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Archives for August 2017

“Oh Really”

August 31, 2017 By Larry Adamson Leave a Comment

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Just some thoughts:

“I was never really insane, except on occasions where my heart was touched.”–said Edgar Allan Poe

Poe’s mother-in-law was also his aunt. You think you would want to marry one of your cousins?

Upon his death October 7, 1849 a reporter wrote in his obituary: “We hope he has found his rest, for he needed it.”

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June 14, 2017
Keep on,
Larry Adamson


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GREAT NIGHT LISTENING

August 30, 2017 By Larry Adamson Leave a Comment

 

​Just some thoughts:

When I was on staff at the United States Golf Association I worked a lot of odd (long) hours.

Often I would be in the office working late at night. I would walk down to the kitchen put on a pot of coffee then go back to my office to work. At that time there was a radio show on a station out of New York City that I would listen to as I worked that featured nothing but Frank Sinatra music..

It featured an outstanding disc jockey by the name of Sid Mark, The Sid Mark show would be on every Friday and Saturday nights. Friday nights out of Philadelphia and Saturday nights late out of New York. One night Saturday night I was so taken with an album he was playing I called the station and talked with him regarding the album he had just played.  Thus through him I obtained a copy.     

If you want some great late night listening get yourself a copy of the great guitarist
Tony Mottola—-  “All The Way.” It is Mottola’s tribute to Frank Sinatra. Being from the old school I have it on vinyl.  
 
Possibly the best two instrumental renditions of “I’ll Never Smile Again” and “This Love of Mine.”
 
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October 1, 2016
Keep on,
Larry Adamson 

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CHARLIE PARKER                             August 29, 1920-March 12, 1955

August 29, 2017 By Larry Adamson Leave a Comment

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Just some thoughts:                                          

Surely there are famous people that we don’t particularly have a fondness for their talent, their art or their skill but yet an appreciation for them.

Example for me would be Charlie Parker. Over the years I have listened to a bit of his work but don’t really care that much for his music. But he must have been a genius in his work. I can assure one that you will not find any of his cd’s around anything I have. He will not be played in one of the old car rides I often take to the country.   

Current day examples for me would be say Prince or Freddy Mercury of the group Queen. My son and I sat the other night here in Franklin and heard  the artist who replaced Mercury with the group Queen after Mercury’s death. Without question my son had a much greater appreciation for the talent this man was sharing and with the audience on this evening than I did. 

A few years back Clint Eastwood made what I thought was a very good movie on the life of Charlie Parker called “Bird.” My cousin and I sat in a theater in Greenwich  Village in New York City and watched the film. The film did not inspire me to run and buy any of his works, but we both came away with a greater appreciation of Bird and his talents.

One does not have to especially like what another does to appreciate and be respectful of the talent that it takes to perform that skill. Far too often one  bases whether something is good  or bad based on whether they like it or not. Not a good gauge. 

“When Bird was 16 he looked 38. He had the oldest-looking face I ever saw,” said a Kansas City jazz-club owner.

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July 19, 2017
Keep on,
Larry Adamson


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ANDY ROONEY

August 28, 2017 By Larry Adamson Leave a Comment

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Just some thoughts:                                                

To a lot of folks Andy Rooney was just some old codger that appeared at the end of a TV  show each Sunday night called “Sixty Minutes.” Well Rooney was more than just some old codger with over grown eye brows, who looked like he had never smiled. 

When I was a teenager I once heard an old fella, who was standing behind the old coal stove at Gunn’s Grocery store in my hometown of Pimento, Indiana, say to some whipper snapper, “If you’d just shut up a bit  more often and listen more to some folks around you who have lived life a bit more than you, you might just learn something.”  Rooney once said  that :”The best classroom is at the feet of an elderly person.” 

I get that. I think we all can learn from the generation (s) before us. I have always felt that way about Rooney. Rooney lived to be ninety-two years old. He died November 4, 2011. Often on the show “Sixty Minutes” he would just share some bit of life he had experienced. His wit and wisdom caused me to pick up his book My War–Andy Rooney. Rooney served in WW II.

There are some classic lines in the book. He spoke of his mother. “She was a great mother to have and I’ve often wondered how she was able to get so much satisfaction from doing for us what so many mothers  today do without satisfaction.”

He once said of himself: “I never gave into the idea that I was stupid even though there was some evidence of that.”

“A good teacher hands out more encouragement than pupils deserve as a matter of teaching technique.” I like that one and also believe it should happen.

Rooney’s assessment  of college ” College often brings out the worst in perfectly good young men and women.”

Rooney makes an interesting observation about many college students. Today first rate colleges get as many as three to four times applicants as they can accept. Go to one of those campuses, colleges today on a party week-end and one might wonder what the college applicants who weren’t selected must be like if  these were the young people attending are the cream of the crop. Ouch.

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July 28, 2017
Keep on,
Larry Adamson

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EXPIRED

August 27, 2017 By Larry Adamson Leave a Comment

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Just some thoughts: 
 
               F.Scott  Fitzgerald once said: “There are no second acts.”
 
In other words, things have expired.
 
But I do believe and am thankful for second chances.

 
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​June 7, 2017
Keep on,
Larry Adamson


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THANK YOU ANDREW CARNEGIE

August 26, 2017 By Larry Adamson Leave a Comment

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  Just some thoughts:                                  

Needless to say I never met him but if I did the first thing I would say to him would be, “Thank you.”

I had just been in a small town back in my home area. While there I visited the grave of my parents and an aunt and uncle, my dad’s brother and his wife. All four, special people in my life. Something I always do when I go back to that area.

Earlier that day I had been in the library in my hometown area (Terre Haute, Indina) a few minutes north of where I was now. I had just left the local library and thought “I think I’ll just take a drive around the town square.” Something I had done more times that I could count in my youth. Sadly as I drove the square I was reminded of a line from an Alan Jackson song: 

                “I go back now and the stores are all empty–except for an old coke sign dated 1950” 

Making a loop I saw the old fountain/soda shop that I used to frequent. Back then it was Arnold’s News stand.  Surprising It appeared to still be in operation. So I stopped, parked the car and went in. I I even got a cherry coke that they had from the fountain.  

As I sat in one of the old booths from years gone by I took out a folder. I wanted to read some of the papers I had copied while at both libraries.  I had gone to this last library as I wanted to look about some local history of my grandparents and read some of the sports pages from the time I was in high school in that area.

I had copied pictures, articles and box scores. Yes, I am even vain enough to say, I copied the article that had listed yours truly as “Honorable Mention” on the all tournament  team in the Indiana state high school sectionals. Earlier I had driven by the old gym where that sectional was held. The gym thankfully is still standing but no longer used by the high school there for their play.  I had  worked the doors open enough for me to squeeze in and take one more look at the old gym.You know  I think I even heard the thump of a ball bouncing,  the yell of an old cheerleader and the ref’s whistle.  The old scoreboard was still hanging in the southwest corner of the gym. 

Now why the thank you Andrew Carnegie. I do sometimes get side-tracked. The small library where I had spent a good part of the day was a Andrew Carnegie library.  Andrew Carnegie at one time was said to be the world’s wealthiest man. He believed so much in education and gave much of his wealth away so cities and towns could have a library. It is said that 1,689 library were built with the monies he gave. The library in this town was built from his money, built in 1905. I believe this picture is of the library in Sullivan, Indiana. Along with the library in Terre Haute I had often stopped at this library for some research. Side note: You know a lot of those old “rich guys” in our country’s history  get an unfair rap regarding their wealth. Not all of them “robbed everyone.” Some certainly gave back.

I go to the library often. Often means two-three times a week. From a very early age of our grand kids I started the practice of taking  them to the library. Yes often it was done under the bribe of “ice-cream/ cookies afterwards.” I firmly believe if a kid/ child will read, learn to like books, they will get themselves educated in some manner. One of the questions I try to often ask my grand kids is “What are you reading?”

So Mr. Carnegie I say thank you and I think a lot of folks do also. 

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November 12,2014
Keep on,
Larry Adamson 


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A ROOSTER

August 24, 2017 By Larry Adamson Leave a Comment

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Just some thoughts:

Most of us in our youth had things said to us by older people that we often well, laughed at, ignored or just plain thought was stupid. 

I grew up in a rural community and often old men would say to the young especially teenage boys certain bits of “wisdom.” I can remember these things being said with a group of us standing around an old stove at the local grocery store, at the feed mill, garage, restaurant or fillin’ station.   

For whatever reason they felt the need to saying something they felt might help us in our journey from youth into a more maturity level.  Or sometimes just busting on us. One old boy used to say to us after a ball game, in which we had probably lost: “You boys—I think the only think you boys use your heads for is to separate your ears.” An often repeated line at my house coming from my grandma would be: “All that glitters is not gold.”

A good friend of mine had this uncle that would often say to him and his siblings about the matter of alcohol:

Boys just remember: “Tryin’ to sneak beer by Jesus is like tryin’ to sneak daylight by a rooster.” 

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August 8, 2017
Keep on,
Larry Adamson   

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IT HAS BEEN LOST

August 22, 2017 By Larry Adamson Leave a Comment

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Just some thoughts:
“Every time a sporting act seems graceless and excessive, every time a player dances and points at himself after making a routine tackle, or a mediocre athlete and his agent hold out for millions, whenever it seems that individual ego has overtaken the concept of team, the question can be asked: What would Lombardi do about this? Why isn’t there anyone like the Old Man out there anymore?”
 
David Maraniss–When Pride Still Mattered
Then equally sad…they ask: “Who was Vince Lombardi?” 
 
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January 10, 2017
Keep on,
Larry Adamson

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BILLY WADE

August 20, 2017 By Larry Adamson Leave a Comment

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Just some thoughts:
 
                                                   
 
Revisionist historians.  I’m seeing too much of them. Folks who want to take past events and then write them to fit into an agenda they have. Far too often I am seeing this and in all walks of life and  history. 
 
Sometime back a local paper here in Nashville made the sports claim that a Vanderbilt star defensive player, linebacker, who was said to be a mid-first round draft pick,  was “the most decorated player in the history of the school’s football program.” Made me wonder about the competence of the writer of such a line. Not only his competence but his age and his knowledge of the history of the  school’s sports program.
 
Bill Wade. Or Billy Wade to most people who knew him. Bill Wade (October 4, 1930- March 9, 2016) was a football quarterback who graduated from Vanderbilt and played twelve seasons in the NFL.He was the starting quarterback on the 1963 Chicago Bears NFL championship team.
 
While Wade was at Vanderbilt he was named the Southeastern Conference’s Most Valuable Player. He also was named second team All-American. He was named the MVP in the 1951 North-South Shrine game. He also played in the Senior Bowl in 1952 and was selected to play in the College All-Star Game in Chicago.
 
He was the first player selected in the 1952 NFL draft by the Los Angles Rams. He quarterbacked the Rams for seven season and then was traded to the Bears in 1961.Now I could go on and on about his stats  It was said of him that he was one of Nashville’s most famous and favorite sports stars ever.
 
Not only today do we have folks who want to re-write history but sadly we have too many folks now days who are calling themselves reporters who I believe do not have a sufficient grasp or knowledge of history. I just have to laugh and then I feel a sadness as today I too often see on television/ news print or radio those who want to call themselves reporters, journalist and some of their actions. Recently I watched as one of the “nightly newsmen”  for some reason an outlet felt it was important that the public watch as he ….I am not making this up…we watched as he got his ear pierced. And you want to talk serious journalism, reporting to the American people? 
 
I thought of such folks as Edward R. Murrow…John Cameron Swayze, Walter Cronkrite, Lowell Thomas….and others…but you know…some of the so called tv/ radio/ press people I am not sure they would even know who these guys were….hum Murrow.
 
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​February 20, 2017
Keep on,
Larry Adamson

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AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

August 19, 2017 By Larry Adamson Leave a Comment

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Just some thoughts:

             “If it be possible as far as it depends                    on you, live in peace with all men.”
                   Romans 12;18

“I overlook quite a few things. If I don’t get along with someone, I leave them alone. I don’t dwell on the negative.”—Said by ninety-three year old Sonja. (Another Country-​Mary Pipher) 

The Message says it this way:

“If you got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even, that’s not for you to do.” 

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May 2, 2017
Keep on,
Larry Adamson


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Larry Adamson

About Larry

Larry Adamson was raised in Indiana.  After teaching and coaching for several years he worked as Director of Championships at the United States Golf Association in NJ.  He’s retired, living just outside Nashville,TN.  He blogs about his favorite things: sports, music, old cars, and the good ole days.




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