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He was among the giants.

June 4, 2016 /

He was arguably the most famous person I’d ever stood across the table from. To say that I met Muhammad Ali would imply that it was an occasion that he might have remembered, and that certainly wasn’t the case. There were very few folks in the room, but it was a larger gathering than some sports press conferences.

Some of us just wanted the chance to be in the same room with The Greatest.

One of the river casinos was regularly staging boxing matches and Mohammed Ali had been brought in to help publicize the event. It was long after his career had ended and he was already suffering the effects of Parkinson’s.

Still.

He was Muhammad Ali.

Even on that day, years after his career’s end, he was a formidable presence in the room – I could only imagine what it would have been like to have been in the same circumstances in his prime. I recall back then that the man was acknowledged to be the most recognizable man on planet Earth, known to inhabitants on every continent.

Many of you won’t have attended press conferences, but I can attest to the fact that it is rare that anyone lingers. Television crews have to pack up gear before they go. Radio folks pick up gear and go. Newspaper reporters just go.

Not at this one. We all had just one more question, or some other reason to stand up and head up to the table where Ali was seated.

He was Muhammad Ali.

Whether you agreed with him or disagreed, he was one of those that you’d not miss an opportunity to meet. The casino, of course, benefited greatly from the appearance. Every metro media outlet carried the story.

That event was long enough ago that I’m sure there are plenty of folks who don’t know much about Muhammad Ali, and even less about Sonny Liston and George Foreman. Or Howard Cosell, the brash broadcaster who could hold his own – at least verbally – with the Louisville Lip. There is no way to explain what a phenomenon Ali was.

You hadda be there.

Some might debate whether he was the top boxer of all time, but there’s no mistaking that – in his day – he was… The Greatest.

RIP Champ.

An Itty-bitty Irish Ditty…

June 2, 2016 /

Luke Skywalker marching with the Irish Regiment? Crazy – but true.

Almost.

I’ve wondered more than once about things I’ve learned from Google searches. Pretty useless stuff most of the time, but still… all those questions that would never have been answered back in the day. Now I’m guessing there are very few original questions left. No matter what I type in, Google pops up with the rest of the sentence, presumably based on some other person’s online query.

Today it was an Irish song that set me to wonder. It’s a Mick Moloney song easily sung along with after hearing it a few times. Some sort of a story there, but I never paid much attention. This afternoon, a part of the lyric caught my attention in between the chorus line I was belting out – In the Regular Army O! (and if you’ve not heard me loudly singing Irish, you don’t visit near enough…)

Irish songwriters apparently have an affection for the mild-mannered O… sticking it at the end of any line to make the rhythm and meter work.

I figured the song had to do with the Irish Troubles, but that was dispelled with a closer listen to the very first verse.

Three years ago, this very day,
I went to Govner’s Isle
For to stand against the cannon
In true military style,
Thirteen American dollars
Each month we’d surely get,
To carry a gun and a bayonet
With regimental step.

harrigan2
So – I Googled it.

It turns out the song is no traditional Irish pub ditty, although it’s been around long enough to qualify. It has more to do with all the Irish immigrants who stepped off the boat and into the Union Army during the Civil War.

Ned Harrigan and Tony Hart were Irish-American equivalent of Burt Bacharach and Hal David back in the l800s. The Regular Army O was part of a Broadway musical, and as Wikipedia describes Mr. Harrigan: His career began in minstrelsy and variety but progressed to the production of multi-act plays full of singing, dancing and physical comedy, making Harrigan one of the founding fathers of modern American musical theatre.

Although Mr. Hart died at a younger age, Ned Harrigan continued in theater for many years and the New York Times devoted a page to the “good old days” of Broadway at his death in 1911.

And how does Luke Skywalker fit it with the Irish Regiment?

In 1985, a musical celebrating the partnership, Harrigan ‘N Hart, opened on Broadway, based on the book The Merry Partners by Ely Jacques Kahn. Harry Groener portrayed Harrigan and Mark Hamill (Luke of Star Wars fame) played Hart. The New York Times liked the memories of the songwriting team better than the show, which was described as dull and “aimless.” Audiences apparently agreed and the show closed after four performances.

Just as well, I imagine. Hard to think of Luke Skywalker declaring in a thick Irish brogue “I am a Jedi, like my father before me,” and of course adding, “so ye best step back or I’ll be poking ye with me wee light saber.”

As for the Irish Bistro, we’ll be serving from the Regular Menu O tomorrow, so come visit!

And so we remember…

May 28, 2016 /

I have visited my father.

Memorial Day seemed like an appropriate time. I didn’t realize until just recently that the holiday is intended to honor those who died in military service. Ray J. made it back from combat in the Pacific, but I suppose a cemetery visit is still allowable even though he died long after the end of World War II.

There are more than a few folks, I imagine, who simply recognize Memorial Day as the kickoff of the warmer weather of summer.

In an online op-ed column, John F. Sweeney points out that there is more to the long weekend than festivals, camping, and cookouts:

…the real purpose of Memorial Day is to remember the sacrifices of the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. The origins of this holiday stretch back to the years following the Civil War, when local townspeople would plant flowers and decorate the graves of soldiers who had died in those battles. Ultimately, the U.S. government standardized the date and, over the years, the tradition expanded to honor soldiers lost in subsequent wars.

Heck.

hoeflingRegister

I thought it was a general, across-the-board observance for remembering those folks who were important in our lives but are no longer with us. Not meaning to detract from veterans and those who were lost in action – I was just confused. All those little American flags dotting the cemetery make a lot more sense now.

My grandmother had the Blue Stars displayed in her window, a red-bordered banner with a star for my father and another for my uncle – both of whom returned safely. The families who made the ultimate sacrifice were those displaying a Gold Star banner. I don’t know if the tradition continues, but I still have Grandma’s banner on the wall near the checkout counter.

I suppose Grandpa was over the age limit for service in the Second World War, but I ran across his registration paperwork where he listed himself as available. He was 45 when he filled out the form in 1942. (A little sobering to consider the fact that my grandparents were born in the 1800s. Suddenly, that seems like a long, long, time ago – more so than it used to.)

In the image you can see that he lists himself as self-employed: operating the Palace News in Parsons, Kansas. When I’m high atop the ladder changing a light bulb, I think of Grandpa Ray (who fell from his ladder while performing the same chore and broke something… he recovered and went on to change many more bulbs.).

Since our family has no one that fits the requirements for Memorial Day observance, I’ll dedicate this small remembrance to those of you whose lives were changed and to those who made such a sacrifice in serving the country. And – to the rest of us indebted to those veterans – have a safe and happy holiday.

The bookstore and bistro will be closed Monday, but I hope you’ll visit later in the week!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main Street
Broken Arrow, OK 74012

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