If I could put a sad face or broken heart emjoi in the title of this blahg, I would. Be forewarned this is indeed a sad blahg. Yesterday we had to put down our beloved cat Annie. She is the little black cat in the photo to the right with her friend Zoey.
Back in October of 2015 I wrote another sad blahg, FRANK’S LAST STORY about losing our cat Frank. That was extremely sad and I talked about a prolonged illness with Frank before we had to make the decision to let him go. In that blahg, I wrote the following: “Zoey, who has been with us for two years, also loved Frank. She always played with Frank when he was in good health but left him alone when he became ill. After his death, she pined around the house and was very lonely. We had to eventually adopt a playmate for her. A new little black kitten who we named “Annie” joined our family at the end of August. I will write about her another day.” I don’t think I ever got to that blahg about Annie but in December of 2015 I did a summary blahg with the title, THIS IS 50, PART ONE, and I debuted the photo above of Zoey and Annie. Here’s what I said: I’m posting a picture here of Zoey and Annie. Zoey has been with us a couple of years but Annie is our new addition that came into our home this past August. This is the first picture I have posted of our little black kitten, Annie. You can see that she and Zoey are best friends. Definitely click on the above picture for a larger view. Just looking at that photo is making me feel sad all over again.
I won’t go into great details about Annie’s illness. It was very sudden and very quick. Last Friday we noticed she was very listless and sleeping a lot and seemed uncomfortable. She ate some and drank a little but we thought she might be having difficulty going to the bathroom. We were able to get her into the vet yesterday and they found she had a large mass inside her and it was obstructing her from urinating. Surgery was going to be major with no guarantee. I called my wife after she messaged me and then I went home early. We talked and cried and then decided we didn’t want Annie to suffer so we made the decision to take her back to the vet and let her go. A very tough decision with lots of crying at home and in the vet’s office. Nine years ago, I did that with Frank and it was just as hard this time around with Annie.
I don’t know what I would have got around to saying about Annie if I ever wrote a blahg about her while she was still alive. She was a funny little black cat. She was smaller than Zoey and Rogue (our other cat). She rarely meowed and never purred. Maybe she did silent purring but I never heard her purr in the nine years she was with us. I don’t think she was ever unhappy until her recent illness and the discomfort she felt. She loved lying on my lap every night. I had to sit in a lounge chair with my legs out and she would stare at me from the floor until I patted my lap and told her to come on up. Sometimes if my legs weren’t just the right way, she’d get up, turn around and then stare at me until I moved my legs to her satisfaction. It sounds annoying but last night I missed the interaction immensely. She had other quirks as well. When she went into heat, she was as annoying as hell and that’s when she would really meow. Over the past six weeks she also started scratching at our bedroom door at all hours. We eventually gave up and she started coming in and would sleep our bed up against my legs. Perhaps this change in behaviour was also signaling something was wrong. Of course, she had no other way of letting us know what was happening to her. It’s funny but I can’t find fault in any of her annoying traits. I will just miss those as part of the whole package. Annie was unique. I’ve heard people say never get a black cat because they’re odd. Don’t you believe it. It’s that oddness that made us love Annie.
I’m going to wrap this up because everything’s still too raw. I went looking through my phone for a recent photo of Annie. I found this one from April of 2023. It shows all three of our cats enjoying themselves on their cat tree. Rogue is on the top, Zoey is in the middle, and Annie is on the bottom. There’s no pecking order. Whoever got there first, got the top spot. We called it the cat-bird seat and Annie loved getting up there. She always had to wait her turn. Click on the image of a larger view and you can see Annie and the other two sunning themselves.
There are no further words that I want to share at this time about our grief. Annie was loved and still is. Part of my heart is missing but it will heal. When I feel sad or upset I always think of The Weepies song “Mend.” I’ll close with that song and I’ll begin to mend. Farewell, Annie my lovely.
Back in 2017 I wrote a blahg with the title “A CLASS ACT”. It detailed some very positive email interactions I had with Brian Mazzaferri, the lead singer of the band “I Fight Dragons.” This is a favourite band of my daughter Abbie and the blahg talked about trying to buy some merchandise and how Brian emailed me personally and made it happen. We even received an autographed photo:
Well, the class act this time around relates to myself and a singer I really enjoy and how he went above and beyond for me.
In the first “A Class Act” blahg from 2017 I also talked about the band “The Weepies” and how I had finally got to see them live in Toronto at The Drake. Here are some photos of the now divorced Deb Talan and Steven Tannen from The Drake:
The Weepies perform at the Drake Hotel in Toronto on December 2, 2016
The Weepies perform at the Drake Hotel in Toronto on December 2, 2016
The Weepies perform at the Drake Hotel in Toronto on December 2, 2016
The Weepies perform at the Drake Hotel in Toronto on December 2, 2016
The Weepies perform at the Drake Hotel in Toronto on December 2, 2016
The Weepies perform at the Drake Hotel in Toronto on December 2, 2016
The Weepies perform at the Drake Hotel in Toronto on December 2, 2016
The Weepies perform at the Drake Hotel in Toronto on December 2, 2016
The Weepies perform at the Drake Hotel in Toronto on December 2, 2016
Someone also post a video from that concert of them singing “Ever Said Goodbye”:
I did get to see The Weepies again at The Great Hall in Toronto in 2018. I wrote about that in the blahg SAY IT AIN’T SO…NO MORE WEEPIES. I even posted a couple of songs from the performance. Here is Steven Tannen singing “Sing Me To Sleep:”
And here’s Deb Talan singing a beautiful version of “Stars:”
I was saddened to learn in 2022 that Steve and Deb had split up, thus ending The Weepies. Over the last couple of years I have tried to keep track of Steve and Deb individually to see if either were playing anywhere near me or anywhere I could get to within a couple of hours. The short answer to that is no such luck. A longer answer is that Steve posted on his Facebook page in September 2022 of a short tour he was doing and that one of his playmates was going to be Scott Mulvahill. Here’s what Steve posted about the upcoming concerts and about Scott Mulvahill:
One Week Until Solo Shows! Get your tix, and send your friends if you don’t live in the Northeast – it’s going to be a whole thing. They are EARLY shows!!
Solo is not quite right anymore…it’s now a trio! My old compatriot from NYC Keith Cotton will be joining on keyboards and new pal Scott Mulvahill will be on bass. They are both fantastic and I’m truly excited to play out live with them. Scott is doing a short opening set in which he creates something unique, it’s worth seeing and hearing. If he survives, we will then launch into new songs by me, old songs by me, and some others too. For sure it won’t be the same way twice. It feels strange and good to not know exactly what’s going to happen as we work it all out.
Of course, I didn’t know who Scott Mulvahill was so I had to research him and I found a video he posted of him singing The Weepies song “Somebody Loved” with the tag “Super pumped to be joining Steve Tannen of The Weepies on a couple shows coming up!! I’ve loved their music and this song in particular for a long time. I’m gonna open the shows and then back up his gorgeous songs, come see us!” Here’s that video:
I watched some other videos by Scott Mulvahill and was really excited by his music. I didn’t get to any of the concerts with Scott and Steve but I became fascinated by Scott’s music. One of my favourite’s was the song “1000 Feet.” The video shows Scott performing the song in a field up in Iceland in 2018/2019. Check it out:
In a previous blahg, I also posted a video for the song “Joy”:
There’s another amazing video of Scott Mulvahill and some other musicians performing Paul Simon’s “Homeless.” The amazing thing about it is that the power goes out at the venue and then they launch into the song and when they’re done, the power comes back on. Truly, a beautiful version.
I could go on and on about Scott Mulvahill and his videos on YouTube but you really have to check them out for yourself. I posted the above videos to add context to this next part.
I have been checking out Scott Mulvahill’s website, http://www.scottmulvahill.com/ and keeping track of his music releases and praying that he’d post some tour dates that included Canada. Back in the summer he posted a series of dates starting in mid-October where he was travelling with the band “Oliver Hazard”. Scott was going to open for the band on his tour and the second date of the tour was going to be at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on October 16th, 2024. Is it still cool to say “Hot Diggity-Dog?” Well, I was excited and there was no way I was going to miss Scott’s show…even if I didn’t know anything about “Oliver Hazard.”
The week of the concert did not dawn well for me. As mentioned in my last blahg, TWICE IN A LIFETIME…IS TOO MUCH, my Mother’s house burned on Thanksgiving (Canadian), October 14, and that was also the beginning of my Fall week of holidays. Add to it, that I had to have an MRI on my prostate on the 16th; the same day as the Scott Mulvahill concert. I got the results of that two days later and everything was fine but it was a week of worries and hassles. The concert was the shining light through the chaos of everything else. Here is a photo of Scott Mulvahill on stage at the Horseshoe Tavern:
Despite the brightness of the photo, it was really dark in the Horseshoe Tavern. It was filled with people between 20 and 30 who were only there to see Oliver Hazard. I’m not sure if anyone there had even heard of Scott Mulvahill.
My wife and I got there about a half hour before the show started. Here’s a picture of us at the Horseshoe Tavern and you can tell how dark it was:
Waiting for the show to start, I noticed there was a Merch (short for merchandise) table off to one side so I drifted over there to see if there was anything for Scott Mulvahill. The main table was for Oliver Hazard merchandise and when I said that I wanted merchandise for Scott Mulvahill, I was told I had to talk to Scott. I turned and there he was. I explained who I was and that I had gone there expressly to see him. We talked about his music and I told him about watching his videos and how the “1000 Feet” and “Homeless” videos were among my favourites. He told me he was going to perform “1000 Feet” but if I wanted to hear “Homeless” I should go to Nashville for New Year’s Eve because he was going to perform songs from the Paul Simon album “Graceland” (that contains “Homeless”). I doubt I’ll make it to Nashville but Scott Mulvahill was so personable and approachable and just one fine class act. I did purchase a T-Shirt and a camp mug. Here are photos of those below:
Here’s a photo of me wearing my Scott Mulvahill shirt but the image is backwards because it’s a shot of me in the mirror:
What happened next is a topper on top of my exchange with Scott Mulvahill at the Merch table. He started to perform and then he stopped to talk about his experience with me at the Merch table and then he sang and dedicated the song “1000 Feet” to me. I didn’t take any video of the performance but I did record the audio. I’ve put together a video of the performance along with some photos from the night and my merchandise:
Scott also performed a new song called “Travel Light, Travel Fast.” There is a video out there of Scott performing it at the Horseshoe Tavern but I don’t want to post it here and violate some copyright. Instead, I’ll just post the audio because it’s better than the live audio I recorded:
Here’s a screen grab from the video of Scott performing the above song in Toronto:
After Scott Mulvahill’s set I went back to see him at the Merch table and to thank him for the dedication. He was super nice again and allowed my wife to take a picture of the two Scotts. That’s the picture I’ve used at the top of this blahg. What a fantastic person! Thank you Scott Mulvahill for all you did for me. It really made my week.
I know Scott Mulvahill and I are not best friends because of this interaction but today, I found a video of Scott Mulvahill and Brenna MacMillan performing the song “You’ve Got A Friend In Me.” It’s a classy performance from a class act. Brenna MacMillan’s good too! Thanks again Scott.
The title of this blahg is not a rhetorical question. I would really like an answer to this question. A couple of days ago I received a package in the mail from Amazon and it was a product I don’t remember ordering. Inside was a CD by an artist of whom I had no knowledge and it caused me to question why I purchased the product. Read on.
The CD in question “Dakota Staton – Five Classic Albums”. Who the heck is Dakota Staton and why did I buy this CD? I don’t know or rather I don’t remember. I went back to my Amazon account and I did indeed order the CD but I can’t recall why. I thought maybe I had read about her or I saw the album somewhere but nothing springs to mind. I checked my phone to see if I took a picture of an LP I had seen in a thrift store to see if it might be something I’d like. I’ve done this before. Unfortunately, there was no corresponding photo on my phone. So today, I searched my browser history and here’s what I found as it relates to Dakota Staton:
You’ll have to click on the above image to get a larger view but the bottom one is the oldest listing and it says:
“dakota staton” time to swing – Google Search
After that, I viewed a YouTube video of the album “Time To Swing” and then went to Amazon and looked at Dakota Staton compact discs. Again, I have no recollection of any of that but at least it helps solve the mystery. I obviously saw “Dakota Staton – Five Classic Albums” as a good value and decided to order it. I just wish that any of this sounded familiar. I’m thinking I saw the album “Time To Swing” in a thrift store and then decided to research it. At least that’s what my browser history reveals. Here’s what the LP looks like:
I don’t remember looking at the YouTube video of the above album and I’ve only listened to about 14 songs off the CD. Before I get into offering up any samples of Dakota Staton’s singing, I want to post some information about her. Here’s what I researched today from Wikipedia:
Dakota Staton (June 3, 1930 – April 10, 2007) was an American jazz vocalist who found international acclaim with the 1957 No. 4 hit “The Late, Late Show”. She was also known by the Muslim name Aliyah Rabia for a period due to her conversion to Islam as interpreted by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Born in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she attended George Westinghouse High School, and studied music at the Filion School of Music in Pittsburgh. Later she performed regularly in the Hill District, a jazz hotspot, as a vocalist with the Joe Westray Orchestra, a popular Pittsburgh orchestra. She next spent several years in the nightclub circuit in such cities as Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland and St. Louis. While in New York, she was noticed singing at a Harlem nightclub called the Baby Grand by Dave Cavanaugh, a producer for Capitol Records. She was signed and released several singles, her success leading her to win Down Beat magazine’s “Most Promising Newcomer” award in 1955. In 1958, Staton wed Talib Dawud, a black Antigua-born Ahmadi Muslim, a jazz trumpeter and noted critic of Elijah Muhammad. She subsequently converted to Islam and used the name Aliyah Rabia for some time. The marriage ultimately ended in divorce.
She released several critically acclaimed albums in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including: The Late, Late Show (1957), whose title track was her biggest hit, In the Night (1958), a collaboration with pianist George Shearing, Dynamic! (1958) and Dakota at Storyville (1962), a live album recorded at the Storyville jazz club in Boston. In the mid-1960s Staton moved to England, where she recorded the album Dakota ′67. Returning to the US in the early 1970s, she continued to record semi-regularly, her recordings taking an increasingly strong gospel and blues influence. She suffered a stroke in 1999, after which her health deteriorated. Staton died in New York City aged 76 in 2007.
Very skimpy on details but it appears she had some fame and notoriety. Sometimes a singer becomes famous for more than just their singing through their actions or possibly acting in television or the movies. With Dakota Staton, the music is the thing. I’ve listened to the album “The Late Late Show” as it was the first twelve tracks on the first CD of this two CD set. The Wikipedia entry states she “found international acclaim with the 1957 No. 4 hit “The Late, Late Show.” That’s a good place to start.
Another song from “The Late, Late Show” that I really enjoyed was the song “Give Me The Simple Life”:
Readers of this blahg will recall that I once posted a version of “The Simple Life” sung by Mel Tormé. Here’s Mel’s version for comparison:
Mel’s rendition comes from the album “An Evening with George Shearing & Mel Tormé.” I offered it up as a comparison to Dakota Staton’s version but now I’ll go further and present a live version by Dakota Staton to compare to Mel’s version. This comes from her CD “Live at Milestones.” The album was recorded Live at Milestones, Buffalo, New York, November 20, 1986. This live version is almost 30 years after her recorded version on “The Late, Late Show”:
The two other songs I have heard from my “Dakota Staton – Five Classic Albums” CD are the first two tracks from the 1958 album “Dynamic”, “Let Me Off Uptown” and “Night Mist.” Here they are from YouTube:
If you want to hear a completely different arrangement version of “Let Me Off Uptown”, check out this version from her 1972 album “Madame Foo-Foo”:
That’s funked up!
Okay, so I took a break from this blahg because I had to go to an appointment and do some running around. I finished listening to all of CD 1 and that included the rest of the tracks from her album “Dynamic!” and the first 6 tracks from her next album “More Than The Most!” One song from that last album really stuck out for me. It was a nice swinging version of the song “East Of The Sun”:
I had only ever heard Frank Sinatra sing that song. He recorded a version in the 1940s with Tommy Dorsey and then rerecorded it in 1961 for his tribute album “I Remember Tommy.” It’s Sinatra’s 1961 version I’ll offer up to compare to Dakota Staton’s 1959 version
So, my thoughts so far on Dakota Staton? She has a great voice. Part of it reminds me of Marge Dodson. I had picked up an album by Ms. Dodson at a thrift store and wrote about the album and some of her other music in a blahg with the strange title, AYE AYE ITUNES, THIS CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. One of the songs I posted about at that time was the tune “This Can’t Be Love” from her second album “New Voice in Town”:
Yes, there’s a Marge Dodson quality to Dakota Staton but certainly enough of her own style to make her more than stand out.
I wanted to close out this blahg with some videos of Dakota Staton performing live. Here’s a video of her singing the song “Broadway”, which incidentally is the first track on CD 1 of this CD set I didn’t remember ordering. This time she’s live in 1965:
The following video contains an early version of her singing the song “I Hear Music” accompanied by George Shearing on piano and then a later live version of her scatting and singing on a song I don’t recognize.
If you search on YouTube you will find other live versions of her over the years. The singing is great and I don’t regret ordering a CD I don’t remember ordering. WHY DID I BUY THIS CD? I think I must have seen the album in a thrift store and then researched it and decided to buy a CD set that gave me a really good sampling of her music. Another answer to the question to WHY DID I BUY THIS CD?…BECAUSE IT’S THAT GOOD!
Earlier this week and the tail end of last weekend, I celebrated my Birthdays. If you’re confused about the word Birthdays being the plural version then you should check out my previous blahg, LAUNCHING AND RELAUNCHING where I detail how I found out I’d been celebrating my birthday on the wrong date for 61 years. Well, maybe not the first day, which was the day I was born, and maybe not the first year because I was too young to celebrate, but sometime since then I’ve been touting the wrong day. I always thought I was born on September 23rd but my actual date of birth was September 22nd. This was the first year where I could possibly, knowingly, celebrate it on the correct date. Do you want to know how that went? Read on.
Last week I was sick. That’s as good a place to start as possible. On September 17th I had booked off the day from work to go to a Doctor’s appointment an hour away and then to take my mother to her Doctor in the afternoon. My appointment was at 8:15 in the morning and, like I said, an hour’s drive away. That meant I had to get up early and I also did not sleep well the night before. I was tired in the morning and after my appointment I drove home and had a two hour nap. I got up tired. I was up for about an hour and then I lay down for another nap; lasting about an hour. I took my Mother to her appointment then came home and then slept for another couple of hours. I woke up and was still tired and had a slight headache and just a general feeling of fuzziness in my head. The next two days I was off work with the tiredness and fuzziness. I’d get up late in the morning and then be up for an hour then sleep for two or three hours then up for an hour then sleep for two or three. For two days it was lather, rinse, and repeat like that in terms of waking and sleeping. I went to work on Friday feeling about 75 percent but fading. Saturday I was still feeling about 75 percent and after some running around and shopping at mid-day, I came home and slept for three hours. Then the cycle started again. Up for an hour then sleeping for two or three.
That brings me to Sunday, September 22, my new actual real birthday. Sunday I was down to zero percent. The tired and fuzziness and headache were holding me down and I had a small fever of 99.6 The problem was that I had been taking flu medication but when I went back to work on the Friday, I had stopped taking it. That’s when the relapse happened. So my actual factual Birthday was a bust. When I got up that morning my wife just looked at me and said nothing. I asked her if she had anything to so to me. She said no, nothing she could think of. Happy Birthday or I Love You at least? When I reminded her it was my Birthday she replied well you normally celebrate it on September 23rd so I didn’t think of it. I let her off. I was too sick to argue. Besides, I had said I was still going to celebrate the 23rd as my Birthday as I always had. Pick your fights. I was fighting with the flu. I chose to concentrate on that.
Now for the 23rd. I was 75 percent again and back at work. I got to open one present before I left for work. It was a box of tea. Granted, it was one of my favourite kinds but it wasn’t the kick-start I wanted for the Birthday I was choosing to honour. I lasted a half day at work before I had to come home and have a nap. I think I had two. My wife and I had planned that we would go out to dinner at Wimpy’s in Belleville. If you haven’t been to a Wimpy’s, I highly recommend it. It’s got a nice 1950s vibe and the food is good and the prices are reasonable. Of course I wasn’t feeling well enough for that. I hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast and my diet for the days before that had been toast, orange juice, and ginger-ale. I felt well enough around 6pm to think about food so we ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut and drove into Picton and picked it up. I was able to eat two slices because my wife had made me a Birthday cake and there was Butter Pecan ice-cream so I wanted to leave room for that. Then came the presents.
I want to divert for a moment about something that will be relevant to my Birthday and the presents. I’ve been wanting to post for a while about my Micronauts collection. In fact, I hinted in a previous blahg, WHAT PRICE HOLIDAYS?, that I was planning on writing a Micronauts blahg and I even posted a picture of the Battle Cruiser that I had picked up at the Transformers convention I went to on my holidays. I had also written a blahg in 2016 called IT’S NEVER TOO LATE, in which I talked about finally getting the Micronauts Rocket Tubes set I had wanted since I was a teenager. I have a shelf of Micronauts item in my home. Here’s a couple of pictures with a partial view of what’s on that shelf:
These are by no means all of my Micronauts items but I want to highlight three figures on the left in both photos. These figures are Baron Karza, Karza’s horse Andromeda, and the white figure of Force Commander. Here’s a photo of what Baron Karza and Andromeda look like close up (not my photo):
All of the parts for both of these are interchangeable and you can combine them into a cool centaur version like the one below:
I have had Baron Karza for over 30 years having bought him at a Toy Show in Toronto complete in a clear plastic bag. I can’t remember when I bought Andromeda but it’s been more than ten years. Now, Force Commander, I remember was purchased in the last decade. Here’s a close up view of Force Commander and his horse counterpart Oberon:
They also combine like Baron Karza and Andromeda. My Force Commander is a little yellowed from age and when I bought him, he didn’t have his white fists but someone had substituted black Baron Karza fists instead. I painted those white to match. Unfortunately, I never had Oberon and I’ve been on the look-out for that figure. I saw him at that Transformers convention I went to this summer, still with his box, but they wanted around $150. Too pricey for me.
Now getting back to my old Birthday which I was trying to salvage on September 23rd of this year. My daughter Abbie had purchased a gift for my Birthday and had sent it home with my wife when we visited her in Toronto last month. While we enjoying our cake on the 23rd, Abbie video called us and so I decided to open all presents while I had her on the call. The first was her present to me. Here’s what I received:
Oberon! Abbie wouldn’t say what she paid for it, the price tag on the box being the original one from the late 1970s, but she said it was really reasonable and she knew I wanted it. I don’t play favourites with my children but in that moment she was my favourite. Here’s a couple of other photos of the back of the box and the contents:
As you can see from the back of the box, Oberon and Force Commander can also combine into a centaur figure. Abbie’s score of Oberon actually came from the place where I purchased Force Commander. It’s a collectible shop in Toronto called “Tree House Collectibles.”
It’s a small but mighty shop and full to the brim. If you’re ever in Toronto, definitely pay them a visit.
Now back to the other gifts. The only gift from my wife I had opened that day before Oberon was the box of tea. I wasn’t going to get my hopes up but I was riding a high after opening Abbie’s gift. I won’t talk about clothes that I received but I will mention two cool gifts that also really made my day. Earlier this month I posted a blahg called DARKWING DUCK AND THE NFT CASH GRAB where I posted about some of my Funko Pop collection and mentioned a couple of rare Pops I was looking for. I had mentioned my Tailspin collection and how there had been a variant of the Wildcat figure where he had grease on his face and coveralls. Here’s a picture:
Jeanette was able to track one down and she gave that to me for my Birthday. I also had mentioned a Monterey Jack variant I also wanted. Here’s his photo:
I like the crazy eyes and am happy that Jeanette also gave that to me for my Birthday. Not a bad little haul! Oberon and those two Funkos definitely made me feel better and I didn’t puke up the pizza, cake, or ice-cream. So that’s something. The next day I went back to work and I’ve been feeling better ever since.
The last thing I will add about my old Birthday is the 23rd was a Monday and a mail delivery day. In the mail was a CD that I had ordered. It was Danny Polo and His Swing Stars, London 1937-1938 & Paris 1939 plus The Embassy Rhythm Eight 1933
I can’t remember how I got onto Danny Polo but I must have been intrigued enough to buy the CD. Here are a couple of tracks from YouTube from this set. The first is a swinger, “That’s A-Plenty”:
And here’s a previously unreleased version of the song “Jazz Me Blues”:
I’ve listened to most of the CD and I can highly recommend it. Unfortunately there’s nothing on there that says Birthday, Oberon, Pizza or even Cake. In a previous blahg, I know I’ve said that before, A BAKER’S DOZEN MORE FOUND VINYL RECORDS I presented three different versions of a jazz song called “Ice Cream” by the Omega Jazz Band, Frank Traynor’s Jazz Preachers, and The Climax Jazz Band. In a follow-up blahg, ANOTHER BAKER’S DOZEN MORE FOUND VINYL RECORDS, I presented another version by Sweet Emma and Her Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Those versions are all good but I think my favourite is by The Climax Jazz Band from here in Canada.
I think we can all agree, even if you’re feeling ill or it’s your Birthday, actual, factual, new, or old, this is the type of Ice Cream that goes down well and stays down.
I have really struggled this month to write a blahg. Work has been incredibly busy so time off in the evenings or on weekends are therefore that much more precious. Flowery sentence, I know, but I’ve said before I was an English Major so what do you expect? I haven’t even done any other writing this past while. Ideas are floating around in my head but nothing’s getting written down. For this blahg, I thought I’d pick up a thread from my last blahg, WHAT PRICE HOLIDAYS?, when I mentioned getting Terry McGovern’s autograph when I went to the Transformers convention. Terry McGovern did voice work as Launchpad McQuack in the old Darkwing Duck series and I’m a huge Darkwing Duck fan. That’s the thread I’m picking up again.
Last time I posted a photo of my Terry McGovern autograph:
I had yet to hang the photo in the proper location above the shelf that displays my Darkwing Duck figures collection. Here’s a proper photo showing the figures and the photo hanging above:
If you click on the photo to view a larger image, you will see Darkwing Duck and Launchpad riding on the Ratcatcher motorcycle surrounded by mini figures of Launchpad and Gosalyn. Darkwing is facing down enemies such as Bushroot, Megavolt, Steelbeak, Tuskernini, as well as a Megaduck (yellow version of Darkwing Duck which I painted myself), and Negatron. Negatron is a more recent release in the last five years. There’s also a mini figure of Megaduck. All of the minis were also released in the last year. The Ratcatcher and all of the Darkwing Duck figures on my shelf were put out in the early 90s by Playmates. To the far right on the shelf is a figure of Gizmoduck who showed up in the Darkwing Duck cartoon but that figure, too, is a fairly recent release. Playmates also released a Thunderquack jet and separate Honker Muddlefoot and Gosalyn figures in the 1990s. I have those was well, just to the right above my Darkwing shelf:
These are not my only Darkwing Duck figures. I also have the Funko Pop releases of Darkwing Duck figures as well. Here are the ones in my collection:
There was also a Gizmoduck release but some classify it as Ducktales because the character originated on the Ducktales cartoon but also made appearances on Darkwing Duck. That’s why he’s in my collection:
You would think that would be enough in terms of Funko Pop releases but earlier this Summer, Funko teased us with this image:
I’m interested in all of the figures above but Liquidator and Quackerjack are the Darkwing Duck villains that didn’t even receive Playmates releases back in the day. Liquidator and Quackerjack were part of the “Fearsome Five” set of villains from the Darkwing Duck cartoon along with Negaduck, Megavolt, and Bushroot:
If you’re counting, that leaves only Bushroot, of the Fearsome Five, to not receive a Funko Pop release.
I’ve been collecting Disney Afternoon Cartoon Funko Pops but certain lines have had less releases than others. Here’s a photo of most of my Funko Pops that also include releases from the Disney Afternoon cartoons like Ducktales, Darkwing Duck, Talespin, Goof Troop, and Rescue Rangers:
Here are close-ups of my Talespin figures:
I have two different Shere Khan Funko Pops because there was a variant where his hands were pressed together and I managed to obtain it. There were two other variants from this series that I didn’t pick up. There’s another version of Wildcat where he has grease on his overalls:
There was also a variant of Louie with a different shirt:
I also have the Ducktales series that include Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Webby, Magica De Spell, and the aforementioned Gizmo Duck:
There’s also a 10 inch version of Scrooge McDuck in his gold coins, like the one above, that I didn’t feel I needed to pick up and a variant of him in a red suit which I think I might try and track down.
When it comes to Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers there have only been two releases. They are Monterey Jack and Monterey Jack variant where his eyes are bugged out as if he’s hypnotized by the cheese:
I have the regular Monterey Jack but the variant with the crazy eyes might also be something I’ll purchase some day.
So, what about that Funko tease of other figures from Disney Afternoon shows? Well, I definitely want them all. Fat Cat is the only other Rescue Rangers to be announced other than the two Monterey Jack Funko Pops. Don Karnage, featured under the Coming Soon banner, would add another figure to my Talespin Funkos. Ma Beagle and Flintheart Glomgold would add two more to my Duck Tales collection and of course Liquidator and Quackerjack would complete my Dark Wing Duck collection (for now, until they release a Bushroot). The problem in getting all these is you have to understand the world of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and how it’s really a cash grab if you want to get what you want.
NFTs don’t exist. What happens is you get to purchase mystery packs with digital trading cards and if you get an Ultra, Legendary, or Grail card then you will eventually get a digital token that you can later redeem to get your real hold in your hand funko pop. Here’s what the Ultra, Legendary, and Grail cards look like:
All of the cards are digital so they have animation but the image captures above are just still images. There are also Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Epic cards. I believe there are around 64 cards across those categories. You have to collect all 64 to be able to get a token for a Don Karnage. You purchase packs and open them to reveal your cards and then this special website tracks your cards and tells you what you need to complete the set to get the redeemable token. Clear? Not really. Here’s a YouTube video of someone opening some of the digital packs:
How did I make out? I bought a few packs and managed to snag the Flintheart Glomgold Ultra for a redeemable as well as the Legendary Quackerjack card that also is redeemable. This left me with a lot of Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Epic cards and some of those were duplicates. Luckily there’s an online Marketplace where you can sell your duplicates as well as purchase cards you need. That’s another whole process where you have to purchase USDC (US Dollar Coins) which are also digital money and they you load it in your wallet and you can purchase the cards you are missing. I sold some of my duplicates and then purchased the missing Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Epic cards to be able to get the digital redeemable token for Don Karnage. I ended up purchasing the cards for Ma Beagle and Fat Cat.
Liquidator was a different story. His was a Grail card and there were only 999 of those so people who managed to reveal one from their packs either kept them or put them up for sale. Ma Beagle and Fat Cat were only around $25 US each so that wasn’t bad. The Liquidator Grail card was also available for purchase from the Marketplace and I had to shell out $210 US. Unfortunately my USDC account was frozen because they thought I was being scammed and it took three weeks to get it unlocked. By then, the cheapest version of Liquidator had gone from $200 US to $210. That wasn’t that bad but if you convert this to Canadian funds, it’s getting up near $300 Canadian. Definitely the most expensive Funk Pop I’ve purchased and I still don’t have it my hand. Redemption is in October so hopefully I’ll write a blahg around that time and reveal my new additions.
That’s it for now. Maybe I’ll dive into my other Funko Pops in my collection. Darkwing Duck is cool. I’ll have the most complete collection of Pops from the Darkwing Duck series and only 998 other people will be able to say that. Was it worth it? Stay tuned!
I wonder if anyone will get the play on word reference I’ve used for the title of this blahg. Or will someone fault my grammar and inevitably say the phrase is I was or am on holiday and not I was or am on holidays. Potato, potato, macaroni. That won’t make sense either unless you pronounce the two ways of saying potato. Don’t ask about the macaroni. The title references an old 1932 film title, “What Price Hollywood?” That film was similar to and led to the 1937 remake “A Star Is Born” which in itself resulted in remakes of “A Star Is Born” in 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason, the 1976 version with Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, and 2018 with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. I haven’t seen the Streisand version but the restored 1954 version with Judy Garland is phenomenal. Don’t settle for less, the restored version is best. If you’re counting there was also a 1951 television version, “Robert Montgomery Presents: A Star Is Born.” I haven’t seen that one either. That’s enough digression for now.
Last week I was on holiday or holidays. Take your pick. I always take the same week in July that corresponds with the TFCON TORONTO. To be truthful, the TFCON or Transformers Convention, is held every year in Mississauga at the Hilton Mississauga. There are some events on the Friday evening but we don’t usually attend those. Saturday and Sunday are the big days with a huge dealer room and panel sessions with guests. Before I get into all of that, I have to back up the week before when I was anticipating my holiday.
My wife and I decided it was time to upgrade and trade in our 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. It had well over 300,000 kilometres and sometimes when it broke down, the cost of repairs was getting to be to much. The garage we deal with in Demorestville, Village Auto, has sold us our last number of vehicles and they do repairs on site so when we saw a couple of Toyota Rav 4s in the lot, we decided to spring on one. We finally took possession of a 2017 version last Tuesday.
I drove the vehicle most of last week and didn’t notice any issues. I was just happy that the air conditioning and key fob unlock were working. My Santa Fe had lost function on those two features. As I said, I didn’t notice any issues while driving it to and from work. On the drive to Mississauga on Friday July 12th, with our destination being the Hilton Mississauga, we noticed loud and continuous clunking coming from the rear. We stopped at a rest stop and looked down underneath but couldn’t find the issue. We decided to continue on. Later at the Hotel, after Jeanette, Abbie, Emily, and I had a lovely dinner, we looked down underneath where the jack and spare tire are kept. We noticed the jack was loose and a luggage shield bar seemed to make an odd noise when we shook it. We took these items out and put them in the back seat of the car. That eliminated the continuous clunking noise. With that noise eliminated however, we began to hear a scraping/grinding in the rear driver side wheel. We suspected it to be a brake issue. The short version of this is that we drove home safely on the Sunday and the car was looked at and repaired on the Tuesday. Apparently a bolt in the caliper (brake related) was loose and causing the grinding and when we went over a bump the caliper would sometimes clunk. All resolved however by the guys at Village Auto to our satisfaction.
Now back to the TFCON. I tend to digress quite a bit. Abbie and I did a count on how many times we’ve attended TFCON. We both recalled that our first year was 2016 because the great voice talent Frank Welker was there but we didn’t get to see him. We had just driven up for the day and we didn’t get to see Welker’s panel. Luckily, in case you are interested, his panel from that year can be viewed on YouTube:
Frank Welker has not been back since but if I had been able to ask him a question it would have been this: “What Was It Like To Work With Don Knotts in ‘How To Frame a Figg’? Check out the trailer below. You can see Frank Welker in a few scenes but jump to the 1:31 mark and you can see him interact with Don Knotts.
Frank Welker, if you’re reading this, I’m still waiting to ask my question. I know what you’re thinking, who goes to a Transformer convention to ask Frank Welker, the voice of Megatron from the 1980s cartoon, about a movie he made with Don Knotts? I would, if I had the chance.
Okay, and yet another moment of digression. So Abbie and I have been attending the TFCON since 2016. There was no convention in 2020 due to Covid 19 nor was there one in the summer of 2021. TFCON 2021 was held December 10-12 that year. We attended that one but skipped the July of 2022 because it was so close to the December one and less than a year apart. My wife and I attended July 2023, last year, because Abbie was working in the United Kingdom. So adding it all up, Abbie and I were both at the 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2024. In addition, I went to the 2023 without Abbie but with my wife Jeanette in attendance. That’s seven times for me and six for Abbie. The last time we were together was at the TFCON 2021. I wrote in a previous blahg, 2021: WHAT DID I ACCOMPLISH THIS YEAR? a little about the convention and how I was selected for a table read after I auditioned for a character called “Tripredacus.” Here’s the audio of my table read, courtesy of Abbie:
Abbie did a script reading in 2019 and luckily someone has posted that to YouTube. Abbie is the one in the middle with the black transformers shirt:
Goober, who will get mentioned later on, is at the far right.
I mentioned about the vendor room and panel sessions but I’ve left out the evening events that we usually attend on the Saturday night of the convention. The table read was fun and Abbie was chosen in 2019 for her table read. There is also a game show with contestants from the audience. The first few years it was a thing called “Faction Feud.” This is based on the Family Feud game show. You have to make up teams of 4 and then compete against another team. One year I was on a team without Abbie and another year Abbie and I were together on a team. I could not find a more recent video of a Faction Feud event but here’s a video from 2009. This video is interesting in that the first person you see in the video is a guy I know from the convention as “Goober”:
I was never that good at the trivia part and usually guessed at everything, mostly wrong but with an occasional right answer or I leaned over to Abbie and asked her for an answer. We never won the championship so my litle cheating didn’t amount to much. In recent years, Faction Feud has been replaced with “Wheel of TF Con.” Here’s a video from 2023:
I didn’t attend the evening events in 2023 because Abbie was in the United Kingdom so my wife and I only went up for the day. Abbie and I both participated in 2021 at the December TFCON but at separate times. Goober and I and one other person competed against each other and I handily beat out Goober. That’s because he kept spinning and landing on “Bankrupt” several times which allowed me to finally fill in enough letters to guess the final puzzle. Wheel of TFCon is so much easier, for me, than Faction Feud. This year, Abbie and I stayed for the evening events but were not chosen to participate in the Wheel of TFCon. The host did remark however about a few years ago when Goober hit all those Bankrupts. Ah, of course, no one remembers the winner. It was me. I just told you that!
Well, now on to the Dealer Room. I didn’t take any pictures but this video shows some clips someone took in the Dealer Room. If you look in the background at the 4:25 mark you can see me come into frame followed by Abbie. I’m wearing a black shirt with white. Wish it was the other way round but at least it’s proof I was at TFCON 2024!
I’m not the huge collector like Abbie but occasionally I will be aware of something I want to purchase. This year, I was on the hunt for a Draculus:
This figure came out in 2021 and coincided with the 90th anniversary of the Bela Lugosi ‘Dracula’ film. I had seen the figure at my local ToysRUs for around $90 Canadian but I didn’t like the price as much as I liked the figure. I kept watching the price come down and said to myself if it ever dropped below $50 I’d buy it. Unfortunately ToysRUs sold it and didn’t get another one in. I started looking online at ToysRUs for it again earlier this year but there was no online stock and the nearest store that had one was in Downsview up around Toronto. Their price was $42 and I thought if I didn’t find one at TFCON 2024 then I’d drive to that Downsview ToysRUs and buy it. I searched all day in the Dealer Room but didn’t see one. There was one seller who said he had one at home and if he got home he’d bring it back in the next day. The next morning, I was heading downstairs to the Dealer Room and the seller was getting off the elevator. He recognized me and said he’d gone home and had the figure for me and it was in box. We hadn’t discussed a price so I was a little leery. I met up with him at his booth and he suggested $35. It was still in box so I offered $40. He and I were both happy. I didn’t have to pay tax or drive out to Downsview where I would have had to pay $42 plus tax and maybe only to find they didn’t have in the store afterall. Here’s a video from YouTube of someone showing of their Draculus:
I should add that while I was searching the Dealer Room on Saturday for a Draculus, I discovered another Transformer Universal monster tie-in. This one is Frankentron, a Frankenstein tie-in that was released in January of this year:
I found it for $50 at one table and because there’s no tax or shipping, I thought it was a good deal. Here’s a review of the figure from YouTube:
One final footnote, when researching Draculus and Frankentron I discovered there was a Transformers/Stranger Things crossover of the Surfer Boy Pizza van. There was one seller of Stranger Things collectibles in the Dealer Room but he wasn’t aware there had been a Transformers/Stranger Things crossover. Apparently it came out in November of 2023. This might be what I’ll look for next year: I’m not like Abbie or other Transformers collectors when it comes to my interest. I like the more interesting crossover items. I guess I’m nostalgic that way. A few years ago there was a Ghostbusters crossover called Ectotron:
Of course I had to buy that. Then there was the Back To The Future crossover figure Gigawatt:
You know it, I had to buy that one, too. Before I move off my Dealer Room finds, I need to mention I also purchased a Micronauts Battle Cruiser. Here’s what it would have looked like in the box (mine wasn’t in box):
I was and still am a huge fan of the Marvel Comics adaptation of Micronauts based on the toy line. I have a few items and I’ll think I’ll save that information for another blahg. I did write a blahg back in 2016 about finally acquiring the Micronauts Rocket Tubes set. You can check that out at IT’S NEVER TOO LATE. Here’s what my Battle Cruiser purchase looks like currently on my shelf:
I’ll probably post better pictures of it once I write that Micronauts blahg. Seriously, I’m going to write it one of these days.
Before I move off the TFCON part of my holidays, I should mention that in the middle of the Saturday TFCON festivities, my wife and I left Abbie at the convention so Jeanette and I could go into Toronto to see a musical. Our daughter Emily had purchased us matinee tickets to Wicked, not knowing it was the same weekend as TFCON. Jeanette and I drove twenty minutes to a Go Station and took a train into Toronto, walked up to the Princess of Wales Theatre, ate a sausage, me, and a hot dog, Jeanette, from a street vendor and then saw the musical. Here’s a picture of Jeanette from inside the lobby:
I have read all of the books in the Wicked series by Gregory Maguire, “Wicked”, “Son Of A Witch”, “A Lion Among Men”, and “Out of Oz” and two of the new ones in a related Oz series, “The Brides of Maracoor” and “The Oracle of Maracoor.” In researching this blahg, I discovered there is a third book in this new series, “The Witch of Maracoor.” It came out last year so I’ll have to pick that one up. The books have a lot going on in them and the musical “Wicked” changes up the story somewhat. Even though I enjoyed the musical, I enjoyed the books more. I highly recommend all of them. Still, it was a great day to spend with my wife and we got back to the Hilton Mississauga in time for Abbie and I to participate in the evening events including “Wheel of TFCon” even if we weren’t chosen and the host didn’t remember I was the one who beat Goober a few years back. Ah, fond memories.
Okay, one more thing on the TFCON, even though I’ve hinted a few times I’m moving on, but this is important. TFCON always has great guests. These include voice talents who worked on various shows and artists and writers who worked on the shows or contributed to the numerous comic book releases. This year, it was announced that Terry McGovern would be at TFCON 2024. Here’s what was posted on the TFCON website:
TERRY MCGOVERN TFcon is very pleased to welcome Terry McGovern the voices of Wildrider, Windcharger, and Onslaught in Generation 1 as a guest at TFcon Toronto 2024 for his first-ever Canadian appearance. Terry will be taking part in a Q&A panel and autograph sessions with the attendees.
I wasn’t really all that enthused by it but Abbie attended the panel with Terry McGovern and discovered something interesting. Terry McGovern is also famous for voicing Lanchpad McQuack in the 1990s Ducktales & Darkwing Duck animated series. Whoa, stop the truck! I’m a huge Darkwing Duck fan. Abbie and I both enjoyed the series but I also have collected Darkwing Duck figures. Here’s a photo of my shelf of collectibles from Darkwing Duck:
Okay, Deadman from the DC Comics really doesn’t fit in but I had no place else to put him. Not shown in the above photo is the Thunderquack jet with Gosalyn and Honker Muddlefoot. Unfortunately you also can’t see the figure of Lanchpad in the sidecar to the Rat Catcher. Here’s what his figure looks like up close:
So, when Abbie said Terry McGovern was also the voice of Launchpad, and further proposed we split the cost of an autograph, I quickly agreed. Here’s the signed photo we got from Terry McGovern
Jim Cummings was the voice of Darkwing Duck in the 1990s series and I’d love to get his autograph on the same photo. Unfortunately the voice actress Christine Cavanaugh who voiced Gosalyn passed away in 2014 so that’s one autograph I won’t be able to get. I also have the Funko Pop issues of Darkwing Duck figures and there’s an upcoming blahg about that as well. I promise to get to that one someday soon, as well.
And now for something completely different…different in that it’s not about TFCON 2024 but still keeping with my holiday break. The day after we got home from TFCON, I woke up with hives. I had them for two days. Food? Stress? The excitement of getting Terry McGovern’s autograph? Not being recognized as the person who beat Goober a few years ago in “Wheel of TFCon?” Who knows. Wednesday I was overly tired but my Mother had been in the hospital with C. difficile and she was released that day so I had to take her home. I had two naps that day. Later, we went for an 8pm showing of Kevin Costner’s film “Horizon.” I liked it but it still needs to come together for me to understand it all and I’m hoping part two will do that. Thursday we went thrift shopping in Brockville. I didn’t find anything. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were spent doing yard work. Yesterday I went back to work. That about sums it up. TFCON weekend was the real highlight of my time off.
So what about the title? Well, “What Price Hollywood” tells the tale of the cost of fame and how it can take its toll. “What Price Holidays” is my tale of the cost of my holidays. I’m not talking about the cost of the passes to TFCON or the hotel stay or food or going into Toronto to see Wicked or my purchases in the Dealer Room or the fee for Terry McGovern’s autograph. It’s also about hives and being tired and my Mother being in the hospital. Was the price too high for my holidays? Not really. I got a blahg out of it and an idea for two more. “What Price Holidays?” Who knows, just send me the bill.
Sometimes I really struggle to write this blahg. I was hoping all month long that I’d find something that would inspire me. Hasn’t happened yet…well at least not much. I have continued to purchase more Warner Archive movies and I know I have to add those to a pile of movies I have to review. I just haven’t been motivated to do that yet.
The only real accomplishment this past month is that I’ve started editing my first novel “False Ducks” which I wrote about 25 years ago. I’m not looking to publish it for the public but I’m going to use Amazon to have one paperback copy for myself. It’s been a little difficult editing the book because some of the humour in it is no longer relevant or appropriate. I like to think I’ve grown since then and so I’ve tried to adjust it today’s market even though it’s just going to be for me. You can learn more about the book at http://www.falseducks.com/false/ and can read samples at http://www.falseducks.com/false/falsies.html. It’s funny that I wrote the book when I was at home with my son Noah from 1994-1998 and yet my daughter Abbie born in 1998, is the one that did a mock up cover for me a number of years later. Here’s what it looks like:
I think I’m going to keep it as the actual cover because it’s an unfinished piece of work and “False Ducks” is an unpublished piece of work…but it’s funny.
When I started avoiding topics for this blahg, not once was I inspired by a previous blahg other than those movie reviews, HAVE YOU WATCHED ANY GOOD MOVIES LATELY? and SCOTT, YOUR CORDIAL MOVIE REVIEWER, which I mean to get back to. No, it wasn’t until last night that I finally found some true inspirations and it hearkens back to my very first blahg, THE BLAHG & THE MOST HAPPY SOUND which I published in November of 2011. It was an introduction to my new blahg and a write up on the band, “Margaret Ann & the Ja-Da Quartet” and their one and only full length LP. Here’s what the cover looks like:
Here’s what I said about this group in my first blahg:
The group consists of Margaret Ann Peterson, her brother Jim on tenor Banjo, Gordon Ellinger on drums, and Don Royer on piano. Margaret was the youngest at 19 and the oldest was Gordon at 23. They all hailed from Greeley, Colorado, did some shows in Florida and New York and eventually appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scout program. They also appeared on the Pat Boone Chevy Showroom (April 16, 1959), the Perry Como TV Show (February 21, 1959 & March 9, 1960) and the Garry Moore Show (April 7, 1959). I have yet to find any video of them when they were still the Ja-Da Quartet but…ah I’m getting ahead of myself.
As I listened closely I immediately recognized the voice of Margaret Ann! If you’re a fan of the Andy Griffith Show then you will recognize Margaret Ann playing the character of Charlene Darling, the golden voice of that mountain clan The Darlings. Only then, she was being billed as Maggie Peterson.
Last night Margaret Ann Peterson became my inspiration for this blahg.
Let me explain a minute, how I got here. I have always been a fan of the aforementioned “Andy Griffith Show.” There was a spin-off series called “Mayberry R.F.D.” that had a single season release in 2018:
I had, for several years since that release lamented the fact that the other seasons had not been released. Last month I discovered that a Complete Series set was issued in June of last year:
It’s a great series featuring support cast members like Aunt Bea, Goober Pyle, Howard Sprague, and Emmett Clark from the original “Andy Griffith Show” series along with Ken Berry as Sam Jones who holds it all together. Andy Griffith also makes a couple of appearances. It’s nice to see these characters continuing in some wholesome stories. Well, now I’m in the third season and there was an episode last night where Margaret Ann Peterson guest-starred as “Edna” who worked at the diner. I was happy to see her again in Mayberry and I immediately had to look her up and see what she’s been up to. Sad news, she died in 2022. I had started my blahg series wih Margaret Ann and I felt I had to come back to her. This blahg will be a bit of a tribute to her.
Let’s start with the music. In fact, I think I just want to focus on her music. She didn’t do much acting but her singing on “The Most Happy Sound” and as Charlene Darling on “The Andy Griffith Show” was exceptional. In my first blahg, I posted a couple of YouTube videos which were songs from the album. When I reviewed that blahg, I noticed the YouTube links are no longer active. The two songs were “CRAZY WORDS” and “MY CUTEY’S DUE AT TWO TO TWO TODAY.” Here they are uploaded for your listening pleasure
“CRAZY WORDS”
“MY CUTEY’S DUE AT TWO TO TWO TODAY”
A couple of other YouTube links highlighting Margaret Ann’s singing on “The Andy Griffith Show” are still active in that blahg so I’ll present them again. Here are “Salty Dog” and “There Is A Time”:
I also posted some information about two 45rpm singles that Margaret Ann and her group put out. Here’s what I posted
So what happened to the Ja-Da Quartet? Well, there wasn’t another album but I have discovered that there were two 45 singles. The first, also on the Warner Bros label, like the LP, is #5064 with two songs: “DUDLEY, DIGBY DARLING” & “THE GIRL THAT JOHNNY WALKED HOME.”
The second single is Warner Bros #5124. It contained SECRET (Everybody’s Talking)” & “BILL BAILEY, WON’T YOU PLEASE COME HOME”.
The links I posted for “DUDLEY, DIGBY DARLING” & “THE GIRL THAT JOHNNY WALKED HOME” were YouTube links but only the one for “DUDLEY, DIGBY DARLING” is still active:
I found a different YouTube link for “THE GIRL THAT JOHNNY WALKED HOME”:
When I wrote that first blahg, I didn’t own a copy of the 45 single with “Secret” and “Bill Bailey Won’t You Please Come Home.” I did however, find an audio source for “Secret” and had included that in the blahg:
In February of 2012, I updated the blahg with news that I had obtained a copy of the 45:
UPDATE: FEBRUARY 4th, 2012:
I finally received the 45 of “Secret” backed with “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home.” It’s taken this long for me to actually record it to my computer and post it here. Although “Secret”, which I reviewed here before, sounds like a late 50s/early 60s vocal group, the flip side is completely different. “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” hearkens back to The Most Happy Sound. Here we have that roaring 20s jazz and swing coming through.
As far as I know, there were no other releases by Margaret Ann with The Ja-Das or the Ja-Da Quartet. I did find a Discogs listing for a single released on the Lou-Jay Records label for Margaret Ann in 1963. The songs are “Counting Stars” and “River Of Love.”
I don’t have access to the audio files but the single is listed on Margaret Ann’s Discogs page along with the two other singles listed above as well as The Most Happy Sound album. I’ll try and track these songs down and will update when I have them.
Margaret Ann continued to perform with the Dillards and there are a number of videos on YouTube of her doing just that. Here’s one from a program called “Nashville Now” and it even features Denver Pyle on the jug along with Margaret Ann and The Dillards performing Salty Dog. Supposedly this was sometime around 1993
At least a decade later she can been seen again with The Dillards at a Blue Grass Festival performing the same song:
I think from that same festival she can be seen performing “There Is A Time”, which she also performed on The Andy Griffith Show:
I wish there were some videos of her with the Ja-Da Quartet when they performed on the Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, the Perry Como TV Show, or the Garry Moore Show. I’ll keep looking but sometimes episodes of early television haven’t always survived.
I’ll close with one more video of Margaret Ann singing as Charlene Darling on the Andy Griffith Show. It’s less than two minutes and it’s a song called “Shady Grove”. Farewell Margaret Ann Peterson. Your voice from these videos and your recordings are indeed still a Most Happy Sound.
I’ve mentioned before about my daily posts to a Sinatra list group where I posted about what Sinatra did on each calendar of the year. For a while, there have been some gaps in our listings of concerts when Sinatra was touring with Tommy Dorsey in 1940, 1941, and 1942. Recently I cam across some interesting news articles that document a Dorsey/Sinatra concert at a Bus Terminal of all places. Here’s that listing:
–May 8, 1941, Consolidated Bus Lines Terminal, Bluefield, West Virginia
Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra with Frank Sinatra
Here’s the accompanying news articles:
I went a little further and did some research and found the following photo and text from the book “Bluefield in the 1940s”:
TWO TO CROON. Frank Sinatra (right) and trumpet great Ziggy Elman posed for this publicity photograph by J.Vincent Lewis of Nunnaly’s Studio at408 Raleigh Street prior to a concert by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra on May 8, 1941. The concert was held at Jack Craft’s Consolidated Bus Terminal at 2100Princeton Avenue. (Courtesy of Bluefield Daily Telegraph archives.)
I thought that the listing and the photo were significant enough that I would get some reaction or comments from our Sinatraphiles group. Nothing. So, I have to ask the question again, Is It Me?
My previous blahg to this one, THE HOHNER COMET, debuted my new short story by that name. I posted about it on my Facebook page and even sent it to my children. Again, nothing. At this point, the only one who responded is my wife because I read the story to her. I’m not looking for instant gratification but some acknowledgement would be nice.
I realize the phrase, “Is It Me?” should be followed by “or” in most cases. Like, Is it Me or has the world gotten more hostile? Why are Countries fighting with each other? Wasn’t there two world wars to stop other countries from bullying those around them? Or Is It Me or is there nothing good on television anymore? There isn’t. I like 9-1-1, Abbott Elementary, and a new show called “Elsbeth.” If you really want to know what I’m watching, check out a couple of recent blahgs where I talk about movies I’ve been watching, HAVE YOU WATCHED ANY GOOD MOVIES LATELY? and SCOTT, YOUR CORDIAL MOVIE REVIEWER. I’m going to update that soon because I’ve continued to watch a number of the other DVDs I purchase recently including some Sonja Henie films.
I didn’t think I would enjoy these films but I have and I’m going to finish watching all of her available films. I think there’s 12 and I only have a couple left to view.
Is It Me or is there is there too much anger and sadness and anxiety or depression in the world or are we getting better at spotting it? The past could of days my work has been very troubling because people are holding onto old hatreds and want to trot them out to stir up new ones. Even our politicians are guilty of promoting hatred and ill manners. When the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre is ejected from Parliament for calling our Prime-minister “wacko” and refuses to take back his comment, it doesn’t set any good example. And then his caucus walks out in support? What are you supporting, the bad behaviour of your leader? Grow up people! Is it me or have Canadians stopped being nice?. Isn’t that our stock and trade, being nice?
I choose to put my energy into acknowledging the good that people do. I’d like to hear from you. Give me your good…not your good, your bad, and your ugly.
You’ll probably be confused by the title of this blahg but if you give me a moment, I’ll explain. I’m going to take a break from my DVD reviews and post something fun…at least for me. The title refers to a recent purchase I made at a local thrift store. It’s a Hohner Comet harmonica made in Germany that I found for $20. Here are some photos of my purchase:
I’ve always wanted a nice harmonica and this one is more than nice. It is fantastic but I need to spend some time to learn how to play it. I’ll update you on that later on.
After I purchased the Comet I began to have the threads of a short story idea bouncing around in my head. The result is the short story below that bears the same name as the harmonica and the title of the blahg. Short blahg this time around but a longish short story. I hope you like it.
The Hohner Comet
By Scott Henderson
The Comet was a thing of beauty against the sky. The sun caught it just right and it glimmered and glistened and caught Wade Benson’s focus. He slowly lowered his hands and brought the Comet to his mouth and blew. It sounded even better than it looked.
The Hohner Comet was the harmonica Wade had denied himself all these years. In fact, he didn’t know he really wanted it until he saw it and even then convinced himself he had wanted it all his life. He’d affirmed himself of that and the first sounds he produced from it made him believe even more that the purchase was warranted.
He’d had a toy plastic harmonica when he was younger and there was a small metal one tossed in a junk drawer years ago but they were nothing like the Hohner Comet. The Comet was a gleaming metal masterpiece just over six inches in length with double rows of twenty holes front and back and curved from side to side like a crescent moon more than a comet. At its maximum width on both ends it was three inches and required two hands to handle it properly.
Wade couldn’t believe it when he saw it in the glass case of overpriced items at a local thrift store. He’d almost passed it by because it was surrounded by small antiques and cameras and graphic novels and action figures; all ticketed higher than their value. Nestled in the middle, barely visible in its slightly closed gold case with red trim and lettering, the Comet called to him and this time the price label didn’t induce sticker shock.
“Can I see that case in the middle?” he had asked of a teen-aged attendant. He tried not to show enthusiasm.
The salesperson grabbed up the harmonica and handed it to Wade. It was just another piece of merchandise and the young woman offered it up without any expression or any words passing between her and the potential customer.
Wade gently opened the case and casually removed the Comet and flipped it over and examined both sides. The case was in good shape but the Comet was remarkable.
“I’ll take it,” Wade said, not trying to betray exuberant interest. He handed over the exact purchase price and slipped it into his jacket pocket. He exited slowly and methodically and didn’t look back. Twenty dollars was a bargain and he almost felt like he was stealing it.
Outside, he quickly removed the Comet and held it up against the sun. The Comet was a thing of beauty against the sky. The sun caught it just right and it glimmered and glistened. Wade lowered it to his mouth and blew gently against the scale of notes. The sounds that emanated were even more beautiful than the Comet itself. This was when he knew for a fact that the Comet had been calling to him all his life.
“Lorna will hate it,” he said aloud to himself. Then he realized that Lorna wouldn’t be at home to see it. They were on a break. She’d never understand anyway, he thought. There were things about him now that even he didn’t understand.
It had been a rough year for Wade. It had started with the death of his Father. Wade hadn’t found a way to recover from that. His Father had been sick for some time but with his passing, Wade found himself racked with guilt; lost and searching for something. He couldn’t describe it.
Slowly, it began to affect his relationship with Lorna. He didn’t know what to say to her. He couldn’t tell her what he was thinking or feeling because he struggled himself to put words to it. He withdrew from her and the more he regressed into himself, the larger the distance grew between them.
Wade shoved the thoughts out of his mind. Standing outside beside his vehicle with a glistening harmonica was not the right place or the right time to try to make sense of things. Besides, his mouth was somehow sticky from his attempt at producing music from the Comet. Wade looked at the harmonica and noticed a slight residue on one side. In his excitement of the purchase he had failed to notice it. Wade wiped his lips on his sleeve, returned the Comet to its case, and then opened his car door; placing the harmonica gently on the passenger seat.
On the drive home he thought about the Comet and the experience of holding it and playing it in the parking lot. He tried not to think of anything else but thoughts of Lorna seeped in and memories of his Father hung around the edges until everything began to mesh with those faint notes of the Comet.
At home, he diligently disinfected the mouth organ and put an even brighter shine to the metal. He cleaned the case and replaced the Comet and brought it to his desk for further examination.
The first thing he did was to research the age and value of his purchase. He was startled to discover that it was as old as he was. More than a half century before, Wade and the Comet had come into existence in the same year. He’d also been correct about it being worth more than he had paid. His Hohner Comet was worth almost five times the price he’d paid. He couldn’t understand why they had let it go so cheaply. He also didn’t know what that residue had been on one side. He tried not to dwell on that. He’d cleaned it well and now it was time to learn to use it correctly.
There had been no instruction manual with the Comet and online information on how to properly play the instrument differed greatly. Wade viewed a few different videos until he stumbled on one that spoke to him about how he felt about the harmonica. It was all about the individual tones and familiarizing yourself with each note in sequence. It wasn’t about jumping into trying to play right away or learning an introductory song like ‘Pop Goes The Weasel’. Wade understood that. The Comet deserved better of him.
In the video, the instructor explained the range of notes on the scale and how you could produce different sounds by blowing directly into the holes and by drawing your breath back again through the same openings. He stressed the need to begin with listening to each of the twenty notes individually and not the sequence or even trying to play two or more notes at once.
Wade followed the advice in the video and used painter’s tape to cover all of the holes except the one note he wanted to hear. The instructor had railed against the use of masking tape because it would leave a sticky residue each time it was removed.
“So that’s what that was,” Wade said aloud to no one in particular. He’d tried not to give much thought to what he’d felt against his lips but the possibilities had not conjured great images. In the end, he’d pacified himself with the notion that it was caused by a child’s grimy hands fingering the Comet. He could have believed that but the residue hadn’t tasted like peanut-butter or jam or anything less offensive so he tried to let it go. The masking tape explanation eventually left him more at ease.
Wade removed himself to the living room and sat in his favourite chair. It was quiet now without Lorna. It wasn’t that she made constant noise or talked incessantly but he we accustomed to her sounds. Now, the house was empty and he was alone with his thoughts…and his harmonica.
He held the Comet to his mouth and began slowly with the upper and lower holes on the far left and listened to the lowest register of the scale. He closed his eyes and listened to the notes echo against the walls. He was right, Lorna would have hated it.
“Stop it,” he said; again, to no one in particular. He’d have to try harder to push thoughts of Lorna out of his mind.
It wasn’t easy. He knew the break was his fault. He knew it was coming. Lorna hadn’t said anything but Wade had seen the signs and he’d done nothing to prevent it. Even his children knew. They were grown and had homes of their own and did not drop in as frequently as they once did. Even his youngest had chosen a University far enough away so that she’d have an excuse not to visit as often. Wade was sorry for all of that.
“I said stop it!” he said again as firmly as he could. Try as he might, though, the thoughts kept coming. Wade was a man alone with his thoughts and alone in the world if he couldn’t find a way to pull it all back together. He was trying his best to concentrate only on the Comet but as the notes reverberated they stirred everything in him he’d been unable to communicate.
Wade was alone. He’d done this to himself. He wasn’t better off alone despite what he thought. His Father’s death had made him feel abandoned and he didn’t know what to do with that. He’d questioned everything and wondered if he’d always felt this way. His Father was gone and so was Lorna. Wade had even distanced himself from his Mother. He took all of that and heaped it onto himself. Sitting there with the Comet breaking the silence he wanted desperately to know what to feel.
He worked his way up the scale; removing and moving bits of tape and covering all the notes he didn’t intend to play. He listened to each solitary note and tried, as the video suggested, only experiencing each note, one at a time. Each note, however, seemed so familiar and significant to him while the recollection and knowledge of all of his relationships entangled with the music; resonating against the walls and returning to envelope Wade in a symphony of memories he struggled to grasp and hold onto.
He paused for moment before attending to the last note on the far right which would issue the highest note in the registry. His hands were trembling and tears were falling against his face. His lifetime was at his fingertips and each note was as joyous and painful as they could possibly be.
Wade wiped the tears and closed his eyes. He braced for the final experience. His breath caught in his throat and struggled to blow through the remaining holes. It would not be a long note because there was little left in Wade to give. His body shook and everything folded in on him as he produced the final sound.
He sat silently and listened to the echo of the final note. Oddly it came back to him in steady intermittent tones. There seemed to be a pattern to it and a steady reverberation every few seconds.
Wade opened his eyes and was met with the brightness of a room that was no longer his own. He was in some kind of medical setting and he was seated in a chair next to a hospital bed with an individual linked to life support. The steady tones he had heard were the chirping of a life support mechanism.
Wade stood up and looked down on the man in the bed. It was his Father.
“No, no, no, not here. Why am I here?” Wade stumbled and sat back down.
It wasn’t possible. He couldn’t really be there. But it was true. He knew this room and he somehow knew the day. This was when it had all ended for him. It made sense. He’d been at his Father’s side constantly in the last days and had stepped out only briefly to speak to his Mother and Lorna. When he’d returned, the machinery had settled into the final unending note that had signalled his Father was gone. Now Wade was here in that moment of his own absence. He hadn’t been there when his Father had died. Now he was.
Wade rose again and grabbed at his Father’s hand while his other hand held the Comet.
“I’m here Dad. I’m here now.” The tears began to come again. How unreal this all was. Wade reached out and stroked his Father’s face and leaned in and kissed him.
“I don’t know what’s happening Dad. I don’t know if this is real or not. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I’m here now.” He leaned in and kissed his Father. He reached out with both arms to hug his Father and then realized he was still holding the harmonica.
“Look Dad, it’s a Hohner Comet. It brought me back to you. I’m here now. You’re not alone.” He added softly, “I’m here now, you can go.” Wade held the Comet out and at that moment his Father died and the life support let out that long sound which matched the last note in the upper scale.
There was a ‘do not resuscitate order’ so no one would rush in but Wade knew at any moment his other self would return to find his Father gone. Wade didn’t know what to think or what to do. He instinctively raised the Comet to his mouth to match the unending tone from the machinery. He closed his eyes through his tears and tried to blow. He found he couldn’t do it. He began to sob and as he did he began to pull in air through the opposite side and the final note sounded in reverse and Wade was returned to his living room; standing alone and listening to the reverberating note fading into nothingness.
Wade collapsed into his chair and dropped the Comet into his lap. He wept openly and long. It couldn’t have been real but it seemed that way.
After his Father died, that first time, he had cursed himself for not being there at the moment of his death. He knew his Father’s passing would have happened whether he’d been in the room or not but he’d always thought his presence might have helped his Father ease along. The truth wasn’t about his Father but rather about Wade’s guilt. Now the Comet had given him a second chance to experience it. Nothing had stopped his Father from slipping away. The outcome would always have been the same. Wade realized that now. The outcome would always have been the same.
Wade thought of his Mother and Lorna after he had found his Father. He had run from his Father’s bedside to find them. There had been few words and many tears and Lorna had comforted him. His Mother had gone to her husband’s side and stood holding his hand. She had said nothing to Wade but he had felt her actions of turning from her son to be with her late husband was somehow like blame for Wade not being there in the last moments. This was how it had all begun and ended at the same time.
It couldn’t have happened, Wade thought to himself. He couldn’t have been there but somehow he knew it had been real. The Comet had taken him to a significant moment he had missed the first time around. He was confident of that.
Wade picked up the Comet from his lap and stared at it. He turned it over in his hands. It couldn’t have been possible but somehow that one note at the far end had transported him there and he’d heard the last chirps measuring the final moments of his Father’s life before the long tone signalling the end. The pitch had been the same as that from the Comet.
Wade got up and wandered the house; holding the Comet tightly in his hand. All of the notes had faded out in the distance and he was alone in the quiet. He wanted desperately to speak to Lorna and tell her of his experience. He understood how it had been. He’d been distant and he wasn’t there for her. He knew now it could be different. It was like he’d told his Father in the final moments, “I’m here now.”
Wandering through the house and peering in all the rooms, he felt the emptiness of the home he’d made with Lorna. He made his way to their bedroom and stared at the half made bed. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to lying on her side and so it was just as she had left it. His side, with the covers pulled back, was like the disorganization of his mind. There were a jumble of emotions and thoughts and he was trying to piece them all together.
Wade walked over to the dresser and fingered some of the things Lorna had left behind. There was her hairbrush along with some lotions and perfumes. He sprayed one into the room and smelled the mist that hung in the air. This had been her favourite. It reminded him of all the good things about Lorna he’d taken for granted this past year.
“It’s just a break. She’s coming back.” Wade tried to believe that as he stared into the dresser mirror and spoke to himself. “Lorna’s coming back.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at her things on the dresser. She hadn’t taken everything. She’d come back for them. Maybe she’d come back for him.
Wade thought about the experience with the Comet. He felt that if he could just explain all of this to Lorna then it would be a start. He couldn’t be certain. He wasn’t certain of anything. It had only been a few minutes since the Comet had brought him back, hadn’t it? The more time that passed, the more he struggled to hold onto the memory.
He examined the Comet again and wondered if had really happened or, if it did, could it happen again? What if nothing happened? Worse, what if it was the same moment all over again? Could he handle that once more?
Wade closed his eyes and held up the Comet. He had to know for certain. His hands trembled but he managed to bring the Comet to his mouth. It was the only way. He had to know.
The note sounded longer than when he’d first tried it in the other room. He felt the note resonate throughout him and he sensed he was no longer in his bedroom. The note continued and others joined it and a woman’s voice joined in accompaniment.
Wade opened his eyes to find himself sitting in a pew at the back of a Church. Everyone around him was on their feet as a woman at the front sang along to an organist working their way through Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Some of the notes in the song matched the one he had played sitting there alone on the side of the bed.
He instinctively stood like the others and looked around. He knew this moment. His eyes quickly darted from the front to the rear and back to the front again. This was his own wedding! There he was at the front, grinning like an idiot and steps away were his parents…his Father alive again.
Wade turned again and saw the bride being escorted by her own Father. It was Lorna. Wade’s heart broke to see her and not to be able to reach out to her. He also wanted to dash ahead and embrace his Father and then his Mother.
This was a joyous moment and all he could do was watch from the corner and not join in.
“Why here?” he wondered. What was the significance and what was he to learn from this? Had it been caught up in his longing for Lorna? Was that the secret of the Comet? Did it show you what you wanted to see? Did it bring you to moments you needed to re-experience?
Lorna was beautiful. She always had been. She still was. He watched her reach the front of the church and saw her take the hand of his younger self. Wade instinctively looked down at his own hand and saw there the Comet. He wondered if it was time to go. He could stay and watch the ceremony but he knew the takeaway. That grinning idiot of a groom loved Lorna and this Wade, who should have been older and wiser, still did; even though he hadn’t shown that in a while.
Wade put the harmonica to his mouth but before he could draw in his breath, the note sounded all on its own. Wade looked up and saw everyone turn to stare at the organ. The vocalist, Lorna’s cousin Barb as he now recalled, had finished singing but the last note from the organ stuck on the final refrain and continued to everyone’s surprise.
“I remember this,” Wade said aloud. Indeed he did remember. He also knew what came next.
The Minister walked over to the organ and slammed it hard on the back with his palm.
“Sorry about that everyone, it sticks sometimes. But on that note, shall we begin?” The congregation broke out in laughter and so did Wade. “Dearly Beloved,” the Minister began.
Wade knew this was his signal. The Minister had said “on that note.” What was more appropriate? Wade closed his eyes and drew back on the harmonica and was drawn back to his own bedroom in his own time.
The room was the same. Nothing had changed. There were Lorna’s things on the dresser. Wade’s eyes moved further along and stopped on the framed photo at the end. He walked to it and picked it up. It was a wedding photo of Lorna and Wade. There were others in the living room but this had been Lorna’s favourite. There was the groom, Wade, staring at his bride with that ‘grinning idiot’ look that this Wade recognized from his younger self he’d seen standing at the front of the church only moments ago.
Wade replaced the photo and looked away; drawing his focus back to the Comet. It had happened again. He had questioned it when he’d first been transported to his Father’s side but now he’d just returned from his own marriage ceremony. It wasn’t just the memory of having been there both times but the realization that the same note from the far end of the harmonica had been present on both occasions. It had signalled the end of his Father’s life in one instance and the beginning of his married life with Lorna in the other. How strange it was that he now recalled that note clearer than before. How could he have forgotten the key sticking on the organ? The unending sound from the life support machine hadn’t been forgotten; he’d tried hard to deliberately block it out. It had been too painful.
Wade held up the Comet and wondered if that had been all there was to it. Were there just the two defining moments? Something told him there had to be something more. The more he thought of that final note, the more it pressed him to remember something else. Did the Comet hold another secret? There was only one way to find out. Wade closed his eyes, while pursing his lips, and blew long and hard into the far right opening.
The experience was the same as it had been before. He sensed it. He opened his eyes to find himself no longer where he had stood before. Gone was his bedroom and that photo of the ‘grinning idiot’. This new room was a pale blue and decorated with cartoon animal caricatures. It was a nursery of some sort. Wade turned and viewed what he knew instinctively would be there. It was a baby’s crib and inside was a young infant beginning to stir.
Wade did not recognize this room or this moment. He had no memory of this. The only thing familiar were the notes of a musical mobile suspended above the crib. One of those notes was the same note that brought him here. He could hear it winding down and soon it was quiet. But it wasn’t quiet for long. The baby began to stir more vigorously and to cry out.
Wade was confused. Who was this child? Where were they? When were they? He didn’t have time to think long on his own questions because he heard someone coming down a hall. He looked around and spied a closet. Wade quickly hid himself within; leaving the door open a crack so he could watch the scene unfold. He’d had a brief thought when this might be but with no memory of his own, he couldn’t be sure.
He watched as a young woman entered the room and went to the child’s side. Wade had only quickly caught a glimpse of her before she had turned her back to him.
“Hush now, what’s the fuss?” She leaned in and picked up the babe and cradled it in her arms.
“Is everything okay?” Wade glanced over at a young man who had entered the room. At first Wade thought it was another past version of himself but then he realized it was his Father. That meant the woman was his Mother!
The woman walked out into the room with the infant and began to rock him back and forth. Wade could see her clearly now. It was his Mother and she was holding him. No wonder he had no memory of this. He’d been too young to recall it but that note had played and the chord had remained with him.
“It’s all right,” his Mother said to his Father. “The mobile had just run down. Can you wind it again?” Wade’s Father obliged.
“That’s all? Are you sure he’s not hungry or maybe something else? Maybe he, well, you know.” Wade’s Father couldn’t bring himself to say what he was thinking. Silently from his hiding spot, Wade chuckled to himself. He’d been the same way when his own children had been born. He didn’t like to talk about it but he’d pitched in and done his share of diaper changing. Wade wondered how his Father had fared in that department.
“He’s all right, I tell you,” his Mother continued. “You’re going to be all right Wade. Mother’s here now. I’m here now.” The infant Wade was quiet and his Mother placed him back in the crib and both parents silently stole from the room as the mobile played on with its familiar notes.
Wade quietly crept from the closet and looked down at his younger self. This one wasn’t a ‘grinning idiot’ yet but Wade knew it would come. Wade knew what was in store for this child.
“You’ll be okay kid. I think we both will be.” Wade smiled and then closed his eyes; raising the Comet and drawing back against the far right holes.
The return experience was the same. He felt the shift and on opening his eyes he knew he’d be back in his own bedroom. He was.
Wade didn’t dwell on his return or this last experience. He had to try it again. He had to know what else there was to learn. Nothing happened, however, on subsequent tries. There was no folding and no re-experienced memories. Only the note sounded and then was gone. He removed and moved the bits of tape and tried every hole. Only the notes sounded.
Wade placed the Comet on the dresser in front of his wedding photo.
“We’ve had quite the time kid,” he said to his photo, “or times, depending on how you look at.” He looked away from the photo and towards the Comet and then back to the photo again.
It had all been real and that one note had been signalling to him each time. For all Wade knew, it had been signalling to him all of his life. All of that, he thought, from a single note. He’d have to learn them all now. He’d have to learn to properly play the Comet.
“Take care of it for me,” he said to the photo of the ‘grinning idiot’. “I’ll get back to it. There are some other things that need my attention first.”
Wade knew he’d get back to the harmonica and he would master it but he needed to define his focus somewhere else first. He needed to fix things with his Mother and with Lorna. He understood that now. They had never abandoned him. He’d done that to himself.
“I don’t know what this has all been about but I think I get the gist,” he said to the Comet. “You’ll be okay, Wade” he said to his photo. “You’ll be okay,” he repeated to his reflection. He stroked the Comet and turned to leave the bedroom. As if in answer, the final note sounded.
Wade bent down and put and ear to the harmonica. It was silent but throughout the house the final note was sounding. It took him a moment before he realized it was his door chime.
Wade hustled through the house and to the front door. The chime had stopped and he could hear the sound of a key fitted in the lock. The door opened to reveal…
“Lorna, you’re here?” Wade looked at this wife and grinned that idiot smile.
Lorna looked back at Wade and wondered about the smile. She hadn’t seen her husband’s smile in a long time.
“Oh, Wade, I didn’t know you were home. I tried the bell first but there was no answer.”
“I’m here now,” Wade responded.
Lorna looked at Wade and recalled his words. It was something in the way he’d said ‘I’m here now’ that indicated he really was.
Here I am back again which will probably amount to a part two of my last blahg HAVE YOU WATCHED ANY GOOD MOVIES LATELY? I thought of actually titling this blahg “Have You Watched Any Good Movies Lately 2” but that wouldn’t be very creative. I’m working my way through all of the Warner Archive and Fox Manufacture On Demand DVDs that I purchased over my holidays or others I’ve purchased this year. I don’t think I’ll get to all of them but I’ll make a stab it at least.
Since my previous blahg, I have watched only a few more from the pile. I’ll start with the two Warner Archives I watched, “The Oklahoman” from 1957 and “Broadway Serenade” from 1939. First up is “The Oklahoman” with Joel McCrea. I extolled the virtues of Joel McCrea in my last blahg, when I reviewed “Primrose Path” and “Stars In My Crown.” I really liked “The Oklahoman.” It plays more like an episode of the television show “Gunsmoke” but it’s a good movie. McCrea plays a Doctor in a small town raising his little girl on his own and running up against the bad rancher who wants to steal oil from a Native American. Great acting by McCrea in this one. “Broadway Serenade” was also a surprise hit with me. This is another nice one from Jeanette MacDonald with Lew Ayres and Frank Morgan. Morgan is funny in all his scenes but MacDonald and Ayres are brilliant. They’re a vaudeville couple who go their separate ways when her career becomes big and his fails. I know, sounds like the plot of “A Star Is Born” but the ending in this one is better. Talk about the end, the finale produced by Busby Berkley for the song “None But The Lonely Heart” is so over the top that they can do nothing but end the film with it. Great singing and great acting in this one. If you’ve never heard the song “None But The Lonely Heart” then check out Sinatra’s 1959 version in the video below. Sinatra had also recorded it in 1946 and 1947. Thirty years after the 1939 version of that song in “Broadway Serenade” Sinatra released a stellar version:
The only Fox Archive DVD I watched since my last blahg, was the 1949 film “The Fan” with Jeanne Crain, Madeleine Carroll, and George Sanders. It is based on the Oscar Wilde Play “Lady Windermere’s Fan.” I have never seen the play but the most appealing things about this film are the beginning and the end. I snoozed somewhere between. An elderly woman played by a makeup aged Madeleine Carroll tries to retrieve a fan from a London auction house at the end of World War 2. She says the fan belongs to her but the auction house won’t give it to her unless she can supply a corroborating witness. She digs up the makeup aged George Sanders and then there’s a flashback for the rest of the movie about Lady Windermere and her Fan and how Madeleine Carroll came to acquire Lady Windermere’s fan. The end is set again in post war London. Maybe fans of Wilde will like it better but it was just okay to me.
Talking about disappointing films, I really wanted more from the movie “The Moonlighter” from 1953. It’s another pairing of Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. They were excellent together in “Remember the Night” from 1939 and “Double Indemnity” from 1944. They even starred together in 1956’s “There’s Always Tomorrow” which I have on a Universal Vault DVD but I haven’t watched that one yet. “The Moonlighter” has Fred as a cattle rustler who escapes being hanged then sets out to exact vengeance against the men who hanged an innocent person instead of MacMurray. Barbara plays an old girlfriend who tries to bring MacMurray to justice. It sounds interesting but there just wasn’t enough for me in this movie. Maybe “There’s Always Tomorrow” will be a better pairing
Another disappointing film was 1937’s “Ready, Willing and Able.” The songs were not memorable but Ruby Keeler was decent enough in it. Her character has the same name of a British star and Ruby and gets mistakenly drafted in the lead of a new Broadway production. The only problem is that she can dance but she can’t sing…at least not well. Even the final production number of dancing on a giant typewriter doesn’t bolster the film.
Okay, back to what I did enjoy. “Killer McCoy” from 1947 with Mickey Rooney was fun. Rooney’s a fighter who gets mixed up with gamblers. The fight scenes are realistic and James Dunn as Mickey’s father is great to watch. Rooney doesn’t overact and it makes for a good solid film. The 1944 film “The Master Race” was stunning. The story is about the fall of Nazis and how one Nazi in disguise is sewing the seeds of hatred and fear in a town in Belgium. You get to see how people came to hate all Germans although all Germans were not Nazis. Watch for a young “Lloyd Bridges.” And finally, “Roughly Speaking” from 1945 with Rosalind Russell and Jack Carson. What a great pairing. She’s a single mother raising four children after her husband leaves her and then she marries Jack Carson who’s a dreamer with lots of ideas and ambition but not much luck. The early story of Rosalind Russell’s character from teenager to wife to motherhood to wife a second time is very intriguing and just one of those films where you can’t wait to see what comes next. I like Jack Carson. He’s done some great films and Rosalind Russell holds this movie together. I can’t recommend it enough.
I’m going to end this one with one more disappointment and one more film that I really liked but might seem controversial. Disappointing: “Duchess of Idaho” from 1950. Two great stars, Esther Williams and Van Johnson in a not so great film. It’s a romantic musical of a love triangle between Willams, Johnson, and John Lund. I can’t even remember the songs. I like Esther Williams and most of her films and I really enjoyed her autobiography “The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography.” Fascinating reading. The movie…not so much. “A Majority of One” from 1961 was one I liked. Rosalind Russell is back again but this time with Alec Guinness. She’s a jewish widow who is invited to live with her daughter and son-in-law while the son-in-law is posted in Japan. This is post World War 2 so there’s still some bitterness regarding the Japanese. The controversy is the relationship that Rosalind Russell’s character builds with a Japanese character played by Guinness. The heavy makeup to make Guinness look Japanese wouldn’t fly today because there are Japanese actors who should be cast in these types of roles. The film still is well worth watching but I don’t condone the casting. The best part of it is Rosalind Russell’s character and Mae Questel, the voice of Olive Oyl in early Popeye cartoons as well as the voice of Betty Boop. Questel’s character in this film is a bit of a bigot but she learns and it’s all tongue in cheek. Despite all of the controversial issues, I still can recommend the film.
So where does that leave me? I think I still have to review “Bachelor Mother”, “Colleen”, “British Agent”, “Fallen Sparrow”, “Private Lives”, “The Scarlet Coat”, “So Goes My Love”, “Confidential Agent” as well as the other MacDonald/Eddy films, the solo Jeanette MacDonald films, and all those Sonja Henie films. Oh yeah, the two Boston Blackies and the other MacMurray/Stanwyck film. Is that “Have You Watched Any Good Movies Lately Part 3” or is there a Part 4 after that? Stay tuned.
Be forewarned this is indeed a sad blahg. Yesterday we had to put down our beloved cat Annie. She is the little black cat in the photo to the right with her friend Zoey. 
First up is “The Oklahoman” with Joel McCrea. I extolled the virtues of Joel McCrea in my last blahg, when I reviewed “Primrose Path” and “Stars In My Crown.” I really liked “The Oklahoman.” It plays more like an episode of the television show “Gunsmoke” but it’s a good movie. McCrea plays a Doctor in a small town raising his little girl on his own and running up against the bad rancher who wants to steal oil from a Native American. Great acting by McCrea in this one. 
The 1944 film “The Master Race” was stunning. The story is about the fall of Nazis and how one Nazi in disguise is sewing the seeds of hatred and fear in a town in Belgium. You get to see how people came to hate all Germans although all Germans were not Nazis. Watch for a young “Lloyd Bridges.” And finally, “Roughly Speaking” from 1945 with Rosalind Russell and Jack Carson. What a great pairing. 
