The seasons change

As the seasons change so did our lives and now I am feeling the autumn of my life so very strong this year. I'm glad that things have slowed down in my life and are not quite as hard as they were because the will is there and the want to is there, but the body does not always cooperate. As it is written, there is a time for everything and as our time comes slowly to an end,

I can't help but feel sad, there are so many more things to do, so much more of the world to see and so much more life to live. I have had the best of times and as they have written, I have had the worst of times, but my life has been an exciting journey through endless wonder and imagination. I know that you, my friends, would say that I'm full of it and I would have to agree. I think that my generous imagination has made my life so much more exciting than it would have been if I had not embellished on what life set before me. I don't mean drama, because one thing I don't need, especially in the latter days of my life, is drama. What I'm talking about is when you see the pyramids in Egypt, do you look at them and say how magnificent or do you look at them and wonder about the people who made them and why they were made and were the people that actually did the construction work on these majestic pyramids just like us, striving to make it through one more day. Did they just want to make a better life for all their descendants, or were they enslaved and beaten and made to work relentless hours of torturous work. When you look at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, can you see the wise men coming upon Joseph and Mary and bestowing gifts upon the Christ child or do you just see a well ornamented church. I see all of these things and much more. When I look upon a piece of history or a marvel of construction from 4000 years ago, I can hear the anguish of those workers after a hard day’s work sitting down to a meal still hurting from their labor. I see the chariots racing across the roads in Luxor headed for the temples.

When I look back at my life, I see extremely humble beginnings that I was proud of what I was given in life. I see a boy growing into a man without a clue of how that process is supposed to happen. I see a man making mistakes and learning by them and keeping his head held high even when he has failed. A wise man once said a young man needs a good failure to help him understand what it takes to be a success. I have always been able to figure out things and work with my hands better than most people I know. I always have told myself that if someone made this, I can fix it or build it myself. That's why I did over 70% of the work on my log house with the help of one friend and my wife. I am proud to say that I built this house with my own two hands. Yes it's not perfect but neither am I. I am just a man longing for enough time in this world to have made a difference. The only thing I have ever wished for that people would say of me is that he is a good soul and I'm glad he passed my way. I have said once before that I believe that my life has been an extraordinary gift and then I celebrate the past, present and the future with all that is within me. This tinker of many trades and master of none has worked hard his entire life.

 October makes me extremely sad but within that sadness I celebrate a young boy who stumbled his way into manhood who can proudly say he did it his way. There has been love lost and love cherished for a lifetime and there's not many men that truly know what true love is all about. I have given my heart to the one I love now and she has graced me with her love. I am the most appreciative to her for that she has been my rock through some of the roughest times in my life. I am also glad that I have reconnected with a lot of the friends that I went to school with, because I never knew how much I cared about them or that they cared about me. I have walked most of my life with depression. It was not a debilitating depression but one that kept me from seeing those that cared. I still fight that battle today but it's not as bad because I have come to know a young boy born at St. Joseph's hospital in February 1956 very well. He wears his feelings on his sleeve because he cares so much about everything and everyone. He has a stubborn streak a mile long that he has learned to use and not abuse. Even though I show you the vulnerability in my writing, it's still extremely hard to actually let go of it in my day-to-day life. I don't think I have ever really been confident about things. I have learned to analyze and be objective and make a decision and stick to it. If that is confidence than I guess I have some, but it has taken a long time for me to realize that. I know that I had learning disabilities that no one knew about back in the days when I was in school. I have learned to overcome them and use them to my advantage when I can. I am not weak and I am not foolish. I am a strong caring person who has done his best and I want to tell you, all of my friends, every one of you, you are exceptional souls and I'm so glad that we shared the time that we had together.

Like most people I don't know when my time will come. I hope its years from now and I hope I have the time to see you all again someday before that time comes. When I pray each day, I pray for those we have lost that were in our neighborhoods and I pray for each and every one of you to have a long and joyful life. We have lost too many of our friends in these past years and, unfortunately, they will not be the last. Even though I mourn their loss, I try to celebrate their life even more. I ask you to keep me in your prayers. I have never forgotten that little house on Durby Street in Memphis, Tennessee and all of those people that lived in our neighborhoods and I hope I never will. God bless you all.

PS I told you I tried not to write sad things in October, but it just comes out that way and, the funny thing about it is, I enjoy the holiday of Halloween as much as any holiday we have. I love the old funny, spooky shows that I always watch on Halloween. I love seeing the kids in their costumes and, let's face it, who doesn't like candy, so why am I so depressed?

My History Television

In 1878 William Crookes confirmed the existence of cathode rays by building a tube to display them in, which is what made it possible for cathode rays to produce a luminous image on a fluorescent screen used chiefly in television and computer terminals. The first man to actually make a scanning cathode ray tube was Carl Ferdinand Braun, a German scientist, in 1897. His invention was a CRT with a fluorescent screen, known as a cathode-ray oscilloscope that emitted a visible light when struck by a beam of electrons. A Russian scientist, Boris Rosing, who worked alongside of Vladimir Zworykin manufactured a CRT in the receiver of a television system that was at the cameras end. Needless to say there were many improvements and breakthroughs with the cathode Ray tube through the years all the way up to 1926 when the first moving images were broadcast to the television screen. The very first clear perception of the moving image was displayed at the AT&T Bell Labs in New York City in 1927. The first television magazine for the serious hobbyist was published in 1927.

Hallelujah, the first television station owned by General Electric, WGY – TV in Schenectady, New York broadcast the first television broadcast but the transmission was only a 40 minute stage production, The Queen's Messenger, and they were only broadcast for television sets with the system developed by Dr. Ernst Alexanderson . Fear not though, GE was not the only one experimenting with broadcast television stations. RCA also opened up a television lab and experimental station W2XDS . The first license was issued to W3XK, to Charles Jenkins in Wheaton, Maryland who planned to broadcast radio movies. RKO experimented with their televisions in Schenectady, New York broadcasting up-to-date local news and sportscasts to the movies that were being broadcast. By the time 1932 rolled around, NBC had begun experimenting with their television programming as well.

Even though there were many more innovations and stations and people to mention up to the perfection of what we know as broadcast television today, it didn't really get its start until the FCC authorized commercial television to begin on July 1, 1941 and there was no turning back at that point. There is money to be made in the airwaves across the United States broadcasting programming and commercials to the unwitting public. But the commercial broadcasting was short-lived just as a lot of other industries were put on hold for the war effort after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, commercial television broadcasting was just about put on hold till after the war. The Dumont's network had the distinction of having their first network hookup broadcast the news of the atomic bomb being dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

1946 the war is over and our men are back and there is a desire for relaxation and entertainment. RCA in its wisdom had the first post-war designed television, the 630 TS. It had sold nearly 10,000 sets at $350 each at a time when it was almost 10% of an average yearly salary. Women of the world united to watch the soap opera. One of the biggest expansions in commercial history was the television set. By 1947, 44,000 television sets are in the homes in the United States. Even children were not left out. The Dumont network premiered the first children's programming called the Small Fries Club at 7 PM, Monday through Friday. It was a program that had originated on the radio in 1921. The tradition of using old radio programs in the new mediums that are to come had now started.

Moving ahead to 1949, Milton Berle hosts the first charity telethon. And the Zenith Radio Corporation invents the remote control called the lazy bone. It could turn the television off our on and change channels but it was tethered to the television with a bulky cable. Skipping forward to 1951, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz negotiate a contract with CBS for the right to film I Love Lucy and get 100% ownership, pioneering the rights to residuals and earning more than $1 million a year by the mid-50s. Commercial television was now viable and there is no stopping it.

Skipping ahead to the 1960’s where Irwin Allen seems to own the television audiences with such shows such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, the Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, and several others. And, of course, there were other television shows by other networks and other producers. Here's a short list of some of the best; Andy Griffith Show, the Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza, I Dream of Jeannie, Have Gun Will Travel, Star Trek, the Brady Bunch, Dick Van Dyke Show, Gilligan's Island, the Ed Sullivan Show, the Addams family, the Munsters, Make Room for Daddy, Gomer Pyle USMC, What's My Line, Bewitched, My Three Sons, the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, the Flintstones, the Carol Burnett Show, and the Jack Benny program.

I could talk all day about television and which shows I love the most but I won't bore you with what I like the most because I know you all have your favorites as well, but there is one show above all the others that had anybody and everybody who was somebody on it. No, I'm not talking about the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Before Johnny Carson was a household name, Ed Sullivan had a show called the Toast of the Town. I guess you could say that show grew up to be more of a variety show.  With the Ed Sullivan Show itself there were rock stars, there were opera stars and there were even Broadway stars. I don't know at that time what show had so much variety of entertainment. Even variety shows at that time could not get the guests that the Ed Sullivan show were able to acquire. I mean, let's face it, they introduced us to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, to the Birds to the Mamas and the Papas and many other rock 'n roll groups. 

What more could a teenage kid ask for. Oh that's right, I wasn't a teenage kid when the Ed Sullivan Show started, I was what they call now a preteen whatever that means. I was more interested in things like the Flintstones, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, etc.,  than listening to a bunch of old people singing opera but my parents lived in my house and they control the television, so whether I liked it or not, we watched the Ed Sullivan show. We saw Chinese acrobatics, the Chinese plate spinners and various other artists from around the world. We even saw jugglers and I didn’t even know what a juggler was at that time. We even saw Ed kiss little Topogigo goodnight. But I find myself longing for those more innocent days of the Ed Sullivan Show that tried to give us a little bit of entertainment and a lot of culture.

Today one of my favorite networks is PBS, our Public Broadcasting Stations. Public broadcasting brings you shows like Masterpiece Theatre, News Hour, Sesame Street, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Austin City Limits, Frontline, This Old House, Mr. Rogers, Reading Rainbow, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and many more children's programming choices, just as there are many more adult programming choices. Now with the invention of digital television there are three PBS programming channels, the regular PBS we have all known and loved, the second channel is known as PBS World and the third is the PBS Create channel. I can't say enough about today's PBS. It is the channel that informs and entertains and instructs us in our daily way of life, unlike other channels that say things like they are the Travel Channel but the only programming they have is about food. Now I know that I have to eat when I travel but if I'm going to see ancient Egypt, it is only of secondary importance or even less of the adventure of my travels. Don't get me wrong, I do love to experience exotic foods from a faraway land that I am traveling to but if I had to eat at McDonald's every day to see the pyramids and the ruins of Egypt I would do so. It is not my main goal when I travel so as well it is not my main goal when I turn over to the Travel Channel to see what kind of gross food some fool is willing to try. That's enough of my tyrade on channels that are not what they appear to be.

There is a new channel on the horizon of the digital channels that gives me all of the channels that I grew up with; such things as the Man from Uncle, or Hawaii Five-O, so you see this is the channel for me and it is called Me TV. If you love watching television from when you were a kid, a teenager or young child, this is also the channel for you. I could go to the list of programming that they have but there's no need. You know it, you watched it, you lived it back in the 60s and the 70s, so all you have to do is get an antenna for your television set and look for your channel number on your dial.

I also wanted to tell you about a flea market treasure that I found just the other day. It is a photo of Annette Funicello which appears to be from the Spin and Marty series that aired on the Mickey Mouse Club. She actually appeared in the New Adventures of Spin and Marty after the original Spin and Marty had aired and was so popular that Walt Disney had to put on a another serial of Spin and Marty. In the New Adventures they added Kevin Corcoran, Darlene Gillespie and Annette Funicello. I had never seen this particular picture so I bought it because Spin and Marty along with the Annette serial are my utmost favorite television programs of all times, that is other than Tales of the Gold Monkey with Roddy McDowell and Stephen Collins. So I leave you with this from one who was born with television as a pacifier and will go to his grave with television being his biggest source of comfort," there is more to life than television", but it will wait till my program is over with.

1969

The year 1969 has been referred to as many things but whoever it was that said it was the summer of our lives was pretty close to being right. It really was the year that we came of age, with all the rioting in Ireland and the practically every month nuclear tests by either the United States, Russia or China, it seemed that we had to grow up fast because someone was bound to destroy our world.

1969 was also the summer of love from Haight Asbury all the way to Max Yasgur's Dairy Farm in New York State.

The rock and rollers were reminding us that the anthem for our youth was sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. The Beatles had started on a path to their demise, each of them releasing solo works and some of the best Beatles music ever recorded. I don't want to forget any of the other artists such as Crosby Stills Nash and Young or David Bowie, Peter Paul and Mary and the likes of Arlo Guthrie and Donovan.  There were many great artists and great songs released or recorded in 1969, so for music lovers it was a year of music. I know that most people were engulfed by the music of this year and I too enjoyed the music of our time but it wasn't my main concern, so forgive me if I don't write a whole lot at this time about music. Other than that I have said that I was part of the Ed Sullivan generation who was introduced to classical music, operas, operettas, jazz, pop and rock 'n roll. Ed Sullivan had artists of all genres on his show, from all types of entertainment and we always stayed glued to the television when the Ed Sullivan broadcast was on.

The year also brought strides in manned space exploration. There were several Russian manned and unmanned spacecraft launched culminating with the first docking of two manned spacecraft's and the transfer of cosmonauts between those spacecraft. The United States was not to be defeated in the race for space. We had launched several unmanned space exploration crafts ourselves and we successfully put four men on the moon, with Apollo 11 and 12. I can remember sitting in front of the old black and white TV on that July night, extremely excited waiting for the announcements and the play-by-play from Walter Cronkite on what was happening with the moon landing. I had my reel to reel tape recorder with a microphone taped to the speaker of the television recording every single word and every event that was taking place. It's still so real to me that we were sitting in front of those TV sets watching this extremely amazing piece of history unfold right before our eyes. We actually saw the astronauts on the moon. I remember it had to be something extremely special because it was way past my bedtime and my parents had not said a word about us going to bed. At that age I was completely absorbed in the American space program. I had every news clipping, I had listened to every news report that I could get my hands on about anything that NASA was involved with at that time.

Even though 1969 was not the year that I remember as my fondest, it was still one of the most influential years of my life. I have written down some of the major events and I have tried to cross reference the dates with more than one source but when those sources were at conflict, I chose to rely on my memory which isn't as reliable as it used to be, but writing this story gives me the perk of making that decision.

This year I was about to start the greatest adventure of my life at Airways Junior High School in Memphis, Tennessee. It was on Ketchum Street near Charjean Park and little did any of us know that this would be the happiest time in our lives, so really I would have to say that from 1969 to 1972 was almost the best years of my life.

January 3, 1969- 2 Virgins" album declared pornographic in NJ

January 5 -USSR Venera 5 launched for 1st successful planet landing (Venus)

January 6 -WLIW TV channel 21 in Garden City, NY (PBS) begins broadcasting

January 12 -Super Bowl III: NY Jets beat Baltimore Colts, 16-7 in Miami Super Bowl MVP: Joe Namath, NY Jets, QB

January 14 -Soyuz 4 launched; rendezvous with Soyuz 5 two days later

January 16- Soviet Soyuz 4 & Soyuz 5 perform 1st transfer of crew in space

January 17 -Debut album of Led Zeppelin released in US

January 20- Richard M Nixon inaugurated as president

January 23 -Cream releases their last album "Goodbye"

January 25- US-North Vietnamese peace talks begin in Paris

January 27- 9 Jews publically executed in Damascus Syria

January 30- Beatles perform last live gig, a 42-min concert on roof of Apple HQ, London

Feb 4th - The Palestine National Congress appoints Yasser Arafat chairman of the PLO

Feb 5th - US population reaches 200 million

Feb 9th - Boeing 747 made its 1st commercial flight

Feb 17th - Golda Meir sworn in as the first female prime minister of Israel

Feb 24th - Mariner 6 launched for Mars flyby

Mar 2nd - 1st test flight of the supersonic Concorde

Mar 3rd - Apollo 9 launched for 151 Earth orbits (10 days)

Mar 19th - Chicago 7 indicted in aftermath of Chicago Democratic convention

Mar 20th - US president Nixon proclaims he will end Vietnam war in 1970

Mar 25th - John & Yoko stage their 1st bed-in for peace (Amsterdam)

Apr 12th - Simon & Garfunkel release "the Boxer”

Apr 17th - Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Sen Robert F Kennedy

Apr 17th - The Band (formerly The Hawks), perform their 1st concert

Apr 22nd - 1st human eye transplant performed

Apr 24th - Paul McCartney says there is no truth to rumors he is dead

Apr 28th - Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France

May 2nd - British liner Queen Elizabeth II leaves on maiden voyage to NY

May 8th - Pope Paul VI publishes constitution Sacra Ritum Congregation

May 10th - Apollo 10 transmit 1st color pictures of Earth from space

May 14th - Last Chevrolet Corsair built

May 27th - Walt Disney World construction begins

May 31st - John Lennon & Yoko Ono record "Give Peace a Chance" in Montreal hotel room

May 31st - Stevie Wonder releases "My Cherie Amore"

Jun 3rd - Last episode of Star Trek airs on NBC (Turnabout Intruder)

Jun 8th - "Smothers Brothers comedy Hour" last airs on CBS-TV

Jun 9th - Brian Jones quits (sic) Rolling Stones because of his drug problems

Jun 15th - "Hee Haw" with Roy Clark & Buck Owens premieres on CBS TV

Jun 20th - Georges Pompidou sworn in as President of France

Jun 22nd - Cleveland's Cuyahoga River catches fire

Jun 27th - 50,000 attend Denver Pop Festival

Jun 29th - 1st Jewish worship service at White House

Jul 1st - Shelby Singleton buys Sun Records from Sam Phillip

Jul 4th - 140,000 attend Atlanta Pop Festival featuring Led Zep & Janis Joplin

Jul 5th - Rolling Stones play a free concert in London's Hyde Park

Jul 8th - US troop withdrawal begins in Vietnam

Jul 11th - David Bowie releases "Space Oddity"

Jul 13th - Russia launches unmanned Luna 15 to Moon

Jul 14th - WMUL (now WPBY) TV channel 33 in Huntington, WV (PBS) 1st broadcast

Jul 16th - Apollo 11, carrying 1st men to land on Moon, launched

Jul 19th - Apollo 11 goes into Moon orbit

Jul 20th - 1st men on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr. from Apollo 11

Jul 21st - Neil Armstrong steps on Moon at 2:56:15 AM (GMT)

Jul 21st - Russia's Luna 15 impacts moon after 52 lunar orbits

Jul 24th - Apollo 11 returns to Earth

Jul 25th - 1st performance of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Fillmore East, NY)

Aug 9th - Manson family commits Tate-LaBianca murders

Aug 15th - Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in NY State (Max Yasgur's Dairy Farm) for three days of love, peace and music (and a lot of drugs)

Aug 18th - Woodstock Music & Art Fair closes with Jimi Hendrix / Band of Gypsys as the final act

Aug 22nd - Beatles record a video for "Long & Winding Road”

Sep 18th - Tiny Tim & Miss Vicky get engaged on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson

Sep 20th - Archies' "Sugar Sugar" hits #1

Sep 24th - 1st Elvis convention, 2500 fans attend in Cincinnati

Oct 18th - Rod Stewart joins Small Faces

Oct 22nd - Paul McCartney denies rumors of his death

Oct 27th - Ralph Nader sets up a consumer organization known as Nader's Raiders

Oct 29th - Supreme Court orders end to all school desegregation "at once"

Nov 1st - Beatles' "Abbey Road," album goes #1 in US & stays #1 for 11 weeks

Nov 10th - "Sesame Street" premieres on PBS TV

Nov 12th - US army announces investigating William Calley for alleged massacre of civilians at Vietnamese village of Me Lai

Nov 14th - Apollo 12 (Conrad/Gordon/Bean) launched for 2nd manned Moon landing

Nov 15th -1st Jackson Five record to enter top 100 (I Want You Back)

Nov 15th - 250,000 peacefully demonstrate in Washington DC against Vietnam War

Nov 15th - Wendy's Hamburgers opens

Nov 19th - Apollo 12's Conrad & Bean become 3rd & 4th humans on Moon

Nov 24th - Apollo 12 returns to Earth

Nov 24th - Lt William L Calley charged with massacre of over 100 civilians in Me Lai Vietnam in March 1968, ordered to stand trial by court martial

Nov 26th - Cream's final concert (Royal Albert Hall)

Nov 29th - The Beatles' "Come Together/Something" reaches #1

Dec 6th - 300,000 attend Altamont California, rock concert feature Rolling Stones where one man is murdered in front of the stage

Dec 13th - Arlo Guthrie releases "Alice's Restaurant"

Dec 17th - USAF closes Project Blue Book, concluding no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings

Dec 21st - Diana Ross final TV appearance as a Supreme (Ed Sullivan Show)