Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

I'm just taking a minute to wish all of this blog's readers, fans, and visitors a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

I'll be back with more mindboggling musings in a day or so. But look for me tomorrow at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC.

I'll be one of the guys holding the ropes for the "Balloon Boy" balloon. On a given signal we'll release the ropes and watch the balloon fly away- and every reporter in the United States will follow the story like a bunch of idiots.

Seeya!!!

"Hugh Jee"

"Alice's Restaurant"- Arlo Guthrie's Thanksgiving Classic

It was 44 years ago or maybe 44 years ago on Thanksgiving that Arlo Guthrie went to visit his friends Alice and Ray in their restaurant, but that wasn't the name of the restaurant, its just the name of the song.....and Arlo went on tell the story of his post Thanksgiving feast act of kindness- taking the trash to a city dump and how he was arrested for littering and how it affected his status with Uncle Sam and the draft during those days of the Vietnam War and....whew!  I need to catch my breath! 


Arlo Guthrie's 18 minute musical monologue has the distinction of being the definitive Thanksgiving song- and I don't mean this in a backhanded way, but its by default. Name other song about Thanksgiving....times up! "Turkey Trot" by Little Eva doesn't count.

Arlo is the son of folk legend Woody Guthrie, and claims to have once had a babysitter named Bob Dylan when he was a kid. The story began in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1965 when Arlo visited friends Alice and Ray Brock in their home, a deconsecrated church- the Thanksgiving dinner took place at the Brock's home, not at the restaurant they ran, THE BACK ROOM REST in Stockbridge, six miles away.


Arlo recorded the LP ALICE'S RESTAURANT in 1967, and it became an instant FM radio classic at the time. Director Arthur Penn, fresh from his BONNIE AND CLYDE success in 1967, adapted the song into a film in 1969, starring Arlo, Pat Quinn, and the late James Broderick, Matthew Broderick's father. The film had cameos by Pete Seeger, Lee Hays (a member of THE WEAVERS, blacklisted in the 1950's), and William Obanhein, aka "Officer Obie", the arresting officer in Arlo's case.

Arlo is still performing after all these years, and is a proud progressive activist (God bless him). You can find out more about Arlo, including his upcoming shows and activities by clicking here.

For those who are interested, click here for ALICE'S RESTAURANT'S LYRICS.

For even more information on the story of Alice's Restaurant, visit this entry by Dennis Volkert for GateHouse News Service.

Happy Thanksgiving! (Cartoons at MSNBC.com)

At MSNBC.com Daryl Cagle's cartoons....he leads off with one that a poster on TWITTER had commented "Lou Dobbs would be proud of the Indians in this Thanksgiving Day cartoon".

I never knew Lou Dobbs was a member of the Nauset Nation.

(Click the link below)


Happy Thanksgiving!

Food, Family, Football.....and Anxiety- Its Thanksgiving 2009.....Almost!

An artist's rendition of the First Thanksgiving. The Indians should have known something was up when they were relegated to The Kiddie Table.

I got some good news the other day...my Thanksgiving guest list just doubled. It was going to be my Mom, my Dad, my cousin and me.....and my brother called and he'll be here along with my sister-in-law, my nephew, and my niece and her husband.

So....I'm cooking for nine this year. And the planning stage went into full tilt yesterday. Scrap the fancy cranberries with nuts and mandarin oranges and go with plain old cranberries, fancier schmancier veggies will now be plain old green beans, get butter instead of margarine....and be sure to get at least one more case of Yuengling, all in the interest of getting stuff on the menu that everybody will actually like. Hey, I know my family.

(And while I'm at it...do check out that Yuengling Brewery Website- you have to be over 21 to enter. Do they have pictures of hot naked female brewmasters there or something?)

So I bought the 21 pound turkey yesterday, and the stuffing mix, jumbo shrimp to snack on while we watch Detroit get clocked by Green Bay. And it will get worse before it gets better. The Oakland Raiders visit the Dallas Cowboys next; I guess that one's the CBS game at 4:00PM. The best part about that start time is that we'll miss this game because will be eating dinner, and its just as well. I don't think I could handle three hours of "who's worse to work for, Al Davis or Jerry Jones?". The night game, Giants at Broncos, is the only game I really care about this Thanksgiving.

But that's in a couple of days...today its getting the house in order and making sure we have anything else necessary for Thanksgiving dinner, tomorrow its about getting the desserts and starting the food prep for Thursday...not to mention cleaning out the fridge to make room for all of the leftovers. And storage containers...I need to have tops that match the containers lined up and ready to go. I can't handle playing mix and match when I've been eating and drinking all day and have to play that game. Its like algebra- keep like things together.

Ice....big bags of ice. Beer, soda, and wine go in the ice chest(s), to preserve room for the leftovers.

So, my loyal readers. If you're coming here to read my opinion of the latest in current events, politics, pop culture, music, or sports....faggeddabouttit! It's not going to get back to "normal" around here until Sunday at the earliest....whatever normal is.

And then Monday I can start making myself crazy because Christmas is less than a month away.