I had other aspirations for this post.  Like that Van Zant song lyric, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”

So I have to go down other roads today.  Not the map that was in my mind will I follow.  I have to follow my heart this time.

“Not exactly the way I wanted to say goodbye, Radar.” That is what came to mind when I sat down to write these words.  Colonel Potter then said to Radar, “God speed, son.”  They hugged and the rest is sweet TV history.

We can all hope for a sweet history, even though it does not work out that way.  There are scrapes and burns and duct tape around the frame of every life.  How we get through some of what we get through, I will never know.  God’s hand is there to hold.  We can get into an argument of why bad things happen til the cows come home, go to pasture, and come back again.  Now is not the time.

I wanted to sit down and get wistful and take a trip down memory lane about some of the people and places I have written about on these pages since I began writing speaktherights.com.  This is post number 656.  I have written more than a half a million words here since I started in the summer of 2014.  This has been fun.

It is time to take a break.  There are a few of you out there.  I know you read these pages regularly.  I thank you for that.

For some time I have been wanting to work on a more ambitious piece of writing that I need to get out of my system.  No, it is not a bad thing I am dealing with.  It just feels that way sometimes when I feel bad for not putting something on here when I am wanting to get the other finished.  In the process, I make less progress here and there.

Time.  There just isn’t enough of it.  So, when I finish the writing project, I will be able to come back here and get on with this once again.  I’ll be back in the Spring.

Music from February 1977

1   NEW KID IN TOWN –•– Eagles
2   LOVE THEME FROM “A STAR IS BORN” (Evergreen) –•– Barbra Streisand
3   BLINDED BY THE LIGHT –•– Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
4   FLY LIKE AN EAGLE –•– The Steve Miller Band 
5  I LIKE DREAMIN’ –•– Kenny Nolan
6  ENJOY YOURSELF –•– The Jacksons
7  TORN BETWEEN TWO LOVERS –•– Mary MacGregor
8  NIGHT MOVES –•– Bob Seger
9  DANCING QUEEN –•– Abba
10  WEEKEND IN NEW ENGLAND –•– Barry Manilow

This was the American Top 40 top ten songs of the week ending February 26, 1977.  That would also be my Mother’s birthday!  It was a good time to be listening to the radio.  In 1977 my station of choice, the one I was probably listening to in between running upstairs to see how many points Dave Cowens or John Havlicek or Jo Jo White had for the Boston Celtics on the NBA on CBS Sunday afternoon telecast, was 1010 WCSI in Columbus, Indiana.

When Robert Becker sold 96.3 WJAA in Seymour in 2020, my daily radio listening life came to an end.  Oh there are a few shows I make a point to listen to.  Not many.  Not everyday.  Not like it was.  Thankful I had what I did for as long as I did.  I tuned in to listen to Becker every morning for nearly thirty years.

Nowadays I spend more time listening to Amazon Unlimited Music and Classic American Top 40 on the IHeart Radio App.

Well, here we go again (I can hear Ronald Reagan’s voice).

This was my classroom last week.  It was miserable.  The only thing I can think of that could be more miserable is having a classroom full of kids without masks on after a week that looked like the one is this picture.

When word came down from on high that will we be returning to the classroom tomorrow, I was delighted.  I was not impressed when that word included masks in the classroom were optional.  Oh, I know, it said Parental Choice in leading CAPITAL letters.  Having been away from the class for a week, I wish the message had said for the safety of our students and our staff WE ALL NEED TO WEAR A MASK WHILE OUR COUNTY IS IN THE RED.  That message would have been much more respectful of all involved in the classroom setting.

We asked parents to wear a mask when they were picking up food outdoors during lunch distribution last week.  But go ahead and send your kid to a classroom full of 30 or more students (mask or no mask).  Some of those classrooms have no outside windows.  I know this all too well.

I suppose it would not sting like it does, had more professionals been recognized as stakeholders in protecting all stakeholders.  I don’t blame all of this on the administration.  I blame it on the teachers too.  As an educator I was not asked what I thought was important for the next steps by either the administration or the classroom teachers association.  Seems like my membership (and my remuneration) in the association is respected more than I am.

You better know when it comes time to formulate a school improvement plan, the surveys and the questionaires will be flying around like leaves in a November windstorm.

In full disclosure, I am not one who has worn a mask in my classroom all year long.  I am wearing one now for sure cos I want to help us get through this level red mess.  This very school year I went from the football sideline to the stage as the drama club sponsor.  This ole boy ain’t been hiding.

I feel like when we are not wearing masks and being as responsible as we can be we are throwing healthcare workers under the bus in the process.

Remember when we used to watch National TV news, be it John Chancellor or Walter Cronkite, and we saw a story that looked awful about folks suffering somewhere?  What did we tell ourselves?  We said, “I sure am glad that ain’t happening here!”

It is happening here.  We don’t have to look at it for 30 seconds at a time before Walter says, “That’s the way it is.” or before John Chancellor says, “That’s Nightly News for this evening.”  This is 2022 and we have to look at this health disaster 24/7.  Why do we have to make decisions that remind us of 1978?

I recently told a friend as long as there is sand, you will always be able to find some Hoosier heads.  Sorry kids.  Geography can be studied and it can hurt at the same time.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

It has been too long away from these pages, hasn’t it?

Maybe.

Or, as my Granny used to say, “Might…Might Not!”

It was a miracle. I called the College Footbal Game correctly.  Georgia won over Alabama and at the beginning of bowl season I made that call.  It all sure went quickly.

At some point I will add up my win-loss picks for the entire bowl season.  I doubt I report that.  It will be uglier than a bowling shoe.  If Lewis Grizzard was somewhere watching last Monday, I hope he enjoyed it.

Don’t be greedy, BAMA.

The Bengals won one.

No, the Bengals helmets don’t look like that anymore.  They did when I saw them in person for the first time.  They were playing the Packers in 1975 in what we used to call an “exhibition” game.  Now it is called the preseason.

The last time I saw the Bengals in person they defeated my Eli-led New York Giants in 2012.

It will be the last time I attend a Bengals game, as the flyover that day left me adversely phased to a point no return.  I will never step foot into Paul Brown Stadium again.

But good for the 2021 Bengals.  The beat the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday to earn their first playoff victory since the 1990 season on January 6, 1991.  Who beat them the next week in 1991?  That would be the Los Angeles Raiders.

Two Hall of Fame coaches went at it on Decemebr 28, 1975.  This time it was the OAKLAND Raiders (as the Lord intended) defeating the Cincinnati Bengals.

RAIDERS 31         BENGALS 28

John Madden’s Okland team beat Paul Brown’s team.  Talk about some history on those sidelines.

I was watching the game in my grandparents’ den at 1439 Alma Street in Shreveport.  I still remember being sore at my Granny cos she was rooting for the Raiders.  It was George Blanda’s last season in 1975.  His first on was in 1949.  A quarterback turned kicker.  There was only one like Blanda and that was Blanda.  Granny was for Blanda.

That was the last quote of the day my students saw in the room.  I had no idea that on Friday, we would not be together and that the rest of this week, starting tomorrow, will be what we call ELearning.  The kids are at home.  I am at my desk looking at a computer screen hoping they will all show up for our “virtual class time”.  We do the best we can do.  That covid shadow just kept creeping in closer and closer.  We could feel it.  That would be a rather hopeless feeling.

I pulled a large Moodies poster out of mothballs, as I needed a larger coloful backdrop.

Carrie and I  picked this up for my Dad this weekend at a large, majestic store in Jasper.

A 5 lb bag of goobers!

Dad got after them watching his Southern Miss Golden Eagles at Marshall some years ago.

We’ll give Granny the last word.  Though she disappointed me when she rooted against my Bengals forty-seven years ago, I thought of her when I ran across this just yesterday.

She enjoyed watching her Cowboys.  Captain America led the way.  And when the Cowboys were on defense, Granny yelled out a hearty, “Get Him!!!!”

I will be for the Rams over the Cardinals tonight.  If I had it my way, the Rams will play the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.  I think that is the correct Roman Numeration.  If not, I contend to just speak the rights…

Danny Johnson

Let’s be careful out there.

Those were the final words from Sgt. Phil Esterhaus during morning Roll Call, as was the time and place the television show Hill Street Blues would open each week.

January 15, 1981 at 10 PM EST was the night Hill Street Blues premiered on NBC.  Walter Cronkite was still telling us “That’s the way it is…” just before 7 PM on CBS.  Walter wrapped that up on March 6, 1981.

To this day, when I am asked what my favorite television show of all time was I answer Hill Street Blues.  It was different.  The use of handheld cameras taking a more cinematographic approach made it look different immediately to the eye.  And the cast?  This ensemble made the number of memorable characters on MASH seem paltry.

We won’t get in to all the characters.  But as MASH was winding down, it would end in 1983, Hill Street gave so many of us something to discuss on Friday mornings at school.

MASH was the same, probably to a larger degree.  That was ‘THE SHOW” in the 70s. We all watched.

I get wistful at times thinking about all the great travel my dear wife, Carrie, and I done over the dozen years or so.  We have been fortunate to see a great deal.

A few years ago I tracked down a complete seried set of Hill Street Blues on DVD.  I watched it through.  I started it again a couple days ago.  I watch it as I excercise in the basement.  It is every bit as good as I remember.  The characters.  The lines I still remember.  And there is the Hill Street station.

A photo taken of my TV screen.

Hill Street Station is in Chicago.  Carrie is in front of it in this picture.  Yes, that is snow and ice around her feet.  It  was a chilly day.

This building, at least while we were there, was serving as a police station for the University of Chicago.  It took some looking to find.  But it was worth it.  I could see Captain Furrillo ducking out of the building in the dark of night to get into his car.  And let us not forget that great Mike Post Hill Street Blues Theme Song.

I think this classy piano driven theme song was part of Hill Street Blues’ great appeal.  There was violence on this show like we had not seen on network TV before.  The realism was a priority.  This was not CHIPs where every car that flipped turned over three times.  It was serious stuff.  The juxtaposition between sweet theme and ugly streets came out of the televison on those Thursday nights in buckets.  As a fan of the show, this was our show.  The critics were not kind when it started.  If a critic agrees with you, how much of a critic are they?  Exactly.

I will keep watching and keep rememberg this great show I grew up with from age 12 to 19.  Doing so keeps me young, until I have to climb the stairs after a workout.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

January 2022.  That sounds very very nice right now.

If we ever needed a good turning of the calendar, it is now.  I am delighted to see 2022 here with us.

As I type these words, I am listening to Barry Manilow singing a song from his 1977 Barry Manilow Live album. The song he wrote with Marty Panzer is called Another New Year’s Eve.  I don’t know that it appears on a regular Manilow solo album.  The finale of the album, playing now, is the Bruce Johnston penned iconic tune called I Write The Songs.  If you have paid attention to The Beach Boys you will recognize Bruce as a memebr of that band for a number of years post Bian Wilson touring that always has a smile on his face.  I’d smile too had I wrote that tune.

This album made a great impression on me.  Long before I ever saw a music concert in person, I had already imagined what that meant.  I was an odd ten year old kid.  Barry Manilow songs were tunes I analyzed and put myself in.  When I was ready to make my own music, nothing ever really intimidated me.  I appreciated it all.  I did.  I respected the folks around me to the point of deference.  But I was not intimidated.  Had I been, I would have taken my songs and ran in fear.  Yes, I know I never deserved to be in the room with guys who’d played with or led off for some of music’s notable including The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Buffett, The Charlie Daniels Band, Vince Gill, Billy Swann, Velvet Elvis, Bodeco, The Wulfe Brothers, and so on.  But I found myself there.  And guess what?  I Write the Songs too.  That is what got them and me in the room.  I should just be thankful for what it is.  And I thank Jeff Carpenter, my partner in music, for leading me there.

This was yesterday at my parents’ house.  We watched some good old January 1st football.  This may be my favorite day of the year.  This tradition has held long and steadfast.  I am so thankful.

Of all the pictures I look at before this Covid mess hit, I often look at this one.

All is right in the picture.

Speaking the rights!

Danny JHohnson