by Jonathan's Jabberings,posted May 18 2012 9:00AM
In 1997 Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich wrote a piece called "Wear Sunscreen." She said she had never been asked to give a speech at a graduation, but if she was ever asked this is what she would say.
It is brilliant. It's so good that people thought Kurt Vonnegut wrote it for a commencement speech at MIT. He told reporters it was not his work and complemented Schmich on writing a good piece.
A couple of years later movie director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge, Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet) put the speech to music.
This advice is great not only for new college graduates, but EVERYONE. I like to read or listen to it at least once a year to help me hit the reset button on life.
As you may know, we have some televisions in our studio here at Triple M. Ever since 9/11 we thought it was a good idea to have a glimpse of the outside world while we were busy playing Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks. I often see stories on telelvision out of the corner of my eye while on the air, but I can't hear them.
So it may not be fair to say this but, why is it necessary to have reunions with cast members of old television shows? This morning the cast of Murphy Brown was being interviewed on Good Morning America. They looked OLD and TIRED. Corkey ( Faith Ford) didn't look as cute and perky. Jim Dial (Charles Kimbrough) looked even older and the lovely and regal Candice Bergen, well, she looked a little "worn."
I'm not mad these characters have aged. That's life. I'm just not so sure I want to see it. If I want to see these people I can get depressed on my own and look them up on the internet.
Last Friday I was in Chicago to see my beloved White Sox play their first home game of the 2012 campaign. This year the team's slogan is "Appreciate the Game". In other words, "we might not be that good but please come to a few games this season".
They actually won the game and looked pretty good. However, the highlight for me was long before the first pitch. I was outside the park and ran into an old friend named Frank. I've known him for 22 years, but he has no idea who I am.
That's because I'm talking about Frank Thomas. He is the future Hall of Fame first baseman and designated hitter for the White Sox. His stats are quite impressive. Thomas is the only player in major league history to have seven consecutive seasons of a .300 average and at least 100 walks, 100 runs, 100 runs batted in, and 20 home runs. There are only four other players who have more homers and a higher batting average than Thomas. They are Hank Aaron, Jimmie Foxx, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays. Alex Rodriquez and Manny Ramirez also have higher batting averages and more home runs, but both have been suspended for illegal performance enhancing drugs.
In other words, Frank Thomas is one of the best ever. He was given the name The Big Hurt by White Sox announcer Ken Harrelson. So how did I run into the Big Hurt? Did I have a special media pass to get into an exclusive club?
Nope.
Thomas was outside the main restaurant connected to the park promoting his new beer! I think it's called BIg Hurt Beer. Thomas is exactly two months older than me. We were both born in 1968. It's hard to believe we're the same age because he's so big and strong and in shape and I'm so...um...approaching middle age.
Scary Panda? by Jonathan's Jabberings,posted Apr 12 2012 9:31AM
As you may know, I love mascots. I've always enjoyed watching them at games. It's one of the main reasons I decided to go to the University of Wisconsin. I told my parents it was for the top notch journalism school, but it was really because Bucky is so awesome.
Some kids don't react as well to mascots. I've never understood why, but it is kinda funny. Check out these kids meeting a "panda".
Make It Count by Jonathan's Jabberings,posted Apr 11 2012 9:18AM
The day to day grind of life can get you down. I've found an inspirational video that should reignite your inner spark or it might make you angry that you can't travel more.
It's only 4:38 seconds. I think it's time well spent. Check it out:
When I was living in Houston, Texas I was invited to a Melissa Etheridge concert. I really didn't want to go. The show was on a Monday night and I had to get up early for work the next morning. After a lot of arm twisting I agreed to go to the show, but only if we could leave early.
The venue was not sold out and the crowd seemed pretty mellow. I thought I might fall asleep within the first 20 minutes.
Then the show started.
Etheridge came out on the stage and her first words were, "I know it's a Monday, but thanks for coming out. I'll make you feel like it's a Friday night."
And then she put on one of the best concerts I had ever seen. This was in the mid to late 90's. I don't think I've seen a better concert since.
Obviously, I stayed throught the two encore finale.
I don't know about you, but when I go to a concert I enjoy hearing songs I know as opposed to new songs. Several years ago I saw James Taylor in Chicago and he barely did any of his songs. He was covering some unfamiliar material and I hated the show. James Taylor is my favorite artist and I hated the show. Here was Etheridge doing a whole night of songs I didn't know and I loved it. I haven't seen a lot of artists who've been able to pull that off.
I know there's so much more to Melissa Etheridge including her battle with breast cancer and her choosing of David Crosby as sperm donor for her then-partner Julie Cypher. This salute to Etheridge is simply about her music and how she helped a tired young man rock on a Monday night so many years ago.
Here's a clip of one of her concerts from Koln, Germany in 1993.
Baseball season officially began last week when the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners played some games in Japan. However, many baseball fans probably feel like the season officially started last night when the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals helped the Miami Marlins open their new stadium.
My favorite team, the Chicago White Sox start the season tomorrow in Texas against the Rangers. I used to countdown the days until the start of a new baseball season. I always enjoyed all the corny stuff about a clean slate and another chance to make good.
I'm just not feeling it much this year. Maybe it's because the White Sox are predicted to have a horrible season or maybe it's because I'm starting to realize that my cheering will not have any impact on how million dollar athletes will perform.
Don't get me wrong, I'll be at the White Sox home opener this season. I go every year and will continue to go as long as I'm in within driving distance of the ballpark, but I'm not "feeling" it as much as years past.
I'm not sure the Sox are feeling it either. Each year the White Sox have a slogan for the season. Past years include "Good Guys Wear Black", "Grinder Ball" and "All In". This season the slogan is "Appreciate the Game."
Are you kidding me?!
Why don't they just say "Appreciate the Good Food" or "Appreciate the Ample Parking" or Appreciate the Time Away From Your Job." Better yet, they could be honest and just say "We Think We're Going To Suck, But Please Come to At Least One Game This Season."
Who knows. Maybe the team will surprise everyone and contend for the division. I will make this prediction: the White Sox slugger Adam Dunn will bounce back this year and have a solid season.
Hopefully there will be some fans around to appreciate it.
Last night The Fray performed the National Anthem at the NCAA men's basketball championship. A lot of people are ripping their version of the song. Some of the trends on Twitter are pretty rough. One story says people jokingly accused the band of ruining the reputation of the United States, retroactively losing us World War II and causing an awful national title game.
I kinda liked it. It may have sounded different, but it wasn't disrespectful. Maybe I was in a forgiving mood because I had already clinched a victory in my NCAA office pool before the game even started.
April Foul! by Jonathan's Jabberings,posted Apr 2 2012 6:06AM
Kitty and I usually play an April Fool's Day prank each year during our show. One year told Madisonians the Beltline was going to have tolls. Another year we told everyone Karoake was going to be illegal in our fair city. Once Governor Walker took office we told everyone the farmer's market on the Captiol Square would be divided in half with Republicans going to the right and Democrats to the left.
This year April Fool's Day fell on a Sunday so we had no prank.
However, we did do a few pranks on Facebook including an annoucement about the Rolling Stones coming to perform in Studio M, Kitty and I were really brother and sister and Former Mayor Dave and I opening up a new food cart featuring fresh oysters and egg salad sandwiches.
The only thing that frustrated me about the prank was those who had to call it a prank in the comments section of Facebook.
Here's my rule for April Fool's Day jokes. If someone is pranking a group and you figure it out, go along with the prank. Calling out the prank is not clever, but adding to the prank is genius.
By the way, here's an amazing prank done by a Canadian airline:
Each Thursday Lindsay and I play trivia with a group of friends at a local bar. Two of our friends are moving away so it was the last night they would be playing with the team. We wanted to send them out with a victory and we were tied for first for the final question! The final question is worth up to 15 points. You can bet zero if the question seems too hard. Here's the catch, if you get it wrong you lose the amount of points you bet.
Here's the question:
Put these events in order of when they happened:
PG-13 becomes an official rating for movies
Pan Am Flight 103 is shot down over Lockerbie, Scotland
Wrestle Mania begins
IBM introduces the personal computer
Yikes!
The only clue was that all these events happened in the 1980s. Are you kidding me?! We all started to panic because we really wanted to win this week to send Jen and Ryan off in style. We finally decided to risk zero points. This could be bad because a team behind us could leap frog us into first with a correct answer.
In the end, no one got the question correct! We won. We admit it was sort of like taking a knee at the end of a football game, but a win is a win!
The rallying of my fans, friends, and family has become an integrated process, now just part of my everyday routine. "Hey everybody! I've already asked you to vote 17 times, would you mind doing it again? Thanks! Appreciate it. Oh wait, don't...
Well, win or lose, this will be the last time we come to Triple M on Monday night to share a song. It was an interesting challenge this week - play our signature song. Sounded kind of easy at first, but we had a bit of diffcult time choosing. Do we...
It's probably not a big surprise to any one who knows me, but I was never a big disco fan. I never even owned a copy of "Saturday Night Fever."
But I did enjoy some early Bee Gees songs including "New York Mining Disaster 1941" and...
Are you ready for the weekend? We can't celebrate the end of the week without first reading this week's winning captions, starting with the honorable mentions:
Katie Zapfel
Tomorrow Charlie will remember to check his pockets for sandwiches.
Love...
With the big Norwegian appreciation festival, Syttende Mai, going on this weekend in Stoughton, you might be wondering, what's all the fuss about?
The thought crossed my mind. Because I'm one quarter Swedish, I don't really know a lot...
In 1997 Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich wrote a piece called "Wear Sunscreen." She said she had never been asked to give a speech at a graduation, but if she was ever asked this is what she would say.
Here's the original column.
It...
Revised job numbers apparently show that Wisconsin gained about 30,000 jobs since Scott Walker took office. And it gets worse for Tom Barrett because Walker can legitimately claim that he is responsible for every one of those jobs. A closer look at the...
Texan artist Rhett Miller has had quite a career. He began performing solo in the late 80's and soon became a part of the Old 97's. In the early 2000's, while still performing with the band, he again branched off to do solo work, and has...
The rallying of my fans, friends, and family has become an integrated process, now just part of my everyday routine. "Hey everybody! I've already asked you to vote 17 times, would you mind doing it again? Thanks! Appreciate it. Oh wait, don't...
Well, win or lose, this will be the last time we come to Triple M on Monday night to share a song. It was an interesting challenge this week - play our signature song. Sounded kind of easy at first, but we had a bit of diffcult time choosing. Do we...
It's probably not a big surprise to any one who knows me, but I was never a big disco fan. I never even owned a copy of "Saturday Night Fever."
But I did enjoy some early Bee Gees songs including "New York Mining Disaster 1941" and...
Are you ready for the weekend? We can't celebrate the end of the week without first reading this week's winning captions, starting with the honorable mentions:
Katie Zapfel
Tomorrow Charlie will remember to check his pockets for sandwiches.
Love...
With the big Norwegian appreciation festival, Syttende Mai, going on this weekend in Stoughton, you might be wondering, what's all the fuss about?
The thought crossed my mind. Because I'm one quarter Swedish, I don't really know a lot...
In 1997 Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich wrote a piece called "Wear Sunscreen." She said she had never been asked to give a speech at a graduation, but if she was ever asked this is what she would say.
Here's the original column.
It...
Revised job numbers apparently show that Wisconsin gained about 30,000 jobs since Scott Walker took office. And it gets worse for Tom Barrett because Walker can legitimately claim that he is responsible for every one of those jobs. A closer look at the...
Texan artist Rhett Miller has had quite a career. He began performing solo in the late 80's and soon became a part of the Old 97's. In the early 2000's, while still performing with the band, he again branched off to do solo work, and has...
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