A Day in Cincinnati with the Boys

Youngest son Hal, and the two older grandsons, K~Man and Kam, headed to the Business Day Special on Wednesday to watch the Reds take on the Twins...big game for the Reds, but they blew it late and fell 5-3, wasting a great performance by young Hunter Greene, 14 strikeouts in 7 innings, just one run and 3 hits...but the bullpen blew it in the 8th and 9th...Reds are still in the hunt but cannot afford to lose more than one or two games out of the last 8...starting tonight at home vs Pittsburgh.

The boys, who are home schooled part time and go to a quality Christian School the rest of the week had competed their lessons so we were off...with less school age kids in attendance because of the time of the game, they had access to grab some quality autographs from some of the Reds young Stars...namely Matt McLain and Andrew Abbott ...the also got tossed game balls from T J Friedl the Reds young Centerfielder.  As so happens, T J is the nephew of my post Vietnam Air Force buddy and roommate, the late Jack Friedl...proving once again it's a small world indeed...

Me on the left, with Jack Friedl in the middle and our buddy Bruce Dei...at a November 1971 Wedding in Rome, New York:

 The Reds game will be one of two contests in Cincinnati I will take in, in a 5 day period...Monday night I will take in the Bengals vs Rams on MNF...that won is looking "iffy" for Bengals star QB, Joe Burrow, and the once promising season, which is now 0 wins and 2 loses is on the brink of disaster...Burrow's leg injury could indeed undo the season.

But Hal has season tickets and this is the game I picked out...so off we go.

The {mostly} retired life, as I near 75 years on this planet, is going quite well thank you...

Back with more sometime later...{gotta get those 10 posts in this year} >>>

Jimmy Buffett RIP

 

Just a bit of catching up to kick off September...maybe I'll reach 10 posts for the year of 2023?  Maybe?

RIP Jimmy Buffett...

Let me start off first by saying I enjoyed about 80% of his music, especially in the early years, later years, not so much, but still there were some gems...his political BS?  Not so much, Buffett was a dyed in the wool lefty, albeit, some of those that worked for and with him called him a "Cheapskate" when it came to the all mighty buck.  I will give him credit, despite his left leanings, only a few songs and not much of his concerts were directed at political BS...which kept me listening to his Sirus/XM Radio Station and his music...

I first got turned on to Buffett music early in 1977 perhaps, shortly after "Margaritaville" was released...that became his lone chart hit, and frankly it grew old after awhile, an anthem for his fans, aka: Parrotheads, but hardly one of his better works, IMO...the album however "Changes in Latitude" was filled with some great stuff, including the title song which I always thought was much  superior to  Margaritaville...

Anyway, Patricia and I were married in December 1976, but didn't get out on a Honeymoon until the fall of the year 1977...I had the "Changes" album on the old 8 track player in my new 1976 Jeep Cherokee and played that thing from Celina, Ohio, to the east coast then all the way down I-95 to Daytona Beach...loved that music, I was pretty well hooked...fast forward to the late summer of 1978 and we were living in Wausau, Wisconsin...I was going to Broadcasting School and working weekends at WRIG and WRIG FM...one Friday night I noticed we had received the newest Buffett live LP, "You had to be There"... The station got the vinyl for the AM spinners and the tape for the Automated FM side...I was working the night shift on the Rock and Roll AM, and feeding music to the FM side.  I decided to put the entire tape on the FM Reel to Reel and it was going smooth until I heard "Why don't we get Drunk and Screw".  I almost shit myself, but the deed had been done and I let the entire song and album play...never heard a word from management or the PD, but I never played the entire album again...well not on air.  I grabbed a station copy of the vinyl took it home and still have it in my collection today.

Over the years my Special Needs daughter became a fan of Buffett and his more country and conservative buddy, Alan Jackson, so I have continued to collect Buffett and Jackson LPs and stuff over the years...

Sad to see him go, being just a couple years older than me {December 1946 as opposed to my March 1949}...his politics can die with him, however his music will live on..

My personal favorite single is Havana Daydreaming while Changes in Latitude, License to Chill, and the 1978 Live LP, You had to be There, are my favorite Albums...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30esGx2WHvs  

Here is my Salute to Jimmy "Cigar Smoked a Swirl" from Havana Daydreaming, PRH Smoking one in honor of Jimmy Buffett and Havana Daydreaming...