Baseball and A to Z open today.

 I am participating in the A to Z challenge this year at HSD, my flagship blog.  There are going to be some  shared content from all my blogs.  The first one here will appear tomorrow as an addendum to my B entry.  There may also be some older content that gets mentioned.  Also opening today is what I hope to be a very special baseball season here in Chicago.  When I take a breath after the challenge ends on April 30th it will be interesting to se where the Chicago teams are in the standings.

A is for Allen and Al

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April 1 2021 A to Z Challenge commences.

Hello to anyone visiting from the challenge.

 This year my theme is Alive in 1921.

Each day I will write about one or more person who was alive 100 years ago in 1921.My criteria for selection was to write about only people who I knew about before compiling the list.  I will give some biographical information, but I will also try to focus on my connection with the person.  

We are starting with Steve Allen, who was the first host of The Tonight Show in 1954.Allen was born the day after Christmas in 1921 so he was born in the last week of eligibility for t

his list.  

                                                        Years Lived Before 1921: Zero

                                                        Years Lived After 1921:   Seventy Nine

I know it is April 1st but when it came to hosting a late night show, Allen was no fool.  Many of the innovations he pioneered for his ground breaking progam are still in use today. Like this duet with himself

Steve Allen made a lot of appearances on talk shows and game shows in my youth.  What I remember him for most was his dead pan sense of humor.  In the 1980's a show by the name of Solid Gold ran on television. It did not run on broadcast or cable network it was syndicated and I watched a few episodes in it's first season.  On one of those episode Mr. Allen gave a "dramatic" reading.  I put dramatic in quotes as the reading was the lyrics of Donna Summer's Hot Stuff which topped billboard hot 100 chart in 1979. 40 years later the mere thought of the chorus lyrics below being read by Mr. Allen send me into a fit of hysteria.  I was unable to find a clip of this otherwise I would be posting it on my vlog.  

Steve is not the only Allen we are celebrating today. The other one spells it Allan and goes by Al.  His name is Al Jaffee.  Al Jaffee was an artist for Mad magazine.  Like Steve Allen, Jaffee was born in 1921 but unlike Allen who died in 2000, Jaffee is still alive, just celebrating his 100th birthday last month.  

                                             Years lived before 1921: Zero     

                                             Years lived after 1921:One Hundred (so far)

This is a good time to mention how I am incorporating my other blogs into the a to z challenge this year.  I have links to additional content on some of the people I will be featuring this month.  I am calling these A to Z Easter Eggs and there are 2 kinds.  A to Z extra are content I created specifically for the challenge and that I publish simultaneously with that day's letter. A to Z archives are previous posts which have previously appeared in the blog-o-sphere.  Today, I have none of the former, and 2 of the latter.  

A TO Z Easter Eggs

A to Z Archives 

Happy Birthday to Chris and Al at Random Acts of Roller. Mr. Jaffee's birthday coincides with my younger brother's, so I wrote them a fitting tribute which contains a little more biographical information as well as how I connect with the Mad artist.  

The Tonight Show: A History of Hosts at Dave Out Loud.    Steve Allen was the first of 6 hosts of the Tonight Show. I have some footage of each host. 

This should end my first installment of the A to Z challenge.  After you've looked at the additional content on my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring. .         

 

How to Get Through 2021: Press On.

 When I wrote my first How to get through 2021 post, I did not expect to write another one the next month and certainly not to write another one the month after that.  But this seems to be exactly what I'm doing.

In my first installment, I talked about how Day by Day interaction with God will help us get through difficult times,  In the second I mentioned about how true Shoulder to Shoulder fellowship will aid us in that journey.  That should be it, I thought.  If God is not all encompassing enough relying on  and serving others who are also relying on and serving God should fill in the gaps. 

Well there seems to be a third ingredient in progressing through difficult times and I was reminded it of last night when listening to Spotify. I was listening to a song by Billy Sprague , a musician, song writer and performer who years ago lost his fiance in a car accident.  She was driving to one of his concerts when the accident occurred. He took a 3 year hiatus from recording and touring and his 2nd release after his return led off with the song, Press On.

  

Although Sprague certainly did not write this song for Covid the emotions expressed are similar to the results of living in lock-down. 

Consider these lyrics

... the passion for life drained like blood from my chest

And it took more than  my will just to take a step when the compass of hope was gone. 

or

Every desperate prayer seemed like heaven refused and some days I found faith meant just tying my shoes and it was all I could do to press on.

In shampoo bottle parlance, if Day by Day is wash and Shoulder to Shoulder is rinse then Press On is repeat.  Pressing on is a continuation of trusting God  and walking along side each other through our trials and our joys.  

Look at the Shoulder to Shoulder living happening in the 2nd verse...

On the oceans so lonesome I  was not left alone

had some heavenly friends when my heart was a stone

and they carried my heart ache and made it their own

when the current of sorrow was strong.

(and one said)

"I pray your memories will not drag you down

not be anchors but treasures of the love that you found"

and his kind words turned hurt into comfort somehow

and the wind in my sails to press on.

I think at least those of us  in western society consider pressing on a solitary activity.  I think it is actually quite communal.  There are heartaches every in life that could be greatly  benefit from  a group of people making it their own.  Even as I was writing this, a friend called to invite me to a church service on Easter which reminded me how his own father said kind words to me on an Easter Sunday some 30 years ago that put the  wind back  in my sails.  I'll save that story for another time. 

In Philippians Chapter 3 the Apostle Paul discusses the concept of pressing on.  In verse 9 he talks about attaining a righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith in Christ.  In verses 10 and 11 he talks about knowing Christ through his  suffering , death and resurrection. In verses 12 and 14 he describes how he is progressing to this point but having not yet reached it and how  he is pressing on towards that goal.  In the 2nd part of the 13th verse he writes something that describes a successful strategy for combating grief, co-vid or anything that life throws at us ...

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Philippians 3:13B (NIV)

Paul as he often does is using his words to assign priorities.  The past can be very instructional to us but we should never let it define us.  Grief doesn't define us. Lock-down shouldn't define us. A Christians goal should be to become more like Christ.  We can do that by pressing on and we weren't meant to that alone. 

 

 I think this may be it, but who knows, there is still a lot of 2021 to get through and I know a lot of songs.  

1981 IHSA Girls Basketball Class AA Championship Game: Elk Grove vs. Peo...

Last 5 Next 10

 I enjoy reading and I enjoy writing.  It is sometimes difficult for me to write about either writing or reading.  Each Summer I try to read books and then post short reviews on one blog or the other.  Each summer I fail miserably in the review department.  I started strong but I can't keep up with the individual posts.  This year I'm going to try something different.  let's see how I do.  After finishing 5 books, I will mention them here and then list off ten books that I am either in some process of reading (I read several books at a time) or am planning to read soon.  

Before I begin, lets define what I mean by reading. I mean by reading either reading the printed page, reading an on line version of a book,  or listening to a book on tape, c.d., play-a-way or on line or being read to by someone live or reading to someone live.   I am less reticent about this practice than I was when I wrote Is listening the new reading? a couple years back.

LAST 5 BOOKS READ

I am using the following  scale. to quickly rate these books:

hate dislike okay like love

 

Dick Allen: The Life and Times of a Baseball Immortal by William C Kashatus

Why I chose this book: I have been a White Sox fan since 1972 and Dick Allen was a big reason why I became a fan and was my first White Sox hero. Mr. Allen passed away in the latter part of 2020 and I have been finding out more about him since then.

Type: Book (Read it to myself)

How Obtained: Inter-library loan through my local library.

Rating: Closer to Like than Love

The Quick and the Dead by Louis L'Amour

Why I chose this book: Allen Levi, one of my favorite musicians reccommended the works of Louis L'AMour by singing about him.  In "The Reason I Read Louis L'Amour" Levis distills a basic L'amour plot and in the chorus describes the basic recipe for a L'Amour book ...

A little bit of gunfire, a little bit of romance, a little bit of mystery and a little bit of gore. No matter what fix he's in, you know the good guy's gonna win. That's the reason I read Louis Lamour.

This and other Allen Levi songs and albums are available at band camp.

Type: Book (read it to myself)

How Obtained: Borrowed from collection at my local library.

Rating: Much closer to like than okay.

Rider of Lost Creek By Louis L'Amour

Why I chose this book: For the same exact reason I read The Quick and the Dead. In fact, I borrowed them at the same time from my local library.  

Rating: I liked this a little better than Quick and the Dead, a solid Like.

I am a Church Member - Thom S Rainer 

Why I chose this book: It is part of the curriculum for church membership in our church. 

Type: Book (alternated reading it to my wife and having her read it to me)

How obtained: Our church gave it to us as part of the membership class.  

Rating: It was a pretty good book, but Amy and I noticed several typo's.  We enjoyed the experience of reading to each other a little more than the content so I'll give it a solid Like.  If I had just read it to myself, i'd probably rank it just below the L'Amour books. 

 

Utah Blaine by Louis L'amour

Why I chose this book: I enjoyed the first two L'Amout books so I picked up 2 more the next time I was at my local library 

Type: Book (read to myself)

Rating: Between Like and Love, but I'm pretty sure that one of the draws of L'Amour's fiction is that whichever of his books you happen to be reading it becomes your new favorite. ( I am currently reading my 4th L'Amour and I think I like it just a little better than this one.)  

2021 Book Stats as of 3/13/21

5 books read in 72 days that's an average of 1 book read for every 14.4 days.  Those numbers are a little skewed as I didn't finish my first book of the year until February.  Even so, at that rate I should finish 25 books this year.  I do expect that projection to go up in future installments but we shall see,

10 Books I'm Reading or Planning to Read Soon

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Hank Aaron: Groundbreaking Baseball Slugger - Doug Williams

 

How To Win The Culture War - Peter Kreeft

Hondo - Louis L'Amour

Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Humor and the Presidency - Gerald Ford

For the Love of Mike - Mike Royko

Schulz and Peanuts - David Michaelis 

Jimmy Stweart, Bomber Pilot - Starr Smith

Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder 

I would not be surprised if at my next installment I have read books that are not on this list, nor would I be surprised of some of the books on the next 10 list drop off for a while or permanently.  I am very eclectic and  this certainly shows in my reading choices.  

You'll notice that there is been no attempt made my be at all to review any of these books.  I do leave the door open to that possibility in the future. I think that will work better in my goal of chronicling my reading foot print for the year 2021.