Vichy Water – Author's Blog Just another WordPress weblog

February 3, 2012

Fatherhood: A Journey to ‘The Apprentice.’ A Super Bowl Hype and Rutgers Brief Comment. Welcome to Hoopla Ha February 3, 2012

Filed under: November 2009 — Tags: , , , , — earthood @ 7:22 pm

 

Rutgers

 

RutgersI like to jump in right away to things near, dear and relevant like today’s mentioning Rutgers University but before delving, here’s a bit of a blog subject explanation.

Recently I became a contributing writer for Only Good News/ Hoopla Ha, an amazing website now in beta test, and launching next week. Here’s their mantra:  “Think…Relate…Smile…That’s what we’re all about. Visit us daily for an instant dose of happy, feel good inspiration. Make every day… a Hoopla Ha Day!” Here’s the link to the beta test: http://beta.hooplaha.com/.  And thanks to Hoopla Ha for allowing me to post my article on my blog; they paid for it.

 

 

 

 

 

Rutgers

Marx Brothers. soup or something like that.

Rutgers

From Meatballs. It just doesn't matter. A nice mantra.

As my world continues to evolve into more journalistic pursuits with NJ Discover TV and with Hoopla Ha, I still need to inject my blog at vichywater.net with effusive and topical material; this article is perfect. Blog wise, I was torn between this article and drifting into the world of football, college and super and taking it into my streams of consciousness, depositing it in a fictional country similar to what the Marx Brothers elaborated. So maybe next week; I’ve even got a name already for the University where academics battle athletics in the fields of dreams with cannons and bow and arrows and recriminations. I have reliably computed that in the past two weeks, 67% of all local programming in New York and New Jersey has concentrated on the Super Bowl not a possible war in April in the Mid-East. I suppose leave the stock market alone at a three year high.  I want to scream if I hear about one more Super Bowl recipe for slider hamburgers with toppings from an obscure town near the Arctic Circle. “It just doesn’t matter,” I want to yell as Bill Murray did in Meatballs. I don’t eat red meat; you should all know that by now. America has an obesity epidemic. This 67%  is mostly about food intake.  So I’ll close now with a loud resounding cheer, “Go New Jersey Giants, Beat New England and Go Rutgers, with a top 25 recruiting class coming in September.”  Now my article:

 

 

 

 

 

Rutgers

Father and son at Rutgers football stadium pre game warm up

 

Rutgers

Muhammad Ali knocks out Sonny Liston in 1964. I was 3 minutes late and missed it.

Fatherhood: A Journey to ‘The Apprentice’

Since fatherhood caught up to me when I turned 40, a few abstract thoughts came to mind like being forever young, living to 150 years; basically notions of finding ways to keep up with my son as he gets older (maybe I won’t). When he was ten years old (16 years ago), I took him to his first college football game at Rutgers to do some father-son bonding. The following year we got season tickets for all the major sports at Rutgers and we’re still going strong. Of course there is more to the institution of fatherhood for me. I’ve been working hard at it for reasons like the essence of this article.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rutgers

college beer pong. i have long arms. helps my play.

 

Rutgers

a keg stand. that's me in mid air. another college thing to do.

Six years ago my son was a college sophomore; living in the dorm and had just become a member of a fraternity (the same one I joined a few weeks after Muhammad Ali defeated Sonny Liston to win boxing’s Heavyweight Championship in 1964).  One Wednesday, my son called and asked what I was doing Saturday night and if I wasn’t busy, I should come down to the fraternity  house and hang with him and the guys. There was no hesitation. “What time? Should I come straight to the frat house?” I instantaneously knew what my son’s invitation meant to me and our relationship since the day he was born. I also thought about meeting real life movie ‘Animal House’ characters and I did. Third floor beer pong was going on when I arrived. My son and I teamed-up but I managed not to drink beer; visions of my making the cover of Time or Newsweek danced in my head as being a father who endorsed under-age college drinking; there’s something positive about partial conservatism and vibrant visuals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rutgers

Randall Pinkett who won The Apprentice (an undergrad at Rutgers) and Mr. Trump(do I have to call him that if I didn't get picked?)

Cut to a few months later. Rutgers University, Donald Trump (‘The Apprentice’) Randall Pinkett, who actually won ‘The Apprentice’ and was an undergraduate at Rutgers, endorsed a program reaching out to the Rutgers community to get them involved in the audition process for an upcoming season of ‘The Apprentice.’ Normally laborious long lines of waiting to audition were waived for a select group of Rutgers people. Without hesitation, even at 60 years old and far removed from only 20 and 30 somethings, I became one of the 125 people who auditioned on Rutgers College Avenue campus student center. Prior to sitting with Randall Pinkett and telling him why I’d make a great contestant (I could probably beat every one of the contestants in singles tennis or around the world basketball), I filled out forms and wrote five essays. One essay asked “What is Your Most Impressive Work or School Achievement.” Without hesitation, I wrote about my son calling and asking me to come down to the frat house and hang out. This was my most impressive achievement. In a public discourse like I’m doing right now, I’d venture to say no one from the world of ‘The Apprentice’ had any idea what I was talking about.

 

 

 

 

RutgersBut I know that I’ve prioritized life, put my son and our relationship where it should be, ahead of any class of business pursuit; so when he grows up to be a young beer pong playing fraternity guy, he’d be comfortable and secure enough with me and our relationship to want me to hang out with him and his frat brothers; indeed my most impressive accomplishment and achievement. I figured that no one at ‘The Apprentice’ would understand or appreciate the depth of my essay answer and it would probably wind-up on the cutting room floor.

As they say on Broadway, I’m still waiting for the call back. Funny thing; I had a connection that could’ve placed my application and essays on Donald’s desk. However, this particular edition of ‘The Apprentice’ was shot in Los Angles for the summer (taking me away from my beloved New Jersey) and if you lost that week’s segment, the on screen television punishment was sleeping in a tent. I did that once my freshman year and woke up with a frog in my sleeping bag. I resolved no more tents in my life so I declined to have my application appear on Donald Trump’s desk. I hope that didn’t show my age.

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One Important note. Here’s a wonderful music video to listen/watch on You Tube featuring Linda Chorney, right from here in New Jersey, Grammy nominated for Best Americana Album.

Linda Chorney music video

Also a great article about Linda Chorney from her blog:

http://lindachorney.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/thanks-n-j-discover-a-blog-of-blogs-and-some-babbling/

Rutgers

Linda Chorney

Also a very worthwhile cause to read up on:

Butterfly Circle of Friends.    http://www.butterflycircleoffriends.org/

 

MY CONTACT INFORMATION

website:  http://vichywater.net

Facebook:  Cal Schwartz

Twitter:  Earthood

Email: earthood@gmail.com

book trailer. hey its 65 seconds long

 

Vichy Water book trailer 65 seconds long Rutgers

 

 

IMPORTANT LINKS

If on Facebook check out this NJ Discover site:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000125711074

 

OR   www.njdiscover.com  Rutgers

 

ARE you in search of another blog that is also outspoken, unique BUT refreshingly, topically unbridled which means uninhibited ????  Meet   LINDA CHORNEY:

http://lindachorney.wordpress.com/

 

 

Immortality Institute (which represents advocacy and research for unlimited lifespan)

http://www.imminst.org/

 

LINKS TO VIDEOS.  Please Watch.

 

1.   ZOMBIE WALK   October 22, 2011

zombie walk

 

2.  VETERANS DAY NJ VIETNAM MEMORIAL

Nov 11, 2011

Veterans Day at NJ Vietnam War Memorial

 

3.  RANDALL HAYWOOD & VICTOR JONES JAZZ CONCERT

Nov 19, 2011

Randall Haywood and Victor Jones Interview from Chico’s House of Jazz Asbury Park

Randall Haywood and Victor Jones Interview from Chico’s House of Jazz Asbury Park

 

Linda Chorney’s Album

 

Rutgers

 

 

 

December 19, 2011

Linda Chorney: A Latter Day Hero and Grammy Nominee. Good Solid Journalism. A Week Before Christmas. Dec 19, 2011

Filed under: November 2009 — Tags: , , , , — earthood @ 2:45 pm

 

Linda Chorney

Linda Chorney. Two weeks ago my blog (December 1st) was a copy of my October interview with an amazingly voiced singer, Linda Chorney, who was just beginning the process of submitting her album ‘Emotional Jukebox’ for Grammy nomination consideration. And yes, once again I have not blogged for two weeks allowing extra exposure for my Linda Chorney interview which I consider my finest hour and journalistic achievement since this whole ‘Woodward and Bernstein’(remember them?) shtick began on  July 30, 2011; my first day as a journalist when I covered Old Freehold Day and heard this vibrant feisty singer (of course Linda) do a set before a crowd of people more intent of getting free rides on a hay tractor, back and forth to a suburban New Jersey parking lot. As Humphrey Bogart (Rick) said to Claude Rains (Louis) in ‘Casablanca’ it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

 

I’ve observed the process as Indie (no major record label) Linda Chorney has suited up with determination, drive, depth and spirit and presented herself to the establishment called Grammy Awards. I’m a visual literary guy: I see Joan of Arc, Althea Gibson (one of my life’s heroes. Go Google if you don’t know her), Annie Oakley, Susan B. Anthony, Marian Anderson, Molly Pitcher (Revolutionary War heroine. There’s a hotel near Linda in Red Bank named after her). You see, I like rugged individualists like Linda Chorney. She went out and used the extant tools to bring her musical message to the Grammy voters.

Linda Chorney

 

 

Linda ChorneyShe’s an Indie. I look at her fellow nominees for Best Americana Album, most of them loaded with Grammy awards already. Linda has now been called the darling of the Grammy awards by many reporters and observers because of the fire of determination to bring awareness to her music far from the maddening crowd of big record labels and money. There’s always a Benedict Arnold, a Dathan (played by Edward G. Robinson in ‘Ten Commandments’) or just another political party on the other side of midnight or an aisle. So I smile sardonically and read the words of some ‘Bob’ or ‘Baker’ guy who are upset because they don’t know her music and don’t think she belongs where she is. Then I look at the United Nations and its inability to reach agreement in ‘Kyoto Protocol’ and I know since the time the Cro Magnons’ played a rendition of soccer right here in Jersey across the street from me, that there will always be towers of babble, ignorance and jealousy as some ‘Bob’ or ‘Baker’ non-entities recently demonstrated and restored my faith in the old adage, “some folks never get it.” As I see it, as objectively as I can be, Linda’s music is wonderful, moving and passionate and deserves to be right in front of all of us with Grammy recognition. I do believe George Washington would’ve loved it too, especially her song from ‘Emotional Jukebox’ called ‘Cherries.’ George did chop down the cherry tree and was honest about it. That’s what I like about Linda Chorney.

 

Linda Chorney

 

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

 

website:  http://vichywater.net/

 

Facebook:  Cal Schwartz

 

Twitter:  Earthood

 

book trailer. hey its 65 seconds long

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2ko9gcC_M

 

 

IMPORTANT LINKS:

If on Facebook check out this NJ Discover site:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000125711074

OR   www.njdiscover.com

Linda Chorney

 

 

 ARE you in search of another blog that is also outspoken, unique BUT refreshingly, topically unbridled which means uninhibited ????  Meet   LINDA CHORNEY:

http://lindachorney.wordpress.com/

Immortality Institute (which represents advocacy and research for unlimited lifespan)

http://www.imminst.org/

 

LINKS TO VIDEOS

1.   ZOMBIE WALK   October 22, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfFA-y115nc&feature=autoshare

2.  VETERANS DAY NJ VIETNAM MEMORIAL

Nov 11, 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYwkaa_xreg&feature=related

3.  RANDALL HAYWOOD & JAZZ CONCERT

Nov 19, 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNohzH8AHvM&feature=player_embedded

 

 

December 1, 2011

LINDA CHORNEY: My Exclusive Afternoon Interview with an Amazing Grammy Nominated Singer from Monmouth County NJ USA Dec 11, 2011 (Interview from October 2011)

Filed under: November 2009 — Tags: , , , , — earthood @ 2:02 pm

Linda Chorney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before I share this interview which was done at the very end of October when we knew that Linda Chorney was under “consideration” for Grammy nominations, I’d like to say few words. I met Linda and Scott on my first day as a journalist back in early August when she was singing at Old Freehold Day. I was mesmerized(and I use this word rarely) Her voice and passion gripped. I knew there was something totally uniquely special. A few days later we shared  two cups of green tea overlooking a pristine Jersey water view. Such unbridled energy, enthusiasm and zest for life was Linda who spiritually, synchronistically launched my journalism career.  We shared blogging experiences and shook hands to link to each other’s blog. Normally excessively verbose, I’m at a loss for words to express my total thrill, excitement and nirvana for Linda at a such a wonderful time.  I was asked to get a quote and this is what Linda said and it’s worth repeating:

“I am so honored, and touched by this nomination.  And I am still in shock.  To be in the same category that has included 2 of my heros, Bob Dylan, and Robert Plant.  But what was as touching is waking up this morning to find this letter…”

Linda,

Just wanted to tell you that you are my hero! ! Congratulations!

I am an artist, over 50 and born on March 31!

I met you a while back in Fromagerie , I think, and followed your journey through your newsletter.

Just wanted to tell you that it is empowering to know that it can be done and it truly never is too late to be what you might have been!

Rock on!

I am so excited for you and for the rest of us here along theJerseyshore plugging away at their dream!

So what are you wearing to the awards? haha

 

 

 

LINDA CHORNEY: My Exclusive Afternoon Interview with an Amazing Grammy Nominated Singer from Monmouth County NJ


 By Calvin Barry Schwartz

 

On the cover of her latest double album, “Emotional Jukebox,” which has just been Grammy nominated for Americana Album of Year, Linda Chorney is pictured holding several one-word signs, describing herself as “cocky, feisty, silly, fearless, elated” and “anxious” to name a few. She is all of the above, as discovered on a recent rainy late October 2011 afternoon with bagels and cups of green tea adorning her kitchen table.

Linda Chorney

Emotional Jukebox album cover

 

Thoughts and emotions swirl around Linda Chorney; songs alone can’t suffice, so she has a blog. Chorney enthusiastically describes her blog video featuring astrophysicist Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson, head of the Hayden Planetarium and the “killer” of planet Pluto. “We met at a party and I decided to interview him on a more human level with a different angle,” she recalls.  Her blogs, like her music, speak a rugged, unbridled Massachusetts-bred individuality. Fascination with science stems from her MIT- PhD father. “If I wasn’t so into music growing up, I might’ve become a scientist,” she muses, adding that her parents supported her music.

 

Making “Emotional Jukebox” was unlike any past album she made (she made six). “Recording in a studio is like being in taxi looking at the meter. But for this album, I had the biggest budget I ever had.”  Thanks to a chance meeting. Back in 2003 when she was doing a show in Aspen, an eccentric man approached her, asking if he could send something through the mail. “I gave him a PO Box because I didn’t know what was up.” A few weeks later a wireless guitar and vocal mic arrived.  Turned out that the man was Dr. Jonathan Schneider, aka “The Rock Doc,” who became a life-long friend, supporter, backer and Chorney’s “long lost goofy brother.” In 2010, Dr. Schneider, who minors in music, told the Jersey Shore song writer:  “I want you to make the album you’ve never been able to make before.” She asserts, “He was instrumental in overseeing this passion project and is one of the most generous kindest people I’ve ever met.”

Chorney’s impressive cast on Emotional Jukebox includes Will Lee (Letterman’s CBS orchestra), Shawn Pelton (Saturday Night Live), Leon Pendarvis (Saturday Night Live music director), Jeff Pevar, and Lisa Fischer (back up vocalist with Rolling Stones since 1987) to name a few.

Linda Chorney “I’ve done six albums and this was the first time I actually did some cover songs from my heroes —  Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Crosby Stills Nash and the Stones.” Her face explodes in animation. “And I had Lisa from the Stones sing on ‘Mothers Little Helper!’  Mick Jagger sang that when he was 25. To have it come from the woman who actually is feeling that drag of getting old (me) brings a whole new perspective.”

 

Chorney also wanted to showcase favorite Jersey musicians on the album; not only is Lisa Fischer local but also Andy Burton, Hernan Romero, Ralph Notaro, Arlan Feiles, Gladys Bryant, Tony Pallagrosi, Mary McCrink, and Richie Blackwell (of the original E Street Band). Local photographer Danny Sanchez shot the cover.

Linda Chorney is in complete control of every aspect of her music. She did everything for the album — spending a whopping 2000 hours editing with 100 tracks of different instruments; 10 to 20 takes for most tracks of every song, sometimes more. She also fulfilled a long-held dream by writing her first symphony “Mother Nature Symphony” with acclaim from classical Grammy members.  “You’re about to ask me what I listen to,” she jumps immediately, “Classic Rock and Classical.” She exaggerates the last syllable.

 

On “Emotional Jukebox,” her song “Cherries” is a favorite of many. “When you listen, you take a personal journey through your own life,” she offers.  “When I see people cry from that song I think it’s cool! It’s better than a record deal when people say my music has changed their lives.”  It is “Cherries” that is competing for song of the year. After pensive moments and an empty tea cup, she says, “If you’re not with a major label, you can only get so many Grammy votes and I know it’s a long shot.” She sits up in her chair and talks about how “Indies” support each other: “We have our own ‘Indie’ mob to compete with Nashville, LAand NY.” Linda Chorney wants just one Grammy on her mantle.

 

Linda Chorney

Linda Chorney

Linda Chorney's mosaic art work

During the interview it is hard not to notice yet another unique artistic element surrounding the kitchen. Linda designs and makes her own mosaics for backsplashes and anywhere in the home “by appointment.”  Discover the emotional multi-talented jukebox that is Linda Chorney by picking up a copy of her album, getting a mosaic or reading her electrifying blog. Three remaining bagels went home with this interviewer.

 

Read Linda Chorney blog at:  lindachorney.wordpress.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

 

website:  http://vichywater.net/

 

Facebook:  Cal Schwartz

 

Twitter:  Earthood

 

book trailer. hey its 65 seconds long

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2ko9gcC_M

 

 

IMPORTANT LINKS:

If on Facebook check out this NJ Discover site:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000125711074

OR   www.njdiscover.com

Linda Chorney

 

 

 ARE you in search of another blog that is also outspoken, unique BUT refreshingly, topically unbridled which means uninhibited ????  Meet   LINDA CHORNEY:

http://lindachorney.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

Immortality Institute (which represents advocacy and research for unlimited lifespan)

http://www.imminst.org/

 

 

 

LINKS TO VIDEOS

1.   ZOMBIE WALK   October 22, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfFA-y115nc&feature=autoshare

2.  VETERANS DAY NJ VIETNAM MEMORIAL

Nov 11, 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYwkaa_xreg&feature=related

3.  RANDALL HAYWOOD & JAZZ CONCERT

Nov 19, 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNohzH8AHvM&feature=player_embedded

 

 

November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving. John Dean(The Watergate Guy). An Amazing Asbury Park Jazz Concert. No More Wire Hangars and No More BPA (lining of canned foods) A Bruce Springsteen Book Review. “The Light In Darkness.” Occupy Class Distinction? November 24, 2011

Filed under: November 2009 — Tags: , , , , — earthood @ 12:11 am

Springsteen

Before I get a chance to talk about this new Bruce Springsteen book, it’s time for some old fashioned drifting back to the future.  Tuesday night before Thanksgiving: 11:23 pm; 42 years ago at this exact moment in time I was having a disagreement with my first wife to be. We were getting married Wednesday, that next night before Thanksgiving (it’s a cheap catering night). I didn’t take her to lunch earlier but hung with a few friends in a lame attempt at a bachelor party. So we disagreed about the principle behind such presumed negligence and then, after a brief stint in the small bathroom off my mother’s kitchen, she ran out of the house crying, slamming every door in her way. I stood frozen and stolid like I am now writing this blog. I would’ve been married 42 years if. That’s a significant number; eight years away from celebrating a 50th anniversary, picking out a place for final resting together and an assisted living home with video games in the day room and an old copy of ‘Peyton Place’ in the library.

 

 

Springsteen

laurel and hardy. how they made me laugh all through youth and on thanksgiving mornings

Springsteen

But that first marriage was incredibly statistically accurate; we almost made it to the obligatory first marriage duration of four years which set me up perfectly for the rest of my life. So at pre-Thanksgiving every year since she ran into the small bathroom and then bolted, I especially give thanks to the universe for all my blessings like the fortunate lessons learned from the bolting (she was not meant to be in my life). This is a magical time of year. Back then, my parents were around (living). So was an aunt who once found me in a partially compromised state of being clothed a week before Thanksgiving in a vacant apartment in her apartment house she inherited from my uncle who got tired of life. And I’ve been thinking about that uncle, the reach of genetics, and why people get tired of life. Perhaps that’s why I’ve been championing the cause of living to 150 years; there’s still so much to do and new careers to prepare for; like journalism, TV reporting and programming. I’m deliriously happy.

 

Springsteen When I was five years old, I started watching ‘The March of the Wooden Soldiers’ usually on New York’s Channel 11 (WPIX). I do believe, I’ve never missed a Thanksgiving. I see an outline of a fiddler on my neighbor’s roof, yelling at me, “Tradition.” When my son was five, I introduced him to Laurel and Hardy, Toyland and the March. Up to two years ago, I guilt-tripped him into watching with me. But alas it is a wonderful holiday. The more gratitude you throw into the universe, the more you’ll have to be grateful for. The average amount of calories consumed in the complete  Thanksgiving meal borders on 4500 calories. For my purposes, that’s five hours on the exercise bike. This just in: Newark Airport, forty minutes from my keyboard, has just been ranked as the second worst airport in America. I’m grateful for the streams of consciousness which flow and ebb just enough every week to keep this blog replete.

 

Springsteen

newark airport. the 2nd WORST in America

 

Springsteen

John Dean lecturing at Rutgers on Douglas campus

Last week on Wednesday November 16, I attended the Eagleton Institute of Politics lecture with John Dean, ‘Ethics, Law, and Government; Drawing the Right Lessons from Watergate.’  Here’s what’s rather synchronistic with respect to the first part of this blog. In the waning days of my first marriage, I spent weeks watching one of my heroes, John Dean, testifying at the Watergate hearings. He was a hero for a lot of reasons; doing the right thing despite President Nixon, a loyal and devoted wife Maureen (to whom he is still married to) sitting staunchly, supporting him through the testimony, possession of cerebral facilities to remember minute details and bravely accepting punishment. I was so engrossed with John Dean for all that time that I didn’t spend enough time trying to save a marriage; perhaps the night before my wedding pre-disastered it anyway.

 

Springsteen

me and John Dean

 

 

 

 

Springsteen

Randall Haywood and me on NJ Discover TV

 

 

 

Springsteen

me and Ben Bradlee former editor of Washington Post

 

Another hero emerged from those days; Ben Bradlee, editor of the Washington Post, who bravely dispatched Woodward and Bernstein to unravel one of the greatest political scandals. Now a funny thing; I’ve always thought about meeting both of these men, engaging and relaying their hero status. Mission accomplished last Wednesday with Dean. I met Ben Bradlee a few years ago, delivering one of my famous gentle hugs. I told John Dean that he was responsible for the break-up of my first marriage. He laughed and asked if I re-married. I said, “Happily for the last 34 years.” Then we shook hands and I said, “You’re still a hero.” He’s researching another book on Watergate as the 40th anniversary of the break-in is in June, 2012.

 

More important than hugs and photo-ops were the words of John Dean, talking to a packed Rutgers audience. Dean thought the kind of investigative journalism which caused Nixon to ultimately resign in August 1974 is lost to our times of economic distress. The ‘Presidential Records Act’ which took possession of Nixon’s papers was diluted by George Bush. Dean said those first days after the break-in at Watergate “cast the dye” in how little Nixon was told. During those days, the White House pondered breaking up the media and now 40 years later, the wish comes true with Fox news heading to the right, etc. On a lighter note, Dean is convinced that Nixon never caused that famous 18 1/2 minute gap in his tape, citing “He wasn’t mechanical enough. He couldn’t even open up medicine bottles.” Finally, as I visualized Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman from the movie, ‘All the President’s Men,’ Dean said it was not great reality theater, that they (Woodward and Bernstein) did not crack the story.

Springsteen I suppose a bit Thanksgiving theme to realize I’ve now met both of my idols from those bygone days of youth, called Watergate. And why does Forrest Gump come to mind all of a sudden? Why do I feel like running to Arizona now? If only I could’ve met President Kennedy. I was so taken with my first President as a young man nearing voting age; I used to practice imitating him with that distinct Boston accent. Actually I was pretty proficient; even went on stage and delivered my version of his inaugural address. “And Caroline, the uh, rubber duck is mine.”

 

Changing times and directions: Last Saturday night inAsbury Park, I had the honor of being involved in covering for NJ Discover TV an amazing jazz concert at Chico’s House of Jazz. Talk about giving thanks; I had the opportunity to interview on TV, Randall Haywood (trumpet), Victor Jones (world pre-eminent jazz drummer), Jay Rodriguez (saxaphone), Andy McKee(Bass) and Tom McEvoy (piano). Haywood, who has an uncle who played with Jimi Hendrix, recently played with rapper Ludacris and has been on Letterman and Leno and teaches music in a local school system.  We met the previous week for several hours and on camera for nearly a half-hour. I take this quite seriously.

The NJ Discover TV Interview and Concert Highlights: A MUST WATCH

Interview & concert highlights of house of jazz in asbury park

 

Springsteen

Andy McKee(Bass) Jay Rodriguez(sax) during a fire drill at house of jazz

Randall is nothing short of a musical treasure and success story; pre-ordained destiny took him from Jacksonville to all over the world performing.  The concert was mesmerizing.  Actually it was so hot we all had to run outside for a fire drill. They mixed old and new that Haywood recently wrote. And Victor Jones on the drums: I told him I’d come to Newark’s  Skippers Lounge to continue watching him. Four weeks ago this kind of journalistic activity was more remote than a distant galaxy and now with red forearms from excessive pinching, I find myself doing TV interviewing and exploring worlds of music. It is a wonderful life and instead of Forrest, I do feel like George Bailey. Everything is spinning as if in a centrifuge. There’s some out of body thankfulness that I’m no where near mid-age if I’m living to 150 years, fulfilling more dreams.

 

 

 

 

Springsteen

Clarence and Bruce courtesy ©theLightinDarkness.com

 

 

 

 

A month ago I was contacted by Lawrence Kirsch, author and publisher of boutique books, especially about Bruce Springsteen. Would I like to review ‘The Light In Darkness,’ his latest work, about Bruce Springsteen’s 1978 ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ album and the tour as vividly articulated by Bruce Springsteen fans? Of course, being one of those fans, I said how fast can I get the book and how high do I jump. My jumping was not high enough; this was a perfect pictorial and word journey that took me soulfully back to 1978-1979. The pictures magically carpeted me into that world of Bruce Springsteen touring, making me feel as if I was slipping through that elusive Freehold rabbit hole through a looking glass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Springsteen

Cover of 'Light In Darkness' credit ©theLightinDarkness.com

 

 

Springsteen

inside front cover 'The Light in Darkness' credit ©theLightinDarkness.com Bruce Springsteen

It was a perfect journey back to the future. Kirsch did amazing work analyzing themes of the album; timing is everything as Springsteen just announced his 2012 tour. I’m not in the habit of tiptoeing through endorsements; however if you’ve got any proclivities and affinities for Bruce and dreams and memories or verbal historic incisions, then you should order this limited edition book which is only available on line at http://www.thelightindarkness.com/home/

And this makes a special holiday gift!! Funny; every day I manage to look at the pictures in the book.  And a confession proudly conceived. Just as I always hoped to bump into Ben Bradlee and John Dean; well the same goes for Bruce Springsteen. The book is a taste. Someday over a Freehold, New Jersey rainbow, maybe Springsteen.

 

 

 

 

Soon I’ll be watching ‘March of the Wooden Soldiers’ and almost simultaneously, the Macy’s parade; it’s called flicking to avoid commercials. My son moved out in June, so no matter what, it’s a solo watch. My little boy all grown up called me the other day, upset about the world and protesting and Occupy and Mayor Bloomberg kicking protestors out of Zuccotti Park near Wall Street. He tripped me back to the sixties, when I knew about protesting everything.

Springsteen

occupy protestors clash

 

I’ll always regret (maybe one of my top ten life’s regrets) not having marched on Washington with Dr. King on August 28, 1963. Then he tells me almost sheepishly that Occupy is all hot air; that’s it’s a shamble and almost a caste system. He was disillusioned which reminded me of the chimpanzee Lucius from ‘Planet of the Apes’ that Charlton Heston had to give a pep talk to about ‘adults.’  I asked him to explain disdain. “Dad the rich people in Occupy who were camped out had an espresso machine hooked up to a bike. There was no middle class. And they didn’t share with the poor.” And suddenly I was overcome with the futility of explaining human nature, the tower of babble and that nothing has changed about human nature since our cousins, the Cro-Magnons from aNorth Jerseysuburb were fumbling around with something that resembled the first wheel. What we have here is a failure to communicate, I thought. How would I explain the espresso machine deal to my son? Then I said to him, “Mom is calling. We’ll talk later.” And we didn’t. Over my desk is a small picture of an ostrich.

Finally on the health front and living to 150 years; there have been some disturbing studies on BPA (bisphenol A) that shows the urine of people who consume canned soup  contain surprisingly high levels of BPA, a hormone-disrupting compound linked to health problems including heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

Springsteen

soup cans contain BPA. beware!

People who consumed one serving of canned soup a day for five days had a more than 1,000 percent increase in urinary BPA over people who consumed fresh soup for five days. Drinking beverages that have been stored in certain hard plastics can increase the amount of BPA in your body. BPA is used in the linings of metal food and beverage cans as well as in certain plastic bottles and dental sealants. And I wonder how many white doves have to blow in the wind before they take it out of the lining. It’s about money.

Memories of Thanksgivings and gatherings of family and friends is such a powerful force within the neuronal pathways of my composition. There’s a longing to find a waiting worm hole for me to slip through. I want back. I want my mother to send me off to the grocer for an extra apple cider gallon. I want my older sister to hug and thank me for being a good big brother. I took her to a first Broadway play before Thanksgiving. ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ Tradition. What happens to traditions and sisters? I love Thanksgivings when all the leaves that were green turn to brown and vacate their places of attachment to branches and the sky is steel gray, ominous and cold. I’ll plunge into my journalism journeys in the New Year. There are miles to go before I sleep or weep. I can almost see Ollie and Stannie reassuring Mother Widow Peep who lived in a shoe that everything would be alright. Thanksgiving is magic. I think by next year I’ll have so much more to be thankful for. I think next September I’ll start dreaming about the holiday earlier than ever before. Maybe I’ll cheat and watch the VHS ‘March of the Wooden Soldiers’ a few months early too. Maybe ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ will be back on Broadway.

 

Springsteen

Tara Jean (co host) and me outside House of Jazz in Asbury

 

Springsteen

Interviewing Victor Jones for NJ Discover in House of Jazz Asbury Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

 

website:  http://vichywater.net/Springsteen

 

Facebook:  Cal Schwartz

 

Twitter:  Earthood

 

book trailer. hey its 65 seconds long

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2ko9gcC_M

 

 

IMPORTANT LINKS:

If on Facebook check out this NJ Discover site:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000125711074

OR   www.njdiscover.com

Springsteen

 

 

 

 

ARE you in search of another blog that is also outspoken, unique BUT refreshingly, topically unbridled which means uninhibited ????  Meet   LINDA CHORNEY:

http://lindachorney.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

Immortality Institute (which represents advocacy and research for unlimited lifespan)

http://www.imminst.org/

August 2011. Guest on Alicia Cramer Show (podcast) “Thin Healthy Happy” :

http://wausauhypnotherapy.podbean.com/2011/08/02/calvin-barry-schwartz-interview-on-living-life/

 

 

LINKS TO VIDEOS

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfFA-y115nc&feature=autoshare

 

1.   ZOMBIE WALK   October 22, 2011

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dbtCJifzpQ

 

2.   9-11 lecture atMonmouthUniversitywith Govenor Tom Kean

Nov 3, 2011

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYwkaa_xreg&feature=related

 

3.  VETERANS DAY NJVIETNAMMEMORIAL

Nov 11, 2011

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNohzH8AHvM&feature=player_embedded

 

4.  RANDALL HAYWOOD & JAZZ CONCERT

 

Nov 19, 2011

 

 

November 13, 2011

A Late Blog Explanation. New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Veterans Day Ceremony) A Menu for the Ages. Penn State. Living to 150 Years (Pomegranate Juice) November 13, 2011

Filed under: November 2009 — Tags: , , , , — earthood @ 9:58 pm

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

I’m so moved by the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial. But first: For the first time in nearly two years, I’ve let my deadline of writing blog entries every week slip into a second week. There was a song, “You Can’t Hurry Love” by the Supremes.   YouTube:

The Supremes “You Can’t Hurry Love”

I love writing my blog; a magic carpet ride of introspection, heightened awareness and personal growth. I’ve evolved into a better writer, a better citizen of this old town or any old town. Good old Ebeneezer Scrooge: in another five weeks I’ll find my VHS copy of ‘A Christmas Carol’ starring Alastair Sim(the only film Scrooge there ever was) and slip into the joyous world of holidays.

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

sleigh to Grandmother's House

 

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Ebeneezer Scrooge(Alastair Sim) and the Ghost (present)

All year long, I think about Scrooge and how he fought change and spiritual enhancement. Then on Christmas morning we witness his rebirth and commitment to taking care of Tiny Tim by symbolically standing on his head in a showing of complete joyous spiritual arrival. How often I’ve dreamt about conditional change forcing me to stand on my head. I dreamed of NBC morning programming. I’ll need a couple of stage hands to hold me up on a worn easy chair or sofa. I’ve got it all figured out; the scene is part of my arrival at journey’s end. Arrival is not a bad thing; just a time to exhale and give thanks. And I love Thanksgiving, a most perfect holiday of family, friends, food for thought, and a sleigh ride to Grandmother’s house. But there are no Grandmothers left, very little family and earthquakes happening all over the world with increasing frequency and intensity.

If you haven’t guessed, I’m firing away on all cylinders, dusting off my parched streams of consciousness that I haven’t used in two weeks. I can still give thanks on Thanksgiving; every day I find a way to thank the universe for my blessings; I just don’t and never will have much of a family. All those scattered cousins everywhere and not a drop to drink with, except precious poignant Cousin Stuart. Where did all the flowers go; same place of obscurity where my cousins sit at the diner of lost dreams on Wednesday 3AM. Is there a good geneticist in the house? Am I the product of bad cousin genes?  I’m even down to one sister left; more gene splicing?

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

dorothy's shoes. i tried to get them to fit on me once in florida

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Paul Newman in 'Somebody Up There Likes Me'

I see Dorothy clicking her red ruby heels; there is no place like home and extended family. I’ll never know. Is it purist simple gifts of life? I must be on to or just on something (broccoli?). I’ve been listening to the song and instrumental ‘Simple Gifts’ for years. Then during President Obama’s Inauguration ceremony, ‘Simple Gifts’ was one of two songs played at the Lincoln Memorial.

 

 

 

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

rare pix of Marilyn Monroe

‘Somebody Up There Likes Me.’ A wonderful movie starring Paul Newman. Last week it hit me again. How can Paul Newman be gone? And Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and Sammy Davis.

I asked my mother the other day; how can it be that I only have one sister left. Things we take for granted; the warmth and caring relationships of the blood is thicker than water. What if water becomes blood? There’s Yul Brynner holding up the staff but the river Nile still turns red. Well, I accept the law of diminishing family. I see a thousand Conestoga wagons heading into Kansas during a land rush. My father decides to pitch camp at the first overflowing stream and within two weeks our cabin is built, a fence surrounds the property. An asteroid came within 200,000 miles of earth the other day; awful close astronomically; scares the hell out of me.  I wonder why we didn’t experiment and send a rocket to see how effective we can be in destroying menacing asteroids; ‘just in case’ kind of deal. Or with our luck, we divert it right down here to central Jersey. I need Thanksgiving; a cold, cloudy day with fresh cranberry sauce. I asked a friend on the tennis court recently if he remembered the cranberry scare of 1959. He said no. “What about Thalidomide?” That he knew; the sedative drug that causes malformation of fetuses and was withdrawn from the market in 1961.

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Sammy Davis. Jr.

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Yul Brynner. Pharaoh

Enough with dodge ball. I apologize for being tardy. But the good news for all my blog readers is that my words are reaching a larger audience than I ever dreamt. Back in July, I started writing a monthly column for OUR TOWN newspaper. The following month it went to two columns. And in October it hit three columns a month. It is work and commitment but I love words and writing. Then three weeks ago in the blowing winds of synchronicity, I became ‘involved’ with a Jersey TV Production company, as a reporter, writer, and program/talent developer. And I do all this as you know because I’m not quite at mid-life yet as long as I subscribe to the notion of living to 150 years which I always blog about. I hear my mother calling to me from upstairs to budget my time. I love this blog and thanks for your support and dropping by.  Enough said. Maybe take four minutes and watch my first gig as a reporter during Zombie Walk on the Asbury Park boardwalk two weeks ago. The YouTube link:

 

Calvin reporter at Zombie Walk Asbury Park

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Calvin interviewing zombie on Asbury Park Boardwalk

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

I LOVE Conestoga wagons

A few years ago, on a cold, bleak, windy February Friday afternoon (enough adjectives?); I was heading homeward southbound on the Garden State Parkway. It was 2 PM, two hours from descending darkness. Something grabbed my soul and told me to go visit the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Holmdel. Something is one of my favorite amorphous spiritual conceptual words; much too involved and complicated for a dissertation now. But I always listen to something because it is wise, warming, steering and magical. Something made me write my first novel a few years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

at New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial Ceremony

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

at New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial Ceremony The Tree losing leaves.

Something made me climb mountains barefoot in Sedona or walk on a decaying old wooden dock in Key Largo or gets me up at 3 AM to stare blankly at computer screen savers. I’ve never been to the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial not being a veteran of that war during my twenties. Of course with the extreme weather conditions, I was the only person visiting. There are 360 panels, each representing a day of the year including leap year. Each panel contains the names of those men and women who died on that day. I decided to stare at each name, shivering from the brutal 10 degree wind chill cold and then consume random names and commit to my eternal memory. Arthur John Abramoff and Albert Potter became part of my senses. Forty minutes passed until I made the circuitous journey around the memorial, promising to keep committing names to my senses. I might fill up several pages to rip words from the intestinal lining of emotions when seeing names of all those special wonderful young people taken away with so much of life’s promise.

 

 

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

at New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial Ceremony

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

at New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial Ceremony Cameraman and Me

Six months ago, I knew on this special Veterans Day of 11-11-11, 11:11 AM that I’d be there. But I never dreamt I’d be going as a TV reporter and journalist. Life is something. Once again, it was so cold and windy. One lone tree in the middle of the memorial grounds kept losing leaves that were once green, now brown.  One fallen leaf skirted my cheek. I kept looking around at the faces of these amazing veterans. A strange welling in my chest; should I have been with them back then? Five hundred proud Vietnam Veterans gathered. I got to interview on camera Clark Martin, Chairman of the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation and Joseph Formola, (“Hero’s don’t wear capes; they wear dog tags.”), Chaplain New Jersey State Council Vietnam Veterans of America and Chester, a proud eloquent Vietnam veteran.

 

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

at New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial Ceremony

Everyone said the same thing; how hard it was coming back from Vietnam because of the way they were treated; there was no respect for their sacrifices and patriotism. Chester said it best, “People come up to us now, thank us for serving. That really didn’t happen years ago. Didn’t happen. But it is happening now and that’s beautiful.” I thanked him three times and got all choked up. My video cameraman knew to stop shooting. I need to keep going there. I’ve added John Richard McDonough from South Orange to my senses. It’s hard excavating intestinal linings and emotions. Here’s the link to the video coverage of Veterans Day in New Jersey. (2 minutes):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYwkaa_xreg&feature=youtu.be

Yes, I dig living to 150 years. The other day I encountered a menu from a fast food place soon opening here in Jersey. I whispered to myself, “Fried Snickers?” Picture attached and I think I’ll take the terse road which may be the high road not the back road to Perdition. One other note on living to 150 years: A glass of pomegranate juice a day could keep the wrinkles away, according to a new study that reveals it slows down the aging process of DNA.

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Fried Snickers???

 

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Pomegranate juice

Pomegranate has previously been linked to the prevention of heart disease and stress relief but now researchers from the Probelte Bio Lab in Spain have found that the fruit juice also slows down the natural oxidation (‘wear and tear’) of DNA. During the study, scientists used a potent new type of pomegranate extract including the skin, pith and seeds of the fruit. The 60 participants were asked to take the extract for 30 days in the form of a pill. The results found a significant decrease in a marker associated with cell damage that disrupts brain, muscle, liver and kidney functions, as well as causing aging.

Finally Penn State: There are few words I can excavate now. Enough will be said for years to come. I became friendly with a former pretty good Penn State quarterback from the mid 70’s when I actually used to root for them before I began my love affair to remember with Rutgers. He always talked spirited about Joe Paterno and actually became an assistant strength coach after graduation. One morning in the early 90’s, I had my wheat flakes with sprinkled raisins and felt pretty good as far as throwing a football was concerned. Later that day I was at John’s house in eastern Pennsylvania, sitting in the den when I spotted a football and suggested we go out into his endless backyard and start tossing the football around.

New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Scarlett O'Hara. Tomorrow is another day??

 

Who knows, if John never got hurt in senior year, he’s playing on Sunday. So we’re throwing the ball around. I keep backing up knowing I’ve got a pretty good arm. The further back we go, it seems the more effortlessly he’s throwing the ball to me. Then Cher slapped my face and told me to snap out of it. And I did back then. I could never be a quarterback like John. Thing is, I wish upon a fading star of Paterno and Penn State that this was all a nightmare and Cher could slap my face, tell me to snap out just one more time and then Scarlett O’Hara could come along just about now as I finish this blog and say “Tomorrow is another day” But it isn’t.

 

Cher slaps nick cage You tube (5 seconds)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x-fkSYDtUY

 

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

website:  http://vichywater.net/New Jersey Vietnam Veterans MemorialFacebook:  Cal Schwartz

Twitter:  Earthood

book trailer. hey its 65 seconds long

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2ko9gcC_M

 

IMPORTANT LINKS:

If on Facebook check out this NJ Discover site:New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000125711074

OR   www.njdiscover.com

 

ARE you in search of another blog that is also outspoken, unique BUT refreshingly, topically unbridled which means uninhibited ????  Meet   LINDA CHORNEY:

http://lindachorney.wordpress.com/

 

 

Immortality Institute (which represents advocacy and research for unlimited lifespan)

http://www.imminst.org/

August 2011. Guest on Alicia Cramer Show (podcast) “Thin Healthy Happy” :

http://wausauhypnotherapy.podbean.com/2011/08/02/calvin-barry-schwartz-interview-on-living-life/

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