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Movie review: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

That seems to be an effective representation of what ministry should be.

Just before my wife and I saw Won’t You Be My Neighbor? at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany, I read Ken Levine’s review.

It begins: “Full disclosure: I was not a fan of MR. ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD when it aired. My kids watched it, but I found it oddly creepy.” Next paragraph: “I am now one of those people recommending WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?”

That’s the point: you don’t have to be a fan of Fred Rogers’ long-running children’s program on PBS to appreciate the wonderful individual he was who did appeal to very many kids. Adults didn’t get him because he generally wasn’t talking to them.

Although he pretty much single-handedly secured funding for Public Broadcasting in 1970 through his direct plea to a Congressional committee chair.

The thing about his show was not designed to entertain the parents but to create that one-on-one relationship between the host and every child. It was because he understood child psychology and remembered some of the more painful aspects of his own childhood. Someone suggested that what Fred did was to take the formula of every other idea in children’s programming and do the opposite.

Fred was trained as a Presbyterian minister and was a lifelong Republican, back in the day when there were moderate Republicans such as Governor William Scranton in his native Pennsylvania. But he addressed big issues, such as race relations and violence, while not being preachy, just genuinely good and kind.

I really related to Mr. Rogers’ use of his puppets. I know that the use of inanimate objects can sometimes express ideas and feelings more easily than one can do directly.

The movie touched on some reportage that suggested that suggested that millennials are whiny because Fred Rogers told them they were special. I thought it was nonsense at the time, and the film only reinforced my view.

The Mr. Rogers message was/is that we ALL are special, worthy of being loved. In doing so, he taught them/us we need to be thoughtful and considerate to others. That seems to be an effective representation of what ministry should be.

My wife and I thought the same thing, separately: when African American performer Francois Clemons shared a wading pool with Fred Rogers for the second time in the film, it felt like the narrative of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. I can’t explain why.

Whether or nor you liked MR. ROGERS NEIGHBORHOOD, or even heard of it, you should watch Won’t You Be My Neighbor, directed by Morgan Neville, who also also directed that great documentary about backup singers, 20 Feet from Stardom.

Music throwback: Beaucoups of Blues – Ringo

Of all the former Beatles’ 1970 solo releases, Geoffrey Cannon of The Guardian rated Beaucoups of Blues as his favourite

One of those albums I have only on vinyl is Beaucoups of Blues, Ringo Starr’s second solo album, which was recorded in Nashville in late June 1970, and released about three months later.

From the Wikipedia: “While playing on sessions for George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, Starr – a long-time country and western fan – met Pete Drake in May 1970. Starr had to pick up Drake from the airport so that the pair could record with Harrison; Drake noticed the number of country albums Starr had in his vehicle… Starr asked him if they could collaborate on an album together. Drake told Starr his musician friends could compose more than an album’s worth of material in a week, which Starr thought was ‘impossible.'”

But they did, and some of Nashville’s finest performed on the album.

Ringo, of course, recorded some country-related songs with the Beatles: Act Naturally, by Buck Owens, on the UK Help! album; What Goes On, attributed to Lennon-McCartney-Starkey, on Rubber Soul in the UK; and Don’t Pass Me By, which he wrote, and which appears on the white album. The first two songs were both on the US Yesterday and Today LP.

I liked Beaucoups of Blues quite a bit, actually. John Lennon told Rolling Stone it was “a good record”, but “qualified that comment by saying he ‘didn’t feel as embarrassed as I did about [Starr’s] first record,'” the sappy Sentimental Journey, released in March of 1970. Reviewers at the time, and especially in retrospect, have said it was a solid effort, one of Ringo’s best.

“In his combined review of all the former Beatles’ 1970 solo releases, Geoffrey Cannon of The Guardian rated Beaucoups of Blues as his favourite.” That would be in comparison with Sentimental Journey; McCartney, Paul’s solo debut; John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band; and even the aforementioned All Things Must Pass.

Listen to:

title track, #87 pop on the Billboard charts
Love Don’t Last Long
Fastest Growing Heartache In The West
Without Her
Woman Of The Night
I’d Be Talking All The Time

$15 Draw
Wine, Women and Loud Happy Songs
I Wouldn’t Have You Any Other Way
Loser’s Lounge
Waiting
Silent Homecoming (my favorite)

Coochy Coochy, B-side of the title track single

Meet the Beatle: A Guide to Ringo Starr’s Solo Career in 20 Songs

Happy 78th birthday, Ringo!

Comic books, football players, ICE intertwined?

“We found one bloated, cruel, and useless agency that is begging to be abolished.”

My old friend Catbird asked:

Hi Roger—

When I heard rump’s “maybe they shouldn’t be in this country” comment about football players staying in locker rooms the other day, I wondered if they’d “pass” the Comic Book Code of America. I remember you explaining this to me decades ago. I suppose it depends on whether anybody acts on it.

What do you think?

Might it be worth a blog item?

I hope all is well with you and your “bearers of two X chromosomes.”

It had not occurred to me, but I suppose both the Comic Code Authority (1954-2011) and the NFL owners’ new policy requiring on-field player and personnel to stand for the national anthem were both self-regulating actions designed to make the federal government leave them alone.

In the case of comic books, the industry was worrying, rightly, that the government might want to regulate it, to “protect the children.”It agreed submit the comics to a board for a stamp of approval. No excessive violence, no drug use shown, et al.

The owners of the NFL just wanted the bad press to go away – n.b., didn’t happen. They are worried about the bottom line, with ratings down substantially, although that may not be just a function of the anthem imbroglio.

There’s a more significant question you ask here: when DO we say in America, “My way or the highway?” Certainly, I’ve heard, “America, love it or leave it” a few times, usually when I was protesting some war, mostly Vietnam, but also Iraq. Yet, as I was wont to say, “I stay, and protest, BECAUSE I love America.”

When HAS the United States actually thrown people out of the country? In the past, not very often, in the vast scheme. It wasn’t until 2002 when the United States actually had an agency whose primary function appears to do just that.

As Full Frontal with Samantha Bee put it on May 23: “For Republicans looking to cut government fat, we found one bloated, cruel, and useless agency that is begging to be abolished. And no, ‘President’ is not considered an agency.”

It is, of course, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. I appreciate it when the ICE agents remove some MS-13 gang member. But, much more often, they are seen as a source of terror in the immigrant community, even for those who are here legally.

As someone approaching Social Security, I find this problematic, not just from a moral and ethical position, but from an economic one. Driving out productive young people from the country is a recipe for federal fiscal disaster.

So, there’s a lot of bluster about people needing to leave the country. But it won’t be football players going. Unless they were born elsewhere.

That CDTA bus doesn’t stop there anymore

No outbound stops at Lark & Spring or Washington & Dove

CDTA

I was riding on the #763 CDTA bus this week, the one that turns left at Washington Ave onto Lark St. A few folks were waiting for the bus at Lark and Spring. As of July 1, that bus stop there any more. The driver took pity on the riders – it WAS in the middle of a heat wave, and it is an infrequent bus.

But with the opening of the new CDTA BusPlus station and shelter located on Washington Avenue in front of the Albany Public Library, a “mid-block station located between Lark St and Dove St at the newly installed pedestrian crossing and signal,” there are no longer outbound bus stops at Washington & Dove or at Washington & Central for ANY of the buses. No stops at Lark & Spring for Routes #13 (New Scotland Ave), #18 (Delaware Ave, #734, or #763.

For the #10 (Western Ave) and #12 (Washington Ave), outbound routing will remain on Washington Ave after crossing Lark St. There’s a NEW outbound stop at Washington Ave & Henry Johnson Blvd. The #12 buses will continue on Washington Ave, while the #10 will continue on Western Ave after Sprague Pl. The routes will no longer travel on Central Ave, Lexington Ave, and Robin St, so no stops at Central & Henry Johnson or Lexington &t Washington Ave.

The family that’s grumpy together

Then she had to deal with HS insurance company.

Grumpy Pants

My wife is of generally good spirits, but last month, she mentioned how grumpy she was.

ITEM: Someone hit her car one night. The driver, who turned out to be one of the rotating cadre of students living next door, left a note on the windshield. She talked with him and said he sounded like a responsible young man who was very apologetic for the damage. He was coming home from work after an extra-long shift and was tired.

He scraped the car about 9:30 pm – no we did not hear it – when parking in front of her. He said his own car had a very small scrape but mine had a lot more damage. She had to deal with her insurance company and reported the damage. Then she had to deal with HS insurance company.

The short version is that she had to wait about three weeks get his adjuster to see her car and then arrange for a garage picked by his insurance company to fix it. She got a rental from them, but it had very limited legroom for a tall woman like my wife; she had it for a week. Fortunately, the next five days, she was actually driving a vehicle more suitable for her height.

ITEM: Our next-door neighbor is finally getting the roofing done that they started last fall. My wife made it clear to both the absentee property owner and the contractor where the property line was.

So she was greatly annoyed when a pallet of roofing was placed off right on our lawn. Then the old roofing was dropped from that roof onto our porch (view now on details related to roofing and roof repairs). They never removed the trash they left, when the folks doing the siding showed up. We’re happy about the work being done, but in the interim, it looks a bit seedy.

My grumpy complaints, primarily about the incredibly poor air conditioning at work, seems not so bad. I WAS frustrated to lose my cellphone at a point when the bulk of the news about my sister Leslie’s condition was coming via a mass text chain. Fortunately my sister Marcia either emailed or called with the info.