"Get Back, Loretta..."

If you know me, you are aware that I have always been a huge fan of this band...

They have been the sound track of my Life... and I have made my kids listen exposed my kids to their music...

Back in February, the 50th anniversary of their initial appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was celebrated...  The fact that their music is still relevant and sounds good today is amazing.

They had gone separate ways by the time I got to where I could possibly have seen them in concert... but my memory is that they had stopped touring in 1966.... their very last concert on tour was August 29, 1966... just a bit over two years after making it big.

The Beatles

Candlestick Park

San Francisco

August 29, 1966

Anyway...  50 years and eight months after they initially came to the United States, I got to see and hear Paul McCartney perform this past weekend (10/11/14) in New Orleans...  The performance was amazing...

... but as the evening progressed... there was something that became noticeable...

Paul talked a great deal about George Harrison...

George

... and he played this...

Something

He spoke so dearly of George... several times... whatever rifts had developed, they must have healed...  prior to the beginning of the concert, there were many different photos shown... quite a few of them were of George.

He also spoke of John Lennon...

John

Paul played a song that he claimed to have written after John's death... and I can't remember the name of it... but he also played this song of John's...

Being For The Benefit Of Mister Kite

I think that he and John were in the process of healing their split as well... but I didn't sense/feel the same kind of warmth that Paul expressed towards George...

What was missing... and didn't happen...

was any mention of this guy...

Ringo

Zilch...

Nada...

Nothing...

I found an interesting quote that Ringo made a few years ago about the relationship between he and Paul... 

He said...

"We are as close as we want to be. We’re the only two remaining Beatles, although he likes to think he’s the only one."

Ringo seems to be fine with it all...

But... 

it seems he could have acknowledged him somehow...

Anyway... 

My favorite song of the night was this one...

For a few hours...

I was young again...

~shoes~

"You Worry Too Much..."

Alfred E. Neuman

"Shoes...

... you worry too much... most of the things you worry about will never ever happen... Those that do, you will handle just fine..."  

~shoes' Mom~

~Shoes' Mom~

Yesterday, October 8, was Mom's birthday... If she were alive today, she would be 102...  As odd as it may sound to you, I talk to Mom daily... She never says anything that I immediately get, but I sense that she offers directions to me... 

This had started out to be a somewhat humourous post...

... but evidently, I hijacked my own writing.

Imagine that.

Oddly enough...

These all sound like things my Mom would have said to me...

I love you, Mom... and miss you...

Each and Every day...

~shoes~

"Once Upon A Time..."

... there was this little boy.

His mother put him in a kindergarten at a place called 

Hell Hill Demonstration School...

His recollection is that his kindergarten 

teacher just didn't like him...

He recalls that she looked something kinda sorta like this...

... only meaner...

... nastier...

...uglier...

He recalls that she was always angry with him... always grabbing him by the shoulder... by the sleeve of his shirt... and pulling him down the hallway and putting him by himself...

He remembers one day that he and his kindergarten class mates were coming in from having played outside for a while... he remembers standing in line to get a drink of water from a water fountain... and when it was his turn to go up the three-step stand, being grabbed and pulled away by the teacher... 

I... uh... he remembers a little girl who was a class mate saying, "... but he wasn't DOING anything!!!"

He has this memory of getting into the car when his Mom picked him up at noon that day...  and with all of the energy and might that a four year old could muster,and telling her...

"I am NOT going back to that school!!!!!!!!"

When I went back to kindergarten, 

my Mom took me to a new place...

There were two teachers there... they were so kind... SO nice...

But there was this one woman that was special...

... and remember, I was just a kid.

Even though I spent a short time... less than a year with this teacher, she made such an impact on my Life...

I can't even begin to count the number of times I have thought of this woman down through the years... 

I remember our Christmas Parade that year... how is THAT for a memory... and this photo that my Mom had...

My  little brother (right) and me...

Just in the past few weeks, 

I have learned that she is still with us....

and here very  soon, I am going to make the 

drive to go down and visit with her...

Tell her what all of her kindness, tenderness, and sweetness 

did for a goofy four year  old... that grew up into a goofy adult...

It's amazing the impact that a teacher can have on someone... even the smallest of us... there are many teachers whose names I don't or can't remember...

Yet, I have never forgotten this lady...

Thank God for teachers, for people like her... 

that make this kind of committment to what they do...

and the impact that they have on their students.

God Bless You!!!

~Little Boy Shoes~

"Carved In Stone..."

Is the name 

I will remember...

I know someone... that every time we would discuss music, I would talk about my favorite band... and every time I had a new favorite band... and I would... and I did...and she would call me out on it... 

ppffttt...

Somewhere in my Top Ten Favorite Band list is a group of guys who originated down in New Orleans... their music seems to be a blend of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues... folk music... cajun/zydeco and gospel... just to name a few..

The subdudes

Members of the band have included Tom Malone, John Magnie, Steve Amadee, Jimmy Messa, Tim Cook, and Johnny Ray Allen.

"Late At Night..."

You may not own a pair of dancin' shoes... but if your feet don't move to this song, something may be wrong with you...

Another one of my favorite subdude songs is this one...

"All The Time In The World..."

I really enjoy their music... they have great energy at their live performances...

It was interesting to me that I selected two live performances to share... but they are that good in concert that they can pull of the studio sound.

John Magnie, Tommy Malone, Steve Amedee, Johnny Ray Allen

original line up...

They originally broke up back in 1996, but would get together and play from time to time... I had read that they recently regrouped to play at a benefit for a deceased friend.. and that was the first time that Johnny Allen had played with them since they first dissolved back in '96.

Word leaked out that they had played... and there was enough interest generated that they decided to reform and are back out on the road touring... 

I was saddened to read today that Johnny Ray Allen 
died last Friday...

that made me think of this song...

'Carved In Stone...'

None of us get out of here alive...

as I told my doctor this afternoon,

"Life in itself is terminal..."

I want to share this song, just to leave this post on a positive note...

Wait for it...

It fades in...

... and, of course, you turned it up...

Loud...

~shoes~

"Insignificant..."

Edited:  I was going through my blog role... and found this that I had written a while back.  When I saw the title and that it was still in draft form, that I must have made a duplicate of the previous post.  Evidently, I've had these 'insignificant' issues for a while.

Star Dust...

Have you ever just stared at the sky...?

To see what you could see??

I don't think one gets the sense of "insignificance" 

until one stares at the sky at night...

I think this,  above,  is probably a true statement...

Stephen Hawking has made the comment... 

that if we are ever visited by aliens from outer space

(not Mexico...)

that they are more likely to be like those depicted in

"Independence Day"

more so than those like E.T.

Anyway...

I digress....

I have been to some wonderful places... where you could lie on your back at night... and stare into the skies...

... and the stars seemed to be right at your finger tips...

Some of my trips to Nantahala, North Carolina were like that...

no light pollution...

The stars would be so bright.

I need to go back out West...

... if I am going to feel insignificant,

it may as well be in a place that I enjoy...

~shoes~

"Missing In Action..."

I'm OK...

You're OK...

Good evening, folks...

I've been missing...

I've been struggling...

I've been feeling rather beat up...

I've felt very insignificant...

I can't tell you enough how much

I've appreciated the emails and messages from you...

asking about me...

checking on me...

I'm OK...

God Bless you all...

~shoes~

"Seventy Years Ago Today..."

Repost...

In Honor and Memory of this historic date, I want to re-post this...

This is the 70th anniversary of this event.

___________________________

Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of 

The Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.  The eyes of the World are upon you.  The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.  In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one.  Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year, 1944!  Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41.  The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats in open battle, man-to-man.  Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground.  Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.  The tide has turned!  The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle.  We will accept nothing less than full victory!

Good luck!  And let us beseech  the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Supreme Allied Commander

____________

Seventy years ago this morning, June 6th, 1944, the Allied Forces landed in Normandy, France... to begin the liberation of France from  Nazi Germany, and to try to facilitate the end of WWII in Europe.

Most models that the Allied planners ran on the invasion indicated mortality rates as high as 90%...  Eisenhower had already written his letter of resignation from his role as Supreme Allied Commander, because there was no assurance  that the invasion would succeed.

May God Bless...

A few weeks ago, when I was out in Arizona Scattering Scooter, I noticed flags flying at half-mast.  Since the American Flag was at half-mast, I figured that something significant had happened.  It turned out that one of the remaining Navajo Code Talkers had just passed away.  I had no idea how few of them remained.

Mr. Chester Nez

I read in the news that the last remaining original Navajo Code Talker died yesterday.  These men were true American heroes... who communicated in their Native language... that the Japanese were unable to decode.

God Speed, Mr. Nez...

~shoes~