RHETORIC AS THE CAUSE OF DEATH

     I've been told to listen.  So I've listened. And listened.  And listened.  Now after pausing for immense reflection, I feel now is the time for my time to respond.  Each voice and its corresponding cause is straddling for pole position.  Wanting not only to be heard but respected and in some cases even feared.  The grasp for any type of power can be addictive and once you achieve it you may not want to ever lose it.
     Actions have consequences.  And now in this gilded age of social media so do words.  Sticks and stones may break one's bones but words may break one's will to live.  I believe that in adolescence we want to be liked or even loved.  We want to be accepted.  The urge to assimilate can be overwhelming.  Anyone that dares to march out of step with this urge is somehow deemed unworthy of our acceptance.  Praise is immediately spared.  Why?  Well, what will the others think?  Will my praise be spared if I don't spare praise of the ones who dare to differ from the agreed status quo?
     I believe these questions are the very beginning of the demise of happiness and harmony and the planting of the seeds of fear and paranoia and ultimately of destruction.  We are more fragile then we would care to admit and no one cares to freely announce their own shortcomings.  As we get older, the urge to assimilate begins to evaporate but I believe it does not disappear altogether.  That moment will arrive soon enough.  Meanwhile, we are supposed to become more understanding and more willing to look past the perceived flaws of others.  Being out of step is not supposed to be that important as long we still can become productive members of society.
     However, this progression appears to be actually regressing as of late.  Differences are being pointed out and more of us are learning how to refuse the natural order of progress and backslide into the process of assimilating again.  This is not tied to just one ideology either.  Both sides are desperately searching for their safe space again.  The ultimate safe space is the womb, isn't it?  And if one decides to travel the other direction, isn't the ultimate safe space is the great beyond?  Is meeting somewhere in between now considered taboo?   Is compromise the ultimate sin?
     Here is a quote that I hope will provide some comfort and just maybe some reconsideration:

     "A ship is safe in the harbor, but that is not what ships are made for."
                                                   -John Augustus Shedd

KHAKIS AFLAME

     I just watched two music documentaries lately.  Yeah, I'm a real wild guy.  The first film was about the last five years of David Bowie's life.  They had some home video taken on his last World Tour in 2003 and showed him and his band at a Town Pump (kind of a trucker's 7-Eleven) somewhere in Montana playing one of the 'claw' machines with the stuffed animals inside.  This would be just about the last thing I would probably ever think of David Bowie doing (and not to mention the last State he would be doing it).

 
     Then I watched a documentary about the English band XTC.  I've loved this band for a long time but didn't know much about them as little has been written and they had just a cult following in the U.S.  Andy Partridge seems like a rather chatty bloke but a bit mercurial.  Colin Moulding seems like a quiet genius and Dave Gregory is very thoughtful and concise.  There were some other members of the band but their stays were rather brief.  For whatever reason, I just don't see any of these guys ever hanging out at a Town Pump on Montana playing a 'claw' machine.

     David Bowie's lyrics always seemed somewhat cryptic and a little dark to me whereas most XTC lyrics were direct and even a bit funny at times.  What makes someone continually act dishonest or be unabashedly truthful?  Is it their upbringing?  Their surroundings?  What makes someone impoverished be thankful for what little they have?  What makes someone who has everything still want more?   Alas, big answers seem to be elusive for such a simple mind.  I do know that I'm constantly amazed at what joy these musicians have given to me over the years, even though their approaches to the craft were very different.  Strange but true.

MY TWO SHITS WORTH: EPISODE EIGHT

     Here's a good one.  Kelly Monteith.  A stand up comedian by trade, he came to prominence (perhaps too strong a word) in 1970s, making several appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and was part of the initial wave of observational comedians.  He also played all of the big Nevada casinos of the day.  He got 'noticed' by CBS who offered him a four-week summer replacement variety show in 1976.  His guests were Freddie Prinze, Vicki Lawrence, George Gobel and Gavin MacLeod.  He started making appearances on British talk shows too which led to him getting signed by the BBC to do his own series.
     He says that he pitched this type of show to American networks who flatly rejected him.  "The Kelly Monteith Show" was partially inspired by the old "The George Burns Show" where the main character would talk directly to the camera at certain points during the program.  Garry Shandling would also use this in his 1980s Showtime series.  The Brits ate it up and the show ran for six series (British for seasons) from 1979 to 1984.  During that time he also returned to CBS in 1980 for another four-week show called "No Holds Barred."  Described by many as a comic version of "60 Minutes", no one knew what to make of it (especially those tuning in expecting to watch "Kojak" reruns) and the show disappeared very quickly.
     After his BBC show ended Monteith returned to the states and continued his stand up career and made a few mostly forgettable TV and movie appearances.  His BBC show ran on the fledgling A&E Network in the early 80s (where I watched it as a child) but has also been mostly forgotten.  That's a shame because it was a very funny show and now his very funny Carson guests stints are now showing up on You Tube.  I highly recommend them and also recommend that the BBC get off their arses and put his old show on DVD.

THE $100,000 PYRAMID (2017)-MY REVIEW

     Well, with his 56 different jobs, ABC somehow got Michael Strahan back to host another batch of episodes of The Pyramid this past summer and fall.   And I think he must have decided to bring all of his athlete besties with him and not so surprisingly the show suffered because of it.  Yeah, it's funny to see one football player totally shit the bed because he's obviously never played the game before but after seeing football player after football player do this I wanted Dick Cavett back in the worst way.  At least they had a few trained players like Kathy Najimy (who was also a contestant in the 1980s) to class up the joint a bit.  And, yes, they didn't fool around with the basic game structure but the producers would be wise to try and have the novices play some practice rounds first.  My rating for this season is a B-.  Try harder!!!

The Smithereens-A Girl Like You

RESPECT

     The Smithereens were always one of my favorites.  Pat DiNizio (1955-2017).

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?