02/22/2022

20 years and 20 days ago, Leonard Hubert Smith Jr was memorialized

A couple of reasons to write this post on a Tuesday. Number one is the date, and the significance of it to me.

Leonard H Smith, Jr, (7/18/1912 - 11/23/2001) or as I knew him, Grandpa Smitty, was the single most important male figure in my life. I wish I could talk to him right now, and every single day. He always seemed unflappable.

No, he swore like a sailor that worked in the oil fields. Which he was. He was also a scholar. A Seabees Veteran of WWII. A Bible scholar of sorts. A man of languages. A Geologist. A serious bridge and cribbage player. A musician in two bands at age 85.

In other words, he was a great man. He gave me a love of numbers. He dropped the “k” off my name early on, telling me is was a repetitive consonant. His humor was ribald - Monte Python and Benny Hill were mandatory for children. He knew the names of classical pieces of music by ear.

He explained to my brother and I fighting over the “bigger half” that that was a physical impossibility. We can fight over the “bigger piece”, but not the incorrect proportional description. Then he let us fight.

He was an usher in LA in the 50s and 60s. He saw every act and sporting event for a couple of decades at the Coliseum and Pauly Pavilion. He called Led Zeppelin’s concert “a screaming bunch of shit!” He called John Wooden a friend.

He affected dialogues, accents and impressions. He made everyone laugh. I think he invented corny Dad jokes. He was short, but stout. I saw him cry only once in my lifetime - during the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. He arrived in France three days after D-Day. Landing at Normandy Beach.

It was only the second movie he had seen in a theatre. He joked the first was Birth of a Nation. I think he said that just to upset people. He wasn’t racist, but he was a product of his times. Like a lot of veterans, he served with men of color. He taught me to value a man by the work he did in a day.

RIP Grandpa Smitty.

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#2 Reason

I have an opportunity to write an assignment for a well-respected online music magazine. It is about Jack White. Whom I like, but am not as familiar with as I now want to be.

I am asking for help. I am pitching an interview idea, as he is notoriously difficult about these things. I saw a hilarious clip from the old Colbert show in which White displayed some real humor and authenticity.

Here is what I need:

1. What would you ask Jack White? If you got him on the phone, what would you want to talk about?

2. Let me know you favorite song.

3. Did he ever piss you off or let you down?

4. Did you see him live? How was it?

Any advice, suggestions or direction would be gladly accepted. Please link to any source material or even better, anything on Substack here. The one caveat that scares me is

This is not an opinion piece.

Oh great. All of my writing is an opinion!

Wish me luck, or as the 10-year-old daughter of a friend once said before her first ski jump -

Here goes something.

Ric