Logical Song

“There are times

When the world’s all asleep

The questions run too deep

For such a simple man.”

    “The Logical Song,” Supertramp

There’s a line in “The Logical Song” that goes, “Now watch what they say or they’ll be calling you a radical.”  Hey, that’s preferable to being “acceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetable!”

MSNBC ran a tape of the 9/11/01 Today Show that aired while the terrorist attacks were in progress.  I was glued to the set at the time watching Matt Lauer and Katie Couric.  Jonathyne Briggs posted a YouTube video of the Flaming Lips’ “Evil Will Prevail.”  Making the talk show rounds is Pasquale Buzzelli, the so-called “9/11 surfer,” who was on the 64^th floor of the World Trade Center North Tower when an airplane crashed into it.  He had made it down to the 22^nd floor when the structure began to collapse all around him.  Huddled in the stairwell, he lost consciousness and awoke atop a pile of debris seven stories tall.

Muslims outraged over a film ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad that was distributed on YouTube by the same Florida minister, Pastor (“bastard”) Terry Jones, who was burning copies of the Quran not so long ago, stormed the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, set it aflame, and the attack killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.  Earlier, when protestors were threatening the American embassy in Cairo, officials there released a statement criticizing the video.  Without waiting for all the facts, Romney claimed that Obama should be held responsible for the “disgraceful” statement.  Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the President made statements praising Stevens and the three other American casualties.  Hopefully Romney will pay a price for recklessly playing politics with this issue and other warlike utterances regarding Iran. As Ray Smock wrote, “Romney’s statement was so off base, so crude, so ill-times, so politically opportunistic that it ranks as one of the lowest, most desperate tactics I have seen since Joe McCarthy waved his list of commies.”

Garrett Cope suffered a nasty spill near his home that opened a cut near his eye, requiring 16 stitches.  As I emailed Sheriff Roy Dominguez, scheduled to speak at Garrett’s next Glen Park Conversation, “The September 18 event at IUN got postponed to October 23.  The Soup and Substance event at noon on September 19 is still on, however, and I talked to several ALMA students who are excited about co-sponsoring the affair.”  I gave “Valor” to University Relations director Chris Sheid, who promised to publicize the event, and told him that Scott Fulk in Student Life could fill him in on the history of Soup and Substance and upcoming speakers.

I ran into the ALMA students on day two of Back 2 School Week.  Entertaining was Titus Rodes, a Latin-oriented band that played originals as well as pop tunes from the likes of Chris Brown and Black-Eyed Peas. For Cee Lo Green’s “F*** You” only changed the lyrics to “See You.”  Charismatic lead singer Fernando Rodriguez recently graduated from IUN; his hot, tan-legged sister Georgie accompanied him on most songs.  The Redhawk mascot bogeyed with passersby and Fernando.  John Evans, the bass player’s dad, photographed the action.

The latest Traces contains an excellent article by Terence E. Hanley about Hoosier cartoonist Bill Holman, creator of the zany character Smokey Stover.  Pun-meister Holman’s “Damp Tootin’” has Smokey in water amidst three buoys wearing his trademark hat resembling a tugboat.  The caption: “Nothing like a night out with the buoys.”  Also worth reading is Jim Lindgren’s “Taking the Risk: Fighting for Women’s Rights on the Home Front during World War I.”

Roosevelt University grad student Cullen Daniel visited the Archives to seek advice about a possible thesis on white flight and business disinvestment during Richard Hatcher’s administration.  He grew up in Miller, said he knows Ragen Hatcher, and seemed sympathetic to her father’s limited options.  I told him to look for ways to narrow his focus, such as realtors’ activities, including block busting, and to examine economic realities as well as racial tensions and fears.

Wednesday’s Thrill of the Grill featured Chad Clifford and Aaron Hedges from the band Crawpuppies, and as always they put on a quality show.  Chad played a mean harmonica on several numbers.  When I complimented Chad on the choice of “The Logical Song,” he said he always makes it part of his repertoire when playing college campuses.  Looking for a shady table with an umbrella, I joined a coed clearly unfamiliar with the classic hits being performed.  When I told her that “Man on the Moon” was my favorite REM song, she said she’d heard of the band but not comedian Andy Kaufman, the subject of the piece.  After she went to class, Aaron Pigors joined me, and Tanice Foltz thought he was my son.  He had videotaped my FACET interview of her, and Aaron quipped that she probably didn’t recognize him because he was behind a camera.

The Engineers, starting the evening in second place, took three of seven points against Valpo Muffler, whose bowlers averaged over 200.  They started slowly, enabling us to win the first game by 101 pins.  They won the next two by about 40 pins, giving us a point for series thanks to Duke striking out in the tenth.  Duke got more strikes than the rest of us combined but none of the four quarter-pots for every tenth strike.

White Sox lost but Phillies are finally a game over .500.  Their playoff chances are slim but maybe they’ll stay hot while teams ahead of them fade. One of Letterman’s Top Ten reasons you’re not one of the smart people: You think you can cut taxes for the rich and balance the budget.

Observing George Bodmer about to cross Broadway, I told him to be careful and that I loved his Oscar cartoons.  He alerted my to his latest blog addition based on a driver injuring him nearby.