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James Hamilton, M. D.

I was listening to some oldies a few days ago when Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville was played. I checked the internet and that song was released about July 1976, just over 43 years ago. Wow, are we old or what!

Recent discussions on this Forum have included songs and health issues. Getting past the great rhythm of Margaritaville and looking at the words made me wonder what the character in that song would be doing today. So, as a doctor, I came up with some new verses that might tell us where he would be here in 2019:

(Taken down as I revised it later and may send it to JB) 

Jim 

Michael McLeod

Let's see: which songwriter do I lean towards.

This being a no brainer.

Really fascinating to me that Bruce has now been elevated to movie-subject status.Thanks for the tip about this latest one, Mark. 

He's been a hero to me for so many years now.

Saw him back when you could get could tickets for eight bucks.

Always loved the story Clarence Clemons would tell about how they'd be somewhere and Bruce would pick out people in a crowd and make up a story about them.

He is a fabulous musician but most of all a storyteller. 

A myth-maker.

Lord know we needed those myths to get by.

Grateful for the music we needed so badly to keep going. And still do.

Michael McLeod

Jim:

It's too bad you aren't out there in a classroom teaching med school students.

You could sing that song to them and have them use the clues in the lyrics to diagnose the character in your song.

Mark could accompany.

We'd have him work up a flashy video, too.

You'd have to come up with some dance moves. I'm sure we have a classmate out there somewhere who could tune you up.

I see you dancing down the middle of a ward, your loyal interns trailing behind, with patients in beds on either side, all of whom jump up and start dancing by the end of the video thanks to your melodious ministrations.

Now all that is necessary is to give you a stage name.

Suggestions, anyone?

Lawrence Foster

RE:  Mark Cantlon

I remember going to Mark Cantlon's house a few times.  Yes it was on EN Broadway across the street from IC.  Closer to the school than the church.  

Now Dave, I never knew about the underground tunnel but I do remember the wonderful pool table that the Cantlons had in their basement.  Mark showed me how to hold a cue stick and some of the other basic rudiments about shooting pool. 

Mark went to Aquinas freshman year and then like me and a bunch of others we transferred to WHS starting sophomore year.   Mark and I started off that fall walking to school via Sharon Road over to Canyon Drive or Glenmont and then made our way to WHS.  We'd usually enjoy a morning smoke on the way and tried to figure out how to adjust to school - you know, typical stuff of life back then for our ages.

I remember once him speaking out in a class in what I am pretty sure was senior year.  My sort of rough memeory of it was in English class with Sister Margaret.  The writing assignment was one that had, in theory, to do with technical writing.   Sister had a small stuffed animal, a dog, that she put on the podium.  Without naming it we had to write a report/essay describing it in such a manner that the reader could draw the image on a piece of paper or the chalk board. 

A few days later began the task of showing how well we had done.  Sister had individuals go to the board and write exactly what she read out.  And she was reading from our papers.  It may have been accidental or maybe it was intentional but her voice was snarky and belittling.   She had an attitude for a couple days and for me, and maybe some others, it was demeaning and embarrassing.  I was one of the ones who had to try to draw it on the board in front of everyone.  I got a few snickers from her reading style and my drawing of her words.  Mark got called to do it and after a minute or two he left the chalk board and just sat down in his chair.  She said something to him.  His response as he looked into her eyes and kept his voice low and calm was, "Go to hell."   

After the dead silence echoed for what seemed like minutes but was likely only a few seconds we were told to get our books out and to read.  I don't remember him receiving any punishment for his response.     

When I came back from the Army in October 69 Mark and I met up a few times.  He was working somewhere on Rte. 23 up near Delaware.  Perhaps at some gas or electic company.  With my working nights at Riverside Hospital and then starting college in Jan. 70 we just lost our connection.  His shyness or quietness or whatever it was, impacted him for sure.  But I do remember when he taught me something new (pool) and when he stood up for himself.  

Okay, that's enought rambling from me this morning.   Later.     

David Mitchell

Jim and Mike,

I make a pilgrimage to the capital city of Ohio every five years to attend a gathering of old high school mates - but who shows up?  A bunch of old farts who don't look anything like that group I once knew. There's a dirty nasty rumor going around that we are all gettting older. I say baloney! 

As any fool would know, the secret to long life is wearin' my flip flops. and of course, livin' on sponge cakes. 

(That and a heavy dose of denial)

But another wise medical sage I used to know (my dad) used to say as he read the obituaries in the Dispatch, "We're never gonna make it out of here alive".

Quite a while back in the Forum I mentioned a story about having to take my 7th or 8th graded daughter out to old Mile High Stadium (in Denver - about 1986) to see a Bruce Springsteen concert. She had won two tickets sellling candy (where have we heard that idea before?), at Most Precious Blood Catholic grade school school - don't ya love it? And I could not let a kid her age go alone with another girl her age (out at night by themelves with 60,000 adult rock fans!!!).

I just remember two things: First, we stood almost the whole night rocking, swaying, and clapping, and Second, we couldnt hear for three days!   

David Mitchell

Larry,

In case you mised it, there is a sign on the front door of this Forum that reads;

      "RAMBLINGS WELCOME HERE"

The "Society for The Propagation of the Forum" has asked me to forward this message:

In future, please continue to ramble.

David Mitchell

Opinion:

In light of the alarming rate of ice melting in Greenland, and today's news of forest fires in Alaska, I suggest we buy someplace that is already warm, like maybe Madagascar.

Or at least look into it. 

Golly, there might even be a hotel deal in it.

Kathleen Wintering (Nagy)

Dave, I remember our class being taken by bus to go to the movie THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.  I think this was in Cleveland or Perrysburg, though. Kathy

David Mitchell

Kathy,

Why Perrysburg or Cleveland ?

 We wemt to see it a the RKO Palace, or maybe Lowe's Broad.

Mark Schweickart

Jim -- great parody. My favorite line: "I used to go bowlin', but now my ankles are swollen." However, don't you think that since nature decrees that we all grow old and die, that perhaps your parody shouldn't end, as does the original song, with "it's my own fault." Shouldn't the last couplet be something like: "But if truth be told, when we grow old/ it's the Man Upstairs, who is at fault."

Dave -- True, both Yesterday and Blinded by the Light are British-made films featuring aspiring Indian/Pakistani main characters and are centered on well-loved rock music (Beatles/Springsteen), and this may be an aggravation for the makers of these films to have a similar projects emerge so close together, but it is a blessing for us. We get to see two amazing takes on these ideas, which are certainly different enough not to feel repetitive, and are both joyous experiences.

And on another point you made, I agree that seeing Springsteen live in an arena can be disappointing. In my case, one time when I saw him, it didn't, as you say, leave me unable "to hear for three days," but rather it was terribly uncomfortable because the way the drums were mic'ed. Where we were sitting, one felt a disconcerting, almost painful low-frequency bombardment penetrate throughout our bodies with every stroke of the bass drum. My wife Maddy had never seen Bruce in concert (and to be honest, was not that much of a fan) so this concert experience did nothing to convert her to my way of thinking (adulation). However, his On Broadway performance that came out on Netflix recenty did win her over. As further did, Blinded by the Light.

Michael McLeod

Mark: I caught on to Bruce early and went to concerts when they were worth going to. I'm sure I told the story already about paying 8 bucks for great seats to see him back in the late 80s and waiting in the parking lot by his bus afterwards so we could shake hands with him and Clarence. Those concerts were so raw and charged and splendid I'd rather just dial up those memories rather than see him in the huge venues he plays in now. Smartest thing the Beatles ever did was to stop touring and continue creating in the studio for the duration of their partnership. 

You need to get to work on the dr. jim video.

Meanwhile this is a good segue: Nil Lofgren, who played with Bruce, has released a tribute song to Tom Petty.

It's beautiful. Have a listen.

I sure miss Tom.

https://therecoup.com/2019/05/08/song-of-the-day-nils-lofgren-dear-heartbreaker/

And one last observation -- from a story I just read about how light pollution is getting so bad it's harder and harder to see the stars:

I think there is even an existential cost.

A dark night sky, unpolluted by artificial light and thousands of artificial satellites, serves as a visceral reminder that we are part of something unfathomably large, that our petty differences on this tiny speck of a planet are ultimately insignificant. In the face of the universe, human arrogance is absurd.

Jeanine Eilers (Decker)

Great lyrics, Jim.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mike,

You would have been an excellent medical student! Indeed, there are several issues going on with that "patient" in my parody. That includes three organ systems, four diagnoses and two etiologies.

Light pollution is certainly a hindrance to stargazing. As Bob Berkemer demonstrated in his photo a number of posts ago, one must go out in the wilds of the earth to view or photograph them. The photogs who do that, such as Michael Frye and Glenn Randall, have some fantastic examples of the Milky Way, star tracks and other astrophotography that are "out of this world" gorgeous. Knowledge of the vastness of the ever expanding universe has been brought into more of our lives via the Hubble and other telescopes and technology over the past several years and has been just mind boggling. 

Mark,

Although the "Man upstairs" certainly has the last say, the way we live our lives is our choice. But your point is well taken!

Jeanine,

Thanks! And, by the way, your state is one of the locations where astrophotography is very possible. 

Jim 

David Mitchell

Mark,

I actually intended to put a positive spin on my Sprignsteen concert story. My daughter and i were well up in football stadium seats and far from the stage - but the decible level was intense. However, we absolutely loved it!  And this from a guy who was never that big of a fan.

And Jim, on second reading, that is some clever stuff you came up with - really!

Joseph D. McCarthy

Good Mornin Classmates. 

First a factoid (travelogue related).  I e-mailed afriend in Calforniaand mentioned that gasoline prices in Columbus at increased to around $2.50 a gallon for regular.  His return e-mail stated that gasoline prices in Sonoma County, CA had decreased slightly to $ 3.59 a gallon for regular.

Second a friend e-mailed me with a internet connection to "The Diamonds" singing :Lil Darlin" in 1957 and a show in 2004,  From the video see if you can determine the last name of the Lead singer, on the left, then name is famous son.

http://www.flixxy.com/the-diamonds-little-darlin-1957-2004.htm

Michael McLeod

Back on the night sky thing:

One neglected and absolutely inexpensive bonus of being human is wonder, the act of being overtaken by a state of awe that is overwhelming, but that's just the point: to be infused, beyond thinking and understanding, with a sense of the grandeur, of being dwarfed and uplifted at the same time. It's not a thinking thing. It's a being thing. And killing off the night sky as a byproduct of the buildings and cities that keep us comfortable and safe is a metaphor for the price we pay -- if we're not careful -- for the comforts that can smother that way of looking at the mystery of our lives and the world around us.

But that is a retirement benefit that is even more valuable in its own way than medicare. We have the luxury of wonderment. Which is why I always perk up when I see Larry's drawings and the photos from Jim and Bob and Dave, etc.

And why Theodore Roosevelt is one of my favorite American presidents.

He had that sense of wonder. If you watch the Ken Burns doc that features him -- I think it may be the one about the national parks -- you'll know what I mean.

Be nice to have another one like him some day.

Kathleen Wintering (Nagy)

Dave. I did not move to Upper Arlington until seventh grade. So I saw the Ten Commandments with my class either in a theater in Cleveland or Toledo. Kathy Nagy

David Mitchell

Okay Joe,

I'll bite. So who is Dave Somerville? 

And BTW, I absolutely love this song by the Diamonds. It was actually a video (the old one) that I had thought of posting sometime myself.

-------------

Mike, 

I share your admiration for this sense of wonderment and I appreciate Teddy's efforts to help Americans preserve and enjoy the beauty of the West. I have gotten to enjoy much of the West and it has been in my blood since pre-ten years. (or "pre-teen" years as Clare is want to say)

However, after reading James Bradley's "The Imperial Cruise" (2009) I was shocked to learn of a very different side of the man. The book goes into history discoverd mostly from archives avaialble only in the Orient (and never recorded in Washington), but includes Roosevelt's own journals, that show a callous, cowardly, racist, little man. He sent his Secretary of War, one William Howard Taft, on a diplomatic mission to China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea in 1905 - along with his socialite daughter to distract the press who went along. Bradley makes a case that these meetings set up the impetus for Japanese Imperialism, the rise of Communism in China, and all sorts of negative poitical fallout in that region for years to come. 

But having said that, Bradley's accuracy has been challengd by seveal other historians.

But, here is a story about Teddy's "loyalty" and sense of gratitude. During the Cuban campaign with the famous Rough Riders (Spanish American War), when Teddy ran out of food, one of his Black fellow soldiers (the Rough Riders had "Buffalo" soldiers among their ranks) shared his food with Roosevelt. Later in the "Brownsville Incident" of 1906, that same soldier was among the 167 Black soldiers summarily dimissed by Roosevelt (then President) over a riot in the town that was falsley blamed on the all-Black unit. Even their white comanding officer testified that they had not left the barracks that night. Despite this, they were all given dishonorable discharges, lost their pensions, and were thus disqualified from ever gaining employment in federal jobs (or most likely, any respectable job). 

* Bradley also wrote Flyboys (2003) - about American fighter crews over Japan, with a focus on the 9 crews who's deaths on Chichi Jima (a tall rock of an island with all the radio towers next to Iwo Jima) were kept secret for a time. It was later discovered that they had been captured and cannibalized by the Japnese troops on that island. The only surviving pilot in those attacks was a young baseball player from Yale by the name of George Bush (son of an eventual US Senator who was born in the small town Columbus, Ohio).  

He also wrote Flags of Our Fathers, The China Mirage, and a few others. I have only read Imperial Voyage and Flyboys. Both were compelling reading, but I found myself getting lost in the details at times. Of course that's not unusual for a guy with my reading comprehension "issues".           

David Mitchell

I see Kathy,

I think you must have missed the movies I am referring to. Again, all uniquely low-budget, black and white, and all filmed in Spain with English dubbing - and mostly early 50's. You'd remember them if you saw them. 

I am surprised no one else recalls these. 

John Jackson, are you out there?  They all think I am making this up.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Of Time and Space 

Mike, 

I just read an article that on 14 Aug 2019 several gravitational observatories across the world detected a ripple in time and space which resulted from a black hole that swallowed a neutron star. They were a tad late in detecting it since this event happened 900 million years ago (not sure if it was on a Wednesday 🤔). It took that long for the wave, traveling at the speed of light, to arrive as this occurred 330,000,000,000,000,000 miles from earth.

For the sake of more timely reporting, we must begin to employ warp factor speeds!

Jim 

Mark Schweickart

Dave -- I think my post earlier helps validate your memory. The film we at St. Michael were drug off to see was definitely also a low-budget, B/W, probabaly dubbed (not sure about that) that boringly informed us about that reknown saint, John Bosco -- who?? It had to have been part of the same series you are talking about.

Speaking of night sky issues, if any of you are interested in amateur astronomy and are looking to buy top end equipment, please know that the company I have worked for these past twenty years manufactures the mounts needed to direct your telescope to what you want to look at, and to compensate for the rotation of the earth so that you remain pointed at your object to enable you to do long time-exposed photography. We do not make or sell the optics (the telecopes) themselves, but rather three different size mounts, and other accessories to support the optic assembly. (I actually work in a different part of the company that makes dollies and jib arms for film and video camera movement, so I am not personally as conversant, as I should be after all these years, with the complexities of the astronomy devices we make.) Here's a picture of one of our mid-size mounts:

Like I said, we do not supply the optical tubes themslves (note one disappearing out of frame at the top of this picture) but we do make everything else one needs -- the mount, the interfacing plates to the optical assembly, the computerized control system, the tripods and counterweights. The idea is that you establish where you are located on the planet with a GPS, then you pick from thousands of choices of things to look at in the night sky from menu options from the on-board computer. When you press "go", the mount will slew automaticaly to that point in the sky. Of course one can maually slew to any object as well, if preferred. Here's a link to our website:

http://www.losmandy.com/

Mike – that was a very nice tribute to Tom Petty that Nils Lofgren wrote and performed. Thanks for the link. It is kind of a shame that some songs, like this one which has very nice lyrics, make the listener strain to catch them, either due to the mix, or the lack of enunciation by the singer. I don't know why so many musical groups do this.

Also, regarding Teddy Roosevelt, I would say there is much to admire, and much to deplore, not the least of which was the way he launched The U.S. down the road of interfering imperialism, from which we have never returned. Nonetheless, he is fascinating. A book about him I particularly enjoyed was The River of Doubt, Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey. This takes place after his presidency when he decided to go exploring the mysterious Rio Dubio in South America. Quite an adventure story. He was lucky to have made it out alive.

Michael McLeod

Exactly Jim. Who wants yesterday's papers?

And whatever the event was it couldn't have been that important because Father Crosser would have mentioned it in his sermon.

As far as I am concerned my goal for my twilight years will be finding the opportunity to say "jeepers!" as often as possible. And really mean it. And, like, use as many exclamation points as the situation merits.

Joseph D. McCarthy

Dave, & fellow classmates, I was just waiting to see if anyne jumoed at the erroneous conclusion that has been on tthe internet that he is the Father of Tom Hanks.  Thankfully no one fell for that. But the music and showmanship of The Diamonds was extraordinary.

Joe

Michael McLeod

Mark:

If you can get past the paywall you might appreciate this.

Good Lord Neil Young looks like crap. Not that he was ever a fashion plate.

Fascinating guy though, and he touches on the point you made about clarity, and not to talk shop here but as a journalist I'm really impressed with how the writer fleshes out the scene, taps into his own reactions and emotions so it's a relationship captured and three-dimensional writing as opposed to the traditional, more flatly-written interview  - a hologram as opposed to a black and white photo.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/20/magazine/neil-young-streaming-music.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage

David Mitchell

Good morning everybody! 

What with the trip to Denmark falling through, I got a little bored. So I bleached my hair, bought a nice white tux, and went off on the wedding circuit. Whadda ya think?

What ever makes you happy - right?

(give it about 1:10)