Random Thoughts on Friday: September 11th

 I know I have mentioned it before, but I am in the mood to talk about it again.....  9/11.

We were living in Cleveland Ohio at the time, and I was still doing social work.  I was downtown helping a client apply for some benefits.  I had a lot of clients, and this was one that was only on my caseload a couple of weeks.  They were pretty high functioning and really didn't need my help.  I can't even remember their first name as I think about it.

We were in an office, and I kept hearing about planes crashing.  People around me were talking about it.  I asked a staff person at the office what was going on.  He told me that a couple of planes had crashed into the World Trade Center.  My brain totally didn't get it at the time.  I just assumed someone in the military or at a tower screwed up and told two planes the wrong information, causing the crashes.

I talked to another staff person there and they explained that two planes had crashed, and at least a couple more had been hijacked and were still in the sky.  I do remember someone mentioning that military fighter jets were following one, and they may possibly shoot it down.  By then, I understood roughly what was going on.

A couple of local DJs were talking to someone they knew in NYC and they were giving updates.  I listened to them through the day.  I still kept my appointments and did my job, though everything that day was kind of edited down.

We had our British friends staying at our house too.  They started watching coverage after the first plane hit, and they saw the second one hit the second tower on live TV.

Since then, I have been to the crash sites and have mentioned them on this blog.

Random Thoughts on Friday: Music Clubs

 I heard on the radio that Columbia House was finally going out of business.  I honestly wasn't aware that they were still in business.  If you told me they folded 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, I would have believed you.

Most people remember their deal- you could get something like a dozen albums, tapes or CDs for a penny, but you had to agree to buy a few more later at regular price plus shipping.    BMG had a similar club/deal.

Most people got the initial batch of albums then quickly forgot about the club and ignored future mailings.

I remember one kid in middle school saying that he had some albums sent to the address of a vacant home on his street, which he claimed when they were delivered.

I joined these clubs several times and completed my membership honestly each time.  Even if you were honest, it was a great deal back in the day.  Also, if you referred a friend, you got an extra 4 or so albums.  I literally referred myself and got the extra albums more than once.

Even for those of us who have always loved physical media, there was a point where this stopped being a good deal.

When I moved to Cleveland in the late 90s, I found used CD shops everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  Of course, the big hit albums that everyone had were plentiful, and they were marked down quickly.  For several years, rarely did I pay more than a couple of bucks for a standard CD.  It was great.

It still kind of is.  

I still scavenge used book and music stores for CDs, but I have most of what I want.

Those days of getting excited about your box full of CDs from Columbia House are long gone.

I will occasionally pay up for a CD or album, if I am buying it directly from an artist, or if there is something special about it.

Suspension Bridge and View from the Kentucky side of the Ohio, Covington, KY

This old postcard shows Ohio from Covington.  Its is very old, but unused.

Random Thoughts on Friday: Bootleg concert shirts

 I saw an article the other day about counterfeit t-shirts at concerts.  It was a discussion about the value of knock off shirts, often sold in the parking lot at bigger venue shows.

These days I rarely go to concerts, but there was a time in my life when it wasn't uncommon for me to go to multiple in a week.  I have had a lot of concert shirts in my time.  

A few I have saved, though I have passed many on to some of the kids of friends when they have asked for them.

Probably the first few shirts (legit and counterfeit/fan made) were Grateful Dead ones.  The band, and the fans were great about making cool, colorful shirts.  I had a ton at one time.  I remember buying several around venues before and after shows.

I remember buying a cool Tori Amos shirt from a guy after a show in 1998.  Literally, right after I bought it, security chased the guy off.

Probably the same year, I bought a beautiful tie-dyed long sleeve shirt after leaving a Bob Dylan show.  I felt no guilt whatsoever about not buying an official one- Dylan's performance was terrible that night, and I thought he owed me anyway.

On my was to see the Eagles on their first reunion tour, a guy was holding up some really cool shirts he made right at the exit off the interstate.  He probably sold at least one to every other car, including mine.

After a Kiss show on their first original line up reunion tour I crossed paths with a guy selling very cool shirts in the parking lot.  The design was a bit off (right year, wrong tour dates, etc) but they were still very cool.  He was looking to unload quick, and I bought several from him for less than $10 each.  Several friends got one for Christmas that year.

I would love to hear from others who bought unlicensed shirts at concerts.

1954 postcard showing Denver Colorado

This postcard was sent to a friend in Indiana in 1954.  The sender talks about touring Colorado, and experiencing hot weather out west.

Random Thoughts on Friday- What If

 I was at an event the other night with my wife, and another couple.  We started talking, and I mentioned to them the story of when I flipped a four-wheeler upside down when I was a teenager.  I walked away unscathed, but it was a miracle.

We all joked about it..... what if things hadn't worked out so well.

With a bit of dark humor, the REAL possibility of my getting hurt permanently (or worse) was talked about.

We joked about the 3 of them hanging out that night, without me.....  just a fourth, empty seat.

It was a bit sad, and I did spend a moment thinking about...  "what if".

I wouldn't have gone to college and met my future wife.  She (and I) would have never met our friends.

Then,you have to take that next step when considering such things.

I'm sure there are holes in my life where friends I could have made died or had life altering moments before I had the opportunity to meet them.

The White House

This postcard was sent in 1915.  I am not sure of the sender is serious or not, but he boasts of dining with the President (which would have been Woodrow Wilson at the time)!

"The Lost Colony Murder on the Outer Banks: Seeking Justice for Brenda Joyce Holland" by John Railey

While on our recent road trip through the Carolinas, I picked up a few books on local stories, strangeness and crimes.  One volume I picked up was John Railey's "The Lost Colony Murder on the Outer Banks:  Seeking Justice for Brenda Joyce Holland".

The History Press again delivers with a nice, complete and easy to read volume on an unsolved case.

In 1967, young Brenda Joyce Holland starts work in the season play production of "the Lost Colony".  Being friendly, kind and attractive made her popular among the actors and locals.

Sadly, she went missing and her remains were later found in water, though the cause of death was found to be strangulation.  This was no accident.

The investigation involves several young men who knew or dated her, and a local dentist who was married to a young lady who looked a lot like Brenda.

mishandled evidence and a false confession derail the investigation, but author John Railey is confident he knows what happened.  In fact, he devotes several of the last pages to telling what he believed happened that night, pointing his finger firmly at one suspect.

This is one of the most interesting true crime books I have read...  and the author gets bonus points for his own research and for wrapping this one up as completely as possible.
 

Random Thoughts on Friday: More thoughts on lower level sports

I have always been a fan of minor league sports, especially baseball.  It is always fun attending games at the smaller parks, watching the young guys with something to prove.

It's cheaper being a fan at the lower levels.  It is more rewarding too.  The last couple of major league games I went to were pushing the $100 mark for an OK ticket.

A couple of minor league teams I follow charge $15 for their nicer seat.  You can get $5 tickets, and buy one get one tickets too.

If you are taking a wife and kids to a game, that is a pretty substantial savings.  

You know who is going to have just as much fun (probably more) at a lower-level game?  Your kid.

Let's take any 4-year-old.  They don't know the difference between single A, college level or MLB ball.  A major league game might be chaotic for them.  Don't expect an autograph either.

Take that 4-year-old to a single A game and they can get several autographs, probably some fist bumps too.

In my opinion, its just more fun following those guys and those local teams.

What are the chances of getting the star player from your nearest MLB team to visit a kid in the hospital?  Nil.  Sure, they do it every so often, with camera crew following, but it's not common.  Ask the guys from your local minor league team to see kids in the hospital, and they will probably be flattered.

Greenbrier, White Sulpher Springs West Virginia Postcard

I love this postcard from the Greenbrier, sent from the hotel in 1977.  The sender tells a friend in New York about all of the activities they have done at the Greenbrier, including horse back riding.

Random Thoughts on Friday: Playbills

 I have talked a lot about my love of books.  If you are like me, they do become a bit of an obsession.  An addiction even.  The rule around my house is "if you buy it you read it"- I'm pretty religious about that too, though there is the occasional book that I have to abandon after a bit.  That's rare though.

Books are special, and I love a unique book too.  I love signed books, and books with a little something more to them.  I have a few books signed by the author, and I have books signed by people mentioned in the volume or associated with it.  A particular favorite of mine is a signed Meatloaf biography- I keep the photo of me with him as he signed it in the book.

I have some special magazines too.  Some signed, some about a family member or friend....  

I also have some nice programs and Playbills from here and there.

As a packrat, I save just about everything.  I have programs with event tickets, signed by athletes and actors.  They all mostly have little financial value, but they have a lot of sentimental value to me.

Recently, at a favorite used bookstore, I found several nice Broadway Playbills for a buck each.  I looked inside, and some even had the event tickets tucked away.  

I greedily bought most, as they were plays that I like, or have some interest in anyway.

BUT, I thought of the person who accumulated the nice collection.  I hate to say it, but I pretty much assume that they probably passed away, and a family member sold this nice collection to the bookstore, probably in an effort to downsize and move on.

If they did pass away, I hope they know that I appreciate their leftover souvenirs.  

Greenbrier Hotel and Golf Course, White Sulphur Springs West Virginia Old Postcard

I picked up these two postcards showing the grounds of the LEGENDARY Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia recently.  They are unused, and both have a slight crease.  
 

Jerry A. Goodnight's books on Abraham Lincoln and rumors of his birth in North Carolina

On our recent road trip through the Carolinas we stopped at the Bostic Lincoln Center, where the museum discusses the rumor that Abraham Lincoln was actually born there, and not in Kentucky.  The main rumor also involves a different father than Thomas Lincoln.

Those are some pretty heavy rumors to consider.

The Bostic Lincoln Center sells a couple of books, authored and coauthored by Jerry A. Goodnight, that address and explain those legends.

"Tarheel Lincoln" is the first book and mostly addresses the local legend of Lincoln's origins.

"Searching for Lincoln:  Amid the Rumors, Legends and Lies" is a bit of a follow up book, digging deeper into variations on the North Carolina rumors and some other stories.  He covers, in detail, the 17 or so men who have been mentioned as possible fathers of Lincoln.

Goodnight is academic and mentions his sources and where the stories originated- while his books are still easy to read and follow.

The rumors and legends are uncomfortable but interesting.  One name pops up in almost every variation on the story.  These books are thoughtful and thought provoking, and they are worthy of inclusion in any serious Lincoln Library.

 

"Bringing Back A Hero" by Robert D. Jornlin Capt. LST 325

While visiting the LST 325 in Evansville Indiana recently (see my youtube channel) I picked up the great book, "Bringing Back A Hero" by Robert Jornlin.

Back around 1999-2000, a small group of veterans found an old LST ship, and decided to go to Greece (the US had lent it to them in the 60s), fix the ship up, and bring it back to the US for display.

The story IS as crazy as it sounds- the average age of the participants was 72, there is a bit of a mutiny to oust an unpopular leader early on, the men get little help from their own government for the project...  etc, etc.

I don't want to give away the ending but....  since the ship now sits in Evansville Indiana its no secret tthat the men were able to take the ship 6,000 plus miles to bring her back home!

Jornlin writes knowing that many of his readers will not be military or even nautical types...  He keeps the language basic and easy to understand.
 

Dragons Mouth Spring, Yellowstone National Park

This old, unused postcard mentions-

The beautiful Dragons Mouth Spring of hot, clear water contrasts with its near neighbor the Mud Volcano which belches boiling mud.  These are two contrasting types of thermal springs of which Yellowstone has many.

Random Thoughts on Friday: Low level Athletes.

The player walked on the field like he owned the place...  and he looked like he did.  He looked more like a pro wrestler than anything else.  I would assume some steroids were involved at some point.  He was probably a good 6 and a half feet tall too.

This was his second year playing pro sports, and he was playing at...  well a low level.  A very low level.

I have always enjoyed lower level pro sports.  There is something more scrappy about it.  More errors are made.  There is more hunger.  I'll take a single A baseball game any day of the week over an MLB one.

I've been pretty close to managers and coaches on some teams too over the years.  We have had season and partial season tickets for multiple teams.  A few coaches have talked very openly about some of the players.

This guy had the look though.  You instantly asked, "why is he playing at this level?"

The program magazine revealed that this player had played for a MAJOR college program.  

Now, he was playing for a couple hundred people, in a very small town.  The local paper probably wouldn't even mention the game tomorrow.

His college games were watched by tens of thousands of fans.  Sports Illustrated would mention his team often.  In college, his team was often on national TV.

So what happened?

The guy was a total jerk.

The guy was always complaining.  If management didn't give him what he wanted, he would give them a cussing that wouldn't believe.  No four-letter word was off limits.  I had heard about a particular verbal assault on a female staff member that was pure evil.

And, we all know that, if you are a superstar player, teams will still sign you.  I think this guy was just talented enough for him to be on some scouts' radars, but his general mediocrity plus his attitude kept him down.

Horse Shoe Fall From Canada, Niagara

I found this postcard, which is over a century old recently.  I love the picture on the front, and the GREAT, 1910 Falls Station postmark on the back.  Check out the Maid of the Mist in the picture too!

Random Thoughts on Friday

 My best pal Jimmy is a pretty smart guy, who has worked his way up from literally nothing.  He has his own company.  He is solid.

Well, he told me a story about when he was a teenager, and his getting involved with a mall modeling agency.

It's something he is embarrassed about now, and I am sure that, as an adult, he wouldn't fall for the scheme again.  In all honesty, it was his mom who fell for it.

I don't recall anything like this in the mall I grew up in, but I have seen retro 80s TV shows making fun of the whole thing.  Some sales guy at a mall convinced Jimmy's mom that Jimmy had "It" and could be a model.

He even jokes now about how they would go on and on about how he had the look, and the attitude.  Jimmy's mom paid a lot of money, to this company, for pictures and for him to be at model events.

Even though I don't remember any businesses like this when I was a kid- I can say that I once worked next to a similar modeling agency.

My company at the time and the modeling agency were in a very run-down old building.  I'll just say that mostly shady businesses were run out of the place.  That didn't keep the parents from bringing their perfect, model quality children into the building for the modeling business.

It was mostly moms and their kids too.  The moms were the ones I noticed mostly walking out with their attitude, and their noses in the air.  Moms love to hear how great and perfect their kids are.  Moms will pay lots of money to a modeling business that goes on an don about how perfect their little kid is.

At this dilapidated building, there was a bin under a stairwell in a rarely used area.  It was off to the side, where the offices were vacant...  Only a few people who worked in the building ever used these stairs.

The bin was huge.  I'm not sure why it was there, but a couple of businesses, including the modeling agency, started to put their trash in the bin, instaed of taking it to the outside dumpsters.

Well, one day we noticed that the modeling agency had put a ton of "publicity photos" in the bin.  When I say a ton, I mean that somewhat literally.  There were thousands of these photos, I am sure weighing in at close to a thousand pounds.  I assume these were unpurchased pictures that they tried to sell to those moms with perfect children.

We looked at the pics....  I don't recall any standing out.

My friend Jimmy, by the way, said that he threw away all of those photos his mom bought years ago.

Gibbon Falls, Yellowstone National Park

"Gibbon Falls, 84 feet high, Gibbon Canyon, Yellowstone Park, is one of the principal attractions between Norris Geyser Basin and Madison Junction on the Grand Loop Road of the Park.  It was named for General John Gibbon, who explored the canyon in the early days.

Random Thoughts on Friday: Nostalgic Restaurants

 A long time ago....  Heck, in the 90s, I spent a bit of time in Nebraska.  I spent a cold January there.

It's a long story, for another day- I have talked some about it here, but it was actually a pleasant time in my life, though I was very isolated.

I did not have a car, and I did a lot of walking.  It was nice (though again, Nebraska in January=cold).  A couple of nights I walked to a restaurant by myself and enjoyed some meals there.

The restaurant....  doesn't matter.  It was a fast-food place.

But the whole experience and time there was very sweet to me, and it was a major moment in my life.  When I came back to Kentucky things changed, in a good way.  Spending time away was good for me, and I would start dating my future wife right when I came back home.

The trip, and the time away was a significant moment in my life.

And there are days that I think about hanging out at that restaurant.  Some days I look it up on googlemaps and think about how lucky the people are that get to go there and work there.  I am kind of jealous of them.

I feel a bit of an attachment to this odd little restaurant, in smalltown Nebraska.

Arial View Of Niagara Falls Old Postcards

 This colorful Niagara Falls postcard shows the falls from a generally unique angle.  It went through the mail to a friend in Pennsylvania in 1957.

Random Thoughts on Friday: Covid masks

 I was going through a drawer the other day, doing some downsizing.  I came across some covid masks that we had.

My mother-in-law made a ton of them- for us, for friends.  A half dozen would have been plenty, but she probably made 50 or more for everyone she knew.

We had a few masks that we picked up in our travels.  There was a cool free one that was given away at a Tennessee visitor center.  I remember they were giving everyone a bag with some travel brochures, a mask (with the 3 starred flag on it) and some hand sanitizer.  I also had a Similar one from Indiana that I can't recall how I acquired.  There were a couple of others too.

I feel bad about throwing them out, because, again, my mother-in-law made them.....  but I am so gla we are done with all of that.

Virginia Military Institute, West Point of the South, Lexington Virginia Old Postcards

   This beautiful, though slightly bent postcard shows the Virginia Military Institue in Lexington Virginia- forever linked to Stonewall Jackson.

This postcard was sent in 1944.

High Level Bridge Across Maumee River, Toledo Ohio Old Postcard

 I love the colors on this great old linen postcard showing "High Level Bridge Across Maumee River, Toledo Ohio".

It is unused and undated. 

Through the Gorge by Trolley, Niagara Falls, NY

Someone sent this card to a friend in New Jersey, boasting that they were on the way to the fair.  It was sent in 1904 from Niagara Falls.