual heat in his voice. That sneer, along with his good looks, created in popular music a feeling that had never been seen before. Sex. Along with the sexual appeal came rebelliousness. It is hard to imagine now, but, Elvis was a direct threat to the establishment. There were protests against his music by civic groups who thought the boy from Tupelo was singing the music from Satan himself. This is standard procedure of older people. What you don't understand you fear. Looking at the old newsfilms from that time I scratch my head and wonder what the big deal was.... If Elvis was not singing the music of Satan then he did have the Devil as his manager. Colonel Tom Parker was his name. His name is a virus. This man was a pure show-business huckster, plain and simple. Now, in the world of entertainment this is nothing out of the ordinary, but, Parker stands head and shoulders above the sharks that swim in this industry. He never met a dollar he couldn't steal, no matter the moral angle. Stealing in ''the best interests of his client'' was his justification. An example of his dealings would be when he made an investment for Elvis. He would use the money from Elvis, but, when the investment would pay-off Parker would keep fifty percent of the return for himself. The standard client/manager agreement is twenty-five percent. However, if the investment failed Parker would not give up one dime of his own money. Basically, he was gambling with the Elvis money to better himself. And, because he had a client who was dim when it came to money Parker never bothered to hide his mishandling of the Presley fortune. In fact, Elvis was so far in debt and never knew it that had he lived just one more year he would have had to file for bankruptcy..... But, a big reason why Elvis was in dire financial straits was his innate goodness. He showered both friend and stranger with lavish gifts. All of the people around him lived the rich life [ which was good and bad for Elvis ] and, there are countless stories about his goodwill towards people he never met. If Elvis was watching TV and a story came on that touched him-- say, a family that could not afford to pay their medical bills-- then Elvis would be on the phone, and, those bills would magically disappear without anyone knowing why. Or, if someone was driving a car that was old and couldn't afford a new one, the next day there would be a brand-new Cadillac sitting in this person's driveway. I like this part of Elvis. Because he was doing what we all would if we had the money. We would help those who needed to be helped. Sinatra and many other celebrities were like this, but, Elvis seemed to take his giving to another level. Maybe, it was how he was raised..... He worshipped his mother. Plain  and simple worship. Many biographers later tried to paint a seedy spin on his devotion to her. This was a cheap trick by these exploiters. She babied him in his youth and made him feel like the center of the world. Elvis gave his love back. One day in 1954, Elvis went into a small studio and cut a record for her. It was called, ''That's All Right, Mama''. The engineer liked the sound and told the owner of the studio, Sam Phillips, about it. That started his ascension. But, it all came back to his trying to please his mother. That was his only thought that day.... The most crucial point in the life of Elvis Presley, both professionally and personally, came when he was drafted in the army. To his credit, he served his country. He could have pulled some strings and been declared ''4F'', but, he went and did his duty. However, this also is the beginning of the end for him. While he was gone popular music, which he reigned supreme in for a few years, did a big switch. The early ''Rock N Roll'' music was moved out to be replaced by silly, harmless fluff. Elvis could only watch as the industry he mostly changed turned into mush. He had other pressing issues to deal with. His mother took ill and died soon after he went in the army. No other event in his life shook him like losing his mother. A light seemed to go out of him, never to return. He became a different man after his mother died. Part of it was his grief, but, another part of his changing was his discovery in the army of narcotics. He relied on them, at first, to stay awake for guard duty, but, later, came to use them as a necessary way for him to deal with life. His mother had been his buffer between him and the world. Now that she was gone forever drugs became that buffer..... There is the widely held perception in music that when Elvis was discharged from the army in 1960 he was never the same artist. The virile, take no-prisoners rocker from a few years earlier, that sang ''Jailhouse Rock'', ''Hound Dog'', ''Heartbreak Hotel'', was now a shell of his former self. He was now obligated to no more live performances, but, instead an endless series of silly movies that he hated doing. This was Tom Parker's doing. And, Elvis followed him like a dog. There were some good songs at times, but, nothing like the classics he had sung a few short years earlier. Somewhere, in his soul, he must have had known that he was producing product that was beneath his talent, but, he kept up whatever he was told to do. This hurt him in the industry and he never recovered the golden luster that he once had. As his disciple, John Lennon, sadly said when he was informed that Elvis had died, ''Elivis died in the army''... His influence on popular music cannot be said enough. The rock of the Sixties, and, after, bore his fingerprints. It is not a too much of a stretch to compare him and Mick Jagger [ whom Elvis hated, along with most music that followed him]. For, in their different ways, they both showed the freedom of expression that is the backbone of the rock and roll feeling. Elvis had the better moves, but, Mick had the attitude. He taunted, dared with his body, and, brought out women and their desires. As did Jim Morrison, Robert Plant, etc. To tease and still back it up with a stunning performance, these guys all did it. And, the genesis of what they did came from Elvis Aaron Presley.... He grew fat. He had crazy episodes. He shot guns at people and TV sets. He ordered a contract on the life of his wife's lover [ never, thankfully, carried out]. He met Nixon and said that Nixon should make him a special DEA agent-- that meeting had to be classic comedy. He played Vegas in his white jumpsuits. He was controlled by a demon manager and the sycophants that surrounded his every move. All of these episodes can be traced to his ever spiraling out-of-control drug use and the loss of his mother. Here was the sad boy, with no one to love him. He was on an island of solitude. No one could reach him. He did have a few people that genuinely had his best interests in mind, but, they were shut out by his ''gang''. If Parker was a bad guy in the Presley story, then his ''Memphis Mafia'' cohorts were a close second. Of course, now they talk about how they tried to save him and help him. This is nonsense. If they genuinely cared they would have gotten him the help he so desperately needed. No one tried. If Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston lost their lives because of fame and the people around them, then Elvis is the template of where it all got started. He was no innocent, to be sure. He knew what he was putting in his system and the danger of over-indulgence. There comes a time, however, when the addict no longer sees himself clearly. That is when people around them need to step in. Some celebrities have those people who help. Elvis had no such person.... So, the end came for him in August of 1977. I remember hearing the news while I was watching a Cubs game. I have never been a big Elvis fan. I like some of his music and admire him for many things he did in life. Some things I do not admire him for. That is why he was human. Just human. His many fans continue for him to be some deity, but, I think he would not want that.... One day, I plan on going to Graceland. Not so much to pray at the shrine of Elvis Presley, but, rather, to pay tribute to a boy who did so much, gave so much, and lost so much. And, I will stare at his grave. I will be thinking about the lonely boy who I hope had finely found peace....