Pink Houses

“There’s winners and there’s losers

But they ain’t no big deal

’Cause the simple man, baby, pays the thrills

The bills and the pills that kill”  

John Mellencamp, “Pink Houses”

 John Mellencamp in 2009

Hoosier bard John “Cougar” Mellencamp from Seymour, Indiana, has represented the common man for nearly a half-century in such heartland songs as “Jack and Diane” and “Small Town.”  The compositions capture the utopian dreams of youth and, ultimately, coming to grips with life’s disappointments.  While in Voodoo Chili and now when jamming on acoustic guitar, Dave often sings “Pink Houses,” whose opening lines capture the bittersweet realities of everyday existence:

There's a black man with a black cat
Living in a black neighborhood
He's got an interstate running' through his front yard
You know, he thinks, he's got it so good
And there's a woman in the kitchen cleaning' up evening slop
And he looks at her and says:
“Hey darling, I can remember when you could stop a clock”

Born with spina bifida and married at 17 to a pregnant girlfriend, Mellencamp spent a few years in an alcohol and drug haze until foreswearing all such stimulants save for cigarettes. He told Rolling Stoneinterviewer David Fricke: “When I was high on pot, it affected me so drastically that when I was in college there were times when I wouldn't get off the couch. I would lie there, listening to Roxy Music,right next to the record player so I wouldn't have to get up to flip the record over. I'd listen to this record, that record. There would be four or five days like that when I would be completely gone.” Mellencamphad the name Johnny Cougar foisted upon him by a management company that otherwise refused to release his first album. He finally got to use his real name when the 1983 album “Uh-Huh” was released, containing “Pink Houses,” “Crumblin’ Down,” and “Authority Song.”  The latter Mellencamp called his version of “I Fought the Law.”  It contains these lyrics:

They like to get you in a compromising position
They like to get you there and smile in your face
They think, they're so cute when they got you in that condition
Well I think, it's a total disgrace

Realizing that “authority always wins,”the song’s hero asks a preacher to give him strength to win “Round 5”: 

He said: “You don't need no strength, you need to grow up, son”
I said: “Growing up leads to growing old and then to dying,
And dying to me don't sound like all that much fun”

On the local news came a report that traffic on the Frank Borman Expressway (80/94) was backed up for miles because a semi had overturned and spilled honey across all westbound lanes near the Illinois state line.  Next day’s NWI Times headline read: “After honey spill, traffic wasn’t sweet.”  Former Post-Trib headline writer Dean Bottorff could have done better. The mess would have affected my commute to IU Northwest had I not decided to spend the day playing duplicate at Banta Senior Center in Valparaiso at a game directed by Charlie Halberstadt.  Even though I hadn’t been there since last year, I recognized everyone except Norm and Mary Ann Filipiak, the eventual winners.  Mary Ann had buttons from regional events in Fort Wayne, Kalamazoo, and Chicago; Norm asked how many master points I had.  Only around 20, I replied.  I bid farewell to Terry Brendel, on his way to a 50th wedding anniversary cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Seattle.On the local news came a report that traffic on the Frank Borman Expressway (80/94) was backed up for miles because a semi had overturned and spilled honey across all westbound lanes near the Illinois state line.  

 H.B. Snyder

Dee Browne’s partner was Sharon Snyder, who recognized my name as being connected to IUN’s Calumet Regional Archives.  Sharon’s father-in-law was formerPost-Tribeditor/publisher H.B. Snyder.  The family had donated materials to the Archives, including travel columns Snyder’s wife had dispatched from locales all over the world.  Sharon had known Garrett Cope, whose parents had were cook and chauffeur for the man Mayor George Chacharis, his arch-enemy, facetiously called “The Duke of Dune Acres.”  In fact, her husband, Henry Burgess Snyder, Jr. (known as B.G.)  and Garrett had been childhood playmates.  Sharon was still in contact with Garrett’s widow Barbara and recently attended a music recital featuring Garret, Jr., whom Sharon referred to as G.G.  I told Sharon that my kids were in summer musicals that Garrett directed and that he did valuable community outreach work for IUN well into his eighties.  We all loved him.  He had nicknames for everybody; he called me Jim Bob.

above, Anna Robbins; below, Riley, Charlie, Mr. Pinkham, Kody, Jimbo

Sweet Anna Robbins passed away at age 85.  Anna played bridge at Banta Center three times a week and in Florida during winter months.  She often brought delicious strawberries and tomatoes to games when they were in season. Barb Walczak’s Newsletterstated that Anna was a winner on Jeopardy– I’d love to know the details. According to the obit, Anna loved to play golf and travel with daughter Kathy.  They visited Portugal a total of 17 times. The Newsletteralso contained remarks from Oregon-Davis students who participated in a duplicate game at Banta Center, including these from Riley A.:

    I enjoy bridge club because it is challenging and fun at the same time. I love doing math puzzles, so this was a great opportunity. I’m in eighth grade and I’m going to be playing bridge on our math club team for many years to come. I like how challenging it is and the way you have to focus. When I heard about our school having a math club, I was really excited and was the first person to join. It was really fun to have a team just dedicated to math and the card game of bridge. 

John Quincy Adams 

I submitted a generally positive review of Ted Galen Carpenter’s “Gullible Superpower: U.S. Support for Bogus Foreign Democratic Movements,” published by CATO Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank.  In our unsettled time of Trump saber-rattling regarding events in Venezuela and Iran, Carpenter’s call for restraint is a welcome palliative.  He advocates that our policymakersheed the timeless advice of Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, who stated on July 4, 1821: “[America] is a well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.  She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”

Talking on the phone to Phil Arnold, I mentioned being in touch with our Upper Dublin classmate Dave Seibold.  He recalled that Seibold drove a Packard that was four different colors and that before a formal dance, he used shoe polish to darken a stripe on his sneakers because he didn’t own any dress shoes.  Dave replied: “

 Just can’t believe Phil would remember stuff like that.  Wow! The Packard was my father's car. It was new or less than 3 years old. My dad would get a new car every 3 to 3 1/2 years. It was Packard's top of the line with all the newest gadgets in its day... automatic load levelers, antenna that went up and down automatically, pop the trunk from the inside, etc. Two of the colors were black and yellow along with a lot of chrome. I will guess it was a 1957 or 1958?  The shoes had a white stripe on the outside of each foot. They were designed that way. My mother was not going to buy formal shoes that I would only wear one time so she put shoe polish over the white to try to hide it. Guess it did not work since Phil, and others, must have seen it and remembered.  Phil Arnold lived across the street from Wentz's Turkey Farm and Sue Schofield lived around the corner.  Phil, Bob Elliott, me and I tried to start a male cheer leading squad for the basketball games.

I recall the turkey farm.  Wally and Pam Illingworth’s dad worked there.

above, Family Cafe in Knox; below, Tyler Grocery by Kay Westhues

Photojournalist Kay Westhues thanked me for the latest Steel Shavings, which contains shots of old postage stamp vending machines that now dispense lottery tickets in Lake Station taprooms, including He Ain’t Here Lounge. Her photo-zine of “14 Places to Eat” in Hoosier small towns contains places in Kouts and her hometown of Walkerton.  Kay and I met at an oral history conference in Finland, where her brother Mike, a singer-songwriter and guitarist with the progressive rock band Wigwam, lived for many years.  I told her about my Finnish musical connection – Joe Davidow, whom Dave and I stayed with in Helsinki after the conference.

Robert Blaszkiewicz expressed these thoughts, as Dick Lugar was laid to rest:

    Some years back, in a meeting with Rep. Pete Visclosky, the subject turned to the work Sen. Richard Lugar was doing to secure nuclear weapons in the former Soviet republics. “He's doing God's work,” Visclosky said solemnly. It's a quote that stuck with me, an acknowledgement of service and the higher calling that politics could be. Years later, that quote came to mind as I read the email from Richard Mourdock's campaign announcing his primary challenge of Lugar. A passage quoted Mourdock saying something about Lugar not spending enough time in Indiana eating pork tenderloin sandwiches.I really had a visceral reaction to that. I mean, here was someone who was being slammed for not spending enough time in Indiana when in reality, he was spending time overseas, trying to make sure loose nukes didn't wind up in the hands of a terrorist or tyrant. You could easily argue that no U.S. senator did more to keep the world safe than Lugar did.
    Surely voters would see through this act, I thought. But then I began to see the polling turning against Lugar. And a majority of county GOP chairmen came out in favor of Mourdock. It was a clear signal that the priority for the party was partisanship, not accomplishment. When Lugar needed friends, few backed him. In fact, just about the only major Republican figure in Indiana who offered his endorsement was Gov. Mitch Daniels, who was soon to be out of politics. Mike Pence, Dan Coats, the rest of them didn't have the guts to stand up for the obviously better candidate.  Instead, Mourdock imploded on a debate stage in October and Joe Donnelly took the seat for the Democrats, taking the place of Indiana's longest serving senator.
    And that is why words from partisans like the vice president, who now praise Lugar in death, ring so hollow. The echoes of his statesmanship have long since faded, and this is what we're left with.