These Go To Eleven

This article from the Orlando Sentinel stands on its own, and needs no further comment from me.

Glenn, Garn, Nelson: What Bush doesn’t know about NASA

I’m very happy to report that Sharon is home and doing well. We think we know what brought on this seizure, and will of course now set about to ensure that this doesn’t happen again!

Thanks so much for your prayers and your Emails. They are appreciated more than I can adequately express.

The Clear Brook High School Winter Drum Line took 4th place at the Winter Guard International (WGI) national championships in Dayton, OH on Saturday. They competed in the Open class against 40 other schools. Andy is co-captain of the “Pit,” the front line with all the keyboard-based instruments, and we just could not be prouder of the work he’s done this year, and the accomplishment of the whole group.

Sometimes I wonder just what the drivers are behind creative “inspiration.” For some reason, a little over a week ago I got the idea to do a spoof song based on “Since You Been Gone” by Rainbow; a classic rock tune that I’ve listened to and enjoyed countless times over the past few decades.

But now suddenly I just have to write a spoof based on it. Why? Why now? And why do I feel so compelled to write this spoof?

You see, most of my Weird Al-ish songs are driven by my daily experiences; my faith and church, my job and career, my family and friends, etc. But not this one. Unless it was during those late teenage years when I practiced a somewhat regular state of alternate consciousness (let the reader understand), I don’t think I’ve ever once encountered the “inspiration” for this spoof — namely, a woman who undergoes a sex change, thereby breaking the singer’s, um, heart. I’ve seen a show or two on Discovery Health on the subject, but I think that’s about it, and even that was probably a couple of years ago.

So for reasons that are at this time utterly concealed from my own understanding, I present the first rough mix of “Since You Been John.” I don’t know why, but I love it. It cracks me up to sing it, to play it, to hear it, to think about it. I really relish the thought of working on it more and improving it.

So just what illness is driving me this past week?!

Enjoy, (I guess…!): Since You Been John

My Music Page

Ralph’s condition has improved, and today he may be moved out of ICU!

For now we’re staying put in Friendswood.

We got word this morning that Ralph is back in the hospital. CHF again. We’re hoping and praying that this is not his final trip there.

Fiat voluntas Dei.

Well, it’s based on Heartbreak Hotel, anyway. My latest song, which is still in really rough shape, is One Preacher Short.

While it is true that we recently “lost” a pastor at our congregation, almost nothing in this song is directly about that situation (though he is one tall dude….)

Anyway, it still needs work, but you can get the idea by clicking on:

http://music.chuvala.com/songs/ops/OnePreacherShort.html

Our second-oldest son, Tim, has been saving for a car since he got his first job about a year and a half ago. He and two of my other sons had attended FPU under duress (yes, I forced them ), though they enjoyed it more than they’ll admit.

Tim has been looking hard for a particular sports car (Mitsubishi 3000GT.) He’s become a real authority on what they’re worth depending on condition, year, mileage, etc., and figured out exactly what he was willing to pay, leaving enough slack to do any needed repairs or upgrades he wanted. He’d saved up just over $7,000.

After a few false starts and a near-encounter with a scam, he found one at a nearby dealer for what looked like a very good “special sale” price. We had the car checked out by a mechanic and got a repair estimate on a few mechanical things, so when we took the car back to the dealer, Tim knew exactly what he’d need to put into in on top of the purchase price, and by that set his limit on what he would spend, which was about $500 less than the “sale” price on the car.

Our salesman, Ben, upon hearing that Tim really liked the car and wanted to buy it, went right into the financing pitch with me. I started to say something when Tim chimed in and said “No, we don’t need any of that; I’m paying cash.” Now, Tim has always been good with math and something of a miser with his money, but until this day I never realized just how closely he paid attention to the negotiating lessons in FPU. Right off he said “That price isn’t good enough. I won’t pay that. I’ve got to pay for repairs on this car. I need the price to be $4,000 for everything, including tax.” Ben just stopped and looked at him; it was priceless! Ben said, “Well, I can’t do that, but let me go talk to my manager to see if there’s anyway we bring the price down a little. This is a sale price already, you know.”

I felt a little sorry for Ben — Tim sent him back to the “manager” 4 times! After the first time, Ben’s apologized and said they couldn’t budge on the price. Tim reminded him that the car needs repairs (a bit more emphatically this time), and really isn’t worth what they’re asking, so could Ben please go check with the manager again.

While Ben was out Tim and I talked about this; Tim was firm; he wasn’t going to pay more than $4,000 - about $3,500 for the car, with the rest covering taxes, title, and dealer fees. All I said was “Go for it. It’s your money; do what you think is best for you.”

After the second time Ben came back with an offer of $4,250, which he thought was incredible, but of course still wasn’t good enough for Tim. Ben used the “Are you really going to let this car slip away for only $250?” line. To which Tim responded (almost verbatim here) “Are you really going to let this sale slip away for only $250?” Ben just smiled.

So back he went to the manager. After the third trip they were only $150 apart, and Ben insisted that they just could not go any lower, that they’d be losing money on the car, and that the manager just would not authorize anything less than $4,150 cash walk-off price. Tim stood up and said, “That’s too bad. Let’s go, Dad; we’re done.” I’ll bet we’d only moved two steps before Ben waived his hands in the air, pleading with us to sit back down.

So guess what? After the fourth trip to the “manager,” Ben came back in, shook Tim’s hand, and said, “I can’t believe it; you just bought this car for $4,000, everything included.”

I can’t tell you how proud I was (am!) of my kid. He used (a) the power of cash, (b) thorough product knowledge, (c) “that’s not good enough”, and (d) walk-away power. And most importantly, he kept his emotions in check the whole time. I’m telling you, he wanted that car; it’s really sweet. But at the dealership he stayed cool, calm, and in control.

And here I wondered if my teens were really getting anything out of FPU!

…But it probably could be…. ;)

http://music.chuvala.com/songs/hymnals/TheMediaVenture.html

In case you haven’t heard the first one in this series, which picks on the denomination of my choice, but apparently fits at least a few others:

http://music.chuvala.com/songs/lutheran/stuffy.htm

Okay, not really. But you never know….

I thought some folks of the Christian persuasion here might appreciate the humor of this song. While it’s titled “We’re Stuffy and We’re Lutheran,” a couple of friends have suggested that it also fits very well with their Baptist and Methodist churches. Maybe I can spawn a cottage industry generating spoof songs for Christian churches!

Hope you enjoy it. Let me know if you do. Keep it to yourself if you don’t.

kgc

http://music.chuvala.com/songs/lutheran/stuffy.html

P.S. Just to set/keep the record straight, I’m an old-fashioned, liturgical kind of guy. This song makes fun of me more than anyone else!