GERSHWIN AT THE OLD GLOBE

Our daughter Courtney works for The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. She set us up with some great tickets to see a one-man show entitled Gershwin.

Pictured at left are his hands, Well, at least back then. What a great show! The actor captured the audience's attention and held it for the 1 hour 45 minute play without intermission or halftime as I call it.

He painted a good picture of a time gone by. He played a great piano and sang some of the great Gershwin songs. But the coolest part was at the end. When one hour and fifteen minutes was up, I thought the play over. The actor told us that Gershwin died at age 38 and then he took a bow and deservedly received a standing O or curtain call.

But then he told us that after a show, Gershwin would have been the first to leave to begin his after hours playing the piano and singing until the wee. He, of course, was joined by others and songs filled the night as people sipped daiqaries and martinis. So our performer, Hershey Felder, would cue the audience who sang along with him. Embraceable You and Summertime have been in my head ever since.

He had two singers who stood out. He recognized them (no they weren't plants) and allowed them to solo. One was tremendous. He also divided the auditorium and orchestrated another sing along with harmony.

What an enjoyable evening! It made me appreciate the artist more and be glad that I could partake in some of the fun he must have had.

CHEESES IN ITALY

I've been accused of not listening and of being hard of hearing. Although I admit not being able to hear some high pitches, and while I never had the acute hearing of my wife and her older sister, I'm pretty sure I don't have a hearing problem.

I will admit to having trouble with people not enunciating, not talking loudly enough, mumbling, and talking with mush in their mouths. Music lyrics get garbled by me, too. But that's happened since I was four and I thought Mr. Sandman was bringing drinks, not dreams. And I was always thirsty during the night, so I wanted him to visit me, too.

I've had friends who had hearing difficulties from playing music too loudly. One lost hearing before or right after college because of listening to loud live music at a bar he frequented. And it hurts me to see young adults blast their ipods/mpgs/tivos/divos/blackberries--whatever with sounds so loud that I can hear them standing three feet away.

But while I was listening to a Bible Study lecture a couple of Mondays ago, I guess I hit my alltime low. Dennis, our speaker, a very good speaker, utter to my erroneous ears,"Paul introduced cheeses to Italy." Of course, before taking down that note, I adjusted to "Paul introduced Jesus to Italy."

FOUNTAIN HILLS

I played golf there twice last week. It's only 12 miles from my house, but I hadn't played Desert Canyon Golf Course before.

Spectacular sights from the McDowells and other mountains that surround this desert beauty. Most greens are hidden from the tee boxes forcing the player to have good course management.

For some reason, I like courses like that. Give me a huge fairway and I might just find the rough. On the right or left. But make me take aim at a spot and I can hit it on a more regular basis.

I guess it's really all about focus. Kinda like the picture in today's blog. Man or mountain? And Desert Canyon has one of those views on the 18th hole. From two different angles, it looks like the face of a man with high hair or a hat on. I needed to study it more to be certain. But I had another focus--the green, which I came well short of on Wednesday and Friday.

A third connection--a friend of mine writes Anyblog USA. He starts it with a C. S. Lewis quote stating, "Aim for heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim for earth and you get neither." Focus/aim/mountain/man: it all fits, if we let it.

I NEVER HAD TOO MANY RULES

The first days of school were always a good time for me. As a student and a teacher.

But I think I enjoyed them more as a teacher. It was always good to see some of the old students after they'd summered and grown wiser away from textbooks. It was always fun to see the Honors freshmen I had and how scared they were.

One of the first things I always did was ask if any of the teachers had given the students a list of rules for their class. Refusing to let them name the teacher, I asked them what some of the more surprising rules were. They'd read them and we'd laugh. And while none ever got out a measuring tape to see if the outfit was suitable or not, some administrators and some schools had rules based on shortness of skirts, length of sideburns and hair, and whether a teacher would allow a student to go to the bathroom or not.

I found it best not to tell specific rules for my classroom. I didn't want to give them any ideas. For fear of experimentation.

So I just reviewed school policy and told them I would be sure to tell them when they did something that was not acceptable. And I did. And it made it much easier to discipline.

My favorite rule and consequence was when a former Spanish teacher told his class that no gum chewing was allowed. There would be much conversation in the class and one shouldn't converse with gum in mouth. If a student chewed gum he/she would lose one point per day. But he didn't tell them when he spotted gum usage. He just marked it down in his gradebook. One of my students in the Spanish class thought he was being undetected with his gum. Until grades came out. A straight A student, he received his first B in Spanish I because of his gum chewing.

Oh well, lucky he got quarter grades instead of one final one. He would (and probably did) get a way with it in my class. My (unwritten and unspoken) rule, at least that first day was if I can't see it, then you can have it. That went for gum, candy, hotdogs, cigarettes...Ok, I wasn't that cool.

THE HOLE-IN-THE-WALL GANG

Sundance is on the far left, Butch the far right in this photo from 1900 or so. Kid Curry was another of this famous gang popularized by the 1970's movie. The Arizona Cardinals left St. Louis for sunnier climes in 1988.

The connection? Well, two current St. Louis Rams didn't know that the Arizona Cardinals used to be the St. Louis (football) Cardinals. One claimed he was only 6 at the time of the move, the other 5. So it got me wondering what today's youth think of when they hear of Jesse James' gang or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's Hole-in-the-Wall gang.

I mean their gangsters are well, Gangsta. Along with Tupac and the Notorious B-I-G. Naugh, I think they're both dead now. How about Busta Rimes and Bow Wow? And you thought I wasn't hip. Hop.

Anyway(s), if two professional football players don't know where their hometeam used to play, then what's today's youth know about gangs?

"Which one in the picture was the grafitti artist?"

"Who played bass?" (way too loud)

"What were their colors?"

It would be endless and fruitless to try to explain to the "yutes" as Danny DeVito called them in a 90's movie.

I wonder what the two Rams thought when told that the football Cardinals started in Chicago?

LEAVE IT TO HIM

Ward Cleaver was probably the best tv dad ever. Fred Mac Murray was pretty good in "My Three Sons," but his charm was mostly based on facial expressions, his best being the raising of the left eyebrow.

In yesterday's Beaver, which I caught one small scene while channeling ( a term I prefer instead of surfing, but whatever you call it, it has to be better than all the commercials airing). In it June was asking Ward to call the boys to supper while she was setting the table. Ward declined stating, "I think I'll let them play together a little while longer. It won't be that long until all they do is send Christmas cards to each other."

I guess that's what made him so good. He had knowledge of the future while living the day-to-day hassles of the present. Also he had some sage advice in almost all situations. Timelessness, too.

Like Willy Loman, he was always there for his boys. The only disagreeable thing he ever did, as far as I can recall, was to allow them to call his son Beaver (and with a last name of Cleaver to boot.)