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Count to Three
Everyone knows that Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977. In the course of my radio career, I worked on a fair number of Elvis-themed broadcasts. The most notable was a Don & Mike live remote from Graceland on the tenth anniversary of the King’s death. The most memorable may have been the January 8th birthday show when they interviewed the authors of “The Death of Elvis.” The mental images of the King’s autopsy described in that book remain with me to this day.
Don Geronimo did an “Elvis Death Day Show” yesterday on KHTK. I was able to catch some of it online, including the reading of the list of 31 items Elvis insisted on having at Graceland at all times.
I took my wife to Graceland two years ago. We timed our visit to miss the huge crowds who flock to Memphis for the anniversary but we did get to see many of the flower arrangements they left behind.
I didn’t realize until this year that Elvis shares his death anniversary with two other giants of pop culture. Bela Lugosi died on August 16, 1956. According to the Internet, Peter Lorre and Vincent Price were at the funeral. Lorre supposedly said to Price, “should we drive a stake through his heart just in case?” Please let that be true!
Babe Ruth died on August 16, 1948. He is buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. I have several relatives who are also buried there. I remember going to the cemetery as a child and my father pointing out Ruth’s grave marker. I told my kids that I will take them to see it the next time a family funeral brings us to the area. I also said that we should drive over to Hartsdale and search for Judy Garland’s grave while we’re in the neighborhood. She died on my 8th birthday.
Bill Johnson, a former colleague from Knoxville, is a Yankees fan. Two years ago he made a pilgrimage to New York to see a game at the old Yankee Stadium and to visit Babe Ruth’s grave. He was kind enough to send me a picture of him placing a Yankees cap at the headstone.
What a Way to Make a Living
There was plenty of scoring at Nationals Park yesterday as the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals, 9 to 5. I was glad to see the Mets win, especially since my family and I drove late into the night so we could get to DC in time for the game. I don’t follow baseball all that closely but I was raised to be a Mets fan and I will always be a Mets fan. It’s been about three years since I went to a Mets game. In 2007, I saw them in Milwaukee. The year before that I saw them at RFK Stadium in DC. One of these years I’ll get to Citi Field but not before I finish my quest to visit all 50 states.
The Mets victory was great but I would have had a good time no matter what. I like seeing different ballparks and I love the way Nationals Park has included some popular local restaurants as concessionaires. I remember reading (and writing) that Red Hot & Blue would have an outlet in the park. If they did, it’s gone now. It didn’t matter because I was more than happy to wait in line at the Five Guys Burgers and Fries stand. My wife and son and I ordered their excellent burgers but held off on the fries. We knew that there was a Boardwalk Fries stand on the way to our seats.
I paused at a stand called Change Up Chicken when I saw a customer order a chicken and waffle sandwich. Both he and the man behind the counter graciously allowed me to photograph the item, which was a chicken fillet on top of two waffles. The whole thing was topped with syrup. I’m still looking for a place that will more closely imitate Roscoe’s. Another concession stand called Diamond Classics promised hot dogs from around the major leagues. Their menu mentioned a New York foot-long but I saw nothing about the only two hot dogs I can name from memory, the Dodger Dog and the Fenway Frank. Get Farmer John on the phone.
It was hot in Washington yesterday. By the seventh inning stretch my son was ready for some Gifford’s Ice Cream. Like at Five Guys, there was a long line of customers. While we waited, I looked futilely for any indication of the flavors they offered. I told my son that he might get stuck with vanilla. When it was our turn, the scooper rattled off about six different choices. He was psyched to hear the words “cookies and cream.” The line could have moved faster if they posted a sign listing the flavors.
My wife and I bought the cheapest tickets we could find on StubHub.com. I wasn’t worried about having great seats since I wanted to explore the stadium as much as I wanted to see the game. As we walked around, I saw a group of smokers who looked like they had been put in time-out as punishment for their filthy habit.
One of my radio heroes and one of my baseball heroes were sitting in MASN’s post-game broadcast booth as we exited. I was psyched to see Johnny Holliday and Ray Knight. Of the three statues honoring old Washington ballplayers, I photographed the Frank Howard statue because I remember him coming by WAVA for an interview. Longtime DC sportswriter Shirley Povich is honored with the media center named after him. The last name sounds familiar because Shirley IS the father of Maury.
Bring Your Kiddies, Bring Your Wife
“When we’re ready to get married, Mr. Met is going to be at the wedding,” she said. I was dumbfounded. Mr. Met does weddings? Apparently so. Thankfully, I am likely to be on the guest list whenever the special day arrives. “He’s cheaper in the off-season,” by the way.
The concept of hiring a mascot to perform at your wedding astounded me. A quick Internet search uncovered a wedding where Albert the Alligator stole the show. I imagine that Mr. Met, as the most visible sports mascot in the nation’s largest media market, could easily price himself out of the range of most fans. Instead he probably makes a healthy income by going to weddings and bar mitzvahs on a regular basis. Granted he’s wearing a huge baseball on his head, but based on the YouTube videos I watched, Mr. Met seems to actually enjoy himself.
Southern Cardinal
Knoxville Catholics were abuzz with excitement when an honest-to-goodness red hat Cardinal showed up for the ordination of Bishop Richard Stika last year. Who knew that he would like our humble diocese enough to decide to move here?
The Diocese of Knoxville is not being bumped up to archdiocese status. When he retires a few years from now, Cardinal Justin Rigali will make Knoxville his home nine months of the year. Cardinal Rigali has gone boating on our lakes and attended the dedication of the convent named after St. Justin. He will visit again this August as the keynote speaker at Diocesan Day. Although the relocation of his eminence is not imminent, preparations are already underway. It’s complicated. Several priests and nuns will also get new places to live.
The Dan Murphy Foundation (no relation) is providing a grant to the Diocese for a new Bishop’s residence. Bishop Stika describes it as follows:
A bishop’s residence is far more than simply a home. It’s a center of diocesan hospitality as an inviting expression of the “Father’s house.” It’s a place where the bishop can gather with not only his priests and with civil and religious leaders from the community but also with members of his flock and parish leadership teams. It is, as President Andrew Jackson once said of the White House, the “people’s house.” But it’s also a place where the welcoming message of the Gospel is shared. Its chapel is an expression of the cathedral church and an intimate place of prayer and the sacraments, where friendships unite around the “breaking of bread.” This home will also be a place where Cardinal Rigali, in future years, will spend a significant amount of time.
The real estate dealings remind me of the double switch in baseball. For non-sports fans, the double switch is the strategy that proves beyond any doubt that the National League is superior to the American League. The Bishop’s current residence will become a convent for five Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan. The nuns will move out of the St. Justin Convent, which is in the same subdivision. The St. Justin Convent becomes the home for three Evangelizing Sisters of Mary.
In other news, a house situated behind the Chancery recently went on the market. Sacred Heart Cathedral parish will buy the home and make it the new rectory for their priests in June, 2011. The old rectory will be used as office space until such time that a new cathedral building can be constructed, which may be a while.
Archie’s Place
They say that New Yorkers don’t visit the Statue of Liberty. I never have, even though I grew up in the nearby suburbs. I try not to repeat that mistake when traveling, which is why I’m surprised it has taken me this long to make it to the top of the Gateway Arch. The Arch is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis.
On our 3,000 mile road trip in the summer of 2007, my family had the bad luck of visiting the Arch two days after a power outage caused all sorts of havoc. I got some nice pictures from the base, but did not ascend. We thought about going to the Arch in January, but it was completely engulfed in fog.
This past weekend, my wife and I made a quick trip through St. Louis after picking up our son at college. We had enough time on Saturday to go up in the Arch and to see the excellent (although dated) movie, “Monument to the Dream.” I just put the DVD on my wish list.
The documentary shows how the landmark was constructed in the early ’60s. It made me wish I could go back and see television news coverage from the raising of the last piece on October 28, 1965. I did find a good YouTube video with some pre-Arch history. A model outside the theater shows the last piece being raised into place.
The land below the Arch looks like a quiet, grassy park. It conceals an underground complex with two theaters, gift shops, a museum and more. The Museum of Westward Expansion featured lots of information about the Louisiana Purchase and an interesting smaller exhibit about baseball teams moving and expanding to the West. The warning not to touch the taxidermied animals amused me. Apparently not everyone knows that dead bison grow no hair.
The view out the city side of the Arch was more interesting than the view out the river side. Looking toward the north I could see the Edward Jones Dome. Looking toward the south I could see Busch Stadium. I really want to attend a Cardinals game there some day.
Because our plan was to leave early enough on Sunday to get home to watch the Oscars (we made it with minutes to spare), we wanted to go to a vigil Mass on Saturday night. St. Louis has a plethora of Catholic parishes and we hadn’t decided which one to visit. I even asked my friend Fr. Ragan Schriver for suggestions. Once we had seen the movie and looked at the Museum of Westward Expansion, it was after 5:00 p.m. and we didn’t have time to get to either of the churches Fr. Ragan had mentioned. I was collecting some brochures from the ranger at the information desk when I realized the answer was on a flyer in my hands. In fact, two hours earlier, I had photographed The Old Cathedral from 630 feet up. We could easily walk there in time for the 5:30 Mass.
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