And so another year goes into the history books. While this year was a far improvement over 2016 – a year when we lost my mom and our beloved rabbit Cosmo – the shadows cast by this past month and the ongoing crisis at work remain long and deep, with the chaos promising to extend into the first few weeks of 2018, if not longer. As a result, my job security isn’t what it seemed to be just five long weeks ago; when and if the dust settles on this particular engagement you can bet folks are going to lose their jobs and everyone will be looking for scapegoats. I just hope mine is not one of them, but you never know. There’s nothing I can do about it except keep on working with our team to make things better and hope things work out for the best.

There were a lot of good things that happened in 2017, not the least of which was that, for the first time in eight years neither we nor my sister-in-law Tam lost a rabbit. It’s not that we’re bad rabbit owners, it’s just that, outside of a couple that passed far earlier than they should have due to things beyond our control, we had got all our rabbits at different points in their lives and it just worked out that way. Fortunately, Marlie, Peach, Midget Lee, Bailey, and Butterscotch all made it through the year unscathed. Nothing wrong with that.

2017 was the year we finally got our financial house in order, refinancing our house to eliminate our credit card debt and get a leg up on our retirement savings. To that end, we engaged a financial advisor with Edelman Financial to get our 401Ks and IRAs all in order and in the best place to keep building our nest egg. Of course, a big “thank you” goes out to President Trump and the impact his pro-growth, pro-American jobs agenda has had on the stock market! While CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post, the New York Times and the rest of the “fake media” focuses on Russia collusion and Democrat hopes for impeachment, a rising tide is lifting all boats and folks everywhere are seeing the benefit of the Trump presidency on their investments.

And there were more accomplishments: it took a while, but we finally got Tam’s divorce from many moons ago formally done. She’s a free woman, everyone! And we got all of her dentistry neessrtaken care of, so she’s got new teeth as well. It was good year for Tam, and I’m glad we were able to play a major role in making that good year happen.

And that’s really about it. Until December there were lots of good things going on. Not sure what the future holds for 2018, but there’s not a whole lot anyone can do about it except take it a day at a time. With the real estate prices in our particular neck of the woods being what they are – our Northshore / Summer Meadows subdivision is h-o-t hot right now, we’d be fools not to see what opportunities might be available to us, so we might check into some 55+ communities around here. We’ll see. I do know I would like to shave six strokes off my golf handicap, but I’m not sure I even remember how to play the game with everything going on at work. And I’m too tired, both mentally and physically, to venture out just to hit balls. Until I get out from under this wet blanket there isn’t going to be a whole lot of ball-hitting. Nor, probably, a lot of blogging. But we’ll see!

So that’s about it for old 2017. I’m ready for a flip of the calendar, aren’t you? As is custom every year at this time I’m pleased to say, take us outta here, George!

It’s the day after Christmas and the stores are furiously ripping down the last vestiges of anything to do with Christmas – hey, Valentine’s Day is less than two months away and you gotta keep that marketing pipeline going! – but let’s allow another day for Christmas, shall we?

Enya doing Christmas carols. Some folks think every Enya song sounds the same – and maybe they do – but I find her music both incredibly beautiful and incredibly sad at the same time. Even her more whimsical offerings seem to come with them a tinge of sadness and longing. Wanna make The Great White Shank turn into a puddle of goo? Play him some Enya.

The Beach Boys’ Alan Jardine plays two classic Beach Boys Christmas songs. Just watching him play those chords on “Christmas Day” makes my fingers hurt.

A Christmas feel-good story.

Somehow I can’t imagine Michelle Obama doing this.

My favorite Frank Sinatra Christmas song.

Bert Kaempfert’s “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day” with its delightfully-clunky plucked bass line remains a favorite to this former bassist.

…as is this lovely rendition of “Wexford Carol” by Alison Krauss. ‘Course, she could sing the local phone book and it would sound positively angelic.

…and speaking of angelic, Tammy Wynette’s “Joy To The World” is a keeper. I truly miss her voice. She was the best, like Elvis she could sing anything. Don’t believe me? Check this out.

And you can’t have Christmas without Elvis, can you?

…and no Great White Shank Christmas would be complete without Herb & the Tijuana Brass doing “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow” and “Jingle Bell Rock”.

Today I’m back into the work jungle for what looks to be another string of very long days so the blog might go black for a few days. God willing, I’ll be back before New Years’.

Somehow even with everything and everyone we have lost, Christmas keeps coming back every year to serve as a poignant reminder of times long past and memories never to be experienced again. It’s what makes the holidays bittersweet. But the Goodboys go on.

Merry Christmas to all from Goodboys Nation weblog and the Goodboys!

I like this song.

[Ed. note: It doesn’t feel much like Christmas in my spirit this year, but some traditions you just can’t let go of, can you? If the National Enquirer, or Us, or The Worldly World News, or whatever the heck that supermarket tabloid had on its cover is correct, this might be the last “Holiday Ode” post that will post while Phil Spector is alive. Supposedly, he’s only got six weeks to live. But that’s what they said last year, didn’t they? Anyways, doesn’t matter, maybe some people can’t separate the talent and legacy from the person who inhabits it, but I can. So Merry Christmas, Phil – you’re still a musical hero of mine, and you changed the way pop music commemorated the season.]

That’s right, cats and chicks of all ages, it’s that time of year again. I know the guy’s still sitting in a prison cell, whacked out, burned out, and for all intents and purposes checked out of society and the rock n’ roll world he was once such an iconic part of. But heck, it is the Christmas season and I know it’s not REALLY Christmas until I slap into my CD player the best damned rock n’ roll Christmas record of all time. Which is (for those of you cats and chicks who may not be hip to these kinds of grooves), Phil Spector’s magnificent “A Christmas Gift For You”.

I know what you’re thinking – that’s just The Great White Shank spoutin’ his “yeah-i-know-he’s-in-jail-for-murder-but-believe-me-Phil-Spector-really-was-a-genius” bull$hit, but in this case you need to give me a break. ‘Cause it’s not just me, it’s a whole range of critics across the media spectrum, from Rolling Stone (who rated it #142 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time), to bloggers like Hip Christmas and BlogCritics. BC’s praise of the album and its greatness is especially spot-on:

A Christmas Gift For You contains thirteen performances, all captured during that incredible early sixties period when Spector was producing these amazing records. You already know all of the songs, as they have all become tried and true radio staples at Christmas time over the years. Song for song, the wall of sound production — with all of its bells, whistles, and strings — captures all the magic and wonder of Christmas like very little music I can think of. When you hear these songs, it’s like being instantly transported to a kinder, simpler time. It really does feel like Christmas.

In addition to the Ronettes and Crystals classics already mentioned, the standouts here include Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and a version of “White Christmas” so gorgeous you’ll be checking your window for snowflakes. On Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans’ “The Bells of Saint Mary,” the bells and the castanets ring gloriously amid a swirl of gospel-charged backing vocals.

So the thing is, Phil Spector’s recent legal troubles aside, this record just doesn’t sound any different to me. For my money, it’s still the single greatest Christmas record ever made. And tougher sell that it may be these days, it will definitely be on my CD player when the guys and I get together for some Christmas cheer next weekend.

For me, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without it.

The album, considered by many to be Spector’s finest piece of collective work (The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby”, The Righteous Brothers’ “(You’ve Lost That) Lovin’ Feelin'”, and, of course, Ike and Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High” being singular achievements), had a bumpy ride on the road to becoming a much-loved and respected holiday pop classic. Originally recorded during the summer and fall of 1963, it was understandably overlooked in those tragic weeks following the assassination of JFK and then virtually forgotten. It was only until its re-introduction to the public on the Beatles’ Apple Records label in 1971 – at the urging of John Lennon and George Harrison (both of whom utilized Spector on their first post-Beatles’ solo albums following his work on Let It Be) – that the album got radio play and finally earned its long-deserved place in pop music history.

So what exactly is it about A Christmas Gift For You that makes it both a holiday pop classic and a piece of work sufficient enough to warrant recognition among rock’s all-time greatest works? David Sprague, in his Amazon.com review, puts it simply: “[Spector’s] “wall-of-sound” technique is perfectly suited to the music of the season, as he proves with layer upon layer of piano, sleigh bells, buoyant percussion, and, of course, those legendary Spectorsound harmonies.”

True enough, but it’s only after you buy it and crank it up VERY loud that you start to appreciate not just the massive sound Spector lovingly and painstakingly crafted, but the way his session players and musical artists make the most out of the material given them. Here, Spector’s artists The Crystals, The Ronettes, Darlene Love, and Bobby Sheen are simply vocal instruments in the overall mix, working within the material and the arrangements, not overpowering them. Listen closely, and you begin to see how the subtleties within each arrangement illustrate Spector’s respect for both the material and the genre that brought him such fame and respect in his day:

* On “White Christmas”, Darlene Love’s lead is beautifully understated (something virtually unheard of in this post-Whitney armageddon of Britneys and Christinas who sound like wailing alleycats in heat). And listen to how the pianos, basses, and saxes (alto and tenor) underscore the rhythm, and how beautifully they finish the song’s fade-out. Magical.

* On “Frosty The Snowman”, Ronnie Spector takes a harmless children’s tune and turns it into a holiday pop masterpiece. Her earnest vocal is the showpiece here – think ‘Frosty’ meets ‘Be My Baby’, with enough warmth and sweetness to turn ‘the Frostster’ into a puddle of lukewarm H2O. Loved hearing it in that iconic scene in GoodFellas where Jimmy goes nuts with everyone buying expensive stuff after the Lufthansa heist.

* On “The The Bells of St. Mary’s“, Bobby Sheen’s lead is sweet and soulful out in front of a driving rhythm highlighted by chimes and Hal Blaine‘s amazing drumwork on the fade-out. Oh, and that’s Darlene Love doing the “yeah, yeah”‘s towards the end.

* The Crystals’ version of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” rejuvenated the classic so much so that the artists as varied as the Jackson 5 (ugh!) and Bruce Springsteen, among others, felt it necessary to pay it homage with their own versions. Listen for how the bells tinkle out Brahms’s Lullaby behind La La Brooks’ spoken intro – talk about attention to detail!

* On “Sleigh Ride” The Ronettes give a big fat wet kiss to Leroy Anderson’s classic arrangement; their now-classic “ring-a-ling-a-ling-a-ding-dong-ding” back-up is pure icing on this sweet holiday confection.

* “Marshmallow World” is a fun piece – dig the opening piano with an absolute ton of echo on it. And listen to how the saxes underscore the piano/guitar rhythm – you’re talkin’ Wall of Sound here, baby! The mix has always sounded a little muddy to me, but I think that’s just the sheer number of musicians playing at the same time – Phil always did his mixing live while the entire ensemble was playing. Darlene Love’s vocal is energetic and playful, a great performance.

* “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”. You don’t get the #2 slot on my Top 10 Christmas list for nothing. Simply put, there is nothing wanting in this recording – the performances are top-notch throughout. Ronnie Spector’s lead is both devilish and sexy, and the arrangement rocks. Listen for the piano fills and the sleighbells workin’ behind the saxes. It almost sounds as if Ronnie is slurring her s’s here (‘kishing’ Santa Claus); I think she’s doing it deliberately so I fall in love with her voice all over again every year at this time.

* On “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer”, listen for the guitar riff (Tommy Tedesco? Barney Kessel?) that frames the song throughout, a style similar to what Brian Wilson would later employ on The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” a couple of years later. There’s also a piano (and guitar?) doing something funky from the instrumental break onward, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what it is.

* “Winter Wonderland” is a faithful and fun rendition. Listen for those trademark shimmering strings featured throughout – they sound kinda funky to me – and how drummer Hal Blaine absolutely beats the daylights out of his toms on every fill. Darlene Love’s vocal is both soulful and fun. A magnificent arrangement.

* “Parade of The Wooden Soldiers”. OK, listen to how the strings behind The Crystals’ rollicking performance absolutely shimmer like glistening snow, especially behind the trumpet solo in the middle. No one – and I mean NO ONE – could make Christmas pop music like Phil Spector. (If you doubt me, just listen to John & Yoko’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”) Again, Hal Blaine’s drum fills on the fade-out are pretty intense.

* “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)”. Arguably the showpiece of the album. If you want a true holiday audio feast, come inside Mr. Spector’s kitchen where everything – including the kitchen sink – has been tossed in here. Shimmering strings and double acoustic bass (how does he get that sound?) create the necessary tension, then horns introduce a TOTALLY PUMPED and unleashed Darlene Love vocal that leaves nothing – and I do mean NOTHING – in the tank. The grand build-up to close the song is classic Spector: layers and layers of guitar, piano, strings, and percussion back the call-and-answer vocals between Love and the backup singers (a seventeen-year-old Cher‘s voice can be clearly heard) until the tension is finally released in a tidal wave of vocal calisthenics, soaring strings, drum fills, and piano arpeggios. Simply put, one of the great pop vocal performances of all time.

* “Here Comes Santa Claus” is anticlimactic following Love’s tour de force, but it’s to Bobby Sheen’s credit that his straight, if understated, reading becomes the showpiece on this song. The trumpet solo in the middle has a ringing, jazzy touch to it which compliments Sheen’s soulful vocal.

What truly makes A Christmas Gift For You such a remarkable achievement is the success Spector achieved in fusing together what was then a radical way of interpreting familiar holiday songs without, as he would write in the album’s liner notes, “losing for a second the feeling of Christmas and without destroying or invading the sensitivity and the beauty that surrounds all of the great Christmas music.” More than anything else, Spector respected the music he was trying to interpret as his own. In the end, this is what makes this work an enduring classic for the ages.Geez.

It’s the shortest day of the year, the issues at work go on and on and on, and I’m slowly being ground into pulp. We have a nice Christmas tree this year, the stores play Christmas music incessantly (although that will end, like, around 6 PM on Christmas Day so the stores can start getting ready for Valentine’s Day), and lots of folks have their lights up but there’s no sense of Christmas here in my office. While I was on Florida the twins decorated the house and Tracey put a cardinal ornament that had lost its string on my desk; otherwise, one wouldn’t even know Christmas is just around the corner.

My office mate Peach the rabbit sure doesn’t care about Christmas – but I also don’t think he’s crazy about someone pounding away at the keys in the wee small hours of the morning. Right now the best I can do is grab a few hours here and there while my team flails away at trying to get things at least somewhat stable. In work terms it’s like having a series of nor’easters continually piling up the snow and the snow keeps falling as you keep shoveling and losing ground. Fortunately, our company has holidays on Friday and Monday so the weekend will allow us to staff just enough to keep things moving before it all starts up again next Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean we’ll get a full break from this. I know I won’t.

I don’t want to give the impression that it’s just me having to go through all this: my boss and my team in India are having to work the same kind of long and strange hours – believe me, they’re just as committed (a.k.a. “stuck”) in helping the company out of this mess as I am. One of these days I’ll do a post (in general terms, of course) about this whole experience without naming names or companies or people, but that will have to wait until things settle down.

There’s not much else to say. I can’t remember what my trip to Vegas was like, can’t remember what it’s like to play golf or even hit balls. While I see President Trump (it still feels strange typing that) finally got Congress to push a tax cut plan through I haven’t had the time to see what’s going on around me culturally or politically. I’m guessing the hockey season has started – not that I would even notice if it had. It’s just the most bizarre set of circumstances I’ve ever experienced from a work perspective. Time has ceased to exist beyond the world of my laptop.

And so it’s in that spirit of things that I leave you with this Shawn Colvin tune. Kinda conveys the same sad and lonely state in which life is lived right now.

A big “thank you” to everyone for all the kind comments on my last post. I just saw them logging in to compose this. It lifts my spirits to know others care about something I do even if we all come from different political perspectives and persuasions. Sooner or later things will get back on track, but it sure won’t be anything I’ll ever be able to look back on and be able to laugh about.

Back to work…

Apologies are due for the lack of posts, but you wouldn’t believe the last two weeks I’ve had. My company is doing a major project in Florida that has gone off the rails. And it was because of that, that I received a frantic text while in the middle of nowheresville between Las Vegas and Phoenix requesting I head to Florida the very next day. Since then it has been nonstop 16-hour days helping to get that project back on track. Never mind blogging – I’ve had a hard time trying to find time to even sleep. It looks like it’s going to be several days yet before I can breathe so if you’re a frequent (or not so frequent) visitor to this site I ask your patience until things return to some semblance of normal.

Heckuva way to spend a holiday season!

I’m guessing when all is said and done, folks will be looking at the past week as one of the fines, and most important, weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency (I still love the ring of that. I could list all the accomplishments myself, but fortunately Larry Schweikert has already done that. Shall we start?

1) When you start to hear hysterical ABC/CNN/MSNBC “news,” take a nap. You’ll find an hour later they are all lies, and usually 180 degrees opposite of what you went to sleep thinking they were.

2) Let’s start with the lying ABC report, which we now know referred to “candidate” Trump when Trump had already been elected and was entitled to the information.

3) But, gee, Trump knew this hence his Tweet. But notice that he WAITED until ABC had lied to provide the info.

4) Flynn’s plea deal frees him to fully discuss crimes he was ordered to commit under Zero. Hearing from one source that in fact much of his testimony to Mulehead (i.e., Robert Mueller) involved Zero (i.e., Barack Obama).

5) I never thought it possible to get Zero. Ever. I thought Cankles (i.e., Hillary Clinton) was a long shot. Now, it seems both are quite possible.

6) Flynn will prove to be the biggest self detonating bomb the left ever went after.

7) Meanwhile, I look at the “Explorer” front page today—usually awash with liberal garbage stories. The TOP FIVE were all good news for Trump.

8) In one week, Trump got another Circuit Court judge (3 more judges coming next week); got the tax cut bill;

9) Announced moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; announced the end of net neutrality; charged Kate Steinle’s killer; announced a probe into the former Pentagon’s handling of whistleblowers under Zero; had another D resign; had Conyers REFUSE to resign . . .

10) which means (Minnesota senator Al) Franken MUST resign because Conyers is caught red handed; had an open investigation into the Congressional slush fund; saw the stock market soar (and recover from the ABC tank move); saw Flat Liar (i.e., Matt Lauer) resign from NBC; saw Judge Moore dramatically surge in AL;

11) saw Yertle (Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell) admit they won’t try to stop Moore from being seated; saw Trump say “MERRY CHRISTMAS” and acknowledge GOD five times in his Christmas speech.

12) Folks, this was the single biggest week of Trump’s presidency since the election.

13) GDP was revised up to 3.3, and after Reconciliation, I think in the near term 5% GDP is highly likely and 7% (yes, 7) possible.

14) Two of the largest international shippers has announced purchase of EIGHTEEN giant container ships. I don’t know where they are to be built but…

15) This is a stunning testimony to where international business thinks the world economy is heading.

16) Yellen said the economic indicators are very strong; separate analysis says 8/10 top economies in world growing

17) Martin Feldstein in Journal of Economic Perspectives says we have been seriously undervaluing assets & production for 20 years in a new study (which partially explains why no high inflation).

18) In short, Trump’s economic policy changes are putting the US surfboard right inside the pipeline of the biggest economic boom since 1945.

19) Voter registration data continues to show Ds losing ground in 12 of 15 battleground states, and these changes are NOT being picked up by pollsters who use 2012 models (still).

20) By passing tax cuts, Congress has assured that the R seats are safe, while some D seats (Manchin, Heitkamp) are more vulnerable than ever.

21) In short, one helluva great week for Trump and, with the exception of the Steinle verdict—which will be rectified—for America

I can’t wait to see what happens next week. Honestly, electing Trump as president means every week is like Christmas Eve – you can’t wait to see what’s going to happen and what part of the Washing D.C. swap will start getting drained!

Days until the 2018 Goodboys Invitational: 232
Handicap: 26.3 / Change: (-0.7)
Location: Superstition Springs Golf Club
Score: 43 / 49 = 92

Best round of the year at “The Springs”, where luck and history have rarely been on The Great White Shank’s side. It was a cloudy and rather cool mid-morning when I arrived at Superstition Springs Golf Club nearly an hour a head of my scheduled tee time. When the starter told me there was a threesome already on the tee that I could join even before I even had a chance to warm up, I took it – after all, I had a Christmas tree to put up later in the day and an upcoming weekend in Las Vegas to pack for. I yanked my driver off the tee but nailed a 5-iron 170 yards to just short of the green (chipped on and two-putted for bogey), so maybe warming up isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The 43 I shot on the front nine was scary good – I made three pars and on the four holes I bogeyed, on each of them I missed the green in regulation from 115, 100, 94, and 83 yards, and ended up two-putting each of them on top of that. If you do the math, breaking 40 wouldn’t have been that hard. That’s how good I was striking the ball. On the back nine, I made four more pars – on the par 4 #10, and then on #s 13-15 (two par 4s and a par 3). Unfortunately, I got sloppy and lost my focus on #s 16-18, making a double bogey and two triples out of pure carelessness. It left a bad taste in my mouth, but it just goes to show I shouldn’t be making out my application to the Champions Tour just yet!

But, like Buffalo Springfield once sang, “something’s happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear.” Thinkaboutit: last time out I made a all-time record six pars along with three bogeys; today, on a tougher Superstition Springs track I broke that record with seven pars along with five bogeys. That, my friends, is playing golf, and not the typical “Great White Shank” kind of golf I’m used to. The difference today from even last week was my ball-striking – I hit five of nine greens in regulation opportunities, hit the 5-iron as good as I’d ever hit it, and, in fact, felt very confident hitting all my clubs. I also hit quality shots with my 5-wood and 4-hybrid whenever I needed to, and the work I’ve been putting in on my short game really showed with five one-putts (34 in all). There’s still work to do with those damned short irons, but even on the last two holes en route to those triple bogeys I still dropped pitching wedges from 80 and 72 yards onto the green. So the progress being made is there.

So now it’s off to Las Vegas for a couple of rounds of golf with my Goodboys friend “Doggy Duval” McLaughlin, and after that I’m taking a long break – 2-3 months at the very least with all the work to do around the house. I’ve worked incredibly hard on my golf game this year and feel as if I’ve started to turn the corner and putting all that hard work to good use on the course.

We’ll be reporting back after “Viva Las Vegas, baby!”