My Phyllis Hyman Remembrance

On Meeting Super Singer Phyllis Hyman

I’d watched her perform on grand stages like the legendary Beacon Theater, on Broadway in Manhattan and introduced her to audiences.

Phyllis Hyman, a celebrity singer who sought me out and introduced herself to me during my “Welcome to WBLS FM” coming-out party at club 70West in 1984. you may remember her biggest hit, “You Know How To Love Me” ?  Check out the video below!

I will never forget the time this late Superstar singer, Phyllis Hyman, found me during a moment of quiet reflection, contemplation and stage announcing prep, sitting aside from the main stage on a smaller, raised carpeted area. I was looking down – we didn’t have cell phones back then – when suddenly I spied this large palm of a female hand offering itself towards me, in front of my face. 

I raise my gaze to see a broad-shouldered woman, adorned in a purple and black cape, Khufu-like hat in front of me. I must have looked aghast as she said, in a semi-deep female melodious voice, “Hi… I’m Phyllis…” I was going to myself, “Oh shit! That’s Phyllys Hyman herself!, while trying to play it cool. Yes, I was a little slow back then in retrospect.

Oh my gosh, now so many decades later, I am so sorry I failed to realize her admiration towards me vibe! I never knew, until many years later, how much she liked me!

My girl. So sorry I did not understand your admiration for me.

So, it all came to a head to a point that she, by surprise, cursed me out about it one evening when we ran into each-other at the legendary “Possible 20” bar and restaurant on West 55^th Street, in midtown Manhattan, New York City, where all who where anybody in the 1980s came to wind-down after their entertainment, music, and media gigs, who used to congregate. I did not think that a woman of her physical stature and voluptuousness, would ever be attracted to a slim guy like “Jimi B”.

Not sure WHY this came to me here in 2023. maybe it the doldrums of between Social Security checks poverty.  Why she revealed and talked to me again, except for my senior social insecurity, aging and wanting to share my legacy, creative poverty and mutual unfulfilled love; but knew I had to post this with sentimental love, going with the current flow of chronicling, educating my DJ years, those who I was privileged to meet and/or introduce and entertaining you who found this post because,  in my humble opinion (and that of some psychologists) the mode of music melds mental metal.

Thee I’m missing; we could be kissing.

The Return of the Website 2023

Short and simple:

To put it short and simply, my website was “AWOL” since I can’t remember!  It was at least the past year or so, if not more!  However, in the true “scouting tradition” I didn’t totally give up, nor let it bum me out – I just ignored those feelings – until the time came for me to dig, sniff and experiment around with the original platform once again, and lo and behold…”Viola!”  It was still hiding there, partially due to something called “Square” which apparently merged with Weebly – my original site platform  in 2007 – sometime this decade, as a monetization vehicle for “selling”.  Not sure what kind of selling, although the images are of pottery and ceramics and household stuff.  Hmmmm…

As my site and life is predominantly centered around music, media and wordcasting, the Square model did not fit – and that’s okay!  They who do other things do not traverse my online world, we do not counter-judge one another and we still exist harmoniously, and that, as the late Teena Marie sang back in 1981, is “square biz”!

Not to belabor the point, because soon I have some other current common nonsensical events to blogplain about, I’ll just ask that when you have some free time, you to check out the (slightly) new look of I.M.I.J Produckshunz (pronounced “image productions”), 2023 two-point-OH! http://www.imijproduckshunz.com/

The home of Cheetah Media & Freelance Services (CMFS).  We are here for your needs, if our lifetime expertise allows.

Many Thanks, Be Well and best wishes in all you (legally and ethically) Do.   ~ Cheetah NJB

Fountain Pen Bleau

As a #writer, I am a “pen guy”. I have to hurriedly extract myself from Office Depot/Max and the like, lest I blow my budget on writing implements, like a variety of assorted colored ink pens. I have to remind myself to break the notion to stare and try, on the little sample pad, the assortment of colored stylographs.

So it is with particular trepidation that I, during my continual “#2023 winter of decluttering” came across an envelope, obviously owned by a late relative, inside of which was this peculiar “Sheaffer’s” pen, which turned-out to be a fountain pen!

Yes! And with enough ink still inside for who-knows-how-long and which I could immediately write with! OMGosh, where is my broncho inhaler! lol

I therefore had to research deeper, to make sure that my fascination with this ancient reservoir pen scribe tool wasn’t an act of encroaching lunacy! It must be another message from beyond from my genetic trainer, with the following “8 reasons” attendant. Who knew?? Timing IS truly everything. https://www.thepencompany.com/blog/pens/fountain-pens/why-fountain-pens-are-back/

I hope this inspires you to correct your “script” signature like your teachers once admonished you to practice! However, beware that I am the luckiest to have FOUND this stylograph, because of today’s prohibitive pricing for same, is like getting ink for your multi-functional copier, I think! (“Oh pleez! When will prices discount instead of increasing, please? in our lifetime? Oh! I just noticed that gasoline is down by a dollar since the beginning of the year!) Thank you, Hope.

BOOK Report! “Black Snow” by James M. Scott

 

Both of my parents lived through the nightmare that was World War II. Maybe yours did too.

And if not, you’ve surely been taught and hopefully learned about it. You’ve heard about how Japan attacked our fifty-first state’s Pearl Harbor in the Pacific for no real reason. Clearly one of the most horrific events in history, which we do not, as humankind, want to repeat.

What may not apply to all of the above are the intricate details which led up to the USA effectively ending the war via the application of the world’s first atomic bomb. This book report is about the hardcover book which I just finished reading, “Black Snow” by James M. Scott [Norton, $35.00, 978-1-324-00299-4].

“Black Snow” is not a book about a race riot during a New England winter (pun intended), but an historical and well-researched factual account of the American response to that surprise Pearl Harbor attack, as well as the effect it had on the Japanese island’s population.

I hadn’t thought much about “the BIG one” recently, except when, upon watching a PBS news show, I see the atrocities going on in Ukraine – where I visited ten years ago before Russia’s invasion – at the hand of a despot who I call “Paranoid Putin”. His all-too-frequent use of the word “nuclear” is, at the very least, reckless and demented. Another in that club is the North Korean guy, who I call “Kim Young (mentally) Ill” who also gave me pause when I perused “Black Snow” at my local public library. I borrowed it with curious enthusiasm of the read which played-out as if watching a movie about the war!

The research that author James M Scott must have done to humanize and connect the people who lived in Tokyo with the people in our US Army Air Force (there was not a separate “Air Force” at the time), and Navy, to describe their intersection towards a common direction to end the war at that juncture is, in and of itself, worth the read!

Black Snow is not meant as a thorough history of what lead up to Pearl Harbor, but instead, it focuses more upon three main American military commander men: General Hayword Hansell,Jr., Brigadier General Emmett “Rosie” O’Donnell, Henry “Hap” Arnold, and General Curtis LeMay and their strategies, in the wake of Pearl Harbor, to punish Japan for their unprovoked, misguided attack in 1941 and the events that led up to, and including the first use of the atom bomb.  

However, the central character (protagonist maybe?) in this book, in my opinion, is the B29 “Superfortress” airplane, without which we could have never conducted the successful campaign to bring stubborn Japan to its knees. The surrounding result and vivid descriptions of the effects on the targets is so much worth your reading time!   There is a tactic that they used successfully, which I will not mention in this review, fore that would betray part of the plot and insights.

These so-called “leaders” of countries in the current news, who rattle sabers of war, should accept living within their borders, pay attention acutely to the brutal lessons of eighty years ago and also read this book, for the sake of peace on Earth forevermore, “lest we repeat the mistakes of the past” as my father, “The Major”, used to caution at the dinner table while watching Walter Cronkite on CBS’s Evening News.

It is the hope and prayer of this book report’s author; we’ve all been fortunate to have come such a long and successful way.  Thank you for reading and please lend your comment.  Highly recommended for English language enthusiasts due to the many dictionary reaching words, world history buffs and educators.  

~ Peace.

Call, Don’t Text! The Monetization of Finding Heterosexual Companionship

Once upon a time, not so long ago, when I met chicks (ladies, females) at parties I spun in clubs or as a famous Disc Jockey on the radio; sometimes after hours, nobody asked for or mentioned money. Hell no! It was and still should be a taboo!

If I, she or me had the drugs (mostly pot or blow in those days), we both knew what we brought to the table without even mentioning dollars, unless we thought we would need more and then we would go in together often times. There was no innuendo of paying again for the intimate sexual pleasures to come. Are you kidding me??! If she needed a ride home, I’d give it to her or in the next morning, car fare, whatever worked for the friendship!

We fucked and sucked, laughed, partied and laid because we liked each other and wanted to have it again! If money had been the deal, I probably would not still be their friends to this day! All was consensual, w/o strings, and all was in-person to see, touch, feel, smell and taste each-other.

Nobody asked for money just to come over and see me for the first time or to rendezvous a first time at a neutral site to sniff one another! Who raised you to DO that? It would be embarrassing! If it came into that, it was because one player (and it was me a few times) was unemployed and felt embarrassed to broach the subject. In those instances, one or several involved parties would allay the fears of the impoverished friend, make a reimbursement arrangement or just say, “Fuggetabout it, we’re friends! C’mon, lets party!” The only females who asked for bucks up-front for fun were straight-up prostitutes, and we avoided them because of the STDs they carried. We knew what streets and neighborhoods to find one of them if we were throwing a bachelor party for one of out brothers who was “jumping the broom”, though, lol

I am not sure when this happened or how, but it seems as though there is a linguistic disconnect between we single Baby Boomers and those who are three or four decades younger in the simplest of how to write coherence text messages!

Unfortunately, these days in the 2023, with the possibility of internet texting forever without a phone call voice to attach and progress the relationship to, and all of these dating “apps” have given bullshit a new nefarious low license to trick, hide, scam or squash the in-person human touch that means so much. A recent texter wrote me that she “does meet ups”. At first I thought that rather quaint and shy; until she hinted – no – asked for money to pay for her phone plus gas UP-FRONT! My textd replied, “Oh, that makes you sound like a hooker…” “She” (still don’t know what gender I was dealing with in-reality) just kept calling it a “meet up”.

Ohh, you great pretender. What planet were you born and raised upon, that you come and prey upon the emotions of we Earthlings who are looking for love and trying to keep up with the times while doing so? And it blows my volcano cap, that an handsome man like who wrote this post, cannot find a sincere, hot, diverse, friendly female companion within the choosy specifications he desires, to walk up to the sun with, hand-in-hand.

Wow. Its a damned shame and maybe should be legally legislated to change the practice and protect the virtual parties involved, IMO. As the saying goes, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig!”

This blog post is posted as a Public Service Announcement (PSA) warning to those not yet hip. If you think you saw me on an “APP”, please do not text me on the number you have been doing so…instead, CALL me, so I can know, via your voice that you are real and we can have a human, sexy, planning our dates, conversation.

Keep In Touch Bcs Time Waits For No One

It can take a few mph off your fastball to find out that those, who you were subliminally thinking or assuming are still along with you on this ride of our similar physical life-journey, have left you without any warning or a note from their wife, mutual friend or significant other or even a clue that they were ill unless one of your hobbies is perusing the obituaries!

I’m not talking about peeps with friends who are blood-related, as in brothers, I mean , in my case, men who have friends culled through the years.. You probably know or have noticed that, in-general, we do not last as long as our female counterparts, due to a variety if factors like they like the telephone more than we do – which are the subject for another post. This is why I now write; to remind you to keep in touch with your buddies, maybe more than you are currently doing. You don’t have to call them and in some cases you many not want to call them, but let them know you are thinking about them and visa-versa. I sometimes send greeting cards around the holidays or if I know their birthday is neigh.

Recently, I have experienced the loss of three friends, singer Irene Cara and two men from within my inner circle, who I felt very close to, and yet we had not broken bread on the phone, texts or in-person in quite some time, only to learn that they are recently deceased…within the past year I’m talking about! I learned of the demise of the guys while writing my Christmas cards and wanting to ascertain that their address was still the same. “Shock!”

Of course my DJ mind always has a musical analogy, even if in only title. So, I implore you to, in the words of the 1982 hit dance music record by Shades Of Love, which comes to mind, “Keep In Touch, (Body To Body)” at all costs. It is a damned sad shame that with the current plethora of communication choices – phone, sms, email, paper letters and cards in the US mails – that people are not keeping touch to the point that one’s friend can die without college mates, classmates, family and neighborhood buddies knowing about it, until l-o-n-g after-the-fact.

What I profess here sounds like what our parents did – and indeed it is one of their best habits from a simpler era. One of the negative aspects of the “information superhighway” is that is has encouraged lazy, lackadaisical traditional communication of the ilk our parents taught us by-example.

As I remember my mom saying late in her years, “We are at the age when we are losing cherished people!” At least she had a circle of friends – church, and professional – always calling each other on the telephone in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

The advent of texting and the internet has dumbed-down our collective society to the point that we do not reach-out as our predecessors did – and much to our emotional detriment at the end of the day, when you find out via Facebook, that so-and-so, your homie from around the way growing up, has been dead for a year or more, when you finally get around to thinking of them and the timely jokes they used to tell you around NFL playoff time or whenever…

So its so easy to call, leave a voice-mail, or better still, drop a note in the mail with a stamp, to let your friend know you thought of him while you still share the physical world! Who doesn’t like to receive a letter in their mailbox that isn’t a bill!?

Late last year, during my decluttering campaign, I came across a piece of paper written by a great lady I once knew, in her own handwriting. It wasn’t written to anyone in-particular insomuch as I could tell. It read, “Try to live our lives better healthier and stay in closer touch!”

Pick-hit: This post is dedicated as we used to do on the air, with brotherly love to my late colleague at WKCI (“KC101FM”), New Haven, Connecticut, “Smokin’ Willie B. Goode”, circa 1981 – 1983.

Watch the relevant video music I created, related to this song!

https://www.kapwing.com/videos/63d9a4ef3e76ca006a1b085c

Book Report: “Jane Russell, Mean, Moody, Magnificent!”

Growing up a movie fan, one of the great names I saw and heard mentioned in the same breaths with the likes of Betty Davis, Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, Debbie Reynolds and Jayne Mansfield was Jane Russell.

If you’ve visited this blog previously, you know that I have a penchant for biographies and autobiographies, so you won’t be surprised that I just finished reading the bio of “Jane Russell – Mean Moody, Magnificent! And The Marketing of a Hollywood Legend”” by Christina Rice   [978-0813181080 University Press of Kentucky].

This was an addicting read from the outset for me. Ms. Rice chronicles Jane from cradle to the grave with details which portray the human story of an at first reluctant superstar actress of the classic “golden” movie years.

The one black mark in the book was at the end, where Jane is quoted as having misused a word which can have racist connotations; you’ll have to judge accordingly for yourself, because I don’t think she meant it that way.  Had she been around when I enjoyed my own celebrity as a radio DJ, being a man who always loves “the top”  (breasts) of a woman, I’d have surely sought her out for an interview – or maybe more!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her, in-fact, I had to return/renew/take out again the hardcover edition a couple of times at my local public library in order to finish!  I surely would buy a copy for my home library, when my writer’s budget allows and recommend that you do so, if you are such a curious fan and book curator as I.

If you’ve ever heard of “Gentlemen Prefer Blonds”, “His Kind Of Woman” (featuring Robert Mitchum), “Born Losers (Billy Jack)” or watched TV commercials for Playtex “Living Bras” back in the days as I have, then you’ll want to read this book because Jane is the girl you were seeing!  I couldn’t tell how “mean” she – in the angry sense – was, but in street lingo, her figure sure was “mean” and to be seen!

Long before feminism and women’s lib, Ms. Russell quietly proved that there is more than posing for paparazzi emphasizing her voluptuousness by her activist activities, which championed adoption of orphaned children internationally by forming WAIF (World Adoption International Fund).

This is an educationally entertaining five-star read you should keep on your night table stack, as I did, for soothing bedtime (or any time ) stories!

Satanic Putin, Lay Down Your Inhumane Weapons!

We went into the 2021 Holidays (last year) feeling the earth was finally at peace. Even with the contrived election challenge in the USA, we, the majority, knew that cooler, more intelligent heads would prevail. It seems long ago, juxtaposed against world events in Eurasia (as I call it).

Every so often, an event, or series of events takes place to remind you of just how fragile our way of life is existence is and you just hope and pray that it isn’t you or yours it happens to next! Today’s world is , unfortunately weird and you never know…until you know and even then, keep your head on the swivel to think twice…

Just when I thought we had reached the “IGY” Donald Fagan (Steely Dan) described in his 1982 often-played on-air song of the same name, here, in early 2022, came a brain-damaged, diminutive despot from Russia named like a bowel movement gas, “Putin”, who has, for the past ten months decided to conduct a cold-war-style invasion of a peaceful neighboring country! A sudden seventy year throwback! What the hell is goin’ on with his mentally-ill brain and how can the rest of the countries of the world stop him immediately? Why is it so one-sided where Russian can disrupt Ukraine infrastructure and they cannot strike back similarly?? “Stop The War, NOW!”

If it means calling Stupin’s “nuclear” threat bluff, them we must DO IT as soon as possible because the longer this drags on in Ukraine, the later more than sooner it will happen anyway! Why are the nations of the world letting him rule the roost via bullshit threats when the only language he understands is a punch in his mouth, military defeat?!

Those of you who’ve read this place for the past decade, must know that I have courted a pen-pal in Ukraine and visited another in Kyiv in 2013. This is what my friend, who I’ll call “T” for protection’s sake and who I’ve communicated with virtually for almost three (3) years, wrote me today, November 25, 2022, the day after our USA Thanksgiving holiday,
“Hi!
Happy Thanksgiving day! Great that you have your turkey and can enjoy celebration…for me I am 4 days with no electricity and have no water and no food…life is horrible right now for me…
Very sad…no internet connection most of the places in Odessa. I was lucky to find one, pay for it and write to you and sent you my warmest greetings!
Enjoy baby!
Kisses, T. “

I can hardly believe that she is going through this, here in these “modern” times! In the back of my mind and even prior to knowing her communications, I never took our way of life in the USA for-granted, as so many of my fellow countrymen seem to do; yet even now, this is imperative thinking! I implore our United States government not to turn a blind-eye to these events; to speak to the populace about them and possible ramifications and to unite with Europe and other countries to throttle Putin and his regime as we did Sadaam Hussein for much less, as soon as possible. Why is it so one-sided that only Russian can shoot missiles into Kyiv and Ukraine cannot return fire the same into Putin’s lair – or Moscow; whichever is closer?

And to you, Putin, we now know who Satin is among us it is YOU; and as President Ronald Reagan said to your country’s Mr. Gorbachev, back in 1987, I now say, “Mister Putin, Lay Down Your Inhumane Weapons!”

I welcome your positive ideas or fund-raising to get my friend over here to the USA, out of harm’s way ASAP in the comments, please… Peace.

Trump Fatigue

Men and women run for offices and jobs all over this great country. Then they win or lose; serve with anticipated dignity or move on back into their former private lives – some with a renewed following – but they step aside to allow others to try their philosophies and luck.

THIS is how we DO it in America since 1776 insofar as I was taught in American History classes and know it.

I am not that much younger than thee, Donald, so do not dismiss me, mister “rich guy”!

I and all of my ilk, who were raised in the metro New York area know you as a long-time buffoon, not to be taken seriously, except that you built a “tower” in Manhattan, New York City, at around the same similar towers with your name on them, were imploded in Atlantic City, New Jersey, just ninety minutes south of us!

What is wrong with YOU, Mr. Trump? What makes YOU so special that you can buck the system time and time again to break our time-tested successful RULES?

Now, upon hearing that you are trying for a THIRD time to run for President of The United States, am seriously ill and afflicted with trump fatigue, as I am sure that millions of other Americans are also suffering. This is worse than COVID-19 as you hold the only “vaccine” to cure it, as Jim Jones held the only “Kool-Aid” over his cult. You keep turning up like a bad penny!!

Please stop and take your madness to another country; maybe you could unseat Putin in Russia!

Do you even remotely understand the metaphysical nature of how we citizens interact with our historic founding government principles which have led to our consistent, concrete society? You “endorse” a Hershel Walker because his is a sports Negro, who you are used to supporting, are comfy with because he is non-intellectually threatening to your old slave-master mentality. Step away from your mirror, think about this, which you just read, and really SEE who you are. We will understand your tears.

Please stop the madness. Get a hobby, like sailing around the globe in a rowboat to set a Guinness World Record, or something. Toe the line as so many real MEN before you have, and set your EGO aside for the good of mankind and America, the Beautiful.

As a person in the music entertainment/radio industry in these USA from 1978 – 2012, and again, not many years younger than you; I “SEE” though you, as I alluded to above. I oppose wholeheartedly your re-entry into the Presidential fray and pray…that the GOP will rise-up and have a traditional convention, which pitches other men and women as candidates for the 2024 race against you; of whom I pray to the heavens one of them wins the nomination.

You provided yet another example of why I #boycott, like back in the 1960s, (maybe even to my continued poorness) modern day #corporate rich guy intrusion into private and popular venues, traditional entertainment platforms and companies on and off the internet. Your ilk has NO clue about the needs of the people and would legislate upon the backs of those who can least afford to sustain it! All you want is to try to continue to lie and glorify your ego. You need mental counseling, sir.

C’mon people! Do not just lay down; don’t give your money to the same cult places, the corps who tear down what we are used to enjoying to try to recreate our historical truths, fought-for freedoms and grace in its place!

This is Dedicated To The Youth I Love, “VOTE Please!”

I have much to opine upon and say about the conditions of society and the world today,

But this is not the post for elaborations upon that.

I flash by simply to ask or say,

Please do not let the authoritarians have their sway;

I ask that you please VOTE on Election Day.

I don’t usually go “politics”, but as my parents used to preach, back when I was apathetically agnostic, “Too many have died for the right to #VOTE for you not to exercise that right which you HAVE…”

Therefore, this post is dedicated, especially to my younger Black and Hispanic American brothers and sisters, please…

Lou

I came across these verses upon an old school CCNY notebook’s hard cover page;
Apparently written by a boy I once knew. He may have been all of 10 years old. Maybe his father had these notebooks.
The kid wrote them about a sports star he looked up to.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find it timely enough to make my new poetry book’s publishing deadline, nor does the #Wordpress.com platform apparently now allow one to link a book cover click which directs interested readers to the purchase page. It’s a SHAME! Geez. Go away and write for a couple of years, and they change shit without letting loyal clients KNOW!!
Therefore, I post it upon this blog, which was deeply neglected while I composed and published my new poetry book, whose cover you can see in the right sidebar (“During Our Lovemaking Session…”) . Thanks a million, most humbly, as always, for your time reading my words.

“LOU” [circa 1970]

Lou is baad
Everyone knows
His hook is deadly
The statistics show.
But Lou is a rookie
And like every newborn
Moves and truths he as to learn.

A year has passed (is past?)
And already he’s tasted
The sweet excitement of that playoff test.

Lou pulls rebounds
Lou throws hooks
Lou takes jumpers,
Which no center should!

Lou stuffed and the crowd loved
Lou from college fame
Everyone now knows his name!
He comes home – all that and shit
Spin and shoot and everyone boos.

Now Lou is on the bench,
The giant now laid to rest;
Where a team from hometown
New York City power
Takes the eastern conference crown.

[found upon a 1970-ish CCNY cardboard notebook cover]

Guest Post! “The Recent Abortion Decision and ‘The Browning…’ “

Editor’s Note: Achilliad is currently focusing upon positive personal projects and does not necessarily agree with the following Guest Post by a friend named Sharon, who I’ve known almost all of my life, in its totality, because to do so means some are illogically ignoring the heart of the principles the USA was founded upon, upon the backs of those who can least affort to bear the costs of same. Nevertheless, we feel it is a good conversation piece, given the magnitude of the errant decision. Stay positively peaceful.

Remember the most important issue about this ruling, it has less to do with women having abortions and everything to do with the Browning of America. At the pace we are on with white women having less children, “People of Color” are outpacing white people in population. At the rate the U.S. population was going, white people in the U.S. had been slated to be the minority in 2044. Hence the reason, bigots in particular, pushed for the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Also, it is the reason for locking down the southern border, while our border with Canada is wide open.

Additionally, Black people, particularly Black women had been outpacing white people percentage wise in obtaining higher education beyond high school, thus getting better jobs and starting businesses. This demographic shift is too much for [the] bigots to handle.

I should add that there are some demographers that believe with the next U.S. Census in 2030, we will hit the tipping point when white people will be the minority in the U.S.

~ Sharon

Making Ourselves Obsolete, Part II: Our House

I surely wasn’t going to dignify the apalling Fresh Prince with a blog on this topic and am not doing so here.  However, when an obvious copycat threatened comedian David Chappelle this week, my need to (for what is it worth) educate kicked in.

Call the “ Audience Behavior Police”! These nuts are slapping and stabbing at the wrong people!  “Shooting the messenger”!  Its prime-time for lunatics who need to be in mental institutions! A gun with a knife sticking out of it? What is this, an Austin Powers movie??

A society who increasingly cannot laugh at its imperfections is a society in trouble, which needs a moderation ointment to promote healing.

Its a moral decay in one sense, since the role of comedy historically goes back to Shakespearean time – or further… Back then they might throw a tomato or an egg to express displeasure with an act – or one could always just “boo” or hiss – but  never  charger the stage!

That… is patently uncivilized behavior!  There is such a thing as Theater Etiquette. *

We must appreciate satire, understand and study it from sexual jokes to parody and creative critiques of the issues of the day!  I wonder, did this guy who rushed Mr. Chappelle in the midst of his show have “appreciation classes” in grade school?  I for one, remember music appreciation, sex education and driver’s education – or have these non-adacemic classes been labeled “too expensive during the past thirty years or so?  “Hygiene class” is another example which comes to mind.

Would you run up to the movie screen and slap at or slash it when displeased with the actors or a scene?  Next thing you know someone will want to hold the projectionist responsible for the content of a movie (do they still use human projectionists, or is it computerized now?).

Exacerbated by information overkill and the greed-driven catalyzing of extremist hate broadcasting, on and off-line, it feels like a minority of prejudiced, partial-misanthropes are trying to drag us backwards in time, taking away what previous generations (like mine) achieved in the 1960s and 1970s, to better life, such as voting rights, abortion rights and women’s equality while ignoring today’s plagues of gun violence, lenient bail rules, and unjust war in Ukraine and the dumbing-down of citizenry.

I’ve noticed that one of the first signs of a society’s house of cards collapsing is the encroachment of extreme intolerance and anarchy. You can see the backsliding today with the pro-life zealots and increasing, daily gun crime in our largest urban city and people carrying guns in their vehicles; you can notice it on the roads while driving with more speeders and less/misplaced courtesy outside of the traditionally accepted “rules of the road”.  We cannot go back to puritanical times, no mater how some pruds might pine for it.

Maybe Chappelle and other comics should take up Marshall Arts; it would be truly hilarious to see one of these stage intruders decked by a defensive “karate kick”, Bruce Lee-style, and fall away from his intended victim, the entertainer!  Having tried stand-up comedy for a while during my career, I can tell you that it is an art and its not as easy or cavalier as it looks. Those who do it well and effectively are truly talented.

Due to the signs of the aforementioned upheavals and other’s I’ve probably left out, the biblical saying from Matthew 12:22 comes to mind, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”  There are plenty of examples throughout history of this coming to pass.

In order to save society, not become known as the “DSA” (Divided States of America) and maintain a majority of more moderate thinking, a  famous quote by our President John F. Kennedy is worth restating, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country!”

I am encouraged for our reunification because I notice that, as when George Floyd was murdered on-camera for all to see, today’s youth are keenly watching the pending injustices unfold – and seem to be boiling again, raising their voices to oust the zealots who would take us back in time, at the “mid-term” voting polls.

*Suggested reference material:  “The Reasonable Audience; Theater Etiquette Behavior Policing and the Live Performance Experience” by Dr. Kirsty Sedgman

“On The House” by John Boehner , My Book Report

With a name like his, that’s spelled like his is, you’ve got to have a sense of humor – which he definitely does – given the way kids parody phonetically when you are growing up!

His first chapter was the most difficult for me to read because he came-off like a tattle-tale snitch against his colleagues’ perks! He betrayed himself and his Congressional members by outing their rather innocuous inside restaurant, Congressional bank and other fringe benefits, which I think he could have handled better; more friendlier to the legacy of “smoke-filled rooms” and all of that mysterious symbolism.  That was Boehner’s power trip boner; taking down legends like Charles Rangel and Dan Rostenkowski was shameful, IMO.

After that, the book became much more palatable, entertaining and almost autobiographic to read – with many photos! 

Regardless of his political party, this is one self-deprecatingly, often funny and pretty down-to-earth type guy (who tears-up a lot, adding to his credibility with this writer)!

There are many frank and amusing passages which produce laugh out loud moments during the fast paced read, which takes you inside of how our legislative branch works these days, and his road to becoming one of it’s recent leaders.  You’ll  learn Mr. Boehner’s four passions: The USA, golf and two others you’ll have to learn by reading the book!

Sadly, apparently, the only black American he ever interacted much with was President Barack Obama, because there isn’t mention of any others, except a brief sentence describing Vernon Jordan’s relationship to President Bush.  Boehner wrote  some things about Obama that I was surprised to learn!  I would have thought that President Obama would have been a bit more humble about his winning the majority vote twice, in an effort to better deal with and reach across the party lines according to the Boehner’s accounts.  He doesn’t even, at least, give him more credit for his unifying oratory skills!

His impressions of the 45^th President’s propensity to talk before thinking are spot-on.

The best chapter is the next to last, when he astutely talks about the relations between the press, government and citizens who consume it via a cautionary analysis regarding information overload and the potential for “weaponizing” of the news.  Instead of like when I was a music radio disc jockey, we’d play the save five songs (or so), sixteen times a day for “x” amount of hours and days to sell advertising via the spots contained therein.  These days, the songs are replaced with exaggerated and often unproven statements designed to “gin you up” – as Mr. Boehner writes – to get angry about something and keep you coming back for more of that poison.    Its a must-read chapter in this very readable book.

Its the fine print overlooked when government deregulated and allowed inside, the devil of corporate-controlled broadcasting, and specifically with regard to market ownership limits and radio stations specifically.

He ironically even touches upon the current unprovoked Russian attack on the peaceful country of Ukraine, almost as if he were predicting it! Wow.

4.5 golf balls 

Do You Remember, “We Will Bury You” ?

It seems to me, that ever since I learned about the news and politics, that the Russian government has been this paranoid, threatening, pain in our collective asses.

Do you remember when Nikita Khrushchev took his shoe off in the United Nations meeting and pounded it on the desk?   Do you recall when he uttered, “We will bury you!” at ambassadors from other countries? Or his actions in positioning nuclear missiles in Cuba, ninety miles from Florida, aimed at the USA in response to our adept President Kennedy’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis? https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/nikita-sergeyevich-khrushchev  That is, by the way, why I am in-favor of requiring all of those who run for President of the United States to have some military experience.  I digress.

What is it with the Russian people, who cannot seem to get out of their own way when it comes to electing moderate leaders of their great land, who will play nicely with their neighbor countries here in the “future”?  I don’t recall that Yeltsin or Gorbachev made any threats against the world and it was under their watch that the U.S.S.R let those countries who wanted to be independent be free! Gorbachev must have said or done something to get the attention of President Reagan which led to the famous, “tear down that wall…” speech.

It was Mr. Yeltsin who made the now infamously asinine choice of Prime Minister in 1999.

Because of that mistake, we have this latest reincarnation of Stalin’s Holodomor https://www.britannica.com/event/Holodomor in the crooked, wicked and slimy flesh of Putin, our latest Russian despot having a Hitler-Hissy-fit at a time when the world is just recovering from the two-year Covid-19 plague. A being incapable of remorse, empathy, contrition, compromise or any kind of human feeling; a demonic beast of which my generation has not seen! I have watched him, lo since he forcefully re-inserted himself into their Presidency and forced the more moderate guy to step aside in 2008.  I never trusted this “former KGB spy” guy; Russian people, rise UP!  You must do better in choosing your leaders!  Or…are you guys still closet Commies or something like that?

Here is when I wish my World War II-experienced farther would have been more forthcoming with the kind of stories and experiences which might assuage the heartbreak feel for my kindred spirits; the friends I met over the past ten (10) years in the beautiful, independent country of Ukraine. I wish my Korean War-experienced uncle’s voice was still alive to tell me again, “Putin’s time shall come…”  OK, how about the” time” is NOW.

How did they live through the threat of Hitler’s mass-murders of the Jewish people thousands of miles away?  How do we continue when we see Putin’s ordered indiscriminate slaughter of the people, culture and heritage of Ukraine now?  Who is HE to say they cannot determine their own destiny?!

All of which is to introduce this video sent to me by a friend in Ukraine, who I met online at LinkedIN prior to me traveling to Kyiv nine years ago, where we hung out in-person.  At 00:21 you’ll briefly see a mirror-glass skyscraper on a main Boulevard (I think its called) Kikvdze, which I think I walked by a couple of times during my stay – now recently scarred by Russia’s indiscriminate bombing campaign.

My eyes well with tears because this is all sooo needless, my friends are under siege and hurting; it is heartbreaking for all of us and ultra-threatening to our general peace on Earth since World War II. Please help any way you can. Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s video was spot on, Great! Need more similar. This is when Muhammad Ali, Dennis Rodman or someone from the entertainment world, who the despot admired, would make a trip behind the iron curtain to gain an audience with him and maybe talk some sense into the senseless or gain insights. Surely there is some such person these days? I’ve read where actor Steven Segal is admired by Mr. Egomaniac; so when is the high-profile athlete/thespian/sports celebrity like может быть. Maria Sharopova, going to step forward and use their voice and influence and make this needed sojourn?

Please remember to check out our music-only satellite blog, https://achilliadsmyvinylrecordshoppe.wordpress.com/

President Biden Was Correct by Analyzing Putin as a “Killer”

Shortly after being elected President of the United States, the word came out that ahead of a summit with Russia’s mercurial bete noire Vladimir Putin, he thought he was “a killer”.

Well, that analysis proved correct a few days ago, when the little bastard attacked the peaceful land of Ukraine for no reason other than his Napoleon-complex-sized ego and demented attempt to re-write world history.  If you retrace what paranoid Putin has uttered during the years since he forcibly took over Crimea, a Ukraine territory granted back to Ukraine by Russian President and Communist Party leader Nikita Krushchev in 1954, you can hear that he is a pathological liar, much in the ilk of his buddy, the former occupant of the United States White House, #BenedictDonald.

As I watch the videos of this unnecessary carnage and damage to the infrastructure of my beloved Ukraine, my heart bleeds for my friends of the past dozen years, and in-particular, I think of all of the lovely ladies I have communicated with, including “my” Inna, who disappeared six years ago, supposedly to Sochi, Russian with her mental “doctor”.  I digress, and yet feel so helpless and wish I could strike paranoid Putin, the new modern Hitler, down myself!

Putinitler

I pray my friends in Ukraine stay strong, have assets and resources to thwart and defeat him. I also fear that should an accident of war happen and one of his stupid missiles go awry and hit a NATO state, then this will become the full-on battle for the earth and, in other words, “World War III – The Nuclear version”.    Therefore, with one selfish act, this thug threatens to undo all peace on Earth of the past seventy-five years.  And for what? His freakin’ EGO, that’s what. This unprovoked madness #paranoidPutin has wrought upon these peaceful people is truly unbelievable. If you do not believe me, then please go to the library and take out some books to read about World History since 1900, at least!

Putin must be sought out as they sought Saddam Hussein (who was not even as internationally menacing, btw) and Osama bin Laden, and similarly dealt with.   

Hell has a hot, erternally burning cubbyhole waiting for Putinitler.

Too Many Immature Adult Impostors Among Us

As an adult and responsible member of American society and citizen, who, upon the shoulders of my now departed elders, thought all would be positive smooth sailing towards harmony, especially after Barack Obama was elected our President in 2008, I never thought I’d now see the days when so many people who look grown-up in body, act like spoiled brat children!  What planet did these alien imposters come from?!

For example, a man stubbornly arguing with a cashier, who is barely making it via hourly wages, because he cannot find his favorite oversized bottle of scotch on the liquor store shelf. When she offers that he can obtain it at another store only 4 miles away, he digs-in and shouts, “But I don’t wanna drive across the river!” like a five year-old (its not like he had to pay a toll or anything). Or someone lashing-out in public after asked to wear a mask like everybody else is, in the middle of a public health plague. Since circa 2016/2017, more who should know better, seem in the business of denying issues already socially and legally settled in the past or are trying to change/re-write factual history with a kind of “witchful thinking” spin.

I can add any number of more silly things since 2016 that I’ve heard outbursts of angst about, if they can’t have their immediate way.  

What’s going on?  What happened that big people in size whine when unable to sway?  Is it that too many dropped out of school?  Or too many of generations younger than mine did not complete their educations without any penalty (getting left-back) or incentive from parents or legislative society? And I’m just addressing high school diplomas, never mind college or the university, since it was the norm for my age-group 40 and 50 years ago, which is important equally! Or is it, as Sly of The Family Stone sang, the result of “Babies Makin’ Babies”? (Yes)  Is it the result of the mental laziness perpetuated by this internet “super highway”? (yes and probably all of the above)

I mean…this is really sad and must change for the better if we are to survive, defend our country from those who want to take over the land (from within and across the seas)!  Where are the adults?  At least we have a grown-up President now instead of the childish, name-calling, immature previous occupant of our White House. Geez, people!

I know we still have grown-ups among us and they are beginning to become engaged again.   I admit that back during the late 1960s- early 1970s days, I “tuned-in, turned-on and dropped out” for the cause we all embodied; from the civil rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, et al, to anti-Vietnam war protests, however with time comes awakening and engagement on a higher plane of realities and that is where we Baby Boomers are now, whether you have offspring or not!  My parents wouldn’t have stood for this kind of this boorish behavior. I can hear them admonish sternly, “Control Yourself!” if we acted-out in public. In my opinion, and that of many, this is where the lack of corporal punishment has also taken its toll.

And I must also vent that when it comes to sex these days, the scammy behavior to meet someone new, runs rampant due to the clandestine nature of internet dating! It is difficult enough to meet a potential lover in-person due to the Covid-19 plague and so you want to go outside the box? Well, one cannot even post an advert online for a specific type of “soul mate”, without receiving replies from people who don’t even closely fit the description, sending off-the-mark photos, and who invariably must have a scam Pimp behind the scenes, as they lay the foundation for a near-future money ask. Never give!

 It is time to make sure American society leads the world again in intelligent behavior!

Book Report! “Cheyenne Summer…”, by Terry Mort

I’ve been reading “Cheyenne Summer, The Battle of Beecher Island A History” (Pegasus $27.95 9781643137100) these past few weeks.  I almost put it down and returned it to the public library, but “pressed on”, in the lingo of those U.S. Army Calvary Generals Sheridan, Fetterman, Major Forsythe, Custer (yes that “Custer of “the last stand”) and Beecher who Terry  quotes often. The complete and teasing Introduction sets the table and is why I kept reading through the 270 enlightening hardcover pages!

Depending upon how you feel about the conquest or resettlement of native Americans (“Indians” when I was growing up), or as is fashionable to say nowadays, “indigenous peoples” (not bad, I kinda like it), this book is either historically neutral and exciting, uncomfortable, sad, disturbing or adventurous.

Civil War, U.S. post civil war Calvary buffs and early American expansionist railroad enthusiasts will love the accurate descriptions of weapons, injuries, attire and the politics of those days.  The read reminded me of, and brought to mind the many “Cowboy and Indian” movies I watched as a young man growing up in the 1960s through the 1980s, and in-particular, 1964’s “Cheyenne Autumn”, starring Richard Widmark, James Stewart, Sal Mineo Ricardo Montaban and Carroll Baker, which is why it caught my eye on the library’s “new” shelf; but I digress… This book is a precise read and even gives credit to the freed slave men or “Buffalo” soldiers (so named by the Indians because they wore coats made of Buffalo hide during the harsh plains winters). Mr. Mort spends most of the pages setting-up the events on the continental plains east of Missouri that lead to a questionably “decisive” battle between the Calvary “Scouts” and the Cheyenne Indian nation with other tribes supporting them.  The battle is rather anti-climatic, except for the demise of one of the apparently greatest and fearless Cheyenne warriors, Roman Nose, who Mort gives graphic descriptions of throughout the book!

You’ll be able to put together the various historical aspects of how our country applied “manifest destiny” – a term I’d not read since high school – to justifying the rapacious [one of several new words I learned from the book] advance from the east coast to the west, including frequent mentions of how the “gold rush” and those 49ers played a huge part in perpetuating it.   

I would have enjoyed more photos of the battle scene in the picture pages, but forgive on that due to available photography in the late 1800s.  With the recently apparent denial of true history by too many people, this is an even more necessarily compelling read and could even be a supporting class assignment on the high school or college level! I learned much by suffering through it.  Therefore, I scalp it with 4.5 tomahawks!!

Remember, history is our reflection and available so that succeeding generations do not repeat past mistakes!

**Pick Hit…”I love ‘Cheyenne Summer’ as a first and middle name for a girl!

Mattie Melissa (I’ll Miss Ya)

Alas, I didn’t keep in touch

A streaking comet of care was our love affair.

Ten years later finding letters of devotion from thee;

Sorry Bro

Too late again;

Now you will read the cache you found

Of her love letters last decade

So profound and caring,

In that print she printed.

Now you will cry like when your mama died,

Once more.

Having missed a chance for the companionship

Of forever love.

Weep, “Music Man”, weep

One of her nicknames for me.

Cry in your sleep!

Dreams are so deep;

Just last night you dreamt you would call her

Say, “Hey, how have you been?”

Just last week you heard her voice,

On answering machine cassette out of storage

Her love for you was historic warm winter porridge.

Now you will save that tape till you die;

No lie.

Feel your forehead at the chances blown

For forever romantic bodily warmth

Which leave you today lonely

Uttering the shameful, “If only” – again.

Just a shadow in your rear view mirror

With soft Brie cheese colored skin,

Missed highway exits become clearer

Only one of many gourmets we shared

And untasted by each of us.

“Hey, Jimi! It’s Me…I’m just trying to keep in-touch…”

Would say the voice-mail.

You are so sorry a man

That you didn’t talk to her much more

She told that she had Parkinson’s disease

You just found the paper she sent you.

Another ailment for her dosette box.

Oh, Mattie!!

Who protected me from your confederate mother

With the shotgun at her door

You said she didn’t approve

As if I was one of those other mutherfuckers.

Dropping you off with dignity after the ballgame,

When you had to move back in with family

Our love she refused to see

So we nicknamed her “Georgia Meany”.

Your dad flew contrails of migrating geese

After vehicles stopping to let them slowly pass,

In funeral processional.

Hearing your tender southern voice

On a past answering machine cassette,

So caring, vulnerable yet determined

You put up the brave front,

While breathing sometimes labored

That everything was alright,

Never wanting to be any trouble or burden to me.

Which didn’t cross my mind,

Just without the skills to cure Mattie,

Only morally support.

My playful Smokey Mountains-bred Rasta

Lemon-drop lover,

Her line has gone death;

Called her number just in case.

Never too much the worse for wear

With copious old believe it or not stories,

Like the last time you won a horse!

She has no more discomfort at last;

I guess you finally caught your breath.

Life is a bit lonelier now,

Even amid the glory.

Book Report/Review: “Facing The Mountain – A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II” by Daniel James Brown

Now, my take on the last book from my summertime night table reading stack (see my post of July 11, 2021).  Daniel James Brown’s “Facing The Mountain, A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II” (Viking $30.00 9780525557401) recounts the reaction of our country at-large against Japanese Americans, in the wake of Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 – 80 years ago, next month, as I write this review. As I read the chapters, I couldn’t help but notice, and am awestruck by how much our Black- American and Japanese-American soldier’s World War II experiences have in-common.  You see, I am the son of a career U.S. Army man who fought within the 369^th Field Artillery unit out of Harlem, U.S.A.  I remember him alluding to much similar discrimination by segregation within the U.S. Armed forces, even though the enemy’s bullets did not differentiate race when they found their mark. It would be like if Africa was one country and it attacked us, all suspected African Americans would be round-up and sent off to concentration camps.  The misplaced resentment against Japanese Americans also ran so deep, that even after the young Japanese American G.I. proved their patriotism in battle, they were not easily welcomed back home, to the point that one barber shop owner justified it by saying, “They all look alike to me.”  Hell, that’s what I heard said about black Americans back in the 1960s!

Brown’s spotless set-up straps you into your seat-belt for a six-part saga of a people mistrusted, who then excelled against all odds. Reading a chapter or so per night, I only closed the book to sleep and with anticipation of what the next Part would describe and I’m challenged here, to validly convey the accuracy and compassion of his reporting the events which led to the battlefield confrontations with Hitler’s forces in WWII.  What the doughty Nisei soldiers overcame should be read by every American, no matter your ethnic background – especially in these trying times.  One can truly see that, as the saying goes, “It could be a lot worse!” after reading this volume of valiance.

Chapter 19 is a standout exhale and great change of pace.  Brown even fills-in the blanks about what happened to the deep-voiced, late, great U.S. Senator from Hawaii, Daniel Inouye, who I noticed once on TV, had only one arm.  He is but one of many real characters we meet by name and family history in this true story. A personal glow came over me when I read page 382, about how one of the 442^nd battalion’s assignments took them to Menton,  near the French Riviera, where they saw white zinnias among other beautiful flowers.  I sold zinnia flower seeds door-to-door in my neighborhood as a boy, to earn prizes depicted on the backs of the comic books I read and had forgotten all about that! “Mountain” contains many reminders of why history is as important to study now, more than ever, as he recounts how the inhumanity nationalistic madmen, bent upon world dominance, can inflict needless suffering upon other men, women and children – and which we, collectively, must never let happen again on our planet. Often chilling and painful to reflect upon, but always riveting, educational reading.  5 out-of-five WWII field artillery canons.

Book Report: “A Boob’s Life – How America’s Obsession Shaped Me…And You” by Leslie Lehr

In a prior post, I promised to review at least one of the books on my summer 2021 bedside reading stack. There may be another one, but this tome clearly engaged more of my curiosity and summer reading time than the others. One of my favorite aisles at my local public library is the “New Best Sellers”.  So, when “A Boob’s Life – How America’s Obsession Shaped me…And You” (Pegasus $27.95 9781643136226) caught my eyes, I knew it was not another mid-summer night’s walking in my sleep dream, put on the brakes and stepped-back to examine it; soon adding it to my borrows that day.

Upon the early pages, I thought, “Geez, another angry b**** book,  I’m not gonna read much of this for long – take it back to the library…”  I never did so, even though she vituperates several natural and innocent bastions of male comeuppance, like Playboy magazine.  Moving through the chapters, it is so detailed, that she must have been constantly taking notes, or has an incredibly accurate memory of events!

Ms. Lehr writes from a – z about her family life; giving the reader a whole tour, from the time her Princeton grad father baptized her over a swimming pool diving board to be able to do “whatever [she] put her mind to”, to secret family photos , the infatuation with Marilyn Monroe and her dysfunctionally abusive, former U.S. Marine Corps first husband (no surprise there).  That she pulls back the curtain on the fallacies of major beauty pageants, the misogyny of a certain “President” who many recently suffered under and coins phresh phrases like “comparative empathy” and “breasts have the power to feed or kill us…” (Whoa!), kept me turning the pages. I could understand it when she wrote how, “Breast cancer ruined an entire color for me.”

Although I believe that she aimed this autoboobography primarily at the female feminist demographic, I, as a man, learned much about the female experience, including several new words and phrases for my vocabulary; the favorite of which is “de`colletage”! I also learned, “oeuvre”, “hand bra” and about “messy leaking”.  Wow.  I love any work that sends me to my huge, big dictionary!

Honestly, this read gave me a new respect level for women, who are truly a whole different species (as I’ve always maintained), with very special “plumbing” needs. I’ve adjusted, am “scared straight” and will revisit case-by-case, while remaining a suave bachelor “breast man” (lol) in those flirty situations “in the hunt”, for that extra special one, whose I can tenderly examine and care for:-j

In a personal ironic twist, a chapter in this book about boobs reminded me of when I sold Christmas cards door-to-door in my boyhood neighborhood for a microscope and other prizes!  OMG  It is during this point in the book where she sounds miffed, as we follow her booby journey from pre-puberty through a tragic adult happenstance.

“A Boob’s Life” is clever, amusing and modestly entertaining initially, uncomfortable for the medically squeamish (like me) in the middle – with a nice photo album section mid-stream – and inclusively optimistic by her last word – “life”.  No matter what shape your gender is in, I recommend it with five (5) out-of-a-possible-five lipsticks –

(I couldn’t locate any pix of ‘five boobs’ to use).

Mutiny on the Albany with a Bounty

The #MeeToo concubine convened their virtual covenants for many weeks and years, and now the feminists saw their chance to seize an American state house without an election.  They would attack the very manly and effective bachelor, Andrew Cuomo, Governor of the great and historic state of New York, where a female Lieutenant Governor, which he hand-picked (so they say), was in the wings to take over once they successfully railroaded him.

He must not have noticed, during his three elected terms and while being just a man, that minority group members of his legislature (Assembly and Senate), who were soft and too politically correct had entered.  If he did notice, he knew that, from his father Mario Cuomo’s legacy, that they would surely know that the Cuomo brand always took care of them and thus they’d be fiercely loyal to him!

Unfortunately, this breed hadn’t done their homework nor attended those same classes; apparently, much of the climate of the workplace shifted – and not for the benefit of the traditional American male.  This sad time for manhood in the U.S.A. began with the removal of the stigma of illegitimacy of out-of-wedlock births, IMO.

I’m told that he made “enemies” within his own political party along the way,while in the Statehouse and ask, what powerful leader doesn’t make enemies while trying to govern? This crop are betrayers, pure and simpletons.  Did they ever have a ‘pow-wow ‘ with him, or was it all kinds of ego-trips, nannying, Shakespearean backstabbing (see Julius Caesar) and conspiracy in-silence against him?

Surely “President” Trump has more enemies that Cuomo due to his blatant and childish name-calling and boorish behavior.  So how come nobody pushed him  to resign the race after we all heard him brag about how he’d “grab some pussy” (literally with his hand) off of women he met?   This is troubling for Americans of all stripes.

You can’t be a great leader by always being “Mr. Nice Guy”; as the saying goes, “you can’t please everybody”.

His main coquette and accuser of inappropriate behavior, “Executive Assistant #1”, as described by the traitorous Attorney General’s investigation report – which Governor Cuomo asked for in a move sure to be second-guessed – was at his mansion on NYE, 2019, when he supposedly touched her breasts while taking a “selfie” photo.

Hmmm…why would she go to his mansion on one of the most festive nights of the year, without knowing that a party-for-two might ensue?  In that selfie, its apparent to me, that Andrew had a few – his face was kinda flushed (reddened)! lol

In another photo, supposedly the same strumpet was “working” with the Governor poolside.  He was in shorts on a lounge chair and she. in what looked like swimwear, not far from him and a notch below, as-if sitting on the pool deck facing him, with her laptop.  Did they go for a swim at some point?  As the next saying goes, “It takes two to Tango”.

The gold-diggers even used the Governor’s Italian heritage and habits against him.  Even before I watched the movie, “The Godfather”, growing up in New York City, I always noticed Italian guys’ friendly habits of kissing on the cheeks; they were the first group I noticed where the men would hug one another.  I never gave it a second thought and eventually, this way of men expressing closeness filtered through all the  other ethnic groups!  Amusingly, I remember the first time I tried to embrace my own Pops at the door, upon coming home after a long-time-no-see period; the ole WWII veteran stiffened-up like a board, right in front of my mother – who admonished him to hug me in-return!

This latest Bill Cosby/Al Franken/Weinstein/Trump/et al moment for America was definitely an unnecessary mutiny, the spoils of and repercussions thereof yet to be felt and seen by that state and our society.  It seems that, with the aid of any motivated adventuress, all men of standing are now vulnerable to be sullied and soiled, possibly losing their careers and whatever wealth. Yes, each of the aforementioned men had their own nuanced peculiarities, but they and their accusers are all culled from the same kernel.

Andrew Cuomo as Governor, was never a Captain Blythe, in my book.  On the occasions that I wrote him a letter on behalf of my elderly mother or myself, I always received a personal phone call reply from one of his underlings and not some form letter.  My concerns and issues were successfully addressed in each instance! Speaking of “mothers”, he probably resigned after talking with his 89 year-old mother, Matilda; they can make you take the high road, ya know. These modern-day women’s libbers, never seem to remember that the man, upon whose head they they place a price…has a female mother who they are also disparaging.

His rap game with chicks may have been ill-timed, weak or crude, but those in power are used to getting what they desire and at the end of the day, he was a great Governor from my home state (and I’ve seen many in my times) who didn’t deserve to be seized, shamed and set adrift. I pray he takes a nice long vacation to a place where the women lavish themselves upon him, and who knows, maybe he goes forth with a fine, non-judgemental and loyal female companion.

As for the NYS Attorney General James, I thought she was busy with the former President and his tax evasion! She may be the “Mister Christian” in this sad saga and definitely had a gender-based bias.  Although going against his conflicted fight it or serve the public nature, maybe Cuomo would have been exonerated by the “court-martial” (impeachment) like that twice- impeached President!

 From “America’s Covid19 leader Governor” to  “I Stand Accused” (a classic Issac Hayes song) in only a year.  Wow. By the way, can you imagine this scenario happening to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, for example?  Nyet, me neither. And there is something positively manly to be said about that.

My Summer 2021 Night Table Reading List

If you are an Achilliad frequent-flyer, you know I was an English/Communications (double) Major at the university and that I review or report on books I read, from time-to-time. Its much more pleasurable to read for fun and information than for a grade, by the way! So this season, I have a new reason to try a different angle: letting you VIPs see what is on my bedside bookshelf reading list this summer!

I don’t promise to review or report on all of these, but in any event, they caught my eyes at the library long enough to bring home for a closer look!

Of particular note is “A Boob’s Life”, by Leslie Lehr, which hooked me – maybe because I’m a “breast man” – long enough to tap into my curiosity about how women really feel (no pun intended) about their titties. I am into it already and the author seems kind of angry with historic purpose.

The other hottie at my bedside is Daniel James Brown’s “Facing The Mountain”, which is about the mistreatment of Japanese Americans in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack on us during World War II. Fascinatingly relevant on so many levels to our American circumstances even here in the summer of 2021.

“Little Fires Everywhere”, by Celeste Ng, is a novel that just cannot seem to snag my attention long enough to finish – it drags a bit, despite excellent reviews when it came out. I want to see it through, but may have to purchase it if I run out of library renews.

On the historical tip is Ronald C. White’s “Lincoln In Private”, which are the written etchings of the man who many hold up as our greatest American President, Abraham Lincoln. It is a kind of “behind-the-scenes” look at the notes he wrote in-between crafting and delivering his lectures and speeches about the issues during his times; some of it resonates to our collective current calamities.

So that’s IT! As the public service announcement used to say, “Reading Is FUNdamental!”Have a good reading summer, wherever your travels take you, and maybe we can compare notes and opinions in the Autumn.

Book Report! ‘Dan Rather reporting…’ – “What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism”

During an interview published in  the January 2020 issue of AARP Magazine, Academy Award-winning actress Viola Davis was asked if she talks to her 10-year-old daughter about the differences between their childhoods. She ended her thoughtful answer with, “And I’m not trying to say that I’m making her grow up passive or milquetoast. But empathy is in short supply today.”  Empathy; one of the many important bases that veteran CBS news reporter and anchorman, Dan Rather, along with Emmy Award winning filmmaker and journalist, Elliot Kirshner touch in their very timely book,  What Unites Us: Reflections On Patriotism (Algonquin $22.95 9781616207823).  This book came out in 2017, but it could have been written in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 insurrection riot on our Capitol, encouraged by “you-know-who”.

Shining a mirror upon us and our democracy’s nervous times, these reflections are like a Social Studies class refresher course (especially if you went to public school  in a major market, prior to the 1990s). It is where memoir meets history book.

Back in my television watching days, I always made time to tune into Mr. Rather anchoring the CBS Evening News broadcast when I could.  He was the logical successor to Walter Cronkite and ranks among my favorite anchors with Chet Hutley & David Brinkley, Douglas Edwards, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Max Robinson and Connie Chung.

The gentlemen take us on a cautionary journey, with his early 20^th century rural Houston, Texas roots the backdrop against which he reminds and teaches how our country, The United States of America has been better; falters and then steps back up when non-partisanship prevails, cementing all of us together, against many odds. I loved when he challenged some who conveniently try to say they are more “patriotic” than others.

I found the chapter, “Steady”, most enlightening.  Especially page 259, where he writes about the Korean War and its effect upon our country, to be the most enlightening and insightful because that is the conflict which is rarely talked about and which was not addressed in-depth during my school days. Maybe because I was to young to have experienced it in real time, in college by the time it was written about in text books and because I had a real close uncle who served there.

At times it seems that he is speaking directly to the 45^th “President” and his ilk without naming names, not harping upon them, but giving equal thought to both ends of the political and philosophical spectrum as only a well-traveled professional broadcaster and news reporter can.  His reporting, and that of his colleagues was never “fake”, as some of the privileged characters who he alludes to would have us believe.

If ever our country needed a dose of true history and togetherness encouragement from one of its citizens, it is now.  Rather’s book should be required educational reading across the land in public, voucher, charter and parochial schools (all of which he writes about); churches, cafeterias, coffee shops, colleges and private clubs (with discussions to follow)!  My rating is five-out-of-five American flags.  

A Chance Police Interaction On Floyd Murder Verdict Day

I was confronted by a cop while riding my bicycle yesterday.  Alright,  that sounds worse than it was, but juxtaposed, in retrospect, with it being the day the guilty verdict was announced against the Minnesota officer  in the George Floyd murder case, I found myself pondering it further during my post-ride shower. At the time this happened, I didn’t not know the outcome of the case – I do not watch television – because I had not checked my Android headlines yet, that day.

I write this with a smile and not a frown.  The officer did not turn my world upside-down when he noticed my bike was inverted – he simply wanted to help – unlike much of the banter about policing is these days.  No. Today I come down on the side that most police people really want to help – not hurt good citizens.

Oh yes, by the way, I am a black American man and this officer is Caucasian; I only mention it to accurately paint the word-picture.  I was wearing my “California Republic” kit (very stylish), my helmet, gloves and white wristbands.

My bike is relatively new, having been gifted to me by a former boss, and recently had it “tuned-up” at a local bike shop; my second time riding it since, and this day it threw the chain twice in less than a mile, when I tried to shift gears and this was the second time I had to stop.

The first thing that briefly ran through my mind when I noticed his cruiser’s police striping from the corner of my left eye was that, “Oh, here we go, he’s gonna tell me I’m not allowed to be in the parking lot of a closed business, or something…” As ridiculous as it sounds, during my six decades on earth, I’ve been told many silly rules!    However, the officer quickly dispelled that thought with his genuine concern!  He offered to help and told me about some tool he had that might assist my situation.  When I described what I was going through, the interaction conversation continued friendly, with him telling me about a biking trail and me bemoaning the lack of bike lanes and safe cycling-friendly ways to get to it, which he related to.

We could have kept conversing that day, but I was anxious to get in whatever might be left of my riding exercise and so, I tactfully flipped my bike back upright and thanked him for checking on me, (making sure I used the word “officer” in the sentence) and it was smiles all around as we continued our separate ways, on a beautiful spring afternoon in my new neighborhood. I almost extended my fist, so we could do a sanitary and manly fist-bump, but thought better, not wanting to push it.