The Oppenheimer Report 12/29/14

I've always considered New Year’s Eve to be amateur night, and for the past twenty years I think we have walked to the one or two celebrations we have attended. I used to throw a pot luck dinner party when I lived in Buffalo, and shortly before Midnight, we’d head downtown to watch the not-so-big ball drop from the Niagara Electric building on Genesee St. I was usually stewed by this point, and there were always several designated drivers to insure our safe passage. It was almost always miserable weather, and it just seemed like a lot of trouble to go out. I could be getting wasted in the comfort of my own home, watching America’s oldest teenager MC the gig for me on television. Dick Clark was the best; much better than Ryan Seabreeze.

 

This year my friend Juan Barbosa and his band will be playing in Huntsville, and I think Shauna and I will break tradition and head down to see them play, because he always puts on a good show. I was never a huge fan of big New Year’s Eve gatherings in general, even when I was drinking, and I will always find it a little strange to attend a celebration where most of the other attendees are drinking heavily, now that I am on the wagon.  I’m getting a bit more used to it after a year and a half of sobriety. As long as the partiers have arranged for a sober driver, or a cab ride, I say have at it. Probably the strangest part about being around drunk people is they remind me of what a jackass I could be when I was under the influence.

 

I always enjoy the week preceding the New Year, because it is now when we are reminded of all the newsworthy events that took place throughout the year. A few come to mind automatically. 2014 started out cold. By the end of January, I had for the first time in my life purchased a block heater for my car. I also learned a new term: polar vortex. The crippling Christmas ice storm in Toronto left my mother-in-law without power, as well as most of the rest of the Greater Toronto Area.  The destruction from this storm was astounding. 2014 was also the year when the Toronto Mayor Rob Ford went completely off the rails, for all the world to see. After Toronto Star allegations that Ford had been videotaped smoking crack, incriminating photographs and videos surfaced of Ford publically drunk and ranting, urinating in public, consorting with lowlife criminals, and generally making a damn fool of himself.  I find it ironic that it was ultimately abdominal cancer that sidelined him from the mayoral race, not his deplorable behavior. Local (Huntsville) Olympic Slopestyle skier Dara Howell brought home the gold from the Sochi Winter Olympics, prompting the town to go wild. It was a bad year for Malaysian Airlines. First there was the jet that disappeared without a trace, presumably off the west coast of Australia, and then there was the jet shot down over Ukraine. Now, just the other day, yet another Malaysian jet has disappeared, although this latest tragedy was likely the result of bad weather. Other stories: the “Heartbleed” computer virus, unleashed by a 19 year old Canadian man, reminds us how vulnerable our sensitive information really is. The Ebola virus devastates West Africa claiming thousands so far and still out of control.  RIP, Casey Kasem, Jack Bruce, and most recently, Joe Cocker, dead at 70 of lung cancer.

 

As we usher in 2015, I can only say that 2014 flew by. I think I fulfilled my resolution for 2014, which was to stay sober and to become a better musician/ songwriter.  I finish up this year #3 on the Hunters Bay Radio Top 20 list, and I don’t suck half as badly as I did a year ago as a performer. I still have a long way to go. I resolve to be a more tolerant, loving human being in the year to come, and to assist some of the more gifted artists in my community to find their voice in some public forum. Happy New Year to my 12 loyal readers, see you in 2015!  

 

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2014 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED