Notes From Neal

Opening Day, that rite of spring whereupon the first baseball game was played, is a holiday in the Cincinnati area. Since the Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first professional baseball team, Major League baseball used to commemorate that tradition by having the now Cincinnati Reds play the first baseball game of the season. Until they sold out to television, which decided it preferable to play the first game during prime time on Sunday night before the “official” Opening Day. Cincinnati commemorates the day with a parade from Findlay Market, a party on Fountain Square, marching bands, and a baseball game that gets sold out in minutes to the scalpers, I mean, ticket resellers.

I don’t enjoy baseball much anymore. It’s not because my favorite teams, the aforementioned Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates are so darn lousy. Baseball was always so rich in tradition with strong appeal and connection to the fans. Much of that has been lost on me for quite some time now. Escalating ticket prices, poor pitching, spoiled players, as well as prevalence of performance-altering chemicals cause me to look elsewhere for my entertainment.

However, it is Opening Day of a new season. It’s spring and “hope springs eternal” (Alexander Pope). Winter is over, the smell of spring is in the air! The Reds will get some pitching this year. The team won’t be out of the division race by June.

At the time of posting of this article, the score was Diamondbacks 4 - Reds 4.  Middle of the 7th.

My blog gets a lot of page views of the pictures of Touchdown Jesus, the statue behind the Solid Rock Church just off I-75 in Monroe, Ohio.

Two members of my church, Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church, Bradley and Erica, have written an excellent blog about their search for a church that made sense to them. That blog, Church Hopping, chronicles their journey. One of their visits was to the Solid Rock Church, and in their blog they reviewed that visit. You might want to read their article to learn more about this church.

Each year, on Martin Luther King Day, Cincinnati marks the occasion with a day of events. This year, the activities included a march, a service at Music Hall, several high school basketball games, and a community-wide celebration of the works of a man who acted for freedom and justice in this country of ours.

I sing (baritone) with a chorus called Voices of Freedom, who, on this day, lifted our 100+ voices as a major part of that service at Music Hall. Our songs are of community, peace, and freedom, many of the sources for our music being spirituals and other songs of joy and freedom. The music reaches somewhere deep inside me, inspiring me to celebrate my humanness and my connection with all those around me. I sing these songs with passion, love, and joy.

After the concert today, several of us went out for lunch, enjoying the opportunity to spend time together and enjoy good conversation. As you might imagine on this day, the talk moved towards social change, peace, and so forth. At some point, maybe it was after that first glass of wine and halfway through the soup, we talked about the peace movement, the Year 1968–when Dr. King was assassinated along with Bobby Kennedy, our communities were rioting, the Tet Offensive took place, and I graduated high school. I mentioned that in subsequent years I was actively involved with the peace movement in Cincinnati as a committee member on several anti-war planning teams, a marshal on many peace marches through the streets of The Queen City, and actively involved in peace-oriented groups on the University of Cincinnati campus.

It took little transition, well, at least with this group, to get from the Movement during the Vietnam War times to speaking out against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. What was I doing now? How was I involved?

I am not involved in the same way as I was almost 40 years ago. My beliefs are quite similar, but my actions quite different.

My comment, on this Martin Luther King Day was that I believe that what I can do is sing for change. That by bringing music of peace, commitment, and change to this community, I could do my part. As I mentioned, I’ve done my share of marching.

Through music and the passion it inspires, we can reach others. Motivating and encouraging them to transcend the day-to-day. With song, we can reach inside our own hearts and touch the hearts of those around us, moving them to do the right thing.

What do you think? Does music resonate within you and inspire you? Am I full of truth or full of baloney? Or somewhere in between? Is singing for change, as I characterize it, a valid method for bringing change to this nation so desperately in need of healing?

“This is The Old Lefthander, rounding third and heading for home.”

That’s what you heard as Joe Nuxhall finished each Cincinnati Reds post game radio broadcast. You can read it in lights on the front of Great American Ballpark. The front of the stadium just happens to parallel the third base line.

Thursday night, Joe Nuxhall died at the age of 79. A life long resident of nearby Hamilton, Ohio, Joe was a Cincinnati Red for over 60 years; first as a pitcher and later in the broadcast booth as their radio announcer. He appeared in 526 baseball games, pitching for the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Athletics, and Los Angeles Angels in a career that spanned 22 years (1944-1966).

The Old Lefthander is the youngest person ever to ever to play the game of baseball, pitching for the Reds about a month before his 16th birthday. From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

“At 15 years, 10 months and 11 days old, he made his major league debut with the Reds on June 10, 1944 and pitched two-thirds of an inning in an 18-0 loss against the Cardinals. Signed to help fill out the Reds’ roster during World War II, he remains the youngest player ever to appear in a Major League Baseball game in modern history.”

Several years after he retired from throwing a baseball, he started behind the Reds radio microphone in 1967, where he remained for 38 years. For 31 of those seasons, he partnered with Marty Brennaman. Joe was a fixture in this town of Cincinnati, and well loved here. Although it was obvious that he favored the Reds, his broadcast style was calm and matter of fact. He spoke the facts of the game, well mostly the facts, allowing Marty, his partner, to fill in the color and excitement.

Although I used to be a passionate baseball fan, I’ve lost interest the last few years. Even then, it was comforting to turn on the car radio on a warm summer night and tune Marty and Joe on the radio.

Joe Nuxhall was a good guy. And that’s quite a tribute.

Here’s a link to a page in the Cincinnati Enquirer celebrating Joe Nuxhall’s life.

The voters of Hamilton County, Ohio have once again spoken about a sales tax increase that would have funded a new jail and bought our sheriff some new toys. Speaking of the sheriff’s toys, what do we need an urban assault vehicle for anyhow?

Back on topic. The voters said “NO”. Again.

The new jail funding issue came up a few years back in a somewhat different format only to be voted down by about the same margin. Our three wise County Commissioners who gave us the stadium boondoggle a few years back, decided Hamilton County needed a jail and needed it bad. So they found a way around the voters and decided to enable the sales tax themselves.

“Not so fast!” said several diverse citizens groups who then organized a petition drive last summer for a referendum placing this issue on the ballot. And at the general election held November 6, that issue was defeated 56% to 44%.

Digression.

Hey, Paula!

Now, that was the name of a song back in the 60’s sung by none other than Paul and Paula.

But I digress again.

Paula, my excellent English teacher friend, in the paragraph above that starts out, “Not so fast!”, where, if anywhere, does the comma go? Inside or outside the quotes?

Thanks for the grammatical help.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog.

The scare tactics about more criminals on the streets didn’t work. I imagine we’ll see a lot of hand wringing by our public officials, but hopefully action will be taken to consider the underlying issues.

But I’m dreaming…

For another opinion, of similar mind, of course, click this link to Porkopolis, a CityBeat blog.

Each Monday, at Uncle Jay Explains the News, you can catch a humorous, lighthearted, and often satirical take on recent events in the world. This week, Uncle Jay asks the tough questions:

“Can you really trust those people who report the news? Are they giving it to you straight, or are they just like your parents?”

Uncle Jay is a familiar voice to those around Cincinnati, being better known as Jay Gilbert. Uncle Jay was one of the early crew on WEBN, one of the first FM stations playing “progressive rock” back in the early ’70s.

I hope you enjoy his well produced videos. They are well worth the three minutes or so of your time.  Unless, of course, humor and satire are not your thing.

When I think of firsts in things, things that happen in the Cincinnati region don’t often come to mind. But according to the Cincinnati Business Courier, this town has something to crow about.

Cincinnati ranked first (in the nation) with an average air fare of $562.23 for the second quarter, up 6.7 percent from $526.94 in second-quarter 2006. That was way ahead of second-place Anchorage, Alaska, with an average fare of $487.68.

Compare this to the lowest airfare flying out of Lihue, Kauai, in Hawaii at an average of $138.66. Also note that airfares in general dropped 4.5% compared with last year, while those at CVG rose 6.7%.

Congratulations are in order to the Kenton County Airport Board for this achievement, as well as for being such a watchdog for the public interest. Of course, having sold most of the gates to Delta Airlines, it comes as no surprise that fares are constantly so high here in this Delta hub.

Many local travelers find it more reasonable to fly out of Dayton (39th), even though it’s about an hour drive away. There was a time I’d even drive as far as Columbus (71st most expensive) to save significant bucks, only to find myself connecting right back home in Cincinnati. If I planned ahead, and didn’t check any bags on my return flight, I simply “forgot” to board the Columbus flight and got a ride to my home, twenty minutes away.

Hey Cincinnati! Don’t it make you proud to be first at something?

Driving to work this morning, I passed two Catholic churches.  Almost completely filling the front yard of each were literally thousands of little white crosses.  A sign at the second indicated they represented the 34,000 abortions this year.

Wouldn’t the teachings of Jesus be better served if those crosses were said to represent the thousands of US soldiers killed in the war in Iraq this year?  Or the hundreds of thousands of people dying each year from famine, hunger,  or genocide?

OK! I’ll admit it. I’m pandering to the people who come to this blog only to see Touchdown Jesus.

Here he is. This time from an overhead view using Google Earth. The location is Interstate 75 north of Cincinnati near Ohio exit #29. If you’re driving, look to your right. You can’t miss him.

A late, late summer afternoon in September. The intense heat of the season is gone, leaving us with sunny days, clear blue skies, and the first evening in ages where I needed a jacket and the convertible top up in the Miata.

It was just that type of day as Poco, yes, that band from the ’70s took the small stage on Ft. Thomas Avenue this Saturday. Rusty Young, Paul Cotton and a couple others sang their familiar songs from long ago to this crowd of folks in lawn chairs, kids on their laps, happily enjoying the harmonies of their music. Crazy Love, In the Heart of the Night and another hour of soft and sweet memories from that time. Paul Cotton soloed on his song, Bad Weather, inspiring me to locate the chords online and work out my own version for my repertoire later that evening.

The stage cleared to much applause and smiles from both sides.

After 30 minutes of anxious anticipation, the headliners for the festival appeared as the afternoon sun began to cool. Pure Prairie League! Taking the stage were many of the original band members; Mike Reilly, back home to Ft. Thomas, KY, singer and guitar player, Craig Fuller, also from Ohio, George Lee Powell, and steel guitar player, John David Call.

What a celebration!

Opening with Tears, the opening song on their Pure Prairie League album, they went through several of their great old songs. Although much older, as was the audience, they still captured the attention of the folks there to listen. Fuller mentioned that after years of raising families, they decided to go back on tour and put out an album, very much in the Pure Prairie League vein, called All in Good Time.. back in 2005.

Falling In and Out of Love/Amie brought tears to my eyes and singing of the chorus “Amie, what you going to do? I think I could fall for you…for awhile maybe longer if you do” combined the band on stage and the audience surrounding them. The chords and harmonies faded away to a fond “thank you” from the band, as well as a grateful “thank you!!” from those of us there.

The music of both bands has been a part of my life for many years now, and I left the concert festival quietly singing several Pure Prairie League songs as night fell to a clear, cool, and starry Ohio evening.