As I begin writing this report I am listening to
E.T.’s Martini Music show on Hunters Bay Radio. This week, E.T. has dedicated
the entire show to Vic Damone, who passed away last week. Vic had been a dear
friend of the Taylor family for decades, and I’ve heard many Vic stories told
over the past 25 years. The other night, while we were talking to E.T. on the
phone, I set the phone to speaker and recorded some of her reminiscences.
Because she was unaware she was being recorded, she told her stories
spontaneously and naturally. The reason I recorded these stories, is that Shauna
thought we could use them in E.T.’s radio show. I produce her Martini Music show,
and we decided it would be a good idea to edit the recording and use clips in
between sets of the tribute show. It turned out to be a great success, and
because of Shauna’s efforts to advertise the show, a lot of Vic Damone fans
heard the show, or will hear it when it is archived (https://soundcloud.com/user106713574/vic-damone-tribute-show-21818-on-martini-music
).
Did you ever find a product you like, a dish soap, or
toothpaste, or cosmetic, or something else, then someone at the company decides
to improve what didn’t need improving? Shauna is chemical and fragrance
sensitive, and when we finally found an acceptable dish soap fragrance, someone
decides to modify the formula. The other thing I find irksome is companies that
use almost identical packaging for different products. I bought three boxes of
tooth paste the other day, and they looked identical to the toothpaste we use,
except for one tiny little icon (which of course I did not notice) on the
corner of the box which indicated that it is gel not paste.
Today, a notification popped up on my computer screen
from an old high school English teacher of mine, who often posts links to
interesting articles. This article concerned the use of social media as a
vehicle for spreading moral outrage and hateful rhetoric. Today is Family Day,
and I enjoy seeing all the Facebook photos of families enjoying their day
together. In fact, pictures are my favorite part about Facebook. I’ve been
watching my nieces and nephews grow up in Facebook photos. But the foul
underbelly of Facebook is that it is also a platform for every half-baked
political rant and lunatic with an opinion or an agenda. You’re either with us
or against us, and the divisiveness is discouraging. I sometimes need a
“Facebook holiday” to regroup. Agree to disagree, but show a modicum of respect
for others who do not share your opinion! I don’t as a rule copy and paste to
my page people’s righteously indignant opinions about mental health or corrupt
politicians. Indeed, I rant in this report, but one would have to be following
the report link to read it, and you can always choose not to read. I recently
wrote a first draft for a song with the chorus … “Follow the lessons you teach
your children: agree to disagree.” I can’t fix the gun lobby problem in the
U.S., or the propensity for a disturbingly large number of my fellow humans to
hate each other’s religious beliefs, or the fast-eroding quality of leadership,
or any of society’s other ills. Someone said it so simply the other day: try to
do more good than bad. Be kind to a stranger, display a random act of kindness;
turn the other cheek, count to ten before you react. Show some respect, or at
least try to behave like an adult. I wish the truth was more apparent, but it
isn’t, and it isn’t likely to be found on Facebook. Nevertheless, we can choose
to be kind and respectful. Admittedly, I am the pot calling the kettle black. I
should take my own advice
Happy Family Day everyone!
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2018 ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
No comments:
Post a Comment