Rant #2,516: I Want You Back, Venus, as Raindrops (Keep Fallin' On My Head) with a Whole Lotta Love

As things try to get back to normal after this week's tragedy, since it is the last Friday of the month, it is time to look back 50 years ago, to this very week in 1970s, for music that was soothing our soul way back when.

We were at war, hippies' ways were clashing with common values, and I was preparing for my bar mitzvah, just a few short months away.

It was an interesting period in our history, and the music we were listening to reflected that moment in time--and out entrance into a new decade, the 1970s.

So here is Billboard's Top 10 list of the most popular songs of the week of January 31, 1970:

Peter, Paul and Mary had their final big hit of their careers, "Leaving On a Jet Plane," which came in at No. 10 this week. The song also introduced us to the talents of songwriter John Denver, who would soon have his own bushel of big hits during the decade.

Diana Ross and the Supremes went out with a blaze of glory with "Someday We'll Be Together," which this week came in at No. 9. Ironically, Diana Ross is the only Supreme on the record, with another female group backing her up--not Mary Wilson, and not Cindy Birdsong.

Sly and the Family Stone was still turning the music world on its ear with "Thank You (Faletitnme Be Mice Elf Again/Everybody Is a Star," which came in at No. 8 this week on its eventual run to the top spot a few weeks later. This was one of the bevy of two-sided hits that came about around this time period.

"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" was just one more of the numerous hits from Dionne Warwick, this week No. 7 song. The song was written, of course, by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who used Warwick as their muse on a multitude of top songs.

One of Elvis Presley's final big hits was the two-sided "Don't Cry Daddy/Rubberneckin'," which came up at No. 6 this week. The song was written by Mac Davis, who would have his own list of hits and became quite ubiquitous not only on the music charts, but on television and in the movies during this decade.

Tom Jones continued his hit string with "Without Love (There Is Nothing), which came in at No. 5 this week. Propelled by his weekly TV show, Jones cemented himself as one of the top pop performers around during the late 1960s and into the 1970s.

Led Zeppelin was not known for their singles, but even this album/FM radio act could break through to the other side. "Whole Lotta Love" did just that, and this week was at No. 4 on the chart. They had become such a big act that even the AM radio format had to acknowledge it, and this was one of their few singles not only released, but making the top echelon of the singles charts.

B.J. Thomas had probably the biggest hit of his very long career with "Raindrops (Keep Fallin' On My Head)," featured in the popular film, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," which hit the No. 3 spot on this week's chart. Thomas continued to have pop and country hits well into the 1980s.

Acts from lands other than the U.S. and England often have hits in America, and one of the biggest worldwide smashes of all time was "Venus" by the Dutch group the Shocking Blue. The future No. 1 record had an interesting lead vocal by the visually sultry Mariska Veres, whose androgynous vocal has baffled audiences to this day.

And the No. 1 song on the chart for this week, 50 years ago was--

"I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5. One of the greatest songs ever to come out of the Motown stable, the song, propelled by lead singer Michael Jackson's straight-on vocals, has been covered by many, but never, ever duplicated. This was the only week it spent at No. 1, but it is one of those songs that is etched in our minds forever.

The highest debut record for the week was another two-sided single, "Travelin' Band/Who'll Stop the Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song came in this week at No. 50, and would eventually get as high as No. 2 on the chart by the end of the month. CCR never had a No. 1 hit single in the U.S., but this one probably came the closest to topping the chart of all the singles that they put out in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The biggest mover on the chart, the song that jumped the most places last week to this week, was Brook Benton's "Rainy Night In Georgia," which was No. 34 this seek after being at No. 63 the previous week. The song, one of the biggest hits of the veteran crooner's career, eventually rose as high as No. 4 in a few weeks' time.

So that's it, the top 10 singles for this week 50 years ago.

I think we can all agree that there was no filler on the chart this week, once classic after another, and songs that we continue to hear in all forms of media today.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.

Classic Rant #1,184 (April 11, 2014): Marilyn and Elia

A big "so what" little piece of Hollywood's past has turned up nearly 60 years later, but even though at this point it appears to be no big deal, it still is generating a bit of a buzz.

A letter has turned up from 1955 where famed director Elia Kazan admits to his wife that he had an affair with actress Marilyn Monroe.

It says some other things about the time and place, but really, nobody cares about the other things.

All anyone cares about is Marilyn Monroe.

Monroe was the sex symbol to end all sex symbols.

She was beautiful, had an incredible figure, yes, used plastic surgery to get herself to this perfection, was a better than given credit for actress, and yes, she slept around.

A lot, if you want to believe everything you read.

We know that she did have some psychological problems, and probably soothed most of those with her bed hopping, if, again, you want to believe everything you read.

Not only was she married, at different times, to the likes of Arthur Miller and Joe DiMaggio, but she supposedly had affairs with everyone from the Kennedy brothers to Albert Einstein.

Heck, I am surprised my father never had an affair with her, and the same is true for my grandfathers. She supposedly slept with every man alive in the mid 1950s.

Heck, if I was of age, she would have slept with me, too.

Now Kazan comes into the picture. I guess you have to believe this stuff, because why would he confess to his wife if he didn't sleep with her?

But you know, at this point in time, does it really matter?

Monroe has been dead for more than 50 years. Even her death is shrouded in mystery.

Why can't we just let things be, and why do we constantly have to drag her memory through the mud like we do?

I think it has a lot to do with her mystique and the way we judge women, at least during that period in time.

She remains a larger than life figure, a person who is even more popular in death than she was in life.

There were a lot of pretenders to her throne, but nobody has succeeded her.

There are beautiful women in Hollywood, but has any one of them become the sex symbol that Monroe was?

Also, even to this day, men are the ones to sleep around, in particular, Hollywood men.

Heck, if Monroe slept with every man who was alive at that time, then Frank Sinatra probably slept with every women.

Women are not supposed to be having affairs on a regular basis like men are, in particular married women, but as we know, that isn't true.

But Monroe typified a more innocent time, when men were men and women were, well, perfect ladies, not thinking of doing such things.

Well, Monroe slept around, so she went directly against the stereotype.

Why she slept around is the saddest thing about these things that come up from time to time, and yes, the men probably did take advantage of her extremely vulnerable state.

But I just find it amazing that all these years later, people actually care about this part of her life, and heck, I guess I care, because I am writing about it today.

Monroe will always live on as the penultimate sex symbol, but we sully her short life by making her the symbol of sex.

Speak to you again on Monday.

Rant #2,515: Enough Is Enough Is Enough

This might be the final column where I look at the collective anxiety supposedly a good part of the population is feeling related to the horrid death of basketball great Kobe Bryant.

I think that I, personally, have reached the saturation point regarding the mourning, and while the shiva period is not yet over, I think we need to get our heads together, as a society, and try to move on from this.

In today's newspaper, just to further the collective angst we are all supposedly feeling about this tragedy, one of the sports columnists spoke to an usher at one the arenas that houses an NBA team. The usher, like the rest of the world, seemingly cannot cope with this loss.

Working the game last night between two NBA teams, the usher wore a picture of Bryant on his work uniform. He told the reporter--the arena he works for prohibits ushers from speaking to the press, so his name was not used, although after this little interview, the usher will certainly be outed--that when he came to the U.S. from a foreign land many years ago with his father, the first thing they did when arriving in America was to turn on the TV. It just so happened that an NBA game was on, and the first person that he saw on the screen was Bryant. He became a Kobe Bryant fan for life, because he felt he had a "friend" in his new country.

It is nice to think that, and the usher has a right to believe what he wants to believe, as does everyone.

I also have a right to believe that we have bottomed out on all of this, and we not only need to move on from it, but we MUST move on from it.

I really wonder if, God forbid, if a president died in such a horrid way, if we would be in such a morose state days afterward, if that person would be so honored as Bryant has been, if people would not be able to go on with life as so many have been unable to since this horrible accident occurred on Sunday morning.

And yes, the deification movement is still in place, and at this point, you have your opinion, I have mine, and each side should respect that opposing opinion, so please respect mine.

I think we go overboard with our athletes because they do things that most of us could never even dream of doing, even in our youth.

They can slam a ball, hit one out of the park, or throw a ball for 50 years with ease. Most of us can't do that, have never been able to do that, and we marvel at the ease that they use in doing these things.

It also takes us away from our own lives, at least for a few hours, when we watch them do these incredible things.

And when such unfortunate things happen as befell Bryant, it throws us into a sense of panic. If these "superhumans" can burn so brightly and then be dimmed so quickly, what does that say about the average Joe, like the ushers of the world as I described earlier? What is their impact on the world, certainly when compared to an internationally known athlete? If such a remarkable person can go so quickly, what about us?

People have gone way overboard with this, just as they did with Princess Diana and Robin Williams and countless other celebrities who have had their lives snuffed out needlessly.

I remember as a young kid, having gone through the JFK assassination as a first grader and its aftermath, I was just getting into baseball, and I bought a pack of baseball cards for five cents.

As the bubblegum tumbled out of the pack, right on top was a card for Ken Hubbs, an infielder with the Chicago Cubs.

But the card looked so different than the other cards. It was an "In Memoriam" card, signifying that the Cubs' budding star had passed away. At age 20, in 1962, Hubbs had won the National League's Rookie of the Year award, and he was a budding star for the team, also being the first rookie to win the prestigious Golden Glove Award.

At age 22, he perished when the private plane he was piloting crashed near Provo, Utah, just prior to the 1964 season. This player was pegged to be the "Derek Jeter" of his time, an all-around athlete, good looking to a fault, single and available, and the idol of millions.

But as fate would have it, that never came to fruition during his short life.

I am sure that the outpouring of affection to Hubbs was also as feverish as that of Bryant, but on a much, much smaller level, but the Topps Co. recognized such a loss, and cemented it with this special card.

For this seven year old, I really did not know what to make of it, but it was there, and the memory of Hubbs--more of the card than as a ballplayer--has been in my collective consciousness for years, and every once in a while comes to the forefront of my mind.

It probably did when Thurman Munson perished, and it certainly did when Bryant lost his life this past weekend.

What I am trying to say is that I get it, I get the mourning, I get the pain that is being felt from here to Brisbane and back again for this tremendous, horrid loss.

I cannot make sense of it either.

But to continue to harp on this, as if we lost a god on earth, has reached its saturation point.

It is time to move on, and if the ushers of the world are having a tough time doing that, well, I kind of feel sorry for all of us.

Classic Rant #1,183 (April 10, 2014): It is Only Thursday

This week is dragging, isn't it?

Thursday has always been my least favorite day of the week.

Why, you ask?

Simple.

It is not quite Friday, not quite the end of the week, and at least since I have been working at my present employer--the past 18 years--I still have to wear a tie on Thursday.

We have a relaxed dress code on Friday, so business casual it is, and I never wear a tie on Friday.

I remember that when I first started working at this place in March 1996, nobody told me that we had casual Friday, so the first Friday I worked there, I came in with a tie.

When I found out that it was casual Friday, the tie came right off.

But again, Thursday is not Friday. We are not at the end of the work week yet.

And also on Thursday, I have to shave. I shave three days a week, on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, and any day I have to shave is not the greatest day in my book, at least not Tuesday and Thursday. Sunday I can live with because I am off from work, but the other two days, I shave because I have to go to work, and that doesn't endear the days to me.

I love the song "Friday On My Mind" by the Easybeats, but really, shouldn't it have been "Saturday On My Mind?" If I have Friday on my mind, I still have to work that day, so what makes Friday so special? I realize they are talking about after work time on Friday, but still, it doesn't make sense to me.

Loverboy's "Working For the Weekend" is more in tune with what I am talking about here. I guess we all work for the weekend, when we can recharge our batteries and relax a bit.

Are there even any songs with the word "Thursday" in the title? I can't think of any off hand, but there probably are one or two.

But here we are, it is only Thursday, and right now, approaching 5 a.m. in the morning, I have two work days to go before I can relax a little bit.

What happened to talk of the four-day workweek? That seems to have petered out, although a few years back, it was a hot topic.

But it all goes back to the fact that Thursday is my least liked day of the week ... so near to the weekend, yet so far.

I guess I will just have to work through it.

Let's see, I am 57 at the end of this month, so theoretically, I have just 10 years to go before I retire ...

Hah! That's a joke. I will be "working for the weekend" for the rest of my life.

Rant #2,514: Flying

People continue to talk and grieve about the death of Kobe Bryant and eight others, including his 13 year old daughter, in a helicopter crash during this past weekend.

And yes, as I warned, this was becoming something of a circus, with many people painting the basketball great as a god, and a false one at that, as far as I am concerned.

He was not a god in the true sense of the word. He was a basketball god, yes, but when we put godlike qualities on his shoulders as a person, I do believe we are defaming who that person really was: a human being, a person that was not perfect ... like all of us are.

But the idolatry goes on, and there really isn't much one can do if others choose to deify Bryant. You just have to go with the flow, and accept their ultra-reverence of him, and hopefully, they will understand when you don't jump on the deification bandwagon with them.

This whole incident made me think back on other celebrities who were taken from us way too soon, those whose short time on earth, like Bryant's, was cut short needlessly.

As I said yesterday, we had JFK, we had John Lennon, and we had RFK and Martin Luther King.

We also had Princess Di, and we had Robin Williams, who died at his own hand.

But the more I thought about it, the more I equated Kobe Bryant's way too soon death with the death of another athlete which touched me more personally than this latest tragedy.

On August 2, 1979, we lost Thurman Munson, the New York ¥ankees' All-Star, Most Valuable Player catcher, when his self-piloted plan crashed. The similarities are so similar between the Bryant and Munson incident that I am surprised that so few have brought this up.

Both Bryant and Munson were stars of another magnitude in their chosen sports. Both were far from being choir boys, but had softened and matured with age.

Both felt that family came first, and both had a need to be with their families for as long as possible during their respective playing seasons.

Both decided that using air transportation was the way to do it, and both had reached the point in their professional lives where they could afford such a way of transportation.

Bryant used helicopter transport because it was a quicker way to avoid driving in the Los Angeles area traffic, which takes no prisoners, and doesn't discriminate in your favor because you are a basketball superstar.

Munson decided to learn to become a pilot so he could rely on a relatively safe way of travel during the season on off days, where he could scoot home to Canton, Ohio, and then scoot back to the Bronx.

And both Bryant and Munson died using their transportation of choice; with Munson, it was clearly pilot error and inexperience that led to his death; for Bryant, we will learn in the coming days and months what exactly happened on that fateful flight.

Personally, I remember that when the news came out about Munson, I called my friend Howie, and we spoke for hours on the phone about the fallen Yankees catcher, one of our favorite players.

Look, Munson did not have the same international cache as Bryant did, but back 40 years ago, it really didn't matter. The world was different, and to these two life-long, young Yankees fans, losing Munson was like losing a close uncle or friend.

He was our guy, and to lose him at such a young age--Munson was just 32, and left behind a wife and children--was unconscionable.

I am sure that this is exactly what people are feeling about the loss of Bryant.

But funny, the idolatry that has followed Bryant after his untimely death never followed Munson after his death.

The baseball world was heartbroken about Munson's death, and he was honored as any fallen baseball hero could be honored. But making Munson into a god never surfaced during the mourning period; games went on, players played--if Bobby Murcer was alive today, he could tell you how much Munson's death affected him--but the game, and life, went on.

We live in a different age today, certainly fueled by social media and the Internet. People make their own beds and lie in it, and let the whole world know where they stand. And there appears to be little free space for discussion in that bed; if you are with us, fine, if you are not, you can't even approach my bed.

I think, in time, we will all step back from this latest tragedy, take a deep breath, and move on.

We did it with Munson, and we will do it with Bryant.

I mean, we have to do this, don't we?

And as a basketball fan, knowing Bryant, he probably would have said, "Get on the court and play ball," ...

And that would be the proper way to honor this fallen legend.

Stop the sulking, and do what Kobe did better than just about anybody else.

Classic Rant #1,182 (April 9, 2014): Glad All Over Again

Did you have a chance to watch last night's PBS special on the Dave Clark Five?

If not, "The Dave Clark Five and Beyond--Glad All Over" on the station's "Great Performances" program will be rebroadcast this Friday.

Even though you pretty much only get "Bits and Pieces" of the entire Dave Clark Five story, it is well worth the two hours that is invested in Tottenham, England's gift to the world.

The Dave Clark Five--or the DC5, as they were nicknamed, comprised of Mike Smith, Lenny Davidson, Dennis Payton and Rick Huxley--came in on the coattails of the Beatles' fabulous success in 1964, but they made such a name for themselves that they allowed subsequent British acts, including the Rolling Stones and the Who, to be successful on these shores.

They were a hit singles band, and you can name the songs right off the top of your head--"Glad All Over," "Bits and Pieces," "Can't You See That She's Mine," "Catch Us If You Can," "Any Way You Want It," "You Got What It Takes," and each one of them was singable, approachable, and as much ear candy as "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was.

What made the DC5 stand out from the other groups--including the Beatles--was their look, their style, and the fact that they included keyboards and a sax in their music, which the other bands of the time generally did not.

And that was really the crux of the special. Interviewing everyone from the Sirs--Paul McCartney and Elton John--to Whoopi Goldberg, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Twiggy and Gene Simmons, that is what stood out for each of them. The sound, the style, and the success.

Sure, lots was glossed over with the special, including rumors that Clark used backup drummers even when performing live--most of the talking heads on the show marveled at their stage show, saying that they were a keen live band, better than any of their contemporaries--the rumor that Clark treated his bandmates as paid employees, and that he also stole royalties by putting his name on songs that he didn't write--but generally, the special spoke positively of the DC5's experience as a band.

Heck, with the special written, produced and directed by Dave Clark, did anyone think that he would waste time on all the warts?

Simmons said that in every live band's DNA, there is a piece of the Dave Clark Five, and he is probably right to a certain extent, because they seemed to have been a great live band.

One piece of the puzzle that has been out there for years is finally shown on the special . There is supposedly scant proof existing that the DC5 were a great live band, because supposedly few recordings exist of the band playing live, and what exists is nearly unlistenable.

Well, the special actually includes a couple of live performances, not shown in full, but you can see the power of the band. They also do a nice, quick turn on a song that wasn't theirs--"Georgia"--which shows just how good lead vocalist and songwriter Mike Smith actually was.

The special wasn't all good. Lenny Davidson is the one band member still alive, but he is never interviewed in the present day. Clark does allude to this, saying that Davidson was married, so he wasn't as close to him as he was other members of the band because the marrieds went their way with their wives, while the others went their way scouting out the chicks (nothing is said about Clark's supposed homosexuality, either, but to me, that is all fine and good).

The talking heads talk about the power of their singles, and we hear many of their singles throughout the show, but not a single picture sleeve is shown, only the 1990 singles that were released when Clark had a brief agreement with Hollywood Records to re-release all the DC5 music, which caved in very quickly (no mention is made of this situation).

The American albums are shown, by the way.

After an explanation is given for the band's end--they simply got sick of touring, and had decided that they would call it a day after a few years of being a studio band and targeting Europe with their music--the last half hour is really too Euro-centric, talking about Clark's later life as the owner of the "Ready, Steady, Go" franchise and as a stage show producer--his show was "Time," and it starred a cast of everyone from Sir Laurence Olivier to Dionne Warwick to Julian Lennon to Freddy Mercury--but to American tastes, this is just a big "so what." And nothing is said of Clark's later life to the present, or the lives of his bandmates.

A lot of emphasis is placed on their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--and Tom Hanks' completely over the top speech about them--but that is OK. They deserved the honor, and Hanks is a true fan of the band, so why not include it?

There is a DVD out including the special and another disk with what wasn't shown on the telecast, so I look forward to that too.

Anyway, I would give the show an A for effort and a B+ for execution. Clark is a true businessman, as was pointed out in the special, and a true businessman does not reveal all of his tricks, and Clark certainly didn't here.

But otherwise, if you are interested in pop culture, this is an absolute must to watch when it comes on again.

"I Like It Like That" indeed.

Rant #2,513: Move Along

I have to make a change to what I said yesterday about Kobe Bryant.

Not that the gist of the Rant was incorrect, that being that yes, he was a giant in the game of basketball, but that our collective level of mourning has put him on a pedestal as something of a god in many of our eyes, a position that I don't think he would be very comfortable with.

But I did say that he was acquitted of raping the hotel worker in a spectacular case that riveted us nearly 20 years ago.

That is incorrect.

There was no trial, as the woman refused to testify. She did file a civil suit, and it was settled out of court.

It might have been the only negative mark against Bryant during his entire life, but he had to win back the trust of his wife, which he did, and after that escapade, he didn't seem to ever go on the negative side again.

I also read in the newspaper today that some sportswriters are writing out of their butts with the untimely death of Bryant, saying that in order to fully get this situation, you have to be under 40 years old.

This thinking is that under-40s have never had one of their collective heroes die, and this will be the touchstone for them when others they love and respect die early or just pass away period.

To under 40s, this is like for the Baby Boomers, when our president, John F. Kennedy was assassinated, or to those slightly older, when the Challenger blew up as it ascended off its launch pad.

This is completely faulty thinking, of course, putting a divide between the generations that really does not exist.

I almost liken the death of Bryant to the death of John Lennon, although the two passings are as different as can be, one by an unfortunate accident and the other by the hand of a madman.

Yes, Baby Boomers mourned for our hero when Lennon died, but so did the other generations Even older folks were touched by his musicianship, by his naive nature in the face of international stardom, and certdainly, even "oldsters" knew who John Lennon was and why his death was such a blemish on humanity.

I think the same thing can be said about Bryant's death.

"Oldsters" like me--one columnist today said anyone over 40 cannot clearly "get" the importance and impact of Bryant's passing--do, in fact, get the significance 100 percent, just like many younger people.

This was an athlete who transcended merely the sport he excelled at, and became world famous. Lennon was a musician who transcended merely the music that he excelled at, and became world famous.

But again, however tragic Bryant's--and Lennon's--death was, it simply cannot compare with the magnitude of the deaths of people like John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King or even Bobby Kennedy, each one of whom was senselessly taken away from us by madmen.

That doesn;t minimize the death of Bryant, but it just puts it into perspective, the right perspective, whether you are 14, 24, 34, 44, 54, 64 years of age or older.

The world will miss Bryant--yes, basketball is truly the most global of all sports--but let's stay grounded ourselves and keep his passing within the perspective that it should be looked at in.

Sometimes, we drown in our own sense of pity, and I think that that is what is happening right now.

Classic Rant #1,181 (April 8, 2014): The Job Hunt

My son is now fully involved in his job hunt, and things are not that easy.

I thought it was tough when I was looking for a job when I was a teenager, but it seems to be even more difficult in this environment that we live in.

If I remember correctly, teenage unemployment is between 15 percent and 17 percent. That, of course, is a hard figure to judge, because not every teenager is looking for a job, so I guess they calculate this by those teens who have had a job who are now out of work and are looking.

My son is graduating high school in June, and he won't be going to college, at least not right now, so he needs something he can hang his hat on, so to speak, of a full-time nature.

You might think that that would be a plus, but so far, it isn't.

Companies would prefer to hire part timers, simply because they don't have to pay out the benefits that they do to full timers.

That is a wall he is going to have to climb, and my wife and I are going to do everything we can to help him out.

Since he is considered to have a disability, there are programs that he can participate in that can help him, and we are pursuing those initiatives.

Another problem he has is that in New York State, he will graduate high school with a certificate of completion, and not a diploma.

Don't ask. You can blame whoever you want, but it isn't fair, and this is the first year that Special Ed kids will have to take a certificate home, not a diploma, for their years of study.

Some employers will question kids with this degree, and it is unfair to put these kids under that burden, but this is the way New York State handles these kids now, ghettoizing them into their own unique category.

So he also has that hurdle, and him and other Special Ed kids have been thoroughly prepped about answering questions about their certificate versus a diploma, and that they are equal, not on the GED level.

Anyway, the new world in which we live has thrown another curve into those looking for employment.

It seems that employment is now done almost entirely online.

You have to apply online, answer a variety of questions, send the thing out, and sit there with your hands folded waiting for a reply.

Possible employees don't even want a resume, they just want you to answer questions.

This is so unfair that I cannot believe that this is being done this way, but on the other hand, it is an inevitable byproduct of the high-tech world in which we live.

One on one contact is not preferred anymore, and to me, that is just plain wrong.

How can you get into the nuts and bolts of a potential employee and what he can bring to your company by simply reading answers off a screen?

I don't get it, but my son has to play this game like others do.

Over the weekend, we discovered that a new, small fast food chain will be opening its doors in a few weeks, and my son wanted to apply for a job with them.

But they are so new that really nothing has been set up yet for potential employees.

So I put on my detective cap and found out the parent company of the restaurant. I called them up, and asked them about hiring procedures.

They were nice enough to give me a head's up about when they were going to hire, and my son will pursue this company now that he has some inside information.

Anyway, if anyone out there is looking for a willing and able 18 year old to join your team, and if you are based on Long Island, I have the perfect person for you.

He is bright, responsible, wants to learn, and wants to work.

Please give him a chance. You will not regret it.

Rant #2,512: Heaven Help Us

Yesterday afternoon, during a very lazy afternoon, I was talking to a friend on the phone while I had my bedroom television on.

Prior to speaking to my friend, I went from channel to channel to try to find something to watch, and I couldn't find anything to suit my fancy, so I simply had our local news channel on, my friend called, and we spoke.

Right in the middle of him bringing me up to date on his personal goings on, I had to interrupt him.

"Oh ... I see a breaking news headline that Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash," I said, or something to that effect.

My friend said to me, "Oh God ... and [my partner] is reading the report now ... ."

I have to say that I did like how at least television covered this horrid story, as I immediately turned on the NBA channel and they had their regular programming on, and I went through lots of channels, and they had their regular shows on too.

At that point, the news was unsubstantiated. Within minutes, the tragedy was real. And the programming changed to fit the story.

Bryant and his daughter were among nine people who died when the helicopter they were riding in went down in Calabasas, California. The accident happened at about 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, so it happened at about 10 a,.m. in California.

When the loss of a celebrity like Bryant happens, the world mourns. Yes, I said the world, because Bryant had as much to do with making the NBA an international sport as any other player did.

With all his records and the bravado that went with it, Bryant was almost sort of a throwback player during his time in the NBA. The son of a former player, Bryant took no prisoners when he played, and if you were on the other team, you were his enemy.

He could take over a game like few could, and he was the idol of millions of people, including an entire generation of players who populate the game today. Leaving us at just 41 years of age, Bryant played list last game only a few years ago, so for the 20, 21 and 22 year olds who play in the NBA today, he was their Joe DiMaggio, their Derek Jeter, the guy they looked up to and wanted to be just like.

Whatever the case, Bryant was a human being, and he had human flaws. He was not perfect, and none of us are.

But his flaws came to light several years ago, and they have followed him around to his last moments. In fact, Bryant won an Oscar for a cartoon short he was instrumental in creating, and hundreds of people signed a petition that the Academy should rescind his award for his past indiscretions, indiscretions that were heinous but were largely unfounded.

Here is what I wrote on Facebook yesterday, which some people did not get the gist of, which was this: Bryant was a human being first, a superb basketball player second, and that we often, myself included, put famous people on pedestals that they not only do not belong on, but would be uncomfortable sitting upon:

"Kobe Bryant passed away in a helicopter accident today. He perished along with his 13 year old daughter. What a shame; he was taken away from us way too soon.

I guess it is human nature to deify those famous personalities who leave us, and that is certainly the case with Bryant. People are saying what a great person he was, what a family man he was, but again, we are putting him on a pedestal that I do believe he might be a bit uncomfortable with.

If memory serves me correctly, in the early 2000s, Bryant was accused of raping a hotel employee while he was rehabbing an injury. Even though he was acquitted of the charge, he did admit that an encounter did occur, and that the incident was a consensual one.

The damage control that he, the NBA and the Lakers had to do was considerable, and he admitted his indiscretion to his wife, with every bauble he bought her to show his love becoming national news.

If the MeToo movement were around then, Bryant would have been permanently ruined.

So, even though I, too, mourn Bryant's loss, let's not make him something that he wasn't.

He was human, made mistakes, and repented for his indiscretions.

He was not a god... but heck, he was some basketball player.

R.I.P."

We, as a society, often give a bye to those we idolize, and while they do things we cannot do, you and I and Kobe and others are really no different; we all put our pants on the same way.

He had extraordinary basketball talent. He had resurrected himself from his past indiscretions, he and his family had moved on from those, and he was entering a new phase of his incredible life.

It is just a real shame that he was taken from us, and he was taken from his family and his dreams, at such a young age.

Nobody could predict where his dreams would have taken him.

Goodbye, Kobe, we will never forget you.

Classic Rant #1,180 (April 7, 2014): "The Grandest Stage of All"

First, let me acknowledge the life of Mickey Rooney.

He was a one of kind performer, could do anything on the stage and screen, and was our last link to an era where the Hollywood glitz was the real thing.

He was also in my favorite film of all time, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."

What a performer, what a winning streak of talent that is preserved in many, many movies forever, so future generations can see how talented this guy was.

That leads me into the perfect segueway for another terrific performer on a different type of stage.

Last night at Wrestlemania, "The Streak" ended.

Anybody who follows professional wrestling knows what I am talking about.

The Undertaker finally lost at Wrestlemania.

This is huge news in the pro wrestling world, because the Deadman never loses.

But he lost last night to burly Brock Lesnar, who will forever have his name etched in WWE history for doing this.

Anyway, my son and I watched Wrestlemania XXX from New Orleans last night, and the WWE, as usual, put on a great show.

It is the first time we watched it live, via the WWE Network, and aside from some early glitches--we found that if we put it on regular HD, rather than widescreen HD, the glitches faded away--the show went on pretty well.

There is a lot of phony pomp and pagentry with this show, but starting off by bringing out three of the four top WWE wrestlers of all time--Hulk Hogan, who was the host--Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Dwayne Johnson, better known as The Rock--was a good beginning to the program.

Bruno Sammartino was missing, but you can't have everything.

Even though the Hulkster stumbled with his introduction--he called the Superdome "the Silverdome" several times before he corrected himself--the meeting of three wrestlers who would be on a "Mount Rushmore" of wrestling if there was one was a good start to the show.

The matches were generally good, the 75,000 who were in attendance seemed to be having a great time, and the home audience was too, based on a small sample size of my son and myself.

Heck, I even took some pictures off the screen which you are seeing as you are reading this.

But the Undertaker lost, and that is all you are going to hear about this entry of Wrestlemania.

The Undertaker's streak is over.

Everything else is secondary.

This took just about everyone by surprise, but the streak had to end sometime, the Undertaker in real life is pretty much beat up after years of pounding, and the new WWE Network had to have something tangible to pin its hat on to gain even more subscribers.

It was "good for business," to catch a phrase.

They now have it.

Another streak ended yesterday.

The Yankees finally hit a home run, in their sixth game. It was about the third or fourth time in their storied history that they went five games at the start of a season without hitting a homer, but not only do they finally have one, but they beat the Blue Jays in doing so.

A minor streak, but a streak at that.

And who else could weave Mickey Rooney, Wrestlemania, and the Yankees together like this?

I guess I am one of the few people who would link them together, but that is what I am here for, isn't it?

Rant #2,511: Strange Magic

This was already a crazy day for me, and thus, I am writing this Rant a little later than I had anticipated.

I got up around 6 a.m. as I always try to do, waited for my wife to finish preparing for her day, and when she was done, I prepared for my day.

I went into the kitchen to eat my bowl of cereal, but alas, my wife told me that we were out of milk, which is something that rarely happens in our household, in particular because I am a very big milk drinker (always have been, no coffee for me).

So I thought I would go out, bring the garbage pails back to our house, get the newspaper, bring our papers in, and then go out to a local place and get us a container of milk.

I got outside, retrieved the garbage pail and the newspapers, and I discovered that my mother's car was running.

I thought to myself, "Where is she going this early in the morning?" but then I thought to myself that she would have nowhere to go at roughly 6:20 a.m.

I walked over to the car, and she wasn't in it.

I went back to the house with my newspapers in hand, and my mother--who lives with my father below us in a mother/daughter house--had just gotten up.

"Why is your car on?" I asked.

"I don't know," she replied.

I asked her again why her car was on, she didn't know, and I figured that she had automatic start, which she claimed she did not have in this car.

"Well," I then told her, "you evidently have it and never knew it."

My mother gave me the keys, I shut the car off, and it was probably on all night for all we know.

She claims she didn't put it on, but she must have pushed a combination of buttons on her fob and activated it.

I believe her that she didn't put it on purposely, because in the past, my mother has told me that she doesn't have automatic start with this car, but evidently, after owning the car for the past two or three years, she has just learned that she has a brand new feature in her car.

But how to activate it is anyone's guess.

So with that taken care of, I went out to get a bottle of milk. I figured I would get bagels, too, for my trouble, and I went to one bagel store which, believe it or not, did not have any milk available other than to add to coffee.

I went to another one, and yes, I found a container of milk, bought 12 bagels, and got some store-made cream cheese for my efforts thrown in for free.

How this all leads up to talking about the death of actor John Karlen is beyond me, but I am going to segueway into this by saying that while my day already is kind of strange--also later today, I am getting the front window of my car replaced because of an expanding notch in it--I guess "Dark Shadows" continue to be in abundance over me.

Maybe it is even a full moon today?

Karlen, who played Willie Loomis on the gothic soap opera and later attained even greater fame on "Cagney and Lacey," died after years of ill health at age 86.

He was a versatile actor, who took the character of Willie Loomis--he was not the original actor in the role--from a street punk to the lackey and punching bag of vampire Barnabas Collins to the vampire's most trusted friend over the course of the show's five-year run.

He humanized a character that at first was nothing but a punk stereotype, but he made it his own, showing what a good actor he really was.

The show was so popular that he found himself in the same teen magazines as the Monkees and Paul Revere and the Raiders, becoming something of a teen idol for a short period of time.

After a number of years out of the spotlight, he played the role of Harvey Lacey, the husband of the NYPD detective in the popular show, and won an Emmy for his work as a supporting player on that drama.

He regularly attended "Dark Shadows" conventions and reunions, and let's just say he let everyone attending know that he "lived the life."

He will be missed.

But don't miss me next week. Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.

Classic Rant #1,179 (April 4, 2014): To the Mat

Thank goodness it is Friday.

More to the point, I will "thank God" when this day is over and it is the weekend. Friday is not a good enough pull for me to "thank God" yet.

Whoever came up with that TGIF thing was always one day short, I thought.

Anyway, once this day is over, and we move into the weekend, it will probably be a regular weekend for most people.

Most people will go about their weekend chores, watch a ballgame (yes, the Yankees finally won their first game of the season last night!) and do what they have to do until they have to start the work week all over.

But millions of others will do the same thing, but on Sunday night, they will watch professional wrestling's own World Series, Super Bowl and Mardi Gras mixed up all together in Wrestlemania, the 30th edition of which comes to New Orleans this weekend.

Wrestlemania is wrestling's really big show--or "shew," if Ed Sullivan were still alive, and you know he would cover it on his show if he was--and it has really gone mainstream, with coverage by various legitimate media, legitimate press conferences, and legitimate big dollars associated with the event.

Wrestling and TV have always been welcome bedfellows since the dawn of the televised medium and the days of Gorgeous George and Bruno Sammartino, but today, it really is as mainstream as the major pro sports, baseball, football, basketball and hockey.

Well, almost as mainstream, let's say.

It is entertainment, mixed with athleticism. Yes, there are storylines, and yes, the outcomes are pre-picked.

But millions of millions of people in this country, and the world, watch this stuff, and will pay to watch this stuff.

And now, with the WWE Network, the multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry really has pushed itself into the forefront of media gazes, because as the first network of its kind, people are watching to see if an all-online network will make it or break it.

If it makes it, you can bet your bottom dollar that you will see other networks just like it popping up during the next few years, and a few are already being talked about in their early stages.

Anyway, this weekend, due to the network, millions will watch the Undertaker take on Brock Lesnar as the former tries to extend his Wrestlemania unbeaten streak against the latter, a brute who probably is a real pussycat inside.

It should be a fun watch, and my son and I will be watching, as we have the WWE Network, have the requisite dongle and HDTV so we can project the computer image on a bigger screen, and are paying $9.99 a month so that we can watch this and the other monthly pay-per-views offered on the network.

There has been some controversy, because some providers now refuse to carry the pay-per-views as a separate offering, at $50-$60 a pop.

They feel this former cash cow is diluted because so many people who would pay for this now have the network, and they aren't seeing a cent of that money, and they are right about that.

But for those who simply want to watch Wrestlemania, the option is there to spend all that money in one sitting.

Me, that is what my subscription costs during the next six months for the network, so I am actually saving money on this stuff in a funny way.

Whatever the case, my son and I look forward to the four-hour show, which regularly features twists and turns and mainstream and non-mainstream stuff. Even non-fans would be intrigued by this.

So, while most people will be preparing for another dreaded workweek on Sunday night, my son and I will push that aside and watch Wrestlemania for the first time that we have ever seen the event live.

All I can say is that hopefully, the network won't crash, as millions more just like us will be tuning in.

It better not crash, because if it does, the WWE will have to answer a lot of questions having nothing to do with the action in New Orleans on Sunday night.

The only crash I want to see on Sunday night is when one wrestler slams the other into the mat.

Rant #2,510: Beyond the Sea

Can you believe that there is another fatality being reported on a cruise ship?

I just read this morning that a 46 year old man evidently jumped overboard off a Royal Caribbean ship while it was docked in Puerto Rico.

This follows on the heals of last week's news that a passenger evidently lost track of his grandchild, who fell to death through an open window on the pool deck of another cruise ship.

This has followed probably about a dozen other incidents during the past few years, when passengers have either dived, fallen or were pushed off cruise ship decks, and most of them have led to fatalities.

My family and I have been on numerous cruises over the years, and I simply do not get this.

Safety comes first on these ships, and there are plenty of precautions taken so passengers can feel safe on these ships.

But I guess if you want to kill yourself, nothing is going to stop you, whether you are on a cruise ship or walking in the street or vegetating away your life at home.

Cruises are supposed to be fun. They are really the ultimate vacation--they really get you away from life's drudgeries--and they have become highly affordable, depending on what line you take and where you are going.

My family and I have mainly taken Carnival Cruises, and even though this line is known as the "party" line of all the different cruise ship companies, we have never, ever had much of a problem on these ships.

I remember one time we were sitting on the pool deck on one of these ships and someone was sleeping near where we were talking, and he got all hot and bothered when he woke up, accusing us of "waking him" with our talking.

My son took a while to adjust to the ships, but now that he is older, we haven't had any problem with him.

So when you add it all up, we haven't had any problems at all on these ships, other than a few weather problems that have diverted us from a few of our destinations.

Other people have had lots of problems, as we have heard about over the years. Some cruises have hit very rough weather, some cruises have not taken care of their passengers well--remember, they do not go under U.S. laws, they go under whatever country's laws they are registered in--so yes, at times, it can be a crap shoot whether you get a good cruise or not, or even a horrible cruise, for that matter.

But at least my family and I haven't had much to complain about.

I remember one time while cruising, we were told almost from the get go that the seas that we would be traveling were extremely rough, rougher than normal, and that we should be prepared for such roughness. Yes, there were times we had to hold on even when walking in the halls of the ship, and yes, I do remember while watching a show that an elderly woman fell down a good amount of stairs while in high heels and not holding on to the bannisters.

And on that very cruise, shipmates put up barf bags at every stairway, because you cannot predict how severe rocking of the ship is going to affect people's insides.

But again, other than those things, we have not had a bad cruise.

Why people use a cruise ship as a launching pad for their own misery is beyond me. I guess they go on the cruise hoping that the experience will life up their spirits, but when they find out that it doesn't, they go crazy and lose their minds.

It is getting to the point that potential passengers are going to have to take a psychological test before boarding a cruise ship.

Admittedly, there is a lot of down time when you go on a cruise, or at least there can be a lot of down time, in particular, on a longer cruise. You can only walk around so much, you can only visit the shops so much, so sometimes, you have to make your own fun.

I will bet you that during those down times, when some people are so depressed while everyone else is having fun, that these despondent people decide to do themselves in.

If you have never taken a cruise, I would suggest it highly. It can be very relaxing, and all of your whims are taken care of as much as possible.

The food is great--you can eat to excess if you like, but I have to say that I never have--and you can keep up your regimen if you are into exercise, as each ship has a gym to stretch yourself out.

And the bonus is that you visit countries and other places that you would never go to on your own, and it is fun to visit another culture.

But I guess for people suffering such depression, they look at a cruise ship like others look at a tall building--a perfect place to do themselves in.

Me, I would rather lay out on the deck, play some miniature golf, shoot a couple of hoops, see a few shows, and visit some places I would never visit on my own ...

And relax.

Classic Rant #1,178 (April 3, 2014): Poked

After work today, I am going to do something that I have been doing for nearly the past 42 years.

I am going to get my allergy shots.

Over the years, these shots of allergy serum have helped me considerably.

As a kid growing up in a dusty, windy section of South Jamaica, Queens, New York, I was often under the weather, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and I was very uncomfortable.

The study of non-food allergies was really just beginning, so I just basically had to grin and bear it during these years.

When we moved out to Long Island, it was determined that I should take an allergy test, as these tests were finally at the point where taking one might be able to at least point us in the right direction about what was ailing me.

In those days, you were tested for allergies with what I call the old "staple gun" approach.

The doctor who did the test used what was sort of an injector. You had to lay both arms flat, and you would be injected with various possible allergens in rows of two, in each arm. You had to keep each arm still as what was injected into you got into your arm.

If any one of the new marks that you had on your arms puffed up, you were allergic to whatever was put into that mark.

Not only did this method leave marks on your arms that took weeks to heal, but if you had some things that you were allergic too, like I had, the puffing had to recede too.

And yes, I had several things that I was allergic to: the usual pollen, the season of autumn, horse hair, and something called the Jerome bush.

My arms were so bad that I had to wear long sleeves for about a month, in the summer, but at least we finally knew what was bothering me.

(Today, they do a simple blood test--what a difference!)

It was determined that I need monthly allergy shots, so at the age of 15, I had my first shots.

We used a local doctor to administer my shots, and after a while, I got very used to them, getting two shots, one in each arm, once a month.

This doctor administered the shots for years, until he retired. He sold his practice, and a new doctor started to do the same thing. For both of these doctors, I was their one and only patient who got the shots from them.

And the shots certainly helped me in many ways. I didn't feel ill as much, my allergies were much more stable, I could taste my food and breathe, etc. It really was a miracle.

I never had a bad reaction from them, as some people do.

Some experts say that you should not take shots continually, because your body builds up an immunity to them, but for me, I have never stopped.

Over the years, some odd things have happened related to my shots. My second doctor giving me the shots was arrested for giving drugs--oxycodone--to high school kids, so I had to find another doctor to give me the shots.

I now get them at an allergy testing site, and that is fine and good.

The only problem is that our environment has changed, and my rate of allergy attacks has increased.

This is supposed to be one of the worst seasons for allergies of all time, and yes, I am feeling it. The rotten winter we had is the main cause of the season being predicted to be a bad one.

Just when you think the allergies aren't there any more, they come back to haunt you, with a runny nose, dripping eyes, and just an overall feeling that you feel a little off.

And now, by the way, I get four shots at each sitting, not two.

But again, I have learned to grin and bear it, but when I get my shots, at least I know I am doing everything I can do to combat this dreaded curse that I have, that, by the way, no one else in my family has.

And yes, it is a curse, it really is.

My arms have been a pin cushion, but overall, I would never want to go back to how I felt as a kid.

So as I enter my 42nd year of getting these shots, at least I can say that they have helped me fight this thing as best as I could.

How many shots have I had over the years? Well, multiply 42 by 12, and you get 504. Multiply 504 by two, and you get 1,008. But again, for the past five years or so I have gotten four shots every sitting, so right now, I am probably nearing 1,200 shots just related to allergies.

That does not count any other shots I have had, or blood tests I have had to take, since I was 15 years old.

Yes, I am a pin cushion, but yes, I am happier now, even with the runny nose and watery eyes.

It's my life, what more can I say?

Rant #2,509: Bits and Pieces

Bits and Pieces ... Pieces and Bits.

However you say it, this type of entry has returned for the year 2020.

They are stories that don't necessarily need full Rant coverage, but they are interesting to speak about in a shortened type of way.

So without further ado, here are the Bits and Pieces stories for today:

Derek Jeter Elected To Baseball's Hall of Fame: Quite honestly, this was a no-brainer.

How could Derek Jeter not be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Look at his statistics: he played 20 years for one team, the New York Yankees, and he was the heart and soul of those teams, which won five World Series championships during his two decades manning shortstop for the Bronx Bombers.

He had a lifetime batting average of .310, hit 260 home runs and had 3,465 hits in more than 11,000 at bats for the Yankees. He holds numerous team records.

During the postseason, he had 200 hits and batted .308, and that included seven World Series appearances.

He was a true icon during his career, with seemingly not a single misstep on the field or off the field during his time in the Bronx.

So his path to Coopertown was pretty much a given after he retired five years ago ...

Except for one thing.

One sportswriter did not vote for his entrance into the Hall of Fame.

How could this happen?

First of all, at this writing, the sportswriter who did not vote for Jeter is unknown, and it might stay that way for a while. Sportswriters can now reveal their votes, but if they refuste to do so, that is their right.

Was the sportswriter who left Jeter of the ballot trying to make a statement? Was that sportswriter trying to say that, well, let's just say, if Willie Mays and Tom Seaver and Babe Ruth didn't get 100 percent of the votes when they were up for election, why should Jeter?

Was the sportswriter trying to say that Jeter wasn't as good as Major League Baseball led us believe he was, as he never won a Most Valuable Player Award, and that other shortstops were actually better than him at bat and in the field.

Was the sportswriter perturbed at something Jeter did to him that he hasn't yet forgotten, and thus, Jeter was not on his ballot?

Or did the sportswriter, awash in his own ego, simply forget to put Jeter on his ballot (this was an excuse used in the past when ultra-deserving players were left off ballots).

Whatever the case, Jeter joins teammate Mariano Rivera in the Hall of Fame, but not as a unanimous choice, like Rivera was.

And also, congratulations to Larry Walker, who also made the Hall of Fame yesterday, and Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller, who were named to the Hall of Fame earlier.

My Parents' 64th Anniversary: Yes, this one is a personal entry, but so be it.

My parents, still going strong at 88 years of age, celebrate another milestone anniversary today, and it's just like 1956 all over again.

That is the year they were married. I came along a year later to completely ruin their wedded bliss forever, and my sister came at the end of 1959 to further reek havoc on their lives, but whatever the case, this union has lasted through a lot of good stuff and bad stuff for the past 64 years.

There have been lots of ups and downs lately. Yesterday, my dad had to be looked at by the doctor, because he seemed to be a bit weak, and they did find that he is going through another bout with pneumonia. But he seems to be OK now, much better than he was just 24 hours ago.

My mother--who has more energy than those one-third her age--keeps him going, keeps him on a regimen, and makes sure that he does what he is supposed to do, even though he often fights her tooth and nail.

This is a different generation than we are. They were Depression babies, and their upbringing, work ethic and will to do the right thing is so different than what we see in succeeding generations.

To me, their generation is the greatest generation, because they knew heartache like we will never know, yet they were able to focus on the right things, and continue to be on focus to this day.

And where would I personally be without my parents? Well, other than just being here, period, they have helped me in so many ways that I can't count that high. They raised my sister an I the right way, to do the right thing, and while it is harder to apply that principle today, we have done our best to do so.

And that was instilled in us by our parents from our personal Day Ones.

So here's to my parents on their 64th anniversary of wedded bliss, and who's to say that they won't enjoy another 64 years of happiness?

I would not put it passed them, I really wouldn't.

My Work Situation:

(I just thought I would throw that last one in. Anybody who thinks that it will improve, well, I have to hand it to you, you have a real sense of humor that I guess I don't have related to this subject. The reality is that I am probably headed to early retirement, and last night, my wife an I went to a seminar about Social Security to find out information about how to handle this. Let's see what happens with that, because the job market is pretty much closed to me right now, and I need to look past that and set my sights on the rest of my life.)

Anyway, that's it for Bits and Pieces today.

Speak to you again tomorrow, same Bat-place and same Bat-time (I threw that in to congratulate Burt Ward for getting his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this past week--he joins comrade Adam West with that honor. And yes, they were the BEST Batman and Robin, in my own determination.)

Classic Rant #1,177 (April 2, 2014): "Abergavenny"

My allergies are bothering me once again, and I need to feel better about something today.

How about spinning one of my vast collection of 45 RPM records to make me feel better?

This particular one I am going to talk about today wasn't a big hit at all, hitting #47 on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1969.

Woodstock was taking off back then, but you wouldn't know it by this tune.

A singer named Shannon sung the song, and it is a tune I have always liked.

It is hard to describe. It is a song that a marching band would probably love, but honestly, I have no idea what the song means.

I look at the picture sleeve, and is it about a dog?

I have no idea. The only thing I do know is that Shannon was a singer of a lot of renown in Europe, not much over here, but he begat a singer who had quite a bit of success on these shores.

Marty Wilde was your quintessential British wannabe singer in the late 1950s and early 1960s, quite popular abroad but too much like your Avalons, Vees, and Rydells to really hit American audiences too hard.

He actually had one single hit the Hot 100, "Bad Boy," which hit #45 in 1960, but that was it for him until he used a different name and scored to a certain degree with "Abergavenny."

There really isn't much more to say about his career in the U.S., because it was pretty much those two songs. He came around in between Elvis' height and the Beatles' dominance, and then he had kind of a fluke hit with "Abergavenny."

But he had an influence on the American charts in the 1980s, to a certain degree.

If you listened to radio during that time, and watched videos on MTV, one of the early hotties in those mediums was a comely British lass who had hits with songs like "Kids in America" and "You Keep Me Hangin' On," the latter of which hit the top spot on the charts.

Her name was Kim Wilde, and yes, she is the daughter of Shannon, or more to the point, Marty Wilde.

It's almost as if the dad couldn't make much of a dent here, he sent his daughter over, and she did what he could not do.

She had a video-ready face and figure that really came at the right time, because MTV was starting to dominate not only what we watched but what we listened to, and she fit right in.

So you can say "Abergavenny" spawned "Kids in America," another song that I liked during its time period, but at the time, I never saw the connection.

As my nose drips, my eyes water, and my whole disposition suffers today, I can listen to "Abergavenny" and be happy, and I guess that is what music is all about.

"A-choo!" You have a good day, and maybe I will too.

Rant #2,508: Hundred Pounds of Clay

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day to everyone.

This is the first MLK Day that I have ever had off. Even when I was teaching, if I remember correctly, the holiday was still not acknowledged as a national one, and even in New York State, not every school district recognized it, so I worked on this day.

Of course, that is when I had a job, which right now, I don't.

Today is supposed to be a day of service, which of course, is a bunch of malarkey. It is our society's way of trying to show how important the day is, and that we recognize how important MLK was to our lives. That is all fine and good, but look at how many MLK Day sales there are.

And that is my point. For 99 percent of us, it is just another day off.

That is not slighting MLK or his importance. That is just reality.

For me, it is day number 102 off, just another day in virtual suspended animation for me.

It is a day like any other day, as was day number 100, which was on Saturday.

Yes, even on Saturday, I went on the computer and looked through the job offerings--my late paternal grandfather would be horrified, as Saturday is shaboss, or the Jewish sabbath, and we are not supposed to be doing such things--and I even applied for a job or two, a job or two that I will never hear back from, or will hear back in the negative.

I did the very same thing on day number 101, and will do the same thing today, on day 102, but like the other days, it will most probably be for naught.

It won't lead anywhere, and I will still be here, in my same position at square one, for the foreseeable future.

That is why tomorrow, on day number 103, I am going to be doing something proactive, something that might prove to be beneficial to my, and my family's, future.

I am going to be taking a seminar not to help me find a job--heaven knows I have taken enough of those--but to help me plan for my likely future. It is a seminar on Social Security, and I will have numerous questions about it as I approach the time when this is going to be my likely conclusion for the remainder of my time on this planet.

I will be finding out the ins and outs of how to maneuver into and through the morass of Social Security, and I feel that it is more important to find out about that than it is to waste my time each and every day looking for work, for employers that will never hire me.

No, I will still look--New York State says that I must, so I continue on--but I think that finding out more on Social Security is much more important at this point.

When my Unemployment insurance runs out, I will have just turned 63 years of age, so I will be the next rung up the ladder of early retirement. Even though placement people, resume writers and so many other people keep on telling me that I have so much to offer by way of my background, my experience and my talent, that is all baloney in today's workplace, where the only thing valued is your young age, if you were lucky enough to be born at just the right time.

I was born in the late 1950s, so I am considered to be over the hill. Don't tell me that I am wrong; anyone who believes just the opposite is living in their own rose-colored world and has never been without a job.

So Social Security it is for me, and I will begin that quest tomorrow, with my wife and son with me. They are part of this, so they need to be there too.

Have I given up hope? No, I haven't, but unlike MLK, I don't have a dream, at least about finding another full-time job.

It took me a while to acknowledge it, but I have already reached the mountaintop, and evidently, factors out of my control are preventing me from reaching that place ever again.

I am going to have to skip tomorrow at this site, as I have a very busy day tomorrow before I go to this seminar, including some medical things I have to take care of.

So I will see you again Wednesday, just another day of the same old, same old for me.

Speak to you then.

Classic Rant #1,176 (April 1, 2014): April Fools!

Today is April 1, so it is April Fools' Day.

I don't even know how to celebrate this holiday in the proper way.

I remember as a kid, I thought it was funny on this day to say that it was the prior year than it really was, rather than the current year.

I think we used to say our name backwards on this day, too.

Ha ha ... I guess you had to be there, and I was.

Anyway, in this part of the country, we got our April Fools a day early.

On March 31, Mother Nature played a very cruel trick on us that she must have thought was really hilarious.

We had one of the most Jekyll/Hyde, schizophrenic days that I could ever remember.

It was raining in the morning as I left for work, which was no big deal, because it rained virtually the entire weekend.

I took my son to school, and as I left him, the rain was still there, but nothing really strange was happening.

About 15 minutes into my drive, at about 6:45 a.m., as I was on the highway, I saw that the raindrops had seemingly become larger, and I saw ice on my window.

I remember saying to myself, "You have got to be kidding me!"

Yes, it was snowing, and it was coming down in buckets, huge snowflakes that were caressing the cars and the ground as if they were creating a white glove on the world.

I got into work, parked my car, went into the office, and the snow was coming down even harder.

This must have lasted through mid-morning. I checked my car, and we must have gotten at least two inches--some places nearby got up to four inches. My car was covered in snow, and I figured that as I left work hours later, I was going to have to clean off my car.

But then the rain came, and washed my car off, and by the afternoon, with temperatures in the mid 50s or even low 60s, it looked like nothing happened in the morning.

If this was not an April Fools' Day joke played by Mother Nature, I don't know what was.

What made it even more interesting was that the Major League Baseball season opened in New York yesterday with the Mets playing the Washington Nationals yesterday at CitiField.

The Mets never lose on opening day, but in another cruel April Fools' Day joke for their fans, they ended up losing their home opener.

Today, the Yankees open up their season on the road against the Houston Astros. I hope no jokes are played on this day in Texas.

Baseball means warmer weather is coming, with the summer just around the corner.

But in this crazy weather year we have been in, there doesn't seem to be any guarantee that that will happen.

Snow in April and May? It has happened before in New York, and I wouldn't bet against it happening this year too.

And that would be the ultimate April Fools joke, wouldn't it?