Category: Uncategorized

Fall has always been my favorite time of year. The weather plays a part, but football is the main reason I can’t wait for the turning of the leaves. I guess I better qualify my statement, I mean college football. I’ve lost my taste for the pros; being a Falcons fan will do that to you. The current ownership of the Falcons has left me following the Patriots, which I know is weird. I do follow my Georgia Bulldogs. I’m happy that there’s a Bulldog on the Patriots now so I can justify my interest. I’d hate to be thought of as one of those guys who just picks the best team as his favorite.

It is funny that what was once an obsession for me from the 60’s through 2000’s has become a “passing interest”. I can say that the avarice shown in this time of Covid 19 has turned me off, but that’s not the only thing.

The obsession for new stadiums by the team owners has left me cold. The idea that you could take a twenty year old building and blow it up to salve the ego of a rich guy, seems so wrong  to me. It just seems to me that you could have a cage match with Jerry Jones and Arthur Blank to determine the “greatest owner”, or whatever they want the title to be, and leave the public out of it. Taking tax funds that should go to rebuilding our cities’ infrastructures and padding the NFL owner’s coffers with them is so wrong. Only one franchise, Green Bay, has managed to keep their team out of the hands of a self interested individual. Go Pack!

The NFL is a massive industry, spending billions of dollars to capture the interest of what they hope will someday be a world wide market. Games are now being played in Europe to try to get a foothold for a worldwide viewership. Is there a chance that the NFL could be cannibalized like back in the old days of the AFL, or the USFL, to establish a European Football League? Not bloody likely, as the Brits say.

Soccer, or “football” as they call it in the rest of the world, is the dominant sport for billions worldwide. Soccer fans are passionate beyond belief, and they are everywhere. Drop a soccer ball in Timbuktu or Shangri La and the kids will know what to do with it. Most importantly, all of them will participate, not just the biggest and fastest.

Bigger and faster is what will bring about the end of football as we know it. Profits over player safety has always been the rule. Anyone who has ever been told to “shake it off” knows what I mean. The long term effects of two bodies colliding at thirty miles an hour will bring about the end of college football. Once the college farm system has been curtailed, the NFL will become arena football with a World Wide Wrestling vibe.

Why am I predicting such a dour outcome for America’s favorite sport? The average lifespan of an NFL player is 58. Think about that. The average lifespan of your everyday couch potato is 76, but he will outlive the finely tuned NFL athlete by 18 years. Seems atypical, doesn’t it? Hundreds of miles run, millions of pounds lifted, gallons of sweat poured out pursuing your passion and dead before you can collect Social Security.

Obviously changing the rules is in order, and in fact, is ongoing. What’s not clear is if we will go from football to rugby, or eventually soccer? Football without the violent impacts is rugby, so maybe that’s the answer for those of us who are not baseball fans.

I don’t look forward to life without college football, but I do see the day coming. I won’t miss the Falcons one bit.

A lot of life’s biggest decisions are narrowed down for us. Take religion for example. As much as every zealot would like to scream in your face that they are serving the one true religion, ordained by the only, one true God, their choice of beliefs was narrowed by geography.

The map below, located on the PBS LearningMedia page, shows very clearly how the colors/religions are clumped together. Studying a world map of religions broken down by geographic area confirms that religion is pretty much a function of who got there first.

Judaism, the original religion, doesn’t show up on the map until you pinpoint Israel. Why has the world’s oldest religion not fared better in terms of growth and popularity? Well, you have to be born into that club, and to their credit, they don’t hold membership drives or send out missionaries. Judaism is a very exclusive club that is selective in its membership.

Looking at the map allows one to speculate that if the Crusades had gone the other way, and the Muslims had defeated the Christians, the map would look very different. One can’t help but wonder if there could have been a singular point in a battle that swayed the war and the course of religious history. Was there some small unnoticed event that resulted in changing the temperament of the world for generations? Something arcane like in the poem by Benjamin Franklin?

Would the Muslim conquered European countries of the 1500s have sent explorers to look for New Worlds to conquer and proselytize? If so, would the Muslim explorers have felt the need to decimate the native peoples and their religions like the descendants of the Christian Europeans did? One wonders.

It’s kind of interesting that the Asian countries have heard the pitch from the Muslims and the Christians and seem to be happy to remain Buddhists and Hindus. Christianity and Islam have made inroads, but the religion of choice remains the one that got there first. Hinduism is believed to have started in India around 5500 BCE. Buddhism started spreading from what is modern day Pakistan about 300 BCE. Both are still the dominant religion in their area.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that nearly 72% of Americans live in or close to the city where they grew up. 65% of the population in the U.S. identifies as Christian. Based on the fact that the majority of people continue to live in their hometowns, it’s likely that a follower is not only a Christian but a member of the same church their parents attended. If you were brought up in the Full Gospel Original Church of God, it’s likely that you’re still a member.

I appreciate the fact that with most people religion is baked in. What I don’t appreciate is the idea that someone presumes their experience is unique and that their message demands to be heard. A person’s inner dialogue, with whatever power they believe in, is personal. Because I don’t believe what you believe doesn’t mean I didn’t hear your message.

I heard it, I just rejected it.

At times you get embarrassed to be considered part of the same species as some of our elected officials. There have been far too many of these times of late.

Recent trips to some of the cities struggling with the aftermath of police shootings have led the whitest white man in America, Mike Pence, and his benevolent benefactor, the Donald to conclude just one thing. The fires that have resulted from the back and forth of the protesters, police and bugaloo boys are acts of political terrorism. The “terrorism” has been perpetrated of course by the protesters, some of whom include known ne’er do well groups such as the “Wall of Moms”.

Let me just say, I am shocked and appalled. Has anyone ruled out the Saudia Arabian Islamic Fundamentalists who hate us for our way of life? Has anyone ruled out a rogue Boy Scout attempting to get their bonfire badge? Has anyone ruled out the local TKE fraternity? They are a well known bunch of fire starters.

Speaking of Firestarters, where was the little girl from the Stephen King novel? Has she got an alibi? Once you fly through the looking glass with the current Republican administration, anything is possible right? By defining the protests as political terrorism it opens a whole new can of worms for everybody.

If one were to Google “Political terrorism”  one would find a list of criteria that experts feel must be in place to separate political terrorism from, say, a drunk bunch of college kids. I think this definition makes an interesting distinction: “Political terrorism differs from criminal terrorism in that political terrorism usually involves efforts to influence an audience. Generally speaking, the criminal terrorist does not want a big audience.”

So a political terrorist creates an act that gains maximum exposure to his cause. Think bombing the statue of Lord Nelson by the I.R.A, the Paris Bombings or the Centennial Park bombing in Atlanta. These were huge events that were designed to get maximum coverage for the terrorist’s manifesto. Eric Rudolph would not have been satisfied with setting fire to the Pic N Pay in Murphy, N.C.

The use of the term “political terrorism” doesn’t pass the smell test, and probably everyone flaunting the term knows it. It’s been fifty years since anyone on the Left has been motivated enough about a cause to bomb anything. While the thoughts of a second term of this president are completely frightening, it doesn’t rise to the level of targeting the Danish Brotherhood Lodge in Kenosha. The fires in Kenosha are not a rallying cry for the Left, believe me.

It is political fodder for the Right, though. Now the Donald has some actual protester violence set here in America to replace the previous Ukraine footage he used in his ads. The visualization of burning cities will be used to convince his followers that the Biden campaign and the Democratic Party will lead to complete anarchy. The Donald conveniently forgets that the fires, like the Covid, occurred on his watch, and, whatever the problem, “he alone can fix it”.

If you don’t see the similarities between the Donald and the rise of some other famous white supremacist dictators, then you should read more. The Reichstag bombing would be a good place to start.

Let me begin by saying I love Zombies. I will watch or read anything Zombie related. In fact, I love listening to The Zombies, “Tell Her No” is one of my favorites.

“Tell Her No”, might be a kind of, sort of segue into talking about the Donald’s recent polling. Maybe if the Donald had learned to “Tell Her No” when all of those women were throwing themselves at him, forcing him to abuse and violate them, the Donald might be winning in the polls. Instead, he is speaking to less and less people at his rallies. It seems that some of his dedicated followers have become shamed by the effects of his actions. Children in cages is never a good look, even if they are brown. Some of the most ardent Republican party-liners are holding their nose and crossing party divides in search of a better candidate / human being.

But what about the remaining followers, his base? Who are these Zombies that will follow the Donald over the cliff in the blind pursuit of “making America great again, again”? Well, first off, they are people who believe facts will never “trump” their firm convictions. Absolutely no evidence can dissuade the Donald’s supporters that we are not headed to Hell in a hand basket, and that only the Donald can save us. After all, He, the Donald said, “I alone can fix it”.

No evidence can be brought forward that will convince these Zombies that Obama was a good President. Pointing out to Trump supporters that Obama did a great job, in spite of a completely dysfunctional Congress’ lack of support, is like waving a bucket of brains in front of a Zombie. It sends them into a frenzy. The Zombies reaction to a black president is almost as strong as it is to the thought of a woman President. Why? What is this broken portion of the brain that no longer responds to reason or reality?

I’ve come to believe that the Donald has figured out a viable subliminal message system and is using it to disconnect the frontal lobes of his followers. Just like the movie theaters used to do by flashing pictures of popcorn and candy to entice the audience to the concession stand, the Donald is showing imagery of evil immigrants of every color and religious persuasion to cause his Zombies to salivate for their blood.

I don’t think the Donald’s skilled oratory can explain the trance like state of his followers. Even when rousing the rabble with exultations from the podium like, “I will build a great wall–and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me–and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”  I feel like the audience’s reactions are less about the words than some complete loss of cognition, or, susceptibility to the subliminal messaging.

Perhaps the Donald’s participation in politics is all about Beta testing his next world-wide scam, the “Trump Trance”. I can envision the whole program unfurling before an unsuspecting universe. The program would only be found in the gift shops of Trump hotels and taught by certified Trump instructors. The advertising just writes itself:

“Book your next management seminar event at a Trump Hotel and receive one complementary “Trump Trance” program. “Trump Trance”, guaranteed to get your employees thinking just the way you want them to. Professional discounts available to autocratic dictators”.

I’ve been through a lot of presidential campaigns. I am old. I even remember watching the Republican national convention with my family when Eisenhower was nominated. Our TV had a small black and white screen and was subject to weather interruptions affecting our antenna. No, we didn’t have cable back then.

It was before the Internet and not even the most enlightened science fiction writer had conceived of the idea of Tweets. Yes, it was a simple time, but, there was a truth in that simplicity that is sorely lacking in today’s media.

It seems that the major news services, CNN, et.al. are content to allow the general public, or worse, party hacks to formulate the news delivered to the general public. Our news services have fallen so far down the black hole of hyperbole and innuendo that they are allowing anyone with a phone or Skype account to be a credible news source, and therefore have an audience.

In the interest of “fair and balanced”, a phrase coined by the most unfair and unbalanced agency out there, news agencies have abdicated their responsibility to provide their viewership with the thing we crave the most, the truth. The abdication has come over a period of time, but it has risen to levels invoking the gag reflex in this campaign.

Candidates and surrogates are allowed to go before a national audience and spin lies while hiding under a smoke screen of obfuscation. Where are the investigators, the truth tellers? Where are the Edward R. Murrows, the Walter Cronkites of the millennial generation? Why is everything that we see on the news presented in a manner that invokes “he said, she said” scenarios that are never resolved?

Are high ratings the only consideration for today’s news services? Is providing a format for the deranged and delusional the primary interest in presenting a topic? I see the journalistic imperative that requires a rebuttal to a breaking news item, such as a video tape of a candidate taking a bribe or such, but where does it say the anchor has to allow the rebuttal to include not only a response to the news item, but a response that attacks some other issue? Have today’s anchors not learned the term “diverting”, or is ignoring the diversion their way of keeping the viewership of the accused party?

Allow me to oversimplify. Chicken Little goes into the barnyard proclaiming, “the sky is falling, the sky is falling”. Stalwart reporter, Bob the Burro, looks out from his shed and determines that there is no immediate evidence at hand that the sky is falling. He then interviews other members of the barnyard in different locales to determine if they have experienced any “sky falling” activity. Next he investigates the personal history of Chicken Little and determines that Chicken Little has been under psychiatric care for some time due to “flights” of fantasy.

At no time would Bob the Burro seek to find a Chicken Little apologist that would attempt to explain what Chicken Little really meant. At no time would Bob the Burro seek to find an “expert” that could give credence to the possibility that the sky could fall. Bob the Burro knows that it’s not in his purview to make a story, it’s to present the facts of the story he’s been given.

If only our current news agencies were as smart as Bob the Burro.

I’m including a picture this go round to illustrate how sometimes the passage of time will cloud our perception of reality. What you see in the picture is the largest antifa protest ever organized. This is the view of an American soldier who is about to land on the beach at Normandy, France on D-Day. This relates to me personally because my dad was on the battleship U.S.S. Texas that day providing artillery support for the invasion.

The D-Day Center relates that the “D-Day protest” included 156,115 U.S., British and Canadian troops, 6,939 ships and landing vessels, and 2,395 aircraft and 867 gliders. Of these brave men, 14,000 would die on the beach. This collection of patriots were in that location at that time to register as strong a protest as possible to the takeover of Europe by the Fascist regimes of Germany and Italy.

The White House archives reports that From D-day through August 21, the Allies landed more than two million men in northern France and suffered more than 226,386 casualties: 72,911 killed/missing and 153,475 wounded. Wikipedia states that between 70 to 85 million people died as a result of World War II. Think of it, 70 to 85 million died as a result of the world trying to oppose Fascism. Fast forward 80 years and we live in a world where the President of the United States wants to have an Anti-Fascist group categorized as a terrorist group. ????

In the South we have a saying, “you’re either fer me or agin me” The phrase “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is a little too deep for most of us. We have a tendency to just line people up one side or the other of the chalk line and proceed. How we got to the point of the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy is some seriously convoluted thinking. Everyone who loves democracy, freedom and liberty are opposed to Fascism. How can one be opposed to an anti-fascist group?

WiKipedia offers us a pretty good definition of Fascism, “Fascism is a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.” Hmmmm! So, if I was a person seeking absolute control, wanted to suppress criticism of me by the press, wanted all industry in the hands of my family or loyal supporters, wasn’t inhibited by any moral standards and was willing to stoop to using racism or xenophobia or bigotry to further my goals, I might be a Fascist. Hmmmm!

Occam’s razor works pretty well here. It makes perfect sense why an authoritarian President might want to label an anti-fascist group as a terrorist group. A terrorist group in the U.S. would be under the constant scrutiny of the FBI. Labeling Antifa as a terrorist group would make it simple for the FBI to persecute/prosecute them. I guess in the end it all boils down to the southern solution, “you’re either fer me or agin me”. If we’re picking up sides, put me in the anti-fascist camp.

Sometimes when researching what seems like the obvious, one finds a complete outlier that dispels all of one’s preconceived notions. While looking for a list of the countries that had the highest number of college graduates per capita, I came across a few surprises. In my preconceived notion, I would have put all five of the Scandinavian countries in the top ten. It is clear that I missed that day of schooling.

Turns out, Russia leads the pack of the most college graduates by population. Following along behind Russia are: Canada, Japan, Israel, United States, Korea, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Ireland. Wow, I really proved my lack of knowledge there, not a Scandinavian country in the bunch.

During President Obama’s administration, high school graduation rose in the U.S. to record levels and continued to rise until 2017-18. During this period there continued to be a wide disparity between the white graduation rate and blacks and Latinos, but all groups advanced during the Obama administration. More high school graduates equates to more college candidates, and, regardless of background, all children deserve a shot at college.

My interest in higher education is multi-pronged. First off, it’s just more fun to talk to educated people. There’s a lot more to learn. Next is a concern for where the United States will find itself in the next decade or so if we don’t keep up with the other countries in terms of educating our youth.
It’s very easy to see how multi-national companies would be more interested in placing regional offices in countries where there is an educated populace.

My next big concern is for the long term well being of our country. Generally speaking, the better educated people are more tolerant. They realize that while others may have different life experiences, those life experiences don’t disqualify them from being good citizens, neighbors, friends or even family.

Many on the far side believe that education is the problem, not the solution. They believe that only by keeping their children in the dark regarding disparate views to their own that they are keeping their children pure to the family’s belief systems. I say give them all of the views there are and then let the child prove or disprove the theories as an exercise in academic discipline. If man has only been on the Earth for six thousand years, gather the evidence and present the proof. “I believe” is not a proof. I might believe three plus four equals eight, but I am certainly unable to prove it.

Ensuring our children get the best education possible is one of the most important challenges facing a parent. We can see from the list above that four other countries are guaranteeing that their children are better able to negotiate the future than the United States. The fact that the United States is fifth on the list in spite of the enormous debt placed on the students and parents is remarkable.

For all of those who want to “Make America Great Again”, and are determined to make the U.S. number one in every measurement, can there be a better place than college graduates? Of course we’d have to make education from pre-K through graduate school free to all to attain the number one spot, but isn’t that a small price to pay for world dominance?

Since most of us are not in the one percent, or even the ten percent, we have all experienced the lash of privilege in some way. The privileged can exclude us in oh so many ways, exclusive clubs, schools, neighborhoods, etc. But some times the ways are not as obvious, like children playing baseball.

Growing up we had one “wealthy” family in our neighborhood. The Greens always had the latest and the newest of everything from cars to the first color TV in our neighborhood. What was most important to me though, was that the boy my age had every toy and piece of sports paraphernalia known to man. Whenever pickup games were called, and the group was between baseballs or bats or gloves, we could always ask Mikey to play. The invite always included his equipment.

Now, on the surface it sounds like we children had negotiated a settlement that worked for all. Mikey got to play, which would have not been the case had he not provided the equipment. The rest of us got to play with an endless supply of new equipment. Win, win, right? Not really.

It seems that the privileged learn at a very early age that if they are the providers of capital, in this case balls and bats, then they are due a return on their investment. Foul balls are called fair, strikes are called balls and tag outs always “just missed”. For a while the rules can be bent in the interest of getting to play, but eventually, an event takes place that is so egregious that it cannot be ignored. At that point the privileged go to an arguing position that must be learned in utero.

The argument might proceed in a normal fashion, with a reasonable back and forth, until the ultimatum will be delivered, “if you don’t do thus and so, then I’ll take my bat and ball and go home.” Depending on the lateness of the hour, we might decide to let Mikey take his bat and ball and go home and wish him Godspeed in doing it. It was a lot harder decision in the early innings.

How all of this relates is the trumpeting of one Donald J. Trump that if he loses, the election must be rigged. Having been allowed to bully and coerce everyone around him since birth, he is now thoroughly convinced that the world agrees with his every thought. If the polls say something different, then they are rigged. If the election does not go his way, then it would have been stolen from him.

The Donald has gone so far with his lunacy to suggest that his minions should monitor the voting booths. Nothing says a fair and impartial election like a group of armed skinheads at every polling place.

Being held hostage by the fear of a revolution if the Donald doesn’t win is not a situation that any American, Republican or Democrat, should stand for. Even Trump’s Libertarian supporters should rebel at the extortion being employed.

Fortunately there are a few adults left in charge. Even some of the most staunch Republicans are calling for the Donald to quit his whining and just run his race. Let’s all give democracy a chance

As far as I am concerned, I am more than happy for the Donald to take his bat and ball and go home. “Good riddance to bad rubbish” as we used to say when we were kids.

Saw the headline the other day where Congress was going to change the retirement rules. Silly me, I thought they meant them and not us. The other certainty in life besides death and taxes is that at some point you’re going to have to retire unless you’re a member of Congress. A classic example of “I make the rules for thee, not me.”

If you’re a member of Congress you get to stay on as long as your campaign machinery can convince your constituency that you’re still bringing home the bacon. Consider the case of the oldest person to ever serve in Congress, Strom Thurmond. Strom made it to one hundred and formally retired from Congress in 2003. He didn’t make Robert Byrd’s record of longest serving member of Congress, 51 years, but did wear the crown of being the oldest body to answer the roll call. When the people that they serve are routinely starting to look for soft places to land at about age 55, and even face mandatory retirement, why do Congress critters get to continue on well past their prime?

The current Senate includes these octo and septuagenarians:

State	First Name	Last Name	Party	Age	Birthdate
California	Dianne	Feinstein	Democratic	87	6/22/33
Iowa	Chuck	Grassley	Republican	87	9/17/33
Alabama	Richard	Shelby	Republican	86	5/6/34
Oklahoma	Jim	Inhofe	Republican	86	11/17/34
Vermont	Patrick	Leahy	Democratic	80	3/31/40
Vermont	Bernie	Sanders	Independent – Dem Caucus	79	9/8/41
Kentucky	Mitch	McConnell	Republican	78	2/20/42
Idaho	Jim	Risch	Republican	77	5/3/43
Maryland	Ben	Cardin	Democratic	77	10/5/43
Maine	Angus	King	Independent – Dem Caucus	76	3/31/44

There’s some important names there, as there is in the list from the House:

ST-DIST	First Name	Last Name	Party	Age	Birthdate
AK-AL	Don	Young	Republican	87	6/9/1933
TX-30	Eddie Bernice	Johnson	Democratic	85	12/3/1935
FL-20	Alcee	Hastings	Democratic	84	9/5/1936
CA-32	Grace	Napolitano	Democratic	84	12/4/1936
NJ-09	Bill	Pascrell	Democratic	84	1/25/1937
KY-05	Hal	Rogers	Republican	83	12/31/1937
CA-43	Maxine	Waters	Democratic	82	8/15/1938
MD-05	Steny	Hoyer	Democratic	81	6/14/1939
CA-12	Nancy	Pelosi	Democratic	80	3/26/1940
SC-06	Jim	Clyburn	Democratic	80	7/21/1940
NC-04	David	Price	Democratic	80	8/17/1940

A lot of Democrats, and I know they mean well, but are there not some people out there that don’t think that the internet is a series of tubes like Senator Ted Stevens from Alaska did? Of course he was eighty-three at the time and maybe the fast pace that the world was spinning was just beyond his grasp, like his Metamucil.

I realize I’m risking throwing out “years of invaluable experience” by proposing that we put a federal age limit on government workers, but why should our representatives not have to deal with the same environment they place us in? What decisions would they make if they knew they were going to be turned out to pasture at age 65? What changes would occur to Social Security, Medicare, et al if the Congress critters knew that they were going to be constantly threatened by the loss of benefits from a group of untouchables?

It’s hard to enforce empathy, I know, but by putting Congress in the same boat with us, at least we know they’ll take care of themselves even if they don’t feel empathy for the less fortunate. Empathy aside, let’s discuss decision making.

Decision making ability tends to peak around age 50 with younger people making decisions based on how they see the future or would like for the future to turn out as opposed to the elder population using prior experience to flavor their decisions. We all have hundreds of examples of “we’ve always done it this way,” I share in the guilt. What’s hard to do for older persons is to keep up with advances in technology and social mores that the younger generations have already adapted to.

We’ve determined that twenty-five for the House and thirty for the Senate is the minimum age for which one can have the maturity to be a Congress member. Rather than the age-old question of term limits never getting resolved, maybe we should resolve to turn all Congress people out at age 65, regardless of the length of their term.

While driving to work today I heard the news that David Bowie had died (January 10, 2016). He was 69, a young man. Well, maybe not young for a rock star, but too close to my age for me to dismiss it. He died of liver cancer, which may have been an indicator of his rock star lifestyle. Apparently, he had been battling the cancer for about eighteen months. Who knew? It’s very sobering that a man that lived his life so flamboyantly, died so quietly. There was clearly something there deeper than the makeup, glitter, and good hair.

Everyone who was alive at the time of his release of a Space Oddity back in 1969 remembers the song word for word. Heck, probably everybody since then knows most of the words. My guess is he could have lived a comfortable life off of the royalties of that one song. David Bowie was not a one trick pony though. He went on to have hits in assorted styles in different decades. Bowie’s persona even took on the alter ego role of Ziggy Stardust for a while. Ziggy Stardust may have been a foreshadowing of Bowie’s desire to act, which he did very well, in my opinion. 

During the Ziggy Stardust period I didn’t follow Bowie, and apparently neither did anyone else. When he released Diamond Dogs back in 1974, I was back on board again. The album featured two hit tunes, the title song, Diamond Dogs, and Rebel Rebel. A long way from “ground control to Major Toms.”

Diamond Dogs was one of the two albums I used to play to go to sleep to at night. The other was Tubular Bells. It was a tough patch for me, but not David Bowie. Bowie had moved to the U.S. and was reemerging as a rock star. There were a ton of hits, one of which provided a career for another musician. Bowie’s song Under Pressure provided the bass lick for Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby, recorded eight years later. Vanilla Ice claims to have not ripped off the song, but please. Give both songs a listen.

Bowie’s acting career is as important to me as his musical accomplishments. Some of his films include, The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Hunger and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. One of the tests I use to determine if an actor or actress has done an excellent job with a role is asking the question if I can picture another person in the role. If I can’t, then I determine that they have done a fantastic job. Watch the three movies above and then ask yourself if you can picture anyone else in David Bowie’s role. I bet you can’t.

A little factoid, that I was just reminded of, was that David Bowie was actually born David Jones. Not wanting to be confused with Davey Jones of the Monkees, Bowie took his last name from the famous American adventurer. I guess he felt a kinship with America early on.

Bowie just release an album, Blackstar, and in tribute to his memory, I will buy a copy. Who knows, I may even use it to go to sleep to.