Musical Memories

Of the five senses we humans have, I believe that the sense of smell and hearing are the most powerful. As I was innocently sitting here going through everyone's Facebook posts two of the songs that have the most meaning to me played on Pandora back-to-back!

I guess I should have expected it might happen since it is on my Paul Brown "station" and there are very few tunes that he plays that are not fantastic.  But this time it was a song by the group Fourplay followed by a Paul Brown number.

The first is called "Still the One". It is a beautiful song I first heard in my headset at work in 2008. I connected it with one of the most emotionally-charged incidents in my life and so I rarely listen to it, even though I have the CD. When that ended, the "Funky Joint" by Paul Brown followed.  I had to stop, close my eyes and listen to them both.

Music can take you back. It can whisk you off to your childhood, teen years or just yesterday. When you hear "our song" all the emotions connected to that relationship well-up, again. When you hear music from a special day or season, you have to stop and listen and if you close your eyes, you are in that place and time again. Sometimes that is a wonderful experience... sometimes the music can break your heart all over again.

They tell me that music has a close relationship to math, but even if I try to break a song into it's individual musical notes, it still has power over me that no other experience can create. Besides, I am very bad at math.

So, let's raise a toast to all the musicians who think up this form of art to entertain, amuse and move us in ways that really cannot be put into words.

Just close your eyes and let the sounds wash over your memories.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I Never have trouble falling asleep, usually... most of the time... well, not often...

I say I can fall asleep on cue, but not lately. Here it is 5:11 in the morning, and I am still awake writing this post. What's up with that??

Lately I've been taking naps during the evening after dinner. I thought that was just something old Daddies did. But, I guess as I get older I need more sleep.  But how come that sleep comes at 7pm-10pm in front of the TV? Oh, now I get it! I have to stop watching TV in the evenings or stop eating dinner.

OK, I'm not complaining. I know that as soon as my head hits the pillow I will be asleep. So why don't I just turn off this "mean machine" and go to bed? Because I'm too lazy to crawl up the stairs and find my bedroom.

Eureka! I have the answer!! I'm going back to sleep on the couch!

Good night.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I'm old enough to be your mother

Late one Sunday afternoon my husband and I decided to go see one of those block-buster movies. We chose a theatre in Northern Illinois and found a spot in the parking lot that was packed with cars. We knew we would have to wait, since the film was very popular, but we had time and we really wanted to see it.

There was a pretty long line inside the lobby which stretched out the door and about a dozen people long, past the box office. Now, in those days they did not have timed-tickets or big lobbies with chairs and lots of space for standing around, so we went to the back of the line and waited our turn to get into the building and buy our tickets. It was summer, so the wait was not uncomfortable.

The line inched along. We got there early, because we wanted to get our popcorn and drinks in time for the trailers.  I love the trailers, they are often better than the movies! Like the trailer that I saw for the first Star Wars. It blew my socks off!  I knew right then and there that I was going to see THAT movie!

I digress... anyway, we were waiting in the line the get into the building. The line stopped moving and an usher came out and told us that we still had to wait until all the people from the last show left the theatre.

This movie house was right across the street from a Walgreen's so, since we knew we were going to be standing there for a while, I said to my husband, " I'm going to run across the street and pickup some stuff". He said OK and I left the line and headed for the drug store.

I was gone maybe five or ten minutes, but when I came back the doors had opened to the theatre to let just a few of the people inside. My husband was the last one they let in, then they closed the doors behind him.  When I got to the doors, he opened it for me in front of all the other people standing in the line outside.  Now, all those other people knew we had been standing together, and they politely (well most of them were polite) let me in.

As we closed the door behind me, a red- jacketed usher who could not have been more than 16 walked up to my husband and said that I could not come in... he was the last one they were letting into the lobby. My husband said I had just run across the street to get something important from the drug store and had only been gone a few minutes. Besides, the other people in line let me in, so what's the big deal?

The usher was in charge. He looked at me and decided to take a different approach to enforcing his authority over the crowd of mostly adults waiting to see the movie.

"What's in that bag?" He demanded.

"Just some personal items I had to pick-up before the store closed". My memory gets a little fuzzy here, it must have been a holiday because Walgreen's never closes, right? But this was in the late 1970's and stores kept different hours.

"What's in the bag?" The acne- faced usher demanded again.

People in the line were turning to look.

"This is my husband, and we were together in the line so he let me in the door so we would not get separated." I replied.

"You can't bring candy and drinks into the theatre" He scolded.

"Well, it's not candy... we are going to buy popcorn when we get in" I replied. But I was getting a little irked by now.

"Open that bag and let me see what you are bringing in!" The usher demanded.

"You don't really want to look in there, it's nothing you have to be concerned about" I warned, knowing if he did, it would not go well for him.

"Let me see what's in that bag!" He ordered.  Everybody in the line was looking at the confrontation, now. My husband was giggling, letting me handle the situation.

"OK", I said.  "Take a look" I opened the bag and shoved it close to his face so he would have no doubt about when he was seeing.

By this time, the line inside the lobby was moving towards the theatre and some of the other people were heading for the concession stand.  But about a dozen were still there, watching and waiting for the end of this mini-saga playing out between the usher and me.

The young man looked inside the bag with a stern, disapproving look on his face.

When he looked up, his face had turned as red as his ill- fitting usher's jacket.

"Satisfied?" I asked with a slight smile.

He looked up at me as if I had just slapped his face. "Ah, yeah, OK, alright, ah you can go in" He replied, very embarrassed. The people around me started to laugh. They had no idea what was in the bag, but from his reaction, they probably had a pretty good idea. My husband burst out laughing. I stared the young man in the eye and said "Thank you".

He stepped away and we headed for our popcorn.  I don't remember what movie we saw. The encounter in the lobby was much more fun.

What's Next???

April 27, 2015

This is the 26th day after the 45th anniversary of the 21st birthday. 
Why would I want to tell my age?  Because I always believed that of the two choices you have in life... get older or (you know what), I choose get older and be proud of it.

Anyway I am on hiatus from "Black Nouveau" for a while because most of our studio crew is MATC students who had better be studying for the exams... and MPTV is into Auction Season.
Please buy something, buy lots of things, your support for Public Television helps pay for the show!

So, I am writing again and I need your advice.  Here are four story ideas I am working on.  Which one shall I tackle first?


1.   Camels in the Desert.  They story of how and why the U.S. Army brought camels to the Southwestern states shortly after the Civil War.

2.    The House in the Middle.  How two middle-aged women (you define that any way you want!!) who live one house apart but hardly know each other are brought together by an incident in the house between them.

3.    Bushville.  A Memoir in 9 Innings.   Musings about my childhood in Milwaukee during and around the time of the 1957 World Series.  (The Braves won)

4.    The Green Ribbon.   The story of a man, a woman, a family and a fire. A personal story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York.

As you can tell, I have a preference for history and I love stories that can tell the reader/viewer (if they get put on video) something about the past that he or she did not know.

My favorite TV show used to be "Connections" on PBS that told the stories that linked today's society and technology with developments in the past.

So, cast your vote...!! I will pursue the idea that generates the most votes (or in this case) THE vote.  I also promise to give you acknowledgement when I get published.

Conversations that Matter

Didja ever have a conversation with someone and he/she asked you a question that stopped you short in your tracks?

I just did.

Yesterday, I talked with someone about some medical research. He asked me a question that I answered honestly without even thinking about it.

Then he followed up with a bunch of questions connected to the first question. By this time, I realized what I had said and tempered all my answers. But, he was the first person to ask me that question, and I guess I'm glad he did.

It all reminded me of how I question people during interviews and conversations for television. We ask the questions to which we need answers to match the subject of the story. Then we usually leave the conversation at that and move onto the next story.  But, sometimes I ask questions after the conversation that don't relate to the story directly... that is when I get the best answers.

During an interview of a mother of a Down's Syndrome son many years ago, I asked all the mandatory questions about his current situation and got all the expected answers for the story I was writing.  Then, when the "formal" part of the conversation had ended and my photojournalist was about to move the camera to shoot b-roll, the mother began talking about her fears for the future. She began to cry and tell me how worried she was about her son and what would happen to him when she died.  You can't stop someone when they are in an emotional conversation, you can just listen and not look away.

I was shouting to myself inside "I hope Dale is getting this!!!!".  He was. Still rolling and captured it all in a sensitive way. Kudos to all those PJ's who really know how to shoot, who LISTEN to the subject on the other side of the lens, and how to follow a situation without disrupting the atmosphere.

The unexpected is usually the most revealing and the most cleansing.

tech tales

Here is a rant against technology...

I had a great idea for a blog, but my access to this site was blocked because my "cookies" weren't right.

So, I followed the directions and by the time I got in to this page, I forgot what I was going to write!!!

Why, oh why, does technology have to get in the way of creativity??

Ok, I'm old (er) than most of you using these devices.  To you, they are second nature. But, to some of us, they are roadblocks to communication and true interpersonal relationships.

I need a new phone since Verizon is trying to bankrupt me and my whole family.  I just want a cell phone that 1- makes and receives calls, 2- sends and receives text messags, 3- takes pictures (selfies not necessary).   That's all... no data, no GB's, just a PHONE.

So I went to several websites to choose something new and got lost in the plans, rates, GB's and phone types to choose from.

Oiy!!

I guess technology is passing me by... but at least, since I am reducing the time I spend looking at a screen, I will still be able to blink!.

Squinting Computer Users Blink Less

by Live Science Staff   

 

Squinting Computer Users Blink Less Credit:

Squinting at a computer screen reduces how often you blink and can lead to dry, irritated eyes, a new study finds.
We squint to focus our eyes for a better look.
But just a slight amount of squinting reduced blink rates by half, from 15 blinks a minute to 7.5 blinks a minute, the study revealed. The more that participants squinted, the less they blinked. The less they blinked, the more their eyes ached or burned and became dry. 

Amen, Michelle (or how to make a speech with a baby)

Michelle Obama, obviously not at a loss for childcare and resources right now, was not always in the White House.

At a conference on families she describes her days as a working mother trying to juggle a job and childcare with two little kids. Been there, done that!!!

When I was working full-time and had two little boys to care for, I was blessed with a babysitter whom I met at a church function. She was newly retired at the time and looking for something part-time since her kids were grown. My work hours required me to be in the newsroom at 5 a.m. so everyday at 4 a.m. Bobbie would come to my house, to care for the boys so I could get to work. She got them up at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. and took them to their daycare center. She was also on-call when I had to work late or got called-in on a story, ( remember the day Big Blue fell at Miller Park? It was "all- hands- on- deck" until 10p.m. ) since the day care closed at 6 p.m.

She saved my career and my sanity.

But before Bobbie, and when I had just one baby J-B, I would bring him to work in his car seat and plop him down next to my desk. The daycare center opened at 6:30 a.m. and I had to be on the air at 7 a.m.
Luckily, the center was just across the street from the station, so at exactly 6:25 a.m. I would swoop my baby up and drive him across the street. Give him a hug and a kiss and blast back across the street to get on the set.

Then there was the afternoon when I had to make a speech to a women's group. I picked up my son and took him along. He was not happy that he had to sit in his car seat at a table with a bunch of people that he did not know, so he started to cry.  Now, when an audience member's baby starts to cry in the middle of the event, the best thing to do is take the baby out of the room.  But when the SPEAKER'S baby starts to cry in the middle of the speech, what do you do?

I apologized for the interruption, picked him up from his seat and held him in my arms for the rest of the speech. Luckily, I was talking about my career and how I had gotten to this point so he became an illustration of the challenges that working mothers face.

The speech went over pretty well, and J-B was a hit!