We Need an Ed Sullivan Show

On Substack, I explore the day the music sorta died.

[Photo by Mick Haupt at Unsplash]

Pretend It's a City

 

The European Sophisticates

I was in Germany for an Army investigation back in the Seventies. 

Frankfurt. Heidelberg. Kaiserslautern.

The German highways had a lot of military traffic in those days. The big emphasis, of course, was on being able to thwart a Soviet invasion.  Everything else was secondary.

It was accepted that if anything bad was going to happen, it would happen quickly and would require a very strong response.

The American commitment was enormous but there was a sense of gratitude from the German people. We felt they truly appreciated our presence in those days along with that of the British and the French.

The size of the European defense budgets was much higher then, even though the nations were poorer than today.

If the current European leaders think that Americans do not notice their mild levels of military and diplomatic support, they are making a huge mistake. 

The Iranian missile program was designed to bring pressure on Europe and only ultimately on the United States. There should be clear and strong support from Europe.

To borrow an old line once used by Winston Churchill with regard to the Russians, if this is how they behave in the green wood, how will they behave in the dry?

Music Break

 

Truth

“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, ‘The Beatles did.’”

-    - Kurt Vonnegut

Hercules Unchained

Drinking some iced Vietnamese coffee that my son brought me from Cafe Molli on 16th Street in Phoenix.

Stunningly good.

Pure Creativity

 

Painful

 I've never seen a public official handle an interview in as dismal a fashion as this.

The First Management Consultant on Delegation

In Exodus, Chapter 18:

And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God:

When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.

And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good.

First Paragraph

 I, Julian Fabius, an advocate for discretion in all things, should have known better. Take that as a given. But even the best shield can drop with age, weariness, and wine and the truth is I would like my epitaph to be more impressive than "He Made a Fatal Jest about the Emperor Tiberius."

- From Pilate's Magician: A Novel of the Resurrection by Michael Wade

[E-book version is up on Amazon. News on the paperback version is pending.]