1st TAKE/2nd LOOK: #19
Because nobody was protesting that both sides were being heard.
Yours Truly enjoying the Palomino Festival at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena CA last Saturday. Well, if you mean by enjoying working the event, then yeah, I had a killer time!
But I was able to step away from my grilling duties, in service of Maple Block Meat Co. to experience a rock n’ roll superstar. Yeah, I know, at an Americana hoe-down. Sometimes, it happens.
Stay tuned for some exciting news on my writing project for online music mag mxdwn.com. Please check them out and look for a new writer over there.
This dude is for real. He owns the song Fancy now, with Reba’s blessing.
I also had two other things on my mind -
How the hell did the PGA Tour get started? Don’t trip - this isn’t some boring golf story, there’s booze and prostitutes. The classic tale of class - poor guys played for money, rich dudes played for trophies. Pros weren’t even allowed in the front door of the Clubhouse. The timeless response of an athlete is to put their head down, grind out the reps, and then win the ‘Ship. Period. That is the entire reason for formalized athletic endeavors. Walter Hagen brought a Dangerfield vibe to 1920s American golf.
Dragnet. Yeah, Friday and Gannon. The TV landed on that channel when I pushed the back button this morning. First thing. Like 5:50 am. Not my usual news channel. Not as if I have a usual news channel. With those words in the title. Ok, digression. This episode of America’s favorite cop show, besides COPS, was appropriately titled Public Affairs.
A television show asks the question - who needs the police? Friday and Gannon are invited to sit on the panel to defend the police department from others that think the police are not needed.
Season 11 cracked off in 1967 with Episode 1 that stepped on every exposed nerve on fire in the streets. Using incendiary language like “honkies” and Mister Charlie” to smear and mislabel others whipped up the audience and created a divisive environment. Nobody was shown protesting both sides being heard.
Because nobody was protesting that both sides were being heard.
The helpless host equally insults both sides, calling LA’s favorite social (justice warrior) professor an “egghead.” The learned scholar was queried about the plural of the word "Fuzz”. As in cops. Jesse Chaplin (foreshadowing Dr. Fever in WKRP in Cincinnati), calmly explains the singular to be Fizz.
The beauty of this forum is that all sides are heard, and no one in the audience yells anyone else down. However, an important point made by the sergeant was edited out. Another prescient point.
Please watch this one, there’s the teenager comparing booze to pot (favorably), Mexicans and the Blacks calling out the cops, supportive suburban housewives, a Veteran questioning gun rights, minority vs. majority rule, and democracy. And then there’s this gem
"My name is Mondo Mabamba. I'm the president of the Black Widow Party and I'm here to tell you honkies where you can put all that bull about democracy. You're all a bunch of Nazis, only you don't dress as sharp, man. You drive through Watts and all you want to do is catch one of us alone, so you can work us over or blow our heads off.
Check out this snappy ditty about the turn of the century legend.
We think hard thoughts. Life makes us do that. We shouldn’t make Us hard. Let’s think those hard thoughts, debate with vigor and passion, agree on what we can, disagree on principles with good faith, step away in good humor, break bread and pour wine in fellowship, and worship God as we see fit.
The rest will come. When we rush to the end, we leave out the middle. And we barely got started. Let’s stay to the finish.
Ric
