Andy Smallman

The first record that I bought with any real mindfulness of wanting to own a specific record was Elvis Costello’s brilliant 1979 LP “Armed Forces.” Owning the record turned out to be another one of those inspirational experiences.

Owning it and loving it, I then bought his two previous records. Because Nick Lowe produced all three records, I bought Nick Lowe records. Because Dave Edmunds played with Nick Lowe, I bought Dave Edmunds records. Follow? Before long I had a huge record collection, most every record tracing back to Elvis and Armed Forces.

I have dozens of Elvis stories, maybe even hundreds. But the saddest is from January of 1981. Elvis was coming to Seattle and all of my friends and I bought tickets. Two nights before the show my girlfriend came over and we played every record. She dabbled a bit on piano and started playing his song “Just a Memory.” She asked me if I thought he’d play it. No chance, I told her.

The next day I came down with a severe bout of food poisoning, causing me to miss the concert and so severe that a Department of Health investigation was launched. The next night, Elvis opened the show with “Just a Memory.”

On Thursdays after school I head over to my parents’ apartment in a nearby retirement community, my dad with me after having volunteered at PSCS (a horse race handicapping class). Together, the three of us have dinner in the community’s dining room, on most occasions having dinner with other residents. Tonight we had dinner with a husband and wife couple. The husband worked for Boeing for years and at one time had US Top Secret clearance. He said with all seriousness that he worked on a flying saucer project.

Interesting!

On the drive home I got the pleasure of being in the car by myself which, of course, means I got to choose what to listen to on the radio / cassette deck. I chose a favorite old cassette I put in the car for just such an occasion, Stompin’ Tom’s “A Proud Canadian.” I sang along with songs about Prince Edward Island, Bud the Spud, and the tobacco fields of Tillsonburg (“My back still aches when I hear that word.”).

I’ve had this idea to periodically showcase things that have inspired me in my life, at least things that can easily be shown on a blog. Tonight I present author Kurt Vonnegut.

In 10th grade my English teacher suggested I read “Slaughterhouse 5.” It was one of those transformational moments, a time when you follow a suggestion and it has a huge impact on you. I read the book and was moved by its anti-war message, the first time I recall a book having that kind of an effect on me.

On sabbatical last year I read all of Vonnegut’s novels and in the order they were released. I pretended they were all just one big book. At PSCS I tease the students that they cannot graduate unless they take a “Vonnegut class” from me. I’m currently facilitating a class using Vonnegut’s “Mother Night,” my favorite of his books.

By the way, the book links above take you to Amazon. If you order from those links, or even place an order after having connected to Amazon from one of those links, Melinda’s and my Kind Living project gets a small percentage of your purchase.

Remember that scene in that fabulously funny movie “The Jerk,” the one in which Navin Johnson, played by Steve Martin, gets all excited because the new phone book has arrived? He’s all excited because, now that he is living in his own apartment, he’s in the phone book.

“I’m somebody!”

Last week Ella asked if I would buy her a book. I went on Amazon, checked it out, and agreed to buy it. She asked if I could have it sent to her instead of it arriving with my name on the package.

It arrived today, addressed to her.

If you like this story, you’ll LOVE this one.

I rebuilt the wall in today’s photo yesterday. I slept for about 9 hours last night and woke up sore today. That was a big job.

On Saturday afternoon our neighbor noted that the retaining wall at the edge of our yard was buckling. I knew immediately that repairing it would be my Sunday focus. When I got started at about 11am, I touched the first stone and the wall collapsed to the ground (narrowly missing my legs and feet). I spent the next 4 hours digging it out, moving the stones, and then rebuilding it.

Chloe says she’s sore today, too. No, she didn’t help rebuild the wall. She went to a workout class.

Yesterday evening I got an email from my brother, Steve, He and his wife, Deb, are in New Orleans. He wrote, “Deb and I are walking in New Orleans. Nick Lowe is playing the House of Blues tonight and we just got tickets.”

Wow!

Nick Lowe in New Orleans. That’s pretty sweet. And I grabbed this from Nick’s Facebook page, “Swamp Pop legend Johnny Allan stopped by to give the band some pre-show inspiration at the House of Blues in New Orleans. And what a show!”

Then this morning Steve sent me what I’m using for today’s photo, one he took with his cell phone during the show.

Regular readers will know what I big fan I am of Nick Lowe.

Today’s post is named for Seattle Mariners’ pitcher Felix Hernandez who pitched 8 innings of one-hit, no runs allowed baseball tonight for the team. This is a bigger deal today than it would be other days because I was there to see it, invited to attend, along with Chloe, by her friend, Alex and his dad, Peter. They had two extra tickets because Alex’s sister had an appendectomy on Thursday so she and her friend weren’t available to go.

I appreciate Alex’s sister going to such significant effort to get me a ticket to a baseball game.

Indeed, Felix Hernandez was masterful and the Mariner’s ended their 7 game losing streak. Even more masterful were our seats – 20 rows back just to the right of home plate near the M’s dugout (or what Chloe calls a “hut”).

There are sad stories and there are near misses. The sad one that comes with this photo is about two years old. It goes like this.

I was early for picking up Ella from her evening soccer practice so took a walk around the park where the practice was taking place. I came upon a poster attached to a pole. It moved me so much I took this picture of it. Then I pondered how sad some child must be, missing her beloved bunny.

This almost happened to me when I was a kid. My bunny fell out of the car at a remote gas station. Just before driving off I noticed him missing and opened the door. There he was. I snatched him up and held him tight, scared over what almost happened.

Does this touch you? Are you a Mr. Rogers fan? If so, take all the time it requires to read this article. It may be the best piece of nonfiction writing ever.

Yesterday I received an email from Derek Sivers, founder of the brilliant online music retailer CD Baby. The company has always had great customer service and a dedication to helping independent musicians reach a wide audience. In 2008 Mr. Sivers sold the company for 22 million dollars and promptly put all 22 million dollars into a charitable trust for music education. He said he didn’t need that much money.

His email to me said, “Long long ago you bought a CD called “Prozak for Lovers”. Do you remember it?”

Indeed I do. In fact, I love it. It includes a lounge version of Elvis Costello’s “Pump it Up,” for Pete’s sake, and another of the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated.”

Anyway, Sivers short message goes on to say that the CD is going out of print and will likely not be available again, nor ever on iTunes. Rather than chuck the remaining discs, Sivers said CD Baby is selling them at cost for $4.

I wrote him back to see if it was really him writing and sent him a link to the PSCS “Kindness School” video, figuring he’d like it. He wrote me back today, saying yes, indeed, it was he and that every city should have a kindness school.

Impressive.

I’m having one of those “nostalgia nights” (okay, okay, it’s true – I could pretty much make every night into one those “nostalgia nights,” being the sappy guy that I am). But let me just tell you that a year ago today my family was having an incredible time in Italy.

Going further, today’s photo was taken exactly one year ago today while Melinda and I went on a little walk after a little train ride. The girls were sunning themselves on the beach while we went exploring. You can learn all about it from this post from this day last year.

But what was really funny happened the next day on May 3, 2011. That’s when we traded Melinda for Rick Steves. Really.