All Posts – Page 21 – Prattling before the Pratfall

Mom Liked Dickie Best

Tommy Smothers, gone at age 86.

The Green-Eyed Monster of Boston

My left-handed baseball glove, used to play ball in gym class.

I’m the odd man out among most of my friends, because I’m not a dyed-in-the-laundry Red Sox fan. I enjoyed playing baseball as a kid, at least until needing glasses but, like Stephen Colbert, professional sports doesn’t interest me. I like to go running, and I used to participate in the Boston Marathon, but that’s it.

I am obviously very much into enjoying and appreciating music, to the extent of being a former radio DJ, and yet I’ve never felt much of a connection to Bruce Springsteen. So it’s perhaps semi-ironic that my favorite song by the Boss is “Glory Days”.

What got me started on this was watching “Fenway Park”, the first episode in the PBS series Iconic America, with rich guy David Rubenstein. Next year will be the 20th anniversary of the Red Sox ending the Curse of the Bambino. The documentary makes the case that the curse was less about superstition and Babe Ruth, and more about management and longtime owner Tom Yawkey.

What Year is This?

I’m listening to AM radio and reading a print newspaper.

1942 Zenith 8-S-661. Production of all consumer electronics was stopped by America’s entry into WWII.

Streaming Video

Now streaming in the backyard.

The Little Generator That Could

We’ve had the second storm of the season that, in the past, would have been a blizzard. Instead, it’s 60 degrees with high wind and heavy rain.

The power went out this morning and the utility doesn’t have an estimate when it will be restored. I fired up the portable generator and recharged my phone, which is now running as a Wi-Fi hotspot for the new laptop PC.

Yes, the garage floor needs to be resurfaced. It’s on the list.

Der Bingle in Davis Dorm

On the MOVIES! channel, now back on Boston OTA TV, I was intrigued when catching a bit of High Time, from 1960. In this Blake Edwards farce Bing Crosby, showing his age, starts college 30 years too late. Rodney Dangerfield would do the same thing in the 1986 remake.

Just knowing that Tuesday Weld and Yvonne Craig are in High Time was enough to pull me in, but seeing Bing in drag made it a must-see. Thanks to some fan’s hard work, it’s available in HD CinemaScope splendor on YouTube.

I’ve just started watching it, with the opening 20th Century Fox fanfare that will forever be associated with Star Wars. I had to laugh when Bing was assigned to Davis Dorm, because that’s where Denro and I met at Westfield State.

I’m only two degrees of separation away from Blake Edwards. I’ll explain later.