Brothers in Harm – The GOP and KKK Political Mind Meld

“Keep America American” – Ku Klux Klan

“Keep America American” – Mitt Romney

Let’s begin this sad and salacious story as if it were a fairy tale for, once read, you will wish it fantasy rather than the repugnant reality that follows.

Once upon a time (now see, that’s nice) it crossed my exceptionally left-leaning mind (such as it is) that there might be a blog post in comparing and contrasting the conceivably compatible canons of the Grand Old Party and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. But, as promptly as a Palin casts aside a condom or the Donald trumps dignity and human decency, nycityman negated the notion as being too implausible and preposterous a possibility for even the most prejudicially progressive opiner.  Then, one lazy afternoon, a pint or two of Blue Point loosening up the more cautious concerns of commentary and political punditry, I did the research and despondently discovered that my initial assessment was accurate, with no need for either exaggeration or embellishment.

The overarching philosophical beliefs in common are quite obvious – they both exist solely for the advancement of white, male Christians and neither is reticent to cause harm to others outside of that narrow demographic to achieve their allied aims.  While, for the most part, the tenor of language spoken is unalike (although under the current tutelage and leadership of openly intolerant frontrunner Donald Trump that hate-speak gap has significantly narrowed) and the techniques practiced differ (the Klan block African-Americans from voting with violence and physical intimidation, Republicans do so by passing legislation) the results are the same.

What’s very frightening, however, is that exploration into beliefs and behaviors reveal worrisome similarities and shared specificities between the two organizations, both whose agendas are primarily driven by bigotry and hatred.

Parallel Lines - The Platforms of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and Republican National Committee

GAY RIGHTS

“The Klan will take away all the special rights and privileges granted to homosexuals by the liberal dictatorship over the last few years. Homosexuals will no longer be permitted to adopt children or marry each other.” - KKK

“We support a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union between one man and one woman... we affirm that homosexuality is incompatible with military service.” - GOP 

"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything … man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing… this is not about gay marriage, it is about changing what is right and wrong" – Rick Santorum

A WOMAN’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE

“The American Knights will outlaw this barbaric, satanic practice and punish the sadistic doctors who are guilty of these crimes against humanity.”- KKK

“We support a human life amendment to the Constitution outlawing abortion altogether, with no exceptions for the life and health of the mother, incest or rape. We will not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage.” - GOP

GUN CONTROL

“The so-called gun control bills enacted by the government are nothing but anti-self defense laws designed to disarm law abiding White citizens.” – KKK

“We oppose legislation limiting the capacity of clips or magazines. We oppose federal licensing of law-abiding gun owners & national gun registration. We applaud those seeking to stop frivolous lawsuits against firearms manufacturers.” – GOP

FOREIGN POLICY

“The Klan favors a strong foreign policy that closely guards American interests around the world. All aid to worthless third World nations will be cut off. The foreign policy of the Klan led United States will be: AMERICA FIRST, LAST AND ALWAYS!” – KKK

“As a party we should stand by the Bush doctrine of pre-emption. In a time when the greatest threat to our country is chemical or biological weapons in the hands of Islamic extremists who want to bring an end to the Western way of life; the percentage of Republicans endorsing diplomacy in preference to military action is minimal… 2/3 of Republicans believe that use of overwhelming force is best.” – GOP

IMMIGRATION

“Millions of Third World bandits enter our country illegally every year. The Republicans and Democrats do nothing to halt this massive invasion. America is being transformed into a new Mexico. We shall halt all immigration from non-White nations and use the U.S. Army to restore integrity to our borders.” – KKK

“Many areas of the border are wide open, resulting in a steady flow of illegal immigrants, criminals, smugglers and cartel members heading north. The party strongly believes that providing amnesty to illegal immigrants only further encourages illegal immigration, and supports efforts to deport illegal aliens without the process of allowing the illegal alien to have a hearing before an immigration judge.” - GOP

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best. They're not sending you, they're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems. They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists.” – Donald Trump

EDUCATION

“America's public schools, colleges and universities have been turned into political indoctrination centers run by depraved liberals, communist and Jews in our public. Forced bussing will be outlawed. Prayer will be returned to our schools.”- KKK

“We support the public display of the Ten Commandments as a reflection of our history and of our country's Judeo-Christian heritage, and we affirm the right of students to engage in prayer in public schools. The party is in favor of presenting alternative theories of biological or physical origins to evolution,  leveling the playing field as it allows a teacher to bring forward the biblical creation story of humankind.” - GOP

"Colleges are indoctrination mills that harm the country... taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them"- Rick Santorum

CHRISTIAN VALUES

“Homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuals, sado-masochism, and every other type of vile perversion is applauded by the scum that control our country. The American Knights demand a return to sanity. We call for a restoration of Christian values to all walks of life.” – KKK

"... reverence for God, support for the family unit." - GOP

“… and that's what we need to do — to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards.” - Mike Huckabee

“I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity  ... We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit ... We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press - in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past ... (few) years.” – Adolph Hitler (Fear not, fellow rational thinkers, I'm not falling into that Fox-like trap of ludicrously comparing anyone to the Fuhrer, but the quote sheds some light on how far right Republican rhetoric has gone, in that it would be perfectly believable if those words were credited to any one of the 758 GOP Presidential candidates.)

If you are a Republican, well, you’re not reading this.  But if, perchance, a stray GOPer has happened upon this page while in search of Ann Coulter erotica, Bush/Cheney prison escape plans or AK-47 white sales, please reconsider the party to which you give your allegiance. When you pull that lever or punch that chad under the illustration of the red, white and blue pachyderm, you are voting the values, or more accurately, lack thereof, of the Ku Klux Klan. 

“Like peas in a pod and birds of a feather

Alone or together you’ll find

That we are two of a kind” – Darin/Mercer

To wrap up this joyful dissertation, a gem of a song performed and written by Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer, chosen to reflect the new chummy relationship between the post-Tea Party, 19^th Century-centric GOP and the Ku Klux Klan, the twains have met – “Two of a Kind.”

Any comments, questions, criticisms, candid confessions, cash contributions?  Contact me at butchersaprons@mail.com.

The Killing Fields of Home

“Southern man, better keep your head
Don't forget what your good book said
Southern change's gonna come at last
Now your crosses are burning fast” – Neil Young

On relatively rare occasion, although I wish it more frequent, “… and several butcher’s aprons” is turned over to a guest blogger for the opportunity to experience a point of view from a new and fresh voice and perspective. 

Since the blog's inception, I have maintained anonymity in the guise of nycityman so as to feel absolute freedom to share any and all thoughts and opinions without insecurity or timidity, or fear of retribution, or for that matter, the likelihood of friend and family embarrassment leading to needless self-censorship, and that policy will remain unchanged. The sole revelation to identity is that today’s contributor is an older brother, and so will be similarly designated by geography as newjerseyman .

Famously, the Confederate flag has been removed and furled from atop the South Carolina State House. And while those who maintain tearful and heartfelt nostalgia for an era when they could own, beat and kill other human beings will now have to express those longings in a more sotto voce fashion, the fact remains that the times are such that two weeks of unrelenting and ever-increasing vile and ugly racist rhetoric by Donald Trump has vaulted him to the number one position among GOP presidential wannabes.  Friends, intolerance and bigotry may very well be on the rise.

Killings in South Carolina

by newjerseyman

I don't know what words to use to describe the assassination of nine innocent people at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. To say it was horrific is a gross understatement. To say that it was sad just doesn't mean enough. How the families of those murdered innocents must feel can't be comprehended. Racism, again, has invaded the places where people should be and feel most safe.

If it has not been recognized or realized yet; we do not live in a "post racial" society. Racism is alive and, unfortunately, well. And if we all don't begin to do something about it, and certainly to at least admit it, then nothing significant will happen to lessen racism. I'm realistic enough to understand that it, sadly, cannot be completely ended.

All parents with young children should work hard to instill in them the proper thinking and feelings. Children should be taught that all people need to be not only treated as having equal worth but thought of in that way as well. And it's not enough for our leaders, particularly political, to condemn such acts as this but to acknowledge that racism does exist in the U.S. and needs to be addressed. In fact, I would suggest to you that any 2016 presidential candidate who does not recognize racism to be as endemic and insidious as it is in our nation should be taken off your list for consideration as our next president.

Please think of nine innocent people praying in their beloved church and how racist feelings built up over the short 21 years of the killer's life snuffed them out forever, removing them from their loved ones and causing so much grief and heartache.

Just think!

In closing, Neil Young and Southern Man.

When a Man Loves a Feline

“Pussycat, pussycat,

I love you.

Yes I do,

You and your pussycat eyes”

 – Hal David

For Lily, who initially invaded my heart, Gracie, Doobie, and the cat of the hour, Spanky.

This is life, whilst still breathing we are who we are, full of fine qualities and equally full of faults. However, once passing on to the great beyond, the negative characteristics are quickly forgotten as they melt like lemon drops away above the chimney tops, and we all become the epitome of perfection, the stuff of mythology and legend, beloved beyond the reality of our actual existence.

During a recent day turned to night of tribulations and travails trapped in an airport terminal with undetermined time and means of escape; followed by a flight awash in never-ceasing turbulence,  it occurred to me that it would be beneficial to express our appreciation for those we admire, respect, adore and love while they can still be cognizant of our deep devotions, and with that in mind, and with your kind indulgence, I dedicate this particular blog not to a fellow homosapien but, instead, to a needy, sharp-clawed, fuzzy feline who has forcefully wrenched open the ventricles of a hard-hearted cynic to the previously unexperienced wonders of the domesticated animal kingdom. To paraphrase Maurice Chevalier as filtered through the Marx’s in Monkey Business, he brought a new kind of love to me.

Lily

My boyhood home was totally and utterly devoid of pets. All non-relative animals were banned from our household like D.H. Lawrence novels from a Catholic school library. Consequently, I underwent that vital, childhood, pet ownership rite of passage in my forties and fifties and, with that vantage point, may have an even greater indebtedness for it than those who take this unique experience of caring and connection between species for granted. Can one undergo significant temperament metamorphoses so far removed from our wonder years? Assuredly, Spanky’s presence has made me more compassionate, considerate, patient, empathetic, loving and, most importantly, less selfish - although there’s still many more miles to trek on that evolutionary journey.

Gracie

Spanky came to me through the good graces of the American Humane Society, a worthy and noble organization who will be remembered in my will, and so benefit greatly from those Hellman’s jars of accumulated copper coinage. He was but a three month old kitten - feisty, mischievous, energetic and openly affectionate, and it was he who chose me, determinedly shadowing my every step and demanding my complete attention with his nonstop meowing, chattering and chirping. Then, faster than a speeding bullet and the failure of the Donald’s presidential aspirations, there suddenly lurked a 12 pound beast in my apartment. repeatedly knocking down a 6 and a half foot Christmas tree, and clawing divots in my chest while contentedly purring.

Those talkative communiqués, adorable from the babe, continue these more than 19 years later, and oftimes now come out cranky and crabby in tone, reflective of his senior status and state of mind at 133 human years. He was diagnosed with kidney disease and given but a few months to live – 5 years ago, and currently consumes a cornucopia of pharmaceuticals and supplements to combat that malady as well as hyperthyroidism and hypertension. Spanky is on Medicare and Social Security, participates as an active member of AARP, wears a First Alert bracelet and cannot be dragged away from the television screen when PBS shows Lawrence Welk, having developed a particular affinity for the terpsichorean talents of Bobby and Cissy. 

We are now a duo advancing in age together, keeping each other company (who else would have us), sometimes cantankerous, sometimes cross, with the occasional ornery argument and a mutual comprehension and easy interspecies interaction that at times, still amazes – our bond has never been stronger. The older and frailer he becomes, as the period of our partnership inches ever closer to its inevitable conclusion, the further my fondness flourishes. Over the course of this lengthy life, more than a half a century and counting, he's one of the best things to ever happen to me.

Doobie

The way I see it, Spanky’s a buddy who just happened to be born a cat, and we're both better for whatever happenstance happily united us. I understand him and he understands me. He’s my Sancho Panza, my Bucky Barnes, my Watson, my Garfunkel.

My cat, my friend, my boy – if only you could read.

I’ve got a cat on me

Where a cat ought to be.

Sprawled out flat on my lap,

For his ninth daily nap.

When he wakes he will mew

For a can of cat stew.

Til he finishes, then

He’ll be sleeping again.

That’s a feline existence,

Free of any resistance.

With no struggle or strife

How I envy that life.

When I pass to the grave

If my soul can be saved,

Please, oh Heavenly chorus

Make me a Tom or a Morris.

Spanky

Of course, the only melody that immediately comes to mind when contemplating cats, is this Bacharach/David, Tom Jones pop classic that, in actuality, has absolutely nothing to do with the Felis Silvestris Catus, but enjoy What’s New Pussycat?

Any comments, questions, criticisms, candid confessions, cash contributions?  Contact me at butchersaprons@mail.com.

Confederacy of Dunces – You’re a Grand Old Rag (revisited)

“Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton,
Old times there are not forgotten, 

Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land” – D.D. Emmett         

“The institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise... would an existence spent in slavery have been any crueler than a life spent in sub-Saharan Africa?” -  Rep. John Hubbard, Republican - Arkansas

"Its symbolism in history is directly linked to the enslavement, torture and murder of millions of Americans.” - Assemblyman Isadore Hall, Democrat - California

In light of the recent, very tragic events in South Carolina, the country has started reevaluating and reexamining the place and proliferation of the Confederate flag in the modern United States. Why it took these killings to enlighten people to the vile history, acts and opinions associated with this symbol of an enemy army and territory over 150 years after the end of the War Between the States is surely a quandary. And why so many in the South still insist on fighting that war and clinging to the bigotry, hatred and treason the rebels represented is concerning. 

Much has been written and published about these issues this passed week, but in a piece of surprising and unpredictable prescience "... and several butcher's aprons" opined on this unfurled foulness almost a full year ago.

We re-share this post due to its current relevancy, but it should be noted that while this new reaction to the flag is a progressive and positive step, this pennant is but a symbol of hatred and intolerance, incapable of committing harm, and it is the easy access to armaments, still largely ignored by our society, that must be addressed before any actual, effective and positive change can occur.

From July 2014

One would think that by the summer of 2014, any discussion of the baneful banner that is the Confederate flag would be neither timely nor relevant. Regrettably, such is not the case. The ascension of an African-American to the highest office in the land has reversed calendars south of the Mason/Dixon Line a century or so, exhumed graves, unsealed crypts, unearthed sarcophagus’s and filled the U.S. of A with the intolerant apparitions of long-dead traitorous and treasonous Johnny Rebs, while creating a new generation of modern-day, would-be Johnny Yumas.

You're an idiot

Twaddle, you proclaim? If only your audacious declaration of doubt and denial were true. But, the course of recent human events has illuminated actions and attitudes most ignoble.  A new poll taken among Mississippi Republicans (a group known for the inability to spell the name of their own state) reveals that over a third, 37%, would support the Confederacy, and its fight to preserve slavery, had they the opportunity today. 

Meanwhile, in the equally unenlightened state of South Carolina, the first to secede from the Union, home of the palmetto tree and Young Jeezy, the state attorney general has allowed for the continued and legal display of the Stars and Bars at the chapel entrance of the Citadel military college in Charleston despite abundant objections to its obvious offensiveness.  Said City Councilman Henry Darby in response, "It's just still as if they are trying to preserve the Confederacy” - indeed. 

You're an idiot

Then, there’s the legend that is Operation American Spring, the Tea Party event, held just this May, that promised to bring 30 million real Americans to Washington D.C. to finally and for all-time oust illegal alien, Muslim, anti-Christ, puppy-mill owner, child-candy stealer, original Star Trek series canceller, Garden of Eden snake, President Barack Obama from his comfy chair in the Oval Office. Although only missing its attendance goal by but a trifling 29,999,970 people, in this modern American era of 1865, as long as the stupid take a stand, there will be confederate flags flown. The few hearty and enthusiastic, anti-American haters that did appear were parading their rebel rags with more illicit ill will and perverse pride than John Holmes did his John Thomas. But I say, Gomer, keep it in your overalls.

You're an even bigger idiot

So, is the Deep South truly an un-enchanted land where teeth and diplomas are equally rare commodities, family values means marrying someone within your own family and “Deliverance” a dead-on documentary? All obviously exaggerated, false and distasteful stereotypes, but keep waving the Southern Cross rather than burning it, keep promoting the glorious and glamorous benefits enslavement held for our black population like so much Proactive Plus for Adam Levine, and the Hee Haw viewing, greased-pig chasing, Honey Boo Boo raising, insulting insinuations will remain. We cursed Yankees would like to believe that there might be some nuclear physicists named Zeke, great philosophers called Josephus, smart, selfless and sophisticated statesmen christened Gomer, but continue to harken back wistfully and nostalgically to a time when you had the right to own other human beings, and your region turned violent, treasonous traitor to our great nation in a war a century and a half passed but still felt like a fresh wound in some mindsets, and like George Michael in a public restroom, one can only judge by the evidence at hand.

Okay, you get a pass

This deliberate and odious icon is too often regarded as a meaningless piece of pop culture, be it as a gargantuan backdrop on the concert stage behind Lynyrd Skynrd or as a constant presence in every idiotic iteration of the Dukes of Hazzard. It’s not comedic, it’s not artistic. It should be treated here as the swastika, its moral equivalent, is in Germany, banned and illegal to sell or purchase.

This flag, this unfurled material of malevolence, doesn’t represent Southern Pride, state’s rights and a nostalgia for a genteel, better life gone by - it represents the ownership of people. It represents beatings and whippings and torture and lynchings. It represents ignorance, intolerance and inhumanity. It represents treason, disloyalty and sedition. It represents a presidential assassination. If you fly it, or proudly display it or tattoo it upon your flabby, fatty, southern-fried flesh, you’re a fool.  If you fly it in the nation’s capital, if you display it outside the current home of our first Black President, you’re saying Obama belongs not in the White House but in the cotton fields of your plantation.

Any comments, questions, criticisms, candid confessions, cash contributions? Contact me at butchersaprons@mail.com.

Strange Fruit  

“Southern trees bear strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees” - Abel Meeropol

Worth Three in a Bush

“It seems to me I've heard that song before
It's from an old familiar score, I know it well” – Sammy Cahn

On Monday, June 15^th 2014 Anno Domini, the year of Jack Lord,  a date which will live in infamy, John Ellis "Jeb" “Scooter” “Jughead” “the Beaver” Bush, son of 41st President George H. W. Bush, brother of mass murderer, convicted DUI offender and functioning while clinically brain-dead 43^rd President George W. Bush and baby daddy of English warbler Kate Bush, officially announced his candidacy for the 2016 Presidential Election. “A crowd of people stood and stared,” Hillary Clinton chortled while defiantly hiking up her coral pants suit, and the only 32 registered Republicans left out of the 55 million who have yet to declare considered their options.

In conjunction with this announcement, the Bush operation released the official logo, which was creatively designed to be multi-functional - equally suited to a political campaign, as well as to the Lifetime Network daytime talk show whose premiere will immediately follow his embarrassing and devastating defeat.

Besides the, conspicuous by its absence, AWOL family surname, keen-eyed “… and several butcher’s aprons” readers (needless to say, our readers are not merely keen-eyed, but sharp-minded, mind-bogglingly attractive, humane to all creatures great and small and sexual dynamos nonpareil) will have noticed that this cheery icon is also without a slogan – no slogan, no motto, no mission statement, no message whatsoever but for an inference of excitement and the implication that the candidate is aware of what year the next Commander in Chief will assume the reigns.

Well, friends, after some considerable effort - the greasing of a palm or two, a bit of computer hacking, an exchange of sexual favors and a very unfortunate, but justifiably necessary, successful drone strike, we have obtained the heretofore hidden and understandably rejected Jeb Bush campaign slogans.

All of the images can be selected and enlarged for easier enjoyment or annoyment, whichever personally applies.

Sure it's depressing, disheartening and discouraging that yet another member of the lowest IQ clan is pursuing the highest office in the land, but sometimes all one needs for a little mood lifting is a nice glass of Bosco and a tuneful distraction. So, if you'll provide the chocolate moo, I'll present the diddy with Frank Sinatra performing, "I've Heard This Song Before."

 Any comments, questions, criticisms, candid confessions, cash contributions?  Contact me at butchersaprons@mail.com.

Worth a Thousand Words IX: Dawn of the Planet of a Thousand Words

"All I've got is a photograph

And I realize you're not coming back anymore." - Starkey/Harrison

It's been quite a long period of time since the last installment of the "Worth a Thousand Words" series of humorously captioned photographs, and the world is probably a better place for it. But alas, a worthy picture or two came across the copy desk here at the multinational corporate headquarters of "... and several butcher's aprons," and just as fortuitously, some rare time opened on the calendar between meetings with heads of state and world leaders. So, after much thought and consideration, the board decided it appropo to once again share some thoroughly dumb and dimwitted gags as a well-deserved break from the usual political lecturing.

Please enjoy and feel free to share with friends, or if you feel it more fitting, mortal enemies. Click on the images to enlarge for easier reading.

Note: Of course, Mr. LaPierre is still with us, but one can always dream

 

And now, for your musical merriment and aural entertainment, some Ringo and "Photograph" to compliment the photographs. 

Any comments, questions, criticisms, candid confessions, cash contributions? Contact me at butchersaprons@mail.com

Saturday Song Selection - The Rascals: Groovin'

“We'll keep on spending sunny days this way.

We're gonna’ talk and laugh our time away.

I feel it coming closer day by day.

Life would be ecstasy, you and me endlessly,

Groovin' on a Sunday afternoon” - Cavaliere/ Brigati

This time out, Saturday Song Selection features a favorite from my youth reflected in hazy reminiscence and awash in gauzy nostalgia. The mundane and common fable to follow may or may not be fully factual, but rather more a scenario imagined while listening to Groovin'; a pleasant reverie in the form of a fond, far distant recollection from a summer long ago. Whether the exact occasion ever actually occurred or is merely a fanciful and fuzzy compilation of childhood experiences blurred and bettered by middle-aged melancholy and an adult’s longing for the wistful romanticized charms of what seemed like a simpler time (you know, Vietnam, riots in the streets, assassinations) is as much a mystery to me as the origin of the universe, the events beyond our passing, and the appeal of Jimmy Fallon.

Summer 1967 - your blog host, nycityman, was then but 8 year old statenislandboy, and if one wished to keep creative accounts of his thoughts, opinions and deeds, he did so with pad and pen.  All we knew of computers was Colossus: The Forbin Project, they were humongous, room-sized, punch-card spewing monstrosities with giant tape reels for heads, as likely to destroy civilization as to serve it. 

There was still a month and a half left to go before the return of pencils, books and teacher’s dirty looks (ah, the innocent and simple blissfulness of a responsibility free summer vacation from school.) The weather cooperated, Tex Antoine and Uncle Wethbee did mostly right by us, and the backyard trees provided sufficient shade to keep the assembled uncles, aunts and very active, kid cousins cool and comfortable for the consumption of an array of grilled meats and iced sweetened beverages. There were more little Italian kids running around that backyard than would be fleeing a Vatican parade of Cardinals in Saint Peter’s Square and, thirsty from activity, we enjoyed sips from the full flavor variety of Pantry Pride soda, sugary as a Sunday Sermon and twice as gassy. We were a lower middle class clan grateful for the largesse of store coupons, and subsiding on a diet of store brand knock-offs and cheaper competitors to brand name products. Under certain circumstances, I might still shudder and quake at the mere memory of C&C Cola or Suave Baby Shampoo “almost no more tears formula.”

In a few hours when day turns to dusk, some will rush inside to catch that evening’s Mets game on the black and white portable in the kitchen with Ralph Kiner, Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy announcing the inevitable loss – some things never change. But while still chaise lounging on the equal part weeds-equal part grass lawn, entertainment was provided by the 6 transistor radio, tuned in, as always, to 77 WABC, the nation’s premiere top 40 station. Each hit song was played in such constant rotation and repetition that any man, woman, child or particularly clever cockatoo within earshot would have lyrics committed to memory like the birth date on a fake ID, and could sing along like a member of the Pips. And, with the traditional talk-up introduction that continued far too long into the body of the song, DJ Ron Lundy bestowed upon his listeners the still popular chart-topper, Groovin’, the ideal number for this easy, lazy Sunday day bereft of worries, adult apprehensions and obligations.

Spring 2013 - the frequently contentious and famously feuding Rascals are convinced by Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band to reunite for a limited and triumphant run on the Great White Way (no, not the floor of Congress) their first performance together since 1972. I gleefully attended and 46 years, 100 odd pounds and millions of fewer hairs later, was still immediately and happily transported to this earlier era of my life. The success of the Tony Award nominated Once Upon a Dream precipitated a national tour with a planned return to Broadway, and I had my second set of tickets in hand. However, despite a hoped for mellowing of age, the acrimony between band members never truly ceased and plans were scrapped mid-tour, making it very unlikely that we will ever see this Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ensemble play as a cohesive musical unit again. As with pleasant recollections of childhood, those of us who were fortunate enough to see this short-lived second go-round will always have our memories.

“Groovin’” earned a gold record and was a number one hit that spent 4 weeks atop the Billboard charts in 1967. For many of us of a certain age and era, it’s just one of the myriad, beloved rock and roll classics from Felix Cavaliere, Eddie Brigati, Gene Cornish and Dino Danelli - the legendary Rascals.

 Any comments, questions, criticisms, candid confessions, cash contributions?  Contact me at butchersaprons@mail.com.