FELIZ 2016

It has been a night of beer, A & W Root Beer and a bag of Frito Lay! I watched the hucksters on the HSN portray silver as gold... at least the prices are golden. I wonder how much consumers really know about what they are touting?  Me, I am in the pursuit of silver dollars..Morgan type.

Watching the New Year Celebration on the Spanish-speaking channel is the best!


My computer clock says 12:00 AM. Guy Lombardo is playing and I have goosebumps. Now Sinatra sings "New York, NY." I love it and I am in the warmth of my Poodle. Only in America can we enjoy our lives as we chose.

Going to the Sturbridge Antiques Show later in the morning. Stay well my friends. May your lives be of happiness and good health. What are your goals and resolutions? stay with them. Be happy.

Happy 2016!

NEW YEARS IN VIETNAM

As my clock struck twelve my heart throbbed for home in North Brookfield, Mass. Vietnam was old hat to me. Specialist Mosby .. my replacement as a 91p20 had arrived and I took on new colors.No longer did I have to zap folks but insterad spread my wings in the 345th Medical Dispensary. I became an ambulance driver and got to see some action of my own.

I was told to report to the Dodge Power Wagon with the big red cross painted on the sides. The 195 3 Dodge was a clunker. But I knew the way. A report came over the phone that a brawl had occurred... maybe the 39th Signal Corps Enlisted Man's Club .Sure enough. This "brother" was lying in a pool of bloods and the GI's were taking sides .Not  me. as a medic I learned I had a job to do... bring this cat to the 36th Evac. Hospital. I once was there with Captain Robert C. Heath my XO. We had an M151 and totaled it,, hitting a Vietnamese on a Mo Ped then pooning a water truck parked to the side. not fun.

Posor Heath was but 10 days from returning to CONUS. I had a little bit more time to heal.My cervical spine took 10 years to mend!

Meanwhile back on Back Beach the New Year was rung in with beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Black Label. We partied like it was the end of the world. Vietnamese were hawking native pineapples  for a Dong. We knew no differently than to drink and celebrate. The real world beckoned us by the covers of Time and Life.What a horror show. Armed Forces radio and television didn't offer us much.

The one song I recall was Scott McKensies "If You Are Going To San Francisco Be Sure To Wear A Flower In Your Hair." I yearned for SF. Worst off, Massachusetts was 3,000 miles East. I figured I was 10,000 miles from home.All a got were letters for 9 months. A few guys talked with home via MARS. But when you are inebriated who cares?

My ETS date was February 15th...Hello Mary Lou! Some soldiers of Vietnam had things rough when they got home. The greatest thing for me as a draftee was I had my Aetna job waiting for me and my old bed at home. It was very difficult for me with jet lag and all. I forced myself to re-adjust to civilian life. 48 years later I think I am adjusting to those who danced to "The Draft Dodger Rag" by Pete Seger!

But wait. Our worlds today are worlds apart from 1968. Today I look on my new PC and see all of the weather live in Vung Tau..12 hours ahead time.If we adopt it we win.. if we reject it we are being short-changed by the blazing technologies of 2016.

I am appreciative and honored to have served my Country at the time of War. Hopefully I will  live in peace and harmony to see my sons children and grandchildren to the year 2525........Happy New Year my fans. .God Bless.  Remem

ber champagne gives headaches!

FRANK MALZONE -AGE 85

The Boston Red Sox have lost a star third baseman, Frank Malzone.

. Frank was between Ted Williams and Carl Yastzemski. Frank Malzone was a name all Red Sox fans recognized and revered. I know as I was one of them. While attending the 1968 World Series in St. Louis! I sought out fame and found it at a club where all ball players congregated. I recall even seeing 31 Game winner Denny McLain walking with a babe under each arm. Better yet I recognized Frank Malzone seated at a table with a friend.

As I am far from being bashful.  .I walked up to Frank Malzone saying "may I have your autograph?" I told him I was from Massachusetts. Frank Malzone obliged signing his autograph on the back of my business card. Frank said " I didn't think anyone would want my autograph any more." Frank Malzone was flattered and surprised.

Frank only has 133 home runs and played for 12 years.1966 was his last year in organized ball as a player. Then on he had a front office job with the Sox. Yaz credits Frank Malzone with "taking him under his wing. "Topps Baseball  came out with a Frank Malzone card.. maybe in 1955? When you are in the good company of Ted Williams you are somebody .I liked Frank Malzone because he was humble, a hitter and brought some dignity to the game. I am certain owner Thomas A. Yawkey liked his third baseman for his steadiness in the game. Thanks for signing my request, Mr.. Malzone! I'll never forget you!

COLD TURKEY

Your quitting cigarettes COLD TURKEY can be your victory cry! No matter what, when you give up tobacco you have turned a critical corner towards your longevity.If you don't give up cigarettes you are drawing a picture in the form of a skeleton. I don't think about death because I live. I have friends on oxygen and it saddens me to death.

Politicians can be "fake." If they were real they would reverse the absurd takes on tobacco. I say bullshit. There are no arguments that hold water.

Two of my uncles died from tobacco poisoning at young ages. My grandfathers died prematurely from tobacco poisoning. One of their fathers died from cancer of the lip; he smoked a pipe.

There are so many things that can aid to premature passing. High blood pressure is the silent killer. I think there's virtue in living '"the straight and narrow." Creeping up is obesity in middle age and old age. Why? Are we dumb?

New Years is a wonderful time to resolve. Kill your vices before they kill you! Exercise. By turning a new leaf of courage as Waldo Whitman once wrote our old age can be happy. Your mind is more powerful than your addiction. Friends don't let friends smoke .Wean yourselves down as Uncle Franny did. Uncle albert smoked 4 packs of Camels a day for 50 years . He made it to 64.At the end he looked like the "Crucified Christ requiring an aluminum neck brace to hold his cervical spine in place. It was awful.

So as Mr. Leach said so many times "A word to the wise is sufficient!" For whatever it takes for you to do it...I cheer you on! IQ..I quit.

GIUSEPPE VERDI (1813 -1901)

If you don't have Giuseppe Verdi in your musical veins you ain't got music!.. or couth!  a  well-rounded individual at least knows the name Verdi. In this global society we must broaden our horizons in music and throw away the junk. Classical music can be wonderful IF you want to learn. I latched onto Beethoven at age 20; For more than 50 years I have developed somewhat of an ear for classics. You can say I'm hooked on classics... when the mood hits me. The older I get the better is my ear!

Verdi is wonderful. the "Grand March" from AIDA turns me on. Luciano  Pavarotti bellows out "La Donna e' mobile" from Rigoletto and so on. My 2016 Studio is fabulous. I am living like a king.... a GOOGLE king. You must shed your old habits as we ring in the new year. My mother would be 100 in 2016. Gram Rita almost made it to 92. God bless her soul.

The following is a listing of the greatest composers in the Classics: Bach..Beethoven..Mozart..Brahms..Tchaikovsky..Rachmaninoff..Chopin..Wagner..Vivaldi..Strauss..Grieg.. Debussy.. Handel. .Schubert and more.

Classical music is an acquired taste. New York City features The Met. I feature "cheap" CDs. Taoday I snatched a couple at the Salvation Army for a song. I am gearing up for music from Vienna on WFCR on New Years Day. Tune it in my friends...11::00 AM.. maybe Julie Andrews narrates it at night on PBS?! This is how I negotiated this murky Wed. Tomorrow, Boston.

AUCTIONEER

I have been an auctioneer since 1974. I love the action, suspense, challenge of being on the stage of life. I began attending estate auctions at an extremely young age.. say 9 years old. I was mesmerized by the auctioneer's chant. Old Colby Johnson captured my imagination and by the age of 14 I began to follow Mr. Johnson around. I was a very early beginner.

There's something in being an auctioneer... in your spirit. Auctioneering is cognitive. You cannot wing it. You must buy books like Warmans for knowledge. You look things up and learn .I bought my first Warmans at age 32. It was my beginning. You earn your reputation nd go as high as you want. I have traveled to the other side of the Moon in my selling.

Auction School in Kansas City then onto Indiana University for CAI. I have made friends cross the Land. My sons, Ben and Josh have grown with me in all aspects of being an auctioneer. I delight in their auction prowess they learned with "Betty Botter" an auctioneer chant. I don't profess in being a Speed Riggs but I do admit of being a student of the auctioneering game.

I began doing benefit auctions then grew in holding Estate Auctions.. where folks died and liquidation was necessary Sometimes siblings fight... enter the auctioneer.

It takes four to six weeks to orchestrate a sale. The auctioneer is the impresario in charge of everything.. manpower.. police detail.. logistics.. appraisals. .clerking., . cashiering. trash removal... the whole nine yards.

You must have an Auctioneer License in Massachusetts..my number is AU2000!  Payout to owners or consignors by me is 10 days. The share of my business came from bank trust officers, lawyers and families. Today E-Bay and the Internet has changed things. No matter what I still "think  I think like an auctioneer-blogger.

The whole essence of auctioneering is action and adventure. 'People are going to die...and people are going to buy!"