Category Archives: General

Fifty-five years ago, a 59-year-old man drove east on State Route 82 on a cold, windy, and snowy night. The lines on the roadway weren’t visible. Coming from the opposite was a younger man.

The older man was returning from Cleveland after visiting relatives, where he shared drinks and stories. The younger man was returning home from college and had stopped at a bar called Ernie’s to relax and enjoy a few drinks.

At close to 10:00 p.m., they would meet on a curve just west of Bissell Road. Due to road conditions and poor visibility, both vehicles rounded the curve left of center. In an instant of time, a moment so short it can only be called an infinitesimal interval in time, whose passage is instantaneous. But in that time, lives end, and those left behind are forever changed.

I’ve written about my grandfather before, and I could speak of his virtues and vices here, and he certainly had both, but another time.

On that Monday night, I was 17 in bed listening to my clock radio. I didn’t hear the phone ring, but I could hear the shrieks outside my room. Trying to listen to music angered me to the point of getting up, opening my bedroom door, and, unusual for me at home, yelling to demand an answer to what was going on. That’s when I learned my grandfather was dead, and the sounds I heard were the screams of pain of his daughter, my mom when the news was received.

The medical reports indicated my grandfather may have suffered a heart attack just before the cars collided, but it wasn’t conclusive. The only thing that could be conclusive was he died that night, as did another man.

I had a close bond with my grandfather. I’ve always felt it was closer than anyone else in the family, but it’s unfair to say it as a fact. Still, though, I believe it. A significant change for me was moving in with my grandmother, who lived upstairs at his namesake, Andy’s Bar. I would finish out my junior and senior years there.

The move left me without parental supervision when I needed it. My curfew was now 2:30 a.m., and I would meet it, but school and attendance suffered. It’s also a time when temptation leads the young to take on risky behavior, and the lack of guidance only exacerbates what you can call venturesome or dangerous activity. As I stated toward the top, the lives of others can change; mine did.

People often comment about AOC and indicate she’s not the brightest bulb, but that is to be expected from a bartender; she got out of the House of Representatives and needs to get back to bartending because she’s not good or bright enough to do anything else.

I hate the bartender talk. Being a bartender isn’t a bad thing. Two of my grandparents tended bar, three uncles, a couple of cousins, my mom, and my dad rarely, and I did my time. I was in my grandparents’ bar starting around age three. The people patronizing it were hardworking folks and frankly, I learned a great deal about people hanging around the bar.

My grandmother started her day opening at 7 a.m. My mom went in yesterday at about 11 a.m. and worked until 5 p.m. My grandmother went upstairs, I think around 2, for a couple of hours to rest, but she didn’t. She washed clothes, did housework, etc. She went back downstairs until 2:30 a.m. to close the bar, 30 minutes to clean up the place, then upstairs to bed. Then, I will be back in the bar by 7 a.m. at the latest to open up for the before-work crowd to open up. If the door wasn’t open on schedule, the handful of men would be knocking. They had limited time to get a shot or two, a short beer, and some would get a flask of wine to go. Then, they were off for a hard day’s work next door, making minimum wage.

My grandmother did this six days a week and opened on Sundays for a few hours for selected people while she cooked dinner for family coming later in the afternoon. This went on for years.

This is only part of the story. The bad thing is AOC. She would be just as bad if she worked selling shoes. It’s a lot of hard work. Just say she’s a moronic person because she is. But I really do hate the AOC talk about just being a bartender. There are a lot of reasons to hate AOC, but that isn’t one.

I watch three Christmas movies without fail; this is one of them. The other two, Miracle on 34th Street and A Christmas Story, are also must-sees for me. I understand Jimmy Stewart breaking down sobbing on the set during the prayer to God. I’m sure the movie touched the many returning from the war and those welcoming them home, but it also touches people today.

“It’s a Wonderful Life” grows richer with age. We wonder about our lives: Were we worth it? Did we make a difference? George Bailey gets the gift we can’t: the opportunity to view a world without his existence. The film masterfully celebrates the victory of faith and love.

Or, as Stewart summed it up in an interview about the film, “It’s simply about an ordinary man who discovers that living each ordinary day honorably, with faith in God and a selfless concern for others, can make for a truly wonderful life.”

It was a great movie, but you had to watch it more than once to catch everything. There’s a lot of comedy in the background, like in the art on the walls. And to catch all the lines, too. Each was a gem.  Hedley Lamarr: “My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought, cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.”

Taggart: “God darn it, Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a 20-dollar whore.”

It’s hard to believe it was 50 years ago. It was a better time for real comedy when people could laugh and not be offended by everything. It’s too bad people can’t watch the original version today without difficulty and enjoy it. The comedy people find offensive was satiric. The movie was also a parody of Westerns.

Gene Wilder summed it up. Wilder played Jim in the movie. In an interview, he said, “They’ve smashed racism in the face, but they’re doing it while you laugh.” It did, but no one seems to be laughing today. Today, Blazing Saddles is highly edited, so that message is lost. Some found the anti-racism message racist. Ironic, isn’t it? In fact, in a search for quotes, “racist quotes” come up now, the opposite of the intention. Are we evolving or devolving?

The movie had a great cast of characters: Lili, Jim (Waco Kid), Taggart, Sheriff Bart, Hedley, Lepetomame, and his more-than-voluptuous secretary, Jill Stein, Howard Johnson (one flavor of ice cream), Mongo, and the guy who played Van Johnson (I had a chance to meet and talk to him once) to name a few.

The movie takes place in 1874, 100 years before its release. There were many stars. Most guys, getting down to “bwass tacks,” would pick Madeline Kahn. She was no “ordinawy” woman either. Kahn received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role.

Here’s something some may not know. Some of the actors were together for another movie by Mel Brooks released the same year,