72 Reasons to celebrate Randy Stonehill's 72nd birthday.

Last year at this time I commemorated Sir Randy Stonehill's 71st birthday by sharing 71 of my favorite songs of his on this blog. As he is adding a candle on his birthday cake this year, I am upping my 71 song salute to a half gross.  I was able to see Randy at 2 concerts since he turned 71.  One with Phil Keaggy last Fall, and a few weeks ago I crossed the border into Missouri to catch an epic solo concert.

In tribute to that performance I am including every song I can find on the internet that he performed at that concert. All of the songs he perfformed on March 2nd in St. Louis are listed in Bold Letters (Just in case you don't know what Bold Letters look like, they look like this.)Many of his songs can be found on Spotify.  Songs I could not find on Spotify, I found on BandCamp.  Songs I could not find in either place I pulled from you-tube or Patreon.

1. Irresistable Future - Mystery Highway

 2. Faithful - Until We Have Wings 

   

 3. Get Me Out of Hollywood- Get me Out of Hollywood 

4. The Last Day - Not on Album Yet.  Video from Randy's Patreon Page 

 5. Christmas Song For All Year 'Round - Welcome To Paradise  

 6. I Love You - Born Twice  

 7. Norman's Kitchen - Born Twice 

8. Bad Fruit -The Sky Is Falling

   

 9. Still Small Voice - Celebrate This Heartbeat  

 10. Christine - Between The Glory And The Flame

 

 11. Can Hell Burn Hot Enough - Until We Have Wings

   

 12. Light Of The World - Equator

   

13. First Prayer - Welcome To Paradise

14. Keep Me Runnin' - Welcome To Paradise

  

15. Stop The World - Celebrate This Heartbeat  

  16. Sunday's Child - Mystery Highway

 17. Love Beyond Reason - Love Beyond Reason  18. Ramada Inn (Live) - Until We Have Wings  19. Everything But Love - Stonehill  20. Didn't It Rain - Until We Have Wings  21. One True Love - The Sky Is Falling  22. Until Your Love Broke Through- Love Beyond Reason  23. Celebrate This Heartbeat - Celebrate This Heartbeat  24. The Hope of Glory - The Wild Frontier  25. Modern Myth - Celebrate This Heartbeat  26. Can't Buy A Miracle - Can't Buy A Miracle  27. Leonard Has A Toaster - Lost Art Of Listening  28. Glory And The Flame - Between The Glory And The Flame  

 29. Stand Like Steel - Return To Paradise  30. Hand of God - Thirst

   

 31. Barbie Nation - Wonderama

 32. Old Clothes - Until We Have Wings

 33. Charlie The Weatherman - Stories 

 34. Try Havin' Some Faith - Spirit Walk

 35. Turning Thirty - Equator

36. Lazarus Heart - Lazarus Heart 

37. This Old Face - Lost Art Of Listening 

38. Baby Hates Clowns - Thirst 

39. Strong Hand Of Love - Welcome To Paradise 

40. Stormy Winds- Uncle Stonehill's Hat  

41. Die Young - Between The Glory And The Flame 

42. Who Will Save The Children - Celebrate This Heartbeat  

43. Arriving to Depart: Not yet on album 

(Pulled from You Tube video from Jan 24 concert, song begins at approximately 19:00)  

44. King Of Hearts: Welcome To Paradise 

45. That's The Way It Goes (Live) - Edge Of The World 

46. Shut De Do (Live) - Equator

  

47. Jesus - Breath Of God   

48. Big Ideas (In The Shrinking World) 49. Beginning Of The Living End - Lost Art of Listening

50. Broken Places - Spirit Walk  51. Hymn - Love Beyond Reason 

52. Billy Frank - The Lost Art Of Listening

 

53. Venezuela - The Sky Is Falling 

54. What Do You Want From Life? - The Wild Frontier 

55.Brighter Day - Can't Buy A Miracle  56. Get Together - The Wild Frontier 

57. Ready To Go - Welcome To Paradise 

58.Rachel Delevoryas - Wonderama  

59.In Jesus Name - Lazarus Heart  60.Last Time I Saw Eden - Spirit Walk  61. Everything You Know (Is Incorrect) - Thirst 

62.I've Got News For You (Paradise Sky Version) Welcome To Paradise - 

63. When I'm Afraid Lazarus Heart  

64.When I Look To The Mountains - Celebrate This Heartbeat 

65.Mercy In The Shadow Land - Lost Art Of Listening 

66. Backwards On Her Bike - Mystery Highway  67.Cosmetic Fixation - Equator 

68.A Promise Made Is A Promise Kept - Lazarus Heart 

69. The Keeper Of The Bear - Thirst

  

70. I Don't Ever Want To Live Without You - Return To Paradise 

71. One Last Song Before I Say Goodbye - Not yet recorded on an album

72. Life is Tough, God Is Good - Spirit Walk

 Happy Birthday Randy! I encourage anyone who spends time listening to these songs to buy some or all of them on Band  Camp.  Also you can sponsor Rand's ministry on his Patreon page.  

📚 Kids Read Aloud | INTERRUPTING CHICKEN by David Ezra Stein

Today at school was the readathon day. Instead of having core classes (Math, Social Sciences, ELA, & Science) are middle school students were able to read in those classes and have teachers and other staff read to them as well.  

As a building sub I don't usually know who I'm going to be that day.  Today I subbed for a paraprofessional in one of our SPED classes.  This particular class is rather low functioning so the books read to the students were geared for much younger children. There was one book the teacher read called Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein. The title reminded me of the old knock knock joke:

A: Knock Knock

B: Who's There

A: Interrupting Cow

B: Interrup

A: Moo

I was able to find a read aloud version of the book on you tube.  This is not that difficult of a thing to do.  I have considered in the past having an A  to Z challenge of children's books being read aloud on you tube videos.  

Here is one of the versions I found on You Tube,

The "He Gets Us" Agenda No One is Talking About...

A to Z Challenge 2024 Theme Reveal

 March 10th is the official theme reveal for the 2024 iteration of the A to Z challenge.  Last year I actually announced my theme for 2024 here a year early while announcing my theme for 2023. In that post I stated, 

"The 2024 theme will be Narnian characters and creatures from A to Z. My working title is Narnia: From Aslan to Zardeenah."

Well it turns out, I lied.  Lied is a strong word.  I miscalculated.  Almost every year for the last 35 years I have reread each book in the Chronicles of Narnia.  Last year when I made the announcement, I had not yet started on my literary pilgrimage to Narnia and thought the idea of reading the books would help in making the alphabetical list of entries.  

I ended up reading a sum total of zero Narnia books in 2023.  While it's true that  I could easily journey from Archenland to Zalindreh, my heart was not in it.  I chose to abandon  delay my Narnian sojourn for another time (Although I would prefer to do all my blogging in Narnia, as no time would pass while I was writing).  

I then toyed with the idea of having no theme and simply blogging about something new from A to Z each day.  I liked that idea quite a bit, but then it occurred to me, I would have nothing to say at the theme reveal.  I then thought of having an overarching theme but leaving it wide enough to choose the individual topics the day they were due.  That also seemed a little problematic as I often suffer more from topic block than it's cousin writer's block.

Holidays by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free 

 Finally I thought of a topic that would give me both flexibility and stability.  I decided to blog about Holidays.  However instead of A is for Arbor day, C is for Casmir Pulaski Day (It's A Chicago Thing), I will be focusing on lesser holidays, the kind you would find at sites like the National Day Calendar or What is Today Holiday's like National Take A Poet to Lunch day which takes place on January 6th each year, the holiday that inspired this poem.

My process this year is each day of the challenge to post about a holiday that is taking place that day.  Some holidays like April Fools day on the 1st would match very well for the letter of the day.  Others will take a little pushing to make it fit the letter of the day.  April 2nd for example is Children's Book day. If I choose that holiday, I would have a title like B is for Books for Children. 

In addition to actual holidays, I am going to also create 5 new holidays as part of my list, including ways to celebrate these new festive occasions.   

Recent A to Z Challenges

2023 A Month At The Movies

2022 Limericks, Homeruns, & Wordles (Oh My!)

2021 A to Z People who were alive in 1921

2020 State (& Other) Capitals

Each year on Spotify I make an A to Z playlist for the year.  At the end of each post I will have a link to the song for  that day .

I am very excited about this Holiday edition of the A to Z challenge.  To learn more about The 2024 A to Z Theme Reveals click here, if you are ready to participate in said reveals click here, and finally if you are looking for a spreadsheet of who is already participating this year click here.

12 New Movies 2024 Film #1 In The Good Old Summer Time

 When It comes to placing content on this blog I continually am reminded of the Peanuts comic strip.  Lucy would hold the football for Charlie Brown to kick it and then pull it away from him at the last second .  He would fly through the air and land on his back.  Lucy always seems to be able to convince Charlie Brown that this time it will be different and each time it ends exactly the same.

In my blog I have these ideas for recurring posts and quite often I start them but then never get to finishing them.  One of these actually predates my blogs and that is the idea of watching 12 movies I have not seen before in a year.  Of course I complicate this simple plan by stating that the films must be from different eras.  Each year by April or May I have forgotten which new movies I've seen and I don't meet my goal.  I thought blogging about them might help me keep track, but it only ends up documenting my failure .  In some ways I am both like Lucy luring me to try again each year and like Charlie Brown convincing myself that this time I'll be different  falling flat on my back when the football is metaphorically pulled from my path.

My wife likes to say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results.  But that same wife once co wrote a song with me entitled I'm insane, you're insane, who's gonna win.  So since I already am (I won) sanity challenged, trying again this year isn't that bad of an idea.  Maybe this time I'll at least make it to AAUGHust. 

As I said I try to split the films up so they are not all from the same era. I try to choose 4 films that are older than me and 8 that have come out in my life time 

This year I plan to see 2 new to me films from each of these 6 eras

I. 2009 to 2023

II. 1994 to 2008

III. 1979 to 1993

IV. 1964 to 1978

V. 1949 to 1963

VI. before and including 1934 to 1948

I have already watched 2 new movies this year.  

The first was the 1949 film In The Good Old Summer Time.  I have wanted to watch this one for a while, and actually was reminded of it when I shared a YouTube video here  earlier this month.

By IMDb, Fair use, Link

I would give this movie a rating between 2 1/2 and 3 stars out of 5.  The film takes place in the early years of 20th century Chicago featuring  Judy Garland and Van Johnson  as two music  music store workers  who are also engaging in a mail correspondence not realizing that they know each other in what will be called " IRL" more than a century later. This musical is based on the  1936 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo which has spawned 2 other movies and one Broadway musical. One theme from the film is that circumstances can effect the way we view the world especially how we  evaluate people. I really enjoyed the performances by Buster Keaton (Sherlock Holmes, Jr.) , and S.Z. Sakall  (Casablanca) as the shopkeepers nephew  and the shopkeeper, respectively.  Their presence helps bring out much of the films comedic elements.  One aspect of the film I did not enjoy was that many of the musical numbers, although entertaining on their own merit, did not really go with the story that was being told.  This led to kind of an uneven feel to the film, which led to my mediocre rating.  I would definitely recommend this film to fans of Garland and to those who like to watch different adaptations of the same source material.  

Jesse Chavez lists All The MLB teammates he's been on.

 Jesse Chavez the most traded player in the history of Major League Baseball has made his way to White Sox Spring training by signing a minor league contract with the Chicago American League team,  While not officially with the Sox yet, the 40 year old pitcher talked about all his former teams in this video.

Tim Anderson Signs With Miami Marlins

On June 10th 2016 Tim Anderson made his Major League Debut for the Chicago White Sox. Last year On As of September 30th 2023 TA batted .288 with a .317 while playing home games for the  South Siders.  On the road he batted .276 with a .308 OBA. For his career so far Anderson has a .282 Batting average, an OBA of .312 and a slugging percentage of .422. 

2023 was a regrettable/forgettable year for bot the White Sox and Anderson in particular. Anderson In 123 games Anderson hit only.245 lowering his career batting average 6 points from the end of 2022.  Anderson only hit 21 extra base hits last year with only 1 home run, dropping his career slugging percentage 20 points in the process.

At The end of the dismal season the White Sox, declined on Anderson's 14 million dollar contract option for the 2024 season, buying it out instead for $1,000,000.00. After becoming a free agent in November of 2023 Anderson was signed in February by The Miami Marlins and have agreed on a 5 million dollar contract for the season.   

Do What I Did - Valentine's Day Advice

Poetry Friday is upon us once again. It is at Reflections On The Teche this week. I am entering this post from Valentines Day.

 

If You Want Your Love Story

To Have A Happy End

Do What I Did

Marry Your Best Friend

 

If A Diamond

Isn’t Really Her Thing

Do What I Did

Buy An Emerald Ring

 

If Your Fiancée

Doesn’t Need A Lot of Folks

To See Her Wed

Don’t Do What I Did

Just Elope Instead

 

26 Years Ago This Valentine’s Day

We Got Our Marriage License

And I’m Here To Say

I’m So Glad I Married My Best Friend

I Did What I Did

And I’d Do It Again

I wrote this earlier this month based on a prompt at my poetry group.  I gave it to Amy on Valentine's day.  Each time I read it I'm reminded of the work OF P.D. Eastman.  This is probably because I think MY NEST IS BEST because of the bird I share it with.

For More Poetry Friday click here.

Two Ways To Film The Same Scene

I just saw this on You Tube and thought it was worth sharing. It makes me want to watch Shop Around the Corner, Good Old Summertime and You Got Mail back to back to back. I have seen the 1940 Jimmy Stewart Classic multiple times. Have never seen Good Old Summertime and believe I have only seen You've Got Mail Once. I really liked this glimpse into the storytelling process of filmmaking.

 .

3 Former Bears in 2024 NFL Hall Of Fame Class.

The NFL announced their 2024 Hall of Fame class yesterday in advance of Super Bowl LVIII.  You can watch the announcement on YouTube by clicking here. The last 3 players announces Steve "Mongo" McMichael, Devin Hester, and Julius Peppers all played for the Chicago Bears.

Poetry Friday: A Winter Poem For Reluctant Poets

 Poetry Friday is being hosted this week by Tracey at Tangles & Tails

Today there was no school as there was a snow day.  All the snow reminded me of an incident from 14 years ago when I was teaching a unit on  poetry to my children when I was homeschooling them.  The original post is found here.

Each of my children wrote a poem, but my 8 year old at the time son was originally a little reluctant to write his. Before producing the picture poem below, he recited something like Winter, winter I hate winter.

Later when I had some time to myself.  I reflected on the incident and wrote a poem as if it was written by an 8 year old who did not want to write a poem.

It reminds me of something that P.D. Eastman of Go Dog Go, or The Best Nest might write.

Winter. Winter. Winter. Winter.

Winter is no fun.

Winter. Winter. Winter Winter.

Now my poem's done.

I say it's done

but Dad say no.

Who wants to write

when you can play in the snow?

Sledding, Skiing, snow ball fighting.

Winter's really quite inviting.

It's fun outside and in the home

but do I have to write a poem?!!!

Winter. Winter. Winter. Winter.

Now, my poem's done!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I write this poem almost 14 years ago.  The youngest of the three children I was home schooling at the time is a senior now in high school.  I am working as a building substitute (a substitute teacher who works at the same building all year) at a middle school  I think of this poem from time to time when I encounter reluctant writers or winter activities.

_______________________________________________________

For more Poetry Friday click here.

National Take a Poet to Lunch Day

 January 6, 2024 is Take A Poet to Lunch Day.  It was started in 1995 making today the 20th annual celebration of this event created by Professor Arnold Adoff. This link gives some good ideas of how to celebrate poetry on this day.  A few years back I found out about this day and wrote a poem to commemorate the occasion,

I Took A Poet to Lunch Today

I took a poet to lunch today

And there amid the verse

Our flow of thought

Was free and light

Not stifled, bland or terse

I took a poet to lunch today

And traded quip for quip

She scrawled a sonnet on her check

 And left it with her tip

If you can't take a poet to lunch today

Please don't wear a frown

We all write poems in our own way

And some just write them down.

A few years later I included the poem in a holiday poetry reading on my vlog.

Best 2 Next Ten

The beginning of a new year is a time of looking back and looking forward at the same time.  In that spirit, I will be writing about the best 2 books I read for the first time in 2023, and also list ten books I am either currently reading or planning to read soon in 2024.   The best 2 books I read in 2024 were  A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

In September I wrote a little about Levi here.  Levi has been many things in his career a lawyer, an independent singer song writer, a judge, a bee keeper, just to name a few.  He weaves many of those experiences into his first novel.  My favorite album of Allen's is Rivertown, a musical love letter to the history of Columbus Georgia.  Theo of Golden is also about a  river town.  The fictional southern city of Golden is an additional character among many finely developed characters.  But the characters and the setting take a back seat to the story which is about kindness, community and redemption.  Theo of Golden and is available in multiple places, including Rabbit Room, Amazon, and at Levi's website.

In preparation for the launch of his book, Levi wrote several pieces on his blog about writing.  In one, he talked about the novel A Gentlemen in Moscow by Amor Towles.  I was intrigued, so I borrowed it from my local library.  

A Gentleman in Moscow is about a man who is under house arrest for over 20 years in a Moscow Hotel.  It takes place almost entirely in the hotel, you would imagine this would make for one claustrophobic read, far from it!

Towles like Levi successfully makes the setting a pivotal character in this book.  The 2016 novel will soon be a television series on Showtime. I was sad to finish both of these books and am looking forward to rereading them again soon.  Which brings us to  our Next Ten ....

This will generally just be a list of 10 books, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I will also be entering a small update on my progress in my quest to read Fellowship Of The Ring before my 60th birthday,.

Dreyer's English - Benjamin Dreyer

Eugene Onegin - Alexander Pushkin

Concise Theology - J.I. Packer

1984 - George Orwell

Write Better - Andrew T. Le Peau

Royko - F. Richard Ciccone

Fellowship of The Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien 

I obtained the book from my local library, although my son has since informed me that he has several copies he could lend me.  I have finished the first chapter.  

The Periodic Table of D.C. - Melanie Scott

Theo of Golden - Allen Levi

A Gentleman In Moscow - Amor Towles

Note: I have already completed one book on this list since, I started writing this post a few days back.  When I have finished reading 4 more books, I will post a new Last 5 Next Ten.

A New Years Resolution or A Tolkien Gesture

 Today is J..R.R. Tolkien's birthday.  I have long been an admirer of his work.  It started when I went on a field trip in school to a puppet version of The Hobbit.  On the occasion of my first trip to Mackinaw Island, my parents purchased me a set of his Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.  It was never actually intended to be a trilogy, it was published in 3 parts due to it's bulk and in case it proved to be a failure.

It of course was not a failure, being one of the best selling and most loved books of all time.  I on the other hand have failed many times in my attempts to read or even listen to the entirety of Fellowship of The Rings, the first installment of the work.  This is a cause of some embarrassment for me, and also a point of friction between myself and my son, who had read all 3 installments while he was still a tween. 

I am actually a much bigger fan of his fellow Inkling C.S. Lewis and generally read all 7 books of Chronicles of Narnia every year.  I have decided in honor of Tolkien's birthday that I will attempt yet again to read this magnificent tome.  Two years ago I was successful at my attempt to finish Moby Dick, this year I hope to finish LOTR. I will start  to read it this Winter and attempt to complete it by the end of Spring.  If I still haven't finished it by the beginning of Summer, I will complete the rest by listening to an audio version.  I will give myself to September 2nd, which is the day Tolkien died.  This years it falls on my eldest daughter's 25th birthday, and  thus a easy to remember due date.  If all goes well I will repeat the process in 2025 and 2026 for the final 2 installments.  I will update my progress here with my installments of Last 5 Next Ten. 

Wordless Wednesday: Beautiful Christmas Tree

For More Wordless Wednesday click here to be redirected to Comedy Plus.

First Poem Of The Year

 

I have written my first poem in a while, and it turns out also to be my first poem of the new year.  

Juggling

Why do I juggle?

Why Do I struggle,

with the pressure of every demand?

Why do I struggle?

Why must I juggle

When God has each ball

well in hand?

Why do I stumble?

Why do I grumble

constantly rehashing my plight?

Why do I grumble?

Why must I stumble

instead of choosing to walk

in the light?

Why can't I stop

Juggling and Stumbling

Struggling and Grumbling

Living a life based on fear?

Why cant I give up on 

Trying and Crying

Believing the lying

That I whisper into my ear?

The answers are found in the questions.

Truth is more than suggestions.

Poetry Friday is being hosted this week by Marcie Flinchum Atkins.  Click here to join the fun.  .

New Years Eve

2023  was a good year.   For the firsts semester of 2023  we got to work at the same school together.  In April we celebrated 25 years of marriage together.  

As soon as the school year ended, we went  to Greece  to celebrate said anniversary.  It was indeed amazing.

Besides hobnobbing with Greeks I also spent a lot of time near geeks as well.  After completing a Geek triathlon  of a comic book convention, a renaissance faire and a Doctor Who convention I went to my first Rubik's Cube tournament.  I had family members, plausible deniability and fun at each event.  

Rubik's Cube Convention Madison, WI

Randy Stonehill, Phil Keaggy concert South Holland IL

2023 was a good year and  I am hopeful that 2024 will be one as well.  I am also hopeful that 2024 will be a good year  as far as this blog goes.  

60 Years in 60 Days: 1982

I usually think of a year to write about and then a topic comes to mind when I think of the events of that year,  This time I had an idea for a topic and I thought of 3 different years that could fir the topic.  Those years were 1976, 1979 & 1982.  The topic was discovering that the world can be a scary place.  I finally decided on 1982 but let me tell you about the local events in 1976 , 1979 and 1982 and then dig a little deeper on 1982.

In 1976 a murder occurred on the street where I lived.  I was 12 years old at the time and  one of the 3 victims was just a year older than me.  His name was Michael Columbo and he and his parents were killed by his sister and his sisters boyfriend.  Patty Columbo is still in prison for the murders and Frank Deluca died in prison earlier this year.  Michael Columbo would have turned 60 this year.

In 1979 John Wayne Gacy was arrested for a series of brutal murders rapes mutilations of young men my age and living in suburbs near mine.  He received the death penalty some 15 years later.

Both these cases changed my view of the world a little.  When a brutal murder  occurs on the street where you live, in a house that would later be on your newspaper delivery route it's going to effect you.  When boys your age are being abducted in neighboring suburbs and being raped, murdered and buried it is more than unnerving.  It makes you wonder if you are truly safe. 

In 1982 when I was still in high school the unspeakable hit close to home again.  When I say close to home, I am not exaggerating at all.  Tylenol capsules filled with potassium cyanide were sold at two grocery stores, one in Arlington Heights which neighbors my home town of Elk Grove Village  and the other in Elk Grove 4 blocks from my house.  This was in my senior year of high school and occurred at a store my family had been buying groceries, including Tylenol my entire life.   

A 12 year old girl from my hometown was one of the seven who died.  She stayed home from school because of a stomach ache was given one Tylenol and died within hours.

As heinous as the first two crimes, they Tylenol murders to me was equally as perverse.  Especially when you consider the crime has still not been solved more than 40 years later.  Also the randomness of the victims, anyone who  bought products from either of those grocery store was a potential victim, which means I was a potential victim.  It is one thing to think that I was a target demographic of Gacy, but another thing entirely to realize that I was buying groceries at that store when there were tainted Tylenol available for purchase.  It is chilling.

This case also singlehandedly changed how products are manufactured.   Johnson & Johnson, the manufacturers  of Tylenol, not only responded to the crisis by recalling 31 million bottles of their product, but also introduced tamperproof packaging and child-proof caps.    They lost quite a bit of money in the process but  received well deserved praise with how they handled the situation.

Evil (read about any of these cases and the word evil, will come up again and again) is an age old problem.  Encountering it on my street, in my town, and near my town isn't unusual, as it exists everywhere.  But seeing such extreme examples of evil , may have been one reason why I was always on the lookout for good.

60 Years in 60 Days:1970

 1970: Keith 

I was in first grade in 1970.  It was my first year as a full time student as kindergarten back then was a strictly half day affair.  My older sister was in 2nd grade and my younger brother was doing whatever 4 year-olds did back in the early 70's. I don't have any memories when I didn't have both an older sister and a younger brother.

I do have memories before my youngest brother, Keith was born  on veteran's day 1970.  I remember some of kindergarten.  I remember my first day of first grade and I certainly remember walking home from school that day in Mid November when my Mom was coming home from the hospital with Keith.

I also sadly have many memories of life without my baby brother.  He died a little more than 14 1/2 years ago.  An event that is very well chronicled on this blog. This is the fifteenth birthday we have celebrated without him. 

 By the time Keith was starting first grade, I was starting 7th grade.  Because of the age difference we weren't all that close growing up.  He started high school when I was in college living at home and volunteering in the same high school youth group I had been in while in school.  He starting attending that youth group and we spent quite a bit of time together because of that. As a result we became closer and even though we weren't exactly super tight, he was probably the relative I was closest with.

In 1987, the year I left home to reinvent myself, Keith started his senior year of high school. Over Spring Break that year he had his first hospitalization due to mental illness.  This was the beginning of his road to a Bi-polar diagnosis.  I think back then they just called it a nervous breakdown.

That Fall he did go away to school, actually pretty close to where I had landed and he spent his first two semesters of college the farthest he ever lived away from my parents.  The next year He went back home to a local junior college and started to find his own way. While there he met the woman he would eventually marry and he got married before either of his older brothers.

Keith eventually graduated from college and began graduate school but never completed it.  I think the only job he ever had was at McDonalds, but he always worked hard and he always took care of his family, And I never met someone who loved his kids more fiercely than Keith did.  

Some Friday night in the summer of 2006, I was at an outdoor movie night at a local park with my family.  My cell phone rang, it was my Dad.  Keith was sick, He had only 10 % use of his heart and his kidney function was at the same rate.  Within a week, he was getting treated at the Mayo Clinic.  

His kidneys were shot because of the lithium he took for his bi-polar, but we never discovered what happened with his heart. From 2006 to April 2008 Keith's life developed into a consistent pattern.  He'd be hospitalized he'd then go to a nursing home (one of the only 30 somethings in the joint) then go back home far a month or two and then he'd be hospitalized again  because either his heart medicine was creating problems for his kidneys or his kidney medicine was messing with the bi-polar or any other such permutation. rinse, lather, repeat.  

Keith loved trivia, especially Jeopardy. He was an excellent chess player and  loved all kind of puzzles especially those in Games magazine.  I am sure, he would have been great at current games, like Wordle and Nerdle. 

Keith died at the age of 38 so I always think of him as 38. Or I think of him at 27, when he got married.  Or I think of him at 30 when his son Robert was born.  Or I think of him ay 32 when his daughter Sarah arrived. Or at the age of 22 when he visited me in Russia and said of my filing system, "A place for everything and everything on the floor." Or at the age of 17 when I saw him graduate high school at the old Poplar Creek concert venue. Or playing tee ball at the age of 7 or 8.  Or at the age of a few days, that November day on 1970 when he came home from the hospital.  I guess I remember him a lot.  I miss him even more.

60 years In 60 days: 1965

 I was born in 1964.  I turned 1 in 1965.  I don't have any memories of life in 1965.What I do know is that  my sister turned 2 in June , I turned 1 in September at the time that my Mom was pregnant with my younger brother who was born in March of 1966.  By the end of 1965 My Das  was 27, my Mom was 26, my sister 2 and I was one.  .  I am now 59 years old so I am older now than the combined age of my entire family in 1965.

 

60 Years in 60 Days: 1989

 In The Spring of 1989 I took a class, I forget what the actual name and course # was but the gist was that it was the course where education majors got their pre-student teaching experience.  Over the course of the semester you travel to a school,  are assigned a teacher and a class room and you observe  and assist in the class room culminating in preparing and giving a lesson essentially being teacher for a day.  I forgot how many visits it was it was either 6 0r 12 in a 6 week period.  

I got to know the students pretty well, and one of them was going to be in a local theater play.  I told him that I would attend.  Back than my wardrobe was pretty exclusively jeans t-shirts and I had a pretty good sweater collection.  I had one suit and a few dress shirts and a couple pairs of slacks.  Each day I would go to school,  I would wear the same outfit, my suit.  I would then go back to the dorm and put it away until the next class.  When I went to the play I was wearing my regular out fit of Jeans, Turtle Neck and Sweater.  

The play was really good.  It was Agatha Christies Mouse Trap and my student did an excellent job.  I went up to him after the show and the first thing this kid (who by my math is now 50ish) says to me: "Mr. Roller, You're in civilian clothes!"

I was thinking of that story today, because my youngest daughter has a starring part in her school play.  I wore Jeans and the show t.shirt to school today and wore the same thing to the production.  I don't think I've ever worn a suit to teach school.  I guess I just wear civilian clothes.  

60 Years In 60 Days 1993

1993 Foreign Soil.

From Late 1992 to Late 1994 I lived in Russia. 1993 was the only year in my life that I was not in the United States at all.  I embraced life in Russia and did not have much culture shock at all,  It wasn't until I got home that I realized the impact of missing an entire year of American culture.  I was able to keep up with the really important things like the Bulls Threepeat.  I heard most of the major developments.  

But even as recently as this week when I was watching Dave with relatives. Someone asked what year it came out and I didn't know.  I can usually recall the year a movie came out by remembering what was going when I saw it.  For example, I remember  Ferris Buellers Day off came out in 1986 because I watched it with fellow camp counselors from Camp Manitoqua and I worked at Camp Manic Toga in the summer of 86.  I remember Ordinary People came out in 1980 because we were reading the book in my sophomore English class and the class took a field trip to go see it.  Dave came out in 1993.  I didn't see it in the theatre so I have no reference point to the year.

The same is true about sports, t.v. and news of that period.  In the 30 years since I've come home from Russia there have been multiple gaps in my shared experiences with others because of the disparity of our 1993s

Don't misunderstand me.  This is not a bad thing,  It's been kind of like found money. On Spotify I am often discovering albums that came out in 1993 or 1994 that I never was aware of and enjoy discovering them 30 years later.

My years in Russia were the best 2 years of my life to that point.  I made lasting friendships, did worthwhile work, and was stretched in many ways.  I may not have been in the U.S. in 1993 but I certainly had found a home.  

60 Years in 60 Days 2013

 

2013: The Beginning of the year of limericks

I turned 49 in the year 2013.  I remember going with my wife and kids to the Cook County forest preserve in Elk Grove where there is actually, wait for it, a grove of elk.  We were hanging out watching elk, climbing trees, and having all kind of birthday fun when an idea came to me.  For the rest of the year, I would write a limerick each day and post it on Facebook for all  to see.  

Eventually the task got a little much for me and I did not write 365 limericks that year, but I wrote well over 200.  While my limericks never quite went viral, I am sure a few of them made a number of  my friends, family and acquaintances sick.

The year of limericks was a bit of a turning point for me in a few ways:

While I have dabbled in poetry along with other kinds of writing and studied poetry while obtaining a degree in English, I never considered myself more than an occasional  poet.  The limerick experimented jump started this part of my writing.

Facebook has become a curator of my limericks.  Thanks to Facebook memories my limericks from 2013-2014 pop up on the anniversary of the day I wrote them.  The November 7th 2013 popped up again today.  It is about knock knock jokes.  

While knock knock who's there jokes are lawful 

A lot of them are just plain awful 

When you knock knock who's there 

You best be aware 

There is such a thing as a doorbell.

60 Years In Sixty Days:1997

 1997: She Said Sure 

1997 was a year of great change for me. I started the year miserable and lonely.  Which is a line from the movie Marty.  But I  had not yet seen the movie Marty, which is a pretty good reason to be miserable, but I had others. 

I was living in a different state than I am now.  A state of  habitual sin.  A state of unfulfilled desire. A state of deep regret.  A state of hopelessness.  I mean South Carolinas not the bad, you can play tennis year round but I wasn't nearly the man I wanted to be and I was doing nothing to change.

A friend sought me out and offered me the hope of real change.  As I started to work through my issues and allow God to change me from the inside out.  I discovered something.  I discovered someone.

I had a friend in a different state.  She was in a state of healing.  A state of awareness.  A state of discovery,  She was changing in Illinois while I was changing in South Carolina.

W e had been friend for going on 7 years.  Everyone else noticed that we were meant for each other.  But we were oblivious.  Why would I date her? I would ask, she's my best friend.  Then one Day I said I should court her, she's my best friend.

She flew down for Spring Break and it was clear that courting was like friendship with help.  By the time Spring Break was over I knew and put an emerald engagement ring on layaway.  

In July I moved back to Illinois with marriage on my mind.   .  When I earned enough to pay for the ring I asked her parent for permission to marry their daughter. They said yes and I made reservations at a fancy restaurant for the proposal.

After Spring Break I had written lyrics for a proposal  and gave it to a friend who had written music for other songs I had written.  About the same time I got the ring paid off,  he sent me the  cassette with the song on it.  I asked a H.S. senior from our youth group to accompany me at a fancy restaurant.  On the big night, he chickened out.  So instead of bringing an accompanist  ala Breaking Away.  I brought in a cassette player ala Say Anything.

I was so nervous.  I could hardly eat dinner.  Because I knew I was going to propose. I turned on the tape player and began to sing:

It's A beautiful night

Your a beautiful girl

I thank God for the day 

That you brightened my world

The song continued and when I ended with the title question Will You Marry Me My Darling?, Amy was unsure of what just happened.

/I had a  habit and still do of showing all my poems, songs and writings to Amy to see if they are any good.  She must have thought that's what I was doing.  

"Is that what you are going to sing when you propose?" She inquired.

"This is me, proposing," I replied.

So she said, sure.

After which, she took out a piece of paper from her purse of all the ways she had known that I was going to propose that night.  It turns out that since I had telegraphed my intentions, that she also was very nervous and didn't eat much of her dinner either.  So our first official act as an engaged couple was to go to Denny's and have another dinner.

We got engaged 26 years ago this month.  We have been through many changes since then but I'll always remember 1997 as the year God changed two people and led them to the path of being one couple.
"

                                             

60 Years in 60 Days: 1977

 1977: The Year I Led The Packers in Sacks

I was not always the physical specimen that blogs before you. In Jr. High, I was a 6'1 stick figure of a kid whose social awkwardness was matched only by his lack of physical coordination. I was in Jr. high in the 70's when bullying was not only not frowned upon but was an elective in many school districts.  I was teased quite a bit for many things but in the Fall of 1977 and 1978 I got teased on Monday's for what someone else did on Sunday.  That someone just happened to share my name.

Football in the 1970's was a pretty big thing. The biggest football rivalry in my area was that of the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers.  In 1977 Walter Payton the Bears running Back was having a breakout year and was voted MVP of the league by the Associated Press. Payton led the Bears to a 9-5 record that year and their first playoff appearance in my lifetime. The Pack went 4-10 but had one player with a familiar name who helped lead the defense.

His name was familiar to me at least, as his name was Dave Roller.  And as Robin  might say Holy John Jacob Jingelheimer Schmidt Batman, that's my name too

.  

When some of my fellow students at Elk Grove Jr. High heard my name on their televisions on Sunday afternoons, they would let me know about it on Mondays.  It was always funny to them how different a professional football player and  a gawky kid could be even if they had the same name.  It wasn't  a big deal but it did become a bit of a ritual in the Falls of 78 and 79.  There were always a couple of kids in my math class who would comment about how well I played the day before. 

In reality Roller played pretty well for the Packers.  He led them in 1977 with 8 sacks was once carried off by the fans after a Packer victory and I believe was one of the first players in the NFL to celebrate after a tackle with a sack dance.  

I have never met the former NFL player who shares a name with me and my father.  In Jr. High it was just one of many things to be teased about.  But when I think about it now, it's cool to share with your name with someone who achieved excellence in their field.  Even if it's just Lambeau Field. 

60 Years In 60 Days: 1987

 1987: The Year I reinvented myself  and remained basically the same.

I graduated high school in 1983 and spent most of the next 4 years living at home.  During that time I volunteered about 30 hours a week with my high school youth group, took some classes at the local junior college (dropping a few, and passing most of the rest),  worked some part time jobs, got my first full time job, and after working there a year tried and failed to go on a 2 year short term missions trip to the Philippines.  

As 1986 came to an end, I decided to reinvent myself.  I decided to head off to college at the same time that most of my friends from high school were finishing college. In the Summer of 1987 I enrolled at Western Illinois University. Western was a 4 1/2 hour drive (a Goldilocksonian distance) from my house.  

I packed all my stuff in my van and took one of many trips to Macomb, Illinois.  It may have been on  that trip  that I wrote my first country song, She Drop Kicked my Heart (In the Football Game of Love).  Parentheses were very important in the music of the eighties.  

Except for one friend from high-school (who switched schools the next year) I didn't know a soul on or off campus.  As Billy Crystal would later say in City Slickers, I was given a do over. 

 \

 

I did well in my two summer classes and quickly began making friends.  As a youth group leader, I would often meet with graduating seniors to talk about growing spiritually on campus.  One of the best ways I suggested to do that was to join a campus ministry.  After high school I had many friends who were involved in Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.  So I decided to join that one.  It was a very small group at that time and I was instantly involved in leadership there. I also got immediately involved in a local church, and started DJing  at the campus radio station, which was a life-long ambition.

So from June to September I managed to become every bit as busy as I was back in the Chicago suburbs, if not busier . And, my undiagnosed ADHD was not a respecter of zip codes, so my lackluster academic career continued to lack luster.  

Following WIU sports was a big part of my campus experience.

Adjustments had to be made along the way, but I survived and thrived in college.   The college adventure ended as it began with me packing up my belongings, but this time traveling not across the  state, not even across the country, but travelling across the globe. A few months after graduation, I utilized the English degree I had struggled to earn while serving a two year term as a missionary in Russia.  In 1986 when I first felt called to the missions field, Russia was not remotely open to most Americans let alone mission minded ones. 

Looking back, 1987 was a year where I began some much needed changes in my life.  In many ways it was my first foray into life on my own.  Many of the experiences I had at WIU shaped who I am now.  But some of those changes didn't start until after I graduated.  Others of those changes didn't start until I got married, or until I became a Dad.  Some changes are still taking place and other changes that I am not even aware of may be just around the bend.

That being true, there is still an awful lot about me that is exactly the same as it was in 1987, making up songs on my way to college life.  For example I still write songs and perform them while alone in my car.  But many of the things true in 1987 and still true today are my character and my compass.  My belief system and my sense of direction is what propelled my trajectory in '87 and still does today.  Although it may be time to admit that Nashville ain't calling any time soon.  

60 Years In 60 Days: 1964

Dick Allen in 1964

 I was born in 1964.  Some people may call that my rookie year, but if you know about baseball you know my birthday on 9/23 was just a late September call up and my Rookie year would be in 1965.

  In a similar fashion, Dick Allen (my first White Sox hero) debuted for the Philadelphia Phillies on 9/3/1963 came back in the spring of 1964 and played his rookie season.  He played all 162  games for the Philadelphia the only Phillie to do that in 1964 and just 1 of 12 in the majors. 

When I was growing up I wanted to be the starting third baseman  for the Chicago White Sox.  In 1964 22 year old Allen was the starting 3rd baseman for Philadelphia. Allen had an amazing season, one of the finest rookie seasons in MLB history. He led all of MLB with 125 runs scored.  His 13 triples were tied for first with Cubs 3rd baseman and fellow hero of my youth, Ron Santo.  He had 201 hits and 29 homeruns (5th overall for both achievements.  

Allen  had many successes but a few bumps in the road that eventually saw him be voted N.L.  Rookie Of the year.  He was an adventure at 3rd base amassing 41 errors at the hot corner.  He also led the national league in strikeouts which is great when your a pitcher but not so good when you have a bat in your hand. Allen struck out 138times  in his rookie year   but still managed  to hit .318 in '64 with a slugging percentage of .557.  

Allen's Phillies spent 135 days in first place that year but lost 10 games in a row from September 21st to the 30th in one of the greatest sports collapses in the 20th century. That most of these 10 losses happened in my first week alive is merely coincidence.  At least I hope it is. 

 Bleacher Report has an excellent article about Allen which talks about how claims that Allen was somehow to blame for the collapse have no basis in fact.  That article can be found  by clicking here.

Dick Allen as I remember him

1964 was a great year to be born and a fine year to play your first full season in the majors.  I discovered Dick Allen for myself in the early 70's and he is one of the main reasons I became a White Sox fan,  

Closing Thoughts: 

The scout that signed Dick Allen to the Phillies also saw Babe Ruth play and said of Allen that he was the only player he had seen that hit harder than Ruth.  

Dick Allen died December 7th 2020 in at the age of 78.

He is considered by many to be the best  baseball player not to be enshrined in Cooperstown.  

60 Years in 60 Days 2016

 As of today there are 60 days left in 2023.  As it turns out, I have lived in 60 years from 1964 to 2023.  I had one of those ideas that generally gives me more stress than it's worth when I try to implement them.  The idea was simply this: Write one thing a day for the next sixty days about one of those years.  

I decided today to write about 2016 to start things off.  While it's true that the Cubs won their World Series that year on this day, that is not why I chose it.  I chose it to write about a friend's father.  My friend's father died 7 years ago on November 2, 2016.  His obituary appears here.  

I never met Dick Ciccone. I have only known his son  Rich since the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year when I spent the fall semester as a  long term sub at the same middle school Rich was starting at.  Besides teaching the same type of classes, we found that we had some things in common like having fathers who went to Notre Dame at the same time. Also, Rich could relate to the struggles I was experiencing helping my parents with difficult health issues as he had been through that already with his parents.  

This year I'm back at the school as a building sub and Rich and I have renewed our friendship.  He requests me to teach his classes  when he has compliance days or IEP meetings and I gladly do it as several of his 8th grade students were in my 7th grade class last year.  He lets me use his classroom as kind of a home base when I am not subbing in other classes and  I enjoy working with him and his students any chance I get.

Last month I watched a movie called Continental Divide.  I hadn't seen it for a while.  It features John Belushi playing a Chicago Newspaper columnist based on Mike Royko.  Mike Royko was one of my heroes growing up.  I started reading his columns in the Chicago Sun Times and then in the Chicago Tribune.  After watching the film I decided to see if I could find a biography about Royko. 

I was at school and the teacher I was subbing for had an off period, so  I was researching Mike Royko biographies.  I soon found out that one of the definitive biographies about Royko had been written by a F. Richard Ciccone who I recognized to be Rich's dad.  I popped into Rich's room and he reminded me that his Dad had been the managing editor of the Tribune when  Royko moved there  from the Sun Times.

I was already reading  a few books so I waited until I finished some of them before requesting  Royko: A  Life In Print by F. Richard Ciccone from my local library. It came yesterday and I told Rich  about how I wad going to pick it up after school while he was preparing me for his classes that I'd be doing for him while he was in an IEP meeting.  He didn't seem as thrilled about it as when we had talked about it last month.  I remember asking him if it was difficult to talk about his dad back in October as I was gushing about Royko and he assured me it was fine, so I really didn't understand his reaction and attributed it to just being distracted by the impending IEP meeting prep.  

I got the book yesterday and it is amazing. In the introduction and the first two chapters, the elder Ciccone immerses us in the world of Royko, also sharing that Mike Royko wasn't the only Tribune employee who could craft mesmerizing prose.  I attempted to tell that to Rich today and I immediately sensed the same expression I had noticed the day before.

That is when Rich told me that today was the 7th anniversary of his father's death.  He shared how difficult it can be as so many people view today with such positive memories.  I remember being at Rosati's around the corner from our old house 7 years ago and going crazy as the Cubs won the World Series. 

This is why I chose 2016. It reminds me that one person's best memories can trigger another person's worst. When I was in college there was a restaurant called The Sports Page and true to their name they had several framed front pages on their walls celebrating great sports achievements of the time.  One such front page celebrated the Bears winning the Super Bowl on January 26, 1986.  In another spot of the   front page there was an article about the upcoming space shuttle flight for teacher Christa McAuliffe.  Two days after the Bears won their Super Bowl The Space Shuttle Challenge exploded less than 90 seconds into its flight.

Every year I have lived so far houses someone's most amazing achievement and someone else's  biggest regret.  This of course is an understatement.  We can certainly say the same thing about each day I have lived. It is difficult to be on the lookout for both, but can so be beneficial. The book of Proverbs reminds  us that,  "A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for a time of adversity." (Proverbs 17:17 NIV). .With this in mind, we should always be on the lookout for opportunities to help our friends rejoice, grieve or even just remember over important moments in their past.  

  

Randy stonehill Keith Green story

Keith Green would have turned 70 today. Here's a clip of Randy Stonehill talking about the behind the scenes story of the classic tune Your Love Broke Through.

Braves vs. Phillies WILD Ending to Game 2 of NLDS | 2023 MLB Postseason

Dave Out Loud: Baby Humor from the 1930’s

Jesse White Tumblers @ Elgin 4th of July Parade

I went to the Elgin 4th of July Parade and took this footage of the Jesse White Tumblers. Jesse White started the tumbling team in 1959 as an  positive activity for youth.  I first saw the tumblers when they performed at Taste Of Chicago in the mid 80's and have seen them at least 20 times over the years. Jesse White served  as an elected official in the state of Illinois from 1975 to earlier this year when his  final term as Illinois Secretary of State came to an end.