Rev. Graham - not for kids
As I was doing research (interestingly enough, on Jonestown) I had the TV on and the Billy Graham Crusade from San Diego, held in the springtime, came on. Normally I would be hunting for the remote in seconds, but as George Beverly Shea was featured, he and Rev. Graham both figure in my Rodeheaver research, I decided to leave it on to see how they look, how aware they are being as they're so old now, etc.
These men are a couple of folks among only a few people living who knew Homer well.
George Beverly Shea didn't sing real great, but after all he's 95 years old and just to be able to sound like himself is an achievement. Shea seems mentally pretty sharp. Rev. Graham, at 85, looks tired and has trouble keeping his thoughts together. The iron glint that used to dart forward from his piercing, clear-eyed gaze is gone. During his talk, Remy drifted in and watched it for about a minute, then asked:
"Daddy - can I change the channel? I think, like, watching a meeting would be more interesting than this. You know - like a meeting?"
I was practically on the floor with laughter. I realized what she was trying to tell me was that watching C-Span was more interesting than watching Billy Graham. "Sure honey, go ahead and watch Pokemon" I told her.
This was particularly poignant for me, as when I was in the first grade I was living with my grandparents. I was placed there as my mother was having a hard time adjusting to looking after the three of us boys
and dealing with my father, as my parents were starting to not really get on at this point. My grandfather was a very good Nazarene minister who was an avid follower of Dr. Graham and his ministry. When the Graham Crusades were on TV we were expected to sit quietly and watch together as a family. This was often back in the 1960s when a Billy Graham Crusade could attract an audience of millions on TV - sometimes they even re-ran old ones since the ratings were so terrific.
What did I think of them at age six? Exactly the same thing Remy expressed, but I certainly could not have articulated it as well as she does. And even if so I wouldn't have dared - Grandpa would've cut me off in the middle of my sentence. Being backhanded by Rev. Lewis was like being hit with a ton of bricks - my father will also attest to that.
Short Takes and Corrections
I definitely heard from the Andy Williams fans over "Happy Birthday Andy". Indeed, I acquiesce - he is stilll a force in the world, and has many fans yet today.
Someone in the black community in Cincinnati recently stepped up to the plate and stated that the death of Nathaniel Jones was a case of "suicide by cop." Certainly it looks like that, and it must've taken nerves of steel for this fellow to come forward. It still doesn't excuse the Cincinnati Police for their unprofessional negligence at the scene after his final collapse, but I commend him for trying to put the incident into the right perspective.
Today is Yashujiro Ozu's 100th birthday!! I recommend that you all run out to the video store and check out "Tokyo Story" or "An Autumn Afternoon" or whatever you can find and give it a spin. Plan to relax and don't expect any action or excitement. His movies are about life and relationships and that's what makes them such grand cinematic statements.
In addition to George Beverly Shea on the Crusade I heard the current-day Bill Gaither
Quartet. When they sing together, man do those guys ever sound great - what harmony! But when the two younger members sing lead they go in for all that hotdogging and ululation that I can't stand which goes for great singing in the pop music world of today - you know, the American Idol school of singing. Ick! If there's one thing I can't stand it's a pudgy little white guy in spit curls and a mullet trying to sing like Janis Siegel!*
Uncle Dave Lewis
*Janis Siegel was the former soprano voice in the early Manhattan Transfer.