From Where I Sit

Vinnie, Guido, & Timmy

    I had Vinnie Falcone as my guest this afternoon on my weekly radio show, The Sunday Music Festa. The show can be heard on the web stream at our station's website at www.jazz901.org

    Falcone was pianist and then Musical Director for Frank Sinatra for about 8-10 years between 1973 and 1986. He's a fabulous musician and a truly nice man. He's worked with Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, Jack Jones, Rosemary Clooney, Julius La Rosa, Andy Williams, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme and the list goes on and on. He also wrote a very interesting book about a year ago entitled "Frankly, Just Between Us: My Life Conducting Frank Sinatra's Music," with a journalist named Bob Popyk.

    Vinnie told me today that when Sinatra was getting older he planned to spend the last years of his life traveling around to music schools passing on what he knew of the music he loved, namely The Great American Songbook, to young people and young music students.  Unfortunately, he never got that chance as his mental faculties began to fail him in his declining years. Vinnie says he's been doing that whenever he gets the chance in recent years and the response from the young students is always very positive. He's a very articulate and intelligent guy and you couldn't find a better promoter for America's greatest music. He's quite a passionate and intelligent guy and I feel fortunate to call him a friend. It's because of Vinnie that I got to meet Sinatra many years ago but I'll save that story for another day.

    When I spoke with him this afternoon he was in Florida working with Joe Piscopo. They were doing a concert tonight in Tampa. I don't even want to speculate about Piscopo as a singer. I know Vinnie met him years ago and they became friendly. What I found more interesting was that they did a show last night with Piscopo, Victoria Jackson, and Don Novello, aka Father Guido Sarducci. I always thought Father Guido was one of the funniest characters/bits EVER to come out of Saturday Night Live. Truth be told, apparently Novello was doing this character long before Saturday Night Live and David Steinberg saw him and hired him as a comedy writer. He went on to work for the Smothers Brothers and then Lorne Michaels tapped him for Saturday Night Live sometime around 1978. I'm happy to hear that Father Guido is still active and sharing his special brand of wisdom with the world.

     Finally a message for my friend the Ol' Philosopher - not Eddie Lawrence but Timmy Madigan.

To blog is not an easy task
especially with all the questions you ask
you rant and rave and always pester
you fancy yourself an old court jester
but with all the trivial miles you log
you yourself should write a blog.

    Good night for now and remember, as Frank Sinatra used to say that Joe E. Lewis used to say, "A friend in need is a pest."

New Year's Resolution

Our long, national nightmare is over.

That phrase has three meanings as it applies to today's posting - the first in nearly 12 weeks. The first meaning is strictly tongue-in-cheek as I refer to my long drought in having posted anything on this sight in such a long time. There's been a number of reasons for my dropping the ball but no need to assign blame, especially since most of it would fall to me. Let me just say that my New Year's Resolution for 2007 is to try very hard to post to this sight at least once-a-week. I've been successfully e-mailing weekly updates about my radio show to a list of listeners for over 6 weeks now so there is some precedent established to help us believe I can achieve this lofty goal of once-a-week posting.

The second meaning has, of course, to do with the fact that the Christmas shopping season is over. We still have tomorrow night/New Year's Day before we can officially  acknowledge the end of the holiday season but the worst is behind us. Now we must endure the after holiday sales, the Valentine's Day merchandising which began on December 26th, and the Lincoln & Washington bedding sales which are awaiting us in the very near future. This is the price we pay, I guess, for the fact that America's greatest export is Capitalism.

The third meaning has to do with the passing of our 38th President Gerald R. Ford. It was the quote for whic he is most famous. When I awoke on Wednesday morning there was a banner across the top of the "newspaper" here in Rochester, The Democrat & Chronicle, about his death at the age of 93 but just a small story on page two. I went looking for other papers and was outraged at the lack of coverage, thinking the media had snubbed this "accidental" President. I should have known better. The media, like hungry lions, are always ready and waiting for fresh meat to chew on. It seemed President Ford just died a little too late on the 26th for the news to make it onto the pages of our nation's newspapers for December 27th.

In recent days there has been much coverage, most of it good, some of it condescending, on the Presidency of Gerald R. Ford. Most of his peers, political allies and adversaries, generally agree that he always put what was best for the country above party politics. He placed his own political future in jeopardy to do what he truly felt was necessary for our nation during a time of great turmoil. All of our current polticians are praising him for these selfless qualities. If they really wanted to honor the man they're praising, they could begin by following his example and end the bitter partisan politics that have disabled our nation for the past decade or more and begin working together for what's best for the many, instead of just the few.

Gerald Ford was often the butt of jokes for his clumsiness, his occasional lack of eloquence, his supposedly poor golf game. He once said, "I'm a Ford, not a Lincoln." It was a sign of his simple. Midwestern humility but compared to the current occupant of The White House, Gerald Ford was Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, and Ben Hogan all rolled into one.

Gerald Ford was never elected President but he occupied the office with dignity and respect. History has already begun to recognize his importance to the our nation. Hopefully future politicians and statesman will also recognize his admirable qualities and try to emulate them.

Random Thoughts

    This is the first time in over 30 years that I'm unable to watch Monday Night Football. I cancelled cable back in February and the game is now on ESPN so . . . I'm not too upset although I like Mike Turico and I love Tony Kornheiser as a writer so I'd be curious to just check it out. I could get a real good deal right now from DISH Network but I've been buying so many DVDs that I've got more than enough to watch. Heck, that's one of the many things that keeps me from posting here and I'm getting grief from people like Jason Crane, Tim Madigan, and others to get off my duff and resume posting.

    Speaking of sports and great DVDs, I just got a seven DVD set of the 1979 World Series. The set consists of every game, that's right - I said EVERY GAME of the series between the Baltimore Orioles and the "We Are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates. It's awesome! I cannot express the joy I get by literally escaping into the past and watching some of my earliest baseball heroes flash across the screen: Willie Stargell, Al Bumbry, Manny Sanguillen, Eddie Murray, and many more. And are you ready for the broadcast team - Keith Jackson, Don Drysdale, and the man himself, that's right, that boisterous barrister of broadcasting, Howard Cosell.

    I think I mentioned this before when talking about the fabulous Dick Cavett DVDs but this is the way vintage television should be presented to us - in its entirety. I grow so frustrated with DVDs or syndicated versions of old shows, specifically variety shows, that edit out "dated" material that the producers think we won't understand or be interested in. Hell, that's exactly what I am interested in! Personally, I think television, just like old radio or magazines, is a time-capsule of popular culture and of our history. Give it to me uncut, not watered down. If I want boring, unchallenging programs I'll watch current TV.

    I'd link up to the DVDs from the 1979 World Series but it's been so long since I've used this that I need to go and re-learn how to do that. I'll try to put up a picture though, I can usually handle that. For those interested, I ordered my set off of Amazon because they had a pretty good sale. There is also the entire set for the 1975 series that I'll probably get as well. In 1979 I was rooting for the Pirates so this is a happy series for me to watch. In the 1975 series I was rooting for the Red Sox so that won't be as enjoyable but is was a great series. And that series was broadcast by Curt Gowdy, Tony Kubek, and Joe Garagiola - that alone is worth the price of the set to me.

    Let's not forget about the great Willie Stargell. The 1971 World Series, which was also between the Orioles and the Pirates, was the first baseball I ever recall watching on TV. Living in Rochester, New York, everyone in town was rooting for the Orioles because we were their Triple A farm club at the time. Being the young independent spirit that I was, with all my family, friends, and neighbors rooting for the Orioles, I naturally rooted for the Pirates. That's how I discovered Roberto Clemente who quickly, along with Brooks Robinson of the rival Orioles, became my first baseball hero. On that same Pirate ball club there were three other players I remember with great fondness: Manny Sanguillen, Al Oliver, and Willie Stargell. Like Clemente, Stargell was larger than life. He was a secondary figure to Clemente on that 1971 ballclub but by 1979 he was known to his teammates as "Pops" and had become the undisputed leader of the team. He was a great ballplayer, as you'll see from these games, and a great humanitarian, as you'll hear from Howard. Like Clemente, he too died much too soon.

I'm Back, Baby!

    Wow, I didn't realize it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. I was under the weather for the past couple of weeks and I mean way below the weather. I think I had the plague or something. Anyway, I'm feeling better and my pal Tim Madigan, heap big philosopher, e-mailed me this evening and told me I better post about my on-air meeting this afternoon with 1950's pop-icon Julius LaRosa on my Sunday Music Festa/Otto Show radio programs on Jazz 90.1.

    Unfortunately, LaRosa is probably most famous for his on-air firing by the egomaniacal Arthur Godfrey in 1953. If you want to have some idea about how popular and powerful a media figure Arthur Godfrey was at one time in this country, rent the DVD "A Face in the Crowd" starring Andy Griffith and Patricia Neal and directed by Elia Kazan. The character Griffith plays is based on Arthur Godfrey. However, when LaRosa was fired by Godfrey in 1953 Godfrey made a statement to the press that stuck onto LaRosa and has haunted him ever after. Godfrey said the reason he had fired LaRosa was because "he had lost his humility." Now coming from a man like Godfrey this was a comical statement. To be made about a guy like LaRosa is nothing short of ludicrous.

    In the six years that I've been writing and been hosting my radio show, I've been fortunate to meet, talk, and interview a few celebrities, musicians, actors, and writers. I can honestly say I've never met/spoken with anyone more humble and self-effacing than Julius LaRosa. He certainly has legitimate reasons to be bitter and regretful if he wanted to be. His is a substantial talent and yet super-stardom and lasting fame eluded him. The respected music writer/critic/lyricist Gene Lees has said that LaRosa is "the most brilliant singer of the Sinatra school" of vocalists. Ella Fitzgerald once called him "the most under-rated singer in the world." As for LaRosa, he routinely refers to himself as the luckiest guy in the world.

    We spoke for a little over an hour on the show this afternoon while we listened to some of his recordings as well as music from Tommy Leonetti, Frank Sinatra, and others. He was charming, funny, friendly, and sincere. I've met him on two different occasions and spoken with him via the telephone a half dozen more. Each and every encounter is the same - he is charming, funny, friendly, and sincere. He also happens to be one hell of a singer.

     Many months back, I had a listener write me a little note to tell me how much he enjoyed my show. It was one of those complimentary letters where you heard the "But" coming from the very first sentence until it finally appeared about three-quarters of the way through the letter. This gentleman's beef was my predisposition to play Frank Sinatra's music on my program. Now mind you, when my program started six years ago it was promoted as a "Celebration of the Italian American Legacy in Song." Since that time, I've tried to move slightly away from the Italian American theme but I've always concentrated on The Great American Songbook - the standards of our popular music written by masters such as Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, Gershwin, Mercer, Harry Warren, Jerome Kern, Harburg, and the rest. So I ask you, with those two ideas/themes in mind, am I not going to play the music of Frank Sinatra?!

    Now, would you like to know why this gentleman protested Frank's airplay? Because Frank wasn't a nice man. I know, I know . . . you think I'm trying to be funny but I kid you not. He said that if I knew what a mean, spiteful, cruel man Sinatra could be I'd never play his music. Well, besides the fact that I've probably read as much that's been written about Sinatra as anyone, besides having talked with and interviewed people who worked with and knew Sinatra, besides having met Sinatra once in 1980, my biggest question to this gentleman was "Who cares?" I mean we all know Van Gogh was a little screwy - he cut his own ear off, for cryin' out loud - does that somehow mean he wasn't an artistic genius when it comes to painting?

    Here's my point, there are many artists, writers, performers, and statesman with whom you probably wouldn't want to do a great deal of socializing. That doesn't mean they aren't monumental talents. In fact, their monumental talents and abilities may be what keeps them from being able to relate to people in simple, everyday situations. It would be nice if all the famous people we admired were also people we could be friends with in our own lives. Normally, this is not the case. However, every once in a great while, we are lucky enough to meet someone whose talent we admire and whose accomplishments we praise and they are everything we hoped they'd be and more. It's very rare but it happens - Julius LaRosa is one of those rare exceptions.

PLAY BALL!
    Baseball season began this evening in Chicago. Besides the birth of a baby, the beginning of a new baseball season may be the only other event that truly gives me a feeling of hope. I know it sounds hokey but despite the pathetic personalities that have ruined our great national past time, the Mark McGwires, Pete Roses, Barry Bonds' and Bud Seligs, nothing can ruin the game. It's still the most wonderful game on earth. I spent the first sixteen or seventeen years of my life wanting nothing more than to be a professional baseball player.

    The late, great Kirby Puckett proved that baseball truly was a "field of dreams" where anybody with enough heart could carve a niche for themselves in the storied history of the game. In a world where you need to be 300 lbs and at least 6' 6" to play football, and just slightly lighter and substantially taller to play basketball, baseball remains the one place where every kid can at least dream of the possibility of someday making the big leagues.

    One of my favorite MLB players is David Eckstein of the St. Louis Cardinals. This kid is about 5' 8" tall and weighs about 165 pounds. He's been playing for about seven years and he has a .282 lifetime average. He was an integral part of the Anaheim Angels World Championship season a few years back. He gives hope to every scrawny little kid playing little league that maybe, just maybe he can make it. That's why I love this game.

   

Here's to a season with faster games, close pennant races, an injured Barry Bonds, and a real Commissioner. In case you're wondering, I do not now, never have, and never will, recognize Bud Selig as a legitimate Commissioner. Lucky for him too, he wouldn't want to have screwed up so much while actually being a real commissioner!

    Let's play ball!

Viva La San Giuseppe!

    Greetings one and all. it's been nearly a week since I last posted any news so I wanted to jot down some quick thoughts before I drift off to slumberland tonight.

    Today is St. Joseph's Day which is a fairly important celebration for Italians and Italian Americans. Celebrating the feast of St. Joseph, the man considered to be the foster father of the gentleman known as Jesus of Nazareth, St. Joseph is also the patron saint of the worker. Those who toil day by day to keep a roof over the heads of our families and food on our respective tables. In Italy, St. Joseph's Day is more or less thought of as Father's Day due to his relationship with Jesus. Here in America, the Italian Americans always celebrated the day with, what else, a huge feast! The tradition was, and is (to the extent that it's still practiced), to host a St. Joseph's Table filled with all kinds of food but all meatless dishes, of course. What used to happen was the community, or church, or whoever hosted the event, would find a homeless family or some individuals down on their luck and invite them as the guests of honor. They would represent the Holy Family. After the feast, whatever food was leftover was given to the poor.

    My family attended a St. Joseph's Table at my wife's Aunt's house today. What she did was have a community till where we all contributed a couple of bucks and then she's going to donate the money to a local food cupboard for the underpriviledged in our community. A nice idea, a wonderful feast and excuse to get together, and a nice tradition to introduce to the young kids to teach them about helping those who aren't as fortunate.

Congrats to those multiplying Cranes

    I know it sounds like a growing aviary but I forgot to mention in my last post that our friends Jason, Jennifer and Bernie Crane welcomed a new bird into the nest last week. John Flanders Crane was born last Saturday, March 11th. Here's a picture of John with his big bro' Bernie. There's more to see at Jason's website over in the left margin under my "Hot Spots." Congratulations to all the Cranes, winged and wingless, everywhere!

Strange Signs

    Speaking of that strange bird Jason Crane - because he apparently has nothing better to do with a full time job, 2 previously existing websites, a new baby in the house, and a 3 year old son who's always ready for a little action, he's gone and started another website/blog! It's called Signwall.com and it's a collection of old signs from around Rochester, although I'm sure this will grow fast to parts beyond Rochester, that were either painted on buildings or carved in stone, etc. I can't do it justice by trying to explain it so just go see it. It's actually pretty cool. I'm sure you can get to it from his site or go to www.signwall.com. I'd try to link you up from here but I need more lessons from Prof. Crane.

March Madness, Spring Relief

    I'm not a huge college basketball fan although I do enjoy watching some of the games in the NCAA tournament because they're usually pretty entertaining. However, for me the best thing about March Madness is that it means that baseball season is right around the corner.

    As I mentioned on a recent post, I've cancelled our cable TV, or at least a large part of it. I'm seriously considering signing up for the MLB.com on the computer for the season's ballgames, highlights, condensed games, etc. Just curious if anyone out there has purchased this service in the past and, if so, were you satisfied and pleased with it? Please drop me an e-mail if you have any relevant info or experiences to relate.

Frank & Joe

    It being St. Joseph's Day, let me mention Frank Vignola and Joe Ascione. That's their CD over on the left, "The Frank and Joe Show: 33 1/3." If you like really swinging, hip, articulate, instrumental jazz then you MUST give these guys a listen. Frank's a first class guitarist and Joe's a first class percussionist/drummer. I've only seen them perform together once but I was absolutely blown away! Last year, I got to see and hear Frank Vignola perform with another fabulous guitarist, Gene Bertoncini, and they, too, brought down the house. If anyone out there is like me, and usually feels that there are no longer any truly special entertainment talents in the world today then give these guys a listen. The music is fun, the rhythm is exhilarating, and the execution is top-notch.

    For the late-era baby boomers like myself, you'll especially enjoy their rendition of the theme from the cartoon "Spiderman" that we all watched as kids in the late 60s and early 70s. Some time soon, I'll add their 2nd CD, "The Frank and Joe Show: 66 2/3" to the links at left. In the meantime, here's a picture of the CD cover. I hope they're working on "The Frank and Joe Show: 100 rpm" for the coming year! The CDs are on the Hyena label - great stuff!

    That's it for me, I'm off to watch a little Dick Van Dyke or Hogan's Heroes and then to bed!

Catching Up

Wow, lots to catch up on this past week.

OSCARS

First of all, I think the Oscar telecast was awful and I think it had very little, if anything, to do with Jon Stewart. I may sound like a Stewart apologist, and perhaps I am, but I have never seen a more uptight, humorless, pompous crowd than I saw in the Kodak theater on Sunday night. The new Hollywood crowd has none of the glamour, class, excitement, or sense of humor of those that have gone before them. I often say "stanno tutti morte" which means, everybody's dead. Just my way of expressing the opinion that few in the entertainment industry today live up to the legacies of their predecessors.

The only member of the colony that in any way exudes the charm of old Hollywood is George Clooney.

Charlieze Theron, or however the hell she spells her name - I have news for you dear: You're young, beautiful, rich, and you already have an Academy award. It's OK to smile!!! God, all we had to do was look at you in that black funeral shroud with the big crow on your shoulder and we were all laughing hysterically. The least you could do was crack a smile.

Sorry to see that Dolly Parton has officially joined the "Oops, Too Much" Club with Joan Rivers and Mary Tyler Moore. This women now has two sets of cheeks and neither of them are on her face!

Are there two larger egos in all of Hollywood than Spielberg and Hanks? Tom, get a hair cut.

Memo to the academy: No matter what you do, your shows are long and boring therefore lose the classless undercurrent of music under each winner's acceptance speech and give everyone 2 minutes to thank whomever the hell they want. They just won the damn Oscar, for cryin' out loud.

By the way, if Spielberg had won for Best Picture do you think they would have cut off his microphone before he was done speaking?

I hope, and fully expect, to be watching the Oscars in ten years and still see Mickey Rooney sitting in the audience with that big smile on his face.

BASEBALL

I'll certainly have much more to say about this on a future post but for the time being let us just say this: Rafael Palmiero, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds are all cheats, phonies, and frauds. I'm sure almost all, with the possible exception of Palmiero, will make The Baseball Hall of Fame but that doesn't mean they're the best that ever played. These people, and many of their contemporaries, really do not deserve to even have their names mentioned in the same breath as Mays, Williams, Aaron, Clemente, Ruth and a host of  others.

As more guys like Bonds and McGwire get into the Hall of Fame, the only thing that it will accomplish will be to make The Baseball Hall of Fame less and less relevant.

TELEVISION

Watched a new TV show this week called "Sons and Daughters." It was actually pretty funny which is unusual for ABC, the home of Hapless and Feckless or is it "Hope and Faith?" Anyway, this show seems to have some potential. Let's hope the network gives it more than 5 minutes to catch on.

One of the stars is Max Gail. Gail is best remembered, by me at least, as Sgt. Stanley Wojohowiecz (you just spell it like it sounds!?) of the 1970s sitcom "Barney Miller," another ABC program and one of the funniest and best written shows EVER on television!!

It was good to see Max Gail again. I was also happy and impressed that he has allowed himself to age gracefully. He looks older but good. Ya hear that, Dolly?

OK, that's enough. That's what happens when I wait almost a week to update.

Not So Breaking News

   

I was just at The Daily Show website where there's quite a story breaking. Apparently Dick Cheney, yes, that Dick Cheney, the Vice-President of the United States of America, shot a 78 year old friend in the face. It seems Vice-President Cheney mistook his 78 year old friend for a quail - that's a bird, if I'm not mistaken. I think we had all heard the rumors that Vice-President Cheney had a temper but this seems just a bit harsh. Do what I plan on doing - stay tuned to The Daily Show for updates on this breaking story.

    Now for the "Not so breaking news:"The Daily Show is absolutely the best show on television! Jon Stewart is charming, funny, irreverant, and intelligent. I can't quickly think of another human currently on the tube who possesses two of those characteristics, let alone four. Hell, three of the (supposedly) biggest media personalities in America, Larry King, Oprah Winfrey, and Howard Stern can't come up with even one of those qualities among their whole group. In addition to Stewart, The Daily Show also boasts the talents of Ed Helms and Rod Corddry (sp?). Watch for these two because Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert have already flown the coop and are scoring big successes with The Office and The Colbert Report. Can Helms and Corddry be far behind?

    One final thought for tonight - I'm quickly learning it's not as easy as it might seem to update a blog on a daily basis. I'm certainly never short of opinions, just the time to express them here. I will try to make a concerted effort to post here at least every other day with the goal of eventually  posting on a daily basis.

A little help from your friends . . .

Wow, I just checked out two of my "hot spots," the websites of my friends Jason Crane and Erik Telford. As Erik mentions in his entry at Miles Radio, the three of us try to get together for lunch as regularly as possible and the love that gets thrown around is the kind that you'd expect from a meeting between Don Rickles, Milton Berle, and Jack E. Leonard. The insults are all in good fun but, still, you can imagine my response to the kind words they both put forth on my behalf.

I was especially impressed by Erik's description of me as someone, and I'm paraphrasing here, "who wants to preserve the past in order to make the future a better place."

Jason and Erik are both younger than I, and hipper in the conventional sense. They're hip by virtue of being up to date with all the latest trends, culture, music, etc. I'm hip in a George Burns & Jack Benny, Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin, Flip Wilson & Carol Burnett sort of way. If I'm hip at all, I'm hip because I'm so un-hip.

Jason and Erik are both good friends and great guys so you'll just have to forgive us for the "Mutual Admiration Society" nature of our recent entries. Friendship or not, they are both extremely talented, creative, and thought-provoking so make sure you check out their sights under Otto's Hot Spots. I'd put the links right here except that's way too technologically advanced for me.

And speaking of friendship

Last night I read Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship by Jack Klugman with Burton Rocks. It's a small volume about Klugman's professional and personal relationship with the late Tony Randall. Although it's a very quick read with lots of pictures, it's a sincere and heartfelt tribute to the man who, as Klugman puts it, gave him back his life after cancer surgery. Randall's belief in Klugman's ability to  regain/retrain his voice (Klugman had surgery for throat cancer in 1989)  and his insistence that Klugman get back on stage and act again, was a watershed moment in their nearly 40 year friendship.

If you're a fan of the TV show "The Odd Couple," which starred Klugman and Randall from 1970 - 1975 on ABC, you'll appreciate and enjoy this book. There's even a gag reel of outtakes that Paramount allowed Klugman to include with the book as an added feature. It's only about 15 minutes long but priceless stuff, especially for anyone who loves this show as much as I do.

And speaking of the show, when is "The Odd Couple" going to come out on DVD? Garry Marshall's "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley" both have their First Seasons currently available on DVD and although they had their moments, neither show was as funny for as long, and as consistently, as "The Odd Couple."       

I looked forward to watching this show every week when I was a kid and I loved it even more in reruns. Thanks to Oscar and Felix, as well as Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, for all the laughs they provided me. And again, when I'm more proficient with this blogging thing, I'll create a link to find more information about The National Actor's Theatre that Randall founded and to which he devoted a great deal of his life.       

In the beginning . . .

Here I sit on a Thursday evening with my total inability to understand or navigate the new technological world, being (forcibly) pulled into the new century by my friend Jason Crane. I'm both scared to death and thrilled at the possibilities. I thank him for his patience and time in developing this site for me - you'll soon be blaming him for his patience and time in developing this site for me. Whatever the case, I'm boldly about to go where millions of others have already gone. The only difference is, as Frank would say, I'm going to do it "My Way."

Most of my posts and/or thoughts will be concerned with movies, music, baseball, and assorted popular culture. Just as often, those thoughts will be about classic, or long-past, popular culture. You're far more likely to find me writing about Sinatra as opposed to Timberlake, and Bogart as opposed to Affleck. Not to say I can't and don't appreciate authentic modern-day talents like Jon Stewart.

Assuming I'll be able to work this site on my own once Jason leaves my side, I'll start posting as soon as possible, so "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride."