Earplugs

Could have used them those last couple of nights, these look outstanding. Quiet last night. Stupid enough to even help drywall tonight, the shower afterwards felt fantastic. Being stupid enough to help was priceless. Well, I was neighborly even if no one else will be, damnit. I had better sleep through a quiet coasttocoastam stint tonight, moving is in the near future and my grace is waning.

I have had the pleasure of chatting with Jack Sullivan lately. He is a local Irish tenor and he told me of singing in Italy during the war. He sang God Bless America, and he sang it in a USO show. He was an 18 year old wounded infantryman and Irving Berlin was there. The details and his enthusiasm I could not convey. I'll try a few details though. He told me of the stage fright involving a "Balloon Barrage." He didn't know what one was, but Jascha Heifetz did, and between push ups let him know. (It seems he did push ups to steady the nerves and played to one person, to focus, even as there were sixteen thousand for that performance alone.) As he conveyed it the condoms which were issued to all of the soldiers were inflated and waved or popped in disapproval of a performance. Jack did not receive a barrage, and did receive a hug from the diminutive Irving Berling, who insisted on using his given name of "Israel Baline." I expressed my astonishment that Jack had sang that song with that individual to watch, but when I kept saying Irving Berlin I was corrected with what Jack insisted was the same manner Israel had insisted. Jack continued singing, regionally and with success. He has other stories I enjoy listening to, and he loved a joke involving a dentist and tooth extraction, and one involving mud baths and terminal illness.

He apologized for reminiscing, but it has always been my treat to listen. I like to fish and exaggeration or distortion are stereotypical for the ilk. Whether or not Jack or the others I have listened to fall into that matters less than the pleasure of their company. God Bless America and the Great Generation which sired the worst...more on that anon...

Oh...Jack Sullivan is not to be confused with Jackie'O