As the World Turns

Let’s think of happy thoughts today.

I had a funny feedback from Lito (one of my subscribers). He said my TGIF emails remind him of a telenovela (television novel or soap opera) but he looks forward to it every week. We had a good laugh. Well, I can assure you that the stories I share are all real. I don’t make these things up.

WHY I DO MY TGIF EMAILS

Another subscriber asked me why I do this. I thought it was obvious. Mainly, this is my way of rewarding all you hard-working people out there who slave away from Monday to Friday. This email is a preview of the fun you should be having during the weekend.

Of course there are other motivations. I shared some of them before. Growing up, I was amazed at Charles Schulz (creator of Peanuts, Charlie Brown, Snoopy) who churned out a comic strip each day. I wanted to be like him. A consistent Friday email is a personal and I am proud to say that I have been sending my TGIF greetings since 2003. I may not be as successful as Schultz but I can think of the many happy friends I have made. That’s good enough for me.

BAND ON THE RUN

Many sent me suggestions to name the music band I/we formed months ago and the most popular name was “The 5th Dementia” but we felt it might offend some people. We decided to go with the name “4Track” which is based on the antiquated 4 track recording technology. I have no aspirations of grandeur with this group. I do it for the fun of it. Our first official performance is happening this Sunday at the La Habra Art Gallery starting at 2 pm. Emceeing the event is world-famous (?), stand-up comedian (and my good friend) Amy Brick. You should come. It’s free. Earlier on that day there will be an Antique Car Show and we invite artists to come over and draw, paint and converse with the owners of these magnificent locomotives.

BIG NEWS

My daughter was among 530 other applicants vying for a job at one of the biggest gaming companies in the world. She was told she was an early favorite but, like everyone else, she still had to go through a battery of 4 different interviews. Let me tell you, before and after each interview, she was so nervous and the family had to keep her confidence up. Last Friday, they called and invited her to join the company. Choirs of angels and the Tournament of Roses marched down the street! Well … not really … but it felt like it. So many people were praying for her. My little girl trained her whole life for this job. She’s really good. God is good.

NEW BUSINESS

I am currently doing some research about a new business. I’m partnering up with a friend from Tanzania. We’re bringing in lots of goods from his country: Jewelry, leather goods, coffee, macadamia nuts, octopus, shrimp, fishes, a safari tour, etc. I know, I know, it sounds like a lot. It really is. But we’re two dreamers who enjoy a challenge. What I like about this partnership is we both agreed to give a tithe of our profits to charitable organizations. We’re going to start small to “test the waters.” I think we’ll start with selling tanzanite — some sort of bluish diamond which is only found in Tanzania . I think we’ve got all the connections needed (from the miners to the purchasers) except for the cutter (the artisan who cuts the stones). Please let me know if you have any leads or if you are interested in purchasing. Open to your advice.

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE

In mid-May, I will be leaving for a little beach village in Southern Philippines to be with my Dad for a month and a half. He’s been isolated from the rest of the world long enough. I’ll see what I can do to start a Bible study group there. My one big problem? I can’t find my passport. Lord, help me remember!

GYM MEMBERSHIP

To get in shape for my 24 hour flight (including a stop-over in Singapore) I decided to visit my local 24 Hour Fitness gym. Corey, a trainer, asked “How long was your last real exercise?” I said “My last basketball game was 10 years ago … and ever since my hernia operation, I couldn’t do stomach crunches anymore because of the mesh rubbing on my insides.” Being a good salesman, Corey jumped at the opportunity to sell a $300 training program and proceeded to give me a metabolism test. He took my height, weight, age hoping to find a reason for me to sign up. But when the results showed I was actually healthy, the sunshine on his face eclipsed. I felt sorry for the guy.
When he took samples of my fingerprint, I asked him why they didn’t have retina scans yet. He had no answer. So I suggested maybe it would be a problem for Asians like me. “Why?” he asked. I said, “imagine how difficult it would be: every time Asians would use the retina scan, you’d have to say ‘OPEN WIDE!’” Corey and I couldn’t stop laughing.

TELENOVELA

As you can see, life goes on. I guess Lito was right. My life IS a telenovela. But you know what? Everyone’s life is a telenovela. Some people just know how to tell better stories. And that’s why I enjoy listening to people’s stories. When I travel, I enjoy the scenery like everyone else; but more than nature, I look forward to watching, listening to people. I want to know how God is treating them and how they see God (if at all) in their lives. The ones who do seem to be happier than the ones who take things for granted.

Just think, when we reach the end of our worldly adventures, when we’re all in that great big pie up in the sky … think of all the telenovelas we will be able to share. Definitely something to look forward to.

TGIF people!

Raoul

“In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be.” — John 14:2-3

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Peter Paul of S. Pasadena, CA. This is pretty long and subtle joke so you will either hate this or love it.

Video of the week

FUNNY: Thanks to Peter Paul of South Pasadena for these funny yearbook quotes. These kids are so self-aware they make fun of their own insecurities. I can imagine the teasing and bullying during their high school.

FUN MOVIE: In commemoration of Saint Patrick’s Day, here’s a classic 1968 musical: Finian’s Rainbow. A movie about leprechauns and racial discrimination starring Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. Can’t believe they’re actually showing a full length movie for free. It’s one of Francis Ford Coppola’s early directorial jobs. Fair warning: It’s hosted by a Russian website that will constantly remind you to register with your phone number. You don’t need to register if you don’t mind clicking the CLOSE link every 3 minutes (which is what I did).

Parting Shots

Thanks to Tom of Pasadena, CA

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre, CA

Thanks to Efren of Caloocan City, Philippines

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Johnny Vana’s Big Band Alumni with two superlative vocalists, Bill A. Jones and Bonnie Bowden, are a cherished American treasure who come together every Tuesday, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Las Hadas, a Mexican restaurant in Northridge, California where the dance floor is packed with a collection of spirited people, ages ranging from top to bottom, who love to move their feet to big band swing and electrifying jazz solos that lift the room with a radiating vitality.

The restaurant could be placed smack dab into the center of a 1930’s Warner Bros. Movie set with its ceiling fans, glowing neon lights, and black-and-white photos of long-forgotten bull fighters and Mexican actors. Out front are tired rest rooms wearing makeup from another time just steps from a large front door in need of minor repair. These intricate pieces of the setting are the backdrop to the red-headed lady named Edye who sits on a stool collecting $8 from each guest and carefully making change from an envelope.

The festive morning ambience inside sweeps music aficionados into an extraordinary convivial mood, unique to Southern California, if not the entire United States. The room is a spiritual space for a collection of some of the finest swing musicians on the planet, talented artists of age performing the language of high-end musicianship and exhibiting a multiplicity of stylistic virtues.

Las Hadas is a feel-good place where upon entering the room the ills of the world are brushed away by the harmony, jazz riffs, and spectacular rhythm section that lifts the spirit. It’s a place where smiles are part of the scene as servers work their way through crowded aisles to booths that line one wall while the bouquet of Huevos Rancheros mixes nicely with Count Basie’s One O’clock Jump.

Johnny Vana, with his quick wit and enormous sense of humor, has been leading the Big Band for some 20 years. A drummer from age three when he won at an amateur show, he has enjoyed a long-lasting career, star-studded with performances with many of the top big bands of the day.

Honored with a graduate degree in music from the University of Texas, Vana was the Principal Percussionist with the Omaha and El Paso Symphonies, has backed Bette Midler, Peggy Lee, and Tony Bennett, among a host of others, and performed on television and movie sound tracks, all a short preview of his incredible accomplishments.

At 10:30 a.m., while some people are enjoying their second cup of coffee and browsing the newspaper, “Heeaaar’s Johnny” is the upbeat for 18 musicians, a compilation of unsurpassed musical talent whose average age is 78. Most have played with the big bands of the past, can sight read with great skill, have worked as prestigious studio musicians, performed in major films and television, traveled the world with concert tours, and recorded countless CD’s, such as tenor player Lanny Aplanalp’s, Future Memories.

Vana calls out numbers from 300 charts with another 1,000 to 1,500 arrangements he rotates from time-to-time including some original compositions written by band members. The music ranges from Woody Herman’s upbeat Wood Choppers Ball, to Latin arrangements and ballads, all great for East or West Coast Swing dancing, and for some of the Las Hadas dancers who originate new steps yet to be catalogued.

Gordon Bash, the youngest musician in the band playing a 1995 Engelhardt stand up bass, jives and sings an up-tempo, Caledonia, over a rhythm section anchored by highly-trained pianist and composer, Cengis Yaltkaya, and guitarist, Ron Hersehe. A few charts later Curt Sletten steps up front singing The Hucklebuck, and with great trumpet skill easily moves above High C with astonishing agility that rattles the ice in the Bloody Marys.

Bill A. Jones, arms spread, head back, his rich baritone voice vibrating off the back wall of the dance floor, sings the classic 12-bar blues, Every Day I Have the Blues, the band romping behind him with splendid solo jazz improvising, drummer, Gary Gibbons, holding the tempo with absolute skill. The band sounds as if it is performing in Carnegie Hall, effortlessly holding the timeless lyrics in an up-tempo goove with Jones’ bluesy interpretation, “Nobody loves me, Nobody seems to care…I’m going to pack my suitcase and move on down the line.”

Jones, noted for his voice-overs, and named one of LA’s Best Cabaret/Concert Artists, is Sinatra-influenced with a relaxed informal body language, an impressive stage presence, and, similar to Vana, an entertaining and humorous personality as he introduces his songs and chats with the dancers and listeners. His friendly and positive singing demeanor is closely related to his engaging acting career in television, commercials, and concert appearances.

Bonnie Bowden, the other half of the dynamic vocal duo, an eye-catching Coloratura Soprano, and a regular on Tuesday mornings, sings in Spanish, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, French, German, and Japanese. Nominated for a Grammy in the Best Female Pop Vocal Category, Bowden is also an accomplished opera performer, and sings with her husband and guitarist, David Amaro.

Among a number of morning highlights are Jack Redmond’s inventive trombone work, and then when Bowden scat sings Just Friends in unison with the band on complex up beat riffs accentuating a four-octave range. Las Hadas listeners with a sense of melodic imagination and closed eyes can let the ambience whisk them to a dimly-lit nightclub at 2 a.m. while the band and Bonnie are deep into a session, dancers embracing, John Thomas’ trumpet rearranging the ceiling tiles, Vana leading.  www.vanabigband.com

Photos courtesy of Halina Kubalski.

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