Muzak Lessons: An Apology to Gordy Jorian

Muzak Lessons
Lessons learned from in-store music.

Introduction

I am introducing my first new segment of the reboot today.  I am currently working overnights at a grocery store.  Most nights they pipe in the in store music throughout the store. Many of the same songs are played several times through the course of the week.    At this time there are no customers in the store during my working hours and most of my work is done independently so the in store audio is like the soundtrack of my work experience.  

From time to time I will be sharing my thoughts based on what I am learning from these songs.  Today I start with a song that reminded me we are prone to the  same kind of mistakes that we give our friends grief over.  Without further introduction I present ...

Lesson 1: An Apology to Gordy Jorian

First of all, before I begin, I just want to say that everyone in life should have at least one friend named Gordy.  Gordy is a cool name. I think with a name like Gordy, you have no choice but to be super cool.  Also I think everyone should have at least one super cool friend.  

My friend Gordy Jorian is no exception to the super cool rule.  I mean among other things, the dude has an imdb page. If that was enough his credits include being a key grip, a gaffer, and a best  boy.  Also he was a grip in the movie Kermit's Swamp years.  Where he is credited as Gordy "Goggles"Jorian.  I mean first of all hanging out ewith Kermit on the set has got to be awesome! An d first you have a cool name like Gordy and you follow it up with a super cool nickname in goggles.  Talk about your embarrasment of riches,  Finally he appears in one of the dvd extras.  Wait, did I mention that he's super cool?

I've known Gordy since 1980 as our respective  high school youth groups did a lot of trips and activities together. We got to know each other better in 1984 when we both began volunteering at our old high school youth groups.  That summer Gordy and I were on a week-long bike trip in Michigan.  One afternoon after we had finished biking for the day we heard a Huey Lewis and the News song on the radio.

I should at this point say that Gordy is a master at music and movie trivia.  This is what a large part of our friendship was based upon.  He is the one that introduced me to Joel Whitburn's the Billboard book of Top 40 hits which Gordy taught me to refer to as "The Whitburn." Each edition would list all the top 40 charting music from 1955 to the time of publication by song and artist.  I point this out because knowing  how in tune he was to all things music makes the next part of the story more poignant. 

The Whitburn

As we were listening to the Huey Lewis song, Gordy confided in  me that when the song first came out he had misunderstood the lyrics.  Instead of The heart of Rock and Roll is still beatin', he thought Huey was singing the heart of Rock and Roll is in Wheaton.  Wheaton, if you don't know, is a western suburb of Chicago once known for Christian publishing and still home of Wheaton College, a Christian liberal arts school.

Now being the  sensitive soul and good friend to Gordy that I was,  I could only react in one way,  incessant ridicule .  In the late 80's early 90's Gordy and I went our separate ways.  He lives in Florida and I'm back in the Chicago area.  We keep in touch through Facebook and that sort of thing.  But to this day the biggest legacy our friendship has left behind besides the copy of the Whitburn I keep at my bedstand is that whenever I hear The Heart of Rock and Roll, I will invariably tell anyone in earshot of Gordy's colossal blunder.  That is to say, until a few weeks ago.

A few weeks ago, I was at work and they played another mid 80's staple Walk of Life by Dire Straits.  I remember liking that song quite a bit back in the day and I enjoyed the trip down nostalgia lane.  The next night they played the song again and again the night after that.  At that third hearing I discovered something that rocked me to my very core.  For 35 years I was hearing the wrong lyric!

At the end of the song there is a line, "after all the violence and double talk, there's just a song in all the trouble and the strife."  The song then ends with you do the walk of life.

Now for years, that is not what I was hearing.  I was hearing

After all the violence down in Bogota
After all the trouble and the strife
You do the walk of life.

So for 36 years while giving  Gordy a hard time for hearing a city in a song that did not appear there, most of that  time I've been hearing a city in a different song that also did not exist.  Gordy caught his mistake in relatively short time.  Heart of Rock and Roll came out in 1983 and by the Summer of '84 Gordy had corrected his gaffe.  Walk of Life came out in 1985 and for 35 years I've been hearing it wrong!

Now this seemingly benign faux pas has gotten me to thinking.  Over the years, when I have seen others struggle in certain areas I have found myself thinking a little self righteously how could they have been so unwise or that could never happen to me.  . Regrettably, I have spent a lot  of time in judgement of others.  I clearly saw the error of their ways but was blind to the similar or worse   transgressions in my own life.

I can truly say that I am better in this regard than I once was,  However,  true humility is a life long process and my own rigteousness is still dirty rags when compared to a Holy God. That being said,  I'm still in process and at least I don't have to worry about that violence down in Bogota anymore.

Dave in Print

Hello. This is Dave and i'm not currently out loud. This may be first (and hopefully the last) installment of Dave Out Loud without a video.

Recently I revamped my blog Home School Dad.

I am now in the process of revamping Dave out Loud.  The last time I posted here was 1 year 3 months 1 week and 2 days ago.  The time before that I was gone 2 years 8 months 3 week and 2 days.  So I'm getting better.

I figured I needed a plan if I want this new reboot to work.  I think I came up with one.  I am going to start a new feature called quick random takes.  If you've ever watched Whose Line is it anyway? it will be like scenes from a hat,  but instead of scenes it will be me talking.  Every week I'll ask my family members and my viewers to give me suggestions on something to talk about for a minute or two.  I will then take all those suggestions and put them all in a hat.  I will also write random on one of the sheets.  If I pick the piece of paper that says random I just have to come up with a topic on the spot.  After I pick the topic I'll just speak for 1 -2 minutes and then post the video.

The next time I'll keep the previous suggestions and get some more.  Each week I'll make one suggestion of my own and add one more wild card.  I may do other types of videos as well and begin sharing other peoples videos as I have in the past.  I think one of the reasons I stopped posting here was the coming up with ideas part and then also the filming  the idea part.  I hope this will jump start the creative process.

So next time I hope to come back with an inaugural video for the segment. Until then

No, I can't handle it.  I must include a video.  Dave Out Loud without a video is like minor league baseball without kids running the bases at the end. You can do it, it's just not as fun.

With that in mind here's a video of some of my family members running bases after a minor league baseball game.

This is Dave out Loud, going out typing.

Dave Out Loud Beginnings Part VII

Wordless Wednesday Washington and the Waltons

Cleaning up a blog is in many ways like cleaning up a room or a house.  In order to get this blog presentable again, I  found many drafts of posts I had started but never completed.  I also reviewed many old posts and was reminded of memes , pictures, stories and other various components of blogdom  which I had almost forgotten.  Today's post combines many of those components.  A blog, like a house, is meant to be lived in and experienced.  I hope you enjoy today's experience.


In April I participated from another one of my blogs in the a to z challenge where I had participated multiple times form HSD.  One of the best things about the challenge is discovering, reading and commenting on other peoples blogs.  Unfortunately, I did very little of that this year, but I discovered  a blog called Comedy Plus and found that it was hosting one of my favorite memes of all time, Wordless Wednesday. I participated in it on many occasions years ago.  I was glad to see it still exists.

I decided I would participate with a pic from our family trip to Washington DC 10 years ago.

Before I show the pic, I wanted to say that on the way to DC we stopped by Schuyler, VA where Earl Hamner, the writer and creator of The Waltons grew up and stopped by the Waltons Mountain  Museum.  After my picture and before a link to Wordless Wednesday is a 20 minute you tube video that I had saved as a draft here from the 45th reunion of the Waltons which took place at said museum.

For more Wordless Wednesday click here.

Home School Dad Revisited.

Hello and good morning.  My name is Dave and I used to go by the moniker Home School Dad.  11 years ago I began this blog, as I was a stay at home dad and the home school teacher of the family.  I started home schooling the kids in 2008 and did that full time until the fall of 2013 when I went back to working full time.

I still blog but now do most of it  at Random Acts of Roller. I have started many blogs over the years but my favorite has always been HSD (Home School Dad).  I have been thinking a lot lately of restarting Home School Dad. With that in mind, I decided to post one of my earliest blog entries.  You can click here to see how it appeared on 1/8/9.

If clicking here is not your thing, it's okay cause copying and pasting is mine...

When I first heard about Homeschooling.

First appeared in Home School Dad

January 8, 2009

Do you remember where you were the first time you heard about home schooling? I was at a wedding. At the reception, I was placed at what I call the odd duck table , the table where you sit friends, family and coworkers not likely to know anyone else, I have a name for it because I have been placed at that table many times.

So at the odd duck table there was a lady from out of state, Colorado, I believe, who home schooled her children. This was the mid to late 80's and I had no idea what homeschooling was or why anyone would want to do it. I just sat there as she regaled other wedding guests with stories of her home schooling journey.

I think it's appropriate that I first heard of home schooling at the odd duck table. Home Schooling itself has been an odd duck for many years. People aren't quite sure what to make of it. It can be frustrating as  a Home School parent, when you see the  same reaction from each person who learns you are home educating your children. This is why I asked you to recall your first experience with the concept. Perhaps, your initial reaction, was not unlike those you encounter today. We often expect people to understand things the way we do and forget our understanding is part of an ongoing process often evolving over many years.

Homeschooling over the years has quietly been inching away from the odd duck table. Everybody seems to know someone these days who is home schooling. It is not uncommon now for park districts and libraries to have special activities for home school families.

2020 Perspective:

First of all,   if you did  look back on the original, you may have noticed I did a little editing of my piece.  It bothered me  that I had let regaled be spelled incorrectly for 11 years.  I also had a tendency back then to just end my posts and go on to the next thing. I began this post some hours ago, got this far, and was really tempted to end this post abruptly as I had just finished an overnight shift and was much more interested in sleeping than culminating. Instead, I went the save button route and came back to conclude.

So much has changed since 2009 when I wrote this that it's hard to provide appropriate context.  Obviously most parents with school age children have now found themselves more knowledgeable about what schooling at home looks like.  The Covid 19 shelter in place orders have seen to that.  schooling at home is in some ways different than homeschooling.  I currently have an 8th grader who is home-schooled , a 12th grader who is public schooled and a daughter taking some college classes. Now that everybody is staying at home, my responsibilities towards their school work have not changed at all.  I help my 8th grader with math and I do nothing with the older ones.  When I wrote  the original post they were were 3, 7, and 9 respectively and I was involved with every aspect of their education.

In the coming weeks I will begin to post more here.  I plan to revisit earlier posts as I did today, but mainly I hope to move beyond that.  In June, our homeschooling journey will end as our youngest moves on to public high school.  As the pandemic continues to take its course, our world will adjust to a new normal.  In the same way, our family has been adjusting to a new normal over the past 5 years as our homeschooling has lessened and lessened.  Amid these changes, I have been tempted to change the name of this blog.  I have decided not to yield to this temptation.  The content may be different or perhaps non-existent, but on these pages and in some parts of myself, I shall always be a home school dad.

2019 Hall of Fame - If I had a ballot

In just a few hours the Hall of Fame will reveal the results of the Baseball Writers of America Association (BBWAA) ballot selections for who will be inducted into Cooperstown this summer, .  This year 35 players are on the ballot and  The BBWAA allows writers to vote for a many as 10 of these candidates.  I am not a member of the BBWAA but I do like to pretend I'm one each year at this time.  Since The Writers association nor the hall of fame control my process I imagine what would happen if I had only 13 votes and then 12 and then down until I get to my OUB (Official Unofficial Ballot this year it will be 5 6 or maybe even 7.  As I write this I have not yet decided what the cutoff will be so I'll be as surprised as you will.  I then continue until I'm pretending I can only vote for 1 player this year.  In effect you get a ranking of who I think the 13 players most worthy of enshrinement are.

For 2019 ballot, I must say that there are many more players worthy of the Hall of Fame who have more impressive numbers than my 13th pick.  However,  the only number I was concerned about was 2005.  That is the year Jon Garland helped pitch the White Sox on to winning their first world series since 1917.  That gets him a vote in my book.

My 12th vote last year has a lot in common with my 12th vote this year.  Actually, they are the same person.  Gary Sheffield has the pedigree of a hall of famer yet like last year there are too many questions for me to really consider him further.

If I was advised that I could only vote for 11 players this year my 11th vote would be for Lance Berkman.  Berkman is probably the Killer B who will not B inducted into C town.  I thought his career  was worthy of some mention and 11 seems  appropriate.


As I state most years, I am a Chicago guy and I see my role as a Chicago guy to bring Chicago players to the attention of those who may not have seen them play regularly. If I were allowed to vote for exactly 10 players, my 10th vote would go to Freddy Garcia.  But not for the reason I just mentioned.  No for the reason I placed Garland 13th.  Freddy won the most important White Sox game in my life time that's reason enough for voting for him here.

It seems that Mike Mussina is going to make into Cooperstown.  He will probably make it this year or next in his 6th or 7th year on the ballot.  Last year I placed him 11th on my ballot and this year he is up to 9th.  To me he's a perennial fence sitter when it comes to enshrinement, it's a good thing for him that many of the actual voters don't view his career as I do,



I placed Jeff Kent 10th last year  and bump him up to 8th this year. To quote myself ...   " Kent is a very good player but I see him ultimately missing out of enshrinement to Cooperstown".

 If I was told I could vote for 7 and only 7 HOF candidates this year my 7th vote would go to Todd Helton. He has the highest career batting average of anyone on this years ballot at .316.  Sure he played his whole career in homer friendly Colorado but he still batted .287 on the road with 142 of his 369 homers when out of town.  I was very close to putting him on my OUB.

Speaking of which, If I was told that I could vote for as many or as few players on this years ballot  that I thought were worthy of enshrinement, I would vote for six players.  The 6th would be Roy Halladay.  As mentioned at the outset, I spent some time equivocating on this selection. equivocation being a euphemism on my part for over thinking. My over thinking went like this , When I first hear Halladay's name I don't instantly think hall of famer, and since he died recently am I just giving him a sympathy vote.  No.  The truth his his numbers speak well of him and his 2 Cy Youngs one in each league 7 years apart speak of his dominance.  This makes the late Mr. Halladay,  the first of 7 players on my official unofficial ballot (OUB)

If I could vote for only 5 players this year, my 5th vote would go to Larry Walker. Like Halladay,   Walker has not always been on my HOF radar.  As I mentioned last year when he was the 6th player on my ballot and my oub was 5, He has been going up in my estimation each year he has been HOF elgible.

If I could only vote for one Nickname to be included in the Hall of Fame this year it would have to be the Crime Dog.  This year Fred McGriff in his last year of eligibility get's a bite on my ballot.  If i could vote for only 5 players He would be 5th (jumping up from 7th last year.  Truth is I still think Walker more worthy than McGriff but have McGriff ahead this year since it is his last time on the ballot.

While votes nine through four are kind of Cooperstown fence sitters, I have no mixed feelings whatsoever about my final 3 votes.  2 of which were on my OUB last year and one is in his first year of eligibility.

If I was told that I could only vote for 3 players this year my third vote would go to Omar Vizquel. Vizquel was my 5th choice last year and is a player who is more than just the sum of his stats.  I saw Vizquel play many times against and for my beloved White Sox and have seen what a game changing shortstop he was. 

If it was decided that only 2 players could adorn my 2018 ballot, The 2nd name on that ballot would be Edgar Martinez.  (Edgar was 4 on my list of players last year.) I am one of the few people I know who thought Harold Baines should be in the Hall of Fame. With Baines now in the Hall of Fame, there is no earthly reason that Edgar should not be there as well.  Consider this he has a .312 lifetime batting average and hit .312 on the road.  He has a..515 career slugging percentage and slugged .514 on the road.  What consistency! He may have been a designated hitter,  but boy did he live up to that designation!

If I could vote for only 1 player on this years ballot.  It would be Juan Pierre because he played for both teams and was well liked by both teams which is a hall of fame achievement in my book.

I'm sorry my mind or my computer were just hacked.  No offense to Juan,  but if I had only one vote and even just 1/10th of my marbles that vote would have to go to Mariano Rivera in his 1st year on the ballot.  The most dominant relief pitcher in both the regular and post season.  Yes I hate the Yankees but only because of their greatness.  Rivera enhanced that greatness and is deserving of being on 100% of the ballots.

This year I think that 3 or 4 players will make the HOF.  Rivera and Martinez are perfect bookends, 2 positions that HOF voters aren't sure about in their 1st and last years of eligibility. In my mind they are locks.  I think either Mussina or Halladay or possibly both will also make it this year.  I am pretty sure Rivera will not be on every ballot because there are some writers opposed to a 100%ballot and some writers opposed to relief pitchers in the Hall of Fame.  So it's the perfect storm of stupidity that will keep Rivera away from ballot perfection.   The announcement is just minutes away, (procrastinate much?) So let's go see if I was right.