I just got off the phone with my Dad.  He had hip replacement surgery today #2. The first one was last September.

I am dumb-founded that I did not get to see him today.  Very very frustrated.  Problem is I was at the doctor yesterday myself and a hospital is not where I need to be close to today.  Gads.  I was at home today.  It was a long day, I can tell you.  Fortunately I too am gaining ground.  I plan on being at school tomorrow.

Earlier this afternoon I had a phone call about some school business.  I told the person I talked to, as I chuckled, that it was the first time I had thought about laughing in over 24 hours.  If that is the case, I know I am ripe.

Dad sounded great.  He is already talking about getting home and getting back to the YMCA to work out now that he doesn’t sound and feel like a bowl of Rice Krispies getting hit with milk.  Snap.  Crackle. And Pop.  I hope he doesn’t hear that when I get off the couch.  Cos I can hear it.  Oh well.

Hearty thanks to all out there who said a prayer for my Dad.  I know they came from far and wide.  I was in touch with a few of those folks today.  I could not be more thankful and fortunate.

I have not mentioned it, but I did get the Alabama win over Georgia correct.  I picked this game with the rest of the bowl games before they started on December 16th.  It went something like this…

Rose Bowl Playoff Semifinal: Georgia beats Oklahoma…not a Big Ten or Pac 12 team in sight.  Tragedy.

Sugar Bowl Playoff Semifinal:  Alabama beats Clemson…Tide Rolls.

CFP Champs:  Alabama beats UGA.  The Master outlasts the pupil.

First time I have ever been right!  Well, maybe not…but that was exactly what happened, wasn’t it?

This past week I was asked if I would get around to seeing The Moody Blues again.  So many will laugh when I say no.  But, uh, the answer is no.  What if they show up at The Louisville Palace?  Call me crazy.  I won’t go.  (I hear laughter).

It’s like this…  Last July I took my sister, her first Moodies concert in Dayton (her kids have seen them), and my dear wife, Carrie, and I went to see them three weeks later at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.  Both nights they played the album Days of Future Passed in its entirety.  Carrie and I walked out of the iconic Ryman on cloud 9 and a half.  It was an awesome show and we have seen a few clunkers…but they have been rare.  We just saw the 50th anniversary performance of Days of Future Passed at The Ryman.  There is now a Hatch Show Print in our living room to remind us.  What better way to end it?

The Moody Blues are heading for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April and that is that.  I have been asked if I am going.  My Dad figured it was a done deal when he found out.  No.  I found Days of Future Passed by providence in 1983 the day I turned 15.  I will be 50 in March.  Is that a temptation?  To see the Moodies in my teens, 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s?  You would think it would be.  But you probably weren’t at The Ryman on July 22, 2017.

The Moodies don’t have any concerts publicized past this month.  They usually advertise months ahead of time.

Now, if Justin Hayward, the lead singer, goes on tour, I would go see him again in a solo show in heart beat.  That is a different animal all together.

So be it.

Thanks again to all who have kept my Dad in your heart today.  He is one of the good guys.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Well, I am staving off the flu.  Yesterday I felt it coming on big time.  Carrie and I went to work and caught up on a few things.  While I was in my office, I went downhill in a hurry.  We dropped off some baked goods at church and came home instead of helping out.

I can report that I feel much better than I did yesterday at this time.  A few hours ago Carrie got a text.  It was from a friend of ours I drove to Salem with for a meeting Friday afternoon.  She was hoping I did not have the flu, as she found out she has it.  Oh well, what can you do?  Hope to heck the flu shot works.

The Jacksonville Jaguars just took a 17-10 lead over the evil empire, the New England Patriots.  I hope the Jags can hold on.  Then later I hope the Vikings beat the Eagles in Philly.  Jags vs. Vikes  in Super Bowl 52 would be sweet.  My brother would disagree with me.  He roots for the Eagles.

Football 1 Politics 0

Have you been following the political gridlock going on in Washington?  I have watched a great deal of it.  Seems to me there is a lack of urgency  in the demeanor of many blaming the other side and not getting anything done other than seemingly enjoying the blame placed on the other side.  I have said it before and I will say it again.  Leadership is at a premium.  Don’t look for it in Washington these days.  Love of country is part of it.  Teamwork.  The greater good and all that…you know, the stuff most of us, even folks we don’t agree with all the time think to be naturally important.  God helps us.  Are we going to have three more years of this gridlock hogwash?

The country asked for it.  The country deserves better.

I was hoping to be watching the games over at my folks’ house today.  That is tradition.  My feeling like I am warding off the flu is not tradition.  My Dad going in this week for a second hip replacement surgery is not tradition.  So I say…crap.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

This photo represents where I have started my weekdays for nearly twenty years now and I have the guy in the photo, Robert Becker, to thank.

I have forever had a love affair with radio.  No, I did not grow up with an aspiration for a career in radio.  Don’t mistaken that.  I just have been fascinated with the mechanism itself.  When I was a kid I could hold something in my hand, place a chord in it and on the other end of the chord was an singular ear piece. I placed it in my right ear always.  I was right-handed and figured I must be right-eared.  In my right ear in 1975 I heard a guy on 890 WLS in Chicago playing Barry Manilow’s “I Write the Songs”.  I was seven years old under the covers in my bedroom in Brownstown, Indiana listening to a guy spinning records in Chicago!  That is a distinct and precious radio memory.

Radio put its first spell on me a year earlier in 1974.  I grew up appreciating and singing the songs I learned at the Brownstown Baptist Church.  I still hold dear to many of those old songs and either sing them or hum them to myself from time to time when the Spirit moves to do so.  My first foray into music outside the church came to me by way of a scratchy AM radio signal reverberating through the multiple ceiling speakers of Stanley Steinkamp’s Brownstown Central School Bus #1.

The station blaring its way to a bus full of school aged children was 790 WAKY.  Wacky.  The morning Disc Jockey was The Duke of Louisville, Bill Bailey.  If there was ever a voice made courtesy of nicotine, it belonged to Bill Bailey.  In between the raspy -voiced bits of Bailey and his time of day updates….”It’s 7:49, eleven minutes before eight o’clock”….there were the songs that captured the ears, heart, and imagination of a little kid waiting on his next favorite radio song to find him.  It started with Billy Swan’s hit song “I Can Help”.  The Farfisa organ and the guitar lick grabbed me and hasn’t let go to this day.  I still stop and take it in when I hear it, thanks to radio on a school bus ride.

In addition to the sounds coming from Louisville, I have a soft spot for the more local flavor that I grew up listening to as well.  1390 WJCD in Seymour was on the old silver JC Penney radio that lived in our Brownstown home.  Bud Shippee gave the news as I recall.  The day the old Radio Shack store opened at the Jackson Park Shopping Center, I was interviewed by a guy doing a remote WJCD broadcast from there to promote the grand opening of the store.  I still remember old commercial jingles from this Seymour station.  The singers sang “Brown’s Grocery and Jay’s Market…”  and I remember the country twang of another ad…”Co-Op, Co-Op, count on Co-Op Quality!”

It was on 1010 WCSI out of Columbus that I listened to Casey Kasem doing the American Top 40 countdown.  From this station I also heard the continuing saga of a serial called “Chicken Man!”  And how could I forget Paul Harvey’s News and Commentary and his iconic The Rest of the Story.

Does anyone else out there remember the suspense of “Mystery Theater”?  The tales told by E.G Marshall on CBS Radio from 1974 to 1982 were legendary to me.

Also legendary were the sports broadcasters on radio that I enjoyed so much.  Monday Night Football may have had Howard, Frank, and Dandy Don on TV, but for a long time on radio it also had Jack Buck and Hank Stram.  I could listen to them call a cotillion.  Jack Buck with his straight-forward in-command tone and Hank Stram with his “sixty-five toss power trap” homespun delivery and one liners.

When I was doing football on radio I borrowed from three sources.  Mike Patrick, his intros were smooth as silk.  Keith Jackson could talk us into anything.  And Hank Stram once said about facing an opposing defense, “That’s like throwing popcorn at a battleship.”

Jack Buck and Hank Stram kept my right ear informed as I was dosing off on many a Monday night, only to discover my nine-volt was getting low the next morning.

Baseball?  Just let me say Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall doing the Cincinnati Reds. An evening with my Dad in a lawn chair in the front yard listening to Marty and Joe was Norman Rockwell worthy.

In 1979, my family moved from Brownstown, Indiana fifty miles south to Harrison County, Indiana.  Local radio was not a thing one could easily grasp hold of here.  To this day the primary frequencies in Harrison County belong to stations claimed by the Louisville, Kentucky market.  That’s business for you.

My radio world languished for a while.  In 1982 all that changed.  I was back in the radio business and was glad to see the sun go down.  The sooner evening time would get here, the sooner I could find the signal to tune in to my new radio best friend and it was an old friend.  890 WLS known as “The Rock of Chicago”.  The top nine at nine may have been on at ten in my time zone, but you better believe I was there. And in the morning before school, I was locked into Larry Lujack and Tommy Edwards ready to listen to their bit called “Animal Stories” which is by far the funniest thing I have ever heard on radio.

Tommy Edwards was the public address announcer at the old Chicago Stadium and he was the one who began playing Alan Parsons’ tune “Sirius” while doing Chicago Bulls player introductions.

I raise a glass to my WLS heroes Larry Lujack, Tommy Edwards, Chuck Britton, John Landecker, Don Nelson, Fred Winston, Catherine Johns, and Les Grobstein with sports.

WLS went to a talk radio format in 1989.  I was dumbfounded.  Talk about the day the music died.  So long Animal Stories.  So long top nine at nine. At least I knew something about Chicago traffic now and one day it would come in handy.  I reached for a homemade Moody Blues cassette and listened to it over and over for a few years.  Then something happened for a good reason.

It was 1992.  My dear friend Jerry Brown was about to be married.  I was visiting him at his about to be newly minted business Celery Signs.  Jerry too likes music.  When he works there is always a tune playing in the background.  On this day in 1992 I had not been there twelve minutes when The Moody Blues’ song “The Story in Your Eyes” came flying through the room to help us all.

“What station is that, Brown?” I asked.

“A new rock and roll station in Seymour, 96.3”, he replied.

That was it.  That was all it took.  If there was a radio guy or gal out there with the good sense to play The Moody Blues, I was their fan.  Period.  They would have to do something really stupid to mess that up.  To this day,  it hasn’t happened.

With apologies to Ferris Bueller, Robert Becker you’re my radio hero!

For the next few years whenever I was within listening distance I was tuning in. If you get to Palmyra and are moving North up Highway 135, you have it made.  You have found radio freedom; you have found WJAA 96.3 and the man behind the curtain, Robert Becker.

In 1998 I took a job at Medora Schools and worked there until 2015 when I came back to North Harrison.  Every morning I drove up Highway 135 North back to Jackson County and thanks to Robert Becker it was smooth sailing all the way.  At 7 AM Robert Becker announces a welcome to one and all and gets folks “Ready to Rock”.  Morning time in Jackson County had officially arrived when I was listening to “Breakfast with Bob” as I hurtled toward Medora.

So what about this Robert guy?

Robert Becker wanted to start a radio station.  He found an available frequency to buy and that led him to Seymour, Indiana, that small town John Mellencamp sings about. In a location that is relatively close to Indianapolis, Louisville, and Cincinnati, the Chicago native found his radio station along I-65 and he has found a home.

Robert  grew up on the South Side of Chicago.   He went to high school at the prestigious Lab School.  He then went on to the University of Wisconsin and went to grad school at NYU.

One thing that can be said about Robert Becker is that he has ‘been around’.  Among the jobs he has had before settling in to be the King of South Central Indiana Classic Rock Radio were a carpenter, cab driver, building superintendent, screenwriter, and movie publicity writer.

Robert Becker appreciates classic rock and roll music.  Some of his favorite groups are The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and U2.  When asked about some of his favorite solo artists he gave me the names of Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, and Frank Sinatra.

Like many of us, Robert likes a great live music performance.  When asked about the best concerts he has seen he included Springsteen, the Stones, Leonard Cohen, U2, The Allman Brothers, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo-Ma, and The Moody Blues.  What can I say?  The man knows!  And he has seen some shows at iconic venues like The Hollywood Bowl and Madison Square Garden and Mill Race Park.

Robert Becker has visited Rome, Paris, Africa, Myanmar, and he has lived in LA, New York City, San Francisco, Madison, Wisconsin, Chicago, and still he has found his calling…or at least his call letters…in Seymour, Indiana.  I am so glad he has done exactly that.

Look, Robert is important to Jackson County, Indiana.  In addition to spinning tunes for an old Moody Blues fan upon request, he provides a great combination of business and public service.  When I asked Robert what he wants to offer listeners he told me he wants his listeners to be entertained, more involved in their community, informed, and hopefully somewhat enlightened.  Nowhere here do you find a hint of ego.  Listen to Robert.  You’ll find that he is not in the game to utter off a grand supply of personal pronouns.  He wants the listener to have the great experience.

Seymour!  Do you know how fortunate you are?  I hope so.

Community involvement is important to Robert.  One way of doing this is firing up the Cool Bus.  Looks like the Cool Bus is cold today.

Robert takes to Cool Bus to so many businesses and civic events doing live remote broadcasting and being, well, a man of the people.  That is so rare these days.  I say it again, he wants you to have a good time.  Whether it is the Medora Goes Pink or Seymour’s Okctoberfest or Brownstown’s Hometown Christmas, you’ll find Robert Becker and the Cool Bus.

Part of having a good time with 96.3 WJAA beyond the music is the sports coverage the station offers.  Look, Robert is no fool.  He knew there was a quarter-mile dirt track in Brownstown ten miles from his radio station and in loud and clear listening range of the signal tower officially in Austin.  I lived a cornfield from this track on Jackson Street when I was a kid.  Robert knew a stock car racing mecca like Brownstown was perfect proximity to gain sponsors for NASCAR and an affiliation with MRN the Motor Racing Network.  Robert Becker did exactly that.  96.3 WJAA is your home for NASCAR racing and you better believe folks are tuning in.

Speaking of Sports…(how’s that for a segue, Plump?)

One of the greatest things on radio in 2018 is WJAA 96.3’s Speaking of Sports.  Around 7:45 every weekday morning, Robert, with the help of Jim Plump on Mondays and Fridays, will fill you in on the sporting world.   This has always been special to me.  That house I lived in on Jackson Street in Brownstown was visited by Jim Plump while he was a sportswriter for The Seymour Tribune in the mid-1970s.  My Dad was the coach of the Brownstown Central Braves high school football team for most all of the 1970s and Jim Plump came to the house to interview Dad.  My point of reference is ancient and unique.

Robert Becker, being a baseball fan and knowing that his listener-ship would appreciate a daily dose of sports, elicited the expertise of Jim Plump to do a morning segment of sports on a regular basis.  Plump recently conveyed to me that he was not too hot on the prospects.  He had long given up his sports writing forte to become the chief economic developer of Jackson County.  What Jim Plump has meant to Jackson County is another great story.

In earnestness that I appreciate, Jim Plump told me that when he received his first tuition bill from his alma mater, the University of Evansville, for his son’s education, Plump called Robert Becker back and asked if remuneration was involved with his doing “Speaking of Sports” in the morning.  I guess there was.  Plump did it.  They debuted the day after Labor Day, 1994.

Jim Plump and Robert Becker did Speaking of Sports on a five day a week basis.  Give Plump credit.  He worked the phones and gave it all he had.  He knows darn well he could have showed up and did anything and would have still gotten paid.  Jim Plump took the Speaking of Sports assignment and ran with it.   My hat is off to him and Robert.  In that 5 days a week period, Jim tried to get a weekly guest on the phone for the show.  Yogi Berra was on.  Whitey Ford was on.  Fuzzy Zoeller was on.  Buddy Baker was on.  An old Brownstown grad, Todd Sturgeon was on.  Heck, one day I was on. In 2006 I was calling high school football games on WKLO 96.9.  I was doing North Harrison High School  games and that week we were to come up to Brownstown for a game that was going to go a long way in deciding the Mid-Southern Conference that year.  The build up for the game was HUGE.  So was the storm that hit right before the game.  It was so big it sent us all home without playing a game.

Plump had to whittle his schedule down in the early 2000s and they went to a Monday and Friday format.  It enabled Jim and Robert to preview the weekend and then come back on Monday and review it.  This works out very nicely.  Personally, I love it when Plump gives Becker the business about not knowing something about sports or not paying attention (the last thing Plump needs to ask…and he asks it anyway is “What do you think about that…), or butchering up a guy’s name.  I love Robert…but I gotta tell you the all time great in my book.  Robert and Jim were talking about golf and Robert started asking about a golfer named Davis Love, Jr III…as in Davis Love Junior the Third….I thought I was going to run off the road that day.

Thankfully they are still at it.  They are still Speaking of Sports. Robert is still rooting for the Cubs or the White Sox (if they are winning) or the Reds (if they are winning) or the Dodgers (if they are winning)….and Plump is still rooting EXCLUSIVELY for the Yankees come hell or high water, or jabs from Becker when the Yanks lose or overpay a free agent.  After all, it’s what the Yanks do.

What about the Braves?

Home of the Braves

When Robert Becker got to Seymour, and it was apparent he was there to stay, there was talk of putting Brownstown Central High School sports, they had no consistent radio coverage at the time, on 96.3 WJAA.  It worked out.

A few phone calls here and a discussion there with Robert and with the right folks involved and the realization that advertising dollars were to make it sustainable, your home of the Braves is now and has been since since about 1996 WJAA.

A peek into Harry Rochner’s BCHS Athletic Hall of Fame credentials tells he called football, boys and girls basketball beginning in 1996.  Harry and Mark Norman, both Brownstown Central grads, got the Braves moving in the right direction, East on Highway 50 to the 96.3 mixing board.

The result has been fantastic.  Robert Becker is very pleased with the “marriage”, as Mark Norman put it, with Braves Sports and 96.3 WJAA.  Becker likes the dependability of the announcers for sure.  He points out that the announcers calling Braves and Lady Braves games are not “ESPN wannabes”.  Knowing the folks in Brownstown as well as I do, I know they appreciate how this has worked out for them.  Mark Norman told me this has been a great thing for the community as well as a good thing for 96.3.  Mark and former Braves teammate from back in the day, Brian Sommers, have been doing Braves Basketball games together for the last fifteen years.  Mark said a trip to call a Braves state final game at Banker’s Life Field house in Indy, the home of the Pacers, was a memorable experience.

The stable of announcers Robert has enjoyed doing Braves games is just that…dependable and stable.  They are there to tell you what is happening and to enjoy the experience.  In turn, you too end up having a good time listening.  And folks listen from far and wide.

An old childhood friend of mine, Harv Brown, has been in the football booth for a number of years now.  He works with longtime Braves announcer Richard Berry on Friday nights.  When Harv and I were going back and forth about the long distance listeners it was amazing to sit and think about and speak of.  Last year’s starting quarterback had family in Nebraska tuning in.  Harry Rochner has a buddy in Oregon listening regularly.  At harvest time folks listen to the Braves while they are bringing in the crops.  There is a large contingent listening in at the Hoosier Christian Village nursing home.  Harv’s son Jake, a former Brave player and guest in the booth now and again, would find a classroom to study in and listen to the Braves while he was attending Butler University.  In November 2017 during the Braves semi-state tilt with Lawrenceburg, Harv and Richard gave a shout out to Pasadena, California where my Dad and I were listening before going to the USC-UCLA game the next day at The Rose Bowl.

Harry Rochner and Harv Brown doing a game in 2014.

They were kind enough to let me get in on the act that night.  With me is Braves legend Harry Rochner.  Harry and Greg Walker, superintendent of Brownstown Central Schools, do Lady Braves basketball these days.

MUSIC

At the end of the day, we all first huddled around a radio to listen to music to hear our favorite song…. to feel better when that tune came on.  We didn’t have phones then that could raise a tune in five seconds.  We had radio and we had record players and we could not afford to buy every song we loved…so we had radio.  That dynamic has never left me.  I still get a shiver up the spine when I hear a great song on the radio I need to hear.  A month or two ago Robert Becker played a song by Gregg Allman that brought me to tears.  For whatever reason, it hit me just right.  I was alone in the office at school listening as I prepped for the day.  I sent Robert an email and thanked him.  I hope he doesn’t mind hearing from me from time to time.  He has no idea how important he is to us.

His work allows the rest of us to “Rock”.

Speaking the Rocking Rights….

Danny Johnson

Oh my I had a great time yesterday.  My brother-in-law, Steven, and I went up to Seymour High School to the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium, one of the largest high school gyms in the country, to watch the Lady Cats of North Harrison HS dismantle to the Lady Owls of Seymour.  That was so much fun.  The ladies played a tough game.  The refs seemed to let some rough stuff go and maybe that was a good thing.  Games like these prepare you to play another day.  With the 60-42 win over the Seymour squad, the Lady Cats are now 16-1.  Add that to the last two years and the team is 71-7 the last three years.  That is sooooo impressive.

The Lady Cats will return to Seymour to play in the Sectional thanks to some “Success Factor” rule made by the Indiana High School Athletic Association.  There were three class 3A teams that moved up to 4A given their success the previous two seasons.

Heritage Christian beat North Harrison in the 2016 State Finals.  Heritage moved to 4A this year.

South Bend St. Joseph’s beat North Harrison in the 2017 State Finals.  They moved to 4A.

North Harrison lost both of these championship games…but they too moved to 4A because of the ISHAA Success Factor Rule.

This makes me sick.

North Harrison is a public high school.  We don’t charge tuition.

Heritage Christian advertises a tuition of over $11,000.  It’s a private school.

St. Joseph’s is a private school.  Parishioners tuition is 7,000 and change and non-Parishioners tuition is 9,000 and change.

If you know anything about the dynamics of high school sports and the politics of being here, you probably know what I am getting at.

North Harrison is a victim of political circumstance.  Schools like North Harrison had nothing to do with the implementation of a rule like this.

What about 4A teams at the highest level…if they win three championships three years in a row are you going to tell them they can’t field a team for a season or two

This stinks and it slaps the face of country schools like North Harrison doing the right things to be successful.  But, don’t ask the IHSAA to care.  They don’t care about the country school.

It was bad enough in 1994, wasn’t that the last season we had single class basketball?

There had to be a great deal of whining associated with turning to class basketball.  The IHSAA decided more trophies needed to handed out…but I guess now you can only be so successful before you are penalized.  And now we know you can be penalized without winning it all.  That is pure stupidity.

The old Sectionals were Indiana institutions.  As a kid I went to the old Seymour Sectional.  It hosted all the county teams from Seymour to Medora.  Huge to the smallest. And we all loved it.  Next to the Jackson County Fair, this was the biggest social event of the year.  Those sectionals were played in the same gym I went to this past Saturday to watch the Lady Cats.

Now sectionals rotate among different schools and a point of reference we once knew we could look forward to, having the sectional at one familiar, welcoming spot, is gone.  Now I do know there are coaches who will argue with me.  They want to move it around to give all a sporting chance.  I guess that too comes with class basketball.  So be it.

One bonus about being in Seymour Saturday came to fruition as I hoped it would.  I met up with Dr. Bob Mahan.  He is the most accomplished school man I have ever known.  He was the superintendent of schools at North Harrison when my family moved here in 1979.  He left North a few years later to be superintendent at Seymour.  He has since worked on an interim basis at 9 different school systems needing his help and expertise.  He told me he reports tomorrow to Crothersville for the sixteenth year in a row to oversee that school while their chief, Terry Goodin, a State Legislator, is in session in Indianapolis.

I worked with Dr. Mahan during the 2007-2008 school year while he was the interim Superintendent at Medora Schools for a year.  It was a pleasure to spend time with him and I enjoy and appreciate our visits now more than ever.

In April of 2008, Dr. Mahan and his wife were at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville taking in a Moody Blues concert.  I saw him there, as I knew to look for him.  The mans knows music too.

Leading me to the sadness.

I got word today that Ray Thomas has died.  Ray was one of the original Moody Blues.  He was to be with the group at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in the coming April. Ray left the group in 2002.  He was not in the best of health and decided to hang it up.  Justin Hayward, John Lodge, and Graeme Edge have soldiered on ever since.

Ironically, the current Moody Blues were hosting a fourth “Moody Blues Cruise” when Ray died.  The band and other musical acts and a literal boat-load of Moody Blues fans were at sea to enjoy the music.  Ray’s passing was not announced until the cruise was ending. Certain this news would probably cause distress at sea, it was withheld.  I don’t blame them.

I saw Ray perform with The Moodies twenty-three times.  The last time I saw him was in September of 1999 at Deer Creek.

Ray is holding the flute in this picture and his autograph is above.  This photo celebrated the Red Rocks concert that marked the 25th anniversary of the album Days of Future Passed in 1992.  I saw the 50th anniversary concert in 2017.

A photo of a photo, this was taken in 1994….Ray is beating on the tambourine.

I’m sorry Ray won’t be at the Hall of Fame induction.  He was a Hall of Famer a long long time ago!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

This was the sunrise on the North Carolina shore my dear wife, Carrie, and I were looking at yesterday morning.  Yesterday the temperature got to the mid-50s and that was a heat wave my friends.  Right now we are in a warm hotel room in Asheville, North Carolina and there are cars running off the roads out there as I type these words.

After Carrie and I checked in to our hotel, we went walking around and it was spitting snow in this mountain town.  It is a beautiful place, I would suggest a visit to anyone.  That big house is not far, the Biltmore Estate, and the Asheville Tourists play baseball in the summer and there are more unique eateries here than you can begin to name.  Carrie and I settled on pizza after a wandering period.  We ate slowly and watched football on a large television and just enjoyed each other’s company and occasionally enjoyed the particular sound of a young man’s unique, genuine laughter sitting near us.

After our meal we went out to discover a light glaze of ice EVERYWHERE!  Our hotel was two blocks…uphill.  Where we could find dirt, we walked on it.  Where we could find a crack in the sidewalk, we hoped for traction from it.  In a town that had always been kind to us, we were wondering if we would make it up the hill without the aid of an ambulance.  We lived to tell the story.  I was worried.

It was the year in microcosm out there.  Never quite knowing what we were going to get and hoping and praying we would live through it.  I am glad this night will be over and a new year will begin tomorrow.

These photos we from the sound side of Topsail Island at the end of the day yesterday.

It was forever beautiful.  I wish I could have held it and Carrie together for just twenty minutes longer than we were given yesterday.  Note the bird on the dock.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a mess.  I knew it before the latest news.  On December 13th The Moody Blues’ nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was confirmed into Induction status and the ceremony is to be held April 14th in Cleveland.

The Moodies had never been nominated before, even though they had been eligible for induction since 1989 and had never gotten so much as a smell before this year.  Well, they got their nomination…and then they got more than what they had bargained for.  In it’s pathetic infinite wisdom, just before Christmas, the Hall of Fame included Denny Laine to the line-up of members of the band to be inducted.  That is a problem.

Denny Laine, Clint Warwick, Ray Thomas, Mike Pinder, and Graeme Edge were the first group of guys called The Moody Blues.  They lasted from 1964 to 1966.  Denny and Clint left.  The other three recruited Justin Hayward and John Lodge in the fall of 1966.  They released the classic Days of Future Passed album in 1967 and released six more albums through 1972.  These are called the Moodies’ core 7 albums.  In 1978 Mike Pinder left the band.  In 2002 Ray Thomas retired.  But, those five guys belong to the classic Moody Blues line-up.  I won’t argue that.  I never saw Mike Pinder play with them.

So the classic five member line-up finds out they are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Fine.  Then the Hall higher-ups decide Denny Laine, who never played with Justin Hayward and John Lodge in the group, is to be included.  Hogwash.  The only hit song that old Moody Blues recorded was the single “Go Now” (a song written by someone else)  and that is exactly what Denny Laine did.  He left leaving the door open for Justin and John to join and the band changed their image and the way they approached music and starting writing their own songs…the songs The Moody Blues are famous for.  You know…Nights in White Satin, Tuesday Afternoon, Question, Ride My See-Saw, I’m Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band),  Your Wildest Dreams, The Voice, I Know You’re Out There Somewhere.

The real Moody Blues have had a career longer than 50 years of making great music.  Denny Laine wasn’t around long enough to buy a new pair of shoes.  But…Denny Laine did play in Wings with Sir Paul McCartney and that in itself holds more influence than the the two measly meaningless years he had playing with Ray, Mike, and Graeme.  Graeme has said as much as that the “Go Now” Moody Blues were not the real Moody Blues.

So on April 14th it is going to be odd there with Justin Hayward standing near to Denny Laine fifty-two years later and having never shared a stage before as band mates.  I suppose the real question is: How dumb is that.  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Dumb…that is how dumb.

But that is where we are these days.  This is the dumb age.  Just watch the television news channels.  But, if you do that, I suppose that means you have taken sides.

I never expected to see such a divided country in my lifetime.  Me, a life-long Republican, I am embarrassed by what I see out of the GOP these days.

The problem, I think, is we are dealing with a leadership crisis.  It won’t get better for a long time.  The generation nearly two decades behind me, I will be fifty in March, will be the next group ready lead with brain cells in tact.

The children of the Summer of Love are in charge now and they are as lost now as they were then.  They argued in 1967 and they still argue and their vitriol has permeated and poisoned our country in the process.

Bridges are being built.

Here’s to 2018!  It has to get better!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

It is cold in on the shore of southern North Carolina.  I mean cold.  There is no snow.  There could be.  It is 32 degrees at nearly 5 o’clock this evening.  The wind is strong.  It is howling down from the North.  It is cold.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I have never been here in December before.  We have visited here many for many years now, but never in December.  What is good about that?  The place is desolate.  There are not many folks here.  It is peaceful, but then again it is always peaceful.  The air is clean and clean.  You can see for miles up and down the coast North and South.  There is still fresh seafood to partake in.  We bought some shrimp and some flounder for preparation later tonight.  There are bargains to be found if you are shopping.  We have not done much of that.  What is not so good about being here this time of year?  It is cold.  But it is still good.

Last night looking to the South.

It only looks like summer.  It is cold.

The fish market.

I hope all of you had a great Christmas.

It is almost New Year’s and we will continue to speak the rights!

Danny Johnson

Wow.  I still say it…wow.  That was my reaction when I heard that the North Harrison Cougars Boys Basketball team had taken care of business against Brownstown Central at Braveville last night.  52-51 in OT.  Wow. Fantastic. Great job!

As many of you know, on Wednesday it was announced that The Moody Blues will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 14th.  Better late than never, I say.  I appreciate the emails and text messages I have received from folks I don’t hear from often telling me they heard the news.  Now, go listen to The Moody Blues.

Tis the season.  Time for the speaktherights.com College Football Bowl Prediction Extravaganza!  It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

The overall record for the season is a respectable 120 winners and 47 losers.  The bowl picks are what I usually really screw up.  We’ll see what happens.

New Orleans Bowl: North Texas beats Troy…The Mean Green have had a tough plight in Texas and they will shine.

Cure Bowl: Western Kentucky beats Georgia State and it is ugly.

Las Vegas: Oregon beats Boise State…New coach for Oregon might help team rise up.

New Mexico: Marshall beats Colorado State…The Herd farted at the end of the year.  7-5…they win if they show up.

Camellia: Arkansas State beats Middle Tenn. State U.  Camellia, Pansy, whatever bowl.

Boca: FAU beats Akron…and to think I will actually watch this.

Frisco: La. Tech beats SMU and I am saved by a Christmas Party!

St. Petersburg: Temple beats FIU

Bahamas: Ohio beats UAB and they all get a tan.

Idaho Potato:  Wyoming beats Central Mich.  and I hope it snows.

Birmingham: South Florida beats Texas Tech…Charlie Strong has done a good job with the Bulls.

Armed Forces:  San Diego State beats Army as SDS finds the Army runners and tackles them early.

Dollar General:  Bargain Bowl Baby…Toledo beats App. State.  Bet the Pop is more than a dollar at the concession stand.

Hawaii:  Houston beats Fresno State and will be glad to be there to eat Pineapples.

Heart of Dallas Bowl:  Opposed to Kidney of Dallas Bowl but give them time…WVU beats Utah and Rodeway Inn couches better beware of becoming flammable.

Quick Lane:  Duke beats Northern Illinois. I called the ticket office to ask about kickoff time and the lady asked what time we could be there.

Cactus Bowl:  Kansas State beats UCLA and it hurts me.

Independence Bowl:  Southern Miss beats Florida State like Brett Favre was there again.

Pinstripe Bowl:  Iowa beats Boston College and it will be one of the best bowl games to watch.

Foster Farms:  Purdue beats Arizona.  Boilers act like Minnie Pearl before the game then turn on the heat with a passing game that will wrinkle and dazzle.

Texas:  Texas beats Mizzou.  Texas Bowl, Texas, I see a pattern here.

Military Bowl:  Navy beats Virginia. I originally had UVA. We’ll see.

Camping World:  VA Tech beats Oklahoma State and I have been called nuts for calling this one.

Alamo:  Stanford beats TCU in a very entertaining game as the Alamo Bowl usually is.

Holiday:  Washington State beats Michigan State…great match-up and WSU passing will confuse Sparty a bit.  Traditional favorite to watch.

Belk:  Reminds me of Burp…Texas A&M beats Wake and has more fans in Charlotte than the Demons do.

Sun:  A bowl I would like to attend one day with the right match-up and this ain’t it…NC State beats Arizona State…Go Pack!

Music City:  Kentucky beats Northwestern…don’t ask me how…they just will.

Arizona:  Mew Mexico State in their first bowl game since 1960 and only their 4th bowl ever beats Utah State…Aggie Bowl.

Cotton:  Now we are getting somewhere…USC beats Ohio State and Sam Darnold looks great.

Gator:  Louisville beats Mississippi State…No cowbell can stop Lamar Jackson.

Liberty:  Memphis beats Iowa State in another home game.

Fiesta:  Washington beats Penn State in a close one…just changed my pick.

Orange:  Miami beats Swissconsin…Shred that cheese!

Outback:  Michigan beats South Carolina…and Harbaugh will find something else yet to complain about. When he decides to coach more and complain less, look out for the Wolverines.  Until then, he won’t be acting like a Michigan man we expect.

Peach:  UCF beats Auburn in a Scott Frost farewell party.

Citrus:  LSU beats Notre Dame…talk about a good one on New Year’s Day.  Classic.

Rose Bowl Playoff Semifinal: Georgia beats Oklahoma…not a Big Ten or Pac 12 team in sight.  Tragedy.

Sugar Bowl Playoff Semifinal:  Alabama beats Clemson…Tide Rolls.

CFP Champs:  Alabama beats UGA.  The Master outlasts the pupil.

Have a Merry Christmas Everyone.

I have been working on some other writing and I hope to get back to speakingtherights.com a little more often in the New Year!

Love one another.

Speaking the rights…
Danny Johnson

THE MOODY BLUES
Class of 2018 ROCK and ROLL HALL OF FAME