Personal – Page 15 – John J Langan

July 3, 2013

B-MUSINGS… Wet Summer Edition

I hope to do this type of post periodically… “B-Musings” will be some random blurbiage and brain misfires that I have to get out of my head. Because I can make up words, and I have a blog, and you don’t!

Hollywood Babble On – My son John recently turned me on to this podcast with Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman. Typically a two-hour long penis joke, Smith and Garman have a great time skewering celebs like Lohan, Beiber and the Kardashians, and anyone else who dares to cross their path. Solid entertainment, and good for at least 7 or 8 laughs that are bigger than Liam Neeson’s c&%k! (You’ll get that joke if you listen.) Check it out – it’s free!!

Mid-Week Holidays – Blow.

Hey! Phillies Fans – The season is over. I love optimism but it’s getting a little ridiculous. Stop trying to compare this team to the World Series team… FROM FIVE YEARS AGO!! It’s not fair to them, and more than a little delusional. And I love ya, Charlie. But it’s fond farewell time…

Roster Limit – More baseball talk, but not really… I used to joke that the worst thing about getting older is that you can’t find enough guys to get a game of baseball going. Think about it. When we were kids we had plenty of players for a full 9 on 9 game. When we hit our twenties, not so much. Now, getting older means that my sons aren’t around as much. We are going to my sisters for what I’m sure will be a great barbecue… food, sun and fun at Casa Taylor. No con hijos. Empty Nesters Day is still a few years down the road, but getting closer. So when we are all together, I’m cherishing it a little more. 946524_646897272006089_302100249_n

Life’s A Beach – I’ve never been a fan of the beach. But lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the shore, and really want to go there more often. Last weekend I enjoyed a great day on the Wildwood beach, watching sand soccer and chatting with a bunch of old friends. I’m being drawn in, and I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m changing, and need some new stuff. Think I’ll look online for one of those metal detectors… Powerball has been a big disappointment.

My Simple Take On Edward Snowden – Some call him a hero and a whistle-blower. I call him a traitor because he broke the law. And it’s that simple… he broke the law. Many are fired up because of the information about the NSA having access to our phone and emails. Guess what? They probably have access to a lot more than that. And if they use this information to protect the lives of Americans at home and abroad… bravo! I have nothing to hide. Do you?

Speaking Of Traitors – Here’s something you’re not used to seeing on my page… great, great writing:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Happy 4th of July, my friends.

July 1, 2013

Investment Advice

17 - 2002 NFC - Buccaneers @ Eagles “If you don’t expect too much from me, you might not be let down.” ~ Gin Blossoms

Simply put, I’m a big sports fan. Soccer is my passion, but I still love all of my Philly teams – Iggles, Flyboys, Phightins, and even the Sixers. Well… Maybe not the Sixers.

I’m no expert, but I have a very good knowledge and understanding of major American sports, plus a working ESPN grasp of the not-so-major sports as well. For example, when the mood strikes I…

… sometimes stay up late and watch Australian Rules Football. G’Day!!
… had a great time at Parx Derby Day in 2012.
… watch college baseball. Mostly because I like to hear the aluminum bats pinging.
… want to learn about cricket. I see it on Sky Sports (English SportsCenter), and would love to understand the rules. It’s one of those sports where I say, “Shit… I could do that!”

I still love my Philly teams, but I don’t have that all-consuming fire anymore. Not so many years ago I was living and dying by game results and playoff wins and losses. Success gave me satisfaction, but defeats made me moody. As the years went by, the ups and downs became too extreme. Everything changed on Sunday, January 19, 2003, when Ronde Barber intercepted Donovan McNabb pass, and ran it back for a 92-yard touchdown interception return to clinch a Super Bowl trip for the Buccaneers. That precise moment… over 66,000 people at Veterans Stadium and millions of fans watching at home had their hearts broken. Including me, in my living room, decked out in my Eagles green.

This was definitely our year. The best Eagles team, destined to win the Super Bowl. It was a given. Hmmm… not so much. I was down for weeks. F#%&in’ Ronde Barber!! To this day, I still shudder when I see the video of that play. But after a few weeks of surliness, I had a realization. This consuming investment in my beloved sports teams had to stop. It wasn’t going to get any better, because my team was not going to win every game every year. I decided then that I couldn’t, and wouldn’t do it anymore.

A similar epiphany happened about 15 years earlier, when I realized that I was not going to be a great golfer. After a particularly sad chip shot, I threw my club into a tree. Because obviously, the club was faulty!! When It came down to earth in two pieces I realized that I might be missing the better part of the golf experience… fun. I gave up my ambitions of the PGA Tour after that incident.

Today, there are just too many games in sports to sustain meaningful fan support. NFL owners want the expand the schedule, the Stanley Cup playoffs make the regular season meaningless, and don’t even get me started about the close to 200 hundred games World Series participants could play in one year. Soccer isn’t immune, with plenty of extra tournaments for club and country.

In soccer, any team can beat any other team, on any day. Whatever the level, top tier versus semipro. That was never more evident than this year, with a giant killing in the FA Cup final. If the unthinkable happens the supporters may cry and curse, but recover quickly… because there is another game coming up fast, and the team needs them.

I love soccer, and regret that I discovered it so late in life. One of the reasons I’ve embraced the beautiful game is the supporters culture. I can hear you haters out there, revving up your hooligan stories. I’ll stipulate that these idiots do exist, but in no greater percentage than in any other sport.

I’m a member of the Sons of Ben, the organization that supports the Philadelphia Union. I take pride in what the group stands for… support the team. No matter what. From the SoB Code of Conduct… “Sons of Ben are in the stadium to support the Union. If you’re here to support the team, you’re welcome in the Sons of Ben. If you’re here to make trouble for yourself or for the fans around you, you aren’t welcome.” And obey the four rules… Don’t be a Racist. Don’t Be a Thug. Don’t Be an Idiot. DO Support the Team. Simple as that. I like it.

Sure, I’m gutted if the Union lose a match. Or if Manchester United loses. Or if the USA National team loses. Or the Eagles, Flyers, Phillies… even the Sixers. I’m bitching and booing loud, because it’s my right. But the next day I’m over it. I’m up and ready, and psyched for the next opportunity to support MY team. For them, not against them. It’s my thing.

Because I’m a sports fan.

**** Sons of Ben photo courtesy of SonsofBenMovie.com. Click on the picture to see a larger version… I’m in the back right corner! Ronde Barber photo courtesy of Satan and his minions.

June 18, 2013

Music To My Ears

parabol-1 I’ve been bouncing this idea around for a couple of weeks.

As I noted in a previous post, I delight in all types of music. I’ve set out to do a Top Ten List of my favorite albums, but whittling down to ten favorites has proven to be an insurmountable task. Hard decisions had to be made. When you love these records as much as I do, it’s like choosing your favorite child… then throwing a few of them an honorable mention.

My criteria is completely subjective. This is MY list. I only count albums that I owned at some point in my life… so while you may have enjoyed the hell out of “Sing Along With Mitch Miller”, it ain’t making the list! These records are special to me for “whatever” reasons. It could be significant memories associated with the songs, the artist or the time. It may have been my introduction to an artist or genre. The entire album is on my iPod. I must listen to the songs in order. These albums are just damn good, in my humble opinion.

I’d love to hear your comments, and I hope you like this list. If you don’t, go make your own!! And I reserve the right to make changes/additions at any time. So there!

My Top 10 (+3) Favorite Albums are:

The Beatles – Meet The Beatles – The first record I ever owned, a gift from my cousin Mary on a trip here from Belfast. I still have it, and can still smell the old tubes heating up on my parents record player every time I hear “I Saw Her Standing There”.
Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols – Late 70’s popular music was a wasteland. Although conceived as a publicity stunt, and no one considers them musicians… the Sex Pistols changed my view of what music should and could be, and paved the way for a ton of artists. Like the next two on my list…
The Clash – London Calling – Beginning to end, an epic achievement by four punks who at that point weren’t on the American radar.
Elvis Costello and The Attractions – Get Happy!! – My favorite record, by my all time favorite artist. Twenty high energy explosions, still smart and clever 30 years later.
Bob Dylan – Blood On The Tracks – What can you say about a record that has “Tangled Up In Blue”, “Simple Twist of Fate”, “Shelter From The Storm” and “Idiot Wind”? All classics!
Bob Marley and the Wailers – Legend – The album title says it all.
Warren Zevon – Excitable Boy – Simultaneously the most brilliant and frightening collections of songs I’d ever heard. I used to worry about this guy, now I just miss him.
Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison – My earliest memory of Cash was how cool he was on TV… dressed in black, guitar slung around his back like a rifle. And my friend who had “Boy Named Sue” on 45 and we used to play it over and over to hear the curse word. I got the Folsom Prison record after the movie… awesome.
Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run – I still think of these songs every time I get on the Garden State Parkway going to the shore. “…what else can we do now? Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair.”
Peter Frampton – Frampton Comes Alive – THE record in high school, dominating the radio stations. Saw that tour.
Elton John – Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy – Definitely NOT part of that 70’s wasteland. My first concert ever, right after this record came out. Classic, smart, beginning to end.
Midnight Oil – Blue Sky Mining – Enough energy to power a train. Smart, fun, meaningful. Midnight Oil’s diamond, and they had many shining moments.
Squeeze – Argy Bargy – Can’t exclude these guys, and hard to pick just one Squeeze record. So many great songs, but this is when I discovered them.

My many honorable mentions, iPod alphabetical by artist…

10,000 Maniacs – In My Tribe, The A’s – The A’s, Alice Cooper – Welcome To My Nightmare, The Beatles – Abbey Road, Billy Joel – The Stranger, Bob Dylan – Desire, Boomtown Rats – The Fine Art Of Surfacing, The Cars – The Cars, Counting Crows – August and Everything After, Elvis Costello – King of America, My Aim Is True, Graham Parker and The Rumour – Squeezing Out Sparks, Joe Jackson – I’m The Man, Kiss – Alive, Louis Prima – The Wildest, Paul McArtney and Wings – Wings Over America, The Police – Outlandos D’Amour, Pretenders – Pretenders, Prince – 1999, Queen – A Day At The Races, A Night At The Opera, R.E.M – Murmur, Ray Charles – The Best of Ray Charles, The Atlantic Years, Rolling Stones – Some Girls, Simple Minds – Once Upon A Time, Squeeze – East Side Story, Steve Forbert – Jackrabbit Slim, Supertramp – Breakfast In America, Talking Heads – Talking Heads ’77, They Might Be Giants – Flood, Thomas Dolby – The Golden Age of Wireless, Tom Petty and The Heatbreakers – Damn The Torpedoes, U2 – Boy, Rattle and Hum, The Wallflowers – Bringing Down The Horse

June 15, 2013

Daddy Day Care

Father's Day I don’t remember Father’s Day much growing up. I think because my Dad worked two jobs most of that time, and probably wasn’t home. My Mom wasn’t given to sentimentality, so Mother’s Day is not very memorable either. Those days were certainly simpler, different times.

Now even Father’s Day is a little lost in the shuffle. Someone pointed out to me yesterday that it was “National Strawberry Shortcake Day”! That is so awesome, I love that stuff!! But yesterday was also “Flag Day”, commemorating the 1777 adoption of our national flag. It’s a “real” holiday, made official by an Act of Congress in August 1949. So when I look at my calendar on June 14th, I’m celebrating the yumminess of Old Glory. Maybe I’ll have some dessert after dinner.

I must rage against all of these made up holidays that have clogged my calendar. For example, today is simultaneously “Smile Power Day”, “National Jugglers Day”, and – my personal favorite – “National Hollerin’ Contest Day”. I better run to the store and get a Hallmark card for all of my smiling, juggling, hollerin’ buddies. You know who you are!

Hasn’t this gotten a little out of hand? And it’s not just days we recognize. Just so you know, June is Aquarium, Candy, Dairy, Adopt a Cat, Fresh Fruit and Vegetables, Rose, Turkey Lovers Month… and another fave – National Accordion Awareness Month!

Before I start getting hollered at by cat lovers, I understand the need to recognize important people and events. I’m all for Nurses Week, Teachers Month, Hug A Policeman Day, etc. In work, Customer Service Week is awesome! But of all of these recognition days and calendar cloggers, I’m going to throw my considerable weight behind Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

Tomorrow is my 23rd official Father’s Day… “official” because I did get some special treatment before my oldest was born in 1990. And I deserved that living with a women in her third trimester, and working with a boss going through same. So I will unabashedly say that I like this weekend. Not because of any one memory that sticks out, but because of a few little things the day or weekend brings.

I love the cards from my boys, the phone calls from my sisters, and now all of the fun social media stuff. I always get to choose my meals and whatever I want to do. I get control of the TV remote – hilarious because I always have that!! It’s just a good day!

A few years, Johnny had soccer tournaments on this weekend – that was great fun! Our sports club, Academy Sabres, holds an excellent event this weekend… Father’s Day Tent City – a campout on the soccer fields! And of course, Father’s Day for me is watching the final day of the US Open.

I think about my Dad this weekend too, and I miss him. Once I became a Dad myself, Father’s Days with him were always so much better. Better, because he was retired and we had more time together. He would be here a lot for whatever I was doing with my sons. Three generations… cool shit.

Tomorrow will be unexpectedly great because Colin is coming home from the shore tonight to be with me for Father’s Day. He’s heading back early Monday morning for work… I’ll take it! Johnny is working tomorrow night, so I’m looking forward to a great morning and afternoon with my sons. They are both adults now, and the days of climbing all over me like the photo above are gone. So I’ll take all the conversation and laughs they have for me now. Later I’ll fire up the grill, and my ass will be planted firmly on the couch watching Tiger, Rory and Phil, with my beverage of choice! It’s shaping up to be a great day – this Dad doesn’t need anything else.

Because of a few things that happened this week, I now realize that nothing in our lives is guaranteed. While this might be the first Father’s Day for some guys out there, it may be the last for others. So enjoy the hell out of it, my friends! That is my plan! Tomorrow and every day, the only thing that is guaranteed is that I will love my boys for the rest of their lives… not just mine.

That said… Happy Father’s Day! Have fun and some great food! Because Monday is “Eat Your Vegetables” Day.

June 2, 2013

Makin’ A Mix Tape

“Hope I die before I get old.” – The Who… 1965

I don’t understand that lyric now, and didn’t then. In all fairness I was a cute, little 5-year-old. So what did I know?

I delight in all types of music. My iPod carries a huge range of genres, from classical to punk rock. As I start to write this at the end of a long work day, I’m listening to Steve Forbert. But throughout the day I was visited (via shuffle) by ELO, The Black Keys, Billie Holiday, Counting Crows, Queen, Louis Prima and, of course Elvis Costello. I’m amazed at the power of music… that when a song comes on that I haven’t heard in decades, I remember the words and sing along. Stunning to me, as most days I don’t remember what I ate for breakfast!

Back to that cute, little 5-year-old…

In 65 I was already in possession of my first record album, “Meet The Beatles”… and awesome present from my cousin Mary on a visit from Ireland. I still have that record. She officially started my love for music. Much later I recognized “My Generation” as a great song but always got stuck on that famous line. According the rock legend, that verse from was written by Pete Townshend on his 20th birthday. “My Generation’ was very much about trying to find a place in society,” Townsend told Rolling Stone in 1987. “I was very, very lost. The band was young then. It was believed that its career would be incredibly brief.” Blissfully ignorant of the irony… the song is still played today by the two remaining members of The Who.

I have fond memories of Jersey shore cover bands baiting the sweaty crowds with songs like this, and the required fists punching the air to the beat of each catchphrase. “Hey! Teacher! Leave those kids alone!” or “… and this bird you’ll never chaaaange!” Great, great stuff for that point in time. Later into the 80’s, my musical tastes became more sophisticated, but no less rebellious. The songs I liked were more intense, less opus… more poetic, less anthemic.

At some point in everyone’s life they stop gobbling up new music and begin to rely on the stuff that got them this far. It happened to me in the mid to late 90’s. My kids would call it Dad’s music – I did. And I’m fine with that. Once in a while a new band or singer gets my ear, and I still love that feeling of discovery and sharing.

So I wonder what Pete Townsend thinks of that verse today. Given his long career and list of accomplishments, I’m betting he thinks it is a bit silly. Most of the things I thought about in my twenties were exactly that. Maybe he should issue a retraction!!

As for the cute little 53-year-old… after hundreds of concerts, thousands of albums and songs, I have no plans to die before I get old. Not necessarily a bold statement as I stand near that precipice. I “joked” with my son once that I was planning to be a burden to my children. He quickly assured me that I already was…

I’m reluctant to give up on discoveries I will make… musical and life. Not while there is some space left on my iPod. Maybe Jethro Tull has provided me with the epitaph I was looking for in my previous post…

“He was too old to rock ‘n’ roll. And he was too young to die.”

Let’s see those fists pumping. Wave your hands in the aaaair, like you just don’t caaaare…