National Maritime Day

Yesterday, May 22nd, was designated as National Maritime Day when we honor the men and women who "go down to the sea in ships." As a young intern I had the privilege of meeting many of these mariners - some who had gone thru WWII - braved torpedoes in slow moving convoys - and several who had been captured and interned by the Japanese. The  sailors of the U.S. Merchant Marine were not included in the original G.I. Bill of Rights after WWII. With the U.S. Flag merchant fleet depleted many of these sailors are now "on the beach". Today we salute them all.

As the Googler tells me I am on the cusp of 600 postings, I am pausing for a spell in Cape May. Hope to return to the keyboard in June if I have anything to offer. Thanks for reading me. As Groucho used to say "I really must be going."
tjs

Radio Days II

Eddie Cantor came out of the lower East Side of New York, worked as a singing waiter, went into vaudeville and starred in the Ziegfeld Follies and movies and had his own radio show on Sunday evenings.  He was an all around entertainer - song and dance man - and featured prominent eyes which earned him the nickname "Banjo Eyes." As a child I recall seeing him on the big screen singing, dancing and clapping his hands. One of his big song hits was "If You Knew Susie Like I know Susie." His radio sign off went something like this "I love to spend each Sunday with you - as friend to friend I'm sorry it's through............"

Ben Bernie was born in New Jersey but affected a Southern accent. He called himself "The old Maestro." His orchestra played at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York in the early 1930s and his band was also on radio. His sign off was also a song of the era "Au revoir, pleasant dreams - think of us when requesting your themes *........yowsa, yowsa, yowsa........ cheerio -pip pip and toodle -oo. (The latter as I remember it) (* from YouTube)
tjs
Next -TBA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIPfKi6IHTQ

Skimmer Day

When I was sporting one in my forties I used to take it off the shelf around the fifteenth of May, dust it off and parade up Chestnut Street past Independence Hall for a business lunch.  There were horses and carriages usually parked there and I had to be careful passing them as they found straw appetizing. Having the nerve to wear such a throwback headpiece came with certain risks. One summer day I made a sales call on The Hershey Company. You could smell that company town five miles away. In the lobby all the leather chairs were chocolate brown with portraits of the founders on the brown walls. The receptionist had a jar of Hershey kisses on her credenza and I parked my straw hat next to it as I was ushered upstairs to consummate business. When I returned to the lobby and put on my hat there was a cascade of kiss wrappers descending over my ears. Someone with a sweet tooth had used it as a trash receptacle. Very embarrassing but a true story - I don't do fiction.
tjs
Next - TBA

Radio Days

Growing up pre-TV all we had was radio. It was a very personal medium - you felt the voice was talking just to you.  And the voices were sonorous and authoritative - particularly during WWII. On the lighter side my first exposure to opera was listening to Fred Allen on Sunday night who often did parodies of opera i.e. Carmen and The Barber of Seville with clever lyrics but the real music. The Lone Ranger played The William Tell Overture by Rossini every evening for our music appreciation along with his drama. Another unique experience was that three generations in a family all listened to the same broadcasts - and there were no bleeps. And on a cold clear night, with a twist of the dial, you could pick up a hockey game in Detroit or Chicago - and they always identified by their call letters. More later.
tjs
Next - TBA
PS - Tonight at 9PM EDT  PBS doing a feature on Mel Brooks - should top off your day.

Slow News Day

The crusty old editor used to badger the young cub reporter - calling him several times a day - demanding "Are there any news?" One day the young fellow replied "No, Sir, there is no NEW." So with no "breaking" news one can always turn to CSPAN and catch one of several Congressional hearings  - they will be droning on for the foreseeable future - of course, nothing to compare with Watergate but may produce a few sparks. They speak to a different kind of "drone". Have a nice weekend.
tjs
Next - TBA (Mon.)

Espionage 101

Turn back the clock! GET SMART! And catch the bizarre story in the NYT 5/15/13 about a low level person assigned to our Embassy in Moscow being arrested by the Russians and accused of being a C.I.A. agent bent on recruiting a Russian security officer. They allege they found the following in his knapsack: a wig, a compass, an Atlas map of Moscow and a large amount of cash. It sounds like something out of a Peter Sellers movie. But the Russians summoned our diplomats including our Ambassador who is only on station since January 2012, to embarrass them, which they proceeded to do.  These folks seem to have a penchant for embarrassing us when they can and their greatest GOTCHA! was in 1960 when they shot down our U2 spy plane and captured our pilot alive and Nikita Khrushchev sprung this surprise on President Eisenhower at a summit meeting and Ike was furious. Article worth reading.
tjs
Next - TBA
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/world/europe/russia-detains-american-saying-he-is-cia-agent.html

The Preakness Stakes

This Saturday the Preakness Stakes will be contested at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore at a distance slightly shorter than the 1-1/4 mile of the Kentucky Derby and also with a shorter home stretch. The Preakness is the second jewel in the Triple Crown of racing for three year olds. While in Kentucky they run for the roses, in Maryland it is for the "black eyed susans" a type of sunflower that blooms in  summer so that if they are late,  folklore has it that they might use black shoe polish for the centerpiece in May. Maryland has great racing traditions and several tracks operating besides Pimlico i.e. Havre de Grace and Laurel. But this Saturday we might expect to hear the Naval Academy glee club sing "Maryland, My Maryland" - a capella and there won't be a dry eye in the crowd. Let's all sing along and hopefully pick a winner.
tjs
Next - TBA

The America's Cup

The America's Cup trophy is one of the oldest in sport going back to 1851 when the schooner AMERICA defeated the best that Britain had to offer in ocean races off the south coast of England. For the next 150+ years these races were contested with mono-hull boats with canvas sails and the ingenuity of the best deep water sailors - the most recent being 12 meter class.  Boat designs kept changing and competitors would shroud their keels with canvas covering when out of the water to keep from prying eyes.  But something changed in the last few years.  Wealthy boat owners are pushing the envelope for more speed. They have introduced multi-hull boats i.e. catamarans and replaced canvas sails with tall kevlar wing sails. These multi-million dollar racing machines are capable of speeds to 40 knots. They have introduced a term called "foiling" wherein both hulls are out of the water using hydrofoils attached to "daggerboards". I thought foiling was a fencing term.
With the rush to speed comes increased risk to safety. Last week, during a practice drill on San Francisco Bay, one of these "cats" flipped over and there was a fatality - an experienced sailor lost his life.  There is no doubt that these boats create a spectator attraction as they speed downwind with their colorful spinnakers billowing. Myself, as a weekend sailor, I was perfectly content to cut engines and glide in silence at 5 knots. The races resume in early July on the Bay and there is a certain soul searching underway right now in light of last week's tragedy - this was the second boat flipped in six months. Stay tuned.
tjs
Next - TBA
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/sports/new-technology-and-risks-enter-americas-cup.html?ref=christopherclarey&_r=0

The Gold Rush

The San Francisco Forty-Niners of the National Football League were named for the rugged folks who went west in 1849 seeking their pot of gold. Their roster has numbered such stars as Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and many others since the team was founded in 1946. Now I read they are leaving town and seeking the glitter of a new stadium forty-five miles down the peninsula in Santa Clara. The eyebrow raiser is that the naming rights for the new stadium have been awarded to Levi Strauss, a local privately owned company who swear their durable denims were worn by those early gold prospectors - hence the association with the team's name. It will be curious to see what logo they plaster on the side of the stadium and how the local citizens react. Can't wait to see those new denim uniforms. So all you fantasy football fans be aware of this momentous move effective for 2014 season.
tjs
Next -TBA

The Players

This week the PGA golf tour moves to the Sawgrass Club in Ponte Vedra, Florida near Jacksonville, my home for the last twenty-two years. This is the course with the 17th hole island green which intimidates the best golfers as it requires a 150+ yard drive over water. We used to sit on the adjacent hill with the crowd counting the "plunks" into the water.  My son and I played the course once and I know my ball hit the water - and did not float.  My primary care physician in Jacksonville was the golfers' doctor during Players Week so I knew not to get sick during that week.  He had to treat various maladies and once had to walk eighteen holes with a jittery player. The temperature today is expected to hit 88 Fah. so I guess Doc "Buster" B.  will need plenty of cold towels and liquids for his charges. NBC has the call which means Johnny Miller and his fawning crew. Personally, I prefer the CBS group - who handled the Masters in April.
tjs
Next - TBA (Mon.)

For the Birds

Next Saturday, May 11th marks the 30th Annual World Series of Birding as 1000 bird watchers drive all over southern New Jersey to amass a record number of bird sightings. The team record is 231 sightings and tallies via the honor system are counted at the end of the day in Cape May. Apparently, we are in the high migration season and Cape May is right in the flyway.  These "birders" are very skilled in their art and it also helps if you can recognize a bird call in the dark. I know that the robin red breast is the first sign of spring and I love the music of the mocking bird but when the weather gets warm I prefer the double breasted seersucker.  Oh, and be careful if you are driving around Cape May on Saturday and be prepared to clean the windshield.
tjs
Next -TBA

German Ingenuity

During a slow news day Monday AOL submitted a thirty-six second video of a German worker using the blade of an excavator to open a beer bottle successfully.  I doubt if Caterpillar mentioned such utilitarian function in their literature. In the 1950s I vacationed at a resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. It was a BYOB as the Commonwealth controlled all distribution and sales of alcoholic beverages.  The cabins were rustic and dormitory style which I shared with other guests, some from out of state and unfamiliar with Pennsylvania's restrictive laws. One roommate drove ten miles into the neighboring village and returned with a case of beer in cans - this was before the era of flip top cans i.e. he would need a piercing type can opener which was forgotten in the transaction. In his panic and to slake a midnight thirst he reached into his golf bag and chose a club - believe it was a "one iron" - and proceeded to pulverize the beer can with the golden elixir spraying all over our communal dorm room. Perhaps it was the wrong choice of clubs and he certainly lacked that "German Ingenuity" displayed by AOL.  A fan once asked the pro golfer, Lee Trevino, what would he do if lightning struck while he was on the golf course. He said he would reach for his Number One Iron as not even God could hit a ONE.
tjs
Next - For the Birds 

Derby Day

Next weekend is Mother's Day but last Saturday was "Mudders" day as nineteen thorobreds had to gallop ten furlongs on a sloppy track in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.  While I did not pick the winner "ORB" I was pleased that the owner - the Phipps family - after six generations as a prominent breeding and racing family - finally won the Run for the Roses.  The Phipps family is one of the great racing stables who always contested with the Vanderbilts and the Whitneys and were a fixture at Saratoga in August.  While not the same as the curse of the Bambino, the Phipps did suffer several disappointments over the years viz.: the S&S regrets i.e. they sold SEABISCUIT before he became famous and they lost SECRETARIAT on the toss of a coin before he was foaled. So it was poetic justice that this prominent stable would finally get their day in the winner's circle on the first Saturday in May.
tjs
Next- German Ingenuity

Ethnic Enclaves

When I heard that my son's birthday party was held at a German beer garden in Queens, N.Y. it reminded me of the different international flavors of Philadelphia growing up in pre-WWII. The Italians had settled in South Philly where the Philly Cheese Steak was born. The Irish were in Kensington (also known as Fishtown) and populated the parishes of the southwest corner. There were Polish folks in Port Richmond and German-Americans were sprinkled throughout. The Polish picnics were a daylong affair with the polka music wafting through the park. But it was the German oompah bands that we kids gravitated to on a summer Sunday afternoon. Some devilish kids would stand in front of the tuba player while sucking on pickles and watching the poor guy salivate. All this came to an end when WWII broke out. Some German clubs changed their names and others folded their tents. It was a tense time to be of German ancestry but several of my German neighbors sent their sons into the U.S. Army to fight on our side. This is a great country!
tjs
Next - Derby Day

Austerity Amok

Up to now it has been the German Chancellor who has been pressing for belt tightening throughout the Euro Zone. But - "Zoot alors" - as my friend Donald used to say - now comes France announcing the Elysee Palace will auction off 1200 bottles of its finest wines - and replace them with "more modest vintages". This an attempt by the new Socialist President trying to replace the "bling bling" of his predecessor with a more normal administration.  Curiously, his predecessor did not drink alcohol.
In the heyday of U.S. Lines our European Headquarters was located in the fashionable west end of London - always headed by an American whom they called their "guvernor". Each year - no matter who was holding that office - he would be invited to France for the Burgundy wine festival. When all the fawning and tasting was done he would be presented with the cup and chain of a sommelier and given the title of Chevalier du Tastevin.  But, alas, all good things must come to an end and when bankruptcy enveloped us in 1986 I always thought that such hardware and impressive title might come in handy in the hospitality industry.
tjs
Next - TBA (Mon.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/world/europe/austerity-reaches-frances-presidential-wine-cellar.html?ref=world

Maritime News

Two cargo ships collided off the southwestern coast of Greece early Monday. One carrying fertilizer and flying the flag of Cook Islands sank in seven minutes. The other was in ballast (empty) and flagged under Antigua-Barbuda. Weather had been good with a calm sea. The Greek shipping minister indicated that "human error" was probably to blame amid reports that no one had been on the bridge of the sunk vessel at the time of the collision. A human error in the absence of humans.
It recalled an incident some years ago with two ships on a collision course the captain of ship #1 turned his binoculars on the other's bridge but saw no humans - just a dog barking. It was surmised that the dog was trained to awaken the captain when another vessel approached. You might call him an Old Sea Dog.
tjs
Next - Austerity Amok

Merry Month of May

MAY - one of my favorite months - and this year it also looks busy.  My wife's birthday - Cinco de Mayo - Mother's Day - two family wedding anniversaries - one college graduation and Memorial Day weekend. Everything but a wedding invitation which still could arrive - as long as it isn't one of those "destination" weddings in the Caribbean.  I like the West Indies - but not in May. So I'll fasten my seat belt and enjoy the ride perhaps with a lighter wallet. Happy Spring!
tjs
Next - TBA