BANG ZOOM.....WE'RE ALL GOING TO THE MOON!

     "The Honeymooners" is still considered one of the all time classic sitcoms despite the fact that it's now over 60 years old and only aired a total of 39 episodes (anything else you ever seen is just sketches cut out of one of many incarnations of Jackie Gleason's variety show).
     However, if millennials watched it today (if at all), they would pick it apart like a frog in junior high biology class.  Above all other major and minor offenses, the times Glesaon's character Ralph Kramden would tell his wife Alice something to the effect of 'one of these days, Alice, POW!, straight to the moon!' after she insulted the poor slob one time too many would seem like some sort of code for spousal abuse.  The truth is the abuse was just pathetically and therefore comically verbal.  Always.  Alice really wore the pants in that family.
     Today, what is passing itself off as the truth is a bit frightening.  And the actual truth is something we now wouldn't be able to recognize if it was staring us in the face.  What stops us from just walking away from it all?  A belief in something bigger than ourselves?  God?  The universe?  Free HBO for a year?
     A recent story I read talked about how when man last walked on the moon, no one cared because we had already done it; no matter how much of a risk and achievement it was every time it happened.
Will that become the case for the latest wave of sexual harassment charges being hung on people in positions of any type of power?  Does Willie the Wino run the risk of losing his newspaper blanket the next time he ogles Barbara Businesswoman as she walks to work one bright autumn morning?
Will this soon become a case of the non-binary unit who cried wolf?
    I fear all charges of wrongdoing soon will all be judged by the same yardstick; regardless of the severity of the sin with everyone being banished forever to someplace far away like the moon.   And when the last one of us is a placed in the rocket with the fuse already being self-lit, who on earth will be left?

POINT OF REFERENCE

     I feel a bit saddened when I see and hear what is going on in our supposed new and improved world with technology at the forefront.  Alexa, can you explain the cost of becoming enslaved to this technology in human terms?
     Today's social media boom may well be on the way of going bust.   This current culture makes the 'ME' decade of the 1980s seem like a trip to Chernobyl with Mother Theresa to help victims of radiation posioning.
     The current society has become so indoctrinated with looking inward that babies are surely born with this 'gift' as a built-in feature.  There are exceptions, of course, but how many people are helping victims of natural disasters partly because they think there is a good chance of getting a 'sick' selfie?
     Academics use 'point of reference' as a way of discussing and evaluating theories that are different than the ones that we normally use.  It is supposed to make people understand that there is more to life than what is currently seen in our limited range of visibility.  The very concept of this theory may be foreign and perhaps useless to people of modern life who reject everything that has come before them as a false way of feeling 'liberated' from the mistakes of the past.
     Is reasoning and using methods of deduction to uncover the severity of any given situation somehow invalid in this world where public opinion takes the place of actual justice?  Has the kangaroo court finally replaced the one we used to consider 'Supreme'?
    All facets of modern society certainly seem easier.  But does that really make them more credible?

"When the truth offends we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is even there, but it is still there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later that debt is paid."

COLOR ME IMPRESSED.

       I was looking through some old college yearbooks a few days ago and I uncovered some very interesting achievements.  No, I'm not referring to grades or degrees or any of that paltry stuff.  I'm talking about 'goings on' in and around the Magic City. We have two colleges here but are most definitely not thought of as a college town.  Back in the day (1970-71 , to be exact),  I guess some things could actually considered BETTER.  Things that would actually excite ME if I had actually been alive to witness it.
     The first achievement was to somehow convince a group of talented musicians from Britain called Badfinger to play at one of the colleges' theaters; Petro Hall which holds upwards of 500 people.  These dudes were tight with Beatles, man!  They also wrote what I consider to be just about the best power pop song in the world called 'No Matter What.'  For you younger folks they also wrote the song "Baby Blue" that was featured in the last episode of "Breaking Bad."  They also had some of the worst luck of any band and two members would later commit suicide after many failed comeback attempts.
     The second achievement was getting Mort Sahl to come here for one of his 'commentaries.'  He was one of the most famous political comedians in the country.  But unlike Lenny Bruce, he didn't have a drug habit or try to shock the audience to get a point across. Sitting in on one of these mostly freeform discussions where the audience was allowed to ask questions and express their views must have been amazing.  And to think, it was all done in a civilized manner.  How DID they do it?  Again, for you younger folks, Mort Sahl would most likely be the precursor to someone like Jon Stewart or John Oliver.
    The third and final achievement was to get the one of the leaders of the burgeoning Women's Movement, Gloria Steinem to speak here.  I'm not going to try to even imagine how this all went down but it must have been something special.  As a male, I would probably be afraid of going to an event like this one out of fear of being tarred and feathered or some such thing even though I consider myself to be whatever the exact opposite of whatever a male chauvinist pig would be called.
     I went to college at the same place in the early 1990s.  By then, there was very little campus entertainment beyond a few plays or dances.  And this was BEFORE the internet!  The city had changed.  I believe it had become much more conservative.  I even had a boss at one of my first jobs tell me "this town cares little about culture....unless it's agriculture."  Today the town is changing again.  Will it be for the better?  Will I even be around to experience it?  And will anyone ever be impressed again?

GOODBYE TO AN OLD FRIEND

     Okay, so I never met the man but whenever I heard a Fats Domino song, it always sounded like he was talking to me.  He was a musical innovator in every sense of the word.
     He was also a icon of the civil rights movement whether he knew it or not.  He would regularly play segregated concert halls and theaters (which means he would have to use a separate entrance among other humiliations) but when he would take the stage and start playing, all fears would melt away and you could only hear and see unbridled joy coming directly from him.  Joy can be a weapon of peace and most certainly of harmony.
     Thank you for making me feel this joy, Antoine.  Pass it on to everyone above now.

A POSSIBLY MANGLED BUT MUCH BELOVED QUOTE

"I don't know the game.
 I don't understand it.
 I don't feel like I want to play it.
 I never have."
             -Mark Arm

CAN YOU 'DO IT'?

     Can you do it?  Can you separate the artist from his/her art?  There was a recent exchange between Jerry Seinfeld and Stephen Colbert on Colbert's show (actually one of the few bright spots on the program lately)  where Colbert asked Seinfeld who some of his comedy idols were.  When he said he loved Bill Cosby you could hear a pin drop in the Ed Sullivan Theater.  Seinfeld continued by saying the he memorized all of Cosby's classic albums and that he thought he was influenced by Cosby.  Colbert said that he just couldn't listen to Cosby's comedy anymore after all of the sexual abuse allegations came out in the news.  Seinfeld replied by saying something about never really linking the two 'acts' (his comedy and his private behavior) together in his mind.  In my opinion, he was being open and honest; not flippant.
     Do people always link the artist and his/her personal life from their public business model?  Should we?  They say that tragedy plus time equals comedy.  Both Bob Hope and Johnny Carson were comedy icons.  Would it shock you if I said that they were also adultery icons?  Were they just a 'product of their times'?  I often hear verified tales about the era where it was fine to pinch a woman's posterior as they walked past a man's office space.  I understand that some men felt they were giving the woman high praise (or much more in some cases).  I also understand that some women actually took it that way (or much more in some cases).
      In today's highly sensitized society, it seems that both Hope and Carson would be publicly lambasted, be told to go away but yet somehow come back at a time of our choosing and made to do the 'walk of shame' for the rest of their lives; wearing their special version of the 'scarlet letter' for all to see.
     Do I refuse to watch Roman Polanski films because of his allegations of rape forty years ago even if the woman in question has said that she would support him being allowed to enter the U.S. again?  If he was allowed to move back, would he be placed on that list of 'sex offenders' that said Mr. Roman Polanski would be moving into your neighborhood?   How many people would move out of that neighborhood?  How many would like to move but couldn't because of financial limitations or other such 'roadblocks?' 
     I must admit that when watching the classic films 'Rosemary's Baby" or "Chinatown" I do not think 'man oh man, this rapist really knows how to crank out a fine movie!'  I also do not think about how emotionally damaged Polanski may still be after finding out his young wife who was eight months pregnant at the time was brutally murdered by a member of the notorious Manson family almost fifty years ago.   I do look at these films as works of art.  Sometimes I even forget who made them.  Did YOU know he made these movies?  However, I'm pretty sure I would think twice about watching these films if I found out that Polanski was found guilty of genocide.  But even then, I might pause to think 'Gee whiz, Nicholson is one of the greatest actors of the modern era so maybe I'll just sneak a peek at this one.'
     It's not everyday common knowledge but Volkswagen was founded by the German Labour Front which was spearheaded by none other than Adolf Hitler.  Do I hop in a Passat and wonder 'How can I drive a car from a company that was originally funded by Nazi Germany?'  I do not.
    I think it's safe to say that I believe every event or occurrence is a bit different and structurally complicated than the next and that every one of these nasty little things should be handled on a case by case basis and not simply by the court of public opinion even though most of us believes that a person is guilty until proven otherwise and thus disobeying our own system of justice in this country.
     If it is true that Mr. Cosby did actually drug and rape the women who accused him, I would be very angry and sad that a person who provided so much laughter could also be the same person who caused so much pain.  But would it change my belief that his "Noah" skit is one of the most brilliantly constructed comedy bits of all time?  It would not.

MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE SEVEN

     This year is the 45th Anniversary of some very memorable TV shows including "M*A*S*H", "Maude", "The Waltons",  and the current incarnation of the daytime staple "The Price Is Right."  However, I'm focusing my admiration today for "The Bob Newhart Show."  This was Newhart's 1st sitcom after hosting the critically acclaimed but low rated variety show from 1961 also with the same name that earned him 'an Emmy, a Peabody and a pink slip from NBC' as he likes to tell it.
     This new show would be one of the first sitcoms to show a happily married couple.....without any children.  It would be a risk that would pay off big in large part to the great chemistry between the 'button downed' Newhart and the straight shooting Suzanne Pleshette.  The supporting cast was also crucial to the success as well.  Newhart, who played Dr. Robert Hartley; a psychologist with an emphasis on support groups, shared a floor of an office high rise with the happy-go-lucky bachelor dentist Jerry Robinson, played by Peter Bonerz.  They also shared a sardonic and feisty receptionist, Carol Kester, played by Marcia Wallace.  The other major cast member would be their absent minded neighbor, airline navigator Howard Borden, played by Bill Daily.
     These characters would be around for the entire six year run and of the series.  I was born in 1972 so I mostly found this show in reruns.  I liked the fact that it mostly stayed away from current events and trends an focused on relationships between friends, relatives and patients.  Simple but smart.
     The group sessions were almost like a second show at times.  Between foul tempered and neurotic Elliott Carlin (Jack Riley), bashful and obedient Emile Peterson (John Fiedler),  good self-image deficient Ed Herd (Oliver Clark) and nice, elderly and blunt Mrs. Bakerman (Florida Freibus), one would never know where the prepared topics would go but we all knew it would lead to somewhere with a well intended but hilariously wrong result that would somehow get resolved by the end of the show.  I also think it was one of the first shows to portray mental health patients as real people with everyday problems and not inmates in an asylum.
      The fourth season episode "Over The River And Through The Woods" is my favorite one even though Emily (Pleshette) is barely seen as all the guys bond at Hartley's apartment over Thanksgiving because everyone is alone on this special day.  Cerebral and physical comedy are all on display here as the gang proceeds the get more and more drunk as the day goes on while attempting to watch the holiday football games and try to cook something up for a meal.
     There are too many great moments in 142 episodes to mention so if you're a fan of intelligent and slightly warped humor, go out and purchase the complete series box set.  And, to overuse a phrase, this is 'my prescription for hours and hours of laughter,'  Just don't OD, okay?

P.S.  Did you know that Howard Borden's brother, Gordon is a game warden?  That's right, he's warden Gordon Borden.