Don't Wanna be Like That

Some people get crazy

Some people get lazy

Some people get hazy

Some people get out.”

    “Don’t Wanna be Like That,” Joe Jackson

[Note: I certainly am not lazy, no longer get crazy, and hope I don’t get too hazy – as in fade away mentally -  any time soon].

We cut gaming short, Sunday being opening day for most NFL teams.  Dave wanted to check the latest Fantasy reports on probables and questionables.  Tom Horvath posted an old photo of him, Dave, and Keith Cheney on their way to the Portage H.S. prom.  Keith (in white): “I forgot I went as the tin man.”  Erick Orr noted that the Virgin Mary behind them at Horvath’s house seemed ready to party.

 

Fort Pierce, Florida, pizzeria owner Scott Van Duzen got so excited to see his famous customer that he gave President Obama a hug and lifted him off the ground.  The President was cool with it, but the Secret Service team must have been having a conniption unless, as some suspect, they had been tipped off and the photo op was scripted in advance.  Will there be copy cat Presidential bear huggers, I wonder, and is the secret service devising a strategy on how to deal with the situation should it happen again?  Van Duzen is in demand on the talk show circuit, and Ray Smock reports that the YouTube clip of the hug has gone viral.

“American Hardcore” is a gripping documentary about early Eighties punk bands such as Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Mild Threat.  Fronting a black group out of D.C. called Bad Brains was H.R. (Human Rights).  The Village Voice described him as “like James Brown gone berserk, with a hyperkinetic repertoire of spins, dives, back-flips, splits, and skanks.”  After the group became Rastafarians, they moved more into reggae.  While the movement was essentially self-destructive (to achieve commercial success was, ipso facto, to have sold out), it had a profound influence on the Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Replacements.  My favorite singers during those years, Joe Jackson and Graham Parker, were part of the New Wave offshoot of punk.

Jerry Davich’s column, “The Worst Day in Lake Station’s History,” dealt with a Penn Central train crashing into a church bus at an unmarked crossing on October 31, 1971, that killed four teenage girls.  He wrote, “After the girls’ funerals, one father came home and told his family not to utter another word about the crash.  It led him to a life of rage, denial and alcoholism.”  Fred Newman has been researching the event.  Roberta “Bobbee” Miller, who was severely injured and whose older sister Elizabeth died on the scene, recently returned to Lake Station to thank R.O. Johnson, who rescued her and took her to the hospital.  

Ann Fritz hosted a reception for Chicago artist Jay Wolke entitled “Architecture of Resignation: Photographs from the Mezzogiorno.”  Many regular attendees from the community were absent, which Ann attributed to a new university policy charging visitors two dollars for temporary parking permits.  Some photographs were of ruins of World War II military bases and landmarks partially destroyed by Allied or Axis bombings. Next to the four-story yellow building in Palermo, for instance, is a “melted tower” while in the foreground is a soccer goal sans net. Jay was very personable and explained his work to students in Jennifer Greenberg’s class.  Jennifer lent me a copy of her book “Rockabillies” to show Joyce Davis of Lake Street Gallery, who will display some of her photographs at a December 8 event sponsored by the IU Alumni Association. 

To kick off Back 2 School Week the salsa band Hijos de Rythmo (Sons of Rhythm) performed in IUN’s Savannah/Moraine Courtyard.  One medley included “La Bamba” and “Twist and Shout.”  Among the groups with busy booths were the Ping Pong Club and the Muslin Student Association.  Students seemed oblivious to the excellent music except for a few moving their limbs and bodies.  Since I was the only person who clapped when they finished numbers, the frontman several times turned to where I was sitting and pointedly said “thank you.”

The Grand Valley State newsletter did a feature on Alissa starting work as outreach coordinator for Padnos International Center.  Mentioning her travels to China, Great Britain and the Czech Republic, it quoted her as saying that the experiences will make it easier for her to relate to a broad range of students and alleviate their fears and misconceptions.

Labeling Paul Ryan Dick Cheney with good hair, The Nation’s John Nichols claims the Republican vice presidential nominee is committed to “the supply side lie, to authoritarian assaults on civil liberties and a woman’s right to choose, and to an embrace of militarism over diplomacy.”

Eva Mendieta was at the Archives looking for photos to accompany her article about East Chicago Mexican-American mutual aid societies that were forerunners to the UBM (Union Benefica Mexicana).  Indiana Magazine of History recently accepted it for publication.  I was so pleased I went to shake Eva’s hand, but she had on a splint because she’d recently broke a bone in her finger so I hugged her instead.

The History Book Club at Gino’s wasn’t the same without Bob Selund, who died six weeks ago after a massive stroke, but Sheriff Dominguez and I put on a good show talking about “Valor” to an appreciative group.  Before the program I chatted with former Judge Lorenzo Arredondo (often at odds politically with Roy but someone he respects) and attorney Paul Giorgi, whose grandfather, Dr. Antonio Giorgi, was a Gary pioneer.  I mentioned that Dr. Giorgi delivered Nobel Laureate Paul A. Samuelson, and that is why the economist's middle name is Antonio.  After speaking movingly about his parents moving to Northwest Indiana to secure better opportunities for their seven children, Roy mentioned some of his experiences as a young attorney in the Lake County prosecutor’s office, such as winning a DUI case in Judge Orval Anderson’s court against renown attorney Nick Thiros. Judge Ken Anderson mentioned that during the 1980s a political boss offered him $10,000 to run against Orval since their last names were the same in order to decrease Orval’s total enough to allow the machine candidate to win.  When Ken ran for Schererville Town Court Judge in the 2003 Democratic primary against incumbent Deborah Riga, she allegedly won by 11 votes after almost all the absentee ballots favored her.  He proved that at least 23 were fraudulent and a judge ruled in his favor.

Week one in the NFL featured Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, my three favorite teams, all winning and climaxed with a Monday doubleheader on ESPN.  I started the evening leading in a league where you assign point values (one to 15) based on the teams you expect to win and degree of confidence.  I had picked Oakland to upset San Diego and thought I was doomed when the Raiders lost but managed to finish first in the 11-player pool anyway.  In the Lane Fantasy League, facing off against Pittsburgh Dave, Jimbo Jammers held a slim 12-point lead going into the final game.  Oakland running back Darren McFadden seemed a cinch to compile more points than that and a halftime, when I went to bed, had at least 9.  Lo and behold, he only got two more and I won by a single point.