THE DAILY BOSCO

The Twinkie Defense

2012-02-21T00:14:00.000-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

Do you know what I miss?

Helms Bakery.

When I was a kid growing up in Fullerton this guy that sort of resembled a cross between Sheriff John (you know, the host of the mid day show in Los Angeles back in the 60's for kids) and the Man In the Yellow Suit from Curious George would drive a cool yellow Chevy truck on to our street, ring his bell and we would all go out to greet him with a fist full of dollars and coin.

Me, our neighbor Barbara with curlers in her hair and fuzzy slippers, my first crush and really cute neighbor with a Southern accent Tammy, Mrs. Leverich, Bob our neighbor with the beautiful dog...and various others on Rosslyn Street. It was kind of like going to a portable Starbucks in the middle of the road. We would chat, hold up traffic, and get caught up.

And Sheriff John (actually I think this guy's name was really John) had this wonderful assortment of fresh donuts and pastries and coffee and milk and other goodies. Sort of like a Dunkin Donuts or Winchell Donuts on Wheels.

It seemed like such a great concept. I can't remember when or why it died out.

Probably about the same time gas station attendants stopped full service and 7-11 personnel stopped serving Slurpees. Somewhere along the line great customer service became uncool all of a sudden.

I was thinking about this the other day. I was in a Starbucks. I was wondering why somebody like Starbucks or Panera Bread couldn't do the Helms Bakery thing and drive a truck into neighborhoods. Then I got to thinking...I really am not crazy about Starbucks coffee. A coffee roaster friend once told me it was over roasted coffee and I went, oh yeah, I guess it is. But then I started looking around Starbucks and the following day Panera Bread.

It's really not about the product. It's about the socializing and the community. In those two places and others, to be fair, there are great conversations going on at all the tables or somebody is writing or somebody else is reading. That's what it really is all about...human contact and sharpening our brains with stimulating conversation.

Just like standing in the middle of Rosslyn street in 1965 with the neighbors and the Helms Bakery Truck.

Blood Feuds and Forgiveness

2012-02-20T03:52:00.000-08:00

The Business
Filmmaker Joshua Marston
KCRW Radio 89.9 FM (Santa Monica, CA)
Link via Bosco Radio: News and Information
Monday February 20, 2:30 PM PT

Filmmaker Joshua Marston's movie Forgiveness of Blood is about blood feuds in Albania and it has sparked a feud of its own after being disqualified as an Oscar contender for best foreign-language film.

Marston tells his side of the story on The Business radio program today and challenges the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' rules. His film opens in Los Angeles and New York on February 24 and extends to more cities after that.

Plus, The Business goes behind the scenes on producing the Independent Spirit Awards-- indie films' biggest event. Put on by the non-profit organization Film Independent, this awards show is like no other. It's a luncheon where whiskey flows like water and the past hosts like John Waters, Sarah Silverman and Rainn Wilson were irreverent and unpredictable. This year it will carry on that tradition with Seth Rogan as its host. The event takes place Saturday, February 25 and airs that night on IFC at 10pm.

Today's Banter Topics on The Business:
- Former agents sue actor Chris Pine
- Comcast earnings show life for Universal and cable channels
- Oprah tweets to Neilson families, then apologizes

This program is now archived at www.kcrw.com

Come For The Music...Stay For The Food

2012-02-19T08:39:00.000-08:00

The Slidebar
Downtown Fullerton. CA (by Train Station)
5 scoops of Bosco

Reviewed By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

The thing I forget sometimes about growing up and living in Fullerton, CA is the rich rock n' roll tradition of the city. This dates back to when Leo Fender, a Fullerton High student and his buddy Bob Blackburn (who would go on to be the voice of the Seattle Supersonics) would hook up amplifiers for the Fullerton High School football stadium.

Fender of course would go on to start his guitar company in Fullerton and would build Stratocasters and great acoustic guitars for everybody from Chet Atkins to Eddie Van Halen to yours truly, the Bosco Editor.

So it's only natural for a city who gave us the likes of Jackson Browne, Social Distortion, the Adolescents, Dick Dale, Gwen Stefani and No Doubt and the OC Punk Scene, would have a Rock and Roll Club. The Slidebar is the club.

The first thing of course is the music. You never know when you are going to be listening to the next Righteous Brothers or No Doubt at the Slidebar and that's part of the big attraction.

One of the things that attracted me was the LP cover style menu. The liner notes got me going because it was talking about Social Distortion and one of the founding members...Rikk Agnew. It was Agnew that took exception to a review that I wrote in the Fullerton High School newspaper, the Pleiades. when we were both seniors about his then band at the time's performance at a show on campus. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed after he threatened to kick my ass. Rikk would go on to form Social D with Mike Ness and his brother Frank Agnew and be one of the main influences in the OC Punk Scene in the late 70's and early 80's with the Adolescents and Agent Orange.

Everything is done right at the Slidebar (which was the Hub in another lifetime) from the gooe food, good bar, wonderful and friendly staff (who I believe all play in rock bands...at least they look like they do). I had a Grilled Breast of Chicken Panini with garlic fries which really hit the spot. They also have wonderful Kobe Beef Burgers, steaks, pasta, salads and breakfasts served all day which comes in handy for the rock n' rollers. I picked up a cool tee shirt (one of the many promotional items)

One More Before The Road

2012-02-18T03:45:00.000-08:00

Prairie Home Companion
Sunday Feb. 19; Noon PT
NPR Radio in your area
Link via Bosco Radio Entertainment
Powered by KPCC 89.3 FM Pasadena, CA

This week's Prairie Home Companion radio program is a live performance from The Fitzgerald Theater in Minnesota.

This the final broadcast from the Fitzgerald before the show heads out on the road.

This week's special guests: Flatpicker of fiddle tunes and alumnus of the Powdermilk Biscuit Band, Adam Granger and vocalist Heather Masse (pictured above). Plus, the Royal Academy of Radio Actors; Sue Scott and Tim Russell, Kenni Holmen, Steve Strand, and Dan Newton sit in with The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, and of course the latest News from Lake Wobegon. The host, as always, is Garrison Keillor.

Look for Public Radio listings in your area. You can also Link and listen via Bosco Radio Saturday: Entertainment starting at 6 PM Pacific Time Saturdays. The replay can also be linked at 12 Noon on Sundays.

The Best of Garrison Keillor can also be heard every Saturday Morning at 7 AM PT via Bosco Radio Entertaiment (powered by BBC Radio) The links for both shows are in our sidebar.

So Long, Kid

2012-02-17T01:40:00.000-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

Gary Carter, the Major League Hall of Fame Baseball player who was born in Culver City and raised in Fullerton and honed his skills in Fullerton ballparks, has lost his battle with Brain Cancer. Carter died at the age of 57 on Thursday morning.

Ironically, it is the official start of Division 1 college baseball today. It was as if one season ended yesterday and a new one starts today. Adding to the irony is the fact that one of those games is Cal State Fullerton (Gary's hometown college team) against Florida (his home when he passed yesterday).

Carter, affectionately nicknamed "The Kid" because of his youthful enthusiasm for the game of baseball and positive attitude, grew up in my hometown of Fullerton and played baseball at Nicholas Park (West Fullerton Little League), Amerige Park (Fullerton PONY Baseball) and for his alma mater Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton.

“Besides being an outstanding player, Gary Carter exemplified the kind of person that parents hope their Little Leaguer can become,” said Stephen D. Keener, president and chief executive officer of Little League Baseball. “He truly was one of the good guys.”

Carter played for the West Fullerton Little League Major Red Sox, mentored through his Little League baseball years by his father, Jim Carter.

Gary went on to become one of the game’s dominant players, and one of only four catchers with 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs, 1,000 RBIs and 300 homers. (The others are Hall of Famers Yogi Berra, Carlton Fisk and Johnny Bench.)

Gary and his father, James, were guests of Little League Baseball in Williamsport in 1985, when Mr. Carter received the Parents of the Year Award.

“My dad was my coach, but he was also my best friend while growing up,” Gary said in a story published in the 1985 Little League Baseball World Series program. “You see, my mom passed away when I was a kid playing Little League. Little League seemed to be the saving grace at the time. My dad and I became even closer after her passing and much of our time was spent on the Little League field."

In 1985, Gary’s parents were named Little League Parents of the Year for their involvement in West Fullerton Little League, and in 1993, Gary was presented with the Bill Shea Distinguished Little League Graduate Award. He remained, all through his life, one of Little League’s greatest supporters.

A few years ago Gary returned to his hometown to manage the Fullerton Flyer Minor League baseball team. With his enthusiasm and his love of the game and city, he led the Flyers to a Golden League Championship in his very first year.

It was around that time that officials with West Fullerton Little League approached Carter about renaming the Major Field after him. Carter declined but insisted the field be named after his father, James, who he credits with his success in baseball. As a side note, I think it would be fitting now to rename the field James and Gary Carter Field.

The longtime New York Met went into the Hall of Fame wearing a Montreal Expos hat, but is widely recalled for his time in New York, where he spent five of his 19 seasons, including a World Series title in 1986, his first year behind the plate for the Mets.

He also added 12 years with the Expos where he started his Major League Career and one each with the Giants and Dodgers. At the end of the day, Carter hit .262/.335/.439 with 2,092 hits and 324 home runs.

Carter was a manager for West Palm Beach Atlantic University when he was diagnosed last May and was able to visit the team as they began their 2012 campaign two weeks ago. Gary went out a winner there too as his team was 5-2 before he passed away on Thursday. In true Gary Carter fashion, his love of family was foremost. The reason why Gary found his way to West Palm Beach was to be close to his family. His daughter is the head softball coach at West Palm Beach Atlantic University.

In an emotional ceremony last season at a baseball game in New York there was a "Stand Up to Cancer" day. People came with signs about their loved ones supporting relatives and friends with Cancer. Ron Darling, the pitcher, and Carter's battery mate on the 1986 World Champion Mets held up a sign in support of Carter which simply stated "My Catcher". Carter saw the sign while watching the game from his home and text Ron Darling with a message of appreciation. "I don't know if Gary was crying as he text the message...but I was overcome with emotion when I saw that text", said Darling.

"My wife, Sandy, and our children and family thank you for your thoughts and prayers," Carter told his fans when he was diagnosed last year.

Thank you Kid. You will be missed.

My Afternoon With Del, Arky, Walter, Willard and a Fender Stratocaster

2012-02-16T03:44:00.000-08:00

By Allen Bacon
Daily Bosco

Photo: Eric Clapton, plays his signature Fender Stratocaster. The Bosco Editor closed his eyes and pretended to be EC at the Fullerton Museum.

When you are born in Fullerton California they give you an Orange, a baseball, a baseball mitt and a Fender Guitar or Bass (your choice...I got a Fender F-65 acoustic) and then they slap you on the butt and then you start your life.

It is your birthright. They also tried to give out Toyo tires but that never quite caught on.

My friend and fellow four time NCAA Champion Cal State Fullerton Baseball fan Tom Elliot (not to be confused with Tom Falvai my other good friend who has become the unofficial team mascot) and I were getting caught up over the weekend at Tom's very cool vintage sports memorabilia shop, Pastimes Collectibles in downtown Fullerton.

Oh, before I go on, Pastimes Collectibles is located in an old converted hotel. It's called the Villa Del Sol now but back in the day it used to be a Hotel called the California Hotel. Since Eagles front men Glen Frey and Don Henley used to hang out in Fullerton with Jackson Browne....you see where I'm going with this? This building was the inspiration for "Hotel California".

Anyway, I'm getting more and more envious of Tom by the second because he just told me that he is heading to Florida for the opening series between the Florida Gators and the four Time NCAA National Champion Cal State Fullerton Titans. Then he reminds me about his wonderful season tickets...the best seats in Goodwin Field. I'm on my heals now but I come back strong with a "well...welll...I'm going to see TCU against the four Time NCAA National Champion Cal State Fullerton Titans before heading out to Arizona to catch a bunch of Preseason MLB Games."

I figure we're even and then he lays on me the fact that he helped install this very cool exhibition about the history of Fullerton Baseball a few years back at the Fullerton Museum (which is a converted library where my Mom and my Aunt Doretta used to take me when I was preschool age...but that's another story for another day) and he just happens to have the stuff in his shop.

So if you're keeping score at home it's Tom 3, Your Bosco editor 2 and Tom has won in the bottom of the ninth with a walk off homerun.

So this baseball exhibit sounded intriguing. Because any Red-blooded Fullerton male will tell you that we have more Hall of Famers per square mile than any town. The greatest pitcher of all time....The Big Train Walter Johnson, Arky Vaughan, Gary Carter, and Willard Hershbarger all played as kids on Fullerton soil and they played for Fullerton High School (well Gary Carter went to Sunny Hills in Fullerton along with Jackson Browne...but we won't hold that against him). Then there are the guys who should be in the hall of fame. Guys like Del Crandall, Steve Busby, Keith Ginter, Jeff Robinson, Phil Nevin, Aaron Rowan, and others who all played in Fullerton.

So I went to checked out all the cool stuff in the exhibit like the 1905, 1927, 1930, and 1932 team photos from the Fullerton High School Indian baseball teams. Which gave me a great idea. Those flannel uniforms were so cool with the Indian Head logo, they have to bring back this retro style to the current team this year before they have to drop the Native American symbol with that proposed California State law. (Which by the way makes me furious because I've talked to many Native Americans over the years that have no problem with Fullerton High School being called the Indians as long as it is tastefully done...but I digress). There was other stuff, like Walter Johnson's glove and original baseball card and much more. I was in vintage baseball heaven.

After I finished looking at the items at the exhibit I wandered over to the museum and came across another cool exhibit...The Leo Fender Exhibit. For those unaware, Leo Fender was born and raised in Fullerton, went on to start his factory in Fullerton producing electronics and guitars, bass guitars, guitar amplifiers, electronic keyboards. This exhibit had the history of the man and the factory but that wasn't the coolest thing. In the middle of one of the exhibit room...there it stood like a beautiful siren seductively calling out to me...."Play me, Play me". She was gorgeous in lacquered baby blue and chrome pickups...a 1960 Fender Stratocaster hooked up to a Black Fender amplifier. Next to it was a sign reading something to the effect that anybody could play her. You didn't have to ask me twice.

Because it was Super Bowl weekend, I basically had the Museum to myself. And the acoustics were awesome. After tuning her up, I launched into the nastiest blues rift I could conjure up. And they say time travel is not possible. All of a sudden I am transformed back into time with my band in high school with Grant, Steve, Bobby and me and all is right with the world. I was brought back to 2012 reality real quick when my cel phone went off. I needed to be on the other side of town and quick.

I did get two thumbs up from my audience, the two museum desk people. That was good enough for me on this day. Now if I could just find where I parked my 1965 Mustang....

Pro Baseball In My Hometown? Not So Fast

2012-02-15T02:21:00.000-08:00

Op-Ed By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

One of the subjects that is near and dear to my heart as a life long resident of the City of Fullerton, CA is the rich tradition of the game of baseball that my home city has. This goes back to the turn of the 20th Century when a young future hall of famer Walter “Big Train” Johnson pitched for my alma mater Fullerton High School. That tradition continued all through the 1900’s. In addition to Johnson, Major League Hall of Famers Floyd “Arky” Vaughn and Gary Carter, and great diamond stars like Del Crandall, Steve Busby, Keith Ginter, DC Olsen….so many more that it would fill volumes….hailed from the city of Fullerton.

All of the aforementioned players, many other great baseball players, many of my good friends and my son and many of his friends all have one thing in common. We have all played baseball on the same field in Fullerton…..The park that is now known as Amerige Park .

Amerige Park as a baseball park has had so many great memories it would be hard to list them all in this space. For instance, it used to be the home field for Minor League Baseball Spring training. The Portland Beavers and the Los Angeles Angel minor league teams used it for spring training and preseason games in the 30’s and 40’s. On a couple of occasions it was the host of a big exhibition game like the time the Cleveland Indians played Portland or the Chicago Cubs played their farm team the Los Angeles Angels. And for many years it served as the home field for Fullerton High School and Fullerton College great baseball teams of the past. Even to this day, the frosh-soph baseball team at Fullerton High uses Amerige for it’s home field.

One memorable season our four time national champion Cal State Fullerton Titans used Amerige Park as their home field while Goodwin Field was being built on their way to another College Baseball World Series appearance. I remember distinctly seeing future major leaguers Mark Kotsay, Phil Nevins, Stanford’s Jeffrey Hammonds and many more play at Amerige Park that season.

Amerige Park has been used as a movie set more than once. It is the star of the 40’s film “Alibi Ike” where it doubled for Wrigley Field. It was also host and star of other films as well.

One of my favorite personal memories of Amerige Park is riding my bike as an eight year old boy in 1968 from my home in Fullerton (by Richman School) to the park. I was a member of the Dodgers Pepsi Fan Club and some of the Dodgers came to Amerige to sign autographs and give away tee shirts and other Dodger treasures. I didn’t even mind if Pepsi and the Dodgers sent their rookies fresh from Albuquerque. That day I would get my glove signed by Bill Russell, Billy Grabeckiwitz, Davey Lopes, and Steve Garvey…before they all would go on to have huge careers.

Ever since I can remember, Amerige Park has hosted PONY Baseball. This is the league where the kids play after Little League and before High School. It has also hosted the Colt League games for high school age kids for the summer and our outstanding American Legion teams over the years. It has also hosted some wonderful High School baseball tournaments as well where the best teams from all over Southern California and beyond come to Amerige and Fullerton to play each other during the spring.

But the biggest of all the tournaments that Fullerton’s Amerige Park and Fullerton PONY baseball hosts is the PONY Tournaments during the month of July. For many years it has been a tradition for Fullerton to play host to teams from Southern California, Northern California, Hawaii, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Oregon and the rest of the Western United States. Two seasons ago, for the first time, since Fullerton and Amerige Park have done such a wonderful job, the PONY organization named Fullerton’s Amerige Park as the host site of the PONY World Series. Teams from all over the world and country converged on Fullerton for the World Series.

Our guys that run PONY baseball and Amerige Park have done such a wonderful job over the years of hosting these tournaments it has become a great event to watch and a wonderful place to watch. Our guys keep the fields in pristine condition. It has become a tradition for me to go out the first morning before the first game of the first tournament to go out and talk to my friends Ralph and Jess and stand on the field and walk with them as they chalk the lines and just marvel at their work.

Most golf course managers would be green with envy to see this field on that day….usually around the first of July. And Amerige Park is just a wonderful place to watch a baseball game anyway. It has great sitelines (there is not a bad seat in the house) and it is just a quaint downtown ballpark with the excellent view of Fullerton City Hall in left field, the police station in center field, the sound of the freight trains rumbling by the right field line. I love it….especially on a Mid –summer night after work…relaxing eating a carne asada taco from the great food stand in the park and a coke and watching the great baseball of the PONY All-star tournaments.

I say all of this because I have mixed emotions. I understand, and have understood actually for the last couple of years that the minor league team the on-time Orange County, once again, Fullerton Flyers wants to use Amerige Park as their home field and are in negotiations with the city to start playing there as soon as possible…possibly as early as this season when the Single A Independent Golden Baseball League starts at the end of May.

I like the idea of minor league baseball in Fullerton. We deserve a minor league team. This is a baseball town afterall. For the first few years the team was known as the Fullerton Flyers and under the direction of GM Ed Hart, a guy who grew up in Fullerton and lived in Fullerton all his life, the team had a real sense of community. But that has all since changed.

The new management and ownership renamed the team the Orange County Flyers and even though they have played at Cal State Fullerton’s Goodwin Field I feel like they are trying to lose their Fullerton identity. Ed Hart, the wonderful hometown GM was let go after his second season. The heart of the team was ripped out. Then the team, last season, pardon the pun, took a flyer. They sat the season out when their lease ended at Goodwin Field. Or as I like to say, they pouted when they didn't get their way.

Now, because you can throw a baseball through the stands at Goodwin Field on game night and not hit anybody, and it looks like no game is being played there when there actually is one because of the very sparse crowds, the management got the idea that they should probably move to a less expensive and smaller venue like Amerige Park. They even want to build a new 4500 seat stadium in it's place, which is ridiculous when you consider the fact the team has probably never drew more than a thousand fans to one game except the night they had the concert featuring Hugh Laurie and Teri Hatcher.

I say no to a new stadium and keeping the existing stadium as it is would be fine, except the following needs to happen:

The Flyers need to once again be called the FULLERTON Flyers. You will be playing in the heart of Fullerton. You need to represent FULLERTON. (To the team's credit, they are actually doing this...but I surmise it is a ploy to get the city's favor)

The Flyers will not be allowed to make any modifications to Amerige Park and stadium whatsoever. This includes putting in showers and locker rooms. You guys want a shower after the game…you can take one at home or your hotel.

The Flyers will not be allowed to disrupt the PONY Baseball season, the PONY summer tournaments, or any other youth league scheduled game. During the month of July (the month of the PONY tournaments and World Series) the Flyers will need to play on the road (much like they do now at Goodwin for the first month of the current season until CSUF finishes playing).

The Flyers will need to organize and participate in free weekly baseball clinics for the youth of Fullerton.

The Flyers will need to maintain the high quality of the field and Stadium. Any damage to the field or stands will result in a fine from the city of Fullerton plus the Flyers will be responsible for fixing the damage.

All concessions, field operations, and stadium management will be run by employees of the city of Fullerton and the Flyers will be paying these salaries and wages.

That being said...let the games begin.

Ghosts of Valentines Days Past Or The Saint Valentine's Day Massacres

2012-02-14T02:13:00.001-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

With Valentines Day today, it reminded me of my not so successful attempts at romance and love during my life. Romance and love are like golf in some ways.

You think you have it down and everything is going good and the next thing you know you are putting out of the rough or chipping out of the sand trap.

I remember my very first Valentine's Day. I was seven years old and in the second grade at Richman Elementary School. I received 14 Valentines from 14 different girls!

Being unclear on the concept, I thought I was receiving 14 proposals to be these girls true love or husband. All I had to do was pick the right one or as one card, which was my favorite, because it had a train on it said, "...choo choo choose" one. Well, I chose this girl, a curly brunette named Theresa based on the fact that she gave me the Train card with a box of those Candy hearts...with each heart having a saying...an expression of her love. Plus that chalky candy that later I found out tasted much like an antacid were really good.

When I tried to return my affection to Theresa after school on the playground she promptly used the occasion to kick me in the groin, which when I think about it is a really good metaphor for what happens when you get rejected by the object of your desire.

Fast forward to High School where I had a huge crush on Darcy. Well actually it started back in Junior High when Darcy and her identical twin sister Donna would say hi to me when I was walking home. To a pimply faced, uncoordinated, greasy hair kid with very low self esteem this was the highlight of my day.

With Darcy and Donna being identical twins, and both of them being the cutest girls in school, this made me aware that what I really liked was not so much the looks, as it was the personality. Donna was a very nice girl, but Darcy just seemed to be more warm and friendly and somebody I could trust. If it was just the looks, I would have liked them equally because I couldn't tell the difference between the two sisters physically...they were both very attractive.

This was also the time where I was introduced to that feeling around your heart, kind of a pain in the middle of your chest when the person you like or love isn't there. Sometimes Darcy would take another way home from school or would be absent. That's when I felt that pain.

This obsession from afar went on into my Freshman year of High School.

At High School in my Freshman year they had a flower sale for Valentines Day. They sold those fragrant carnations....Red and white ones.. and they would send them during the day to the person that you wanted. I thought this would be an excellent time to really show Darcy how much I loved her. I used all of my money from lunch and I bought her one red carnation and one white carnation.

I waited with much anticipation for over 24 hours to see what kind of a reception I would get from Darcy. As the lunch hour approached... when I would see her eating with her friends, my heart started beating really hard...the proverbial "almost coming out of my chest" hard.

Something funny happened on the way to that lunch meeting however. In third period, totally out of the blue, the people handing out the carnations came into the room. All the usual suspects got flowers for sure...Hobie, Patsy, Kim, Laurie...but the next name took me by surprise. They called MY name. First of all I thought it was some type of mistake. Then I realized I wasn't the punchline of a joke. I took my flower, a single red carnation, went back to my seat and opened the attached note with much anticipation. The note was...blank.

Whoever sent me the flowers did not send me a note. My mind was racing... who would have sent me the sweet smelling carnation? I came to the conclusion that there could only be one...the gorgeous young lady who had said hi to me almost everyday for the last two years...Darcy.

The lunch meeting with Darcy was one of those surreal moments when things kind of slow down to half speed. The weather was perfect and sunny. And beautiful Darcy was standing outside the school library with the two carnations I had sent her in her hand. She was by herself as if she was waiting for me although there was no prearranged meeting. I nervously approached her and managed the words, "You got my flowers?" "Yes,", she said, "You are so sweet, thank you so much" as she flashed that wonderful smile and batted those big beautiful eyes.

The next words out of her mouth, however, were not in the script, not mine anyway...

"Who sent you your flowers?", she asked innocently. I stammered as if the words would not come out. "You mean you didn't send these?" "No silly...why would I do that?", was her reply. Suddenly everything changed. Motion went back to full speed, the February air felt a little more chillier and...HE walked up. A handsome sophomore who I didn't know came up and put his arm around Darcy. He had a carnation in his hand, and I could see the opened note signed by her. She politely said bye and the two went off with their arms around each other.

Where was Theresa when I needed her? A quick kick in the groin would have felt ten times better than the pain I was feeling at that moment.

I never found out who actually sent me the flowers with no message or signature. I thought it was Karen, the nice young lady in my math class. But when I asked her...she said it wasn't her. I wrote a lot in my high school days with the school paper and some short stories. Darcy was my muse...in other words, somebody that in my mind I would write to, like she was my only reader, and somehow she would be impressed with what I was writing. She was my inspiration. Later on I found out that Darcy never read the school newspaper or anything that I wrote. What happens when your muse doesn't read your writing? It's like the question about the forest and the tree.

My best consolation, I guess, before I let you go today, is that love did eventually find a way into my life and I've celebrated many wonderful Valentine's Days since. Which goes to show that there is hope, even when the prospects of love look hopeless sometimes.

We Love LA: A Photo Essay

2012-02-13T04:08:00.000-08:00

Hillcrest Avenue
Palm Springs
The Roosevelt
The Eastern Building
Ronald McDonald Addresses The Media
Photos By Nadia Bacon
Special to the Daily Bosco
Jim Henson Studios
Nadia Bacon is a freelance photographer, comedienne, and writer in Los Angeles. All images copyright 2012 Nadia Bacon.

Flipper To The Rescue

2012-02-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

When I was a kid one of my favorite television shows was Flipper.

Every Saturday night my brother and I would gather around our TV with some half burnt Jiffy Pop and watch the adventures of Flipper. Flipper was like Lassie except he wasn't a dog and he didn't have to fetch Timmy out of the well every week.

Flipper was a dolphin who always seemed to have this perpetual grin on his face. Not like a happy grin...it was more like a sarcastic "I'm more smarter and developed than you humans" grin.

And Flipper was always into way more cool stuff than Lassie. Like thwarting drug or gun running smugglers off the Florida keys and he would always wear these pink and teal clothes. Oh wait, that was the other show from Florida..Miami Vice.

I was thinking about Flipper this weekend because I was reading this old story about thousands of dolphins blocking suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships passing the Gulf of Aden a few years back.

The Chinese merchant ships escorted by a China's fleet sailed on the Gulf of Aden when they met some suspected pirate ships. Thousands of dolphins suddenly leaped out of the water between pirates and merchants when the pirate ships headed for the China boats.

The suspected pirates ships stopped and then turned away. They had no choice. The spectacular scene continued for a while.

China initiated its three-ship escort task force after the United Nations Security Council called on countries to patrol gulf and waters off Somalia, one of the world's busiest marine routes, where surging piracy endangered intercontinental shipping.

China's first fleet has escorted 206 vessels, including 29 foreign merchant vessels, and successfully rescued three foreign merchant ships from pirate attacks. About 20 percent of Chinese merchant ships passing through the waters off Somalia were attacked by pirates from January to November in 2008, before the task force was deployed. A total of seven ships, either owned by China or carrying Chinese cargo and crew, were hijacked.

Of course, this whole incident with the dolphins got my wheels to turning. You just know that some Hollywood executive is pitching a new Flipper movie this morning about the dolphin and his friends standing down a crew of Somalia Pirates lead by Johnny Depp.

Or better yet somebody at the Defense Department is putting together a team of dolphins to run interference for our cargo ships...It could happen.

Just Call It Grand Ole Opery West

2012-02-11T06:04:00.000-08:00

Country At The Merc
Every Saturday Night
Shows at 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM PST
Mercantile/Temecula Theater
Temecula, California
Five Scoops of Bosco (Out of Five)

Reviewed by Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

It has been several years since I saw a live country music show at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. I remember one time thinking that it would be cool if somebody brought that idea...a weekly live country music showcase featuring multiple new and established country music talent on one stage, to the west. Well, recently I found it in the old west town of Temecula, California. The show is called Country at The Merc and it runs every Saturday night at the converted old Mercantile building, AKA the Temecula Community Theater. The town is right off Route 15 in Southern California on the way to Las Vegas.

The show is modeled after the local Oprys all through Arizona, Texas, and the South West with different performers each week. This is a contemporary country music show giving local talent and budding country artists a place to ply their craft.

First of all going to Old Town Temecula is like stepping into a scene from Back To the Future 3...where Marty and Doc go back to the turn of the 19th century old west. A lot of detailed attention has been given to keeping the town looking pretty much like it did when it used to be a stop for the old Butterfield Stage Coach Route.

The backbone of the show is the house band, The Ranch Rockers, who are one of the tightest country bands you are ever going to see and hear and three talented lady singers who take turns singing lead and backup with the featured performers.

The Ranch Rockers are Craig Fenton (lead guitar), Mike Petrich (drums), Chris Harris (keyboards), Justin Heisey (guitars), and Sal Hamby (bass).

The emcee is Sandi Capel who doubles as one of the wonderful lead and harmonizing backup singers. Capel is like a country version of Rhoda from the Old Mary Tyler Moore Show. Most of her punchlines are punctuated by a rimshot from the Ranch Rocker drummer Mike Petrich. But the lady can sing too. In the second half of the show she did a soulful rendition of "Preacher Man" that Dusty Springfield couldn't even hold a candle to.

The trio of lady singers who are always on the show with the Ranch Rockers include Mary Gwyn Sanborn and Brianna Parish who do a great job of singing alternating lead and background harmonies.

Then there are is the constantly changing guest roster of local talent that is just wonderful. On the night I caught the show, Laurie Richardson sang great renditions of Sugarland's "Stuck on You", Lady Antebellum's "American Honey" and Carrie Underwood's "Temporary Home". And Ryan Johnson, a guy with a baritone voice that is pretty darn close to Trey Atkins sang a respectable version of "Forever, Amen". And there were many more guys and gals that are one close step away from making a trip to Nashville on the show also.

There was some original music also. Brianna Parish came out with Ranch Rocker guitarist Justin Heisey on acoustic guitar to perform a great original tune to start the second half of the show.

There are two shows each Saturday night. The first show is at 7 PM and features younger talent as the featured artists and the other is at 9 PM with the established featured performers. Tickets are only $15 each.

This same group does Temecula LIVE!. This is a fund raiser for Oak Grove Center that assists abused kids in the area. It will be at the Temecula Playhouse behind the Theater. More info at www.temeculalive.org

Start the evening by visiting one of the many wine tasting establishments on Main Street and/or dinner at one of the restaurants along the way. Or make a day of it by shopping the antique and collectible shops or a stop at one or more of the wineries in the area.

Redefining Hip

2012-02-10T03:43:00.000-08:00

Gina Saputo
Fri. February 10
Steamers Jazz Cafe
Fullerton, CA

Gina Saputo is a vocalist, entertainer, clinician and arranger who has already established herself as one of the hippest rising headliners on the scene.

A native of Eugene, Oregon, Gina began training at the age of 8, singing with the Oregon Children’s Choir. By the age of 16 she was putting together her own groups and singing in jazz clubs, often waiting outside during breaks because she was underage.

From there, Gina attended USC’s prestigious Thornton School of Music, and was awarded the Barry Manilow Scholarship for all four years of her education. Gina studied at Jazz Aspen Snowmass in Aspen, Colorado under Christian McBride. She was interviewed by Dee Dee Bridgewater for her show JazzSet on National Public Radio.

Gina was among seven musicians chosen by Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, and Wayne Shorter to study at the Thelonius Monk Institute. During her time with the institute, she performed for the State Department in Washington, D.C., and toured Viet Nam with Herbie Hancock and Nnenna Freelon.

Her first CD, “Gina Saputo” was recorded with vocal sessions produced by Grammy award nominated vocalist Tierney Sutton, who said, “Gina has the talent as well as the passion to stretch and think outside the box.”

After two successful tours of Japan, her CD has climbed to #3 on the prestigious Swing Journal charts, and has received rave reviews.

She was a guest professor at Gwangju University in South Korea, and toured Japan a second time with Grammy nominated pianist Bill Cunliffe.

Time To Play B Sides

2012-02-09T02:29:00.001-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

A radio station in the area I live has a novel idea. Today they will play entire sides of old vinyl albums...the original vinyl on the air...all day. They've done this before and it's a pretty popular thing.

They are all proud because in the promos they say you can hear every pop and crack. And every pop and crack you did (when they did this before)...and scratches too. The Elton John Madman Across The Water Side 1 was particularly scratchy. One of the songs on a Don Henley album skipped.

I always thought that the idea was NOT to hear the pops and scratches and NOT to skip. But what do I know?

This of course took me back to my first turntable I bought as a teenager. I was really proud of it. I took all my hard earned money and bought this cheap Soundesign turntable. It was ok, as long as you didn't want to hear the first two songs on a side of a LP.

Which was real cool because when they released the CD version of Neil Young's Harvest and Fleetwood Mac's self titled album it was like getting bonus tracks. I had never heard Young's Living For The Country until the 80's because it was the first song on the LP and my turntable couldn't play it. Pretty good song it turns out.

This tradition of having bad audio equipment has followed me around most of my life. One time my Sam and Dave cassette got stuck in my 65 Mustang's tape deck. When I sold the car the want ad read...Car in good condition...must love Sam and Dave..

Well, that's all for today. Gotta go now and figure out why my I-Pod isn't working.

What Happens In the Family, Stays In the Family

2012-02-08T04:17:00.000-08:00

By Doug Vehle, The Daily Bosco

So did you hear that Madonna's brother Anthony was in the parking lot at the Superbowl while she was performing. Anthony Ciccone, of "NOT the Imprisoned Mobster" fame, was paid by a radio station to leave his shelter for the otherwise homeless on a mission to complete "Challenges." No report on what the challenges actually were or if he was successful, but he did manage to use this opportunity to remind the world "Madonna doesn't care if I die."

So if you''re like me, you rank Madonna right up there with Newt Gingrich as the indulent type you have no use for, though you admit you have no serious complaint to make beyond not liking them. That makes it easy to believe the family members who have bad things to say about them, as with Madonna's brother Christopher and his book 'LIfe with My Sister Madonna.' But if you're a reasonable person, as I consider myself to be, you have to allow for the possibility that this other person may not be the most reliable source, possibly having an ax to grind before embedding it in the head of his famous sister.

The point is, there's an other side to everything, especially homelessness. I just came back from the grocerystore, where a "Man" (Or a mouse) was using a shopping cart as a kick scooter while loudly proclaiming himself "Homeless" and in need of money. I can tell you as a onetime volunteer working with the homeless that nearly all such money collected will go to drugs and alcohol. There's even someone on Craigslist trying to trade a "$400 Fullerton College Scholarship" for drugs. So while I'm often buying them convenience store food, they're not getting a dime from me, ever. Whether he was really homeless or just one of many junkies pretending to be I can't say, I can say I took a particular adversion to this guy when he started screaming at a woman because she kept right on talking on her phone while he was begging. Yeah, dude, I think her call probably WAS more important than your addiction. And you better watch how you express your anger toward her while I'm around, or it'll end badly for you. She walked away from him as I ran toward them, he scooted off on the shopping cart. I'm guessing he still had a long antagonistic evening ahead of him. Enough to make me think he's an Occupier. But I don't have to worry about it, he's gone from my life. He's not family.

I may talk tough, but I can't really say they never get any money from me. Sometimes when they've been around enough I'll be talking to them, at some time they feel emboldened and ask to "Borrow" a dollar. Ooops, that gets me started. "You know you're not supposed to be begging here." (They always say they know while waiting for the dollar.) "Don't piss them off here." (Pointing at the store as I say it.) And for a dollar, I never see them begging in front of that particular store ever again, though they might be present.

And there are the two sides: Some hopeless reprobates still have some character, some don't. Sooner or later you have to deal with both, that includes in your family. For Madonna it appears there were problems with most of her 7 brothers and sisters. Problems I know well among the still living 8 of mine. Once the problems are a part of the family, they never seem to go away.

Before you get out your hankerchiefs for Madonna's abandoned older brother Anthony, keep in mind that he was working for the family business less than 2 years ago before his drinking led them to fire him. Madonna has paid for several of his stinits in what must have been expensive rehabilitation facilities, but since he refers to it as being for his "Supposed drinking problem," it would seem the effort was doomed from the start. Apparently the only communication she is willing to have with him is to say she's ready to pay for him to go to rehab again, with him responding "My family seems to think rehab is some kind of magic panacea for life’s ills."

There is one magic to his situation, that is that being homeless merits a lot of attention when you're Madonna's sister, which gives him plenty of opportunity for him to rail publicly, with reporters feeling the need to be fair and admit he'd be drinking throughout the interview. "I’m a zero in their eyes; a non-person, an embarrassment,’ he tells me, his voice rising. "If I froze to death, my family probably wouldn’t know or care about it for six months." If you've ever had to deal with alcoholics, you're not surprised he looks far older than his 55 years. You're used to the tone and the reaction when the reporter asks a pointed question that's not on his script. If you want to be on Anthony's good side, don't ask him what the family has done for him, or is willing to do. He's there to talk about the family responsibility to him, not about his own responsibility. His irresponsibilty is bound to be forever a part of the Ciccone family, don't ask if he's done anything to deserve all the chances they've given him.

Don't ask my considerably older brother that same question. I might guess that I've been the first target of his diatribes, though I haven't been speaking to him near my entire adult life. The last time we did speak was when I found him hiding while eating in the crawlspace under my house. Judging from the trash around him, this had been a favorite spot for awhile. It's been decades since he held a job. He never did actually work for a living, Mom took care of him. In fine style, from what I saw and heard. Too bad my CAREER didn't pay so well as his. Nearly a decade late he gained a high school diploma at about the same time I was graduating from college. From what was reported at the time of his 'Fame' his drinking buddies apparently believed his stories of his great business success. Others said he had to have his family looking out for him. But whether it was his appearances on 'Americas Most Wanted' and other dubious television coverage or because of the other revelations, he and Mom aren't speaking; she might be the new subject of his belly aching. The only thing I know for sure is that Mom finally sold his mansion out from under him, he's not happy about that.

So Anthony may be the worst of Madonna's family, but he's not the only one she's carried on her back while they failed to appreciate it. Madonna has paid for attorneys for their legal problems, paid for rehab, employed some and started businesses for others. Her brother Marty recorded a rap album of potshots at her while Christopher wrote his tell all book. It is reported that her relationships with her brothers and sisters has recovered to varying levels, though some were never invited to her weddings. Anthony talks fondly of drinking and using drugs with celebrities she met through his sister, including her former brother-in-law Christopher Penn, who is said to have died from the ravages of substance abuse that destroyed his body. Marty meanwhile is said to at last be "Friendly" with her. Her brother Christopher has still not spoken to her since his firing after 20 years in her 'Organization' led to his book.

It's a far simpler life of problems in my family, yet at the same time no less complicated. There's been varying levels of substance abuse among my mother and siblings, I was the only one after Dad to stay 100% clean. One brother was inspired by health problems to quit smoking and drinking, immediately he expressed his regret he'd ever started after deciding he liked how much better he felt even while still sick. Another has had periods of sobriety and work separating stretches of abuse. Though for all his problems, to the best of my knowledge he never stole anything from the family to pay for drugs, (Unlike several others) nor would he stand for his friends doing so. Just as I've never once seen one of those bums begging after I've given them a dollar, though I've refused others I could tell would go right on. Some people believe the drugs and alcohol will do all the talking, but I know that the basic character of the individual is always showing, even though it's in a strange, twisted way. So while they all will speak glowingly of Dad over such things as his honor society gold key, it's rather annoying to some of my sisters that I too have a gold key, though they seem to have learned they shouldn't show it. (All my degrees, I have more college than all 8 of them combined, even though 2 have Bachelors Degrees.) The one that refuses to steal often has a good laugh at the behavior of those others, even at times he's doing badly at life himself he won't sink so low. Mom's most recent 'Doctor Feel Good' lost his license to practice, she lives out in the country away from a ready replacement, so she's behaving. . . .almost as a normal person. So when I go to visit of late it has been fairly peaceful, even so it's an uneasy peace.

Another staple in human services is that substance abuse and mental illness go hand in hand. "Dual Disordered," the fact that 2/3rds of those diagnosed with a mental illness will also have an addiction, plays a big part in the behavior most people think of as 'Drug Crazy.' Rehab so often fails because while they can readily deal with the addiction, the underlying psychological or emotional problems that drive the "Self medication" can be far more difficult to sort out. And the one escape from their problem they will so often resist is any antipsychotic drugs or therapy that might actually put their life on track. So it's a fair guess to say there's not much hope for Anthony Ciccone.

For others things seem to be doing well. Madonna's brother Mario is taking over their father's business. Christopher has taken to making it on his own in entertainment, while Melanie has apparently always had a stable life and a good relationship with her famous sister. In one interview Christopher spoke optimistically of his relationship with Madonna possibly improving someday. So while for reasons having nothing to do with her music I just really don't think much of Madonna, I have to say it sounds as though she's actually doing an excellent job of dealing with the problems of her family. It doesn't matter how much money you have, you just can't buy a happy family. In fact some will deliberately try to deny any hope of that just because someone in the family has money. I never thought I'd be able to relate to Madonna, but on this issue I can.

And even if he didn't prove much of an embarassment by showing off his addiction and homelessness at the Superbowl his sister was performing for, Anothony Ciccone still judged the trip a success. His begging crew, dubbed "The Misfits" by WKLT Radio, completed enough of their challenges that Anthony's share of the prize was $183.75, not counting anything he might have begged along the way. And with the press showing up to let him throw another public pity party, he had the chance to do the things he does best, considering he would have to be drinking as he spoke.

While I get Leo Tokstoy's point in starting 'Anna Karenia' with (Roughly translated) "Families are all happy for the same reasons. Each unhappy family has reasons of their own," I just think he's wrong. It may seem as though it requires some explanation, yet once you know the story you realize you've heard it all before. And you feel like you should have known all along.

We Lost Chuck

2012-02-07T07:33:00.001-08:00

By Doug Vehle
The Daily Bosco

So it seemed strange at first when the guy behind the counter smirked as he asked "You heard we lost Chuck?" The way he said it I could have thought that the morning coffeemaker at the AM/PM Minimarket on South Harbor here in Fullerton had found another job, or at last was considering himself retired at his unknown, advanced age. Yet somehow I knew he just had to mean that it was final. And somehow, it only seemed right to laugh instead of cry.

The 10th anniversary of the opening of the store is approaching, and he had been there since day one. He was only paid to be there a few hours in the morning, making sure there was plenty of coffee, cream, etc. for the sunup crowd. But Chuck took his job seriously, putting in 8 to 10 hour days, responding to the customers in a way to put the WalMart greeters to shame. Long into his retirement years, he probably needed the small paycheck, but mostly he needed to be going. Hey, for a lot of people the morning coffee is serious business. So Chuck was the most important guy in the store at that time.

The guy knew what was going on with the customers. He responded to my long string of rebuilt or repaired scooters by announcing he was buying an electric at a nearby scooter store. Turns out it was a child's size scooter. But Chuck was a small man, it was actually big enough. And cost a lot less than an adult size scooter.

The kids who came intending to shoplift, the disturbed derelicts who used the restroom, everyone got the idea to behave in Chuck's store, which is certainly what it was while he was there. I was one of many who was surprised to ultimately realize he wasn't the real owner. And you could tell the grumpy types were at least glad their coffee, the right way for each of them, was going to be waiting for them.

So he left saying he felt tired, then didn't show up the next day. An era had ended. The police made a welfare call to his home and found him: he'd been watching TV when his time came. The story is his cats were in a panic when he was found.

Not the emotion shared by others. It really didn't surprise me that women would giggle and say, "Awww, poor Chuck." The dour response to news of the man just wouldn't fit. Neither would using the morbid words, I've yet to hear anything stronger than "Gone." The employees have been wearing t-shirts with his picture. I guess everyone really has that feeling that when their time comes, Chuck will have the coffee ready.

The Joys of Washing Your Own Car

2012-02-06T04:46:00.000-08:00

By Jim Helm, The Daily Bosco

Like most people, nothing frustrates me more than having to pay ridiculous prices for parking at a favorite concert, sporting event or whatever else we enjoy on the weekends.

I sort have stumbled into this cool routine I have made over the past few years. It first started by just tossing the parking receipt on the dash after handing the parking attendant my hard earned $25. Then due to just being busy or lazy or whatever, I noticed the receipts starting to pile up on the drivers side dash.

"I have to remember to throw those out", I would keep telling myself.

More time had passed and my wife Shellyanne and I had been particularly busy that summer. So one day I went to wash the car. "At last I can get rid of those receipts piling up", I thought. I gathered the receipts together and was just about to throw them away when I looked at the one on top and it reminded me of a great Angels game Shellyanne and I went to. And the Orange County Fair was a blast this year with our friends. There was the time at USC when I got to see Pete Carroll and Will Farrell race in the pool. There was The Three Dog Night concert when Shellyanne went crazy when they started the intro to "Shambala". Then there was the day we went golfing at an exotic resort and so on.

Now I kind of look forward to getting those receipts. Every once in while when I am sitting at a seemingly endless red light, I'll thumb through my parking slips and am reminded of the fun I had with my family that day, the wonderful friends we have been blessed with, and all of the fun we have had over the years.

Now I need to go and finish washing the car.

Filling The Void

2012-02-05T06:16:00.000-08:00

Dr. Dog
Be The Void
Anti-Records
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed by Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

After listening, enjoying and writing about music for over forty years now...I have developed this simple test...a formula if you will.

If I listen to a new album and I instantly enjoy it, meaning it is highly accessible...I give it the top rating. (For this publication, it's Five Scoops of Bosco).

This is precisely what happened when I heard the latest by Philadelphia Band Dr. Dog, Be The Void. The album is due out on Tuesday.

This album marks a bit of a departure from their last release, Shame, Shame in that Dr. Dog gets away from a Symphonic sound in favor of a more stripped-down and raw rock and roll slant...something you would hear in their live show.

The updated version might also be attributed to new additions to the group since the last recording, namely drummer Eric Slick and guitarist/electronic drummer Dimitri Manos.

My favorite song off this new album is the one that is getting a lot of play on Indy Radio, "That Old Black Hole". Upbeat and catchy, the first thing I thought of is the old Simon and Garfunkel classic "Me and Julio (Down by the Playground)" in the song's phrasing and vocals with singers Toby Leaman and Scott McMicken channeling Paul and Art to great effect.

The lead-off number "Lonesome" is a catchy bluesy number highlighted by McMicken's wonderful slide guitar with What does it take to be lonesome...Nothing at all

Next, the whole band gets involved in a fast-paced jam "These Days" which belies the message of the song I'm So Bored...

In "How Long Must I Wait," the band pays homage to Calypso music with guitars that reminds one of the sound of a steel drum, while the chorus is enough to make anybody want to do the limbo mon. The entire song screams energy.

Next up, two great songs which I will nominate for the Songs you will most likely throw on if you are unfortunately involved in a breakup with the hard driving "Big Girl" and "Over Here, and Over There".

The most interesting track is "Warrior Man," Tucked into the end of the album this is a glam rocker with psychedelic overtones captured in Moog Synthesizer , fuzz/wah-wah guitars, and mind-bending sounds. Think of the classic "Hurdy Gurdy Man" from Donovan and you have an idea of where this song is at.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. With an album comprised of twelve very accesible and wonderful songs executed by a veteran group (Dog is now ten years old)...this music is going to get a lot of play in the upcoming year.

Link and listen to Dr. Dog's latest album in Bosco Radio: Music Sundays. Powered by Team Coco. Archived and accessed anytime

Cereal For The Soul

2012-02-05T04:41:00.001-08:00

Our Daily Bran
Warren Anderson
Self Published
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed by Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

One thing I love about self-published books is that usually these are books that the big publishers don't have the vision, patience or the courage to produce. A lot of these books miss the mark, mind you, but every once in a while you run across a real gem. Our Daily Bran, a collection of poems by Warren Anderson definitely falls in the latter category.

First of all, you have to love an author who paints his own cover. Anderson is an accomplished landscape artist and his cover sets the mood for his book of poems. It is calm and pastoral with just a hint of mischief. As a publisher myself, I would have tied into the Bran theme more. I would have probably created a faux Bran cereal box for the cover. But that's just me and my graphics background coming through.

I love where Anderson gets his inspiration for his interest in the written word . "My word hero is Vin Scully (the LA Dodger broadcaster), says Anderson. "who can colorfully describe the action without distortion, use metaphors and similes that sparkle and call a game without umpiring or rooting for the home team. For instance, Vinny described a huge base runner who stumbled, fell down and tried to get back to the bag, as looking "like a beached whale trying to get back in the water! He described the floating knuckle ball as a butterfly or debris and described the pitchers for tomorrow's game as a Dodger with all of his strikeouts and a pitcher who has a long name as the Cub with all of his syllables.", continued Anderson.

In fact one of my favorite poems/stories in the book, The Sights of Mexico is an account of Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela pitching. Or the hilarious Next of Kin is another personal favorite.

I suppose the best way to describe Anderson's style is that he is like a cross between Charles Osgood of CBS radio, Shel Silverstein, Garrison Keillor and Billy Graham. The first part of his book is devoted to religious themes while the second part is primarily whimsical and clever poetry on everyday life.

The son of Swedish immigrants, Anderson grew up in Minneapolis. He earned his degree in Southern California and entered public school work as a teacher, counselor and administrator. He is a Christian and enjoys writing poems on Biblical themes. "I will read a text several times for inspiration, not looking for doctrinal evidence or debate but for pathos, triumph, personal edification or even enjoyment. I am interested in what the text says to me, rather than what I can prove from the text.", Anderson said.

Mr. Anderson's book is available through BOSCO Books. This book is $12 plus $5 for shipping and handling. Paypal is accepted. Email orders to: boscotheblog@earthlink.net

Baseball Season Interuptus

2012-02-04T01:01:00.000-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

The start of the month of February used to be a very happy time of the year for me. This is the month that my baseball season used to start. This used to be the month that the Cal State Fullerton Titans, the four time national champions, my hometown team, and my alma mater, with their ballpark within "hearing and throwing distance" from my home would usually start the baseball season against our longtime rivals the Stanford Cardinal.

But four years ago the powers that be at the NCAA (the same people that refuse to have a playoff in Division 1 football) decided that the teams in Southern California and Florida have a distinct advantage by being able to start the season at the end of January over schools whose baseball fields are covered in four foot of snow at this time of the year. The NCAA decided to move the start date for the College baseball season until the end of February.

I can't help it if your school is not smart enough to locate itself in a sunny climate. I can't help it if your school won't build or play in a stadium with a retractable roof and astroturf. I can't help it if your students and coaches are unwilling to get on a bus and do a Western swing to start the season. You have interrupted the joy of starting the College Baseball Season for me!

So in the meantime, I have to get my baseball fix by watching the Venezuelan Baseball Playoffs on ESPN3 or my DVD of the Japanese Pro Yakyu 2007 allstar game...or even my DVD of the Angels 2002 World Series victory over the Giants. I love the Spanish announcers on ESPN Deportes. One guy described a strike out this way...Buenas Dias, Buenas Tardes, y Buenas Noches Yes, baseball announcing cliches are universal.

Of course, baseball is a birthright here in my hometown of Fullerton. Hall of famers Walter Johnson, Arky Vaughan, and Gary Carter all played on Fullerton fields before heading to the Big Show along with Del Crandall, Keith Ginter, Jeff Robinson, Steve Trachsel, Steve Busby, Tim Wallach, Aaron Rowan, Phil Nevin and many other major league greats. Last week, my neighbor was up early taking his son to tryouts for Pony League baseball...a scene that is repeated every year at this time for decades with hundreds of dads and sons.

My son Felix and I were no exception. Nobody knew it except me, but Felix could have been in the Hall of Fame if he hadn't been called away by the movie business. Felix has the only distinction, I think, of getting a base hit in his last at bat in all levels of baseball that he played. He got a base hit in his last at bat for West Fullerton Little League. He got a base hit in his last at bat for Fullerton Pony in the Western Regional playoffs. And he got a base hit in his last at bat for Fullerton High School.

Felix was a slap hitter, like Ichiro Suzuki, except nobody knew about Ichiro at the time (this was when he was playing Pro Yakyu in Japan before coming to Seattle) He wasn't flashy. He never hit an over the fence homerun in his entire baseball career. But he had a phenomenal on base percentage and batting average. Because I kept score for the teams he played on, I had to bring this to the attention of the coaches who always had a tendency to bat him low in the order because of his lack of flash and power. And he also hustled like Darrin Erstad. In fact, even to this day people will remind me how he used to run full bore out to his position when he took the field and run back just as fast back to the dug out after the inning was completed.

My favorite baseball moment with Felix, and there were lots of them, and the instant that I realized he would not be long for this game was on one Saturday afternoon. Felix was playing for the Angels in a game against the Yankees in the West Little League Major division. There was a great pitchers dual going on between the two pitchers, our guy RJ Hively (who went on to pitch for Cal State Fullerton) and another guy for the Yankees, Geoff Henderson who would go on to have a great High School career and remain a good friend of Felix. The game went into extra innings. In the top of the eighth RJ was walked by Geoff. Felix was the next batter. RJ stole second base. Felix battled Geoff to a 3-2 count. Geoff didn't throw a bad pitch but his slider was within Felix's reach on the outside corner and as Felix would often do, he lunged and slapped the ball over the Yankee second baseman's head in front of the center fielder, scoring RJ and winning the game. His team mates mugged Felix for being the hero and the parents were going wild in the stands.

I'll never forget what happened next. Felix went to his bag in the dugout, quietly put away his gear, and said, "Let's go dad." As we were walking back to the car...the baseball hero and the proud dad, side by side, he turns to me and says, "I have this idea for a movie..." I knew he wasn't going to be a ballplayer for long.

Love, Loss, Truth and Transparency

2012-02-03T00:32:00.001-08:00

Subterfuge
STAGES Theatre
400 E. Commonwealth Ave.
Fullerton, CA
Written By Tiina Mittler
Directed By Andrea Freeman
Through February 18
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed by Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

One of the biggest challenges of being a parent is making decisions on what to tell your child and what not to tell them.

A lot of us are inclined always to be transparent and honest with our kids. But what if there is something in our past lives that we did that could potentially be harmful in the development and the well being of our children? Then what do you do? Be cautious and not say anything? Or, be forthcoming?

That is the dilemma facing Maeghan (Cleta Cohen) in Playwright Tiina Mittler's first effort "Subterfuge". The play runs at Fullerton's STAGE's Theater until February 18.

Laurel (played wonderfully by Candice M. Clasby) returns to her Midwestern home after the death of her husband to try to sort out her life, grieve, and try to figure out what the next step will be when she stumbles across some old family secrets. The play centers around Laurel attempting to unravel the mysteries of her family's life with the help (or more aptly, the non-help) of her mother Maeghan, family friend Grace (Judy Jones) and Grace's daughter and Laurel's childhood friend Laci (Tanya Raisa Mironowski).

Wonderful and warm performances by the elder members of the cast, Cleta Cohen and Judy Jones and great Direction by Andrea Freeman.

The only criticism of this play is that it is too short. Clocking in under just 50 minutes, the play almost feels as if you are watching a Pilot episode of a Television series. That is not necessarily a bad thing but I really wanted to know more about these characters and what happens next in their lives. On the other hand, knowing how to "write tight" is a skill a lot of writers don't necessarily grasp. Tiina Mittler seems to understand the concept.

This is a great first effort by playwright Mittler, who is the Stage Manager at Brea's Curtis Theater. Subterfuge leaves you wanting to see more from this writer.

I also love the fascinating and busy set design by Fred Kinney. The story takes place in Maeghan and Grace's antique store in the Midwest which doubles as Maeghan's home. Having an antique and collectible business, I didn't go anywhere during intermission checking out all the collectibles and antiques on the stage. Shhh! The set is also used for American Buffalo which is also running now at Stages.

And speaking of American Buffalo, this is the opening of the 20th season at STAGES Theater in Fullerton and along with Subterfuge , these two shows really define what STAGES is. On one hand you have the new, fresh and original Subterfuge and on the other hand you have the troupe doing an established and seminal work by David Mamet.

If Subterfuge is any indication, this is going to be an exciting year for live Theater in town.

The Days After The Worst Day

2012-02-03T00:31:00.001-08:00

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Directed by Stephen Daltry
With Tom Hanks, Thomas Horn,
Sandra Bullock, and Max VonSydow
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed By Richard Miranda, The Daily Bosco

With the war in Iraq over and the country turning its attention to politics and the economy, it may be an odd time to be drawn back to the events of 9/11 or as young Oskar Schell refers to it, “the Worst Day”. But this story isn’t really about a national tragedy or a war or even the day that changed the world for many of us. It’s the story of a journey, determination and resolution.

You won’t necessarily enjoy this movie, that is, you won’t walk out of the theater with the usual Hollywood, warm fuzzy, everything’s tied up in a ribbon kind of feeling. I’d go so far as to say if you’re making an evening of it, wait and eat after the movie because your stomach may ache a bit as the story unfolds.

Oskar Schell is a young boy, incredibly intelligent but challenged by Asperger’s Disorder. His father (played by Tom Hanks) is devoted to him and supports and challenges his abilities particularly with serendipitous exercises that they refer to as Reconnaissance Expeditions. A series of clues that require young Oskar to not only use his deductive talents but to ask questions of the strangers and socially engage himself; a hurdle for people with Asperger’s. It would seem that all of this comes to a tragic end when his father dies in the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Oskar’s trouble coping with the loss of his father, compounded by his condition, furthers the emotional distance between his mother and himself that seemed to exist prior to the tragedy. Her own grieving only works to reinforce it. Eventually he discovers a key in his father’s closet which he takes to be a clue and the initiation of a final Reconnaissance Expedition to find what it unlocks. It is his own self-admitted attempt to keep the spirit of his father alive and part of his life.

The journey is the bulk of the story, culminating in this young boy’s realization that his father is gone. It’s an emotional realization as is most of the journey. And like many journeys there are people met along the way, a travelling companion and a conclusion that isn’t quite what’s expected.

The chronology jumps from time to time back to events in Oskar’s life prior to and including 9/11. While occasionally a bit disorienting the thread of story is fairly easy to follow and since it’s told primarily from the boy’s perspective it makes sense this way. The editing, score and camera work lend themselves to a certain intensity that reflects Oskar’s drive as well as a sympathy and concern for the character as he travels throughout the five burrows of New York on his quest. There’s distinct uneasiness in this and the fact that you’re not quite sure where this is all going that can easily manifest itself in that stomach ache mentioned earlier.

Oskar is aptly played by Thomas Horn whose previous experience in front of a camera consists of being a record breaking teen Jeopardy champion. His performance, while not exceptional is certainly credible. Noteworthy as a debut and quite an effort to follow if he decides to pursue acting as a career. Now, at 13, he maybe someone to watch for in the future.

Tom Hanks briefly plays Oskar’s father Thomas Schell. Ideal as the everyman that we all love to watch, his role is rather limited to the initial paternal encounters and a few flashbacks to develop the relationship between father and son that is the foundation of this story.

Sandra Bullock plays the mother with a reserve and restraint appropriate for the part. This part could’ve been schmaltzed up with a mother-lode of emotion but credit goes to Bullock and the director, Stephen Daltry, for opting for the less-is-more approach. Whether it be the Asperger’s or her own grieving, the character of Linda Schell is portrayed with a stoicism and reserve so as to allow her son the space he needs to come to terms with his father’s death. This reserve ultimately is appreciated by the son (and the audience) and reveals an insight and understanding that is superbly played by this wonderful actress. She is aged a bit for this part which facilitates not only the credibility of the character but the actress’s potential playing, older characters with substance.

Max VonSydow deserves recognition, not that he needs it, for his excellent performance as Oskar’s “travelling companion” on his expedition. He plays an elderly mute who communicates with “yes” and “no” tattooed on his hands, a notepad and, most exquisitely, with his facial expressions and body language. And not to forget John Goodman who checks in with little more than a cameo as the doorman for the apartment building, and verbal sparring partner with young Oskar.

With all this talent from these movie stars, and I refer to them in that fashion to emphasize the magnitude of their celebrity, it is to their credit as well as Daltry’s that they didn’t suck all the oxygen out of the room and leave little space for the principle character to operate. In this, they kept their star power on simmer and let Thomas Horn’s performance carry the load that it should.

This time of the year is awash in feel good movies and I suspect that there are even a few out there that are worth seeing. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is certainly not in the category of a Feel Good Movie. It originally came out on Christmas Day which I suspect it may have something to do with the Academy Awards but regardless it’s definitely worth your time and money. Like Oskar Schell, you may not be smiling at the end of the story but you’ll leave with a sense of satisfaction, enriched for the time spent which is hard to find in theaters this time of year.

So Slip The Surly Bonds of Fear, Already...

2012-02-02T02:14:00.000-08:00

By Doug Vehle, The Daily Bosco

Wasn't long ago they were promoting aviation with a $49 first flight at beapilot.com. I wonder how maybe people thought they'd go try that just once, only to find. . . .

Welll, that was the idea behind the promotion. Oh, that might have been too much for my Dad. He'd wanted to be a military pilot, showing up for induction during World War II with his brand new Masters Degree in Physics. Later in life he would be suspicious of the contention at his physical that his color vision was questionable, ending his hopes of flying, but this guy wound up in PhD studies at UCLA and teaching at MIT, can't imagine them wanting to see him "Expended" in air combat at the time. But now they've come to require guys to be like him to fly the combat planes, such as 'The Man who Flew Everything' Hoot Gibson. As a (Euphemistically titled) Aerospace Engineer, Dad said he always enjoyed a trip in the airliner when North American/Autonetics/Rockwell used to fly him off to military bases or other meetings with the biggest aviation customer there is. And he was one of the earliest builders of the U-Control and RC planes, there were magazine articles about him. If only he'd have lived long enough for me or my brother to fly him. Assuming his vision really turned out to be such a problem, if he'd flown the plane once himself with an Instructor, what might he have tried to get his chance to keep going?

You don't know what you're missing by not flying yourself. I would think Allen would got over his aforementioned fears the moment he was taking off for the first time in the left seat, which is your first flight with the instructor. You really get to do it yourself. All to get you ready for that solo, where you really come to realize you're on your own. Wouldn't have it any other way. Before my first solo I looked up a geological study of the hills of north Fullerton, which peak at about 700 feet above sea level with the possibility of another 100 feet of structures. When the Air Traffic Controller diverted me out of the pattern on my very first takeoff, (Picture my Instructor listening on the radio and panicking.) I knew to climb to 1,800 feet to remain 1,000 feet above anything flying over the neighborhood of Laguna Lake. That didn't sit well with this always surly ATC, which escallated our discussion to him snarling that when HE doesn't tell me to climb above the 1,100 feet pattern, I don't do it. Prompting me to one strident "Who's FLYING this plane? When I know I gotta climb, I'm gonna climb." I'm told the flight school had the radio turned up because there was also a check ride for a license flying at the same time, they were listening in. Apparently there was some giggling over the normally quiet guy going after a deserving ATC they all had trouble with. Although my instructor, outside watching with a hand radio, would have been pulling his hair out.

Making it all the better that the plane behind me was indeed the check ride from my school. The 18 year getting her license told me that the 75 year old FAA Advisor was getting angry listening to the exchange, telling her she should indeed climb to the same altitude as me. When the ATC turned on them for the same reason, your hair could have stood on end when you heard the response of "NAP IT!" The normally sweet old lady Advisor was on a tear by the time were back on the ground, telling me "You go right on arguing with them when they tell you not to climb to a safe altitude. And you're right, YOU ARE the one flying the plane!" I jokingly offered to hang around until he was off duty and we all three could discuss this, she obviously was ready to do it for real. You don't have this kind of fun on a commercial flight. I'd all of 3 minutes of wheels off the ground solo flight time at the moment of the heated exchange.

My third and final landing that day, maybe 20 minutes after the exchange with the ATC, I had a crosswind get under the wing (From opposite the usual direction) and lift one side in the air about 45 degrees, leaving me unable to wind up the engine and go around and needing to just balance there until it came down on it's own, knowing that touching the wingtip might not turn as ugly as slamming that wheel down too hard and setting it bouncing. My instructor said this day was as bad as he'd ever seen thrown at a first time solo pilot. I was in an airliner that hit a microburst just seconds from the runaway at Ontario, not nearly such a good time because I didn't get to solve the problem. We did take a bounce. (Oh, the panic in that plane.)

I don't really like airliners, if you only knew how close to structural failure they really are. And I'm not much for sitting doing nothing in tight spaces for hours at a time. But checking out a Cessna 172 (Rated considerably stronger) and flying out over the bay off Long Beach, (What are those two derricks called? Emmy and Eva?) or maybe just heading to Chino to fly the pattern and land again and again, sucked some $200 for 2 hours at a time out of my pocket on so many occasions.

Which is the big reason I'm not doing it now, it's such a great way to spend a LOT of money. Big reason it's expensive is the overkill in safety. The engines don't REALLY need to be rebuilt so soon, imagine if you were required to rebuild your car every 50,000 miles. But that's the condition the planes are required to be in.

What's dangerous is the pilot. Imagine someone who would blithely fly too low if the ATC said to. At one of the FAA saftey meetings on building your own plane, (More than half the new planes registered each year are homebuilt, anymore) they told of a man who built 5 planes in 5 years. The Advisor said he considered himself an inventor and designer, deviating greatly from the proven design he was working with. Building your own brings the cost of owning within reach, plus there's a magic to it. This guy was obviously under a spell.

This led to each of his planes being crashed at least once. The most striking photos the FAA had was of the landing gear of one of his planes pocking through the ceiling of someone's kitchen. (If that's not disrespecting their space, I don't know what is.) In the course of building his next plane, he'd be out flying, damaging and finally destroying the last one.

It all ended with the 5th plane. If I remember the cerification process correctly he needed 40 hours in the air for the plane to be freed to go whereever he wanted. He gathered family and friends at the airport, usually experimentors fly from runways in out of the way places with nothing close by, such as Chino. They were all watching as he was approaching to land, seeming at last to have succeeded. . . .

In the process of installing and testing the engine, the prop tends to need to go on and come off a few times. It's not uncommon for the builder to begin to only tighten or even only install half the bolts, maybe even not tighten them completely. Astronaut Hoot Gibson, of the first docking of the space shuttle to the Russian spacestation fame, found himself periously close to losing his prop from his Cassutt when he realized the improperly secured bolts were coming loose. What remained of the prop after the highly skilled pilot had landed safely became a clock in his home.

The crowd had gathered in one place to watch the builder land. depending on the location and layout of the airport, there might be nothing usual about him flying over the numbers of the runway less than 100 feet high. Mere seconds from touchdown, a moment where the reduced speed and lack of distance from the ground greatly reduces the danger if something goes wrong, the improperly mounted prop came loose.

Ironically, at a higher altitude, there might have been time to recover the atitude of the plane and effect an emergency landing. When the plane flipped and lost lift it instantly increased its' descent from 12 feet a second before to as much as 44 feet a second in the 1st second, possibly up to 76 feet a second for the ext. His 7-9 second descent was compressed, not much you can do in less than 2.

When I asked why this man who was obviously a hazard had been allowed to continue, the FAA Advisor gave what I found to be an odd response: "We're here to keep you from killing anyone else, we're not here to keep you from killing yourself." I suppose there's a little something I can take heart from as I board an airliner several times a year in visiting relatives. Those precariously built aircraft are tightly regulated to prevent airlines from killing anyone else, at least as far as we can resist the random chance. Those airliners are not even required to be strong enough to survive the maneuvers the hijackers made to hit those buildings on 9/11, yet the airframes were stronger and better maintained than I allow myself to recognize. Ernest Gann titled his landmark book (Greatest about aviation ever) 'Fate is the Hunter.' It's about the biggest risks of flying being random chance, not the flying itself. One of my favorite books, I'm thinking I should buy a copy for Fullerton Library just so I can read it again.

Given I'm doing so much building lately, I find myself resuming the desire to built my own plane. My first choice is the Falco, (At a cost of $60-1200k, depending on how I go about it) the civilian plane which became a military mainstay when repackaged as the Marchetti. If you want to fly the military configuration, you only need to head down to AirCombat U.S.A. at Fullerton Airport. An unlicensed pilot can actually fly almost any plane if a properly trained and experienced Certified Flight Instructor is in the seat next to them.

You'll be flying with a retired military pilot, The kind of guy who can get the plane down in one piece if the prop comes loose. Possibly the guy that was involved in the making of the film 'Top Gun.' If you think renting the little Cessna gets pricey, just be ready to pay when you get to fly one of these.

If you see the owner, tell him you were sent by the guy he met a few months ago that used to work with his office manager, who said "Boy, the money YOU have spent in your lifetime with all this flying." Boy, did he laugh. Believe me, they treat this as being so dangerous, in so doing they make it into one of the safest things you'll ever do. But it'll cost you.

Compared to everything else at Fullerton Airport, it was once pretty cheap to fly with Ray's Flying Club, thanks to all the money that was saved by avoiding proper maintenance. Oh, what a bunch they were. One plane had a radio that would quit after a few minutes, so they kept turning it off and on, getting irate to argue when they couldn't get clearance to take off. The argument was interrupted, of course, by the radio continually going out. Once I was the next plane landing after one of theirs touched down, the ATC came on and asked for a good look to see if there was any sign of the warning light at the top of a telephone pole across the street had been hit. (You'd have to be real low.) With the affirmative guess, that plane was denied clearance as it taxied back to try to fly the pattern again, touching off another diatribe. Turned out there was some serious damage to the wing of that lovely Grumman Cheetah I'd have loved to have rescued from them and restored, but the guy who was about to take off merely talked about what an inconvenience it was getting grounded. Scary though all this sounds, it really points out that flying isn't quite so dangerous as people fear, there's a lot more stability in a plane, especially one you learn in, than you might imagine. That particular organization is long out of business. It's easy to think they were lucky to have avoided a serious accident, but the planes themselves can be forgiving, as long as you don't transgress too badly. Planes in bad condition, flown by flakey pilots, are the only real bad odds in aviation. If you're not a flake, you're usually all right.

It's quite a bit cheaper than a regular pilots' license to get a Sport Pilot Certificate. You're flying cheaper planes, so the rental is lower. Not a lot of hours involved in training, you're only learning to fly close to home during the day, no cross country flying means a huge chunk of training is unnecessary. You'll get to do just about everything I ever did at less than half the cost. I don't think you'd ever land high up at Big Bear or fly in commercial traffic landing at Ontario, you'd definitely be expected to be done for the day at sundown. Plenty of flying to be done before then. If I was learning to fly right now, even taking up flying again the way I would be, that would be the route I'd take. Without the cross country flying I'm sure my Dad's color vision wouldn't have mattered.

I've always figured my Dad would have been a Hoot Gibson type if he had the chance. Perhaps even more legendary, he garnered attention himself in defense aerospace and in his spare time in the racing world. I'd grown up thinking I'd be a military pilot, but at a time when you had to be an engineer and a pilot when you enlisted just to compete with the other engineer pilots for the few spots, let's just say my Mother's interference with my education while I was growing up mooted that.

Ah well. With that Falco I could fly from Pomona (Fullerton is too expensive) to Gillespie Field or New Braunfels in Texas at half the cost of a commercial flight for the trip in I suppose less than 7 hours, including one fuel stop. Consider tacking on leaving the house more than 2 hours before the commercial flight and 3 hours in the air, really would take about the same time, with ME in control. I could leave at a moment's notice. And I probably would, until I'd gone broke.

Oh, but the cost would be out of control. The maintenance of that plane; the hangar cost, I'd have to travel a lot to balance it out.

I sure could have fun just building a bunch of planes though. A Sonex from a kit, a J3 Cub from scratch, of course I'd have to get to one of the many amphibious planes where plans and parts are readily availble. They used to say the MiniMax would only cost about $5k to finish without the engine, that one is much like Gibson's record holding Cassutt, although slower. Maybe I could build the Cassutt itself. I could start with a Skypup, so small and simple it's considered an 'Ultralight,' no license or certification required as long as you fly in a deserted area. It uses the construction method for surfboards, hotwire cutting EPS foam, etc. Hmmm, my brother was a partner in the original Pulsar kitplane, but stuck to such planes as his Beech VTail Bonanza for his own flying. Oh, the rights to market the kits and plans for the Cassutt are currently for sale, I could even be in the aviation business.

Well, I do have the official numbered plans for the Burt Rutan/Long EZE inspired Cozy, Rutan being the man behind Spaceship One, if nothing else learning their process from them. I even have articles from the 1930's that explain how to build certain old time Poberezny designed and/or inspired planes without telling exactly how, leading to a certain design work being done by the inventive builder. (Me having studied industrial design and composite fabrication of late.) I wonder if that hapless fool of a builder I was talking about used any of those articles. . . .

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941 defending England from the Luftwaffe

Soaring

2012-02-01T02:03:00.001-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

My childhood friend Jim invited me to go with him to fly his radio controlled glider recently in the hills overlooking my hometown.

It was a slightly breezy day in Southern California. There was no evil and ferocious hot Santa Ana wind... it was a cool, gentler winter wind. As we stood on a hill overlooking all of Orange County and could see the Pacific Ocean, my mind went racing back to the time when we were kids and the simpler days of flying model airplanes, gliders and kites.

You can learn a lot about life from flying gliders and kites.

The first lesson is: Respect Others Space. Sometimes I would get too close to my brother's kite while we were flying when we were kids. This would result in a tangled mess of string, torn paper and broken wooden cross bows. Get too close in flying a glider and you end up with a pile of broken balsa wood and dreams.

One time while I was in San Francisco I was out walking by the Golden Gate bridge when I noticed a man flying a kite. The kite was so high in the sky I couldn't see it. The kite was so high I'm sure he had to get clearance from SFO. I'm going "Wow, that must be a special kite...that's really far up there". To which he replied, "No I bought it for ten cents in China Town.." which reminded me that Sometimes the Best Things In Life Are The Things That Cost Little Money Or Are Free

I was in the park walking my Labrador Chad recently and I was observing a father flying a kite with his young son and it reminded me of the times when I used to do the same with my kids and how my dad used to teach me about life while flying kites. The little boy hadn't got the idea down quite yet of how to fly a kite properly...but his dad was teaching him. As the kite was in the air, the little boy ran toward the kite as fast as he could...making the kite dive down and crash with a thud into the ground. The dad was there to get the kite flying again and show his son that he needed to walk back letting the air lift the kite into the sky.

A lot of times it's good not to rush so fast into something. A lot of times it's better to step back, reflect and enjoy. And the other thing I couldn't help notice is that it's always nice to have a parent or a good friend to teach life's little lessons...no strings attached...so to speak.

It's strange how I never became a pilot or an astronaut because I really wanted that when I was a kid. When I was a child I used to secretly wish that I could shrink myself and get aboard the kite and soar above the earth....but of course my brother would actually have to fly the kite and that could be a disaster. As I got older my desire to be like the birds lessened. Maybe it was the fact that I was almost involved in two air crashes that kept me out of an airplane for almost 25 years...flight became less appealing to me.

Unless I am at the controls of a kite or a glider. Then the fascination all comes back.

This morning the wind is gently blowing again. It's a good day to fly a glider.

Strings Attached

2012-01-31T04:46:00.000-08:00

By Jim Helm, The Daily Bosco

I can't tell you how upset I was when my dad told me that he was going to be picking one of my two elective classes for 7th grade. I had my eyes set on both wood shop and metal shop. He browsed through the course guide for a moment and then looked up and said "Guitar". "I don't even have a guitar" I said. "You're taking Guitar".

I walked into to the first class with no expectations at all. I could be making a cool chess set in wood shop but here I was going into a music class. What made it even worse was the teacher. Mrs. Zincke. She was one of those bright eyed, cheery Teachers that resembled Mrs.Cleaver. Way too nice. Always a smile and always asking for us to do our best. This was going to be a long year. It was pretty cool though when I told my Dad that I needed to have a guitar in a week or so. It was kind of a revenge for making me sign up for the class. We jumped in the truck and headed down to the music store.

After long consideration, we picked a medium quality acoustic just like Mr Zincke suggested. I started to enjoy the classes a little bit more and although I could get through a few songs, it was painfully apparent that I was no guitarist.The semester ended with a live performance with two of my classmates at the schools talent. No one laughed, everyone applauded and we made it through the evening.

What was a blast though was playing with my friends, learning new songs and trying to figure out how to do those cool Jimmy Page riffs. If you play the guitar one thing you learn fast is that others that play are either worse than you or better than you. It's something you just have to get used to. I never got to the Jimmy Page stage, but I was able to knock out enough chords to get through a song or two. Mrs. Zincke ended up becoming a pretty cool teacher and off to 8th grade I went. The guitar sat in the corner of my room and when friends came over it would come out and I would play the 15 or 20 songs I knew. More friends and more songs over the years and I was building up a pretty good repertoire to keep everyone entertained.

After my school years it followed me from place to place until it finally could not take any more abuse. The back was de-laminating and the neck was so warped from propping it up against the wall that the strings would barely touch the frets. I finally broke down and bought a nice one and was amazed that the first one lasted into my 20's.

As I began to get older I found myself picking it up more often. Stress from work and worry about making ends meet went away, if just for a moment, while I was playing. We had all of the pressures of a young family just starting out but when I needed it, the guitar was always there. I have always felt so bad for Shellyanne because I am such a huge James Taylor fan and she has endured twenty five years of Fire and Rain, Sweet Baby James and You've Got a Friend. Every time JT releases a new album it's a slightly different version and I've got to learn it. It's not the playing it that's so painful, it's the learning how to play a specific song that will make your wife crazy. She's a good music person.

I played a few gigs in restaurant bars and decided that was not for me but continued to play at home over the years. Shellyanne bought me a new Ovation many years ago and that has been my main guitar since. Durable and yet still sounds pretty good. I have my Autographed Steven Tyler Guitar tucked away in a safe and my Ibanez electric is in the hands of a friend right now being played like it should be. In an effort to thank my dad, concede he was right and show him how much I love the music he gave to me, I bought him a nice Ovation to replace that old Fender he had. It's a mouse gray cutaway and I had his name engraved on the headstock plate. That was about 20 years ago.

Funny how sometimes the timing in your life just works out. I noticed that the face of my Ovation is warping. I saw it beginning a few years ago but recently it has been getting worse and worse. A month ago while talking to my dad on the phone he asked me. "Do you have any use for my guitars?", "Just can't play them anymore and was thinking of giving them to someone". They have been in cases in his closet for many years only coming out occasionally play a few memories. Give them away?...Are you kidding me? I asked my dad tonight to check into shipping them to me but I'd be willing to walk to Idaho to have them.

Mrs. Zincke was probably about 35 or so when it all began in 7th grade and I'm not even sure if she's around to hear how important a contribution she made to my life. I'd love to be able to tell her how much my guitar helped me get through tough times and how much joy it brought to my friends and family. I'm sure there are many others she taught that feel the same. And, after all of the good memories, all of the crazy nights and all of the fun I've had over the years playing music, I feel a little guilty when I remember myself saying....."Dad, I Don't Want To Play the Guitar"....... and wonder if that chess set would have lasted this long?

Fixing The NFL Pro Bowl

2012-01-30T03:32:00.000-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

You know me. I'm a Problem Solver.

For years I've been working on the major issues. You know...World Peace, World Hunger.....finding the right formula for the NFL Pro Bowl.

I don't know about you, but I can not find a more boring All-star game than the NFL Pro Bowl. Out of all the major sports, this has to be the worst and most uninteresting.

First of all, two teams...the Super Bowl teams, aren't even represented. So this year we didn't even get to see Tom Brady and Eli Manning in the All-Star Game. Second of all, half the guys don't even want to be there. The other half that actually go usually half ass it. Thirdly, they always play it in Hawaii. A lot of us don't even get to go see it in person.

So I was watching the National Hockey League All-Star game on Sunday and then it hit me. The NFL could learn a lot from the NHL.

What the NHL has done is pick two captains and they choose up sides for their All-star game. No East - West matchup. No AFC-NFC matchup. No US vs. the World format. Just like when the guys were kids when they would play out on the frozen pond. They brought the fun back to the game.

With that in mind, here is my modest proposal for the NFL Pro Bowl. Are you ready for this?

Play the NFL All-Star game on Thanksgiving Day...Roughly in the middle of the season....like most All-Star games.

Then you pick two captains who choose up sides from a pool of All-stars and play a flag football game on some field in Mid-America or somebody's backyard....at an undisclosed location then televise it.

No coaches either. Seriously, how many times have you watched an All-Star game to watch the coaches?

Can you think of anything more American than playing touch or flag football on Thanksgiving? Having the bye week during Thanksgiving will allow the players to rest up and get ready for the playoff run. Playing Flag football will minimize injuries which is always a concern about the NFL All Star game.

And I don't want to hear about scrapping the traditional Thanksgiving Day NFL games in Dallas and Detroit. We can watch this new game on Thanksgiving now and instead of overeating and sitting down in front of the television to watch another game or two...maybe this will inspire a lot of us to go outside, get some exercise and play our own family/friends touch football games.

And if you really need a second game to watch on Thanksgiving maybe they could have a flag football game between two teams of NFL Cheerleaders on the under card.

Love, Loss, Truth, and Transparency

2012-01-29T09:04:00.000-08:00

On Snow, Daughters, and Winter Memories

2012-01-28T06:08:00.001-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

Today it will snow in my hometown of Fullerton, Southern California, USA

It never actually really snows in my hometown but that doesn't stop us from going up to the nearest mountain and bringing back a big truckload of snow and depositing it by the Dam so we can play in the cold white stuff.

I bet if you go to above the Arctic Circle in Alaska about now, I'm sure most of those folks would think we were crazy. "You can have OUR snow", they would be saying..."Take all you want!...You crazy looney tunes"

If you can't go to the mountain, bring the mountain to...

Which got me to thinking that this probably isn't such a bad idea really. That's because most of my fondest memories of my kids and family had snow added.

I was thinking specifically this week about the winter season of 26 years ago. I was spending some time with my young family in the Southern California mountain community of Big Bear. My daughter, 6 at the time, and I took some time off from the rigors of playing in the snow by our cabin or roasting marshmallows to take a drive into Big Bear City for a bite to eat. This was when we came across this luge ride out by the lake. We had to try it. As expected, we became instantly addicted to it and spent the whole afternoon there. We were pretending to be a part of the USA two man luge team and we were timing ourselves on the run to get better so we could qualify for the Olympics...in our minds.

I remember this so clearly. The cold clean mountain air was rushing into our faces as we kareemed down the mountain...faster and faster. With every turn we would lean in unison and with every trip we got faster and better.

On about the fourth trip down we took a turn too fast...the sled almost went over the enbankment which could have been really disasterous. I remember watching Wide World of Sports and they had this happen in a luge race...They never found the guy. We kept it on the track but both my daughter and I broke away from the sled and started to slide sledless and on our backs and apart from each other down the track.

For a moment I stopped being a kid and went back to being the responsible parent. Maybe this wasn't the safest thing for a six year old and her father to be doing...and I suggested that we go back to the cabin. And my daughter, in a way that would become her persona as an adult said "Let's try it again Dad. I'm OK."

Fast forward 23 years later. A couple of things triggered this memory about my daughter. In March 2008, my daughter, then 27 and I decided on a whim to run the Los Angeles Marathon. She had never ran or walked more than ten miles before in her life. At the ten mile mark her hip started hurting. She could have packed it in at that point. Especially since her apartment was literally a two minute walk from that point of the race. But she didn't give up. She got to an aid station, took some Advil, and continued on. She finished the race. She and I went across the finish line arm and arm.

The other thing Nadia did in 2008 was start a new business...in the horrible economy. Nadia is like me in the aspect that we are either too naive or stubborn to listen to naysayers that say this is not a good time to be starting businesses. So far, her business is doing quite well.

One Saturday a few years ago, I went to Los Angeles to help her get some furniture for her apartment. We could have had the stuff delivered...we had to make four stops to pickup stuff she had bought and load it into the apartment...but it gave us a rare moment to be together. A lot of funny stuff happened and we laughed a lot as we wove around West LA and Hollywood, well kind of like we were on that sled going down the mountain 25 years ago.

My daughter is scheduled to come over this weekend. Maybe we'll go over to the snow they have dumped in Fullerton and do Luge runs...For old times sake.

Wide World of Sports On Steroids

2012-01-28T03:48:00.001-08:00

ESPN3.com
Online 24/7
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

I have to tell you that I am completely addicted to ESPN 3.com, the online live and recorded sports network. Everything is suffering...my writing...my social life is in the dumpster. And I was trying to figure out why I liked it so much.

The reason is that it's a throwback to the start of ESPN.

Remember before ESPN had all the major sports contracts how they used to fill programming time with stuff like Australian rules football, the USFL, Lumberjack competitions....wherever there was a live sporting event..they would be there. Kind of like the Wide World of Sports for 24 continuous hours.

This is what espn3.com is like. Here I was last fall watching Futsal at 5:00 in the morning. Futsal is a great sport. They play soccer on a basketball court with a small goal...there's no walls. I can't believe thay can keep the ball in bounds for more than ten seconds. Then this week I'm watching the Australian Open, and not just the major stuff...all action on all courts....then the practice of a NASCAR sprint race....not the qualifying round...not actual race...practice. Then they even have basketball games from Italy at 3 in the morning. This is my kind of network.

I was able to see every pitch of the last World Baseball Classic, plus NBA basketball, almost every NIT basketball game, the NCAA basketball play-in game and much more.

ESPN3 really excels on Saturdays. Wall to wall coverage of at least 20 college basketball games live. During football season it was 20 college football games. It's hard to pull me away from the I-touch or my laptop.

For access...go to www.espn3.com and log in. Bosco Radio Sports also links to many of the events on espn3.com

The Days After The Worst Day

2012-01-27T03:43:00.001-08:00

How Working In The Garage With Dad Pays Off

2012-01-26T04:10:00.001-08:00

By Doug Vehle, The Daily Bosco

It was a common experience for a Japanese intelligence officer during the Solomon Islands campaign of World War II to wonder at the strange little vehicle Americans were using to clear fields and build airstrips. Their largely nonmechanized society was still engaged in horticulture, garden type farming, on a national level. Coupled with a provincial nature that left them with little understanding of life beyond their own local community they were unable to even identify a tractor, a farm vehicle so common in the United States that the U.S. military didn't have to train operators, they would assign new recruits who had grown up driving them on the family farm. The Japanese, meanwhile, were leveling airstrips with shovels and rakes, a slow process that left loose dirt at the surface rather than the solid ground that make the American airstrips far more serviceable in all weather. 'We didn't know what those machines were,' was the usual explanation of those intelligence officers after the war, 'But we could guess they meant trouble for us.' The Japanese would lose more planes in the Solomon's to landing accidents on fragile runways than in combat. It was their inability to troubleshoot these problems that left them unable to endure that war.

These is something Americans have come to expect to have; an advantage in producing results even though few understand why that advantage they expect even exists. Watching the U.S. Olympic Basketball team in 1992 as they tried to build 50 point LEADS in game after game (Succeeding twice) was more than just fun, so many thought of it as an entitlement Star American players griped at not getting to be a member of the team, while other countries would have been thrilled to have them. Never mind that it only happened because basketball was not only born and raised in the U.S., other countries weren't really playing all that much of it. Since then, the world has been catching up.

I think a lot about things like this lately, seeing such a dicotomy in my own predictament and that of so many other of the under unemployed. As I have to deal with the overabundance of qualified people in the television field, I spend my free time trying to build things. Let's just say I have no fear of poverty, just a raw terror at the thought of being idle, so I've gained quite an education in welding, machining and fabricating metal, motorcycle repair, composites: Literally, I've been going to school. The odd thing is I've already become more qualified at, say, building a prototype car or other forms of R&D than many people I've been meeting who hope to get one of the many jobs that are going unfilled in the area. Thousands of jobs in Southern California alone, with none of the unemployed able to fill them. Not that much they have to learn, either. How has our educational system sank so low that this can happen?

This on a day with the major news story about how there is no economic recovery at the moment. The socalled 'Stimulus Package' of the last few years has failed as miserably as it was destined to, there was nothing there that could ever have helped. Meanwhile, training the unemployed to fill existing openings that can't currently be filled is being cut once again.

So during the anniversary of the Battle of Midway last year (June 3-6, 1942) I was reminded of a magazine article published ten years before the battle that offered the uncanny insight that the Japanese would be unable to operate or service their equipment at a level to match the United States. The "Best Mechanics" would have grown up helping dad work on the car in the driveway as well as on other things, as adults they'd be ready to learn quickly. Those "Best Mechanics" were in the United States.

At the time of the invention of the forerunner to the tractor in 1850, the Japanese were in a period of forced isolation. In 1635 the Emperor had so feared European expansion and firearms he ordered all foreigners off his island. In 1853 the Japanese would be trying to drive away Commodore Perry when an impromptu artillery demonstration inspired their grudging cooperation. They attempted to melt down some church bells and build big tube guns of their own, but that didn't go well. After a riot by foreigners in 1869 led to a British warship shelling a Japanese harbor town, the government went to work reorganizing their society as part of a plan to build an empire and rule much of their part of the globe. The groundwork for World War Two was laid out in 1871.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Japanese bought 6 battleships from the British, unaware that the British considered the ships out of date and were replacing them with the larger, faster, more deadly Dreadnought class. The Japanese blithely went to work replicating the technology, believing they were bringing themselves up to date. Thus would they begin the myth of Japan as a superpower, a myth only they would believe at the time. By 1941 they operated the worlds' largest aircraft carrier fleet, with more under construction than the U.S., who had the 2nd largest. Even the Japanese questioned the functionality of their fleet, as they estimated the possibility of losing several of these ships to mechanical failures in the operation to bomb Pearl Harbor. While the U.S. staged their first mock Japanese attack simulation on Pearl Harbor in 1925, it was still considered improbable in 1941.

The story of Midway begins with the Battle of Coral Sea four weeks earlier, which greatly influenced the approach both navies took to the coming confrontation. Originally planning to support the Port Moresby/Tulagi invasions with light aircraft carriers, the Japanese decided to send what they considered to be the disappointing Zuikaku and Shokaku, the newest of the force that bombed Pearl Harbor, to gain some experience in hopes they could come to meet the standards set by the other four of Japan's top ships. While the Japanese were able to win the sea battle, there was enough damage to their forces that they canceled the land offensives. Meanwhile, the Japanese were unable to bring enough personnel to repair the only lightly damaged Shokaku or organize an air wing for the Zuikaku in time for the planned showdown to finish off the remnants of the American navy.

The American aircraft carrier Yorktown had been considered sunk by the Japanese along with the Lexington. With the Saratoga undergoing repairs in San Diego, there was the expectation of encountering only two American carriers at Midway. In fact the Yorktown was able to return to Pearl Harbor. The repair facilities were judged inadequate for the needs of the ship, estimates ran as high as six months in the state of Washington. With only three days worth of patchwork done by over one thousand technicians, additional planes and pilots from the damaged Saratoga were loaded and the semioperational Yorktown sailed. Had the Shokaku and Zuikaku been American ships, they would have participated in the Battle of Midway.

There was one advantage the Japanese navy held in the battle: Combat experience. They had used an unofficial military campaign in China for a decade as a way of developing their forces. All the while denying they were at war. The Americans at Midway would make the first air strikes on the Japanese fleet with pilots who had not seen combat and were improperly trained. The Army Air Force had limited their pilots to four hours of flying a month, requiring that eight takeoff/landing operations be conducted with that flight time. The Marines were similarly neglected in their development, as well as being given castoff equipment from the Navy such as the Vought Vindicator "Vibrator" divebomber.

Bombs were dropped from B-17's at such high altitudes that it gave ships time to maneuver away. As seaplanes and others launched torpedoes they were ill equipped to use, the Japanese struggled to suppress their laughter as the few hits proved to be duds. The World War One era torpedoes had been known to be defective, but the contractor had used political connections to resolve the problem. American submarines were able to launch but also suffered failure to detonate. More than 100 planes had been unable to inflict damage on the Japanese ships prior to the arrival of those experienced from actively flying raids on Japanese held islands, pilots of the Dauntless Divebombers from the Enterprise and the Yorktown.

No more than fifteen minutes after three bombs had struck the Soryu, the Captain ordered the crew off. He would be criticized for not allowing more effort to safe his ship, but witnessing the inept efforts of his crew convinced him this was hopeless. A Japanese ship might have 5% of the crew given some fire training without practice on their ship, with the expectation that if they couldn't handle the problem alone they could tell the others what to do. But it's estimated that under duress someone can lose as much as half their measurable IQ, have their physical agility, virtually being transformed into an ape that can only act out of instinct. No time for someone to be learning.

Had this been an American ship, the entire crew would have fire suppression training, with every man knowing his job and experiencing regular readiness drills. The decision to give up the Soryu quickly undoubtedly saved many lives.

The situation aboard the Kaga gave rise to many myths about an American junior officer who found himself in command of his ship after the death of senior officers and died saving his men. In fact the situation actually occurred aboard the Kaga, but quite differently than told. A mixup in splitting the bombers of the Enterprise to attack two ships sent nearly all after the Kaga, with at least five known hits that doomed the ship. This included the destruction of the superstructure, which killed the entire command staff.

Had this been an American ship, the crew would have continued knowing what to do. A former coworker, himself a longtime naval officer, once told me "You can disobey almost any order you want, you just better make it work out." The Japanese chain of command was structured on the concept of the vital few leading the ignorant many. Never mind what you hear about Japanese schools today, back then there was far less education and even less faith put in the undereducated. One junior officer put his men to work while the others waited for orders that would never come. The one officer was, in fact, now the highest ranked man onboard but didn't know it. He and his men would be driven overboard to escape the flames, leading to him desperately searching for a way back on board while others stayed safely in the water. Returning to the deck, he at last learned that he was in command. He made his one order a good one: "Abandon ship."

The crew of the Akagi, the flagship of the carrier fleet, would prove the most hapless of them all. The entire flight of Enterprise bombers intended to attack the Akagi had instead gone after the Kaga, causing three of the strike on the Kaga to evade them and fly toward the Akagi. While U.S. naval strategy at the time would call it a wasted effort, the three planes went ahead an attacked the Akagi, scoring only one hit. Again, the inadequate fire training left them unable to put out the relatively small fires, so they grew. No one considered that the fuel lines that reached to the planes could burn a trail back to the main tanks. No one thought to deal with the inability to flood one of the bomb magazines with water to keep the heat from detonating the bombs. The Japanese knew only to follow the master plan. In the American Navy, it's almost a slogan: 'No plan survives being put in action.' You have to be able to think on your feet.

More important than the bomb hit was a near miss at the stern of the ship. Had it been an American ship, the hull would have been shocked to prevent damage from the vibration of the explosion. It was this near miss that knocked out electricity and water pressure to much of the ship, preventing the flooding of the magazine to prevent the explosion. The bigger problem was caused by damage to the steering. The ship was in a turn to evade the bomber attack, now it couldn't straighten out. Had this been an American ship the methodology was built into the system to turn the ship either with a large wrench on a hex bolt on top or by inserting a pipe, with crewmen trained and practiced in the operation. The Japanese had no such plan in place. Nor did the crew have the know how to fix the steering, the electricity or the water. The entire nation of Japan had few engineers, yet they were attempting to operate these large scale machines of war who had never handled the sort of tools they were using until they'd joined the navy, that didn't know much about the machines they were trying to fix.

Through the repeated calls from the other ships asking WHEN the they would have the problem under control and rejoin the battle, the Akagi burned all day and into the night. Eventually when the vanquished fleet withdrew the ship was scuttled as they couldn't straighten it out to take it under tow.

The attacking fleet had been carelessly spread across the Pacific Ocean to keep the Americans from learning the size of the fleet. Two smaller aircraft carriers were too far away to help the lone surviving Hiryu in counterattack. A small number of bombers that had been launching as the U.S. attacked the Japanese fleet, a number the U.S. navy would have considered ineffective, attacked the Yorktown. The skilled, highly experienced Japanese pilots were able to put three bombs on the deck of the Yorktown, the same number that had so quickly caused the abandonment of the Soryu. As the smoke filled the sky the Japanese pilots flew away confident that the ship was crippled if not destroyed. In spite of the considerable previous damage that had not been repaired, the American crew quickly put out the fire and cleaned up the mess. Forty five minutes later a second wave of Japanese planes believed they had found a different ship, how could this ship possibly have been attacked before? The U.S. had attacked the Japanese ships with many times over as many torpedo bombers without doing any damage, but the veteran Japanese again battered the Yorktown, which began to list so badly the Japanese believed it would quickly roll over and sink.

The crew stabilized the Yorktown but was evacuated before dark as a precaution. A destroyer kept a forlorn watch on the stricken vessel as the fleet withdrew for fear of the larger Japanese forces coming to wage a surface battle, the ship would be scuttled to prevent capture. In the morning some limited crew reboarded to work as it was taken in tow, in spite of the fact it had suffered worse damage than even the Kaga it was on its' way home for repairs until a Japanese submarine showed up it strike it with several torpedoes.

The lesson continued for the Japanese when the planes of the Enterprise returned to attack the Hiryu. As before, they were simply unable to gain control of the fires. As the fleet withdrew the trail of smoke would have given away their position all the way home, the ship was a liability. As the ships that had waited to recover the crew sailed away, several who had been left behind were seen on the deck. They were signaled that they were being left to die. When higher ups in the fleet discovered this, a ship was sent back to look for survivors. On arrival the Hiryu had sank and there was no sign of the remaining crew.

It wouldn't be until after the war that the Japanese would learn that an American ship had arrived first and rescued the abandoned crewmen. Later in the war, as Americans bombed Chi Chi Jima to eliminate the island as the threat rather than invade it, a lone American pilot was rescued within sight of the island by a submarine. The Japanese soldiers who watched would say they knew their own government would never had acted to save then in that situation, viewing them as unimportant. The downed pilot was George H. W. Bush.

And there was the advantage the United States had over Japan, the value of its' people and the knowledge of that. Six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. still lacked the basic combat readiness of the Japanese. Be they bombers or gunners, Japanese attackers were more likely to hit their targets than Americans. Were that the only thing that mattered we all might have grown up speaking a different language.

The Americans on the other hand had a monopoly on the ability to learn. The rest of the world didn't understand that was what Tom Brokaw's "Greatest Generation" did: The simply learned whatever they needed to. When the Marines were handed down an unpredictable plane the Navy had rejected as their new primary fighter, they added new control surfaces to stabilize the plane for landings and cut a new window in the floor to help see the ground as they did. They even figured out that if you flew the plane in a half circle instead of a straight on approach you could even land the plane on an aircraft carrier, afterall. That plane was the F4U Corsair, which the Marines did not want to give up even when they were offered the Navy's best to replace it.

And that is what is being lost today. It's not that kids need to learn in school, it's that they need to learn how to learn. Based on the knowledge of the graduates, the Northern European K-12 educational system must be the best in the world, they come away knowing so much more than anyone else. Yet they cover less subject matter than an American school. Kids there know how to learn what is covered.

The Japanese will cover less in four years of high school than American schools do their freshman year. But the Japanese arrive in high school having spent their grade school years learning to correct their own deficiencies. They'll be able to do more with what little they learn than their American counterparts because they know how to adapt.

There is no question that so much of that old advantage has been lost. Any navy in the world has on every ship a group that is ready to steer the ship if the mechanism is damaged. Sail on an ocean liner from any country and the entire crew of the 'Love Boat' is a lean, mean, fire fighting machine. The rest of the world has caught up, there's not much left we're ahead in these days.

When I find myself in a college class as a student, teaching unemployed adult students how to measure, (Some are so amazed to see you can lock a tape measure in place) I have to wonder if there's any hope. Recruiters from companies desperate to hire in this time when more than 10% are out of work are hovering over these classes, if only they could find people who could do the job. (More than once they've watched me dealing with these people, then stuck an application in my hand. Sorry, not looking for a career change.) My own feeling is that the economy doesn't have to be this bad right now. Except we're really not ready to do anything about it. These people are not catching up quickly. And yet there's little opportunity to keep them in school and teach them things they should already know. The scientific measurement class from this particular program seems to have been canceled permanently, thanks to so many budget cuts.

When I was teaching television to high school students, it was through the Regional Occupational Program, so the annual in service training sessions were industrial themed. Speakers from foreign countries would tell us that they came to the U.S. to open factories even if they did have to pay higher wages because the American infrastructure kept productivity up. Again, the world is catching up; other countries are building roads and more reliable electric grids. Honda motorcycles has largely done their Research and Development in North America because that's where the engineers are. Many foreign cars are developed in studios in Tustin, Fountain Valley, all over the U.S. But foreign colleges are currently turning out more engineers than American colleges. How much longer will they need us?

When was the last time you saw a kid working on the car in the driveway with dad? And that takes you to the point I'm trying to make. Most of the old ways of REALLY learning are gone. We better come up with some new ones fast. If history is going to repeat itself, we could wind up on the losing end.

Want To Get To NoCal Fast? Take A Plane

2012-01-25T04:32:00.001-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

I can't believe that I of all people do not want High Speed Rail in my home state of California.

Don't get me wrong...this avid train and public transportation rider would love nothing more to ride a high speed rail train from my home town in Fullerton to San Francisco. That would be very cool.

But at what cost?

The price tag for this boondoggle is now estimated over 100 Billion Dollars which is going to come out of the taxpayers pocket.

The original idea was to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than five hours. With changes in the route plans that trip is going to take longer.

This is why God invented airplanes. If the goal is to get to San Francisco from Orange County fast...then, and I can't believe I am saying this: Take a plane! That works when you need to be somewhere fast. Until they finish developing the transporter (ala Star Trek)that still is the quickest way to get from point A (Los Angeles) to point B (San Francisco or Sacramento).

The rest of us that use rail frequently know that it takes around seven hours to get to San Francisco from Fullerton by train. That's why we plan ahead and take our work, our lap tops, cel phones, etc. We have meetings on the train and we get work done while we are going toward our destination. There is no reason to throw over 100 Billion Dollars so we can get there a few hours faster when we can hop in a jet and be in San Francisco in under half the time.

But you know what we can spend money on? The infrastructure of the current train system and the trains itself. Train tracks need to be repaired and trains need to be brought into the 21st century.

This will not take over hundred billion. We can do it for the fraction of that mind-staggering cost and this will still...the other goal...put a lot of Californians back to work.

And by the way, while we are on that subject... let's stop hiring people from out of state to work on our projects. Keep it in the family. Put Californians back to work. We're paying for this...we get to choose who builds it.

As I was on a recent train excursion...through the Northwest from Southern California to Seattle, I was reminded of what the nation's passenger rail service, Amtrak, is and I thought about what it could be.

First of all, the scenery from Los Angeles to San Francisco and on to Seattle, as seen from the comfort of the Amtrak observation lounge rivals the best in the country. From the ocean views to the Northern California and Oregon mountains to the lushness of Northern Oregon into Washington and the Puget Sound area near Seattle..it's arguably hard to beat for breathtaking beauty not only in the US but in the world.

The people I met on this journey were incredible. People from Northern California and the Northwest are generally generous, educated, and progressive, and this makes for wonderful and interesting conversation. And since you have to sit with somebody at the dining car you have the opportunity to get into some wonderful discussions with fascinating people.

But, those are all the benefits of taking the train...anywhere. What I want to talk about is what Amtrak is doing right and where they fall short.

I was actually on two trains this trip through the northwest. For those who were not following the trip on this webzine as it was happening, my son Felix and I took the Coast Starlight from Fullerton, CA to San Francisco...stayed two days in San Francisco...got back on the CS and went to Eugene, OR where we stayed with my good friends Mark and Greg. After we left Eugene we switched to the Cascades which is the run from Eugene to Seattle. The two trains were like night and day.

First of all, in all fairness, the train they use for the Coast Starlight is similar to the trains they use on the Southwest Chief (LA to Chicago) or the Zephyr (Chicago to San Francisco). These trains were built in the 70's in an era where there were no cel phones, no laptops, no personal DVD players. So there are very few electrical outlets and the first thing that everybody looks for is an outlet but with an average of one or two per car it's tough going.

The second thing, I noticed was the service is suffering and I had wonderful experiences last year on the Zephyr and Southwest Chief. I think it has to do with teams that they put on the train. All it takes is a couple of disgruntled employees to permeate the group and the experience becomes less than satisfactory. The service from LA to Oakland fell into the less than satisfactory category. But the Emeryville to Eugene ride was much better.

On the LA to Oakland run, the Amtrak employees were rude, obnoxious, and let you know that they were understaffed and overwhelmed. OK that last part is probably true...but it doesn't mean you have to take it out on the customers. We're trying to have a good time and get to where we need to go...lose the attitude and work out whatever differences you have with your employer.

I was particulary disappointed in the service in the dining room. Plastic eating utensils, high prices, paper table cloths, less than satisfactory food and again waiters with bad attitudes. What happened to the golden age of train travel where you had wonderful service, china, cloth table cloths, and beautiful silverware and glasses for your drinks? No wonder people don't like taking the trains anymore.

Then the lounge is not showing movies anymore because the motion picture industry wants a cut for them showing the movies. Give me a break.

Contrast that with what I experienced on the Amtrak Cascades train from Eugene, OR to Seattle, WA. This train service is a cooperative between the states of Oregon, Washington and Amtrak. It's all the things Amtrak does right. First of all the train is always generally on time because they split the ride in two trips. One train starts in Eugene and runs to Portland. Then another train takes you to Seattle. Also, I understand they don't have the freight train right of way issues that are experienced in other parts of the country.

This train was built within the last few years and they did it right. An electrical outlet at every seat, tv screens for movies in every car with plugs on the console for headsets to listen to the movie, a wonderful lounge and Bistro, large and beautiful bathrooms, an onboard systems for telling you time, weather, how far ahead or behind the train is on schedule. This is on when the movies are not going. And by the way, with every Amtrak train I've been on...much more leg room than an airline seat. And the crew on this train were happy, neatly dressed, and extremely helpful.

And now comes my modest proposal.

Why can't they run Amtrak like National Public Radio or Public Television? Since it is a government subsidized service, get corporate sponsorships and have fundraisers to create more money. Here's some ideas what you could do with corporate and individual involvement.

Have a major restaurant run the Dining Room. Have Outback Steakhouse, as an example, be responsible for the dining room. They would staff it, they would design the inside of the rolling restaurant, they could have their menu. And they would do a great job, because it would be a great advertisement for their traditional restaurants.

Create free enterprise aboard the train. There could be a mini McDonalds, a Starbucks, some small shops like a mini-mall all on the train. Can you imagine the bidding war companies would get into to get those spots and how much more money it would generate for the railroad?

Yes, have a movie theatre, sponsored by AMC or another chain or at least do what they did in the Northwest with a screen in view near the seats with a plug to listen at your seat.

Get an interior designer to sponsor a redesign of the interiors of the trains. Again, a bidding war would insue and the winning bidder would generate a lot of publicity. And of course, put an electrical plug at every seat and hook up the trains for wi-fi. Because of these innovations, train travel would be fun and sexy again.

There is so much that could be done with the current Train system in America. We have a beautiful country and traveling by train is a wonderful way to meet the people and see the sights of this great land. Europe and other countries are way ahead of the US on this So any investment we put into this venture is going to pay dividends in the economy as more people get out and spend more money in the areas around the country.

Tragedies Amplified By The Media

2012-01-23T00:31:00.000-08:00

Op-Ed By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

Even though it has been over a year since the shooting tragedy in Tucson, Arizona and the unnecessary loss of human life, I can not stop thinking about the media's role in this.

I want to see an end to the spotlight we put on these cold blooded killers. We don't need to know these murderers names and we don't need to know their political leanings and everything about the killer.

Didn't we learn anything from other similar tragedies?

Again, at the beginning of this calendar year, another tragic death spree took place in my home county in Southern California. And again the media was there ready to give us the killer's reasons, his background, his name and why he committed these heinous murders.

We cannot legitimize what these people do by having their names all over the news.

They should not get their five minutes of fame. They should not get to have their views posted all over the place and recognized after they murder innocent people. And they should not get to encourage other deranged and mentally unstable people to do the same. I am sickened what this deranged person did to these innocent people.

But I am also sickened by the irresponsible nature of our media.

The following is a response by Daily Bosco Writer Rick Miranda

I used to watch a series on ethics that was aired a few years ago. They presented scenarios that were about ethical issues to a panel of individuals that were or previously had been in very influential positions. Among the panelists were ...Supreme court justices, surgeons general, lawyers and senators and predominant members of the news media including a number of prime time anchors.

They spoke of very high minded ethics and their responsibilities as journalists to get the news out in a fair and unbiased manner. I think that once they get put under the pressure of the 24 hour cycle of constant news and competition from the other networks it gets compromised and they go the ratings instead of what people should hear.

This guy was disturbed. He shot a bunch of innocent people. Beyond that they were dealing with conjecture. I understand and support our need for journalism to have a free hand in this society. I just wish they wouldn't abuse their freedoms for the sake of profit and ratings.

The following is a comment from reader Elaine Miller

I absolutely agree. I am also sick to death of hearing all about the perpetrator's sad, sad childhood. Many people have terrible childhoods and don't behave insanely because of it. I have three words for people, and I used these three words many times when my children suffered some setback or were treated badly: Get Over It!

The Case For Re-Inventing The Economy

2012-01-22T02:16:00.001-08:00

Make it in America:
The Case for Re-Inventing the Economy
Andrew Liveris
Paperback: 256 pages $18.95
John Wiley and Sons
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed By Doug Vehle
The Daily Bosco

I'm not sure there's really a choir to preach to on the subject of the problems of the American economy, but maybe there should be. People have a lot to say, without any real knowledge to back it up. Myself I have to admit that while I share the views of the author, I don't know the details so well as he does. Therefore I found this book to be absolutely fabulous reading. And a little frustrating, though that wasn't the authors fault; In fact he was sharing my frustration.

Liveris cites the problem of "How we fell out of love with manufacturing" as the source of the problem, not so much that the competition is tough as the fact we don't show much resolve in competing. He takes to task the misconception of business demanding a total lack of regulation while outlining the type of regulation he sees as lacking in America while other countries are using an iron fist to put such regulation in place, thus drawing more jobs to those countries. Scoffing at the notion of low labor costs as an important factor in off shoring, he has a long list of benefits companies seek in the third world that seem almost shocking for their absence in the United States.

And he has much to say on a related subject that many rail about without any knowledge of the real problem, in this case the "Permanent National Recession" in education. With one in four holders of "STEM Degrees" (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) over 50 and nearing retirement, he cites Lockheed Martin's expressed need to hire nearly 15,000 engineers a year for the next decade while the entire graduating class of engineers averages just 60,000 annually, creating intense competition for the few people who can fill the many needs of American industry. (We need that number doubled quickly.) Without the engineers, there will be no need for the support staff to assemble what the experts develop. Filling these jobs create more jobs. (The current estimate is that there are some 4 million openings for employment in America which, once filled, would each create from 2 to 5 additional openings. 3 million of those openings require the equivalent of the 4 year education in the STEM related fields, 1 million require special skills training in areas such as welding, machining, etc. that you can't simply learn on the job. Training 4 million people to fill these positions would recreate the demand for an approximate 10 million less skilled workers. Just my own note.)

Liveris painfully explains the preventable migration of an American innovation, the Kindle, as the rights to the technology found it's way to the country where it was built, no longer does an American company even OWN the Kindle. Yet the inevitability of this hits home as you learn of people coming to America to be in what they believe to be the only country where they can bring their idea to life, only to be FORCED to relocate in the 3rd world just to survive. Access to capital, a bureaucracy that ENCOURAGES innovation instead of working to prevent it, lower taxes: As with the novel 'Lost Horizon,' aptly named for this comparison, Shangri La seems in fact to be waiting in Asia, gathering the world's knowledge to emerge dominant as other societies insist on destroying themselves.

A lot of people won't like what Andrew Liveris has to say. They want the Asian countries to be punished for developing sound business practices because it interferes with the sense of entitlement so many Americans have. He explains why it just doesn't work to create a larger and larger welfare state by increasing taxes for the decreasing numbers of those working, to further punish those who succeed. Liveris could have discussed 'How we fell out of love with the American Way.' In 1992, former U.S. Senator and Governor of Nebraska Bob Kerrey ran for president with a campaign commercial depicting him as a goal tender fending off shots from suspiciously Asian players. Nothing about goals of his own, just stopping those who are putting out effort from succeeding. That is a very popular message, but it is insanely wrong headed. If a few good investments really can beat a lifetime of toil, the best investment this country could make right now would be to follow the authors' advice.

This issue of the future of employment is important to me. Ever since I manned a camera during the 'Together we're the BEST' campaign of the City of Los Angeles and recorded Jeremy Rifkin explaining his book 'The End of Work' and how this Globalization thing would mean a future where "Fair Compensation" would be a daily battle, my volunteer social work shifted away from the maintenance and rehabilitation you find in the food banks, the homeless shelters, the Alliance for the Mentally Ill and all those drug and alcohol programs, (Such as AA) therefore instead seeking ways to help those who just want to help. This is how I see a serious job seeker, as someone looking for a way to be useful. THAT is why I'll be receiving an award on Wednesday, January 4th, the day you are scheduled to be reading this on The Daily Bosco. I didn't have to volunteer so much time and effort for these people, some of whom have never had a steady job. But I saw a 60 year old man whom I believe might have been homeless at the time get a fulltime job, the first of his life, in (GASP) manufacturing. Unemployment was over 10% at the time. This company has manufacturing jobs that go unfilled because too few are bothering to learn what are actually rather simple skills to be hired. At the time of his hiring I told a man from my neighborhood who had just lost his job how he could be quickly trained and hired for such a job but he couldn't be bothered. His family lost their home, I don't know how they're doing now.

I guess this makes me one of the few choirboys that Andrew Liveris could find to preach to. I may not know this subject as well as he does, but thanks to books like his I'm catching up. I'm giving others the chance to catch up too, my copy is on its' way to the Fullerton Library and should be in their catalog shortly. This time I'm really hoping there'll be people reading, and THINKING.

How the Upscale, Suburbanite 99% Live

2012-01-22T02:13:00.000-08:00

By Doug Vehle, The Daily Bosco

Can it always be true that real disasters never strike Fullerton, or do we have one in the offing? I joked to a grim faced police officer about how the sign used to say "Brea Wonderful" before they moved in, he actually laughed. Cyclists stopped for a look, then not seeing the point in sticking around with just the 12 tents and one visible person. The Brea Dam has been invaded by the lowest common denominator, to which I facetiously say "God Help us ALL!" Once again, a small group of people declares that they are going to push the rest of us around. Once again, I'm saying "Like hell you are."

I've followed the news. What started out as modern day "Hooverville" settlements (Named for the President at the beginning of the Great Depression) has taken a greater resemblance to the "Rookeries" of 18th-19th century England. Rioting, vandalism and stealing in various communities, extortion/"Protection Racket" activities in San Diego and other cities, even a shootout between residents, or should I say "Occupiers," in Oakland. This is worse than anything the people in the various Hoovervilles did, but most of those people didn't want to be a bother. Now it's the city of Fullerton indulging them as other communities have. You don't have to look too carefully at the photograph to see another illustration of people bending over backward to look the other way as the Occupy Movement does as it pleases. In case you didn't catch it, the sign says "No overnight camping," yet they'll be allowed to stay until they've simply bullied too many people to tolerate anymore. Then they'll scream it's "Illegal" to protect yourself from them.

If I don't sound unimpressed, that's because I'm not. I see absolutely no effort to accomplish anything by these people and their "Movement." Ah, the romance of disrupting press conferences, of screaming "That's ILLEGAL" about perfectly legal things that go against you. Of aligning yourself with a group that symbolizes itself with a mask of a possibly retarded fall guy whose body the conspirators had intended to leave in the rumble when they blew up parliament,or if he escaped would have flee the country to lead the trail away from themselves; only to have him brag foolishly to the guards what they were up to and name names. Just as later writers would convert Guy Fawkes into what has been referred to as an "Acceptable fictional character," so do the Occupiers try to rehabilitate their image to that of freedom fighters rather than squatters. But if they didn't destroy things, I'd say they weren't even doing squat. I'm not working much at the moment, I'm occupying myself going to school, trying to help the school to deal with being understaffed and the students to deal with being under prepared. Yeah, life's tough all around. I can tell Occupiers about jobs they can get if they're willing to get just a little bit of training to prepare for it, jobs that have a way of going unfilled because people won't bother. I'm sure they'd get mad. I say that I alone mean a whole lot more to America than the entire Occupy movement. If the truth were told, how much economic injustice have the Occupiers been the cause of in their lifetime?

I recall the howling when the "Dot Bomb" Internet economy collapsed. All these people who'd flunked out of college and got well paying jobs not getting any work done were now unemployed, with no skills to get another job. There had been a lot of us who'd needed jobs that had learned to do the things that could have kept all those companies in business, but these do nothings had wanted to protect their phoney baloney jobs, so they'd only hire their own kind. How am I supposed to be sympathetic when I'm reading an article that included the whining of a ne'erdowell who'd stumbled into a job where he'd wound up interviewing me, became wide eyed with panic as I told him how to solve problems he was just telling me I was just going to have to live with while I worked there because not even HE could solve them. Do you get where my 100% scores on all 4 tests they had me take didn't get me the job, while others there who'd peaked at 75% and fell below 40% on one or two others were given start dates? The real "Economic Justice" would have been if I was reading his published "Poor Me, POOR ME" on a break from my first ever permanent full time job. What have the occupiers really done to solve their own problems? I've only caught where they complain, steal and threaten people. I can tell you I've been as desperate as these Occupiers if not more so, I've never behaved as badly as they do. I've gone to the trouble of becoming someone who really should have access to the real job I've never been able to get.

My thoughts will always go to the homeless man trying to raise his son and get off the street who went on to become a millionaire and the subject of a film starring Wil Smith. There is the real courage to me, actually trying to do something himself rather than pouting until SOMEONE ELSE fixes it for him, a la Obama health care. What is the badly misidentified "99%" really doing other than alienating even the 19% that once supported them? (Insert answer here, if you can.) While Guy Fawkes spun quite a fanciful tale of the activities of himself and his conspirators, there was never any proof they did much besides collect gunpowder. Even the extensive tunnel he told of digging never existed. As imaginary as the enttitlement the Occupiers feel.

I recall a little 'Compare and Contrast' editorial in the 'New York Times' on Irish Republican Army terrorist Bobby Sands after he'd starved himself to death on a hunger strike in prison, a place he'd been several times before at the age of 26. "Mahatma Gandhi used the hunger strike to move his countrymen to abstain from fratricide. Bobby Sands' deliberate slow suicide is intended to precipitate civil war. The former deserved veneration and influence. The latter would be viewed, in a reasonable world, not as a charismatic martyr but as a fanatical suicide. . . ." Oh, Sands was even elected to Parliament, yet instead or taking office chose to kill himself. Thus escaping the pressure of having to actually accomplish something.

To the rest of the world, most Americans are the 1%. To be what is considered "Poor" in America is to be unable to replace that TV you bought at a garage sale (Or possibly did buy new) with a big screen, to wonder how you'll get a new washer and dryer when those you have wear out. If the check the government gives you isn't enough, you make a run to the food bank and stop on the way home where they give you dinner ready made. The homeless are allowed to leave their electronics, the DVD player, portable computer that can access the free WiFi (And used WIkipedia during the blackout, as I did to fact check this) at the coffeeshops, etc., to charge at local businesses while they run to their mailboxes to pick up their celphone bills and their monthly checks. If you don't believe any of that, go volunteer with the organizations working with these people and you'll find out. In short, the Occupiers socalled 99% are included among the world's wealthiest. I won't be satisfied until I hear Occupiers admit "We ARE the 1% upper class." If you really want to hear someone scoff at the Occupy movement, talk to a "Foreigner" (Immigrant, legal or illegal) who works at fast food or a convenience store after Occupiers have been in there demanding to be fed and blocking the doors until they are. These people will tell you they'll take being homeless in America.

So Steve, whom I hope is reading this, told me of his childhood adventures at a campground where his family spent the summer in a tent when Dad was out of work but had a teaching job coming in the fall. I guess a modern "Condo Tent" has gotta beat the built from what they could find shanties of the 1930's Hoovervilles. He talks about that as a happy memory. I wonder if the Occupiers even care about their socalled "Movement," or if it's all just a facade. As I was taking my photographs, a family of cyclists stopped to look at the encampment. They asked where all the people were, I told them I had only seen one man since I'd arrived. They asked about the planned activities, how many more were coming, etc., I think they took my responses as coming from a member of the camp. Who knows, if the one man had come over he might have said the same thing I was saying: 'I don't know.' Obviously there would be no vicarious thrill here, they rode on.

As they did, the grade school age boy vented his disappointment. "This is the worst Occupy ever." If that is what makes it the worst, I just hope it stays that way, we don't need their kind of disaster here. It's not worth having them do anything "Better."

Just Want To Ride On My Motorsickle

2012-01-18T04:43:00.000-08:00

By Doug Vehle, The Daily Bosco

I'm not really looking for one, but sometimes I just can't help myself. It's just a hobby to find the occasional old motorcycle, moped, scooter and bring it back to life - I don't really even restore them, I just get them running and rideable again.

It's just that I can't quite take my mind off one old bike, so time and again I find myself typing in the letters "RX50" into the Craigslist search, every now and then there's a match. Sometimes they use those magic words, "Pinkslip in hand." Not that huge numbers of bikes are stolen, just that so many people lose the pinkslip and don't want to bother getting a new copy from the DMV, which makes it hard to register if you buy it. Some people bought from someone else without the pink, now they're trying to sell it.

Contrary to what some sellers want you to believe, being old doesn't make something collectable, nor does being "Rare." Priceless, timeless, these have their specific definitions that don't quite fit the real meaning of the words. And with one particular old motorcycle, it's hard to say how much it's really worth, or how much more than what it's really worth it's then really worth. How much could a bike be worth used if when it was new it cost --- NOTHING?

So back in college I was a soft touch for someone to bring over when they needed a favor, or a ride somewhere. Jim was rather abusive of that, wanting someone else to drive him around to all the McDonalds so he could get his "No Purchase Necessary" game pieces to try to win money. Mostly he didn't want to be the one paying for gas, but he didn't always even have a car, or when he did have one he lacked a steady job to pay for gas. He was always incensed when we became impatient with his antics, we were keeping HIM from winning HIS money. Always the fault of everyone else that HE was broke, while those of us with our parttime jobs had whatever small about of pocket money, which greatly mystified Jim.

For that reason there just didn't seem to be any reason to take Jim to the Yamaha dealer that used to be located on Yorba Linda Blvd. near Rose in Placentia. Just a more grown up version of the kid looking in the toy store at what he can't have. But Jim would have given almost anything for a motorcycle of his own, just so there wasn't any money involved. Unbeknownst to me, he thought he'd found his angle to play. And since I was the one who'd taken HIS bike, or what he would remind me that he thought should have been his first bike, he figured I owed him this opportunity to get his FREE bike. And since I always love watching a good train wreck, I really couldn't help myself but to take him to that dealer and watch him flail about like a fish on the deck of a boat.

My first bike, the one Jim had wanted for years, came my way accidentally. Having learned that there was to be another kid in Placentia jumping several cars on sheer pedal power, I made the trek from Fullerton on my own little BMX bike that I'd cobbled together from cast off parts. Jim was present that day, as was an Orange County Register photographer. The stunt made the paper. I don't recall if Jim or I were visible in the background. Years later, on the first day of my first college class session, the guy sitting next to me suddenly asked if he'd been talking to me that day of the bicycle jump. I had him in several classes that semester, we were both Broadcasting majors.

Thus did I find myself on my way to his house one Saturday morning some weeks later, driving my ancient 4 door Rambler that I'd bought for $100 when the owner had been unable to start it at 7am after his night shift ended. Already planning to sell, he'd stuck the "For Sale" sign in the window and walked home, coming back a few hours later when I'd found the car while passing through that parking lot. I had to get it running again to bring it home. Jim had been rebuilding a near identical Rambler engine from the same year, I wound up replacing my unnaturally 'S' curved pushrods with the still straight rods he cast off from his engine, making a big difference in the driveability of my car. Still, I had a new girlfriend who lived in Anaheim Hills, that weak old car never made it up the hill to her house, I would walk over a mile from where I was forced to park the car when the running start ran out of momentum and it stopped going uphill.

On the morning of this day when he would give me those pushrods, I was driving down his street when I passed a house with a garage sale. I saw a small motorcycle of a type they just don't make anymore, the moped has pushed them aside. When I reached his house, my first words were "I'd have thought you'd be all over that bike he's selling over there."

He was jolted. "He's selling the bike?" Spinning around, seeing the two wheeler getting pushed to the street to get it noticed, his eyes were popping. Picture Robert Blake trying to run while playing 'Baretta' on TV, Jim wasn't much taller. You get the picture. I felt as though I was just walking fast to keep up. But I can picture this guy as a high schooler gazing into the garage at this old abandoned machine, dreaming of bringing it back to life and loving what it represents in a special way. Not much of a motorcycle, but at least he'd have one.

Which is why I was surprised when Jim didn't buy it. The seller wanted what amounted to pocketchange. In fact, that's what I wound up giving the man for it. I guess Jim was daunted by the fact that his Rambler rebuild had become such a long term, expensive job, he didn't want to spend more time and money on this little thing. It's almost embarrassing for me that I can't remember just what it was besides a Honda, but unlike Jim, I wasn't dreaming of my own motorcycle.

But I'd take one. My Dad called me 'Dauntless' not just because it was a play on Douglas. After giving the man everything I had in my pocket -- NOT MUCH -- the bike went into my back seat, good thing it was so small. I was just going to run it home and come back, but once it was in the family driveway and my tools were close by, I just couldn't help myself, I had to work on it. And as any addicted motorcycle tinkerer can tell you, it's amazing how little it takes to get a bike started after it's been sitting almost a decade in someone's garage, seemingly dead. Bikes don't start one day for reasons that are a mystery even to people who fix them, then they find themselves abandoned. Years later, someone like me comes along. . . .

So as I'm riding slowly up Jim's street, I stand up on the bike as I ride past the garage sale. The look on the face of the man that sold it to me. Then the look on Jim's face. Priceless. "I'll give you twice what you paid him for it. 3 times." That still wouldn't have been much. Nah, I was hooked now. My little brother had been stunned at me turning up with this old bike and getting it running, this buying stuff for loose change and fixing it was an idea that was growing on him. Even better was the sheer disgust of my mother at my having the devil's own transportation. And of course the looks on those two faces as I rode up Jim's street. In the less than an hour I had it, this bike had already greatly enhanced my life. Maybe I needed a black leather vest and a big ole' chain for my wallet.

So if he wasn't ready to give up so much as one day's pay for that one bike, what was he doing at the dealer, inquiring on the new Midnight Maxim? Jim, you see, considered himself quite the conman. His best friend Wayne kept trying to point out to him that nobody was fooled. I would get the finger waggling and the tongue lashing over 'Humoring' Jim, as Wayne would be warning Jim I was just playing along so I could watch him get himself into another fine mess. As Lou Costello used to say, "I'm a BAAAAAAD BOOOOOOOY."

And so, without further explanation, I had driven Jim to the dealer on the insistence that he had finally found a way to get himself the bike he always wanted. I watched Jim bargaining with the salesman for what was supposed to be the purchase of one of the more expensive bikes on the market at the time. Knowing Jim, I could tell he was wheedling about something, though what it was didn't get mentioned. In the end, both came away disappointed. The salesman didn't get the commission, Jim didn't get the entry for the drawing for the free bike.

And that is what makes the old RX50 such an interesting bike: Not a single sale was ever made of this bike, though something like 1,000 existed. Yamaha had cobbled together, from parts already manufactured for other bikes, a cheap little machine to offer as a prize in a drawing where every dealer would give one away to their customers. Had Jim found a way to be a "Customer," who knows, maybe he would have won his free bike. But if he'd wanted to buy one, he'd have had to pick one up used from a winner.

My cheap bike was at least a little better than what he was trying to win. It was either a Supercub, or a variant such as the Passport or the Trail series. I wasn't familiar with it at the time I bought it, winding up to only have it 3 days. After that Jim wouldn't let up about how I should have given it to him. If you know the old 'Malcolm in the Middle' TV series, you get the idea of my relationship to my 3 brothers. The 2nd oldest is, well, NUTS. I only had one other chance to ride my bike before he came to the house, searched my room for the key, then wrecked the thing about a half mile from the house. It was his opinion that he'd done me a favor by dragging what was left back home. Of course if he hadn't brought it back I'd have been assuming he had sold it. People buy bikes without pinkslips, some really are stolen. These days I see a red Honda of that type from the era, about the right size, I wonder if that's the model I had. I'm not sure I knew exactly at the time. The Supercub wound up being the most successful motor vehicle in history, some 66 million were sold worldwide in the 50 years it was on the market by 2006 when it was discontinued. That doesn't count the variants on the theme, which probably boost the number over 100 million.

Shortly after that I picked up a crunched Enduro, half dirt/half street, to piece back together with junk parts. Before it was properly aligned and tightened to spec, my younger brother got the key and rode it, doing considerable damage to studs and other loose parts which put me back to work when I had been about finished. Then when it really was done the older brother came over and rode it, again destroying it completely, this time leaving it where it lay for me to recover because it was just too much trouble for him to bring home. About that time I had a minor incident with my oldest brother's dirtbike, which I promptly fixed. He'd just laughed at the time it happened, reminding me of what HE had been through with this particular brother destroying his bikes. (This one brother never actually PAYS for anything when he does this.) He knew who he was dealing with when it was me and that this time the bike would be fixed. In fact fixed twice: of course it was ridden by the younger brother before it was finished, thus damaged again. The oldest brother was rather short with the efforts of the 2nd brother to act as though I really hadn't done a good job of fixing it, offering "He did a better job than YOU'VE ever done." (Truer words were never spoken.) Again, the 2nd oldest brother would destroy this bike. Hopefully you're seeing the pattern that is emerging here.

Actually, a few patterns. You see, I'd always fixed things. An 8th child, with 6 nieces and nephews before I finished grade school, let's just say money would have been tight in the family even if Dad hadn't lost half his pay in the aerospace cutbacks under President Nixon. So many things I only had because I was able to fix one someone else had broken and discarded. That had included bicycles. Later it was cars and motorcycles. My next effort at a motorbike was a Cimatti Citybike moped. Dead or not, it cost me more than that original motorcycle had cost. (The couple selling it angrily ranted over and over, for no apparent reason, that was what they wanted for it, until I told them if they didn't shut up I was leaving.) Once I had it going Jim offered his distain at the thought of someone getting a moped, but he wasn't too proud to go dirtbiking with me on the bridle trails and open fields around town. We had to take turns. Nor was my older brother too proud to go out and wreck it for me, this time literally snapping the frame in half as part of the deal. He would later put gas without 2 cycle oil in another of my mopeds and burn up the engine, further tearing it up in anger while bringing it back to the house. 4 bikes he took out of this world for me in so many years, 2 more in that time alone he smashed for our older brother.

You'd think I'd give up, but shortly after college I was making a video for someone in return for receiving an old Yamaha SR250, smaller than the Midnight Maxim but bigger than that RX50. Finally I had a bike long enough to ride to Cook's Corner, etc. Chaining it up didn't do any good, the 2 brothers cut locks off and damaged the street bike trying to trail ride, etc. The older brother was equally adept in wrecking cars, this time combining the two to drive over the bike in my driveway, finally destroying it. I puttered around on it a bit after that even if it wasn't worth the cost of replacing almost everything, it came in handy when I had car trouble and needed a way to commute 40 miles to work. Kind of scary riding the freeway on a motorcycle with handlebars twisted to an odd shape like that.

Once that bike was gone, I did without for awhile. Then those little pocketbikes came along. I found myself racing at Rialto Airport Speedway, the Grange in Apple Valley, etc. There was also the midibike, bigger than a pocketbike but still smaller than a moped, at least in height. I was just too big to race those danged things if I wanted to win, but the midi's had the full shift, it was the real thing. I found myself taking the MSI (Motorcycle Safety Institute) class at Mt. San Antonio College, getting a perfect score on the riding test at the end of the class which doubled for the DMV riding test. I figure I'd rode some 50,000 miles by then, so I should have a perfect score. When the rest of the class was panicking at being told they'd have to ride a near figure 8 in a box for the next trick, I asked if I could move up in line and go first. "Maybe if they see someone in the class do it they'll relax." People told me afterward that had indeed put their minds at ease. Pity those instructors facing such panic every class they teach, not always having someone like me there to go first.

All this left me with a list of junk bikes to find and fix when I took the ROP Motorcycle Repair class in Garden Grove. I wanted an SR250 to fix, never found one. No Supercub, no variant. I picked up several mopeds, never a Cimatti. Couldn't find an enduro, but I helped another guy in class with his. Several Yamaha scooters and a YG5 Trailmaster, several offbrand Chinese scooters, an original Pagsta, a pre Ninja GPZ750, I brought quite a collection of bikes back to life during that class. Even electrics, such as several of the eCycle Dash and an Electra Voy.

And a collection is just what they were. The 1984 Yamaha Riva XC180 I fixed was indeed a bike that purists collect. An MSI class bought it from me for their students to ride if they couldn't handle a full fledged motorcycle. The old 'Yamahopper' got a lot of attention too when I sold it. My mopeds were all from the 70's, the pedal crowd loves those. There was this really good kid who would zip around the neighborhood as best he could on a goped, stopping to help anyone in need as though he was on a mission; He was getting to be 18 when I gave him one of the Chinese Vespa style scooters which was too abused to actually sell to anyone. I just wish there were people like Jim around to watch and get the message when I did.

So this might help you to understand the real reason something becomes collectable. Someone forms an emotional attachment to such an item, whether they had one before or not. My Father worked timing and scoring at the race James Dean won in a Porsche Super Speedster; a few years later Dad was picking one up himself, he'd come to regret that he'd eventually traded it in. Those old Speedsters became a favorite of the less wealthy who couldn't be a collector, yet went to college with a rich kid who was driving the car they all longed to have someday. 20-40 years later, they'd finally get their car.

The Yamaha RX50 wasn't much of a bike, kind of like the joke of a camel being a horse designed by a committee. The engine was a 50cc 2 cycle from a kids' size bike. Nowhere near freeway capable, the transmission might enable it to outrun mopeds using near identical engines. If you ride that thing very long at one time, you're likely to burn up the engine. I never could have commuted to work on it way back when. If Yamaha HAD tried to put a price on it in the shop, it's hard to say if they could have sold any. My Pagsta is probably just as shoddy as the Yamaha even with a 4 cycle engine that probably came from Japan. I think it's given me a feel for what it would be like to ride an RX50. Well, I DO like riding my Pagsta; afterall, it's a motorsickle. All this fuels the ongoing interest.

My two destructive brothers have long ago moved to Texas, motorcycles are at last safe at my house. I may get these bikes running, but they're still old, slow, worn out. Still, I wish I'd never given up that Yamahopper. The guy that bought it keeps trying to sell it for 3 times what I sold it to him for. No, he won't get it. I'm always debating picking up another Riva, they're hard to work on but I've fixed legendary Riva problems that other struggle with for years. People were scoffing at YG5's they'd seen for sale when they posted about them on motorcycle boards, but I posted about mine and their tune changed, some went back and bought them. People are still commenting on my now departed mopeds that I mentioned at the Moped Army board. This time around I'm making memories with happy endings. I'm even thinking of getting the Taiwanese Symba, a replica of the Supercub.

If it had been me and not Jim that won one of those RX50's back when, I shutter to think what would have happened to it when it got to my place. I can't imagine I could have hid it in the crawlspace under the house or something, it would have been doomed when my brothers saw it. If I was ready to pay more than it's really worth to have that silly glorified moped without pedals of a marketing "Leave behind," it could have a long life with me taking care of it. Jim wouldn't be around to ride it either, let's just say I got fed up with the drunken self pity when he continually whined about how bad he had it, what with being lazy and unwilling to make it himself in the world and all. Last I heard from Wayne, he was fed up too. Wayne is up the coast of Central California now, selling business software. Jim I understand to be in sales himself. I remember the things they wanted to do, I think of how far from that they ended up, it just reminds me of why so many people envy me of how far I went in Television, even if I don't feel like a real success. At least I did some of what I wanted to do, just as at last I get to ride as I wanted to. But gee, I wonder if Jim ever did get to own his own motorcycle. I remember one day, years after I'd last spoken to him, I'm sure I saw him without a helmet as he rode past. .

. . . .Just want to ride on my motorsickle
And I don't want a tickle
'Cause I'd rather ride on my motorsickle
And I don't want to die
I just want to ride on my motorcy...cle

Arlo Guthrie's Motorcycle Song

Unseen. Unforgotten

2012-01-12T01:42:00.000-08:00

By Doug Vehle
The Daily Bosco

I wonder how many people realize the number of homeless camps that set up shop at the schools of Fullerton every night, only to see the residents vanish from sight in time for the kids to arrive each morning. And that largely is how they want to keep it, some relative invisibility to keep from seeming a bother. When that invisibility is interrupted, the community has a way of taking sides against each other while the homeless silently slip out of sight again.

But it really isn't always that way. At one time, sleeping in a doorway on Wilshire near Malden, was Fullerton's most prominent homeless man about town. There was nothing unusual about someone walking up to him and handing him a muffin or some soup. A patron leaving a restaurant might bring him a cup of coffee. One Christmas time I would see a woman dressed as though she was on her way to one of the better restaurants suddenly call "Johnny" and run to him, pulling a Christmas card from her purse she had been carrying in case she saw him. As always, he would be unable to look right at the person giving him something, but his face would slowly come to a very bright smile. When I asked this woman about the phenomenon I was witnessing, she told me they had gone to high school together, that a number of old schoolmates had started doing small things to take care of him. But I don't think they were all old classmates, I never had the chance to find out about why most of them were looking out for him. It probably came easy in this case, because look at the appreciation he showed.

Johnny Morris, to my limited understanding, appeared to be a Catatonic Schizophrenic, which bears some resemblance to autism. The articulated hand movements he exhibited as he acted out using imaginary objects drew my envy, as I was involved live improv comedy and "Spacework" at the time. The first time I intervened in one of his episodes, he was using his hand as though holding a Colt 1911 automatic pistol or something with a similar thumb safety, judging from the use of his opposing digit. Literally, from watching his hand, I could name the gun. The other hand was held up as though he was showing his badge; he was yelling "FREEZE! FBI UNDERCOVER!"

I learned a few things as a volunteer working with the mentally ill. In this case, I ran up next to him and took up his same position, mimicking his actions. So these people in the parking lot he'd been threatening to gun down now had two of us. But I explained quickly that he was harmless and it helped to mirror his movements to bring him out of it. He stopped moving, but his hand remained up pointing his "Gun." Since my moving out of position might set him in motion again, I asked if one of them would please just run over to Back Alley Grill right close and get the owner, who was very good at dealing with Johnny. The "Victims" were already laughing nervously, one asked if he was going to frisk them. At the sound of the owners voice, Johnny broke that slow smile.

It wasn't always so amiable. At Fullerton Library he might start yelling as he acted out some drama; maybe imagined, maybe remembered. Often it would involve violence or threats of violence. But always it was Johnny himself on the receiving end of the violence. The librarians never seemed to question when I'd squat into an imaginary chair next to him and match his gestures, between his shouts saying "Johnny, you can't be doing this here." They're educated people, they know something is working when he quiets down. But Johnny wore out his welcome in a library that welcomes the homeless, he was finally told not to come back. And he didn't, he really didn't want to be a problem.

And mostly he wasn't. I don't know if the business owner was bothered that Johnny would keep himself out of the rain, mostly out of the wind by spending the night in the inset space of the doorway, or if the owner even knew. I do know how I'd feel if I owned a business, if customers were uncomfortable with the homeless, even with my understanding that these people are alive and have to fill a space somewhere, even as we build cities they can't adapt to and take away all the free space. These matters create a lot of tough questions without ready answers.

The end came for Johnny while he was having a rare moment indoors. He was given some coffee, he sat at a table, suddenly he went face down. Easy to think he'd fallen asleep, it wasn't quite sun up. The word traveled quickly, so many knew Johnny.

A plaque went up memorializing Johnny at Back Alley Grill. People left food, I'm not sure if it was simply a memorial or if it was meant for other homeless, but they don't seem to go to that neighborhood and it went to waste. Not the case at the memorial site for Kelly Thomas, the food, clothes, cigarettes are quickly put to use. I'm asked why I bring cigarettes and I point out that in my time working with the mentally ill I realized that smoking brought what little pleasure some of them had. I'm not a smoker myself and I had the opportunity to decide that on my own. I'll let them do the same.

The Kelly Thomas site is temporary, unless the OCTA should decide to allow something permanent. No reason that they should. Either way, the drop offs should subside after a month or so of relative prosperity for these people who survive on so little. They smile about that, saying they appreciate it for as long as it might last. They can't all be Johnny Morris.

On New Years and Change

2012-01-02T02:16:00.000-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

Some traditions seem to die hard with me...especially around New Years Day.

For instance, as a wannabe sports broadcaster growing up in the late 60's and early 70's I was very aware of the Bowl Game lineup and the announcers on television for each of the Bowl games. It was Lindsey Nelson on the Cotton Bowl on CBS in the morning. Curt Gowdy on the Rose Bowl in the afternoon and Jim Simpson on the Orange Bowl in the evening (both on NBC). That Bowl lineup was like it was etched in stone when I was a kid.

It was as traditional as eating Black Eyed Peas on New Years.

And before all those Bowl Games it was the Rose Parade with a gentleman by the name of Bill Welsh doing the commentary on KTTV Channel 11. I would stay with my Grandmother every New Years night and into the evening of New Years Day when our entire family would gather. On New Years morning I would get up early and run to her front yard to pick up the Los Angeles Times. There we could see the Parade lineup so we could follow along when the Parade started.

But before all the parade festivities and the bowl games....shortly before midnight on New Years I would stay up with my Grandmother and flip between the Johnny Carson Show and the Guy Lombardo show on television. Shortly before midnight Grandma Liesch would go to her cupboards and pull out some pots and pans. She would apologize for not having any fire crackers but she told me "We gotta make some noise...let's go" and we would go outside and rattle those pots and pans as vigorously and as loud as possible at midnight.

I can't remember when this all changed, but like everything I suppose it was a gradual process.

Fast forward forty two years later.

Johnny Carson, Guy Lombardo, Bill Welsh, Kurt Gowdy, Lindsey Nelson, and my Grandma Liesch are no longer with us anymore. And Jim Simpson has been retired for a long time.

I picked up the Los Angeles Times on Saturday morning. Instead of seeing the Parade Lineup (because there is now an ap for that)...there was an article about how most of the flowers on the Rose Parade floats aren't even grown in California. As a lot of things in my home state of California, like jobs and businesses, this has been apparently outsourced to foreign countries or out of state.

I was in the car on Saturday doing some errands and was listening to something called the Meineke Car Care Bowl and later, the Auto Zone Liberty Bowl. I realized that both the main announcers on both of the games were women. They were doing a great job and this has been done since 2000 when Pam Ward first did it but I still miss Kurt Gowdy and Lindsey Nelson with his southern drawl and loud psychedelic suits that I swear he was just wearing to mess with the CBS producers.

Speaking of Bowl Games, the Cotton Bowl isn't even played on New Years anymore.

And about all these sponsors for the bowl games. They never had that back in the Day.

If you are going to do that, at least match up the sponsor with the bowl game. The only sponsor that sort of matches up is the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The rest don't match up. Not even close. Like what does Auto Zone have to do with Liberty? Or what does Vizio have to do with Roses? Wouldn't you rather see the Sunkist Orange Bowl or the Hanes Cotton Bowl or the Jackson & Perkins Rose Bowl or the C&H Sugar Bowl?

One thing about the Fiesta Bowl. I remember watching that game on TV when I was a kid in the late 60's when it was played on a torn up dirt and grass patch somewhere in the Arizona desert. They would televise it on one of the low budget independent stations...channel 13. It was the ugliest game to watch especially if you had to watch it in black and white like I did. When did this turn into the premiere Bowl game? Now the game is played in a state of the art stadium where they roll out the turf and reseed before every game and the game is viewed by millions and the fans watch in air conditioned comfort of a domed stadium.

My New Years has morphed into new traditions like spending New Years with 10,000 of my closest friends in our town's First Night Celebration and watching a firework extravaganza at midnight, having family over at the house for barbeque, and watching movies with my family on New Years Day instead of football and a parade.

As much as I long for the good old days of New Years past, in the end, I guess the biggest tradition of New Years Day is change and starting in a new direction. So I did something entirely different this year.

This year I watched Videos of classic Guy Lombardo and Johnny Carson New Years Shows, old Rose Parades, old Cotton, Rose and Orange Bowls (with no corporate sponsorship) and I banged pots and pans at midnight. Then I ate some Black Eyed Peas for Good Luck.

Happy New Year Everybody!

It's Christmas Time In The City

2011-12-22T03:57:00.000-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

One thing I have to say about my neighbor Steve Weisman …well there are two things….he loves Christmas and he gets a little crazy at this time of the year. First of all, the sheer fact that we live on Bedford Drive (You know, like “It’s A Wonderful Life” Bedford Falls ) indicates how far he takes this obsession with Christmas. In other words, I don’t think that it is a coincidence that he lives on Bedford Drive. And I doubt it is a coincidence his name is Weisman (as in Wiseman)

Steve, his two children and lovely wife start decorating their home for Christmas in the summer. Ok, it just seems that way. Actually he starts on December 26...as in December 26, 2010 for the 2011 display.

Steve is always looking for deals on Christmas decorations. He hits the Estate Sale and garage sale circuit pretty good looking for the perfect Christmas decorations for his yard. His yard at Christmas is like the Who’s Who of Christmas Ornaments. You name it, he’s got it. Except for those inflatable Homer Simpsons and Santa Claus and Frosty the Snow men….Steve doesn’t go in for the inflatables apparently.

Which leads me to digress a little bit…When you are doing a Christmas presentation on your front lawn…and this is just a suggestion… go with either the religious motif or the “fun” motif. This is what I don’t want to see on any lawn in America…Jesus in a manger, the three Wisemen, A cross on top of your house AND a 20 foot inflatable Homer Simpson in a Santa Outfit. You either have to go one way or another. Steve primarily understands this…he goes for the fun in Christmas primarily. Steve could go religious…he’s a devoted Lutheran and he sends his two kids to wonderful Lutheran schools but he decided to go the fun route.

So a survey of Steve’s lawn will find a penguin in a tophat, lit candy cains, and my personal favorite a working Ferris wheel full of winter creatures like penguins or maybe it’s a big mouse dressed like a penguin… I’m not sure, a train on the roof, assorted lit reindeers, snowmen, and American Flag draped over his fence. 4 large Evergreens covered with lights…well you get the idea.

Steve single-handily keeps the White Cotton bunting industry going. The local fabric store in Fullerton here sees him coming and they know that they will meet their profit margin for the year. He rolls yards of that stuff onto his yard so that it looks like snow and he basically sacrifices his lawn for the Christmas display. Nothing can grow after he puts all that bunting down.

Steve isn’t the only one on my street that gets into the Christmas spirit on Bedford Drive. In fact it’s like peer pressure to not only have a Christmas display…You have to give 100%. Effort. You have to bring your “A” game when you are doing Christmas decorations on Bedford Drive. A couple of years ago, I startled everybody on my street. They thought I had converted to Judaism, which would have been cool with my neighbors, because they are cool and embrace religious diversity, but that would also have meant I would have been the only one on the block without Christmas decorations.

It was a series of events that made it appear I had in fact become one of the Chosen. First of all, I accidentally bought Hannakuh wrap from Steve’s daughter Stephanie for the school. I meant to buy the snowman ensemble but somehow I marked the code for the Hannakuh wrap on the order sheet. It’s beautiful in silver and blue metallic, but not Christmassy. Then, the former owner of my home, Jay, left me boxes of old colorful Christmas lights. One thing about me is that I like the white Icicle lights and simple elegance of the aforementioned so I don’t use the color lights. So, I went to Steve and simply said, “I won’t be needing these anymore” and he gave me a concerned “Come back to the flock” look.

The third thing that happened was that I could not make Steve’s annual Neighborhood Holiday bash at his home due to another commitment which totally looked like I was snubbing my Christian bretheren. And to top everything else, since I was gone for most of December that year…I literally didn’t put up any ornaments until December 24. But on December 24 everybody knew I was still a Christian….a lazy, procrastinating Christian mind you…but one still the same.

So I wish all of my neighbors (and everybody else for that matter) a wonderful and safe Holiday season. And if you experience a spike in your electric bill this month because of your Christmas lights and decorations and you wonder if it is all worth the money and time and effort just think of Steve Weisman and realize that some youngster is probably visiting Bedford Drive right now with his parents and staring with awe at the Weisman’s beautiful and wonderful Christmas decorations.

Saving The Best For Last

2011-12-16T03:22:00.000-08:00

Theatre Uncut
Monkey Wrench Collective
204 N. Harbor Blvd.
Fullerton, CA 92832
Directed by Dave Barton
Written by Laura Lomas, Dennis Kelly,
Jack Thorne, Clara Brennan, Lucy Kirkwood,
Mark Ravenhill, Anders Lustgarten, and David Greig
Through Sunday Dec. 18
Friday and Saturday - 8 PM
Sundays - 2 PM
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed by Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

As a long-time admirer and fan of Monkey Wrench Collective and it's predecessor (Rude Guerrilla Theater) in Fullerton, I am more than a little sad and out of sorts today.

That is because after the three remaining performances this weekend of Theatre Uncut, MWC goes permanently dark, packs it's bags and moves to Los Angeles.

Monkey Wrench Collective was the only place in Fullerton that you could go to for the timely, the avant garde, and the most controversial live theater. It never ever backed down from it's original mission statement.

And it isn't closing from a lack of trying. MWC has received rave reviews from publications as diverse as the OC Register, LA Times, OC Weekly as well as the one you are reading right now. I find it hard to believe that this Theater that sits in the middle of a College Town with fine acting tradition and people with a love of good inventive theater, can't pack their small, intimate venue night after night.

But on Monday it will be gone.

Good news however! There are three performances left of their latest effort and the Wrench has left the best for last.

True to form for Monkey Wrench, Theatre Uncut, which had it's genesis just this year in March and first opened in London, is ripped right out of today's news, and so relevant, you will wonder if this is actually today's newscast. This is adaptable theater which MWC is great at. I don't even think it was on their season schedule when it was announced earlier in the year.

If you are a bit hazy on the purpose of the Occupy Movement who the 99% are, then you will definitely want to see this. The play was originally written in protest of spending cuts by the Coalition Government in the UK but it tells the story of the 99% pretty well.

Theatre Uncut is actually eight short plays by eight different writers that tell one story. The production runs seamlessly as if it were one play and this is because Director Dave Barton is like an accomplished fine artist. Barton mixes multi-media here to great effect: video, lighting, set design by Jason Bannister, costume design by Heather Enriquez Girten sound and use of actors in an engaging and fascinating way.

There are some truly amazing performances by the actors here. Cynthia Ryannen's Linda, a mother dealing with her child's medical condition in Clara Brennan's Hi Vis is touching, absorbing, and moving. The same can be said about Bryan Jennings as Nigel and Jill Cary Martin as Julie in Jack Thorne's Whiff Whaff.

My personal favorite, and it's hard to pick one favorite here because it is all great, is Mark Ravenhill's A Bigger Banner. What would happen if two protesters from the 40's ran into a protester from the Occupy Movement today? A Bigger Banner answers that question with great performances by MWC veterans Jessica Lamprinos and Jennifer Pierce as well as Jami McCoy and Sean Engard.

Remember, starting tonight (Fri. Dec. 16) these are the last three shows by the Monkey Wrench Collective before they close the doors in Fullerton forever. It's the end of an era which we will probably not see the likes again in this town for a long time to come.

The 2011 NCAA Football Division I Playoffs

2011-12-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

Well, it's that time of year again...One more chance for me to get one last rant in on why there should be a Playoff Series in NCAA Division 1 Football. This comes to mind as I look over the current NCAA Bowl Game Schedule and I realize that instead of staring at a 7-5 and 9-4 team in the Idaho Potato Bowl this weekend...we could actually be starting the first round of the playoffs.

And there are so many questions. Just because LSU is undefeated, how would Wisconsin with two losses play against the Tigers? Or better yet how would Oklahoma State with one loss do against either Oregon or Stanford?

This whole yearly national debate could be settled by a playoff. Almost all NCAA sports including lower division football have a playoff system. A playoff at the Division 1 level is now a no brainer. And you don't have to go any further than the NCAA Division 1 Basketball tournament to realize how huge of an event this could be.

How would it work? Very simple. First of all you don't throw out the BCS ranking system...maybe you try to improve the process...but you don't get rid of the concept. Top eight teams at the end of the regular season are in the playoffs.

First week number eight plays number one, number seven plays two...and so on. Second week, reseed and have the semi-finals and third week is the championship.

What about the revenues for and from the current bowl games? Simple. You don't get rid of the bowl games. First of all, you already have a championship game set up on a neutral site so that doesn't change. Each year, cities would bid for the championship game...much like the Super Bowl. Revenues to the schools involved would increase.

Then you have four quarterfinals and two semi-finals. Six bowl games could serve as those games. Those six games would be bid on by the Bowl committees. All the other cities get to have their bowls like they usually do...sort of like the NIT tournament in basketball. Say the Rose Bowl wants to go back to the traditional Pac Ten - Big Ten matchup...they don't have to bid on a game for the playoffs...then again...maybe they want to if a Pac-Ten team is involved.

What about the argument that it creates more games? This arrangement creates two additional games for only two teams in the country. Think about it. These teams are currently playing in a bowl game already so that's one game. Take away the League championships and that's another game. That argument has never flown with many people. And if you really want to be safe...drop one of the preseason games which are usually unnecessary.

Here's how the Playoff System could have worked this year. The operative word here is "could". No emails about who I projected to win the games.

In the first week, the quarter-finals: Alabama beats Arkansas in the Gator Bowl, LSU beats Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl, Boise State surprises Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl, and Stanford beats Oregon in the Rose Bowl. (Notice how the Bowl alignments this year are almost regional with Stanford and Oregon playing in the west in Pasadena, Alabama and Arkansas in the South in Jacksonville, LSU playing in the South in Miami and Oklahoma State playing in the Southwest in Dallas.)

In the second week, the semi-finals: LSU beats Boise State in the Sugar Bowl and Alabama beats Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl.

In the Championship Game held at University of Phoenix Field in Arizona....Alabama beats LSU and wins the national championship.

See how simple and cool that was?

Hopefully it will be a reality next season. President Obama and I will be working on it.

Not Your Parents Breakfast Club

2011-12-09T03:57:00.000-08:00

Cockroach
Written by
Sam Holcroft
Hudson Guild
6539 Santa Monica
Los Angeles
Through Dec. 18
Fri, Sat. 8 PM;
Sun. 3 PM
5 Scoops

By Allen Bacon
The Daily Bosco

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I settled in to watch Sam Holcroft's Cockroach, the latest offering by Monkey Wrench Collective at the Hudson Guild in Los Angeles.

I thought maybe I was going to see the British version of the Breakfast Club crossed with To Sir With Love or any of those fill-in-the-blank British bad boy and girl juvenile delinquent movies from the early 60's and maybe a little Stand And Deliver.

As was extremely evident from the first frenetic, intense and hectic in-your-face opening minutes of the play, there is no comparison to be made to the aforementioned and we were going to be in for a roller coaster of a ride.

The entire cast does a wonderful job bringing Holcroft's rich characters, dialogues and monologues to life. Whether it is Katelyn Gault's Leah, Kourtni Pollard's Mmoma, Kyra Kiener's teacher Beth, Alexander Price's Lee, Kevin Shewey's Davey or Adele Heather Taylor's Danielle...these are all top-notch performances by an ensemble that works wonderfully as single performers or as the sum of their parts.

In a sea of great performances here, my favorite is the performance of relative newcomer Pollard as Mmoma. I love the scene where a lonely Mmoma, who is the odd person out because everybody including the teacher is in a relationship...manufactures a love interest out of an old used and bloody army uniform and talks, dances, and sings, beautifully I might add, the theme to "Love Story" to the imagined boyfriend. So much is conveyed in that scene, brilliantly written by Holcroft. That scene is worth the price of admission alone.

I'm not going to go into detail on the intricacies of the script and the scenes because I want you to explore and discover that on your own. But here's the skinny...You take five angry punk high school kids with issues serving detention with a perturbed teacher who would rather be someplace else. Place the six people in a small confined area with a major war raging on in the real world outside. That's like a petrie dish experiment waiting to happen and it does in Cockroach.

I always marvel how Monkey Wrench Collective does so much with such a small area to work with. This play is perfect for the venue because the audience is thrust into the class room and never leaves...it doesn't have to. Great work by Director Christopher Basile at not only directing this group and creating a perfect storm of activity but for his great yet simple set design of the classroom in an intimate setting. Also, great and on cue lighting design and execution by Dan Weingarten. Not to mention a great sound track of music.

It seems like I say this every time I see a Monkey Wrench production and it bears saying it again. The group under the direction of Dave Barton, Bryan Jennings, Greg Adkins and Alexander Price really go out of their way to find the freshest, and newest plays out there for us to see. Think about it. While most other theaters in are doing tried, true, and the familiar this is the theater you come for to see something new. Outside of the UK, this play had never been seen in the US before. So kudos to MWC for taking the chance with this.

We're off to See and Download the Wizard

2011-10-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

The Wizard of Oz
Live Stage Performance
Plummer Auditorium
Fullerton, CA
Opens Fri. Oct. 14; 8 PM

By Allen Bacon
The Daily Bosco

As The Wizard of Oz begins a two week live run at Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton tonight, my thoughts turned to all things Wizard of Oz.

When I was a kid, one of the highlights of my year was when I used to go over to my Grandparents house to watch the Wizard of Oz. It was a special event. The television network...I believe it was NBC... would show it only once a year.

I had watched the movie on my parents black and white television, but it was more special at Grandma and Grandpas. They had a color televison. And as you know, one of the interesting things about the movie is when it transforms from the black and white landscape of tornado-ravaged Kansas to the colorful and magical land of Oz.

And, somehow, the Jiffy Pop tasted better from Grandma's stove. She had a knack for not burning a single kernel. Something I could never quite get the hang of..even with the microwaved popcorn.

And the other thing...Grandma was there to run to whenever the Wicked Witch would make her appearance.

I read last year that Netflix, in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the release of the Wizard of Oz, made the classic movie available as a free download.

I would be the first to applaud the ability to be able to download television programs and movies at will. I wait till the weekend usually and watch my favorite programs that way now. I love Hulu...I can watch a lot of shows on demand that way. But, at the same time, it takes away a bit from the specialness of the event.

With technology as it is...we can watch any program, anytime we want it. I pass cars all the time where the kids are in the back watching cartoons or movies while traveling.

That's cool but that can't beat going to Grandma's house once a year to watch the Wizard of Oz.

"Would You Believe?" This Is A Very Funny Show

2011-09-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

Get Smart
Created by Mel Brooks
and Buck Henry
Directed by Brian Newell
Maverick Theater
110 Walnut Ave,
Fullerton, CA
Fri., Sat. 8 PM
Sun. 4 PM
Through Sept 17
Five Scoops

Reviewed by Allen Bacon
The Daily Bosco

I have a confession to make.

The real reason why I started watching Get Smart (the parody of television and movie double agent shows like James Bond and Man From UNCLE) as an eight year old boy in the late sixties was that I had a huge crush on Agent 99 (played by Barbara Feldon). To be fair to blonde women, I also had a crush on Barbara Eden prancing around and granting wishes in that skimpy Genie outfit in the show that preceded Get Smart on Saturday nights (I Dream of Jeannie)...but I digress.

The reason why I continued to watch Get Smart through it's entire television run and it became one of my favorite shows of all time is that it was extremely funny. But it was a totally different humor that I had ever witnessed on network television. I also, as many fans of the show, was trying to figure out what the acronyms KAOS and KONTROL meant. Of course, later on we found out the writers were playing a cruel trick on us.....Those acronyms don't stand for anything.

What I didn't realize when I was a young boy is that I was watching one of the earlier efforts of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. Mel Brooks of course would go on to write and direct such comedy classic movies as Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, High Anxiety, and the Producers. Buck Henry would go on to write, host,act and be a major force in the early years of Saturday Night Live.

So, I was excited when I first heard the Maverick Theater in Fullerton was doing a stage version of Get Smart. Ironically one of the show times was on a Saturday night...the same night the TV show came on...at approximately the same time a small wide-eyed eight year old would watch the show in the late sixties. I was even more excited when Director Brian Newell invited me to watch and review the show.

I was not disappointed. Everything about this show was cool and funny. As an added bonus, for us fans of the original television show, it really pays a great homage to the original television show.

The one thing I liked off the bat was that Shaun Michael McNamara, the actor who plays Maxwell Smart, does not try to channel the spirit of Don Addams (the actor who played Maxwell Smart brilliantly in the original TV Show). McNamara brings his own refreshing, comedic take to the character with great success.

The same can be said about Jax DiBennedetto...the young lady that plays Agent 99. No copying of Barbara Feldon here and she doesn't even try to look like the original Anent 99. DiBennedetto (like Barbara Feldon) is still plenty cute though and plays the comic foil to McNamara very well.

This is classic Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. There is no denying their influence on this show. A lot of third wall breaking. For instance, when the infamous Cone of Silence breaks down, two guys from the stage crew emerge to take it away...through the crowd, apologizing as they step over the audience. Or, with the famous Get Smart theme song playing, Maxwell Smart walks through a door as he does on one of the most recognized and famous openings of a TV show...the bathroom door stage right...the music stops, the audience hears the toilet flush, Maxwell Smart comes out wiping his hand on a towel as he walks back through the audience and hands it to one of the audience members. Funny stuff.

And, as is the case in all Mel Brooks and Buck Henry creations, there are some hilarious over the top characters. And this show is no exception. In this show its the Transgender Villian Lady V played wonderfully by RC Sands . Or the extremely sexy henchgirls Kitty Galore, Honey Potts and Number 3.

But my favorite is the befuddled chief. Played here wonderfully by Maverick veteran Rick Sands.

Great Direction, lighting design, and use of space at the Maverick by Director Brian Newell. I also enjoyed the live band under the direction of Sho Fujeida...that is a cross between a 60's surf band and the Henry Mancini or Nelson Riddle Orchestra (groups that were so prevalent in the 1960's when the TV show was in production).

There are only a few shows left of Get Smart at the Maverick (it runs until Sept. 17).

"Would you believe?"...it is very funny and entertaining and if you are a fan of the series...not to be missed.

Frank Cano Returns to Steamers

2011-09-03T07:24:00.001-07:00

Frank Cano
Steamers Jazz
Club and Cafe
Fullerton, CA
Sat. Sept. 3

Editors Note: Los Angeles Trumpeter Frank Cano and his Latin Jazz Band play tonight at Steamers Cafe in Fullerton, CA. In 2007, Mr. Cano released a wonderful jazz album which we review today in anticipation of tonight's show.

Frank Cano
A Beautiful Day / Un Lindo Dia
Independent
Five Scoops of Bosco

Frank Cano is an LA based trumpeter, a good composer as well as a decent arranger. He showcases these talents to fine effect on his debut recording "A Beautiful Day, Un Lindo Dia". As the leader on this outing he also proves that he can put together a great Latin Jazz band.

The talented master percussionist and conguero Francisco Aguabella adds immensely to the Latin Cubop theme on two of the tracks, while conguero Joey De Leon, master bongosero, Jose ‘Papo’ Rodriguez and timbalist Ramon Banda add the salsa touch with heavy clave rhythms.

This all star cast of percussionists create spontaneous movement in the listening experience. Joined by a host of talented LA studio musicians who team up to create an exciting and varied salsa heavy band that sounds festively alluring.

Frank Cano, Mexican born and Californian raised, has performed for three years with legendary conguero Francisco Aguabella, a fine training ground for catching a groove and polishing it to a finely honed edge as seems to be the case here. The songs that are featured are primarily Cano compositions. Six of the eight compositions on the CD are by Cano. He is joined by Robert Chasco, Bruce Goss and Jimmy Quiroz as contributing composers on certain track selections. The song “Encanto” is composed by Francisco Torres, the trombonist and co-producer along with Cano on this album.

A Frank Cano original kick starts the album. “Validacion” certainly validates the music as authentic, inspiring and moving in the right direction. The percussionist ensemble is allowed to run free - opening the door for the soloists who come on strong right out of the gate. A strong tenor saxophone solo by Javier Vergara leads and finds Frank Cano responding with an equally as impressive trumpet solo. The trumpet solo leads to a drum battle of intensity, all members of the percussion section are interacting with typical Latin fire and passion. A return to the opening melody all too soon, some five minutes later, and a gentle fade out.

The title track “A Beautiful Day/ Un Lindo Dia” is another original by Frank Cano. The song features the flautist Danilo Lozano and vocalist Melanie Jackson, a moderate tempo in a cha-cha style rhythm with a smooth Latin jazz groove. Lozano’s flute playing flows, flutters and flashes brilliance, conguero Francisco Aguabella who is also featured on this track plays as passionately as ever.

Many of the songs are straight ahead salsa tunes that make you want to get up and dance, “Sesionar” written by Cano, Chasco, and Goss is one such tune, while “Baila Mi Negra” by Cano and Chasco is another, featuring some inspired flute playing by Lozano. The song also has a nice piano interlude by Chris Barron and a trombone solo by Francisco Torres that swings and cooks up a storm.

The final song of the album “A Beautiful Day/ Un Lindo Dia”, entitled “Human Nature” by Cano, Chasco, and Goss, is a fitting closer, featuring fiery playing by Vergara on tenor sax and some inspired conga, bongo and timbale playing by the percussionistas - the song revs up the pulse of the listener to the near breaking point. Pianist Chris Barron lets loose with some inspired playing on this track as well, he sets the pace, lays down the melody and set the tone for the horns. The horn arrangements really stand out on this number, this is perhaps the most exciting song and pushes the listener to start all over again.

Review by Paul J. Youngman
Mr. Youngman is a Jazz reviewer for Vinlemania.net

The Car Guys Versus The Bean Counters

2011-08-29T01:57:00.000-07:00

Car Guys vs. Bean Counters:
The battle for the soul of
American Business
by Bob Lutz
Illustrated, 232 pp $26.95
Portfolio/Penguin
Four scoops of Bosco

Reviewed By Doug Vehle
The Daily Bosco

A rollicking romp through a world of brainwashing and propaganda, where the author proves to his self satisfaction that what he has always believed about what great people those who agree with him are, as well as illustrating the evil of those who don't agree with him. Not that he can offer any proof of Al Gore being "Discredited," or of governmental confessions which come about whenever HE is there to ask questions; he's convinced his ragings against Rush Limbaugh for opposing the government bailout of GM is all it will take to convince us. If he won, I'd say the battle for the soul of American business was lost.

Not to say the book wasn't fun to read. I hope he's telling the truth of the Pontiac Firebird that received a Ferrari V12 just to illustrate how much better a GM sports car could be with such an engine. It's just hard to trust a man after his attack on Doug Korthoff as "An embarrassment to the entire West Coast electric vehicle fan community. . . ." This about a man who regularly appears on top 10 lists of 'Most Influential' or 'Most Popular' in the electric car world. Korthoff dared like a GM product that GM itself didn't like, the notorious Saturn EV1. Korthoff may not be the most congenial, but clearly the author isn't either.

At last I had explained for me the system by which GM had integrated the Japanese method of speeding up the assembly line by degrading quality in manufacturing. (After the Japanese had decided to move away from it.) VLE's, Vehicle Line Executives, were given the power to alter design to make the car cheaper to produce. Meeting demand takes a backseat to meeting deadlines. We all knew something like this went on, here's the chance to see it exactly. Unless of course the author's obsession with his own opinion in fact caused him to distort the process a bit. It's easy to believe someone that hierarchy would complain about the introduction of a needed new product because it's "Out of process." (Quicker than expected.) I just feel uncertain about taking this author's word on it.

Lutz doesn't hide his frustration at the 'Conceptual designers' he says ". . . .Could imagine things, but they couldn't actually draw them." If this was true, this would definitely create a perplexing situation. But he creates so many questions over his viewpoint I find myself doubting statements such as this are really true. Did someone at GM really call Saturn customers "Postmodern?" The only time postmodern came to mind for me in the almost 20 year history of the line was the commercial where the bikers see a gathering of Saturn owners that seemed somewhat reminiscent of a trip to Sturgis, or at least a Grateful Dead concert. Even that is in conflict with what Lutz calls ". . . .The person who (Allegedly) didn't care about character, proportion, or design, but wanted a bland, anonymous appliance." I just remember people I knew who became fiercely loyal to the brand, mainly because it was a new and different way to build a car. The Lexan body that didn't dent was popular with one guy who used to kick his drivers door for you. There certainly weren't enough of them so loyal.

As a person with a Pontiac Solstice SSB racecar in his garage, I was really wanting to learn why GM had promised to make Pontiac their performance niche make then didn't follow through. While my question wasn't answered completely, the suggestion is at least there that, because the efforts to produce Holden (Australian GM division) cars in the U.S. and to mount a joint venture with Subaru were shot down by the American effort to focus on "Features" rather than quality, Pontiac was left without designs in the pipeline.

So there's a lot that's interesting in the book. I wish the author had left out the distracting, often annoying opinionizing. He repeatedly complains that the American media simply had it in for American cars, saying Detroit was "Bad" simply because Detroit WAS Bad, without proof. This is the same attitude he himself projects. His assertions of GM's work with the hydrogen fuel cell is "Undeniably true" doesn't carry any real meaning, yet he complains that it didn't "Resonate" with the public. I don't buy his claim that GM had "Exciting Prototypes," I drove the Chevy Equinox he bragged of, as well as others. NOT exciting. The experts I rode with were knowledgeable, including explaining why GM couldn't really build this car, an electric drive with a built in hydrogen generator instead of batteries, for the public. Most important, the materials needed to seal corrosive hydrogen in a tank are not only expensive, but quite structurally unsound for a large container bearing pressure. You wouldn't get much range, even if there WAS a place to refuel it. So he complains of people seeing it as the "Vaporware" that it has been. Although I agree with him that it must have helped in the development of the Chevrolet Volt, much the same sort of powerplant except running on gasoline.

So if you consider yourself a 'Car Guy,' I definitely can say you might enjoy reading the book while wearing some old clothes or coveralls to be stained by some of what drips off the page. My copy will soon appear on the shelves of the Fullerton Library, as most books where I don't want to keep my copy for reference wind up doing. If you can't wait for that, you can follow the link to Google Books and read it online.

Channeling Steve Martin and Britcoms

2011-08-26T03:48:00.001-07:00

The Underpants
Written by Steve Martin
Adapted from a Carl Sternhiem Play
StagesTheatre Fullerton
400 E. Commonwealth Ave. Suite 4
Fullerton, CA 92832
Through September 10
Saturdays and Sundays 5 PM
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed by Allen Bacon
The Daily Bosco

As I was watching Stages Theatre's performance of "The Underpants" I couldn't help but be reminded of those old British Sitcoms, or "Britcoms". You know the ones that they show on BBC America or Public Television here in Orange County Friday nights? Except, with this play (unlike the Britcoms) I could actually understand what was going on.

That's because comedian Steve Martin got a hold of this turn of the 20th century British Comedy written by Carl Sternhiem about what happens when a young married woman's panties accidentally fall off in public and has infused his own trademark frenetic comedy pacing and timing. And some great one-liners too.

The Stages Theater Troupe does a wonderful job of channeling the spirit of Steve Martin into this play. My favorites are the hilarious Sean Contu as the boarder Versati and Dan Barnard as the boarder Cohen who both fall deeply in love and lust with their landlady Louise (the lady that drops her panties) and form one of the funniest and strangest love triangles ever seen on stage.

When you see this play, pay keen attention to the way these actors deliver their lines. You will immediately see Steve Martin in each and every one of them.

Rounding out the cast with completely over the top humor complete with British accents (and as everybody knows everything just sounds funnier in English) are the equally delightful Ryan Young as Theo (Louise's befuddled and clueless husband), Natalie Beisner as Louise, Rose London as the nosy neighbor Gertrude and Brian Fichtner as the mysterious Klinlgehoff.

I often marvel at how the Directors at Stages utilize the intimate setting of the house to their full advantage and David Chorley does a great job of doing just that here as well as directing a very fast paced and fun group.

In short, "The Underpants" is naughty, over the top and just flat out funny. But what would you expect from Steve Martin, British humor and Stages Theater Fullerton?

This play runs through September 10 with performances on Saturday and Sundays at 5 PM.

Now For Something Completely Different

2011-08-22T00:21:00.000-07:00

Blank Slate
Collaborative Theatre
Artist's Group (CTAG)
at Monkey Wrench Collective
Fullerton, California
Directed by RJ Romero
Through Sun. Aug. 28
Four Scoops of Bosco

A favored stunt of small theater groups in recent years involves the submission of story and thematic ideas by audience members, elements then transformed by a theater troupe into a full-fledged production – often in very short order, such as over the course of a weekend.

That's the guiding principle at work with the fledgling Collaborative Theatre Artists' Group (known as "CTAG") with "Blank Slate," the original new show now on stage at the Monkey Wrench Collective theater.

In CTAG's case, the ideas and themes originated with the core ensemble members – about a dozen actors, artists and musicians – who began to develop the show starting in mid- to late June, fashioning a completed script in less than two months.

CTAG founder R.J. Romero, the show's director, states that the purpose of constructing a play in this manner is to meet the challenges and push the boundaries of collaborative writing.

While the CTAG ensemble may have intended the show's title to reflect the nature by which the show came into being, the words "blank slate" actually are apt in a much different way: As a stage play, the show is surprisingly devoid of meaningful content – a loose collection of music, characters and storyline that's still very much a work in progress and has a long way to go before it can be lauded for its artistic merit.

The shame of it is that many of the individual ensemble members are clearly talented. What's not always clear is what each performer's individual strengths are. That leads to the sneaking suspicion that while compiling a play in assembly-line fashion may be an enjoyable process for those involved, for the rest of us poor schmoes in the audience, the finished product is very much a mixed bag.

Though director Romero appears as the vaguely omnipotent General Powers, "Blank Slate" is carried by ensemble members Lew Dentler, Kabir Kamboj, Isaac Kim, Cori Knight, Celeste Lyn, Benjamin Thomas Morrow, Jason Paley, Rae Panas and Robert Ayon Suarez.

This group's members, excepting Dentler, appear to be of college-age (or slightly older). All nine portray counterculture figures rebelling against society. The thin storyline follows this group, which calls itself "The Intrepid Troupe of Traveling Troubadours," as it moves from town to town in a post-apocalyptic world where even the most basic survival needs form often insurmountable obstacles.

After an opening half-hour of whimsical, off-the-cuff improvising, during which Lyn and Panas tap-dance and Kim plays the saw, the story opens with wandering cowboy guitarist Dentler befriending the lonely, frightened Lyn as she wistfully stargazes while singing "Over the Rainbow."

Soon, Dentler has attracted a small following of singers, dancers, actors and musicians about half his age who look to him for leadership and guidance. As Paley notes, "we were drawn to him as if by some unseen power."

The rest of "Blank Slate" follows the troupe as it seeks to subsist solely on its ability to entertain, grabbing up whatever food and drink it can scrounge. It's here that we see the potential of the show to explore intellectual and philosophical themes revolving around survival, religious faith and man's place in the world and the universe.

At this stage, though, "Blank Slate" is still too disjointed to be able to effectively put such points across. While Act Two shows how the small group has jelled into a makeshift family that's eventually worn down by the rigors of fending for themselves, it also points up the script's weaknesses.

"Blank Slate" also misses the opportunity to explore themes revolving around the conflict between military service and personal identity (Suarez's persona is an Iraq War vet who has lost his way in life since his return home) and those which concern political or social leadership (Dentler is murdered by a knife-wielding stranger, prompting the "scrawny misfit" Knight to try to fill his shoes).

The show's second half is also top-heavy with clichés such as "hope is all we got," "togetherness is all this family has," and "life is like a blank slate."

On the plus side, "Blank Slate" works as a showcase for the considerable musical talents of various ensemble members. As a singer, songwriter and guitarist, Dentler is a standout, performing his own original material, but Paley and Kim are also skilled musicians, and the many cast-wide songs are among the show's finest moments.

The print program acknowledges the collaborative contributions of Matt Dallal, Paul Floures, Zach Kanner, Faith Kearns, Hannah Knous, Nicole Sanders and Scott Williams, and it's doubtless that many others were also crucial to the process.

While the members of CTAG may see the show in its current form as good enough to merit 90 minutes of stage time, "Blank Slate" is less a culmination and more of a viable starting point for a hybrid of artistic talent in the service of, yet still in search of, a potent message or two.

Reviewed by Eric Marchese
Mr. Marchese writes for Orangecounty.com

Joe Felz Does Not Deserve A Raise

2011-08-17T05:40:00.001-07:00

Op-Ed by Allen Bacon
The Daily Bosco

I, as I suspect many citizens of Fullerton, collective jaws dropped to the floor when we learned that the Fullerton City Council is actually considering giving City Manager Joe Felz a $35,000 a year raise.

It's not like I don't like Joe Felz. I first met Joe in the late 80's when he was heading the Museum and Parks and Recreations. I had him on my Fullerton talk show on local cable TV in 1988 and he is a nice guy and did a nice job working in both of the aforementioned departments.

But, to use a baseball analogy, Parks and Recreation and the Museum is Double A ball...and City Manager is the Major Leagues.

You've had your cup of coffee Joe and it's time for you to go back to the Minors.

This is because Felz has done a horrible job in his short stint as City Manager.

When Felz saw that the Chief of Police Mike Sellers did not get those six officers responsible for the beating death of Kelly Thomas off the streets, did not get the case to the FBI and DA immediately, was not being forthcoming and getting in front of the public immediately on the worst debacle in City History, Felz should have stepped in with the City Council with all the power he has as the City Manager to take over. He should have fired Mike Sellers. He should have been outfront and talking to his city.

Due to this lack of action, our city has lost it's dignity and now is the laughing stock of the nation. We are literally going to lose millions of dollars over this lack of leadership.

And as far as hiring a private investigator to look at the FPD and the Kelly Thomas case, he could have saved the city $70,000. That' because KABC 790 Talk Show Host and well known Attorney Leo Terrell offered on air and probably to Joe Felz directly a helping hand to do the same thing that Michael Gennaco is getting paid to do...Pro Bono! No charge.

Going back to the decision to allow Chevron to build homes on the Coyote Hills oil drilling site....doesn't Mr. Felz know that there is no way that Chevron can insure the safety of the residents of that area after over one hundred years of drilling for Oil on that property? That property is damaged forever. With all the powers that Felz has he should have stepped in and put a stop to that decision by City Council. Because when the first home blows up or first fire starts from a Methane gas leak, The City of Fullerton is going to be sued for millions of dollars.

In a short period of time, Felz has mismanaged the city and his decisions are going to cost our city more money. A lot of money. He is already costing us money.

The city council should not even be considering a raise for anybody right now. But in the case of Mr. Felz, they need to really be considering whether he should even have a job in the city as our City Manager.

Striking Back Without Striking A Blow

2011-08-12T04:17:00.000-07:00

By Doug Vehle
The Daily Bosco

Whether your reaction is "The chief is gone, long live the chief" or "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss," it's time to admit that the departure of Chief Sellers doesn't change much just yet. At some point the rank and file will start to recognize their former Chief was throwing them collectively under the bus just to keep his own face from becoming associated with the crisis. That's just taking this code of silence thing way too seriously. Maybe they realize this already.

We may not be finished with the Kelly Thomas story, but Fullerton PD is in a great position to move on, independent reviewer or no. The public finger pointing should shift further in the direction of city hall, if it continues. Even with the various investigations continuing, the matter has advanced to a stage where it feels like the other shoe has dropped, it's time to look elsewhere for excitement.

Fullerton PD is also in the position of having to rebuild their reputation. No amount of spin doctoring or whining that noone recognizes all the things you do, etc., is going to turn this around. It's like the American Revolution and one of the early heroes writing about going unappreciated after the war. He had captured Fort Ticonderoga, several times halted British advances with smaller forces, all at his own cost without being reimbursed by the Continental Congress. He was such a hero at the Battle of Saratoga there is a monument to him in honor of the wound that left him crippled for life. The problem is a single event really can outweigh all the rest. That man, the greatest hero the American Revolution had by the time of the Battle of Saratoga, was in fact Benedict Arnold. One event really can outweigh all else.

So no idle rhetoric or PR campaign will mean anything. The entire city is waiting to see just how well Fullerton PD can strike back, without striking a blow.

* * *

For maybe a dozen Fullerton PD officers there would be no time for briefing before last Saturday evening began. A call to a nearby park would send them streaming to their cars and meeting up with the outgoing day shift. Reports went out of what could be two dozen Fullerton cop cars converging with shotguns and M16's for what might be a test, although it was no drill. In the shadow of the current controversy, all threats become darkened and harder to see. But as in the Pakistani proverb, 'Every man in this village is a liar,' you're going to have to enter that village anyway. A gun, however, should turn out to be telling the truth: If it's fired, the bullets will be real.

I was a short distance away as this was occurring. A man asked a cashier why as many as 20 cop cars were lined up at the park around the corner. Since I can't really write about it if I don't see it, I was immediately on my way to find out why. With the theory already forming in my head. While I have only spotty information of what specifically occurred, I feel certain I can piece together a recreation that Fullerton PD would agree was pretty spot on, unless they just didn't want to admit it publicly, there's some speculation about a touchy subject here. This not only from some knowledge of the procedure, but also from past experience.

#

It was a quiet Saturday on La Brea Blvd some years back. Billy forgot something in his car. The very image of Robert Blake playing the TV character 'Baretta,' he didn't bother going to the corner to cross at the light, but started his heavy footed run through the traffic in the middle of the block. Right in front of an LAPD patrol car. As in he could have been run down. The lights when on, Billy's hands went in the air and he laughed as he started shouting "Don't shoot." We were laughing, this was pure Billy running right into trouble again. As the police officer emerged from the car I shouted "Didn't they teach you about looking both ways before you cross the street?" More laughter from us, but not the cop; she looked askance at us as she walked toward him. I was getting the eyeball in particular.

As two more cars raced onto the scene, a helicopter appeared overhead. The jokes started about so many cops showing up, including my impression of Arlo Gutherie/'Alice's Restaurant' ". . . .Because it was the CRIME of the CENTURY and EVERYONE wanted to be in the newspaper STORY. . . ." But the new arrivals weren't just making a follow up, they came out of the car ready to go to work, taking up position between Billy and ourselves. And the helicopter was circling the neighborhood. Out of earshot for us, Billy would jokingly ask "All this for ME????" And she would tell him---YES!

A few nights earlier, perhaps on the very block were we stood, LAPD had another of their business as usual controversies. A homeless woman was suspected of stealing, they meant to search her shopping cart. It wasn't really her cart, it was stolen, after all. But if you've dealt with the homeless, you know how possessive they can be over the few things in their possession. The object she attacked with would prove to be a screwdriver, but not before the woman lay dead.

And if you know anything about those sudden outpourings against perceived injustice, you realize that a lot of preplanning goes into making them so spontaneous. It's not easy causing an accidental uprising, I pointed out to the others that the helicopter was looking for a staging area for the out of the blue riot. They laughed even harder at that than they had at Billy, but those two cops were giving me some real hard looks as I was talking. If the out of the blue riot did happen, they must have figured they knew who the leader was.

Well now, have you figured out there WAS no riot? These things are rare enough, but it doesn't hurt to be ready. If the matter had reached a boiling point, you could expect that the backup officers were to act as an extraction team to get the one writing the ticket out of there. They'd leave this to Metro, LAPD's good squad, who would arrive dragging their hairy knuckles into the crowd. . . .

#

But Fullerton PD has no Metro squad, they're not cut out for big city type insurrection. They're better suited to moments as happened in the early morning hours just before. A loud crash had woke my neighborhood in the middle of the night. The elderly in an assisted living home, a county social worker, various people peered out of their homes as shrill voices screamed back and forth from a house no different from the others on the outside. Fullerton PD officers arrived shortly, continually shining a flashlight in the direction of the social workers home. Probably he hovered outside, awaiting an opportunity to meddle in the proceedings, but the flashlight seemed a warning from a cop with no idea who he was, of "We know you're there, don't get any ideas."

A man was sent away, a woman who had been saying nothing was wrong then began to tell of the physical part of the latest fight. Easy to imagine what the loud crash might have been. But the biker gang boyfriend was now gone, the woman he was living off of alone with her children. The now forlorn looking house seemed to warn of the troubles within as it spent the rest of the evening with every light on. Hard to call this a happy ending, but peace had returned. How would this story have progressed without the police? Or if they hadn't been able to handle it without striking a blow?

In a predominately bedroom community, you can find a lot of success if you can handle the domestic squabbles. But they don't all happen in the home. And they don't all end so quickly.

#

The Saturday evening shift was preceded with a greeting by the ongoing demonstrations over the death of Kelly Thomas; in their minds messages like "Shame on FPD" and "You cannot hide behind a code of silence" roughly translating to 'Tie both hands behind your back when you work.'

Did they really miss their briefing? I believe they'll have a 6pm shift that should be meeting about that time. The norm in law enforcement in recent years is for 12 hour days, 6am to 6pm, 6pm to 6am, and 3pm to 3am. My source that witnessed the line of black and whites coming off the lot almost bumper to bumper paints a picture that convinces me that yes, they were all in one place at the station, of one mind, when the call came that there was a group in the park that was fighting, with gunplay appearing to be part of it. Apparently they all moved at once. I think it's a good guess that, even if the briefing began, they didn't have a chance to finish.

What they've undoubtedly been briefed on in recent weeks is the same possibility that LAPD had faced in their own case of the death of a homeless suspect: Someone might be planning a spontaneous riot. Assuming the park has a camera, they could be observing a small number of the gathering in an altercation, with others seeming to ignore it all. Are they used to such a scene between these combatants, or is there another reason this doesn't hold their interest?

Witnesses at the park didn't paint a picture of a major showdown once the police got there. By the time I arrived they'd taken up positions next to all the picnic benches which had people seated. While what appeared to be two groups of combatants that had been separated talked it out, (One seeming to want to continue fighting even with the police there) mostly people were laughing and shaking their heads as they ate. People were allowed to leave, one said that the mother of the child whose birthday it was became angry that the father had brought his new girlfriend. She said "Baby Mama Drama." As the matter seemed settled, the officers drifted away one or two at a time, eyes rolling, a little laughter. Quite the successful operation, noone got hurt.

And that's the way it's supposed to be. The Police aren't supposed to be bragging 'We're heart breakers and life takers.' As one family left, a woman was griping to noone in particular "This is my first time coming to Fullerton, look how the police act." I told her it was lucky that noone in there was homeless. I don't think she got it. But no matter how agitated those cops were before they arrived, nothing happened. Which is a good sign. Maybe there really were additional people in the cul-de-sac nearby, scared off by the sheer numbers. Best not to find out.

Right now would be a good time for Fullerton PD officers to remind themselves how good they have it. They tell themselves otherwise, but they're kept separate from so many of the problems of this world. I remember years ago when a psychotic California Highway Patrolman arrived at the side of the road and inexplicably started screaming "I deal with the scum of the earth, I. . . I . . . I . . . ." I asked him if he meant everyone in the State of California, or just his fellow Highway Patrolmen, which seemed to embarrass him into honoring the code of silence. Truth be told, law enforcement sees far less of the seamy side of life than most of us, because it flees them and inflicts itself on us. A neighbor remarked that the Mongol biker would smile and wave while he was high during his months on the block. The police were fortunate to only spend a few minutes with him. Do you know how many things disappeared from my garage, my truck in the driveway, etc., WHILE I WAS HOME in the time he's been here? If I'd bothered to report it, the officer would spend a few minutes here then go park under a tree to write a report. I'm the one going on dealing with the scum of the earth in the neighborhood, he'd get to go on calls where they're not bad people at all.

I saw a few weeks ago when the police took the marijuana from a pair of teenagers and ground it into the pavement without arresting them. I also saw the homeless man that had shouted "Murderers" over and over from across the street go and scrape it up after the police left. (I hope he decided they weren't so bad after all.) As the kids came out of the nearby store, the homeless man was smoking it with his buddies, calling out "That's gooooood )#W%*, you should have just picked it up yourself." The kids laughed and said they'd just get more. I waited and watched because, post modernist that I am, I knew something like this would happen as soon as the one was grinding it on the road. The movies aren't this good these days. It would be a good thing for them to admit they don't have it nearly so figured out as they like to pretend.

The police came around later looking for the biker, apparently there's a warrant for his arrest afterall. But he appears to be gone. The lights are still on all night in that house, no telling when that will end. But it doesn't really end. You just get used to it. Like the way the Saturday morning cops have started smiling at the protesters in front of the police department.

OCDA Finds No Evidence of "Intentional Murder"

2011-08-10T01:11:00.000-07:00

The Orange County District Attorney claims he's seen no evidence that police had intentionally tried to kill a homeless man who died after being beaten by six officers from the Fullerton Police Department.

Kelly Thomas, 37, died after resisting arrest in the college town of Fullerton in Orange County.

Video of the incident shows police officers beating and tasering Mr Thomas repeatedly as he lies on the floor crying out for his father.

Eye witnesses said he was unable to offer any resistance as he was beaten beyond recognition by the officers who were responding to reports of a break-in.

But Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said he'd seen no evidence to suggest Thomas had been intentionally killed.

He told the Los Angeles Times: 'As far as intentional killing — whether an officer intended to kill him ... I have not seen any evidence of that in this case.'

Rackauckas is trying to establish whether excessive force was used during the incident on July 5 this year.

The coroner's office is waiting for results of toxicology tests before they can determine the cause of death. Rackauckas, in an interview with radio hosts John and Ken on Monday said that process could take anywhere from two to six months.

Thomas was left in a critical condition having suffered severe head and neck injuries in the attack.

He was taken off life support and died five days after the incident.

His death has sparked outrage in the city of Fullerton.

According to reports Thomas - who suffered from schizophrenia - caught the attention of the police after someone reported a burglar was breaking into cars parked near a Fullerton bus station.

When officers approached him in the depot parking lot and tried to arrest him, he resisted.

Eye witnesses Mark Turgeon, said: 'They kept beating him and tasering him. I could hear zapping, and he wasn't even moving.

'He had one arm in front of him like this, he wasn't resisting. And they kept telling him, "He's resisting, quit resisting", and he wasn't resisting.'

Members of the Fullerton community described Thomas as a passive, peaceful person.

He had a previous conviction for assault with a deadly weapon 16 years ago which had been attributed to the onset of his mental illness.

Since his death, his family and members of the community have held protests outside the police department headquarters, looking for answers.

His father Ron Thomas, a former sheriff's deputy, claims he rejected a compensation offer of almost $1million, and plans to sue the city of Fullerton.

He said: 'His death was gang-involved, the way I see it. A gang of rogue officers who brutally beat my son to death.'

By Daniel Miller
Mr. Miller is a writer for the Daily Mail

A Letter From Council Woman Sharon Quirk-Silva

2011-08-05T05:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Fullerton Community Members:

First and foremost, I extend my condolences to the Thomas family. As a member of our Fullerton community, as a member of our City Council, and as a mother, I am deeply disturbed by the events that led to the death of Kelly Thomas.

For the well-being of the Thomas family and the residents of Fullerton, I will continue to ask the questions and demand the actions that I feel necessary to make sure that justice is done.

Current status: All the officers involved in the Thomas incident have been placed on administrative leave. The city is working with the District Attorney and the FBI to ensure that a full investigation proceeds in the most transparent and expedient manner.

Yesterday, I requested that the city manager seek the resignation of Fullerton Police Chief Michael Sellers. I feel that the leadership required from our chief during this crisis was lacking. Citizens of Fullerton need to have confidence in a police chief who can not only provide expert, professional crisis management, but who is capable of being the face of the city when a police crisis occurs. I believe we were failed on both counts. All of us who are privileged to hold leadership positions in this city should be held responsible and accountable for the well-being of our city.

As we move forward, I understand that there are some things that we cannot address immediately, and for this I ask your patience. We need to wait for final reports from the D.A. and the FBI before we can make a final judgment on the officers involved (and for their own safety, I don’t feel it is advisable for their names to be released publicly at this time). However, there is something we in city leadership can do immediately as we grieve Kelly Thomas and begin our healing: revisit our policy on the homeless in our city and county.

Homelessness and mental illness are serious and complex issues that all cities grapple with, but what can we do to better understand their challenges in Fullerton? How can we work with local and county agencies and churches to make connections for families who struggle with mental illness? How can we find necessary resources for those without a home? At the very least, we can all try to gain a better understanding of their plight (see my P.S. below).

Finally, I love the City of Fullerton! We are a loving, resilient community, and we will make our way out of this very difficult period.

Sincerely,

Sharon Quirk-Silva
Fullerton City Councilwoman

P.S. While speaking to a homeless woman named Kirsten yesterday, I asked her what she might need that could make a difference for her and others on the street. First, she said that, for a woman on the street, it would be safety and shelter. Next, she said, simply: “socks!” She wanted some socks to keep her feet warm and clean. She said that some churches and shelters used to provide a pair, but not anymore. This is a request that we as a community can take immediate action on.

If you have any extra socks and/or travel-size personal hygiene items: toothpaste, soap….please drop them off at City Hall. I will personally pledge to deliver the items to the homeless on a regular basis now and in the future. I know that socks and hygiene items will not solve the issue of homelessness or mental illness, and they won’t bring Kelly Thomas back. But our actions might allow us to better understand the Kelly Thomases who are still out there struggling to live day to day with no place to call home.

NBC Calls FPD Beating Death A "Scuffle"

2011-08-05T05:01:00.000-07:00

I stumbled on a NBC article when researching the death of Kelly Thomas. At first it caught my eye because they were reporting that the FBI was getting involved in the investigation.

This is good news since we really can’t trust anything handled internally by the Fullerton Police Department at this point. FBI involvement could be key to getting at the truth in all of this.

But then I started reading:

The FBI is reviewing the scuffle between Fullerton police and a 37-year-old homeless man suspected of possessing stolen goods who later died, the bureau confirmed Friday.

The FBI is looking into whether Kelly Thomas’ civil rights were violated when Fullerton police struggled to arrest him earlier this month, Laura Eimiller of the FBI said.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is also reviewing the circumstances of Thomas’ death to see if any laws were violated. The FBI review will be a parallel investigation, Eimiller said.

Notice how the beating and multiple tasings are described as a ‘scuffle’. Notice also how NBC does its best to avoid linking said ‘scuffle’ to the death of Kelly Thomas. He simply ‘later died’ as though the two instances were almost entirely unrelated.

Take a look at the picture of Thomas after this little police ‘scuffle’. It’s right there in the NBC article. How anyone could call it anything but a beating (at the very least) is beyond me.

Fortunately the NBC report leaves us with this closing sentiment:

The officers found Thomas at the lot and because he matched the description of the suspect they started talking to him, Goodrich said. They found evidence that he was in possession of stolen property from a burglary, he said.

However, when they tried to pat him down to arrest him, Thomas spun away and started fighting with the officers, Goodrich said.

Yes, the homeless schizophrenic started fighting with six police officers, so they tased and beat him bloody and days later he died. But he was resisting arrest!

Good grief people, I realize this is reporting and you’re supposed to speak in a passive voice and everything, but show a little humanity. The scuffle left a man dead for goodness sakes.

There’s something seriously wrong with that, and maybe your reporting should at least reflect that a tiny bit. At least give us context.

Op-Ed by E.D. Kain
Mr. Kain writes for Forbes Magazine

An Enraged Community Speaks Out

2011-08-04T14:14:00.001-07:00

The City Council, not the police chief, will have final say on any discipline imposed on the officers involved in a physical altercation with Kelly Thomas that led to the homeless man's death, City Attorney Richard Jones said at the start of Tuesday's night's council meeting.

From there, for more than three hours, speakers from the public largely expressed anger at the death and how city officials have handed subsequent events.

The Council Chambers were packed with 200 spectators, including Thomas' parents. Another 50 watched on a TV in City Hall's lobby. More than 70 spoke, with a dozen-plus calling for the resignation of Police Chief Michael Sellers.

On July 5, officers confronted Thomas while investigating reports of a man burglarizing cars in the Transportation Center, where buses come and go. Police say Thomas became violent as two officers tried to search him, kicking off a fight in which six officers were needed to subdue him. Thomas suffered severe head and neck injuries and died July 10.

All six involved officers are now on paid administrative leave. Before Tuesday, one was on administrative leave, one was on medical leave and the other four were taken off of patrol and had no contact with the public.

When addressing the council Tuesday, Ron Thomas once again said his son was beaten to death.

"We, the family, are having a real difficult time," Thomas said. "I'm close to losing it emotionally. ... I may have lost 15 pounds over the past few weeks."

Thomas praised council members Sharon Quirk-Silva and Bruce Whitaker for publicly demanding that information surrounding the incident, including surveillance video of the incident captured at the Transportation Center, be made public.

Thomas also berated other council members and city officials for withholding information.

Officials with the Orange County District Attorney's Office have said they have a video.

"If the Police Department saw me beat somebody on a video, I'd be so far behind bars, you couldn't find me," Thomas said. "If I went out and committed a crime, the 9-1-1 tapes would have been released that day."

Said Councilman Richard Jones: "We want justice. We want your questions answered too."

Many who talked Tuesday night hugged and offered condolences to Thomas, who sat in the front row, a few feet from the podium.

Many in the crowd, believing the police got out of control, came to demand that justice be served.

"I'm here because I had to witness a terrible murder," said Mark Turgeon, who said he witnessed the incident. "I've been trying to hide and stay away, because I am in fear of retaliation."

Jack Dean, who runs a local blog, insisted that the key video be made public.

"If taxpayers are funding these recordings, then taxpayers should have easy access to them," Dean said. "Police are watching us, but we don't get to watch them."

Councilman Pat McKinley, who was Fullerton's police chief for 16 years, said the public should reserve judgment until the investigation is finished.

"If the investigation shows that we have bad police officers, the judicial system and the city of Fullerton will deal with them accordingly," McKinley said. "If the investigation exonerates them, their careers will continue."

When addressing the council, Alex Espinoza held up a photo of a bloody and bruised Kelly Thomas taken in the hospital the day after the altercation.

"I just want to say how outraged I am by this," Espinoza said.

Before the meeting, three men stood at the entrance to City Hall holding a 20-foot-long banner with a photo of Kelly Thomas and the words: "Release the tape."

One of the men, Jeff Levine, said he used to be homeless himself and spent a lot of time with Kelly Thomas, who was 37.

"I'd see him, and he wouldn't bother anybody," Levine said. "The main reason (I came tonight) is because I knew him as a friend and a human being and when I heard about it, it hit me hard."

To view an archive from last nights City Council meeting, we have posted a link to the City's website in our sidebar under Fullerton Radio/Television in our Bosco Fullerton Magazine. (Click on the link in the sidebar here to our community newspaper) We also have a link there to today's John and Ken radio program where they are once again scheduled to talk about the Beating Death of Kelly Thomas at the hands of the Fullerton Police Department. That program begins at 3 PM PT

By Lou Ponsi
Mr. Ponsi is a writer for the Orange County Register

FPD Involved In Beating Death Taken Off Street

2011-07-30T08:20:00.001-07:00

The FBI will investigate the death of Kelly Thomas fatally injured during a fight with Fullerton police, authorities confirmed Friday, as the police chief temporarily took the officers involved in the confrontation off street duty.

A day after Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson sent a letter to the Department of Justice's civil-rights division requesting a federal inquiry into the "facts and circumstances surrounding the death of Kelly Thomas at the hands of the Fullerton Police Department," FBI officials confirmed that they have opened an investigation.

Thomas, 37, died several days after a confrontation with six police officers.

One of the officers is now on administrative leave. While the five other officers have since returned to active duty, Fullerton police Chief Michael Sellers on Friday evening temporarily reassigned them away from front-line patrol duties.

"In other words, they are not working the streets," Fullerton police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said. "The chief said that for the sake of public trust and confidence, and in the best interest of the investigation, he made these reassignments."

Officers confronted Thomas on July 5 while investigating reports of a man burglarizing cars near a bus depot. Police say Thomas became violent as two officers tried to search him, kicking off a fight in which six officers were needed to subdue him. Thomas suffered severe head and neck injuries.

Thomas was taken off life support several days after his confrontation with police. An autopsy was inconclusive, with Orange County Coroner's Office officials saying they need to carry out further tests to determine the cause of Thomas' death.

Police initially said two officers had broken bones after the fight. The officers were later diagnosed with soft-tissue damage after they were re-examined, Goodrich said.

Thomas' family members accuse officers of using excessive force during what they described as a "brutal beating." Ron Thomas, Kelly Thomas' father, has said police beat his son to death and has circulated a picture of his son's bruised and bloody face.

The graphic photo, as well as the online posting of a cell-phone video that appears to show the fight, has brought widespread attention to the incident.

In the video, the sound of a Taser can be heard, along with Kelly Thomas screaming and then yelling, "Dad! ... Dad! ... Dad!"

Witnesses can also be heard on the video saying, 'Oh, my God," "They're freaking ruthless" and "What is that ... five cops and one guy."

The Orange County District Attorney's Office is looking into what happened that night. Fullerton police are conducting an internal investigation, and Goodrich said two cell-phone videos are "in the hands of the D.A."

"We believe there should be a transparent, neutral-party investigation, and that is being conducted right now," Goodrich said. "We realize the images are troubling. But you have to have a thorough and complete investigation that looks at the facts as facts. We have to separate the emotions that everybody has."

Nelson, who represents the district that includes Fullerton, says he turned to the Department of Justice as a "neutral referee" to carry out an investigation.

"Rumors aren't answers, and there is a danger in too much speculation," Nelson said. "But it is sometimes all too convenient for government to stand by this 'We have to wait for the investigation' bit. I've got people in Fullerton who are scared now, and the silence sometimes is what is causing fear."

The federal inquiry comes days after Fullerton Councilman Bruce Whitaker urged city officials to release any evidence, including video, of the fight between Thomas and police.

The District Attorney's Office will not publicly release video of the fight, said Susan Schroeder, the DA's chief of staff.

"We want to make sure that witnesses are testifying to what they actually witnessed, not what they saw in the media," Schroeder said.

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has "made it clear that this case is important and a priority," with dozens of investigators involved in the inquiry, Schroeder said. District Attorney's Office investigators have interviewed about 80 witnesses so far, Schroeder said, and expect to talk to more than 100 people before the investigation concludes.

"Anybody who has any sort of compassion would understand why the father is upset, the family is upset and the public upset," Schroeder said. "But it is important we do a thorough job of investigating this case, because we want to make sure the truth comes out."

The federal investigation will run parallel to the other investigations but will remain independent, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

Family members described Thomas, who suffered from schizophrenia, as a good-natured "free spirit" who was homeless by choice.

Thomas had more than two dozen run-ins with the law dating back to the 1990s, mostly petty misdemeanors or infractions, court records show. He pleaded guilty in 1995 to assault with a deadly weapon, the only felony on his record.

Emotions continued to run high Friday, with Ron Thomas accusing Fullerton police of releasing a misleading booking photo of a man he claims is not his son as part of what he described as a "smear campaign."

Police denied the charge, contending that the photo was a booking photo of Thomas taken when he was arrested on suspicion of trespassing in late 2009, and kept in a file with his fingerprints. They responded late Friday by releasing a second booking photo taken with a different camera and at a different angle while they say he was being booked into Orange County Jail.

A public protest is expected to take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in front of the Fullerton Police Station, 237 W. Commonwealth Ave., followed by a vigil from 8 to 10 p.m. Saturday in front of Fullerton City Hall, 303 W. Commonwealth Ave.

By Sean Emery, Lou Ponsi, and Doug Irving
Emery, Ponsi and Irving write for the Orange County Register

3-1/2 Weeks Later, FPD Still Needs to Explain

2011-07-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

Op-Ed By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

Growing up in Fullerton, I have always had a tremendous respect for the men and women that serve on our Police force in the city. That respect grew even more as I went on ride-alongs as a kid. Or when the nice officers would visit Richman Elementary and speak to us kids about the dangers of drugs. Then later some of my friends joined first the Scout program and then became officers with FPD. My brother went through the Fullerton College Police Cadet program and became an officer with the Orange County Sheriffs Department. Then I came to realize first hand, from an adult perspective, what it is like to be an officer.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I think I understand the challenges and the pressures and the good work our officers and leaders on the FPD do in behalf of the city.

So this is why I am a little more than puzzled and alarmed by the developments of this horrible beating and ultimate death of Kelly Thomas on July 5.

This is, by all what I have heard so far, not the Fullerton Police Department I know and respect.

According to eyewitness accounts, Thomas, 37, was beaten and tasered by six FPD officers. According to Thomas' father, a career law enforcement and military man, his son's face was beaten into an almost unrecognizable condition by the officers. He said based on his experience as an officer, the FPD used unnecessary force and there were no drugs in his son's system. Kelly Thomas was unconscious after being beaten by the officers, according to witnesses, and put on life support. The Thomas family made the tough decision to pull life support on July 10.

According to one source, a video of the incident was taken by a local real estate agent and the police officers took the video for evidence. There is also a camera in the Transportation Center area which may have caught the incident on tape.

After nearly four weeks, we need answers. I would like the Chief of Police Michael Sellers and the DA's office to hold a press conference to make public comment and show the video and explain why six uniformed FPD officers that probably weigh a combined weight of around 1500 pounds with their equipment had the need to beat to death one 165 pound man with apparently no weapons on him while people around, reportedly, shouted to the officers to stop the unnecessary brutality. I am quite positive the video will show the reason why this was necessary and exonerate the officers and the Department. But the longer the silence from the FPD and the DA's office continues, it appears there may be a cover up.

What disciplinary action, if any, is being taken against the officers? And what training, if any, is being done with all officers to teach the proper method of interrogation and subduing a suspect going forward? We pay the Police Officers salaries. We have a right to know.

Please restore my faith in the FPD and do this now.

FPD Chief Needs To Speak To Us Now

2011-07-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

Op-Ed by Allen Bacon
The Daily Bosco
Photo by Jesse LaTour

Enough is enough.

As another round of protests is happening this morning as I write this outside the Fullerton Police Department over the Brutal Beating Death of Kelly Thomas at the hands of the FPD, we still have yet to hear from the head of the Fullerton Police Department Michael Sellers.

And while I appreciate Councilman Bruce Whitaker stepping up and writing an unofficial apology and a call to full disclosure from the FPD on this matter on City letterhead, this is really not the Councilman's job or place to do that. I believe, and I can't speak for Mr. Whitaker, that he (as most of the citizens of Fullerton) is embarrassed that it has taken so long (almost 3 weeks) for a statement from the Chief of Police. He probably felt he had to say something. Anything.

And you can't fault the FPD Spokesperson Officer Goodrich. He has been a public voice, but he is just following orders and repeating the policy of the department.

According to one report, Chief Sellers has been on vacation.

I appreciate that our Police officers and especially the Chief need to take periodic breaks. This is important because a Police' job is extremely stressful and I'm sure it was pre-planned before the incident. It is the summer after all. But this is an extremely urgent matter and so many things are riding on this. Like the fact that who is going to want to come to downtown Fullerton to shop and enjoy a meal, music, theater and art and everything our fine city has to offer without the fear (probably the wrong perception) of looking at the officers of the FPD the wrong way and getting pulverized to death?

This is a major disservice also to our fine men and women who wear the badge in Fullerton that do their job correctly and wonderfully and with outstanding merit.

In my opinion, it is so important, that the chief should have, by now (almost three weeks after the beating) arranged to speak from his vacation place to make a statement and answer questions....even if it is to just say "We are still investigating and we will have an answer by such and such a date".

Because the longer this goes on, the beating and taser death of a 135 pound unarmed man at the hands of six uniformed Fullerton Police Department officers is looking more and more like uncontrolled police brutality and even worse a cover up by the FPD.

There is a recording of the incident somewhere. You know there is a recording of the incident. If not by the city camera pointed directly at the place of the beating in the Transportation Center...there was one made by a private citizen. According to Tony Bushala's video interview on the FFFF blog with Mike Turgeon who witnessed the beating, a real estate agent was recording the incident. That recording will either exonerate our officers or damn tham.

And where is the mainstream media in this? Outside of a few reports on ABC 7 and a couple of weak articles by the OC Register's Lou Ponsi, there has been little or no coverage of this major event. This is big news. This should be on CNN nationally it is so big.

Of course the Tribune is not reporting anything, the Daily Titan is off on summer break, and not even the Observer has weighed in yet. Most of the investigative reporting on this matter is coming from Tony Bushala, Jesse La Tour, and even the guys at the Fullertonian have uncovered the fact that there were no police injuries, as orginally reported.

So, we can speculate even more...or Chief Sellers...do the right thing and talk to us. Let us know what is going on. Exonerate the FPD or take disciplinary action.

And do it today if possible.

On My Town's Library Grand Re-Opening

2011-07-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

I am extremely excited about the Grand Re-opening of our town's Public Library this morning. Like a kid on Christmas Day waiting to open his presents excited.

From what I have heard this is going to be an exciting and great center piece...a destination place in our town.

As long as I can remember, the Fullerton Public Library has been one of the center pieces of my life.

When I was a young kid growing up in town, I remember the very first time my mother Lois took my brother and I to the old library on Pomona Ave. (the building where the museum is now). I was three or four years old. My mom didn't drive in the early sixties so we literally would walk from our home by Richman School to the library.

I remember looking up in awe when I first entered the building on Pomona Ave. A whole world was there right in front of me...all I had to do was learn how to read. And that was the point...my mom wanted my brother and I to learn to read early. What better way to stimulate that desire than to go to the Fullerton Public Library.

Plus, the Fullerton Public Library had the coolest children's section. It was underground!!! And as everybody knows, stuff is just cooler underground.

From that moment I was hooked and I never let a week go by without visiting the Library. Or the Bookmobile...which would park out in front of Orangethorpe school every Monday.

I used the Fullerton Library for a lot of things through the years. I worked on many a homework assignments and singlehandedly wore our the Encylopedia Americana from my assignments from Richman Elementary, Nicolas Junior High, Fullerton High, Fullerton College, and Cal State Fullerton.

I would listen to the music upstairs when I was a teenager. They had this tremendous vinyl album and cassette tape library. One summer I spent a lot of time listening and absorbing jazz. Everything from Cal Tjader, to Dizzie Gillespie, to Stan Getz and Herbie Hancock. All through the turntable and head sets at the Fullerton Public Library.

In the early 80's as I was starting my business, before cel phones, I-phones, the internet, laptops and other mobile devices, I used the Library as one of my offices on the road. I would type up proposals and quotes on one of the Library's IBM Selectrics. I would make phone calls and retrieve messages from the pay phone outside the Library. I would make copies on the Library Copy Machine.

I researched my family history and researched other things and looked at reams of Fullerton Trib and Los Angeles Times articles on the Fullerton Library Microfilm machines in my early 20's. The people in the microfilm dept. became my close and personal friends..I was there so much.

I have seen great independent films and listened to lectures from great minds at the FPL. I even have been to a few piano recitals with my children involved at the Osborne Auditorium inside the Library.

The point is, I love the Fullerton Public Library and I can't wait to see what they've done with the place today.

I have a feeling it is going to be awesome.

Photo: The Carnegie Library in Fullerton in the 1920's.
Credit: Fullerton Public Library, Launer Room.

Protest Against FPD Beating Death Held

2011-07-19T05:25:00.000-07:00

By Allen Bacon
Daily Bosco
Photo by Jesse LaTour

A protest against the beating death of Kelly Thomas was held in front of the Fullerton Police Department on Monday.

As of Monday, neither the Fullerton Police nor the District Attorney's Office have made a statement about the findings of an internal investigation of the July 5 beating when witnesses say that six FPD officers beat and tasered Kelly Thomas at the Fullerton Transportation Center.

Kelly Thomas's father, Rob, a retired officer with the Orange County Sheriff Department, said that this was a case of police brutality and his son's face was almost unrecognizable when he went to see him.

Kelly Thomas was in critical condition until July 11 when the family made the decision to take him off life support. Kelly Thomas died on July 11, less than a week after the beating.

FPD Needs To Disclose Details of Beating Death

2011-07-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

Op-Ed By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

Growing up in Fullerton, I have always had a tremendous respect for the men and women that serve on our Police force in the city. That respect grew even more as I went on ride-alongs as a kid. Or when the nice officers would visit Richman Elementary and speak to us kids about the dangers of drugs. Then later some of my friends joined first the Scout program and then became officers with FPD. My brother went through the Fullerton College Police Cadet program and became an officer with the Orange County Sheriffs Department. Then I came to realize first hand, from an adult perspective, what it is like to be an officer.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I think I understand the challenges and the pressures and the good work our officers and leaders on the FPD do in behalf of the city.

So this is why I am a little more than puzzled and alarmed by the developments of this horrible beating and ultimate death of Kelly Thomas on July 5.

This is, by all what I have heard so far, not the Fullerton Police Department I know and respect.

According to eyewitness accounts, Thomas, 37, was beaten and tasered by six FPD officers. According to Thomas' father, a career law enforcement and military man, his son's face was beaten into an almost unrecognizable condition by the officers. He said based on his experience as an officer, the FPD used unnecessary force and there were no drugs in his son's system. Kelly Thomas was unconscious after being beaten by the officers, according to witnesses, and put on life support. The Thomas family made the tough decision to pull life support on July 10.

According to one source, a video of the incident was taken by a local real estate agent and the police officers took the video for evidence. There is also a camera in the Transportation Center area which may have caught the incident on tape.

After nearly four weeks, we need answers. I would like Chief of Police and the DA's office to hold a press conference to make public comment and show the video and explain why six uniformed FPD officers that probably weigh a combined weight of around 1500 pounds with their equipment had the need to beat to death one 165 pound man with apparently no weapons on him while people around, reportedly, shouted to the officers to stop the unnecessary brutality. I am quite positive the video will show the reason why this was necessary and exonerate the officers and the Department. But the longer the silence from the FPD and the DA's office continues, it appears there may be a cover up.

What disciplinary action, if any, is being taken against the officers? And what training, if any, is being done with all officers to teach the proper method of interrogation and subduing a suspect going forward? We pay the Police Officers salaries. We have a right to know.

Please restore my faith in the FPD and do this now.

Tales of Sex and Religion In Conservativeville

2011-07-16T08:41:00.001-07:00

Damnee Manon, Sacree Sandra
Written by Michel Tremblay
Directed by Richard Stein
Featuring Jessica Lamprinos and
Alexander Price
Monkey Wrench Collective
Fullerton, California
Through July
Friday and Saturday Nights 8 PM
Sundays at 2 PM
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed by Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco
Photo By Melita Ann Sagar

As I was watching Michel Tremblay's "Damnee Manon, Sacree Sandra", the current show running at the Monkey Wrench Collective in Fullerton, CA I could not help think of the irony of the location of the theater on Harbor Blvd. in Fullerton.

In this extremely controversial play that explores similarities between sex and religion, I realized that this theater was ground zero between two Fullerton institutions, The United Methodist Church down the alley and the Naughty Teddy. The Monkey Wrench Theater couldn't be in a more perfect location for this tale.

How controversial is Tremblay's 1977 play? Director Richard Stein says the first time he saw it in hardened New York, people walked out of the play in the first five minutes they were so offended. And that's New York.

And how gutsy is MWC's Director Dave Barton and company's call to produce this play right in the middle of the City of Fullerton that has more than one Catholic Church and ultra-conservative North Orange County? Not to mention we are in the middle of a theater season here in Fullerton bringing us, save for Hunger Artist's run of Lenane, safe and tried and true fare like Chicago, Twilight Zone, Little Shop of Horrors, and the Rat Pack. Pretty risky if you ask me.

Well the fact is nobody walked out the night I was there. You are immediately drawn to the two characters Manon (the religious) and Sandra (the Transvestite) on stage.

The challenge of a lot of Michel Tremblay's play is to keep the dialogue interesting and fresh. In this play in particular. There have been reviews of other company's doing this play where the actors could not pull off the monologues and keep it fresh. I am happy to report, this was not problem with MWC's Jessica Lamprinos and Alexander Price who play Manon and Sandra respectively. Plus, it's really not a true monologue because you have two people saying their own monologue. So, to me, the change back and forth was energizing and refreshing.

The thing about this play that is fascinating and the questions you have as it unfolds is while these two people..one sexual and carnal, the other religious...appear to be on opposite sides of each other, there is also a commonality of what they are saying. You also want to know what the connection, if any, there is with these two people.

Minimal, yet effective, set and costume design by the Collective, with the focus rightfully being on the two actors. Lighting is subtle but well done as the focus goes back in forth between both sides of the stage with the actors.

Kudos again to the Monkey Wrench crew and Dave Barton, the Dirctor Richard Stein, and playwright Michel Tremblay for another job well done. And for being brave enough to show this in Fullerton.

Next Stop Willoughby -The Play

2011-07-16T02:54:00.001-07:00

The Twilight Zone
Stages Theater
Fullerton, California
Fri. and Sat. Night 11 PM
Ends Today July 16
Five Scoops of Bosco

By Rick Miranda, For The Daily Bosco

A long time ago I had a guidance counselor ask me, “Where do you want to be right now? Where do you want to go?” After a second I said “Willoughby.” He didn’t get it, the Philistine.

Maybe I’m more of a product of my circumstances than I am of my own design. My Catholic upbringing provides a solid foundation for an acceptance in a world greater than the tangible. Add a Mexican heritage where the paranormal and metaphysical are taken as matter of fact and as real as the sun rising or the rain pouring down. Temper it all a bit with a solid education in the sciences and logical reasoning from Aquinas to Hawking and then throw in a life time of over exposure to television and all its toxins. I find that something like the Twilight Zone isn’t as bizarre or fantastic as I would like it to be. In fact, nothing provides fodder so well for my musings on the unexplained in my life, particularly those rare incidents that completely defy a logical explanation. It has reinforced my interest, no, my affection for the quest for an answer that just isn’t in the right pigeonhole.

I’m not saying that I readily go looking for aliens or things that go bump in the night. I prefer to reasonable and scientific explanation for pretty much whatever I encounter. Yet I resist the notion that the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one, what is inaccurately attributed to Occam’s razor. But at times it’s just easier. It’s too hard to contort my imagination with the form of mental yoga that a Fox Mulder or a Carl Kolchak (remember him) would exercise on a daily basis. But maybe once in a long while an issue, a coincidence or fortunate happenstance or even a misadventure occurs that causes me to fathom the possibility that greater things may be at work.

Human nature usually encourages us to brush these things off with the shake of the head or a hand gesture. Like Ronnie Neary said in “Close Encounters”, “It’s just one of those things.” Afford no more mental energy on said incident and maybe someone will provide you with a palatable explanation at a later date. A mental paperclip to keep those question marks down to a comfortable level. We’re not at ease with the unexplained and especially when it doesn’t fit our personal model of the universe. One of the best things about the Twilight Zone is how the characters react and cope with Rod Serling’s curve ball in their 22 minutes of existence.

The premise is usually the same. Given their environment and circumstance, these are ordinary people. Men or women with which we can somehow identify or at the very least sympathize. The extraordinary nature of their circumstance is only brought to our attention as the story unfolds. A lot of times the protagonist becomes aware of it along with us, further drawing on our sympathies and similarities. Their humanization and the depth of their character is a hallmark of this show. If they are not us they are everyman or everywoman.

Quite often they get beyond their initial disbelief and plunge into the experience with enough reasoning intact to get them through the slight modification reality. The ultimate consequence of their actions is the direct result of either their ability to reason, their moral integrity or their lack of it. Aside from the immediate lesson to these morality plays I think there’s a greater object lesson to be learned. The world changes so quickly that it’s hard to maintain a sense of objectivity about it all. Like a drowning victim in the middle of a river we’re doing our best to keep our heads above water. We don’t have the point of view of the spectator on dry land that can see the sand bank to the left or the impending waterfall a hundred yards down river. The Twilight Zone is an exercise in perspective.

Down through the years these episodes have been played over and over. First in the early sixties, now in syndication and on holiday marathons they have become modern day Aesop fables of at least two or three generations. They have even been modified for radio and the series has been reimagined twice, albeit with limited success. Their repetition provides affection and a familiarity to the point that most of us can synopsize the episode and explain the moral of the story after only a scene or a few lines.

For myself, these stories have become part the collection of vicarious experiences against which I analogize the dilemmas in my own life. Just like any other work of literature, they are on my mental rolodex of possible situations and solutions along with Steinbeck and Solzhenitsyn. Serling, Matheson, Hamner, et al have made their contributions to literature no less significant than modern writers of a so called higher caliber. Their medium was simply television rather than the printed page. The poet expresses their message in a few stanzas; the author can take hundreds of pages. The screen writer has half an hour of air time to do the same. It’s a shame that so many of the great television dramas and anthology series have been forgotten and that the writing for shows like this one, Playhouse 90 or The Philco Television Playhouse are a thing of the past, replaced in this day and age with the vacuous drivel that permeates “reality television”.

But these are dearer to me in some way. Maybe it’s the fact that I was introduced to them first. I was certainly watching the Twilight Zone long before I was reading any of the great literary works of the twentieth century. Actually, it even predates my watching Batman so there has to be some kind of initial influence going on. The original run was during my first five years so knowing my father’s penchant for speculative fiction I’m sure I was exposed to it before I was on solid food.

Now as a local theater company has been so kind as to produce a few of these treasures for a live audience I’m compelled to attend. I have to see at least a couple of these stories on the live stage. Unfortunately my family and friends don’t appreciate these gems the way I do, perhaps from too much viewing on those aforementioned holidays. My wife looks at them and my affection for them much as she would an old girlfriend, she doesn’t really like them but she’ll tolerate me moderately dwelling on them from time to time. I’m going not to critique the quality of the adaption, the lighting, the acting or the scenery. These are stories I grew up with; fond, implanted vignettes; my fairy tales; my briar patch.

So when Gart Williams makes his departure I’ll be there rooting him on. Knowing that really there’s “No Willoughby on the line.” for the rest of us. But in his final moments Mr. Williams has found his “peaceful, restful place, where a man can slow down to a walk and live his life full measure." In Willoughby… and the Twilight Zone.

Chevron Should Just Do The Right Thing

2011-07-12T01:54:00.000-07:00

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

Do you know what I am thinking about on the morning of the historic public discussion and vote on what is going to happen to Coyote Hills, one of the last natural habitats and open spaces left in Orange County, in my hometown of Fullerton California?

I am thinking about that television ad campaign by the Chevron Corporation (the oil company who has had rights to the Coyote Hills property since 1913) in the 80's. Do you remember the one I am talking about?

Zoom in on an adorable Bear quietly snoring and sleeping with it's cute little cubs as snow lightly falls. The voice over: Would a Company really drill for oil in the dead of winter in North Dakota so that the Bear can sleep through the coldest part of the year....People Do...Chevron.

Why can't the good people of Fullerton get THAT Chevron Oil Company? You know...the warm and fuzzy Chevron. The one with the cute talking cars and the cuddly and fuzzy snoring Bears?

Why do we get the Chevron that is behaving more like their greedy predecessor, the Standard Oil Company who systematically and single handedly, among other things, along with a tire company dismantled one of the best public transportation systems in the country in the interests of selling more gas, oil, and tires.

We don't need more homes and shopping centers in Fullerton....We can't even fill the houses and stores we have now.

I get it. I'm a home and land owner. I would be upset too if somebody told me I couldn't do what I wanted to do with my land. But, I also haven't extracted millions of dollars worth of crude oil off my property over the past 100 years either.

Just because something is ok and it may be within your lawful right to turn Coyote Hills into rows and rows of cookie cutter homes Chevron, doesn't mean it is the right thing to do.

Why can't Chevron just sell the land to the OCTA so the folks in this area can enjoy the last open space in Orange County? Why can't they form a partnership with a group interested in the Quality of Life and keep the land open? Just think, Chevron, if you do that, think of all of the goodwill that will be generated for your company. Maybe you can produce another "Adorable Bear...People Do" type commercial.

I divert a little from a lot of people who want absolutely no development on the Coyote Hills property. I would welcome a partnership with Chevron. I don't care if you call it the Chevron Coyote Hills Natural Conservatory. I wouldn't even mind putting a Museum on one end of the land that talks about the impact of oil in the region and charge Five Bucks a head because like it or not, oil is a big part of our history. Maybe a new outdoor ampitheatre for concerts and live theater against the natural setting of the Coyote Hills on the very edge of the open space. I wouldn't even mind care if you call it the Chevron Coyote Hills Ampitheatre.

The majority of folks in this town want a wide open space to hike and enjoy and share. Is that too much to ask after Chevron has made millions and millions off the property over the years? We're not asking for Chevron to lose money on the deal...just listen and work with the majority of the folks that live here and do the right thing. And the majority wants a wide open space where Chevron used to drill for oil.

And one more thing, Chevron....why was it all right to keep the land open for over a hundred years with no development while you took crude oil out of the property? Where was the desire then to turn one of the last precious open spaces in the county into more urban sprawl?

No matter what your position on this matter is...be sure to be there tonight at the City Council meeting and let your opinion be heard.

6:30 PM. City Hall. Be There.

This is one of those important moments in our town's history.

Channeling The Spirit of Early Spielberg

2011-06-20T06:48:00.000-07:00

Super 8
Directed by JJ Abrams
Produced by Steven Spielberg
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed by Allen Bacon
The Daily Bosco

There were several reasons why I thouroughly enjoyed the film Super 8, a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Director JJ Abrams (Lost) which opened this past weekend.

First, the movie takes place in the late 70's. For me, it's like walking into a time warp with the music (who amongst us have not rocked out to the Knack's "My Sharona" or Blondie's "Heart of Glass") and the attention to detail on the set is amazing. This is what mid-America looked like in the late 70's, this is what we were watching on TV, these were the toys we played with (ie, Walkie Talkies and CB Radios)...these are the clothes we wore. One of my favorite scenes is when the kids want to get their film developed quickly and they ask the film dept. clerk if they could get the film back the same day. "That's impossible" says the clerk..."Three Days is the fastest"...and he stamps it rush.

Second, if you have ever had a junior high or high school age child that is obsessed with being a film maker (like I do), you are going to love this. All the enthusiasm, the excitement, the sense of accomplishing something when they make a movie...it's all in this film. We see the kids in this film, making their film about Zombies for a festival, during the movie. Stick around for the credits...because you get to see the finished product while the credits are running.

Third, this film is a collaboration between Producer Steven Spielberg and Director JJ Abrams. While Abrams can stand on his own as an exciting film maker, it seems he really channels the spirit of Steven Spielberg's movies from the late 70's/early 80's. Think about it. You have a misunderstood alien (ET, Close Encounters), a band of nerdy kids banding together to fight against the establishment (Goonies), exciting chase scenes and great special effects (Indiana Jones). I actually enjoyed this collaboration even more than Spielberg/Lucas. Throw all that in with the great "coming of age" films like "Stand by Me" or even "Sandlot"...well you get the idea.

And fourth, I really enjoyed the work of the actors in this film. I am a huge fan of Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, Hometown) and he brings the same calmness he displays in FNL when he is asked to step into the roll of the town's Sheriff while his world crumbles around him.

And the young actors are wonderful. This reminded me of the cast of the Goonies or ET.

There are so many reasons to see this film, especially if you grew up in the 70's.

Hopefully we will see more work with Spielberg and Abrams in the near future.

The Synopsis: In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth - something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.

Tripping Through The Twilight Zone

2011-06-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

Twilight Zone
Stages Theater Fullerton, CA
Through July 16
Fridays and Saturdays at 11pm
Created by Rod Serling
Directed by Darri Kristin,
David Campos, and Frank Tryon
Five Scoops of Bosco

You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead — your next stop, the Twilight Zone. —Rod Serling

By Allen Bacon
Daily Bosco
Accompanying History of Twilight Zone
is from Wikipedia

When I was a teenager growing up in Southern California, one of my most frightening experiences was the night (while watching my Grandma and Grandpas house when they were on vacation) I decided to watch an episode of the Twilight Zone.

It was a cold January Friday night in the mid-70's. It was raining and the wind was howling. I had all of the lights off in my Grandma's big house and it was 11 PM. They used to show the Twilight Zone reruns on KTLA channel 5 in Los Angeles at 11 PM after the news.

This particular night they ran the episode "In The Eye of The Beholder". Remember...That was the one where the young lady had just undergone radical plastic surgery on her face and the whole show you never see her doctors or her face until a very unexpected plot twist at the very end. If you haven't seen it, I won't give away the ending...Pretty cool stuff. Not the scariest Twilight Zone I would ever see, but mixed with the darkness, the rain, the wind, being alone in a big house by myself..it was scary enough.

So, how fitting, around 40 years later, that Stages Theater in Fullerton, CA under the skillful direction of Darri Kristin, David Campos, and Frank Tryon is recreating, on stage, live, six of the shows coolest episodes. Twilight Zone at Stages Theater Fullerton runs until July 16. Ironically, for me anyway, the shows begin at 11 PM on Friday (and Saturday) nights.

The first two episodes of the series just concluded. "The Man in the Bottle", A story about a discontented curio shop owner who thinks he's finally found happiness when a genie he discovers in an old bottle grants him four wishes. This episode featured the wonderful acting of Joe Parrish, Cynthia Ryanen, Mark Coyan, Jami McCoy, Robert Nunez and Frank Tryon

The second show of the evening in the first group was "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" was a fictional morality play about how at the age of 19 everyone must undergo an operation that makes them beautiful...and identical to everyone else but one girl desperately hangs on to her own identity. This show featured Mo Arii, Frank Tryon, Doreen Jones & Lauren Sanatra. Both of the first two episodes were directed by Stages Darri Kristin.

Starting this Friday night June 24 at 11 PM and running until July 2 will be two more episodes.

"Four O'Clock" is the story of political fanatic Oliver Crangle who has determined that at 4 PM he will eliminate all his enemies by shrinking them. But his plan proves to be a little shortsighted... This segment will feature Frank Tryon, Darri Kristin, Amanda DeMaio and Hal Ley.

After the intermission "What You Need" is a story about a two-bit thug who thinks he's found the key to a better life in an old sidewalk salesman who has the uncanny ability to tell people what they need the most. This show features Sean Hesketh, Dan Meyers, Richard Burnes, Andrea Freeman, Jason Sutton, Jeffrey Larson, Wendy Karn and Brett Schickling.

Both of these upcoming segments are directed by David Campos

Starting on July 8 and running until July 16, two new episodes of the Twilight Zone will be up including "The Trade-Ins" and "A Stop at Willoughby" These shows will be under the direction of Frank Tyron.

If you are a fan of Twilight Zone you will absolutely love these episodes brought to life in the intimate setting of Stages Theater.

The Twilight Zone was an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic,or disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising plot twist and was usually brought to closure with some sort of message.

That show would also eventually spawn graphic novels, a feature length movie, a great radio anthology series, books, and now on stage plays.

The television series was also notable for featuring both established stars (e.g., Cliff Robertson, Ann Blyth, Jack Klugman) and younger actors who would later became famous (e.g., Robert Redford, William Shatner, Burt Reynolds, Mariette Hartley, Shelley Fabares, Ron Howard).

Rod Serling served as executive producer and head writer; he wrote or co-wrote 92 of the show's 156 episodes. He was also the show's host, delivering on- or off-screen monologues at the beginning and end of each episode. During the first season, except for the season's final episode, Serling's narrations were off-camera voiceovers; he only appeared on-camera at the end of each show to promote the next episode (footage that was removed from syndicated versions but restored for DVD release, although some of these promotions exist today only in audio format).

The "twilight zone" itself is not presented as being a tangible plane, but rather a metaphor for the strange circumstances befalling the protagonists. Serling's opening and closing narrations usually summarized the episode's events in tones ranging from cryptic to pithy to eloquent to unsympathetic, encapsulating how and why the main character(s) had "entered the Twilight Zone".

In 2002, The Twilight Zone was ranked #26 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

By the late 1950s, Rod Serling was a regular name in television. His successful teleplays included Patterns (for Kraft Television Theater) and Requiem for a Heavyweight (for Playhouse 90), but constant changes and edits made by the networks and sponsors frustrated Serling, who decided that creating his own show was the best way to get around these obstacles. He thought that behind a television series with robots, aliens and other supernatural occurrences, he could also express his political views in a more subtle fashion.

"The Time Element" was Serling's 1957 pilot pitch for his show, a time travel adventure about a man who travels back to Honolulu in 1941 and unsuccessfully tries to warn everyone about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor. The script, however, was rejected and shelved for a year until Bert Granet discovered and produced it as an episode of Desilu Playhouse in 1958. The show was a huge success and enabled Serling to finally begin production on his anthology series, The Twilight Zone.

The Twilight Zone premiered on television the night of October 2, 1959 to rave reviews. "...Twilight Zone is about the only show on the air that I actually look forward to seeing. It's the one series that I will let interfere with other plans", said Terry Turner for the Chicago Daily News. Others agreed. Daily Variety ranked it with "the best that has ever been accomplished in half-hour filmed television" and the New York Herald Tribune found the show to be "certainly the best and most original anthology series of the year."

Even as the show proved popular to television's critics, it struggled to find a receptive audience of television viewers. CBS was banking on a rating of at least 21 or 22, but its initial numbers were much worse. The series' future was jeopardized when its third episode, "Mr. Denton on Doomsday" earned a 16.3 rating. The show attracted a large enough audience to survive a brief hiatus in November, during which it finally surpassed its competition on ABC and NBC and convinced its sponsors (General Foods and Kimberly-Clark) to stay on until the end of the season.

With one exception ("The Chaser"), the first season featured only scripts written by Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson, a team that was eventually responsible for 127 of the show's 156 episodes. Additionally, with one exception ("A World of His Own"), Serling never appeared on camera except to announce the next episode, instead doing voice-over narrations. Many of the first season's episodes proved to be among the series' most celebrated, including "Time Enough at Last", "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street", "Walking Distance" and "The After Hours". The first season won Serling an unprecedented fourth Emmy for dramatic writing, a Producers Guild Award for Serling's creative partner Buck Houghton and the Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation.

Bernard Hermann's original opening theme lasted throughout the first season. Towards the end of the season, the original Dali-esque "pit and summit" opening montage and narration was replaced by a piece featuring a blinking eye and shorter narration, and a truncated version of the theme.

The second season premiered on September 30, 1960 with "King Nine Will Not Return", Serling's fresh take on the pilot episode "Where Is Everybody?". The familiarity of this first story stood in stark contrast to the novelty of the show's new packaging: Bernard Herrmann's stately original theme was replaced by Marius Constant's more jarring and dissonant (and now more-familiar) new guitar-and-bongo theme. The blinking eye was replaced by a more surreal introduction inspired by the new images in Serling's narration ("That's the signpost up ahead"), and Serling himself stepped in front of the cameras to present his opening narration, rather than being only a voice-over narrator (as in the first season).

A new sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive, replaced the previous year's Kimberly-Clark (as Liggett & Myers would succeed General Foods, in April 1961), and a new network executive, James Aubrey, took over CBS. "Jim Aubrey was a very, very difficult problem for the show", said associate producer Del Reisman. "He was particularly tough on The Twilight Zone because for its time it was a particularly costly half hour show....Aubrey was real tough on [the show's budget] even when it was a small number of dollars." In a push to keep the show's expenses down, Aubrey ordered that seven fewer episodes be produced than last season and that six of those being produced would be shot on videotape rather than film, a move Serling disliked, calling it "neither fish nor fowl".[citation needed]

The second season saw the production of many of the series' most acclaimed episodes, including "The Eye of the Beholder" and "The Invaders". The trio of Serling, Matheson and Beaumont began to admit new writers, and this season saw the television debut of George Clayton Johnson. Emmys were won by Serling (his fifth) for dramatic writing and by director of photography George T. Clemens and, for the second year in a row, the series won the Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation. It also earned the Unity Award for "Outstanding Contributions to Better Race Relations" and an Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama".

In his third year as executive producer, host, narrator and primary writer for The Twilight Zone, Serling was beginning to feel exhausted. "I've never felt quite so drained of ideas as I do at this moment", said the 37-year old playwright at the time. In the first two seasons he contributed 48 scripts, or 73% of the show's total output. He contributed only 56% of the third season's output. "The show now seems to be feeding off itself", said a Variety reviewer of the season's second episode, who couldn't understand Serling's endless and exhaustive treatment of themes.[citation needed]

Despite his avowed weariness, Serling again managed to produce several teleplays that are widely regarded as classics, including "It's a Good Life", "To Serve Man", and "Five Characters in Search of an Exit". Scripts by Montgomery Pittman and Earl Hamner Jr. supplemented Matheson and Beaumont's output, and George Clayton Johnson submitted three teleplays that examined complex themes. The episode "I Sing the Body Electric" could boast: "Written by Ray Bradbury." By the end of the third season, the series had reached over 100 episodes.

The Twilight Zone received two Emmy nominations (for cinematography and art design), but was awarded neither. It again received the Hugo Award for "Best Dramatic Presentation", making it the only three-time recipient until it was tied by Doctor Who in 2008.

In spring 1962, The Twilight Zone was late in finding a sponsor for its fourth season and was replaced on CBS' fall schedule with a new hour-long situation comedy called Fair Exchange. In the confusion that followed this apparent cancellation, producer Buck Houghton left the series for a position at Four Star Productions. Serling meanwhile accepted a teaching post at Antioch College, his alma mater. Though the series was eventually renewed, Serling's contribution as executive producer decreased in its final seasons.

In November 1962 CBS contracted Twilight Zone (now sans the The) as a mid-season January replacement for Fair Exchange, the very show that replaced it in the September 1962 schedule. In order to fill the Fair Exchange timeslot each episode had to be expanded to an hour, an idea which did not sit well with the production crew. "Ours is the perfect half-hour show... If we went to an hour, we'd have to fleshen our stories, soap opera style. Viewers could watch fifteen minutes without knowing whether they were in a Twilight Zone or Desilu Playhouse", Serling responded. Herbert Hirschman was hired to replace long-time producer Buck Houghton. One of Hirschman's first decisions was to direct a new opening sequence, this one illustrating a door, eye, window and other objects suspended Magritte-like in space. His second task was to find and produce quality scripts.

This season of Twilight Zone once again turned to the reliable trio of Serling, Matheson and Beaumont. However, Serling’s input was limited this season; he still provided the lion’s-share of the teleplays, but as executive producer he was virtually absent and as host, his artful narrations had to be shot back-to-back against a gray background during his infrequent trips to Los Angeles. Due to complications from a developing brain disease, Beaumont’s input also began to diminish significantly. Additional scripts were commissioned from Earl Hamner, Jr. and Reginald Rose to fill in the gap.

With five episodes left in the season, Hirschman received an offer to work on a new NBC series called Espionage and was replaced by Bert Granet, who had previously produced "The Time Element". Among Granet’s first assignments was "On Thursday We Leave for Home", which Serling considered the season's most effective episode. There was an Emmy nomination for cinematography, and a nomination for the Hugo Award. The show returned to its half-hour format for the fall schedule.

Serling later claimed, "I was writing so much, I felt I had begun to lose my perspective on what was good and what was bad." By the end of this final season, he had contributed 92 scripts in five years. This season, the new alternate sponsors were American Tobacco and Procter & Gamble.

Beaumont was now out of the picture entirely, contributing scripts only through the ghostwriters Jerry Sohl and John Tomerlin, and after producing only 13 episodes, Bert Granet left and was replaced by William Froug—with whom Serling had worked on Playhouse 90.

Froug made a number of unpopular decisions; first by shelving several scripts purchased under Granet's term (including Matheson’s The Doll, which was nominated for a Writer's Guild Award when finally produced in 1986 on Amazing Stories); secondly, Froug alienated George Clayton Johnson when he hired Richard deRoy to completely rewrite Johnson’s teleplay Tick of Time, eventually produced as "Ninety Years Without Slumbering". "It makes the plot trivial", complained Johnson of the resulting script, insisting he be given screen credit for the final version of the episode as "Johnson Smith". Tick of Time became Johnson’s final submission to The Twilight Zone.

Even under these conditions, several episodes were produced that are well remembered, including "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", "A Kind of a Stopwatch" and "Living Doll". Although this season received no Emmy recognition, episode number 142, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"—a 1962 French-produced short film which was modified slightly for broadcast—received the Academy Award for best short film in 1963.

In late January 1964, CBS announced the show's cancellation. "For one reason or other, Jim Aubrey decided he was sick of the show... [H]e claimed that it was too far over budget and that the ratings weren't good enough", explained Froug. But Serling countered by telling the Daily Variety that he had "decided to cancel the network". ABC showed interest in bringing the show over to their network under the new name Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves, but Serling wasn't impressed.

"The network executives seem to prefer weekly ghouls, and we have what appears to be a considerable difference in opinion. I don't mind my show being supernatural, but I don't want to be booked into a graveyard every week." Shortly afterwards Serling sold his 40% share in The Twilight Zone to CBS, leaving the show and indeed all projects involving the supernatural behind him until 1969, when Night Gallery debuted.

Gina Saputo Redefines Hip

2011-06-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

Gina Saputo
Live Fri. June 10
Steamers Jazz Club
Fullerton, CA
8 PM. Tickets: $8

Gina Saputo is a vocalist, entertainer, clinician and arranger who has already established herself as one of the hippest rising headliners on the scene.

A native of Eugene, Oregon, Gina began training at the age of 8, singing with the Oregon Children’s Choir. By the age of 16 she was putting together her own groups and singing in jazz clubs, often waiting outside during breaks because she was underage.

From there, Gina attended USC’s prestigious Thornton School of Music, and was awarded the Barry Manilow Scholarship for all four years of her education. Gina studied at Jazz Aspen Snowmass in Aspen, Colorado under Christian McBride. She was interviewed by Dee Dee Bridgewater for her show JazzSet on National Public Radio.

Gina was among seven musicians chosen by Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, and Wayne Shorter to study at the Thelonius Monk Institute. During her time with the institute, she performed for the State Department in Washington, D.C., and toured Viet Nam with Herbie Hancock and Nnenna Freelon.

Her first CD, “Gina Saputo” was recorded with vocal sessions produced by Grammy award nominated vocalist Tierney Sutton, who said, “Gina has the talent as well as the passion to stretch and think outside the box.”

After two successful tours of Japan, her CD has climbed to #3 on the prestigious Swing Journal charts, and has received rave reviews.

She was a guest professor at Gwangju University in South K

Of Proms, Hopes, Dreams, and Tony Bowls

2011-06-08T23:17:00.000-07:00

It's definitely not your mom and dad's prom. Designer Sherri Hill weighs in with this gold number and prom fashion hits the runway. Remembering Proms Past

By Allen Bacon
Editor
Daily Bosco

I must admit I am not much of an expert when it comes to high school proms. This is because I've only been to one my entire life. But still I have many wonderful memories of the ones I have been associated with.

What triggers this thought process is the fact that one of my good friends was busy helping her daughter get ready to go to prom last month. I had also read an article the other day on how the fashions for the prom have changed over the years and now it's like going to an awards show with big name designers getting involved and runway shows...which is all very cool. It's what makes life fun. My daughter had designer dresses for her proms and my son's dates for his proms looked great in their beautiful designer dresses. And they would go in large groups in large wonderful limousines to exotic locations for their proms.

My prom date in 1979...the most beautiful girl at the prom...was Tina Marie Tucker. I believe she wore something from the Martha Tucker collection....a wonderful pink dress (I think her mom helped her make the dress...in other words). And that's how it used to be done usually. I saw the photos of my mom and dad's prom and mom was also wearing a beautiful vintage dress which was handmade by Grandma Liesch. I know my other grandma, Grandma Florrie, was a wonderful seamstress and made the most lovely of all wedding dresses for mom...and maybe she was involved in the beautiful prom dress too...I'll have to ask mom. The common thread between proms of yesteryear and today are that it is a wonderful time usually when a mother and a daughter can work on something together, spend time together, and strenghten their bond. It's really about family and friends and romance and not as much about the clothes.

Tina and I had a wonderful time that spring evening in 1979. I was a nervous wreck. This was my first big date and I wanted it to go perfect. And the fact that Tina was the most beautiful young lady at the prom didn't make me any less nervous.

For me, it was the little things that evening that I remember the most. The time honored tradition of placing our corsages on each other for one. And some of it was silly. Like when Tina dropped a miniature cherry tomato from her salad at the fanciest restaurant in town and it rolled around the floor for a while and she tried to pick it up without being conspicuous or breaking her conversation with me.

The band was horrible...that much I remember... but we were too busy dancing and having fun to care. But the thing I remember most was this sense of joy when I would escort her or when we would hold hands...It was a beautiful innocent evening...like a Fairy Tale.

I hope if you are going to a prom this year...or are involved in getting somebody ready for a prom, that you savor each moment and enjoy the time spent...these are the moments you will always remember.

Record Vault: New York Rock and Soul Review

2011-06-06T06:32:00.000-07:00

The New York Rock & Soul Review
Live at the Beacon
Donald Fagen, Phoebe Snow, Michael McDonald,
Boz Scaggs, Jeff Young, Rascals
1991 Arista
Five Scoops of Bosco

Reviewed by Allen Bacon
The Daily Bosco

Editor's Note: In the Bosco Record Vault Series we take a look at past albums that had an impact or were in retrospect important turning points for artists. In this review, on it's 20th anniversary release date, we look at the 1991 Live Album The New York Rock and Soul Review; Live at the Beacon an important time for Steely Dan's Donald Fagen.

In the early 90's, Steely Dan fans were "reeling in the years". There had been no SD Music for over ten years, save for a great Donald Fagen solo album The Nightfly and a couple of songs that appeared in movies. Later the story came out that Fagen was suffering from a combination of writers block and apparent stage fright which extended back to the Steely Dan salad years...the late 70's. Remember, Steely Dan was only doing studio work in the late 70's and early 80's with Fagen and Walter Becker assembling the best musicians they could find for each song.

So, in 1991 Becker is off in Hawaii raising a family and producing great records for the likes of Ricki Lee Jones, and Fagen is doing a variety of projects including writing op-ed pieces for publications. It was in 1991 that it was announced that Fagen would be performing at the famous Beacon Theatre in New York City for the annual Rock and Soul Review. The result was a wonderful live album. The performance was also was the beginning for Fagen and eventually Becker to get back together, write music, make albums, win Grammys and yes even tour once again.

This lineup reads like a who's who of 50's 60's and 70's Rock and Soul Icons. In addition to Fagen the lineup included the late and legendary Charles Brown, The Rascals, Michael McDonald, Phoebe Snow, and Boz Scaggs. Also performing is the late saxophone great, Cornelius Bumphus who appears on many of the legendary Steely Dan albums.

Before this album there was very few legal live Steely Dan recordings. Remember, this is way before SD's Alive in America which was released later in the 1990's. The only song recorded live song was Bodistavta which was a B side on Ricki Don't Lose that Number single. On this album Fagen and Jeff Young and the Youngsters give us live versions of Pretzel Logic (with Michael McDonald reprising his background vocal duties), and Chain Lightening. In addition, Fagen does a live version of one of his solo songs from The Nightfly entitled Green Flower Street

The Two Amtraks and A Modest Proposal

2011-06-02T06:39:00.001-07:00

By Allen Bacon
The Daily Bosco

As I was on a recent train excursion...through the Northwest from Southern California to Seattle, I was reminded of what the nation's passenger rail service, Amtrak, is and I thought about what it could be.

First of all, the scenery from Los Angeles to Seattle, as seen from the comfort of the Amtrak observation lounge rivals the best in the country. From the ocean views to the Northern California and Oregon mountains to the lushness of Northern Oregon into Washington and the Puget Sound area near Seattle..it's hard to beat for breathtaking beauty not only in the US but in the world.

The people I met on this journey were incredible. People from Northern California and the Northwest are generally generous, educated, and progressive, and this makes for wonderful and interesting conversation. And since you have to sit with somebody at the dining car you have the opportunity to get into some wonderful discussions with fascinating people.

But, those are all the benefits of taking the train...anywhere. What I want to talk about is what Amtrak is doing right and where they fall short.

I was actually on two trains this trip through the northwest. For those who were not following the trip on this webzine as it was happening, my son Felix and I took the Coast Starlight from Fullerton, CA to San Francisco...stayed two days in San Francisco...got back on the CS and went to Eugene, OR where we stayed with my good friends Mark and Greg. After we left Eugene we switched to the Cascades which is the run from Eugene to Seattle. The two trains were like night and day.

First of all, in all fairness, the train they use for the Coast Starlight is similar to the trains they use on the Southwest Chief (LA to Chicago) or the Zephyr (Chicago to San Francisco). These trains were built in the 70's in an era where there were no cel phones, no laptops, no personal DVD players. So there are very few electrical outlets and the first thing that everybody looks for is an outlet but with an average of one or two per car it's tough going.

The second thing, I noticed was the service is suffering and I had wonderful experiences last year on the Zephyr and Southwest Chief. I think it has to do with teams that they put on the train. All it takes is a couple of disgruntled employees to permeate the group and the experience becomes less than satisfactory. The service from LA to Oakland fell into the less than satisfactory category. But the Emeryville to Eugene ride was much better.

On the LA to Oakland run, the Amtrak employees were rude, obnoxious, and let you know that they were understaffed and overwhelmed. OK that last part is probably true...but it doesn't mean you have to take it out on the customers. We're trying to have a good time and get to where we need to go...lose the attitude and work out whatever differences you have with your employer.

I was particulary disappointed in the service in the dining room. Plastic eating utensils, high prices, paper table cloths, less than satisfactory food and again waiters with bad attitudes. What happened to the golden age of train travel where you had wonderful service, china, cloth table cloths, and beautiful silverware and glasses for your drinks? No wonder people don't like taking the trains anymore.

Then the lounge is not showing movies anymore because the motion picture industry wants a cut for them showing the movies. Give me a break.

Contrast that with what I experienced on the Amtrak Cascades train from Eugene, OR to Seattle, WA. This train service is a cooperative between the states of Oregon, Washington and Amtrak. It's all the things Amtrak does right. First of all the train is always generally on time because they split the ride in two trips. One train starts in Eugene and runs to Portland. Then another train takes you to Seattle. Also, I understand they don't have the freight train right of way issues that are experienced in other parts of the country.

This train was built within the last couple of years and they did it right. An electrical outlet at every seat, tv screens for movies in every car with plugs on the console for headsets to listen to the movie, a wonderful lounge and Bistro, large and beautiful bathrooms, an onboard systems for telling you time, weather, how far ahead or behind the train is on schedule. This is on when the movies are not going. And by the way, with every Amtrak train I've been on...much more leg room than an airline seat. And the crew on this train were happy, neatly dressed, and extremely helpful.

And now comes my modest proposal.

Why can't they run Amtrak like National Public Radio or Public Television? Since it is a government subsidized service, get corporate sponsorships and have fundraisers to create more money. Here's some ideas what you could do with corporate and individual involvement.

Have a major restaurant run the Dining Room. Have Outback Steakhouse, as an example, be responsible for the dining room. They would staff it, they would design the inside of the rolling restaurant, they could have their menu. And they would do a great job, because it would be a great advertisement for their traditional restaurants.

Create free enterprise aboard the train. There could be a mini McDonalds, a Starbucks, some small shops like a mini-mall all on the train. Can you imagine the bidding war companies would get into to get those spots and how much more money it would generate for the railroad?

Yes, have a movie theatre, sponsored by AMC or another chain or at least do what they did in the Northwest with a screen in view near the seats with a plug to listen at your seat.

Get an interior designer to sponsor a redesign of the interiors of the trains. Again, a bidding war would insue and the winning bidder would generate a lot of publicity. And of course, put an electrical plug at every seat and hook up the trains for wi-fi. Because of these innovations, train travel would be fun and sexy again.

There is so much that could be done with the current Train system in America. We have a beautiful country and traveling by train is a wonderful way to meet the people and see the sights of this great land. Europe and other countries are way ahead of the US on this So any investment we put into this venture is going to pay dividends in the economy as more people get out and spend more money in the areas around the country.

Memorial Day 2011 In the Rear View

2011-06-01T05:05:00.001-07:00

By Rick Miranda
For The Daily Bosco

I’m not particularly fond of holidays. Before you start throwing stones and calling me a nihilist I should qualify that. I don’t hate them...I just don’t find them particularly celebratory. An annual remembrance of some event or notion that is usually overshadowed by the celebration itself. It’s usually a reason to drag family and friends together for mirth and merriment but with the exception of a few religious holidays little time is actually spent in consideration of the actual reason for a day off with pay. An unfortunate by-product of the Monday holiday bill.

But Monday was a bit different for me. While many of the same rites and rituals were repeated across this great country of ours and many a family, including my own, hauled out the briquettes and lighter fluid, feasted on red meat and potato salad and listened to the latest family gossip, one extra detail set this holiday weekend aside; at least for me.

Some thirteen years ago my father passed from this world. Every year I mean to visit his grave, and like so many good intentions, time and circumstances seem to get in the way. None the less I do try to make it there when I can and since the anniversary of his death coincides with Memorial Day, I find those visits that I do make to be that much more emotional.

Like so many of his age, my dad spent his time in military service. For his time in uniform he was afforded the privilege of burial among his fellow servicemen in a special section of the cemetery. It moves me to visit this place of honor on a weekend such as this. Each grave adorned with a flag, some with flowers, a cross or the Magen David, it fills me with a sense of gratitude and pride that there is a collective recognition for the service that my father gave along with all these men and women.

Most buried here didn’t die in service to their country. They went on to live typical, some would say mundane, lives. To marry, work, pay taxes, raise children. To perpetuate and enjoy the society to which they had expressed their devotion through the military. Mundane, pedestrian, mediocre, perhaps to those who take it for granted, but so very precious to those who realize how blessed a life it truly is.

Some may have been heroes and some may have been clerks. For every warrior on the line there are ten behind helping to get the job done. Each performed their duties and no one of us afforded the pleasure of freedom can or should judge the depth or quality of their individual efforts. We leave that to our Creator and those that served with them. Whether draftee, volunteer, officer or enlisted these people gave a part of their lives to ensure our well being, that of our country and to a great extent that of the world.

While most were driven by a sense of duty I know not everyone serves for the same reason. I’m sure there are those here that joined for the benefits, financial help with college or simply had nowhere else to go at the time. To be sure some went unwillingly. But it’s their duty that we’re to remember, not their motivation. How many of us have done the greatest things in our lives for the noblest of reasons?

Since my father so loved his time in the service, I feel fortunate, grateful actually, that the occasion of his death coincided with this most appropriate day of national remembrance. It reminds me of his best qualities, qualities valued in any soldier, duty, reverence, integrity. And it reminds me of his hopes to not only instill those qualities within myself but that I pass that paternal obligation on to my sons as well.

In that respect, I can only hope to fulfill that obligation to him, to myself and to my children. So to all those that lay in this field of honor, all those that have served and to this, my first, best hero, I offer my gratitude and consideration of your efforts and sacrifice.