Howdy! It’s been a week of travel for me — more on that below — but now that I’m back on terra firma, it’s time to share what I’m currently consuming in various media genres. OR, what I’m Watching, Reading, Listening to, and Rediscovering this week.
Here’s that Subscribe button, though. Happy to have you on board, a subscription is free, tell a friend, etc., etc.
Watching: My Wide-Ranging Interview with John Ziegler
This was quite fun. John Ziegler has been an online friend for a couple years now, and, earlier this year, I interviewed him about Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky scandal. (He may know more about all the nuances of that incident than anyone else; Here’s a link to that full interview: The Vandy Program Interviews John Ziegler.)
This time, though, we talked about some of the other things going on in the sports world and the world at large. Including…
The WNBA
College Football Then and Now (Hint: It’s Worse Now)
COVID: Lockdowns, Anthony Fauci, etc.
The Political Landscape going into 2028
Reading: Read The Paper — A Substack from Randy DeCleene
Full Disclosure: I’ve known Randy DeCleene since we were both youths in Mishawaka, Indiana. After reconnecting online maybe a dozen years ago, we’ve shared a few Zoom calls in the past few years.
He has relaunched his Substack called Read The Paper and you can subscribe for free below.
The idea is this: if you are of a certain age — Randy and I are both Generation-X, if you haven’t yet surmised that fact — you likely have some sort of memory of reading an actual physical newspaper. Randy digs up newspapers from throughout the country and shares those papers from important historical dates.
I was reminded on Friday that August 21, 1959 was the date that Hawaii became America’s 50th State. Why not take a look at what the Honolulu Advertiser had to say on that momentous day?
Excerpt:
“The front page editorial almost read like a poem —
“Today — Aug 21, 1959 — is the day toward which these past emotional, excitement laden months have been leading.”
“Today — at 10 a.m. Hawaiian time — President Eisenhower will sign the proclamation of Statehood.”✍️
“Today — after 40 years of struggle — Hawaii will end its 60 years as a territory and become forever the 50th State.”
“This is a day for Thanksgiving, for ceremony, for rejoicing — and for resolution.”
“It is a day to rejoice that at last we have attained full status in the union, that at last we are masters of our own affairs, that at last we have voting representation in the Congress of the United States.”
“…that we shall be a living example for the nation and the world of the spirit of Aloha.”
It’s a really fun read. I invite you to check it out.
Listening to: The Works of Ken Nordine
He had one of those voices that was unmistakable. You may remember hearing Amoco commercials in the 1990s — these were ubiquitous in Chicagoland and the Midwest — or, maybe even further back, in the 1970s, in ads for Levi’s.
Here are a couple of those ads.
Ken Nordine was one of a kind, as a voice-over artist, actor, and musician. He died in 2019 at the age of 98.
It’s that musician thing that really got my attention in the mid-90s.
So here’s Ken’s breakthrough 1957 album, called Word Jazz. Backed by The Fred Katz Group, Ken narrates a series of stories and the band backs him up. It’s an absolute hoot.
Rediscovering: One Crazy Sales Letter from 1995
Context: in the early 1990s, I was the Sports Information Director at Chicago State University. Yes, as I predominantly White guy working at a predominantly Black school on Chicago’s South Side, I could write a book.
The concept of the “sales letter” may appear to be the oeuvre of folks like Frank Kern or Alex Hormozi, but the tale is as old as time; or at least from the 1990s. Sales letters need to set the scene, tell you what is going on, give the details, and, finally, give you a call to action.
With all due respect to Jay Cranford — and props to his business for, according to my search, still being active today! — this letter is all over the map. There’s a reason I kept it after 31-plus years.
Finally: A Song…That Was Played 75 Million Times on YouTube…That I Just Heard For the First Time This Week!
I’ll admit two things about my musical tastes: (1) They have always been eclectic and (2) Sometimes something will slip through the cracks.
Case in point: The band Gossip and their song “Heavy Cross.”
Turns out, this BANGER of a single was so popular in 2009 (!) that it made it to #8 on the Billboard US Dance chart. And the band, fronted by Beth Ditto, worked with Rick Rubin (!) on the album this was from, Music for Men.
Thanks to SiriusXMU and specifically Jenny Eliscu for the earworm. I’m late to the party, but at least I’m…at the party.
Have a wonderful weekend, a phenomenal week ahead, and pick up the phone and call someone you haven’t chatted with in a while, will ya?
Dave