Dick Allen's Famous Chili Dog Game

Today is the 53rd anniversary Dick Allen's Chili Dog Home Run.  

This is also the first year we can watch this video without wondering when Dick will finally make it into the Hall of Fame. 

This video pays tribute to a day famous in White Sox lore.  

 

Breakfast Serials: Marty Television Presentation 1953 Part 1

On April 11th 1955, The Film Marty premiered. It would go on to be nominated for 8 Academy Awards and win 4 Best Film. Best Director: Delbert Mann, Best Actor: Ernest Borgnine and Best Screenplay: Paddy Chayefsky.  

Chayefsky's screenplay was adapted from a television play  he wrote which was performed live in The Philco Television Hour in 1953.  Each Tuesday in June at 6:30 A.M. central I will be posting a section from the television program with some fun facts at the end.  Since I am showing these in serialized fashion, and showing them in the a.m., I am calling them Breakfast Serials.

Marty 1953 Part I

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Fun Fact:  Esther Minciotti, Joe Mantell, and Augusta Ciolli  who played The respective parts of Marty's Mom ,best friend, and Aunt  all reprised these roles in the 1955 film.  Mantell was nominated for best supporting actor Oscar but did not win.   

Join us next week for another installment of Marty.  

UKRAINE | ALLEN LEVI

Rock Musicians keep dreaming until Jesus Rocks their world.

Introduction: Vladimir Lebedev is one of my favorite people in the world.  I have thought this about him almost since I met him in Khabarovsk, Russia in December of 1992. Vladimir has has worn many hats in the time I've known him. chauffeur, itinerant musician, soldier, interpreter, pastor, international student, father, husband, missionary but with every hat he's always tried to adorn himself with humility, wisdom, grace, and a desire to show God to others.

To that end, I was delighted, but not surprised, when Vladimir  shared some thoughts on musicians using their platforms on his Facebook page earlier this week.  I am sharing them here with links to some of the songs that he referenced. I'll add some of my thoughts about his musical musings at the end.

Rock musicians keep dreaming. Good intentions. Strong lyrics. Terrific music. Is there a solution to the world’s evils? Can humanity come together to live in peace? Can we stop hypocrisy and greed in the governments to bring wars to an end? Can we finally start caring for one another instead of looking for reasons to separate and hate? 

 Long ago, John Lennon with his “Imagine.” Freddy Mercury of Queen with his “Show must go on.” Ozzy (Osbourne) with his “Dreamer.” Russian rockers of various types Zemlyane, Kruiz, and Aria with their “songs for peace.” And more recently Udo Dirkschneider with his soul-shattering “One Heart, One Soul.”

This indeed is a passionate call for common sense, for something every human soul feels deep within.  But where is it really taking us? Is there something missing in this search? Is it not crying out into a void? It is impossible to, in the words of Bono from U2, "find what we are looking for" without turning to our Creator and Savior who revealed himself to humanity in the person of Jesus the Christ. He has everything that our whole beings are craving for.

Maybe Blacky Lawless of WASP is right when he sings:

Jesus, I need you now

Show me, I'm lost somehow ...

Is there no hope for me?

Oh, somewhere you'll show for me?

Ooh, Lord remember me, take me up tonight

(Golgotha, 2015)

Imagine by John Lennon

The Show Must Go On - Queen (Lyrics Video)

Dreamer by Ozzy Osbourne

[Verse 1] Gazing through the window at the world outside Wondering will mother earth survive Hoping that mankind will stop abusing her sometime After all, there's only just the two of us And here we are still fighting for our lives Watching all of history repeat itself time after time [Chorus] I'm just a dreamer I dream my life away I'm just a dreamer Who dreams of better days [Verse 2] I watch the sun go down like everyone of us I'm hoping that the dawn will bring a sign A better place for those who will come after us this time [Chorus] I'm just a dreamer I dream my life away, oh yeah I'm just a dreamer Who dreams of better days This indeed is a passionate call for common sense, for something every human soul feels deep within. But where is it really taking us? Is there something missing in this search? Is it not crying out into a void? It is impossible to “find what we are looking for” (in the words of Bono of U2) without turning to our Creator and Savior who revealed himself to humanity in the person of Jesus the Christ. He has everything that our whole beings are craving for. Maybe Blacky Lawless of WASP is right when he sings: Jesus, I need you now Show me, I'm lost somehow . . . Is there no hope for me? Oh, somewhere you'll show for me? Oh, I'm holding on, believing there's a reason I can find Ooh, Lord remember me, take me up tonight (Golgotha, 2015) Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Sing 2

Zemlyane: The Grass Besides Our Home

English Lyrics

Earth in the viewport,

 Earth in the viewport,

 Earth in the viewport that I see…

 

 Like a son missing his mother,

 Like a son missing his mother, 

We miss our Earth - we have but one… \

But the stars nevertheless, 

But the stars nevertheless,

 Draw closer, though they’re still as cold as ever… 

 And like at the hour of eclipse, 

And like at the hour of eclipse, 

We wait for light and see our earthly dreams… 

 And we dream not of thunder at the cosmodrome, 

Not of the ice-cold blue of the sky -

 But we dream of grass - the grass beside our house 

Green, green grass… — 

 And we fly our orbits,

 Unbeaten paths - 

 Lifetimes like meteors in the vastness…

 Courage and risk were justified, 

For the music of space 

Floats into our matter-of-fact talk… 

 In some opaque haze 

Earth in the viewport - 

An early evening-time twilight… 

 But the son misses his mother 

But the son misses his mother - 

The mother waits for her son, as the earth awaits her children…

 And we dream not of thunder at the cosmodrome, 

Not of the ice-cold blue of the sky - 

But we dream of grass - the grass beside our house 

Green, green grass…

 

Dave's Thoughts: I really appreciated Vladimir's take on this,  I think it's especially important to note that trying to fix a  broken world is a universal pursuit. It is not just an American past time. In the 1970's there were many popular songs that I would call searching songs.  Songs like Desperado by the Eagles and Dust In the Wind by Kansas.  In the late 70's early 80's the years of my spiritual formation many people would use these songs in the same way Paul used the statues on Mar's Hill, as a way to pointing to the truth of Jesus. Vladimir is essentially doing similar work in his comments here.  

Stand-Up and Win - SNL

I'm not sure how I missed this Saturday Night Sketch, when it first came out, but it is comedy gold!

Team Saturdazzle: The One With Roasted Hope and the zest of Lemon

Yesterday I posted Ronald Reagan's commencement address from Eureka College when He was President of the Unite States. . Today, I have footage of him while Governor of California performing at a celebrity roast for Bob Hope.

 

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 Headline of the week: 

 A Pope Who Ministers to the Suffering? Yup, He's A White Sox Fan.

New York Times 5/10/2025

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My Brother texted me during the coverage of the announcement of the new pope that one of my childhood White Sox heroes, Chet Lemon had passed away.  Now, that Dick Allen has been elected to the Hall of Fame, Lemon is one of the best White Sox players to not make it to Cooperstown.  A 3 time all star,  and a World Series  champion with the 1984 Tigers.  Lemon was aggressive at the plate, on the base paths, and patrolling center field.  In the time he played in the MLB between 1975 and 1990 he was 2nd in being hit by a pitch.  He holds the American League single season record for most put outs as a centerfielder (509 in 1997) when he was with the White Sox.

Some of Lemon's leatherwork is in display when he was on the Baseball Bunch T.V. show.  In the episode he works with young players on how to run down a ball and be aware of the fence.  

 

Footage of Lemon's famous catch in game 3 of the 1984 World Series.  

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That's all the Saturdazzle I have for today, Hope to be back next week with more.  

Eureka College Commencement Address: President Reagan's Commencement Add...

I shared a clip from this speech last year. I thought it would be interesting to share the speech on it's 43rd anniversary, the year that the average Eureka grad is reaching retirement age.

 

When Corona Is Gone (Original Song)

Around 5 years ago Allen Levi shared this song on you tube. It was April 27th 2020.  We were about  6 weeks into Co-vid lockdown and Allen shared this song from his porch.  I meant to share it last Sunday which was the 5 year anniversary of it's release.  I was just at the end of catching up in the A to Z challenge and finishing the last week up.  Now that the song is 5 years and a week old I'm sure it will resonate just a little differently than it would have last week at 5 ...

      

Y is for Yankovic Enthusiast

 

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is Y so let's get right to it shall we?

 A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreciator

J was for Jester

K was  for Kindergarten Clear

L was for Library Lover

M is for Muppet Man

N was for Narnian

O was for Optimist

P was for Poet

Q is for Quintessential Worker

R was for R.I.T.A. Republican In Theory Anyway

S was for Stonehill Fan

T was for Teacher

U was for U of I Parent

V was for Voracious Reader?

 

W was for White Sox Fan

X was for Xenophile

Y is for Yankovic Enthusiast

Way back on April Fool's day when I was posting about my being an amateur parodist I mentioned a little about Weird Al and his influence on me.  Today I will be sharing 10 videos of some of my favorite Yankovic songs.  They range from his national T.V. debut on the Tomorrow show to a video my friend Patrick (a hardcoreYankophile) recorded to  concert footage from Amsterdam.  

Some of these may not be among my top 10 favorite Yankovic songs which is one of the reasons why I am not numbering them or ranking them. 

Word Crimes

Ebay

Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota

Another One Rides The Bus

Ode To A Superhero

Hamilton Polka

Don't Download This Song

It's Still Billy Joel To Me

Yoda

The Saga Begins

That's all I have for my penultimate entry in the ABC's of me.

To get to the A to Z Challenge webpage click here.  

To see the A to Z Master List click here.  

Coming up: Dave's taking us to the zoo tomorrow.

M is for Muppet Man

 My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day. 

It's time for some  A to Z catch-up. , I am currently 2 posts behind.  The next letter is  M so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreciator

J was for Jester

K was  for Kindergarten Clear

L was for Library Lover

M is for Muppet Man

A Quote To Start Things Off

I only like movies about real things, like the Muppets.  - Amy Roller

To say I grew up on the Muppets is  not really too much of an exaggeration.  I remember watching the first episode of the show when I was in Kindergarten and introduced to Muppets like Oscar the Grouch, Grover, Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, and a reporter by the name of Kermit The Frog.  The Muppet Show started when I began Jr. High and the Muppet Movie came out the summer before I started High School.  My grandmother took us to see it and it changed my life.

Amy had a similar epiphany with The Muppet movie and even had a stuffed animal Kermit which not only attended our wedding, but sat on the piano for all to see.

The day before our first daughter was born we went and saw the movie Muppets from Space.  Not a great movie, but just another example of how I can measure my life by the Muppets.  I don't really have much more to add so I'm just going to put this music video of Man or Muppet  on to end our time together. 

Click on the various words to get to the various places.

A to Z Challenge Home Page

A to Z Challenge Page for the letter M

A to Z Challenge Master List

Coming Up: Narnia (I'm not lion)

J is for Jester

 My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day. 

It's time for some  A to Z catch-up. , I am currently 4 posts behind.  The next letter is  J so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreicator

J is for Jester

I will use any excuse to play a scene from the classic Danny Kaye film the Court Jester.  

I used to describe myself as a court jester in the wrong century.  When you think about it a  jester is just an indivdualized comic.  

I like bringing my sense of humor to every occasion. I grew up watching the likes of Buddy Sorrell, Hawkeye Pierce, and Ralph Malph ( from the Dick Van Dyke Show, M*A*S*H, & Happy Days respectively.)  They were all great quipsters but they had a writing staff.   Just like I do my own stunts, I write, steal, or borrow my own material.  

One if the perks of being a substitute teacher is you don't get annual reviews.  Maybe this is different in other districts, and maybe some people don't consider this a perk, but one thing I do miss from annual reviews was when my bosses would write how funny I was.  I know that this is probably what they  write when they don't have anything else substantive to say but  reading that I had a good sense of humor was almost as important to me as my annual pay increase.   

At many of my jobs I have the opportunity to improvise and improve bits of comedy.  For example as a concessionist at a local movie theatre I do many of the same things multiple times a day like showing customers the sizes of our  drink cups. Many folks marvel at the size of our large cup so I told one customer that it was the only cup I knew that came with a diving board.  The next time a customer came in I changed diving board to life guard and that joke is the one I use now.   

Some of my jesting falls into the categories of timely quips based on the situation.  Others have me using the same joke over and over to different audiences.  The only cup with a diving board started as the former and is now the latter. One of my favorite types of jokes are the kind that seem like a statement and you don't realize there a joke it's too late.  A dated example of this is when people might be talking about a recording artist and I might say I have all their albums.  Then after a beat, I would say, "They  called me the other day, they want them back. ".   Since albums are not what they used to be I  don't make that joke a lot anymore.  A similar joke to that is when I see some one with any type of Notre Dame gear, I may tell them that my Dad and sister went there, and then quickly add in, "that's how they met.".  

Being a jester isn't all about jokes it's also about general merriment,  tricks, and enthusiasm.  When my son and I went to Joplin, Missouri to help provide tornado relief. We went in early August when the temperature could get over  100 degrees.  I would encourage everyone to drink water and make sure they had a water bottle.  Then I would say I was the hydration specialist and then add in the words "self appointed." At one point, our bus was having a little mechanical trouble and we had to make a quick stop.  I went to one of the teenagers and gave her a water bottle and said I was the hydration specialist.  Before I could say anything else she added in "self appointed." That's the kind of impact I  like to have. 

Here is an example of the kind of  tricks I am talking about from a video I used in my vlog a few years ago:

  

Two aspects of my Jester personality that I bring to the blog are limericks, which I featured at the challenge 2 years ago and parodies which started this years challenge.

I know I jest got started, but I should probably let you get back to the challenge and get back to catching up.  To find more A to Z challenge entries click here.  To get back to the A to Z challenge blog click here.

What's Next: Kindergarten Clear

Team Saturdazzle: The One Without the Kool Aid

 

Hello, those dropping by from the A to Z challenge and welcome to Team Saturdazzle! 

Team Saturdazzle is the best thing on the internet that no one has ever heard of.  It's one of those super cool, super hip things that needs no explanation.  

Okay here's a small explanation; Team Saturdazzle occurs each Saturday at Leap of Dave and is a Potpourri of randomness and merriment.  Team Saturdazzle began when I led a work group chat at a previous job on our Saturday shift.  I called the chat, wait for it, Team Saturdazzle.

This year I have titled all the Team Saturdazzle posts with titles that look like they are episodes of the T.V. Show Friends.  That's why this post is called The one Without The Kool Aid.  

So for the Saturday's of the challenge I will have my A to Z post as the first part of the Team Saturdazzle post.    

Before I start I want to share that during the A to Z challenge my  Weekly Writer's Workshop submissions will appear as a segment in Team Saturdazzle or as part of my daily A to Z challenge response.

Here are this week’s prompts: 

1.Write a post based on the word roommates. 

2. Write a post in exactly 12 sentences (lines). 

3. What’s something that makes you far angrier than it should? 

4. Write about something you’ve recently spent a lot of time wondering about.

5.  If you could change the color of one thing, what would it be and why? 

6. If you knew you could live forever, how would you spend your days differently?   

 

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is E so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich 

E is for Evangelical Sans The Trump Kool-Aid

A Quote To Start Things Off ...

As a Christian I believe that the only thing I deserve is an eternity without God as a result of my own sins. I also believe that my salvation comes from God through Christ and is taught in the Bible. Nothing else is needed. When evangelicals defend unchristian behavior because they like the politics behind it they are not showing an understanding of Christ's redemptive love to a watching world.

Dave Roller - The Politics of Christianity 7/1/2020 Random Acts of Daveness  Word Press Blog

Yes, I am quoting myself.  I will be making many of the points today that  I have made multiple times on this and other platforms.  Since it is the ABC's of me, and I am, in fact,  me.  I will be quoting myself whenever possible.  All quotes unless otherwise noted are from the post The Politics of Christianity  which there is a link for in the paragraph above this one. 

John Holton of The Sound of One Hand Typing  put out his prompt list earlier this week for his Writer's Workshop segment. I chose #4: Write about something that you recently spent a lot of time thinking about.  I've been ruminating about this topic for many many years and that includes recently.  It is one of those things that makes me go" Hmmmm?".

I consider myself an evangelical Christian. This is how Wikipedia defines Evangelicalism:

Evangelicalism (/ˌiːvænˈdʒɛlɪkəlɪzəm, ˌɛvæn-, -ən/), evangelical Christianity, or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, trans-denominational movement within Protestant Christianity that maintains the belief that the essence of the Gospel consists of the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, solely through faith in Jesus's atonement.^] Evangelicals believe in the centrality of the conversion or "born again" experience in receiving salvation, in the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity, and in spreading the Christian message.

Wikipedia

 I know I wrote more experientially and anecdotally when I wrote about being a Christian on my C post.  However if I were to take an academic or explanatory approach it would match pretty close to Wikipedia's entry above.  The Wikipedia entry is very similar to the 5 Solas (Latin for alone) the tenet's of the protestant reformation.

They are Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone, Glory of God Alone, and Scripture Alone.  Evangelicals, in a nutshell, believe in those 5 points and spreading that message as a regular practice of their faith. -

Why is the church getting engaged to the republican party when we are supposed to be the Bride of Christ? - Dave Roller TPOC

The problem of putting something in a nutshell, is that there is usually a nut or two alongside. (That is definitely a future quote from me.)  Among American evangelicals these days there seems to be many who are nutty about Making America Great Again.  It's as if there was a 6th sola, America alone (Sola America) and since 2016 a 7th Sola : Trump Alone (Sola Donalda) 

It wasn't always this way.  Back in the 1980's and 1990's  I knew  evangelical Christians who were Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and some even who were fans of the Green Bay Packers. aka Packertarians. Back then Donald Trump was not necessarily someone you would equate with evangelicalism of any stripe.  

A  letter to the editor in a suburban Chicago newspaper, The Daily Herald  regarding Muslim reaction to Trumps proposed Taj Mahal casino had this to say about Trump:

Donald Trump's very name has become synonymous with conspicuous consumption, greed and arrogance.  He is now linking himself with gambling more and more.  A Reaction To Trump, Daily Herald April 27th 1990

The author  did not identify himself as an evangelical in the letter, however, since I was the author of the letter, I can assure you that I was an evangelical at the time , and still am (sans the Trump Kool-Aid).

Billy Graham, who I will refer to for the rest of this piece, as EFE (Everybody's Favorite Evangelical) had this to say about gambling: 

“Gambling is nowhere approved in the Bible. Instead, the Bible stresses that the Christian should earn his living by honest work and effort, and this would exclude relying on chance (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12). The Bible tells us to ‘abstain from all appearance of evil’ (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Gambling has often done untold evil to people by making them lose money that could be used for good purposes or even the necessities of life. Money is given to us by God to be used for good, not evil. Anyone seeking to do God’s will should not be involved in gambling.” Billy Graham - My Answer Column quoted in Gospel Herald Article 1/26/17

Trump still profits from his previously owned  casino resorts.  The AP reported this past Tuesday that Trump has an agreement with Bally's that if they build a casino on the former Trump Links that Bally purchased in 2023 that they will pay him 115 Million dollars.  It is just one of many instances where it makes it hard for me to understand the relationship between Trump and Evangelicals.

Michael J. Kruger wrote an excellent article at his website canon fodder entitled "How the 5 solas do more than respond to Catholicism".  Kruger breaks down each sola,  saying what it fights against.    Kruger says that Soli Deo Gloria (For God's glory alone) is about "letting go of our glory, and living for God's glory." He concludes that Soli Deo Gloria fights against pride. 

If that's the case, MAGA doesn't make sense coming from the mouth of an Evangelical. Making America great again and  all our energies on being a proud American sound like what people who need Christ may be looking for Glory but not the evangelicals dedicated to sharing that Christ.  The Wikipedia definition calls evangelicalism a world wide movement.  If that's the case, wouldn't  the aims of evangelicals be more global, if not other worldly, than national? 

In my post, The politics of Christianity I explain how I have both a passion for political involvement and also a passion to shower the world with the love of Christ. I then say:

 If I had to choose between passions I hope I’d choose the passion mandated in the Bible. Jesus states this passion very succinctly in the book of John ...

¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:12-13

Or in the words of EFE:

“I’m trying to stay out of it and just keep preaching the gospel, because there’s nothing coming out of Washington or any of those places that are going to save the world or transform men and women. It’s Christ,” Billy Graham 1987 – quoted in What Billy Graham taught us about a healthy relationship between religion and politics – Deseret News 2/21/2018 also quoted in TPOC

The point I hope I am making is that evangelicalism has nothing to do with Trump.  This doesn't mean that evangelicals should have nothing to do with him.   Evangelicals carry the good news of Jesus Christ and that message is vital and has eternal consequences.  It is a message worth sharing to presidents, felons, adulterers, poor losers, and instigators of riots.  Evangelicals can and should vote in their countries elections, but that doesn't mean they need to drink the Kool-Aid.  

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Team Saturdazzle At The Movies

Powered By Box Office Mojo

Top 10 Films 

 top 10 Films of 2025 as of 3/31/2005 

 10. Paddington In Peru   

9. A Complete Unknown Down 1 from February 

8. Nosferatu down 2 from February  

7. One of These Days  

6. Moana 2 down 1 from February 

5 Snow White  

4. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 down 1 from February 

3. Dog Man up 1 from January 

2. Mufasa The Lion King  

1. Captain America: Brave New World 

 Top 10 Films of March 2025

  10. Dog Man down 8 from Debruary 

9. A Working Man 

8. Paddington in Peru down 4 from February

7. Last Breath Up 13 from February

6. Black Bag

5. Novocaine

4. The Monkey up 2 from February

3. Mickey 17 

2. Captain America: Brave New World down 1 from February

1. Snow White

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I just love this standup routine from Nate Bargatze from the first time he hosted Saturday Night Live.  The first few minutes are pretty good but it's the last 5 to 6 that just about kill me.  So funny.  

I may have broke AI

While I was researching and writing my A to Z post for today,  I searched for how the 5 Solas would be translated in other languages.  This was for a point I decided not to make.  I looked it up in  Spanish, Russian and Greek.  Each time Googles AI gave me an overview with the 5 Solas and what they would be called in that language and then I could further search the links below that.  Being the totally Saturdazalous person that I am I decided to see how the Solas might look in Klingon.  AI went to work but after 30 seconds it was still thinking and I decided that maybe I should back out before anything really bad happened.  

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That's about all I have for Team Saturdazzle today.  Thanks for stopping by either  from The Sound of One Hand Typing or the ABC Challenge.  For More Writer's Workshop click here.  To get back to the A to Z Challenge website click here.  To go back directly to the A to Z Challenge Master List click here.  Otherwise leave a message at the tone and  I'll call you back at my earliest convenience.

Beeeeep!

 

A is for Amateur Parodist

 

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is A so let's get right to it shall we?

A is for Amateur Parodist

I love parodies and I came by it honestly.  My family listened to a lot of Allan Sherman  records when we were growing up.  Allan's most famous song A Letter From Camp (Hello Madda Hello Fadda) but I grew up hearing so many more of them.  Here is one I just discovered today to the tune of Moon River it's called Chopped Liver. 

In addition to being exposed to one of the worlds greatest parodists at an early age.  My folks also wrote and published their own song parodies.  Each year they would write their annual Christmas letter to the tune of a different Christmas song.

They produces such classic lines as

Good old Wenceslaus looked out from his Window Sill (Ledge)

Then he looked all about and saw Elk Grove Village

The parodies would tell the story of my parents year and what happened to all of us during the course of it.  These parodies went on for at least 40 years and began including grandkids and Christmas songs that no one ever hear of.

My sister Kathy was the first of two girls born to my parents over the course pf 11 years. I was the first of 3 boys born to my parents over the course of 6 years.  The boys of course came in between the girls setting up this parody of Hark The Hearald Angels Sing in 1974.

Then we were not six but seven

January 27th 

On that day in early morn

Bonnie Eileen at last was born

She is Kathy's pride and joy

Specially because she's not a boy.

These influences and being exposed to Weird Al Yankovic singing gems like He's still Billy Joel to me on Dr, Demento put me on the  prestigious path to parody.  (Not the annoying, alley of alliteration.  That's all me.)

  

 

The first parody I remember writing down was a parody to the Steve Miller Band 1982 song Abra Cadabra about a guy who worked at  a morgue called average cadaver .  I kept the lyrics for awhile but soon lost them.  A few years later I saw Svengoolie singing a parody of  Abra Cadabra also about a cadaver,  That's the problem with parodies, if you can put new lyrics on somebody else's song you can't complain when someone else does.  While looking for the Svengoolie parody on you tube I found an obligatory co-vid parody of Abracadbra that has to do with pasta rather than cadavers.

.

Over the years I have had occasion to write multiple parodies.  Some I've written for people moving away.  Some just for fun.  The 3 that follow all were written for ir previously published in this blog.

When I returned to the A to Z  challenge in 2019 my first theme was the music of the Sherman Brothers.  Their music has a special place in my heart.  It's no surprise that I've tweaked their lyrics from time to time.  Like when I wrote this paean to t-shirts.  

 The most wonderful thing about t-shirts 

 Is t-shirts are quite fun to wear 

They're great to roll up your sleeves in 

They help you let down your hair 

They're cool, they're stylish, some think they're childish and while I will not bicker 

the most wonderful thing about t-shirts is they're frontwards bumper stickers! 

 

There are a few go-to songs  that I like to parody.  Hakuna Matata from Lion King and Desperado by the Eagles top that list.  If the syllables of your name scan with Hakuna Matata there is a reasonable 

I just made one up now:

Olympia Dukakis

What a wonderful dame

Olympia Dukakis

Has a star on the  Walk of Fame

She was all the rage

From her great work on stage

Olympia Dukakis

For scanning purposes O-limp-eee-ah is shortened to O-limp-ya

 2 years ago in the A to Z challenge when I spent a Month at the Movies, I wrote about my my favorite western in S is for Silverado

While posting it on my FB page I did a quick Desperado parody:

Silverado, you are in my top eleven. 

You star two great Kevin’s 

Plus one Glenn, and one Glover 

You’re a western 

But so much more than your genre 

Which is why I’m so fond a 

This joy I’ve discovered. 

In 2011 when celebrating my 500th post on this blog.  I wrote a parody to the tune of the Proclaimers I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles).  

I Just Blogged (500 Times) 

 When I wake up, yeah, you know I'm gonna blog 

I'm gonna blog about playin' puppy on the floor. 

When I go out, well you know I'm gonna blog 

I'm gonna blog about a field trip to the store. 

 If it's Christmas, yes you know I'm gonna blog

 I'm gonna blog about how much we like to bowl. 

And if it's Easter, yes you know I'm gonna blog. 

That it's not a little rabbit that makes us whole. 

 I just blogged 500 times 

And I might blog 500 more 

To blog and ask what you guys do 

With children screaming on your floor. 

 When I'm teaching, yes you know I'm gonna blog 

About something good that Bunny or Spider did. 

And when puppysims come 

I'm gonna post 'em here. She's really quite a kid. 

 When we travel. yeah, you know I'm gonna blog 

Whether close to home or Washington D.C. 

And when we get back you know 

I'm gonna blog with words, pics and videos for all to see. 

 I just blogged 500 times 

And I might post 500 more 

Just to be the guy whose 1000 posts 

Will make you laugh but never snore. 

 When I'm fed up, yeah you know 

I'm gonna blog I'm gonna blog 'bout how my family drives me mad

 But when I think straight yeah you know I'm gonna blog

 I'm gonna blog about the super times  we've had. 

 I just blogged 500 times 

And I might tweet 500 more 

Just to be the guy whose posts and tweets 

reveal the passion at his core.

That about does it for my adventures as an amateur parodist.  

I just have one more thing to add.   Allan Sherman and Al Yankovic were both at one point my favorite parodists and I was a distant third.  My daughter Lucy FKA Puppy FKA Wolfina has not only surpassed me as a parodist but I believe she could surpass  Sherman and Yankovic   in a tussle for the the top spot.  My favorite of hers is when she does the preamble to the constitution to the tune of Momma Mia. 

We do a lot of collaborating and were having fun last week when she was home on Spring Break just making parodies of songs based on my maintenance medications.  They were just a line here, a line there like singing Triamtene to hail to the Chief.  

When we were done, I kept on reimagining one until I was telling the story of a man who was singing the praises of his blood pressure medicine but kept on obsessing instead about the Trump Presidency.

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you

Amlodipine 

sung to the tune of Yesterday

Amlodipine, My BP's as low as it's ever been

Trump's not nice, He's kind of mean

Oh I digress Amlodipine

My BP fluctuates by White House residency

And Now a new Trump Presidency 

Amlodipine I'm needing thee

Why'd he run again

That is not what felons do

Then he won again

I cannot believe it's true ooh ooh ooh

Amlodipine

There's more pressure than I've ever seen

So until he gets impeached again

I will need Amlodipine

Amlodipine

I don't want to start a scene

I'm as blue as Elon's cars are green

I'm going to need amlodipine

Can't even read a MAGAzine

I will need amlodipine. 

 

To get back tot he A to Z challenge click here.

Comping Up: B is for Blogger

Baby Yoda and The Music Sub

 Midweek Music Break

I said that I would try to get in one more midweek music break before the A - Z challenge starts next month.  This is not what I thought I'd be writing about but I'll have to get to those after the challenge.

Today I started my last regular sub-assignment for the school year.  The reason why is that I begin a long term assignment the Monday I get back from Spring Break that goes through the end of the year.  I popped into Amy's first school in the district today for a 2 day music teacher position.  Music classes on our elementary level are part of specials and the student gets 2 30 minute music classes each week.  Today I am teach 10 1/2 hour classes and tomorrow I teach 9.  At leaast 1/2 of each class the students were given a choice board.  which means that on the class smart board are 10-12 choices of short music videos.  Each class so far that has had a choice board has chosen this song as one of their selections:

All the grades K-5 love this song. I absolutely love this song but had forgotten all about it.  Once I heard it I knew what the Mid Week Music Break would  be. I have more students coming in in ten minutes so I should probably go.  

Equal Groups Multiplication Song | Repeated Addition Using Arrays

Not counting the charter school there are 27 schools in the district where I substitute teach. I have subbed in 26 of them. However in the past 11 quarters I have only subbed at 2 of them This is because In the last 9 quarters I have been a building sub, meaning I go to the same school each day and sub at whatever opening is available.

Prior to that I did long term subbing for a semester at one of the schools where I would eventually become a building sub.  This quarter is going to be different.  I am taking a long term position at the first school I ever did long term from when school starts  after Spring Break until the end of the year.

For the next few weeks I'm just going from school to school in the district and working in whatever building needs a sub that day.  My last building  was a middle school and I am going to be in elementary schools for the rest of the year.  In the few days I've been back in elementary I've been getting used to short educational videos that are so prevalent in elementary classrooms especially in the special ed classes that I prefer to work at. 

On Monday we showed this video to our students at the beginning of math.  I decided to share it here. 

 

It's not exactly School House Rock but I liked it.  

Team Saturdazzle: The One Where I pull something from my draft status and then go from there

I have been trying to clean out my draft staus which is where posts I start but don't finish end up or where I put you tube videos just in case I may want to put them on the blog someday. So today when my first Idea for Team Saturdazzle seemed a little too cumbersome to finish on time. I decided to look through some of the videos that I had in draft status. When my son was in F.L.L. FIRST Lego League he participted in a scrimmage table where different robotics teams would get together to practice together at the same facility. One of the tenets of FIRST Robotics is gracious professionalism, so even though these teams would soon compete against each other in competition. This was an opportunity for them to practice and learn from each other. I took some footage of the event and put some of it on my vlog probably 10 years ago or more. I don't think this particular video made the cut but I'm glad to show it today.

 

One thing I specifically remember from the event that it was in a building that my Orthodontist had been in years before and that the building had one of those old fashioned elevators complete with an elevator operator. Watching that video reminded me of a movie that is currently playing at the theatre I work at. It is called rule breakers based on a true story of Afghanistan girls competing in a FIRST Robotics competition.  

 I like to consider myself the king of the segue but even I wasn't sure how to go from two segments on robotics to talking about Bob Bennet Weekly Live but I'm going to try:

From FIRST to First Things First

The 5 years anniversary of Co-Vid 19 shutting down life as we knew it at least for a time kind of came and went, in my opinion, without much to do.  5 years ago on  Friday, March 13th was my last day working as a substitute teacher until September of 2022, and Saturday March 14th 2020 was my last day working at the movie theatre until a year later.  Two weeks later I was stocking shelves overnight at a grocery store, which I did for a year.  People in many lines of work had to be flexible at this time.

Bob Bennett, one of my favorite singers began on his 65th birthday March 21st of 2020  a series of weekly on-line interactive concerts called originally enough Bob Bennett Weekly Live.  Tonight he finished his 5th year of such concerts.  He streams these concerts replete with a virtual tip jar each week and on both You-Tube and Facebook.  

My wife and I listened in while we were playing cribbage, and gin rummy and Bob even gave Amy a shout out during the concert.  Tonight's concert featured many songs mostly made by request from Bennett's first album First Things First (1979) I also made a Spotify playlist that features the songs Bennett played tonight including multiple renditions of a few of the songs.  

 Finally tonight I'd like to end with a clip from Saturday Night Live from 1979 with Jimmy Fallon and Jerry Seinfelld both performing as Jerry Seinfeld

 

Team Saturdazzle: The One With The Return of Bisquick Man

Welcome to Saturdazzle. Today we have Some Superheroes that begin with B, baseball for the blind, and The best selling movies of February.

   

This video has been sitting in my draft status for some time now.  I thought with baseball being in spring training, this would be a great time to show it.

Team Saturdazzle At The Movie

Powered by Box Office Mojo

Top 10 Films  

 top 10 Films of 2025 as of 2/28/2005

10. Den of Thieves: Pantera Down 3 from January

9.  Wicked Down 4 from January

8.  A Complete Unknown  Down 2 from January

7  One of These Days Up1 from January

6. Nosferatu down 2 from January

5  Moana 2 Down 3 from January

4. Dog Man up 8 from January

3. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 down 1 from January

2. Mufasa The Lion King Down 1 from January

1. Captain America: Brave New World 

Top 10 Films of February 2025

10. Love Hurts

9.   Companion up 9 from January

8.   Ne Zha 2

7.   One of Them Days up 1 from January

6.   The Monkey

5.   Mufasa: The Lion King down 4 from January

4.   Paddington In Peru

3.   Heart Eyes

2.   Dogman up 10 from January

1.   Captain America: Brave New World

Cold Topics: President Obama's Message for America's Students

A lot of times when you do a blog you find yourself commenting on whatever the hot topic of the day is. If you are not a posting daily, it is very possible that by the time you get to the topic, it is no longer hot.

I always thought it might be interesting to go back and look at a formerly hot topic and review it after it had long gone cold.  

If we go into the way back machine to September of 2009, back when this blog was less than a year old and still called Home School Dad, we can discover a topic that was very hot at the time  that has since gone cold, but still has some relevance today.  

On September 8, 2009 President Obama spoke to  students in Virginia and the speech was telecast to students all over the country.  For some reason this created quite a stir.  

I remember not  understanding what the hubbub was all about and watching the speech with my students (children) at the Izola Becker Home School.  Some time has passed and now the  K-12 students who may have watched the event at school are all at least 2 years out of high school by now.  Students who were seniors in high school will be having their 15th hisg school reunion, and my youngest daughter who was 3 at the time of the speech is now a Freshman in college.  

Here is the then "controversial" address:

 

Click here for a transcript of his speech.

Click here for an Albert Mohler post decrying the controversy

Click here for politico's take on the controversy

Click here for a blog post stating why it was a conservative speech.

I was interested to see if I could find out more about Tim Spicer, the student who introduced Obama.  It turns out that in addition to being involved helping students and school districts in low income communities, Spicer was a contestant on Season 46 of Survivor.

There we are, our first edition of cold topics.  I was either going to call it that, or perhaps hot topics for procrastinators.  Once today's  news becomes yesterday's olds we may have another edition.  

Team Saturdazzle: The one where I meet a FB friend for the first time and then unfriend them

 Hello and welcome once again to Team Saturdazzle.  I have 3 or 4 random things to share this Saturday.  Let's get started shall we.  

Last Saturday there was a Men's breakfast at my church. As I was waiting in line I saw a friend from a church we had both previously attended.  I went and sat with him and remembered that my friend was active in the same prison visitation ministry that the speaker was from.  At a table of 8 people most were friends of the speaker through the prison ministry.  My friend was asking me if I knew another man at our table who had also attended our previous church and was now pastoring a different church.  When I heard the name, I recognized it right away and realized that this guy was a Facebook friend of mine.

The interesting thing was I don't remember ever meeting this guy before.  He has been a FB friend for awhile, but I'm not sure I've ever seen him post about anything.  I introduced myself to him and told him we were FB friends but he gave me no impression that we had ever known each other.  Here is what I think happened, The church I used to attend had at one point 7 men at the church all named Dave,  There were 4 of us whose last name ended with er. Back in the day when FB was popular it was fairly common to get beleaguered with friend request and friend recommendations.  I wouldn't be surprised if this guy got a "You might also know ... " message and mixed me up with one of the other er Dave's from church. Then when I got the friend request  I accepted thinking we would become better acquainted.  For the past few years when I've been cleaning up my FB contacts, I have considered removing this person  but hesitated thinking maybe we had a backstory I ad forgotten and we would meet someday and he would clue me in.

Well when we met there was  he seemed as clueless as me in regards to our backstory.  So today when I was cleaning up my FB contacts I unfriended him.  Since we were basically oblivious of each other in the non digital world until last week, I think we will get over the loss rather quickly.  

Earlier this week I participated in the Weekly Writer's Workshop at The Sound of One Hand Typing.  Each week John Holton gives multiple prompts to choose from.  This weeks were: 

1. Write a post based on the word grudges. 
2. Write a post in exactly 13 lines. 
3. Write about something you learned in the month of February. 
4. List your five favorite snack foods. 
5. Tell us about the worst haircut you ever had. 
6. What are the five things you enjoyed doing the most when you were in sixth grade? Do you still enjoy doing them?

I chose to combine prompt two and six.  After which I used paragraphy at byrdseed.com to put the sentences in random order.  

Here is my original.  The number reinforces the original order.  The letter shows what order paragraphy put them in.  To see how it appeared originally in my blog click here,

1.  The prompt I chose for today is to write a post using exactly 13 lines. (L)
2.  I have adjusted that to be exactly 13 sentences.  (A)
3. I will also try to remember back almost 50 years ago when I was in the 6th grade to think about the 5 things I enjoyed most back then and evaluate if I still like them today. (K)
4.  I have been wanting for some years to put in a post using Paragraphy and will try to do that today.  (E)
5. How Paragraphy works is you write a paragraph and then the sentences are randomly reordered.  (I)
6. See if you can figure out the original order. (M)
7.  In 1975 when I started 6th grade, I was a huge White Sox fan.  (B)
8. Fifty years later I still am. (H)
9. Back then I was quite the television watcher and had the network schedule memorized. (G)
10. Even now when I hear about an old show, the first thing I think of is what network it was on and what day it aired.  (J)
11. In 6th grade I was still in the school band and I played the saxophone, I liked playing but was never very good at it, so that was my last year.  (C)
12. The other two were baseball and bicycling.  (F)
13. They are still two passions of mine. (D)

The number reinforces the original order.  The letter shows what order paragraphy put them in.  To see how it appeared originally in my blog click here

The A to Z challenge is coming up next month and I am still working on my theme reveal.  While I'm not quite ready to tell you what theme I am doing, I can tell you about one that I thought about doing and may do in the future. 

On The February 1 Team Saturdazzle post, I wrote a little about Sesame Street and shared 3 clips  from the show.  Two of the clips featured guest appearances.  This got me to toying with thee idea of an  A-Z theme with Sesame Street  guest appearances.   While it didn't make the cut for this year, I may revisit it in future challenges.  I am happy, though to share this gem of Andrew Garfield and Elmo talking about grief.

March Madness is not just for Basketball!

This is the third year that I am participating in a Wordle March Madness event.  If you reading this post because you are a FB friend of mine look you may have seen an invitation to play along thus year.  What were doing is playing wordle as usual at the NYT site each day this month and sharing our results. Like golf we are trying for low scores.  I will share  the top 10 each competitors each week here at Team Saturdazzle.  

We've had quite the Saturdazzle!  Unfrienships, mixed up memories,  grief on the street,  and a March to Wordle Madness. Thanks for visiting.  

Allen Levi's Eulogy for his nepehew Jonathan Bizilia