I think it was a few weeks ago when I posted a picture of me with the Michigan Warriors’ mascot Skully. They were the local hockey team that was made up primarily of college guys. That team lasted a couple seasons.
Afterwards, they were replaced by the Flint Firebirds. This year they celebrate their 10th year as a team. They’ve done quite well in the OHL.
It’s been a few years since I’ve been to a game, and I plan on making at least one this season. Their mascot is Hot Wing.
A few years ago, one of our local TV stations held a huge free family fun day. It was held at the arena where the Firebirds play. I DJ’d at every one of these events. They’d have me in the middle of the arena in front of a dance floor.
There would be booths and vendors lined up on both sides of me. I would play music, make announcements, and do giveaways. I always had a blast doing that gig.
I found this crazy picture of me with Hot Wing at one of the last (if not THE last) one of those family festivals.
The station decided to stop doing this one big event and focus on many small events, which made planning a lot easier for them. I really miss doing this gig.
This is another book that I read because of the title. I admit that at first I assumed Lenny was a male character. I’m not sure why, but it sounded to me like a crime novel. It wasn’t.
I suppose if I had looked at the cover, I might have figured out that Lenny was female. Anyway, with that being said, Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder was actually a good read.
Before I give my thoughts, here is the Goodreads Synopsis:
She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same groceries for the same meals every week, and owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit (currently arranged by height). The closest thing she has to a friendship is playing Scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friends reruns.
And Lenny Marks is very, very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child. The day a voice in the back of her mind started whispering, You did this.
Until a letter from the parole board arrives in the mail—and when her desperate attempts to ignore it fail, Lenny starts to unravel. As long-buried memories come to the surface, Lenny’s careful routines fall apart. For the first time, she finds herself forced to connect with the community around her, and unexpected new relationships begin to bloom. Lenny Marks may finally get a life—but what if her past catches up to her first?
Equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming, Kerryn Mayne’s stunning debut is an irresistible novel about truth, secrets, vengeance, and family lost and found, with a heroine who’s simply unforgettable.
For a debut novel, it was really good. I won’t give away too much, but with a title like “Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder,” I assumed the “murder” would happen towards the beginning of the book. It didn’t.
Because I was waiting for it, at times I wondered when it was going to happen. This distracted me a bit, but once I was able to put the expectation of a murder out of my mind, things fell into place nicely.
If I had to describe the book, I would say that it is like The Maid Meets Desperate Housewives. Let me clarify:
I say The Maid because Molly, the main character is a bit odd. She has autism and is very particular about her schedule and routines. Lenny isn’t autistic per say, but she has those tendencies. She is innocent and quiet and likes her routine.
I say Desperate Housewives not because of the drama on the show, but in the way that the story will bring up something or someone that you forgot about. There were times where I was like, “Oh yeah, that guy…”
The book focuses mainly on present day Lenny, but at times there are flashbacks that shed light on what is going on in the story. I would agree with the synopsis in that there are some scenarios that are heartbreaking and as a whole, heartwarming.
Does the title of the book give away the ending? You should read it and find out.
When I think about barber shops, I picture something like the photo above. It had the huge barber pole outside and the barbers wore those white coats/smocks. Inside there were the jars with funky blue liquid in them where combs and other tools of the trade might be. There are still a few of them around.
We took Andrew to get his haircut yesterday. My wife really liked the way this one place did it before, so we went back. I’d never heard of the place – Hair Mechanix.
“Man Maintenance!” I was wowed by the place when I walked in. It could be a man cave. On the walls were pictures of sportscars, motorcycles, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, and other “guy stuff.” It was really nice.
The stylists are, of course, female, and they were all saying how cute Andrew was. As they cut his hair, I was offered something to drink. They had water, pop, and beer! Yeah, beer! Not wanting to spend any money on one I declined. Come to find out, they are complimentary. Go figure. Have a brew and get a trim.
I was looking at the big board with all their services and prices. They do pretty much everything. They will wax your eyebrows, your ears or your nose (ouch!). They will trim your beard and mustache and they will shave your head. I asked if they waxed heads, because a bald friend of mine swears by it. I was told they didn’t.
I walked back over to where Andrew was getting his cut and my wife asked what I was talking to the girl at the counter about. I told her about them not waxing heads and she said “Yeah, but they shave them. You should do that while we are here.” I told her I was ok, and didn’t want to spend the money, but she insisted. “I get my hair done every month or so. I also get a pedicure every so often. You don’t do anything for YOU. Do it.”
I asked the gal if she was expecting an appointment or if she had time to shave my head. She said yes and showed me to her chair. Can I tell you, as silly as I felt, I really felt “pampered.” She first put the cape on me and then put some (what I assumed was) shaving cream on my head. She came back with a hot towel and put it on my head. I’ve always heard about hot towels and such, but this was the first time having one on. It felt pretty good, actually.
Not me!
After a bit, she took the towel off and all of the shaving cream that was on my head was gone, apparently soaked up by the towel – or my head. She then grabbed some sort of oil, applied that and then there was another how towel. By this time I was pretty relaxed. I never would have thought this would be so relaxing. She lifted part of the towel and folded it toward the back of my head.
Again she applied some shaving cream and began to shave my head. (I guess they will shave your face, too.) What surprised me was that she used a straight razor to shave me. I have never been able to shave with one of those. I always seem to cut myself up. My stylist, however, did a fantastic job. My head was overdue to be shaved, so there was a lot for her to shave. The razor did its thing and my wife said it looked great.
One thing I can never seem to get is the back of my neck at home. Sam always laughs at what I miss. Every once in a while it gets so long that she shaves the back of my neck for me. My stylist cleaned up my neck and trimmed my caterpillar eye brows as a bonus. After she was done she put on some nice smelling cream or oil and I was on my way.
I’m not going to lie, I felt really good afterward. How silly is that? It was simply 15-20 minutes of hair (bald) care and I loved it. My wife told me that I really need to take time to do this every month or so. You know what? I think I will!
Michael is often referred to as a crooner. This is because he helped to renew public interest and appreciation for the Great American Songbook and those traditional pop standards.
He readily admits that he is a “great cover artist.” His albums feature him covering the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, and Mel Torme’. But he is also a great songwriter and the songs he has written have done well on the charts, too.
Bublé has sold over 75 million records worldwide, and won five Grammy Awards. He has also won fifteen Juno Awards.
His first album was released in 2003. It did well in Canada and the UK. In 2005, his album It’s Time brought him more world wide attention. In total, he’s recorded nine albums. He’s about due for a new one since his last one was released in 2022.
Right around the time of his first album, he made the rounds at radio stations. My buddies Tim and Jeff had them on their show in Arkansas. They said he was a blast.
They said he was very funny and down to earth. They hung out with him that evening, I think they all went to a hockey game together. They said he was one of the coolest artists they’d ever met.
He seems like a pretty cool guy. He has no problem poking fun at himself and always seems to be having fun. I would love to meet him one day.
I have featured his music a few times on this blog. Feelin’ Good, The Theme From Spiderman, and Cry Me a River are some of my favorites. Today I picked another one that I like – Call Me Irresponsible.
I was hooked as soon as I heard the opening bass line. When the drums and band join in, it’s just “smooth.” He has a Dean Martin vibe here – relaxed and effortless.
Let’s swing together and wish Michael a Happy 50th!
The great Peter Sellers was born on this day in 1925. He was a very funny man who is known for films like Dr. Strangelove, Being There, Murder By Death and The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu. He is best known, of course, for his role as the bumbling Chief Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther series.
The first movie of the series was called simply “The Pink Panther,” which was released in 1963. The soundtrack of the film featured Henry Mancini’s musical score, and the instantly recognizable theme song.
The soundtrack entered entered the Billboard Pop Album Chart on April 24, 1964 and reached number 8 on the chart. It remained on that chart for 41 weeks. The album and title song were nominated for the Grammy Awards for Best Album or Original Score and Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
The Theme from The Pink Panther was released as a single and it was a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart. It starts with a soft minor piano chord followed by a triangle and a jazzy percussion rhythm. It is the melody that almost everyone knows from the moment they hear it. The tenor saxophone is played by Plas Johnson Jr.
The theme was also used for the Pink Panther cartoon show.
The soundtrack was called one of the greatest film scores of all time by the American Film Institute. All it takes is one listen to understand why ….
Here we go again, with another edition of Dave’s Turntable Talk, which is featured on his A Sound Day blog. This is the 41st round!
He titled this round ‘It’s Getting Better All the Time!” Our task this month was to “find something in music – either an album, or a single, or even a whole artist – who has gone up steadily in your estimation through time. That’s to say, one you didn’t like and now do, or one you thought was “ok” and now love.”
Most of Dave’s past topics required very little thinking on my part. This one, however, really made me think. I’m open to almost every genre of music. I also try to listen to music that is suggested by other bloggers. If I don’t like an artist or a song, it is rare that I would change my mind about them. However, there is one artist who falls in with our topic – Elton John.
When I started in radio in the late 80’s, I was at an oldies station. Before committing to a basic oldies station, they were a classic rock station. A lot of that classic rock stayed in rotation when it went oldies.
I spent hours listening to Kiss-FM before working there. One thing I noticed was that they seemed to be a bit heavy on Elton John music. I felt like I heard Crocodile Rock, Philadelphia Freedom, Honky Cat and Rocket Man every day.
When I started working there, I realized that there were many other Elton John songs that were in rotation at the station. There were a lot of requests for his songs, too. That’s how I met a gal I dated.
She called in often and one day, she and her friends brought coffee to the station for me. I thought she was cute and we started dating. She loved Elton John so much that for her birthday, she bought herself (and me) tickets to his show when he was touring with Billy Joel.
I certainly didn’t want to see EJ, but since Billy Joel was there I figured “at least I’ll enjoy half the show”. Billy came out first and was fantastic! I started to tune out when it was time for Elton.
There was some sort of audio/visual thing that played and caught my attention. The lighting on the stage changed and the smoke machines kicked in, making the actual stage hard to see. Then Elton and his piano rose from out of the smoke and he began to play Rocket Man.
I was impressed as I watched him. He sounded better live than on records to me. He was playing his hits and there was something different about each of them. When he played “Your Song,” it was a completely different arrangement and it blew me away. It was better than the recording!
That show and the music he played that night, Led me to open my mind a bit and dig deeper into the EJ library. I found many songs that were not singles that I liked a lot.
At that time, he was still releasing new music. I played Sacrifice and Club at the End of the Street when they were current singles and liked them so much, I bought the album.
Can You Feel the Love Tonight and Circle of Life were both big requests at weddings for bridal dances or parent dances. If they weren’t part of the wedding party dances, it was requested as a slow song that couples loved to dance to.
That concert was my first ever. As my radio career continued, I began to go to more shows. I really started to appreciate artists and their talent. I learned that you cannot let one bad song or one bad album prevent you from listening or taint your feelings about an artist.
Thanks to Dave for always presenting a great topic each month. I know that I always enjoy writing for Turntable Talk. Based on the others who participate with me say, they love it too.
Note: This blog is about my personal experience and is not intended to bash anyone’s religious beliefs. I am more than happy to share my faith with those who ask, but I also know that everyone has a right to what they believe. That being said, I will proceed.
I was born and raised Catholic. Isn’t that what all Italians are? When I was about 16 one of my coworkers and I were talking and he brought up the Bible. He was also raised Catholic. He questioned a lot of things in our shared religious background.
This led to more conversations. Over the course of the next few weeks we talked more and more about things that didn’t necessarily line up with what the Bible says. I already had questions about some things, and many of them were answered by our studies.
In the end, I found that I had enough information that I left the Catholic faith. I began to read my Bible more and found a lot of great studies online from a few pastors that helped clarify a lot of the confusion I was experiencing.
When I moved to the Flint area, I was searching for something in a local Christian book store. As I was looking through some commentaries, from the back of the store I thought I heard the voice of a pastor I was familiar with. It wasn’t him in person, but a recording of him.
I went to the cashier at the front of the store and asked about it. This led to being introduced to Al, a guy who shared my beliefs. He was also attending the same Bible School as I am in now (where the pastor I heard teaches). He would go on to graduate the school and become pastor of our local assembly.
Initially, we met in one of the classrooms at the Bible store. Over time we were able to buy a building, which he remodeled and became our meeting place. He really worked hard on it. I want to say that the building used to be a bank. He had done a ton of drywall work and when he was done we had a room for the main gathering place, a nursery, bathroom, and a small kitchen.
When we began our services there, Al asked me to teach the Sunday morning Sunday School class. At first I spoke on different topics every week. Then I began to do some series, which the members of our church really enjoyed. One of the series was on Manuscript Evidence and how the Bible came to be. That was a lot of fun to teach.
I tell you all of that because it leads me to today’s Photo Flashback.
The above picture is of me and my oldest son. It was taken in between Sunday School and Sunday Service. I would guess that this is around 2004. It very well may have been as Easter service because he is kind of dressed up.
He didn’t always stay still in the nursery and was often very loud. We had probably just gotten the diagnosis of Developmental Delay around this time. It wasn’t odd for him to walk up to me while I was teaching Sunday School. When he did that, I usually picked him up and continued teaching.
My ex (who is cropped out of this picture) had gotten to the point where she didn’t want to go anymore. I wound up going alone and teaching for a while. Then, my ex would plan things that made it hard for me to keep teaching. On top of that, I was working Saturday overnights and it was difficult to work 12 hours, drive an hour home, wait an hour or two before heading to church.
They stream online now, so I can watch him or other pastors all over the country from the comfort of my couch. The kids are not to the point where they will sit still long enough to listen, so they watch Paw Patrol or whatever while I listen to a message. I miss being there live and I certainly miss teaching. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do that again soon.
I’ve never been a tequila man, but the picture fit the blog. This week the Nostalgic Italian reached 1800 posts! 1800 posts about music, television, movies, books, my wife and kids, and ME. I’m grateful that you find the things I post interesting enough to come back for more. Thank you.
My blog doesn’t have 20,000 followers or get mentioned much by other blogs, and I am ok with that. I have come to know you through your posts and I consider you a friend. I again thank you for making this site a “reading stop” every so often.
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Over the weekend, I got to spend some time with the kids. On Sunday we went to the park, but they were the only kids at the playground. They played for a bit, but when no other kids came, they decided to take a walk on the trail that runs through the park.
It was a beautiful day with sunshine and nice temperatures. We walked down the trail looking for caterpillars, squirrels, birds, trees and flowers. Every once in a while, they’d walk ahead of me just talking about things. I love when they get along and treat each other good. Every once in a while, they get to a place that is perfect for a picture.
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Andrew started his Pre-K class this week. I feel bad for those teachers. There are 9 students and 6 of them are boys! I wasn’t sure how he would do with us leaving, but he actually has done really well. Many of the kids were all grabbing onto their parents screaming and crying. It was worse on the second day, which surprised me. Andrew, however, gave me a hug and said, “See ya later, Dad!” and walked right in.
All summer long he talked about not wanting to go to school. When my wife went to pick him up, he said he wanted to stay longer. Go figure.
One funny story: On the first day of school I was helping to get the kids dressed. I asked my wife if I should put Andrew in a collar shirt. He heard me and said, “A collar! I’m not a dog, Dad!”
Smart kid!
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I came across this on one of the social media pages this week. It is such an outlandish scenario that I truly wish that someone had made it happen! Ok, picture it with me:
I recently took the kids to Barnes and Noble to get a book. While I was there, I looked around at the new books. I always like to see what’s out and what I might want to add to my list.
They had a “Staff Recommends” shelf. There were a few on the shelf that I had already read, a few that were on my “to read” list, and some that were completely new to me. One of the new ones was by an author I had never heard of, but the title was enough for me to pick it up and see what it was about. It was called The Man Who Died Seven Times, and it peaked my interest so much, I bought it.
Over the holiday weekend, I took advantage of quiet moments and read. Most of the books I read are audio books in the car, so it was nice to sit with a physical book. From the moment I started reading it, I was hooked. I was able to read it over a three day span. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
Hisataro, a young member of the wealthy Fuchigami family, has a mysterious ability. Every now and then, against his will, he falls into a time-loop in which he is obliged to re-live the same day nine times. Little does he know how useful this ability will be, until one day, his grandfather mysteriously dies…
As he returns to the day of the murder time and again, Hisataro begins to unravel its secrets. With a sizeable inheritance up for grabs, motives abound, and everyone is a suspect. Can Hisataro solve the mystery of his grandfather’s death, and prevent it, before his time-loop ends?
The hardest part about the book was keeping the various Japanese names strait. Thankfully, there is a helpful chart in the front of the book that keeps the family members organized and names the secondary characters. Every once in a while, I’d have to flip there to make sure I knew who I was reading about.
The story has sort of a Groundhog Day feel to it. It reminded me of Stuart Turton’s “The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.” In that book the main character relives each day as a different character in the story. This one has the same character reliving each day.
I was surprised to learn that this book was written back in 1995 by Yasuhiko Nishizawa and recently translated to English for a 2025 release. Outside of the character names and a few Japanese references, it reads just like a good mystery.
Each day Hisataro learns something new about his grandfather’s death. Each day also presents in a way that shines the spotlight on someone who may be the murderer. I was guessing all the way through the book.
Admittedly, the ending had a nice twist to it, but I expected something a bit different. Because of the twist, it ended the way it had to I’m guessing. Don’t let my opinion keep you from reading this. It is a great book that makes you want to read “just one more chapter” before putting it down.
I should go back to Barnes and Noble and thank the staff member who recommended this one. I enjoyed it!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 