Rant #4,007: Elected

This post was actually completed earlier this week, but had to be postponed due to all of the celebrity passings I wrote about.

Finally, now is the time for this post to see the light of day.

I have absolutely no problem with sending in my ballot for November elections.

I think it is safe, it is trustworthy, and it is something I have participated in for the past few years, ever since I hurt my leg, which made it difficult to get to the polls.

But a lot of people don't trust it, claim that it is open to widespread fraud, and are trying to obliterate it, or at the very least, lessen its use.

One of those people is President Trump, who has been against mail-in voting since ...

Well, the times that he has used it himself.

The Supreme Court on Monday lifted an injunction that had blocked parts of Trump’s March executive order that sought to tighten federal oversight of mail-in voting, granting Trump a legal victory.

Again, I have no problem with voting by mail.

Perhaps I had a problem when it was first instituted for those other than service members and Americans living overseas, but I don't have a problem now.

Look, the cat is out of the bag, and it isn't going back in that bag.

Not every American can get to the polling place to do their voting, and this makes it easy to vote, allowing all Americans to participate.

And I admit, the reason I, and my family, continues to decide to vote this way is that it is simply more convenient for us.

Period.

There is no other reason.

I do understand the President's hesitancy in all of this.

There is definite voter fraud each Election Day, including ballots made out by non-citizens.

But I believe there has always been voter fraud, even in the days when there was only one choice in the way one could vote, and that was at the polling place.

However, I don't believe it is as rampant as the President says it is, and I don't think it was a factor in his losing the Presidential election a few years back.

One way to ensure that elections are 1,000-percent valid is proof of citizenship--whether at the polling place or via mail--and why this is even an issue is beyond me.

You have to show your identification at so many different places now--everywhere from the pharmacy to the doctor to Walmart--that I see no problem with showing my ID at the polling place, or furnishing it to officials via the mail.

Why some of us don't feel this is necessary--and an abridgment of our rights--is beyond my comprehension--

Although it really isn't.

Every vote counted is cherished by some people in our country, but some people are now cherishing votes made illegally, and that is just plain wrong.

Look, illegal votes are going to get through, no matter what precautions are placed on voting.

I told you some time back of a situation where I literally could have voted twice for President, but I decided not to break the law and held back from doing something illegal and against everything I believe in.

But going back to mail-in ballots, my family and I will do it again, if it is still made available to us as a way to vote.

My mother, in her last months of life, made it to the polling place, and I feel that most Americans can do the same.

But I will continue to vote by mail, because it is simply easier for me to do.

You can call me lazy if you like, and perhaps I am, but I have no doubt in the system, in the process, and once you vote by mail, you won't go back to the other way of voting, if you can help it.

You can cast my vote for mail-in voting, this November and every time in the future.

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

Rant #4,006: I Do the Rock

This has been a particularly hard week for notable people from the entertainment field who have passed away.

Shelley Fabares ... Dolly Parton ... I am sure I am missing someone ...

But now we have two other notables.

Actor/Singer Tim Curry left us the other day.

He is best known for his work in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Clue" films, but he also had a very short-term singing career.

The one song of his that I fondly remember is "I Do the Rock, which made the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart in 1979 at its lower rungs, and that was pretty much that for him as a singer.

I always liked that song, and his deadpan vocals made the song memorable.

He had been in ill health for quite a long time.

And then we have Jaye P. Morgan.

Let me focus on her.

It is very difficult to describe Jaye P. Morgan to anyone who doesn't recognize the name, but she really had several different careers all rolled up into one.

During the early 1950s to the early 1960s, Morgan placed 20 singles on Billboard's Top Singles Chart, or whatever it was called back then.

She was basically a Big Band singer in the era when that phenomenon had already died out, but she was still pretty successful as a vocalist during the early rock and roll era, with "That's All I Want From You" hitting #3 in 1954.

She had a couple of other pretty big hits, but by 1960s, that was pretty much that.

Morgan--born Mary Margaret Morgan in 1931--kind of faded from view, but she continued to record and act during the entirety of the 1960s and early 1970s, and appeared on many of the variety shows and game shows of the era.

One memorable appearance that I remember was her guest starring role on "My Three Sons" where she played a washed-up singer (!!!) who wanted to resurrect her career.

Yes, life imitating art!

Don Grady played Robbie Douglas on the show, and not only was he an actor, he was an actual musician with singles out under his own name and with a band called The Yellow Balloon--which had a hit with a song with that same name.

Anyway, Morgan's character saw Robbie's fictional band perform, "Good Man To Have Around the House"--which Grady, in real life, actually released under his own name and that of the "Windupwatchband" during that period--and her character decided that if you can't beat them, join them, and ended the show with the rocking "Gonna Getcha" and she found a new audience with the kids.

But nothing really happened after that.

She continued to appear on a lot of TV shows, but her career kind of stalled ...

Until "The Gong Show" became a brief phenomenon on the airwaves.

Starting out as a somewhat legitimate talent showcase but morphing into something very, very different from that, Morgan was one of the judges, and she was as wild as the show's creator and host Chuck Barris--

Even more so.

On the show featuring Gene, Gene the Dancing Machine and acts where sexual innuendo was their stock in trade, Morgan went with that flow, and there was one episode where she got so into what was going on that she stripped off her blouse--network censors were onto the show as it grew in popularity, and the scene was censored--

And she was suspended from the show for a short period.

She became a very hot commodity again, and while her singing career was still in limbo, she once again became a name and a guest on every variety show of the era.

When "The Gong Show" went off the air, she kind of faded from view, too, and honestly, I did not even know that she was still with us until the announcement of her passing on Wednesday.

Yes, both Curry and Morgan are not in the same class as Dolly Parton was--they are somewhere in the same neighborhood as Shelley Fabares--but they each made their indelible marks on our consciousness--

And their performances live on on YouTube and the like.

Yes, this has been a tough week for celebrity passings, but all of their legacies are stoked in cement for all to enjoy.

Rant #4,005: A Coat of Many Colors

First we lost Shelley Fabares.

Now, Dolly Parton has followed her to the Pearly Gates.

Parton was 80, and she really lived life in those 80 years.

I am not comparing the two ...

Fabares was a teen idol, something of a singer, and she was an excellent actress.

Parton was in another class altogether.

When it was announced that she had passed, it felt like a piece of America--really Americana--left us here on earth with her death.

From nearly dirt poor to as rich as can be, she earned her status as probably one of the most popular entertainers in the world.

Her fake glam--yes, in that area, she finally confessed--enamored her to so many, made her literally stand out, and then the talent took over, and nobody noticed the other stuff anymore, or at least it really wasn't that important once she got you.

I have to tell you, I was not a fan of hers.

I don't like country music, and all the glam and glitz that she proudly showed off was really not my cup of tea.

I didn't really like her music, I didn't like her movies, and her phony look kind of trickled out to me, and kind of turned me off.

But I simply cannot look the other way at her talent.

Starting off as a "project" with Porter Waggoner, she soon eclipsed her mentor by a long shot, and the rest really is history.

She prided herself most as a songwriter, and she wrote many, many tunes, including "I Will Always Love You," which she had a hit on her own, but which skyrocketed into the nation's consciousness via its version by Whitney Houston.

She was so popular that her very existence was made fun of--and admired--and yes, there is a country novelty song called "Dolly Parton's xxxx" that is out there (I think I might even have it somewhere in my collection).

She owned "Dollywood," she gave to many philanthropic organizations, and she even started her own such endeavor, related to reading and literacy, in honor of her father, who never learned to read or write.

Parton came from a big family, and most of her siblings also went into the music industry, with various degrees of success.

Parton was married to Carl Dean for 60 or so years, and he completely kept in the background as his wife became one of the world's most famous people. 

He died a few years back, and from what I have read, Parton never really got over it.

Although she and Dean had no children of their own, she was the godmother to one of the current queens of excess, Miley Cyrus, but she said she never wanted to exert any influence on Cyrus or anyone else.

But she directly or indirectly influenced millions of people, and that will be her legacy now that she has left this earth.

Parton had been battling some health problems in later years, but seemed to have overcome them. As I write this, there was no cause of death reported, but I am sure something will come out in the days to come.

President Trump has ordered that flags be lowered throughout the country for the next week in her memory.

Very fitting.

This was a big loss, and even if you weren't a fan of hers like me, you feel her loss just the same.

"I make a point to appreciate all the little things in my life. I go out and smell the air after a good, hard rain. These small actions help remind me that there are so many great, glorious pieces of good in the world." - Dolly Parton

Rant #4,004: Johnny Angel

Shelley Fabares finally met up with "Johnny Angel" the other day.

Fabares, the quintessential TV actress who started her career as a teen pop star, died over the weekend at age 82.

I briefly spoke about her yesterday, as the news came in of her passing, but there is more I want to say about her.

The niece of fellow actress Nanette Fabray, Fabares acted in several TV productions as a young child, but she became a huge star in her early teens, as her portrayal of the very prissy "Mary Stone" on the ultra-popular "The Donna Reed Show" (1958-1963) made her a teen idol for the ages, a teen idol for a much more innocent time.

She became every young boys' fantasy girl--even if us boys weren't at the point in our lives where we could know or understand just why--and her every move was chronicled by the teen mags, just a few years prior to these magazines' pivot to the Beatles.

She was so popular that the fledgling Colpix record label--Columbia-Screen Gems' record label--decided that they could market her popularity into a singing career, and her rendition of "Johnny Angel" hit the top spot in the singles chart in March 1962.

Like Ricky Nelson with his hits, she performed "Johnny Angel" on the sitcom, and it propelled sales of the tune into the millions.

Even though she wasn't much of a singer, Fabares was one of those teen pop star TV actors that was groomed for records--Paul Petersen, James Darren were others--and the success of this way of creating pop stars certainly laid the groundwork for the later Monkees project, with Colpix morphing into Colgems, and everything that followed.

She had a couple of other mild hits during the next year or so--the followup "Johnny Loves Me" hit #21 three months later--but that was pretty much it. 

Fabares remained as a regular on "The Donna Reed Show" through 1963, as the storyline moved her to college ..,

But the real reason for her departure was that she was gradually moving into a big screen career, and Fabares appeared in several movies of the time, including three films with Elvis Presley, "Girl Happy," "Spinout," and "Calmbake," and one with Herman's Hermits, "Hold On!," with these films establishing her as the female lead and pairing this female pop idol with two male pop idols, Elvis and Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits.

During this period, she remained faithful to the show that launched her, making a couple of return appearances to "The Donna Reed Show" during its three remaining seasons on the air.

Teen idols have notoriously short runs of popularity, and the same thing happened to Fabares, as movie roles dried up, so she went back to television, and guest starred on numerous TV shows during the early 1970s.

And she found fame again from the mid-to-late 1970s into the late 1990s with regular roles on "One Day At a Time" and especially on "Coach," two of most popular sitcoms of the era.

Fabares continued to act into the early 2000s, both in movies and on television, but she pretty much retired in the early 2000s, a period during which she had a liver transplant.

She was married to actor Mike Farrell of "M*A*S*H" fame.

Fabares did many things in her extraordinary career, but I think even with her later successes, I believe that her role as "Mary Stone" on "The Donna Reed Show" will always stand out from the rest.

She was the perfect, prissy antagonist versus Paul Petersen's less "perfect" "Jeff Stone" character, and even with Oscar winner Donna Reed at the helm, it made the show a never-miss sitcom of the time, especially for younger viewers.

And her "Johnny Angel" just floats into your consciousness every time you hear it.

Funny, I had only recently stumbled onto a podcast where Fabares was interviewed, and she seemed to be quite a humble person, astonished to this day about her success.

R.I.P. Shelley Fabares. You left quite a legacy to us all on film, TV and records.

Rant #4,003: Good Thing

We celebrated our son's birthday on Friday evening, by going out to a local restaurant.

The place wasn't very crowded, and the food was good, so it was a nice way to celebrate his special day.

We mentioned to the waiter that it was his birthday--which was actually yesterday--and the waiter gave us a free dessert for him, on the house.

I thought that that was a really nice gesture.

Our son had to work on his actual birthday, so I hope it was a good day for him even though it was also a workday.

Otherwise, it was a pretty slow weekend, which is a nice thing.

This coming week is a busy one, starting with today, when I have to go to my regular doctor for medical clearance to get that eye surgery in late September.

I am sure I won't have a problem getting the clearance, as my recent exam with him showed that in spite of all the surgeries, I am pretty healthy for an old codger of 69 years young.

That is the befuddling thing ...

I am healthy on one level, but unhealthy on several others.

Hopefully, the eye surgery will be the end of the cutting for this year, and for any year in the near and long-term future.

But I know that I have several other doctors' appointments coming up, so who knows what fear will lurk in the heart of Larry?

I certainly don't know.

But my wife and son also had their physicals over the past few weeks, and they also came out of it with good health, so hopefully, I am on the road to that goal.

Just one more surgery ...

Anyway, enough about that.

I also have a work meeting this week, which I am sure will go pretty well.

Our online magazine really looks great, and in this issue, we have a remembrance of Sept. 11, 2001--9/11--that is really, really good.

I helped put this section together with several others, based on the reminiscences of one of the executives of the association I work for who was actually on the ground when this horrible day happened, 25 years ago.

I think it is the best thing that the book has ever had in its electronic pages, and I will give you an update when it comes out so you can read this man's story, too.

We all have stories about that day--I do, too--and that will all come out in the ensuing weeks.

For the rest of this week, I have several other things I have to attend to, so it is going to be a busy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday ...

Leading into several other busy weeks in September, October, November and December.

It will all keep me on my toes, which I guess is a good thing--

Even if some of the things I have to do aren't really in the "good" category.

But so be it.

They have to be done.

So let's get them done ASAP.

(And rest in peace, Shelley Fabares. She died over the weekend. 

Who could ever forget her, from her regular stint on "The Donna Reed Show" to "Johnny Angel" to everything else she did in front of the camera, and mostly on TV? 

She will be missed.)

Rant #4,002: This Could Be the Start of Something Big

Well, we just about made it through another week!

It is finally Friday, and the weekend is just around the corner.

Tonight, we are going to celebrate my son's 31st birthday.

We have to do it then, because he works on Saturday and on Sunday, the latter of which is his actual birthday.

I know i say it every year, but I am going to say it again--

I simply cannot believe he is 31!

Time does fly!

And before you know it, my daughter will be married, so this us an exciting time for both my kids.

Thinking about it kind of takes me away from my own problems, so that is a good thing.

And in between it all, one if my nephews is also getting married, so there are a blitz of fun things happening during the next few months ...

And that isn't even including my wife's xxth birthday in November, another milestone celebration.

I have to be healthy for all of this, and I will do my darndest to make sure that I am just that.

It all should be a lot of fun, hopefully making the year go out in a good note.

And it all starts tonight, when we take our son out for his big day.

Maybe that will be the start of something big!

Heaven knows that my family and I could use some good news at this point.

And I am sure you have heard, doctors believe that they have a cancer drug that works in a different way for people with skin cancers like I had--

And if trials continue to be successful, not only will it help fight the re-occurrence of those horrid skin lesions, the way it works--by attacking cancer cells that remain after the lesion's removal, and is done on a person-by-person, individual basis based on what is happening in a person's own body--might be a clue for combatting ALL cancers.

Maybe things are looking up during the remainder of this absolutely dreadful year.

So have a good weekend, i will speak to you again on Monday--

And I will try to enjoy myself as we celebrate our son's birthday!

Rant #4,001: Worryin' Kind

In my seemingly never-ending quest for good health, I went to the dermatologist yesterday morning for my latest skin checkup.

Two things were outstanding, and had to be removed, for further tests.

One was on my forehead, and the other was on my scalp.

The forehead one was this little thing that had come about a little while ago, and I pretty much knew it had to come off.

The thing on my scalp was kind of strange.

I had some work done on my scalp--not the cancerous growth I had removed a few months ago--and it led to a thick scab that would not come off my head.

It wasn't really that noticeable, but it was there.

About two weeks ago, it began itching really badly, and on Wednesday morning, it finally fell off, right in my hands in the shower.

A combination of shampoo and hot water took it off my head.

I was able to save the scab--it measured maybe a quarter of an inch and came off right in my hand--and I brought it with me to the skin doctor.

I pointed out to him the previously scabbed area when the examination started, and I even gave him the scab, which I had saved in my pants pocket.

He told me that what was under the scab was of importance, so he threw away the scab and took a culture of that area.

I just hope that neither of these areas prove to be a problem, as I have had enough problems this year to fill a large dumpster.

But at least they were taken care of, preliminarily, this time around.

Let's see if they prove to be troublesome ...

If they call me, I know that I am doomed once again.

2026 has been a year of major health concerns for me, and I don't need another one--

Certainly not with my eye operation just around the corner.

And again, I feel fine, although I do feel pinches where the lesions were removed.

But I really feel fine, which I guess is both a blessing and a curse.

It is a blessing because I have not really suffered prior to any of my operations ...

But it is a curse because if I had suffered, perhaps I would have gotten the work done earlier, and maybe it all would have gone smoother.

Who knows?

I just hope that this latest episode doesn't prove to be anything worse than it could be.

Having had one cancer removed, I don't need to go through that again--

But if it is what I hope it isn't, then I will just have to grin and bear it.

What else can I do?

There has been this "black cloud" over me this year, and while I try to hang in, it is very, very difficult.

But as usual, whatever happens, I will make it ...

And I will be OK.

It is just that the worry does get to you after a while ...

And I just want that "worry wart" to go away--

Permanently.