. . . so let me suggest an appropriate time and place for their next “periodic in-person get-together”.
Makes perfect sense to me. The DRG are IMO already kinda “out there” – and you can’t get much farther “out there” than that. They should feel right at home!
Who knows – maybe they’ll even great each newly arrived DRG member by asking them, “What’s shakin’!” (smile)
(Note: no, I didn’t make that image, and it isn’t a joke – that’s a real event. Seriously.)
You may have missed the story about some travelers who were unexpectedly delayed in their journey and they had to lay up at Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay overnight. The one hundred and seventy six passengers weren’t happy about their accommodations according to the Military Times.
One passenger among those stranded because of aircraft mechanical problems told CNN: “While there was a bed, there were no blankets … and there was no heating in the particular barracks building I was assigned to. So it was quite cold for quite a few hours while we waited for breakfast to be served.”
Passengers received the full military experience, dining in the mess hall the next morning before being flown to Newark, New Jersey, en route to their connecting flight at London Heathrow, according to reports.
Yeah, they should stay at Hohenfels or Grafenwohr sometime for a real barracks experience. CNN says that the flight crew stayed at a hotel, instead of taking advantage of the free military facilities.
In music, personal familiarity is often the source of inspiration. But that’s not universally true. Outsiders on occasion have insights that others miss.
Though not the norm, that’s actually not too terribly uncommon. Robbie Robertson – who wrote much of the Band’s work that forms a tableau of America, including “The Weight”, “Up on Cripple Creek”, and “The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down” – was Canadian. John Kay of Steppenwolf was born in a part of Germany now ruled by the Soviet Union, and raised in Canada; Steppenwolf’s music is about as American as you can get.
So it should come as no big surprise that an outsider on occasion can “get it” – and write music that perfectly reflects a time and place that they didn’t themselves experience growing up. It’s not that common, but it can happen.
Yeah, this is another kinda off-topic musical “walkabout”. Consider yourself warned. (smile)
. . .
Having grown up in the South, I think I can say that it’s pretty hard to be more of an outsider there than to be a Jewish guy who grew up in a large Northeastern city. And it’s also hard to be more uniquely Southern, musically, than Delta Blues – of which Memphis is the heartland.
Rock and roll traces its roots to the confluence of Delta Blues and country. And if anyplace is rock and roll’s birthplace, that would be Memphis – specifically, the Memphis Recording Service, AKA “Sun Studios”, at 706 Union Avenue.
Yet it was a Jewish guy from Cleveland – Marc Kohn – who managed IMO to perhaps best capture the spirit and history of the place. Go figure.
The result was also something IMO truly special.
(My apologies for the 90 seconds or so of “dead air” at the end of the clip, but it was the best one, sound quality-wise, I could find.)
Kohn’s song above is often thought to be an Elvis “tribute”. In truth, Elvis is only a passing mention in the tune.
Kohn’s tune is highly autobiographical. It documents a trip he made to Memphis as an unknown singer/songwriter in 1986, at a time when his career seemed to be going nowhere.
• The “blue suede shoes” reference isn’t to Elvis, but to Carl Perkins – who recorded the tune first.
• The reference to following the ghost of Elvis starting at “Union Avenue” is a reference to Elvis’ career beginning at the aforementioned Sun Studios.
• The “Handy” mentioned was Blues legend W. C. Handy; a monument to him exists in Memphis.
• “Reverend Green” was Al Green – who was an ordained minister, and who did indeed preach in Memphis while Kohn visited; Kohn attended one of his sermons.
• “Muriel” and “Hollywood” were real as well. Hollywood was a diner in or near Tunica, Mississippi; Muriel sometimes sang there. Kohn visited both – and credits his visit with Muriel with being a large factor in his later success.
• “Beale” was, of course, Beale Street.
Both Wikipedia and Songfacts have more background. Both articles are relatively short, but if you’re interested are IMO worth reading.
Yes, Kohn’s career high point was this tune; he’s pretty-much a classic “one hit wonder”. But in this piece, IMO he nailed a time, a place – and its history – far better than most ever can.
And he did it as an outsider. To me, that’s damned impressive.
He probably didn’t actually convert during his visit. But during that visit, maybe he really did get a bit of Higher Inspiration.
Plus, I kinda like the tune. (smile)
. . .
OK, the walkabout is over for today. Back to the TAH norm.
Well, the road trip is over. But on the way back, I had a chance to verify something.
I previously posted an article about an, um, “interestingly-named” town in Florida. Well, in case anyone thought I – or Google Maps – might be pulling yer leg, here ya go: photographic proof.
Yeah, the picture sucks, and is fairly blurry. Sorry – but YOU try driving in traffic with one hand while snapping a photo of a smallish road sign with the other. At the time, stopping in the middle of the road to get a better shot was NOT a viable option. It’s at least fairly readable.
As I said previously: only in America!
. . . really helps pass the time on the road. (smile)
I’ll be finishing up a longish road trip tomorrow. This time I decided to do some Doobies while driving to help pass the time.
No, I’m not talking about the kind of doobies Colorado recently made legal. Geez.
I’m talking the musical Doobies – AKA the Doobie Brothers.
I have to admit I’d forgotten how good those guys were. Before Michael McDonald arrived and turned the group into essentially a backing band for his version of blue-eyed-soul, their music was quite different. Their earlier incarnation could rock with anyone.
Here are two often-overlooked gems from the Doobies. Both are from their “The Captain and Me” release.
The first is a reminder of just how well the band could rock. It’s titled “Without You” – and it’s nothing like the Badfinger tune of the same name made famous by Harry Nillson. You might want to grab a good set of headphones to listen to this one – so you can crank it up.
The second tune which follows is one of my personal favorites by the band. It’s a reminder of how well the guys clicked when they slowed things down and stepped out-of-character as rock-n-rollers. I think most of our male readers will be able to identify with this one.
That’s all for now. I still have a few hundred more miles before this trip ends, but I thought this was apropos today.
I’ve been on the road for a few days, and will be on the road and kinda busy for a few more. Comm is a bit spotty.
I’ve posted an earlier photo from the trip in a previous article because it seemed apropos. I thought I’d post this one today – mostly as a way to send a couple of DRC members my “best regards” (think of the Boy Scout Sign together with the phrase “read between the lines”).
Some TAH readers may know where this is. It’s actually a pretty nice place to visit from time to time.
This year, it’s popular for veterans to rail against the folks who have never served. For example, Jennie Haskamp, a Marine Corps veteran writes in the pages of the Washington Post that “I’m a veteran, and I hate ‘Happy Memorial Day.’” She does the gratuitous “Memorial Day isn’t for barbecues” thing. On the other side, Davids Zucchino and Cloud write in the LA Times that “U.S. military and civilians are increasingly divided“.
The LA Times piece is actually written to deepen that divide, of course. If you’re the LA Times, that’s what you do. But, Ms. Haskamp’s WaPo piece isn’t really that much better in the public relations arena.
Here’s the thing. We veterans already know that there is a divide. We came to that conclusion within the first five minutes that we left the service and entered the civilian work force. Some of us realized it when we had to interact with civilians before we left the service when we were recruiters or ROTC instructors. Drill sergeants certainly knew it when they had to turn civilians into soldiers.
When George W. Bush sent the troops off to war in 2001, he told the civilians that their duty was to go shopping. That they did happily, and it was the one sacrifice they were willing to make. Then when the troops came back from their rotations, they complained that they “went to war and America went to the mall”. Well, really, what did you expect? From the LA Times piece;
“I am well-aware that many Americans, especially our elite classes, consider the military a bit like a guard dog,” said Lt. Col. Remi M. Hajjar, a professor of behavioral sciences and leadership at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
“They are very thankful for our protection, but they probably wouldn’t want to have it as a neighbor,” he said. “And they certainly are not going to influence or inspire their own kids to join that pack of Rottweilers to protect America.”
The media is hard at work to try and understand the divide by blaming all of society’s ills on veterans. It took CNN about two minutes to find a connection between the military and that fellow, Darron Dellon Dennis Wint, who was arrested for that horrific murder in the Metro DC area last week. It seems he was a Marine Corps entry level separation after a few weeks. So that explains why he murdered two children, their parents and their housekeeper.
In Salon, Sean McElwee says “The U.S. military is a national security threat” because of it’s massive budget that could be used to “strengthen” the US in other ways. Of course, your idea of strength is probably different than Mr. McElwee’s which is mostly about fighting climate change and poverty. McElwee has never seen real poverty, not like many of the nation’s veterans have seen, and he only yammers about climate change because it’s an article of faith in his liberal journalist religion. Just like blaming the ills of society on the military.
In the LA Times, the Davids go on and on about how rich the troops are, but what they really mean is that the flag officers are rich. The Davids probably couldn’t survive a day in the military, any day, even one that we might consider an “easy day”. They wouldn’t live the life no matter how much it paid. And that’s kind of the point. The Davids and Mr. McElwee can be flip about the military, because there haven’t been any attacks on Americans in this country, well until recently, that have affected them. The proof that we need a strong, well-financed military isn’t blindingly obvious to them because we can’t prove a negative.
I’d remind, the Davids and McElwee, that from 1992 to 2001, 9,810 active duty military members died. At no time during the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan did the total number of annual deaths reach the total of 1980 – 2,392. Of course there were about 600,000 fewer active duty troops during the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars than there were in 1980, but still. Just putting on a uniform everyday and training for war can be deadly. That’s what the troops get compensated for, not some notional sense of economic fair play.
For me and for many of this nation’s veterans, everyday is Memorial Day. We’re haunted by our ghosts that won’t let us forget. It’s entirely appropriate that there is one national day that makes civilians think about the sacrifices that are made in their name, whether they see a tangible result of those sacrifices or not.
If they want to wish us and each other “Happy Memorial Day”, well, that’s fine. It is a happy day for everyone in this country because of the sacrifices that were made by better men and women than us.
If the civilians spend one minute thinking about my friends who’ve gone on ahead because it’s Memorial Day, that’s one minute more than they have spent on any other day the rest of the year, so Memorial Day isn’t a total loss. If they really need someone to thank today, they can go thank a Gold Star family.
Today is Memorial Day. Well, this is my Memorial Day article.
It’s probably somewhat different than the norm. Maybe you’ll read it and think this is appropriate for today; maybe you’ll think I’m out to lunch. Or maybe you’ll think I might be both.
Here goes anyway.
. . .
Jonn wrote an article some time back regarding the now commonly-used phrase, “Thank you for your service” – and how it rubs some people the wrong way. Poetrooper followed up a couple of days later with his own article. Both made the point that this pop-culture phrase which is popular today beats the heck out of what we saw some decades ago.
Yeah, I’ve heard that phrase directed towards me a few times. And what Jonn and Poetrooper say is certainly true. It’s far better than being cursed (or worse), being treated like a leper, or being treated shabbily in those multitude of other ways those returning from Vietnam had to endure.
But I guess you can count me among the curmudgeonly group. Having someone tell me that bothers me a bit.
I guess it’s because I find being thanked by complete strangers for doing nothing more than what I signed up to do . . . somewhat embarrassing. It grates.
I chose to serve. I knew what I was doing; my eyes were wide open at the time. I was fortunate enough to end my service mostly intact – unlike those we remember today.
To one extent or another, everyone who served has a variant of this story. Even those who were draftees had options: resisting, leaving, falsely claiming to be a “conscientious objector”, or outright refusal – though most would call such acts dishonorable.
And yet with rare exceptions those who were drafted served. They too answered when the nation called.
It’s called “doing one’s duty”. Being thanked for that by a stranger just strikes me as being out of place. YMMV.
Remembering and honoring those who didn’t come home? Different story. That’s proper – and necessary.
. . .
Nonetheless, for whatever reason some people apparently have a need to thank vets and/or serving members of the military they barely know for serving. Its a free country, so I guess they can if they like.
But as far as I’m concerned, here’s how they could better do that. It doesn’t require saying a word.
• Be a productive member of society. Raise your kids to be productive members of society also.
• Be honest and trustworthy; pay your debts; have a sense of civic duty, and of honor. Do the best you can to raise your kids to be the same.
• Be self-reliant; take care of yourself and your family. Raise your kids to be self-reliant as well.
• Help others in need, but in a way that doesn’t make them permanently dependent. Give helping hands – not handouts. Teach this to your children by example.
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly: love and respect this nation. Raise your kids to do the same. And encourage them to serve the common good – in some capacity, as a civilian or in uniform – for at least a part of their life. Each of us owes this nation that much for the incredible privilege of being born free citizens. That freedom alone is worth more than any of us can possibly repay.
If someone does those things . . . well, as far as I’m concerned, that’s the best thanks. It’s far preferable to some halfhearted, mumbled platitude from a stranger.
I’d say doing that is also a fitting tribute to our fallen, too. Because I’m convinced that if enough people do those things, the nation our fallen died defending will endure long after we’re all gone.
And that . . . matters.
. . .
Even so: some people nonetheless apparently still have a burning need to tell somebody, “Thank you for your service”. So, let me suggest a way that anyone who feels such a need can do so that’s IMO more apropos than offering some vet or serving member of the military they barely know or just met – a halfhearted and trite platitude.
More precisely, let me suggest two possible ways.
• Option One: find a local cemetery, preferably one that’s not maintained by a well-funded government, religious, or private entity. Visit it; find the graves of some vets who are buried there.
In mid-May of each year, set aside a few dollars. Use that cash to get a small US flag or two, and maybe also the same number of small artificial wreaths or bouquets.
On the last Monday in May, go to that cemetery and look for a veteran’s grave bereft of flag or flowers. If you find one that’s bare, place your flag and flowers on that grave.
Then mentally tell the soul/memory of the man or woman buried there, “Thanks.” And if so inclined, say a prayer to the Almighty for his or her soul.
If all of the vets’ graves are properly remembered, that’s great. Keep the flag and flowers for the following year. Or go to a different cemetery and do the above.
If for some reason May is a NO GO, then perhaps do it on the 11th of November instead. That’s also acceptable.
• Option Two: on that same Monday – or, alternately, on the 11th of November if schedule makes late May a NO GO – go spend some time visiting with an aged vet at a local nursing home or a VA hospital/other care facility. On that day, he or she will probably be feeling both their years and somewhat down; it’s also entirely possible they’ve outlived their family. They just might enjoy some company.
If someone really want to say “thanks” – make one of these an annual event. Get someone else to join in doing the same. Begin a chain, then keep it going.
Why? Because those vets now in their twilight years served well before most living today were old enough. They deserve – and in some cases, need – thanks far more than most. Maybe thanking them would be a more apropos way to show gratitude than some trite platitude offered to an individual barely known or just met.
Doing either those things would also IMO be a fine way to remember our fallen, too. Because without their efforts and sacrifice – along with the service of those aged vets now in their twilight years – we might not have very much today worth celebrating.
. . .
Just my $0.02 worth, and YMMV. I’m guessing for some reading this it does.
I’m fine with that. It’s still a free country.
Anyway: I hope everyone reading this enjoys their holiday today. But while you’re out and about – or are at your home, or the home of friends or family – please take a moment to remember the reason behind today’s holiday.
So long as we remember them, they’re not completely gone.