The Oppenheimer Report 10/28/19

The grim, gray dampness of October has settled in over this area like a big, soggy blanket. All the docks (except ours) are out of the water, the seasonal cottagers have all gone home, the days are growing shorter, and soon, the summer-swelled streets of Huntsville will be empty by 7pm. A palpable sense of gloom is evident on the faces of my local friends. It was a decidedly beautiful fall, and the colors were spectacular surrounding our lake, but now, we’re into the rusty, oppressive limbo of late October. With a couple of good windstorms, the trees will be stripped of their last remaining leaves, and then it’s just a matter of time before Jack Frost puts the hammer down. Some of my neighbors at higher elevations have already reported a little snow. Thankfully, we haven’t had anything like the early winter storms that have already begun to plague the west. A friend of ours who just retired as a municipal snowplow operator around Banff National Park, told me that his last winter was brutal. Somebody informed me that the preponderance of spiders here in Ontario this season is a portent for a severe winter, but I’m not quite sure wherein lies the science behind that prediction. As a little cosmic kick in our asses, our pump, which draws our water from the lake, is slowly failing and may need to be replaced. Great timing, right? Our plumber said, sarcastically: “So I guess you’re goin’ swimmin’.”

As a former resident of Western New York, I have a black belt in complaining about winter. Buffalo winters are typically nasty, not so much because of the copious amounts of snowfall, which are more of a problem south of the city, but because, situated on the east end of Lake Erie as it is, Buffalo doesn’t see much sunlight from October until May. Many people in that area suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a very real problem  that I suspect is prevalent up here as well. Two of my favorite winter activities are walking on the frozen lake and skating on the Arrowhead Provincial Park skating trail. It is this interim stage that bothers me. Within the next month, I will likely take my last ride in the Porta-Bote. I have kept it in the water realizing that it may be required for pump removal. Someday soon, I will take the obligatory, annual “where IS everyone?!” photo, while I drift out on the lake. Slowly, the denial is wearing off, and I have recently acknowledged that the flowers need to be removed from the garden. That’s a start. One thing for which I was not prepared: last week, I was walking through Canadian Tire and I noticed that several aisles were already full of Christmas decorations. Really?! Has the starting gun already sounded for that retail madness? Can we not agree that we will wait until AFTER Halloween before we start flogging tinsel?

Have you noticed that I’m grumpy today? After I growled at Shauna yesterday, we jokingly made a wager to see who can be civil the longest over the next week. The loser will likely foot the bill for a dinner out, while the winner will gloat. All day today we’ve been sarcastically referring to each other as “Honeybunch” and “Lover-bumps”, grinning all the while in a clearly insincere fashion. Well, it could be a very long week.

Finally, the most recent big news story is that “Big Daddy” Baghdadi, now ex-leader of ISIS, is dead. Much is being made of this, but I think combating terrorism is a little like a Whac-A-Mole game. International terrorism gets a lot of press, eclipsing many other problems. Frankly, I’m a little more concerned about the Pandora’s Box of angry young white men in North America. They seem to be the bigger threat.

Happy Halloween everyone. As always, I will be phoning it in with a tube of fake blood and some plastic fangs, but I do have some good Halloween songs for this week’s Lyrical Workers Show.

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer ©2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
jamieoppenheimersongwriter@gmail.com

Jamie Oppenheimer, Songwriter, Author, Blogger, Radio Producer, & Host has been writing THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT every MONDAY since 1992 and has published the articles on his blog since 2006. We are including Jamie's weekly reports, as a feature of #HuntersBayRadio, The Bay 88.7FM.

#GotLocal? HuntersBayRadio.com #WeAreMuskoka #WeAreAlmaguin

The Oppenheimer Report 10/21/19

I don’t suppose that it is any coincidence that today is election day in Canada, and ALSO Reptile Awareness Day. Although I am not eligible to vote in Canadian elections, I’m interested in the fact that this election is so close and so contentious. Add social media into the equation and there is plenty of room for misrepresentation. Accusations abound among the parties and the negative campaigning in Canadian politics is beginning to look a lot like what happens south of the border. I suspect that someday soon some tech giant will offer a portable lie detector that immediately detects BS.  With four parties vying for power in Canada, and much being made about choosing the lesser of two evils (which is, by the way how Americans ended up electing Donald Trump), there may be something to be said for voting with the intention of thwarting the Liberal or PC parties from achieving a majority government. Reptile Awareness Day, how appropriate.

One of my responsibilities at Hunters Bay Radio is to produce the Martini Music show which airs on Sunday nights from 6pm to 8pm. While I am not unbiased on the matter, I find it notable that my almost 95-year-old mother-in-law “E.T.” hosts the show, and that she is very likely one of the oldest radio hosts, if not the oldest radio host currently active, on the planet. When Shauna and I began to volunteer for the station in 2014, the late James Carroll was producing the Martini Music show. He enjoyed that genre of music and was something of an authority on the subject. Shauna and I soon became friends with James and we (mostly Shauna) used to have long discussions with him about the jazz, crooner, and swing music which made up his Martini Music show. When James learned that Shauna and her parents had been good friends with the late Vic Damone, he was impressed. Then he found out that Shauna and her mom had written a song recorded by Vic, and that they had met and become friends with several other well-known celebrities, he was eager to meet E.T. They spoke on the phone several times which led to their eventual meeting at the studio. When they finally met, James told E.T. he wanted her to “carry the torch” and become the new host of Martini Music. After all, who could better host a show like that than a person born in 1925, who grew up listening to that music as a young woman. James passed away soon thereafter.

While I admit Martini Music was not my favorite genre of music growing up, of late, I have come to appreciate it. Like so many genres of music that I once eschewed, I now have a greater respect for the older swing and jazz music, thanks to E.T.’s great selection of songs. Indeed, it’s been quite an education. As a songwriter I have long admired many of the composers and songwriters covered in her shows, including greats like Cole Porter, Rogers and Hammerstein, Sammy Cahn, Johnny Mercer, the Gershwin brothers, Jerome Kern, etc.. I’ve even been inspired to write a few songs in that retro style. In so many ways I have become myopic in my advancing years, but the exception is where music is concerned. This is the one area wherein I have become more open-minded.

Happy Reptile Awareness Day. Bat Week begins this Thursday, if I am not mistaken. I hope all of you eligible Canadian voters have cast your ballots. Freedom comes with responsibility.   

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer ©2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
jamieoppenheimersongwriter@gmail.com

Jamie Oppenheimer, Songwriter, Author, Blogger, Radio Producer, & Host has been writing THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT every MONDAY since 1992 and has published the articles on his blog since 2006. We are including Jamie's weekly reports, as a feature of #HuntersBayRadio, The Bay 88.7FM.

#GotLocal? HuntersBayRadio.com #WeAreMuskoka #WeAreAlmaguin

The Oppenheimer Report 10/14/19

I have so much that I’d like to say in one page. Today, we celebrated the Canadian Thanksgiving, and every year, I am a little more thankful than I was the previous year. I always feel a little out of place during the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday, because, as an American ex-patriot, my Thanksgiving occurs on the 3^rd Thursday in November. Whatever day we celebrate, the holiday is meaningful to me, mostly because it is associated with the gathering of family and friends. It’s also a day when we are mindful of the blessings in our lives. There has been a lot of loss in the past week to put those blessings into perspective.

An old friend, and husband of one of the bridesmaids in our wedding ceremony, passed away yesterday. His wife, also our dear friend, was preparing their Thanksgiving feast for a family gathering, which was to include a celebration of her mom’s 92^nd birthday. When she went upstairs to awaken her husband, she discovered that he had died. He’d been suffering for years from a myriad of illnesses, accompanied by severe and debilitating pain. The night before last, he had a particularly bad night. In fact, the last few months had involved a series of trips to the emergency ward as well as several visits to the doctor’s office. Yesterday, all of that ended abruptly. Our friends had enjoyed a love affair which lasted about 40 years.

Yom Kippur, the Jewish high holy day of atonement, was last Wednesday. That is the day when people of our faith atone and pray to be forgiven for their sins of the past year. While I don’t consider myself an observant Jew, I customarily fast as a reminder of my good fortune. I find this a meaningful, if symbolic gesture. As my time grows shorter, I am more grateful for my life and my good health, but sometimes I take them for granted. Maybe it all culminated with last night’s full moon, but this past week has been one of strange energy and misfortune. The other day, a member of our local community, a business owner, a veteran firefighter, and respected volunteer for the local fire department, succumbed to his 2-year fight with ALS.

There have been plenty of reminders NOT to take blessings for granted. I read a post from an old friend from Buffalo, N.Y who now lives near Boston, Ma. He remarked that when he and his wife went to synagogue last week to attend Yom Kippur services, the doors to their place of worship were locked. Entry was restricted by an armed security guard. There have been so many violent acts of Antisemitism and islamophobia in the U.S. lately, that people of all faiths have felt compelled to protect themselves. The fact that, as a society, we have come to this is tragic and certainly not what the Founding Fathers of my country had in mind when they drafted the U.S. Constitution. I think freedom to worship without impunity is a fundamental right, but here we are, guarding our places of worship. As I’ve said before, the sociopathic Orange Emperor, our ignorant, foolish, pompous, and widely despised Commander-In-Tweet, is just a canary in the coal mine. With hatred spreading like wildfire throughout our world, he and the other myopic, short-sighted nationalists are the result of the divided electorates they represent. To a greater or lesser extent, each and every one of us bears responsibility for the world in which we live.

I am thankful for the love of my wife, my mother-in-law, my extended family, and my friends, for the good parents I have had, for the random acts of kindness from strangers, for my health, for Mother Nature’s multiple personalities, for all her creations great and small, for my freedom, however threatened it appears to be, for the beauty that is everywhere to appreciate, when I stop to look. I am thankful to be a part of a radio station that does so many good things for the community in which it broadcasts. In short, I am thankful for my life, and I am hopeful I can continue to make others’ lives better and easier because of my good fortune. Finally, I am thankful that I am learning to be more thankful.    

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer ©2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
jamieoppenheimersongwriter@gmail.com

Jamie Oppenheimer, Songwriter, Author, Blogger, Radio Producer, & Host has been writing THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT every MONDAY since 1992 and has published the articles on his blog since 2006. We are including Jamie's weekly reports, as a feature of #HuntersBayRadio, The Bay 88.7FM.

#GotLocal? HuntersBayRadio.com #WeAreMuskoka #WeAreAlmaguin

The Oppenheimer Report 10/7/19

Tomorrow is my 64^th birthday, and Shauna’s gift to me this year was two tickets to see Australian virtuoso guitarist and blues singer/songwriter Lloyd Spiegel at the Canvas Brewing Co. in Huntsville. The fact that she was able to join me was almost as rewarding as the concert itself. Going into this concert, I was not familiar with Lloyd Spiegel’s skill level, although I had heard one of his songs played on Hunters Bay Radio. I could tell he was a gifted guitarist, but I had no idea just how good he is. He is Tommy Emmanuel good, and I have been a fan of Tommy Emmanuel for years.

Although that general admission show was sold out, we were able to purchase two tickets, thanks to Dan Watson, Executive Director of Huntsville Festival of the Arts. Upon arriving, imagine our delight when we discovered two empty seats together in the very first row.  From the moment he hit the stage, Spiegel entertained us with his dry sense of humour. He opened with an observation about the Muskoka tourists who stop their cars on busy highways in order to photograph the fall foliage, and with the appropriate amount of comedic timing, finished by saying, “That’s f-ing dangerous!” Before the laughter had died down, he launched into his first song, and he was instantly captivating. Throughout the concert he interjected witticisms that were both disarming and hilarious. What particularly impressed me, on top of his superior technical skills, great singing voice, and charming patter, was his uncanny sense of internal rhythm. When we had a chance to speak for a minute during the intermission, he told me that he intentionally shifts in and out of the beat, depending upon his intuitive sense of what feels right for any particular song. I had the feeling that, while we the audience might not notice the differences, every one of his performances must be unique. Whatever he was doing, everything just clicked and felt right. Even his delays and tempo changes were so succinct and seamless that it was as if he’d brought a full rhythm section along with him. To see an artist of his calibre, with his uncanny ability to make us all feel like we were listening to him perform in his living room, was a special treat.

My only regret was that I missed Spiegel’s guitar clinic, which he offered earlier that same day. While I have no aspirations (or delusions) of ever playing the guitar like Lloyd Spiegel does, I would have enjoyed his instruction. In the short time we chatted, at intermission and then again after the concert, I could tell that he was both passionate and generous about sharing his technique. I was surprised by how down-to-earth he is. Some artists with one quarter of his ability have an over-inflated sense of their own talent. While he is well known and highly respected in Australia and other parts of the world, I don’t think he is as yet a household name in North America. Based on the enthusiasm with which our audience received him I know that will soon change. He’s a great songwriter to boot. I purchased two of his albums and one of his signature capos. After the last standing ovation of the night, he signed and gave Shauna and me two more of his cds to share with our radio station. I can guarantee that I will be featuring Lloyd Speigel in future Lyrical Workers shows. It’s not too late for you to attend one of his shows before he heads back to Australia. He’ll be performing in Toronto at Hugh’s Room Live this Wednesday night October 9^th, followed by a show in Oakville on Friday night at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts.

Finally, if you’re out on the road up here in Muskoka and points north, watch out for moose and deer. Autumn is the most dangerous time of year for accidents involving wildlife, and the other day, an acquaintance totaled her car when she hit and killed a deer. Luckily, she was not badly hurt. I’m driving much slower than I usually do at night. Don’t be in a hurry; that just might save your life.

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer ©2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
jamieoppenheimersongwriter@gmail.com

Jamie Oppenheimer, Songwriter, Author, Blogger, Radio Producer, & Host has been writing THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT every MONDAY since 1992 and has published the articles on his blog since 2006. We are including Jamie's weekly reports, as a feature of #HuntersBayRadio, The Bay 88.7FM.
#GotLocal? HuntersBayRadio.com #WeAreMuskoka #WeAreAlmaguin