Walter Cronkite (1916-2009)

On the morning of Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, I was in my first-year of graduate school at Stanford. My class in advanced probability theory began at 11 o'clock.

About ten minutes into the class, one of my classmates came running into the class crying, saying "The President's been shot! The President's been shot." She was a cute, red-haired, freckled-face girl who often sat by me. Our professor, Emanuel Parzen, asked her to calm down. Instead, she turned and ran out of class. Professor Parzen then reminded us that it was the weekend of the big Stanford-Cal football game. He said that rumors ran rampant every year on this weekend and then showed us mathematically how unlikely it was that the President had been shot.

After class, some friends and I headed to the Student Union. We saw that the TV lounge was jammed. CBS-TV's Walter Cronkite was talking about what had happened in Dallas. Then he paused.... Hesitantly, Cronkite told us that President Kennedy had died. He removed his eye glasses and wiped tears from his eyes. Like almost every one in America, Cronkite was deeply saddened by the assassination of President Kennedy.

On the following Monday, Professor Parzen openly apologized to our classmate for not believing her when she told us JFK had been shot.


Walter Cronkite will be missed by so many of us. If you are old enough to remember his broadcasts, think of all the news he brought to us over the years. He had a low-key, natural way of delivering the news.

In the late-1960's, I joined a group in Chicago called Businessmen Move Against the War in Viet Nam. I was glad to meet others who shared my opposition to the war. Cronkite, I later learned, shared our views. If you're too young to remember the 1960's, you should know that most Americans supported the Viet Nam war and resented anyone who opposed it.

I am only one among many, many people who are glad that Walter Cronkite was here while we were and did such an amazing job bringing us the news.

Goodbye, Walter! Thank you for enriching our lives....

George Spink
Los Angeles

So Long for Awhile....

One of the many, many joys of living in Chicago was listening to Chuck Schaden's wonderful radio show, "Those Were the Days" every Saturday afternoon. Chuck began doing this show in 1970.

Anyone who loves old-time radio, as I do, loves Chuck's show. And, thanks to the Internet, old-time radio fans everywhere have been able to listen to Chuck's show beginning on the Tuesday after it aired for the following week by visiting Chuck's online Nostalgia Digest.

Chuck Schaden

I loved hearing the Chicago references on Those Were the Days. Everyone brought back warm memories to me. And I loved hearing the old radio shows. Born in 1940, I heard so many of them on the radio when I was a boy.

My favorites were Sky King, The Lone Ranger, and Gangbusters. I also liked Your Hit Parade on Saturday nights. I also remember my mother and my aunt Dorothea, who lived with us, listening to the soaps every weekday at noontime. My mother's favorite was The Romance of Helen Trent.

In recent years, Chuck's Those Were the Days has aired on WDCB-FM in Glen Ellyn, Illinois from 1 to 5 PM every Saturday. Now 75, Chuck has decided to retire. After all, 39 years has been a long run!

Chuck has given me his kind permission to feature his last broadcast, which aired on Saturday, June 27th.


The show continues with a new producer and host, Steve Darnall. And it wouldn't surprise me if Chuck returns to host Those Were the Days once in a great while.

Thanks for the memories, Chuck!

George Spink
Los Angeles, California
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Michael Jackson: Thanks for the Memories

I was returning from a doctor's visit this afternoon here in L.A. when a woman boarded my bus and announced that Michael Jackson had died a few minutes earlier.

At first, no one believed her. After all, Farrah Fawcett died this morning and Ed McMahon died on Tuesday.

But could it be true that Michael Jackson died as well?

A couple of minutes later, two more women boarded and said the same thing.

Rock With You - Michael Jackson

When I arrived home about 20 minutes later, my roommate and I watched the crowd growing outside UCLA Medical Center where he had died. We thought about going to the Center for a vigil.

As we watched the reports about Michael Jackson's death, I thought back to the day in 1993 when I met Michael Jackson. I was working as a salesman at Allied Model Trains in Culver City, then the world's largest toy train store. Michael Jackson was in Los Angeles, on trial for allegations of child abuse. About 2:45 PM, to my surprise, Michael Jackson and a friend of his walked into Allied and back to my area of the store where we sold LGB and Lionel trains. I often waited on celebrity customers, including Bruce Springsteen, Donald Sutherland, Rod Stewart, Mel Harris, Harold Ramis, and Richard Crenna, but seeing Michael Jackson in person was still a big thrill for me.

I showed them around the store. They admired all the merchandise and the dozen or so operating train layouts, especially the large LGB and Lionel layouts in my my area.

At one point, I began asking Michael Jackson about his music, about Quincy Jones, whom I first heard about in the early 1960's (I still have Jones' first LP). Michael Jackson could not have been more polite or cordial to me. I mentioned how much I loved jazz and big band music, rock and blues. And being from Chicago originally, I knew nearby Gary (his hometown) fairly well. We talked about an hour.

Now Michael Jackson is gone. I can't believe it. I am stunned.

Looking back, I am glad that we shared a few moments together.

Rest in peace, Michael. And Farrah. And Ed.

Thanks for the memories, Michael....




George Spink
Los Angeles
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The Whole World Is Watching!

Neda Soltan (1983-2009)

The Chicago Transit Authority - Aug. 29, 1968






Peter Paul and Mary

George Spink
Los Angeles
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Do You Use Twitter?

Do you use Twitter?

I'be been doing so for about six months and get a big kick out of it. Here are some photos of Twitter friends I've made since I joined.

Get your twitter mosaic here.

Visit my Twitter Page to see what it's like!

Now, take a look at Kim Sherrell's web page to see just how exciting using Twitter can be: http://id.mind.net/~sunflowrr/jump.html

George Spink
Los Angeles
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INVASION!

I was a little boy on D-Day, about three months before my fourth birthday. But I remember my father showing me the above one-word headline in the Chicago newspapers:

"This is the day we've been waiting for," he said.

D-Day - June 6, 1944

Some of the men in my hometown -- Berwyn, Illinois -- fought and died on D-Day. We later prayed for them on Decoration Day (now Memorial Day).

Whether the D-Day invasion would succeed was by no means certain. That we eventually defeated the entrenched, well-armed, and well-trained German army was a miracle.

D-Day was the beginning of the end of World War Two. We must always remember and pray for our brave young men who fought so valiantly on Omaha Beach.

Ten thousand of them died on D-Day.
Goin' Home
The Largo from the Second Movement
of Anton Dvorak's New World Symphony
Major Glenn Miller and His Band of the Allied Expeditionary Force

Thanks to their bravery, and the bravery of all of our soldiers and our Allies, I can remember what happened 65 years ago on the beaches of Normandy. We should all say prayers of remembrance and gratitude.

George Spink
June 6, 2009

The Music in Glee is Awesome!

CrossCurrents, a local culture program on San Francisco PBS station KALW, had a piece on vocal harmony groups and the annual Harmony Sweepstakes the other day. There are some great Bay Area vocal harmony/a capella groups. One of the ones featured on the program was the LoveNotes. They do a version of Bohemian Rhapsody. I think they were inspired by Artists in Resonance, a UC Berkeley group that changes as the students flow in and out of college there--I vaguely recall them doing a version of this often-covered Queen classic.

Anyway, the summary of the Harmony Sweepstakes competition got me searching on Google News for a capella items, and up near the top in the search results was this Entertainment Weekly item on Fox's new TV program Glee, which will begin in earnest in the fall. The first pilot of Glee aired on May 19th. The plot, shades of Mr. Holland's Opus, involves a teacher who takes over responsibility for a high school's despondent glee club. The plot seems a bit trite on the face of it, but the show's actually good, and I was blown away by this last scene (try it in full screen--it's Fox's own YouTube post, so better quality than most, and you can click on a link to go to some clips of deleted scenes and songs near the end):

Fox has the full episode of this pilot here, but you'll need a high-bandwidth connection and will have to install the Move player Fox uses first. I've just got basic DSL, and it stalls on my machine as a result. 

Amazon also has the full episode, and I just watched the whole thing with a basic DSL connection without it stalling.

One of the deleted songs is a cover of Bon Jovi's "It's My Life." I'd never heard the song before, but YouTube has an authorized version of the original here. Great song and a great lyric too. I wasn't a Bon Jovi fan before.

This ain't a song for the brokenhearted
No silent prayer for the faith departed
And I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd
You're gonna hear my voice when I shout it out loud

It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just wanna live while I'm alive

(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life

This is for the ones who stood their ground
For Tommy and Gina who never backed down
Tomorrow's getting harder, make no mistake
Luck ain't even lucky, gotta make your own breaks

It's my life
And it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just wanna live while I'm alive

(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life

You better stand tall
When they're calling you out
Don't bend, don't break
Baby, don't back down

It's my life
It's now or never
'Cause I ain't gonna live forever
I just wanna live while I'm alive

(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive

(It's my life)
And it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just wanna live while I'm alive

(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life!

Source: elyrics.net

John Mellencamp's "Cherry Bomb"

John Mellencamp's "Cherry Bomb" is one of my favorite recordings. When It came out in 1987, it knocked my socks off!

John Mellencamp
Cherry Bomb

Here are the lyrics (don't be bashful - sing along!):

Well I lived on the outskirts of town
In an eight room farmhouse, baby
When my brothers and friends were around
There was always somethin doin
had me a couple of real nice girlfriends
Stopped by to see me every once in a while
When I think back about those days
All I can do is sit and smile

Chorus:
Thats when sport was a sport
And groovin was groovin
and dancin meant everything
We were young and we were improvin
laughtin laughtin with our friends
Holding hands meant somethin baby
Outside the club cherry bomb
Where our hearts were really thumpin
say yeah yeah yeah
Say yeah yeah yeah

The winter days they last forever
And the weekends went by so quick
We ridin around this little country town
We were goin nuts, girl, out in the stick
One night me with my big mouth
A couple guys had to put me in my place
When I see those guys these days
We just laugh and say
Remember when

Chorus:
Thats when sport was a sport
And groovin was groovin
and dancin meant everything
We were young and we were improvin
laughtin laughtin with our friends
Holding hands meant somethin baby
Outside the club cherry bomb
Where our hearts were really thumpin
say yeah yeah yeah
Say yeah yeah yeah

Seventeen has turned thirty-five
Im surprised that were still livin
if weve done any wrong
I hope that were forgiven
Got a few kids on my own
And some days I still dont know
What to do
I hope that theyre not laughtin too
Loud, when they hear me talkin like this to you

Chorus:
Thats when sport was a sport
And groovin was groovin
and dancin meant everything
We were young and we were improvin
laughtin laughtin with our friends
Holding hands meant so much baby
Outside the club cherry bomb
Where our hearts were really thumpin
say yeah yeah yeah
Say yeah yeah yeah

Source: Lyrics Freak

I bet most of us had a Club Cherry Bomb in our lives when we were young. I know I did. Mine was called Big John's, a blues club in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago two miles due north of the Loop. Big John's featured blues bands led by Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Corky Siegel and Jim Schwall, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Barry Goldberg and Steve Miller, and others.

That was when "groovin' was groovin." That was when we were young....

When was this? Between 1964 and 1966, two short years that seemed much longer to me. I finished a year of graduate school at Stanford in August 1964, stuck around for a couple of months, then drove back to Chicago, my hometown. My friend, Pam, took me to Big John's on my first night back. The music, the crowd, everything about Big John's mesmerized me. I went back the next night, and the next, and every night for the next two years -- until the powers that be closed it down.

Not long after I began hanging out at Big John's, I struck up a friendship with the manager, Bobby Wettlaufer. He offered me a job at Big John's checking ID's, serving as a bouncer, and working as maitre'd. How could I refuse? I worked Wednesday through Sunday from 9 PM until closing at 4 AM (5 AM on Sunday mornings).

What a time it was! Listening to John Mellencamp's "Cherry Bomb" always brings back good memories of those days. I am so glad I had them....

You can hear some of the great music I heard at Big John's and learn much more about the fun I had working there by visiting my Big John's web page.

George Spink
Los Angeles
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Patricia Conde - Cuerpo Bueno!