SONG OF THE WEEK!

Robert Plant Alison Krauss And - Rich Woman

Alison Krauss of country music teamed with an unlikely partner, Robert Plant, the lead singer of Led Zepplin, to make an album titled Raising Sand. It is my favorite CD from 2007. The harmonies are fabulous on the whole album. They launched a European and US tour this month. After the song is over, if you touch the menu and you can find Gone!Gone! Gone!, which they won a grammy for last month as best duet.

Have a nice day and enjoy the music.

Sammy Carl

DISCONTENT OF THE DOCENTS~

Observation of the Day!

Birthplace of Richard M.Nixon

Nixon Presidental Library

Yesterday, Doe and I and Neal Patton, my teaching pro golf pro in Coronado, took an early morning drive up to Yorba Linda. We lived in Yorba Linda in the late eighties, and it had been nearly twenty years since we had renewed our acquaintance with Richard Nixon’s birthplace. As with any memory journey, the place had really grown. We saw our old house and Neal visited his Uncle’s house, where he spent many Easter family dinners. It was fun trip down memory lane. Yorba Linda was the eighth place we had lived during our married life.

We then went to the Nixon Library and Birthplace. This was our first visit to a presidential library. Doe and I were actually at the groundbreaking ceremony back in 1988. The docents were an interesting group of old Republicans. They seemed impressed by the fact we had attended the ground breaking and the fact that I remembered the color of the birthplace house. Apparently, there is some disagreement among the docents about the color it used to be. I was speaking to the lady that had supported the pale yellow theory. Before the Library was built, the house stood by itself, surrounded by nothing much but empty brown ground, sort of lonely, just like its most famous son.

It was touching to this old observer that the Nixons are buried next to his birthplace where it all began. It was an interesting life in between.

However, your observer has gained an exclusive story about the discontent of the docents.

I was innocently standing in the back of a little theater that was showing interviews with Nixon about various aspects of his life. It was supposed to let the audience randomly ask various questions. It wasn’t working right, and the docent was quick to tell me it was the new director’s fault. He has refused to get it fixed. Then she railed on about the new director from “Washington and the National Archives.” She pointed out how he had removed a painting that was given to the president by Austria because “He didn’t like it”.

The Watergate exhibit was shut down to get a new display. I didn’t see anything wrong with that, but she was upset that the most popular display was gone. She was also upset that he was only forty-seven years old. She said that the docents were subjected to a meeting that apparently praised Obama. She was upset that in his introduction to a film about Nixon ,he wore a green t-shirt with a sport coat instead of a coat, white shirt and tie. I was amazed at the anger she showed to a guest of the Library. Can they fire a volunteer? There is nothing more dangerous than an angry old Republican woman.

Nixon was and still is the most vilified president in history and the only president to ever resign. The Dems still hate him. They don’t seem to remember he did end the Vietnam War, a war started by Democrats, through some lies and half-truths about the Gulf of Tonkin incident. This would seem to be the exact story of today’s Iraq war, repeated by the opposite party. Politicians have short memories.

After the Library, we played golf at our old country club. It served to remind Neal that, as my teaching pro, he has been a complete failure through no fault of his own

It was a great and wonderful day. By the way it was eighty-one degrees.

Have a nice day!

Sam

THIS JUST IN!

News You Need to Know, or Not!

Minneapolis Start Tribune: A pair of agriculture groups has temporarily suspended about $1.5 million in grants to the University of Minnesota to protest a controversial study by U scientists earlier this month about biofuels and global warming.

The Minnesota Soybean Growers Association and the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council decided to stop paying additional research money until they meet with Allen Levine, dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and other officials.

"The university hurt the farmers' feelings, OK? That's probably the best way to say it," said Jim Palmer, executive director of the two groups.

If they don't agree with you, just cry!

Asked about the timing of her announcement coming out as Hillary Clinton continues to slide in her presidential bid, “I don’t need to hurt Hillary. She is doing a fine job of that herself, along with her idiot husband. Karma is an interesting thing. If these two don’t get elected, and they are a team, it will be karma coming back to visit them. It's about time."

Maybe you should just cry, Hillary!

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Dozens of bars are expected to stage "theater nights'' this weekend in which patrons are dubbed actors. The law, which went into effect in October, permits performers to smoke during a theatrical production. "Two weeks ago, we had one bar doing this,'' said Mark Benjamin, a criminal defense attorney who launched the theater-night idea. He estimates 50 to 100 bars could be on tap for theater nights this weekend based on phone calls, e-mails and requests for the how-to-stage-a-theater-night packet that he's devised. And many bar owners are passing on the information quickly among themselves without getting in contact with him.

Those smokers are a creative bunch.

Comment on NY Times story on McCain affair.
A sex scandal that may not be a scandal tucked inside an ethics scandal that may not be an ethics scandal tucked inside an ethics scandal that was a genuine scandal 20 years ago, and for which McCain has begged forgiveness ever since. The Paper of Record.

The NY Times, Paper of Liberal Record?

AUSTIN, Texas - Hillary Rodham Clinton accused presidential rival Barack Obama of political plagiarism Thursday night, but drew boos from a Democratic debate audience when she ridiculed him as the candidate of "change you can Xerox."

Obama dismissed the charge out of hand, then turned the jeers to applause when he countered, "What we shouldn't be spending time doing is tearing each other down. We should be spending time lifting the country up."

Didn't I tell you negative ads and comments will hurt a candidate? The American people have finally awakened to the lies and half truths of this approach to getting elected.

JESSICA Simpson does not want you to know how she fit into her Daisy Dukes. In 2005, during a lull in her career, Simpson starred in a workout tape produced by Speedfit, a fitness video company. Although she signed a multimillion-dollar contract, she later changed her mind and prevented the video from being released by not giving final approval. Speedfit owner Alex Astilean sued Simpson last year for $10 million — and since she's refused to settle, Astilean's now suing her manager dad, Joe, as well. Astilean said, "They are hurting millions of fat people in America." Simpson's rep said, "It's a legal matter that's in the hands of attorneys."

Are fat people crying yet?

By TIM HARLOW, Star Tribune: It was a sight that would catch anyone's attention, a woman riding a bicycle around St. Cloud Monday night in bitter cold. Turns out there was another reason a citizen took notice: The cyclist was carrying a gun.

Police caught up to the bicyclist a few minutes after a call came in around 11:15 p.m. They found her near 14th Avenue N. and St. Germain Street with a shotgun strapped to her back, said Sgt. Joe Kraayenbrink.

Turns out the 22-year-old suspect is a felon and had a warrant out for her arrest, police said.

She was arrested and faces charges of a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm in a public place, as well as her outstanding warrant, Kraayenbrink said.

I have nothing more to say!

Chairman Henry Waxman said they probably should not’t have held the Clemons hearing, but Clemens insisted on it.

Who the hell is in charge Henry?

One last note on the hearing.

“Have you ever been a vegan? Asked Bruce Braley D-Iowa. HUH?

“I don’t know what that is. I’m sorry.” replied Clemons.

That is right up there with “misremembered”.

PETA jumped on that and sent him a care package of vegetarian goodies.

Roger, it is a good thing you are a good pitcher, otherwise you be washing dishes.

In a speech praising faith that also drew fire from secularists, Sarkozy told France's Jewish community on Wednesday that every 10-year-old schoolchild should be "entrusted with the memory of a French child victim of the Holocaust".

The proposal unleashed a storm of protest from teachers, psychologists and his political foes who said it would unfairly burden children with the guilt of previous generations and some could be traumatized by identifying with a Holocaust victim.

More than 11,100 French Jewish children were deported from France to Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps in eastern Europe during the German World War Two occupation.

"The emotional burden can have negative consequences for a child who is developing," Gilles Moindrot, general secretary of the Snuipp-FSU trade union which represents most primary school teachers, said in a statement.

This is just too pathetic to comment on.

Have a nice day!

Sam

MISCELLANEOUS STUFF

I received the following comment from John Stassen about my blog The Reincarnation of Harold Stassen.

The understanding in our family is that Uncle Harold ran because it provided a platform to share his ideas. While it is easy to overlook the things in life that do not come with numbers attached to them, they are still valuable - more important than the two delegates is the chance others had to hear his ideas, form their own, and apply these ideas to their lives.

I appreciate and am honored by Johns's comment and have no idea how he came across the blog. Of course my blog was tongue in cheek. And being the smart ass that I am my only comment is "How that work out for Harold?". I agree that it is important to do things to get ideas out there. It is a noble reason to run, I guess. Nader says there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans and he is in fact different, an extreme lefty, that will take votes away from the Dems.

My Oscar picks were pretty good. I missed the woman. I did not see either of the pictures they were nominated for. I went with Julie Christy because she might be a sentemental fav. That is the same reason I went for Ruby Dee.

Got to go.

Have a nice day!

Sam

OSCARS-MY PICKS

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood!

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men"

Performance by an actress leading role.

Julie Christie in "Away from Her"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Ruby Dee in "American Gangster"

Best animated feature film of the year

"Ratatouille"

Original screenplay

Diablo Cody

Best Director

Coen Brothers

Best motion picture of the year

"No Country for Old Men"

THE REINCARNATION OF HAROLD STASSEN!

Observation of the Day!

Ralph Nader once again joined the political fray in the run for president! Do we have another Harold Stassen on our hands? For those youngsters who may not know about Harold Stassen of Minnesota, he ran for President in nine straight presidential elections (1948-1992) with a bad toupee. In all those runs he garnered all of two delegate votes. Early in his career he may have been a viable candidate, but eventually he became a caricature of himself and loony as a jaybird.

Ralph Nader AGAIN! Oh, Please! Give us a break! The Corvair died a long time ago. His campaign slogan should be, " Loony as a Jaybird and Unsafe at Any Speed"

Have a nice day!

Sammy C.

WORDS!

A writer deals in words, words form thoughts, and thoughts become stories and reveal our thoughts expressed in words. Catchy hey?

Playing with Words

By

Me!

Words in a dictionary are frozen and cold.

Words in a story are flowing when told.

Words of a poem are made of gold.

Words of a memoir are memories to hold.


Have a nice day!

Sammy

BEFORE YOU ARE ALONE!

In conjunction with yesterday's Observation of the Day, I came across an old poem??? I wrote some years ago. When I wrote it, I was into genealogy and much of my research into my mother's side of the family was a result of my great-aunt Tie's interest in genealogy and family history. She was admitted into the Daughters of the American Revolution, through her research in 1912. She died at ninety-nine years of age.

As with any genealogy researcher, I wished I could ask the unanswered questions that emerged in my family's history. We all wait too long.

Before You Are Alone

I sit quietly, patiently, out of the way,

Ready to answer the questions, that nobody asks.
You’re too busy to ask,
Too bored to listen.

Please see me as a whole person, not just an old person.
Look deep behind my eyes,
Beyond the wrinkled and sagging and spotted face.
See a person who lived your life in another time.

Playing, going to school, falling in love, raising a family,
Wars and depression, turning points, hard times, glad times.
I am a resource to your life,
A living witness to a history of a time -- mine.

Please let me search my softer memory and tell you my stories.
Someday in the dark corner of the attic, you will turn to ask,
And you will be alone.

For now, I will sit quietly, patiently, out of the way,
Ready to answer the questions, that nobody asks.

Have a nice day!

Sam

INSIDE OUTSIDE, OUTSIDE INSIDE!

Observation of the Day!

Some readers of Looking For Nirvana are of the older generation. They are both old friends and OLD friends. I think all of us are trying to figure what it all means.

We all think about our age. We remember our parents and run a parallel time line. They were always old to us even though they may have been younger than our kids. When we remember our parents from our younger vantage point at our age, if we were lucky enough to have had them with us, we see very old people. Yet we do not see ourselves, who maybe even older than they were at the time. However, I often look at a reflection and say.” My God I am my father”.

I have a friend who was sixty-seven, just six years older than me. I told him I don’t have friends who are sixties-seven. Sixty-seven year olds were my grandparents. As children we remember our grandparents were in their sixties. Now I have flown by sixty-seven and certainly don’t feel seventy. Do I look seventy? Of course I do. DAMNIT!

We are in a dichotomy of INSIDE AND OUTSIDE. Inside we do not feel our age.. We are still excited about things. We laugh. We cry. We computer, email and internet and yes, there are aches and pains and meds that give away that we are not all we think we are. Overall our mind is feeling much as it has our whole life, except it has a long memory bank. We may even have a cell phone, an Ipod and a Blog. We observe life. We love life. We love our friends, both old and young. We don’t like, but reluctantly must accept the outside of us.

When we look outside, we see the wrinkles and the liver spots and the scars and the scalp and the gray, man boobs, saggy boobs and the food that somehow always stains our shirts. If we put our shirts in hot water we could make soup. This is how others see us, and if they are strangers they dismiss us as irrelevant. Even Nielson doesn’t give a damn what we watch of TV. They don’t recognize that some of the resources for younger spending actually come from us.

The fact is we are both inside and outside, hence a dichotomy. We really know what it means to “have your health”. Even though my mechanical inside is a mess between heart attack, by-pass surgeries, prostate cancer and coming cataracts and who knows what else, I consider myself healthy because my mind is active and happy, even though the short term memory is suspect. I do feel genuinely good right now. I only feel unhealthy when I have the flu or bronchitis, but they eventually pass. I surround myself with as many young adults and children as I can. They keep me in touch with their present and their future. I truly love them. I like to help them whether it is them giving advice, listening to them and their music (rap is a No! No!) or a little gift they would not give themselves. Their hugs make me happy and that’s all I ever ask. I work for hugs.

I am truly blessed in life. Now where is that plastic surgeon when I need him?

Have a nice day!

Sammy Carl

SONG OF THE WEEK!

Diana Krall is one of my favorite singers in the mold of Peggy Lee. She is married to Elvis Costello of all people, and they had twins a little over a year ago. She is from Vancouver B.C. She is an outstanding pianist. Ms Krall is at the top of my must see list along with Alison Krause and Robert Plant Raising Sand tour.

She has many albums out, mostly of standards and jazz.

As a bonus go to menu at bottom of YouTube panel and click on the Tony Bennett/Diana Krall appearance on the David Letterman show.

I hope you enjoy.

Have a nice day!

Sammy C.

WHY THE REPUBLICANS ARE GOING TO LOSE!

Am I a Dead Republican?

I am sorry to say Republicans don't get it. It is the old white boys club, and I don't mean that in a racist sense. They are out of touch with the country. They have isolated themselves from reality of twenty-first century .The country is changing demographics rapidly. By 2050 there will probably be forty percent of the country non-white.

It is the young people born in the eighties (millenniums) who get it and they aren't Republicans and perhaps not even Democrats. Racism is not an issue for them. They want a new dynamic for America. It reminds me somewhat when John Kennedy came into the presidential campaign of 1960. Agree or disagree with him the torch passed to a new generation and there was a new excitement in the country. The older generation prior to Kennedy presidency was the leadership of WWll and Korea. However, his assassination and the Viet Nam War created a chaos in the country as the old guard took charge again. Now the baby boom generation who created the chaos is now the older generation and in charge. The country wants change and a vision just as in 1960. The millenniums can help make it happen.

A Frank Rich column in the New York Times February 17, 2008 dicusses the weakness of the current Republican party leadership. Go to the New York Times website to read the full column.

Rich writes:

"Even by the low standards of his party, Mr. McCain has underperformed at reaching millennials in the thriving culture where they live. His campaign’s effort to create a MySpace-like Web site flopped. His most-viewed appearances on YouTube are not viral videos extolling him or replaying his best speeches but are instead sendups of his most reckless foreign-policy improvisations — his threat to stay in Iraq for 100 years and his (sung to the tune of the Beach Boys’ version of “Barbara Ann”) that he will bomb Iran. In the vast arena of the Internet he has been shrunk to Grumpy Old White Guy, the G.O.P. brand incarnate."

I have been a very right leaning Republican, but no more. I consider myself an independent that is leaning more and more to the left of center, except in fiscal matters. The Democrats don't understand fiscal responsibility and the GOP in its current state is no better. Waste! Waste! Waste. I believe at this time I will be voting for Obama, if he doesn't go too far left in the campaign.

The only hope for a Republican victory is if Hillary gets the nomination. The right wingers will come out in droves to defeat her. My decision between McCain and Obama will be a tough one. I think it may be too late for McCain.

I hate to be so serious lately, but I promise to back off political commentary for a while.

Have a nice day!

Samuel C, Arnold

SUCCESS IN BUSINESS, SUCCESS IN LIFE!

PART ll

Relationships with family and friends.

There is nothing more important in a life than family and friends. Sometimes people have a tendency to take them for granted. Barbara Bush said in a commencement address that when your last deal is done it is your family that will still there beside you.

Lee Corso, the former football coach at Indiana University and now a TV analyst, once related the story of his firing from Indiana. He was out of town on a speaking engagement when his wife called him and told him that she had heard on the radio that he had been fired. He said that even though the firing of coaches is a routine matter today, it doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt. Don't ever underestimate the human animals ability to hurt. He said that when you are in that position, you quickly understand that the only people that really care, live at your house.

The same is true for friends. When you have a friend that you have had for life, you may have a tendency to take the friendship for granted. You have invested five or ten years in a relationship, through all of its ups and downs. All of a sudden you wake up and find you have known the person for twenty-five or more years. You have shared many of life's experiences together. A friend takes on new importance. The primary difference between family and friends is that you can choose your friends, but not your relatives.

People often wonder what a person that knows they are going to be in a plane crash thinks before the crash. The thought often reported was " How are my relationships?" They are not thinking about the appointment or business deal they are going to miss. Always try to keep your relationships in order as best as you can every day. Any day may be your last day.

Disappointments and set backs are part of life.

Every life and career has disappointments and set backs. It is part of every life. It is not the falling down, it is in the getting up and pushing ahead. There is only one failure in life and that is suicide. Suicide means you have given up completely. When you are in difficult times, work to continue to move forward. Keep in mind that this too will pass --- and it will.

When you are disappointed or experience a personal or career set back, it is not easy. You feel anger and disappointment. This is the normal human reaction. All loss must be mourned. Go ahead and feel anger for a while, and then get on with your life. The only thing hate and anger does is hurt you, not the person at which it is directed. You have value as an individual. Your life and your success can only be defined by you and only you.

Make a difference in whatever you do.

This applies to your business as well as your personal life. You can always tell the people who have made a difference because they are always remembered fondly in the telling and retelling of stories about them.

At a NACUFS meeting (National Association of College and University Foodservice) I attended, a group of foodservice directors from the South were sharing lunch and stories. They had worked together at one time. The subject turned to southern cooking. After the obligatory discussion of the merits of grits to the diet, talk turned to Fred. One director said, " You remember old Fred don't you? That Fred, now that man could cook some southern fried chicken. You know Fred died last year. Yep, had a stroke and died. I gave a eulogy at his funeral. Yep, that Fred he could cook some chicken."

Isn't that a wonderful tribute to this simple college cook who loved and had pride in what he was doing. There could be no better tribute to the man in his death than to be remembered for doing his life's work well. Did anyone ever tell him what a great job he was doing when he was alive? Fred made a difference in people's life because he cooked great chicken and was remembered fondly at a national meeting of the professional foodservice managers in Cincinnati, Ohio, long after his passing.

There may be one more factor in a living a meaningful life, and that is belief that there is a greater being and things happen for a reason.

To quote Rabbi Kushner, "When you have learned how to live, life itself is the reward."

Have a nice day!

Sam

SUCCESS IN BUSINESS, SUCCESS IN LIFE!

A Meaningful Life

There are two sides of success --- success in your career and success in life. Without the second half you are not complete. Success is a journey not a destination. It is not the distance of the journey that matters, it is overcoming the obstacles that are presented during the journey. There will always be more to accomplish. You will never be finished with your earthly journey until the Lord says you are.

Every life has stages that must be traversed. In their twenties a people are searching, in their thirties, hopefully, they have found their life's work, in their forties a person grows, and then comes the fifty mark and a person starts to evaluate life and what it all means. In the later years we, hopefully, have learned the answers, but nobody asks the questions. They are to busy chasing success.

There is a book by Rabbi Harold Kushner entitled, When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough. In it he discusses that there are three things that will help an individual have a meaningful and successful life.

* Relationships with family and friends.

* Disappointments and set backs are part of life.

* Make a difference in what ever you do.

Tomorrow we will explore these points further.

To Be Continued

LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT!

A JADED POLITICAL OPINION!

I always laugh when I think back to Bill Clinton’s statement about the cabinet he would form. “It will look a lot like America,” he stated. Of course his definition of how America looked was that we were all millionaires who went to an eastern liberal elitist institutions. It represents the arrogance of “The best and the brightest.” “We will decide what is best for the masses who are not as smart or as well educated as we.”

Is that attitude any different from the extreme “Religious Right” who would like to legislate other people’s morals? I don’t think so. While I personally do not support abortion, I do not think it is a political issue. It is a moral issue that will be decided in heaven. The protesters yell that abortion kills babies, but the anti- abortion people kill doctors. How does that square with the Lord?

Extreme partisanship is killing America. The right and left all rail against the centrist, but at the center is compromise. A balanced view, giving and taking and getting to the best solution possible for the Americn people and the times. America needs come first, not extreme ideologies. The politics of "gotcha" is why nothing gets done, unfortunately it will probably continue, as we keep sending the same ego driven jerks to Congress. Public servants, my ass.

There is really little difference between the left and the right. It is a full circle.

Have a nice day!

Samuel C. Arnold

THIS JUST IN!

NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW OR NOT!

Ted Turner says he is about through buying up ranch land. He said he would like to reach 2 million acres nationwide before he dies — about 40,000 acres more than he currently owns.

Now he has room to bury his big head.

*****

The fatal shooting, the 21st murder in New Orleans this year, occurred closely on the heels of a trying Carnival season for police, one in which four people were murdered and 12 others injured in shootings in the past five days, according to police records.

At this rate maybe they will kill themselves off. I know that is an unkind indictment of New Orleans, but they are killing themselves. Suicide is the ultimate failure.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Spending hours on a cell phone each day may affect the quality of a man's sperm, preliminary research suggests. In a study of 361 men seen at their infertility clinic, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found an association between the patients' cell phone use and their sperm quality. On average, the more hours the men spent on their cell phones each day, the lower their sperm count and the greater their percentage of abnormal sperm.

WARNING: Don't call phone sex lines on your cell phone. It may cause infertility.

*****

The President and Congress reach new lows in approval rating. One interviewee pretty much says it all.

"When I see them say they want to investigate Bill Belichick and Spygate, I say, 'Why do you want to investigate something like that when we have things we should address'" like the economy and health care, Mitch Dugger, 46, an independent from Mandeville, La., said.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., recently said the Senate Judiciary Committee may want to examine why the National Football League destroyed evidence in a scandal over cheating by Belichick, the New England Patriots' coach.

And you wonder why nothing happens on the real stuff. The threat to take away the monopoly exemption is trotted out everytime sports is in trouble. What we really need is the commissioner and union leader to be fired by the people who put them there. That won't hapen of course, the owners are too greedy and the players are too dumb.

From a SanDiego Union Tribune article and my comments on Clemens hearings.

"The ranking Republican acknowledged that they risked "criticism that they were grandstanding" Now where would someone get that idea? Maybe from delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who powdered her face, applied lipstick, then asked Clemens: Mr. McNamee injected your wife with HGH in your master bedroom without your knowledge?"

I loved Representative Virginia Foxx breaking out pictures of Clemens in pitching mode. She admired them and then ask Clemens about his physical training routine. "You keep yourself in pretty good shape don't you Mr. Clemens?"

As ESPN reported,there is no such word as "misremembered". A word used by Clemens speaking of the Andy Pettite statement.

Pitchers and catchers report today. Let's get this behind us.

*****

Oprah opened a store Chicago featuring her favorite things. You knew it was only a matter of time. How about feeling warm and fuzzy in an Oprah nightie (not sexy and flannel, I'll bet) and baby-soft socks to keep your callused feet warm, writing in your "Passion" journal while sipping hot tea from a mug emblazoned with one of Oprah's favorite quotes. "Live Your Own Dreams" is always a heart-warmer.

OH! PLEASE1 Oprah, have you no shame?

*****

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate Ethics Committee said Wednesday that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig acted improperly in connection with a men's room sex sting last year and had brought discredit on the Senate.

WELL DUH!!!

*****

"Mississippi legislators this week introduced a bill that would make it illegal for state-licensed restaurants to serve obese patrons. Bill No. 282 is the brainchild of three members of the state's House of Representatives, Republicans W. T. Mayhall, Jr. and John Read, and Democrat Bobby Shows. The bill, which is likely dead on arrival, proposes that the state's Department of Health establish weight criteria after consultation with Mississippi's Council on Obesity. It does not detail what penalties an eatery would face if its grub was served to someone with an excessive body mass index,"

These guys are probably skinny. They are certainly stupid. Where do we find these people. Oh yes, they are from Mississippi and they are politicians. Can anyone say BUBBA!?

Have a nice day!

Sammy Carl

VALENTINE'S SONG OF THE WEEK!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I want to say how much I love you all, but the words get in the way!

Sammy Carl

CARL BAILEY PASSED AWAY!

And The World Went About Its Business!

As a prologue to the story of my grandfather's service in the Spanish-American and the Philippine Insurrection, The Wars of Young Carl Bailey, an Ordinary Soldier of His Time, I wrote of his death as the starting point. It is the primary memory I have of him, but after researching his record and the wars themselves, I felt I knew him well.

*****

I knew my Grandpa Bailey, but I guess I didn’t really know him. I knew my middle name was the same as his first name because my name carries the names of both of my grandfathers. I knew he was in the Spanish-American War because as a child I played with his old army campaign hat, and I knew that he made his living as a bricklayer. But I guess I never knew him as an ordinary person who led a life with stories to tell. He was just my grandpa.

Grandpa Bailey was the first person I ever knew who died. He died of inoperable cancer on August 7, 1948, a week before his sixty-eighth birthday. His last words to my mother, as they wheeled him into the operating room were, “See you in church.” I don’t think my grandfather was a very religious man, but perhaps he was making his peace with God. I heard my mother tell the story of those last words many times over the years. You don’t forget the memories and the last words of a dying father.

I was ten years old when he died, to young to understand my feelings about death very well, but I did know that I felt a sadness that I had never known before. His casket was placed before the brick fireplace he had built with his own hands in the living room of the house he and my grandmother shared on West Ninth Street in Jonesboro, Indiana.

Sometimes I moved around the room, sometimes I went outside and sat quietly on the porch, and sometimes I sat on the periphery, watching his friends and neighbors pay their last respects in muffled tones. When there was nobody around, I stood next to his casket and just looked at him with a hurt in my stomach. He was dressed in his best double-breasted pin-striped suit, and his rimless glasses rested on his nose. His eyes were closed, just as I had seen them many times before as he was dozing off in his easy chair. His callused hands from forty years of bricklaying were folded at his waist. On the fourth finger of his right hand was his 32d degree Masonic ring. I cried that he was gone, and I knew I would miss him.

I remember my mother telling my younger brother and me that we would be going to our house with Dad for the night, but she would be staying with grandma. I was glad we didn’t have to stay overnight at Grandma’s house because I wasn’t sure about sleeping in the same house with a dead person, even if that dead person was my grandpa. There seemed something odd about a dead person resting in a living room. “That’s why they have funeral homes,” I thought to myself.

The funeral service was conducted in his living room, and his pall bearers were friends from the organizations that meant the most to him throughout his life -- Masons, Spanish-American War veterans and members of the brick masons’ union. After the service and the hymns, the casket was placed in the long black hearse of the Jay and Swift Funeral Home and a solemn parade of cars, with little blue flags fluttering from the bumpers signifying our special place that day, slowly proceeded up Main Street and across the Mississinewa River to the Riverside Cemetery in Gas City. Small stones pinged under the fenders like hail on a tin roof as the procession rolled through the gates of the cemetery and up the white crushed stone road toward his burial site next to his father, mother and younger sister, who had gone before. A soft summer breeze ruffled the fringes of the tent and the American flag covering the casket as the mourners gathered under the green open-aired tent set against the blue of the Indiana summer sky. The family took their seats on the folding chairs beside the casket. The pastor said a few words, “dust to dust”, and that sort of thing, the sad and lonely notes of Taps echoed across the cemetery and then it was over. Friends and family said a few quiet words to each other and began to go their separate ways.

As we walked back to our car in silence, I took a quick glance over my shoulder to catch a final glimpse of where my grandfather would be buried forever. Dad started the engine, and we eased our way out of the cemetery and on to the road back to Grandma’s house. The silence was broken when my father reached over and turned on the radio. As the music began to play, I can clearly remember feeling the great burden of grief being lifted from me. Suddenly, I felt better. The program on the radio was normal. The traffic was normal. The sunshine was normal. The green of the trees and grass was normal. Everything was normal, and the world was indeed going on as usual. I guess it was then that I first realized that death’s rituals pass and the world, as it had done while I was away, goes on about its daily business.

Have a nice day!

Sam

LIVES LIVED!

Old Watering Holes

After I retired in 1992, I quickly discovered I needed to explore new areas and develop new interests. You can only play so much golf and take so many naps. I wanted to be a renaissance man.

I bought a computer, even though I didn’t know a thing about computers. I became interested in coin collecting through some old Indian Heads my father had. I actually have a pretty good collection. Eventually, I lost interest and moved on to genealogical research. That went hand in hand with using the computer and Internet as a research tool.

The next logical step would be to write my family history and some of my own life stories. I even took two courses in creative non-fiction writing. Most of this work was done in the mid-nineties, and even though my family history is pretty much written and edited, I have yet to publish it to my family members. I do procrastinate.

As I have come back to writing, I would like to share some of these stories, personal essays, vignettes and even some bad poetry on occasion. In doing this I will start to sort it all out and finally publish it to my family members. I am not getting any younger.

I used the following quotations as guides and inspiration.

"It is only through an unfolding of the people’s histories that a nation’s culture can be studied in its full meaning. Each discovered United States family history becomes a newly revealed small piece of American History. The history of a country is only the selected histories of all of its people."

Alex Haley

"The next thing most like living one’s life over again seems to be a recollection of that life, and to make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it down in writing."

Benjamin Franklin

“The cradle rocks above an abyss; a common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness. Although the two are identical twins, man, as a rule, views the prenatal abyss with more calm than the one he is heading for (at some forty-five hundred heartbeats an hour).”

Vladimir Nabokov, from his memoir, Speak Memory.

“The greatest dignity to be found in death is the dignity of the life that preceded it. This is a form of hope we can all achieve, and it is the most abiding of all. Hope resides in the meaning of what our lives have been.”

Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland’s book How We Die

“Return to old watering holes for more than water—friends and dreams are there to meet you.”

Old African Proverb.

Have a nice day!

Sam

BLUETOOTHS ON A SUNNY DAY!

Observation of the Day!

Today the Blog is at a remote location, Fashion Valley Mall in Mission Valley, San Diego. I am not going to make this a Nirvana moment because it’s a shopping mall for gosh sakes. However, it could easily be classified as a personal Nirvana, not necessarily from a shopping mall ,but from San Diego itself.

I came to Fashion Valley for my one-on-one Apple computer training classes. I am currently trying to master IPHOTO. I am making progress because, if you will note on the my Blog, there is a picture of the old blogger, newly edited in. I plan to change it every once in a while to keep it fresh. I will be highlighting the various personalities that I associate with different kinds of blogs, Sam, Sam Arnold, Sammy Carl, Sammy Arnold and Samuel C. Arnold.

Anyway here I am sitting in the bright San Diego sunshine. It is eighty degrees and wonderful. I am engaging in the favorite pastime of an observer. I am observing. There are all kinds of people, strange people, beautiful people, ugly people, young people, old people and of course the beautiful little kids and young hotties.

Perhaps the funniest observation was the black middle-aged couple, who had matching pea green golf type shirts with Cayman Island logos, matching black pants and both had Bluetooth phones growing out of their ears, strolling slowly step for step, hand in hand.

When the first cell phones hit the market and were still a novelty, they were a status symbol. People loved to show off by taking phone calls in movie theaters, restaurants, stores, meetings or in the middle of a conversation; and then actually carrying on a loud conversations about mostly nothing. Of course this still happens, but the cell phone is no longer a status symbol. It is a tool of the masses. Now the status symbol is the Bluetooth in the ear. I previously told you about the young man in Cracker Barrel on a Sunday night who was not going to get any important Bluetooth phone calls, EVER. I suspect this couple is the same. But they looked cool, I guess.

I marvel at how much love San Diego, even in a shopping center. It does give me a warm feeling inside, and I really mean that.

Over the past several years, I have developed as many friends here, as in Minneapolis, which makes it even more special and more inviting. Maybe I’ll never be able to live here full time, but that doesn’t mean I don’t treat it as home. Friends in both places make both places home.

Have a nice day!

Sam

BILL ALWAYS WORRIES ABOUT HIS LEGACY!

Bill Will Alway Have a Legacy!

Have a nice day!

Sammy Carl

SONG OF THE WEEK!

Roy Orbison And kd lang - Crying (1987)

Roy Orbison and kd lang, whether singing solo or as a duet make it their song of our time.

If you check the menu button after the song is over, you can hear both Roy and kd sing it solo.

Lyrics to Crying

Roy: I was all right for a while
I could smile for a while
KD: But I saw you last night
You held my hand so tight
When you stopped to say hello
Roy: You wished me well
You couldn't tell that
I've been crying over you,
crying over you And you said "So long" Left me
standing all alone, alone and crying, crying, crying, crying
It's hard to understand
But the touch of your hand can start me crying

I thought that I was over you But it's true, so true
I love you even more than I did before
But darling, what can I do?
For you don't love me
And I'll always be crying over you, crying over you

Roy: Yes now you're gone
Both: And from this moment on, I'll be crying, crying, crying, crying
Yeah, crying, crying over you

Have a nice day and enjoy!

Sammy

Ernie Pyle, An Extra Ordinary Journalist

Observation of the Day!
Ernie Pyle, An Extra Ordinary Journalist

Ernie Pyle was perhaps the greatest war correspondent in history. Last week a photograph showing Ernie Pyle laying dead of enemy gunfire was discovered and released for the first time.

When the war was over in Europe, Pyle quickly went to cover the Pacific War. It was there he was killed. It is interesting that Ernie Pyle died over sixty years go and is still revered for his journalism that featured the ordinary soldier in war. After reading James Tobin's book several years ago, I kept the following file in my computer. It is too bad we don't have this kind of journalism today. This Pyle piece still brings a tear to my eye. i'd like to share it with you.

The Death of Captain Waskow

AT THE FRONT LINES IN ITALY -- In this war I have known a lot of officers who were loved and respected by the soldiers under them. But never have I crossed the trail of a man as beloved as Capt. Henry T. Waskow of Belton, Tex.

Captain Waskow was a company commander in the 36th division. He had been in this company since long before he left the States. He was very young, only in his middle 20s, but he carried in him a sincerity and gentleness that made people want to be guided by him.

“After my own father, he comes next,” a sergeant told me.

“He always looked after us,” a soldier said. “He’d go to bat for us every time.”

“I’ve never known him to do anything unkind.,” another one said.

I was at the foot of the mule train the night they brought Captain Waskow down. The moon was nearly full at the time, and you could see far up the trail, and even part way across the valley. Soldiers made shadows as they walked.

Dead men had been coming down the mountain all evening, lashed onto the backs of mules. They came lying belly down across the wooden packsaddle, the heads hanging down on the left side of the mule, their stiffened legs sticking awkwardly from the other side, bobbing up and down as the mule walked.

The Italian mule skinners were afraid to walk beside the dead men, so Americans had to lead the mules down that night. Even the Americans were reluctant to unlash and lift the bodies, when they got to the bottom, so an officer had to do it himself and ask others to help.

The first one came early in the morning. They slid him down from the mule, and stood him on his feet for a moment. In the half light he might have been merely a sick man standing there leaning on the other. Then they laid him on the ground in the shadow of the stone wall alongside the road.

I don’t know who the first one was. You feel small in the presence of dead men and ashamed of being alive, and you don’t ask silly questions.

We left him there beside the road, that first one, and we all went back to the cowshed and sat on water cans or lay on the straw, waiting for the next batch of mules.

Somebody said the dead soldier had been dead for four days, and then nobody said anything more about him. We talked for an hour or more ; the dead man lay all alone, outside in the shadow of the wall.

Then a soldier came into the cowshed and said there were some more bodies outside. We went out into the road. Four mules stood there in the moonlight, in the road where the trail came down off the mountain. The soldiers who led them down stood there waiting.

“This one is Captain Waskow,” one of them said quickly.

Two men unlashed his body from the mule and lifted it off and laid in the shadow beside the stone wall Other men took the other bodies off. Finally, there were five lying end to end in a long row. You don’t cover up dead men in combat zones. They just lie there in the shadows until somebody else comes after them.

The uncertain mules moved off to their olive orchards. The men in the road seemed reluctant to leave. They stood around, and gradually I could sense them moving, one by one, close to Captain Waskow’s body. Not so much to look, I think, as to say something in finality to him and to themselves. I stood close by and could hear.

One soldier came and looked down, and he said out loud:

“God damn it!”

That’s all he said, and then he walked away.

Another one came, and he said, “God damn it to hell anyway!” He looked down for a few last moments and then turned and left.

Another man came. I think it was an officer. It was hard to tell officers from men in the half light, for everybody was grimy and dirty. The man looked down into the dead captain’s face and the spoke directly to him, as though he were alive.

“I’m sorry, old man.”

Then a soldier came and stood beside the officer and bent over, and he to spoke to his dead captain, not in a whisper but awfully tenderly, and he said:

“I’m sure sorry, sir.”

Then the first man squatted down, and he reached down and took the captain’s hand, and he sat there for a full five minutes holding the dead hand in his own and looking intently into the dead face. And he never uttered a sound all the time he sat there.

Finally he put his hand down. He reached up and gently straightened the points of the captain’s shirt collar, and then he sort of rearranged the tattered edges of his uniform around the wound, and then he got up and walked away down the road in the moonlight all alone.

The rest of us went back to the cowshed, leaving the five dead men lying in a line end to end in the shadow of the low stone wall. We lay down on the straw in the cowshed, and pretty soon we were all asleep.

From Ernie Pyle’s War, America’s Eye Witness to World War II by James Tobin

Rest in Peace, Ernie Pyle.

Sam

YOUR TUITION, FEES AND TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!

Observation of the Day!

Your Tuition, fees and Tax Dollars at Work!

Do you ever wonder what the richest institutions in the world. our colleges and universities, do with student fees and your tax dollars.? I was called by my alma mater, Michigan State, for the upteenth time. This pitch was for the general scholarship fund. She said that tuition was going up some thirteen percent next year, and they wanted to help out students who were having a hard time funding their education . All well intentioned. but I suggested, being the smart ass that I am, that perhaps she was talking to the wrong person. Maybe she should be talking to the administration who raised the tuition.

Also the University of Minnesota had funding cut by the legislature and "had" to raise tuition. In the same issue of the Star Tribune was an article saying the University had made its one billion dollar fund raising goal.

The following story would be very funny, if it weren't true.

Katherine Kersten column MSP Star Tribune and Minnesota Daily also reported the following news from our fine "research" university in Minnesota.

"If you're interested in learning some new knot tying skills or leather craft but loath the Boy or Girl Scouts, you may be interested in attending "Kinky U".

Kinky U is a student group at the University of Minnesota that promotes sexual awareness and safety for those who choose to indulge in adventurous sex practices that range from biting and scratching to power exchanges and bondage.

The group was organized under the U of M's Queer Student Cultural Center and hopes to finish its constitution within a month to become an official campus group that welcomes all students to explore sexual endeavors through discussion and demonstration.

Michael Lent, facilitator of Kinky U, said. "It's an open discussion for both queer and straight, and any gender is welcome. Other groups aren't geared toward everyone -- we're ' pansexual.'" He also described it as a milestone for the metro area and a big step for sexual freedom.

Genevieve Clute, co-chairwoman of Sexual Health Awareness and Disease Education, said the idea of empowering someone to be comfortable and in a safe environment is a great idea. She also went on to say, 'We're there if you ever decide to have this type of sexual relationship, because it can be a part of your life in a safe way. It can be a hard step to take, but it's a positive and necessary step to take if you're interested."

Stephan Robberts, a club member said "There is a lot of misconception about kink, which has given it a bad name." He's an older member (28) and wishes he had a group like Kinky U when he was younger, just to have that knowledge base."

Robberts directed a leather workshop for club that included teaching participants how to dye and treat leather so that it can be made into something like a collar, which can otherwise be expensive to buy.

Facilitator Michael Lent wants to take more outings with the group, such as to the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies at Andersen Library, or tours of sex-oriented stores in the Twin Cities area. He'd also like to invite more speakers from the community to provide various perspectives on the subject.

Not completely without controversy, a handful of U of M students are not happy how Kinky U receives it's funding. Being under the Queer Student Cultural Center, it receives it's money from the University ~ from student tuition and fees."

I'm not really sure what to think of it all. The only thing that has come to mind so far are horny college girls in skimpy cheerleader uniforms. I do plan to give it some coherent thought, however.

*****

Have a nice day!

Sammy Carl

THIS JUST IN!

FLIP FLOPS ARE NOT ALWAYS FOOTWARE!

Hillary Does a Back Flip!

An ABC News analysis of the videotapes of at least four stockholder meetings where Clinton appeared shows she never once rose to defend the role of American labor unions.

A former board member told ABC News.com that he had no recollection of Clinton defending unions during more than 20 board meetings held in private.

Clinton would not agree to be interviewed on the subject but now says she no longer shares Wal-Mart's values and believes unions "have been essential to our nation's success."

And

Obama does a Full Gainer

Last fall during a nationally televised presidential debate, Sen. Barack Obama hesitantly raised his hand and joined with most of his Democratic rivals to declare that he opposed decriminalizing marijuana.

But as a candidate for the U.S. Senate four years ago, Mr. Obama told Illinois college students that he supported eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana use or possession, according to a videotape of a little noticed debate that was obtained by The Washington Times.

"I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws," Mr. Obama told an audience during a debate at Northwestern University in 2004. "But I'm not somebody who believes in legalization of marijuana. " .......HUH!!!!

Just tell them what they want to hear, not your honest positions and beliefs. You phony bastards. Politicians always put their flip flops in their mouth.

Have a nice day!

Sam




T

A QUIET RAINY SUNDAY AFTERNOON!

Observation of the Day!

A Quiet Rainy Sunday Afternoon

It is a quiet rainy Sunday afternoon. There are virtually no cars on the street. Hotmail is silent. Mac.com is silent. Gmail is silent. The outside world and cyber space are quiet. The outside world is at peace, as the rain gently falls. Could this be another Nirvana for me? Quiet, calm, peaceful, wonderful. I wonder?

Then I remembered it is Super Bowl Sunday, loud commercials, loud cheering and Tom Petty rocking out. The peace is shattered. America and the world are focused on the big game. My Nirvana is bashed under cleated foot and helmeted head and drowned out by the sounds of commercials.

I gave up my thoughts of finding a Nirvana this rainy Sunday afternoon. So I popped some popcorn, popped a beer and popped on the television.

I became engaged in the game, as the excitement built. It was a back and forth, well played game by both the Giants and the Patriots. The severely under-dogged Giants scored the final touchdown on a pass with forty-five seconds to go from the baby-faced Eli Manning. It was Giants 17, Patriots 14. MVP Eli Manning has now has equaled his brother, Payton. I am sure there is a pot of gold waiting for the Manning brothers at the end of the commercial rainbow.

I came to realize that even the violent game of football has a natural rhythm of men on the field of battle, giving the bodies up for the glory they hope is theirs. At this point it really isn't about the money, but the ring. The game offers a genuine excitement, as the adrenaline of the sport rushes through both players and fans alike. Emotions run to the front of the logical line.

The Vince Lombardi Trophy was awarded and the confetti and the tributes began and ended. And then it was over until next year. What began in the late summer ended on a rainy Sunday afternoon in February. Thirty teams started the season, but only one became the champion. The stadium fans and people full of beer and party guacamole emptied their respective locations and the rainy Sunday afternoon has turned into night. And all is peaceful in the world again.

Can baseball be far behind?

Have a nice day!

Sam

SOME POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS!

Observation of the Day
Some Political Observations, An Opinionated Public Service

I tried to capture and send to my blogees the video of the highlights of Barack Obama’s speech at Target Center in Minneapolis, but I couldn’t make it work. A man still stuck in the twentieth century. If you are interested go to startribune.com, to see a portion of his speech. It is longer than the sound bites you get from TV.

I really like Obama, even though McCain is still on my radar. Doe is also interested. She says she is not against a woman as president, but not Hillary. She is pretty vocal about her belief. I am truly an undecided.

I do hate the pandering that candidates put forth in political speeches. Wellstone will always be mentioned as an applause line in Minnesota. The fact is he was a loud angry speechmaker, who actually accomplished very little and never passed up a photo op. R.T. Ryback is mayor of Minneapolis. He could only be elected in left wing Minneapolis. He is an incompetent, as are most socialist who call themselves DFL in Minnesota. Minneapolis is truly as close as to socialism as any city in America, except San Francisco.

That said, I think Obama may bring some change. He was chastised for invoking Reagan as a president that brought change. He was simply giving credit to Reagan as change maker. Many Dems hate Reagan and cannot bring themselves to give any rational credit to the man..

As Clinton's (Bill) legacy unfolds it is beginning to be noted that he was lucky enough to be president at a time when the economy was strong and there was no war. I don’t think a president can do much about the economy, good times or bad. He didn't do much about the threat of terrorism. In other words he had too much time on his hands, and you know what happens then. His legacy will always be Monica and the scallywag he is. Even in his current speeches, it is still all about Bill. He was even told to shut up many the Democratic leaders. There is no doubt, however, I would still like to hang out with him.

To balance this out, I’d like to say a word about Mitt Romney. He is not going to be the candidate, but I kept hearing about his business success. However, there was little detail of that success in his speeches or the media. I went to Wikipedia to learn more. He has a BA from BYU, and law and MBA degrees from Harvard. He worked in investment banking. He left to run the Olympics, when it was in dire money straits and turned it around and made money. He returned to Bain and Company, an investment banking firm, when it too was in major trouble and turned it around. As an individual who has turned two companies around, I admire that. I do believe he is the best executive available and is running primarily against the Senate. If the economy is your issue, then Romney should be your man.

Super Tuesday is next week. The fog should clear a little.

Have a nice day!

Samuel C. Arnold

View From Nirvana!

Sunset from the Beach Club

The Old Man in the Hat!

Observation of the Day in the Past!

The Old Man in the Hat

Several years ago, I walked into the lobby of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. In the lounge area sat an old man dozing in the chair. He wore bib overalls, a blue flannel shirt, white socks, comfortable old shoes and a baseball style cap. On the cap was a simple statement – “Too Old To Give A S**T”. As a statement that captures a state of mind, it ranks right up there with Rhett Butler’s, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

It seemed to say: It’s my life; I’ve got the answers, but nobody asks the questions; I’ve seen the world and it’s going to hell in a hand basket. So to hell with it. Don’t disturb me.

It must be relaxing and therapeutic to not give a s**t and tell people right up front before they bother you. Does he really mean it? I doubt it very much, however, consider yourself warned before you engage this curmudgeonly gentleman in meaningless conversation. Unless, of course, you’re a child, then he is old enough to care -- very much.

Have a nice day!

Sam

SONG OF THE WEEK!

The Meaning of American Pie

The Day the Music Died!

The hidden meanings and words of Don McLean's American Pie have been studied by many over the years in an attempt to understand the various word pictures painted by McLean. It is a tribute the the monster talent of Don McLean. The video is extremely well done and will shake your memories.

Watch, listen and follow the lyrics. It will make you appreciate the song, its meaning, the complexity and the talent of Don McLean even more.

American Pie

A long, long time ago...I can still remember how that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance,
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for awhile.
But February made me shiver with every paper I'd deliver,
Bad news on the doorstep; I couldn't take one more step.
I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside, the day the music died.

So, bye bye Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing, "This will be the day that I die.
This will be the day that I die."

Did you write the book of love,
And do you have faith in god above,
If the bible tells you so?
Now do you believe in rock and roll?
Can music save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you're in love with him,
'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym,
You both kicked off your shoes,
And I dig those rhythmic blues,
I was a lonely teenaged bronking buck,
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck,
But I knew I was out of luck, the day the music died.

I started singing, bye bye Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing, "This will be the day that I die.
This will be the day that I die."

Now, for ten years, we've been on our own,
And moss grows fat on our rolling stone,
But that's not how it used to be,
When the jester sang for the king and queen,
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean,
And a voice that came from you and me,

Oh and while the king was looking down,
The jester stole his thorny crown,
The courtroom was adjourned;
No verdict was returned.
And while Lennon read a book on Marx,
The quartet practiced in the park,
And we sang dirges in the dark, the day the music died.

They were singing, bye bye Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing, "This will be the day that I die.
This will be the day that I die."

Helter skelter in a summer swelter.
The Byrds flew off for the fallout shelter,
Eight miles high and falling fast.
It landed foul on the grass.
The players tried for a forward pass,
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast.

Now the halftime air was sweet perfume,
While sergeants played a marching tune,
We all got up to dance,
Oh, but we never got the chance
`Cause the players tried to take the field;
The marching band refused to yield.
Do you recall what was revealed, the day the music died?

We started singing, bye bye Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing, "This will be the day that I die.
This will be the day that I die."

Oh, and there we were all in one place,
A generation lost in space,
With no time left to start again.
So, come on; jack be nimble, jack be quick,
Jack flash sat on a candlestick,
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend.

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage.
No angel born in hell
Could break that satan's spell.
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite,
I saw satan laughing with delight
The day the music died.

He was singing, bye bye Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing, "This will be the day that I die.
This will be the day that I die."

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before,
But the man there said the music wouldn't play.

And in the streets, the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast,
The day the music died.

And they were singing....
Bye bye Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing, "This will be the day that I die.
This will be the day that I die."

They were singing....
Bye bye Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye,
Singing, "This will be the day that I die."

Listen and enjoy and have a nice day!

Sam