My dear friend Melinda Wyant Jansen is vacationing in Italy with her daughter Brittany Bard (who just happens to be my beautiful goddaughter).
On Monday Memorial Day the two ladies visited the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial (FACM), part of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) that manages 26 cemeteries in 17 nations around the world near where about 234,000 United States service members were killed in wartime.
At the Florence site, the final resting ground of 4,402 American soldiers who died in the Tuscan region after the Allies captured Rome during World War II, there are 4,392 headstones, 4,322 Latin crosses, 76 Stars of David, 1,409 Tablets of the Missing.
Melinda says she was fascinated to learn special ground was flown in so those 4402 soldiers could be buried on American soil. Indeed, syndicated columnist, author, and restauranteur, Robert St. John described the FACM as “70 acres of American pristinely manicured soil.”
On their stop Melinda and Brittany performed a valuable service.
“The visitors to the FACM, particularly Americans, feel an obligation to visit and pay their respects, serving as a representative for the blood family that cannot visit their loved one. Tourists, some of whom feel an obligation to visit and pay their respects, have become, in a sense, the extended adopted family for the deceased, providing the daily interaction and care that the next of kin is unable due to physical distance.” Christiana Chmielewski, “Collective and Individual Identities of Soldiers at the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial” (2016). Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects
“These tourists might be seen as substitutes for the family of the deceased, making the journey that their biological family may or may not have been able to make. However, unlike a family member, these tourists did not visit the FACM to visit a specific grave. Rather, their visit was made to see the cemetery as a whole and to pay their respects to the collective.” David Wharton Lloyd, 1998. Battlefield Tourism: Pilgrimage and the Commemoration of the Great War in Britain, Australia, and Canada 1919-1939
Charles K. Djou is the secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission. He has served for more than 20 years in the US Army Reserve. Now a colonel, he deployed with the 10th Mountain Division to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2011-2012 during Operation Enduring Freedom. Before that mission, he represented Hawaii as a Republican in the U.S. Congress.
Like Melinda and Brittany, Djou was at FACM on Memorial Day. Before his stop there he did an interview with FOX News Digital. Some excerpts:
“I recognize that the United States of America has not always or necessarily been perfect. By no means are we a perfect nation or a perfect people. But I do believe America at its finest, America at its best, is reflected in the mission of the American Battle Monuments Commission.”
“America — when we are at our best, unlike any other country in the world — we send our young, our finest and our brightest not to go fight for a king or crown. We don’t send them to fight for apope or faith. We don’t send them to fight for conquest.”
“We send our young Americans to go fight for words and values and those words are freedom, liberty and democracy.”
“Then when the job is done, unlike any other country in the world, we Americans go home. We go home when the job is done. And the only thing America asks for in exchange for that sacrifice are a few small plots of land to bury our dead.”
“My agency’s responsibility is to manage and maintain those few plots of land so that America remembers, so that the world remembers, what America stands for, what America is all about.”|
“These soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice on the battlefield continue to serve today.”
“They continue to serve as a reminder to this world that America really truly is a unique nation and the American people are a unique people. They serve as a reminder that we stand up for those values that we believe in and that we are willing to send our youngest and our finest and our best citizens to go die for these values.”
“I get it today in the 21st century in modern America. I know a lot of Americans are very frustrated about the banality sometimes you see on social media or on American television. I know Americans are very frustrated about the divisions they frequently see in our government.” “I know there’s a lot of people out there [who] continue to ask the question: ‘Does America still [have] it?’ Do the American people still have it within them? Do they still have the same belief in freedom and liberty? Will America still rise to the occasion and do great things?'”
“I’m here to remind America — my agency and our staff are here to remind America — that every single one of these sites and these graves, whether in Normandy or down in southern France, or in Tunisia or Italy or Netherlands or Belgium or the Philippines, that this spirit of sacrifice is part of America’s DNA. This is core of what it means to be an American.”
“When Americans look around and get disappointed about what [they] see on TikTok or on Facebook, or what they see on American television, and they see how trivial it is — at that same time, these soldiers lie under these crosses and these Stars of David all around the world. They give us a daily reminder today and into the future that America really offers something special and unique in this world.”
And “they remind us that we still have this greatness in our American soul.” Charles Djou
“At the FACM, one sees thousands of white crosses on an Italian hillside, representing the scale of death The impact is even more staggering upon the realization that there are 24 other military cemeteries like this in Europe.” Christiana Chmielewski
The U.S. Olympic hockey team consisting of amateurs and college students, defeated the long-dominant and heavily-favored Soviet Union team, 4-to-3, on home ice, in Lake Placid, New York. This underdog’s victory over a hockey juggernaut, which later led to an American gold medal, was dubbed the ‘Miracle on Ice’ and was voted the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century by Sports Illustrated. —Good News Network
On Feb. 22, 2010, I blogged:
30 years ago today, the U.S. Olympic hockey team beat Russia in a semifinal match. The Americans then won the gold media in their next game. Their stunning upset against the Russians became known as, “The Miracle on Ice.”
That game and the national jubilation it generated given the world events at the time make for any number of positive, inspirational stories to write 30 years later. It’s a shame Mike Woods of the Appleton Post-Crescent couldn’t find it in his makeup to come up with one. Instead, he felt the need to take a potshot against someone who is unable to defend himself.
Mike Woods (yes I hear your cries of, “Mike who?”) blogs on his newspaper’s web site today that he remembers watching the “Miracle” on television, and he’s still upset about it. Why? Woods writes:
“The game was tied at 3-3 and there were about 12 minuts (the spelling error is Woods’) left in the game when they went to a commercial break, and on comes some talking head named Vince Gibbens for a local news break. Vince promptly spilled the beans.
The final 10 minutes were still great but, not nearly as great if I had not known the outcome.
It was one of those moments in time that you always remember where you were when it happened. It’s also one of those moments in time that was ruined by one local news anchor, and that’s hard to forget.
But I’m sure one day I’ll get over this. After all, it’s only been 30 years.”
Some talking head?
Woods is correct that Vince Gibbens, during one of those brief TV news promos setting up the 10:00 news did reveal the final score. Gibbens realized his gaffe and apologized for it many times in subsequent years.
Some talking head?
I had the privilege of knowing Vince Gibbens and calling him, friend. He was a very popular and talented anchor and was highly respected by his fellow broadcast journalists.
Gibbens died of heart problems in November of 1995. As president of the Milwaukee Press Club, I presented his widow with a special award in his honor at the annual Press Club Gridiron Dinner in May of 1996.
Gibbens may have made a mistake 30 years ago, but Woods makes an even bigger one today with his unfortunate and insensitive characterization of a very good man.
Woods says he needs to get over the Gibbens’ incident of 1980. I suggest he grow up first.
—February 22, 2010
At another Milwaukee Press Club event I emceed Gibbens was a guest speaker. Before he had to leave to anchor the evening’s 10:00 news he delivered a prophetic speech, urging his colleagues to be more conscientious and honest in their quest for the truth.
To this day I regret there is no audio or video of Gibbens’ presentation.
Taylor Swift at last Sunday’s Grammy Awards. AP photo
When I was a young boy growing up, naturally I had some heroes.
One of them was Henry Aaron. My classmate Freddie Nicklaus liked Willie Mays.
In the line walking back to school from daily morning Catholic Mass Freddie and I had friendly discussions about who was the better home run slugger.
“Hank hit another one last night,” I’d argue. Odds are Freddie would counter the argument the very next day.
When it came to music I had boyhood heroes as well, a couple that stood out. Elvis and the Beatles, with an edge to Elvis as my favorite. He could sing. He was exciting. I could go to the movies to catch his latest where he always got the girl. Besides, there was only one of him, not four.
Elvis influenced all the rock stars that followed, including the Beatles. Many parents weren’t pleased. Outraged might be a better description.
Elvis was dirty, obscene. The British mop tops were downright awful. The long hair, the loud music. The impact on crazed teenagers.
One of my dad’s neighbor friends was one of the Beatle critics. Appalled.
But Dad was cool. I’ll never forget his response, that John, Paul, George, and Ringo should not be slammed. Instead they deserved credit for giving young guitarists and drummers all across America wonderful opportunities.
And I was cooler. Because even in my young years I made a personal pledge. Unlike these shortsighted parents who simply didn’t understand, when I got older no way was I going to rip the musical choices of kids. I’d be patient and more open, not so fast to judge.
Which brings us to Taylor Swift.
I’m not nuts about her music. Don’t dislike it. I’m just in no rush to run out and buy her latest CD.
I am aware that she has quadrillion loyal, devoted fans, and that she’s sold five quadrillion records. That’s what people say.
One of her ardent followers is my 14-year old daughter Kyla.
Now she’s a Swiftie who is the recipient of great joy thanks to Taylor, like a ton of others, and I’m not just talking about extremely young girls.
Since Swift has become the most popular person on the planet she’s the target of plenty of low-hanging fruit from countless knuckle draggers, many of whom wouldn’t recognize really good music from an electric shaver. Let’s examine:
1) Swift is part of a dastardly, cunningly orchestrated plot to brainwash impressionable young people to keep a mentally-challenged POTUS in the White House. That’s crazier than an Oliver Stone movie.
Reince Priebus, chair of the Host Committee for the Republican national Convention in Milwaukee, called right-wing conspiracy theories that Swift has been set up to sway the 2024 election for President Joe Biden “a powderkeg of stupidity. You’re talking about two of the most popular things in America right now, Taylor Swift and the NFL. And we’ve got a party that wants to grow the tent. I don’t think attacking those two … is obviously the way to go.
A large contingent of Republicans doesn’t call us the stupid party for nothing. My right wing colleagues are embarrassing themselves.
2) But Swift endorsed Biden once and she might do it again my side whines and moans. At the risk of sounding less than analytical, a big fat so what. I must say if I based my music selections on political ideologies I’d have trashed all my Beatle albums years ago.
3) I watch football to see football, not shots of Taylor Swift. Excuse me. But you’re not missing any football when Taylor Swift is comfortably inside a stadium luxury box. The camera focuses on Swift for what, a millisecond? You’ve missed nothing.
4) It’s just so irritating. That’s a beauty. We have a president suffering from dementia, runaway inflation, the threat of crooked elections, a border crisis, a never-ending cash train to Ukraine, indoctrination of young school students., and what are people’s noses out of joint about, sending them shrieking to complain on social media? A pop star has a boyfriend who plays football. OMG.
5) I really don’t care. Love that one. Don’t care? Why you commenting all upset on social media?
6) I’m trying to avoid this whole deal. Another personal favorite. Two or three days later he/ she is all hot and bothered in print.
7) Taylor only sings about former romances that went bad. Again, so what. The history of pop music is dominated by songs about love’s lament.
8) You (me) must like ‘hoes.’Another comment I’ve received: you want to act like a 13 year old and worship a singer that usually dresses like a high end call girl go ahead.” A) I had no idea I was into prostitutes, and B) Taylor is not a hoe. She’s pretty tame and wholesome compared to tramps like Miley Cyrus and other stars today.
9) If you (me) are OK with raising your daughter to worship Swift…“We have some pretty dense parents, that champion these kinds of public people…(thereby telling their kids it’s quite acceptable to jump from bed to bed and not hold on to anything but money and attention” I was told. Cue the Twlight Zone music on that one. My sweet daughter is a huge fan, it’s true. Worship is hyperbole. And she’s smart, doing incredibly well in school. Beyond well-behaved. I couldn’t ask for a better, sweeter, kinder young lady.
So I’ll defend Taylor Swift whose only crime is being gifted, talented, successful, and hard-working.
I’m sure my commentary will be met with possible insults and the most clever of responses: the dreaded emoji.
And that’s fine because to borrow one of their pet phrases: I really don’t care.
Today’s read is extensive, but well worth your time. Please watch the enclosed video and then read the article.
First, as an intro, a CBS 60 MINUTES video I posted back in 2007 when it aired. I called it one of my most important blogs of the year.
Fast forward to today’s read.
America’s Runaway Debt Scenario: $1 Trillion in Interest per Year
America’s debt spiral could devolve into a fiscal crisis or hyperinflation, several economists say.
(Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Shutterstock)
By Peter Svab The Epoch Times Nov 28, 2023
The U.S. federal government has borrowed so much money that, over the past year, it has had to spend one-fifth of all the money it collected just on debt interest—which came to almost $880 billion. This fiscal year, interest is expected to reach over $1 trillion.
Americans paid some $450 billion less in income taxes for the year, trapping the government in the pincers of a fiscal crunch.
The country teeters on the brink of a debt spiral that could devolve into a fiscal crisis or hyperinflation, several economists told The Epoch Times.
“The problem is serious because, any way you cut it, taxpayers are paying interest on the mountain of debt that has been accumulated,” said Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University. “In short, they are paying something for nothing.”
Congress must dramatically curb deficit spending to instill confidence in investors—who seem to be losing faith in America’s ability to satisfy its obligations, some suggest.
“Deficit spending by the U.S. government is in a runaway scenario,” said Mark Thornton, a senior fellow at the classical liberal Mises Institute. “The amount of money that they’re borrowing is at extremely elevated levels and there doesn’t seem to be any regulation or even mild attempts to curb the spending side of the fiscal equation.”
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington on March 13, 2023. The Treasury joined other government financial institutions to bail out Silicon Valley Bank’s account holders after it collapsed. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Gigantic Debt
Government debt stood above $33 trillion in fiscal year 2023 (the 12 months that ended on Sept. 30). That’s about $1.7 trillion more than the year before. Interest on the debt has been growing steadily for decades, although at a relatively slow pace to about $570 billion in 2019 from about $350 billion in 1995—an annual increase of some 2 percent.
With the explosion of government spending during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve, the debt cost has skyrocketed by more than 50 percent between 2019 and 2023. Over the past year, it has already surpassed the entire military budget.
The cost is expected to keep growing as old debt issued at low interest rates matures and is rolled over into higher rates.
While the government pays some of the interest to itself, as it holds about 20 percent of the debt in various trusts and funds, interest from that portion of the debt is supposed to pay for future expenses of programs such as Medicare and Social Security.
“That money is already slated to go out the door. It just hasn’t gone out the door yet,” said E.J. Antoni, an economist and research fellow at conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.
“It’s not as if the government has that cash on hand to spend.”
Even with that income counted in, the Medicare Hospital Insurance and Social Security funds are expected to run out of money in about 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The National Debt Clock in Washington on Nov. 13, 2023.(Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)
Who Pays?
Proponents of large government deficit spending have argued that servicing the debt isn’t much of a worry since the Fed can print the cash necessary to cover the interest or even buy up the debt. The Treasury would then pay the interest on the debt to the Fed, which would then use the money to cover the cost of its operations and send the surplus back to the Treasury. The government would, in effect, pay the interest to itself.
Indeed, about 20 percent of the government debt is held by the Fed already.
However, the reality doesn’t necessarily follow this logic.
“The Federal Reserve doesn’t actually make money anymore,” Mr. Antoni said. “They lose money because so much of the Treasurys that they have on the books right now [were] purchased in 2020 and even early 2021 when rates were near zero, so those assets are earning almost nothing,”
Anything the Fed does collect on its portfolio, it immediately pays out to banks and money market funds in interest on reserves and reverse repurchase agreements. The point of those operations is to stem inflation—“keeping liquid cash locked in its vaults so that it can’t multiply in the banking system,” he said.
These operations now cost the central bank some $700 million per day, forcing it into a “huge deficit,” Mr. Antoni said.
“It’s not sending Treasury a dime.”
The US Treasury Department building in Washington on Jan. 19, 2023. The Treasury announced it had begun taking measures to prevent a default on government debt. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
For the same reason, the Fed seems to lack the appetite for more government debt. Over the past year and a half, it has been slowly reducing its debt holdings, siphoning cash out of the market to curb inflation.
“Any time the Fed buys something, they do it with money that’s being created for that purpose,” he said.
“The Fed actually doesn’t have an account with any balance. Their checking account literally has zero balance so when they sell an asset, the money that goes into that account is extinguished. When they buy an asset, the money that comes out of that account is just created.”
If the Fed were to buy more debt, it would increase the money supply, summoning the specter of inflation even as it’s trying to banish it.
“We would be right back on the inflation treadmill,” Mr. Antoni said.
Bad Credit?
If the government wants to borrow without worsening inflation, it needs to find somebody to buy the debt with existing dollars.
Until recently, that hasn’t been a problem. Despite offering measly interest, U.S. Treasurys served as a safe haven investment—a hedge against risk and an indispensable collateral in complex investment schemes in financial markets.
“U.S. Treasurys were seen as the safest asset. And increasingly that’s not the case today,” Mr. Antoni said.
People walk past the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street in New York City on March 23, 2021. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
In August, the Fitch rating firm downgraded U.S. debt to AA+ from AAA.
On Nov. 9, the Treasury had the worst auction of 30-year Treasurys in more than a decade as investors demanded a premium to buy the bond. Demand was down by almost 5 percent from the month before.
On Nov. 10, Moody’s, another rating firm, lowered the U.S. debt outlook to “negative” from “stable,” arguing that polarization in Congress is likely to thwart fiscal reforms.
“People are increasingly realizing today [that U.S. Treasurys] aren’t safe at all,” Mr. Antoni said.
He pointed out that “violent changes” in monetary policy can dramatically affect bond prices.
Nobody would pay the full price of a bond that pays 2 percent annual interest when the Treasury now offers plenty of bonds that pay 5 percent.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on Nov. 15, 2023. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“If you bought a government bond, for example, in 2020, it’s lost about half of its value, so you just can’t sell it,” Mr. Antoni said. “You’re essentially stuck with that low rate of return.”
Accounting for inflation, the older bonds are now, in fact, losing their owners money, but at least they return something.
“That’s still typically better than the losses you would take if you sold it outright,” he said.
Then, there’s the default risk. Investors are aware that the government will likely one day be unable to pay its debts. So far, that hasn’t been much of an issue, partly because of the “greater fool strategy,” as he put it.
“’I’m betting that there’s a bigger fool out there who, after I want to sell, is still willing to buy, even though that Doomsday, if you will, is right around the corner,’” he said, summing up the strategy.
“That may sound silly, but there are plenty of investors and investments that operate on that principle.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell prepares to deliver remarks in Washington on Nov. 8, 2023. Even if the Fed cuts rates, it may not solve the problem, economists say. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The cooling of demand for the 30-year bonds may be a sign that investors are gradually losing confidence that such a fool will be available over the long haul. The Treasury seems to be responding by offering more of the shorter maturity bonds, according to Mr. Antoni.
Yet inflation poses a similar risk to a default, he said, noting that the dollar has lost about 17 percent of its value over the past few years.
“It’s the same as if the Treasury were to turn around and only pay 83 percent of the bondholders and tell the other 17 percent to go pound sand,” he said.
All these factors seem to be souring investor confidence in the bonds. And once spoiled, investor trust is hard to restore, according to Mr. Hanke.
Even if the Fed were to cut rates again, it may not necessarily solve the problem, he said.
“It looks like the bond market has turned into a bear market,” Mr. Hanke said. “And bond bear markets (as well as bull markets) last for many years. That implies that interest rates will be higher for longer—a lot longer. If that is the case, it suggests that financing the federal deficit will be a significant problem for many years.”
Debt and War
Geopolitical interests have seemingly turned against the government bond market too, particularly with China exiting its massive position in U.S. Treasurys.
“At this point, it’s becoming not just a financial issue, but a national security issue,” Mr. Antoni said.
At the current pace, China could be U.S. debt-free in a few years, in what he expects to be a preparation for war.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen waits to meet China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng at the start of the second day of their two-day meeting ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), in San Francisco, California, on November 10, 2023. (LOREN ELLIOTT/AFP via Getty Images)
“It effectively isolates you from the Treasury’s ability to selectively default,” Mr. Antoni said, referring to the government’s canceling of its debt held by another country as a form of economic sanction.
“If we borrowed a bunch of money from China and then China turns around and invades Taiwan, we can say, ‘You know what, all of our debt that China owns—it’s now voided. We’re not going to pay that money back,’” he said.
Such a step could have been used against Russia upon its invasion of Ukraine, “except that Russia already sold off all their holdings of U.S. debt,” Mr. Antoni noted.
“So I think it’s reasonable to believe that China getting rid of all its U.S. debt could be a prelude to war,” he said.
Fortunately for the United States, China isn’t trying to flood the market with its stash of U.S. Treasurys, but mostly letting them expire and not buying more. The likely reason is that it bought the bonds at times of low interest and would have to sell them much cheaper now, Mr. Antoni said.
A cargo ship sails in the Taiwan Strait as tourists watch from a lighthouse on Pingtan Island, the closest point in China to Taiwan, in southeast China’s Fujian Province on April 16, 2023. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
Who’s to Blame?
It would seem most obvious to blame excessive government debt on the government, particularly Congress. But the economists put much of the blame on the Fed.
It’s true that lawmakers are responsible for approving the budget and, regardless of party, have long failed to balance it. But it’s the Fed that has made borrowing so expedient by setting interest rates extremely low for much of the past two decades.
“[Before that,] for many years, the debt did not grow as much because it would have been prohibitively expensive to grow it,” Mr. Antoni said.
Mr. Hanke said, “The Fed should be blamed for allowing the money supply to expand at an excessive rate.
“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon. And, as night follows day, interest rates follow the course of inflation. So the Fed, by not paying attention to the rate of growth in the money supply, is a culprit.”
The Fed’s buying up of government debt during the gargantuan pandemic spending set off the inflation avalanche and continued well into 2022, even after the pandemic effectively ended.
“Exhibit 1 is ironically titled the ‘Inflation Reduction Act,’ an act that is filled with government subsidies and giveaways,” Mr. Hanke said.
President Joe Biden (C), flanked by lawmakers, smiles after signing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, in the White House in Washington on Aug. 16, 2022. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
The initial round of COVID-19 spending in 2020 didn’t cause much inflation because the Fed spent the two prior years slightly tightening the money supply, according to Mr. Antoni.
“You had an economy that was growing quickly, and you had money supply that was shrinking, both of which are very deflationary,” he said. “So as a result of that, there was a lot of cushion, if you will, built into the economy to absorb all of that excess spending in 2020. Inflation takes off in 2021 because that cushion is no longer there. So anything else was just fuel on the fire.”
In theory, the Fed should be setting monetary policy independently of political interests. In practice, however, it appears that when the government wants to spend, the Fed accommodates it, according to Mr. Antoni.
The Fed leadership has shown “that they are not data dependent, that they are not independent, but that they are simply slaves to their political masters,” he said.
He has no confidence that the Fed will keep rates high long enough to put the inflation boogeyman back in the closet.
People carry food donated by volunteers from the Baltimore Hunger Project outside of Padonia International Elementary school in Cockeysville, Md., on Dec. 4, 2020. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
“We’re still not back to pre-pandemic levels of price increases and people just have no confidence that the Fed is going to get us there,” he said.
Mr. Thornton argued that “the Fed has very little prospects of doing anything that wouldn’t cause secondary problems.”
“The Fed has backed itself into a corner. It’s been extremely accommodative over the years. Its effort at quantitative tightening, in the sense of selling off government debt and mortgage-backed securities, has been really minuscule in the larger picture of things. Graphically, the Fed’s balance sheet exploded upwards and it’s just barely leveled off and moved down at all,” he said.
What to Do?
If the Fed isn’t up to solving the problem, it will be up to Congress to step in. However, it’ll take a “tremendous jolt” to move the needle, according to Mr. Thornton.
“It really needs to be across-the-board spending cuts that capture the attention of investors, business leaders, entrepreneurs, workers,” he said.
However, it need not necessarily be complex.
The New York Stock Exchange and the ‘Fearless Girl’ statue are seen on Wall Street in New York City on March 23, 2021. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
“All you have to do is just reset every budget, every government benefit, every government paycheck back to, say, 2018 levels,” Mr. Thorton said.
“That would solve the problem. It would solve the fiscal problem, it would solve the psychological problem that people are having about the U.S. economy.”
Such cuts would be inevitably called “draconian” in the media and would need to be large enough to “upset” government workers as well as beneficiaries of government programs, he noted, suggesting a major political sacrifice.
At the same time, the government would have to take steps to reinvigorate the economy by cutting taxes and barriers to business, he said.
Mr. Thorton pointed to Alabama’s new rule that frees overtime work from state income tax.
“That’s the type of thing we need to be doing on a much larger scale and we need to be doing it nationally,” he said.
“Hopefully, you’ll see politicians responding with at least some efforts in the right directions, but they’re going to have to really make some significant progress and very quickly and I would not bet right now that they’re going to do enough.”
Wednesday, December 6th, recognizes the third-century saint who became an inspiration for the modern-day Santa Claus.
St. Nicholas is known for selling all his possessions and giving his money to the poor. Raised as a devout Christian, St. Nicholas dedicated his whole life to serving the sick and suffering.
While St. Nicholas Day is not to be confused with Christmas, some similarities do exist. Traditions include leaving gifts in shoes (or stockings) or the exchange of small gifts. Another tradition suggests leaving treats for good boys and girls. However, the naughty ones receive a twig or chunk of coal.
Interesting facts associated with St. Nicholas:
He is the patron saint of a great many causes. Some of the causes include sailors, travelers, clergy, school children, and thieves, to name a few.
He was born in the village of Patar, located on the southeastern coast of modern-day Turkey.
Buried in a tomb in Myra, water believed to have healing powers formed in his grave. It is called the Manna of Saint Nicholas.
Wisconsin’s gun deer season begins Saturday and runs through November 26th.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminds hunters to make safety their number one target. DNR conservation wardens investigated eight hunting incidents, including one fatality, during the 2022 gun-deer season. Four of those were self-inflicted gun shots.
The DNR says hunters can do their part to reduce the number of hunting incidents by following the four basic rules of firearm safety:
T – Treat every firearm as if it is loaded
A – Always point the muzzle in a safe direction
B – Be certain of your target, what’s before it and what’s beyond it
K – Keep your finger outside your trigger guard until you are safe to shoot
I’m not a hunter, but I’m a staunch supporter.
Columnist, author, and ordained minister Doug Giles IS a hunter. Here’s a photo of a brown bear he shot in Alaska in 2010.
Giles, a favorite of mine, doesn’t write as much as he used to. But when Giles did, hunting was always an interesting topic.
In August of 2008 Giles gave his 10 reasons why he loves hunting:
10. When I’m out hunting the locations are usually so remote that my necessary evil, i.e. cell phone and my buddies’ cell phones, do not work and thus, depending on the length of the hunt, I have a 3-14 day timeframe to be left the heck alone. Thank you, Jesus. No doubt some of you are thinking, “I can’t live, if living is without you” in relation to your electronic appendage. Trust me, you’ll survive, and believe it or not—and this might hurt some of you egoists—but the world will continue to turn without your input.
9. Our sport is 99.9% devoid of nasty, whiny man-hating stretch pant wearing mullet sporting anti-American nerve-grating feminists, lesbos and nutty liberals. Yep, around the campfire and in the field the lunatic left’s yarbling is non-existence. Why the absence of the left’s asininity out in the brush? The answer is simple: The tree humpers don’t hunt, which is awesome! For my God and country loving tribe, this makes the air smell fresher, the food taste better, the wine taste sweeter, the buzz last longer, the stars shine brighter, the voice of God clearer, and the trip overwhelmingly blissful with such jackanapes missing from our mix. Yep, the hunting camp is a traditional values paradise.
8. Less noise. One of the things I hate about city life is the noise. Daily I find myself walking around yelling like Yosemite Sam, ”I hate noise . . . can’t stand noise . . . noise . . . noise . . . noise!” which inadvertently adds to the racket, which explains much of my life. Where I live (Miami) everything is frickin’ noisy. Horns honkin’, people yelling on their cell phones, folks fighting, screaming and complaining in English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese and Yiddish—and that’s just in the foyer of our church. By the way, can Starbucks get a coffee steamer that doesn’t sound like a wild boar being gutted with a dull chainsaw? Is that too much to ask? Out in the field and away from the concrete the hunter enjoys the magical perk of peace and quiet.
7. Art by God. The hunter gets an ocular overload as he is fortunate to behold the handiwork of the Creator in an intimate and intimidating way. Yes, away from the manmade stercore tauri one gets to behold the Designer showing off his flora and fauna in a funkalicious fashion. Explosive colors, an endless variety of birds, animals, fish, reptiles, freaky insects, threatening mountains, trickling and raging rivers, and brilliant stars are the canvas God rolls out and slaps the onlooking hunter with. I know this will upset some indoor Nancy boy pastors, but I get more God out of nature than I do your dull church service. The hunter understands what King David meant in Psalm 23 when he says that God “makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” Call me crazy, but God’s art crushes any Abstract/Modern art which usually looks like someone whipped their butt on a piece of paper, framed it and called it good.
6. Hunting revives the hunter’s primal roots. Just getting out in the wild reconnects me with my original spiritual and physical moorings. When God created Adam and Eve, He made certain that their initial crib didn’t have cable TV or a home association. Yep, God didn’t want His kids’ first experiences to be lame and tame. Adam and Eve were made to be wild, not mild, and were purposely crafted to interface 24/7 with wild beasts. Lucky bastards!
Non-hunter: If you or your kids are screwed up, one of the many reasons could be that you have separated yourself and your brood from what they need, namely regular doses of the irregular wild. Try it. it’s magical. There is something that the undomesticated does to a person that no Lysol-disinfected, five star hotel on South Beach, slow cruise to Nassau, or a 3-day hell trip to Disneyland could provide—and the hunter is stubbornly locked onto this fact. Yes, you can go to Disneyland, and we’ll go to Africa or Texas or Maine or Alaska.
The hunt causes one’s senses to come alive, and as a result they’re taken to a higher level by simply pursuing the prey. Yes, the eyes, ears, nose, feet and hands kick into high gear like they don’t when you’re standing in the snaking stooge line at McDonald’s waiting for their new McCrap sandwich before you return to your office cubicle to inhale the stale, fart-laden, re-circulated office “air.”
5. Hunting takes the funk out of dysfunctional families.
What I’ve seen in 30 plus years out in the hunting fields is this: The family that hunts together stays together. Hunting requires communication between the hunting parties. Most families communicate with each other about as often as Bill has sex with Hillary. Hunting cures this (the communication part, not the Bill and Hillary stuff).
There’s a lot that goes into being a successful hunter, and it demands plenty of quality time spent between the tribe discussing safety, terrain, conservation, the particular animals to be pursued, and choices of weapons, boots, clothes, bullets, bows/arrows . . . you get the point, don’t ‘cha? After all the aforementioned prelim stuff is done with, then the hunt commences, which includes sitting, walking, stalking, and then relaxing around the sacred campfire, where it’s just you guys talking, laughing and anticipating the next day, and—excuse my redundancy—you are all together. The hunter understands this: Family is everything, all else is BS.
4. Hunting provides veggies for the vegans.
I love the fact that the PETA vegans couldn’t eat their salad or their edamame burger if it weren’t for the blistering fact that farmers/hunters have to shoot animals so that the vapid vegan can smugly eat his garbanzo bean patty. Earth to PETA: Animals prey on your in-demand, sassy, non-animal grub—and the farmers don’t like it, and they shoot them. Do you need a tissue?
Yes, the “save the animal” dipsticks who don’t eat meat wouldn’t have their holy lettuce if it were not for farmers shooting PETA’s “friends” like the rabbits, deer, wild hogs and other critters that decimate the vegetarians’ victuals. However, I wouldn’t let it bug you now, PETA. Before you eat your salad just smoke another doobie and forget about the fact that for you to have your cute little baby carrot that it entailed a farmer putting the bam to Bambi. Oh, the irony.
3. Hunting provides massive amounts of food for the poor.
Unlike the liberal blowhards who talk about helping the poor, many hunters practically do it by feeding them. The hunter, who generally speaking is a conservative, is supposed to be, according to the Mange Stream Media, a calloused living heart donor. However, the reality is that we provide a massive, benevolent source of high-protein, low-fat food to the poor at our own expense. Put that in your hookah and smoke it, morons.
Here’s the truth, weepy “save the poor” hypocrites: The “evil” group known to you as hunters gives away hundreds of thousands of pounds of the best meat on the planet at their expense to the poorest among us. In the last couple of years alone my buddies and I have paid for the hunting, butchering and processing of conservatively 10,000 pounds of sweet venison for the poor in Africa and at risk kids, Christian ministries, and abused and battered women here in the U.S of A. That’s 10,000 plus pounds of meat just between a few guys in the last few years. How do you, the “loving liberal,” stack up against that? Not very well, I’ll bet.
2. Hunters put their money where their mouth is.
The yarbling libs and PETA are a full of sheeta crowd that would love to make us all believe that they are true stewards of nature and that hunters are Agent Orange to animals and land. However, if the truth can still be told, it’s the hunter who doles out nearly three hundred million bucks a year in special surtaxes on guns, ammo, camo underwear and other outdoor supplies which goes to state conservation programs. The tree humpers don’t pay these taxes, girlfriend, the hunters do. The hunters. The hunters. The hunters.
That’s probably enough 411 for the brainwashed crowd for now on how the hunter is the true conservationist who puts his money where his mouth is. Maybe later I’ll write about how the hunters’ hard earned capital is what saves the swamps, underwrites wildlife research, and has kept many species around the planet from going extinct—not PETA.
1. Hunters are the salt of the earth.
Every group has their jerks, and it’s true that everybody sucks, but as far as I’m concerned, hunters suck less. Matter of fact, I’d say that 95% of the people I have met in the hallowed hunting camp have been upright, pleasant, courteous, grateful, hard working, God- and country-loving, family oriented folks with whom it was my deepest pleasure to be able to share a few days pursuing game.
Frank Howard, Towering Slugger Whose Homers Were, Too, Dies at 87
At 6-foot-7 and 250-plus pounds, he was known for his tape-measure blasts for the Dodgers and the Senators — not to mention all those strikeouts.
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Frank Howard at the plate in 1968. He once lumbered to second base after hitting what may be the longest double in Yankee Stadium history.Credit…Associated Press
Frank Howard, the Bunyanesque slugger who struck some of baseball’s more awesome home runs for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington Senators while rolling up a prodigious strikeout total as well, unable to conquer his penchant for chasing bad balls, died on Monday in Aldie, Va. He was 87.
His death, at a hospital, was caused by complications of a stroke, his daughter Catherine Braun said.
Listed at 6-foot-7 and 255 pounds — though well above that weight at times — Howard played for 16 seasons in the major leagues and hit 382 homers. He twice led the American League in that category. Many of his home runs — and even some hits that didn’t clear the fence — were unforgettable.
As a Dodger in 1960, he hit a ball over the left-field wall at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh that was found alongside a parked car some 560 feet from home plate.
Batting against Whitey Ford in Game 1 of the 1963 World Series, at the original Yankee Stadium, he hit a drive that landed, in fair territory, just to the left of the monuments to Yankee greats in center field, about 460 feet from home plate. He lumbered only as far as second base in what has been called the longest double in Yankee Stadium history.
In Game 4, he hit a 450-foot homer off Ford into the left-field mezzanine at Dodger Stadium, in a 2-1 victory that completed a Dodger sweep of the Series.
Howard drove in 1,119 runs in his long career. But he also struck out 1,460 times.
A humble muscleman well liked by teammates and friendly to fans, Howard could laugh at his failings. He once told how the great hitter Ted Williams, who became the Senators’ manager in 1969, helped him show more patience at the plate. Still, Williams couldn’t contain his frustration.
“Somebody was explaining to a visitor that some of the outfield seats in R.F.K. Stadium had been painted white to mark where some of my long home runs had landed,” Howard told The New York Times in 1981. “Ted turned to the guy and said, ‘All the green seats are for the times he struck out.’”
Former major league slugger Frank Howard died on Monday at the age of 87, due to complications from a stroke.
Standing 6-foot-7 and weighing 255 pounds Howard was an imposing figure in the batter’s box, slamming 382 home runs. Howard had won NL Rookie of the Year honors with the Dodgers in 1960 and helped them win the World Series three years later. He then played seven seasons with the Washington Senators.
He was with the Senators when they relocated to Texas and became the Rangers and finished with the Detroit Tigers.
During his playing days Howard wore a size 54 shirt, 46 pants and 14D shoe.
Howard finished playing in 1973. The Milwaukee Brewers hired him to manage their Class AAA farm affiliate in Spokane, Washington, in 1976. In 1977, Howard was promoted to the Major-League first base coach on Brewers’ manager Alex Grammas’ staff.
Howard left the Brewers in 1980 to become manager for the San Diego Padres and eventually returned to Milwaukee in 1984, this time as hitting coach.
Nicknamed “Hondo” after a character in a John Wayne movie Howard gave me a whopper of a childhood memory I’ll never forget. Wrote about it in 2022.
Every Friday night we smooth our way into the weekend with music, the universal language. These selections demonstrate that despite what is being passed off as art today, there is plenty of really good music available. Come along and enjoy!
A few weeks ago my dear friend and legendary Milwaukee classical music radio host Obie Yadgar passed away. I shared some memories of Obie in Part 1. This week, more memories of a terrific talent.
According to his beautiful daughter Sonja (Can’t believe she once sat on my lap as a child) Obie’s radio career took him from San Diego, to New York, St. Louis to Milwaukee, to Virginia, Chicago, and back to Milwaukee.
Obie was not your typical classic announcer. You know the type. “This is Eugene Ormandy with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B Flat, Opus 60.” Pause. One-thousand one, one-thousand two, one thousand three. Start record.
When you listened to Obie you heard he just didn’t do it that way.
As I mentioned in Part 1, when I did morning drive news at WUWM and then turn the programming over to Obie he would pick his opening selection and then go from there, spontaneously choosing each piece as the show progressed. Thus, it didn’t take long for Obie to respond to my question, “What are you going to start with this morning?”
There was that morning in 1984 when we talked about the new popular movie “Amadeus.”
Obie couldn’t get over the film’s ending where Mozart’s body in a bag was unceremoniously dumped from a casket into an open grave filled with others on a gloomy rainy day, the kind Obie always referred to on-ar as ‘moody and introspective.”
Obie was audibly and visually upset at how one of his favorite composers was depicted.
“That’s Mozart!” Obie said sorrowfully on air.
More on Mozart: The renowned composer according to Obie loved to tell dirty jokes.
That’s a good segue to Obie’s anecdote on WMSE on Janaury 29 of this year.
He quoted English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, calling him the “king of the one-liners” who possessed a “very acerbic sense of humor.”
“The sound of a harpsichord,” said Beecham – “two skeletons copulating on a tin roof in a thunderstorm.”
Bruce Winter was WUWM’s Operation Manager when Obie and I worked there (He was an amazing talent who did everything at the station behind the scenes and on-air. Bruce died in 2018 at the age of 64).
Obie, Bruce, and I were like the Three Musketeers. Whenever we got together we had the best, funniest conversation.
In the hallway in 1984 a discussion popped around the movie “Romancing the Stone” starring Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito, and Kathleen Turner. Obie and Bruce mentioned what a looker Turner was, and I concurred. I believe Obie also used the word “yummy.”
Somehow the talk turned to another actress, Kim Novak. Obie had an affection for her and told us he thought she had a “really nice back.”
Novak starred in “Picnic” that gave us the standard “Moonglow.”
A few more Obie memories.
Obie possessed a very thick beard and mustache. His 5 O’Clock shadow probably began around noon.
WUWM sent the two of us and the general manager to Washington for a conference and meetings with National Public Radio. Sharing a hotel room with Obie I saw firsthand his daily morning ritual: a rather lengthy extended shave. The entire process took almost an hour.
For the longest time I’ve thought some outfit should conduct a study on how much time in a man’s life he wastes shaving. Honestly I don’t relish the whole ordeal. But Obie was totally different. To Obie every day started with sheer joy.
“The morning shave is my time for myself. Good time to think about things,” he wrote to me on Facebook where he often posted a photo display of his collection of razors, brushes, and after shave bottles.
The last time I saw Obie was just before he got his radio program at WMSE. We met at a coffee place in Shorewood where he shared with me a brush and shaving cream and happily gave me instructions on just how to use them for the best results.
You need to write a blog for me about shaving I told Obie. I was surprised because he wanted to know how to go about the blogging process. Can you imagine? Here was this author, asking for a primer on blogging. Obie wanted to do it, but was too busy at the time cranking out his latest novel. He never did get to send me a shaving column.
About that trip to D.C. We’d take walks around the city during off time and I swear on a few occasions Obie said to me, “I could go for some good mutton.”
I asked Obie about that not too long ago on Facebook.
KEVIN: Hey dear friend, when’s the last time you had some good mutton?
OBIE: Don’t like lamb.
KEVIN: Pardon me Obie. For some reason after seeing you in pics devouring a good-looking steak I thought back to when we were in DC and I thought you commented a few times you wanted to find some good mutton. My mind must be slipping!
OBIE: My dear friend, the pistons misfire after so many years.
Obie is a Vietnam veteran. While in D.C. Obie requested that I accompany him to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall that was fairly new, dedicated on Veterans Day in 1982.
Anyone who’s been to The Wall or even its replica knows it’s an intensive emotional kick to the heart.
Staring at the V-shaped shiny black granite wall Obie was silent. I, too, said nothing. Looking over at my friend I noticed that he cried a bit.
On March 29, 1973, two months after the signing of a Vietnam peace agreement, the last U.S. combat troops left South Vietnam as Hanoi freed many of the remaining American prisoners of war held in North Vietnam. America’s direct eight-year intervention in the Vietnam War was at an end.
Just a month later the jazz-rock group “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” released their latest album. One of the tracks was a poignant song nothing like the group’s previous big hits.
I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed my personal tribute to one of the finest gentlemen I ever knew. And I’m honored to have met and worked with him.
Goodnight.
Sleep well.
Have a great weekend.
I mentioned Bruce Winter earlier. One day WUWM received a promotional copy of an album by the Boston Pops and Bruce was excited to share it with Obie and me as we chatted in the hallway.
Despite it being a Boston Pops album the recording wasn’t classical per se. Even so Obie was delighted at the album’s theme and said he couldn’t wait to play some of it on-air. I don’t remember exactly what he put on the turntable, but he is deserving of the title number.
Every Friday night we smooth our way into the weekend with music, the universal language. These selections demonstrate that despite what is being passed off as art today, there is plenty of really good music available. Come along and enjoy!
For many years Obie Yadgar was the voice of classical music on Milwaukee radio. At WFMR and then at WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio where we worked together and formed a wonderful friendship.
News of Obie’s death from cancer last week deeply saddened me. Trite but true. Obie may have been the nicest gentleman I’ve ever known. This week (and next because I’ve got a bunch) memories of Obie. Some I’ve written about and some I haven’t. Enjoy my tribute to a great talent who brought so much joy to so many.
Obie returned to the airwaves in early September of 2022 with a weekly one-hour program on Sunday mornings at WMSE, 91.7 FM in Milwaukee titled “Obie’s Opus,” named after one of Obie’s books.
Obie told me missed being on air, but one of the main reasons he was elated was his dear wife Judy. She had passed away a few months prior to Obie’s radio return and wanted him back on the air and knew better than anyone how Obie yearned to be in front of a microphone again.
We begin with German composer and pianist Johannes Brahms, widely considered one of his era’s most important artists. This past May marked Brahms’ 190th birthday and Obie and I corresponded on Facebook.
Obie: “Brahms is my man. You can listen to, let’s say, a Brahms Symphony 50 times and each time you’ll hear something new. I have listened to Brahms forever and each hearing is still full of surprises for me.”
In the 1980’s when I was hosting the morning drive all-news magazine at WUWM, Obie would follow me at 9:00 and we’d segue into his program with what we called our “chat.” It was an attempt to remain seamless and keep listeners listening by teasing them as Obie and I promoted his show.
That’s the way the management drew it up.
Fine, Obie and I said to that directive. No problem. However…
Before we started this programming twist I went to Obie and said something to the effect that he would come in and tell me all about the music he was going to play between 9:00 and 1:00.
Simple, right?
Not so simple.
Obie would pick his opening selection and then go from there, spontaneously choosing each piece as the show progressed. Thus, it didn’t take long for Obie to respond to my question, “What are you going to start with this morning?”
We basically had about two and a half minutes to fill. So we’d chat. Sometimes about the NPR arts/entertainment segment that aired just before what we called our “shtick.” But usually the topic was whatever we happened to come up with, always unscripted, unrehearsed, never planned ahead of time.
Listeners told us they’d stop what they were doing at 8:58 in the morning. Pulled the car over. Didn’t go into the office until 9:01. Carried a radio out to the garden. So as not to miss “the chat.”
During one of those first chats Obie divulged he was “Assyrian, emphasis on the ass.” As with almost all of our chats I had no idea what would happen or be siad, the beauty of the whle segment. And here was this classical music sophisticate using that kind of language live on the air. Eyebrow-raising radio even for the 80’s.
How did we react, seconds later? Obie and I laughed. And I realized at that moment Obie could easily get away with that stuff.
We never argued. We never debated. Unlike the tone of talk on the air today. The closest we came if you want to term it that way came on February 4, 1983. Roughly 8:53 am. The news came across the wire, yes, the wire. Karen Carpenter had died. A few minutes later Obie walked into the newsroom where our studio was located and I informed him in one of those rare times we talked about our talk prior to going on air.
I loved Karen Carpenter. Obie said on the chat that she reminded him of ” a potato.” Can’t recall exactly what he meant, just that he was not the fan I was.
I sincerely hope Obie and Karen can now…chat.
Obie had several quality traits, including a marvelous sense of humor.
The Milwaukee Ballet invited us to join the large cast of local celebrities one year for their New Year’s Eve production of “The Nutty Nutcracker.” They had us dressed up as medieval musicians right down to the tights and glam-filled jackets. For our part we walked onstage with children’s stick horses and pretended to play loud brassy horns.
Backstage Obie came up with the idea that after we blew our horns we would turn and look at each other quite seriously, pause dramatically, and simultaneously wipe our mouths with our sleeves. To exit we put the sticks between our legs and galloped off.
Unfortunately I have no video or photos of that stupendous moment in Milwaukee Ballet history.
On some of Obie’s WMSE programs in his marvelous story-telling fashion he referred to some classical artists as rock stars.
Andrew Benson Brown, a Missouri-based poet, journalist, and writing coach wrote in November of 2022:
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) epitomized the early musical celebrity. He idolized Beethoven, who after listening to Liszt play for him as a child, allegedly gave the boy a kiss on the forehead and told him that he would bring “joy and happiness to many.” Liszt was equally inspired by Paganini and sought to become the virtuoso of the piano. He began giving solo recitals in large halls across Europe at age 11, turning the piano sideways on stage and opening the lid to enhance the exhibition.
His concerts were the stuff of legend. The poet Heinrich Heine described him playing a pianistic imitation: “We saw the lightning flashes cross his own face, his lips trembled as though in the stormwind, and his long locks of hair seemed to drip the thundershower he depicted.”
These performances caused states of hysteria that Heine called “Lisztomania.” People fainted. Audiences would rush the stage, tearing apart Liszt’s velvet gloves and silk handkerchiefs for mementos. Women put his locks of hair, coffee dregs, and even a cigar butt into vials or lockets to wear.
According to Heine, a physician explained the phenomenon by the “magnetism, galvanism, electricity” of perfumed, perspiring people crowded together under wax lights. Whatever the exact cause, the effect was real: Liszt was the first rock star.
And the previous video makes me recall that Obie and I will never forgot that morning on WUWM during a “chat” when out of the blue, and I don’t recall what prompted Obie, he brought up a dream where he was floating “in a room full of boobs.”
I wasn’t one prone to silence on the radio. That day may have been an exception since my laughter kept me from speaking.
That’s it for this week.
Goodnight.
Sleep well.
Have a great weekend.
And please join me next Friday for more Obie memories.
Yes the man was pleasantly unpredictable.
Like the time on WMSE when he played some Lalo Schifrin, the Argentinian composer-conductor-pianist.
EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER, I’M RE-POSTING SOME OLD BLOGS I THOUGHT WERE INTERESTING AND WORTH A SECOND LOOK, OR A FIRST GLANCE FOR MY MANY NEW READERS.
From my blog of August 1, 2007:
The WI State Fair opens Thursday. I had the good fortune of meeting many celebrities backstage at the Main Stage years ago (the 1990’s). I got hooked into moonlighting when I had press credentials, and some of the backstage people whom I’ve known for a long, long time asked if I would put on a bright yellow Security shirt and give them a hand. With the 11-day run of the Fair about to begin, I thought I’d share some backstage security memories, some good, some not so good.
WAYNE NEWTON
Mr. Las Vegas came to the Fair about 7 or 8 years ago, complete with full orchestra and state of the art lighting, lasers, and Vegas-style stage show.
It was an extremely hot and humid night, and tickets sold barely numbered a thousand.
About an hour before the show, I was backstage, keeping my eye on the dressing room trailers. Suddenly, out of the main dressing room walks Wayne Newton, about 15 feet away from me. The well-tanned, jet black-haired Newton was resplendent in evening tuxedo and bow tie. I was in a security baseball cap, bumble bee yellow shirt, black shorts and shoes, and sweating profusely.
I smiled at Newton and before I could say a word, he walked right up to me, extended his right hand and said, “Hello, I’m Wayne Newton.”
It wasn’t until later that I recalled how this particular moment reminded me of an interview done with one of Elvis’ back-up singers, the Jordanaires after Elvis had died. I believe it was Gordon Stoker who said that when Elvis had a recording session, he would walk into the studio and before getting started, he would make it a point to say hello to everyone, from the engineers to the janitor.
Bobby Vinton said the first time he met Elvis was in Las Vegas and Elvis introduced himself first to Vinton, Usually, its’ the other way around, with the lesser name addressing the bigger name first. Being an Elvis fan, and knowing Elvis and Newton were very good friends, I was immediately impressed that Newton talked to a lowly security guard immediately after leaving his dressing room.
Newton and I, just the two of us, stood there and conversed for 15 minutes, just exactly about what I do not recall. But it was amazing to me how down to earth this guy was.
Newton went onstage in blistering heat before a crowd that could have been multiplied by ten and it still would not have been a full house, and he worked and worked for two hours and 45 minutes for that small audience. Certainly he could have shortened his show, but he did not.
After the show, an exhausted, drenched Newton was informed by other security that the Governor of Wisconsin, Tommy Thompson, was on the grounds and wanted to meet him. Waiting nearby was Newton’s private limo, ready to take him to the airport and his private jet.
Newton told security he would love to meet Governor Thompson.
Security then told Newton that Governor Thompson was elsewhere on the grounds participating in the Governor’s annual livestock auction and would be about another 30 minutes.
Without hesitation, Newton said, “I’ll wait.”
And he did.
The two celebrities enjoyed each other’s company before Newton finally did climb into his limo to drive to Mitchell International.
Now, I am not a huge fan, but I have always liked Wayne Newton. After seeing him at the Wisconsin State Fair, he will always be top-notch in my book.
KENNY ROGERS
The very next night after Wayne Newton, Kenny Rogers was the headliner.
When his huge tour bus pulled in, it stopped directly behind the stage. Part of our duties backstage includes organizing and overseeing the “meet and greets,” the impromptu photo opportunities for selected fans or fan club members or winners of radio contests to meet the stars. We were told by Rogers’ “people” that Rogers would come off the bus, immediately talk to the fans that we would line up, he would say hello and they would say hello, and after he’d pose for one photo, the fan was to walk away.
And that’s exactly what happened. When it was time to meet the fans, and as I recall there were only about ten at the most, finally Rogers emerged from the tour bus, and in robotic fashion said hello to each fan, signed an autograph, posed for a picture….NEXT!
Each fan encounter took no more than 15-20 seconds. When the line was done, in literally a few minutes, Rogers stormed right back into his bus until showtime.
Before the show, Rogers and his staff were told that Governor Thompson was going to be at the show with a group of people and wanted to meet Rogers afterwards. Rogers had agreed, but the plan was that as soon as Rogers walked offstage, the Governor and his entourage were to get backstage as quickly as possible to meet Rogers, who wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Knowing what Rogers wanted to do, we had Governor Thompson and his group leave their seats and come into the backstage area for the final few songs in order to save time. They were positioned along the side of the stage.
Rogers’ tour bus driver had lined up the bus so that Rogers could literally walk off the stage, down the steps, and right onto the bus. When Rogers ended the show, he climbed right into the bus, its motor running.
Around the corner comes Thompson in cowboy hat and jeans with his group, literally running to try to meet Rogers. Too late. He got there just in time to see Rogers get onto the bus, the door close, and the bus take off, exhaust flying in the direction of the Governor.
Contrast that to the way Wayne Newton handled himself the night before.
To this day, I wouldn’t cross the street to see Kenny Rogers.
AMY GRANT
Often, I have the tough job of helping performers walk up and down the steps that lead up to the actual stage. When it’s dark you use your flashlight to help guide them. Some of the female performers actually need to have their hand held.
A few years ago, I was helping Amy Grant down the steps. She started to extend her left hand to me, and I grabbed it, but she was carrying her guitar in her right hand and then stopped, handing me the instrument.
So I had Amy Grant’s guitar in my left hand, and Amy Grant in my right hand, all the while praying I wouldn’t drop either. As Amy took one step at a time, out of nowhere comes her manager, running frantically towards me.
“I’ll take that,” he said, referring to Amy’s guitar (yes, I guess we’re on a first name basis because she signed a CD for me later, “To Kevin, With Love”).
Amy said something to the effect that I had “it,” and everything was ok.
All the while, Amy’s superstar husband, Vince Gill, was at the top of the stairs, hiding from the audience behind some equipment. He had watched his wife’s entire show, but never stepped in to steal her limelight.
Gill took one look at Amy’s frazzled manager and just chuckled.
DANIELLE PECK
My, but you do get to meet some interesting people at those onstage steps. One of them was country newcomer Danielle Peck. I tried to help her onstage, but she had come out of her dressing area a bit early, so I was forced to stand at those steps and carry on a good, long conversation with her until it was showtime.
THE ABBA TRIBUTE GIRLS
Another rough assignment….again, at the bottom of the steps as the young galls waited to go on. When they sang all those ABBA tunes in their Swedish accents, the thousands of people in the crowd didn’t know that I had a great chat with them in their true native New Jersey-like tongues.
LITTLE RICHARD
“I’m not going on. No. Hear me and understand, Little Richard is not going on.”
The man who gave us Long Tall Sally and Lucille refused to get out of his limo and take the stage until he was paid. Apparently State Fair management pays their acts after the show is completed. Little Richard would have none of that, and he was serious.
After a while, the State Fair brass got together and presented Little Richard a check.
With a holler of WOOOOOOO!!! Little Richard in his white flowing outfit jumped out of the limo and began his show, even inviting audience members onstage to dance, a practice normally frowned upon by management and security.
To this day, rumor is the check was a bouncer, and that the REAL check was given to Little Richard after he was done performing.
KOOL & THE GANG
Old enough to remember Kool & the Gang when they played jazz, I was thrilled to see them at the Fair. (They’re back this year). I was given clear instructions to keep an eye on their dressing room. Thousands of dollars worth of jewelry had been stolen from their dressing room the night before, I believe in Pittsburgh, so once the show started, no one, absolutely no one except band members were allowed in.
Shortly after the concert started, a young man started walking towards me and the dressing room, wanting in. I stopped him and informed him he couldn’t enter the dressing room. The man had every Kool & the Gang credential and pass ever created. I wouldn’t let him in. He was nice but was obviously in total disbelief that I was standing my ground, started to walk away and said he’d be back.
About 10 or 15 minutes went by when a figure comes walking off the stage with a bass guitar slung around his neck: Robert “Kool” Bell, the founder and leader of Kool and the Gang. With him, the young man I refused entry to.
Bell asked me if it was true that I wouldn’t let the young man into the dressing room. I said yes because……and proceeded to explain why.
In front of the other man, Bell thanked me for doing my job and doing what I was instructed to. Then he gave his permission to let the young man into the dressing room.
No jewelry or any other item was stolen from Kool & the Gang that night.
KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND
I love when KC comes to town. We spoke briefly about his concert at the Republican National Convention (Yes, Casey Finch, better known as KC, is a staunch Republican). But again, it’s all about those stage steps, and the job duty of helping, in this case, KC’s scantily clad with bodies that won’t quit dancers in big boots make it safely on and off the stage.
JO DEE MESSINA
Big Al Hartmann (big as in around 400 pounds) and I had to walk Messina and her young son around the park a few hours before the show. No one, I mean not a single soul recognized her with hair bunched up under a baseball cap.
When we got back from a tour of the grounds, Hartmann went to another area and Messina told me she wanted to take a shower.
I just assumed that I was nominated to show her where the women’s showers were. She politely asked that I stand outside to make sure she’d be alright. I think I said something to the effect of, “Well gee, Ms Messina, I don’t know……WELL OKAY!”
I did shout once, inquiring if she was ok or needed anything. With shower running, I heard her yell, “Oh, I’m just fine!”
Yes, they paid me that day.
EDDIE MONEY
I got to drive him in a van to a corporate tent party, and then after his show, I stood right next to him as he signed autographs.
One young woman in a tank top insisted that Money sign her chest. Money wanted to oblige, so because it was completely dark outside, I had to get as close as I could with my flashlight so Money could more readily see and sign the desired area. Many flashbulbs were going off for that one.
SARA EVANS
The summer of 2002, the summer after 9-11. Some State Fair police officers assigned backstage asked Evans for autographs.
I’ve always seen performers be very gracious to the guys in uniform.
Not Evans, who refused to honor the officers’ requests.
JOHN MICHAEL MONTGOMERY, DAVID CASSIDY, PETER FRAMPTON
I’m going to be candid. Montgomery was bombed when he went onstage. At one point, he climbed the ladder going up to the lights and was hanging onto the ladder with one hand with the microphone in the other hand. Many of the security folks immediately rushed to the bottom of the ladder at which point Montgomery’s manager came over, laughing. Don’t worry, he told us, Montgomery does this all the time. We respectfully said we weren’t moving, just to play it safe. Now the smile came off his face and the manager asked us to move away again. My boss backstage, Mike Wenzel told the manager in no uncertain terms that backstage security meant all of the backstage area and that we were going to be in perfect position in case Montgomery fell (especially in his inhibited state).
The next night, the Jordanaires were at the Fair. They asked me who else had been performing. When I mentioned Montgomery, Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires immediately asked, “Was he sober?”
David Cassidy also was blitzed before going onstage. There was a threat of rain all night, the show was delayed as a result of rain and lightning, and the top-notch stage crew told Cassidy and his folks that it would take some time to get everything in order before Cassidy could go on so there’d be no technical difficulties.
Cassidy wouldn’t listen, stubbornly went on, and the rest of the show was marred by microphone and sound problems, feedback, you name it. Cassidy used to profanities in blaming the stage crew, the worst he claimed he had ever worked with. That coming from a has-been who was drunk onstage.
Peter Frampton was just an ornery jerk, screaming at the local female disc jockey assigned to introduce him just because she brought some old LP’s along in hopes he’d sign them.
THE CRUSHER
One of my prized possessions is a photo taken alongside Milwaukee’s favorite son, the Crusher, in his usual sunglasses and cigar.
How bout dat!!
ISAAC HAYES
A very nice man, but obviously not as young as he used to be.
Walking him to the stage, I said to him, “Well Mr. Hayes, what’s it going to be tonight? Two, three hours.”
“@#$%& no,” he said with a big laugh.
His manager warned me that during, “Walk on By,” there would be a rather lengthy drum and keyboard solo, and that I should watch to help Hayes back to the dressing room. This was an intentional built-in bathroom break.
As a rule, I have found most of the entertainers to be gems. It’s their Nervous Nelly, over-protective managers that drive you nuts.
—This Just In, August 1, 2007. The above photos are random and were not taken at shows I worked at.
Not included in this blog were remembrances of the rock group Chicago.
During the show there was at one point on a nearly 100-degree day a screen behind the band showing snowflakes on a blue background as they performed a track from their new album, Chicago 25, a kick butt version of “Let it Snow.” The Christmas album was released a few weeks later.
One of the original members, saxophonist Walt Parazaider and I chatted quite a bit before the show. He said they loved playing in venues like the State Fair because Midwesterners were the best audiences and the best people.
My favorite backstage memory was probably The Jordanaires, Elvis’ backup group. Gordon Stoker was more than happy to discuss not only Elvis but Patsy Cline whom the quartet also backed.
This Just In... From Franklin, WI 
