Operation Gratitude Catches Marine Gunner Off Guard

The words "dodge" and "caliber" wouldn't necessarily be out of context in a deployed Marine's daily patter. One can only imagine the shock (and awe) when Lance Cpl. Jordan Richards, a turret gunner with Regimental Combat Team 5's Team Gator was rummaging through a care package from Operation Gratitude.

The Priority Mail box looked like all the others, red flat rate seal, had a lot of the same goodies donated and packed by right thinking home-front heroes. Angel hat with a letter from Mike Scioscia...Better if a Cards hat but at least it's red, Gum... nice, CD's ...sweet, DVD of a Rolling Stones concert...trade bait, certificate for a new Dodge Caliber-thump-thump. thump-thump. "Hey 1st Sgt., you get one of these 200,000th package certificates too?"

1st Sgt. grabs the certificate and reads it, "Holy buckets! Fricken dipstick- you won a damn Dodge Caliber! CAPTAIN ...look what the rookie did. CAPTAIN..."

Update from Operation Gratitude

The Late James Brown

News of James Brown's passing prompted me to write a letter of condolence to my friend in Holland.

James Brown the record maker came into my life in the late 1980's when I answered a call from Rene Oudenhoven in Goldmine magazine to procure records from the U.S. shores to mail to him in The Netherlands. It turned out lucrative for both of us. Rene and I eventually were able to meet in person and he went on the become among other things President of the Dutch James Brown fan club. He also owns and operates a business, JamesBrownTrading.com trading JB audio and video.

Soundgenerator biography:

Mr. Brown is a three-figure hitmaker with 114 total entries on Billboard's R&B singles charts and 94 that made the Hot 100 singles chart. Seventeen of these hits reached number one, a feat topped only by Stevie Wonder and Louis Jordan. Mr. Brown is still putting that "Good Foot" forward with new recordings and protoges such as Derrick Monk, Laurice Monica and Roosevelt Johnson.

Mr. Brown's life history contains many triumphs over adversity. He was born in South Carolina during the Great Depression. As a child, he picked cotton, danced for spare change and shined shoes. At 16, he landed in reform school for three years where he met Bobby Byrd, leader of a gospel group and life-long friend. Mr. Brown tried semi-pro boxing and baseball, but a leg injury put him on the path to pursue music as a career.

James Brown joined his friend Bobby Byrd in a group that sang gospel in and around Toccoa, Georgia. After seeing Hank Ballard and Fats Domino in a blues revue, Byrd and Brown were lured into the realm of secular music. Naming their band the Flames, they formed a tightly knit ensemble of singers, dancers and multi-instrumentalists. Over the years, while maintaining a grueling touring schedule, James Brown amassed 800 songs in his repertoire. Mr. Brown became an icon of the music industry. With his signature one-three beat, James Brown directly influenced the evolutionary beat of soul music in the Sixties, funk music in the Seventies and rap music in the Eighties. Mr. Brown instilled the essence of R&B with recordings under the King and Federal labels throughout the Sixties. With albums such as "Live at the Apollo", Mr. Brown captured the energy and hysteria generated by his live performances. People who had never seen him in person could hear and feel the excitement of him screaming and hollering until his back was soaking wet. Convinced that such an album would not sell, King Records refused to produce the album. Mr. Brown put up his own money and recorded the performance at the Apollo Theater in 1962. Released nearly a year later, "Live At The Apollo" went to Number Two on Billboard's album chart, an unprecedented feat for a live R&B album. Radio stations played it with a frequency formerly reserved for singles, and attendance at Mr. Brown's concerts mushroomed.

As the leader of the James Brown Revue (The J.B.'s), James Brown sweated off up to seven pounds a night through captivating performances. His furious regimen of spins, drops, and shtick such as feigning a heart attack thrilled crowds. The ritual donning of capes and skintight rhythm & blues became part of his personal trademark as a performer. Mr. Brown's transformation of gospel fervor into the taut, explosive intensity of rhythm & blues, combined with precision choreography and dynamic showmanship, defined the direction of black music from the release of his first R&B hit ("Please Please Please") in 1956. In 1965, Brown scored his first Top 10 pop single with "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag," and the hits kept coming one after another for the next decade.

The gospel and blues structure of his early records gave way to rhythmic vocals and a complex funk sound. His innovations during this period had a profound influence on popular music styles around the world, including funk, rock, Afro-pop, disco and eventually rap. James Brown's status as "The Godfather of Soul" remains undiminished. He continues to influence new generations of fans who often hear his funk grooves as samples on rap recordings. A charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Mr. Brown added to his collection of accolades when he received a lifetime achievement Grammy Award in 1992.

Calling Wolverine X-Men Fans

Can Anyone identify the artist's autograph shown in the RockYou slideshow? This appears on the back of a Levis jacket, looks like acrylic. Pretty clear that it says Thomas. What Thomas? Could it be a then 17 year old LeSean Thomas? Is this an amateur's work?

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Let's See What Happens When They All Get Cell Phones

Check out this Google Video clip. The driving habits of the Indian people appears to be of biological origin. As you can see, they resemble sperm cells in motion. As is the case in the example provided, 99% of the time- nothing happens.

Travel Ball vs. Rec Ball Dilemma

Our B Rec girls fastpitch softball league here in Southern California is as good as any, and better than most comparable leagues where player talent is concerned. Is it the top of the heap? Not by any means. "A" Rec is travel ball , as the designation suggests, it is a step above our level .

This year at our league there is more matriculation/dissention to travel than normal and where my outlook is concerned, it's a good thing. From what I hear it is a sort of cyclical occurrence that happens every four years or so; call it a correction. In the movie Batman, Jack Nicholson's character, The Joker, at one point cried out, This town needs an enema!

If a parent believes a community based organization no longer fills their needs and a higher level of competition is required- that's what it is there for. Move on. The problem is "B" Rec parents get tricked into thinking all-stars are a level above. Nothing could be further from the truth. Your B Rec kid has new stripes on in the form of a $55.00 uniform with a matching $45. 00 jacket and a gear bag. A monkey in a silk suit... you gessed-still a monkey.

"B" level Rec ball is typically akin to Little League for boys yet almost always without the geographical restrictions. There  is a level below, typically park leagues fall into this category and as stated there are elite leagues ahead of it. Ok, so generally speaking, there are three strata levels for your pre-high school aged daughters (and sons). The system is far from perfect. Travel ball doesn't always mean higher talent levels. It could be Daddy or Mommy didn't get his way in the rec league and decided to take his mediocre kid and start their own mediocre team. It's called Daddy Ball and that's why they have mercy rules.

I have an imaginary resignation letter template that suits many of these mindsets which reads, "In light of the fact that we can no longer manipulate the rules to our advantage, we are forced to leave the league." Every league, every year this story repeats.

Some ask if their kid is ready to make the step up and my take is, if your kid is that good and you haven't been asked to be on or tryout for a team, maybe your perspective is skewed. A mega-talented player will be asked to play on travel teams and the better they are the more coaches will be calling. Personally, I think there is something wrong when a 10 year old is asked to attempt to achieve perfection. How long ago was she in diapers? If you were second clarinet in the high school band and your husband was similarly a non athlete, how is it your loins produced this alleged jr. olympian? Lessons?

I am for the concept of having a system where the truely elite are challenged. When it gets muddied with disgruntled lower level players is where it becomes an issue to me. My 20 year old  dabbled in travel as an occasional fill in player and we didn't like the "travel" aspect. A co-worker once commented about the afternoon shift we were working, "Second shift would be great if we worked on first shift". My 13 year old, I really didn't have to ask, when she was asked to play all-stars her candid response was that she'd like to have the bag and the jacket (usually provided by sponsors) but -"No thanks". (She repeated this sentiment years later when as a JV high school player she was asked to move up to varsity for the playoffs. She shocked the coach by saying, "If you're asking-the answer is no thanks")

I read a story about a travel team that routinely put girls into Division 1 schools and when interviewed, one young lady put it all into perspective. She said that yes, she gets to go to college and play softball, but if college were the goal, her parents could have put all the money spent on lessons, uniforms, hotel bills, gas and all the assoiciated costs for being on a team into a cookie jar-she would be going to the same or maybe a better school.

Additional bloggery on this topic by me: Another Perspective or Rec Coach Park League Team

by Dave at : Girls Softball

Germans Run a Kiteship

Destinee Update

No words.

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Here's to the Regulars

This blog just went over the one year mark and much has happened in that span. Among others, these things have happened:

• Dad passed away
• Got Laid off
• Became a grandfather
• Oldest daughter left the house
• Brother retired from USMC

It goes on. One of the odd things about the first item is that I never got the visit that the other brothers and sisters claim to have had. The one where a loved one appears in a dream and there's a warm cushy about the whole thing. Either it hasn't happened or my receptors are rusty.

One of the odd maybes is a near lifetime joke with my dad regarding a stock I "bought" as part of an eighth grade Government class project. I am not sure why or what basis was used to gather information but my stock was Schlumberger . Dad followed the stock and during that period it did well. I didn't win the class contest but we were in the black at the end. He continued to follow it over the years and it would either come up in a joke or small talk. Fact it, had we purchased it back in the early 70's we'd be doing it in high cotton as my Texas friend used to say.

Now back to the point. At the bottom of this blog is a counter that can tracks a few things besides just hits. One is pages views, the other location. From this information, I see over the past few months that I have three regular non AOL readers. Glad to have all of you but I think it is uncanny that one of the three logs on from the aforementioned oil company.

Creepy or not, that's my story.

Latest Water on Mars Images

Water on mars can be seen for the first time. Click on the image for a close-up.

Got Milky Soul ?

This is a video project my brother has up and running at this time Milky Soul.

Six Degrees of Homicide Separation

Recently I posted a random item from the local paper titled San Fernando Valley Homicide Map. See for yourself what the totals are and take note of my apologist statement indicating we are 1.7 million in numbers. Initially I balked at posting the map because I imagined some strung out blog reader trying to verify whether or not it was real time and capping some random guy walking his weimaraner , then quickly checking the map to verify the result.

Well, the most recent add on the list, the late David Cejas, was a friend of my son's friend. In fact, when you read the news story on this, LA Man Killed Leaving Party, you'll note unnamed reference to the other person shot- that's his friend Edwin. Sweet, innocent respectful kid from a hardworking family.

He's in intensive care at the moment, among other things he is breathing with the asstance of a machine. We get an occasional update from his girlfriend. Last we heard homicide detectives were with him and we could not yet visit him. Edwin was in our oldest daughter's Quincenera a few years back and attended elementary school with our son.

The story as we heard from the young lady mentioned, they were leaving a party when a carload of people passed. Someone from the street, in their general vicinity, threw a bottle in the direction of the passers by. They circled back around and randomly riddled the area with the bullets that killed David and struck Edwin in the back as he laid his body over his girlfriend protecting her from the bullet that struck him.

These sad operas play out weekly here in the valley, as they do in Everywhere, USA. Our prayers are with the family, with the guy that threw the bottle and especially with Edwin. Join us.

UPDATE: Did you pray? It worked; the bullet was removed and Edwin made a faster than expected recovery. Dr's were surprised at his progress as they released him earlier than expected.