4.18.2020 – that freedom highway

that freedom highway
Nobody can make us turn back
land made for you, me

The other night before she had to go to bed, my grand daughter asked me to sing the ‘Goodnight Song.”

There isn’t a lot of common overall agreement on anything these days.

You might get 73% of the people to agree that the sun rises in the east.

I beleive however that you could get 100% on my inability to sing.

It is odd as I come from a family of noted singers and musicians.

But not me.

Just not musically inclined.

At least from a performance point of view.

I took piano lessons for 3 months when I was in third grade.

Then the teacher had a nervous stroke and had to give up teaching.

Draw your own conclusions from that true episode in my life.

Later on I discovered I have no natural sense of rythym.

I have to count in the gaps of ‘Hail to the Victors Valiant’ or I will stand up in Michigan Stadium and yell ‘HAIL’ all by myself.

I sing good enough for the grand children and that’s good enough for me.

The Good Night Song is usually Good Night Ladies using an arrangement by a folk song trio named the Limeliters.

You might think it hard for 1 person to sing in three part harmony but when you can’t sing, normal rules don’t apply.

Last night I thought of singing Good Night Irene.

Which led down a trip across Mr. Lincoln’s mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone.

I was thinking what exactly were the lyrics to Good Night Irene?

Which, when you think about it, is a dumb question for a song that goes

“Irene, good night, Irene, good night
Good night, Irene, good night, Irene
I’ll see you in my dreams”

In my mind I could hear a version of the song sung by the Irish Rovers.

My Dad loved the Irish Rovers.

My Dad loved the Limeliters too.

Which is why we had their albums in the stacks of records next to the family stereo.

But that wasn’t the version I was thinking of.

I was thinking of a version that I heard on TV when I was a kid.

I can’t remember who was watching with me, but it was a LIVE FROM WOLFTRAP program on PBS featuring Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

The more I thought about the more I wanted to see if I could find and I was off to the Information Super Highway.

I was really hoping to find a video of the concert.

It wasn’t the song I really wanted to hear again.

What was on my mind was a story that Arlo Guthrie told before he sang the song.

Mr. Guthrie related how one time during the depression, his father, Woody Guthrie, was out traveling with his band and found himself both in Chicago and out of money.

Mr. Guthrie told how his father and friends walked into a record company and Woody Guthrie and his band made a recording of ‘Good Night Irene.’

It was so good, the record company offered Woody and the band a contract.

Woody looked them there record company fellers in the eye and said, “No Sir! $50.”

Them there record company fellers were quick to hand over $50 for a contract giving them the rights to recording.

“My Dad and his band walked out with the $50”, said Mr. Guthrie.

And then went to 27 other record companies in Chicago.

Don’t know if its a true story and I don’t care.

Searching YouTube, wonder of wonder, I found a video titled “Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger – Together In Concert (Live) originally aired on PBS on August 23, 1978.”

How I love the world wide web.

I watched the concert again.

As a side note, during my daily ZOOM meeting for work, someone asked what concerts everyone one was watching online, mentioning Elton John and the One World: Together At Home Global Special.

I announced I watched Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger from 1978 on YouTube.

The conversation paused for a second and went back to Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani.

As I said, I watched the video but something wasn’t right.

Good Night Irene wasn’t in there.

Nor was another song I remembered.

A song about the folk hero, Reuben Clamso, who defended the New England coast from rogue giant clams.

To this day, at any random moment, I am apt to break out in full voice and the chorus;

Poor old Reuben Clamsoooooooooo
Clamso, boys, Clamso
Poor old Reuben Clamsoooooooooo
Clamso, me boys, Clamsoooooooooooo

Try this if you ever want to get some stares in a mall.

But it wasn’t in the video.

What goes on here I wonder.

Were there other shows?

I looked to the YouTube page.

The user who posted the video wrote;

“I am unsure if this is the complete show or not – I have heard that the original airing was about 90 minutes, and rebroadcasts were cut down. This is the only known version that I am aware of.“

The YouTube version is 70 minutes.

There is 20 minutes of the show I remember watching that is missing.

Further down in the comments was this statement,

“This is the cut-down one. The original airing was live, and they cut a couple of tunes. I remember, as a teenager who lived in the DC area, calling up WETA, the station that aired it, and bitching, and I ended up speaking to the actual guy who edited it. He was really nice, and explained that they had to to cut it down to meet something-or-another that the other stations they distributed to needed. Near as I know, the original never existed outside of the original broadcast.”

This is right up there with Hadley’s Suitcase but another time.

Interesting to the point almost beyond belief.

On a random Saturday night in August when I was 18, I watched this show.

A show that, “Near as I know, the original never existed outside of the original broadcast.”

Somehow it stuck in my brain and apparently though I heard it once, I still sing RUEBEN CLAMSOOOOO.

I have a relative who works at that PBS station in Washington and he is going to hear from me about any possible archives.

From working in TV, I know how often this type of request comes in.

“I was on the BOZO show in 1965. Is it possible that your archives …”

Archives?

At a TV station?

Let me say here that keeping reels of film and boxes of video tape is nothing like keeping a copy of the daily newspaper but I digress.

And I will reach out to my cousin in DC.

So I watched Arlo and Pete from 1978.

There were lots of other YouTube clips to watch and sing along with.

And I did.

Two in particular.

They were both from another concert at Wolf Trap and again in August but this time in 1993.

In one, Arlo and Pete and family sing, “This land is your land.”

I got chills just listening to the opening chords.

There is so much history behind the song.

There is so much history in the song.

Robert Kennedy was asked once what he would do if elected President.

“Change the National Anthem to This Land is Your Land,” he replied.

For me, that would have put Robert Kennedy up with Thomas Jefferson’s serving ice cream in the White House on my list of worthwhile Presidential acomplishments.

Can you just imagine in it?

Opening a baseball game or a football game with EVERYONE SINGING This Land is Your Land.

Picture an Olympic Medal ceremony where those crazy American’s actually SINGING their National Anthem.

As Big Bill would say, “a consummation devoutly to be wished” but most likely not to be.

I went back to World Wide Web and looked up the complete lyrics to This Land is Your Land.

I came across this verse.

Verse 5.

In the squares of the city – In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office – I see my people
And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’
If this land’s still made for you and me

WHOA.

WAIT ONE MINUTE HERE.

Where did that verse come from.

How had I never seen it before?

Made me think that the ghost of Woody Guthrie came back and added that verse just for today.

My Church just posted a video of how the Cross Pointe Food Bank opened its gates and the cars lined up IN THE SHADOW OF THE STEEPLE for miles.

My wife asked, where do the people without cars go?

The other song I clicked on was Arlo singing Amazing Grace.

I like Amazing Grace.

I like it a lot.

It has kind of become the American Lament De Jure (or is it defacto) for funerals.

Sad to me as I am not sure that a lot the people who sing it understand the Grace they are singing about.

Maybe they do at that.

So Arlo talks about the song and what it means to him.

If you are familiar with Arlo Guthrie half the fun is listening to him just talk.

In this talk about Amazing Grace, Arlo pointed out, back in 1993, how messed up the world was and what a gift that was.

Arlo pointed out that if everything was going well and everyone drove gold plated BMW’s, think how difficult it would be to help someone.

Think how it hard it would be to stand up and make a difference.

Arlo said that with the world so messed up, it was EASY to make a difference.

Again, I had to wonder, did somehow this conversation get recorded and saved to be heard today?

Never in the field of human endeavor can so little be done by so few to help so many.

I tell you one thing, with a 2.2 TRILLON DOLLAR relief package out of the way I NEVER AGAIN WANT TO HEAR SOMEONE ARGUE that the GOVERNMENT can save $4.8 Billion by cutting food stamps.

We ARE the GREATEST COUNTY on EARTH.

Maybe in HISTORY.

LETS PROVE IT!

Near the relief office – I see my people …

Near the relief office – I see MY people!

I don’t want anyone to wonder If this land’s still made for you and me.

And as far as I can do anything about, I will.

Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me

4.17.2020 – squabble and squabble

squabble and squabble
squabble squabble and squabble
and squabble squabble

CNN Anchor Chris Cuomo was quoted saying recently that he was tired of, “talking to Democrats about things that I don’t really believe they mean” and “talking to Republicans about them parroting things they feel they have to say.”

Mr. Cuomo also said, “It is frustrating to do this job in an environment where people are not interested and open. It is hard to practice journalism when people are so intent on believing what they want to believe for political advantage.”

I am quoting the New York Post but I don’t mind as I am not trying to get on Mr. Cuomo’s case for being tired of what he does or who he interviews or even his thoughts on his job.

But I find the “hard to practice journalism when people are so intent on believing what they want to believe for political advantage’ pretty funny.

In the long on glorious history of politics is there any other reason for people to believe what they believe?

I am reminded of Minister of Administrative Affairs, The Right Honourable Jim Hacker, MP, when he described who read the newspapers in Britain.

Jim said, “I know exactly who reads the papers.
The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country;
The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country;
The Times is read by the people who actually do run the country;
the Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country;
the Financial Times is read by people who own the country;
the Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country,
and the Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is.”*

If updated for today in these United States and Television, you might say:

I know exactly who watches TV News.
NBC is watched by people who think they run the country;
CNN is watched by people who think they ought to run the country;
CBS is watched by the people who actually do run the country;
ABC is watched by the wives of the people who run the country;
MSNBC is watched by people who own the country;
PBS is watched by people who think the country ought to be run by another country,
and FOX is watched by people who think it is.

My point being whether it was newspapers or TV or other media outlets, I am attracted by ideas that I agree with.

Back in the day I shared a ride to work with my good friend Elaine.

When I drove we listened to NPR.

When she drove, we listened to a local Christian radio station, WCSG.

It was two different news cycles and rarely did any story make the crossover.

I didn’t mind that.

I thought it was interesting.

A new perspective.

I don’t mind who might watch which tv networks or why.

Because I seek out views that I agree with.

I don’t get what Mr. Cuomo is mad about.

I do mind that regardless of the channel or network, the show is the same.

squabble and squabble
squabble squabble and squabble
and squabble squabble

Come on folks.

Where is that off button?

*Yes Minister, in Series 2, Episode 4 – 1987- A Conflict Of Interest by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn

4.15.2020 – Let’s go see Old Abe

Let’s go see Old Abe
Sitting in marble. Quiet, yet
A voice forever

Lincoln Monument: Washington
by Langston Hughes in The Dream Keeper and Other Poems, first published 1932

Let’s go see Old Abe
Sitting in the marble and the moonlight,
Sitting lonely in the marble and the moonlight,
Quiet for ten thousand centuries, old Abe.
Quiet for a million, million years.

Quiet —

And yet a voice forever
Against the
Timeless walls
Of time —
Old Abe.

From the New York Times, April 15, 1865.

President Lincoln Shot by an Assassin

The Deed Done at Ford’s Theatre Last Night.

THE ACT OF A DESPERATE REBEL

The President Still Alive at Last Accounts.

No Hopes Entertained of His Recovery.

Attempted Assassination of Secretary Seward.

DETAILS OF THE DREADFUL TRAGEDY.

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, April 15 — 1:30 A.M.

Maj.-Gen. Dix:

This evening at about 9:30 P.M., at Ford’s Theatre, the President, while sitting in his private box with Mrs. LINCOLN, Mrs. HARRIS, and Major RATHBURN, was shot by as assassin, who suddenly entered the box and approached behind the President.

The assassin then leaped upon the stage, brandishing a large dagger or knife, and made his escape in the rear of the theatre.

The pistoi ball entered the back of the President’s head and penetrated nearly through the head. The wound is mortal. The President has been insensible ever since it was inflicted, and is now dying.

About the same hour an assassin, whether the same or not, entered Mr. SEWARD’s apartments, and under the pretence of having a prescription, was shown to the Secretary’s sick chamber. The assassin immediately rushed to the bed, and inflicted two or three stabs on the throat and two on the face. It is hoped the wounds may not be mortal. My apprehension is that they will prove fatal.

The nurse alarmed Mr. FREDERICK SEWARD, who was in an adjoining room, and hastened to the door of his father’s room, when he met the assasin, who inflicted upon him one or more dangerous wounds. The recovery of FREDERICK SEWARD is doubtful.

It is not probable that the President will live throughout the night.

Gen. GRANT and wife were advertised to be at the theatre this evening, but he started to Burlington at 6 o’clock this evening.

At a Cabinet meeting at which Gen. GRANT was present, the subject of the state of the country and the prospect of a speedy peace was discussed. The President was very cheerful and hopeful, and spoke very kindly of Gen. LEE and others of the Confederacy, and of the establishment of government in Virginia.

All the members of the Cabinet except Mr. SEWARD, are now in attendance upon the President.

I have seen Mr. SEWARD, but he and FREDERICK were both unconscious.

EDWlN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

Postscript: In one of those odd happenstances that dot the life of this blog, as I wrote this, Copeland’s Fanfare for the Common Man was playing on the radio …

4.11.2020 community we had

community we had
community we have, get to
community we need

Could there be a silver lining to the coronavirus?

Can a positive spin be spun on covid-19?

Maybe.

Maybe there will be a chance to start over again.

A national reset.

A global reboot.

A chance once more for the ‘City on a hill.”

In American History, the phrase comes on the stage in 1630.

John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1630 to 1634, used the phrase in a public address titled, “A Model of Christian Charity.”

Winthrop looked to the Bible verse, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14 (NIV)

According to the Wikipedia Article on the speech, Winthrop felt that God made people have different positions from one another, “To foster an inter-dependence among mankind, that “every man might have need of others, and from hence they might be all knit more nearly together in the bonds of brotherly affection.”

Every one might have need of others certainly describes community today.

Winthrop then moves on to explain that there are two overriding “rules” which should govern all interactions within a community, “two rules whereby we are to walk one towards another: Justice and Mercy.”

The overriding principle is: “if thou lovest God thou must help [thy brother].

Justice.

Mercy.

Help thy Brother.

Mr. Winthrop saw the need back in 1630.

400 years later, still trying to get to that City on the Hill.

Maybe.

Maybe there will be a chance to try again.

I am reminded on an episode of that old, bizarre show, Family Affair.

Jody, Buffy, Mrs. Beazley and Mr. French.

We watched the show because it was on TV after school.

We didn’t watch the show because we wanted to watch the show.

We watched the show because we watched TV after school.

There were three channels.

We could watch a soap opera, Mike Douglas or something else.

For a long time, reruns of Family Affair was something else.

ANYWAY, there was an episode where Buffy and Jody noticed that no one in their New York apartment building interacted.

They arranged a get-to-know-you party in the lobby with treats baked by their Uncle’s butler, Mr. French.

It was kind of weird show at that.

No one came to the party.

The kids were down cast and returned to their apartment.

Later there was a loud commotion out in the hallway.

The elevators had jammed and people were trapped.

All the people who lived on that floor were out in a panic.

The kids Uncle Bill (Played by Brian Keith – you have to see him as Theodore Roosevelt in The Wind and the Lion) took charge and told Dads to go to other floors.

The plan was that they would all press the elevator buttons to see if that would clear the system.

The idea worked and the elevator service is restored.

Lots of hugs and handshakes all around.

Crisis averted!

Buffy and Jody notice the crowd and run back to their apartment and return with the punch and snacks and cups.

By the time they return, everyone has gone back to their apartments and the hallway is empty again.

Uncle Bill explains that people want privacy but they are there when you need them.

I started typing this about Family Affair with grave misgivings about a transition from A City on a Hill to Buffy and Jody.

But that last sentence works.

People want privacy but they are there when you need them

4.7.2020 – no baseball today

no baseball today
missing player in right field
he played the game

According to Major League Baseball guidelines for field dimensions for professional baseball, “The rulebook states that parks constructed by professional teams after June 1, 1958, must have a minimum distance of 325 feet between home plate and the nearest fence, stand or other obstruction on the right- and left-field foul lines, and 400 feet between home plate and the nearest fence, stand or other obstruction in center field.”

Notice that these guidelines only list a ‘minimum distance’ between home plate and the nearest fence.

The University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences released in 2001, a guide baseball field layouts including field dimensions, construction tips, and materials necessary for building a baseball field.

This guide lists ‘recommended placement of outfield fences’ by level of play.

Again, these are just ‘recommendations’.

No where, in any rule book, is the maximum distance or depth of an outfield listed, defined or manadated.

For me, I accept that an outfield wall or fence is just an arbitrary barrier that limits but not defines the field of play.

If a batter playing in Detroit’s Comerica Park, hits a ball into the first row of the bleachers, it is a home run.

If the same batter hit a ball 2 miles away and it landed in the Detroit River, it would be a home run.

The ball would not be declared ‘out of bounds.’

The lines of a baseball field extend to infinity.

Defined only right and left foul lines extending out from homeplate.

These means, to me anyway, that anywhere you stand, anywhere in the world, you are standing in someones outfield.

(I admit this not an original thought for me but one I stole from WP Kinsella. What bugs me is that I can’t find the quote. I am pretty sure it is in Iowa Baseball Confederacy but I can’t find it)

If I am standing in someone’s outfield, there is a good chance I am in someone’s rightfield.

If I am rightfield, there is a good chance I standing near the man who played right field for the Detroit Tigers for 24 years.

If I was, I would be happy just to be there.

That would be enough.

To share right field for a play or two with Al Kaline.

I wouldn’t mind if he said hello.

I wouldn’t expect it though.

Not that Al wouldn’t say hello.

But if there was a game on, that is where his focus would be.

Man meets myth.

This time Man wins.

Al Kaline.

If you know what I mean, you know what I mean.

If you don’t know, that’s okay.

Suffice it to say, there is no joy in Mudville.