Sesame Street Remembered

Forty years ago – if someone would have told you that a television show featuring a big yellow bird, a Cookie Monster, a couple of guys named Bert and Ernie and a vampire that would teach kids to count would revolutionize children’s television – you’d probably think they were nuts. Well, kids – it was forty years ago that a little show from the Children’s Television Workshop called “Sesame Street” premiered on public television stations across America and it turned kids TV on its head and changed children’s television forever.

Forty years ago – most television stations popped on “Popeye”, “Bugs Bunny” and “Beany And Cecil” cartoons or dusted off the “Our Gang” or “Three Stooges” film shorts from the 30s and 40s and they called that “children’s television. The cartoons and films shorts were money makers for the TV stations and there was really no thought behind the programming that they were airing for children. TV stations figured that they were entertaining kids and the shows were attractive to the advertisers that wanted to sell them sugared cereals, candy bars and soda pop and that’s all that mattered to them.

Then there was “Sesame Street” – a children’s program that was unlike any other at the time. The people at the Children’s Television Workshop figured out a way to do a television program that not only entertained young minds – but educated them as well. While the commercial television stations aired old cartoons sponsored by toy companies tied to the programming that they were airing – “Sesame Street” was sponsored by the letters A, G, and P and the number 3. A children’s television show sponsored by letters of the alphabet and numbers – now that’s crazy – crazy like a fox.

By combining the talent of Jim Henson’s Muppets and children educators from around the country – the Children’s Television Workshop created a program that not only entertained children – adults like it as well and parents discovered that TV could be more than a babysitter -- it could be a tool in the education of their children.

When “Sesame Street” premiered forty years ago – my hometown of Flint, Michigan didn’t have a public television station at the time. There were public TV stations in Lansing, Detroit and at Delta College – but they were on the UHF band which wasn’t that easy to tune it and cable television had yet to really make any inroads – so, the only thing that we knew about “Sesame Street” was what we were reading about the show in the newspapers or weekly newsmagazines.

I was in 10^th grade at the time when “Sesame Street” debuted on public television and I can remember stopping in to a friend’s house after school one day to watch “Sesame Street” for the first time. My friend had a antenna on his house with a rotor and he could pick up the signal of the Detroit public television station that was airing the show. Here I was a 10^th grader in front of a television set watching show where a puppet monster ate cookies, another puppet lived in a garbage can, and another puppet sang a song about his “rubber ducky” and I’ll be damn if I wasn’t entertained by it all – but when will the rest of my hometown be able to see this show.

Because of the popularity of “Sesame Street” – a commercial television station (WJRT TV 12) did something unusual for a commercial television station at the time – they worked out an agreement with public television and the Children’s Television Workshop to air “Sesame Street” on a commercial broadcast station with no commercial interruption. “Sesame Street” continued to be sponsored by the letters of the alphabet and numbers – but TV 12 wasn’t allowed to sneak in any commercials for any hamburger chains or even promote their own “Bozo” show that aired later in the day. Imagine a commercial television today giving up five hours a week of air time to air a children’s television show from public television – it ain’t gonna happen – but things were a lot different forty years ago.

Byte Me -- You Gotta Love Them Computers

Can we talk? The odds are pretty good that if you’re reading this entry in my blog that you own a computer. It might be a top-of-the-line computers or one of the lower priced E models that you can get at Wal-Mart – but it’s a computer. The odds are also pretty good that no matter how much you paid for your computer – it has done something to piss you off. Whether its froze up on you and you had to reboot the damn thing to get it to work again or you hit the wrong button and you lost whatever you were working on in the ether of your computer or somewhere in the vastness of the world-wide web – your computer at one time or another has pissed you off.

I was literally tied to a computer when I wrote commercials and handled the production department for a group of five stations in Michigan. The computer made my job a little easier – instead of having to get my fat ass up and in the production room to get commercials recorded and in the studios – I could pretty much do everything from my office desk with a fresh cup of coffee by my side. It was nice – but there were those times when you wished that these damn computers never existed – like when your system crashes and you have to retrace your steps because everything that you had done that day is lost.

Computers – they’re not the most reliable invention ever made – yet we have accepted and embraced them and have made them a vital part of our life.

Now, imagine paying top dollar for an automobile that decides that it is only going to let you drive no faster than 30 mph on that day that you have to get that throbbing tooth yanked out of your mouth at the dentist office. On other days this car could run fast enough to qualify for the Indy 500 -- but on this day it's 30 mph and no fast – I’m sure you would get a little pissed. You want that tooth out now and this expensive car is making you wait a little longer.

At that point, you would probably take this car back to the dealership and say, “What gives?”

But what if he said to you, “Hey, they do that sometimes. All you have to do is turn off the car and restart it again – you know – reboot your car – and the car will work the way you want it to.” You would be so angry they would probably have to put you in restraints to prevent you from driving that car though the display room windows.

Why is it that we can accept a computer that occasionally freezes up or a computer that runs slow – even though you have a decent internet provider? We wouldn't accept a car (or any other product) that we had to reboot to get it to run the way it should – but with a computer – we embrace (and tolerate) all of their imperfections and we cherish those days when our computers run the way that they’re suppose to, because we know that tomorrow our computer can make our life a living hell.

Why am I writing all of this now? The answer is pretty simple. My computer is taking a break today from running slow, freezing up and popping up with messages about my installation and allowing me to share this with you – and tomorrow might be another story.

Only In America

The year is 2009 and there are a couple of events that took place in this country that will be remembered for a long time. On January 20, 2009 – Barack Obama became the first black American to take the oath of office as the President of the United States. Millions of people descended upon Washington, D.C. to witness this historic occasion and billions of people around the world had a front seat to history being made when they watched the swearing-in ceremony live on television.

Another television event took place in 2009 that some people never thought would ever happen. After years of planning and discussion – broadcasters in America finally converted from broadcasting an analog television signal to broadcasting a digital signal.

One of the reasons that broadcasters made the switch to digital was because of America’s need for more frequencies for cell phones and emergency services – frequencies that were being used by the television industry. One of the selling points for the switch to digital was the promise of a clearer picture and more programming choices….but the switch wouldn’t be easy. To get these new digital signals meant that we would have to purchased a new digital television set or a converter box that would allow us to watch the digital signals on our analog television sets.

Not everyone can afford to go out and plop from $399-$1500 on a new television set and our government knew that – so Congress funded a program that would give all Americans who asked for them – not one, but two coupons (valued at forty dollars each) for a digital converter box. You had to have been living under a rock if you didn’t see your favorite television station advertising the switch to digital and how you could get your free digital converter box coupons. Over $1.3 billion dollars was spent on providing these coupons so that America could continue to enjoy watching “free TV”.

Recently, I got a chance to see one of free digital converter boxes that was purchased with one of the two free coupons that a friend of mine received in the mail. One of the first things that surprised me was seeing how small this converter box actually was – I have read books bigger than this box was.

The other thing that surprised me about this converter box was actually something that was written on the cardboard box that it came in. There was a warning on the box about not returning the converter box to the store where you “purchased” it with the coupon should it be defective – because of the box was a part of a government-financed program. I could see millions of people using the free coupons, buying the boxes and then trying to bring them back for a cash refund – so that warning made sense to me.

What really surprised me about this digital converter box were the three little words that followed the warning about not returning the box to the store it was purchased…those three words:

MADE IN CHINA

What! Congress allocated more than $1.3 billion on digital converter boxes made in China! Don’t you think that someone in Washington could have put some sort of stipulation on who manufactured these converter boxes and had them made in the good ole U.S.A.? Imagine how many jobs could have resulted had they stipulated that the boxes be manufactured in America. Well, that’s Washington for you and another one of those “Only In America” stories that has us screaming at our elected officials – “What in the hell were you thinking?”

A Twitter Picture

The woman in the picture above isn't country music star LeAnn Rimes -- although she looks a little bit like her. Nope, this woman just happens to be the daughter of a U.S. Senator and last year's Republican candidate for President of the United States. Ladies and Gentlemen, thanks to her posting this picture on her Twitter page, let me introduce you to Meghan McCain. Nice picture, huh?

Why did she post this picture? Good question and one she answered a couple of days later in her column at thedailybeast.com.

Meghan writes:

"Could it be it's because I have breasts? Because for those of you who didn't know, I have two. They're larger than some women's and not as big as others. I don't usually show off my cleavage—as I did in the photos I posted—which I will admit is not the smartest thing I have ever done.

For years I have struggled to accept the fact that the way I look in a tank top comes off more “sexual” than a flat-chested woman. And once again I was reassured by the media that someone with my cup size should always be covered up. Or what, I’ll be seen as a slut? It’s pathetic we can come so far in so many ways, but when Rep. Aaron Schock or Rep. Jeff Flake post pictures of themselves without their suits on—and their shirts, for that matter—they are proclaimed “hotties.” But put me in a tank top and I am suddenly an embarrassment to the Republican Party and women everywhere. The double standard is infuriating.

It's amazing what you can learn. And I've certainly endured my share of harsh comments from those who follow me. But yesterday was the first time it really wasn't fun. It's not easy to be called a slut. But I'm not giving up my Twitter just yet—I'm just going to be more judicious in how I use it. At the end of the day, I am a work in progress. I am not perfect and have never given anyone the assumption that I am. I turn 25 next week and I am still adjusting to the glare of the spotlight and making mistakes.

This is the last time I’ll ever address this non-scandal but at the very least I hope other girls can learn from this episode before they post any kind of photo online. I know I have learned a valuable lesson about the Internet and the boundaries between personal and public use with social media.

I just wanted to get that off my chest."

What more can I say? I would never in my life call Meghan McCain "a slut", but posting that picture is probably one of the dumbest things that she has ever done. Meghan, you of all people know how politics and the media works and you should have known that posting a picture like this just gives the media a reason to get you off of any other message that you wanted to get out to the public.

And I'll be honest with you -- I'm a normal guy and I enjoyed looking at the picture -- but it sure was stupid to post it on your Twitter page. Lesson learned and life goes on.

Come Back To CNN, Ted

Ted Turner, the founder of the world’s first twenty-four hour news network CNN, was recently interviewed on the Bloomberg business channel about CNN and some of the other properties he once owned. In this interview – Turner said that he would love to be able to run CNN again – because he would run things a lot differently than what’ is being done now and you want to know something – I would welcome the return of Ted Turner to CNN – but it’s not going to happen.

I miss the old days of cable news. I miss being able to go to CNN and actually watch a newscast where we would actually see reporters in the field reporting the news all around the world. News reports where the reporter actually has to cover a story – get the interview with the people in the news – and put it together in a package piece to air in a news cast. And if someone blurted out some fact -- the reporter actually had to fact check what was said before they aired it. We don’t see those kind of newscasts on CNN or the other two cable news networks – MSNBC and Fox News – and we probably never will again.

Today – with few exceptions – what the cable networks call news is just non-stop talking heads and so-called experts yelling and screaming at each other hour after hour. It’s the same people each and every day bitchin’ about this and bitchin’ about that and Monday morning quarterbacking – not reporting – what’s happening in Washington every single day of the week.

I don’t care if it’s Chris Mathhews or Sean Hanniety, Glenn Beck or Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, Lou Dobbs, or Bill O’Reilly – cable news viewers are getting more volume and vitriol than we are the news. Every day and every night – these “so-called news hosts” ride the same trick pony of punditry. Some are going to call Obama everything other than the President of the United States and leader of the free world; and the other guy is going tell us that if the other side wasn’t such God-fearing homophobic racists this country would be a better place to live.

I have this to say to all of them at CNN, MSNBC and Fox News: Enough is enough! All of these networks have a news slant and a news bias – it’s just that at a couple of these networks the bias is a lot more obvious – and none of them are really doing news. CNN, MSNBC and Fox News are doing “talk TV” and the talk that they’re doing is more divisive than it is informative. It’s time that all of these networks actually started to report the news of the day and quit turning the information we need to know into some screaming town hall sound bite. I’m sure if Ted Turner could come back and run his old news network – we would truly have a twenty-four hour news network – but that’s not going to happen anytime soon – and I’m sad to say – the anger and the volume on our so-called cable news networks isn’t going to go away any time soon.

Is There A Doctor In The House?

About five or six years ago, I was watching a news program, something like “60 Minutes” or “20/20”, and they did a really long piece about the day in the life of some politician in Washington. This politician, whose name I can’t remember, talked in great detail about the frustration of his job. His frustrations weren't what you would think they’d be -- nope -- this politician was saying that once you get elected to an office a lot of your time is consumed by making sure that you stay in office. He mentioned that it seems like a day doesn't go by that he doesn’t have to attend some fundraiser for himself, his party or one of his colleagues – which means a lot of those $200-$300 a plate benefits with constituents and who knows how many meetings and get-togethers with the lobbyists or the political action groups that helped him get elected.

Now, let’s go forward to what’s happening today in Washington, D.C. with health care reform. I can’t tell you if that politician that I watched years ago is even in office today, but I’m sure things haven’t changed when it comes to what a politician has to do to stay in office today; and that's to continuously raise money for the next election campaign.

And when it comes to health care reform – it’s a safe bet that these politicians aren't listening to the people who voted them into office – they’re concentrating more on the special interest groups that put them into office. You know who these special interest groups are – the insurance companies, the drugs companies, lawyers, etc. – all of those people that have a vested interest in making sure that they things don’t change and they can continue making money hand over fist while more and more people are losing medical coverage or going bankrupt trying to finance hospital and doctor bills.

I want to scream every time I see a politician in Washington being interviewed on one of the cable news channels that says that there isn’t a health care crisis in America and there are a lot of politicians out there who believe that. Who in the hell are they fooling? They should get away from their comfortable office in Washington and away from their staff (who I'm sure are handsomely paid and who's job gives them fantastic medical coverage to boot); and they should stay far far away from the lobbyists and influence peddlers and take a up close and personal look at America’s broken health care system.

They can see what health care in America is really like by visiting a free clinic. The free clinic in the area where I live is only open three days a week from 8 am until noon. Although the doors to the clinic open at 8 am – there are people lining up outside the door at 3 o’clock in the morning so that they can hopefully be seen by a doctor or be given the medications that they need to live. It doesn't

matter if it’s the middle of the summer or some of the coldest days of winter – people still line up outside of the clinic at 3 o’clock in the morning. The people know that if they get in line at 3 o’clock in the morning – there’s a good chance they’ll be seen – if they get to the clinic any later – their odds diminish because the clinic can only take twenty or so people each day. When the doors open at 8 and you’re number 21, 22, 23, 24….they’ll tell you that they’re sorry and invite you to come in tomorrow and play the waiting game again, but there are no guarantees that you’ll be seen if you’re stuck being number 21+ again the next day.

The people that you will find waiting in line at the free clinic aren’t bums or drug addicts. Some of the people that come to the free clinic work and have jobs but can't afford health care. Some of the people who come to the clinic have just fallen on hard times and the free clinic is their last resort and hopefully their key to feeling better. I’m sure that some of the people feel bad about having to come to a free clinic for medical attention – but they soon discover that the volunteers and the doctors who work there have an incredible amount of love and compassion for their patients and they are treated more like a person than they would have had in any other doctor's office. Patients at a free clinic discover that there is someone that cares about them and their health care needs.

One of the drawbacks about this free clinic and probably others around the country is the waiting. Because of the demand for health care and the need to see a doctor -- you have to do a lot of waiting. On top of waiting in line outside to get into the clinic – there’s more waiting once you get inside to see a doctor – and once you see the doctor – there’s the additional wait for you to receive your medications. A visit to the free clinic can begin at 3 in the morning and end some nine hours later and although the hours of waiting can be long – the patients at the free clinic are grateful for everything. How do I know? I was one of those patients for nearly a year and I don’t know what I would have done without them.

I just wish that all of the politicians who are deciding what changes that need to be made to our health care system would take a break from their special interest groups and lobbyist friends and visit a free clinic. Let them see first hand what people with no insurance, no job or money has to do to get relief from pain and sickness. And these politicians shouldn't be allowed to be whisked in to the clinic for a quickie visit with the doctors and volunteers – nope, they should wait outside for four hours or so with everyone else – trying to keep warm when the temperatures are in the teens. And, I wonder how that politician would feel after waiting for hours on end to be told that the clinic had reached their quota for the day and would have to come back again tomorrow. Once they had to face something like that -- maybe, just maybe they would find it hard to deny that America’s health care system isn’t broke and actually work to fix it.

Late Night TV

I'm sure that you heard the news that David Letterman was being extorted for some $2 million by a CBS news producer -- it's been in all of the papers -- and there have even been a few people joking about Dave's situation (except for the ladies on "The View") and it kind of makes you wonder what Johnny would have done. Naturally, I'm talking about the original king of late night TV -- Johnny Carson.

Much like Letterman has been doing since he made the announcement that he was being extorted and his life has been turned upside down, I think Johnny Carson would have put a humorous spin on the situation just like Letterman has done. I mean, how many times did we get a chuckle or two from Johnny's numerous divorces and talk of alimony payments? It's got to hurt like hell to have the steamy side of your life played out in the public eye -- but if your job is to make people laugh at other people's goofs and missteps -- you've got "man-up" and make the jokes about yourself.

As of this writing -- it should be noted who hasn't made any jokes about Letterman. Amazingly -- Comedy Central's titans of fake news and views -- Jon Stewart and Stephan Colbert have made no mention of David Letterman's problems. Jimmy Kimmel has remained silent, too. Conan O'Brian (who is being beaten in the ratings by Letterman) hasn't made any comment on his show -- even when one of his guests (Drew Carey) made some mention of the Letterman situation. I truly feel that had this happened to some other talk show host -- those silent comics would have been joking and dropping the jokes like napalm bombs -- but Dave, like Carson, is a television icon and pioneer and the way I see it -- it's kind of hard to throw dirt on your heroes.

Hang in there, Dave.

Jesus For Sale

I paid a visit to my old hometown recently and discovered something startling – Jesus is for sale. Uh…it’s more like Jesus’ home is for sale or at least the place that Jesus called home when I was a kid.

St. Leo the Great in Flint, Michigan is for sale – just check out the sign underneath the cross that welcomed everyone to the church. Not only is the church for sale – look what company is selling it – GMAC – that’s kind of poetic, isn’t it.

When I was young -- It was at St. Leo the Great where my mother spent a good portion of her Fridays in the basement kitchen frying fish for the church’s weekly fish n’ chip sale. If I close my eyes – I can still see that 7-Up pop machine in the basement. Each bottle cost a dime and you had to push down this silver lever on the front of the machine after you put in your coin for the machine to dispense your pop.

It was a St. Leo the Great – where I took my first communion. I know that I don’t have the picture – but someone somewhere has got to have the picture of all of the kids that was a part of my first communion group. All of the girls were in pretty dresses and all of the boys were wearing white shirts, ties and black pants. I can remember that I was in the back row in the picture and how I was a bit of an embarrassment to my Mom. You see – it wasn’t until we got the first communion pictures back and they were posted on the wall at the church that my Mom noticed that my fly was open on my pants and where there should have been solid black where my zipper was – you could see my white shirt hanging out. Oops....forgive me Jesus.

And – it was at St. Leo’s – where I was once an altar boy. My service as an altar boy was only for a short period of time (then my parents separated and we moved), but I'll be truthfully honest – I really didn’t know what I was doing at the altar during mass half the time anyway – remember the church service back then was in Latin. I was young enough and dumb enough to think that when the priest mixed the wine and the water together for the sacrament that it was some kind of magic act. I was spellbound by it all and couldn’t figure out how he made those communion wafers….then I became an altar boy and found out that our priest purchased the wafers from some place on Fenton Road. There was no more magic – how depressing, right?

Memories Of Jack's Trading Post

There is one blog that I read on a daily basis and that I have bookmarked on my browser and that’s Gordon Young’s Flint Expatriates – a blog dedicated to the long lost residents of Flint, Michigan. Gordon never fails to amaze me in his blog’s discussions of “all things Flint” and how that days entry can unleash a endless stream of memories of my old home town.

One of the more recent discussions on the Flint Expatriates blog was about party stores and convenience stores which got me to thinking about “The Trading Post” -- the party store of my youth during the 60s and 70s on Flint’s east side. Located on the corner of Franklin and Utah – just a stone’s throw from Whaley Park – The Trading Post was unique in that they had a huge cement Indian in front of the store – which probably was tied into the theme of the store being a “trading post” – but for us kids – it was a great place to go to spend that quarter or dollar that was burning a hole in our pocket.

My earliest recollection is of “The Trading Post” being divided into two sections. On the north side of the store – they had a limited selection of canned goods, bread and groceries, a freezer with TV dinners and pot pies – and I can even remember a deli-style meat counter – although I can’t remember ever purchasing any meat at the store -- I remember most of the business being done on the other side.

The south side of the building was your basic party store with the packaged liquor, beer, pop, ice cream, candy and chips – but it wasn’t a self-serve operation like the party stores of today – back then -- the people at The Trading Post served you. If you wanted a 12 ounce or 16 ounce bottle of Coke, a M&S Red Pop or a 6 pack of Gobel, Black Label or Stroh’s beer – you went up to the counter and told the person working there and they grabbed your beverage of choice for you from a wall cooler with several wooden doors.

In the front of the store – they had an cooler with ice cream near the front of the store and not just any ice cream – Sealtest – and growing up as a kid – Sealtest made the best ice cream sandwiches.

The Trading Post also had this big rack filled with all the varieties and sizes of Paramount and New Era Potato Chips. Back then – I think a pound bag of Paramount Potato Chips was something like 99 cents and I can also remember that quarter at the Trading Post would get you a big 16-ounce ice cold bottle of Coke and a small bag of Paramount Potato Chips; and if you were real quick and could finished off that bottle Coke real quick – you could turn the bottle in for a two cent deposit for gum or candy.

Being a kid – The Trading Post was the place to get your “candy fix” – they had all the candy bars and bubble gum a kid could ever want and it was also the place for comic books. The Trading Post wasn’t like O’Connor’s Drug Store or the Cook’s Drug Store that offered all of the newest comic books – the Trading Post sold the “outdated” comics with parts of the cover torn off and sold in packages of something like five for a quarter. The good comic/magazine packages had a Mad Magazine or an issue of Cracked at the discount price and I would always go through the store’s collection of comics to see if they had any Bob Hope or Jerry Lewis comics – but usually had to settle for an Archie and Jughead comic.

The building still stands today, but I don’t know who owns it – when I was a kid – the guy that owned it was named Jack and all of the kids referred to the store as “Jack’s Trading Post”. I don’t even think that the store is called “The Trading Post” today and there’s another thing missing from the store when you drive by it – the cement Indian who greeted many customers in its day.

Isn’t it amazing how something as simple as a party store like Jack’s Trading Post can open up a floodgate filled with childhood memories?

Say It Isn’t So, Vince

If the Fox News Channel hasn’t done enough to dumb down America – if Vince McMahon gets his wish you can look to see America dumb down a little further.

Brace yourself for this piece of news – Vince McMahon would like to create a 24-hour wrestling channel and he hopes that he can get it up and running within the next twenty-four months.

McMahon sees the channel as a companion to the WWE much like the NFL Channel is a companion to the NFL, the Tennis Channel to the sport of tennis, and the Major League Baseball network to the game of baseball. I’m sure he’ll use the channel to promote WWE events on cable networks such as USA and he’ll use the WWE cable network to promote all of the pay-per-view events scheduled throughout the year. It’ll be twenty-four hours of nothing but wrestling and it’ll be a basic channel – which means that everybody that subscribes to a cable or satellite service will pay for this channel because it’s part of a basic package. It’s news like this that I yearn for the good ole days of just five or so channels of free television programming delivered via a rooftop television antenna. You might not have a lot of programming choices – but at least you’re not paying for programming that you don’t watch and don’t need.

But then again – maybe once the WWE channel is up and running – they can team up with Fox to cover health care town halls – WWE theatrics would only add a little more of the bizarre world to some of the things that we’re seeing going on at the town halls now. I mean, it’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt at one of these town halls – with the WWE – the participants only experience f'aux pain and I think that’s the only kind of pain that some of these town hallers know about.

Reading and Drinking Milk Memories

McDonald’s Dairy. Reader’s Digest. I would have never thought of putting these two brand names together – but because of events that have recently taken place – I can now link them together.

Reader’s Digest

I was surprised to read that Reader’s Digest has filed for Chapter 11 and that the value of the company is going down with each and every passing day. I know that the newspaper and magazine business is going through some tough times with newspapers folding left and right and magazines just holding on to dear life, but I never thought to put the Digest in that group.

I am fifty-four years old and it’s hard to imagine someone in my age group who’s family at one time or another had subscribed to the Reader’s Digest or had read one or two Reader’s Digest books in their lifetime. And then there were special edition Reader’s Digest books about health, medicine, sewing, etc., although I never purchased one of those books – when I was gathering my Mother’s belongings after she died I must have packed up a library of them that my Mom had purchased during her lifetime.

I can remember composing a letter to the people at Reader’s Digest during one of my classes in the seventh grade at Lowell Jr. High in Flint, Michigan never thinking that they would respond to my letter, but they did. Not only did they thank me for my interest in their publication – they sent me a book that told whole story of how the Reader’s Digest came into being and all of different editions that they put out each and every month. It was pretty impressive reading for a seventh grade kid and I was just thrilled to death to receive a free book from them in the mail.

A lot of years have passed and I can’t remember the last time that I actually picked up a Reader’s Digest or even know of anyone who reads the magazine today – which is probably why they are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In this world of around the clock cable news and information and news at the tip of your fingers via the internet – Reader’s Digest has lost its place of meaning and importance and it would probably be a safe bet that we’ll soon be reading the obituary for the magazine – not in a newspaper or a magazine – but on the net.

McDonald’s Dairy

If you have ever lived in the Flint or Mid-Michigan area – McDonald’s Dairy is a name that you’re familiar with and it’s big red quality check logo on a half-gallon of McDonald’s milk, ice cream or sour cream was a welcome addition to your home. Although I never went there – McDonald’s use to operate a ice cream shop/parlor at their factory/bottling plant on Lewis Street on Flint’s east side.

As a kid growing up in Flint – you had a choice between McDonald’s milk and Dean’s Milk – and it seemed like everybody chose McDonald’s because it was a Flint product. The milk that they served us in every school cafeteria that I ever ate while going to school in Flint was made by McDonald’s and in our family – there was no other name but McDonald’s on the dairy products that we bought.

As the years have gone by – McDonald’s was purchased by Country Fresh Dairy and slowly the McDonald’s brand name and Quality Check logo disappeared from area grocery store’s dairy section. Little by little – Country Fresh ended production of products like ice cream that was made in Flint and shifted it to some of their other locations – which meant McDonald/Country Fresh dairy workers joined their auto working friends and neighbors on the unemployment line. So, it should come as no surprise that in August of 2009 – Country Fresh is closing the milk production plant in Flint. They’ll still be selling Country Fresh products, but they won’t be made in Flint. I can see the heads at Country Fresh thinking -- if GM can leave – so can we!

I think that when I go to the store tomorrow, I’ll pick up this month’s Reader’s Digest and see if they still have all of the old features in the magazine that I remember. And while I’m at it – I just might pick up a half gallon of McDonald’s milk that I can dip some chocolate chip cookies in as I read. Oh, I forgot – there is no more McDonald’s and it’s getting harder and harder to find a Reader’s Digest on the magazine racks at my local grocery store. Oh well….that’s life, right?

My Facebook 25 Things You Didn't Know About Me List

It seems like a week doesn't go by when I don't recieve one of those "25 Things You Didn't Know About Me" list from someone on my Facebook page. Well, I was recently tagged -- which means that you have to do a 25 Things list or you'll go to hell or something...so, I cranked out my list over a two hour period last night and I thought I would also post it on my blog for even more people to read (and wonder out loud why I did it).


"25 Things You Didn't Know About Me"

1. I was born at 4:30 in the morning on January 15, 1954 at St. Joe's Hospital in Flint. (The hospital – once a teaching hospital – is now closed).

2. I wet the bed until I was about four years old. I was "cured" when my Mom told our neighbor to get the scissors out because she wanted to "cut my thing" off so I wouldn’t do it anymore. As soon as I heard that – I ran and hid underneath the bunk bed that my sister and I shared and cried myself to sleep. As ugly as this story may sound – I never peed the bed again.

3. My parents got a divorce when I was eight years old. The day that my father left us – my sister and I helped him pack his clothes.

4. This surprises a lot of people: I was once an altar boy at St. Leo The Great in Flint (another place that played a part in my life that is also closed).

5. The unique thing about my first communion photo is that, unbeknownst to me at the time, the zipper on my pants was wide open and you can see the white of my shirt popping out of my trousers.

6. Although there was at least seven of them – I can’t remember celebrating Christmas with my father as a part of the family unit.

7. The first car that I ever owned was given to me by legendary Flint broadcaster, Peter C. Cavenaugh and the car even had a name "The Rock N’ Roll Mobile". If that car could talk – it would have some stories to tell – and some of my exploits added to its legend.

8. Some schools in Flint that I have attended: Lewis Elementary (torn down), Lowell Jr. High (closed and may be torn down in the not too distant future), and Flint Northern (I was the first graduating class from the new Flint Northern building on Mackin Road ). (A theme running through these 25 questions – the old Flint Northern building was torn down.)

9. I took one college course at Mott Community College in Flint. It was an English course (my worse subject) and the only reason that I took it was because of a girl who I would ride to and from school with. I had an extreme crush on this girl (but could never act on it) – not only did she have huge breasts – but she also had these beautiful and mysterious eyes that you felt could zero in on what you were thinking. (Note: A picture of this girl can be found on Peter C’s wildwednesday.com web page – she’s one of the people in the production crew at Wild Wednesday).

10. Growing up – I had fantasies of being a writer, but here’s where my fantasies get weird I visualized writing great stories in a booth at some coney island in Flint while I drank coffee and smoked cigarettes – and some waitress (unlike your normal coney island waitress - she’d have brains along to go along with her beauty) would fall in love with me and we would live happily ever after.

11. In high school – I was a member of the school newspaper – and it was there that I acquired a love for journalism.

12. Probably the most fun that I ever had in radio had to be at WTAC. I worked at the station when it was rock n’ roll, country and talk – and each one of the eras there had some great moments. In a period of maybe six years – I got to work with people like Peter C., Fred "Boogie" Brian, Jim Kramer, Ed Brown, Gary Raymond, Dave Barber, Ray Nelson, Van VanDeWalker, Chris Pavelich and Pete Sark (just to name a few). I was incredibly lucky to be able to work with some incredible Michigan broadcasting legends.

13. Getting married live on the radio was probably the dumbest thing that I ever done on radio (as well as in my life). The judge who Dave Barber arranged to perform the marriage ceremony had to get special permission from the Michigan Supreme Court to perform the ceremony. The marriage tanked after two-hundred and ninety-seven days and I ended getting a do-it-yourself divorce. Afterwards -- I was always afraid of bumping into the judge who performed the ceremony because I thought that he might ask about how "me and the missus were doing".....but I found out that this judge’s marriage did a turn in the toilet, too – so, I didn’t feel so bad.

14. Although my marriage lasted less than three hundred days – it’s been going on fifteen years that Marty and I have been together.

15. When it comes to sex - I was a late bloomer - and I can remember the first time that I ever had sex – and the only reason why I can remember it is because it happened on the afternoon of the day that Elvis Presley died. While driving the girl home from my house – I turned the car radio on to WTAC and heard the news about the King’s death. Hearing the news surprised me, because I always thought that he was dead! I could have sworn that I saw a picture of him dead on the cover of the National Enquirer long before he died while trying to "pinch a loaf" on the toilet at Graceland.

16. My longest stint in radio (some 13 years) was working at WHLS-AM and WSAQ-FM in Port Huron (which later merged with WBTI-FM and WPHM-AM and a stand-alone station in Marine City).

17. My shortest stint in broadcasting was working in the traffic department at Fox66 Television in Flint. I hated the job and it was the only job in that I was ever fired from. I was the wrong person for the wrong job – but I need the job at the time.

18. I would have to say that my very best friend is Van VanDeWalker. Van now lives in Macon, GA with his lovely wife, Tracie, and a whole bunch of dogs – but I met Van when he came to work at WTAC when David Leyton (now Genesee County Prosecutor) purchased the station. I arrived at the station early to produce "Morning Magazine with Dave Barber" and the first thing that Van asked me was whether or not I wanted a cup of coffee. I told Van that I only drank decaffeinated coffee (which the station didn’t have) and his response to me was "drinking decaf coffee is like eating hairless pussy". I think I mentioned some of the merits of "the hairless" and we became fast friends from that very moment.

19. To show you how much of a pathetic fuck both Van and I are – we play Scrabble with each other online. We don’t just play – we have Scrabble seasons of a hundred and sixty games – and we’re currently in our eighth season. We connect (audio-wise) with Google Talk and we talk trash to each other as we play. Van is the better Scrabble player having won six of seven complete seasons.

20. I use to joke around that "the only good kid is one that you could pop into a microwave oven" – but that was before I became a "Grandpa" to Marty’s son Bill and daughter-in-law Beth’s two children. You haven’t experienced life until you receive the unconditional love that comes from a grandchild. About once every six weeks or so – I’ll e-mail grand baby pictures to some twenty-five plus people in my address book. I know that some people must think I’m nuts about these babies – but I can’t help not sharing my love of these beautiful babies with everyone that I know.

21. When it comes to food – I could eat barbequed ribs seven days a week. But, please don’t try to feed me sauerkraut and sausage, bean soup, or oatmeal without raisins – that’s unless you enjoy the sight of a man doing some projectile vomiting.

22. The first movie that I ever remember seeing was "Ben Hur" at the Northland Drive-In in Flint (which no longer exists). The first movie that I can remember seeing (by myself) in a theater was "Viva Las Vegas" with Elvis Presley that was showing at the Capital Theater (now closed – but the marquee was used in the Will Farrell movie "Semi-Pro").

23. The dumbest habit I ever had was smoking....which I did for nearly thirty years.

24. The hardest thing that I ever had to deal with was the death of my Mother and having to tell her on Thanksgiving Day 2001 that my sister and I would understand if she didn’t want to take any more chemo cancer treatments. For those interested – I write about that day on my blog – that you can link on to at: http://lostinavoca.blogspot.com/2005/11/mom.html

25. And last but not least – here’s the 25th thing that you may have not known about me: I have cried a few times while watching a movie on Lifetime with Marty. Are you happy now?

TIS' THE SEASON TO BE SELLING

It’s the Christmas season and if you’re truly into the spirit of the holiday season – you have visions of sugarplum fairies dancing in your head or you’re imaging the smiles on the faces of young children as they open their gifts from Santa on Christmas morning. The Christmas season means all of that to me – along with stealing a kiss under the mistletoe, watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” for the thousandth time, and humming some non-traditional music that you only hear at this time of the year.

You see – everyone associates songs like “Silent Night”, “Little Drummer Boy” and “Jingle Bells” with the holiday season – not me. Christmas isn’t Christmas until I hear “cha-cha-chia” drilled into my head along with moving images of some green weed growing out of a porcelain donkey – now that’s Christmas. And leave it to those Madison Avenue ad boys to actually convince us that someone we know and love would actually be thrilled to receive a Chia Pet as a gift during the holiday season.

It’s the holiday season and you can forget seeing the commercials for the glass globes that make it easy to water your plants or the CD that will help you to use a computer to buy worthless shit on E-Bay – the tv commercial landscape has changed. Now, it’s commercials for the Chia Pet and “clap on/clap off - The Clapper”. Over the next few weeks these commercials are going to seem like they’re on the air every hour of every day on any station that you turn to. CNN. They’ll air there. USA – you betcha - they need something to fill the commercial spots on “Law and Order”. Weather Channel – they’ll probably be sponsoring weather on the 8's. And, I wouldn’t be surprised if they even showed on some PBS station as a program underwriter. Why not – it’s the Christmas season – the most wonderful time of the year.

And to me - the Christmas season wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t see that cartoon of a Santa sliding down a hill on a Norelco electric shaver. Every year that I see that commercial I don’t want to rush into the bathroom and shave my beard with an electric shaver – hell no – I want to find an electric shaver big enough for me to hop on and slide down some snowy hill somewhere. Now that’s Christmas.

As I watch television these days - you can’t help not getting into that Christmas spirit...with the exception of Bing Crosby, Perry Como and Burl Ives – what’s more Christmas than a Chia Pet, The Clapper and a Norelco electric razor. Nothing. So, leave a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa....he’s coming with his bag filled with all of the above to make your Christmas merry.