tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91536786037642767142024-03-04T23:53:57.669-05:00EnotesSports writing wasn't big enough, as it turns out. Thus the creation of "Enotes" -- my take on life. I apologize in advance.Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.comBlogger570125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-75757892522163068262015-10-21T10:56:00.001-04:002015-10-21T11:05:50.218-04:00Truth be ToldI feel sorry for those who never got a chance to see "Truth or Consequences."<br />
<br />
I don't mean <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences,_New_Mexico" target="_blank">the town in New Mexico</a></b>, either.<br />
<br />
I'm thinking of "T or C" this morning amid the news that host <b><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/21/us/bob-barker-hospitalized/?iid=ob_article_topstories_pool&iref=obinsite" target="_blank">Bob Barker is in the hospital</a></b> after a fall near his Southern California home.<br />
<br />
"Truth" didn't give Barker, 91, his start in broadcasting, but it put him on television for the first time. And there Bob stayed for some 51 years.<br />
<br />
It was game show---and reality TV, if you want to know the truth---pioneer Ralph Edwards who passed the torch of "Truth" to Barker, in 1956.<br />
<br />
Edwards created "Truth" on the radio in 1940. The premise was wacky yet simple.<br />
<br />
The show was among the first "audience participation" offerings of the day.<br />
<br />
Regular folks would have to answer an obscure trivia question---always designed for the contestant to fail---and when the answer was wrong, there would be consequences. These usually came in the form of wild stunts that were often embarrassing.<br />
<br />
But the people ate it up and to be a "victim" on the show became desirable.<br />
<br />
As Edwards <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_or_Consequences" target="_blank">said</a></b>, "Most of the American people are pretty darned good sports."<br />
<br />
The mad success of "Truth" in the non-visual medium of radio is a testament to Edwards' ability to use sound effects, audience microphones and his own vivid descriptions to give the listener a ringside seat to the raucous action.<br />
<br />
Ralph Edwards didn't paint pictures with his radio show, he made mental movies---as any good radio program did in the medium's heyday.<br />
<br />
Edwards moved "Truth" to TV in 1950, once he saw the potential of television and how it fit his stunt show like a glove.<br />
<br />
Edwards stepped off camera in 1954, devoting his time to running his production company, which produced "Truth."<br />
<br />
After a couple of years with new host Jack Bailey, Edwards turned "Truth" over to Barker, who Edwards had heard doing an audience participation show on Los Angeles radio.<br />
<br />
That was in 1956, and Barker continued hosting "Truth" until 1974.<br />
<br />
I started watching "Truth" in the late-1960s and now that I think about it, the show is at the tip top of today's family tree when it comes to wackiness on television. Pretty much every show you see on television today that involves crazy physical tasks by its contestants can have its roots traced to "Truth."<br />
<br />
"Truth" also spawned similar shows in the days of early TV such as "Beat the Clock."<br />
<br />
Before "Truth," nothing on television really came close to capturing the notion of asking regular people to do things that they would never consider doing---even with a few drinks in them.<br />
<br />
"Candid Camera" had its niche, but that show preyed on the unsuspecting. "Truth" made no bones about it with its participants: you're going to do something weird and embarrassing. And you're going to do it willingly, and it will be seen by millions of people across the country. Period.<br />
<br />
And people fell all over themselves---sometimes literally---to be on "Truth." Everyone wanted Bob Barker to embarrass them on national TV.<br />
<br />
Ralph Edwards was right---most of the American people were, indeed, pretty darned good sports.<br />
<br />
I was drawn to "Truth" as a young boy because each episode was different. The stunts were creative and slapstick and frankly, it wasn't boring.<br />
<br />
<img src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/13/93/5f/13935faf839575db3dec830c4b372574.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Then there was "Barker's Box."<br />
<br />
Maybe <i>this </i>is what I liked about "Truth" the most.<br />
<br />
At the end of every show, a box was brought down to the studio audience. It had four drawers---three had money in them and the fourth was empty, or had a booby prize in it, such as a phony snake that would pop out. If the selected audience member chose the three money drawers before choosing the empty one, he/she would win the money. That's it. Simple but fun.<br />
<br />
"Truth" signed off for the last time in 1974. Barker didn't go hungry. He went on to host something called "The Price is Right."<br />
<br />
An effort to revive "Truth" occurred in 1977 but it died a quick death with host Bob Hilton.<br />
<br />
I had great fun watching "Truth" as a young lad. Liked it a helluva lot more than "The Price is Right," that's for damn sure.<br />
<br />
Bob Barker made a living on radio and TV for over six decades by engaging with audiences. For 18 years on "Truth," those audiences would do pretty much anything Bob asked them to do.<br />
<br />
THAT'S some power.<br />
<br />
Get well soon, Bob. As you said after every show in your "Truth" days, "Hoping all your consequences are happy ones."Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-1350369284602868662015-10-09T13:57:00.000-04:002015-10-09T14:02:20.798-04:00The Great PumpkinI do believe that this country has gone out of its gourd with pumpkin.<br />
<br />
It's the biggest food takeover in America since the Italians introduced pizza to an unsuspecting public in the late-19th century.<br />
<br />
Pumpkin spiced coffee. Pumpkin scented candles. Pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cakes, pumpkin pies.<br />
<br />
OK, that last one doesn't count.<br />
<br />
Somewhere, in some board room in corporate America, it was determined that pumpkin spice should be sprinkled, mixed, folded, encased and saturated into every possible food stuff we consume.<br />
<br />
The ironic thing is that pumpkin, by itself, certainly must taste pretty nasty. It's only edible because of what is added to it.<br />
<br />
If you plan on buying a pumpkin for Halloween with the intent of carving it, scrape out a portion and eat it, raw with no helpers.<br />
<br />
I dare ya.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://www.lolriot.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/30-Best-Pumpkin-Flavored-Items-For-Halloween-017.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<br />
Pumpkin isn't invading our food supply, it's the spices added to it that are working their way into our digestive tracts with virulent speed.<br />
<br />
Starbucks, for example, <b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/food-babe-bloggers-call-answered-by-starbucks/" target="_blank">only started putting real pumpkin in its pumpkin spiced drinks in 2015</a></b>---and those drinks debuted in 2003.<br />
<br />
Pumpkin is literally the flavor of the day.<br />
<br />
But again, the irony is that we're not hooked on pumpkin, per se; we're loving the allure of allspice, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and Lord knows what else is being added to pumpkin to make it palatable.<br />
<br />
Still, it's all being served up using the p-word.<br />
<br />
Pumpkin (spice) is in our beer. It's in our tea, in our coffee. I haven't looked, but I'm sure there's a pumpkin spiced chewing gum, too.<br />
<br />
So how did the pumpkin craze start, anyway?<br />
<br />
Well, it didn't start with a spike in pumpkin sales.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pumpkins-get-squashed-amid-pumpkin-spice-craze/" target="_blank">Every year since 2010</a></b>, we've been buying fewer and fewer pumpkins---the actual fruit/gourd.<br />
<br />
Yet we're inundated with pumpkin this, pumpkin that.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/5-key-facts-about-pumpkin-spice-mania.html" target="_blank">According to the market research company The NPD Group</a></b>, sales of pumpkin-flavored items continue to soar, rising 11.6 percent to $361 million for the year ended July 25.<br />
<br />
No hard data is available on how much of those items' content actually contains real pumpkin versus some witches' brew of spices and flavorings---natural or artificial.<br />
<br />
Here's a non-surprising fact, thanks to Neilsen.<br />
<br />
"While 50 percent of U.S. consumers are actively trying to lose weight, they're overlooking fresh pumpkin to satisfy their craving, instead opting for indulgent treats like baked goods, dips and sweets, where sales have steadily increased," the company said in a statement.
<br />
<br />
The key word, of course, is "fresh."<br />
<br />
<br />Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-38648039510824838872015-09-30T00:04:00.000-04:002015-09-30T00:04:14.720-04:00Statue of Limitations<span style="font-family: inherit;">In another time, in another era, against another backdrop, a statue of Orville Hubbard outside of City Hall was a monument about which the good people of Dearborn didn't bat an eye.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And not just Dearbornites.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It wasn't just the people who lived in that city that knew what Hubbard, Dearborn's mayor from 1942-78, stood for.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It was an ironic monument, really, because the statue of Hubbard, in an almost welcoming repose, belied the exclusiveness that pocked his reign over the city.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hubbard was <b><a href="http://www.trimpesculpture.com/press/OrvilleHubbard.htm" target="_blank">an unapologetic segregationist</a></b>. That's not opinion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But those ways were widely accepted by his citizenry, particularly in the first 25 years of his being mayor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">To the people of Dearborn, Orville Hubbard represented the sheriff that kept their streets safe and the town prosperous, despite sharing multiple borders with the city of Detroit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Everyone knew what safe and prosperous was code for in Dearborn under Orville Hubbard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">No blacks allowed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hubbard made no bones about it. African-Americans simply weren't allowed to take up residence in Dearborn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The statue of Hubbard, sculpted in 1989, <b><a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2015/09/29/former-dearborn-mayor-orville-hubbard-statue-moved/73031234/" target="_blank">came down from outside the old city hall on Tuesday</a></b>. Dearborn opened its new city hall in 2013, but the Hubbard statue didn't make the trip with municipal employees. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But now that the statue's original site has been sold to a private entity, it had to be moved.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The only question was, where?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It will be moved to outside the Dearborn Historical Museum, a move that amounts to a compromise.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The statue certainly wasn't going to be relocated outside the new and current city hall. That was made clear by current mayor Jack O'Reilly, whose father John was a Hubbard protege and who succeeded Hubbard as mayor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“It was never intended the statue would come to the new (City Hall),” O’Reilly said. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<img src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/d015e60a96aca65247a95d4903c02cae376d8543/c=196-0-1948-2336&r=537&c=0-0-534-712/local/-/media/2015/07/14/DetroitNews/B99287786Z.1_20150714160305_000_G9FI2LOG.1-0.jpg" /><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The compromise in moving the statue to the Historical Museum's grounds is that the nod to Hubbard's place in Dearborn history will remain, but by not being near the current city hall, there won't even be a hint that the Dearborn of today is represented by what Orville Hubbard's segregationist views elicit.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hubbard's extremism when it came to refusing blacks to move into the city unfortunately overshadows the good that he did for Dearborn, and there really was a lot of that.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">Under Hubbard, there was </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">a strong parks and recreation system in the city, a Florida-based senior care facility and Camp Dearborn, to name just a few positives.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">A museum is exactly where the Hubbard statue belongs.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">Museums aren't always warm and fuzzy. Often they're the opposite; the curators fill them with reminders of a past that is disturbing.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">The Rosa Parks bus at the Henry Ford isn't there to put smiles on people's faces.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">As for the Hubbard statue, even one of his daughters, Nancy, who served for years on the Dearborn City Council, said "I think it's alright" that it will be moved, though her preference would be to "leave it where it is."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council for American-Islamic Relations' Michigan chapter, summed things up pretty well, capturing why the statue both needed to come down and be relocated to a museum.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The vision that Orville Hubbard had," Walid said, "thankfully, is not the Dearborn of today."</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But it can't be swept under the rug, either. </span></span>Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-50050973840857806422015-08-28T17:08:00.000-04:002015-08-28T17:08:42.814-04:00The Inconvenience of News"No news is good news."<br />
<br />
I always wondered about this oft-used phrase.<br />
<br />
Is it saying that there is no such thing as good news, or that when you find yourself without any news at all, that's a good thing?<br />
<br />
However you choose to decipher "No news is good news," I have one for you that is without ambiguity.<br />
<br />
"The news isn't convenient."<br />
<br />
There shouldn't be any confusion over that, but yet there is.<br />
<br />
In the whirlwind of social media sharing and updates in the wake of the horrific murders of two young television journalists---one a reporter, the other a photographer---in Roanoke, VA on Wednesday during a live interview, we had ourselves a genuine "made for TV" violent crime, and there was much pontificating about what to do with it.<br />
<br />
The alleged shooter of reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward, Vester Flanagan, aka Bryce Williams (on-air name), a reportedly disgruntled and frustrated TV reporter himself, crafted a highly premeditated act that was designed to be as sensational as possible.<br />
<br />
Flanagan brought a camera with him (likely his cell phone) and carefully framed the image so that viewers would be able to see Parker being pierced with bullets. Flanagan then faxed a 23-page manifesto (a word that only seems to be associated with atrocities committed by a single person) to ABC News.<br />
<br />
But Flanagan was far from done.<br />
<br />
The video of the shooting was then uploaded to his Twitter and Facebook accounts, for as many people to see before the accounts were suspended. Flanagan also tweeted some snippets that gave some insight as to his motives.<br />
<br />
Flanagan referenced alleged racial discrimination and blasted Ward for going to human resources against him. Flanagan also lamented the hiring of Parker, who he said had made some "racial comments."<br />
<br />
But what got the pontificating going were the videos of the crime---both the version shot by Ward during the live interview and the killer's version.<br />
<br />
Yes, this was some chilling stuff. Extraordinarily so.<br />
<br />
This wasn't Lee Harvey Oswald being gunned down by Jack Ruby, which also happened on live TV, on November 24, 1963.<br />
<br />
Parker and Ward, 24 years old and 27, respectively, were just a couple of kids doing their jobs, at 6:45 in the morning, doing a fluff piece about tourism.<br />
<br />
All horrific stuff, for sure.<br />
<br />
But as stated above, news isn't convenient. It's not pretty and it doesn't always exist to make us feel good. Often times, it makes us feel very bad.<br />
<br />
So while those who strongly suggested that the videos of Parker and Ward's murders not be viewed or shared meant well, this puts news gathering down a slippery slope.<br />
<br />
Of course, Flanagan's staging and posting and faxing were all designed so that he could "go out with a bang," so to speak. He used the very same media that was once his livelihood as a means to make sure that a record of his victims' last moments would forever exist, somewhere.<br />
<br />
Because that's what Flanagan wanted, so many Americans wanted to try to deny him that. It was the least that could be done, they figured.<br />
<br />
The pleas to not share or view the videos were made in the name of respect for Parker and Ward.<br />
<br />
That's very honorable and well-meaning.<br />
<br />
It's also dangerous.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150826220428-remembering-alison-parker-adam-ward-kaye-dnt-ac-00024130-large-169.jpg" /><br />
<b>Alison Parker and Adam Ward</b><br />
<br />
We ought not cherry pick which news and which videos we pump and promote, and which that we chastise their viewing and sharing.<br />
<br />
Like it or not, what Flanagan did was news. Horrific, disgusting, grotesque news, but news nonetheless.<br />
<br />
The notion that those who chose to view or share the videos are somehow less feeling or less human, is misplaced.<br />
<br />
To view or share isn't tantamount to approval, nor is it tantamount to gratuitous sensationalism.<br />
<br />
Two young TV people were killed in cold blood, live on camera.<br />
<br />
That's news.<br />
<br />
I also don't know what is hoped to be gained by the discouraging of viewing or sharing the videos.<br />
<br />
Facebook and Twitter moved swiftly, yanking down Flanagan's accounts without hesitation. They did their jobs.<br />
<br />
But barn door being closed, meet the horses that got out.<br />
<br />
Two questions, similar but different.<br />
<br />
How does <i>not </i>viewing or sharing the videos of Parker and Ward's killings help things?<br />
<br />
And, how does viewing and sharing the videos hurt things?<br />
<br />
Frankly, these videos could have been worse. Much, much worse.<br />
<br />
We could have seen a head shot. Or blood and gore. We saw neither.<br />
<br />
We did see, in Flanagan's video, the muzzle of a gun and we heard the gunshots. But we never saw bullets striking Parker---at least not obviously.<br />
<br />
It was kind of like the shower scene in "Psycho." We <i>think </i>we see the knife strike Janet Leigh in the shower, but thanks to clever editing, we don't.<br />
<br />
We <i>think </i>we see Parker being riddled with bullets, but we really don't.<br />
<br />
Obviously, Flanagan's video doesn't need blood and gore to be shocking. But oh, how much worse it could have been.<br />
<br />
News is news. A lot of times, it just plain sucks.<br />
<br />
The better question is, what <i>is </i>news?<br />
<br />
Invasion of privacy and other matters that masquerade as news are the real bane.<br />
<br />
The definition of what is news seems to be broadening as technology keeps advancing.<br />
<br />
But there's no question that in the Parker and Ward killings, this was news.<br />
<br />
As much as you'd like for it not to be.<br />
<br />
We can't decide what others should view or share, in the matter of genuine news.<br />
<br />
That's a path we truly should not want to be sent down.<br />
<br />Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-54766140147757425062015-08-01T12:16:00.001-04:002015-08-01T12:16:49.747-04:00Roses Have ThornsMy memories of Lynn Anderson are rather sardonic, but that's not her fault, necessarily.<br />
<br />
Singer Anderson, 67, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/31/entertainment/lynn-anderson-singer-rose-garden-dies-feat/index.html" target="_blank">passed away the other day</a> of a heart attack in a Nashville hospital while being treated for pneumonia.<br />
<br />
She was best known for her song, "Rose Garden," which peaked at no. 1 on the country charts and no. 3 on the Billboard charts in early-1971.<br />
<br />
But around the campus of Eastern Michigan University in the 1980s, Lynn Anderson became a notorious figure, forever linked to the school's outrageous efforts to keep its football program in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).<br />
<br />
Let me explain.<br />
<br />
By 1983, MAC officials were considering kicking EMU's football program out of the conference, because of poor performance on the field and more importantly, poor performance at the turnstiles. The latter was a direct effect of the former's cause.<br />
<br />
The conference pretty much gave the university an ultimatum: lift attendance to a minimum threshold (I can't recall what that threshold was, but I think it was in the 10-15,000 per game neighborhood), or risk being booted.<br />
<br />
Being asked to leave a Division-I conference would have cost EMU lots and lots of money in revenue, so the push was on to increase attendance, real quick.<br />
<br />
Shuttle buses were sent to dorms to pick students up and drive them to Rynearson Stadium. Ticket prices were slashed, because the ultimatum wasn't based on revenue sales---it was based on the number of fannies in the seats. EMU didn't care what price folks paid to get in, or whether they paid at all. They just needed warm bodies in the stands.<br />
<br />
But it was going to take more than the above to get students to take three hours out of their Saturday to watch a football team that was mostly miserable.<br />
<br />
So EMU brought in halftime performers.<br />
<br />
They brought in stand-up comics (I remember the legendary Skip Stephenson showing up one night). They brought in the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, who were booed because they didn't wear their iconic halter tops and go-go boots because the night air was too damn chilly. The girls ran onto the field wearing blue Lycra bodysuits, and that didn't go over too well with the male fans.<br />
<br />
And the university also brought in Lynn Anderson.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519KZEVbMTL._SL500_AA280_.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Anderson was well into her 30s and her career had taken a downturn by the time EMU signed her up for a halftime performance. This was circa 1984.<br />
<br />
Things gut ugly when Anderson was found to be obviously lip-synching, which by itself isn't a crime, but it's one of those things that, if it's blatant, can turn an audience against the performer.<br />
<br />
The jig was up when the recording had technical difficulties. You can imagine the effects of that.<br />
<br />
Anderson was booed off the stage and in the next edition of the school newspaper, <i>The Eastern Echo, </i>a graphic ran in the editorial section that depicted a photo of Anderson being flushed down a toilet.<br />
<br />
Now, whether Anderson insisted on the lip-synching, or if the school decided it would be best due to the logistics of performing outdoors, is anyone's guess. Regardless, Lynn Anderson took the hit and she was mocked, panned and derided.<br />
<br />
All told, Anderson had 18 country Top 10 hits, including five No. 1 songs. Among her other hits: "Rocky Top," the Felice and Boudleaux Bryant tune that's one of Tennessee's state songs. Anderson's version hit No. 17 on the country charts in 1970.<br />
<br />
"I am a huge fan of Lynn's. She was always so nice to me. She did so much for the females in country music," country star Reba McEntire said in a statement.
<br />
<br />
I'm sure all of that is true. But on a chilly Saturday night on the football field at EMU in 1984, Lynn Anderson became a twisted footnote in the history of Eastern.<br />
<br />
EMU made its attendance commitment, by the way, and stayed in the MAC.<br />
<br />
We wore "I survived the Big MAC Attack" t-shirts on campus, a play on a McDonald's ad campaign of the time.<br />
<br />
Fun times.Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-53708253864240899252015-07-15T16:52:00.001-04:002015-07-15T16:52:33.361-04:00Christmas (weather) in JulyI know this: our hot pepper plants aren't enjoying the cool summer we're having in Metro Detroit.<br />
<br />
But fie on them.<br />
<br />
The mercury hasn't scraped much past the mid-80s so far, and we're in mid-July.<br />
<br />
I couldn't be happier.<br />
<br />
I don't do well with the heat. The pepper plants do, however, and ours have been struggling to bear fruit, but like I said, fie on them. I can buy hot peppers at the market, although there is a charm to growing your own.<br />
<br />
But if that's the trade off---store-bought hot peppers in exchange for summer days in which I can breathe without an oxygen mask, then I'll take it and run.<br />
<br />
Normally by now, we would have suffered through oppressive heat, with temps in the high-80s and low-90s, with enough humidity to curl you from hair to toe.<br />
<br />
But this year?<br />
<br />
So far, so good.<br />
<br />
Cool evenings, enabling you to sleep with the windows open, and is there anything better than breathing in fresh night air as you slumber?<br />
<br />
Pleasant daytime temps, which don't mandate the use of air conditioning 24 hours a day. I love A/C---I think it was a great invention. But being in it too much makes me feel like I'm living in a plastic bubble and the world outside is so close yet so far.<br />
<br />
Now, I do feel for the swimming pool owners out there.<br />
<br />
We don't own a pool anymore, but the year we bought ours, in 1998, we were swimming in it (comfortably) in mid-May, shortly after it was installed.<br />
<br />
My, has the climate changed.<br />
<br />
Despite the aforementioned oppressive heat, those days haven't really started until well into June in recent years, so the pool owners' swimming season has been shrinking steadily.<br />
<br />
I saw some pools with their winter covers still on, as recently as two weeks ago!<br />
<br />
So you own a pool nowadays and you're spending God knows how much money on electricity for the pump and chemicals for the water, and you can't even dip your toes in the stinking thing---until Independence Day.<br />
<br />
I also haven't heard the ice cream truck very much this summer.<br />
<br />
But that's still collateral damage in my book.<br />
<br />
I'm enjoying the heck out of daytime temps in the mid-to-high 70s and evening lows in the upper-50s.<br />
<br />
I'm basking in the low humidity and the ability to take in a deep breath of air without nearly passing out.<br />
<br />
I have no idea how much longer this can last. I keep bracing myself for a heat wave.<br />
<br />
And despite the lack of heat thus far, I'm sure I'll still grumble and bitch the first day the thermometer scrapes 90 degrees.<br />
<br />
But until then, I'm enjoying Christmas in July.<br />
<br />
How about you?Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-9081210627305427842015-06-24T11:22:00.000-04:002015-06-24T11:34:48.399-04:00The Many Degrees of DVPWhich Dick Van Patten would you like to remember and mourn today?<br />
<br />
Is it the actor Van Patten, who most famously seeped into our consciousness as Tom Bradford, the patriarch of the TV family on ABC's "Eight is Enough" from 1977-81?<br />
<br />
Is it the tennis player Van Patten, whose sons got some of the old man's genes and did pretty good on the court as well?<br />
<br />
Is it the animal activist Van Patten, who worked tirelessly for our furried and feathered friends, including founding National Guide Dog Month in 2008?<br />
<br />
Is it the entrepreneur Van Patten, who co-founded Natural Balance Pet Foods in 1989?<br />
<br />
Take your pick---or take them all, if you'd like.<br />
<br />
Van Patten passed away on Tuesday at age 86. Some reports blame the cause of death on complications related to diabetes.<br />
<br />
There was some juice to the Van Patten name in the entertainment industry. There was Dick, of course, and there was his younger sister Joyce, a fellow actor. There were the Van Patten boys---Vincent, Nels and Jimmy---who were all actors.<br />
<br />
It's so fitting that Dick Van Patten made his most pop culture hay as family man Tom Bradford on "Eight is Enough" because his own family tree is pretty interesting and runs like an artery through show business.<br />
<br />
In addition to the aforementioned, check this out.<br />
<br />
Van Patten's sister Joyce married actor Martin Balsam, and the couple had a child---actress Talia Balsam.<br />
<br />
Talia Balsam's first husband was George Clooney. You may have heard of him.<br />
<br />
Talia Balsam is now married to "Mad Men" actor John Slattery.<br />
<br />
Van Patten's son Vince is married to soap star and current reality TV personality Eileen Davidson.<br />
<br />
Dick's other son Nels is married to former "Baywatch" regular Nancy Valen.<br />
<br />
For some, it may seem like "Eight is Enough" lasted longer than just four seasons, but that's a testament to the show's impact. It hit the small screen four years after "The Brady Bunch" filmed its last episode, and American TV viewers were ready for a family show featuring a large brood that was a little more grown up.<br />
<br />
With "EiE," entire episodes weren't spent on trying to find the family dog or teaching kids lessons about humility. The show was about (mostly) grown-up kids who had more convoluted issues.<br />
<br />
Of course, by the end of the hour, all the loose ends were tied up, but not before some laughter, some crying and some reflection.<br />
<br />
Real-life tragedy was dealt with, as well.<br />
<br />
Actress Diana Hyland was originally cast as Tom Bradford's wife but she succumbed to cancer four episodes into season two. Her untimely death wasn't ignored, like the shows from the 1950s and 1960s would have done---replacing the passed away actor with someone else playing the same character.<br />
<br />
Instead, the producers of "EiE" dealt with Hyland's death head on, writing it into the show, and the cast's mourning on the screen was real.<br />
<br />
Betty Buckley was brought in to play Tom's new love interest (and eventual second wife), Abby, for seasons two through four.<br />
<br />
Leading it all was Dick Van Patten, whose character was based on real-life newspaper columnist Tom Braden, who chronicled his large family with an autobiographical book also titled <i>Eight is Enough---</i>a reference to Braden's (and Bradford's) eight children.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTY5MDg2NDQ3OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTg5OTQ4Mg@@._V1_UY317_CR133,0,214,317_AL_.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Dick Van Patten was hardly the leading man type---thin-haired, slightly paunchy and with a round face. He looked more like your neighbor---which was likely why Tom Bradford resonated on the screen. Van Patten <i>looked </i>like a guy who had eight kids and who worked for a newspaper.<br />
<br />
Van Patten's Tom Bradford was also unlike other TV dads in the sense that he wasn't written as a buffoon who somehow got a pretty, smart girl to marry him. The kids didn't zing witty one-liners at dad's expense; rather, Tom Bradford was a true patriarch who had his kids' respect.<br />
<br />
Van Patten was acting on stage and screen for some 28 years before he got the "EiE" gig, but he was treated by many viewers as a virtual unknown until 1977. Such is the power of being a lead actor on a successful TV show.<br />
<br />
Van Patten was also a favorite of comedian/director Mel Brooks, who cast Dick in a number of films.<br />
<br />
Such was Dick Van Patten's varied interests that he even served as a TV commentator for the World Series of Poker from 1993-95.<br />
<br />
Trivia: Van Patten named his son Nels after the character that Dick played in his first TV job, a series called "Mama" (1949-57).<br />
<br />
Dick Van Patten didn't light up the screen. He wasn't that type of actor. But you were always aware of his presence.<br />
<br />
Unlike some of his brethren who felt typecast and button-holed by roles they played on television, Dick Van Patten embraced Tom Bradford.<br />
<br />
"I appreciate 'Eight is Enough'," he once said. "It made me recognizable."<br />
<br />
But he was influential in so many other ways, and for that so many are grateful.<br />
<br />
<br />Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-73161609005760177232015-06-19T12:28:00.000-04:002015-06-19T12:34:20.573-04:00Spock Would Be ProudIn the interest of full disclosure, I'm 51 years old.<br />
<br />
I only tell you this because, when she was my age, Jeralean Talley was living in the year 1950.<br />
<br />
And she continued to live, some 65 more years, <b><a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2015/06/18/worlds-oldest-person-death/28923101/" target="_blank">until passing peacefully the other day in her home in Inkster</a></b>.<br />
<br />
Jeralean was 116 years, 25 days old when she slipped away, ending her two-month reign as the world's oldest living person.<br />
<br />
I wonder what it would have been like to be my age now, in 1950.<br />
<br />
Harry S. Truman was president. Television was still a relatively new thing and lots of folks didn't even own one. And if they did. it broadcast everything in beautiful, gorgeous, vivid...black and white.<br />
<br />
The NHL had six teams. Major League Baseball had all of 16. The NFL was still finding its audience as teams were experimenting with something called the forward pass. The NBA was four years old.<br />
<br />
The only phones we had were mounted on our kitchen walls. You had to actually read the hands of a clock or wristwatch to tell time. Shoes had laces, not Velcro.<br />
<br />
If you wanted to know what was going on, you bought a newspaper. If you needed more, you bought a Late edition on the street.<br />
<br />
Cars were as big as tanks and the only things that weren't metal were the seats and the dashboard.<br />
<br />
If you wanted to know how to get where you were going, you bought a map.<br />
<br />
You didn't send e-mails, you wrote letters. If you wanted to pay a bill, you licked a stamp.<br />
<br />
We were just five years removed from the second World War and on our way into another conflict in Korea.<br />
<br />
That's just when Jeralean Talley was 51.<br />
<br />
She graduated from high school during World War I. When she was old enough to vote, she couldn't.<br />
<br />
She saw the invention of the telephone, the airplane, radio, air conditioning, modern refrigeration and instant coffee.<br />
<br />
For starters.<br />
<br />
<img src="https://mgtvwkrn.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/inkster_woman_is_world_s_oldest_person_2798270000_16330203_ver1-0_640_480.jpg?w=640" /><br />
<b>Jeralean Talley (1899-2015)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
But Jeralean is gone now, and according to daughter Thelma Holloway, who's a youngster at age 77, her mother "was ready to go home and rest."<br />
<br />
"She asked the Lord to take her peacefully, and he did," Holloway told the <i>Detroit News.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
According to the <i>News</i> story, the California-based Gerontology Research Group, which keeps track of the world’s oldest people, declared Talley in early April to be the oldest human on the planet.<br />
<br />
The previous record-holder, Arkansas resident Gertrude Weaver, died April 6 at 116 years old, according to the group.<br />
<br />
Mrs. Talley is succeeded as the world’s oldest person by New Yorker Susannah Mushatt Jones, who turns 116 on July 6.
<br />
<br />
Jeralean Talley moved to Detroit from Georgia in 1935, right smack in the middle of the Great Depression. Her husband, Alfred, has been gone since 1988 after 52 years of marriage to Jeralean.<br />
<br />
Jeralean was an avid bowler, continuing to roll games until she was 104. Her last game rolled produced an astounding score of 200.<br />
<br />
Despite the number of people around the world who have lived well past their 100th birthday, there continues to not be any succinct reason why they were able to eclipse normal life expectancy by such a wide margin.<br />
<br />
They all had their "secrets" to longevity, and some of those secrets wouldn't necessarily lead you to believe that they would have anything to do with living past 50, let alone 100.<br />
<br />
So maybe it's just a crapshoot.<br />
<br />
Regardless, it won't be long before these centenarians no longer have 19th century dates on their birth certificates. To be born in 1899 and still be alive today is a marvel.<br />
<br />
Jeralean Talley's longtime friend and fellow churchgoer, Christonna Campbell, spoke for so many of those who knew Mrs. Talley.<br />
<br />
"We just thought she was going to live forever," Campbell said.<br />
<br />
But didn't she, in a way?Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-29109099350463553302015-05-26T16:05:00.001-04:002015-05-26T16:05:29.219-04:00Meara, MearaComedians/actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara were married for 61 years, but had they not heeded warning signs, the marriage might have ended some 44 years ago.<br />
<br />
The comedy team of Stiller & Meara was seemingly cruising along in 1970, having just enjoyed a nice run of 36 appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show"<i> </i>in the 1960s, when both members of the team/marriage sensed that something was amiss.<br />
<br />
With an act based largely on their real-life domestic trials and tribulations, Stiller and Meara found that despite their success---or maybe because of it---the line between life at home and life on stage was getting further blurred as the years went on.<br />
<br />
"I didn't know where the act ended and our marriage began," Meara <b><a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/anne-meara-dead-ben-stillers-797806" target="_blank">told <i>People</i> magazine in 1977</a></b>.<br />
<br />
"We were like two guys," Stiller said in the same article.<br />
<br />
With Meara questioning things and Stiller worried that he might lose his wife, the act was disbanded in 1970.<br />
<br />
But they never stopped working together for very long at any given time; they just didn't do so as the stage act Stiller & Meara.<br />
<br />
The couple had been teaming up on a web series in recent years before Anne Meara passed away over the weekend. She was 85.<br />
<br />
On television, Stiller and Meara were most recently seen sharing some scenes together on "The King of Queens," with Stiller playing Carrie Heffernan's widowed father Arthur Spooner and Meara playing the part of Veronica Olchin, the widowed mother of Doug Heffernan's friend Spence Olchin.<br />
<br />
Ironically, that series ended with Stiller and Meara's characters getting married.<br />
<br />
Stiller and Meara's actor/producer/director son, Ben Stiller, produced the web series for Red Hour Digital, which Ben owns.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://www.newsfromme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/annemeara01.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Anne Meara met Jerry Stiller in New York after a failed audition in 1953, and the couple was married a year later. But it took much prodding and several years of convincing before Meara agreed to join her husband on stage as a comedy team, whose only rival at the time in the male/female duo category was the team of Elaine May and Mike Nichols, who weren't married.<br />
<br />
Thus, Stiller & Meara would eventually become the entertainment industry's longest-running, most successful husband and wife comedy duo, surpassing that of George Burns and Gracie Allen.<br />
<br />
After the stage "breakup" in 1970, Stiller and Meara hardly disappeared from view or from listeners' ears.<br />
<br />
They did radio ads for Blue Nun wine, and appeared in television commercials together. They also teamed up in 1977-78 for "Take Five with Stiller & Meara," which was a series consisting of humorous blackouts about everyday life.<br />
<br />
Meara was no Gracie Allen, and that's hardly a knock. Where Allen was George Burns' ditzy foil, Anne Meara was Jerry Stiller's equal, and then some---both physically and in terms of material. She was a tall, Irish, Brooklyn redhead whose height caused her to loom large on stage next to her husband, literally and figuratively.<br />
<br />
Meara was a four-time Emmy Award nominee and she was nominated for a Tony Award once.<br />
<br />
There was so much more to Anne Meara than being Jerry Stiller's comedy partner---and Ben Stiller's mother. There was the acting and the writing and the teaching and the trailblazing aspect to her career for other female comics.<br />
<br />
Not bad for a woman whose own mother committed suicide when she was 11 years old.<br />
<br />
Meara once gave a glimpse into what the secret was to staying married to a co-worker for over six decades, practically unheard of in show business.<br />
<br />
"Was it love at first sight? It wasn't then---but it sure is now."Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-38816943198974525302015-05-08T10:42:00.002-04:002015-05-08T10:42:50.451-04:00Who Among Us?The only thing that is certain in the road rage trial of Martin Zale is that it was tragic.<br />
<br />
A wife widowed. Children growing up father-less.<br />
<br />
After that, it gets tricky.<br />
<br />
Zale is the motorist who is accused of murder in the fatal shooting of Derek Flemming last September 2 in Genoa Township, at Grand River Avenue and Chilson Road.<br />
<br />
Zale was allegedly driving recklessly and Flemming, on a beautiful afternoon after having lunch with his wife, didn't appreciate it.<br />
<br />
The vehicles stopped at a red light---Zale's in front of Flemming's---and Flemming got out of his vehicle to confront Zale. Witnesses say that Flemming looked very angry and had both fists clenched as he approached Zale's truck.<br />
<br />
Moments later, Flemming was dead---shot once in the face. He died instantly.<br />
<br />
Zale didn't flee; rather, he pulled off to the side of the road and called his lawyer.<br />
<br />
Those are the basic facts. Zale's trial is happening now, and I think it's going to be fascinating to follow.<br />
<br />
Of course, there's a lot more to it than what I have chronicled. But that's what makes it so fascinating.<br />
<br />
Who among us has <i>never </i>been enraged by another motorist?<br />
<br />
<img alt="635666718283062463-Martin-Zale" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/f6971d504a6d894cb7944de3d383c26c5c6bb869/c=0-0-533-401&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/2015/05/08/DetroitFreePress/DetroitFreePress/635666718283062463-Martin-Zale.jpg" /><br />
<b>Martin Zale at his trial</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
That's what enthralls me about the Zale trial. So many criminal trials are difficult to relate to, because they involve actions or circumstances in which a vast majority of us would never find ourselves.<br />
<br />
But Martin Zale and Derek Flemming? We've all been the latter and some of us, whether we choose to admit it or not, have been the former.<br />
<br />
It's just that in this case, Flemming took that extra step that many of us have fantasized about but have still managed to avoid actually doing---probably because of the fear of the fate that befell Flemming.<br />
<br />
It's a trial that so many of can relate to. And I believe that its verdict could have a ripple effect in several ways.<br />
<br />
It's also a trial where there will be no shortage of opinion or water cooler talk at the office.<br />
<br />
As I said, the only non-debatable aspect here is that what happened was a tragedy. It always is, when something bad happens that was avoidable.<br />
<br />
But there's that word: avoidable.<br />
<br />
It's a sort of chicken and egg thing going on here.<br />
<br />
You can say that Flemming initiated, in essence, his own death by climbing out of his vehicle to confront Zale.<br />
<br />
You can also say that Zale initiated everything because of his allegedly reckless driving to begin with.<br />
<br />
Then there are the backgrounds of the two men.<br />
<br />
Zale, according to co-workers at least, was notorious for crazy driving. He also has another documented road rage confrontation from his past in which police were called.<br />
<br />
Flemming, for his part, also--according to those who knew him---had exhibited behavior in the past that aligns with possible anger issues.<br />
<br />
So there we have it---two known hotheads coming together to form a perfect storm of rage and reaction.<br />
<br />
The easy thing to do---and I am among those who have done it---is to wag a finger and hold up Flemming as the poster boy for why you should never confront, and why you should call 911 instead.<br />
<br />
But that doesn't let Zale off the hook, of course. Flemming's actions may have been ill-advised, but did they deserve the death penalty?<br />
<br />
Maybe something like this was bound to happen, involving Martin Zale.<br />
<br />
Perhaps the same could be said of Derek Flemming.<br />
<br />
Still, tragic.<br />
<br />
They'll be talking about this one for years.Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-27179833426629874432015-04-24T10:40:00.001-04:002015-04-24T10:40:54.382-04:00Another Untimely, Tragic WrapAs if suicide isn't rotten enough, it invariably raises more questions than it answers. That's because suicide often doesn't answer any questions at all.<br />
<br />
Even a note left behind won't necessarily satisfy all the curiosity. In fact, suicide notes are likely to create more questions than they answer, as well.<br />
<br />
A suicide note is like a press conference where a statement is issued and the issuer scrambles away, without taking any queries.<br />
<br />
Sawyer Sweeten is dead. Apparently it's suicide.<br />
<br />
Sawyer, on the verge of turning 20, was one-half of the identical twin actors who played Ray and Debra Barone's twin boys on "Everybody Loves Raymond" (1996-2005). Sawyer played Geoffrey and Sullivan Sweeten played Michael. The twins' older sister Madylin played older sister Ally on the TV show.<br />
<br />
According to reports, Sawyer was visiting family in Texas when he apparently shot himself on the front porch of the house where he was staying.<br />
<br />
In the early years of "Raymond," star Ray Romano would say in the open that the show "is not really about the kids," and he was right. The Barone children were often not seen at all in episodes. Not making kids foils or smart alecks was one of many ways in which "Raymond" was refreshing.<br />
<br />
The Sweeten kids weren't fed rapid fire one-liners by the writers. Their characters rarely acted out, and only on occasion was a "Raymond" storyline built around the children.<br />
<br />
But today, it IS about the kids. One, in particular.<br />
<br />
No word yet if Sawyer left a note. Not that it helps if he did.<br />
<br />
Throughout entertainment history, the travails of the child actor after he/she is no longer an adolescent have been widely documented. I don't know if studies have been made, so it's anyone's guess as to whether former child stars are, statistically, prone to big people-type problems more than "normal" kids. But certainly their issues are higher in profile.<br />
<br />
I would imagine that some of the emotional/psychological problems that child actors face start with a question that we have all asked about said stars, either to ourselves or of others.<br />
<br />
"Whatever happened to...?"<br />
<br />
That may be the crux of a lot of this stuff.<br />
<br />
Whatever happened to the kid actors after they grew up and their shows ended up in syndication?<br />
<br />
But maybe the kid actors are asking themselves, "What do I do <i>now</i>, now that the spotlights have been turned off and the acting jobs have dried up?"<br />
<br />
<img src="http://www.etonline.com/news/2015/04/24146919/640_sawyer_sullivan_sweeten_98521377.jpg" /><br />
<b>Sawyer and Madylin Sweeten</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
Some of the kid stars turned to drugs. Some turned to alcohol. Some turned to both. Others followed their lives on set with a life of crime, almost immediately.<br />
<br />
With or without a suicide note, the questions surrounding Sawyer Sweeten's apparent suicide will never truly be answered, because the only person who possesses the answers and who can expound is gone.<br />
<br />
And it might be that Sawyer's demise had absolutely nothing to do with his having been a child actor.<br />
<br />
Romano, who reminded us back in the day that his show wasn't about the kids, reversed that course upon learning of Sawyer's tragic death.<br />
<br />
"I'm shocked, and terribly saddened, by the news about Sawyer," <b><a href="http://www.etonline.com/news/163395_everybody_loves_raymond_star_sawyer_sweeten_dead_at_19_of_apparent_suicide/" target="_blank">Romano said in a statement</a></b>.<br />
"(Sawyer) was a wonderful and sweet kid to be around. Just a great energy whenever he was there. My heart breaks for him, his family, and his friends during this very difficult time."<br />
<br />
Big sister Madylin Sweeten told us to do something that shouldn't take an untimely death to get us to do.<br />
<br />
"At this time I would like to encourage everyone to reach out to the ones you love," she wrote on her Facebook page. "Let them have no doubt of what they mean to you."<br />
<br />
<br />Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-21430342493917725072015-04-15T12:35:00.002-04:002015-04-15T12:35:54.545-04:00Ebb and FloThey were television advertising icons who resided on the banks of our cultural consciousness.<br />
<br />
Mr. Whipple (Charmin bathroom tissue). Madge the manicurist (Palmolive dish detergent). The Maytag Repair Man. Even the Qantas koala bear.<br />
<br />
Those were just a few commercial characters who invaded our living rooms in the 1970s and '80s. Their ads---usually 60 seconds in length or even longer---were rarely the same. The format might have been nearly identical, and of course the tag lines were ("DON'T squeeze the Charmin!"), but each appearance by Mr. Whipple or Madge usually had them interacting with different customers.<br />
<br />
The actors behind the characters were often nameless, as it should have been, but I'm sure their paychecks weren't nameless---or paltry.<br />
<br />
The pitchman on TV these days is usually a local litigator or a voice-over hawking prescription meds.<br />
<br />
There isn't really any character that is iconic---no one who, when they appear on the screen, instantly lets us know what product is being advertised.<br />
<br />
Except for Flo, the Progressive Insurance Girl.<br />
<br />
Played by Stephanie Courtney (we only know that because this is the Internet age), Flo first started appearing on TV in the late-2000s. Her cheery attitude, dark hair, blood red lipstick and ridiculously long eyelashes, all packaged in an all-white uniform, screams insurance at the moment of seeing her.<br />
<br />
To Progressive's credit, the Flo ads are kept fresher than most other TV spots, which can gag you with their repetitiveness and lack of variety (i.e. those same three Liberty Mutual Insurance ads that are rotated).<br />
<br />
Progressive has put Flo in all sorts of situations, from riding motorcycles to consoling a man in a locker room to being tied to a stake (in an ad that puts Flo in different eras in world history).<br />
<br />
But unlike the advertising characters from days gone by, who were mostly universally liked (or, at the very least, tolerated rather easily), Flo, for whatever reason, is a polarizing sort.<br />
<br />
My mother, for example, can't stand Flo. I, on the other hand, find Flo attractive in an odd way.<br />
<br />
Trolling the Internet, this polarization is acute.<br />
<br />
There are Flo-hating websites and forums, as well as those that are visited by men who make no bones that they would like to do some things (sexually) to Flo that are unfit to print here. Other comments on Facebook et al have been from females who like Flo just because they think she's likable.<br />
<br />
Courtney, for her part, has never understood the allure of Flo, sexually.<br />
<br />
"The GEICO gecko puts out more sexual vibes than Flo does," Courtney <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flo_%28Progressive_Insurance%29#Popularity" target="_blank">has been quoted as saying</a></b>.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://www.clevescene.com/binary/5898/FLO.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Regardless of where you stand on the Flo issue, one thing can't be disputed: She's a throwback to a time when TV advertising was flush with identifiable characters and mascots. Back when TV hawked more than just insurance, beer, cars and drugs.<br />
<br />
Flo's Facebook page has nearly 5 million likes, though that number has been dipping in recent years from its peak of 5.4 million.<br />
<br />
Like them or not, the Flo spots at least are freshened up rather frequently. Her character, these days, is seen less in that all-white, fantasy Progressive Insurance "store" and more in various situations and venues.<br />
<br />
And, no doubt, Flo has made Stephanie Courtney's wallet fatter than it likely would have been had she been forced to stick to more traditional bit parts on TV and in the movies, as she was doing prior to Flo.<br />
<br />
You pretty much love Flo or you hate her; it's hard to be on the fence with her. She's the Howard Cosell of modern television that way.<br />
<br />
The GEICO gecko, by the way, should get props for its popularity and freshness of new spots.<br />
<br />
Who would have thought that the world of insurance would take over TV advertising?Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-7590639666078582972015-04-03T19:24:00.002-04:002015-04-03T19:24:42.811-04:00Still Rockin', Still Rollin'?The Rolling Stones are coming! The Rolling Stones are coming!<br />
<br />
How much rolling they do nowadays, it's anyone's guess. They're all in their 70s now.<br />
<br />
The iconic rock group is touring this summer, and Detroit is on the travelogue, with the Stones playing Comerica Park on July 8.<br />
<br />
This isn't ageism, but one can only wonder how strong the voices are, how powerful the guitar riffs are and how much energy is in the tank for the Mick Jagger-led group, who can all order off the seniors menu at every restaurant in the country.<br />
<br />
I've been listening to a lot of 1960s-era rock lately, thanks to a nifty little mobile app called Milk Music. The tunes (sans commercials) come in handy while walking the pooch.<br />
<br />
The Rolling Stones are part of that, of course, but sprinkled in with the bands I am listening to are performers like Jim Morrison (The Doors), Jim Croce, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Mama Cass Elliot (the Mamas and the Papas) and others who died before their time.<br />
<br />
So the question begs: what would have become of those artists had they lived as long as Jagger, Richards, Wyman, Watt et al?<br />
<br />
The argument could be made that each of the aforementioned music artists, who all died in their 20s (except Elliot, who was 32 when she passed), were trailblazers for acts who came behind them.<br />
<br />
But would their acts have stood the test of time?<br />
<br />
We'll never know, of course, but it's still fun to imagine what kind of music The Doors would be pumping out in 2015, or if Croce's ballads would have evolved over time or if Hendrix would still be wailing on the electric guitar some 45 years after he died.<br />
<br />
Then again, there are many bands and individual artists from the British Invasion years that have pretty much vanished from the public eye---all while remaining alive and kicking.<br />
<br />
The Rolling Stones are still a draw because they, like The Who, Paul McCartney and others who've been at this rock-and-roll thing for 50-plus years, pumped out so many hits in their prime that it never gets old for their fan base---many of whom are also in their senior years---to hear those hits performed live, no matter the age of the performers.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/121011025644-rolling-stones-story-top.jpg" /><br />
<br />
The bodies of work of Morrison, Croce, Hendrix, Joplin and Elliot, combined, averaged about four years at their peak. If it seems like it was longer, then that's both a testament to their music's influence and to the fact that they died young. James Dean only made four movies, believe it or not. Yet a prevailing belief is that Dean's filmography is more voluminous than that.<br />
<br />
Elvis Presley would have turned 80 in January. But forget The King's music; how would those hips have held up?Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-6715489970383505822015-02-25T10:52:00.002-05:002015-02-25T10:52:37.023-05:00Heat IndexMy first experience with spicy food came when I was a youngster.<br />
<br />
I was a latch key kid, and that included lunch. My grade school was literally across the street from the house, more or less. So I would let myself in and prepare my own lunch, as early as age 11.<br />
<br />
This was circa 1974-75.<br />
<br />
Nobody reported my mother to Child Protective Services. I managed to not burn the house down. I'd fix my lunch, eat it, and be back in class on time.<br />
<br />
Somehow along the way I have lost that efficiency in my life, but that's another blog post entirely.<br />
<br />
The point being, my first encounter with spicy foods came in the form of those Vlasic hot pepper rings in a jar. Again, I was 11 and I started nibbling on those tangy, vinegar-encased yellow rings, usually combining them with a sandwich of some sort.<br />
<br />
That was some 40 years ago, and it was way before I discovered Szechuan Chinese food, Indian cuisine and Thai delights.<br />
<br />
It was also way before fast food joints and snack manufacturers discovered anything remotely on the warm side, spicy food-wise.<br />
<br />
Today everyone is pushing spicy food.<br />
<br />
Jalapenos are all the rage now.<br />
<br />
Everyone from Frito Lay to Applebee's to Burger King are putting jalapenos in their offerings.<br />
<br />
Spicy food is everywhere. Buffalo style (fill in the blank); "bold" menu items; Cajun everything; Thai this and Thai that.<br />
<br />
Not that I'm complaining.<br />
<br />
My yen for bold, spicy and tangy foods clearly started with those latch key lunches in the mid-1970s. Vlasic hot pepper rings was my first experience. I remember it like a woman remembers her first kiss.<br />
<br />
But I eventually had to eat something other than hot pepper rings to satisfy my growing craving.<br />
<br />
My mom and I used to eat Chinese food a lot but it wasn't until I went off to college and started working in Ann Arbor that I realized not all Chinese cuisine was of the Cantonese variety.<br />
<br />
Spicy Chinese food? Really?<br />
<br />
Some co-workers were getting take-out at a Chinese place down the street and it served something called Szechuan, they said. Never heard of it, I replied.<br />
<br />
Oh, it's good, they said. Very spicy and hot.<br />
<br />
I probably cocked my head, like a bemused dog does.<br />
<br />
But I for sure said that I was in on that!<br />
<br />
<img src="https://dlcsmanagement.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/spicy1.jpg" /><br />
<b>Part of nature's nectar</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
The food arrived and I'm surprised my taste buds didn't all drop dead of a heart attack.<br />
<br />
Never before had they seen anything like Szechuan Chinese food come down my gullet.<br />
<br />
What a taste sensation!<br />
<br />
So that's when I got hooked on spicy Chinese food (circa 1982). That would change from Chinese to Asian when I discovered Thai cuisine, some five years later.<br />
<br />
If I thought Szechuan (and Mandarin) was hot, I had no idea when it came to Thai food.<br />
<br />
Thai food was invented for people like me. Intense heat, but still adjustable for individual taste.<br />
<br />
Siam Spicy, on Woodward in Royal Oak, gave me my indoctrination to Thai food. I foolishly ordered it "extra hot" on my first visit. I dismissed the sweet waitress's warning.<br />
<br />
I should have listened to her.<br />
<br />
But that painful (literally) experience didn't dissuade me. I had discovered a treasure trove.<br />
<br />
In the early-1990s I found out about Indian food. More delightful salivating ensued.<br />
<br />
So here we are today, 40 years after I lost my spicy food virginity, and only now is the food industry catching up.<br />
<br />
It's a generational thing, I'm sure.<br />
<br />
I was born in 1963. Today's target demographic was born some 20 years after that, and they, as a whole, are more in tune with hot and spicy food.<br />
<br />
They are less afraid and more adventurous eaters than the generation preceding them.<br />
<br />
The products and menu items today reflect that shift in taste bud stamina. Although when the so-called spicy offerings first started to appear, they weren't nearly hot enough for my liking. Now the heat level is increasing as the demographic is getting younger.<br />
<br />
The easiest bet I ever won came some 30 years ago, when a friend wagered that I couldn't eat an entire bag of extra hot potato chips without drinking anything.<br />
<br />
I won a case of Molson Brador beer. Like taking candy from a baby.<br />
<br />
I still eat hot pepper rings, by the way. Today I call it comfort food.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-36726346434258739782015-02-13T12:57:00.001-05:002015-02-13T13:11:36.678-05:00The Justified BullyIn the 1980s, HBO presented a comedy series called "Not Necessarily the News." In it, pretend anchors used real news clips but altered them for laughs.<br />
<br />
Cleverly inserted shots that the HBO show produced, interspersed with the actual clips, would be used for gags.<br />
<br />
Of course, the notion of fake news on TV was hardly new at that time. "Saturday Night Live" began the trend in earnest with its signature Weekend Update segment not long after "SNL" debuted in 1975.<br />
<br />
While "NNTN" was playful and Weekend Update was very sarcastic, always delivered with a wink and a smirk, there was still further to go in the fake news genre.<br />
<br />
Enter Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."<br />
<br />
Where "NNTN" was produced sporadically and Weekend Update was weekly (during the "SNL" season), "The Daily Show" was exactly that---daily.<br />
<br />
But that's hardly where the delineation ended.<br />
<br />
"TDS"'s Jon Stewart was not part of a host rotation, like Weekend Update's, which helped make stars out of everyone from Bill Murray to Dennis Miller to Seth Myers.<br />
<br />
Weekend Update has always been presented in a breezy five minutes or so, while "TDS" has always been 30 minutes in length.<br />
<br />
Stewart is one of two hosts that "TDS" has ever known (Craig Kilborn began when the show began in 1996 and Stewart took over by 1999), and he stunned his audience with <b><a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/jon-stewart-says-hes-leaving-daily-show-215070" target="_blank">the announcement this week</a></b> that this will be the year that he steps down.<br />
<br />
Kudos should continue to go to Kilborn, the ESPN grad whose smarmy delivery would forever brand "TDS," but it was Stewart's intellectually sharp, biting humor and longevity that cemented "TDS"'s perpetual place in television comedy history.<br />
<br />
"TDS" has been guested by a gaggle of political figures and other celebrities over the years, many of whom have been eager to share the stage with Stewart and engage in the ensuing repartee.<br />
<br />
Such was the popularity of Stewart's show that it spawned spin-offs, like Stephen Colbert's "The Colbert Report" and "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore."<br />
<br />
Stewart never hesitated to point out the absurdity and hypocrisy of politics, social issues and celebrity. He used his host's chair as a bully pulpit, but it always seemed that those he bullied deserved it. Stewart possessed the incredibly difficult knack of being biting but not mean-spirited. He never tweaked anyone just for cheap laughs.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://www.addictinginfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/jon-stewart-daily-show-second-presidential-debate.jpg" /><br />
<br />
I believe that the ability to jab someone in a pointed way but sans brutality added to the humor of "TDS." Stewart was no insult comic---he wasn't Don Rickles sitting behind a desk.<br />
<br />
Stewart was so entrenched as "TDS" host that it was easy to forget that he wasn't one of the mainstream news anchors, but instead a gifted comedian and an actor/director whose career on the big screen is nothing to sneeze at either.<br />
<br />
Comedians will tell you that the beauty of their craft turns up when their material practically writes itself.<br />
<br />
Stewart didn't have to try very hard to pull laughs from the daily headlines; so much of what goes on is good fodder. But that doesn't minimize his contribution to television comedy.<br />
<br />
Jon Stewart's "TDS" not only poked fun at the news and newsmakers, it illuminated the injustices, ridiculousness and shamelessness bubbling just below the surface of them both.<br />
<br />
Stewart pulled no punches, but at least those he tattooed had it coming.Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-70214327443555693852015-01-30T14:08:00.001-05:002015-01-30T14:18:51.968-05:00Death in the Slow LaneTraditions are terrific things. Whether they run in families, bring together communities or even entire nations, there is no mistaking the notion that honoring tradition is a noble and cozy thing to do, when not misguided.<br />
<br />
But let's do away with the funeral procession, shall we?<br />
<br />
In simpler, less crowded, less rude times, the funeral procession, particularly when done using the horse and carriage, was a fine way of respecting the newly-deceased.<br />
<br />
Today, it's more along the lines of a nuisance and, frankly, it can be dangerous.<br />
<br />
The journey from church (or other nonsecular place) to the cemetery or mausoleum can certainly be a somber one. There isn't a limousine leading the way with cans and string attached, with a hand-painted sign that says "Just Died."<br />
<br />
So I get it that commuting during an occasion of burial isn't the most pleasant thing in the world. And I have nothing against respecting and honoring the dead.<br />
<br />
But the funeral procession has worn out its welcome.<br />
<br />
Today, with roads packed more than ever with vehicles, the idea of stringing together dozens of motorists and allowing them to pass through intersections and running red lights with impunity, simply isn't very bright.<br />
<br />
It's nothing against the processioners, per se, although there does always seem to be one car that lags behind the rest, creating a potentially dangerous gap. It's more about the rude, disrespectful motorists who aren't part of the procession.<br />
<br />
I just don't think we need to drive en masse to a burial.<br />
<br />
I think you can give folks the target address and driving instructions and say "We'll see you there."<br />
<br />
An exception would be for something more stately, such as the funeral of a police officer or political figure.<br />
<br />
If one of the purposes of a funeral procession is to show, in a very visual way, how beloved someone was, I am reminded of some sage words uttered by a wise person.<br />
<br />
"The only thing that is going to determine how many people show up to your funeral is the weather."<br />
<br />
My inspiration here isn't because I was recently inconvenienced by a funeral procession, though Lord knows that I have been. Nor is it because I have encountered strange and exasperating moments whilst driving in a funeral procession, though I once drove the entire way behind a car with no functioning brake lights (that was fun).<br />
<br />
In fact, this really has nothing to do with inconvenience. It has everything to do with practicality and safety.<br />
<br />
I don't have the numbers, and maybe they don't bear me out anyway, but I still think that you increase the chances of an accident anytime a funeral procession rolls on by.<br />
<br />
Besides, they're depressing.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://www.vosizneias.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/fu65.png" /><br />
<b>Enough.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
What's a more in-your-face reminder of mortality than watching 30 cars drive slowly by, following a hearse?<br />
<br />
I see enough images of death and destruction on TV and the Internet to last me a lifetime, thank you very much.<br />
<br />
Would death be any less significant and the occasion of a funeral be any less morose or somber if we stopped traveling to burials in herds?<br />
<br />
I recall a stand-up comedian once remarking that as a show of life's cruel irony, the only time you get to drive through red lights and stop signs is when you're dead and can't enjoy the gratification.<br />
<br />
Besides, in my non-funeral procession fantasy world, if I really want to drive miles and miles in a tight-knit pack while pumping my brakes, I have that opportunity, twice a day: my commute to and from work.Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-59259787525929369672015-01-13T22:33:00.000-05:002015-01-13T22:33:21.136-05:00Kept in the DarkI think one of the most depressing parts of winter is that we spend it cloaked in darkness.<br />
<br />
It's dark when you wake up to get ready for work. The afternoons are often overcast and everyone has to drive with their headlights on. It's dark when you drive home from work. You can go days without seeing any serious sunlight.<br />
<br />
In Michigan, you can pretty much put your sunglasses in the drawer in October and not pull them out again until April---if you're lucky.<br />
<br />
It's like in wintertime, we've all forgotten to pay the light bill.<br />
<br />
That's why, when you get a day of sunshine in the winter, your eyes hurt. You spend the day squinting. Everyone looks like Robert De Niro in every movie in which he's ever appeared.<br />
<br />
But there's something called the Winter Solstice, and we actually passed it a few weeks ago---December 21 to be exact. And when you pass the solstice, you're in for longer days, slowly but surely.<br />
<br />
When I was a kid, I remember folks talking about December 21 as being "the longest night of the year."<br />
<br />
Kids, as we know, tend to take phrases literally. I was no exception. One year, I heard all the blather about December 21's "longest night" and when that night actually came, I thought it would be dark for the whole next day.<br />
<br />
The "longest night" aspect, of course, is an astronomical phenomenon rooted in minutes, not hours.<br />
<br />
But that's not what kids hear.<br />
<br />
So here we are, 23 days past the Winter Solstice and while it's still mostly dark out, the commute home from the office isn't quite as depressing anymore. I take heart in the fact that from this point forward, nightfall stays away a tad longer, day by day.<br />
<br />
But it's still dark a lot.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://www.shafferfineart.com/December_Nightfall.jpg" /><br />
<b>This photo was likely taken at 1:00 in the afternoon during a Michigan winter</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
I like December 21 in the same vein that I dread June 21, the Summer Solstice.<br />
<br />
Because after June 21, the days start to get shorter.<br />
<br />
I love it that in the summer, the clock will read 9:25 p.m. and you could still mow the lawn if you want. There's that much sunlight still available.<br />
<br />
But after June 21, sunset creeps closer and closer. It's like a slow water torture.<br />
<br />
By August, 8:00 becomes the point where you need flashlights outside. A couple months later, with the leaves on the ground and with more chill in the air, sunlight becomes a precious commodity.<br />
<br />
Then we start the whole depressing winter thing all over again.<br />
<br />
This blog post may seem like an exercise in futility, because no amount of complaining in the world is going to change the Earth's axis. We can't rally and join hands to make our winter days filled with more sunshine.<br />
<br />
But I write this because today it hit me---I made it home after work with a sliver of sunshine left in the sky. It was gone a few minutes later, but this is improvement.<br />
<br />
Plus, in Michigan, the longer the days get in the winter, the more we get to see all the snow that needs to be shoveled.<br />
<br />
Give and take, you see.Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-28024518043648707482014-12-24T19:06:00.002-05:002014-12-24T19:06:34.694-05:00(Not) Getting CardedSo how many Christmas cards did you get this year?<br />
<br />
Are they adorning the wall? Do you have so many that they outline the closet door frame? Or are they stuffed in a holder on the coffee table, bursting?<br />
<br />
No?<br />
<br />
Not at our house, either.<br />
<br />
The Christmas card is a dinosaur---like drive-in movies and transistor radios.<br />
<br />
Nobody sends Christmas cards anymore. It's another example of how Americans today just don't like to slap a stamp on anything and ship it via the United States Postal Service.<br />
<br />
Sending Christmas cards was a feeling of accomplishment but not of gratification. I mean, you were never there to see the recipient open yours.<br />
<br />
But <i>getting </i>Christmas cards? Now that was some fun.<br />
<br />
They would start to come, slowly at first, usually the week after Thanksgiving. Those cards were sent by the early bird folks.<br />
<br />
But as the month of December moved along, the Christmas cards moved along with it, filling the mailbox more voluminously as the days ticked down toward December 25.<br />
<br />
You almost had a mental checklist of from whom to expect cards, and crossing them off as you received them. It was fun to see the different styles, the cozy illustrations and the heartwarming words inside.<br />
<br />
Everyday, it seemed, you got at least one card in the mail during December.<br />
<br />
<img src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/b3/d0/0f/b3d00f2131cfbfef4f5e9eee0a1fe4da.jpg" /><br />
<b>This is <i>not </i>a sign of the times anymore</b><br />
<br />
The envelopes usually gave them away: red, of course, and also by shape and size. The electric bill never came in an envelope the size of a good, old fashioned Christmas card.<br />
<br />
About 10 years ago, the cards didn't come with the same frequency as in years gone by. It got to the point where the propped open cards could fit on the coffee table without much trouble.<br />
<br />
Today, you're lucky if you get ten cards, total. I think we've received about that many, though we sent out far more than that.<br />
<br />
However, even our sending has decreased, mainly due to attrition, i.e. people passing away.<br />
<br />
That's the thing, right there: the older folks are much more likely to send holiday cards than the second generation of Baby Boomers (those born in the mid-to-late 1960s and beyond). And the older folks are dying off.<br />
<br />
The thing now, of course, in the digital age, is to send an "e-card," which is basically an online link that takes the recipient to an animated feature, about 30-45 seconds in length. They're cute and all, but it's not the same.<br />
<br />
I can't tape e-cards around my door frame, can I?<br />
<br />
It's a losing battle, I know. Christmas card sending isn't coming back. Soon we won't receive any at all.<br />
<br />
It's sad, but what are you going to do?Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-21579039542153058082014-12-11T21:27:00.001-05:002014-12-11T21:32:22.548-05:00A True Miss AmericaToday's Miss Americas serve their term and then they're never heard from again. Or so it seems.<br />
<br />
There's no prerequisite, of course, that the winner of arguably the most famous beauty contest of all time needs to stay in the limelight when she hands the crown over to her successor.<br />
<br />
But there was a time when Miss America was often the springboard to bigger and better (or, at least, more profitable) things.<br />
<br />
Mary Ann Mobley was one of those Miss Americas who stuck around in our consciousness long after she sashayed down the runway.<br />
<br />
Mobley, 77, <b><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/10/showbiz/mary-ann-mobley-death/index.html?iid=article_sidebar" target="_blank">passed away the other day after a battle with breast cancer</a></b>.<br />
<br />
She was the first Mississippian to win the legendary contest, and she parlayed that distinction into a pretty decent stage and film career as an actress.<br />
<br />
Like so many other women of her era, Mobley was able to star opposite Elvis Presley on screen, and like her brethren, she out-acted him.<br />
<br />
Mobley had a smile that went from ear-to-ear and her dark beauty was a stark contrast to the blond, lighter handsomeness of Gary Collins, an actor and game show host (and fellow Mississippian) who she married in 1967.<br />
<br />
Mobley captured the Miss America crown in 1959 and six years later she was a winner again---this time with a New Star of the Year Golden Globe.<br />
<br />
But despite all her credits on stage and screen (big and small), it was in charitable causes where Mary Ann Mobley was a true Miss America.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://trialx.com/curetalk/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2011/03/gcelebrities/Mary_Ann_Mobley%C2%A0-3.jpg" target="_blank" /><br />
<br />
She served on several councils and contributed to many charities and her work was exemplified by the naming of a pediatric wing after her, at a hospital in her hometown of Brandon, Mississippi.<br />
<br />
Mobley and Collins formed one of television's most well-known couples, particularly in the 1980s. For many years they were both in our living rooms in some way, shape or fashion, with Mobley doing turns on shows like "Falcon's Crest" and Collins chatting up folks on talk shows and helping them win money on game shows.<br />
<br />
Mobley was the first woman to be inducted into the University of Mississippi Hall of Fame.<br />
<br />
But Mobley's sweet-as-pie good looks and her Mississippian, southern belle demeanor shouldn't have fooled you, because she was also a very competent filmmaker.<br />
<br />
You heard me.<br />
<br />
For years, Mobley documented the "young victims of war and starvation in places like Cambodia, Ethiopia, Somalia and the Sudan," according to a release from Warner Brothers.<br />
<br />
That probably doesn't sound like the Mary Ann Mobley with whom you're familiar.<br />
<br />
The Chairman of Miss America, Sam Haskell, sang Mobley's praises after word of her death reached him.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"She challenged me, she loved me, and she made me laugh! I shall miss her!"</span></span><br />
<br />
Mobley once spoke of her ever active life, when she was knee-deep in acting, fundraisers and volunteer work.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #101010; font-family: inherit; line-height: 37px;">I'm home about two days a month, and on those I have to pack."</span><br />
<br />Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-25266146483259084732014-12-04T22:59:00.000-05:002014-12-04T22:59:17.264-05:00Alco-HaulMy bar-hopping days are long gone, so maybe I know not of what I type.<br />
<br />
So call me naive, but do we need bars to be open until 4 a.m.?<br />
<br />
A hurried-through bill by the Michigan State Legislature <b><a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/michigan/2014/12/04/michigan-bars-late-open/19910167/" target="_blank">would allow some bars to stay open until 4 in the morning on weekends.</a></b><br />
<br />
According to the bill's sponsors, it's a matter of competition.<br />
<br />
Senator Virgil Smith (D-Detroit), the bill's sponsor, says the measure is needed so Detroit can compete with other big cities, like New York.<br />
<br />
Come again?<br />
<br />
We are going after the lush crowd? Tourists will decide their destination based on bars being open further into the wee hours?<br />
<br />
Another legislator said that the bill merely gives businesses that serve alcohol the option to stay open later.<br />
<br />
"Who are we to tell bars how late they can stay open?" was the quote.<br />
<br />
OK.<br />
<br />
That seems to be a shocking display of being short-sighted. I mean, we <i>are </i>talking about alcohol consumption here. There figures to be some degree of consequence to this bill, one would think.<br />
<br />
As you would imagine, the law enforcement folks aren't crazy about this, for multiple reasons. One is that the 4 a.m. thing just happens to coincide with when police staffing is thin. Another is that those stumbling out of bars and taking to the roads will now start to overlap with the people who leave early for work.<br />
<br />
Ah, but there is a financial component to the bill. Money talks, as you know. Usually.<br />
<br />
The bill lets bars and restaurants that pay a $10,000 annual fee sell alcoholic drinks until 4 a.m. Eighty-five percent of the money would go to local police, 10 percent to the state Liquor Control Commission and 5 percent to the communities where the permit is issued.<br />
<br />
But even though the police are the beneficiaries of the extra cash, they are down on the bill.<br />
<br />
What does that tell you?<br />
<br />
Why stop at 4 a.m., by the way?<br />
<br />
Some bars open as early as 7 a.m., which is a whole other blog post. So those establishments could close at at four and re-open three hours later. Seems kind of silly.<br />
<br />
The bill passed in the Senate, 22-14. It now moves to the House.<br />
<br />
Supporters like Smith say that the extended hours would help put illegal "blind pigs," which are open past 2 a.m., out of business.<br />
<br />
Not so sure about that. Seems to me that blind pig patrons will stay blind pig patrons, for the most part.<br />
<br />
Nico Gatzaros, whose family owns Fishbones and the London Chop House, lauds the bill because it will help certain businesses, like taxis.<br />
<br />
That reasoning should be filed under the "if you don't laugh, you'll cry" category.<br />
<br />
In other words, with this bill, we hope the taxi business booms, driving home the soused.<br />
<br />
Nothing from Gatzaros about how he proposes to get the drunks to call a taxi to begin with. Gobs of alcohol isn't exactly a precursor to common sense and wise decisions.<br />
<br />
But hey, who is the state to tell bars how late they can serve booze?<br />
<br />
It's not like it's a public safety issue or anything.Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-67864867406465697872014-11-20T20:26:00.002-05:002014-11-20T20:47:14.339-05:00Cos and EffectIn 1984, Bill Cosby helped save an entire television network.<br />
<br />
Thirty years later, he's toxic to an entire industry.<br />
<br />
It was in '84 when NBC, lagging far behind brethren CBS and ABC in ratings to the point of being a national joke, brought in Cosby and built a sitcom around him.<br />
<br />
Cosby was 46 years old and though he'd been canceled in the past with other television vehicles, his star power on TV was still heavy. Viewers still had "Fat Albert" and Jell-O commercials fresh on their minds.<br />
<br />
The sitcom idea was novel. NBC decided to cast Cosby and his TV family as well-to-do African-Americans living in a tony brownstone in upper Manhattan. This was no "Good Times" scenario.<br />
<br />
The presentation on TV of blacks living a life that wasn't in poverty wasn't new (witness "The Jeffersons"), but Cosby was a doctor and his wife was a lawyer. With all due respect to dry cleaner moguls, this was different. Plus, Cliff and Clair Huxtable had kids---lots of kids. George and "Weesie" Jefferson's TV lives were pretty much presented sans children, even though they had a son, Lionel---but he wasn't emphasized.<br />
<br />
So here came Bill Cosby to save NBC in the fall of 1984.<br />
<br />
It worked.<br />
<br />
"The Cosby Show" ran for eight seasons (1984-92) and was a phenomenal hit for NBC. The case could be made that Cosby did, indeed, save the network at a time when it was floundering.<br />
<br />
I grew up with Bill Cosby, as did tens of millions of Americans. I am old enough to remember his "Bill Cosby Show" of 1969-71, when he was high school gym teacher Chet Kincaid.<br />
<br />
I owned a couple of his comedy albums. I saw him perform live at Pine Knob in 1985. I must have watched his video special, "Bill Cosby: Himself" at least a dozen times. I liked that he was into sports, as well as having played football at Temple University.<br />
<br />
I have history with Bill Cosby.<br />
<br />
It would have seemed unfathomable to me as I grew up with Cosby's comedy, to think that one day he would be toxic.<br />
<br />
But he is.<br />
<br />
As accusations swirl that Cosby drugged women to have sex with them, dating back to the 1960s, no one on TV wants to have anything to do with him.<br />
<br />
A potential new sitcom featuring Cosby, to be aired on NBC, has been scrapped.<br />
<br />
TV Land has pulled reruns of "The Cosby Show" indefinitely.<br />
<br />
Think about that last one for a moment. TV Land doesn't even want Cosby's likeness on its airwaves from a show produced 30 years ago.<br />
<br />
This is O.J. Simpson-like toxicity.<br />
<br />
Precious few in the entertainment business have come to Cosby's defense. He and his camp have been mostly silent as one woman after the other comes forward with a "Cosby drugged me and sexually assaulted me" story.<br />
<br />
In America you are innocent until proven guilty.<br />
<br />
That's in the courtroom. In the court of public opinion, it works the opposite.<br />
<br />
Right now it seems that too many women with nothing to gain, really, from fabrication, are coming forward for at least some of this disgusting behavior to not be true.<br />
<br />
There often isn't a "smoking gun" when it comes to sexual assault allegations, particularly when the alleged incidents happened many years and even decades ago. It's classic "he said/she said" stuff, except that in this case, it's pretty much all "she said."<br />
<br />
Cosby's radio silence is ear piercing.<br />
<br />
All we've gotten from the Cosby people is that they're not going to dignify these allegations with a reply.<br />
<br />
That may be good enough if it was just one woman calling Cosby out. But there seems to be a whole cadre of women allegedly victimized by Cosby. The sheer number of women coming forward makes it no longer acceptable to just roll your eyes and shake your head, if you're the Cosby camp.<br />
<br />
Could there be one crackpot looking for a buck or her 15 minutes? Possibly. But do you really think there is a growing faction of crackpots? Or is it a growing faction of victimized women feeling empowered now that the first domino has been tipped?<br />
<br />
The answer is probably the latter.<br />
<br />
Personally, I feel victimized as well---though not at all to the extent of the women that Cosby allegedly sexually assaulted.<br />
<br />
I'm in that other boat of victims---the fans who, like me, have fond memories of Bill Cosby's comedy attached to our childhood hips.<br />
<br />
I don't know about you, but I certainly can't look at Cosby the same way again. How can you?<br />
<br />
Now, you can stick to your legal guns and urge everyone to wait until the courts have at this brouhaha before we render judgment.<br />
<br />
Fine.<br />
<br />
You would, technically, be on the right side of the argument if you took that tack.<br />
<br />
But emotions and memories and gut feelings don't ride technicalities.<br />
<br />
I am sure that many of us have tried and convicted Bill Cosby in our minds. That's our prerogative, frankly. We are all entitled to our opinions.<br />
<br />
The challenge now is to put aside our personal disappointment in Cosby, should these allegations prove to be true, and focus our empathy on the women he may have victimized.<br />
<br />
If Cosby is proven to have drugged and sexually assaulted even one woman, it's Olly olly oxen free. All bets are off and his image should be sullied forever.<br />
<br />
If Cosby did these despicable things, we've all been victimized. We've all been made fools of, for decades. We would have fallen in love with a fraud and a sexual predator.<br />
<br />
But we still would not have suffered as his alleged victims have, for lo these many years.<br />
<br />
Let's not forget that.Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-62793550934814852572014-11-04T21:54:00.001-05:002014-11-04T21:54:25.441-05:00Keep on Truckin'Why does the ice cream man have the market cornered on driving trucks around the neighborhood, selling his wares?<br />
<br />
Think about his clientele---six-year-olds, who aren't exactly loaded. How much disposable income does a first grader have?<br />
<br />
This may seem like a strange time to bring this up, because we're hardly in ice cream truck season, but I say this is the perfect time to discuss this.<br />
<br />
With ice cream no longer a viable purchase option at your curb, why not consider other items that a grown up would run out of his/her house to snatch up?<br />
<br />
Liquor, for one.<br />
<br />
Can you imagine if there was a liquor truck that cruised the neighborhoods? The driver would make a mint. Adults would be lined up down the street as far as the eye could see.<br />
<br />
The possibilities are endless.<br />
<br />
How nice would it be if you could purchase an apple pie from a truck in front of your home? Or a dozen doughnuts?<br />
<br />
The items for sale wouldn't have to be limited to food stuffs.<br />
<br />
I'd have killed at times to be able to buy batteries off a truck. I would have been forever grateful if a Tylenol truck drove by, ringing its bell.<br />
<br />
I wonder why ice cream became the item of choice when it came to retail trucks rolling down a neighborhood street.<br />
<br />
The ice cream truck was one of the few American creations that never really spawned any offshoots.<br />
<br />
Despite the popularity of selling ice cream from a truck, catering to grade school kids who don't have any money, no entrepreneur ever considered marketing toward adults (who actually have cash) with items that don't even need to be frozen.<br />
<br />
I think an enterprising person could make a killing driving around residential areas the day before Valentines Day, selling greeting cards, chocolate and flowers. Or even a birthday card truck, because birthdays happen every day, and every day people forget to buy a card.<br />
<br />
Following behind could be a postage stamp truck.<br />
<br />Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-73850733311357499552014-10-16T21:44:00.001-04:002014-10-16T21:44:40.787-04:00Wing Cha-Ching!It takes about 15 seconds to eat one, from start to finish. They cost about 79 cents a pound, raw at the supermarket. They are made up of bone more than meat.<br />
<br />
So why are chicken wings at the restaurant so expensive?<br />
<br />
I like a chicken wing as much as the next person. You can do a lot with a chicken wing, in terms of preparation. Chicken wings play nice with the various sauces and batter that coat them.<br />
<br />
That's all fine and dandy, but does that equate to $9.99 for a dozen?<br />
<br />
I use $9.99 as an arbitrary price, but that's in the ballpark.<br />
<br />
I think we're being gouged on chicken wings.<br />
<br />
The easy answer, of course, as to why the markup is so high, is that we consumers are willing to pay it.<br />
<br />
Let's face it. Properly cooked chicken wings are a sight to behold.<br />
<br />
They are slathered with sauce, which envelopes the crunchy skin, which is deep fried and/or baked deftly, so the meat inside stays tender and moist.<br />
<br />
But when not done right, the chicken wing can be slimy, gummy and thoroughly unappetizing.<br />
<br />
In either case, you can expect to pay about $9.99 a dozen.<br />
<br />
I have no idea why we think that chicken wings are worth the price, but we pay it.<br />
<br />
Heck, there's even entire restaurant chains that devote themselves to the chicken wing.<br />
<br />
Buffalo Wild Wings (or B-Dubs, as the cool people say) comes to mind, as it did when a co-worker asked me last week if I wanted to go out to lunch.<br />
<br />
We ate at a burger joint, but on the walk back to the office, a B-Dubs loomed.<br />
<br />
"Do you like Buffalo Wild Wings?" I was asked.<br />
<br />
That's when I launched into my chicken wing rant, to which you are now being exposed.<br />
<br />
As far as B-Dubs goes, the family and I ate there a few years ago and I was underwhelmed. Again, the prices got to me---but frankly, I didn't think the wings were all that.<br />
<br />
B-Dubs boasts that it offers lots of different flavors of wings, which is true. There are lots.<br />
<br />
But they're still chicken wings, and they still take just 15 seconds each to consume. And they're still more bone than meat.<br />
<br />
Let's face it: have you ever looked at the wing of any bird and licked your lips because they look so meaty?<br />
<br />
Even a large Thanksgiving turkey doesn't have a wing that has enough meat to impress, much less a dinky chicken.<br />
<br />
Yet restaurants boldly price their wings at obscene markup and we devour them by the basket-full.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7fhlro7mJ1qb1rzvo1_500.jpg" target="_blank" /><br />
<br />
OK, so they offer some celery sticks and blue cheese on the side. Whoop-de-doo.<br />
<br />
We actually like to cook our own chicken wings at home, though it is some work to do it right. But we can also buy a huge bag of the frozen things at a dirt cheap price, relatively speaking.<br />
<br />
Hint: most butchers will chop your wings up for you, for free, while you wait. That way, you can take them home in the same sizes and shapes as the ones you pay $9.99 for at the restaurant.<br />
<br />
Some restaurateur hit the jackpot when he or she discovered that the cheap wing of a chicken could be baked, deep-fried and slathered with sauce and sold at a 500 percent markup. And that's as an <i>appetizer.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Let's see. At $9.99 a dozen, and with chicken wings taking 15 seconds each to eat, that equates to three minutes' worth of eating time per dozen.<br />
<br />
That means restaurants are charging us the equivalent of $200 an hour to enjoy their chicken wings! And we have to use our hands to eat them; we don't even get to use silverware.<br />
<br />
At $200 an hour, what are chicken wings? The lawyers of food items?<br />
<br />
Not to mention all the dry cleaning bills, thanks to the messy fingers and sauce dripping all over the place.<br />
<br />
We're getting rooked but what else is new, right?Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-80226829124828394372014-09-30T16:00:00.000-04:002014-10-02T13:41:13.358-04:00Smile! (Or not)Allen Funt created television's <i>Candid Camera</i>. But he was not the star.<br />
<br />
If Funt were alive today, he would concur.<br />
<br />
Funt, who took the idea of a roving microphone capturing unguarded moments from the days of radio and turned it into a TV phenomenon, also never liked the notion that his show made fools out of unsuspecting people.<br />
<br />
Funt preferred to think that <i>Candid Camera </i>was more of a series of case studies on human behavior, rather than a gag-filled half-hour.<br />
<br />
Regardless, the star wasn't Funt, though he hosted the in-studio segments and often appeared during the hidden camera "case studies."<br />
<br />
The stars of <i>Candid Camera </i>were always the people---the folks whose behavior was being chronicled in a very unfiltered and unscripted way.<br />
<br />
Therefore, the laughs that resulted were always from the audience's glee at the reactions of the unwitting, caught by Funt's hidden camera.<br />
<br />
But that was then.<br />
<br />
TV Land has trotted out a new version of <i>Candid Camera, </i>hosted by Funt's son, Peter, and actor Mayim Bialik.<br />
<br />
As in Allen Funt's original version, the hosts in the studio don't matter. Not that the younger Funt and Bialik do a poor job (they don't), but they aren't the stars.<br />
<br />
The new version, however, falls flat.<br />
<br />
It's not the fault of Funt and Bialik. It's the fault of the people. And that's not even fair, really.<br />
<br />
The charm of the original <i>Candid Camera </i>was not only watching normal people in abnormal situations, it was in the reveal---that moment when Funt, et al would finally let the unsuspecting in on the joke.<br />
<br />
"You're on Candid Camera!"<br />
<br />
But back in the original show's days, there <i>weren't </i>cameras all over the place. There weren't cell phones and tablets and the like, all equipped with cameras that could be whipped out at a moment's notice, ready to capture just about anything the possessor wished to capture, newsworthy or not.<br />
<br />
Today, people aren't stunned or shocked by the presence of a camera, even if they didn't know one was trained on them for a case study.<br />
<br />
So the reaction to the reveal in the new version is, well, muted.<br />
<br />
And a muted reaction isn't very entertaining to the TV viewers.<br />
<br />
Now, that might not be so bad if the situations the people are placed in made up for the less-than-spectacular reveal reactions.<br />
<br />
But they don't.<br />
<br />
<i>Candid Camera </i>debuted in 1948 and there have been a few relaunches along the way. So we're talking 66 years, essentially, of the show's existence. That's a long time and it's hard to come up with fresh new stuff.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yLb8dOKqxYE/0.jpg" target="_blank" /><br />
<b>Allen Funt, back when this notion still had the power to amaze</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
But again, the society in which we live makes it awfully difficult for us to be flabbergasted anymore by what we see going on in front of our eyes.<br />
<br />
Whether it's a soap dispenser at a market that doesn't stop dispensing or a retail outlet that charges a $10 fee to shop <i>in </i>the store as opposed to online (both used in the new version), does anything really surprise us anymore?<br />
<br />
The charm of <i>Candid Camera </i>was rooted in two certainties that existed decades ago that simply don't anymore---a much more impressionable public and a genuine amazement that a hidden camera could be set up. The people were video virgins, so to speak.<br />
<br />
Today's society is far less impressionable and there are cameras <i>everywhere </i>anymore. In fact, it seems like we are all on camera more than we aren't, when you add security cameras and the like into the mix.<br />
<br />
I think it would be more of a surprise if the revealing person shouted, "You're NOT on camera now!"<br />
<br />
Still, I give TV Land credit for trying to appeal to those of us who remember when an evening with Allen Funt and company was truly a special event. The situations were comical, the reactions were priceless and the reveals were the cherry on top.<br />
<br />
However---and it's not TV Land's fault---today's society is just so damned hard to amaze and impress. And we are certainly not aghast at the notion of a camera lens shooting us through a hole in a wall.<br />
<br />
The result is that watching the new <i>Candid Camera </i>is like dusting off an old Jack-in-the-Box and failing to be stunned by the clown popping out---while being wistful of the days when it did.<br />
<br />
*********************************************<br />
<i><b>Editor's note:</b> The following e-mail arrived from none other than Peter Funt himself, who saw this post, on October 1, 2014:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Funny thing about the "original." There's no bigger fan of my Dad's work than me, and I never suggest that my stuff is as good as his was at his prime. However, I find that our memories have a way of distorting and condensing and selecting from the past. I think what you and some other viewers are, in effect, saying is: When I recall the handful of fabulous reveals that Allen got over decades – perhaps seen in highlights or "best of" packages – they're better than what Peter gets week in and week out. How true! </div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
It's hard to compete with a legend. Fortunately that's not my objective. Good luck with your site.</div>
Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9153678603764276714.post-88413031192735555012014-09-17T20:00:00.000-04:002014-09-17T20:00:02.341-04:00Getting Festive, PC or NotI wonder if you could get away with calling them "Ethnic Festivals" these days.<br />
<br />
I've kind of lost track of political correctness. I don't know what is acceptable terminology anymore.<br />
<br />
But what I do know is that, as a high schooler and into my college years, my buddies and I would descend on Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit and partake in "ethnic" food, people watch, and maybe have a nip or two.<br />
<br />
Yes, it was before we were of legal drinking age. Amazing how enterprising teenagers can be.<br />
<br />
Anyhow, they called them Ethnic Festivals and they would rotate throughout the summer, on the weekends.<br />
<br />
You know---Greek, Italian, Arab-American, etc.<br />
<br />
The Plaza would be host to live music, vendor stands/kiosks and underneath, in the below-ground portion of the Plaza, were loads of food nooks. Imagine an underground food court, like they have at the malls.<br />
<br />
All you needed to do to find the food vendors below was to follow your nose. The food was yummy. There was also a marvelous view of Windsor, including the iconic Canadian Club sign east of the Plaza, with its gargantuan, lighted-up letters.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
But what I remember most was the people watching.<br />
<br />
For whatever reason, the Festivals used to attract some of the most bizarre people that Detroit had to offer.<br />
<br />
My friends and I would call these folks "characters" and to be approached by them---which happened more often than you might think---was to be "characterized."<br />
<br />
They were mostly street bums---probably homeless. But there were also individuals who were just plain eccentric and strange looking, wandering around aimlessly. Sometimes they would stop us and ask for money or booze or just start talking gibberish.<br />
<br />
We likely did some of that aimless wandering around too, come to think of it. Maybe even the gibberish, depending on what time of night you're talking.<br />
<br />
But it was a fine way for teenage boys to spend a summer's evening. We didn't go there looking for girls, per se, but if there was ever communication with the fairer sex, it certainly wasn't dismissed out of hand.<br />
<br />
Because, as I recall, there were lots of cutie pies flitting around the Plaza during those festivals as well.<br />
<br />
I think about those Festivals now and again, because working downtown now as I do, I have the occasion to drive by Hart Plaza from time to time.<br />
<br />
I know that the Plaza is still home to festivals and celebrations and the like---including the occasional protest---but I don't think they're called "Ethnic Festivals" anymore. In fact, I don't even think they have weekly events such as the ones I am recalling, anymore.<br />
<br />
The newspapers, in their Friday entertainment sections, would list what the Festival was that particular weekend at Hart Plaza. Not that it mattered to us; we pretty much went down there no matter what nationality was being represented.<br />
<br />
Ethnic Festivals---politically correct terminology or not, they were a part of my youth.<br />
<br />
They had their time, which is all you can really ask I suppose.Greg Enohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08884412028028351344noreply@blogger.com0