Great Balls of Fire

“I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs
I'm real nervous, but it sure is fun
C´mon baby, you're drivin' me crazy
Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!!”
Jerry Lee Lewis

At age 74 Jerry Lee Lewis has a new album out called “Mean Old Man” that features an all-star cast including Mick, Keith, and Ron of the Rolling Stones plus John Fogarty and Slash helping with “Rockin’ My Life Away” and Ringo and John Mayer joining in on “Roll Over Beethoven. The two best moments, however, are Jerry’s piano solo in “Miss the Mississippi and You” and Solomon Burke singing on the “Railroad to Heaven” number.

I decided to concentrate really hard when several “Jeopardy” categories were right up my alley. I nailed the “Cleveland” questions about Standard Oil (Rockefeller’s company) and James Garfield (assassinated President buried there). The “Quotations” answers John Brown and Zachery Taylor were easy for me. In “Sports” I recognized Celtic Bob Cousy and baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth. In “The Eyes Have It” I knew crime boss Meyer Lansky and eyesore. Champ Roger Craig, who has won almost $200,000, including a record $77,000 on a single show, didn’t have to bet on the final question, he was so far ahead. The category was “Rivers” and everyone, including me, knew the answer: Tigris and Euphrates.

At Chicago’s Apollo Theater four of us saw “Million Dollar Quartet,” about the night in 1956 when Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis jammed at Sam Phillips’s Sun Records studio in Memphis. The show opened with the entire musical cast performing a rockin’ “Blue Suede Shoes.” Lance Lipinsky, the actor who played Jerry Lee, played a wild piano on “Great Balls of Fire” and captured the flair and passion of the young “killer,” who jeopardized his career by marrying a 13 year-old cousin. Perkins, portrayed as resentful of Elvis, was scheduled to do “Blue Suede Shoes” on “The Perry Como Show” but got injured in a car accident on the way to New York City. Elvis subsequently recorded the song, which many people erroneously thought was the original. It was common then for several people to cover the same song, and versions by white performers usually outsold rhythm and blues originals. Elvis’s early hits “That’s All Right, Mama” and “Hound Dog” were first recorded by black artists Arthur Crudup and Bib Mama Thornton. Sam Phillips discovered in Elvis a white performer who admired black music and, in his words, just “goosed it up.” In the play he contemplates an offer to follow Elvis to RCA Victor but in the end fears it would destroy his creative freedom. Too bad for Elvis because he never matched the passion of those first Sun recordings.

After the play Dick Hagelberg drove us to a fancy fondue place. Our waiter, a Second City intern, hopes to break in as a comedy writer. Jeff Garlin, who plays Larry David’s agent on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” got his start there, as did many “Saturday Night Live” regulars. Yoni and I went there in the Seventies and recently enjoyed one of their touring troupes on a Mediterranean cruise. Ivan Jasper opened a fondue restaurant in the Bahamas after he and Tom Orr sold Another Roadside Attraction (now an Argentinean steak house), but it was a block or two off the beaten track and didn’t make it. Before he left the area, Ivan gave me some of his albums, including one by the Shoes in pristine condition. He’d heard mine while stoned and then hardly ever played his own.

Got in four games with Dave and Tom (winning St. Petersburg after obtaining an early Mistress) before the condo association picnic. Mary and Craig Henderson had positioned tables and chairs near or in their open garage in case it rained. Toni’s macaroni salad received praise, and I enjoyed our neighbor Tom’s potato salad with a Sloppy Joe. About 20 people attended, mainly those active on the board. Bernie Holicky, formerly the librarian at Purdue Cal, has been to the Archives because of his interest in trains. I had to leave early for my talk to the Ogden Dunes Historical Society but while changing caught the end of the Bears game, an upset 27-20 over Dallas. After a Cowboys field goal, a desperation on sides kick failed. Led by Michael Vick, the Eagles also won – barely – by three points over Detroit.

About three-dozen people greeted me at the Ogden Dunes Community Church. A Post-Tribune notice claimed I’d talk about Gary during the 1940s and 1950s, so I began my “Age of Anxiety” talk by mentioning that historians generally divide those 20 years into three periods, World War II, the Postwar, and the Eisenhower Fifties. While the years between 1945 and 19523 are often treated as a mere transition period, events unfolded that had a profound impact on American society. I had 18 people read excerpts from volume 34 that often drew nods of recognition. What got the biggest laugh was Rose Frisk’s account of visiting a Calumet City strip joint. A woman recalled having Marie Edwards as a teacher at Lew Wallace and being yelled at by principal Verna Hoke. A William Wirt High School grad recalled people throwing things at civil rights activists when they tried to desegregate Marquette Park in 1949. Sports historian and Andrean H.S. basketball coach Carson Cunningham read quotes from Hampton Hinton how 15 year-old bride Tip made him soup: “It was a pot of water with about three beans and a handful of rice in there. When it started boiling, you could see nothing but the water. Every now and then a bean floated to the top. She wasn’t but 15, and her mother had done all of the cooking.”

Retired attorney Clyde Compton saw Art Daronatsy’s photo in the magazine, and we talked about his passion for social justice. Art accompanied Richard Hatcher South during Freedom Summer 1965, and they photographed Jim Crow signs in courthouses and restaurants. The 1964 Civil Rights Act had supposedly made segregation in public places illegal, and gathering evidence of noncompliance put their lives in jeopardy. I sold all six copies “Gary’s First Hundred Years” and took orders for several more. Next month’s speaker wrote a book about Alice Mabel Grey a.k.a. Diana of the Dunes. One woman in attendance has an article in TRACES about Dale (Dalia) Messick, who created the comic strip about glamorous, adventurous reporter Brenda Starr. I mentioned that I’ll have an article on VeeJay Record Company founder Vivian Carter in a forthcoming issue.

“Dancing with the Stars” commenced with Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol performing Randy Newman’s “Mama Told me Not To Come.” In an office suit similar to what her mother wears she stripped it off to reveal a skimpy red dress that did little to flatter her big legs. Even though she was mediocre at best, she’ll probably last fairly long. First to go will likely be Michael Bolton or David Hasselhoff. The favorite is “Dirty Dancing” star Jennifer Grey, who waltzed to an Otis Redding song from the 1987 movie that reminded everyone of when she danced with Patrick Swayze, who died one year ago.