Lyricx

Four out of Five Dentists

2006-01-29T13:07:00.000-05:00

Four out of Five Dentists.....
Is a statement of 1960's ads

Is it still true?
This 80% ratio that we are speaking?

Or is it more like a simple majority-
Formulated for use as fun:

Like "horses asses" minus "horses" always equal to the lonely number

ONE!

Will the Defendant please rise...

2005-03-12T15:15:00.000-05:00

What a shame!

We are going to be forced into watching the Michael Jackson Final Tour for four months.

Of course child molestation is the core of this trial, but we are going to get a spin-off show where we see the main character- a genius performer in childhood- psychologically unravel before our very eyes.

"The Michael Jackson Reality Hour is being brought to you by..." as Johnny's bulging eyes haven't yet gotten over his last cartoon appearance ("Why Johnny can't read....")

How could any parent allow a "Michael Jackson" become their child's liaison into adolescence in terms of what his personal history has been over 40 years? It's easy I suppose when no one in Hollywood has any sense of the reality we masses live. (Did your junior in high school take the SAT's today with the thought of getting into a college thus allowing a career in the future? Or will you be proud of a lifetime of Howard Stern or Paris Hilton antics? Oh what the hell- they make millions of dollars!)

His legal team has hundreds of stars ready to testify about his kindness and caring and every other altruistic nuance known to man, but do we really need to know what Liz Taylor has to say? I don't think so.

I did a month stint on a grand jury a few years back and was proud to be a part of the system that pre-considers the worthiness of taking a case to trial so as to not waste taxpayers' funds on frivolous state lawsuits. At the end of this travesty we are going to be seeing how the "bartender" served Jesus Juice to an underaged victim who led police to a secreted room where "rites of passage" where explained to him by someone totally unqualified. Of course the child's parents will be displayed as being irresponsible kooks who live on the outcome of lawsuits...

After everyone is dragged through the mud, it will still be wrong to (have a stranger) intoxicate a child for any reason, and particularly when he is subsequently coerced into observing or performing sexual acts that have been deemed harmful by psychologists and applied to our general laws.

Why does it take four months to re-learn this lesson when it involves a rich Hollywood icon? The answer is usually built into the question, isn't it?

A Few Month's Difference ( a friend's excerpted Blog)

2004-12-23T20:55:00.000-05:00

Dave stopped over for coffee and dessert, and he brought along a few back issues of the NY Times Book Review for me to peruse. Conversations are always fun when Dave stops over, and today was no exception. I've been job hunting for a few weeks now, and Dave suggested offhandedly that I should consider writing. I haven't written anything in ages (blog included), but the idea definitely took seed.

I forgot how much fun it was to sit down and just drum ideas out on screen. I've been in a bit of a funk for the past month or so- not doing anything terribly productive, sleeping a lot, etc., and now that I'm actually sitting here banging things out some of the enthusiasm is coming back. Now that I think about it, a lot of my 'creative spark' took a vacation during college. I was busy all the time, running constantly to turn out papers and make it to rehearsals, but I wasn't putting much personality or quality into it. They were just things I had to do to get a grade, period.

I'm three credits away from graduating now, and I'm realizing that my time is a lot more valuable than I allowed it to be. There were far too many times where I turned in papers at the last minute, slapped together with the bare minimum of coherence necessary for a passing grade. I would walk out of the class thinking how disappointed I was in my work, but could I really do better? Was I waiting until the last minute just to create an excuse for my writing style? If I had budgeted my time better, could I really turn out higher grade work?

Now I wonder- did I sell myself short? A few months ago, I would have said it's too late and then moved on, but now I don't think so.

I may yet be able to prove something to myself; that perhaps, after all, I did learn something.

R I P Fred Fennell

2004-12-07T16:32:00.000-05:00

-----Original Message-----
From: Cathy Fennell Martensen
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 10:37 AM
Subject: Fred Fennell

I've managed to reach some of you by phone, others not, and I did not want to leave this as a voice message.

I want you, and the greater music community to know that my father died peacefully in his sleep early this morning, Tuesday, December 7, 2004. Elizabeth and I were by his side. I had promised him that I would do all I could to get him back to Siesta Key so he could watch the sun set over the ocean. With the help of Hospice, he arrived home in time to see the brilliant orange and pinks in the western skies last evening. A bit before Midnight, dad told me he was "frustrated and disappointed." When I asked him, "Why?" he replied, "There's no drummer here yet. I can't die without a drummer!" I told him that I loved him, and that "Heaven's best drummer was on the way."

Moments later he said, "I hear him! I hear him! I'm OK now."
This was my final conversation with my dad.

I was blessed to be able to dress my father in his finest set of tails after he died, complete with the usual struggle with his tie. Elizabeth asked if he could be "dressed up" and I could think of nothing finer for a lasting memory. Dad asked to be cremated and that I scatter his ashes in the woods at Interlochen, Michigan this summer. This, of course, I will do.

Elizabeth is OK at this point. We are closely watching her, monitoring her blood sugar levels and seeing that she gets the diet and rest she needs after such a life transition.

There will be a small Memorial Service at a church in Siesta Key. No date or time has been set yet. As knowledge of my father's death is communicated, please keep both Elizabeth and me in your prayers.

Fondly > Cathy Fennell Martensen

Feel free to forward this email.

Honk if you know Bill W.

2004-12-05T17:40:00.000-05:00

To many Bill W. is the guy who helped straighten out an alcoholic's life, perhaps their own.

My friend "Bill" W actually is a John Witte who adopted the nickname about 80 years ago for whatever reason; he came from a family that was a collection of names other than those on birth cert-papers. Wife Katherine was Kitty, Daughter Katherine was Kassie and Lynn was Pinny- short for Pinhead when she wasn't called by her given name.

I will never forget the fact that I met him through his daughter Kassie in the winter of 1965 after heading up to Buffalo for a NY State School Music Association (NYSSMA) performance at the State Music Festival under the direction of Arthur Fare, another legendary Valley Stream music teacher of which there were many. Apparently I made enough of an impression on her that she decided to split from Kenny Bannerman and join me for the busride home- 10th grade, 15, and she had two inches of additional height on me. Yikes! And at 54 in January, you would still be hard pressed to think of her anywheres past 45!

Bill was a strapping guy then- 6'2", 230ish- who worked as a maintenance crew chief at Pan American Airlines. In those days parents drove their kids who went to different schools in the same high schoool district to their friend's homes and there was usually a reciprocal drive back by the parents of the home being visited. This was a real trip for me in that Mr. Witte (pronounced "witty") had an array of the most unusual vehicles on the planet to my teenaged eyes- two Saabs with suicide doors and a Citroen. He drove them to their limits as their suspensions were far ahead of comparable American whaleboat family cars, so each trip was an adventure in A2B travel. I dated his daughter for about 8 months or so before Bob Dibble's car was deemed far more sophisticated and cooler than my 15 speeder.

Nearly forty years later I still know Bill. After escaping from Ohio State in 1980 I came back to Long Island to live and work with my new family and a career that was almost pre-destined, and certainly filled with folks lined up to have as clientele. They turned out to be some of the nicest people on the planet, and one of them was Bill Witte. This time the tables were slightly turned, however, since he had to listen to the "rinse and spit" commands coming from his dentist! LOL!

So what of it?

I have seen a man in his late 40's and early 50's mature into the fellowship of those in their 60's, 70's and now his eighties with an insight that is usually only observed by family. After Kitty passed in 1979 he was a lost soul as I was told by him just a few months later when he broke a tooth and saw my shingle up. I can remember the anxieties he displayed when he realized that he wanted to have a partner again. ( Read needed an anchor in his life.) His turmoil soon ended when he met Madeline and once again had a kite-flying mate that enjoyed boating as well. Happy and busy- Bill's best state of being!

Unfortunately he has now gotten to the point where he has being taken into "custody" at a nursing facility where Kassie works as the Speech and Hearing Department Head. His days are shortening in direct proportion to his memory banks and abilities to exercise his inate engineering skills. I doubt there will be any more bagel mornings or BS-ing about his adventures past.

It's getting harder to distinguish his being a skeleton supporting his thoughts or an emptying shell trying to still contain them. His frustrations bring on a streaming review of cusswords and "Christs", and he brags about still possessing enough personal vinegar to get him back home.

But then again he never really understood "peace" on anyone's terms...
I hope he finds some before the Long Rest and my next visit.

Twelve Three O'Four

2004-12-03T18:07:00.000-05:00

Last year at this time a Monsterblizzard was about to hit Long Island, and in Rockville Centre, NY, children were gearing up for the NutCracker. I was finally having a great cup of coffee with babyRed, expecting to play euphonium at the Clarion, PA, TubaChristmas a couple of days from then.

I can still feel the handshake, left/left, and our first (and last) hugs.

December 3, ‘04-
Her cat has new litter and she is happy.

Happy Birthday Megin Marie Hanely!

2004-11-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

Best wishes to you!
The FOM's-
Alex
Dave
Bill
Frank
Paulie
Mr Mucklehoney
Vic
Ritchie
& Jan

Odd note from my father...

2004-11-13T13:48:00.000-05:00

My father died on January 13, 1979, having never met his second grandson. In May 2004, he would have celebrated his 60th Anniversary of Graduation from the University of Pittsburgh with a Degree of Doctor of Dental Medicine.
This note typed itself at exactly 1:48PM which coincides with my son Ed's birth 25 years ago today:

Poppy,

It isn’t often that our worlds seemingly meld through each other in more of the way the universe really works ala Einstein and the Richie Finemans of the world, but with the anniversary of my departure lining up with things and your buddy Col. Pf arriving in Iraq and, let’s not forget today being Eddie's Birthday, I figured what the hell, time to splash a note. (Don’t worry- I failed the entrance exam but am allowed to use the figure of speech.)

Things will improve soon in your life. Someone is discovering all the good stuff was "kind of like it should be" and will be back around Christmas. She knows you would prefer taking care of both her cats instead of just the one, and does miss you, believe it or not. Look at that Uni Church and take her there. It’s a good foundational place- ecumenical in attitude. She may like it enough to stay a while.

Since it’s Eddie’s Birthday- he has a bad cold! - I wanted to thank you for honoring my name in his, and although I believe we only met the Eichhorns once, I am sure Lowell would feel the same way as I do about his carrying our names collectively into the future. We both are in awe of your talent and personage, Edward Lowell, and wish you the best in celebration of a Qter C.

I hope this holiday season provides great personal and spiritual growth for you and Julia, Eddie and all yours touched. Take better care of yourself and never again allow yourself to become robotic. My film viewing, albeit limited, doesn’t have a long list of very happy robots. Lastly- I do mess with the office lights. Confirmation noted.

Love-
Dad

NutCracker Season Arrives Tonight!

2004-11-12T15:00:00.000-05:00

The South Shore Wind and Percussion Ensemble's Principal Players of Brasshorns will be performing an eclectic variety of muscal pieces including:

Purcell Suite
America the Beautiful
Selections from The Sound of Music
Simple Gifts
Christmas Carols (by request)
When I'm Sixty-Four (2015(M))
Glad Rags for Brass 5tet

at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, NY, 7PM on November 12, 2004.

Walter Fremer
Mark Bennet- trumpets

William Riley- french horn

Alex Marks- trombone

Roger Geddes- tuba

This Fundraiser Concert will help support the local production of
The NutCracker Ballet and the Rockville Centre Guild for the Arts

At least SEINFELD was about nothing...

2004-11-10T23:59:00.000-05:00

Just watched TV's WIFE SWAPPING Show

(Aside) I am in the process of making a 50 year old bunch of dental records into confetti and what better thing to do but turn on some mindless background noise after a martini flambe'? Channel 7 out of New York (or was it 5?) BFD - No cable anyways...

So the swap: a very trim Militaristic Christian Vegetarian who home schools and her likewise family versus the slovenly oafish monjo-lardasses whose home makes my place even look like a frick'n palace! (New Crapperspritzenraum soon a cumin in). The wives have to live like the other family's environment for the first 5 days and then the families must comply to the single input/rules of the stranger mom for the next five.

It was only something Jerry Springer could have been proud of, and the worst thing I have seen since TEAM AMERICA.
Sorry almost forgot! Before that there was NANNY 911. They get a British nanny to unravel unruly households.

Hoping my movie watching partner comes home soon! LOL! 'Gettin' late!

Psilent Pmelody of Pmassalane

2004-11-06T12:01:00.000-05:00

I grew up with dogs as the family pet, and the title is the AKC name of my favorite animal Chicklet, an Old English Mastiff who weighed in at a trim 145lbs. She had the most unbelievably gentle temperment imaginable around anyone from little kids to my fat old men buddies who used to sit around and harrumph the night away with tall tales, history reviews and details regarding auto restoration projects. Nothing ruffled her at all over her tragically short life of almost ten years; tragic in that had she been a Miniature Pinscher like Mom's Shorty Flash, her life and her contribution to the family's stability would have been doubled.

All of my pets since finishing school have been named after gums that you buy and chew, usually causing cavities that only a dentist could appreciate in terms of their destructive nature and resultant income. LOL! Her name, in particular, also has a dedication built-in since my study-bud in dental school also had a silent P as a start- Pfirrman to be exact.

The silent P has also interested me ever since I spent time dealing with a psychologist as a result of depression. Examination of one's tendencies and historical decision-making can get very interesting. Additionally he made it clear that the tendencies of most people can be predicted based on familial dynamics and accompanying individual characteristics as well.

At first I strongly disagreed and we went through the nature v nurture arguements; my position was that people can learn to outgrow the cycle, and his was that they may just modify it to some degree but rarely break out of it. I must say that my observations since have proven his position to be more correct. Sadly so I might add. There seems to be a hardwiring circuit that just does not release even in some of the brightest examples. His example was that chronically abused people tend to tolerate, and even seek, situations that prolong such pathology of belittling and invasive ego destruction.

I still do hope that when people tap the old phrase "The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree" as a reason for a psychological compromise, someone proves that there are Johhny Appleseeds still providing some alternatives away from that particular cyclical statistic on a regular basis. We all love apples enough to warrant the effort...

Thank you Pierre Richard Villez

2004-11-05T23:45:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while you sit and think about things that most folks don't take the time to consider- like what was the history of your daily appreciations. This evening was one of those times for me.

As I sat in my principal trombone seat listening to Stanley Drucker punch out the Mozart Clarinet Concerto twice at a dress rehearsal, I thought back to the first person in my life that triggered the possibilty of this evening ever happening. That person was Mr. Villez.

Back in the late 1950's I was introduced to music at my local elementary school where Mr. V was the same person whom I had just seen playing trumpet in a summer band concert out at the Valley Stream Bandshell under the direction of Dr. John Smith, the godfather of music in our town; he was part of the Leroy Anderson "Bugler's Holiday" trio along with Frank Tronsor and Laurent Eversley.

We were able to start any instrument we wanted in the summer before second grade and I was amused by that thing that looked like a kool paperclip. ( I still see it that way! LOL!) By the end of second grade I was proficient enough to actually be recommended for private lessons by Mr. Villez, and so he passed along Kenneth Menrad's name to my parents and I started soon afterwards at the outlandish (by today's standards) fee of $3 per week. I was to remain a student of Mr. Menrad until senior year of high school after participating in several NYSSMA events locally and at state levels. Briefly, I went on to study music at both undergraduate and graduate levels with trombonists derived from the Emory Remington set of teachers from the Eastman School of Music- Ron Cox and Reginald Fink, respectively.

So back to this evening's thought. As the rehearsal continued with the 4th Symphony of Tschaikowsky, I was reminded of how special my days have been as a result of being exposed to music in general, and, more specifically as a player. After a long day of work, it has allowed me to feel the comraderie of reproducing the great master works of symphonic literature with 60 other players who come together after years of studying their instruments with the single purpose of reiterating historical musical scores, as well as just having fun doing Dixieland gigs and accompanied solos on occasion.

What may be most important as an aside to all of this is the fact that I have gotten tenfold the enjoyment by inviting people to participate in listening to, or performing in, groups that they may never have had the pleasure of hearing. When that brandy-warm feeling hit me on the ride home, I could only think of the people who have enjoyed music around me over many years and that guy who used to play along at lessons with bubble gum working between takes and a cigarette in his ashtray between students.

I can only hope that I have been able to pass on his energy to others as he did to so many firsthand over his lifetime. Those who have felt the joy of music through me can only thank Pete Villez for all of that vibe...

STERN GETS BUSH ELECTED

2004-11-03T06:30:00.000-05:00

HollyWood can be thanked as well.

Just as the US does not, and did not, understand the Semetic Mindset (Both Jews and Arabs are commonly stubborn, thank you), Democrats do not understand the Evangelicals (read silent majority).

Word of mouth, as inaccurate as it can and could be is far more reaching than a tv screen ever is.
Jim Bakker used it... We prefer 3D presentations!- learned that from Paul Boucher many years ago.

So when Stern creates a focal point for a sermon, that sermon already has a label attached to it that the congregants have already learned to rally against. I am sure that Stern's praising of Bush the days after 9/11 were NOT discussed since that would have only raised his name up on a tidal wave of support, but when he held up the facts against Dubya and gave reasons for supporting Kerry... well, you saw the election results. All the right wingers seem to live in those red states, don't they??

I prefer the blues.

The demographic of those within drafting age was pitiful. They may listen to Howard, but they forgot to sign up and said FU when it came time to exercise their civic duty. Wait till their reality hits the FAN.

Yikes!

Arrival Bedtime Story

2004-10-30T19:15:00.000-04:00

I am an APPLE guy- have been since before the "C"; then moved up the Mac ranks. I was pretty responsive to the intuitive nature of the machine so IBM did not have a chance of prying me loose. In the early 1980's I was on the original Brainstorming Team for DentalMac, just after Patrick and Mike got the 15 page brochure ready to take on the big guys. Lotsa fun!

Due to an injury I was forced to look into something other than being a Cavity CreepFighter. It just so happened that a local dental laboratory was looking for someone to be an all-purpose guy, and that guy became yours truly. A few weeks into this experience I saw "THE APPLICATION" appear before me in terms of what I could do with something as simple as HYPERCARD or FILEMAKER, so I asked if they were interested in using a computer. The current owner was a bit ahead of his time and even envisioned barcoding "product" as it would have traveled through the lab. The project was started; my Mac was portered daily as was its hip "trademarketability".

All was developing nicely when the serious nature of the MacIntosh was displaced by a very expensive IBM system. It was back to overseeing associates at the office.

In March04 I was hired to return to that same lab, where there was enough computer power to have put NASA to shame only a few years ago. The problem was that they stayed committed to DOS too long and it was so comfy that they did not follow expert advice to upgrade with the technology available in both soft- and hard- wares. The bookkeeper got so attached to the DOS that she has made progressing to WINDOWS nearly impossible. (See referenced below about two entries ago)

Long story shortened- they are using towers as printer servers and on occasion they go down. After hooking up the monitor to the printer server a few times and having Hardware Pete guide me through the return to normal, I realized after the third trip to MonitorLand that all I was doing was observing it all come back to life after I pressed F1. Yes that simple!

The other day when it happened I grabbed the damn console without even hooking up the monitor, gave a loud disgusted sigh, and with Steve Martin's "Leap of Faith" churning in my pea brain, I said, "On the count of three, the devil will come out of this machine and it will be healed!"

F1, F-One
Its will be done-
On Earth as it is in Heaven!
Hold the Bread and F3 the Bastards!

Goodnight, Nancy Carol :-)
And NO it doesn't work on Harry!

We'll always have Valley Stream...

2004-10-25T02:30:00.000-04:00

BabyRed was not too happy this afternoon
Overwhelmed a bit too much with the learning process.
Kinda like growing pains for the brain/mind nexus.
Headaches have been powerful/Cramps of Olympic Proportions/Dido played next/LOL!
Sometimes it is a crapshoot/Sometimes maybe even a SEND button...

We'll always have Valley Stream/(M)/a

NYPAWAPA

2004-10-23T00:52:00.000-04:00

My best friend has quite a trip ahead, and no, the Title is not a tribe of Native Americans.
Left NY to be reinstated as an owner of a Pennsylvanian vehicle with a few miscellaneous errands as well, maybe even a severe haircut! Definitely at least one church gig!
Has to come to some social decisions that will follow some statistical path OR NOT, and those are never easy. That's the WA part. Also several definitions may be reworked after some contemplation. Serious words and definitions.
Then there is the return to the HomeFront where the Truth will be exercised or exorcised.

In either case I will not have lost a friend.

Bfrom Aaetsch

2004-10-20T16:50:00.000-04:00

There was a Bfrom Aaetsch
Workt her very same platsch (sic on purpose)
She DOS wants, no windows for her!
Learning surely raises her fur.
Must be tough as a wife
That Bitch from Nu-Life!

Chorus to be announced!

Fondlings

2004-10-16T19:10:00.000-04:00

I truly loved the woman I had been living with for around four months.
Her laughs were so visceral they hurt, and her tears came from her toes.
She admitted a heartfelt impression from a time when she picked me up from work.

I hope she remembers.

Groundbreaking

2004-10-14T17:40:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the inspiration.
Short sentences and all.
(M)