Life Is a Song Worth Singing

Teddy Pendergrass is dead at the age of 59 years old. To many this is just another passing of a member of our popular culture. To me it is a tragic loss that I feel very deeply.
I think all of us have a songbook that we carry with us throughout our lives adding new songs all along the way. In my songbook Teddy holds a very special place partly because he was so prolific a hitmaker and partly because those very hits took place at a time I recall with such fondness. As a young man in my 20's it was almost as if he were singing my songs instead of me singing my own.
From his start as a member of Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes to his solo career he was a major force in what is now known as "The Philadelphia Sound". From the time I first heard "Wake Up Everybody" and his lead for the Bluenotes I was sold. Not only did that voice become so recognizeable it brought me to a place that felt like home wherever I was.
For the time in my life I lived and worked in Lake Tahoe I saw Teddy live on several occasions everytime he appeared in a local showroom. I own to this day every vinyl album he ever produced as well as a few CD's that are still among my favorites to give a listen. As a recording artist and a performer he has few challengers from his contemporaries. A career, that was side tracked by an auto accident that left him paralyzed in 1982, was one that we probably have no idea how incredible it was destined to be otherwise.
We lost a great performer and man today and I lost a part of myself. My songbook will never be the same and my subconscience feelings whenever I hear Teddy singing will not be bringing me home anymore. Rest in peace Teddy Pendergrass and thank you.

Whose Fault is it Anyway?

With all of society's ills we have some of the best minds constantly involved toward coming up with the solutions to make it all better. The human condition is to look for the ones to blame. Famine, war, economic depression, disease, bigotry, religious persecution and all of the problems that plague humanity are only problems caused by someone else right? If we could eliminate those at fault all would be healed and the world would be right again.
Well, I know who it is. It is "THEM". Also known as "THEY". "THEY" are easy to find. "THOSE" people should be weeded out and made to pay for all the bad things "THEY" cause.
But wait...... "THEY" do all the good in the world as well, don't "THEY".
The truth of the matter is that we can all look in the mirror to find the real culprit. Yep, "THEM" and "THEY" are "US". Each and every one of us is responsible for all of it. All of the bad and all of the good. When we, as human beings, begin to cherish what is different about one another and stop the hatred of everyone different from "US" all of these problems will soon cease to exist entirely and they will become laughable as we can hardly imagine being so rediculous in the first place.
Imagine for a moment how bland this existance would be if everyone was the same. I, for one, would rather not exist at all under that awful set of circumstances.
Catholics shouldn't hate protestants. Whites shouldn't fear blacks. Jews shouldn't look at muslims as an enemy. Every group should wonder at the spice that every other group brings to our worldwide party. Soon the only group of "THEM" left would be "US". Human beings, happy to stand side by side reveling in all of "OUR" wonderous varieties.
Ok this has been a message from my conscience and this blog will return with the frivolities of pastimes and games next time you come back to see it.
Take care and thanks for reading!

Baseball in January?

There is a strange feeling that comes over you after the New Year. Christmas has come and gone, the college and NFL football seasons have all but come to a close and the parties have all gone quiet as we ring in another year. I hope everyone is healthy and safe and that your baseball souls are not in too much pain as we wait now for spring.
For now, it is Hot Stove trade talk, MLB Network giving us our fix of classic baseball and the memories we have of the season just past. All the while we can't help but daydream about the Spring just ahead. The sunny skies over Florida and Arizona. Grapefruit and Cactus are in our thoughts whether we even realize what our subconscious is longing for.
I was excited a couple of weeks ago as I signed my son up for his second season in Little League. Driving home from the sign-up session melancholy took over as I realized just how long we will have to wait for the tryouts to arrive.
Yes it will be awhile but at least we can console ourselves with MLB.com, Classic games on television, ESPN mutterings telling us where our favorite players will be suiting up in 2010 and reading baseball blogs like this one. Yes, it will be awhile but we have one another. Anyone want to take a trip to Mexico to see some winter baseball south of the border? It might just get us by until we here those magical words, "Pitchers and Catchers reported to camp today".

My Photography

It's Just a Joke

Former President George W. Bush and his VP Dick Cheney are sitting in a bar. A guy walks in and asks the bartender, 'Isn't that Bush and Cheney sitting over there?'
The bartender says, 'Yep, that's them.'
Excited, the guy walks over and says, 'Wow, this is a real honor! What are you guys doing in here?'
Bush says, 'We're planning WW III.'
The guy says, 'Really? What's going to happen?'
Cheney says, 'Well, we're going to kill 140 million Muslims and one blonde with big breasts.'
Confused, the guy exclaimed, 'A blonde with big breasts? Why kill a blonde with big tits?'
Cheney turns to Bush and says, 'See, I told you, no one gives a shit about the 140 million Muslims.