Ramblin' with Roger

When I Heard John Lennon Had Died

The Late Great Johnny Ace

Shortly before Thanksgiving 2020, I saw in the New York Post Page Six feature some ghoulish murderabilia [PDF p. 12]. “Double Fantasy’ album John Lennon signed for his killer was up for auction. The album — which in 1998 sold for $150,000 — has a starting bid of $400,000”. It even includes “police-evidence markings.” Yuck. I didn’t bother to follow the conclusion of this sale.

John Lennon died 40 years ago? I seem to remember it so well. On December 1, I had broken up with my girlfriend. So a week later, it was another Monday night. I decided this was the opportunity to watch Monday Night Football, which I would generally pass on for her sake. Since she wasn’t there…

It’s odd that I didn’t remember the game even before Howard Cosell informed me that the ex-Beatle had been killed. I do remember trying to call one of my friends repeatedly in Boston, but the line was busy for a couple of hours. Then I called my now-ex-girlfriend. What’s on the radio? WQBK was taking requests, and I may have asked for The End by the Doors.

The next day at lunchtime, I went to a local record store – Just A Song or maybe Strawberry’s – to buy Double Fantasy. It was sold out, so I purchased John’s Rock and Roll album from 1975. That Sunday, I was working at FantaCo, and the comic book store closed for ten minutes around 2 pm, per Yoko’s request for a period of silence.

Songs

(Just Like) Starting Over – John Lennon, the first single off Double Fantasy. If I recall correctly, it was selling fine. But in the wake of his death, it soared to #1 for five weeks in the US, one of those odd posthumous #1 hits. The bitter irony of the damn song made me teary; OK, occasionally, it still does. As did Merry Xmas (War Is Over) by John and Yoko, which I heard a lot that season.

Walking On Thin Ice – Yoko Ono. The guitar on this recording is the last guitar John Lennon ever played on a record, on the day he died. I bought the single and still have it. It went to #58 in the US in early 1981. The B-side was It Happened.

All Those Years Ago – George Harrison. Released in May 1981 as a single from his album Somewhere in England. Ringo on drums, Paul and Linda McCartney on backing vocals. #2 for three weeks in 1981.

Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny) – Elton John, #13 in 1982.

Here Today – Paul McCartney, from the April 1982 album Tug of War. It was written like a dialogue between Lennon and McCartney.

The Late Great Johnny Ace – Paul Simon. From the 1983 album Hearts and Bones. A haunting coda composed by Philip Glass.

And also:

Coverville 1335: The 17th Annual Beatles Thanksgiving Cover Story, featuring songs from Rubber Soul

I’m dreaming of a COVID Christmas

When will we reach widespread immunization?

Though I knew it was possible, seeing the spike in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths has been demoralizing. More to the point, watching the numbers in some categories more than double from October to November in Albany County is acutely troubling.

Since my father-in-law died of a non-COVID-related disease on April 22 of this year, my wife had driven out to Oneonta, NY to help her mom with the cleaning and shopping. Right before Thanksgiving, our family was discussing plans. My daughter and I thought that making the 70-mile trek wasn’t that good an idea.

My wife said that maybe she’d go alone for a day or two. We believed that she was missing the concern. My daughter is going to school at home. I don’t go to many places. My wife, conversely, is going to work every day, teaching students face-to-face and dealing with colleagues whose protocols while not at school are unknown. It was my MIL who finally put the kibosh on the trip.

A friend of mine is a nurse at Albany Medical Center. On December 1, they had a strike action over many issues, most of which predated COVID. In a non-epidemic period, I would have joined the picket line. Not now.

Nervous

My Grammarly account analyzed my writings from the second to the third week in November.

1. Neutral 15‌% +5%
2. Formal 14‌% +1%
3. Confident 13‌% -6% that’s about right
4. Friendly 8‌% -2%
5. Optimistic 8‌% -5% certainly accurate
6. Worried 8‌% +4% yup
7. Sad 6‌% +2% I’ll accept that

Even the places I’ve gone to in the past – CVS, grocery store, takeout restaurant food – I visit less often. In part, it’s because of the vaccines on the horizon. It seems that people are getting cocky about when we’ll get back to “normal.” There will be enough doses to treat about six percent of New Yorkers, primarily health care workers and the elderly in facilities, before the end of 2020.

As someone over 65, I expect/hope to get at least one of the two necessary doses by St. Patrick’s Day 2021. And, barring new information, I will take the injections when they are made available.

This article from FORBES is consistent with some other pieces I’ve read. When will we reach widespread immunization— roughly 70% of the population? In the spring? By July 4? In a year? Or will it take far longer? Will “the overwhelming majority of people” elect to be inoculated?

But the “surge upon a surge” that is happening now, I fear, will become worse during the December holidays and the weeks thereafter. I already know ours will be a low-key COVID Christmas and New Years. I’m hoping others can just hang on just a little while longer with social distancing, mask-wearing, and other precautions.

Unbridled joy at church, as it were

readings, prayers, and conversation

My church had been working toward resuming in-person worship beginning Sunday, November 29. However, based on the upswing of COVID 19 virus cases in the area, the Session (correctly, IMO) doesn’t feel it is safe to restart.

Since we’re talking about Presbyterians, naturally there is an ad hoc group known as the Reopening Coordinating Committee. The group voted to put in-person worship on hold at least until mid-January. I suspect it’ll be later than that.

Now, we have had worship live-streamed on Facebook every Sunday at 10 a.m. since way back on March 22, after the services were canceled on March 15. It is actually a quite decent production, thanks to the technological prowess of a number of folks. But of course, it’s not the same.

There is a team in the church to check-in and connect with every member via phone or email. I’m one of those team members. But it ain’t the same either.

We did a new thing

On November 22, we had an all-church meeting to discuss the nominations for the new Session members. So it was on the church’s ZOOM account. I had seen most of the people present, from meetings of the choir and adult Sunday school and the Bible guys.

But it occurred to me that some of the members had viewed few or none of the rest of us. What I saw were, in some cases, experiences of unbridled joy. It was very exciting.

Then on Thanksgiving at 11 am, we had a Zoom gathering time of readings, prayers, and conversation. ESPECIALLY conversation.

Now, our church is working on trying to do a carol sing close to Christmas. Of course, we’d all be muted save for the performers. It’d be cacophony otherwise. Still, we could at least SEE each other making a joyful noise.

As our pastors like to say, “We may not gather at the church, but we still gather as the church.”

In the Booker T. Christmas Spirit

Ecumenical: Blue AND White Christmas

In 1966 – possibly my favorite pop music year ever – Booker T. and the M.G.’s put out a holiday album.

The group was an “American instrumental R and B/funk band that was influential in shaping the sound of Southern soul and Memphis soul.” True, that. The members in 1966 were Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar), Al Jackson Jr. (drums), and Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass).

Stax Records was the great record label out of Memphis, TN. Motown may have been “The Sound of Young America,” But Stax was “Soulsville U.S.A.”, the title of a tremendous book by Rob Bowman.

“In the 1960s, as members of the house band of Stax Records, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists including Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, and Albert King. They also released instrumental records under their own name, including the 1962 hit single ‘Green Onions.'”

In the Christmas Spirit was their fourth album.

The songs

Jingle Bells (James Lord Pierpont). Periodically, Billboard had Christmas charts. This song, released as a single, got to #20 in 1966. This track also appeared on a 1968 compilation called Soul Christmas.
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie)
Winter Wonderland (Felix Bernard, Dick Smith) B-side of Jingle Bells.
White Christmas (Irving Berlin)
The Christmas Song (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells)
Silver Bells (Ray Evans, Jay Livingston). Released as a 1967 season single. Also on Soul Christmas.

Merry Christmas Baby (Lou Baxter, Johnny Moore)
Blue Christmas (Bill Hayes, Jay Johnson)
Sweet Little Jesus Boy (Bob MacGimsey)
Silent Night (Franz Xaver Gruber, Joseph Mohr)
We Three Kings We Three Kings (John Henry Hopkins, Jr.)
We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Traditional)

The B-side of the Silver Bells single was the non-album track, Winter Snow (Isaac Hayes), a song I love dearly.

2021 Baseball Hall of Fame candidates

no Manny

Retired MLB pitcher Curt Schilling addresses the troops at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, with a USO tour., March 1, 2013. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. David J. Overson, 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

The 2021 Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on Sunday, July 25, 2021, in Cooperstown, NY. I love the optimism of that statement, given the fact that the 2020 event was canceled because of COVID. Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, plus Ted Simmons and the late executive Marvin Miller in a separate process, were selected for 2020 and will be included in the 2021 event, assuming it takes place.

There are no real standouts among the players who are eligible for the first time, those who retired in 2015. I suspect none will be selected this year, which hadn’t happened since 2013. In the previous balloting, there were 35 people to consider. This time there are only 25, which should benefit many of the candidates. Now if I had a ballot, and these were the candidates, here are the players I’d pick.

Problems

Curt Schilling (70.0% of the vote last year, with 75% needed for induction; 9th year on the ballot). His Twitter feed is full of Trumpian drivel about the notion that Biden didn’t win the election. Someone described his awful politics as “xenophobic, transphobic and conspiratorial memes.” This is clearly still true. I find him to be a loathsome individual. But he deserves to be in the Hall, as this 2015 article notes, in large part because of his post-season success. He has the highest strikeout-to-walk rate of any pitcher with 3,000 innings (4.38). This is the year he likely gets in.

Barry Bonds (60.7%, 9th year) and Roger Clemens (61%, 9th year). The alleged performance-enhancing actions that the best outfielder and best pitcher on the ballot were not actually banned at the time. Bonds was a 14-time All-Star, eight-time Gold Glove Award winner, seven National League MVP. Clemens won a record seven Cy Young Awards.

Gary Sheffield (30.7%, 7th season). He hit 509 home runs in his career, but for a power hitter, didn’t strike out much and walked frequently. When he retired Sheffield hit his 500th home run on April 17, 2009. As of his last game, he ranked top five among all active players in RBIs (1,676) and hits (2,689)

He too was mentioned in the investigations with respect to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. But as Jay Jaffee of Sports Illustrated noted, there is “a distinction between allegations stemming from the ‘Wild West’ era before testing and penalties were in place [c. 2004] and those that resulted in actual suspensions.”

The less controversial picks

Jeff Kent (27.5%, 8th year). Over 17 seasons, Kent posted a .290 batting average and .500 slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .978 fielding percentage. Kent hit 351 HR as a second baseman, the most in MLB history in either league.

Billy Wagner (31.7%, 6th year). Of ALL pitchers with at least 800 innings pitched, Wagner’s 11.9 strikeouts per 9 innings and 33.2% strikeout rate are both the highest in major league history. Opposing batters hit for only a .187 average against him, with 5.99 hits per nine innings, both the lowest in MLB history.

Omar Vizquel (52.6%, 4th season). He had a lengthy (24 year) solid career with over 2800 hits. He was a great defensive player at shortstop, winning 11 Gold Gloves.

Scott Rolen (35.3%, 4th year). Does he suffer by comparison to a previous Phillies 3rd baseman, Mike Schmidt? Yes, but he was an eight-time Gold Glove winner and seven-time All-Star.

Todd Helton (29.2%, 3rd year). Five-time All-Star. He suffers from having played with the Colorado Rockies in their mile-high environs.

Andy Petitte (11.3%, 3rd year). He holds all-time postseason records for wins, innings pitched and games started. I may have a slight bias. He was a member of the Albany-Colonie Yankees in the early 1990s. His A-C and NYY teammates, Mariano Rivera and Jeter, got into the Hall in the past two years.

Not this time

I’m leaving off outfielder Manny Ramirez (28.2%, 5th year) despite his mostly stellar career. His drug transgressions – two suspensions, in 2009 and 2011 – make voting for him more difficult. I also passed on outfielder Andruw Jones (19.4%, 4th year), he of the great defense but diminishing hitting.

Sammy Sosa (13.9%, 9th year), and his 1998 home run competition with Mark McGwire, was exciting. He drove in a lot of runs for someone who led the league in being struck out three years in a row; maybe next year.

An odd stat about two of the first-time nominees. They both have an ERA of 0.00. Michael Cuddyer and Nick Swisher each pitched one inning, gave up a walk, and one or two hits but no runs. Of course, both were emergency pitchers. And neither will likely receive the 5% of the vote to make it onto next year’s ballot.

The results will be announced on Tuesday, January 26, 2021.