Some Election Perspective From a Regular Citizen

Some Election Perspective From a Regular Citizen

I can't wait until the elections are over so we can have our regular commercials back. That's right, I'd rather companies try selling me vacuum cleaners, frozen dinners, erectile dysfunction pills, or the latest automobiles - Oh and don't forget Peter Francis Gerace. I can almost welcome him into my living room each night rather than putting up with more mudslinging and negative campaigning. Let's face it, we could wipe out a decent part of our budget deficit if the money spent on these horrible ads was put to better use.
Here is my advice for Governor Quinn, or insert the name of any politician currently in office and running for re-election here: _________________. Your campaign starts the day you officially take office. You have the job. You have had many years to prove to citizens that you can and should be performing your duties in our best interest and with integrity.

After many years on the job if all you can do is try to convince us that your opponent is not capable, well that makes me think that maybe you are not very competent yourself. Maybe you have things you are trying to hide? So, instead of running on your personal record you try to distract and confuse people with lies and half-truths.

Governor Quinn has tried to convince us that he's just a regular guy like us as he mowed his lawn with an eco-friendly push mower, wearing his Dockers and golf shirt. He couldn't have looked more uncomfortable and overdressed for the task which looked comical on TV. That one must not have tested well because I haven't seen it in a few weeks, or maybe the ads are seasonal and we will see him soon dressed like he is headed to church, but this time with a rake or snow shovel.
In other ads Quinn and his party condemn his opponent for being too wealthy and successful to govern this state. Like that makes any sense at all to say, "Hey people of Illinois, here is my opponent who went to college, and graduated, went on to build a successful career in business and became wealthy. Because of this he will be out of touch with the common citizen. Instead put your trust in us who have made our careers in public office with most of us never having held any job other than politician." Career politician sounds more out of touch to me and maybe to your average working  person who has spent years on a 9 to 5 job.

Yet Quinn's party has been quick to point out the discrepancy between the rich and poor, the haves and the have-nots, but they omit the fact that it is because of many of the policies credited to the current administration, things like the "temporary" 67% state tax increase that will soon become the permanent 67% tax increase and will help to create an even bigger burden on the have-nots than a successful business man will in the governor's office.

Let's not forget the business climate created by this administration. When you are not seeing a campaign ad you might be watching one of the commercials from New York or other states looking to attract businesses and jobs away from Illinois. That's not being done by coincedence, and if Quinn is re-elected you can bet there will be more.

I cannot say I completely understand everything that his opponent, Mr. Rauner has accomplished or how he has gone about getting to his level of success. Is he the answer to our financial problems and the corruption that exists in Illinois? That's the question. Pat Quinn has had his chance and while he seems like a likable enough guy it would be such an easier choice if he could just honestly tell us what he's done right as governor than to try to convince us with what is wrong with his opponent.

Believe and You Will Find What You Ask For

Believe and  You Will Find What You Ask For

There is nothing better than being a kid on Christmas morning. To wake up early, get your parents out of bed and dash to the tree to see if Santa made it to your house as expected. Fortunately, my brother and sister and I were never let down. I will always remember the year I got a 10-speed bike and thought that no gift could ever match it. That bike would hold the record for “best Christmas present ever” until almost 40 years later and Christmas 2013.

Years later as a parent, you can’t wait for your own kids to storm into your bedroom on Christmas morning, which they do many hours before they would normally peel back the covers. They eagerly awake the entire family to descend the stairs and sort all of the wrapped packages into piles and commence the unwrapping. Fortunately, Santa has never disappointed my two children either, but as any parent knows, or will experience, it gets tougher to recreate the magic as the teen years progress.

As Christmas 2013 approached I did not know what to expect. 2013 has been a rough year in our house. I have spent all of the year slowly trying to start a small business after losing my corporate job late last year, and my wife has proactively been fighting health issues while trying to work more and make up for our loss of income. That alone was enough of an uphill battle and thank God spirits remained bright throughout.

Then came August and more health issues. This time for my mom and this time her trip to the hospital was her last. She had had enough and had steadily been slowing down over the past few years, even to the point of not eating. Her loss hurt us deeply, though we knew she was at peace.

 “Could this year get any worse?”  This was a question we asked ourselves only to find it could. After being told earlier in the year that my mother-in law could possibly have another 5 to 7 years left to live due to a returning cancer, we found out that no matter what doctors say, it is God’s choice and God did not want to wait 7 years to get her back. So barely six weeks later, on my oldest daughter’s sixteenth birthday, we tearfully said goodbye to another Grandmother. We all wondered if this was just a nightmare that we couldn’t awake from, like Scrooge being visited from the three spirits.

So I sat in church early this Christmas morning praying to find some spirit. Many memories from Christmases past came flooding my brain and it was sad to think of how much different this Christmas would be from last Christmas. I found some peace in the fact that while my wife and I have made new traditions for our family, we have also continued many that have been passed down from our parents and our childhood days. I prayed to God for even a small sign that would bring some peace to a big kid who was feeling a little sorry for himself after a year filled with loss. I was in need of some cheer.

It was pleasant as I drove home early from mass. There was a fresh dusting of snow on the ground. The streets were empty. Everything was closed except for church and the corner gas station. It took me back to a time when all businesses recognized Sunday as a day of rest and closed to give people the day off to spend with their families. None of us ever suffered because stores and other business closed one day of the week and neither did businesses. Their customers returned when business resumed on Monday. This made me think more about my childhood and the sadness of spending my first Christmas ever without at least one parent to celebrate it with.

In our house, Christmas morning is the traditional time for opening presents. Having a 16 year old and a 15 year old daughter in the house meant there was no threat of them getting up too early this year to attack packages and I walked in the door a few minutes before they got out of bed. Good timing.

We sorted the presents in four piles. We always let the girls alternate opening packages until they are finished, then my wife and I exchange gifts. We also each take the girls out shopping every year to have them pick gifts for mom and dad that we open –  and that is our traditional Christmas morning before we have breakfast.

As my wife and I were picking up all of the spent wrapping paper, our daughters disappeared. We figured they were trying to avoid that task (which is also tradition) but reappeared as suddenly as they had vanished. They had left to get two presents that they had hidden from us.

Because our older daughter started driving this year she took her sister shopping. They pooled some babysitting and birthday money and got the idea that they should actually shop for and buy us each a gift this year.

And there it was, a moment that will play on the video screen of my memory for all time. They proudly handed those nicely wrapped boxes to my wife and I. We slowly realized what was happening and looked at each other to see if either one of us had any prior knowledge of this activity.

There it was, a 50 year old man and a 47 year old woman humbled by an unexpected and much appreciated gesture of two teenaged girls. It could have been anything in those boxes, we didn’t care because they did it all on their own.

And…there it was, my prayer answered. As we sadly said goodbye to our Mothers this Christmas and I struggled to find happiness in the season, I realized that as traditions get passed down, others are born -  and that 10-speed bike from Christmas past is the best present I have ever received, until this year. I am a believer.
Merry Christmas. 

The Ides of March Christmas Show, Arcada Theatre, December 7, 2013

The Ides of March Christmas Show – Arcada Theatre, December 7, 2013

The Ides of March Christmas Show at the Arcada Theatre, had all the making of a wonderful musical Christmas gift, featuring harmonies, horns and songs from an original catalog that would ignite the Christmas spirit in the icy heart of any Grinch. Make no mistake, this was a Christmas show and to paraphrase radio legend and show emcee Dick Biondi, “… we are here because of a special day happening in a few weeks… You know 2000 years ago, a baby was born in Bethlehem and his name was not Holiday…”

The Ides took the stage dressed in various combinations of red and black for a show that was split into two parts – one part Christmas, one-part Classics. The Christmas side featured a new Ides song, The Meaning of Christmas along with a number of very heartfelt Christmas songs that would fill the Arcada and it’s patrons with the warmth of the season. A standout song in the Christmas set was Distant Trumpet that has all the feel of a traditional Christmas classic. It is a song written by one of the best writers of a generation, rock legend, Jim Peterik. Distant Trumpet was inspired by the loss of a friend, original Ides of March trumpet-player, John Larson who passed away in 2011. In the song, a distant trumpet plays on Christmas morning to herald the birth of Christ the King. You can hear this and the other Ides of March Christmas songs on their current CD, The Meaning of Christmas available on their website and they will be performing again this Christmas Eve at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.

A short intermission featured a raffle with proceeds benefiting the Lazarus House in St. Charles an organization with the goals to offer services and referrals to help those in need in the community to prevent homelessness and support the well being of individuals and their families; and to help homeless persons return to independent living with the skills and habits needed for long-term success. In the spirit of giving, the Ides of March also donated a portion of the nights proceeds to assist the communities of Washington and other communities in central Illinois recently devastated by tornadoes.

Part 2 - the classics. The audience had already got their money’s worth with the Christmas performance, but the Ides didn’t stop there. Returning to the stage after intermission, they proceeded to rock with a set of classics featuring L.A. Goodbye, Live Life, a version of The Search Is Over that brought the crowd to their feet for a standing ovation and of course the iconic Vehicle.

While many acts in rock and roll have gone the way of Spinal Tap, The Ides of March are set to embark on their 50^th year together as a band with original members intact. The success of this band is that the players compliment each other and each has his own moment to shine in the spotlight. As musicians, they play together as a tight functioning group, the benefit of 50 years together, and they perform each song with the enthusiasm and energy you would expect to find in a group of up and coming rockers looking to make their mark. The Ides of March are truly a band of brothers. Their “50 Years Down the Road” tour will be a must see in 2014.

Along with a variety of musical Christmas performances the Arcada will be showing classic movies of the season like, A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life. And Ron Onesti is not taking much of a Christmas break, as he keeps the Arcada calendar packed with performances for 2014. Acts already scheduled to perform are Cheap Trick, Rik Emmett of Triumph and Eddie Money, but you need to check out www.oshows.com so you don’t miss out on one of your favorites.

The Man Who Shot Kennedy (As Kennedy Was Being Shot)

There is a lot of coverage on JFK this month because of the milestone anniversary. I have had a fascination with this day because it also happens to be the day I was born, so I have felt a connection to this event most of my life. Relatives and friends have always reminded me that they knew exactly what they were doing on November 22, 1963.

 50 years ago a dressmaker filmed a twenty-six second "home-movie" that would make him a part of history. He would become the producer of a film valued at more money, per frame, than any film ever made. Home movie making was a hobby Abraham Zapruder enjoyed. to be able to record the activities of his small grandchildren, yet it would enable him to document what would become the most lasting image the world would have of one of the single most horrible and tragic moments in history. It would change how TV news would be reported. This blog is a brief look at Abraham Zapruder and the events of his day on November 22, 1963 and the historic Zapruder Film that almost never was.

Bell and Howell Model 414 PD

 Abraham Zapruder was born in Ukraine and migrated to New York, where as a boy he learned to cut patterns for clothing. In 1949, he turned that talent into a clothing business in Dallas called Jennifer Juniors and ran that business from a building across the street from the Texas schoolbook depository in downtown Dallas. Zapruder  purchased a Bell and Howell Zoomatic Director Series, 8MM Camera, Model 414 PD to be able to record the activities of his young grandchildren. This camera was one of the best quality "home-movie" cameras of the time.

Zapruder, an admirer of President Kennedy, considered bringing the camera to work with him on the morning of November 22 in order to get some footage of the presidential motorcade as it was scheduled to drive through Dallas that afternoon. That morning was gloomy and overcast, so he decided it wouldn't be worth the effort to bring the camera with him. As the day went on, the weather started to improve. His secretary, Lillian Rogers, urged "Mr. Z" as he was known to his employees, to return home for the camera, a fourteen mile round-trip he eventually decided to make.


At first, Zapruder thought he could get a good view of the president from near his office, but as he returned with the camera crowds had already started to gather. He set out with his receptionist, Marilyn Sitzman to find a better vantage point in Dealey Plaza and after trying a few places, he settled on a narrow piece of concrete near the overpass. The concrete was slightly elevated which allowed him a good view of the approaching motorcade, a view that would make him a witness to history.



The entire film only lasted a fraction over twenty-six seconds. The Bell and Howell Zoomatic, loaded with 8MM Kodachrome film took pictures at a rate of 18.3 frames per second and Zapruder had the camera fully wound as he anticipated the arrival of the president. The first 132 frames or seven seconds shows the lead motorcycles in the escort headed down Elm Street. Realizing that the president's limousine was not immediately behind the motorcycles, Zapruder stopped filming to conserve film. He would start filming again with the president's vehicle already turned onto Elm Street and would leave the camera running to capture another 354 frames and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Frame 313 captures the most graphic and fatal shot.

In 1963, newspaper and radio were the main and most respected sources for news and journalism. The TV equipment of the day was not very small or transportable and there were no TV cameras covering the event that day in Dallas. When the shots were fired at the president, news reporters and others with cameras were there on site. Out of instinct, some ducked and ran for cover.  Others were so shocked by the events transpiring in front of them that they stood watching motionless, neglecting to press the shutter of their own cameras. Other images were taken in Dealey Plaza that day, but none was as complete or taken from a better vantage point. Zapruder later testified  to the Warren Commission that he did not realize what was taking place in front of his own eyes until he witnessed the fatal and graphic shot that ended Kennedy's life.

Zapruder met with with Dallas Secret Service and not realizing the significance of the film, they left with only a promise for Zapruder to supply a copy at a later time. Zapruder's next stop was WFAA the local TV station. Their lab was only equipped to process 16MM newsreel film and because of that, missed out on the biggest exclusive in TV news history, but as he was an eyewitness, they agreed to interview Zapruder on the air just 90 minutes after the assassination. WFAA contacted a local branch of the Eastman Kodak company where an employee named Phil Chamberlain processed the film. One copy was sent to Secret Service Chief James Rowley in Washington D.C. and from that copy, some duplicates were made. The original film was returned to Zapruder.

The next morning Zapruder was approached by Life Magazine, where after viewing the film offered  $50, 000 for the printing rights with an agreement to not exploit the graphic nature of the images. Because of the magazine's reputation, Zapruder felt that Life would honor this promise - and they did. After viewing the film himself, Life publisher C.D. Jackson renegotiated motion picture rights for the film for six installments of $25, 000 - a total payment of $150, 000, or about a half-million in today's money. That agreement was made on the day of President Kennedy's funeral. Zapruder feared being labeled a profiteer at such a sensitive time, so his initial payment of $25, 000 was donated to the family of J.D. Tippit, the Dallas policeman killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.

It would be years before the public would see the Zapruder film. Life magazine honored Zapruder's exploitation requests. They never sold the broadcast rights to the film. The first time it was seen by the public was in 1969 when subpoenaed for the Clay Shaw trial. It was shown on national TV on March 6, 1975 on Geraldo Rivera's "Good Night America" show.

Abraham Zapruder died from stomach cancer in 1970.

The rights and the original film were sold back to Zapruder's heirs in 1978 for the price of one dollar. They formed a company to manage rights and usage of the film and sold a portion of the film to Oliver Stone for use in the motion picture JFK for a reported $85, 000. This prompted congress to pass the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act, allowing the government to seize all records of the assassination. There was a deal struck between the government and the Zapruder heirs resulting in a $16 million payment to the family. This works out to about $615, 384 per second or $33, 652 per frame of film. Today, the original film is stored at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland in a cold storage vault at 25 degrees Fahrenheit and 30 percent relative humidity for optimum preservation.

"We would like to live as we once lived, but history will nor permit it."   - John F. Kennedy   

The Zapruder film is the most studied and analyzed film ever. It is the most complete piece of forensic evidence of the Kennedy assassination. It is a graphic film of a man being murdered. It never helped to solve the crime. Frame 313 contains the image that troubled Zapruder the most. It is the image he wanted to keep from the public for many reasons, including respect for the Kennedy family. At that moment, in that frame, we are faced with the stark realization that even the most powerful man in the world is still a vulnerable target for a killer. We realize that even with such complete visual evidence, we can still doubt what we see with our own eyes.

Abraham Zapruder

Because of the time, technology and circumstance, there will never be an equivalent of another Zapruder film. To cover a live event in 1963, networks needed days of advanced planning to set up large equipment and satellites were not available to instantaneously transfer images. TV news coverage changed with the Kennedy assassination. Network executives knew that the events in Dealey plaza required providing images to their viewers. The standard practice at the time was simply having a newsman (there were no newswomen in 1963) read a script on camera.

Since Zapruder, history has been brought into our living rooms on a daily basis. We have seen images of war. We have seen the Space Shuttle explode right in front of our eyes. We have watched airplanes crash into the World Trade Center towers, and we watched as those towers fell. Now, when we hear of a news event the images are instantly available at our fingertips on our cellular devices, and can be used, as in Boston, to provide the needed information to solve a crime.

 It has been said that history never looks like history when you are living through it. Abraham Zapruder set out  on November 22, 1963 as a guy with a camera, and a hobby. He returned as an historic figure. Without his film we would all have a different image of what happened on that day. Abraham Zapruder spent the majority of his life running a clothing business, yet all of his work and all of his years are eclipsed by his twenty-six second movie, that without some urging from a co-worker, would have never been made.

Less is Maury

There are seven nice TVs at my health club. I spend a half-hour or so there 3 or 4 times every week to be able to justify my consumption of pizza and cheeseburgers. Today, 3 of the TVs were showing "Maury" on WGN and like watching a train wreck, I couldn't turn away.

I have heard criticism of this show from many people. I'm not much of a fan, nor am I the audience that this show is intended for. I do know that the show has been on TV for many years so there are obviously people watching it. The host is paid a pretty decent salary of around $14 million per year as reported by some of the web-sites that I checked, so "Maury" is generating income for many people as well as for a big TV network. So from that perspective I will give it the credit that it is due. I am not going to attempt to rip it apart as many have done. It is what it is - and the show lives on. I do think that there is a really bad message that it sends the viewers, and it has nothing to do with what the show projects on its surface and that message is what made me write this blog.

At some point, a few years ago, the show produced a segment called, "Who's the Daddy?" This is where they get a willing couple in a paternity battle to submit to DNA testing to prove once and for all the identity of the person responsible for impregnating a single mother who wrote to the show for help in this matter. I guess sometime it may be the accused "impregnator" who initiates contact with the show because he may believe that based on the baby momma's reputation that there is a decent chance that he could be the "impregnator" but so could a number of other people. By the way, I'm not even sure if "impregnator" is a word but I do not want to identify this group of males as"fathers" as I feel it would be insulting to most of the responsible fathers who actually support, take care of, and love their children and have not been forced to do so because of a court order.

Of course we get the couple's story. Maury builds the tension and then brings out the guy from backstage. For the audience its the kind of tension that is like showing your friends the cute little
mouse right before it is dropped into an aquarium containing a hungry snake. So now that the pot has been stirred there is a lot of on camera fighting, yelling and finger-pointing and finger-wagging. We all feel that one of these two "parents" is lying and we have to determine who it is. Who made the mistake? Who is at fault? All this on camera chaos leads up to the result of the DNA test, because we just have to know!

That's what stuck in my mind - the blame game and how it is so prevalent in our society. In our culture, when there is a mistake made, usually the first question asked is - Who's fault is it? In our minds, someone has to be right and someone has to be wrong. It is why there are so many frivolous law-suits. Hey, I tripped on the sidewalk and hurt myself. The sidewalk must not be level or maybe I bought defective shoes. It can't be because I'm clumsy, somebody is to blame! Look at the news every day. Who's to blame for the condition our country is in? Is it he Republicans or the Democrats? The arguing and finger-pointing in government is not much different from the scenes on daytime TV. And while the arguing is going on, nothing productive is happening.

In the case of Maury, there is a small child who does not care about the media circus. They just need food, clothing, shelter and to have somebody to love them and care for them. In the case of the government whether Republican or Democrat, there is a similar media circus and again, nothing productive is happening. We are all Americans, we are all human beings with the same basic needs. We live in a wealthy country, filled with educated people. Isn't there anyone who can stop with the finger pointing about who is to blame and actually start working fixing things? It is becoming more obvious that the answers are not going to come from our elected leaders. They are out of touch with the American people the way a sixty-something, $14 million dollar per year TV host is out of touch with a 17 year old single mother.

Maybe the real message we should take from Maury is this: There is so much turmoil that the show creates that everyone forgets that there are people profiting handsomely from it - people who are
happy with the way things are. Through it all, we are all entertained and distracted from the real
issues. Sound familiar?

Broadview from 1965 to 1977

I lived in Broadview from 1965 to 1978. My parent's house was about as far south as you could get in Broadview before crossing Cermak Road and entering into North Riverside. This area of town wasn't very big, going only from 13th Avenue on the west to 9th Avenue on the east. Our residential area was bookended by International Harvester on the west-side and the Illinois National Guard on the east-side. Cermak Road was the south border and we were somewhat separated from the rest of town by the train tracks that were the northern border of the houses we lived in. On 11th Avenue, our house was built across the street from Arnie's Air Dome which later became Jade Garden restaurant.
My dad worked at International Harvester, or just- Harvester as we called it. That was the reason we moved to Broadview, so my dad could be near his job. You could do that back then, because people used to work at the same place for many years and my dad spent 35 of his at Harvester. I remember him being able to walk to work which he did more often than he drove the family car, he was a Chevy guy and in our neighborhood it was pretty much Chevy or Ford.
Because of where we lived in Broadview, the kids in our geographical area attended Komarek School in North Riverside. We too walked to school, only a few kids from Beverly Park needed a bus to get there. Most of us at Komarek started out in kindergarten and remained together as a group through eighth grade with a few families moving in or out of the district during our time there.
I've been thinking about Broadview a lot lately and the impact growing up there had on my life. Even before reconnecting on Facebook, my closest friends were the ones I've  known since kindergarten classes. All of our group hit the milestone 50th birthday in 2013. I shouldn't say all, because some of the Komarek Class of 1977 have passed on. I guess turning 50 has been the cause for all of the reflection; that and also the passing of my mother this past August. We have been going through some of her things and have found many fond remembrances  of the Broadview years. My mom worked for Harvester too in an office right on 17th Avenue where there is a strip-mall today.
Our neighbors were all hard working people. In some families the dad had two jobs and in some, like mine the mom worked out of the house. Families sacrificed and lived within their means. Cash was the standard means of payment and I don't recall too many credit cards. We were taught that there was no shame in working hard.
When I have the chance to spend time with these old friends, you can tell that our character was, built in Broadview. We all share a common bond of growing up in a much simpler time when so long as you had a bike, a pass to the Broadview pool, or time to spend at Sunnywood Park or one of the other Broadview parks you had all you needed to get you through summer vacation. We didn't all always get along but be always made up.
I guess it's true that the best friends are old friends and Broadview was a place were good friends were made. I will always look back fondly on where I grew up and wouldn't trade those years for anything.