At this writing I am listening to Elton John’s 1984 album “Breaking Hearts”.  It was not the prolific songwriter/performer’s most memorable effort.  One thing you can give Elton credit for, good or bad, he has never allowed much moss to grow.  One record after another.  Many not very good.  Some, though, unforgettable.  For me, “Breaking Hearts” is an unforgettable release.  When I was a junior and senior in high school, I wore a cassette tape of this release out.  The melancholy tune, the album’s namesake, “Breaking Hearts” is a great song.  The haunting chorus with its soaring harmony takes me places.  It did then.  It does now.  Whether I am sixteen or fifty, I hear and feel the same stuff when I listen to this album.  That is how you know it became and continues to be a part of your life.  This one, for whatever reason, resonates with me more than most all these years on.

Am I a Pirate?  I feel like one.  I am listening to this album on the world wide web on a common website.  That is all I will say.  I couldn’t tell you how many times I have been to used record/cd shops all over the country East of the Mississippi River looking for this album on CD.  There is plenty of Elton to procure.  But I can’t find this one.  My tape is long gone.  I feel like a heel listening to this without paying for it.  I suppose I will order it properly this weekend if I can find it.

Does Elton need my six dollars?  I doubt it.  I donated to see him in concert many years ago.  It was worth every penny.

During baseball games at North Harrison High School, I can be found in the press box announcing the game and playing the same old tunes in between innings.  The picture above was taken this past week in an NH home game against Heritage Hills.  What I love about this pic is catcher Brett Rudolph, sans his catcher’s mask, looking as the ball sails out of play.  Brett was the subject of some good pictures I posted here during football season.  His Dad was a senior when I was freshman and now and again I was lined up against him during practice scrimmages.  His Dad, Jeff, was like a piece of steel.  To me, Jeff Rudolph will always be the greatest North Harrison Cougar of them all.

Listening to Elton’s 1984 album “Breaking Hearts” for the first time in decades, I can tell you it is even better tonight than I remembered.

On facebook last Saturday I posted the following…

There are still some non-believers out there thinking I am in Cleveland today for The Moody Blues induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I am at home where my old “breakfast of champions”, a Canada Dry Ginger Ale, has been replaced with coffee in a Moody Blues Hall of Fame cup thanks to Dan Goins. On this gloomy, “Moody” Saturday morning in Southern Indiana, I am back where it started for me in 1983…and that old cassette still works 35 years later. First time I have played this tape in at least 2 decades. Sounds wonderful!

That original Days of Future Passed cassette.

So The Moody Blues finally made it to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  I am ready to visit the place now.  I want to go one time.  This year will be the time to do that.  I have never been a great fan of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  I got a copy of this year’s induction ceremony program.  There were multiple errors in the section that spoke of The Moodies.  No Moodies fan is shocked by that.  We all had the Moodies in a more important Rock and Roll Hall of Fame many years ago….our hearts.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I am here to type these words.

I was asked today why I had not posted anything lately.  Gone is my excuse of doing those 50 post in 50 days…that ended near a month ago.  It was a priority and a sense of duty to take care of it.  You know, to deliver the goods…or at least deliver well, something.

Test season is here in the State of Indiana.  I am not sure why we Hoosiers think we are so important that we need to make things so difficult for students.  Things don’t have to be this complicated.  Look at some other states and how they go about things and you’ll find that, in some cases, Indiana spends too much time with the T-square and the compass and the protractor trying to chart the course.  Test them all, they say!  They do.

I was not a good test taker in high school.  I can empathize with kids about this.  The older I got, the better I got at it.  When I took something called the GRE to get into my grad school program, I was certain they gave me someone else’s results.  I took them home and smiled.  That only lasts so long.  There is still work to do.

The latest graduation proposal beginning with the Class of 2023 in Indiana high schools is not a very good one.  Too many moving pieces and parts.  The verbiage is weak in places and seeps of elections to come may very well change a thing or two here.  I hope so.  We can do better.

“What is a test score without civility?”  I said that at meeting recently with other education folks from the county in the room.  We were there putting our heads together for the good of the cause.  It was meaningful dialogue.  That is not always the case when there is a power-point, snacks on the table, and multiple building levels in the same room trying to make sense and make nice.  It worked.  I was proud of that.

Test scores.  I’d rather have someone in the room I can depend on than a test score that looks nice.  Now….don’t get me wrong.  Test scores are important.  They can measure what needs a yardstick now and again.  But the notion of a one size fits all measuring instrument is, well, archaic.

The need to make that point is why I type these words today.  I think I could be a little more effective for my school talking to kids more and chasing down test logistics less.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

This evening we will know who the Masters Champion for 2018 will be.  We have a good one to look forward to I think.

I told my dear wife, Carrie, I doubt some of the organizers for this grand tournament could sleep much last night.  A close leader board and an improved weather day sets greatness in motion.  Think about it.  The place would still be what it is regardless.  If there was a golfer sitting ten shots ahead of the rest, the tension would be off.  The excitement would not really be there.  But, look at the leader board, there is plenty to be excited about as the last two fire off at #1 before 3 PM.

I hope Patrick Reed can hang on.  I really do.  Rory McIlroy is looking immortality in the eye if he were to become just the 6th golfer to complete the “grand slam” which means you won all four of golf’s major championships.  The last to do that was Tiger Woods in 2000.  The first was Gene Sarazen in 1935.  If Rory wins my feeling won’t be hurt.

Look out for Rickie Fowler.  He’s like a gnat a good barbecue, he just won’t go away.

I enjoy watching golf on television.  My two favorite events of the year are two majors.  I like The Masters and the British Open…or am I supposed to call it The Open?  You can depend on the tradition and scenery of the course in Augusta when they play The Masters.  The British Open is such a contrast in course and in when is it going to rain, how cold, and how windy, and how am I going to find my ball in high weeds?

This was my tee shot at the 170ish yard blind over the hill #7 at the now grown over New Salisbury Golf Course.  This fights another par 3 I played at Old Capitol as the closest shots to a hole-in one that I have managed.  One day perhaps I will hit one.

My old friend Gus Stephenson and I used to play quite often.  We walked the behemoth of a course that is Old Capitol in Corydon with regularity.  Mick Rutherford once said, “It ain’t a game if don’t walk.”  Well, that was a few years ago.  In fact, he and I were about to walk the Corydon course when the lady in the clubhouse questioned our sensibilities on a 100 degree day.  These days, we are riding.  The walking friendly New Salisbury is closed.  That is sad.

Left to right:  Mick Rutherford, Kelly Samons, and Gus Stephenson.  We were playing the Corner King Classic at New Salisbury.  This was the tee shot at #8.

Carrie and me in the Harbor Town lighthouse with the 18th fairway behind us.  The lighthouse helps to frame the TV shot when the golfers are making their way to the final green.  Hilton Head New Year’s Eve in 2014.

These days the most golf I play is with Carrie’s cousins and extended family and friends when we get together at Lucas Oil Golf Course in English, Indiana.  Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day weekends mean the golf outing.  We always have fun with it.  Above is the tee box at #1.

One of the best golfers of all time.  So good she can take her purse with her on the course!  We can’t all get away with that!  Putting near the shore of Lake Erie last summer in Ohio.  Look that stance!  Take lessons.

The Shot.

I wish I had a photo to go along with it.  Brother Tim Petty and I played a few times at New Salisbury.  One day he hit a tee shot over the fence at #4.  That means nothing if you have not been there.  I was and it was a beauty.  The hole was not a dog leg right. It was a right angle!   Okay, here it is below:

# 4 was 335 yards.  What you don’t see here is the fence.  It was along the right angle at the turn of the fairway.  I always felt good if I could get it around the end of the line extending from the tee box to the fairway around the corner.  I didn’t always do that.

On this day, Brother Tim Petty took it upon himself to aim over the trees and over the fence and go for the green.  The next photo gives a representation, of where the fence was and the flight of Tim’s ball.  It was the best shot I ever witnessed at New Salisbury.

It was amazing.  Thank you for that memory, Brother Tim.

My best shot?

5 pars and 4 bogeys.  I was playing by myself.  But I did it.  Under 40 for nine holes at New Salisbury National.  Best thing was making par on the final hole to seal it. Yes, I circled my pars.

The Masters is going to fun in a couple hours!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Carrie and I were not at church this Easter morning.  We were having our own worship service in the car hurtling from Charleston, WV to Depauw.  We made it safely.  On the trip Carrie and I talked about Easter traditions from our childhoods.  Seeing folks miserable in ties and fancy shoes.  Having Easter egg hunts.  Listening to the choir sing “Up From The Grace He Arose!”  That is still one of my favorites.  Also a lady at the church getting on a couple of guys for eating all the deviled eggs.  No, I was not one of the guilty ones.  Neither were they, they liked their eggs.

I miss it.  I think I miss childhood Easter services and the things that surrounded those times more than any other particular holiday.  Easter is special.  Death and Resurrection.  That is Amazing Grace like no other.  Thanks be to God.

Our world needs some grace right now.  That seems to be at premium these days.  Blame is quick.  Grace is hard to find.  We’re on the wrong side of history.  I don’t know how else to explain it.  If it doesn’t get better for us, the ones reading about it in a hundred years will be glad they learned from our mistakes.  I have no doubt about that.

On the way home from the coast, my dear wife, Carrie, and I stopped in Mt. Airy, North Carolina.  The Andy Griffith Playhouse now holds the Andy Griffith Museum.  We took some photos and enjoyed the visit.

This is a photo of a place about ten miles south of Mt. Airy.  It is Pilot Mountain.  Of course we know that Mt. Airy is where Andy Griffith was from and was the place that was his the inspiration for Mayberry.  And Pilot Mountain, is, of course, Mt. Pilot on the show.

These are the actual signs that were affixed to the doors on the show.  Sheriff and Justice Of The Peace.  Pretty darn cool.

This is one of Andy’s uniform shirts he wore on The Andy Griffith Show.  What is the flaw?  The top button should not be buttoned, of course.

The phone, the chairs, and other stuff from the original set.

One of two TV Land Statues dedicated to The Andy Griffith Show.  The other is in Raleigh.

And…

While sitting next to the Atlantic, I read this book about the 1967 Indiana University Hoosiers Football Team.  It is the only Hoosier team to make it to the Rose Bowl so far.  The year before they were 1-8-1.  In 1967 a miracle season happened in Bloomington.  This book chronicles it very very well.  It was a meaningful read.

Thanks to the author Michael S. Maurer for caring about this place in time enough to share it in earnest.  I will read it again one day I know.  Probably before the season.  This book gives another reason to believe…something I began doing the day IU named Coach Allen to the position of Head Coach.  I said it here.  I have seen the Rose Bowl stadium.  The Hoosiers will be there in the next five years.  The sooner the better.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

That sounds like the name of a soap opera.  As The Coffee Brews…my apologies to As The World Turns.

It is morning in Surf City, NC.

I took this picture a few minutes ago.

Time flies.  It is Thursday already.  I’m not shocked.  It happens every time we come here.  You turn around a couple times and it is time to pack the car to head back.  I’m not complaining.  I am thankful we found this place and come back for a visit when we can.

Though we missed Pastor Duke at Faith Harbor on Sunday, he is in Raleigh now, Pastor Jodi gave a fine Palm Sunday message.  Always nice to worship there.

Yesterday, as the tide was coming in and the light was nice, I told my dear wife, Carrie, I was grabbing my camera (phone these days) and walking down to the pier for some pictures.  It was a wise move.

Under the pier.

The tide coming in.  Brother Tim would probably say all tides roll!

And this is the shot I will sign off with as the coffee is finished and calling my name.  I must say I am delighted with this picture.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Hello group.

It has been a good while since I put on a post.  That 50 posts in 50 days was fun…but…it was not a picnic.  I am delighted that I did it.  If I am smart I will terminate this site around the 11th month after turning age 59.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I are in North Carolina for the week.  I can say this…it has been chilly for sure.  The last two days we have taken advantage of the cooler weather to go out and do some looking to the North of home base and looking to the South of home base.  It has been good fun.  Tomorrow the temperature is to climb high enough to spend the day comfortably on the porch to read.  The next day we will probably be sweating.  If a sun burn is to be had, it will be then.

Our old Buddy Carl is with us.  Here we are climbing a bridge to Cedar Isle where you can put your car on a ferry boat and ride to Ocracoke.  Carrie and I did that many years ago.

This is the bridge we were about to climb.  At the top we stopped and it was so windy I thought my car door was going to come off it’s hinge.  There was no one else around so we stopped and took a few pictures.

As I said, the wind was unreal.

On the way back from this excursion, a 103 mile trip to as far as we could go without continuing by boat, they call it the southern Outer Banks, we stopped by our favorite fish market and did quite well.

The folks at Thomas Seafood never disappoint.  This is a new sign.

We always get flounder and shrimp.

The fifth tub down has the flounder in the bag.  They pull out a fillet and you say  “we’ll take two.”  They are huge.  We get the large shrimp.  Jumbo shrimp is just too oxymoronish for me.  Large shrimp is bad enough.

The fillets are snipped into smaller pieces.  Yes, that was two fillets.  And there is a modest amount of shrimp.  Carrie does not eat them.  But man can she prepare them!

Oh my yes!  With apologizes to Alton Brown, there are good eats!

Just the two of us are here for this stay.  We are in an old missile tower.  Tower 5.  We are in the first two floors of the white structure.  It was used in the 1940s as one of the towers used to observe missile testing off the shores.  You could look it up.  Project Bumblebee is what it was called.  The first guided missile testing in American History was here.  This place changed the history of aviation and warfare.  Solid fuel boosters began here and eventually found their way to the Space Shuttles.

There is one room on the lower floor that acts as living room and kitchen.  Upstairs is the bedroom and nice balcony to look out at the ocean and read a book or write a song.

Today we went to Wilmington.

This is the courthouse that was used for the exterior shot of the courthouse for the TV show Matlock.  I can hear Andy Griffith’s character now as he raises his arms…”And all the time, you knew better.  You knew that….”

Me and Carrie with the Battleship North Carolina behind us.

Camp Lejeune is not far away.  These Ospreys made quite the noise flying overhead in Wilmington and were neat to look at.

The River Walk in Wilmington.

It is cool and cloudy today.  The forecast is better!

Speaking the rights from the North Carolina Shore…

Danny Johnson

Feels odd not making this post 50 years in 50 days…those days are gone.

I just listened to the SET LIST of a LIFETIME….

My dear wife, Carrie, made me a set list of songs by some of the artists we have seen over the years and put them on 2 cds.  She had a little help from her friends.

Carrie and I have been fortunate enough to witness a great deal of live music over the years.  Folks may think I am only a Moody Blues fan…this will dispel that.  All these songs are important to me.

1. Centerfield…John Fogerty.  We saw John twice in 2016.  He was amazing.  This song was a hit when I was in high school.
2. When You Say Nothing at All…Allison Krauss.  We have seen her a couple of times at the Louisville Palace.  She opens her mouth and magic comes out.
3. Small town…John Mellencamp.  He may not like to sing it…but we like to hear it.  Wish he and Seymour would make nice.
4. A Love as True as Mine…George Strait.  Saw him in Louisville on The Cowboy Rides Away Tour.  Glad we made that one.
5. Drops of Jupiter…Train.  We will see in Train in May in St. Louis.  I cry when they play this tune.  It reminds me of my Granny.
6. My Heart Goes On…Celine Dion.  In 1999 Celine was HOT!  Great show in Cincinnati.  One of the best concerts I have ever been to.
7. One Kind of Love…Brian Wilson.  Doing the 50th anniversary of Pet Sounds.  Brian had Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin with him.  Unreal.  Great song from his latest album.  Greatest love song I have heard in thirty years.  I was a mess listening to this live.
8. And I Love You So…Don McLean.  Heard him sing on the football field at Providence High School.  Talk about a great fund raiser.  He is an American icon and I got his autograph that night.
9. He Went to Paris…Jimmy Buffett.  Saw him at Deer Creek in 1999.  Great fun and great show.
10. Be…Neil Diamond.  Glad we saw Neil last April.  He is no longer touring.  Great song.
11. You Found Me…The Fray.  Saw the Fray at SPAC in Saratoga and at Bridgestone Arena opening for Train.  Great group…great song.
12. Do you Believe In Love…Huey Lewis and The News.  Carrie and I saw Huey in Vegas in 1996 at the old Showroom on our Honeymoon.  I was so glad to see him.  We saw him a couple more times later down the road.
13. Your Song…Elton John.  Listening to Elton was like listening to the soundtrack of a generation.
14. The Wind of Heaven…Justin Hayward.  I heard this last February in Lexington.  I took my dear Carrie and my Mom and Dad to the show.  As usual, Justin did not disappoint.  And I got to see my friend Julie Ragins perform.  She too is awesome.
15. Roll Me Away…Bob Seger.  After never thinking we would ever see Bob Seger, Carrie and I saw him in 2006, 2011, 2013, and last September.  He is an American Treasure that gets treated like a comfortable piece of furniture.  He is the American Rock and Roll.
16. Love is What We Do…Clint Black.  He did a great show at Deer Creek in 1996 with Trace Adkins and The Kinleys.  Beautiful song.
17. New Horizons…The Moody Blues.  I played the Red Rocks Live version of this at a friend’s funeral in 1997.  It was the right thing to do.  A special song made more special.
18. Thinking Out Loud…Ed Sheeran.  I think I am getting a message here.  This is the only artist on the set list we have not seen.  I think Carrie is telling me something.
19. You’re My Home…Billy Joel.  Saw Billy and Elton John on the same stage.  Surreal times.
20. Not sure of the title…Mike Dawes…As soon as I hear the guitar licks, I knew it was Mike Dawes.  That is the important part.  Like Julie Ragins, he plays with Justin Hayward and does an AWESOME job.  Look at Mike Dawes in Youtube.  Hold your jaw before you start watching.
21. This Girl is On Fire…Alicia Keys.  Saw her in Greensboro on the way home after Spring Break a few years ago.  Smartest thing I did that year.  Wow.  My kids at school thought I was much smarter when I told them that.
22. I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends…Pat Monahan (Train) Matt Mathanson, Isaac Slade (The Fray)…Maybe the greatest live performance of one song I have ever witnessed.  They gave it all they had and loved it so much you could tell they did not want to song to end.  This was in Nashville in July 2015.  Wow.
23. Nights in White Satin…The Moody Blues.  My dear wife is smart lady.  She too enjoys The Moodies.  She knows what is important!  This is a timeless classic.
24. Maybe I’m Amazed…Paul McCartney.  I remember the noise she made in 2002 the first time we saw Sir Paul when he played this song.  I thought she was going to faint.  Who could blame her?  We saw Paul four times.  I doubt we see him again.

That is the set list of a lifetime.  Thank you, Carrie.  I was shocked to find this collection.  I Love You!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

This is it.  March 18th is my birthday and this is the final post in a 50 day series of a post a day leading up to now.

We had a great party this evening.

I knew something was up.  I always do.  But I must admit the guest list was larger and unexpected.  I was so glad to see so many old friends show up.

Me and my dear wife, Carrie, with our boys Jarrett and Cody and her brother, Stevarino.

This photo is classic Danny Johnson and Dan Goins in the same room.  Wish the time we see each other was not so far and few and in between.  When we went to church together and played music together we were in each others ears and faces two or three days a week.  I miss that.

I can’t begin to tell you how great it was to have Carolyn McAdams in house.  She is the mother of my friend Corner King Lincoln.  I wish he could have been here too.

My Dad with Danners and Barry and Tammy Hall.  They drove down from Jackson County to join the fun.  It was so good to see them all.  Getting Dad and Barry, one of his old football players, together is always a treat.

Steve Hanger, Tim and Michelle Petty, and Mike and Alice Combs joined the fray.  Always a treat when we can get them all together.  I appreciate them taking the time to visit with us.  Thanks also to my sister, Lynn and her daughter Katie.  Danners’ wife, Mellers.  My Mother.  Sarah, Zoe, and Hunter.  We had a great time.

I have been asked how it feels to turn 50.  What else can I say?  It feels pretty good if you can get a crew like this together.

Speaking the Rights…

Danny Johnson, age 50.

I just said so long to some of my cronies that came over today for a visit.

Carrie made fine vittles and we had a great time.  How nine hours can fly that fast is beyond my comprehension.

I am just going to sit back and revisit our time and enjoy it.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I love the NCAA Tournament.  Know that I don’t watch much college basketball during the regular season.  I do, however get fired up when it is time for March Madness that 64 team college basketball-palooza that eventually decides the National Champ.  This is fun.

There is always hope that a Cinderella team gets into the Elite 8….or dare I say the Final Four.

One reason I don’t watch much college basketball is that by the end of football season on television I am suffering from severe eye strain.  I give it a rest.

Now, when the daily paper out of Louisville was still worth its weight, as there is not much to it anymore in either content or quality, I could keep up with the National college basketball scene to a decent degree.  I knew which teams were good and which teams might have a chance.  Back then my brackets were better than they are these days.  My affinity for a North Carolina team not wearing blue making a run cost me today.  NC State was my team to make a sneaky stride.  Not to be.

During spring break my dear wife, Carrie, and I go from one basketball nation to another…Indiana to North Carolina.  It is a good time.  The newspapers are fun to read in North Carolina.  That is why my Mother gives me a pot of quarters to gather them up and bring them back home to her after I read them.

I still have memories of particular tourney games.  The day Bryce Drew hit a three in 1998 to beat Ole Miss comes to mind.  The miracle shot by U.S. Reed of Arkansas that beat Louisville in 1981…a half court shot at the buzzer.

The 1979-80 Louisville Cardinal team coached by Denny Crum was fun to watch.  Darrell Griffith was special.  That whole team was.  Indiana’s 1987 win over Syracuse in Superdome was great.  Steve Alford always looked good in red…I think he still would.

I remember watching Indiana State playing against Michigan State in 1979.  Larry Bird v. Magic Johnson was a portent of things to come in the NBA.

Watching Brad Stevens’ Butler teams make it to the finals was great.

Enough of this.  I got basketball to watch.

Speaking the Rights…

Danny Johnson