The Hunt For Blue October!

As a kid, I went to Kansas City A's games at Municipal Stadium with my grandpa. We'd park his Chevy in some guy's yard, and to avoid traffic. He'd give me a buck - which, in the 1960's would buy everything in the park. #sugarrush. Grandpa hated traffic (which is likely why he worked nights), so after the game we'd walk down the hill from 22nd & Brooklyn to Arthur Bryant's BBQ at 19th & Brooklyn, to wait out the traffic vacating the 35,000 seat stadium on two-lane city streets.

We'd have a brisket sandwich, fries and a red cream soda. A guy with mits four times the side of a normal adult would load the sandwich with meat. Sauce applied with paint brush, a huge order of fries - and that nectar of the gods - red cream soda. To this day, whenever I see that A's logo, I crave that grainy, peppery Bryant's sauce and a red cream soda. 
It is looking very likely that next Tuesday, the A's will come to KC for the wild card play-in game. While I would prefer to have the division, there's a part of me that wants this game. And I will have to get some Bryant's brisket and red cream soda. And just like all the times with grandpa, we'll watch the A's lose.

Go Royals!

The 50th Anniversary of the Birth of the Stadium Rock Concert

The Beatles began the now commonplace standard of the stadium rock concert fifty years ago today. 

For the astronomical (at the time) sum of $2.00 to $8.50, (the top number was about $63 in today's money) tickets were swallowed up by just over 20,000 fans, making it tied for the second largest crowd on the Beatles' first North American tour. I think there has been some false impression that the concert was a flop, but it was truly anything but.

But it almost never happened.

The Beatles weren't originally scheduled to perform at the Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Their day off was cancelled, however, after local promoter Charles O Finley persuaded the group's manager Brian Epstein to let them play.

Our days off were sacred. If you look at our 1964 timetable you can see why. I didn't realise until recently that we used to have a whole year of work, and then get something like 23rd November off - and then have to judge a beauty competition that day. So, by the time we got to Kansas City, we probably needed a day off. I can't actually remember falling out with Brian about him wanting us to work on a day off, we'd talk to each other rather than fall out.

Paul McCartney
Anthology

Charles Finley was the controversial owner of the Oakland Athletics Major League Baseball team, who at the time were based in Kansas City. He initially offered Epstein $50,000 but was turned down. He increased his bid to $100,000 but was again rejected. Finley then raised his offer to $150,000 - at the time the highest sum ever paid for a single performance - which Epstein accepted.

I remember the Kansas(sic) offer - for them to play an additional, unscheduled gig - kept coming up. It started out at $60,000 and they were saying 'no' because they had so few days off. Already that year they'd been to Paris, the States, appeared on the Ed Sullivan shows, come home and made the A Hard Day's Night record and movie. Then flown straight off on a world tour, and back to England for more concerts, TV and radio shows. And a visit to Sweden and straight after that an American tour.

They weren't getting any rest. A day off was precious; so if Brian wanted to fill one of their days off with an extra gig, they'd have to stop and think. To play thirty-five American cities was a big tour in those days. They'd play a gig on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, in different cities all over the States - flying in, hotel, press conference, gig, back to the hotel, flying out.

Brian had booked a 35-gig tour and they knew what they were doing and were committed to that. But to shove one more show in the middle was another story. So, The Beatles kept saying 'no', and the money kept going up. They agreed to do it in the end. The offer started at $60,000 and finally went to $150,000.

Neil Aspinall
Anthology

The Beatles arrived at Municipal Airport at 2am, with around 100 fans waiting in the pouring rain to greet them. The group were taken by limousine to the Muehlebach Tower hotel where they stayed in the 18th floor penthouse. The hotel later sold their bed linen to a Chicago businessman, who resold it in small pieces as souvenirs.

20,280 fans attended the unscheduled concert, with tickets costing between $2 and $8.50. The Beatles added their version of the Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! medley to the setlist. Something they had not played since their days in Hamburg. 

The show lasted just 32 minutes, for each of which The Beatles made $4,687. The opening act was a local group, Jack Nead and the Jumping Jacks, followed by, in order of appearance, The Bill Black Combo, The Exciters, Clarence 'Frogman' Henry, and Jackie DeShannon.

The Beatles attracted sell-out crowds throughout their inaugural US tour, except in Kansas City. The group attracted a crowd of 20,207, well below the Municipal Stadium's capacity of 35,000. The concert was billed with the slogan "Today's Beatles Fans Are Tomorrow's Baseball Fans."

The low attendance was due to local animosity toward Finley, who guaranteed the payment of $150,000 out of his own pocket regardless of ticket sales. Ticket sales may also have been low because of high price for the best seats, which at $8.50 were the most expensive for any of The Beatles' US tours. Even still, it was tied with Vancouver for the second-largest crowd on that tour.

On 4 November 2008 a two minute film containing silent footage of The Beatles performing at the concert was sold at auction for £4,100 ($6,600).

The Head of State's Bunghole. It's Everyone's Concern.

It is important that a President have adequate room for his bunghole.

I think that nearly all subsequent presidents could have used more room for their bungholes, and we'd be a better country.

9/11/01 Ground zero - Ground level.

My jacket patch from the recovery project. 

I was preparing for a flight to Chicago for an executive meeting. I was the Vice President of safety & training for Medcor. One of the largest occupational health providers in the US. It was a beautiful Tuesday in September. Cheryl dropped the girls off at School and when she returned home, she said, what is this news about a plane hitting the World Trade Center? I was in my tiny "office" (a ridiculously small bedroom we couldn't put a bed in, so I put a desk in it). I turned on the tiny TV sitting on my file cabinet in time to see Bernard Shaw, and watch the second plane. Little did I know that less than a month later, we'd be the occ health provider on that pile.

I was there. I saw the outpouring of love and patriotism. I saw the "Taj Mahal" - a giant canvas tent building that included decon, rest bunks, counseling and the huge mess hall with walls lined with pictures from children around the world, and food prepared by the best chefs of New York - Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich, Emeril Lagasse - and many others - volunteered time to feed the weary workers on the pile.
We all have our questions, but I am stating right now that I will delete any responses that are other than those honoring and respecting the memory of those who died, and those who worked that event. Please save your conspiracy theories for another time.

The deaths were real. The tragedy was real. And I am very proud of the people with whom I worked, who did the heavy lifting on that pile.

God bless them all.
God bless America. 

The Economy. Everything you are sure you know is wrong.

Which president would you rather have manage the economy, hold down taxes, reduce the debt, deliver high returns to investors, create a positive climate for business growth, and reign in the size of government - Barack Obama or Ronald Reagan?

That's a joke, right? Everyone on the face of the earth knows that Obama is a big government, socialist, tax-and-spend liberal, who hates business, right? And The Gipper was the bestest ever gen-u-wine, gold-plated example of everything good, righteous and true when it comes to conservative creed. Hell, he deserves to be the fifth face on Mount Rushmore for his brilliant handling of the economy. Everyone knows that.

Except it's completely false.

"Economically, President Obama’s administration has outperformed President Reagan’s in all commonly watched categories.  Simultaneously the current administration has reduced the debt, which skyrocketed under Reagan.  Additionally, Obama has reduced federal employment, which grew under Reagan (especially when including military personnel,) and truly delivered a 'smaller government.'  Additionally, the current administration has kept inflation low, even during extreme international upheaval, failure of foreign economies (Greece) and a dramatic slowdown in the European economy."
~ Forbes Magazine, Sept 5, 2014

“President Reagan has long been considered the best modern economic President.  So we compared his performance dealing with the oil-induced recession of the 1980s with that of President Obama and his performance during this ‘Great Recession.’
President Obama’s job creation kept unemployment from peaking at as high a level as President Reagan, and promoted people into the workforce faster than President Reagan. President Obama has achieved a 6.1% unemployment rate in his 6th year, fully one year faster than President Reagan did.  At this point in his presidency, President Reagan was still struggling with 7.1% unemployment, and he did not reach into the mid-low 6% range for another full year.  So, despite today’s number, the Obama administration has still done considerably better at job creating and reducing unemployment than did the Reagan administration. We forecast unemployment will fall to around 5.4% by summer, 2015.  A rate President Reagan was unable to achieve during his two terms.
[...] The labor participation rate adds in jobless part time workers and those in marginal work situations with those seeking full time work.  This is not a 'hidden unemployment'. (In other words, it's not a false number created by people who have 'given up')  It is a measure tracked since 1900 and called 'U6' today by the BLS. 

What’s now clear is that the Obama administration policies have outperformed the Reagan administration policies for job creation and unemployment reduction.  Even though Reagan had the benefit of a growing Boomer class to ignite economic growth, while Obama has been forced to deal with a retiring workforce developing special needs. During the 8 years preceding Obama there was a net reduction in jobs in America.  We now are rapidly moving toward higher, sustainable jobs growth.”

~ Bob Deitrick, CEO of Polaris Financial Partners and author of “Bulls, Bears and the Ballot Box”

Who knew?
Those who follow the actual data, and not the media Obama-bashfest knew. And that's why they're all making a ton of money right now in the market, and you're not. 

You've been awfully quiet.

I have been busy, but out of the spotlight.

While I have been struggling to form opinions on things going on in the world right now, I have been myopic in my focus on local hunger and health issues.

ISIS, Ferguson, Israel/Hamas, the murders in South KC and many more things - all are rattling around in my brain bucket. These issues are too important to knee-jerk react with some bullshit Facebook meme that relies upon bumper-sticker mentality. These matters require careful thought and consideration of all facets. To borrow from the President, I refuse to act on these things until I have a strategy. Mock all you want, but a well-reasoned, purposeful and effective strategy takes time. It takes getting all the facts on the table and careful deliberation. You don't just start dropping bombs - literally or figuratively.

Right now, my righteous indignation is directed at recent changes in public policy by both the US Congress and the Kansas State Legislature, that are causing children to suffer, while those resources are diverted to lining the pockets of political allies, cronies and even out-of-state billionaires. This is happening right now. It's real. It is going on in my state and county and school district and neighborhood. And it pisses me off more than anything else happening in the world right now. These are my neighbors and friends whose lives are being turned upside down by malevolent political hacks doing favors for each other at the expense of those in need. And worse, these hacks are painting the needy children as vultures and themselves as benevolent victims. It's sickening.

While Americans thump their chests on social media, pontificating their cable-news-spoonfed, armchair "expertise" at geopolitics and world religions, most are oblivious to the silent suffering of some child in a house on their block. Suffering caused by politically-motivated, reverse-Robin Hood rule changes that are stealing the health, hope and future of our children in order to feather the nests of the comfortable.

It's un-American. It's un-Christian. It's wrong. And these politicians must be stopped.

But the first thing that has to happen - Americans need to get off the sofa, get involved in their neighborhoods and communities, and stop wasting time pretending they know exactly how to bring peace to the Middle East. One person really can make a difference with a little applied effort in their community. How about starting by taking some of that time wasted in futile, and worthless online debates about international politics, and reallocating it into something useful?