2009 college football predictions week 13

it’s the beginning of rivalry weekends.  yeah, plural.  it sorta semi started last weekend and slops over into next week as well.  me?  i’m sitting here in one of my trojan t-shirts.  but i get ahead of myself.

it is interesting what one or two more points can do for your picks.  in my case last weekend for example, if a few teams had scored just a couple of more points i would have had a stellar 8 for 10 weekend.  but no, that wasn’t the case.  i went 5 for 10 instead.  my over all is now, 60 for 110 with week 6 as an off week.  still over .500 but that’s not what i’d call outstanding.

the thing about rivalry games is they can go sideways in a hurry.  odds don’t mean much.  it’s anybodies game.  taking what i deal out as something you can bank on is dumb and stupid and if you do you deserve whatever happens to you.  leave your wallet in your pocket and nobody gets hurt.

this is early again this week and no doubt the odds will change.  no matter.  what is here is what i go by.

rock ‘n’ roll.

11/27  rutgers at louisville.  rutgers favored by 4 points.  rutgers, ozzie nelson’s alma mater.  reason enough for me to take them to win and cover.

11/27  alabama at auburn.  bama favored by 12 points.  the game for all the marbles and stuff for alabama folk till next year.  once again, bama needs to put points on the board.  if they don’t auburn has a shot.  however, take bama to win and cover.  ROLL TIDE!!!

11/27  nevada at boise st.  boise st favored by 11 points.  the smurf turf boys of boise face one of their toughest opponents in their sorta schedule on friday night.  in keeping with an early theme here for this weeks picks.  take nevada to at least cover the spread.

11/28  new mexico at tcu.  tcu favored by 43 points.  a big bunch of points.  tons of em.  any sane person would take the points and the lobos.  not me.  i figure tcu is in make a statement mode.  despite having early trouble scoring against wyoming last week.  i think they’ll run it up against an even better team this week.  yeah, insanity runs deep.  take tcu to cover the spread and win.

11/28  tulane at smu.  smu favored by 17 points.  after years in the dark place of college football smu is on a comeback trail.  the ncaa recruiting violation, ‘death sentence’, is a thing of the past.  it’s taken some 40 odd years but smu will be a top 25 team once again in the next year or two.  count on it.  the main reason being, june jones.  a fine coach and recruiter.  unlike his old hawaii team where after the first string you had very little talent, he will have some at smu.  count on it.  take smu to cover and win.

11/28  oklahoma st at oklahoma.  no odds at the time of this writing.  i almost stuck another game in here instead but this one might be too good to pass on.  no odds = even, in my book.  take oklahoma st in this one, kids.  the cowboys win.

11/28  florida st at florida.  florida favored by 22 points.  florida st gets inside that number.  take florida st and the ppoints.

11/28  utah at byu.  byu favored by 7.5 points.  a good game and probably one to watch.  take byu to win and cover.

11/28  notre dame at stanford.  stanford favored by 7.5 points.  this will more than likely be charlie’s last regular season game with the golden domers.  he just can’t close the deal or so it seems.  his kids run out of gas at the end.  stanford had a tough loss last week with cal.  not this week.  take stanford to win and cover the points.

11/28  ucla at usc.  usc favored by 12 points.  so much for norm being a genius after last weeks nail biter game.  well, maybe he is but the kids were lackluster.  coach pete has had a week off and hopefully he’s found some sort of faith in his other coaches.  he can’t do it all or so it would seem.  if the men of troy come to play on defense and offense it should be no contest.  that being said, this is for bragging rights in the land of the lotus eaters and anything can happen.  the game of the weekend.  take usc to win and cover.  FIGHT ON!!!!

there you go, my picks for thanksgiving week.  have a great thanksgiving and enjoy the games.  be sane.  be safe.

jmh

2009 college football predictions week 12

only 3 weeks left in the regular college football season.  it’s become push come to shove time.  for me and for the teams.  a dark weekend last time around for me.  a sad dismal 5 for 10.  making me 55 for 100 having taken week 6 off.  still over .500 but i should be doing better. 

just remember that taking anything i say here and using to parlay the rent money into that fear and loathing trip of a lifetime to vegas would be stupid on the best of days.  i’m early again this week due to my schedule and life.  the odds are early stuff and will no doubt change.  however, what is here is what i will go by to determine my win loss for the weekend.  i’ll be early next week as well.  my schedule, life, and thanksgiving.

rock ‘n’ roll.

11/21  ohio st at michigan.  ohio st favored by 12 points.  the buckeyes are going rose bowling.  good for them.  though i have no idea what happens to that if michigan wins.  which a long shot due to the way they are playing this year.  12 points might be a lot here but since this is just for fun.  take ohio st to win and cover.

11/21  minnesota at iowa.  iowa favored by 9.5 points.  if minnesota had kept on playing like earlier in the year this one would have been a very interesting game indeed.  the same could be said for iowa as well.  iowa needs to win this one if only to show they can and still care.  it’s a matter of heart here.  plus,  we’ll see just what kind of coach they really have.  take iowa to win and cover.

11/12  connecticut at notre dame.  notre dame favored by 6 points.  the domers just can’t get it done this year.  neither can charlie.  though the deal is charlie probably won’t be going anywhere.  sadly.  if they fire charlie notre dame needs to cough up $18 million to buy him out.  a hefty price tag to get rid of a guy.  though regis philban could probably come up with that with what is stuck under his sofa cushions.  maybe.  just maybe some of the other schools will pay attention to this scenario and not get stupid with their money and a football coach who hasn’t proved himself.  one season is not proving yourself, golden domer money boys.  at any rate, connecticut has a shot at this one.  i figure they will have the lead at the half.  if they don’t get lazy and sloppy like pitt did last week the should cover the spread and maybe win.  take u conn.

11/21  penn st at michigan st.  penn st favored by 3.5 points.  a good game here kids.  maybe one of the best this weekend.  michigan st is playing some good football.  penn st is, well, penn st.  take michigan st to cover or even win.

11/21  arizona at ucla.  ucla favored by 5 points.  well well well.  amazing as it seems perhaps slick rick is turning around the moribund bruins.  fine by me.  it’s good for the pac 10 and college ball in general.  plus, maybe norm chow is a genius after all.  the bruins ran all over washington st last week.  this one is a tune up for the 11/28 trojan game.  (plenty on that next time around)  bruin faithful should rival duck faithful for insanity and noise.  it’s been a while for them.  tourist note.  stay a way from pasadena this saturday or allow for big time delays in getting anywhere near downtown.  take the bruins to win and cover.

11/21  california at stanford.  stanford favored by 7 points.  like i’ve been saying.  stanford is a good team.  stanford has a good coach.  and now, amazingly the defense has sprouted wings.  goood for them.  and it’s good for the pac 10.  though the 2 point conversion last week against the trojans was bush league.  however.  rank this one up there with a game of the week.  stanford is running on all cylinders.  no pings at all.  forget about it.  take stanford to win and cover.

11/21  lsu at mississippi.  ole miss favored by 3.  yep, at least.  take missisippi to win and cover.

11/21  air force at byu.  byu favored by 8 points.  two of the old run and gun schools of the late and sadly gone wac configuration.  i hope i get to see this one, kids.  air force should hold it’s own but take byu to win and cover.

11/21  oklahoma at texas tech.  oklahoma favored by 5 points.  not many points.  i like the red raiders at home.  take them to win and or cover the spread.  and as always be sure to visit my sorta alma mater:  http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/      

11/21  oregon at arizona.  oregon favored by 5 points.  not many points here as well.  sadly, blount has been reinstated for the ducks.  of course, they didn’t consult me before hand.  hopefully, he can avoid any major or minor felonies before and during the game.  if he does so the ducks will win and cover.  QUACK QUACK!!!

there ya go week 12 picks.  leave your money in your wallet and your wallet with the mrs and nobody gets hurt.  enjoy em while you can.  3 weeks left of the greatest game on the planet.  college football.

jmh

 

our lady of mount carmel church, rancho cucamonga, ca w/photos

the old catholic church still stands where it has for as long as i can remember and was there even before i was born.  one of the oldest catholic churches in the area.  the church sits just steps away from the old padre winery.  while i was visiting padre winery the other day i stopped by the church as well.  the church was my grandparents back in the day.  they could walk there very easily and did several times a week.

our lady hasn’t held up as well as padre winery.  plenty of parishioners but not the well to do types of other parishes in cucamonga.  just your average work a day joes go to this church these days.  the salt of the earth types.  not unlike in the old days.  the old days, when the street that fronts it was smaller.  the intersection was also the home to some old stately eucalyptus trees.  long gone due to street widening projects and the addition of curb and gutters.

since the church stands so close to padre winery i’ve been by it many many times over the years.  though i hadn’t been inside of the church since june of 1968 or 1969.  the day of my grandfather’s funeral.  you would think i could remember the exact date but i was in a wisdom tooth extraction haze and all i really remember about the day was the huge cloud of incense drifting about my grandfather’s coffin.

i made it back inside the church the other day.  it was an odd experience at best.  there have been some changes and the floor is now carpeted.  i guess carpet is easier to maintain than the old hardwood floors.  the simple beauty of a very very old and small catholic church that served old italians and mexicans remains.

i miss, nona and nono, italian for grandmother and grandfather.  the little house they used to live is gone.  but the little church they worshiped in still stands.  stands like a memory of a long ago past.

our lady of mount carmel catholic church.

 

jmh

 

padre winery, rancho cucamonga, ca w/photos

the other day i finally got around to making a trip back to my childhood.  specifically, i had been wanting to take some photos of the old padre winery just down the road in rancho cucamonga, ca.  i’ve mentioned the winery in a few blogs and a fiction piece here but there were no photos in any of them.  so, what i thought i’d do was take some photos and stick them up here then sorta run the deal down one more time.

padre winery has been around since the late 1800’s.  and it was the first winery in california bonded by the feds allowing them to sell wine and brandy.  the original building is still standing.  amazingly enough even after all the semi sorta large earthquakes that have rumbled through the area.  i guess it gives testament to some thing or another.  over the years the winery has been owned and operated by a few different folks.  it has had a few other names as well.  but to us long time cucmongaites it was and always shall be, padre winery.  sadly, it no longer produces wine.  those days are long gone.

my mother’s parents lived in a house a few hundred yards west of the winery.  that old wonderful house with the root cellar, in which my grandfather made wine and vinegar, no longer stands.  my grandfather worked at padre winery up until the time he retired.  he’d been there for many years.  i spent a lot of time with my grandparents when i was a kid.  soaking up old world italy and wineries.  that is up until the time my folks thought i was old enough to manage on my own during the summer.  though soaking up stuff never ended.   

when my grandfather worked at padre it was owned by the vai brothers.  i loved walking over to the winery and wandering around looking at stuff.  perhaps more importantly smelling the wonderful smells that can only come from a winery.

these days the winery is owned by a local family that has long roots in the area.  wine roots.  they gave it a go trying to make it a producing winery over the years but money being what it is things never panned out.  padre winery is for sale.  there are a few businesses where the old redwood wine vats used to be and it’s kind of sad.  especially to me.  i worked at padre winery myself for a year or so back in the early to mid 70’s.  i’ve recounted that tale as here as well. 

i’d been by the winery a number of times over the years.  once even stopping with the brown eyed girl so she could see the place.  old padre winery.  at any rate, i was alone the other day as i wandered about taking these photos.  alone with my thoughts and my youth. 

as you will see there is still a beauty to the winery.  an elegance and charm not seen these days in much of any kind of architecture.  there was something else as well as i walked around.  something mystical and wonderful.  or maybe it was just the fact that padre winery has been around for years and years and saw a huge amount of wine in various stages pass through the grounds.  it was a smell.  the smell.  that wine smell.  a sour tart vinegary musty smell now.  but still a wine smell.  the old girl still has it.  a complete package other than the fact the wine itself is long gone.  the elegance and the smell have stuck to her and she wears them well.

i hope the old lady remains standing.  standing as a monument to old california and old cucamonga.  not swept into some re-development black hole and razed.  re-development.  the good old boy deal where the pols and hucksters make money hand over fist and we the people lose our history and magic that comes with the old things.  old wonderful places like padre winery.

padre winery and the old tasting room.

 

the old cellars.

the still where the lees and muck were processed into 180 proof alcohol.

the old girl still looking good.

jmh

stuff i don’t watch on tv anymore part 2

there’s plenty of stuff i don’t watch on tv anymore.  mostly it’s sports stuff but then of course there are plenty of other things on tv that are just beyond the pale bad as well.  however, i’m probably going to stick to sport stuff or semi sorta sports stuff for this.  just like in part 1.  for those that missed it.  you may want to take a look.  or maybe not.

as i said the last time, this is my list.  not necessarily your list.  or likes and dis-likes.  ok?  good.  so in no particular order.  onward.

my friend, triggerman brought up a couple in a comment he made in my other place.  two venues or sports i was going to bring up any the ways.  the first being, the X games.  ok.  yeah, i’m an old guy.  so what?  since when has skateboarding become a sport other than an annoying venal sin?  or jumping over stuff on a motorcycle?  or doing loopty loops on same said motorcycle?  trying to kill yourself while also trying to impress babes is pretty lame.  keep it off tv, please.  it’s stupid.

the olympics.  or as dfr and i call em, the old limp dicks.  i find it amazing that anyone watches the stuff anymore.  in particular stuff where you win or lose on some dumb ass paid off judges decision.  yes, there was a time years ago i would watch this lame tv presentation.  hours upon hours of the stuff.  no more.  the insipid up close and personal stuff sent me over the edge years ago.  why anyone would want to host this turkey is beyond me.  unless of course, it would be for the sole purpose of ripping off the rubes who actually show up to watch the insanity.  all that being said, i do enjoy watching curling and i eagerly await the winter festivities in vancouver so i can get my fix.  i’m serious.

bowling.  i’m not even sure if anybody even bothers to show this game anymore on tv.  they probably do and if they do i’m not watching it because earl anthony and dick weber are dead or are too old to make a decent score if they can still even play.  buy a wii game and bowl in your living room.  it’s fun and good exercise.  plus, no stinky used rental bowling shoes are required.  a plus if there ever was one.

poker.  ok.  i can sorta see skateboarding as a sport.  but a world series of poker?  world series implies sport.  poker is not a sport but a game and, well, why in god’s good name are you people watching other people play this game on tv?  barnum was right.  you are a sucker and you and many others are being born every minute.  then there’s the fact they are playing bleeding texas hold em.  a girls game for crying out loud.  wyatt earp didn’t play texas hold em.  count on it.  wild bill hickok wasn’t playing texas hold em when he was dealt that famous dead mans hand of aces and eights.  no sirree he was playing five card draw.  a man’s game.  a man’s game like five card stud or seven card stud.  simple.  if you watch poker on tv you need to find a life someplace and fast.

the tour de france.  there was a time a number of years ago i watched this turkey on the tube.  all the little girl crap about lance and his blood samples just wore me out.  i don’t watch anymore.  lance can run the table for the rest of his life for all i care.  big deal.  i don’t care.  the tv nonevent has spawned any number of lance wanna bees with their nasty ass biking costumes out clogging up road space all over this once great nation.  please, just get the hell out of my way and go ride your bike someplace else or i swear i’m liable to run over forty or fifty of you at one pop.  just kidding.  maybe.  but they are a menace and it’s because of the tour being on tv.  you dumb asses, would be much cooler if you put some playing cards or baseball cards on your spokes with a wooden clothes pin.  i would respect you more.  and take off that damn bike suit.

drag racing.  ah, another speed sport.  one i used to love to watch unlike nascar or formula one.  pure speed.  peddle.  metal.  woo hoo.  trouble is try and find a real car drag racing these days.  what you’ll find, for the most part are plastic fantastic sleds that resemble a car but really aren’t a car.  what happened to real 55 chevy’s?  real bored and stroked 51 merc’s?  real chopped and channeled anything?  see my point?  it is a damn shame.  no, not my point.  sheesh.

last but certainly not least, would be any sort of a state of the union message from any politician of any party.  or any other political party message.  well, unless it’s the party animal party which might be a hoot of sorts if only for a short while.  i gave up on those messages long long ago.  nothing but lame propaganda by lame stooges who want only to fuck with us and steal our money.  screw em.

jmh

2009 college football predictions week 11

coming off another week of better than average predictions against the spread it’s that time again kids.  college football hits the tv with a vengeance this week.  last week i went 6 for 10.  nothing stellar but i’ll take it.  thus making my overall for the season, 50 for 90.  having taken week 6 off.  5 games over .500.  semi sorta iffy but much better than .500 or worse. 

once again, remember this is for fun only and taking what i dish out here to make yourself a nice bankroll for christmas would be stupid at best.  leave your wallet alone and you’ll be fine.  also, i go by the odds i have here.  they are what they are.  a compilation of several places.

pop a cold one.  light up the barbie.  sit back and enjoy what’s left of the greatest sport, college football.  enjoy the games.

rock ‘n’ roll.

11/14  boston college at virginia.  boston college favored by 4 points.  almost a toss up and just might be a good game.  i’m looking for boston college to win this one and cover the points.  take them.

11/14  iowa at ohio st.  ohio st favored by 16 points.  iowa coming off a dumb loss and ohio st coming off a big win.  the point being can iowa recover?  and does ohio st have a let down?  we’ll both find that out come saturday.  in lieu of knowing for sure, take iowa to cover the points and maybe win.

11/14  florida st at wake forest.  wake forest favored by 6 points.  wake forest is playing some ball.  take them to win and cover.  on a side note, has anyone else noticed that bobby bowden looks more and more like a food network’s star, paula deen?

11/14  notre dame at pittsburg.  pittsburg favored by 7.  he of the 5 super bowl rings fights for his job, as well he should, with this game.  golden domer faithful aren’t happy.  then they rarely are.  the man who replaced ty willingham is going down the same road to the unemployment office next week.  let’s see, i predicted the irish would lose this game back in january or february of this year.  nothing has changed.  take pittsburg to win and cover.

11/14  stanford at usc.  usc favored by 11 points.  it’s november.  it’s a home game for the trojans.  they don’t lose at home or in november for that matter.  the trouble being it hasn’t been a good year for coach pete.  it has been a semi good year for coach mike.  once again, stanford has a good team and riley can coach.  stanford doesn’t have a defense.  if the trojan defense shows up and the offense does as well the trojans should cover the spread.  a damn good game here folks.  take the trojans to cover and win.  those who live by the sword die by the sword.  FIGHT ON!!!!

11/14  arizona at california.  the game is a toss up.  sadly i haven’t seen arizona play this year.  probably due to the lame tv schedule the pac 10 has with the networks.  be that as it may, i have seen cal play just about every week.  they didn’t do well against the beavers last week but nobody else in the pac 10 is either.  the game is in berserkeley.  take cal to win.

11/14  arizona st at oregon.  oregon favored by 16.5 points.  a bunch of points.  however, the game is in duckland, home of the true 12th man.  insanity reigns.  probably rain as well.  cold weather too.  take the ducks to win and cover.  QUACK QUACK!!!!       

11/14  washington at oregon st.  oregon st favored by 11.  the sleeper game of the week.  this one will be a good one folks.  if you can watch this one don’t miss it.  the brothers rodgers(i spelled it right this time) are amazing at best.  oregon st is proof that the pac 10 is THE CONFERENCE THIS YEAR.  count on it.  take oregon st to more than likely win and cover the spread.  though i don’t think that’s an option in places like nevada.  oregon st wins and covers.

11/14  alabama at mississippi st.  bama favored by 13.  tell you what, i don’t think they can score 13 points in 4 quarters two weeks in a row.  the question being, can they hold the lads of state to no points or say, 3?  i love bama but i ain’t feeling them here.  take mississippi st to cover the spread.

11/14  texas tech at oklahoma st.  oklahoma st favored by 3.5 points.  my semi alma mater wins or covers the spread.  take texas tech and be sure to visit: the vietnam center and archive at http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/  happy veterans day!!

there you go, kids another week of picks coming to you on a wing and a prayer.  leave your money where it belongs, in your wife’s purse.  and nobody gets hurt.  enjoy the games.

jmh

stuff i don’t watch on tv anymore

ah, make that sports stuff.  tv is annoying at best.  sure, i can waste away a day or days watching the damn thing but, hey, there’s a bunch of stuff i can’t watch anymore.  so, let’s get started and see just where this ends up.  there’s no particular order or rhyme or reason to the list.  it is what it is.  pure and simple.  you may agree or disagree.  it’s a semi free country, for the time being, and you’re entitled to your own opinion.  fine.  but this is my list.  it may piss you off but that isn’t my intention.  figure it out.  do your own list. 

the first thing that comes to mind is the, NBA.  god, i hate watching those guys.  i used to like watching pro basketball but i lost interest in it during it’s thug era and i’m not going back.  plus, it’s kinda fun being one of the few folks here in so calif that can’t stand kobe and/or the lakers.  elgin baylor, kareem, jerry.  fine.

MLB would be next on the list.  another of those deals where i used to enjoy watching their games.  i lost interest in them after the last strike for more money so they can play a kids game.  um, you could toss the NBA back in this area as well.  at any rate, who can enjoy a world series that is gonna drag on to maybe the second week of november?  the first week being bad enough.  or how about a bunch of steroid pumpers, period.  no way.  no thanks.  plus the fact bud selig is an idiot.  although had the angels gone to the series i may have watched an inning or two if only for the old cowboy, gene autry.

the NFL is next.  another of those days gone by thingys.  more steroid pumpers and a greedy bunch of owners with no real love for their fan base or the cities where they play.  show me the money.  some big mogul is going to build a new stadium out in these parts if he can con some team into leaving their sorta home.  any number of teams have been mentioned,  even one of yours.  i don’t care.  screw em.  the only thing the stadium will do is make an already totally screwed up freeway interchange even worse.  the players?  yeah, they are the best and can come up with some amazing plays but i just don’t care anymore about them or their league.

the Super Bowl.  sure, this is a part of the last one but even non fans watch this turkey every year.  hours and days of non stop hype.  a blizzard of supposedly new improved funny ass commercials that the mad men pay primo dollars to place strategically in the game.  a big yawn, for the ads and the game.

tennis.  not that i ever watched it much but i don’t ever anymore.  oofa.  useless and stupid.

soccer.  ok.  so like just what the eff is up with soccer?  totally off the tv radar.  or more importantly, my radar.  dumber than tennis.  yeah, it is.  i don’t want to hear about it.  say nothing.  it is. 

the NHL.  as a so calif native i guess that could be a reason for my aversion to the game.  but when i was a kiddie, i tried watching the likes of gordy howe and bobby orr on the saturday morning games.  i never understood the rules and it was pretty boring even with the fights.  no thanks.  not even the great one could change that.

the WWE WWF or whatever it is they are calling it now a days.  more steroid monsters with the same act since gorgeous george and freddie blassie.  an act that was pretty cool back in the 50’s and early 60’s.  and ok even for a few years in the early 80’s.  but an act that just grew so wearisome and lame that no sane person over the age of 12 can possibly watch it anymore.  yeah, fine, the sorta hot babes wandering around in the ring.  lame as well and just masturbatory imps for the porn challenged among us.  speaking of which, if i were 12 i wouldn’t waste my time on them.  no sirree.  i’d be TIVOing ‘dancing with the stars’ and watching those lovely ladies frame by frame.  count on it.  but i digress.

boxing.  i used to love watching boxing.  i grew up watching it every friday night.  the friday night fights brought to us by gillette razors.  then of course there was sugar ray robinson, jake lamotta, rocky marciano, sonny liston, george foreman, floyd patterson, joe frazier, sugar ray leonard, danny lopez, alexis arguello, and larry holmes, god bless him.   then of course, the greatest of them all, mohammad ali.  i could go on but if you weren’t there you missed it.  totally.  the current crop?  no thanks.

nascar or formula one.  i get the speed but i just don’t get much else about it.  never one of my favorites and i avoid them like the plague these days.

then there’s the most insidious non sports related show of them all.  the view.  a total piece of crap and a waste of time and electricity.  a propaganda show worthy of chairman mao or joe stalin.  i was never a fan or a watcher but i do get a glimpse of it now and again.  oh oh, i’m gonna hurl and/or shoot the tv ala elvis.

yes, the last one wasn’t sports related but i couldn’t resist tossing it in as a sorta grand finale to this messy epistle.  after all, this is my list.  i may have forgotten a few things but i think i covered stuff pretty well for now.  there’s always the possibility of a part 2 somewhere down the road.  i’ve been talkin’ to my oldest friend, dfr.  and yeah, count on it.  there will be a part 2.

on a tangent, today is gram parsons birthday.  happy birthday, my cosmic country brother.  wild horses.  we’ll ride them someday.

jmh

2009 college football predictions week 10

an interesting week of college ball last weekend.  interesting to say the least.  i started out very well in the morning games but by the time the afternoon and evening rolled around i was semi tanking it.  bottom line i went 5 for 10 last week.  my overall is 44 for 80 having taken week 6 off.  still somewhat over 50% but nothing to send up any fireworks about.

just remember this is for fun and taking anything i deal out here to any of the boys who will take your money would be insane to say the least.  leave your wallet alone and nobody gets hurt.

i’m a day or two early this week due to stuff i have to take care of the next couple of days.  due to my being early, some of the odds haven’t been posted so i’m just dealing with what i have now.  i picked these games before i went looking for the odds.  be that as it may.

rock ‘n’ roll.

11/7  connecticut at cincinnati.  a toss up.  should be a good game and it’s an early one.  take cincinnati to win this one.

11/7  wake forest at georgia tech.  georgia tech favored by 15 points.  wake forest is playing well but not well enough to win or get inside the 15 points on tech’s turf.  take georgia tech to win or cover the spread.

11/7  navy at notre dame.  a toss up.  one of the better teams the golden domers play this year.  the irish are playing somewhat better but i still don’t like them.  take navy to win.

11/7 lsu at alabama.  alabama favored by 9 points.  hopefully, with bamas week off they went out and found some offense because they are probably going to need some to win this game.  the same could be said for lsu as well.  a low scoring defensive yawn fest?  i hope i’m wrong.  take bama to win and cover.  ROLL TIDE!!!

11/7  oklahoma at nebraska.  oklahoma favored by 6.  perhaps a good game.  take the sooners to win or cover the spread.

11/7  ohio st at penn st.  penn st favored by 3.5 points.  almost a toss up here but i suspect the buckeyes will roll over joe pa and his boys.  take ohio st to win.

11/7  oregon st at california.  california favored by 7 points.  i don’t see the bears defense doing any better than usc’s defense at stopping the beaver’s running game.  a very solid running game.  take oregon st to cover the spread and maybe win.

11/7  washington at ucla.  ucla favored by 4 points.  the bruins are lucky to be favored here.  though they did play fairly well against oregon st last week.  i’m feeling the huskies this week.  take them to cover or win.

11/7  oregon at stanford.  oregon favored by 5 points.  coming off the waxing of the trojans the ducks should be on a pretty nice high.  though stanford can win and might.  though i don’t see it.  on a side note, i was a duck fan before i was a trojan fan.  i’ve bled duck yellow and green since 1958.  they’ve made a fine comeback since the first game of the season and that disappointing loss to boise st.  they looked terrible.  not unlike the trojans last week.  they should stay on track and maybe run the rest of the table this year.  only to be messed with at the end of the year by the bcs and given some lame bowl game.  time will tell.  there is talk that blount will be allowed to play again this year.  oofa.  dumb idea and and stupid at best.  there is no excuse for what he did at the end of the boise game.  thug behavior does not belong in sports.  period.  allowing him to return this year is a mistake and sends a message to other lame brains that they can get away with stuff and be allowed back if they say the right things to the right people.  and that further reinforces the big money angle of college ball.  off the soapbox and my pick.  the ducks cover and win.  QUACK QUACK!!!!

11/7  usc at arizona st.  usc favord by 11.5 points.  a very poorly played game last week by the men of troy.  special teams set the tone for the defense on the opening kickoff.  in other words, what defense?  losing your defensive coordinator and half of the remaining guys to washington turns out not to have been a very good decision on usc’s part.  vanity?  insanity?  i don’t know.  i do know that coach pete didn’t have the deer in the headlights look he usually has when they lose.  it was like he was seeing the writing on the wall.  the writing that says he might come back next year and try to run the table once more with a bunch of seniors and a qb with a year under his belt.  or he may not.  my money is on one more year for pete.  then it’s back to the pros and another shot there.  bottom line is there are only so many good coaches in college football.  losing a bunch of them from one team means a ticking time bomb.  one that  finally went off last weekend.  i hope they recover from the blast but i don’t know.  a thumping of the sun devils is in order this week, coach pete.  let’s see if you can make it happen.  yeah, take usc to win and they bloody well better cover the spread.  FIGHT ON!!!

there you go.  some interesting games with one more month of college football left.  enjoy it while it lasts. 

jmh

in search of the miraculous

that’s the title of an old book that was a semi sort of hippy required reading deal back in the late 60’s and early 70’s.  i had a copy of the book for many years.  the book in question first appeared in 1947 and was written by p. d. ouspensky.  lots of interesting stuff in it but that book isn’t why i’m here.  i’m just borrowing the title for a bit because i’m searching for a miracle or the miraculous myself. 

long time readers know i bought a trailer here in the brittney spears memorial trailer parkin the early summer last year.  well, it’s not really that bad.  the trailer or the park.  at any rate, i’m trying to sell the place.  i wouldn’t be selling it if i hadn’t met and married the brown eyed girl, who with her arthritis problems, can’t manage the stairs here very easily.  trying to sell the place in this economy hasn’t been easy either.  some lookie loos who expect you to give stuff away.  no chance and no thanks.  and no offers.  it’s become obvious that it’s time to go in search of the miraculous.

it’s not that either of us don’t like this place.  we do.  as a matter of fact, it’s a very nice place and we do some of our entertaining here in the mobile home.  there’s easier parking than our other place and a much more spacious kitchen for us to whip stuff up and move about.  plus, it’s a good 500 square feet bigger than our other place and much newer.  but that’s just realtor mumbo jumbo and i’m drifting.

many years ago in santa fe, new mexico, the nuns of the lorreto chapel had a dilemma.  they needed a staircase in order for them to get up into the choir loft of the church.  when the church was built a staircase wasn’t included for some reason or another up into the loft.  one of those early builder oversight thingys i suppose.  ah, what can we say, mother superior, other than…oops.

the nuns had no other recourse than to pray a lot and hope for somebody or another and perhaps a miracle to come along and get the staircase built.  well, after many prayers, one afternoon this guy showed up and said he would build them their staircase.  very cool.  the nuns were very happy.  they went to bed that night with dreams of a staircase dancing in their heads.

depending upon who you are reading, when the nuns got up in the morning they had their staircase and the man was gone.  plus, the gentleman who had built the staircase hadn’t used any nails.  nary a one.  some stories recount that it took several days to build the stairs.  however, they all claim that the builder was, st joseph, and there were no nails used in it’s construction.

yeah, the dude in question was none other than the father of jesus and apparently a pretty good carpenter to boot.  ok, so not THE father but well, you know what i mean.  the nun’s prayers had been answered.  a miracle had been performed.  the staircase had been built. 

the church still stands today as well as the staircase.  the original staircase didn’t have a handrail or newel posts.  they were added later and no nails were used in their making as well.  just wood dowels.

some of you have seen these photos before but they are worth repeating here.  the lorreto chapel and the staircase. 

ok, so just what does all this mean?  in regards to my search for the miraculous?  i suppose, ever since st joseph built that staircase for the nuns he acquired the reputation for getting stuff done, building or house wise.  or maybe it came about sometime even earlier in his saintdom.  i really don’t know.  but it’s not something others and myself haven’t overlooked down through the years.  um, say what?

it seems that st joseph comes in very handy when you are trying to sell a piece of property or your house.  all that needs to be done is to bury a statue of him in the front yard and viola he works his miracle and the place sells.  something i’m indeed going to try.  and hopefully i get a minor miracle of sorts and the mobile home sells.

of course, i figure it would probably border on the sacrilegious if i were to bury the statue.  so with that in mind, the brown eyed girl’s older sister has come into play.  she’s a very religious catholic lady.  a fine thing indeed.  i gave her some money and she found us a very nice pewter statue of st joseph holding the baby jesus.  she’s coming here on monday and the three of us are going to plant the statue in the front yard under the for sale sign.

years ago one of my aunts went on a pilgrimage to lourdes, france.  as a gift, she bought me a small bottle of lourdes holy water.  the statue of st joseph will be anointed with some of that holy water before it’s buried.  a few prayers will be offered up as well. 

it’s too bad my sister-in-law can’t make it here on sunday, as it’s all saints day.  logistically for her it isn’t possible.  she’s busy with church stuff all day plus she lives way over on the west side of l.a.  all that being said, perhaps it won’t matter when the deal goes down on monday.

if st joseph comes through my sister-in-law’s church will get a very nice donation for their poor box.  as will a local catholic church’s feeding the hungry program.  at any rate, both places have already been given something this pre-thanksgiving season.  i’m by no means trying to blackmail st joseph in any way shape of form.  but, well, things are things and stuff as well.  we hope.  we pray.  we give. 

i hope my search for the miraculous comes to fruition.  hopefully, wonders will never cease.

thank you, st joseph.

jmh

2009 college football predictions week 9

another disappointing week last time around.  a semi dismal 4 for 10.  although i’m still over 50% overall with, 39 for 70, having missed week 6.  what does all this mean?  it means don’t listen to me and if you do you’re pretty stupid and deserve to lose your rent and or car payment money.  enough said.  it also means i can’t get the spell check to work anywhere so it is what it is.

rock ‘n’ roll.

10/30  w. virgina at s. florida.  w. virgina favored by 3.5 points.  i haven’t picked a wek day game in a few weeks so i figure i may as well go for this one as it is more or less toss up.  and it’s friday night.  what could be better?  take s. florida to win or get inside the spread.

10/31  cincinnati at syracuse.  cincinnati favored by 15 points.  a good way to start off the weenie day festivities.  take cincinnati to cover and win.

10/31  new mexico st at ohio st.  ohio st favored by 40 points.  just what new mexico st is doing at ohio st this time of year is perplexing at best.  but then it’s the brave new world order of college football.  oofa.  regardless, i think 40 points is too many.  take new mexico st to get inside that 40 point spread.   

10/31  indiana at iowa.  iowa favored by 17 points.  iowa continues it’s roll.  take the hawkeyes to win and cover.

10/31  mississippi at auburn.  ole miss favored by 4 points.  interesting, what?  i’m taking auburn to win or at least cover the spread.

10/31  calfornia at arizona st.  california favored by 7 points.  the pac 10 down the home stretch.  the bears seasonal ‘el foldo’ looms large.  take the sun devils to win or cover. 

10/31  georgia at florida.  florida favored by 16 points.  take georgia to win or get inside the points.

10/31  utah st at fresno st.  fresno st favored by 17 points.  my wac game of the week.  fresno st wins and or covers.

10/31  kansas st at oklahoma.  oklahoma favored by 26 points.  take the sooners and take them to win and cover.

10/31  usc at oregon.  usc favored by 4 points.  my two all time favorite teams in the match up of the weekend and maybe the year.  the rose bowl looms large in this one kids.  the usual duck home crowd craziness will be for sure ramped up to insane levels.  over the top and in your face.  and there lies the rub in my opinion.  i noticed some of the crappy play and penalties of the boise st game game from the ducks last week.  yes, the won but it looked sloppy and unorganized.  and if they can’t control the jazz at home against the trojans then they are in trouble.  sure, the trojans didn’t play all that well against the beavers last week.  the beavers got game.  this one is for the ages and a nailbiter.  the trojans are on a mission.  take them to win and cover.

there ya go.  halloween weekend picks.  leave your wallet in your pocket and nobody gets hurt.  enjoy the games and the parties.  be safe and don’t get stupid.

jmh     

hard luck boy or when 1969 calls, you answer

hard luck boy

this needs to be re-written.

that’s what john [Harrelson]was doing or starting to do back when i met him.  it seems like a long time ago and well, it was, though i may have met him earlier when he was in some other band or another as we went to the same high school and lived in the same socal burg, de onta, ca.

at some point back then myself and several other guys started up a light show company.  we bought the equipment from some guy in claremont who was tired of doing it.  the light show it.  i think we paid $400 for the guy’s stuff.   a chunk of change for the late 60’s.  i borrowed my end from my dad, explaining i would pay him back very soon.  he gave me the money and was very surprised and impressed when i did re-pay him fairly soon.  for the younger ones, a light show was a show of lights.  sorta.  lots of overhead projectors, slide machines, motion picture projectors, mirror balls, oils and food colors mixed with other messy stuff.  all of that was projected behind a performing band.  hopefully adding to the experience of the band or maybe some sort of chemical.  all very nice indeed.

we worked around claremont a lot doing college dances there and promoting our own stuff at, i think, taylor hall.  some how or another we even got to do a show with the sir douglas quintet in claremont, at one of the colleges.  they were impressed and wanted us to go on the road with them.  we declined as we were all still in school and stupid.

after the gig with sir doug, which whetted our appetite for more high end action, we some how or another got hooked up with the guy who was promoting hard luck boy.  which if i may say was a great blues band and i’m not just saying that just to be saying it.  they were.

we jumped through some hoops for the guy and then sorta auditioned for him by doing a show with hard luck boy, as headliners, along with some other local bands at the swing auditorium in san berdoo.  we passed the test and got the job or something.

we were still promoting our own shows and making some decent coin for that time by doing the shows.  but this could be the big time for us and for a while it was.  one of the first shows we did was in either redlands or riverside at the university was with hard luck boy and lee micheals.  lee was amazing.  probably one of the loudest acts ever and it was just him on the hammond b-3, i think, and his drummer, frosty.  i remember the windows in the place just pulsating away.  i thought they were going to break.  if i’m not mistaken i think we did another show or so with hard luck boy and lee before the big one.

our big show and one of hard luck boy’s biggest shows was in irvine at the university featuring hard luck boy, lee micheals(?) things get hazy when you approach 60, and led zeppelin.  if memory serves we were up in the sorta bleachers in the gym.  kinda like the loge section setting up and the first time we turned all of our equipment on we blew a fuse or 2.  everything got fixed up the campus electricians and the show was just a mind blower.

i’m not sure if we worked with john anymore after that.  our light show act sorta went into two different roads at the time.  then with internal bickering killing it off.  however, it was great while it lasted.  the memories might be hazy but they are still there. and most importantly they are very fond memories as well.

john harrelson’s new cd, ‘mojave’, is available at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/harrelson

jmh

time to go (from the vault)

 

a re-post from sept of 2007.  it fits the current life i’m leading.  or something.

this one came up yesterday at some point or another between some friends and myself.  to begin with i rarely take my own advice so maybe you shouldn’t either though in this case it might be worth considering.

so how do you know if your girlfriend is a psycho or your boyfriend, ladies, for that matter?  other than them slicing your throat on a moonless night in june in brentwood or gunning you down on the street in brooklyn, it’s more or less a sorta crap shoot.  when is it time to pull the pin on a relationship?  after the restraining order is filed and approved?  ah, probably a bit too late plus the cops have other shit to do.  the dog soldiers in your town are too over worked to baby sit.   

one postulated it was time to leave when she started to babble.  yeah, that’s a good sign.  time to pull up stakes and move on.  my advice was leave after the first, ‘that’s fucked up’, thought crosses through your fried mind.  meaning, if you say that to yourself about your girlfriend in response to something she has done or said, it’s time to bail out.  forget about how great the sex is or she’s a wonderful mother or cook or what the fuck ever.  it’s over.  it’s only going to get worse.  the magic is gone.  as my long dead italian grandmother used to tell me there are plenty of fish in the sea. 

yeah, simple enough words from a simple peasant lady from the old country.  something worthy of consideration.  why let things progress to the point of violence or restraining orders or whatever other insanity you can come up with?  it ain’t worth it.  leave.  go.  bail out.  ditch the plane in the ocean.  find some other sucker, er ah, person.

people do weird shit.  or stay in weird shit.  for the shittiest of reasons.  it makes no sense.  though i suppose to them it makes some sort of bizarre sense.  but bottom line some piece of paper with a judge’s signature on it is not kryptonite to a psycho.  far from it.  it only seems to fan the fire of insanity to greater heights of lunacy and mayhem.

my readers are probably going he’s the wacko.  why leave after one, ‘that’s fucked up’, crosses your mind?  why indeed.  why?  because things will never ever be the same in that relationship.  period.  count on it.  past experience from just another old fuck who’s been kicked around by every she bat in this town…i’m a monkey…man.  tangents and i don’t mean to make light of this.  sorry.

there’s a dead young lady in brooklyn this morning who’s child watched her die on a dirty sidewalk while her mother held her in her dying arms.  sadly, there’s probably a few dozen more all over the country and planet this morning as well, all with similar circumstances and tragic stories.   there’s plenty more fish in the sea.  get out before it’s too late.  when that simple thought, ‘that’s fucked up’, passes through your mind it’s time.  simple enough.  i guess it’s just too hard to do.  too hard or we are just too kind hearted or…

jmh

a local plein air master

i had seen one of his paintings somewhere before at some point or another.  a very lovely oil painting of a local inland empire winery.  one of the last to still produce wines from this once great wine producing land of southern california.  at any rate, i’d forgotten about that painting. 

a week or so ago the brown eyed girl and i did a bit of wine tasting at one of the last old time wineries still around here in socal.  i mentioned it to my friend, dfr, and he sent me an email with that very painting in it.  it was also the winery we had been at tasting wine. 

this is it: ‘j. filippi winery’ by john budicin. 

a very striking painting to be sure.  just amazing.  it harkens back to the old days of guasti when wine was the king of the inland empire.  the guasti/cucamonga/ontario area to be sure.  over 5,000 acres of grapes on the vine.  a staggering amount of acres and grape vines.

i googled the painting and found out it was painted by john budicin.  as it turns out a local oil painter of some renown.  you can find him on the web at http://johnbudicin.com

i wanted to do a blog with the filippi winery painting as a sorta backdrop.  a continuation of my old ‘photographic memories(?)’ blogs from earlier in the year but with john budicin’s paintings instead of the old b/w photos. 

the old photos are haunting.  at least to me as an aging old timer local yokel.  on the other hand, john budicin’s paintings of southern california, grapes, and wine making are a vibrant testament to the wonderful history of those long ago halcyon days of wine making history.  along with the the simple yet breathtaking landscape of southern california as well.  

mission and zinfandel grapes were predominate here in the inland empire.  the old zins were just amazing and they made a rich ruby red zinfandel that those of us that grew up here drinking that wine are still looking for in other zinfandel’s from around the state.  the taste of those zins is buried deep in my brain.  john’s painting, ‘do not serve before it’s time’, brings me back to the redwood cellar days of my youth and young adulthood.  you can almost smell what the wines tasted like with his painting of the old cellar.

‘do not serve before it’s time’ an oil by john budicin.

there was something about those old redwood tanks that imparted something to the already tasty grapes.  it’s something you just can’t and don’t find anymore in very many places.  i suppose it’s really what wine making used to be all about.  though times and methods do change.  although most of you all know i haven’t given up drinking my dago reds or my search for the dago red of my youth. 

zinfandel grapes on the vine.  two more oils by john, ‘evening zins’, and ‘are they zin?’  atom heart mother to any old time, old line inland empire italian or anyone else who grew up here or lived here back in the day.  back in the day when grapes were king.

‘evening zins’ an oil by john budicin.

‘are they zin?’ an oil by john budicin.

i’m including a few other of john’s socal landscapes as well.  i find them quite nice and refreshing.  refreshing because if you travel around southern california you can still find those vistas tucked safely away, at least for the time being.  safe so far from the developers and rampant insanity that is southern california today.

‘evening sonata’ an oil by john budicin.

’santa ana wash’ an oil by john budicin.

‘california gold’ an oil by john budicin.

i want to thank john budicin for allowing me to put a few of his paintings here in this blog.  i called the phone number on his web page and he actually answered the phone himself.  a very nice and gracious man.  thanks john, for your very lovely paintings.  you’ve done socal very proud indeed.

jmh

2008 college football predictions week 7

last week wasn’t a good one on numerous levels.  i was just a sad 4 for 10.  bringing my over all total to 35 for 60.  yeah, a tad over 50% but nothing to brag about.  the point spread here is what i go by determining my score.

so, let’s all remember that this is for entertainment purposes only and betting on any of the games using my advice is borderline insanity and stupidity at its highest.  all that being said, lets rock ‘n’ roll.

texas at oklahoma.  oklahoma favored by 7 points.  the sooners put it on the line big time this saturday.  if they lose this one it puts them back in the pack with all the other one loss teams.  good thing its a home game.  take oklahoma to win or cover the points.

s carolina at kentucky.  a toss up so far.  like i said last week, kentucky has a better team this year.  they tossed a scare into bama and covered the spread.  s carolina played their best game of the year last week.  the game is in kentucky.  so i’m taking kentucky to win.

purdue at ohio st. ohio st favored by 19 points.  the buckeyes should have no problem covering and winning.  take ohio st.

oklahoma st at missouri.  missouri favored by 13.5 points.  i was going to take missiouri but i’m changing my mind.  take the cowboys to cover the spread and maybe even win.

arizona st at usc.  usc favored by 25.  more points for the men of troy to run up.  yeah, it’s a bunch.  they may start out slow but come the second half they will pull out the stops.  take usc to win and cover.

ucla at oregon.  oregon favored by 17 points.  a few weeks ago this one looked like a cakewalk for the ducks.  amazingly enough the bruins are actually playing some fairly good ball.  auzten stadium is once again the key for oregon.  take oregon to win and cover.  GO DUCKS!!!

new mexico at byu.  byu favored by 23.5 points.  if this game was in new mexico i’d take the lobos.  it isn’t and the byu mission continues unabated.  take byu to win and cover.

nebraska at texas tech.  texas tech favored by 21 points.  i like texas tech for a number of reasons.  the primary one being their stellar vietnam war archive.  check it out.  take texas tech to win and cover the spread.

penn st at wisconsin.  penn st favored by 5 points.  a tough road game for joe pa and his bad wheel.  another must win game.  one to watch for sure.  take penn st to win and cover.

lsu at florida.  florida favored by 4 points.  another home crowd will make the difference here.  take florida to cover and win.

there ya go kids.  another desperate attempt on my part to make a comeback.  only time will tell.  you on the other hand, need to keep your money in your wallet and forget about laying any of it down on the games.  enjoy your week.

jmh

sammy davis jr. turned near-tragedy to triumph (another unauthorized re-print)

i haven’t really felt like writing anything the past week or so.  i suppose this is what happens when that occurs.  yesterday and today.  unauthorized re-prints.  at any rate, i think today’s  unauthorized foray is interesting as well.  plus it has more local so calif history involved.  this is from the ‘inland valley daily bulletin’, the local fish wrap around these parts.  it appeared on 9-29-08 and was written by, mark landis.  hopefully, the reporter and arthur silber jr don’t mind.  thanks to my friend, dfr, for sending me the article.

jmh

correspondent, mark landis, for the ‘inland valley daily bulletin’.

For a few days in late 1954, a small hospital in San Bernardino was the center of attention for Hollywood’s elite, as well as for entertainment fans across America. 

On Friday, Nov. 19, a rising star named Sammy Davis Jr. was rushed to San Bernardino County Hospital following a horrific car accident near the intersection of Cajon Boulevard (old Route 66) and Kendall Drive.

That cold November morning, Sammy and his valet Charlie Head were returning to Los Angeles after performing at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. The two had left Las Vegas after Sammy’s show the previous evening and Charlie drove the first leg to Victorville where they stopped for gas.

Already road-weary, Sammy took over driving his shiny new black Cadillac down through the Cajon Pass and on toward San Bernardino. Charlie was laid out in the back seat trying to catch a couple of hours sleep before the pair’s arrival in Los Angeles.

It was just after 7 a.m. when Sammy encountered the fork where Kendall Drive split off to the left and Cajon Boulevard continued to the right. At the split, an elderly lady driving a Chrysler had missed her turn onto Kendall and was backing into Sammy’s lane to get herself back on course.

Sammy slammed into the rear of the Chrysler. The Cadillac careened off the Chrysler, miraculously missing oncoming traffic, and came to a stop after slamming into a stone column at the entrance to a driveway.

Arthur Silber Jr., Sammy’s close friend, lighting director, and production manager, said, “Sam’s car hit that rock pylon head on, and the force actually pushed the engine back into the front seat. A lot of people said if it weren’t for Sammy’s slight build, he would have been crushed by the engine.” 

The impact of the crash had driven Sammy’s face into the steering wheel, and his left eye was forced out of its socket by the bullet-shaped cone at the center of the wheel. “Sammy broke his nose on the sun visor, and he broke his knee cap on the emergency brake handle,” Silber said.

Charlie also was badly injured in the collision. He was thrown face-first into the back of the steel-framed front seat. The blow fractured his jaw and broke out all of his teeth, but Charlie remained conscious.

The driver of the Chrysler and her passenger were both injured, too. The two ladies were thrown into the back seat of their car by the impact. The driver, 72-year-old Helen Boss, suffered a back injury, and her passenger, 69-year-old Bessie Ross, suffered a broken leg.

Sammy and Charlie were rushed by ambulance to San Bernardino County Hospital and were transferred to San Bernardino Community Hospital later that day.

Sammy spent six agonizing hours in the hospital hallway waiting for an operating room in the cramped and outdated building at the corner of Fourth Street and Arrowhead Avenue. That evening, well-known San Bernardino eye surgeon Frederick H. Hull operated on Sammy’s eye.

Family and friends were gathered at the hospital, nervously awaiting news of Sammy’s condition. Hull came out after the surgery and told the anxious group that he had to remove Sammy’s left eye, and it was still touch-and-go for his right eye. The good news was that Sammy’s other injuries would heal in time. He also reported that Charlie would recover from his injuries.

During the surgery on Sammy, Hull had attached a prosthetic socket onto Sammy’s left eye muscles that would be used to hold and direct a “glass eye” that would be implanted after he healed further.

Soon after hearing the news, Hollywood’s biggest stars rallied to support Sammy’s recovery and many made the trip to be at his bedside in San Bernardino. Jeff Chandler, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh were among the first to visit. Eddie Cantor and Frank Sinatra also came to visit.

The hospital stay had a profound impact on Sammy’s life in more than one way. It was in San Bernardino that he began his conversion to Judaism after a visit from a rabbi chaplain. Sammy said, “Yeah, and we had a long talk. Some of the things he said helped me; and for the first time in my life, a religion started to make sense to me.”

Sammy was released from the hospital on Sunday, Nov. 28. He was so grateful to Hull and the hospital staff for the care he received that he promised to come back to San Bernardino and do a benefit show when the new community hospital was completed.

“Frank (Sinatra) insisted that Sammy stay at his house in Palm Springs while he was recovering, and you just don’t say no to Frank,” said Silber. “So he went and spent a couple of weeks out there just taking it easy.”

After the accident, Sammy regained and even refined his famous dance moves. He went on to become a superstar, breaking down color barriers in virtually every entertainment venue from nightclubs to Broadway to TV and movies and records.

On Nov. 15, 1958, Sammy came back to San Bernardino and made good on his promise to do a benefit for the new community hospital. The star-studded show sold out all 7,500 seats in the Swing Auditorium at the National Orange Show Events Center and raised $20,000 for the new hospital.

Sammy himself opened the extravaganza with “Let Me Sing.” He then introduced Judy Garland who graced the packed house with eight songs including her trademark “Over the Rainbow.” Other stars included James Garner, Sidney Poitier, Danny Thomas and Shirley MacLaine.

“Sammy helped so many people over the years,” said Silber. “One of the things a lot of people don’t realize is how many doors Sammy Davis Jr. opened up in his lifetime. It’s hard to believe these days, but Sammy was the first black man to walk through a Las Vegas casino.”

Sammy passed away from throat cancer on May 16, 1990, at the age of 64. The lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed to honor the passing of one of the town’s favorite superstars.

Arthur Silber Jr. provides a fascinating personal account of his years with Sammy in his book “Sammy Davis Jr. – Me and My Shadow.” For more information, visit online at arthursilberjr.com.

sammy and marilyn.  the photo wasn’t a part of the article.

just voices in the night

it’s still very early here in so calif.  several more hours until day breaks. quiet and cool.  summer’s blast furnace is gone for a few days.  though more 90 degree days to come in the near future.  or so they say.  summer’s discontent still waits.  like the navajo’s coyote. 

i’m really not sure where this one will end up.  it may not even see the light of blog day.  that would indeed be a rare occasion.  the only ones that don’t seem to see light are private emails to old friends that were some sort of drunken insanity and i don’t think i need to send them into the other ether and blogdom.  so far cooler heads have prevailed in that regard.  so far.

in case you ain’t noticed things have changed here in the land of america and the whole world.  not good things either.  angst runs rampant and folks are concerned.  as well they should be. 

i’ve been a gun owner for a number of years.  at one point, for a number of years, i was a bird hunter.  dove and pheasant.  read some wildlife management essays before you yell at me.  of course, they were eat what you kill game hunting experiences.  as they all should be.  and only in season and i’ve already run off the damn tracks.

gun owner.  yeah, i’ve owned a few.  several of which were stolen in a burglary a number of years ago.  angst and pessimism abound.  i still have the long goose gun and a .357 magnum.  neither of which are really good for close in, insanity.  the goose gun is unwieldy for close quarters as it’s to long.  plus, even with the game hunting plug removed, it’s only good for 5 shots.  the .357?  if i miss i might nail somebody 3 blocks away.  not a good thing.

i needed something short and light for close in stuff at way the fuck oh dark thirty or even daylight madness.  something that wouldn’t kill neighbors by accident.  a nice short barrel pump 12 gauge seemed to be the answer. 

i went gun shopping.  some nice 9 shot short barreled 12 gauges are out there.  i didn’t care for them.  i had one years ago.  it was one of the guns that got ripped off.  that one was light and easy to wield.  the current crop aren’t to my liking.  they are heavy and hard to turn or wield.  what’s a poor boy to do?

um,yeah.  a nice even shorter double barreled 12 gauge number.  yes, lack of ammo in reserve but it’s lightweight and maneuverability trumped that issue.  it reminded me of the old M-79 of my nam days.  that lightweight 40mm grenade/shotgun/canister/launcher that i knew and loved.  a simple easy and foolproof fire support piece or direct fire piece if there ever was one. 

the short double barreled, western ‘coach gun’, or ’scatter gun’, 12 gauge will rest comfortably with number 3 or 4 bird shot in each chamber.  ready and waiting for a fire mission.  no warning shots.  no shots fired into the air.  no.  it’s only purpose will be to kill if necessary.  that i assure you.

yes, of course, the horror of it all.  the man is a wacko.  not really.  not in these times.  these perhaps end of times.  there are perfectly normal folks out looking to buy more arms these days.  count on it.  because they are.

maybe i’m wrong but when you hear things from more normal folks and their bumper sticker talk, like, ‘i may not be the first one to pick up an ak-47 but i will be the second.’ or perhaps my current favorite and one that was coined just yesterday, ‘team tienanmen’.  spooky stuff to be sure.  just voices in the night.

jmh

2008 college football predictions week 8

another abysmal week last week.  3 for 10 bringing my over all total to 35 for 60.  still over 50% but on the other hand vegas isn’t ringing my phone off the hook looking for me to handicap games.  though in my favor if it wasn’t for the damn point spreads i’d be a good 80% easy.  or at least i’m thinking that.  maybe someone will run the numbers for me.  i’m not.

at any rate, this is for entertainment purposes only.  taking my pathetic numbers out to some good fella or vegas would be stupid at best.  that is unless you enjoy losing your money and not paying the rent or whatever.  don’t be stupid.  that said, let’s rock ‘n’roll.

florida st at n carolina.  florida st favored by 10 points.  perhaps a good game.  that remains to be seen.  n carolina just might cover the spread but i’m still taking florida st to cover and win.

byu at tcu.  depending on who you go by this one is byu favored by 1 point or even.  at any rate, it should be a barn burner and sadly one i’ll miss.  byu takes their bcs busting mission into tejas and another religious institution.  hello.  st peter?  who’s your pick?  i’ve been riding byu’s mission all season so far and i see no reason to stop now.  take byu to win.

kansas at oklahoma.  oklahoma favored by 19.5 points.  both schools had some trouble last week.  the sooners need to step up this week.  i think they will.  take oklahoma to win and cover.

mississippi at alabama.  bama favored by 13.5.  of course, the pundits don’t like bama.  none the less they had a week off last week.  coach lou has had a week to get ready for the up setters from ole miss.  game in bama.  the tide, rolls, wins, and covers.  go bama.

usc at washington st.  usc favored by 43 points.  good lord.  i don’t know.  43 points.  a road game to the pacific northwest and tommy trojan has had some trouble there over the past few years.  to many points for me.  the trojans will win but i think washington st will cover the points.

ohio st at michigan st.  ohio favored by 3.5 points.  an early bowl game for the spartans.  take michigan st to win or cover the points.

missiouri at texas.  texas favored by 6.5.  i’m sorta surprised texas isn’t favored by more.  i’ll take it though.  texas to win or cover the spread.

michigan at penn st.  penn st favored by 23.5 points.  well, so far michigan turns out to be the hapless past power house this year.  beating out notre dame and ucla for that dubious honor.  it’s almost a bunch of points but joe pa and the nittney lions are big time bowl bound this year.  count on it.  take penn st to win and cover the points.

cal at arizona.  cal favored by 2 points.  it’s still HOT here in the southwest.  it’s almost november, time for cal to begin their november swoon and adios any decent bowl game chances.  arizona steps up and wins or covers the spread.  

stanford at ucla.  ucla favored by 2.5 points.  the bruins are playing well since a faulty fitful start.  with any luck at all they will win and cover the spread.  take ucla.

there ya go another weeks adventure into college football madness.  just remember to keep what’s left of your money in your 401-k or your wallet and things will be just fine.  don’t get stupid.

jmh

a poem eventually

back in the saddle again.  yeah, that’s an old gene autry tune.  or at least he’s the one i remember back in the day actually singing the song.  any ways, kids, the brown eyed girl and i are back as an item.  joined once again at the hip.  it was just to damn painful not be together again.  it was my fault we split up and there’s some on her side of the course, as well, but mostly mine.  which is fine.  so like what else is new?  none the less, the reasons will remain ours as to what the dust up was about.  as it should be.

let’s just say we both spent a miserable week or so wandering around in a hazy daze looking for each other or more likely hoping we’d spot the other one in someplace or time.  yeah, getting old doesn’t stop one from being a goofy kid in love.  an interesting fact to remember and perhaps hold on to for future use.

last night we returned to the scene of our first real date of several months ago.  to, ‘viva madrid’, a spanish tapas place, in the claremont village for some great food, vino, and a toast to new beginnings.

geezer love

our fate has been sealed once again.
queen size bed acrobatics
of a 25 year old. 
lovers lost in the blue haze of
yet another dodger loss
seething from the bedroom tv.
the devil winds blowing
from the east. 
fire storms blowing
in the west.
just another socal
october night or
a fait accompli?
we both want
this to last
and be the last
for two old geezers
meant to be.

jmh

say what(?)

liquid space
keeping pace
triple images
dance in place.
if you blink
or stop to think
they all
counter clockwise
down the sink.
the sewer system
thrives on them.
nothing but wisdom
and alligator phlegm.
problems come
problems go
nothing much left
of this show.
its maybe that
or maybe this
usually just
hit and miss.

jmh

life and art art and life

my friend, dfr, sent me the photo below this morning.  he knew i was going to pick up my new shotgun today.  which i did.  it was still in the factory box.  it was oily and smelled new.  i brought it home and put it together.  i put it in a soft gun case and put it next to the bed.  four rounds of number 4 bird shot rest on the night stand.  i guesss i’m ready.  mr. burroughs seems to be ready as well.

william burroughs and some art.

jmh

2008 college football predictions week 9

time again for my college football predictions.  your one stop shop for a game you like.  last week i managed a semi respectable 6 for 10 bringing my over all total to 44 for 80.  sorta shabby but what can i say?  just remember this is for entertainment purposes only and what i say here is borderline madness.  though i do come up with a good pick or two each week.  the problem being which ones?  there’s the rub.  lets rock ‘n’ roll.

auburn at w. virginia.  w. virginia favored by 3 points.  the thursday night game.  i’ll be watching and drinking hawaiian ale.  auburn has a shot at this one.  good thing it’s in virginia.  take w. virginia to win and cover.

boise st at san jose st.  boise st favored by 7.5 points.  the friday night game.  i’ll be watching the local high school on fox’s prime ticket.  the upland high school football team is ranked in the top 100 high schools in the nation.  they are probably going to run the table this year.  but what about boise st?  for some reason they aren’t favored by much.  i’m taking san jose to cover the spread and maybe win.

texas tech at kansas.  kansas favored by 2 points.  pretty much a toss up and the red raiders will cover and win.  take texas tech. remember to visit the vietnam archive at texas tech university on-line.
http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/

alabama at tennessee.  bama favored by 6.5 points.  if tennessee ever needed a win this one is it.  they have nothing to lose.  another unbeaten falls.  take tenn and the points.  yes, i know bama fans i’m one as well.
i maybe wrong but i don’t think so.

oregon at arizona st.  oregon favored by 4.5 points.  the ducks come out of the cold and auzten stadium for a must win game.  i’m thinking the sun devils rain on the ducks.  take arizona st to win or cover the spread.

ucla at cal.  cal favored by 17 points.  after cals ‘el foldo’ last week the pundits still give them a basket of points to cover.  cal is over again this year.  they just started a couple of weeks early.  the bruins are playing well.  not stellar but good enough to cover the points and maybe win.  take ucla.

oklahoma st at texas.  texas favored by 12.5 points.  yes, texas is the new darling of the college football world.  fine.  take the cowboys of oklahoma to cover the points and probably even win the game.  

penn st at ohio st.  penn st favored by 2.5 points.  a nasty road game for penn.  plus its a must win for them.  ohio st is a much better football team than the one usc beat early in the season.  the buckeyes home crowd is the deciding factor here.  sorry joe pa, take ohio st to win this one.

notre dame at washington.  notre dame favored by 11.  charlie and ty meet in seattle.  ty is probably a goner.  sad but true.  if he ever needed to win a game its this one kids.  count on it.  i’m banking on ty and the huskies to cover and maybe win this one. 

usc at arizona.  usc favored by 16.  this one is my saturday night action.  arizona coming off a thumping of the cal bears and the trojans coming off a scrimmage with the cougars.  this one should be a good game.  it might be to many points for the trojans but if sanchez is on they will roll.  take usc to win and cover.

there ya go.  this weeks picks.  leave your wallet alone and nobody gets hurt.  simple words to live by.  capice?  enjoy the games and your weekend.

jmh

another sunday feeling

just another sunday in the land of the lalas.  the damn weather refuses to cool off.  the nights do ok but the days of 90 degree heat still linger and fester like a cat bite on your arm. 5% to 15% humidity sucks the mositure and life out of everything.  creepy crawly skin the likes of sandpaper.

yeah, i haven’t been here yammering much the past few weeks or so.  of course, there’s my football stuff but that pretty much goes un-noticed.  fine.  whatever.  as for my usual ‘as life goes by’ crapola it hasn’t happened.  much.  football and staying over at the brown eyed girl’s place has me away from the computer.  the brown eyed girl has one but it’s a lap top and a mac.  and it’s all just to back ass ward for this dyslexic oldster. 

i’m going on a road trip this next weekend.  the annual fear and loathing road trip up into the california central valley.  a ten day journey into the heart of madness.  any the ways, the brown eyed girl tells me she will have her junk room.  yeah, the same room we all have if we have an extra room.  that place where all the crapola goes.  the crapola that just sits and collects dust.  she tells me while i’m away she will clear a path to her desk top set up in that room and when i get back we can set it up again.  so i can write when i’m there.  bless her ever lovely heart.  she’s such a lovely audience.  a dream come true.

the stones are blaring.  the tempurature is rising.  the humidity is falling.  the bleeding spell check won’t work.  just another sunday feeling.

jmh

hank, willie, and bob

just about the end of the baseball season.  its also just about halloween.  i find it hard to bring myself to handle that sad sorta reality.  well, it really isn’t a sorta reality it sadly is reality. 

money driven madness reigns king in sports.  all sports.  a sad thing to be sure.  a once almost pristine game of summer and youth has been over taken by a pathological idiocy to wring every demented dollar they can from the once grand game of baseball.

thankfully, i have the brown eyed girl and she looks out for my tv interests among other things.  she tivo’d the bob costas hbo show yesterday with hank aaron and willie mays for me.  i was in ecstasy while watching the hour long show.  at times also in tears. 

ecstasy because my two all time favorite players were talking about baseball.  baseball and what it used to be.  that’s where the tears came in to play.  i saw willie and hank play the game live and in person.  the first time i saw willie live was back when the dodgers played their games at the l.a. coliseum.  yeah, it’s been a number of years.    

its been a number of years since both of those man boys played the game.  man boys?  yeah, baseball is a game for boys played by men.  men who really haven’t given up on youth just yet.  willie mays is 77 years old and he still can’t give it up. 

the pure grace and ballet moves of those two men are what baseball is all about.  sadly, long dead baseball.  you stick the two of them up on a stage and let them talk and answer questions then throw in some old b/w clips of the two of them and i’m gonna well up.  well up and wipe my eyes  because of my memories of their joy, grace, and style when they played the game.  

two living legends.  bigger than life legends.  two grand old men of baseball.  real gentlemen.  role models from long ago and a different time and place.  but still alive and well in my memories of summers past.

my guess is the world series will end tonight.  just a few days short of halloween.  probably around midnight east coast time.  much to late for the next boys of summer to still be up and watching the boys game played by men.

skateboard II by lowell fox.  http://lowellfox.com

yes, it’s a painting of a skateboarder by my friend lowell.  skateboard I is a bit more obvious in that regard.  however, when i look at this lovely painting i see… baseball.  summer.  youth.  and a young boy stealing home.  thanks, lowell.   

jmh

2008 college football predictions week 10

before i get rolling on this weeks picks i’d just like to say, in case you missed it, ty willingham is resigning as the washington huskies head coach at the end of the season.  ty is a good coach and a decent man.  he’s had some trouble with his last two jobs.  more than likely goofy rabid big money alumni that are more inclined to want wins and bowl berths than have a coach that actually cares about the kids, their grades, and the rest of their lives after football.  i wish him only the best and i hope he stays in div 1 football.  the kids need him.

last weeks picks were just abysmal.  another 3 for 10. ouch.  though the lonely three wins were pretty stellar ones.  virginia, texas tech, and oklahoma st.  any the ways i’m now 47 for 90.  still hanging on to 50%.

just remember these picks are for entertainment purposes only.  anyone dumb enough to use what i dish out here deserves whatever happens to them.  time to rock ‘n’ roll.

iowa st at oklahoma st.  oklahoma st favored by 30.5 points.  this could be a good game.  iowa st is capable of being a giant killer on any given saturday.  it’s a ton of points.  good thing the game is in oklahoma.  the cowboys win and cover the spread.

missouri at baylor.  missouri favored by 20 points.  i haven’t been impressed by missouri this year.  baylor is so so. game in texas so i’m taking baylor to cover the points.  they may not win but they will cover.   

auburn at mississippi.  ole miss favored by 6.  despite auburn looking sorta good last week ole miss will win and cover the spread.

tennessee at s carolina.  s carolina favored by 6.  tennessee is in a tail spin.  will they ever pull out of it?  take s carolina to win and cover.

florida at georgia.  florida favored by 5.5 points.  some pundits have florida going to the big dance.  i’m not so sure about that.  georgia spoils stuff and wins out right.

washington at usc.  usc favored by 43.  yeah, that’s not a typo.  a ton of points.  sanchez looked and played like crap last week.  though the trojans pulled out a lack luster win.  usc play calling was borderline insanity.  ty comes into to town with nothing to lose.  damn, this is a tough one.  usc wins and covers.

nebraska at oklahoma.  oklahoma favored by 21.5 points.  this will not be an easy game for the sooners.  gut says nebraska will cover and maybe win.  take nebraska and the points.

oregon at calif.  cal favored by 3.  my beloved ducks are still sorta floundering around this year.  that’s what happens when the bad qb juju hits your school.  cal on the other hand got sorta lucky last week against the bruins.  a few passes gone the other way and i think cal might have lost the game.  oregon goes to cal and wins this one kids.  take the ducks.  GO DUCKS!!!

kansas st at kansas.  kansas favored by 11.5 points.  big rivalry game and anything can happen.  kansas at home should win and cover the points.

texas at texas tech.  texas favored by 6 points.  this is the biggie of the weekend regardless of what the sec honks have to say about it.  take texas tech to cover the points and probably win the game.  also remember to visit: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/

that’s it for this week.  just remember to keep your wallet in a safe place and nobody gets hurt.  capice?  enjoy the games.

i’m going on a 10 day road trip starting this weekend so i may or may not do my week 11 and 12 predictions.  things remain to be seen.

jmh

the dumbest man in america and the runner-up

bud selig and the guy who runs fox sports tv.

jmh

(early) 2008 college football predictions week 11 (early)

since i’m off on the road trip for the next week or so i’m putting up my predictions for week 11 of the college season early.  i suppose at some point next week i could probably hack out the picks but i figure on being way too hung over most of the time to deal with anything other than just trying to make it through the day and the beginning of the next round of wanton drinking.  if you get my drift.

in that it’s early there are no odds yet for week 11.  so in lieu of them, i’m just picking a winner in the most predominate games.  or at least ones that have some sort of something going for them in the bcs bowl stuff regard.  this might even help out with my over all average since i don’t have the spread to mess with me.  yes, of course i’ll be counting these picks in my average.  it’s my party and i’ll do what i want.

just remember this is for entertainment purposes only and using any of this info to squander your money needlessly in vegas or some steamy alley would be stupid at best.  especially since we don’t even know who’s won this weekends games (week 10).  these picks might be a crap shoot at best.  or maybe not.  let’s rock ‘n’ roll.

tcu at utah.  a killer game in the making here.  some folks will be lucky enough to see it on the tube.  me?  no idea.  tcu’s defense against utah’s offense and their shot at bcs bowl busting.  i’m going with utah here.

oklahoma at texas a&m.  if i had some points on this one i’d probably go with texas but since i don’t i’m taking oklahoma to win.

oklahoma st at texas tech.  a great game and not on the tube as yet or maybe it will only be on in texas.  regardless, if you can watch this one do so.  i’m taking texas tech.  remember to visit: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/ 

utah st at boise st.  boise st needs this one to stay bcs bowl alive.  i’m taking boise st.

alabama at lsu.  another great game with lots of things going for it.  just how things work out depends somewhat on what happens this weekend with the tide.  IF bama is still unbeaten then i think lsu will win this one.  what the heck.  lsu wins it.  yeah, i’m a tide honk but i don’t think it’s their year.

baylor at texas.  texas wins it.  however, at some point they will take a loss and help the trojans out.

oregon st at ucla.  interesting game here kids.  no tv as yet.  oregon st needs this one to remain in the rose bowl hunt.  usc needs somebody to beat the beavers but probably not ucla.  yeah, convoluted bsc gibberish to be sure.  i’m taking oregon st.

cal at usc.  the abc 5pm pst time game.  i will be watching this one.  or at least that’s the game plan so far.  usc wins it.

notre dame at boston college.  the big time catholic schools go head to head.  charlie and his troops need this one to go bsc bowling.  though the irish do have some weird set-ups with several of the bowls.  trying to figure them out is really not worth it.  what happens happens.  i’m assuming this one is on the tube but i don’t see it.  nbc?  i’m taking boston college here folks.

penn st at iowa.  the pundit rumor mill already has joe pa and the penn st boys taking one in the shorts this year with the bsc crapola.  though that remains to be seen.  there’s always at least one school getting hosed by the bsc every year.  to bad it might be an unbeaten penn st this year.  iowa can spoil stuff but not this time.  take penn st to win.

there you have it, my early picks for week 11 of the 2008 college football season.  leave your wallet and money alone and you’ll do just fine.  i’ll still be on the road trip.  see ya when i get back.

jmh

2008 college football predictions week 12

now that i’m back from my long road trip i guess i’d better update my pick stats.  for week 10 i was 6 for 10.  not to shabby at all.  for week 11 i was 9 for 10.  pretty damn good but those picks were just based on my thoughts on who would win and no points.  pretty much any douche bag could go with those numbers on any given week if he follows the game.  the rub is the point spreads.  at any rate, i’m now 62 for 110.  pretty good numbers.  i’ll be going back to picking teams based on the spread for this weeks picks now that i’m back home.

however, before i get to it just remember that using any of the insanity i toss around here and taking it to the bank or whoever with the delusional idea you are gonna score big is stupid at best.  that being said, let’s rock ‘n’ roll.

cinncinnati at louisville.  cinncinnati favored by 3.5 points.  cinncinnati has been playing some good ball of late.  louisville is a past east coast media darling and still sorta doing ok.  it will be a good game and one to watch on thursday night.  take cinncinnati to win and cover the spread.

wake forest at n. carolina st.  wake forest favored by 3.5 points.  i’m still not sure just where wake forest has come from but somebody thinks they are now a good team after years of obscurity and doldrums.  take wake forest to win and cover the points.

mississippi st at alabama.  bama favored by 20.5 points.  as a long time alabama honk i’m very happy to see them on top of the bcs charts.  however, i am surprised its this year.  next year and the one after it are big trouble for the sec.  point?  they have been lucky and i think miss st spoils the bcs championship game for this year.  take miss st to cover the spread and maybe even win.

texas at kansas.  texas favored by 13 points.  pure and simple, take kansas to cover the spread and maybe win.

cal at oregon st.  oregon st favored by 3 points.  this one has gone up and down a bit.  someone needs to beat oregon st and take them out of the rose bowl hunt.  yeah, you know i’m a trojan homer.  however, i don’t think cal is up to that challenge.  take oregon st to win and cover.  this one might even be a blow out.

byu at air force.  byu favored by 5.5 points.  an old classic run and gun olden days wac game if there ever was one.  byu is out of the big bowl hunt and air force is no one to trifle with.  take air force to win or cover the points.

boise st at idaho.  boise st favored by 36.5 points.  the smurf turf boys are still out and lurking about.  to bad they play a cupcake schedule  because i am not impressed by said schedule.  plus they are a tier 3 school.  look that one up in your spare time.  at any rate, they will win and cover. 

usc at stanford.  usc favored by 23 points.  this past weekend i listened to the stanford oregon game on the radio.  stanford thought they had it in the bag with 2 minutes left.  ah, no, sorry.  stanford loses the game.  stanford needs one more win to go bowl eligible.  even with usc cranking out penalties like they are bailout money they will not make it this week as well.  usc is playing like crap.  the defense is the only thing holding them up.  has pete’s system come to a grinding halt?  are the trojans over?  all that being said, stanford might cover the points but if indeed the system ain’t over pete will roadshow win and win big for his 85th win out of a 100 starts.  like he said on the radio here, ‘even i can figure out that percentage.’  his lads will step up.  take usc to win and cover.

boston college at florida st.  florida st favored by 6.5 points.  florida st isn’t florida.  boston is back to playing some decent ball.  boston college will cover the spread and maybe even win.

utah at san diego st.  utah favored by 28.5 points.  utah is the only outside spoiler left in the bcs bowl game bonanaza.  the fly in ointment.  a thorn in the bcs’ side, fetlock, or hindquarter for that matter.  not a grandiose schedule but ok enough.  take utah to win and cover the spread.

there ya go, this weeks picks.  just remember leave your wallets alone and nobody gets hurt.  enjoy some brew and a nice steak or something and enjoy the action.  we are pretty close to nut cuttin’ time here kids. 

jmh

musical theatre or ‘wicked’ as a date

the brown eyed girl and i went out last night and headed into downtown lala land.  hollyweird to be more to the point.  she wanted to go see the musical ‘wicked’ again before they adios los angeles.  i was up for it even though i’ve never been a fan of broadway shows and their musical ilk.  sure there’s been some good stuff over the years that’s come out of broadway but they and it or them or some damn thing have never been my cup of tea.

the problem with going into the downtown area during the week, and at times on the weekend, is the traffic.  which of course last night was no exception.  only to be compounded on the ride home by cal-trans(the calif dept of transportation) my least favorite government entity anywhere and that would be including the u.s. congress.   

the hollyweird re-development types, they lurk about in your town as well.  re-development types are only in it for themselves.  there’s just too damn much money out there for them not to be.  that is if they weren’t all crooks to begin with.  at any rate, they took it upon themselves to retro sorta fit an old movie theatre.  the pantages theatre at hollywood and vine to be exact.  the olden venerable intersection that hasn’t aged to well.  but then who among us has? 

the last time i was at that particular theatre was back in it’s movie house days.  i saw ‘who’s afraid of virgina woolf’ there.  yeah, it’s been a while.  the place pretty much looks the same inside.  seats and all.  sure some paint daubed here and there and other cosmetic stuff as well.

the show?  it was so-so at best.  that’s from my perspective and you know where that is coming from.  no, not homophobia.  grow up.  though the crowd loved it.  the brown eyed girl wasn’t real happy about it either.  she had seen it before at the same venue and enjoyed it more the first time.  she said if last night had been her first time seeing it she would have been disappointed and she loves broadway shows.  disappointing in that the acoustics were/are abominable. 3/4’s of what was said or sung was unintelligible.  just murky muddy sound of the worst kind.  plus she wasn’t real happy with some of the present cast.

all that being said, it wasn’t like i was going to walk out of the place humming one of the tunes even if i had been able to hear them clearly.  would i go back there to see another show?  yeah, well, probably.  but only  if the brown eyed girl wanted to go see something else there.  hopefully, that would be at some point well into next year.

jmh

another black day in black rock

the summer that refuses to die hangs around like the plague of the dark ages.  plus we have the added attraction of wildfires fanned by the santa ana winds wrecking havoc through out southern california.  the heart bleeds at the sight of hundreds of burned out homes from santa barbara to corona. 

resources spread to thin.  money even thinner as the once great state of chaos and confusion, california, wrestles with a huge budget deficit.  sad times for all.  even for those that don’t live here.  you have the same problem.  maybe you realize it.  maybe you don’t.  trust me you do.  point being is the dumb asses we elect to watch out for what’s best for us usually never do.

while i was on my road trip up to northern california a week or so ago i was surprised by the fact that a local municipality up there was thinking about closing a fire house.  a fire house that bordered upon a junior college.  budget troubles was the answer the local pols gave for their reasoning.  sure close up something that might just actually do everyone some good at one point or another.  particularly when the firestorm hits or some other disaster.  

folks, don’t let the ass holes close fire houses, cop sub-stations, or anything else that might come in handy when the whip comes down.  because eventually the whip will come down.  hard.  and the piper will need to be paid.  yes, there’s only so much they can do.  but putting less of them out on the streets is utter stupidity. 

trust me on this.  it will come up wherever you live.  they will say money is tight and times are hard.  close a fire house or two or three or more.  just say no to them.  tell them to find the money someplace else.  like maybe their pork barrel projects and associated skim money.  or their long intimate lunches with sleazy re-development types which then means the sleaze gets passed around.  a buy here.  a sell there.  bought back and sold again.  bought and sold again for another handsome profit.  all this going on while you and your fellow citizens are the only losers in the sordid mess.  all the while rome burns. 

jmh

a nice poem

i didn’t write the poem.  i have no idea who did.  i received it in an email mail from one of my friends.  he’s 11 years old just like me.  well, not really, but it’s the term the brown eyed girl came up with when dealing with my arrested development or something.  any the ways, you may have seen it before.  whatever.  i don’t care.

my real reason for getting you to read this blog is to hopefully get you to visit change.org and make a donation to help out some native americans who are having a very nasty early winter.  please do what you can.

http://www.change.org/ipi/projects/view/help_the_families_of_pine_ridge_reservation

 

A WOMAN’S POEM:
 
Before I lay me down to sleep, I pray for a man,
who’s not a creep,
One who’s handsome, smart, and strong.
One who loves to listen long,
One who thinks before he speaks,
One who’ll call, not wait for weeks.
I pray he’s gainfully employed,
When I spend his cash, won’t be annoyed.
Pulls out my chair and opens my door.
Massages my back and begs to do more.
Oh! Send me a man who’ll make love to my mind,
Knows what to answer to ‘how big is my behind?’
I pray that this man will love me to no end,
And always be my very best friend.
 
A MAN’S POEM:
 
I pray for a deaf-mute gymnast nymphomaniac with huge
boobs and a nice butt who owns a bar on a golf course,
and loves to send me fishing and drinking.
This doesn’t rhyme and I don’t give a shit.
 
jmh

2008 college football predictions week 13

time once again for the trip into the mystic and predict some college football outcomes for this coming week.  last week i was 5 for 10.  not to bad.  the push with the trojans helped out big time.  yeah, a push and i’m taking it as a win.  sue me.  at any rate, my over all stats are now, 67 for 120.  if i was playing baseball i’d be a shoe in for the mvp award for both leagues.

just keep in mind that taking what is dished out here as sane betting advice would be pretty damn stupid.  only a fool bets on games.  so let’s rock ‘n’ roll.

boston college at wake forest.  wake forest favored by 2 points.  boston college came through for me last week.  they are on a roll.  take boston college to win or cover the spread.

michigan at ohio st.  ohio st favored by 20.5 points.  is there any sadder program in the country than michigan at the moment?  i doubt it.  i really can’t see them stopping the coming thumping from the buckeyes.  20 plus is a bunch of points but take ohio st to win and cover. 

iowa st at kansas st.  kansas st favored by 10 points.  the cyclones play spoiler this weekend. they cover the spread and just might win.  take iowa st.

texas tech at oklahoma.  oklahoma favored by 6.5 points.  if the game wasn’t at oklahoma the spread would be much tighter.  doesn’t matter the texas tech red raiders roll on.  take texas to win and cover.  also be sure to visit: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/

michigan st at penn st.  penn st favored by 14.5 points.  the great penn st bcs debate is over after last weeks loss.  however, take penn to win and cover.

air force at tcu.  tcu favored by 18.5 points.  air force did a respectable job in losing against byu last week.  they scored some points.  tcu has defense.  i don’t care.  take the falcons to cover the spread and possibly win.  air force.

stanford at cal.  cal favored by 9 points.  cal will be lucky to come out of this one with a win.  take stanford to cover the spread.

boise st at nevada.  boise st favored by 6.  not much of a spread for the vaunted blue smurfs of idaho.  this is a tough one but I’m taking nevada to cover the spread and maybe even win.

buy at utah.  utah favored by 6.  yeah, not a miss-print either.  utah still has a shot at bcs bowl busting.  this one is also about bragging rights for the state of utah.  mormon frenzy at it’s highest.  take utah to win and cover.

oregon st at arizona.  arizona favored by 3.  i really don’t see where that is coming from.  but whatever.  arizona needs to take care of biz here.  no one wants to see penn st and oregon st in the rose bowl.  saner folks prefer the penn st and the trojans match-up.  some one please beat the beavers.  with summer still hanging around these parts, tucson will be boiling come saturday.  take arizona to win and cover.

there ya go, my lucky week 13 picks.  leave your wallet alone and nobody get hurt.  capice?  good.  now, just enjoy the games and your weekend.

jmh

do right woman

i’ve been playing some poker and listening to gram parsons.  something i do a lot of.  not playing poker but listening to gram.  today for some reason his version of the tune, ‘do right woman’, really struck a chord.  i don’t know but maybe it had to do with last nights joint freezing muscle torturing session on the couch with the brown eyed girl.  moving to a more comfortable place was brought up a few times but it never happened.  frozen joints and tortured muscles not withstanding.  it was however very cosmic in that odd geezer way.

if you’ve heard gram’s version or the flying burrito bros version of the tune before give it another listen.  if you haven’t listened to it try and find it.  i can’t find a video of it.  maybe there is one out there but i don’t know.

yes, i know there’s aretha franklin, sinead o’connor, joan baez, and a few others out there that have covered the tune.  listen to gram or maybe even emmy lou harris.
 

Do Right Woman
Words and Music by Dan Penn and Chips Moman
Take me to heart and I’ll always love you
And nobody else could make me do wrong
Take me for granted, and I’ll tag along
Makes willpower weak, and temptation’s strong

A woman’s only human
This you must understand
She’s not just a plaything
She expects love just like a man

So if you want a do right all day woman
You gotta be a do right all night man

They say that it’s a man’s world
But you can’t prove that by me
So as long as we’re together, baby
You better show some respect for me

So if you want a do right all day woman
You gotta be a do right all night man
You gotta be a do right all night man
You gotta be a do right all night man
jmh

2008 college football predictions week 14

it’s only tuesday and folks are already up in arms over this weeks continuation of rivalry weekend.  only two more weeks left in the college regular season.  these games this week mean the difference between hanging out at home and getting into trouble or going out on the road to a bowl game this december or january and getting into trouble.  any more it seems like the kids are up for either.  but i digress.

last week i was 5 for 10.  a semi sorry record.  your pet chicken could probably do as well.  my over all record now stands at 72 for 130.  barely decent.  just remember that the point spread that is here is the one i go by in determining if i win or not.  the spread might change but unless its a big bounce and i notice it, what’s here is here.

also taking any of what i toss out here as sage advice is and would be insanity and stupidity at its highest level.  all that being said, let’s rock ‘n’ roll.

texas a & m at texas.  texas favored by 35 points.  a ton of points and the game is a homer for the longhorns.  that is the only reason i’m taking texas to cover.  well, that and if they don’t win and win big they get to stay home over the holidays.  take texas.

fresno st at boise st.  boise st favored by 20.5 points.  i was really looking forward to this game at the beginning of the year.  sadly fresno st has lost a good number of starters and their backups just haven’t been that good.  regular readers know that i don’t care much for boise st and their cupcake schedule.  smurf turf and all.  fresno st steps up here and covers the points.  they may not win but they will cover.  take fresno st.

maryland at boston college.  boston college favored by 7 points.  a number of things on the line in this one, kids.  boston college is finally playing some ball.  take boston college to win and cover the spread.

virgina at virgina tech.  virgina tech favored by 8 points.  take tech to win and cover.

oklahoma at oklahoma st.  oklahoma favored by 7 points.  i like oklahoma st in this one.  home game and not many points in a rivalry game that can end up anywhere.  take oklahoma st to win or cover the points.

georgia tech at georgia.  georgia favored by 8.5 points.  take georgia to win or cover.

auburn at alabama.  bama favored by 14 points.  if auburn had played up to their potential this year this game may have been a good one.  they still might this saturday but it might not matter.  take alabama to win and cover.  roll tide.

florida at florida st.  florida favored by 16.5 points.  i’m thinking florida st will make a good enough showing here to cover the points.  they may not win but they will cover the spread.

oregon at oregon st.  oregon st favored by 3.5 points.  if they game wasn’t at state it would be a toss up.  my beloved ducks need to win this civil war game and keep the beavers out of the rose bowl.  please.  this one will probably be one of the best games of turkey weekend.  count on it.  take oregon to win or cover.  GO DUCKS!!!!!

notre dame at usc.  usc favored by 30 points.  a huge point spread.  with rain comiong today and tomorrow.  a damp field come saturday?  no idea if it will be covered during the rain.  huge old time rivalry here.  though pete plays it like any other game.  trojans have had trouble with bye weeks and coming back strong.  charlie needs to make a statement here or the golden domers alumni will turn him into the next ty willingham.  pete will also be making a statement saturday.  usc wins and covers the spread.

everyone have a happy thanksgiving and enjoy the games.  just remember to leave your wallets alone and in your pocket.  taking it out and peeling off some greenbacks would be insanity at best.  don’t do it. 

jmh

why is it…(?)

this past weekend, between college football games, the brown eyed girl and i did a bit of shopping for stuff i needed.  she had already done the friday morning deal.  no, not at oh dark thirty like lots of folks but a bit later.  not that it matters.  and that’s a drift.

we went to ‘bed bath and beyond’ a store i’ve dumped a good amount of change into since moving into this place.  plus they have the 20% off coupons that never expire. 

i picked up another small sorta end table deal that the brown eyed girl said i needed.  fine.  not a problem.  it looked like it had been opened before but i really didn’t think it mattered that much.  i had purchased two of them a few months ago.  really easy to put together so what could be the problem?  maybe someone just didn’t like the color or something.

i’ve also  been looking for another paper shredder.  the one i had died and my shredding pile has begun to get annoyingly large.  they had a seemingly decent one on sale and with the 20% off it was a seemingly steal.

well, i got around to the two of them today.  the small end table type thingy was a total waste.  some how or another when it was manufactured several of the places where screws needed to go didn’t have threads.  sweet.  the thing had obviously been returned as the screw package was open.  someone had just taped the box up again and stuck it back in stock.  left it there for little ol’ me.  fucking sweet.  i took it back and got my money back and made sure they understood what had happened.  yeah, right.

soooo…a bit later i got around to my shredding task.  a comfy chair.  this one to be exact.  a nice beverage and my pile of stuff.  i was off and running.  sad thing is the goddamn fucking shredder ate itself not long into the damn bleeding process.  i mean it literally ate itself.  it started chewing up the top of the damn machine until it just got jammed with enough of the housing plastic to come to a grinding halt.  pun intended.

i was like, say what the fuck?  the bloody thing is brand new.  of course it’s made in china.  but like what ain’t these days?  i hadn’t done anything untoward toward the damn thing.  it was supposed to grind up to 7 sheets of paper at a time.  i hadn’t even come close to shredding 7 at a pop.  i was just working up to that number when things went south.

yeah, i made another trip back there and got my money back for that one as well.  just bloody lovely.  i still need the end table thingy and now another fucking shredder too.  sweet.

ok.  so like before i go i’d just like to say that our next president had better get some jobs back to this country.  make that manufacturing jobs.  screw the car industry.  they haven’t a bleeding clue.  get some work back here that’s gone overseas.  say like maybe paper shredders.  there ya go.  that would be a start. 

another start might be getting the damn spell check to work like it’s supposed to.

jmh

college football week 15 picks

yeah, i changed the title format. yep, sure did.  at any rate, i was a tepid 5 for 10 last week.  i would have done better but i got bit by the point spread on a couple of games.  life, as it were.  my totals for the year are, 77 for 140.  i’m getting closer to the dreadful 50% mark.  like i said before, your pet chicken could do 50% easy.

sadly it’s the final week of the regular college football season.  only thing left are the bowl games.  more on that when the bowls get dealt out.  just remember that taking anything you read here is borderline insanity  if you go to somebody who will take your action and you give them my ‘action’ you are just lame and probably should be put away for your own good.

i’m only doing 6 games this week.  only 6 because the rest of what is left i could care less who wins or why or what the harold.  capice?  all that being said let’s get down with the last week of regular season college football.  damn, i miss it already.  is it september yet?  let’s rock ‘n’ roll.

louisville at rutgers.  rutgers favored by 11 points.  probably a good game.  i’ll be at a holiday party with the brown eyed girl.  maybe the tv will be on and tuned to espn.  one can only hope.  if louisville or rutgers played boise st’s dance card they would be 12 and 0 as well.  take rutgers to win and cover the points.

navy at army.  navy favored by 11.5 points.  the yearly pentagon bowl.  ok.  i was army back in the day.  just a draftee but army none the less.  the old man was army as well.  ww2 wise.  yeah, take army to cover.  they may not but, yeah, this one is always for the ages. 

boston college at virgina tech.  boston college favored by 1 point.  a toss up, kids.  and a stellar game as well.  the deal?  deal is boston college wins the game.

alabama at florida.  florida favored by 9.5 points.  sadly the game is over for the tide.  they finally meet their waterloo this year. take florida to win and cover.  yeah, ok.  the tide might actually win this but i doubt it.  wait till next year bama.  florida wins and covers.

usc at ucla.  usc favored by 32.5 points.  tons of points once again for the battle for the city of lost angels and bragging rights there of.  norm chow meets pete in the rose bowl for some sort of homecoming.  the bruins don’t have the players.  usc has more than enough to seal the deal and a rose bowl bcs bid.  or maybe more if the big 12 turns to dust.  at any rate, that old weez about any team and any given saturday especially a rivalry as hot and heavy as this one is any thing could happen.  take the trojans to win and cover.

just remember to keep your wallet in your pockets and things will turn out ok.  enjoy the games.

that’s it, the sad end of the regular season 2008 for college football.  nine months of wandering the desert of no college football await.  yeah, there’s the bowl games but they ain’t the same.  is it september yet?

jmh

just another weisacre(?)

earlier this week charlie weise slid into home and won himself another year at the helm of the fighting irish and their once vaunted football team.  followers of the golden domers and team touchdown jesus know that the irish have been in the doldrums for a number of years.  it was rumored that charlie was gonna get the ax if he lost to the trojans again this year. 

he did lose but somehow or another he saved his job.  one wag on a message board put it bluntly to the fact that charlie is white.  a not to subtle jibe at the golden domers and their bungling of the ty willingham deal.  yes, bungling.  ty has since come out and given notre dame credit for keeping charlie around.  ty willingham is a class act and a great human being.  however, this isn’t about ty.

veers and tangents scream through my addled brain here.  ty willingham’s wife and notre dame.  charlie weis and notre dame.  both a problem in a similar vein?  i don’t know i wasn’t or ain’t there.  but i hear stuff.  maybe you do too.  hear stuff like charlie is only into charlie.  no inroads in friend making or hang time with anyone.  plus he can’t seem to win with the kids he has.  

ok.  so charlie has a face to face with notre dame’s new athletic director, jack swarbrick.  fine.  charlie wasn’t doing well.  reportedly jack laid it out for charlie.  improve next year or adios.  next year everyone on the team will be charlie’s recruits.  sink or swim time.

i think the real reason charlie is still around is that mr. swarbrick didn’t want his first major act as athletic director to be the firing of charlie weis and his 3 or 4 super bowl rings.  yeah, i know charlie is also white.  or is charlie weis just another pro coach that can’t make it in the college game because he’s to arrogant and comes across as such.  and a majority of the kids can’t get behind whatever he’s dishing out as a coach.

all that would be some sort of supposition on my part and a number of folks part as well.  maybe or maybe not.  let’s take a look at notre dame’s line-up for next year 2009. 

nevada, a home game to start the year.  no guarantee win here.  nevada played some ball this year.  depending on the number of returning starters for nevada this could well be charlie’s first loss.  nevada’s returning starters may not have anything to do with it.  yeah, it’s their first trip to the home of the golden dome but if properly kept in balance it’s a win for them.

at michigan.  another coach with problems.  maybe even more than charlie. 
michigan wins.

michigan st at home.  another loss.

at purdue.  they might win this one again.  might being the operative word.

washington at home.  they will probably win this one.

open week.  no one scheduled as yet.  here’s a chance for charlie and jack to schedule someone that isn’t a cupcake.  i don’t want to see some crappy school stuck in here just to give charlie a win.  i want somebody competitive tossed in here.  a true bcs caliber team.  we shall see what happens.

usc at home.  another loss.

boston college at home.  another loss.

washington st at san antone, tx.  say what?  yeah, that’s what it says and i haven’t a clue as to why.  at any rate charlie might pull this one out.

navy at home.  could go either way.

at pittsburgh.  pitt can’t wait for this one.

connecticutt at home.  a win maybe.

at stanford.  stanford wins this one.

there ya go.  things don’t look good on paper at this point for charlie.   a semi sorta schedule that doesn’t help out usc at all.  meaning notre dame plays cupcakes anymore and when usc thumps them everybody just yawns and the trojans don’t move up to where they ought to be.  yes, homer john and his trojans.  i want notre dame to be good.  i want them to play a better caliber schedule so when usc beats them it means something.  capice?  

so bottom line?  i think charlie will be gone after next year’s season.  if he were black he would already be down the road.

jmh

belinda and her friends

i’ve tried to write at least three other blogs today with no luck.  i’ve been distracted.  like i’ve taken care of friends other than myself.  no, i’m not looking for sympathy or whatever.  i’m just sayin’.  at any rate, my writing stuff has more or less taken a backseat to other stuff.  all that being said…

‘belinda and her friends’ a book of poetry by my friend, puma perl, is something you all should consider and buy.  in my humble opinion, she is the finest poet  here  or anywhere else at the time.  sure it’s high praise.  however, i speak the truth. 

heroin and alcohol memories.  a sorta charlie bukowski of the female gender stuff.  nyc.  junkie alkie nyc.  mean street nyc.  by a lady who was there and is still there.  but only writes from those hard edged vivid memories of her past junkie alkie sodden dreams of nyc street life. 

after she cleaned her act up she paid some more dues by trying to help the aids inflicted street life folks she left behind.  no, she doesn’t have aids.  she got lucky. 

you’ll get lucky if you buy her most recent book of poems, ‘belinda and her friends’.  trust me.  go to: http//www.erbacce-press.com and find her book.  you won’t be sorry.  you’ll be doing yourself a favor.

jmh

oh tannenbaum or a christmas tale (updated)

 i want to thank all of you who read this poem.  the poem isn’t about my christmas this year.  it concerns my christmas in vietnam during the war and the cutting down of a small pine tree at the beach.   i also wrote about it last year using prose.  it’s back there in the vault.  i wanted to present the scenario in a different way this year.

at any rate,  this minor adventure is never far from my thoughts at this time.   it’s just one of those life things.  i hope you all take the time to remember those in the military and those of us who are less fortunate this christmas. 

i wish you all a wonderful and peaceful christmas and a very happy new year. thanks, again, to all of my readers.

jmh

 

mosquito dreams
slip through
the seams
christmas time
all isn’t sublime
hopes hang
then falter
nothing can alter
the dim hopes
the sad schemes
all slip and
slide in between
reality it seems
trumps those
our dreams
with more
sad silent
screams.

visions of a tree
frightful and small
scrawny and tawdry
ready to fall
vainly to bring
hope for us all
out on a limb
a viper does crawl
slippery silver
death kneel after all
three colts bark
staccato
viper shashimi
before it falls
while the tree
grows new life
it saddens
us all.

jmh

college football bowl picks 2008-09

yes, kids, it’s that time of year again.  kris kringle and the college football bowl season.  it also signals the long wait between now and september of next year when things get rolling again.  no more thursday nights spent sipping ale and watching the game with the cat while the brown eyed girl is at her sculpture class.  ah, fond memories.  it almost brings a tear to my eye.  but i drift.

last year i ran the whole lot of them down.  not this year.  just like during the regular season i’m only doing ten of the games.  which brings another digression.  my final stats for the regular season were 80 for 146.  nothing outstanding but better than 50%.  sorta.

ok.  so only 10 bowl games for me this year because they are probably the only 10 i’ll actually sit through.  for the most part most of the games are stinkers and the only folks interested are the hapless fools who actually travel from where ever to whatever to sit in the stands and drink over priced brews.  maybe if you’re lucky you can snag a beer or two.  maybe not. 

the bowl folks and chamber of commerce folks love them though.  most of the time they make enough money on the rubes who do go sit and cheer for the old home team.  espn also pays a bundle for the games.  but that’s another blog.

enough yammering let’s rock ‘n’ roll.

dec 20, las vegas bowl, las vegas.  byu vs arizona.  arizona favored by 3 points.  it seems like byu is a perennial for this bowl game.  i guess the vegas wags figure that the mormons like to let their hair down once a year in vegas and the game gives them a chance to party down.  at any rate, for some reason arizona is the favorite.  i don’t think so.  byu doesn’t go to vegas to drink and mess with the hookers.  they go to play football.  take byu to win or cover the spread.

dec 23, poinsettia bowl, san diego.  boise st vs tcu.  tcu favored by 2.5 points.  san diego is fun any time of the year.  it’s just getting there that’s the hard part.  at least if you drive.  any the ways, this one is probably one of the best match-ups of the bowl season.  boise’s offense meets tcu’s defense.  the kicker being it’s a neutral field.  sweet.  no home smurf turf and boise gets to play a pretty good team.  take the horned toads frogs or whatever to win and cover.  in simple english, take tcu.

dec 24, hawaii bowl, honolulu.  notre dame vs hawaii.  hawaii favored by 1.5 points.  no one is really sure just why the golden domers are going to any bowl game this year.  the only reason being it’s a good bet the faithful will travel to the islands and while getting the sunburn of their lives go to see notre dame get beat.  it’s that simple.  charlie and the boys lose another one.  take hawaii.  hey, it’s christmas eve grab some absolut and hunker down.  merry christmas.

dec 27, emerald bowl, san francisco.  cal vs miami.  cal favored by 7 points.  if it’s not raining this could be an interesting game.  if cal shows up in a playing mood they might even cover the spread or win.  all they have to do is cross the oakland bay bridge and they are there.  seems simple enough but cal is disappointing most of the time.  take miami to win or cover the spread.

dec 30, holiday bowl, san diego.  oklahoma st vs oregon.  oklahoma st favored by 3 points.  another sleeper here kids.  this one is going to be a good one.  or at least it seems so on paper.  plus san diego once again.  i’m counting on my ducks to pull this one out of the almost new years eve hat and win.  take the ducks to cover the spread or win.  GO DUCKS!!!!

dec 31, sun bowl, ft worth.  oregon st vs pittsburg.  oregon st favored by 3 points.  yes, another pac 10 team.  your point?  oh, i’m a homer.  you bet i am.  this one could get ugly if the beavers take out their rose bowl frustrations on pitt.  i’m counting on it.  take the beavers to win and cover.  happy new year.

jan 1, rose bowl, pasadena.  usc vs penn st.  usc favored by 10 points.  it should be a good game.  if usc can find an offense and score more points than joe pa’s boys i’ll be a happy camper.  that’s the problem.  usc and their semi sorta offense.  actually i’m kind of glad sarkasian is leaving.  sue me.  the usc defense is the best in the nation.  at any rate, take usc to cover the spread and win.   

jan 2, cotton bowl, dallas.  texas tech vs ole miss.  texas favored by 5.5 points.  it’s nice to see ole miss in a bowl game.  to bad they have to play the red raiders from texas.  my sorta alma mater of sorts.  it should be a good game.  or at least i hope so.  take texas tech to win and cover the points.  also take the time to visit: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/

jan 2, sugar bowl, the big easy.  utah vs alabama.  bama favored by 10.5 points.  usual readers know i’m an old tide fan.  i love em.  i’m also a fan of utah this year.  a dilemma for sure.  guess what?  take utah to cover the spread and maybe even win.  yep, they are probably already tired of hearing how badly the tide is going to stomp them.  i don’t think so.  utah, take em.

jan 8, bcs championship game, maimi.  oklahoma vs florida.  florida favored by 3.5 points.  i may or may not even watch this one.  i’m usually fed up with the bowls by this point in time.  simple easy.  take florida to win or cover.

that’s it.  the games i’ll more than likely watch.  maybe.  forget about the rest of them.  just remember not to get stupid and take my advice and put any money on any of these games.  games where anything can happen because the wait is too damn long after the regular season.  most of the kids will have been robbing liquor stores and smoking crack during the month before the games.  only a fool bets bowl games.  capice?  good.  enjoy the holidays and the games.  no more college football till september 09.  crap.  is it september yet?

jmh

some more random weirdness

the brown eyed girl said that yesterday’s blog was weird.  i agreed.  it was weird.  it was meant to be plus i’m a little rusty because most of my writing has been football related for some time now.  that deal is about over for the year.  almost. 

before i leave the sports venue i need to wade in on the tiger woods caddy comment.  if you haven’t heard his caddy made a catty comment about phil mickelson over the weekend to some reporter or something.  it seems he called phil a naughty word. 

let’s be honest here.  phil, better known as lefty, but i prefer hefty, is not liked on the tour.  his fellow players think he is a phony or worse.  i hear stuff and i continue to hear stuff along those lines.  however, you don’t want your caddy making untoward statements about any other player on the tour even if they are true.

tigers comment about the whole deal was that ‘the matter had been dealt with’ time to move on.  back when i worked i got into a number of scrapes with the public.  once i explained what happened it was usually, ‘don’t do it again.’  i imagine in tiger’s case it was a round of high fives and a good hearty laugh.  and of course, don’t do it again.

my friend, jwfh, did another rain blog over night.  stellar as usual.  he wanted to sleep out in the car to really get into the rain.  i should have thought of that.  sleeping in the car under the tin carport roof would be heaven in a way.  harkening back to my days in nam and the monsoons hammering the tin roofs there.  or perhaps high school or college days at the drive-in theatre and it’s raining.  cold, freezing, half naked teenage lust on a car seat.  um, yeah. 

we have more rain in the forecast for today.  cold temps as well.  the brown eyed girl read me a weather rumor last night that said snow levels down to 1,000 ft for this evening.  that means here.  if it’s true or happens.  she’s coming over for dinner and spending the night here.  perhaps we’ll bundle up, sit on the veranda, and wait for the snow to fall with a nice glass of gold medal sherry or port to ward off the cold.

for now the sun is out, the sky is bright, the foothills and mountains are alive with snow.  i’ve seen more but it’s a start.

it’s christmas.  i’m happy.  yeah, jwfh, amazing ain’t it?  here’s something from the vault.  it isn’t christmas related but it has a keith richards vibe to it.  enjoy.

 
i hear the click clack of your feet on the stairs 

what a great line, pure gold from the glimmer twins.  who else?  i hear the click clack of some lady’s feet on the concrete drive every morning.  heels.  hopefully open toed.  at least i’m hoping it’s a lady.  i haven’t looked to see who it is.  i guess the fantasy thing is ok for now.  i mean it could be some decked out dude or some well, overly well fed mamacita.  or it could be heaven in heels for that matter.  i don’t want to know.  not yet.  just that sound is enough to make a man’s mind wander or at least this man’s mind.  what’s left of it anyways.  wander to all sorts of different spots.  then you toss in some thing on cable about vegas and the m i t gang that busted vegas up for a time.  and the mind drifts back.

back to vegas and the beginning of the first gulf war.  that was the last time i was in vegas, alone.  i was supposed to be there with girlfriend at the time or actually my ex, cause i’d wandered off.  it just wasn’t working.  for both of us.  a lovely vietnamese lady.  years later we stumbled upon each other again and tried, again, with the same results.  i wandered off.  again.  veering.

i’d had the hotel reservations for some time and i guess i just needed to go and forget or something.  plus the new war was about to kick off and it indeed did while i was there.  and well, lots of shit slopping around in my addled brain.

vegas isn’t one of my favorite places.  never has been.  i prefer lake tahoe.  it’s more laid back.  for gambling, drinking and relaxing.  though i’d stay away over labor day weekend.  these days i stay away from everything over any 3 day weekend.  at any rate those were the days when i did actually gamble.  i don’t any more.  just the california lottery these days.  the super lotto.  however, those that know say the horse race deal is the one to bet when it gets big.  hard for me to get a grip on shit today.  tangents.  i will also occasionally bet college football now and again.  but that doesn’t count.  yes, of course.

ok. so i’m in vegas.  the hotel california.  may as well have been.  i’m in one of the bars in the casino having a drink and playing video poker.  taking a break from real poker.  ah, yeah,  here comes another tangent.  7 card stud.  not the texas stuff of today.  too much luck involved there.  sure luck in all the gambling deals but that game leaves me cold.  so i’m at the bar playing video poker, drinking.  a very nice looking lady sits down a couple of seats away.  she’s alone.  nicely dressed and yeah, sorta hot.  she gets a drink and starts dropping quarters in the machine.

well, we start chatting.  she’s very nice and bright.  we have a few drinks.  all is sweetness and light.  what could be better?  she’s a reader and an ex professional athlete.  and italian.  how cool is that?  a damn trifecta.  she says she’s got to take care of something but would like to see me later that night for more chatting and drinking. well, you don’t have to ask me twice.  the date was made.

later that evening we meet in the hotel bar.  she looks even lovelier than she did earlier in the day.  sweet.  we have a drink and she suggests we go upstairs to my room and have another drink.  fine by me.  she’s such a vivacious and intelligent lady i was falling in love.  honey, i’ll follow you anywhere.  so we get upstairs and of course she turns out to be a working lady.  what else could the deal be?  naturally.  but like i said i was falling in love and working ladies don’t bother me.  bills gotta be paid.  

it was a really great time.  for me and for her.  she liked it just as much as i did.  the grand finale was right from the cd i’m listening to, ‘parachute woman’, her favorite activity.  she did it well.  i came in her hair.  sorta.  i didn’t notice till she was leaving.  of course she was in a hurry to leave.  another appointment.  so i didn’t say anything.  yes, yes, yes of course.  my bad.  a sorta very early ’something about mary’.

one evening a month or so later i was home asleep, more like passed out, on the couch.  tv on.  the phone woke me up.  it was her.  i was groggy and didn’t really pick up on just who the fuck it was.  i’m like going, who?  who? just like some sad demented owl.  i didn’t realize it was her till after she hung up on me.  then i woke up.  i didn’t sleep much the rest of the night.  pretty much non-stop brain streaming shit.  no, she never called back.

music provided by, the rolling stones, ‘beggars banquet’.

jmh

new country heroes

i wrote this late yesterday morning/early afternoon.  my ears are still ringing from the volume of the tunes.  plus, i wasn’t under the influence of any drugs or booze.  a shade too early in the day for vino so i was just under the spell of real country music.   

a few weeks back my friend, jwfh, turned me on to a semi old country and western cd.  the real deal shit.  not that pussy crapola you hear on k-fr(o)g around these parts or your parts for that matter.  the real deal shit.  because like the band says, ‘pop country really sucks.’

yep, plus some of the best country musicians this side of the last late great batch of country pickers from the heart of country music not since the likes of clarence white et al.  that doesn’t make much sense but i don’t care.  more kids to be sure.  kids that kick ass. 

johnny hiland– electric guitar; andy gibson– several steel guitars; randy kohrs, dobro; joe buck, bass; donnie herron, fiddle;  shawn mcwilliams, drums. 

then there’s leader of the pack, hank williams lll, vocals and guitars.  the grandson of the late legendary country crooner/composer hank williams.

if you like real country music or if you’ve never listened to hank lll and his band i think you should.  no holds barred.  raw in your face country.  old country.  the kind of stuff that brings me back to my youthful days of early country music.  back when it was real americana.  not the watered down puss bucket country shit of today.  real country music played by some of the best musicians i’ve heard in a long damn time.  period.

‘angel of sin’ is worth the price of admission alone.  or ‘not everybody likes us’.  or ‘country heroes’.  hank williams lll, the cd, ’straight to hell’.  buy it.  listen to it.  i’ve lost track how many times it’s played today.   

‘i think i’d rather eat the barrel of a double barreled shotgun than listen to that shit they call country pop on 98.1.’

‘it’s a certain kinda livin’.  it’s a certain kinda style.  not everybody likes us but we drive some folks wild.’ 

they ‘put the dick back in dixie and the cunt back in country.’  sure nuff.

i really like these guys because they can play and they sing the truth.

jmh

fond memories(?)

i’ve had these photos for a while now.  probably since this summer and one crazed hot day or evening in the time before the brown eyed girl and i became an item.  i was going to use them in a blog about nam but that particular one isn’t getting off the ground just yet.  there are a couple of other photos as well.  i liked them and wanted to stick them in a blog. 

this morning my friend, dfr, sent me a couple of photos as he is want to do.  he also included a poem this morning.  a poem by charles bukowski.  i decided to use the bukowski poem and add the photos as a sorta pictograph. 

believe it or not i think there’s a point to the blog. i hope you enjoy it.

 cosmic dancing shiva

shoes

 

when you’re young

a pair

of female

high-heeled shoes

just sitting

alone

in the closet

can fire

your bones;

when you’re old

it’s just

a pair of shoes

without

anybody

in them

and just

as well.

 

charles bukowski

jmh

let it snow and b/day wishes

we had our first really good rain storm of the season this past week.  along with the rain there was a pretty good load of snow for the local mountains and foothills.  it was almost cold enough for it to snow right here.  it almost made it.  no snow here in this area since january. 1979.  i was living several hundred yards to the east at the time.  i remember it well.  maybe we’ll get some around here again later in the season.

the pictures that follow were taken by the brown eyed girl late yesterday morning over in cuca.  you can see just how close the snow got to civilization.  or how close civilization is getting to the snow.  i hope you enjoy them. 

hopefully the clouds will clear at some point and we can get a truly spectacular shot of the mountains in all their christmas glory.  thanks, babe, for going out of your way to take the pictures.

happy birthday keith richards.

jmh

a sorta weekend up-date w/ photos

 i’m sure a good number of you spent the weekend like we did.  running around and trying to get ready for christmas day.  a stop here and a stop there and another over there.  of course, there’s still way too much left to do.  that happens when the deal goes down at your house.  or the brown eyed girl’s house as the case may be. 

there was time to stop the car and shoot some more nice photos of the most recent snow on the mountains.  they are one of the reasons i still like living here.  when the day is clear winter or summer there they are in all their glory.  the san gabriels. 

this will probably be my last blog until after christmas.  myself and the brown eyed girl hope you all have a peaceful and wonderful christmas.  consider the last photos and these photos as a sort of gift from the two of us to all of you, my readers.  we hope you enjoy them.  all these photos were taken by me unless otherwise noted.  merry christmas!!

san antonio peak or cucamonga peak.  depending on which map you might be looking at or who ever you are talking to about the peak.  us long time locals call it san antone peak. 

other views.

the view from the brown eyed girls drive-way.

the view from my veranda.

the brown eyed girl a self portrait.

a ginko tree taken by the brown eyed girl.

merry christmas from southern california!

jmh

christmas cheer and/or i’m the trashman

i hadn’t planned on writing anything else until after christmas.  i thought i’d be too busy today.  turns out things are well under control at the brown eyed girls place so here i am.  lucky me.  at any rate, i’ll go back there later today and spend christmas eve drinking euro-lander beer and eating tamales with her and kayla the cat.  i’m not sure how that’s going to work out taste wise but whatever.  we need the space in the reefer for christmas day stuff.  the beer has to go.  no, the cat will not be fed beer and/or tamales.  though on the other hand some beer might chill her out. 

i may have a bit of christmas cheer before the beer.  then again maybe i’d better not.  never mix.  never worry.  a good credo to live by if there ever was one.  long time readers know i’m a big fan of absolut vodka.  what can i say?  over the years i’ve always heard that gray goose is the vodka of choice among the truly hip and delusional.  i mean guys like howard stern and colin cowherd sing praise about gray goose.  had i been missing something? 

maybe if i started drinking gray goose i would become truly hip and even more delusional.  maybe i’d get a sirius radio show or espn or sports illustrated would come a calling with a nice fat sports writing contract.  well, shit.  it was time for me to buy me some of that gray goose stuff and get the money train a rollin’.  so that’s what i did.

a few weeks ago we were at costco, a big warehouse store here in so cal.  it’s just like a sam’s club or something.  we were wandering around in the place and i spotted some gray goose.  honey, i’m gonna get a bottle of gray goose.  babe, it ain’t cheap.  yeah, i know but if i’m ever gonna be truly hip and more delusional i’m gonna have to at least try the stuff.

gray goose is twice the price of absolut.  twice the price so it must be twice as good.  right?  one would think.  but trust me it isn’t the case.  i don’t like the stuff.  absolut is much smoother and tastier.  gray goose sucks.  oh, i’ll finish the damn bottle but i won’t have to like it.  no, siree.

what does it all mean?  it means that the truly hip and delusional are just that, delusional.  they may be hip but like tower of power sang years ago, ‘what is hip? tell me i want to know.’  jumping on the gray goose vodka wagon might be hip but it turns out to be just delusional at best.

are you reading this absolut vodka?  i strayed but i’ve seen the error in my ways.  i’m back and i’m still ready to go on that absolut vodka road trip and be a shill for your fine swill.  call me.  we can work it out.

i’m lucky enough to live in a town where you can recycle stuff the easy way.  you get a blue trash can and load it up with recycle able crap.   stick it out by the curb on trash day and the trash guys come around and dump it.  thus saving valuable space in the landfills for more important stuff like real trash.   

i’ve gotten heavily into the trash recycling trip.  i spent years living in places where you couldn’t do that.  years of just going fuck it and throwing whatever into the trash can to be taken away.  mea culpa, as it were.  no, i’m not a global warming the sky is falling kinda guy.  nope not me.  i’m just sayin’ i’m happy as a clam to be doing something about trash.

now if i could only do something about paris hilton and her pink bentley.  but that’s a drift.  i fill my blue trash can up every week with all sorts of stuff from junk mail to used up vino bottles and crapola in between.  i’m happy to do it.  i even load the trunk up with stuff from the brown eyed girl’s place and drag it back here to toss it out in some sort of algore inspired delusional frenzy.  hell, he prolly doesn’t even recycle a damn thing.  wouldn’t surprise me at all.  nope.  he just flies around in his private jet making a gazillion dollars per speech about how we are fucking up the planet and we should be ashamed about that very idea.

hell, i’m more ashamed of the truly hip and delusional.  regular folks will eventually work shit out.  count on it.  the truly hip and delusional never will.  count on that as well. 

my point to all this stuff?  do what you can.  do it as often as you can.  it’s as simple as that.  while you’re at it have a very merry christmas eve and day.  i wish you all peace.  may you find it this holiday.

jmh

i know it’s only rock ‘n’ roll…

last night the brown eyed girl and i went out to see our friend, john harrelson perform live at ‘the press’ in claremont.  john is and always will be one of my favorite live performers.  he pulls out all the stops when he gets fired up.  and the packed house had him fired up as you will see from some of the photos.  some folks were so fired up they wanted john so set fire to his guitar ala jimi hendrix.  i for one would love to see that action myself but i doubt john would would use one of his precious babies as fire wood.

if you have never seen john play a live gig you need to do so.  there’s only so much that can come out of a cd.  cds, which are great but live he is something else.  a true performer and entertainer from the old days of traveling black blues artists.  john harrelson delivers what few other folks do, a fine show and even better music. 

thanks, for the music john.  it was stellar as usual.  i’m sorry we had to miss the second set  and the ‘blue highway’ re-union but the brown eyed girl was feeling poorly.  i hope the photos that follow help present what it was like to be there.  please, don’t stop performing live.  we need it.  you do too.

go here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/harrelson

john harrelson at work.  doing what he loves.  making us happy.

mike kreivis~guitar, john~ vocals and guitar, steve rios~drums, brian chapman~stand-up bass.

jmh

a long ago so cal winery with some tv history w/photos

 i’ve been on a so cal winery binge, as it were, the past few days.  i’ve been on it been before.  the last two were old stuff from the vault.  this blog is new stuff and will soon be in that same vault.  i’ve  been wanting to do this blog for a long time.  what made it happen was i finally got serious about finding a few more photos to make the blog more complete.  plus, when we drove by the winery, or what used to be the winery, on christmas day my 93 year old dad told me a story i hadn’t heard before or more than likely had forgotten.

virginia dare winery was one of the staples in the winery making history of so cal and cucamonga to be specific.  it was owned and operated by the garrett and co out of new york city.  they were the folks who bought secundo guasti’s winery in guasti as well.  garrett and co owned them both for a number of years.  they eventually sold out to united fruit co.  who sold out to…yeah, the wine business never was a big money maker.  not like it is today.  well, for a few wineries.

back in the day virgina dare winery was one of those lovely pieces of old california architecture.  you can see that from the photos i found.  the primary eye catcher was the semi sorta almost church like steeple.  today, the old winery is long gone.  it was razed back in the late 70’s and/or in the early 80’s to become a shopping center.  thankfully, the local pols of cuca had enough sense to incorporate the old steeple in the new design.  i wonder if any of the current bunch would have that much sense?  but that’s a veer.

before i forget i need to tell my dad’s story about the place.  after he got out of the army in 1946 he went to work for garrett and co as a carpenter.  he worked in guasti and at the virginia dare winery up in cucamonga.  the winery stood on the northwest corner of route 66 and haven ave.  in those days the area was nothing but vineyards.  it was still nothing but vineyards when i was going to chaffey college back in the late 60’s.  more drifting.

my dad had put a new roof on one of the buildings in guasti.  the bosses thought he had done a bang up job so they wanted him to put a new roof on the virginia dare steeple.  he figured he would have use a ladder to get to the upper windows and then crawl outside one of them somehow and toss a rope over the roof which would have to be anchored to the other side.  then he would have to climb the rope to get up on the roof.  plus how was he going to get the materials up there safely?  he told them he wouldn’t do it.  it was to dangerous.  he stood his ground and he didn’t do the roof or get fired for not doing it.  at any rate, by the middle of the 1950’s virginia dare winery was closed.

the winery’s next claim to fame or at least around these parts occurred in late 1963(?).  the old great tv show ‘combat!’ filmed an episode there.  one of my all time favorite shows and one of my favorite episodes as well, ‘the hunter’.  the episode aired in the second season on 2/25/64.  though on another site they claim it aired in the third season.  the thing about it is, if it was indeed the second season none of my friends or myself would not have been old enough to drive there and visit the filming.  which we did. in the grand scheme of things i guess it really doesn’t matter. 

what does matter is one of the sites says the winery was ‘the mission winery’ in cucamonga not virginia dare.  they also claim the winery is still in business.  like i said, the winery is long gone and the only business going on there now is a small shopping center.  the original place is long gone.

at any rate, it was fun going up to the winery after school to stand outside the chain link fence and watch them film that episode of ‘combat!’.  one evening after the days filming was done a few of my mates followed vic morrow back to the motel he was staying at here in upland.  they just wanted his autograph.  he wasn’t very happy or friendly about being tailed and told them all to fuck off.  oh, well.  as a side light, at one point in time i worked with an ex hollywood stuntman who also did location casting for tv and movie companies.  he found the old virginia dare winery for the ‘combat!’ folks.  i remember an old b/w photo he showed me of him sitting in a lincoln convertible in the courtyard of the old virgina dare winery.

the other virginia dare winery claim to video/tv fame came in 1967 when the tv show ‘the rat patrol’ used the winery and the area around it for an episode.  i’m not sure but i think the episode in question is ‘the fire and brimstone raid’,  season 1 episode 31.  i can’t find any photos or any info on the net about it other than what’s here.  i want to thank my friend, dfr, for reminding me ‘the rat patrol’ filmed an episode at the winery.

by the time “combat!” and ‘the rat patrol’ filmed there the winery was about to fall apart.  it was the perfect setting for a winery that had seen better days before living through a world war 2 ravaged europe.  in it’s last days virginia dare winery became a place for kids to go and smoke dope and other wise party.  which is probably why the city razed the old hauntingly beautiful place.  i miss the winery and all of it’s splendor and history of my youth.

an old virginia dare print ad.

virginia dare winery and the steeple.

an aerial photo of the winery.  route 66 is the road at the bottom of the picture.

more or less what the place looked like during the tv filming. 

a nice shot apparently taken not long after it got it’s new life as a shopping center.  the grapes in the foreground are long gone.

virginia dare winery as it is today.

jmh

saigon holiday, 1971 part 1

long ago in another lifetime i got to spend some time in downtown saigon, south vietnam.  those fun trips were courtesy of uncle sam and you the american tax payer.  you folks and myself included are still paying for those excursions in many ways.  this is a true story about one of my trips into saigon.  there were other adventures in saigon as well but this one was sorta special in a number of ways.

over the years most of you have seen any number of films about the vietnam war.  with the exception of, ‘good morning vietnam’, they were all pretty much your typical war movie.  they were just set in a different time and place with a 60’s and early 70’s pop music soundtrack.  this story is different.  though the soundtrack would be the same.  very loud rock ‘n’ roll.

i think the tale is pretty self explanatory and straight forward.  it could be viewed as a sorta new version of stan and ollie.  though there is a serious side as well but mostly it’s just about two guys that can’t catch a break.  you may see it differently.  just remember this all happened to me in vietnam on one particular trip to saigon.

some of you have seen this story before.  yes, i’m still messing with it.  eventually i might get it right.  i hope you re-read it here.  this is its  first foray into general public viewing circles.  it will appear in several parts.  yes, it is untitled.  there is a title but i decided not to use it here.  plus, i’m not sure i like the title any way.

i suppose i ought to add there is a sorta mature subject matter involved in the story.  if you aren’t mature then don’t read it.  that being said, i’m not your parent.  nor do i want to be.

this story is registered with the writers guild of america, west.
saigon holiday, 1971 part 1

 

i was stationed with macv advisory team 48 in ham tan, south vietnam, from 1970 to 1971, in a signal unit attached to macv(military assistance command vietnam) in order to give them secure communications.  ham tan is 80 miles east southeast of saigon as the crow flies.  the macv compound was an old french mission that was taken over by the u.s. army.  it was and still is located about 3 or 4 klicks (kilometers) from the south china sea.  a fairly nice place relative to other places in vietnam at the time.  as attached signal we didn’t live in the french mission area but in regular vietnam style hooches.  the advisory team, including signal personnel, never numbered more than 50 or 60 soldiers at any time.

by the time i was in vietnam, saigon was off limits due to the usual serviceman’s lust for debauchery.  the military had had enough.  the only personnel allowed in saigon were macv people and military stationed there.  being attached to a macv unit gave us access to saigon.  once cleared with our sargent we just needed to go see the macv clerk or company sargent and they would cut some travel orders for us and off to saigon you went for some sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.  all of this unknown to our signal company and signal battalion headquarters.  they would have frowned upon the very idea.  plus it was illegal for us to be there.  though macv advisory team 48 didn’t really care.

macv advisory teams were a diversified lot.  regular army folk, draftees like me, green berets, cia, and more cia.  the teams had a number of missions as well.  training south vietnamese troops and advising them, running phoenix programs, pru units, and chu hoi programs among other things.  you can google some of the stuff if you are interested.  it would be a good history lesson.  any ways, there were any number of things going on at any one time.

there were only three or four ways you could get to saigon from ham tan.  walk, a very bad idea.  drive, a bit better but not much.  though it was done by us signal personnel.  and that’s a whole other story in itself.  driving from the saigon/bien hoa area or vice versa was at least a four or five hour adventure.  helicopter, wasn’t generally done unless it was an emergency.  or you could take air america, the cia owned and operated air transport system for vietnam, laos, and thailand.  macv would book you a flight, no problem, both ways.  that was because air america flew out to ham tan every day with mail and passengers.  the planes were only 6 seaters with a single large propeller and a rolls royce engine to power it.  they were rated for only 10,000 feet but flew higher to avoid gun fire and artillery.  this made for some interesting flights due to air pockets and the plane being so small.

the air america plane.

a fellow signal mate, i’ll call him bill, and i decided we should go to saigon together.  never having done so as a team.  we would spend the usual three days of getting drunk, smoking dope, and having sex with the bar girls.  a flight was booked and travel orders cut.  a few days before we were scheduled to leave i changed some military script into vietnamese money.  bill said he would opt for doing a deal on the street so he could get a better exchange rate.  by this time military script was illegal tender for the vietnamese as most of it ended up going to north vietnam or so the story went.

the day of departure we went out to ham tan’s so called airport early to await our flight to saigon.  ham tan international as we called it.  a piece of crap dirt runway with a wind sock for a control tower and an equally forlorn terminal.

there were only three of us going to saigon that day.  bill, myself, and a macv captain, a black guy, who was going in for business not fun.  i was happy to see that our pilot was one i had flown with a few times before and i thought of him as one of the best.  there was however a co-pilot that day.  something you usually never saw on these particular air america flights.  with the co-pilot seat empty you could sit up front with the pilot.  i did it once and only once.  i’m not pilot material.  nor do i care for heights.

we boarded, the wind sock checked and off we went.  at this point it becomes clear why there is a co-pilot.  he’s a new guy and the old vet is checking out his flying skills.

sitting in the passenger section of those planes gave you an unobstructed view of the cockpit.  the new guy revs her up and begins the take off.  only thing is the plane is bouncing like a ball down the dirt runway.  the bounces kept getting bigger and bigger.  so much so it was obvious we were in big trouble.  the old hand grabs the controls of the plane moments before we run out of runway and careen into certain disaster.  he then miraculously gets us airborne while yelling all the time at the new guy.  the black captain, who was very black, was a nice shade of gray at this point.  i was ready to jump.  but it was only the beginning.

the plane got off the ground and up into the clouds and air pockets, made even more hair raising with the new guy at the controls.  instead
of the usual several hundred foot drops we were dropping several thousand feet with lots of yelling coming from the cockpit.

we finally made it in one piece to tan son nhut air base in saigon.  the new guy is bringing us in for the landing.  at about 30 feet or so off the ground the air traffic controller radios that a plane load of dead bodies is coming in and they have priority.  we were being waved off.  the old hand grabs the controls and makes this amazing left turn while he flips the plane over on it’s back.  yeah.  we flew upside down at 30 feet or so over most of the air base.  simply amazing.  bill and i about crapped our pants.  the black captain had turned white.

after the hair raising turn we go back for another try at landing.  the new guy back at the controls.  this time the guy can’t get the plane on the ground.  this is a huge runway due to jets, bombers, transports, etc.  however, he’s fast running out of runway and he can’t get the plane below 10 feet.  there’s only a few yards of runway left when the old vet grabs the controls, yet again, and dumps us on the ground like a stone.  i suppose it was either that or another left with a flip over deal again.  i don’t think he was up for another one of those.  his passengers sure as hell weren’t.

we were a long way from the air america terminal.  during the entire taxi ride to the place its more yelling up in the cockpit.  we get to air america and what’s waiting for us are the dead bodies in their body bags nicely lined up on the tarmac.  the perfect ending to a memorable flight.  the old vet pilot felt sorry for bill and i so he gave us a ride in his personal car to our hotel.  it was out of the guy’s way but he figured he owed us.  a very nice gesture indeed.

tan son nhut air base from the air.

story registered with the writers guild of america, west.

jmh

saigon holiday, 1971 part 2

the saigon, circa 1971, true story continues.

saigon holiday, 1971 part 2

the hotel we decided upon was the caravelle.  the place where all the reporters stayed while in saigon.  plus, we had heard the ladies up on the roof were amazing.  the only trouble is they threw us out.  we weren’t officers or reporters.  just lowly draftees.  so we caught a cab and went to a hotel both of us had stayed in on previous saigon trips.  a decent enough place but not the caravelle.

we arrive at the hotel and check in. the hotel staff are not pleased with the sight of bill’s .38 pistol and low slung holster.  give it to us.  no.  this goes back and forth for a bit but in the end they let him keep the pistol.  we unload stuff in our rooms then head off to get more vietnamese money.  i wanted to go to the uso for my exchange and bill still wanted to go for the street deal.  who’s going to fuck with us?, he says.  i have a 38.  ok fine, but first we go to the uso.   another mad cab ride in one of the ubiquitous old yellow and blue renaults.  they were always mad dashes in those old dented wrecks.

saigon traffic, 1971.  note one of the blue and yellow taxis on the left of photo.

the uso in saigon, a sadder place on earth would be hard to imagine.  the place was totally depressing.  it was as if someone had tossed a wet blanket over saigon.  none the less, i got my money changed.  we head back out on the street and bill searches for the rate he wants, the perfect deal.

there were plenty of saigon cowboys to wheel and deal with.   however, before he got around to his money exchange he buys a watch from one of the cowboys on the street.  the amazing thing was he was conned into buying the watch with gi money.  bottom line, it was an incredibly stupid deal but what could i say?  he wouldn’t have listened anyway.  equally amazing is neither of us was drunk or stoned yet.

bill finally finds the rate he wants from some other sleazy saigon cowboy and the guy says, follow me.   the guy leads us around and around and we end up at the opening of this very dark alley.  dark and it’s the middle of the afternoon.  bill says, hey, we aren’t going in there and remember i have a gun.  the guys says, ok wait here.  then he splits.  when he returns he shows bill a roll of vietnamese money wrapped up in a tight roll with a rubber band around the roll.  bill takes the money, looks it over carefully and says it’s all there.  somehow the guy gets the roll back.  bill then hands him his money.  the saigon cowboy hands bill back the roll then poof he’s outta there.  he runs down the alley while yelling something about mp’s(military police) but there aren’t any around.  bill checks out the roll and finds that only the two outer bills are large denominations.  the rest of them are just ones.  useless vietnamese ones.  about the only thing they were good for would be toilet paper.  bill just got ripped off for two or three hundred bucks.

we are in saigon for three days and now half of our money is gone and   there’s nothing we can do.  no idea where the cowboy went and even if we did it would have been suicide to try and get the cash back.  the cops?  yeah, right.  no way.  street money exchanges were illegal.  so it’s another mad taxi ride back to our hotel then up to the hotel’s top floor for some booze, smoke, women, and hopefully solace.

roof top view from one of the old saigon hotels.  maybe even the hotel where the story takes place.

all the hotels i ever stayed in while in saigon were pretty much the same. the top floor elevator doors opened into something that must have been experienced to fully appreciate.  at least a dozen or more ladies converging on the elevator doors as they opened.  just another insane saigon scene.  all of the ladies trying to grab your private parts at the same time.   grabbing your privates trying to get your attention in hopes of making a ‘connection’ as it were.

we weren’t in the the mood for that action just yet.   we shooed the ladies away and went to the bar for some drinks.  after a few drinks we were more in the mood for the ladies.  we make a connection and two of them sit at the table.  more drinks are ordered.  after a few more rounds the ladies said they were hungry and they wanted us to buy them dinner in the hotel cafe.  by this time we were drunk enough to agree.  hamburgers all around.  some mystery meat that reeked of god knows what.  amazingly we didn’t get sick.

after dinner it was more drinking and scoring some smoke for later.  at some point, and to this day i still have no idea how it happened, my ‘date’ got a hold of my wallet.  things had been bad but were about to get dire in an instant.  yelling about the deal would only have gotten us tossed out of the place.  then it would have been, no room, no sex, no money, no nothing.  when i got my wallet back there was only enough money left to pay for the services of the two ladies for the night.  meaning around $40 or so.  at least we were drunk and about to get loaded with our dates then have some more fun.  tomorrow’s problems were the furthest thing from our minds.

saigon night life, 1971.

that night passed blissfully.  the early morning as well.  while the two ladies shower up bill and i met and wondered just what we are going to do.  now broke and no one to turn to for a loan.  we were stuck in saigon for two more days with no money.  a very sad prospect.

bill’s lady turns out to be a hooker with a heart of gold.  sorta.  she gave us $5 in military money.  then said, that’s enough for breakfast at a boq and a cab ride back to air america.  boq, bachelor officer quarters. a boq but any soldier could go into any mess hall in nam and eat for a very nominal fee or for free.  viets knew air america as they could fly it as well.  sometimes.

we were so happy we could shit.  after the ladies left bill did just that.  a huge turd that refused to be flushed.  a turd the likes of which neither of us had ever seen.  we found the mamasan and she sent some old woman to get the turd to flush.  the old woman was not happy as waved her shit stick about.  cursing in loud vietnamese the old lady finally got the turd to flush.  mamasan then tells us to get out.  she already knew we had no more money.  it was goodbye and get the fuck out of here, gi.

story registered with the writers guild of america, west.

jmh

last lonely eagle

i went over to the village last week for some conversation and java with my compadre, jwfh.  as usual, before our meet, i hit rhino records.  i had a certain cd in mind.  i’d even mentioned i would order it if it wasn’t in stock.  it wasn’t in stock.  well, being old i forgot to ask and order the cd.  next time.  then again, i did find an old one that kicks ass.  another old hippy country cd. 

‘new riders of the purple sage’, 1971.  the group of the same name.  the old sorta grateful dead country band.  jerry garcia on peddle steel guitar.  oh my, yeah.  i used to have this particular cd on vinyl.  i’d forgotten about it.  stumbling on it again was a fine thing indeed.    

i love old country stuff.  regulars know and understand this.  however, there are a number of old hippy country cds out there that the new country outlaws might want to give a listen to.  ‘new riders of the purple sage’ is one of them.  fine music with sing along harmonies.  shit don’t get much better.  country wise.  trust me.

john dawson, who wrote most of the tunes and jerry garcia combine to make a fine hippy outlaw cd.  plus, david nelson- vocals, guitar, mandolin; dave trobert- bass, guitar, vocals; along with spencer dryden- drums and percussion; mickey hart- drums and percussion; commander cody- piano.

sure they kinda followed after gram parsons and the byrds and a few others.  but in the grand scheme of things it really doesn’t matter.  there are a number of new riders of the purple sage cds out there.  this one.  their first.  is, in my opinion, their finest.  start to finish this is one fine outlaw country cd.  the country humps of today’s radio world would kill just to get close to this old country rocker beauty.  yes, they would.

as a drift.  there’s a cafe i go eat breakfast in a few times a month.  new country radio is playin’ while i eat.  damn, the stuff sucks.  nah, the food is fine it’s the damn music that sucks.  vocals that blow with just a snippet of peddle steel or some decent guitar lick before they head back into the stupid crap.  lyrics, vocals, and music.  it almost makes an old country honk want to cry.  or lose his breakfast.   

you love country?  old outlaw shit?  try this one on for size.  new riders of the purple sage.  their first and their finest.  give it a listen.  the new improved digital version has a live three track bonus that kicks some ass as well.  i think you’ll be happy you did.

new riders of the purple sage.

jerry garcia and his peddle steel guitar.

jmh

saigon holiday, 1971 part 3

this is the final chapter of the saigon trip.  i hope you enjoy it as much as the other two chapters.  i want to thank all of you for reading.  i appreciate it very much.

saigon holiday, 1971  part 3

we had to get a cab to the nearest boq.  way too hung over, plus too hot and humid to walk.  after an overly zealous breakfast and along with the cab fare we were broke again.  two more days in saigon and no money give us an idea of sorts.  finally.  grab a cab to air america.  catch a flight and just go back to ham tan.   this means stiffing the cabbie at the gate but we are too broke to care.  we caught a cab and it deposited us at the air base entrance.  we bolt and run like rabbits.  the cabbie to old to catch us and he’s unarmed.

main entrance, tan son nhut air base.

feeling better about things we hit the air america terminal and ask about a flight back to ham tan.  we are told nothing is available for the next two days.  the only flight we can get is the one we had already booked two days down the road.  sleeping on the floor of the cia owned and operated airline for two nights is not allowed.  probably not even for five minutes.  the cia doesn’t run flop houses.

there’s a soldier in the air america terminal who hears of our plight.  he tells us to go to the chopper pad about half a mile away and see if we can hitch a chopper ride back to ham tan.  this lifts our spirits as it’s still early morning.  however, by noon we are beginning to realize we were stuck.  no chopper rides today.

the heli-port at tan son nhut.

we seem doomed to some sort of living nightmare.  when out of the blue this vietnamese army guy with a jeep walks up and says, you guys want a ride?  yes.  where to?  ham tan.  no way, way to dangerous.  so bill comes up with a plan.  i’ll give you this watch if you take us to bien hoa.  we figure we can stay in our company area and go unnoticed for a few days and somehow manage to get back to saigon for our flight back to ham tan.  the guy says, let me see the watch.  of course he doesn’t want it as it’s total junk and had already stopped running.  so no ride.  the viet then says, hey you guys got ration cards?  yeah, we have ration cards.  virgin ones.

you see with ham tan being out in the nowhere boonies the army gave you smokes for free and there was booze on the compound.  you didn’t need to use the ration cards.  so they stayed virgin.  this changed later but at the time it was so.

with that information the viet’s eyes light up.  he says, ok, i give you money.  then we go to the px(post exchange) and you buy all the cigarettes and beer on the cards for this month.  then i’ll take you to bien hoa.

this was actually a mother load for the viet.  the black market value for all the smokes and beer was a nice hefty amount of coin in any man’s language.  having learned a lot in the past day or so we say, nah, for all that you take us to ham tan.  once again, no way, too dangerous.  ok.  we counter with, xuan loc, which is about half way to ham tan.  we know a few guys there and we figure we can spend the night and worry about tomorrow later.  ok, deal, says the viet.  with that it’s off to px we go.

after wards we load the guy up with the smokes and beer.  he then says, ok now we go to bien hoa, driving to xuan loc is too dangerous.   we counter with, ok.  we’ll throw in the junk watch and you don’t get shot right here and right now.  and we go to xuan loc.  the viet takes the watch and drives us the forty miles or so to xuan loc.

an aerial view of xuan loc.

it was late afternoon by the time we got to xuan loc.  the viet guy bitching the whole way.  he dropped us off at another macv advisory team compound and went off to find a place to spend the night.  we ate some dinner, watched a movie, then slept in guy’s bunks that were working the overnight shift in the commo(communication) bunker.

there aren’t many mosquitoes in ham tan.  the beach and all.  too dry or something for mosquitoes even in the monsoon season.  however, in xuan loc they were thick and nasty.  the smell of fresh meat drove them particularly insane that night.  even with mosquito netting they were relentless.  waking up in the morning we found that our sheets were spotted with blood.  our blood.  spotted from rolling over in our semi sleep and squashing the little sated bastards into the sheets.   the guys came in looked at their now blood spotted sheets and were not happy.  xin loi, sorry about that.  it was time for breakfast and planning.  something.  anything.

someone at breakfast suggested we hit the chopper pad and talk to the
air traffic controller.  we say that didn’t work in saigon.  we are told not to worry.  so off we go to the chopper pad.  a very busy place.  even busier than saigon.  you see, in xuan loc there is a war going on.  the air traffic controller tells us ham tan is no sweat.  unless the chopper is on a medivac or a mission, he’ll have them come in and pick us up, for he is the lord of this air space.

a portion of xuan loc international airport.

not long after that a chopper lands and we are pointed to it and told to hop right in.  well, of course the chopper is already full and i have to sit with one leg out in space while i hang on to the door frame.  all this while trying not to get in the door gunner’s way.  my first chopper ride and when it was over i would never want another.  we didn’t know if the pilot was unhappy about being made to pick us up or if he was trying to avoid shit on the ground.  we never found out.  none the less, it was an even worse ride than the flight to saigon on air america.  hard to believe but true.

ham tan in sight.  finally home again.  that’s how it felt.  it always did.  we get back to the compound and everyone is surprised to see  us back so early.  before we can explain why in walks our company commander with the executive officer and first sargent in tow.  we of course are counting our blessings.  thanking everyone from god and buddha to swami vishnu the air controller didn’t flag down their helicopter.  finally some good luck or so it would seem.

this is indeed a rare visit as the company commander never came out to ham tan.  it was too dangerous for him.  he always sent the executive officer out on pay days or for whatever.  but today he’s in ham tan and feeling fine.  noticing bill he says, hold on there lad.  we were trying to get out of the bunker.  is that a .38 special you have there?   first sargent, write him up for that unauthorized weapon, and that boonie hat as well.  yes, sir.  for you see, macv didn’t care what kind of weapon you carried as long as it worked and you could shoot it.  the rest of the military were locked solid into the bullshit.  hats were the same with macv as well.  some other units too but not our signal unit.  as bill was getting reamed i sidled out of the bunker before someone decided to go off on me.  off to the hootch, my bunk, and home for some much needed sleep.

fini

the photos in the story were just taken from various places on the net.  googled, in other words.  i want to thank whoever for having them on the net for me to find and use.  i’m not making any money on this deal so i suppose it might be ok.  any the ways, thanks again to whoever, the photos added to the story.

i used to have photos taken in nam.  even a few from saigon.  those i lost long ago.  moving frenzies being what they are.  frantic.  i also had some photos of ham tan and the advisory team.  those are now being cataloged at texas tech university and their vietnam center and archive.  at some point you will be able to be view them on line in the archive.  you should visit that site: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/ i think it’s the best vietnam archive in the country.

yeah, i know the ending is sorta anti-climatic.  it was what it was.  all in all, i think it’s a good story.  thanks for reading.

this story/idea is registered with the writers guild of america, west.

jmh

turn and face the strange or cha…cha…changes (?)

i find it interesting our new president wants leon panetta to be his cia director.  actually it sorta has me a bit flummoxed.  i just don’t see it and hopefully those on the hill won’t see it either.  yeah, i know this is sorta like beating a (hopefully) dead horse but what can i say?

yes, the guy has been around and is more or less a hack like all the other hacks that make a living being a hack in washington, dc.  thing is he has no credentials to be director of the cia other than he’s a re-tread hack and he may or may not have actually read all of tom clancy’s novels.  any the ways, he’s an unqualified hack.  so much for change.  that goes for the others in the cabinet as well.  but that’s for another time.  perhaps.  if mr. panetta is confirmed i imagine his first day on the job would go something like this.

good morning, mr. panetta.  welcome to the cia.  would you care for a cup of coffee, sir?

good morning.  why, yes i would.  thank you.

mr. panetta is given his cup of coffee. 

then he says, i’d like to look around and perhaps have a meeting with  senior personnel in an hour or two.

of course, sir.  no problem, sir.  i’ll start working on that right away, sir.  would you like to see your office now, sir?

yes, please.

right this way, sir.     

as the the aide and leon walk down a hallway they chat amicably.  a bit further down the hall they stop in front of a door.  the aide opens the door and with that mr. panetta and his coffee are ushered into a broom closet.  he’s gently pushed inside and the door is closed and locked behind him. 

hey, what’s going on here!

nothing, sir.  if you feel around a bit you’ll find a chair and a light switch.  there are a few magazines and a porta potty as well.  lunch will be served at noon.  daily.  and you’ll be let out at 5pm.  daily.  we hope you’ll be comfortable, sir.  please, try not to make a scene.  now, we have work to do.  just don’t get any ideas.  capice?

yeah, that’s probably how it will go.  that is if we’re lucky because he’s no ‘wild’ bill donovan.  then who is? 

wild bill donovan.

 

jmh

excuse me(?)

the brown eyed girl does volunteer tax preparation at a senior center here in so calif.  she keeps badgering me about taking the course and doing the volunteer work with her.  i always say no.  mainly because my math skills are from like caveman days and i’d probably end up sending some poor old granny to jail by screwing up her tax return.  the brown eyed girl says not to worry, things are checked.  i would worry and i wouldn’t enjoy it.  trust me.

at any rate, she was going over some stuff late last week the irs had sent her in an email.  new stuff for the current tax year.  or april 15th of this year.  or some damn thing or another. 

seems that i could or you could get a tax rebate or something cause i or you maybe bought some damn new place last year during the time the offer is being offered.  yeah, that makes about as much sense as the irs does. 

any the ways, seems i or you can get in on some of the business bail-out dough.  sweet jesus.  come to poppa!  except the thing is the good old congress is making us regular tax paying law abiding normal working stiff back bone of the nation pay it back!!!!!  yep, i or you, can cash in but…we have to pay it back. 

every other stooge business ass hole is lining up for some cash money bail-out dough.  which they don’t have to fucking pay back.  i see it in the paper every damn day.  oh, lehman bros went out of business.  it cost us a pile.  please, send bail-out money, uncle sam.  i’ll tell you what, that’s what you get for trusting wall street and or the government for that matter.

larry flint and the porn industry want bail-out cash too.  why not?  i guess there’s a dearth of boners since the ‘first’ crash.  apparently not even larry and his semi sorta professional hardcore porn can even get broke dicks up.  so now he wants money because his sales are down.  just like gm or ford or another damn business in the country.  except for maybe the fire arms and ammo folks.

every swinging dick in the country and those sans said swinging dick want cash money bail-out money post bleeding haste.  they will all probably get it.  then they can spend it on re-treats in vegas complete with vintage china white smack and high dollar high end hookers if they damn well want to.  oh, yeah, there’s gonna be over sight.  yeah, right, and i have bridges in nyc i can sell you.  wholesale.

you and me?  we might get some bail-out cash if we jump through the hoops just right and meet all the small print crapola.  then by god, we get to pay it back!!!  interest free of course but what the fuck point is that?  sure we could go to vegas and blow our cash money from uncle sam too.

but the thing is we won’t be getting billions let alone millions.  we would only be entitled to up to like around $170,000 for the home buying rebate deal.  then it might not even be in cash money to blow on loose women and heavy duty drugs in vegas.  let alone enough for doubling down on a pair of deuces at the black-jack table in some sort of smack/alcohol induced purple haze.  yeah.  that’s right!!  it might be just pretend irs money and some sort of other gobbly goop irs mumbo jumbo stuff but the bottom line is you gonna have to pay it back!!! 

it turns out to be just another bill you will have every damn month until it is paid back.  why on earth would you even consider the deal?  also, it wouldn’t surprise me if in the very very small print of this rebate whatever tax deal you avoided by using this useless rebate would also mean you would have to pay it as well.  plain language?  the damn tax you avoided with the rebate will probably be due as well!! 

the irs being what it is would probably charge you interest on the avoidance beginning from whatever time it was you realized you could actually afford to buy a home beginning last year and up until the time it became clear you were probably lucky you did and even more so don’t have a mortgage on the new digs.  yeah, god bless the irs and uncle sam.  

damn, i guess i’m just getting old.  that must be it.  i guess i ought to send my congressman a nice bouquet of flowers and a few $20’s for getting me this little bon mot fucking piece of shit bonbon pay it back you dumb  sucker supposed bail-out cash table scrap for the the backbone of this once great nation. 

crap, i need a potato sack full of that useless monopoly money or wiemar republic money or what used to be know as legal tender, so i can go to the store and buy a loaf of bread.  that is if any of them are still in business.

for the history impaired here’s a nice graph of what went down in the wiemar republic back in the day.  the shape of thingsto come?

wake-up america before it’s too damn late.

jmh

a parable(?)

a friend of mine sent me this in an email.  i didn’t write it.  i have no idea where it comes from or who wrote it.  if i’m not mistaken it’s been around for a number of years.  due to the current sticky situation i think it bears repeating.  yeah, the ‘ c ‘ word used.  however, you could also substitute the ‘ f ‘ word.  doesn’t really matter much.   once your soul is lost it’s lost, well in this regard any ways. 

 
Catching Wild Pigs,  author unknown.

A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt.The professor asked the young man what was the matter.

The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country, while they were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, ‘Do you know how to catch wild pigs?’

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punchline. The young man said this was no joke. ‘You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming.

When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.

Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening  to America. The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as corporate bail outs, supplemental income, tax credit for20unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.. While we continually lose our freedoms — just a little at a time.

If you see that all of this wonderful government ‘help’ is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America, you might want to send this on to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life then you will probably delete this email, but God help you when the gate slams shut!

“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.”

    Thomas Jefferson

 

wake up, America.

jmh
 

time for something completely different

here’s a couple of things i stuck up elsewhere under a semi sorta nom de plume, kwayla kitty.   it’s family friendly stuff and rated: G.   unlike my usual insanity.  i hope you enjoy it.

jmh

Hello 

Hi, everyone.  Some of you are already my friend and I do appreciate that a whole lot.  Really I do.  

I think my main writing problem will be trying to stay awake long enough for me to get something typed.  I type pretty good for a cat, huh?  any way, just remember I’m just a little kitty who got lucky and got rescued a long time ago by my mom.   Now my mom has a new friend and he’s way cool cause he plays with me a lot.  I like him but sometimes I have to bite him.  Hard.  Cause I’m weird at times and I like the taste of man blood.

So I hope you read this and make me happy.  I’m already happy casue I have  a nice mom and dad.  But if i get me some readers I’ll be pleased as punch.

Meow for now,

Kwayla

P.S.  I know where the good canned cat stuff is in the kitchen.  But I can’t get to it on my own.  If you can help out in that regard let me know.  Most of the time I just get the dry stuff.  Yucky!!!

 

My Weekend 

I had a pretty good weekend considering I didn’t get any good cat food.  Again.  I really don’t know what it is but I guess a girl can’t catch a break.  Feline wise any how.  I also got yelled at quite a bit by mom over the weekend. 

I was just doing my usual kitty stuff but I suppose she wasn’t amused.  Neither was dad but he didn’t yell as much.  We’re buddies and buddies stick together.  That is unless he needs a good chunk taken out of his forearm by my razor sharp teeth.  Only I know when that is liable to happen.  However, I must say he is getting much much quicker.  I may need to forget this buddy stuff and work on my kitty warfare tactics some more.

Mom and dad went to a cooking demonstration at a local winery for lunch on Saturday.  Not me I had to stay home.  I think maybe they were being too cheap to add me to the festivities.   But then I never get to go any where any ways.  Sigh.  The sad fate of most cats every where these days They said they had a nice time.  And that the food was pretty darn good.  Plenty of vino to swill as well.  Lucky them.  I have always wondered what vino tastes like.  Something else nobody seems to care if I ever get the chance to do or try. I’ve come close I guess.  Dad and mom like to blow their wine breathe in my face.  I suppose the fumes are pretty much like what it tastes like.  Though I really don’t know.

I do know that I love feet.  People feet to be exact.  Smelling clean or dirty ones.  It makes no difference to me.   I like to smell mom’s feet then bite her toes or foot.  I guess that was what all the yelling was about.  I’m just a little kitty and I can’t help it.  Sue me, as dad is apt to say.

I hope you guys had a nice weekend too.  See you gators laters.  The front door is open and I hear little birds on the patio.

Meow for Now,

Kwayla

 

kwayla kitty

jmh
 

time for something completely different part 2

Here’s some more of the nom de plum stuff.   

jmh

 

The Week Plods On 

I’ve been a big pest around these parts for the past day or two.  Mom asked dad if he would take me to their other place with him.  Dad said no.  Mom said she would help me get the request in writing and make it more official for dad to take me away from mom for a few days.   Dad still said no.   Plus he’s been very busy playing his new wii nine ball pool game.  No time for cleaning up after kitties.  Or so he thinks.

See, I make throw-up messes and other stuff around the house and dad wants no part of that action in his still new place.  Or my mom’s other place.  What I don’t understand is they have two places to hang out.  Me?  I’m stuck here.  In fact stuck here at times with no one to bother or other wise piss off with my kitty type antics.  Is it any wonder I’m a big pain in the neck when some one is here at this place?  I’m thinking probably not. 

 
Dad is coming over here for tonight and the next night.  I would bite him as soon as he gets here but I miss him and he’ll probably play with me or other wise chase me around the house for a while after he gets here. I also heard mom and dad talking about some big deal outing this coming Friday morning.  I need to make plans.  Big kitty plans and some sort of stow-a-way deal in dad’s car so I can go with them.   Shhhh!  They won’t suspect a thing.

Meow for now.

Kwayla

 

A Kitty Road Trip(?)

If you recall mom and dad were going to go on a visit this past Friday.  They were going to go visit a famous painter’s studio and look at his paintings.  Mr. John Budicin’s work to be exact.  Well, I of course needed to tag along but I wasn’t invited.  That’s pretty much standard for any and all outings my folks go on.  The last thing I hear when they leave is: “You’re in charge Kwayla.”  Harrumph.  Not this time.

I had my little knapsack packed and ready to go.  All I needed was to get into the garage and hide out until mom and dad got in the car.  I would sneak into the car and hide in the back seat keeping very quiet till they got to Mr. Budicin’s studio.  Then I would be like:  “Surprise!!! Here I am!!! Let’s go look at the paintings! 

Getting into the garage is pretty easy.  I do that all the time because they always leave the big screen door open when they go out there.  It’s a sorta no brain-er to wander through the garage smelling all the cool smells and stuff.  That is until someone notices me and yells for me to go back inside the house.  This time that wasn’t going to happen.  No one would see me until I wanted them to see me.

It was getting close to the time for mom and dad to leave.  I was sitting on the back of the couch looking outside and pretending not to notice anything.  Dad went out to the garage and left the screen open as usual.  Mom was in the bedroom finishing her make up stuff.  The perfect opportunity.  I grabbed my knapsack from behind the magazine rack and headed out into the garage as well.

Dad didn’t see me and I hid behind one of the trash cans.  It was hard for me not to start sniffing around because all the smells were sorta over powering me.  Not unlike Homer Simpson and donuts.  I resisted the urge to sniff around and just sat there sniffing the back of the trash can.  It was pretty good smelling so it wasn’t too hard to wait there.
 
Dad put some stuff in the car then went back into the house.  But I didn’t get a chance to sneak into the car.  A minute or two later mom and dad came out after telling me I was in charge.  Dad got mom in the car and closed the door.  I was beginning to realize that I hadn’t actually thought the whole deal through.  I was about to be left behind.  Again.  Left behind this time in the garage and in the dark for who knows how long.  Something I hadn’t counted on. 

I was about to have a panic attack.  Something that happens when I hear odd stuff or dad makes this weird noise and I come running thinking I may have to do CPR on him.  He and mom think it’s funny.  I don’t.  But that’s another story.

Anyway, how could they just leave and not check around to see if I was still in the house?   How could I be in charge if I wasn’t even in the house?  Suddenly going on a kitty road trip became a very very bad idea.  Things were spiraling out of control.  They were leaving and I was going to be stuck in the garage.  Sure, I had my knapsack but it was the first time I’d ever packed it and I only put in a couple of pieces of dry cat food.  What did I know about stuff?  Not much obviously.
 
The car was leaving and the garage door was coming down.  I came out from my hiding place but they didn’t see me.  The door was almost all the way down when I barely made it outside.

Now what?  I’d been outside a few times and it was sorta ok.  Ok because I knew I could just go to the front door and somebody would let me back in. This time was different.  If that stupid poodle from a few houses down was out I’d be in big trouble.  I had to do something fast.

Thankfully, the house next door had the garage door open a little bit.  I know the lady who lives there and she has a key to my house so she can take care of me when mom goes away for more than a day or two.  So I just went into her garage and sat by the back door and kitty cried until she found me. 
 
I was never so happy to see her.  She was pretty surprised to see me too.  Especially when she saw my knapsack.  She thought I was running away from home and I just got scared and came back.  I let her believe that.  I didn’t want her to know exactly what was going on.  It was better that that way.  She’s a nice lady and I made her promise not to say anything to mom and dad.  She said ok and took me back to my house.  Boy, oh boy.  I was one happy kitty after that.  I made myself a sorta promise not to try that again.  Well, not anytime soon.

Mom and dad had a nice time at the painter’s studio looking at all of his nice oil paintings.  Mr. Budicin told them to come back anytime they wanted to.  That was very nice of him.  To bad I didn’t get a chance to meet him.  Maybe next time.

J. Filippi Winery,  an oil by John Budicin. 

The rest of my weekend was just the usual.  I left some throw up for mom and dad on Sunday morning.  Just to show them how much I love them.  Aren’t I good kitty? 
 
Meow for now,

Kwayla  

Kwayla kitty

jmh

the doom of gloom(?)

the impending collapse of everything we know and love is still upon us.  our new president would have us all belly up to the washington dc bar and order up a double shot of my baby’s love.  no, wait that’s an old song by the mccoys.  sorry.  but it might not be a bad idea any the ways.  at least it or that will keep you warm and distracted for a spell.  something we all might need. 

the latest stimulus package party is still being catered by the chinese.  we are running up one hellacious bill with those folks, my friends.  one needs to wonder when that bill is going to come due and just what the fuck we are going to have to do to get out from under the bill.

it’s not unlike running up a massive visa or mastercard bill then playing the slip and slide with their ‘no interest’ money to pay off one bill or a portion of the bill or another bill.  all the while saying to yourself, i’ll pay them off eventually.  thing is most folks never do who find themselves in that sorta trap.  of course, there’s always bankruptcy.  however, the way i was raised that ain’t an option.  but i digress.

sure, uncle sam isn’t or can’t go insolvent and declare bankruptcy.  he can just continue to print money.  more money for more bailouts.  hell, he can even bail himself out while sending us to the poor house with piles of useless monopoly money.  yes, i’m on that riff again.  maybe if i and a few others keep it up somebody will start listening and/or pay attention. 

kids, the titanic is sinking.  the nimrods in dc can toss all the money they want at the sinking ship of state but it ain’t gonna stop the water from rushing in and the ship from sinking. 

most of the pols in washington are like the pols here in california.  oh, the school system sucks.  i know.  let’s throw more money at it.  we’ll give em bushel baskets full of cash.  that will fix things.  no, it hasn’t.  the vast majority of kids are still morons and the fools they send the money to pour gas on it, set it on fire, then they ask for more money.

money for nothing and your chicks for free.  that might as well be the new u s of a motto.  because that’s what all this amounts to.  no more ‘in god we trust’ or ‘e pluribus unum’ or any of the other latin phrases that appear on our monopoly money. 

what follows has been around for a while.  a friend sent it to me in an email.  i didn’t write it and i have no idea who did.  but it’s one of those things that rings of truth and pain…

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element
yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has
one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198
assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which
are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called
peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be
detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into
contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that
would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4
years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years. It does not
decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of
the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact,
Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each
reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming
isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to
believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical
concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical
morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium
(symbol=Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as
Governmentium, since it has half as many peons but twice as many
morons.

wake up, america.

jmh

a state of mind(?)

i’ve carried this one over from one of my other places.

seems myspaced out is having more of their ususal problems

 today.  i can’t stick up any links or urls or photos.  fine. 

 screw it.  now i have this print.  whatever.

drifting along here…i had been saving all of my crv(calif

redemtion value) plastic stuff since i moved in here.  like 6

months worth.   my shed was pretty much full of plastic
 
bottles.  i took the stuff to the re-cycle center and it was a

pain in the ass.  loading and unloading all of the shit.  bottom

line is i got $20.60 for my troubles. 

i went to the market and purchased $30 worth of decent calif

cabernet with my ‘winnings’.  i won’t be doing that anymore. 
 
screw it.  the stuff is going in the trash re-cycle bin from now

on.

i’m going to go wash my car now and maybe pull a few weeds

or spray the damn things.   i need the zen work out.  damn

near desperately.

 
a friend sent me what appears below.  it comes from the l.a.

times.   i’m actually surprised they let it get through the

editing process.  

 
we here in the land of the la las have know this for ages.   this

 dumb ass state spends a bazillion dollars on illegals every

 year.  various governators have tried their best to get the feds
to help out.  the feds refuse.  then tell the stae we have to

support them.
the illegals are breaking federal law but the feds are too damn

busy trying to give money away for and to every other damn

 thing on the planet.   something is rotten in the ship of state,

 my friends.  read on macduff…
 
1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card.

2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.

4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers.

5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.

6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.

7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.

8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.

9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.

10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish.

(All 10 of the above are from the Los Angeles Times)

Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare. Over 70% of the United States annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from immigration.  29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.


We are a bunch of fools for letting this continue
wake up, america.
 
jmh

i’ll pass on the kool aid

i sort of touched on this yesterday in a comment or something.  i guess it bears repeating. 

i was more than willing to give our new president the benefit of the doubt and just let him do his thing.  then i’d make some sort of decision about the guy somewhere down the road.  somewhere down the road is already here.

he’s pissed me off.  already.  i was never a fan of the last guy.  not by a long shot.  i really didn’t care for his dad that much either.  though i proudly display a letter from said dad in the living room.

anyway, back to the new guy.  first off his very first tv interview was on arab tv.  excuse me?  i guess i’m just a bit to old school for that kind of stupid move.  but then what do i know? 

then there’s the sanctimonious stuff oozing about him.  he comes off more sanctimonious than algore on a bad day.  i just can’t take it.  sorry.  it was the feeble attempt at humor and his comparison of dc and chicago weather that got that me going on that angle.  gawd, please send us adlai again.  he was a barrel of laughs compared to this guy.  ah, no.  scratch that.  this guy is adlai incarnate.  one was more than enough, thanks anyways.

we also have the stimulus package that is just so full of pork and dubious crap that it’s unfathomable why any sane person would want it to come to pass.

next, and i missed this one when it hit the bricks, was his statement that republicans should stop listening to rush limbaugh.  for some sort of vague non-partisan reasons i guess.  ok.  i stopped listening to rush years ago.  i just couldn’t take him any more.  say what you want about rush and it might be true.  i just don’t care.  but nobody tells me who or what not to listen to be it political thoughts or whatever.  that would also include reading material.

i mean what if i were the new guy and told you not to listen to al franken or barbara streisand or any number of their ilk.  you’d call me a nazi like you called the last guy.  the last guy wasn’t a nazi.  he just wasn’t very bright.  the new guy is bright.  he should know better.  then again i guess not.  either that or it’s just a glimpse of the shit to come.  i think it’s the latter.      

i put up with bubba and his antics.  at least he was entertaining in some sort of odd train wreck kind of a way.  the new guy?  no, thanks.  i’ll pass.  the kool aid?  you drink it.

i pounded this out last night.  i wasn’t really sure that if in the semi light of the new day i would still want to publish it.  yeah, i might as well. 

i think it’s a wonderful thing a black person has been elected to the office.  though i can’t help but wonder if maybe willie mays, hank aaron, tiger woods, joe morgan, charlie sifford, lee elder, joe ‘the jet’ perry and a slew of others may have filled the bill a bit better. 

the chicago political machine rolls on.  much to the dismay of any number of us.   

wake up, america.

jmh

time for something completely different part 3

more nom de plume stuff.

jmh

 

East Wind Go Away…

And come again some way way other day.  It hasn’t been a whole lot of fun around these parts since…what?…Monday morning?  The Santa Ana winds have been blowing off and on for way too long.  Blowing all kinds of annoying stuff up around and into our breathing spaces.
 
Dad woke up Monday morning sneezing and all clogged up.  His nose.  Not the other kind.  He was miserable.  He didn’t even have much fun playing with me because he kept sneezing and blowing his nose.  Finally he told mom he was leaving.  Hoping his sneezing and blowing and thumping headache would go away if he went to his place where the wind wasn’t as bad. 
 
Well, he says it did though he still has the headache off and on.  I wonder if I have sinus headaches?  Or allergies.  Now mom has what ever it is the wind is blowing around.  She isn’t in any mood to hang with me.  Or do any of our other stuff together.  She’s miserable.  Stuffed up with a sneezing sinus headache too.
 
I’ve heard her talking on the phone with dad and they wonder if they have become allergic to me.  Oh, my goodness!!!  I certainly hope not.  Though dad is fairly certain it’s just something from somewhere that the devil winds have stirred up and deposited here in Cucamonga and our house in particular.
    
Mom was sorta feeling better this morning but not really.  Dad was supposed to come over and they were gonna hang some new pictures and I was gonna play with dad and have lots of kitty fun.  Well, mom wasn’t in the mood for picture hanging let alone me or dad. So he’s over where ever he is still and I’m stuck here with a crabby mommy.  Oh, well.  I know I’m loved any ways.

I heard mom tell dad if she isn’t better tomorrow she was going to hang out with dad at their other place all day.  Yeah, where ever it is.  Which means I’m stuck again and probably won’t get to see dad till Super Bowling Sunday.  That’s when they are gonna grill hot dogs and watch the big game.  Maybe I’ll get some canned food.

Boy, I sure hope that’s still the plan.  I miss everybody. 
 
Meow for Now!!

Kwayla

cemetery escort duty

a friend of mine sent me this in an email.  it’s another one of those things by an unknown author.  whether it’s true or not really doesn’t matter much.  it sings and hits notes all on it’s own.  for those that are wondering…yes, it did.

jmh

Cemetery Escort Duty 

I just wanted to get the day over with and go down to Smokey’s.  Sneaking a look at my watch, I saw the time, 1655.  Five minutes to go before the cemetery gates are closed for the day.  Full dress was hot in the August sun.   Oklahoma summertime was as bad as ever–the heat and humidity at the same level–both too high.

I saw the car pull into the drive, ‘69 or ‘70 model Cadillac Deville, looked factory-new.  It pulled into the parking lot at a snail’s pace.  An old woman got out so slow I thought she was paralyzed; she had a cane and a sheaf of flowers–about four or five bunches as best I could tell.

I couldn’t help myself.  The thought came unwanted, and left a slightly bitter taste:  ’She’s going to spend an hour, and for this old soldier, my hip hurts like hell and I’m ready to get out of here right now!’  But for this day, my duty was to assist anyone coming in.
 

Kevin would lock the ‘In’ gate and if I could hurry the old biddy along, we might make it to Smokey’s in time

I broke post attention.  My hip made gritty noises when I took the first step and the pain went up a notch.  I must have made a real military sight:  middle-aged man with a small pot gut and half a limp, in marine full-dress uniform, which had lost its razor crease about thirty minutes after I began the watch at the cemetery.
 

I stopped in front of her, halfway up the walk.  She looked up at me with an old woman’s squint
 

‘Ma’am, may I assist you in any way?‘

She took long enough to answer.

‘Yes, son.  Can you carry these flowers?  I seem to be moving a tad slow these days.‘
 

‘My pleasure, ma’am.‘  Well, it wasn’t too much of a lie.

She looked again.  ’Marine, where were you stationed?‘

‘ Vietnam, ma’am.  Ground-pounder. ‘69 to ‘71.‘

She looked at me closer.  ’Wounded in action, I see.  Well done, Marine.  I’ll be as quick as I can.‘

I lied a little bigger:  ’No hurry, ma’am.‘

She smiled and winked at me.  ’Son, I’m 85-years-old and I can tell a lie from a long way off. Let’s get this done.  Might be the last time I can do this.  My name’s Joanne Wieserman, and I’ve a few Marines I’d like to see one more time.‘
 

‘Yes, ma ‘am.  At your service.‘

She headed for the World War I section, stopping at a stone.  She picked one of the flowers out of my arm and laid it on top of the stone.  She murmured something I couldn’t quite make out. The name on the marble was Donald S. Davidson, USMC: France 1918.

She turned away and made a straight line for the World War II section, stopping at one stone.  I saw a tear slowly tracking its way down her cheek.  She put a bunch on a stone; the name was Stephen X.Davidson, USMC, 1943.
 

She went up the row a ways and laid another bunch on a stone, Stanley J. Wieserman, USMC, 1944.
 

She paused for a second.  ’Two more, son, and we’ll be done‘

I almost didn’t say anything, but, ‘Yes, ma’am.  Take your time.‘

She looked confused. ‘Where’s the Vietnam section, son?  I seem to have lost my way.‘

I pointed with my chin.  ’That way, ma’am.‘

‘Oh!’ she chuckled quietly.  ’Son, me and old age ain’t too friendly.‘ 

She headed down the walk I’d pointed at.  She stopped at a couple of stones before she found the ones she wanted.  She placed a bunch on Larry Wieserman, USMC, 1968, and the last on Darrel Wieserman, USMC, 1970.  She stood there and murmured a few words I still couldn’t make out.
 

‘OK, son, I’m finished.  Get me back to my car and you can go home.‘

Yes, ma’am.  If I may ask, were those your kinfolk?‘ 

She paused. ‘Yes, Donald Davidson was my father, Stephen was my uncle, Stanley was my husband, Larry and Darrel were our sons.  All killed in action, all marines.‘
 

She stopped.  Whether she had finished, or couldn’t finish, I don’t know.  She made her way to her car, slowly and painfully.

I waited for a polite distance to come between us and then double-timed it over to Kevin, waiting by the car.

‘Get to the ‘Out’ gate quick.  I have something I’ve got to do.‘

Kevin started to say something, but saw the look I gave him.  He broke the rules to get us there down the service road.  We beat her.  She hadn’t made it around the rotunda yet.
 

‘Kevin, stand at attention next to the gatepost.  Follow my lead.‘  I humped it across the drive to the other post.
 

When the Cadillac came puttering around from the hedges and began the short straight traverse to the gate, I called in my best gunny’s voice:  ’TehenHut!  Present Haaaarms!‘

I have to hand it to Kevin; he never blinked an eye–full dress attention and a salute that would make his DI proud.
She drove through that gate with two old worn-out soldiers giving her a send-off she deserved, for service rendered to her country, and for knowing duty, honor and sacrifice.

I am not sure, but I think I saw a salute returned from that Cadillac.
 

Instead of ‘The End,’ just think of ‘Taps.‘

As a final thought on my part, let me share a favorite prayer: ‘Lord, keep our servicemen and women safe, whether they serve at home or overseas.  Hold them in your loving hands and protect them as they protect us.‘
 

Let’s all keep those currently serving and those who have gone before in our thoughts. They are the reason for the many freedoms we enjoy.
 

‘In God We Trust.’ 

Sorry about your monitor; it made mine blurry too! 

If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under!

adios, molly

molly bee was one of my favorite country western performers back when i was a kid.  at the time molly was just a kid herself.  she passed away this week from complications due to a stroke.  molly was 69 years old. 

molly got her start in music on the old rex allen radio show singing covers of hank williams tunes.  she was only 10 years old.  at 13 she had her first hit in 1952 singing the novelty tune, ‘i saw mommy kissing santa claus’.

i mostly remember her from the old so calif tv show called ‘hometown jamboree’ which starred the late great, tennessee ernie ford.  i cut my country and western teeth on that old show and the music generated by it. along with the show ‘the hoffman hayride’ starring spade cooley. both shows were local staples on los angeles tv in the 1950’s.

adios, molly bee, RIP.

the cast of  ’hometown jamboree’.  molly, seated in the front row to the right of ernie ford.

molly later in her career.

 
jmh

time for something completely different part 4

I know it’s been a little while since I last wrote anything here.  I’ve been busy so I haven’t really had the time.  You know busy doing kitty stuff.  Plus, it’s been raining a lot here and it’s been cold too so I’m sleeping most of the time.

I heard mom talking to dad on the phone this morning.  She was telling him that I wasn’t happy with all of the rain because the front door hasn’t been open for me to sit there and watch the birdies.  She’s right.  I don’t like the rain for that very reason.

Mom and dad are going out to a big Valentines Day dinner and dance at a local winery tomorrow night.  As usual, I don’t get to go.  It would be nice if they would at least invite me to tag along.  I mean I don’t have to hang out with them and be social.  I could just cruise the wine cellar area in the winery looking for mice to play with while they drink wine and eat osso bucco or whatever it is they will eat.   If I found something I could bring it in for everyone to look at and they would all say what a wonderful kitty I was.  Why someone might even give me a glass of champagne and ask me to dance.  Now, that would be very nice.  Don’t you think?

Anyhow, I might even tell you about their evening if they think it turned out ok.  I may even do it even if they don’t think it went ok.  I don’t care.  All the rain is making this little kitty a bit crabby.  I think I’ll bite dad when he comes over today and picks me up for a hug.  Oh, ok, maybe not.  It was just a thought.  Perhaps an evil one but a thought none the less. 

Meow for now.

Kwayla

 

Our weekend went pretty good even with all of the rain.  I still can’t get anyone to open the front door for very long though.  Mom always says that it’s too cold to open the door.  By the time I realize dad has the door open for me it’s closing when I get there.  So I have to pass my time on the back of the couch or in my bed.  It’s not a bad life though.

I tried and tried to get mom and dad to take me to the Valentines evening dinner at the winery.  No matter what I tried they wouldn’t budge on the no go thing.  I was pretty upset because I wanted to go looking for mice.  About all I ever find and catch around here are crickets and the occasional moth.  I’m sick and tired of crickets.  I need some bigger game to stalk and stuff.  Smarter game as well.  Crickets are stupid and dumber than that poodle that runs around outside here.  I’m thinking mice have to be pretty smart.  Maybe one day I’ll find out.

Well, the big evening finally came around and mom and dad got all dressed up and ready to. I kept trying to make them change their minds about me tagging along but it was no good.  So, I waited till they were both all set and almost going out the door and I went into my bathroom and laid a really nice stinky bomb for them.  I was even impressed.  Dad wasn’t happy at all.  He realized if they left it in my box until they got home they would probably be really sorry they did.  So he cleaned out my box while he was wearing his nice clothes.  He wasn’t happy and was saying lots of stuff I never heard before.  
     
Mom and dad had a nice time at the dinner.  Lots of wine to drink and the food was pretty good.  Or so they say.  Nice people to meet and talk to as well.  I don’t know I wasn’t there.  But orange and spinach salad, osso bucco with saffron risotto and broccoli rob, along with a nice chocolate cheesecake sounds pretty good to me.  Plus champagne before dinner along with a nicely paired wine with each course.  They even got a free bottle of champagne to take home with them. Wow, being human has lots of perks, huh? 

Dad even got to have a very nice chat with the winery owner.  And got to pet the owners son’s dog for a while.  Pretty cool stuff but if I had been there it would have been even cooler.  I would have bit the dog.
 
They had a DJ there and mom and dad even danced several dances.  They were sorta disappointed most of the songs were fast because they wanted to dance slow and make-out.  Mom was pretty drunk by then and dad was sorta too.  Any ways, they danced slow to a few of the fast songs just because they could.

I suppose it was a very fun evening for them.  It wasn’t much fun for me but I had a fun rest of the weekend with both of them hanging around the house because of the rain.  I got lots of play time in with dad and only needed to pretend bite him a couple of times.  Mom, on the other hand, got nailed on the foot a few times for messing with me.

I hope you all had a nice Valentines Day and weekend.  Maybe next year will be better for me and I’ll get to stalk mice for my Valentines Day.
 
Oh, you may want to visit the place where mom and dad went saturday night and often go to other times as well: http://josephfilippiwinery.com  They say it’s a very cool place.

Meow for now,

Kwayla

a little bit of roadtrip madness

yes, boys and girls, it’s almost that time again.  time for another fear and loathing road trip up into the true heart of darkness.  it begins very soon.  a nine or ten day trip to the central valley and the insanity that awaits.  lurking like some fiend from the bowels of hell.  i say, bring it.  it’s time to rock ‘n’ roll, once again.  the addled oldsters banging back old tom barleycorn, vino vertas, plus beer for breakfast and lunch like there’s no tomorrow.  and perhaps there isn’t.
 
three nights of supreme depravity and debauchery steep like a sleeping succubus while the cabin in the sierra foothills sits getting even colder as more snow silently falls.  great mounds of the white stuff sit and wait to be used as a refrigerator for the beer, white wine, and vodka.  sweet, jesus, life is good.

the imagination races and roils at the thought.  let the weekend begin.  let madness reign.  rock ‘n’ roll.

jmh

the long and winding road trip awaits plus oscar & movie madness

alright.  i’ll be out of here soon.  this will be my last foray into the blog-o-sphere till my return from up north.  if the weather holds and god is willing i’ll make it over the grapevine and ft. tejon in one piece. then down into the cotton fields for points further north.  interstate 5.  straight north.  up and into the mystical madness i’ve come to love.  well, not recently come to love.  i’ve always loved it and there lies the rub.  que sera or c’est la vie.  it matters not.  not at this point any the ways.  some would beg to differ but there’s no time for that riff.  not now.  please.  sirens and phantoms call.

this past wednesday night provided a glimpse of things to come.  tame by the usual standards but still strange enough to wet the appetite for more total unabridged insanity.  can the gout be far behind?  i want to court that almost arcane disease and become it’s mad lusty suitor.  perhaps to walk the streets with my foot bandaged in linen.  a silver tipped cane in my hand.  a jaunty top hat on my head.  ah, yes. 

however, before i go i want drag a couple of things out of the vault.  it’s oscar weekend and time to celebrate the movies i don’t go and see anymore.  both of the oldies are movie and/or oscar related ditties.  i hope you find them amusing.  i’ll see you when i get back here to the land of la la’s and the valley of smoke.  peace to you all.

jmh
 
oscar night

yeah, oscar night, it’s tonight.  it ain’t what it used to be.  then of course just what the hell is?  i don’t go to movies anymore.  the whole experience is just annoying these days on all sorts of levels.  i buy em instead.  cheap.  watch em at home.  very seldom anything new.  for the most part the old stuff of my youth or somewhat newer stuff.  yeah, even the stuff from before i was born.  movies i can watch.  movies i can relate to.  movies that might even mean something to this old scarred and pissed off lion.  all that being said, i have something for this used to be, sacred evening.  something sad and tragic.  my take on one of the last sad acts of the original king of cool, steve mcqueen.

the dust and heat…

hung in the tijuana air like a freeze frame from hell.  cars honked and clamored looking for an inch in which to move.  nothing ever did.  in sunglasses and old clothes he moved through it all.  no one knew him.  he moved slowly looking for the place.  if you looked at him closely you could see the disease at work.  taking what was left of his life and mocking him with each painful step.  finally the place.  the earthly waiting room for hell. 

the bell above the door tinkled when he opened it.  as the door closed the hell from the streets outside stopped and the smell of the office over came him.  a small greasy headed man got up from behind an equally greasy desk and spoke.

ah, senor bullet, you have come.
yes, on the phone, you said you could help me?
si.  yes, i can.  por favor, follow me.

through the cluttered outer office and into the dank dismal treatment rooms they went.  a strange but familiar odor growing in the man’s nose.  the small mexican finally stopped at a dirty examination table.  he turned and said.   

please, senor, you must deesrobe.
ok. the man replied.

he was resigned to it.  it was all that was left.  this final sad humility of an approaching death.  a last chance stop on the road of life.

hokay, meester bullet, now you must assept these enemas of the coffees to cure you cancers.  por favor, on the tables.  you must spread you nalgas for
me.

a tear formed in the corner of his eye as the man moved to comply.  only to be used as substance by a very large nasty house fly.

outside the dust, heat, and noise, for that moment, stopped.  something had gone from us all.  forever.  in an instant they all began to move.  again.  to oppress.  again.  moving us closer to this hell on earth.

jmh
 

desert island movies

ok. so if i was gonna do this desert island movie deal on the same desert island i’m doing my desert island music along with a couple of hot asian babes and some nice iced chinese beer or bottle of vino or three or some very very cold absolut.  yeah, it’s a run-on sentence going nowhere.  i’d be needing me either a nice theater set-up or a 62 ford falcon wagon in which to watch and play around in while the movies were playing on the large drive-in screen or flat screen tv.  though i guess when you really think about it they are actually one in the same.  just from different eras.  but both the same.  drifting i know.  but you have to set stuff up or it’s…

1. ‘the godfather 1 & 2′.  no doubt.  it has to be right up on top.  plus they have to be as one.  though there’s a case to be made for part 3 as well.  it doesn’t sing at all and it sucks but it does sorta round stuff out.  3 ain’t on the list.

2. ‘apocalypse now’.  i originally saw this in one of those old cinerama dome thingys and i was ducking bullets.  a great movie.  i’m still not sure if i like the re-deux deal he did a few years ago.  i think it slows things down and just gets in the way of the other stuff.

3. ‘abbott and costello meet frankenstein’.  yeah, boy, this is right up in the top ain’t it?  it should be.  my goodness, you have bud and lou at their finest along with bella, lon jr, and frankie.  though not boris’ frank but good enough.  i saw this one for the first time on tv as a little kid one halloweenie night.  it scared the crap out of me while i was laughing at bud and lou.

4. ‘full metal jacket’.  love you long time and me so horny.  yeah, baby.  not as dreamy as number 2 on this list but it gets the job done.  stellar.

5. ‘good fellas’.  a great movie and i watch it every chance i get even if it’s on cable loaded up with commercials.  plus it’s got tony soprano’s shrink in it and she is still one of the hottest non-asian babes going.
          
6.  ‘invasion of the body snatchers’.  the original b/w deal.  another scary movie.  this one supposedly has cold war overtones.  i was always too scared to notice any of that in the movie.

7.  ’she wore a yellow ribbon’.  you have to have the duke in any top ten movie list or you really aren’t paying attention to the movies.  it could be any movie from his vast catalog but one or more must be in there.  she wore a yellow ribbon is a great film about old soldiers and being in love.  also see number 10.
 
8.  ‘a fistful of dollars’.  if only for bringing clint to the screen so he could do what he did after this one.  none the less it re-wrote cowboy movies. one more time.

9.  ’stagecoach’.  the original b/w version though the outlaw color version with willy, kris and waylon is pretty good too.  just goes to show what a good script and idea can do if you let it roll.  plus it’s that other duke film i was talking about.  yeah, the comancheros, rio bravo, the searchers, the quiet man, fort apache, the sands of iwo jima…

10.  ‘my darling clementine’.  well, it’s hank fonda doing what he did so well along with john ford and monument valley doing what they both did so well.  as a matter of fact monument valley is still doing it to this very day.  a glorious place.  when visiting be sure to stop at the burger king and visit the ww2 navajo code talkers shrine inside the burger king.  yes, it’s a bit surreal but what about life isn’t?
  
there they are my top 10 desert island movies.  of course, i’ve left off numerous good ones.  then there’s ‘pulp fiction’.  ouch.  i still don’t get that one and i’ve never been able to sit thru the whole thing and yes i’ve tried a few times and i really don’t want to hear how great the movie is ok?  thanks.  because i do not like it.  period.  same goes for ‘gone with the wind’.  that one i’ve sat thru.  several times.  unfortunately.

then there’s oliver stone. i guess it’s because i don’t care for his work.  the only movie by him i actually enjoyed was ‘natural born killers’.  the rest of his stuff i have no use for.

sure there’s ‘dr strangelove’, ‘the pink panther’ series with peter, antonino’s cult classic ‘blow-up’, zeffirelli’s ‘romeo and juliet’, ‘bullet’, ‘the big sleep’, ‘the african queen’, ‘treasure of the sierra madre’, ‘bonnie and clyde’, ‘the wild bunch’, ‘the magnificent 7′, ‘the bellboy’, ‘12 o’clock high’, ‘psycho’, ‘north by northwest’, fellini, ‘vertigo’…i think you get the drift.  amazing stuff.  plus there’s scores and scores more. 

we all have our favorites.  some are the same and some aren’t even on the same planet.  doesn’t matter. damn, let’s just nuke some popcorn up and slip a dvd into the machine.  kick back and enjoy.

jmh

a long and winding road

it’s been a difficult day for me and the brown eyed girl.  well, more so the brown eyed girl than i.  it all started for her sunday morning.  we’d had a very nice evening the night before with dfr and jwfh.  a very pleasant evening to be sure.

at any rate, on sunday morning the brown eyed girl tried to get a book off the bottom self of one of my bookcases.  she heard a snap in one of her hips.  a hip that’s an artificial joint.  it was a painful snap.  but things worked themselves out of the initial pain deal as had the others.
 
though she was worried and called her orthopod in l.a.  they spoke on the phone and he told her if she was worried to come in today and he’d check her out.  well, we woke up this morning and she felt ok.  we cuddled a bit and it snapped again.  yeah, just a cuddle for a bit.  so we went in to downtown l.a to see her doc. 
 
she felt fine but as an old hand at this deal she’d packed a small bag.  just in case.  her doc is one, if not the finest, joint replacement docs in the whole damn world.  they took some x-rays and he had her up on the table and messed around a bit with her hip.  of course, it popped again.  painfully.  she got it to go back to an unpainful position but the doc said, we need to fix it.

long story short, she is still at the hospital and goes in for surgery tomorrow in order to replace a defective part of the hip joint.  a semi sorta not so major operation according to her doc.  but none the less surgery.

i’ve sorta touched upon the brown eyed girl’s problems in the past.  she’s a victim of childhood rheumatoid arthritis.  she’s had numerous operations on various joints and or other stuff in her life.  though the past few years she’s been somewhat lucky in that regard.  today, another of her docs called her a fighter and a tough lady.  she is indeed that.

she is also the love of my life.  yeah, i’ve had a few.  but she’s different.  i’ve stated here before if i had met her long ago in her ‘window’ of opportunity we would have had a number of kids.  i stand by that statement today. 
 
i love her dearly even with all of her problems.  she is the one for me  and thankfully i’m the one for her.  that is if i don’t fuck shit up at some point.  yeah, well…i have no intention doing so.

ok.  so here’s the deal.  i’m not sure when i’ll be back here on any sort of regular basis.  i have other needs now.  as does the brown eyed girl.  for sure i’ll let you know how things go tomorrow.  there should be no problems but a prayer to the deity of your choice would be much appreciated.  thanks.

jmh

southern infantry and northern artillery

the title of this blog is something i’m fond of saying.  however, i didn’t come up with it.  the late novelist and civil wear historian, shelby foote, came up with it years ago.  it’s a pretty much true statement.  at any rate, it means with southern infantry and northern artillery the us of a could win just about any war with anybody.

i was sent the following in an email by a friend a week or so ago.  i’d been wanting to stick it up here and share it with you but i’ve been busy with the brown eyed girl.  things are going well on that front so i’m back home for a few days of r and r on my own.  i have no idea where it came about or who originated the email.  all i know is that it’s funny as hell and there just might be a few grains of truth to it as well.  the point being is, the photo combines southern infantry and northern artillery in a 21st century way.  i hope you enjoy it as much as i did.

The Pentagon announced TODAY the formation of a new 500-man elite fighting unit called the   United States Redneck Special Forces (USRSF).  These mostly Southern boys will be dropped off into Iraq and will be given only the following facts about terrorists:

1. The season opened today.
2. There is no limit.
3. They taste just like chicken.
4. They don’t like beer, pickups, country music, or Jesus.
5. They are directly responsible for the death of Dale Earnhardt.

The Pentagon expects the problem in Iraq to be over by Friday.   Applications are available at your local Wal-Mart sporting goods counter. 

rock and roll!!!

jmh

saddling up

it’s been awhile since i’ve sat down here at the computer and pounded something out.  well, today is the day.  i’m feeling the need to yammer about some music that’s been playing a lot in the car since i picked it up last friday.  now, it’s on here and jamming out over the jbls.

i stumbled onto an old austin city limits last thursday evening.  one from 2006.  van morrison to be exact.  van morrison doing his country thing.  yeah, van does country.  that show was amazing.  jaw dropping amazing.  some of the finest country i’ve heard from a non country artist in a good long while.  thankfully, i got into it from the beginning.  an hour of van’s wonderful voice and a band that kicked some serious ass.  steel guitar to die for played by a lady i’ve never seen before and i have no idea what her name is.  if anyone reading this can help me out in that regard, please do so.  she was playing licks off a triple neck steel that at one point made me cry.  yeah, that’s right. 

the next day i was having some java with my friend, jwfh.  as usual i went into rhino records and wandered around for 45 minutes or so cherry picking this and that.  an otis redding dvd with all the good stuff on it.  and a stones live dvd from 1975 recorded here in la la land.  sweet to be sure.

as far as i know there isn’t a recording of the van morrison austin city limits show.  the closest you can come to it is his 2006 lp ‘pay the devil’.  i picked it up as well.  as jwfh said, it isn’t one of his best and the band isn’t that good.  but i’ll tell you what, the band is adequate and satisfying.  the steel player on the lp isn’t the steel player on the show but paul godden does a good enough job for me.  as does everyone else on the lp.  bob loveday, violin; geriant watkins, piano; mick green and johnny scott on guitar; paul riley, bass; ian jennings, double bass; and bobby irwin, drums.

this lp is sorta an ode to his dad who was a big country fan.  i like it. you might too.  though at one point yesterday the brown eyed girl told me enough of van and his country we need to listen to something else.  no, she’s no fan of country but she puts up with me up to a point.  you can’t always have it all.

at any rate, there’s some nice covers of some old standard country stuff from, ‘there stands the glass’ to ‘your cheatin’ heart’ and ‘half as much’.  if you like country this is an adequate and satisfying lp.  an lp done by probably one of the few singer and players that you can pretty much be assured you need ALL of his stuff in your collection.  folks, there ain’t very many artists out there that you can say that about.  the stones.  maybe john lennon.  otis redding.  and there just isn’t anybody else.  count on it.

jmh

water water everywhere & nary a drop to drink

the water crisis here in the great state of chaos continues as it begins the long slow slide into somebody actually doing something about it on a local and statewide basis.  oh yeah.  though the bread basket of the nation has been jumping on the farmers for a year or so, cutting back on their water rations.  i guess lawns are more important than feeding a vast portion of the nation.  but then what do i know?  not much i’m sure.

the water infrastructure here is in total disarray.  the main point of the whole fragile system is up in the sacramento/stockton delta area.  billions need to be spent to fix it.  the problem is a bi-polar mess.  the dems and gop are both sad culprits in the chaos.  we pay those hacks good money to take care of stuff.  they take the money and don’t do anything other than piss everyone off.  it’s been so for many a year.  the last great water projects happened back in the early 60’s thanks to jerry brown’s dad, pat.  i could tell you a story about the two of them but i won’t. 

on an other note, i was talking to a local water guy this morning and he told me a tale of the current stimulus package dole out courtesy of uncle sam.  the man has been involved in the water industry here in socal for a number of years in a supervisory capacity and a very bright guy as well.  he told me trying to just figure out the whole convoluted process was mind numbing and stupid.  no idea what was what or just how to go about it.

in my thinking that would, of course, figure.  government gobbly goop to the nth degree brought on by those that would love nothing better than to make it the official language of a once great nation.  but i digress.  my water guy has no idea if the local water folks will get the modest $2.5 million grant.  none.  zip.  zilch.  nada.  if a check shows up then the deal went down.  if not.  sin loi, charlie.  a rather dumb ass way of doing biz but that seems to be the nature of the feds these sad end of times days.

ok.  here’s a nice 180 turn.  however, still water related.  the current crop in power down dc way have their collective panties in a knot about the way the cia has been dealing with the current crop of terror dip-shits.  fine.  though i have no problem with anything they do in trying to find shit out.  nothing.  yep.  deal with it. 

let me harken back to that doomed and failed vietnam experience.  failed for many a reason.  but that ain’t why i’m here.  nope.  the langley boys had a way of dealing with the cong and nva regulars.  terrorists to be sure.  rape.  kill.  pillage.  tax.  impose will.  scare.  and otherwise totally fuck over folks.  your ever friendly troops of mr wonderful, uncle ho.

the drifts pile up don’t they?  the company guys had a way with the usual suspects.  take a few of em up in a chopper to several thousand feet and ask em a question.  no answer.  toss one of em out.  ask the question again.  you get answers.  if not, take a couple more of em up. 

i personally have no problem with that action.  none what so ever.  they were women and children killers.  pure and simple.  just as the current crop are.  sad little shits.  fight fire with fire.  simple as that. 

whether it be water or a chopper way up above the trees, all is fair.  it’s us or them.  there is no compromise.  we limp along in these end of times days.  but then what do i know?  not much i’m sure.

the stockton delta with crops.

the delta again and what usually happens after days of heavy rain.

vietnam and a chopper above the trees.

jmh

wedding planning for the elderly

the browned eyed girl has been running around trying to deal with stuff for our upcoming nuptials.  i’ve sorta been collateral damage on a few of the shopping trips.  which is fine.  don’t get me wrong.  it’s her first and hopefully only wedding.  it will be my second and hopefully last.  i’ve been telling her she can do what she wants, after all she’s the bride to be.  thankfully, it’s going to be low key.  at any rate, shopping for just about anything makes me cranky.  though i have tried my best under the circumstances and she’s been vaguely impressed. 

low key is a good thing.  older folks probably shouldn’t get to crazed over getting married.  i mean crazed is ok but a wedding party for several hundred folks ain’t our idea of fun.  we have better things to spend our money on.  don’t get me wrong, there will be a wedding party after the ‘i dos’ but it will be a week or so later and for well under several hundred folks.  we have a couple of local places in mind for the party, both of which are nice italian joints serving up outstanding italian grub. 

we’ve also been dealing with a local jeweler who doing a nice custom ring with some old stuff of ours.  plus he’ll add a new stone as well.  we go see him today to get a look at the mold and what hopefully will be the final time before he pours the gold into the mold and makes the ring.

as for the wedding itself it will be a civil ceremony either here at the county recorders office or on a trip to las vegas.  with the info we got today it looks like it’s going to be las vegas.  a mutual friend of ours made us an offer this morning, which we couldn’t refuse, of a very famous place in vegas in which to have the ceremony.  i’m talking top of the line famous and for free.  i don’t want to let it out yet as it may not happen.  as in, shit happens.  but he’s having dinner this friday with his partner, the guy who can make it happen.  so we should know by the weekend if the deal is going to go down.

yes, it’s been a pretty fast trip for us but i’ve said it before, the brown eyed girl is the love of my life and if we had met long ago we would have had a bushel basket of kids.  well, that didn’t happen.  now, we just have to make the best of it and make the rest of our lives as happy as possible.  stay tuned.

jmh

the long slide

i received this in an email this morning.  i’m re-posting it here with no one’s permission.  i doubt they’ll mind.  except for probably, mr. obama.  

jmh
You don’t have to be a military veteran to appreciate the sentiments expressed here.  But, if you are, and have served our Country, or have close family who DID serve or IS serving, this message may have even greater clarity.  Service personnel earn VERY LITTLE in comparison to what they sacrifice.  My apology to anyone who simply feels that this is ‘right-winged diatribe!”  Exam closely the spoken words.

Subject: Arrogant Americans

Arrogant Americans, Mr. President?
Peter Heck – Guest Columnist – 4/14/2009 7:50:00 AM

    As I was sitting in church waiting for the start of the service, my grandpa came walking towards me pointing his finger. No matter how old I get, and no matter how long he’s been out of the U.S. Navy, that’s still an intimidating sight. As he approached me, his voice quivered as he said, “We saved that continent twice…how dare my president apologize for this country’s arrogance.” My grandpa is right. Americans need not apologize to the world for their arrogance; rather, Americans should apologize to their forefathers for the arrogance of their president.

Barack Obama’s first foreign trip as President of the United States has confirmed the naiveté so many of us feared during the election cycle. But worse than that, it has also demonstrated that our president suffers from either a complete misunderstanding of our heritage and history, or an utter contempt for it. Neither is excusable.

    Garnering cheers from the French of all people, President Obama declared, “In America , there is a failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.” Consider that Obama spoke THESE words just 500 miles from the beaches of Normandy , where the sand is still stained with 65-year-old blood of “arrogant Americans.”

    Indeed, columnist Mark Whittington observes, “One should remind Mr. Obama and the Europeans how America has ‘shown arrogance’ by saving Europe from itself innumerable times in the 20th Century. World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and the wars in the Balkans were largely resolved by American blood, treasure, and leadership.” But all that appears lost on the president’s seemingly insatiable quest to mend fences he imagines have been tarnished by the bullish George W. Bush.
 
If Obama wishes to continue trampling the presidential tradition of showing class to former office holders and publicly trash Bush for his own personal gain, so be it. But all Americans should make clear that no man – even if he is the president – will tarnish the legacy of those Americans who have gone before us. Ours is not a history of arrogance. It is a history of courage, self-sacrifice, and honor.

    When abusive monarchs repressed the masses, Americans resisted and overthrew them. When misguided policies led to the unjust oppression of fellow citizens, Americans rebelled and overturned them. When millions of impoverished and destitute wretches sought a new beginning, Americans threw open the door and welcomed them. When imperial dictators were on the march, Americans surrendered their lives to stop them. When communist thugs threatened world peace, Americans bled to defeat them. When an entire continent was overwhelmed with famine and hunger, Americans gave of themselves to sustain it. When terrorist madmen killed the innocent and subjugated millions, Americans led the fight to topple them.

This is the legacy that generations of Americans have left. If President Obama seeks stronger relations with the world community, perhaps he should begin by reminding them of these very truths, rather than condemning his own countrymen on foreign shores.

    This “obsessive need to put down his own country,” has caused blogger James Lewis to call President Obama a “stunningly ignorant man” who has evidently never spoken to a concentration camp survivor, a Cuban refugee, a boat person from Vietnam, a Soviet dissident, or a survivor of Mao’s purges.

    Unfortunately, I can no longer bring myself to give Mr. Obama that benefit of the doubt. Not after looking at the pain in my grandpa’s eyes…a man who still carries shrapnel in his body from his service to this country.

    As a student and teacher of history, I recognize that America has made mistakes…plenty of them, in fact. But one of the great things about our people has been their courage and humility in admitting and correcting those mistakes. God willing, they will prove that willingness again in four years and correct the mistake that is the presidency of Barack Obama.

hank, country music and jesus

this was written last night,  after a day of listening to the cds and an evening sipping vino. there’s a few bumps in here but you’ll get the picture.

if you’ve been paying any attention to this place you’ve noticed i’ve been listening to, ‘the un-released recordings – hank williams’, an awesome 3 cd set.  simply amazing stuff to be sure.  i thank the brown eyed girl for giving me the collection as a birthday gift.  i will always treasure your thoughtfulness.  thanks, babe.  

kids, if you love your old country music by a man that’s been screwed by the grand ole opry and the humps that wish to make him a minor footnote in country western music then this cd collection is for you.  it is also most certainly not anywhere near today’s country music crap.

hank williams, country and jesus.  a simple homage to the main simple man of country music.  that’s what this cd collection is.  i haven’t heard anything anywhere near this stuff for many a year.  old.  simple.  pure.  country.  played and sung by a bunch of drunken jesus sorta lovin’ folk just tryin’ to make a livin’.  my goodness. 

if you’d mind your own bidness you wouldn’t have time to be foolin’ with mine.  lordy.  can you?  can you, the us of a government?  sorry, that’s a drift. 

un-released old 1940’s live radio recordings mastered into only what a cd can conjure up.  yeah, i know.  vinyl is on a comeback tour.  i been there and done that and i’ll stick with a cd, thank you.  no mp3 or ipod either.  there ain’t no high or lows to be found there.  highs and lows be what this and other old country rocker blues jazz boys need and love.  hank and the band nails it on this 3 cd set.

yeah, ok.  you may not be into jesus.  fine, that’s your bidness.  however, if you love the real country pickin’, singin’ and peddle steel deal then you best get over it and hunker down with the king of country, hank williams and his, ‘the unreleased recordings – hank williams’, 3 cd set.  oh, yeah.

‘pictures from life’s other side’.  ’searching for a soldier’s grave’.  ‘tennessee border’.  ‘on top of old smokey’.  and 50 others.  some of the best country i’ve heard in a very very long time.  trust me.  

thank you, jesus.  thank you, lord.  thank you, glimmer twins, for that country bon mot.  and more importantly, thank you hank and the band.

sweet, jesus.  TURN IT UP!!!

jmh

the late great state of chaos

i’m a native of california.  my mother is a california native as well.  she’ll be 95 in september.  we have roots that go way the hell back.  we’ve seen any number of things.  my dad too, though he’s only been out here since 1941.  the brown eyed girl is a socal native.  she’s seen some shit too.  more shit just might hit the fan soon here in the late great state of chaos, california.

we pay our state senators and state assembly folks a lot of money.  plus they get some damn nice perks.  i wouldn’t mind that if they did what the fuck we paid them to do.  though they can’t seem to be bothered with doing that, their job.  their well paid job. 

it’s been a number of years and may even go back to governor moonbeam, jerry brown, who is actually thinking about running for the job again. however, that’s a drift of major proportions and for another time.  the point being, the tools we’ve elected just can’t come up with a budget for the state.  well, they can but they end up raising taxes as a result and then the taxes never ever go away like they said they would.  then they just waste the damn money they raised.  our money.  a vicious cycle if there ever was one. 

the assholes are paid to do something they can’t do.  fine.  quit.  go back to albertson’s and bag groceries or your cushy loan sharking job.  just get out and let somebody else try who ain’t gonna spend all their damn time collecting skim and graft from any asshole out there.  plus running for the damn re-election 24-7 like our current president.  more drifting.

ok.  so like the tools couldn’t come up with a budget again this year.  nothing new.  though this year, with other stuff in the dumpster, it wasn’t a good idea not to come up with one.  not that it ever is a good idea.  sooooo…the governator has called for a special election may 19th.  we get to vote on 5 propositions.  bleeding government by referendum.  it’s been like this here for far to goddamn long. 

referendum this referendum that, instead of doing WHAT THE FUCK THEY GET PAID FOR!!!!!!!  run the state like some sort of thinking person and not like it’s your personnal candy store.  enough of this, people.  screw it and them.  i’ve already sent my ballot in.  no, on every damn one of em.  sane folks are doing the same thing.  local newspapers are calling for the same.  the madness here in the late great state of chaos must come to a stop. 

california is the harbinger of this once great nation.  count on it.  we have been for years.  illegals?  among other things.  you got em now and their money for nothing attitude.  wake up, people!!!!!  take your country and state back from the money grubbing running for re-election 24-7, elected official, as a job description assholes.  that includes all of em!!!!!  vote them and their plague out of office.  stop the madness now.

damn, now i feel better.  tell you what, you’d all better heed the call and get wise before it’s too late.

jmh

More Catching Up Stuff

Yes, I know I’ve been away for far to long but I’ve been busy.  I’m sorry for that plus I’ve been busy barfing.  My dad even calls me, Barfy, these days.  Sigh.  What can I say?  Not much I’m sure cause he’s usually the first one up in the morning and he finds my little presents then cleans them up. 

At any rate, other than my barf problems I’m very excited about my mom and dad becoming a legal eagle married couple.  Woo barfy hoo!!!  My mom’s first and only wedding and my dad’s last one.  Plus my first and only, as well.  Lucky me.  Us kitties find happy stuff where we can. 

Other than my above mentioned troubles I’ve been very happy cause of the impending wedding Las Vegas nuptials.  Only thing is I’m not invited.  Sigh.  That’s OK as I’d prolly just run and hide someplace anyways.  I’ll let dad tell you just where the special place will be.  I know where it is cause I listen to everything.  I hear mom and dad laugh about it but I haven’t a clue just what the deal is.  Plus, I can’t take that away from dad.  He’s my buddy.  He knows that cause it’s been a long time since I bit him.  Lucky him.

I’m laying here on the back of the couch and flipping my tail every now and again.  Dad isn’t here.  He’s at our other place today.  But I can hear very clearly that he’s listening to ” The Unreleased Recordings by Hank Williams “, at very high levels or else I couldn’t hear it.  For sure it’s an http://timelife.com ditty if there ever was one.  Dad says buy it and turn it up.  Loud.  Me too.  Old country and old cats.  Sweet.  Pure Americana.

Stay tuned, my friends.  I’ll be back. 

Kwayla Kitty

“Doc H and the Rio Laudanum Cowboys”, a CD Review

that’s the title of the current cd by my friend, john harrelson.  it’s been playing on the car cd player since last friday.  now, i’ve got it on my media player as i type.  the more i listen to it the more i like it.

Doc H and his usual band of suspects: brian chapman, bass and stand-up bass; steph kuhn, drums; jeff ross, guitar and steel(ed) guitar; and jwfh, himself, on vocals, guitar, accordion, mandolin, piano, harmonica, bottleneck guitar and 12 string guitar; kick out some fine country and western music.  oh, yeah, turn it up!

jwfh, told me this cd is about as country as he can get.  kids, that’s fine by me because it’s good stuff.  stellar stuff.  12 tunes and 9 of them are john harrelson country originals that were written over the past few years.  john’s usual take on love, life and playin’.  plus, a very interesting little snippet at the end of the stones countrified, ‘19th nervous breakdown’, that is if you let the cd just track on.  a nice short sorta country version of the old mothers of invention tune, ‘my guitar wants to kill your mama’.  a fine example of john’s humor.  yeah, frank’s too.

john harrelson stands alone as one of the only truly original singer song writer players of the 60’s that’s left standing.  yeah, he’s been at it for more than 40 years.  writing and playing jazz, blues, rock ‘n’ roll and country.  it would be hard to find anyone anywhere that could pull off all those genres.  and he pulls them off all very very well.  this cd in particular.

musically john’s playing style is all his own.  if you listen closely to his guitar licks you’ll hear some folks out of the past.  however, he’s no eric clapton disiple that’s for sure.  though jeff beck, keef and brian do come to mind.  there’s some fine pickin’ and grinnin’ on this cd from everyone involved.  no doubt about it.  like i said, this one is growing on me and it just might be john’s best effort so far.  but then i’m just an old country honk as well as a friend of john and his music.

at any rate, Doc H and the Rio boys, is now high up on my play list.  trouble is, the only place you can find it right now is at rhino records in claremont, ca.  or contact john personally.  you can find him on myspace.  trust me, it would be well worth your trouble to do so.  the cd should be available soon on http://cdbaby.com  you can search his name there.

find this cd.  buy it.  play it.  LOUD!!!! ‘Doc H and the Rio Laudanum Cowboys’.  country thangs don’t get much better.  count on it.  a nice bit of country fried meat and potatoes.  and after several listens you get the fact john is spooning on the country gravy.  bring it, my friend.

 

john harrelson

 

jmh

pink boxers and war

while noodling around yesterday i came across the yahoo, and elsewhere, story of a young soldier over in the middle east who went to his firing position in his boxers and flip flops, during a fire fight.  seems like the secretary of defense, robert gates, is all a gog over the situation.  he’s happy about it.  well, it’s memorial day weekend or more to the point, dead soldier weekend, and i guess they needed to sound pro troopers and military.  plus, i’m sure folks everywhere are getting a kick out of the story. 

it makes me think back to my time in nam.  i’ve written any number of things about that experience here and other places.  if you are a regular, i have no intention of bothering you with details you may or may not remember.  if you aren’t a regular reader, you can always go through the archives or rummage through the vault.  or just wait for me to trot the old stuff out again.  but i digress. 

while attached to macv advisory team 48, in nam, we had this major on the compound.  he was either s-3 or s-1.  military jargon for stuff.  not really important to this story.  other than the fact, he got his pink boxers all tied up in a knot about us peons and other soldiers hitting our firing positions in levi’s and flip flops; bermuda shorts, flip flops and no shirt(my personal favorite) or other variations of civilian attire; or maybe just our regulation gi boxers and flip flops, during alerts. 

yeah, civilian attire.  it was macv and they didn’t care what you wore on the compound if you weren’t on duty or working.  well, most of them.  any the ways, this particular major was not happy about the way we fell out during those alerts.  he made it his mission to see that we all hit the firing positions and bunkers in full regulation military gear.  yes, sirree.  no more of this civilian attire or gi boxer nonsense.  there was a war going on after all, and said war, demanded we be properly dressed for the occasion because mr charlie might not like it.  boy, howdy.   

said major, even held a few ‘practice alerts’ and those ‘practice alerts’ weren’t over until he personally inspected each position to see if things were being done to his strict liking.  yes, indeed.  practice alerts for dress code violations in a war zone.  no showing up with your weapon and ammo in boxers.  nope, not for that major.  not good enough.  thank you jesus.  thank you, lord, for some damn fine smoke and drink to help us all through the night.

well, we suffered through a couple of his practice alerts held in the middle of the night.  a lot of pissed off troops and lifers as well.  yeah, he wanted every swinging dick on board for his madness. 

as it turned out, things were very quiet during the time of his practice alert stuff and everyone passed with flying colors.  like what else were we gonna do?  frag him?  it was bullshit but it wasn’t worth a capital crime and/or offense. 

one night, a few weeks after all the hoopla about the dress code and fighting charlie, i was working the night shift in the commo bunker.  at the time, macv was using our commo bunker for their toc(tactical operation center) while their toc was getting a face-lift.  charlie or the nva, lobbed a few rockets or mortars into our general vicinity. 

the alert was sounded and it was all hands on deck.  everyone was to go to their alert positions and deal with whatever in full military uniform.  thankfully, due to the practice alerts, it was decided, by my signal sargent, my alert position would be in the commo bunker.  lucky me, i was already up, working, in uniform, where i was supposed to be and with my m-16 and ammo.  woo hoo!!

the incoming rocked my little world but i just opened my secret area door and casually leaned on the door jam to watch the deal go down.  a total lapse of military protocol but whatever.  i was probably somewhat loaded and had been listening to, ’spooky tooth’, and reading porn at the time.  another breech of protocol i’m sure.

on a side bar drift, the secret area was a perfect place to have a nice non-legal smoke.  or take a nap.  we had it set up so even if you were dead an alarm of sorts would wake you.  though in hindsight it wasn’t necessary.  incoming was incoming and could wake a dead man.  count on it.

the drifts just keep on coming.  WD40.  the perfect weapon cleaner, for us lazy folks, was also a very good and efficient smoke cover-up.  better than incense.  yeah, ok.  i did take my m-16 down to the firing pin assembly at regular intervals and properly cleaned it.  so there.  i could be a good soldier if i felt like it.  my life depended upon it.      

at any rate, i was just waiting for orders and THE word to send something to somebody somewhere about something or another via my secure radio teletype.  real alerts were always something.  some worse than others.  but always angsty and an adrenaline rush regardless.  while i was standing in my doorway watching stuff, in came the major of dress code and practice alert fame. 

ah, yes, goddamn.  he was resplendent in his steel pot, m-16, ammo, un-tied jungle boots, gi issued undershirt and boxers.  yep.  that’s it.  nada mas.  no one, of course, said a word about his poorly dressed alert apparel.  lots of subtle snickering to be sure but not a word.  after that night, it went back to come as you are for alerts, and the only thing that mattered was the m-16 or some other weapon with plenty of ammo when you got to where you were supposed to be.

it’s interesting to see how things have or haven’t changed.  i wonder how melvin laird would have felt?  or perhaps dean rusk?  or macnamara?  at any rate, it’s dead soldier day weekend.  a time to say a prayer for those brothers in arms who never made it back.  a time to say just how much you appreciate the sacrifice of those who didn’t come back and those who are serving or have served and did come back.  whole or not.  seems like none of us ever come back whole.  a tragic veer if there ever was one. 

dead soldier weekend.  a proud american tradition since the civil war from whence it got it’s origins.  you may not like war, this current one in particular.  you may even be in the support the troops but not the war politically correct crowd.  tell you what.  god bless the child that wears his boxers to a fire fight.  at least he showed up and was ready for trouble.  god bless anyone who even shows up for the coming fire fights.     

make no mistake, it’s not what you wear to a fight.  it’s what you do when you get there.  happy memorial day weekend!!  light a candle for america. 

 

jmh

wedding planning for the elderly pt2

the up and coming wedding with myself and the brown eyed girl is pretty much set.  yes, indeed it’s only a matter of a few weeks away.  now, let’s catch you up a bit.

the matter of the custom ring made by a local jeweler didn’t pan out.  the guy is a flake and not a very nice one as well.  he was very rude in his dealings with the brown eyed girl and myself.  i wanted nothing more to do with him and his store.  if you’re a local and want to know who to avoid at all cost, mail me.

fortunately, the brown eyed girl found a stunning ring at another place.  those that know her say, it’s her.  the ring was purchased and we are now dealing with another local jeweler to make the wedding band.  things are going well in that regard and we are both very happy about the results and service so far. 

as for my wedding band, the brown eyed girl wanted a nice one for me.  after much discussion, she agreed to just buy me a simple silver band.  i don’t care much for rings, as i tend to play with them and then lose them.  yeah, well, i’ve lost a few over the years.  so, a very nice traditional navajo silver and turquoise wedding band was purchased for myself.  i wanted to honor the brown eyed girl’s spanish, mexican and navajo relatives.  plus, save some money in case i lose it down the road.   

we are definitely going to vegas for the wedding.  we have a nice southern minister reserved for the ceremony.  he will meet us at the site on the wedding day.  the ceremony site?  well, when it was offered, by a mutual friend, we couldn’t pass it up.  the ceremony will take place in liberace’s old mansion.  yeah, i know.  however, it’s a freebie.  and we both think it’s pretty cool.  where were you married?  liberace’s house in vegas.  hahahaha. 

our honeymoon will be a few days in vegas, on the strip, at a very nice hotel, in one of their suites.  we’ve already made a few dinner reservations at a couple of the best joints in vegas owned by world class chefs.  one of them a consistent james beard award winner.       

we have the reception place reserved for a couple of weeks after the wedding.  a very nice local italian place.  my brilliant brown eyed girl friend finally figured out how to set up and print the invites.  she also has the envelop printing figured out as well.  at least she did.  it’s been a few days since she’s worked on the stuff but it all worked out and the invites are in the mail to a few relatives and a few friends.

she’s also purchased 5 different tops for the wedding.  she can’t decide what to wear.  me?  new shorts, vaguely new flip flops and a very cool new charlie harper type shirt from hilo hattie’s.  any photos taken will be from the waist up only.  yeah, well.

things are going well and both of us are looking forward to tying the knot.  stay tuned.

jmh

a government by and for the people(?)

one would think, things ought to be getting better as one gets older, but generally speaking, that’s far from the case.  the government we’ve come to know and for sure not love, just plods on like some sort of a brain dead basket case.  a government hanging on because no one bothered to fill out the, ‘do not resuscitate’, paperwork.  government by flat line.  yeah, sad but true.

the local yokels, i actually grew up with, are running shit around these parts now and they step into a pile of stinky dogie poop daily.  seems like they ought to know better.  also seems like they haven’t a clue someone is actually watching.  how odd is that?  more like stupid.  sad.  so sad.

they step on a nice steaming turd and think nothing of it until that said turd hits the damn fan.  hits the fan because someone is actually looking at what you lame ass numb-nutted humps are doing. 

you can’t get into stuff like, tony soprano, doing whatever the hell works, graft wise, and not think anyone isn’t watching or paying attention.  who’s dumber?  you?  or us?

names?  if you live here you know them.  they’re in the local fish wrap on a several times a week basis.  no point sticking them up here.  no, not yet. 

things will probably only be going from bad to worse now that arnold’s scams didn’t pass a few weeks ago.  the idiots here and up in the state capital are scrambling to find ways to figure shit out.  i doubt they will. 

i’ve said this before and, george will, god bless him, said it last week as well.  this sad stupid game is coming to your state sooner or later.  count on it.

so respectable.  get out of my life.  don’t take my wife.  no no no.

light a candle for america.

so, all that being said, and in the spirit of a government by and for the people, cheorkee parks, and myself, with a bit of inspiration from, dfr, have come up with a nice patriotic tee-shirt just in time for the coming july 4th holiday.

go to this link.  check it out.  then buy, buy, buy amarican!!!  please.

 http://www.cherokeeparks.net/tee_shirt.htm

 

 

 

copyright 2009  cowboyzone enterprises

 

 

jmh

the oregon ducks, a 2009 football season preview

time once again for my early season preview of one of my favorite pac 10 teams, the oregon ducks.  yes, i know, basketball plods on and on in that seemingly forever never-land of it just won’t ever go away.  ever.  deal.  yes, it’s only the first glimmer of june, so why is this clown yammering about college football and the ducks?  precisely.  i love college football and the ducks in particular.  both of which, since i was 10 years old.  but that’s a digression.

regular readers know all that stuff.  they also know i did my take on the ducks last year at this time, where i predicted they would go 11-1.  sadly, that wasn’t meant to be but they did manage a very nice and close to my prediction, 9-3, for the regular season.

this year the ducks have a new coach in, chip kelly, who was their offensive co-coordinator.  mike bellotti, has stepped down or up as the case may be to the schools athletic director job.  at any rate, chip was a pretty good man to have running an offense particularly with the injury problems the ducks have had the past few years.  let’s hope his first year at the helm will be as injury free for his starters as you can get or hope for.

alright, let’s break the schedule down.  it’s a wing and a prayer time,  kids.  however, just remember i have the right to change any opinions stated here when the chips really start to fall in september.

rock ‘n’ roll.

9/03  @ boise st.  game on espn.  boise st, one of the media darling teams.  i’ve had some of that kool-aid myself at times, but i’ll tell you what, smurf blue field or not, the ducks put out the notice they are for real, once again.  ducks win.

9/12  purdue.  game on fox sports net.  the second year in a row the boilermakers get thumped by the ducks.  ducks win.

9/19  utah.  game on espn.  ok, so here’s a team from of all places, utah, who i will still sip on some of the a fore mentioned kool-aid, if given half a chance.  so, ok, who wins?  yeah, i’m doin’ that little dance here, folks.  home game home team and the six points the ducks need to pull it off.  ducks win.

9/26  california.  game on abc.  it’s probably a shame the ducks run up against a tedford cal team in september.  point being, the bears are still more than likely playing ball and will not have hit their late october early november swoon that seems to smack them every year since tedford took over.  a good team here, kids.  ducks lose.

10/3  washington st.  the cougars will not make this one easy.  another home team home win and thanks, we’ll take that home field extra 6.  ducks win.

10/10  @ ucla.  astute readers will note that the ducks have not had a week off since the beginning of the season.  well, sorta after the boise st game but that break may not really count.  plus, it’s been all home games since that game and that one was just a little jaunt across the border, so to speak.  they travel to so cal and the rose bowl for this one.  no game time set so far, though i’m thinking it will probably be a day game.  early october in these parts can be a nasty affair, not cooling off till well after sunset.  yes, the bruins have no qb.  they probably will have other problems as well.  the trouble is what i’ve already mentioned.  sorry, ducks lose.

10/24  @ washington.  finally a couple of weeks off but they hit the road again.  the two premiere new coaches in the pac 10 face off for the first time.  depending on how the huskies are playing will tell the tale and just how bad of a team was left by the guy who probably shouldn’t have been fired, ty willingham.  ok.  ducks win.

10/31  usc.  game on abc or espn.  halloweenie time.  this will be one of those rare home game losses for the ducks.  pete isn’t going to make the same traveling to oregon mistake two years in a row.  count on it.  ducks lose.         

11/7  @ stanford.  stanford, the not so under the radar not so much of an underdog anymore.  shades of jim plunkett or john elway days?  time tells.  depending on how bad the ducks get tossed around by the trojans might tell the tale.  or perhaps up for the trojans and down for the cardinal.  ducks lose.

11/14  arizona st.  cold rainy november pacific northwest.  not the place for an amped up sun devil team.  ducks win.

11/21  @ arizona.  vaguely fall summer like weather for the ducks.  day game?  forget about it.  night game?  maybe.  ducks win a squeeker.

12/3  oregon st.  thursday night.  6pm.  game on espn.  civil war on a weeknight?  go figure.  kinda hard to figure but when it’s civil war i guess the day and time really don’t matter.  once again, time will stand still for this one, my friends.  this is what college football is all about.  frazier/ali.  ali/foreman.  time to get some.  ducks get some and win.

8 and 4.  not shabby but no rose bowl bid on new years day for sure.  but then again, who knows?  we shall see.  for sure, good enough for one of those moneymaker/more practice time bowl games at the end of the year.  after all, it’s just my take on the upcoming season.  best of luck to chip kelly and his ducks.  may his reign be long and may the football gods give him better than i’ve predicted.  get some, ducks!!!

jmh

the usc trojans, a 2009 football season preview

yeah, i’m at it again.  this time it’s my other favorite college football team, the trojans.  of course, i’m a pac 10 homer and a pac 10 honk as well.  plus, i’m damn proud of it.  it’s what us native california college football fans like to call our, west coast bias.  just a little something to take the edge off that east coast media bias everyone is so fond of here in california.  but that’s a major veer.

the trojans lost one of their best coaches during the off season.  steve sarkisian, who is now the head coach of the huskies up in washington.  will his leaving have any effect in the trojans?  perhaps a bit but for the most part, pete carroll, has things under control.  so things should cruise right along like they have been the past few years.  plenty of wins and either a rose bowl or national title game in the offing.  

time to break it down, kids.  rock ‘n’ roll.

9/05  san jose st.  game on fox sports net.  hopefully, the men of troy don’t take this game to easily.  sure, it’s san jose st but none the less, focus will be needed.  this is one of those games where pete is repaying a favor, debt, or some damn thing or another.  i can’t figure it out otherwise.  be that as it may, trojans win.

9/12  @ ohio st.  game on espn 5pm.  this time last year the yammering had already started on this game.  the game lived up to the hype but things didn’t work out that well, in the end, for the trojans.  this year?  the trojans go about their business and win again.

9/19  @ washington.  game on abc.  pete and steve meet in what might be a good game.  it just depends on what or who are left over from the huskies last season.  the team was pretty demoralized last year, especially towards the end.  ty willingham, was handling things well, all things considered, but the team gave up on him, the school and their own pride.  thinking, i’m not going pro so what do i care?  tragic on a few levels for sure.  i have that tidbit on good authority.  count on it.  ok, so, good game perhaps.  the trojans win.

9/26  washington st.  no tv as yet.  the cougars aren’t a pushover and another good game here.  i hope i get to watch it.  trojans win.

10/03  @ calif.  game on abc 5pm.  not an easy road trip this time in the season.  tedford still has the bears generally sorta playing well until  october/november.  crank up the barbie, pull the cork on some vino or three and hunker down.  north vs south.  good game.  trojans win a tight one.

10/17  @ notre dame.  day game on nbc.  two road trips in a row and no time off since before labor day.  a problem for the trojans?  probably not but only time will tell.  notre dame doesn’t have much of a schedule this year.  so sue me, golden domer fans.  i really don’t care.  they will probably be sporting a pretty good record when the trojans travel there.  charlie is going to need a win if he wants to get anyone other than the faithful to believe in him.  he won’t get it.  trojans win.

10/24  oregon st.  game on abc or espn 5pm.  the trojans get the beavers at home this year.  still no time off.  doesn’t matter, no tragic mistake, this time.  trojans win.

10/31  @ oregon.  game on abc or espn 5pm.  no time off.  again.  usc runs about as close as you can get to a pro offense and defense.  the defense saved them a few times last year.  the ducks offense is no match for the trojan’s defense.  trojans win.

11/07  @ arizona st.  game on abc or espn 5pm.  another road trip and still no time off.  doesn’t matter the trojans don’t lose in november.  trojans win.

11/14  stanford.  homecoming and no tv as yet.  stanford is good and getting better every year.  jim harbaugh, is recruiting some brainiacs who can play.  he’s also a good coach.  good game.  i hope i get to watch it.  you should hope you get to watch as well.  trojans win.

11/28  ucla.  game on fox sports net.  after a week off, finally, the trojans meet the bruins for lala land bragging rights.  plus it’s thanksgiving weekend.  sweet.  the southland’s version of the civil war.  doesn’t matter how bad or good either team is at the time.  the kids will play their hearts out.  count on it.  generally, one of the best games of the year.  as are all the big time college rivalry games.  trojans win.

12/05  arizona.  day game on abc.  keep it simple and on track.  trojans win.

yep, what can i say?  another year i predict the trojans will go 12-0.  they almost made it last year, only to be sidetracked by a good oregon st team, that got no respect from anyone media wise.  losing to them or anyone else won’t happen this year.  despite my crabbing about their schedule and lack of an off week till late in the season; i think it’s a good schedule and it gives them barely a month off before the big dance games come down the pike.  a good thing.  this is a national championship year for sure.  GO TROJANS!!!

jmh

ramblings and catching up, sorta. plus a doc h and the rio laudanum cowboys update

the brown eyed girl and i are back from vegas and our wedding.  it was a smashing time and i’m trying to get photos together for a blog about the deal.  easier said than done.  plus, i’m getting sidetracked with other stuff like cleaning out photos in some files.  and other things that creep in and take over my time for a spell.  yes, i know.  just remember, patience is a virtue.

on an other note, for those that remember i did a review of my friend, john harrelson’s latest cd a few weeks ago, Doc H and the Rio Laudanum Cowboys.  good news is the cd is now available at cd baby.  click the link to go there and buy it.  at least visit and check stuff out.  though you should buy the cd.   doc h and the boys, is country western at it’s best.  just do it because it’s not the crap you hear on country radio these days.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/harrelson4  or you can see it at http://cdbaby.com/style/369
or http://cdbaby.com/style/360

jmh

wedding planing for the elderly, the final chapter(?)

yes, the knot has been tied and the vows all said.  i’m a married man again.  fine by me as the brown eyed girl is one very special woman.  i mean what else can you say about a woman that would actually marry me?  not much i’m sure.

as you may or may not know we were married in liberace’s old mansion or villa or late 1950’s re-modeled tract house in vegas not far from the famed ’strip’.  an old friend of the brown eyed girl, and now a friend of mine, is a business partner with the person who owns the place now.  they usually charge a nice sum of coin to have a wedding ceremony there.  we, on the other hand, slid in for free.  pretty sweet.

our home base for the vegas deal was a suite in the venetian hotel.  a place neither of us was very happy with for a number of reasons.  let’s just say that, if and when we go back to vegas, we won’t be staying at the venetian hotel.  we’ll be going a few doors down to the wynn hotel.  count on it.

well, at any rate, the drive out to the heart of mojave desert and it’s environs was uneventful.  um, sorta, but that’s not for here at least not now.  our first stop in sin city was the county clerks office.  it took a few times around the block to find it, as the address was covered by a tree.

it was late sunday morning and we expected the place to be jumping with a bunch of drunken fools there to get paperwork so they could marry some of the local cocktail waitresses they met the night before.  that, sadly wasn’t the case.  i mean that action might have been fun to watch.  right?  but on the other hand, an almost empty office made things very easy and quick for us to get our papers in order and get out of there.  the wedding was scheduled for the next day at 10am at liberace’s place.

we arrived a bit early for the ceremony so i was able to wander around a bit and take some photos of the place.  liberace’s ‘mansion’ is showing it’s age but then again aren’t we all?  the place was probably built in the late 50’s or early 60’s in what is nothing more than your standard tract house neighborhood.  an upscale tract house neighborhood that’s getting a bit seedy but still nice. 

here’s a few photos i took of liberace’s place.  but before that a few of the view from our hotel window.

front view of liberace’s home

liberace’s living room.

the grand hallway.  we were married at the end of it.

the spot where we were married.

a portion of liberace’s bathroom.

liberace’s bedroom.

the piano johnny carson gave to liberace.

 
the ceremony was very nice and rather quick, which was fine by us.  we found a minister on the web who came out to the villa and married us.  reverend phil, a nice gent from southern texas, performed the wedding.  visit rev phil at: http://www.lvrev.com  the brown eyed girl and i found a few things we wanted him to incorporate in the ceremony and he did.  one of the pieces was from the american writer and poet, james dillet freeman.

Blessing for a Marriage


May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding. 
May you always need one another – not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete; the valley does not make the mountain less, but more; and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you and you. 

May you need one another, but not out of weakness.
May you want one another, but not out of lack.
May you entice one another, but not compel one another.
May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another.
May you succeed in all important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces.
May you look for things to praise, often say, “I love you!” and take no notice of small faults. 

If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back. 

May you enter into the mystery which is the awareness of one another’s presence – no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities. 
May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy. 
May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.

the other piece was the navajo wedding blessing:

From A Navajo Wedding Ceremony:
Now you have lit a fire and that fire should not go out.
The two of you now have a fire that represents love,
understanding and a philosophy of life.
It will give you heat, food, warmth and happiness.
The new fire represents a new beginning – a new life and a new family.
The fire should keep burning; you should stay together.
You have lit the fire for life, until old age separates you.

if you recall one of the brown eyed girl’s great grandmothers was a full blooded navajo.

after the ceremony, the owner of the place popped a bottle of champagne for us and we all had a drink.  very nice indeed.  i must say, all in all, the wedding site was actually very nice in a weird sorta way.  as a matter of fact, the brown eyed girl laughed through a good portion of the ceremony due to the weirdness of it all.  the surroundings.  not me.  well, maybe not.  lol.  visit: http://lasvegasvilla.com for more info and some more photos.  anyways, thanks to robert and dez for their kindness and hospitality.

that evening, some very old friends of the brown eyed girl treated us to a lovely wedding night dinner at, b and b ristorante, inside the venetian.  b and b is owned by chef mario batali and winemaker joseph bastianich.  it was a truly memorable experience in fine italian dinning.  however, the next night topped it.

the following night we went over to the wynn hotel for dinner at, bartolatta di mare, owned by chef paul bartolatta.  i have to say, that on numerous levels, it was one of the most amazing dinners i’ve ever eaten.  an array of italian and mediterranean family style dishes that was belly busting fine dinning at it’s best.  it would be hard to find another eatery with better italian fare.  it was simply amazing.

we didn’t go to any shows.  we spent our time wandering around eating and drinking.  with a bit of gambling thrown in as well.  i don’t gamble much anymore and don’t really care for it either but the brown eyed girl more than made up for my lack of desire to gamble and won a few hundred bucks playing the slots and blackjack.  very nice.

so, like what else can i say?  other than i’m happy we went to vegas to get married at liberace’s place.  a few members of the family were there as well as a couple of the brown eyed girls oldest friends.  what could be better?  not much.  i want to thank you all for your good wishes and more importantly i want to thank the brown eyed girl for being there for me.  she’s is truly the love of my life.

jmh

KING OF ROCK, KING OF POP, GODFATHER OF SOUL MIGHTY, MIGHTY MEN (a re-posting of a friend’s blog)

my old friend, doctor john harrelson, has written a couple of nice things about the history of pop music.  i’m re-posting them here to get the word out a bit more.  history comes in many colors.  musical history as well.  for many of us musical history, is just as important as the more regular stuff.  i hope you enjoy john’s blogs.

jmh

KING OF ROCK, KING OF POP, GODFATHER OF SOUL
MIGHTY, MIGHTY MEN
Part One—Dedicated to Drew and to Jason

Was Elvis the King of Rock? Was Michael Jackson the King of Pop? Can you even doubt that James Brown was the Godfather of Soul?

First, Pop[ular] music. Before 1930, Popular Music was very much associated with regional taste/culture and narrow exposure. The first guy to appreciate the possibilities of capturing a national audience was Bing Crosby. Incorporating Jazz phrasing learned from Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden and a great sense of song choice, Crosby was the first commercial entertainer to use his recordings as a substitute for his live performance. He figured the exponential impact correctly and was a successful entertainer into the 60s and lingered on into the late 70s [See his duet with David Bowie in a Christmas special doing “Little Drummer Boy.”]

Frank Sinatra is the next memorable icon, though hardly the only singer of the late-30s and 40s to be a PopStar. Many Big Bands featured romantic, handsome and/or talented vocalists who were a major feature. Trumpeter Harry James, drummer Gene Krupa, and clarinetist Artie Shaw were musicians who courted movie stars, engaged in mis-behaviour, and were very much like Mick Jagger, Glen Campbell, or Chris Robinson.

Frankie Laine, Snooky Lanson, even Tennessee Ernie Ford were singer/stars of the 50s that were on the radio, television and selling great quantities of recordings. Then came Elvis Presley.

In 1954 and 1955 Elvis started a revolution—though he did not invent it. Singers who based their entertainment approach on Louis Jordan’s Tympani Five, Bullmoose Jackson, Roy Milton, Louie Jordan, Bill Haley, were causing a ruckus, filling the gap left by the sudden decline of the Swing Era bands. Nat ‘King’ Cole, Charles Brown, and some crooner types brought fantastic textures to the market place. Elvis, though, got young people excited.

Many young folks were drawn to the visceral realm of Roy Brown, Wynonie Harris, and the new DooWop genre. The realm of the Crows, the Robins and two hundred more was exciting, new, and not like any of the music before 1945. Elvis drew from these sources and his own White cultural music, Hard Rock Gunther, Bill Monroe, and Bob Wills. [Check his first version of “Milk Cow Blues” a tune that dates back to Kokomo Arnold, where Wills probably learned it.]. Elvis, with his band, brought together a vast number of disparate elements that became Rock-a-billy and, less than four hundred days later, “Rock and Roll.”

Once the label was firm, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Gene Vincent, Little Richard, and Carl Perkins were under the same ‘new’ umbrella. But, as businessmen will do, the real deal was quickly sharing the genre with Georgia Gibbs and Pat Boone. By 1958 the “Bobbies” fucked everything up. Some were talented (Bobby Darin), some were vapid (Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton). Some were not Bobbies at all (Bobby Paul Anka and Bobby Tommy Sands) and some were too late (Johnny Burnette and Jimmy Clanton). Ricky Nelson took a while to get over his own celebrity, but he did contribute some great songs. The Everly Brothers took the simple device of singing in thirds and performed some fantastic songs.

Link Wray did the magnificent “Rumble.” Johnny & the Hurricanes did the cheerful but useless “Rocking Red River Valley.” Elvis got out of the army and did two killer tunes; “Marie is the name of his Latest Flame” and “Little Sister.” Then he folded into a shameful pile of has-been. Periodically he would offer an amusement (“Viva Las Vegas”) or a piece of crap (“Girls, Girls, Girls”). He got pseudo-operatic with “You Gave Me a Mountain” (and “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”). He got maudlin (“In the Ghetto”). He tried to be hip (“U.S.Male”). He tried to be cultivated (“My Way”). But, in reality, his creative days were over in 1958, and his genuine power was gone after 1961.

But he was the figure who got young folks excited. That is why Elvis is considered the King of Rock’n’roll. –JWfH

THE KING OF ROCK, THE KING OF POP AND
THE GODFATHER OF SOUL
PART TWO—Dedicated to Justin and to Dahvia

So it is apparent that Elvis has virtually no power after 1961. Girl groups, the Shirelles, the Chantals, the Ronettes, the Chiffons, and more to come, are a dominant segment in the market-place. Duane Eddy made the guitar a more prominent voice, leading to Dick Dale, the Chantays, and a tide of instrumental Surf bands. The Beach Boys opened the door for the Surfaris, Jan & Dean, and the other side of the Surf genre, that of the vocal groups. This offered the opportunity for the Ronnie & the Daytonas (from Memphis), the Cobras (studio band?), and the Pyramids (with a Black guitarist!) to enter the genre. The last gasp of Surf music was “New York’s a Lonely Town” by the Tradewinds in 1965.

The Folk Music Scare was in full effect. From 1958’s Kingston Trio hit “Tom Dooley” [nee “Duhla”] through Peter, Paul, and Mary, Folk music was a commercial arena. The Back Porch Singers, Pete Seeger, and the essential Bob Dylan, were to provide the foundation for the 1965 rise of a new sub-genre—Folk-Rock. Barry McGuire, the Mamas and the Papas, the Lovin’ Spoonful, and, importantly the Byrds and the Buffalo Springfield inhabited a realm that was only American. (Except of course, those pesky Brits were as good at this as they were at copping our Blues and other styles and genres. Check Chad & Jeremy, Peter & Gordon, and the Beatles.)

1960 to ’64 is a rich and overlooked era in Rock/Pop/R&B. Obscure events and records (Reparta & the Delrons, the Cookies, three-and-four track tape machines, Fender amplifiers improved, cheaper, efficient microphones, Sam Cooke leaving the Gospel genre, et al.) The Four Seasons managed to update the DooWop style as far as it could be taken. MoTown went from Smokey Robinson, the Marvelettes, Little Stevie Wonder to a huge stable of hit-makers that were always present in the charts (‘64-’74). Stax Records developed from “Green Onions” and “Last Night” to a significant contributor to American culture.

When the Beatles emerged, young people once more became excited. And with that excitement came rapid change and creativity. A Buddy Holly clone became the leader of the Bobby Fuller Four. The Warlocks, a Memphis Jug Band imitation, became the Grateful Dead. King Curtis opened a Hollywood Bowl concert. A pair of albino brothers left Texas and found their way to acclaim. A mild sub-wunderkind from the late 50s became Sir Douglas.

The Rolling Stones, John Mayall, and Paul Butterfield stimulated a curiosity in young Americans about their own inheritance. Thus B.B.King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed and a clutch of Chicago-based Blues musicians gained notoriety and increased their influence. The Folk folks had reintroduced Mississippi John Hurt, Sonny & Brownie, Jesse “Lonecat” Fuller and ten more, so the Blues scene flourished.

Between ’65 and ’72 the acceleration of ideas was nearly unbelievable. The Moody Blues went from a sophisticated R&B ensemble to an incredibly sophisticated orchestral presentation. Eric Clapton developed from a convincing heir to Blues authenticity to an intense Jazz-inspired [but not informed] improvisational-ist. The Yardbirds, a very experimental-minded Blues band, spawned the foundations for Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Jeff Beck’s Group, and eventually Led Zepplin. Miles Davis created “Bitch’s Brew,” as much a landmark of change as any such ‘event’ in American music history.

The Beatles traveled from a fantastic Rock band to a bunch of Rock’n’roll musicians who made it a habit to trample on boundaries. The first 60 songs fall away from memory when “Rubber Soul” appeared. That work was pushed aside for the impact of “Revolver,” which was faded by “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The final LPs by the group stand as holy grail items.

As the Beatles became the four individuals, an expectation developed that a “New Elvis/Beatles” phenomena would develop. The two leading qualified candidates were Stevie Wonder and Elton John. Of course, Stevie Wonder had been famous since 1963, he was blind, and, he was Black. While the atmosphere for Black artists had changed since Count Basie’s 1935 reference to racism, Nat ‘King’ Cole had died before benefiting from changes, and Ray Charles had gone forward to new boundaries, America would not realign its’ habits or tastes for Wonder. Elton John received support from some quarters simply because there was a vacuum of power.

At this point [1974] Michael Jackson was a novelty, associated with the Jackson Five. The Jackson Five had not matched MoTown’s best acts—the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, and the stellar Supremes. Since Wonder had taken Berry Gordy to task, wanting new terms with his recording contract. Marvin Gaye soon wanted the same. The Jackson’s tried for similar renegotiations but separated from MoTown and benefited from this decision. Gordy kept legal ownership of the Jackson Five name and could not really exploit the family’s earlier efforts. Further, Gordy was unconnected to Michael’s rising fame.

If you want to really understand Michael Jackson’s place in the greater scheme of Rock/Pop history realize that he had twenty-seven super hit songs. Nine of those were with his brothers involvement. Only three of his ‘long playing’ discs had deep impact. Twenty-three of his solo singles failed to attract any attention.  Contrast this with the Beatles having 21 Number One singles and one Number Two (in six years). Then, as individuals they had many hits (“Imagine,” “Jet,” “My Sweet Lord”).

Year Title Highest Chart Slot
1969 “I Want You Back” 1
1969: “Who’s Lovin’ You”(b-side of “I Want You Back”) 1 [False statistic]
1970: “ABC” 1
1970: “The Love You Save” 1
1970: “I’ll Be There” 1
1970: “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
1970: “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”
1971: “Mama’s Pearl” 2
1971: “Never Can Say Goodbye” 2 [Cover of a previous hit]
1971: “Maybe Tomorrow” 20
1971: “Sugar Daddy” 10
1972: “Little Bitty Pretty One” 13 [Cover of a previous hit]
1972: “Lookin’ Through the Windows” 16
1972: “Doctor My Eyes” [Cover of a recent hit]
1972: “Corner of the Sky” 18
1973: “Hallelujah Day” 28
1973: “Skywriter” – 25
1973: “Get It Together” 28
1974: “The Boogie Man”
1974: “Dancing Machine” 2
1974: “Whatever You Got I Want” 38
1974: “Life Of The Party”
1974: “I Am Love (Part 1)” 15
1975: “Forever Came Today” 60
1975: “All I Do Is Think of You” (B-side of “Forever Came Today”) [False statistic]

CBS releases (The Jacksons)
Year Song title US chart
1976: “Enjoy Yourself” 6
1977: “Show You the Way to Go” 28
1977: “Dreamer” – 22
1977: “Goin’ Places” 52
1977: “Even Though You’re Gone
1978: “Different Kind Of Lady”
1978: “Music’s Taking Over”
1978: “Find Me a Girl”
1978: “Blame It on the Boogie” 54
1979: “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” 7
1979: “Destiny” – 39
1980 “Lovely One” 12 29
1980: “This Place Hotel” 22
1981: “Can You Feel It” 77
1981: “Walk Right Now” 73
1981: “Time Waits For No One”
1981: “Things I Do For You”
1984: “State of Shock”(with Mick Jagger) 3
1984: “Torture” 17
1984: “Body” 47
1984: “Wait”
1987: “Time Out for The Burglar”
1988: “2300 Jackson Street”
1989: “Nothing (That Compares 2 You)” 77
1989: “Art Of Madness”

Long Player releases
1972 Got to Be There * Released: January 24, 1972
1972 Ben * Released: August 4, 1972
1973 Music & Me * Released: April 13, 1973
1975 Forever, Michael * Released: January 16, 1975
1979 Off the Wall * Released: August 10, 1979 * Label: Epic (EK #35745)
01 – Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
04 – Get On The Floor.
05 – Off The Wall
1982 Thriller * Released: November 30, 1982 * Label: Epic (EK #38112)
03 – The Girl Is Mine
04 – Thriller
05 – Beat It
06 – Billie Jean
07 – Human Nature
08 – P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
1987 Bad * Released: August 31, 1987 * Label: Epic (EK #40600)
01 – Bad
02 – The Way You Make Me Feel
07 – Man In The Mirror
08 – I Just Can’t Stop Loving You
09 – Dirty Diana
10 – Smooth Criminal
11 – Leave Me Alone
1991 Dangerous * Released: November 13, 1991 * Label: Epic (EK #45400)
08 – Black Or White
2001 Invincible * Released: October 30, 2001 * Label: Epic (EK #69400)

“—” denotes albums that weren’t released or were released but did not chart.

______________+++++++++++_____________+++++++++++++____________

Now you can compare these facts with Rod Stewart’s career, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Elvis, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles. Figure out that Peter Frampton means nothing. That means van Halen, AC/DC, Nirvana are not imperatives. The Who accomplished something, but Boston and Aerosmith are only significant, not essential.

To many participants in Pop Music, Van Morrison, RadioHead, Tupac Shakur, and your favorite act mean nothing. If Michael Jackson is the King of Pop, Madonna is the Queen Mother, Britney Spears is a Princess, and the royal blood-line is dependent on the genetic information provided by the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. –JWfH

just a minute

yeah, i know, i haven’t been around these parts for a spell or two.  i’ve been busy and not spending much time here in this house.  in and out in fits and starts.  plus, not being around here has been a nice vacation as well.  spending to much time here probably isn’t a good thing.  my blathering writing?  i haven’t missed it much though there are days when i think i ought to say something about something but it’s prolly just as well i don’t say anything.  one day soon i’ll probably get back at it.  i have a few more weeks before college football starts and not having anything to do here or my other place is kinda nice.  vacations are nice.  the brown eyed girl and i are fine and doing well.   a couple of cool things on the horizon for us.  diana krall live on the 22nd being the biggy. sitting under the stars at the hollywood bowl.  alfresco dining and drinking.  music by a master.  pretty sweet.  so, in the words of the late great congressman from new york, adam clayton powell, ” keep the faith, baby. ”
 
jmh

time for some music or a break in the non-action or one for triggerman

yeah, i’m still on vacation here in the land of the lotus eaters.  what can i say?  at any rate, you’re probably wondering why i’m here.  right?  well, i’m here to give you my simple opinion about hank3’s new cd, ‘assjack’. 

boy howdy, it kicks some ass.  sure, it’s not country by any stretch of anybodies imagination.  ok, maybe someone who still sprinkles peruvian marching powder on their weed then lights it up.  ah, breathe deep.  atom heart mother.  digressions.

just for the record, i have in the long ago past, done the above on a few occasions.  no more.  capisco?  i hope so.  i am also not advocating such use and/or behavior and/or use of any illegal substances.  period.  so please don’t get your panties all tied up in a knot.

this cd, ‘assjack’, is some serious heavy duty punk, speed metal, death metal stuff and i love it.  crank it up, kids.  the typical punker’s anthem of, ‘fuck you, motherfucker’, it doesn’t get much better.  plus a nice tight wall of sound that thumps the inner ear and child. 

i’m not sure if i’d sit in on this at a concert venue due to my advanced age and all but i’ll tell you what.  when i feel the need to piss off the neighborhood after a bottle or three of some primo dago red, ‘assjack’, will be my go to let’s piss the folks off cd.

every tune from the first to the last gets some and hits notes we all need to hit every once and a while.  my favorite being, ‘cocaine the white devil’.  or maybe, ‘no regrets’. 

at any rate, buy this cd if you like it loud.  punk rock loud.

TURN IT THE FUCK UP!!  WAY UP!!!!  hank3’s guitars want to kill your mother.

‘assjack’,  by hank3

jmh

2009 college football predictions week 1

yes, indeedy, it is finally that time again kids.  college football looms like the winning lottery ticket that it is.  college football the best sport on the planet.  bar none.  count on it.  the long drought is coming to a close.  week one of the shortest and finest season is upon us.  college football is here to soothe and remind us once again just why we love it so damn much.

as in past years i’ll be running down my weekly favorites.  10 games each week, along with the lines from vegas.  as usual, i’ll be picking one team over the other.  and hopefully, i’ll pick the winner. 

just remember that any advice i give here is for fun only.  anyone stupid enough to take my advice and bet with the big boys in vegas or with your local football betting guy would be insane at best.  i hope you understand this.  yeah, some weeks i do pretty good and others not so good.  so, just don’t do it.

also the odds posted here might change between now and game time.  that doesn’t matter here.  i go by what’s here for my wins and loses each week.  capice?  

as always, my mantra remains: leave your money in your wallet where it belongs and nobody gets hurt.  take that to heart, folks.

so, with all that being said it’s time to play some football.

rock ‘n’ roll!!!!

9/3  utah at utah st.  utah favored by 20.5 points.  long time readers know i love the old ‘wac’ and some of the teams that were in that old dead league.  well, here’s a couple of them.  utah more to the point.  it’s a shame this one takes place the first week of the season.  if it had only been down the road a piece, utah st, might have had a glimmer of a chance at covering the spread.  not this time though.  take utah to cover the points and win.

9/3  oregon at boise st.  oregon favored by 4 points.  my beloved ducks travel to the smurf turf for an important game.  a game that will make a statement about the coming season for both teams.  a new head coach at oregon but still in most top pre-season top 25’s.  i have them going 9-3, i think.  i could look it up but i’d just lose steam here.  i don’t think the game will be as close as the point spread predicts.  take the ducks to run away with this one.  oregon covers the points and wins.  GO DUCKS!!!

9/5  san jose st at usc.  usc favored by 34 points.  pete carroll is doing somebody somewhere a favor by scheduling this team.  a ton of points along with a new frosh starting qb.  but my other favorite college football team should have no trouble covering the spread and winning.  take the trojans.  FIGHT ON USC!!!

9/5  san diego st at ucla.  ucla favored by 19 points.  another old wac school that since the break-up has fallen on hard times.  however, ucla has been in a tailspin as well.  the bruins should do better this year and just might manage a bowl game.  maybe.  a lot depends on stuff working with their offense. time tells.  this is a tough one.  lots of points and two teams that have been struggling.  what the heck.  take ucla to win and cover the spread.

9/5  navy at ohio st.  ohio st favored by 21.5.  the dreaded buckeyes. what can i say?  other than take navy to cover the spread.  ohio wins but not by 21.5.

9/5  georgia at oklahoma st.  oklahoma st favored by 5.5 points.  the cowboys are a media darling this year.  as well they should be.  though the interesting thing here is, they are just getting the home team sorta six points against the dawgs.  somebody knows something but i’m gonna swallow the kool-aid and take oklahoma st to cover and win.

9/5  western michigan at michigan.  michigan favored by 12.5 points.  after last years dumpster season big blue need to prove something.  i’m semi surprised at the seemingly lack of faith the boys in vegas are showing them this year and this game in particular.  also early season print rumors of michigan violating ncaa practice rules does not bode well.  another time tells deal.  walking the plank here and taking michigan to win and cover the spread.

9/5  byu at oklahoma.  oklahoma favored by 22.5 points.  oklahoma where the wind comes blowing…god, help me, please…every bodies number one team this year.  tons of returning kids trying to put their hold (again) on the big dance game come this january.  they want to win this time.  ok, so what we have here is another old wac school that’s had a few stones to toss into any number of big schools football works over the years.  can they do it again this week?  boy howdy, i sure hope so.  take the cougars to cover the spread.  the sooners might win but it sure ain’t gonna be by 22.5.

alabama at virginia tech.  alabama favored by 7 points.  tech gets the home team 6 and one more.  interesting.  bama is another of my old time faves.  this year could be their year.  lots of returning starters.  plus time to get past last season.  take bama to cover and win.  ROLL TIDE!!!

9/5  lsu at washington.  lsu favored by 17 points.  a semi sorta bunch of points against the new and improved huskies.  ???.  a new coach from a great program, usc.  has he overcome the ennui that overcame the huskies at the end of the last season?  time do tell and i wish the huskies well.  however, take lsu to cover and win.

with the fires here in so calif the ucla game may be postponed until later in the season.  the air quality is in the dumpster here.  yes, i know but it’s much worse than the usual mess.  they are going to decide tomorrow as to what they are going to do.  so, if the game is set back my replacement game will be:

9/5  stanford at washington st.  stanford favored by 17 points.  stanford is once again a pac 10 dark horse with a much less darker color this year.  smart kids and a very good coach.  watch out trojans and bears.  take stanford to win and cover.

that is it for the first week.  as usual top heavy with my favorite teams and conferences.  the pac-10 and the mountain west boys.  at any rate, it will probably only get more so as the season progresses.  just don’t get stupid.  leave your money in your wallets. 

fire up the barbie.  pop some brews and enjoy the spectacle of college football.  the best game in town.

jmh

a brief history of music

my friend, jwfh, sent me this in an email a week or so ago.  it is pretty much self explanitory.  at any rate, he started his fall jazz history class last night.  i hope it went well.  i’m sure he’ll venture more into this during the semester and year.  thanks, doc.

jmh

surf city, usa or point break(?)

it’s the last official weekend of summer.  years ago my last official weekend of summer usually ended sometime in october when the water at the beach began to get a little to cold for comfort.  and the sun’s rays a bit to weak for tanning.  ah, a lifetime ago in the sun.  i have skin carbuncles as a mute testimony of those long ago days.
  

the beach of choice was usually huntington.  surf city, usa.  though many others were tossed into the mix of a lifetime of beach going.  orange county beaches were always the favorite.
 

these photos have appeared here in my blog before.  not this blog but my other blog that i deleted the last time i deleted my other place.  confusing but it really doesn’t matter.

a few years ago my friend, dfr, sent me a bunch of old huntington beach photos.  old photos of olden days and king oil.  oil wells to rival texas or one of those far middle east places.  oil wells thick as fleas on a mongrel dog.  yeah, so calif was once a kick ass oil producing hot bed.

huntington beach in particular.  oil so abundant it oozed up under the water coating your feet with a thick tar when you went swimming, body surfing or surfing.  of course that was long ago.  the price of land all over so calif making the oil wells and smaller cricket pumpers just wisps of imagination.  but rest assured they were here and alive.  a few of the cricket pumpers still live in a few places.  sad lonely reminders of long ago.

back when i was a kid the wells were still around but not alive to the extend of what you see in the photos.  they were just mere ghosts of the past.  but still around.  by the early 60’s oil gave way to a housing boom that still, to this day plods sadly on.

the brown eyed girl and i watched, ‘point break’, the other night.  it was her first time.  i’ve seen it any number of times.  it’s one of my all time faves.  after that last viewing i’m ready to move it into my top ten.  the brown eyed girl wasn’t or isn’t that impressed by the movie.  it really doesn’t matter that much.  the beach scenes of huntington in the movie and my wandering through some of the old photos of the old days made it necessary for me to write this and share s few of the photos with you because…
 

it’s the last days of summer here in locust land.  dreams still die hard.  the old visions want to hang on.  hang on for what may or may not be eternity. 

huntington beach, circa 1964.  

huntington beach, circa 1954.  my friend dfr and fellow summer campers.

the old days looking south at pacific coast highway.

when oil was king.

the huntington beach plunge.  an indoor swimming pool with salt and fresh water pools.  they were still around in the 50’s.  i loved them as a kid when the rip tides and undertow’s were howling they were a refuge. 

the beach from the pier.

fade to color.

jmh

2009 college football predictions week 2

week 1 of the college season got off to an odd or strange start.  the oregon/boise st game being a sad harbinger of a possible bleak future for college ball.  at any rate, i was 6 for 10.  not too bad with two stellar picks: navy and byu.

before i get going on this week’s selections i want to weigh in on the sad ending to the oregon/boise st game last thursday night.  there can be no excuse for legarrette blount’s actions after the game.  for those of you who don’t know what i’m talking about blount cold cocked a boise st player then went more or less more berserk going after fans in the stands and had to be restrained.  one of my cousin’s said he was lucky the cops didn’t have to taze him.  yeah, it was ugly.  a sad statement on that iceberg up ahead in college football.

blount was suspended from the team for the remainder of the year.  though he got to keep his scholarship and continues to practice with the team.  now, there’s a rumor that he may end up being able to play again this year.  oofa.  i love the ducks and have for years.  i’m sickened and saddened by the schools actions behind blount’s felonious stupidity.  blount had already been suspended earlier in the year.  he should have been tossed out of school for this deal.  period.  and his scholarship given to some academic student instead.  the only way the sad slope of douche bag college athletes is going to perhaps end is if they are all dealt with a very heavy hand.  screw up and you are gone, dumb ass.  no exceptions.

take that to heart ncaa.  if you want to continue to be the second rated spectator sport in the country.  because if something is not done about the dumb ass gangster element of college football, i for one will vote with my feet and stop watching.  count on it. 

ok.  there now i feel better.  as for this weeks games it was sorta hard to come up with anything that rang any bells.  yeah, there are of course my usual faves and one or two are in a good match-up but the rest of the schedule is shaky.  just remember to leave your wallet where it belongs and no one gets hurt.  the point spreads will probably change a bit before game day.  too bad.  what is here is what i use.  these picks are just for fun and my amusement.  taking what i deal out and betting on the game is and would be very very stupid.

rock ‘n’ roll.

9/10  clemson at georgia tech.  georgia tech favored by 5 points.  i’m not real thrilled about this one.  but it’s on tv thursday night.  the brown eyed girl will be at her sculpture class.  i’ll be home alone with the cat, drinking beer, and watching the game.  pretty cool.  i hope clemson wins but i’m not that crazy.  so, take georgia tech to win and cover.

9/12  iowa at iowa st.  iowa favored by 6 points.  after last weeks squeaker against northern iowa.  iowa needs a good game here.  though this one could go either way.  take iowa to win and cover.

9/12  ucla at tennessee.  tennessee favored by 8 points.  ucla played well last week.  time to play well again against a much better team.  i hope they do.  however, take tennessee to win and cover.

9/12  purdue at oregon.  oregon favored by 12.  oregon did not play well at all last week.  if they don’t turn it around here they might end up like the huskies did last year.  and i’m not just saying that.  i have no clue just what the problem was.  but i do know things need to change.  dumping blount might help.  chip kelly needs to step up and just do it.  purdue isn’t very good.  i expect the ducks to win, cover, and score big time.  ok?   GO DUCKS!!!

9/12  notre dame at michigan.  the golden domers favored by 3.5 points.  notre dame did well last week.  so did big blue.  i’m counting on michigan to take it to the irish.  take michigan to win and cover.

9/12  air force at minnesota.  minnesota favored by 4 points.  the golden gophers played well in their opener.  this is the falcon’s first game of the year.  old time readers know i like air force because they are one of the last schools that is liable and capable of running any number of offenses and plays.  and one of the stand outs in the old wac.  favorites die hard in these parts.  take air force to at least cover and maybe even win.

9/12  usc at ohio st.  usc favored by 6.5 points.  the night game on abc.  one of the stellar match-ups since the 60’s.  simple and easy.  take usc to cover and win.  FIGHT ON USC!!!

9/12  hawaii at washington st.  hawaii favored by 2 points.  i’m surprised it isn’t more due to the fact washington st, the school, already has over 2,000 cases of swine flu.  good lord.  wash you hands with soap and water after reading this one, kids.  if the cougars can even field 11 players they might get lucky.  at any rate, take hawaii to win and cover.

9/12  stanford at wake forest.  wake forest favored by 2.5 points.  stanford is for real.  take stanford to win. 

9/12  tcu at virginia.  tcu favored by 11 points.  tcu’s defense should be back.  take tcu to win and cover.

that’s it for this week.  don’t be stupid.  simple easy.

jmh

if it were only so

the brown eyed girl and were on the road labor day heading to a relatives house for a bbq.  it was a nice day.  no triple digit temps like we’ve had for the past couple of weeks.  all in all it was a fairly decent drive to and from the bbq.  but that ain’t why i’m here. 

several years ago the late great state of california passed a law banning cell phone use while driving.  it’s like a couple hundred dollar fine for driving and using one.  that is if they catch you or feel like messing with you considering there’s more stupid people out there doing even dumber stuff.  however, most folks on a cell phone and driving can barely drive.  if they ever could.  drive that is.

now don’t laugh, but this past year the state has also passed a new law that bans texting while driving.  yeah, whoda thunk you’d even need to pass a law like that?  i mean come on!!!  well, yeah, there’s now that law but there’s still dumb fucks out there texting and driving down the freeway at 70 miles per.  i see them all the time.  yesterday in particular.

to backtrack a step or two, our wonderfully delusional federal government is just to the point of considering, just considering mind you, that any state that doesn’t ban texting while driving would lose federal highway funds.  is that even something you need to consider?  how about just doing it for christ’s sake!  or for maybe your life’s sake.

at any rate, i see these dumb ass stupid folks all the time texting away while driving.  they are usually the ones that can’t seem to stay in their lane or are swerving between the lines if they can actually stay in their lane.  sure, there’s lots of drunks out there but they are just a drop in the bucket compared to driving a car and using a cell phone plus texting douche bags.

something sorta came to the two of us at the same time labor day.  an invention was needed to help curtail these dumb ass folks.  granted, most of them are kids but there are a number of older and supposedly wiser folks doing it as well.  we need an invention that would stop the madness.  stop it right in it’s tracks.

before i tell you our idea all i want out of the deal is if someone can come up with the hardware to do it would be a few freebies of the invention.  ok?  if one does eventually come out i’m gonna find you and get a few of them.  a few of them for free.  capisco? 

we all know the cops are too busy dealing with other shit.  however, when one of the texting morons gets in an accident it screws things up for all of us on way too many levels.  sooooooo…what is needed is a small electronic device.  a hand held thingy. 

say you are driving down the interstate or just going to score a half gallon of milk.  you see some moron using his or her cell phone or worse yet, bleeding texting and driving.  there are for sure no cops around.  if they were they prolly wouldn’t do anything anyway.  that’s where this new device and you would come in very very handy.

you would just need to point the device at the offender push a button and their cell phone would die.  forever.  it would never work again as the circuitry would be fried.  with no way to repair it.  simple easy.

on an other note, the device could prolly also be made to work on the ass holes who run read lights.  no cop around to write them up?  just point the device at the car and the car would slowly and safely pull over to the side of the road and can’t be started again until the offender has signed his or her ticket.  ah, pure bliss.  though that aspect of the device could lead to problems and abusers of the device.  but i think it could be worked out.  right?

i know there’s somebody out there reading this who could come up with that device or knows someone who can make it happen.  just do it.  the life you save just might be yours.

jmh

2009 college football predictions week 3

last week was one of those dark and dismal affairs and a prime example of why i tell my readers not to listen to me and my predictions.  i went 3 for 10.  not a bad stat for a baseball player but terrible for a football handicapper.  my combined stats for the season so far are, 9 for 20.  oofa.  however, i remain undaunted and it’s time to plod along again with this weeks games.  but before that happens i have to say in my own delusional defense, i would have done better but the point spread in a few games was my downfall.  my teams won but didn’t cover the spread.  ce est la vie.     

remember to leave your wallet alone.  don’t rush off to vegas or your local guy and dump a bundle on my picks.  or anybodies picks for that matter.  the road to the poor house is paved with stupid bettors.  understand?  this is for fun only.

rock ‘n’ roll.

9/18  boise st at fresno st.  boise st favored by 7 points.  boise st is not getting much love here from the point spread mavens.  then again it doesn’t seem like fresno st is what they were last year.  i’m no big fan of boise st for a couple of reasons, which i’ve run down before.  the primary reason is they are a 3rd tier school who play a crappy schedule.  though this year it seems any number of schools are following their example.  a sad state of affairs if there ever was one.  forget about it.  take fresno st to cover the spread and if their is a mickey mouse they might even pull out a win.

9/19  arizona at iowa.  iowa favored by 5 points.  ok.  so the deal here is my being a pac 10 honk and homer.  take arizona to cover the 5 and maybe or probably win.  roll pac 10!!!

9/19  utah at oregon.  oregon favored by 4.  if the boys of utah can overcome the noise and insanity of a duck game at home they just might pull off an upset.  the magic word being ‘IF’.  then again, i’m not that happy about the ducks play so far this year.  crap.  take the ducks to cover and win.  GO DUCKS!!! please!!

9/19  usc at washington.  usc favored by 21 points.  sure the frosh starting qb has issues this week.  no one knows if he will even start.  plus the trojans stunk the joint up last week with their win over the buckeyes.  a stinky win but i’ll take it.  none the less, it’s a bunch of points and the huskies will probably want to put it up for their new coach and ex-trojan.  plus, they played well against lsu and it’s another road game for the men of troy.  the spread may change over the week but i’m here and doing it now.  take the trojans to win and cover.  FIGHT ON USC!!!

9/19  kansas st at ucla.  ucla favored by 12.  fine but who’s going to play qb?  a good question i’m sure.  coach rick probably is wishing he still had some eligibility left so he could start for the bruins again.  i’m not so sure the bruins can pull this one off this week.  then again kansas st is not kansas.  out on a limb here.  take the bruins to win and cover.

9/19  michigan st at notre dame.  notre dame favored by 10 points.  cutting to the chase, i like michigan st’s chances here.  they may not win but i think they will cover.  i hope they win.  just do it, spartens.

9/19  california at minnesota.  cal favored by 14 points.  the only thing certain about this game is only one of them will remain unbeaten.  cal looks good so far and they should cover the spread and win.  ROLL PAC 10!!

9/19  air force at new mexico.  air force favored by 17 points.  we will be in new mexico in a couple of weeks hitting the hot spots so that’s why i’m sticking this game in here.  i think the falcons will win but i don’t think they will cover the spread.  take new mexico and a side of  hatch green chiles.

9/19  florida st at byu.  byu favored by 7 points.  perhaps the game of the week.  and byu’s chance to keep that monkey wrench rolling in the bcs gears.  take byu to win and cover.

9/19  texas tech at texas.  texas favored by 17.5 points.  my semi sorta alma mater, texas tech, travels to the university of texas.  i’m taking texas tech to cover the spread and hopefully win.  you, on the other hand, should visit the texas tech vietnam center and archive at: http://vietnam.ttu..edu/

that’s it for this weeks picks.  enjoy the games.  leave your wallet where it belongs and nobody gets hurt.

jmh

just another old country album(?)

one of my friends wrote in his blog last week something along the lines that, why would he want to write about an album that was like three years old?  yeah, why?  i mean i do it all the time.  some of the music i’ve written about is at least 30 or 40 years old.  some even older in the case of ella fitzgerald.  i really don’t see anything wrong with it because you just might turn someone on to the music that had never heard it before.  a good thing to be sure.

the cd in question today is one i’ve had in the car pretty much since i bought it a few months back.  i play it over and over.  cranked up at serious levels.  of course, the brown eyed girl doesn’t like to hear it more than once a week but that’s fine.  at least she’ll tap her foot now when i do play it and she’s in the car.  trust me that’s a good sign.

well, the cd is from 1999 and it’s by hank III, ‘risin’ outlaw’.  yeah, it’s ten years old.  i’ll tell you what, this cd is what country is all about.  hank III has put out some really nice country stuff.  country stuff that is head and shoulders above anything going on in pop country these days.  ‘risin’ outlaw’, is what country music ought to be.  though sadly that’s not the case.

hank III and the boys take a trip down the country western hillbilly highway with this one.  some of the finest pickin’ and harmonies since hank senior and the boys.  count on it.  from the opening track, ‘i don’t know’, to the last, ‘blue devil’, the band kicks it out with all their collective hearts.

a few of my favorites are, ‘on my own’, a great drinkin’ tune if there ever was one.  and ‘cocaine blues’, a fine tribute to johnny cash.  along with the haunting, ‘thunderstorms and neon signs’, perhaps one of the finest road songs ever written.

do yourself a favor and find hank III’s, ‘risin’ outlaw’.  buy it.  play it.  loud.  then you’ll understand.  boy howdy, country music at it’s all time best.

jmh

thunderstorms and neon signs or a pox on me(?)

the brown eyed girl and i will be leaving on a 10 day or so road trip early next week.  that is unless my current bout with shingles takes a turn for the worse.  the shingles came on last thursday night.  i thought i’d been bitten by a spider.  no such luck.  i’m on the steroids and i’m starting to look like the guvernator in his old days.  yeah, right.  plus i’m taking the usual other stuff so hopefully things will be ok and the trip will go down.   

i’m using the title of an old hank III tune here as the title for this blog as i think the song is a great road tune.  this trip more than likely won’t be one of my usual fear and loathing road runs.  at least that isn’t the plan.  though if i’m lucky i’ll have one of those in a few months.  veering here.

at any rate, we’ll be traveling around the southwest.  with stops at sedona, the grand canyon, elephant butte, santa fe, albuquerque, and flagstaff.  not necessarily in that order but sorta and maybe taos as well.  we are both looking forward to the trip. 

the brown eyed girl has relatives in a few of the stops so it will be cool meeting my new kinfolk and seeing a few again that i’ve already met.  plus, some spectacular scenery as well.  with any luck we should have a number of nice photos to share with you when we get back.

if any of you have any suggestions regarding things to see in any of those spots feel free to send them along.  we would appreciate it.  also, if you have some cool places for a bite to eat they would be appreciated too.  we’ve got things to do and see but more options are always welcome.

a sedona, az sunset.  something i hope we see on a daily basis.

 

jmh

2009 college football predictions week 4

after the previous weeks fiasco this past weekends picks were pretty good, as i went 7 for 10 and 16 for 30 overall.  things are looking up.  of course, the trojans sadly lost.  more on that in this weeks picks.  just a reminder kids, this is for fun only.  taking what i deal out here to your local bookie or las vegas would be fool hardy at best.  actually, it would be stupid.  yes, well, these days stupidity seems to reign.  be that as it may.

rock ‘n’ roll.

9/24  mississippi at s. carolina.  ole miss favored by 3 points.  a tight game and pretty much may as well be a toss up.  mississippi used to be one of my faves when i was feeling it back in the day when i was stupid enough to actually throw money down on this stuff.  two good coaches and it should be a good game.  take mississippi to win and cover.

9/26  san diego st at air force.  air force favored by 16.5 points.  yes, indeed more also rans in the wac and mountain west.  but i don’t care.  air force is another one of my teams.  what can i say?  take the falcons to cover and win.

9/26  arkansas at alabama.  bama favored by 15.5 points.  an interstate rivalry game of epic proportions.  forget whatever slick willie says about the game and take bama to cover and win.  ROLL TIDE!!!    

9/26  california at oregon.  cal favored by 6 points.  i was about ready to count the ducks down and out for the season.  however, after last weeks game i’m not so sure anymore.  california is for real but it’s early and their late october into november swan dive isn’t due for a few more weeks.  of course, that remains to be seen.  but history…  the game.  we have the craziness of a duck home crowd cranked up on a variation of west nile virus and rabies.  if cal can manage to overcome that they might pull it off.  i love the ducks so take them to at least cover the points and maybe even win.  one of the best games of the week.  GO DUCKS!!!!!!  QUACK!!

9/26  washington at stanford.  stanford favored by 7 points.  will there be a let down after the huskies big game win over the trojans?  i don’t think so.  the huskies seem to be for real and stanford is catching them a week to late.  ah, perhaps.  no bandwagon jumping as yet.  the sleeper game of the week.  take stanford to win and cover.   

9/26  louisville at utah.  utah favored by 13 points.  utah needs to, hopefully, bounce back after last week at oregon.  can they?  how badly do they want a big time end of the year big dance game?  go get em, utes.  take utah to win and cover.

9/26  notre dame at purdue.  notre dame favored by 7.5 points.  not much faith in the golden domers this week against a hapless purdue team.  no one is sold on the domers and charlie this year.  me either.  i’ll probably rue this decision come saturday afternoon but take notre dame to cover and win.  crap.

9/26  iowa at penn st.  penn st favored by 10 points.  one of the few decent teams joe pa and the boys play this season.  joe pa is going the way of boise st this year.  a chump schedule for the most part.  if there is a donald duck or donald trump the hawk-eyes kick some joe pa butt for his cupcake schedule.  take iowa to win or at least make it close.

9/26  washington st at usc.  usc favored by 44 points.  say what?  oofa.  even if the freshman comes back they aren’t gonna win by 44.  if he doesn’t and that other kid goes again forget about it.  it’s no wonder he lost the job to the freshman.  he’s not very good.  sark and the rest of the old trojan coaching crew took coach pete to the cleaners last weekend.  i knew it was over when pete had that look in his eye.  a look not unlike my 95 year old mom’s look when she isn’t quite sure just where she is or just what’s going on.  pete gets that same look on occasion.  he had it last year at oregon st and he gets it now and again in some games but he usually comes out of it.  not last week.  he was the deer in sark’s headlights.  road kill.  it also goes to show that you can’t lose a good part of your staff to one school.  they know you and will own you.  the cougars might not be that good this year.  though they have a very good coach.  another rueful decision?  take washington st to get inside that 44 point spread.

9/26  new mexico st at new mexico.  new mexico favored by 9.5 points.  bragging rights for the land of enchantment.  take the university of new mexico lobos to win and cover.      

there ya go, kids.  this weeks picks and some potential great games.  enjoy them.  leave your wallet in your pocket and things will go just fine.  pop a brew or two and heat up the barbie.  watch games till your better half gets fed up say like around 8pm(pst) saturday night.  or maybe like 6:30pm.  yeah, well.  roll while you can.  me too.

the weekend of october the 3rd i’ll be on a road trip into new mexico with the brown eyed girl.  i’m not sure what i’ll have for that week but i should have something, probably on monday the 28th.  as for the week of the 10th, this spot will be vacant.  deal with it on your own.  i’ll be in flagstaff.

jmh

2009 college football predictions week 5

i know it’s a bit early but the road is calling and I’m going on it this coming week.  not a bad week for me last week.  i went 6 for 10.  a couple of surprises for me but i did get the ducks, usc and joe pa right.  need i say more?  my over all for the year is now 22 for 40.  ok but nothing stellar. 

since I’m heading out this weeks picks will not include the point spreads.  it’s way too early for that, even for me.  so, I’m just picking winners for this weeks games.  no points involved.  winners only.  even with that, taking what i’m dealing out to a bookie or vegas would be stupid at best.  don’t do it.  leave your money in your wallet.  ok?

there will be no picks here for week six.  you are on your own.  i’ll be on vacation.

rock ‘n’ roll.

10/2  utah st at byu.  might be a good game.  utah bragging rights of a sort.  if byu lets down a notch or two they could end up like new mexico did last saturday.  it is never easy.  however, take byu to win.

10/3  florida st at boston college.  one of those old rivalry games out of the past.  for old times sake i’m going with boston college who seems to finally be playing some ball.  take boston college to win.

10/3  alabama at kentucky.  this should be another sorta easy win for the tide.  but like i said nothing is ever easy.  take bama to win.  roll tide!!!

10/3  washington at notre dame.  this might be a good game.  washington i’m sure will fall out of the top 25.  notre dame might be in it this week but probably not.  as no one is impressed.  there’s a national radio sport talk show host who predicted, before the season, the irish would win the national championship this year.  yeah, he was on a acid and china white high at the time.  that was never going to happen.  washington is pretty good.  as good as the golden domers and they have a better qb.  take washington to win.

10/3  lsu at georgia.  take lsu to win.

10/3  oklahoma at miami florida.  miami went down last saturday.  they will go down again this week.  take oklahoma to win.

10/3  michigan at michigan st.  probably a good game.  to bad it’s not in the big house.  take michigan to win.

10/3  washington st at oregon.  the ducks blew out the bears last week.  an amazing show of offense and defense.  just amazing, lads.  they might be on the comeback trail.  stay focused.  take the ducks to win.  go ducks!!! QUACK  QUACK!!

10/3  ucla at stanford.  no brainer here.  norm chow, not with standing.  take stanford to win.               

10/3  usc at california.  maybe the best game of the week.  cal was embarrassed by the ducks.  best is now more than likely out of the heisman hunt.  the trojans not that impressive at home over washington st.  both schools need to step up.  take usc to win.  FIGHT ON!!!

pretty simple stuff here as i need to start packing.  plus, tiger tees it up in a bit as well.  remember, nothing here for week 6.  have some fun watching the games and i’ll see you again in a couple of weeks with my week 7 predictions. 

jmh

2009 college football predictions week 7

the road trip thru the southwest is over and i’m back.  for those of you that care some fairly spectacular photos of said trip will be posted up here probably by tomorrow morning.  but that’s not why i’m here.  this is all about college football the best sport in the country.

ok.  so my last picks were for week 5.  i went 6 for 10 on those games. giving me 28 for 50 overall.  nothing to get excited about but none the less not shabby either.  just remember this is for fun and betting on my so called wisdom would be insanity at best.  leave your wallet in your pocket and nobody gets hurt.  also, i go by the odds you see here.  they may change over the week but unless it’s a huge change i really don’t care, as the odds here are what i go by to determine my wins and loses. 

rock ‘n’ roll.

10/14  boise st at tulsa.  boise st favored by 10 points.  the blue turf smurf team finally gets an opponent that just might give then a good game.  too bad the ducks game was their first for both schools this year.  if it were played today we’d have a different outcome to be sure.  count on it.  but that’s water under the bridge.  what i want to know is just how boise st can be considered for a national championship when they play teams like: bowling green and u c davis.  at any rate, i’m taking tulsa to beat the spread and maybe even win.  and hopefully when the dreaded computer kicks in for the bcs rankings we see some justice here.

10/17  oklahoma at texas.  texas favored by 3.5 points.  one of the best games of the weekend.  take the sooners to cover and or win.

10/17  iowa at wisconsin.  wisconsin favored by 3 points.  i just don’t see this one at all.  sure, it’s a badger home game.  sure, they are doing well.  sure.  take the hawkeyes to cover or win.

10/17  usc at notre dame.  usc favored by 10 points.  the golden domers broke into the top 25 after last weeks win.  yawn.  they will drop out after this game.  take usc to win and cover.  one of the best going this weekend.  FIGHT ON!!!!

10/17  texas tech at nebraska.  nebraska favored by 10.5 points.  as usual i have to go with my sorta alma mater texas tech.  take the red raiders to get inside the spread at the very least and hopefully win.  also, be sure and visit: http//www.vietnam.ttu.edu/

10/17  california at ucla.  california favored by 3.5 points.  despite the bruins lose to the ducks last week i think they are doing pretty well for a team that just can’t find a quarterback.  though coach rick says he is sticking with somebody or another.  probably.  maybe.  at any rate, the bears hit the loss column early this year and if history is any example they won’t do much better the rest of the season.  if the bruins can stop best they have more than a chance to win this one.  take ucla.

10/17  arkansas at florida.  florida favored by 24.5 points.  boy howdy.  it’s a gift.  take arkansas to get inside that spread.  and it would not surprise me if they even win the game.

10/17  virginia tech at georgia tech.  virgina tech favored by 3 points.  another of those semi sorta toss ups.  take georgia tech to win or cover.

10/17  s. carolina at alabama.  bama favored by 17.  this one could be a sleeper.  no, not in that sense.  the gamecocks might maybe just have a plan.  or something.  one of the best games this week.  a bunch of points but no matter if the tide comes to play.  take bama to win and cover.  ROLL TIDE!!!

10/ 17  washington at arizona st.  arizona st favored by 7 points.  so far the southwest has been very cool by usual standards this fall.  we are even supposed to get a good dose of rain tonight and tomorrow.  but by friday back to the 90’s here in socal.  so, maybe just maybe, the huskies get a break in the weather and get another win.  take the huskies and the outside shot at cool temps on game day.  yes, i know.  i just right em.  i don’t explain em.

another fine weekend of college football coming up.  enjoy it while it lasts.  the interminable seasons of hockey and basketball are coming back.  baseball probably won’t have a world series champ by thanksgiving.  my point?  thank god for college football.

jmh

arizona and new mexico road trip w/ photos – october 2009

our trip to the southwest went very well.  fine scenery and company plus  some great food and drink along the way.  what could be better?  as a matter of fact, we’re already planning our next sojourn into northern arizona and southern new mexico.  long lazy stays in both places with none of the 400 mile drives and associated moving every few days.  the long drives were the killer.  trust me, 400 plus mile drives every few days are not something we want to tackle again any time soon.

all and all a fantastic trip.  great scenery leading the way.  i could boor you with the details of daily stuff with some days much better than others.  i won’t do that.  i’ll just let the photos tell the story.  we think there’s magic in a few of them.  hmm, yeah, sedona can do that.  a magical place if there ever was one.

the grand canyon has a bit of magic as well.  we saw it on one of it’s hazier days.  although it was still stunning if not exhausting.  elephant butte, new mexico.  the place where an old dam makes a lake of the rio grande. 

yes, the road still holds some magic.  we found that magic in the southwest. 

a room with a view in sedona, az.

approaching sunset sedona. az.

sunrise and another sunset in sedona, az.

the grand canyon on a hazy windy cold day.

grand canyon sunset.

manny’s buckhorn in san antonio, new mexico.  voted one of the best burger joints in the usa.  fabulous green chile cheeseburgers. 

elephant butte, new mexico.

the harvest moon over elephant, butte.

the old plaza in santa fe, new mexico.

yours truly waiting for a table at the plaza cafe santa fe, new mexico.  one of the best meals on the adventure.

 

the lorreto chapel in santa fe.  and the staircase.  a story worth looking up.

hasta la vista, sedona.  we will be back.

all photos copyrighted 2009 john hauge.

jmh

2009 college football predictions week 8

back at it again for another round of college football insanity.  last week i went 7 for 10 and just missed doing considerably better by a point or two in a few games.  we are at way past the half way point in the season and i’m 35 for 60.  not too shabby.  remember i missed week six as i was on a road trip. 

these picks are for fun only and using any info here to actually bet on any of these games would be very very stupid on your part.  leave your wallet in your pocket and things will be just fine.

rock ‘n’ roll.

10/24  arkansas at mississippi.  mississippi favored by 5.5 points.  i’m thinking the only reason the razorbacks aren’t favored is it’s a home game for ole miss and the boys can’t believe their eyes as far as arkansas goes the past few games.  the game is not a gift like last week’s game but arkansas will win or cover the spread. 

10/24  oregon at washington.  oregon favored by 8 points.  the road back continues for the ducks.  putting on my pac 10 homer hat and predicting the ducks win and cover.  GO DUCKS!!  QUACK QUACK!! 

10/24  penn st at michigan.  penn st favored by 4.5 points.  i just can’t buy in to joe pa and the boys this year.  they lose again.  take michigan to win or cover.

10/24  iowa at michigan st.  a toss up at this point in the week.  iowa is another school that just can’t get any respect this year from the mainstream folks.  however, they have been here.  take iowa to win.    

10/24  tcu at byu.  byu favored by 2 points.  as good as tcu looked last week against boise st i’m still taking byu to win and cover.

10/24  florida at mississippi st.  florida favored by 22 points.  florida didn’t cover last week and i don’t think they will again this week.  take mississippi st to cover the spread.

10/24  texas at missouri.  texas favored by 14 points.  take missouri because they will get inside those 14 points.

10/24  oregon st at usc.  usc favored by 20.5 points.  usc didn’t cover last week against the hapless golden domers.  usc lost to oregon st last year.  oregon st still has the brothers rogers running wild.  a very hard pair to deal with.  hopefully, coach pete has figured them out.  a tough call, take usc to win and cover.  FIGHT ON!!!

10/24  boston college at notre dame.  notre dame favored by 8 points.  the two biggest catholic schools in the country duke it out.  the golden domers gave it their all last week and came up short against usc.  though they did amazingly enough cover the spread.  that not with standing take boston college to cover the spread and probably win.

10/24  boise st at hawaii.  boise st favored by 25 points.  boise st did not cover the spread last week against tcu.  they won’t cover again this week as well.  take hawaii to get inside the 25.

there you have my picks for week number 8.  the season will be over before you know it.  and the jones for college football will be back by february at the latest.  enjoy the games and don’t get stupid. 

if you like reading my take on college football stay tuned to this spot as i will have another college football blog up at the end of the week.  one you won’t want to miss. 

jmh

the strange case of the bcs

i’ve been messing with this one for a few days now.  i’m angry.  not at what i’ve written, even though it might be hard to follow.  but then what else is new as far as my stuff goes?  no, i’m angry at college football, tv networks, congress and just about everyone else as well.    

the years first bcs computerized nonsense poll came out last weekend after the games.  we get another one after the games this week and after every other one until the season is over.  those of you that follow and love college football have many reasons to dislike the bcs poll on numerous levels.  me too.  especially after seeing boise st and cincinnati crouching just under the radar for a shot at the national championship game.  a shot i’m not real happy about.  but then i’m old and old school.

however, with my frazzled synapses and mis-firing neurons i’d forgotten all about what went down after last season or maybe even earlier.  i haven’t a clue as to an exact date.  a very sad state of affairs in both cases.  several schools, most notably utah and boise st, got the hairballs in washington dc to hold hearings on the seemingly unfair deal that is the bcs and their big money games at the end of the year.  sen orrin hatch, was the most visible and he yammered about fairness and other such dumbness.

dumbness, like giving a third tier school, such as boise st, a shot at the national title game if they went 12 and oh.  our wonderful government has nothing better to do than stick it’s collective nose into places it has no business.  college football being one of those premiere areas.  though our esteemed leader has said he’d like to see a playoff in college football.  hopefully, he will keep his and congresses nose out of the deal.  the bcs is bad enough right now without further meddling by those lame bozos.

their meddling, so far, has turned the best sport in the nation into a coed t-ball league for cry baby 5 year olds.  a league where even if you play the likes of say, u c davis or southeastern st university of chicken pluckers, and beat them.  why, by golly, you can play in the national championship game.  you went 12 and oh with your patsy schedule of third and fourth tier cupcake schools.  well done.  oofa.  

i’m sorry.  i don’t want to see it.  at all.  you can have your t-ball for whinny third tier school athletic directors and their ilk.  i don’t want to see watered down college football games.  games where everybody must play.  games where nobody really wins.  games where there are no winners. just losers like us.  

you say, ‘but, john, that isn’t happening and won’t happen.’  yeah, right.  just give them a little more time.  a little more whining.  then just wait and see.  because you can soon count on some women’s college field hockey team playing boise st, in the beloved rose bowl, for the national championship of college football.

ridiculous you say?  why he’s been at the absolut trough again.  no kids, not yet, any the ways.  i just don’t appreciate diluted college football games.  diluted to the point of political correct parity.  diluted so even, the university of middle state teachers and boys choir affiliates, gets a shot at a bowl game at the end of the college football money rainbow.  god, the horror.

sadly, i’m beginning to lose interest in college football.  oh, i’ll stick around for awhile.  but in the not so distant future i see myself voting with my feet and walking away from the game.  politicians making changes they have no business making.  there’s just too much excess money out there.  and that money along with dumb ass politicians and stupid college officials is ruining the game i used to love so very much.  it’s a part of brave new world?  no thanks.  you can have it.

so just what have the hairballs in dc done?  they got just who the hell ever of the bcs hairballs to adjust their computers to look favorably upon third tier schools ala boise st.  in all fairness, cincinnati is probably a second tier school as they have a very good medical school on the campus.  they just ain’t harvard or yale and just as well as those guys can’t compete either.

the point being, boise st, a third tier school has diddly for academics and can recruit kids that can play but then said kids are morons who could never get into an sec, big 10 or pac 10 school.  which doesn’t matter much in the academic sense.  not that the kids from michigan or usc go to class all that much.  it’s a fine line to be sure.  a line that for the sake of decent college football games that shouldn’t be crossed.  at least not while i’m still alive.  thank you.  point?  computers tweaked to nullify strength of schedule.

so just why are boise st and the bear cats sitting above usc in the bcs poll?  the sad reply from the masses is: usc lost a game and the other two haven’t.  they are undefeated.  fine.  ok, pilgrim, riddle me this: if usc were to play boise st this saturday, at boise, who would be the vegas favorite?  vegas cares only about the money.  their money.  the simple answer would be, usc.  probably by at least 14 points.  trust me, i’m sure that would be the case.  so why then is boise st and cincinnati ranked higher than usc?

yeah, i’m a usc homer and a pac 10 honk.  doesn’t matter in this regard.  he political correct crowd bought off by somebody or another to water down the game into a 5 year old coed t-ball league.  jesus.

this has been like all over the place and i suppose, maybe and hopefully, you can see my passion here.  and my point.  we are destroying a game, the only game left, that used to have some sort of meaning and purpose.  a meaning and purpose that is being watered down into nothingness.

count on this as well, a playoff mandated or brokered by the hairballs in washington, dc would be just as bad.  you would have to be certifiably insane to think otherwise.

jmh

the saga of denny paine, the short version

it’s been a few years but i used to work with an ex hollywood stuntman. actually, i was his boss for a time.  and for our purposes here he will be known as, denny paine.  denny paine was the name a certain government alphabet group wanted to give him way back when.  he declined their offer.  at any rate, denny is a southern california native.  though these days he’s living in arizona.  over the years i’d lost track of him. 

a few weeks ago, jwfh, and myself along with someone else were chatting away a hot afternoon in the claremont village.  the lone ranger came up in the conversation of old tv/movie cowboy stuff.  i thought of denny paine, and told the guys he was clayton moore’s double in the color movie, ‘the lone ranger’, circa 1956.  clayton’s real name was, jack.  denny paine told me that.  denny paine told me lots of stuff.

denny paine had quite a career in the movies.  he doubled for buster crabbe and lash larue, among others.  have you ever seen the movie, ‘vanishing point’?  well, he did all the stunt driving for barry newman in that great oldie.  remember the beginning of the old tv show, ‘then came bronson’?  that was him on the motorcycle.  how about, ‘chips’?  yeah, he did all the riding for larry wilcox, or john.  that is when the bike wasn’t hooked up to a trailer for close-ups.  he also did location searches for the studios when he wasn’t doing stunt work.  denny found the old virginia dare winery around these parts that was used for an old ‘combat’ tv episode.  a place i’ve written about in the past.

during korea, denny, was in the army and a member of the 25th or 26th regimental combat team, a fore runner to the green berets.  he was out front gathering intel.  while doing so he received a purple heart and bronze star.  president harry truman pinned the purple heart on him while he was in a hospital bed in tokyo.

after korea he went back to work in the hollywood industry.  i met him years after those days.  he was retired from two jobs plus the movies and was working on his third retirement check.  yeah, god bless him, he’s one of those triple dippers.  we always had a good time working together.  he was always full of great stories.  a time or two he even let me wear the buckskin jacket, guy madison or wild bill hickok of tv fame, wore in the rose parade one year.  or maybe fool around with a gold plated 100th anniversary winchester 30-30 he owned.  ah, sweet.  

i lost track of denny.  probably because he was a crazy old coot.  for example, we played a lot of golf together in those days and he ALWAYS cared a loaded pistol in his golf bag.  or on his person.  ‘you never know when you’ll need it, hombre.’  is what he used to tell me.  that in itself wasn’t so bad.  trouble was he was liable to whip it out and fire off a few rounds anytime anywhere just for the fuck of it.  yeah, denny paine. 

that hot afternoon conversation of a few weeks ago got me thinking about him.  once again.  with the help of the brown eyed girl and the internet we found him or more to the point his long time companion, miss penny.  since then i’ve spoken to him on the phone a few times.  he even sent me a photo of himself taken in 2006 in knabe, utah.  the photo was taken to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the long ago lone ranger movie shot there in 1956. 

that’s denny paine in the picture.  i’ve missed you, hombre.  i hope you still have the buckskin jacket and the 30-30.  see you soon.

jmh