Prince

You may not some of his antics on stage. You may not have wanted your young children to really hear some of the lyrics of his songs but without a doubt, The Artist known as Prince was a supreme musical talent and a performer second to none. Someone asked Eric Clapton what it was like to be the world's greatest guitar player.  Clapton quietly said don't ask me - go ask Prince. The little man, all five foot two of him, was a giant in music and culture. Very hard to believe he is now gone. RIP

The Disneyland Traveler Explains

It's a little on the cool, breezy side here at home today. A perfect Disneyland day I would say. Hard to believe that in less than a week, the temperatures are going to be pushing triple digits. Not a perfect Disneyland day I would dare to say.

The Disneyland Traveler has taken some time off away from this blog for the last several weeks. Some of you who have followed The Disneyland Traveler Blog for some time understand the reason why there has been an absence of writing. For the casual or new reader of this blog, here is the explanation. About a year ago my father-in-law came to live with Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and myself. He suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, a disease that robs people of short term memory and progresses to worsening stages from there. He requires nearly constant attention. Needless to say, there really aren't any trips to Disneyland planned for the immediate future for us. There is little time to think Disney at all.

But I miss writing this blog. And while it may not be as prolific as it once was, many have encouraged me to continue writing it. I'll certainly give it my best shot. Thank you to all those who have emailed me and encouraged me to write. It means a lot. Most true Disney people are the best because they can find reasons to smile even when things seem a little hopeless.

Like Steamboat Willie handling that steering wheel, whistling a tune, the Disneyland Traveler continues on.

Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie - Disney Animation

The Disneyland Traveler Goes Missing In Action

Let's see if I remember how to do this. Oh yeah...... I write about Disneyland or something about Disney in this blog and attach a few pictures. Couldn't be easier. Well, sometimes it's harder than it seems - the times when obstacles in life get in front of pursuit of a mouse.

When I new my trip to Disneyland in March wasn't going to happen, the Disney wind got let out of my sails, my Disney get up and go got up and went, and any other cliche you can think of that leads to the conclusion that at least for last month, I just didn't want to "think Disney".

Maybe that will change now. I hope it changes now but we will have to see. Thanks to all those who sent me emails of concern. It was deeply appreciated. Hopefully tomorrow, something related to Disney reappears in this blog.

The Disney Christmas Puppy - What's In A Name?

Cute as all get out but needs a name

We lost our lab mix dog (lab shar-pei of all things) about 4 years ago now. She was around 13 years old when she passed away, about average for a dog who was in the 80 lbs range. About 6 months after Sasha died, Mrs DisneylandTraveler was ready for a new dog and Jasmine came into our lives, a purebred American Eskimo. The Disney portion of our lives was already into full effect when we got Jasmine, hence the Disney name.

I've got a trip to Disneyland staring me in the face in about 2 weeks. I've got no business thinking about anything else except that upcoming trip (and well maybe, a little bit about work). But life trips us up sometimes. There's always a banana peel somewhere, One of my co-workers lost her Golden Retriever to complications relating to cancer about 2 months ago. Her dog was about 11 when she died. The death of anyone's pet is heartbreaking, especially when pets become such a big part of our lives. Indeed, pets should always be thought of as family members. That's what they think after all.

So my co-worker began researching and found a family of newborn Golden Retrievers.  She began sharing her excitement as she attempted to temper the profound sadness of losing her beloved pet. And she showed pictures of the litter of newborn puppies, and having a Golden Retriever at one time in my life, my heart began to melt as well when I stared into the adorable sweetness of baby Golden Retriever face.

As I stated above, with a trip to Disneyland coming up, I've got no business thinking about dogs but, I also began thinking that as Disney trips come and Disney trips go, a family pet lasts for a considerably longer period of time and  becomes a family member that you interact with on a daily basis. For all I know, my next trip to Disneyland could be my last but a new dog? He'll be greeting me in the morning and welcoming me home at night for years to come. 

I said "he". The Golden we picked out is a male. Since we already have Jasmine who is a princess in every sense of the word (diva is more like it), we had heard that life tends to be less competitive in a dog's world if the dogs in the house are of the opposite sex. I'll buy that. We haven't gotten our dog yet since he just hit 7 weeks old and has some more shots to go through next week. But by the Friday after Thanksgiving, we'll have our new family addition.

So now we are working on a name - a Disney name, of course. Far easier to come up with a female Disney name for sure. There are just so darn many princesses. There was one female left in the litter and if we would have gone with the female, we would have named it Belle (a no-brainer to go along with Jasmine). But a male Disney name? Everyone keeps throwing out Max but it's such a common name for a dog that we may be forced to go with a non-Disney name (Toby is the current leader). Darn it. We got a week to work on it.

I forgot to mention. We already have a cat named Herbie. So that name is already taken.

Suggestions? Add a comment or send an email to disneylandtraveler@gmail.com.

Jasmine

Herbie the Cat

The Power Of Mickey (On Skates)

So it's time for the WNBA Championship Finals (Women's Professional Basketball).  The Minnesota Lynx play the Atlanta Dream for the title. Congratulations Atlanta on getting into the Finals....now get out. The Dream play their home games at Phillips Arena in downtown Atlanta. Getting into a basketball finals is kind of an iffy proposition and certainly the owners of the arena can't hold dates open just in case a team advances into a post-season tournament which may or may not happen. When an arena or stadium have a a chance at a solid booking, they'll take the sure thing every time. Especially when Mickey is the star of the show.

 

Disney on Ice occupies the Phillips Arena on two of the dates the Atlanta Dream has home games for the Finals. Mickey gets the arena and a capacity of 18000 cheering Disney fans. The Atlanta Dream hits the road and gets to play at a much smaller arena in a suburb about 30 minutes north of Atlanta (which is kind of OK since the market for women's professional basketball is pretty small and not a whole lot of people show up to games).

 

It should noted that Disney on Ice is not really a Disney thing at all. Disney on Ice is produced by Feld Entertainment, the same people who own Ringling Bros. Circus and various monster truck events.. Disney just  licences the characters to Feld for which they are paid quite well I would assume. 

The Disneyland Sad Face

My sister sent me a text message yesterday and said she was going with her daughter and her grand kids along with my niece and her kids down to Disneyland later this month for a Mickey's Halloween Party event. This is on top of two people I work with who are also making trips to Disneyland at various times this month.

 

My sister then proceeded to ask if Mrs. DisneylandTraveler were available to make a trip to Disneyland before the (deluxe) annual passholder Christmas blackout dates go into effect. The little guy's face in the above picture seems fit my answer - it just doesn't look good.

 

Trying to make peace with myself living vicariously through others.

A Sunny Day At Disneyland

I think I've mentioned before in this blog that I grew up in San Francisco - not the Peninsula, not the East Bay, not the North Bay (till later) but I grew up in The City. One thing you don't think about much when you live in SF is the sun. It's always a bit chilly if you're not shrouded in fog. Warm sun shiny days sometimes seem few and far between and much of it is depended on where your neighborhood is located.

 

When I was a kid, we used to take summer vacations to Southern California to visit my aunt and uncle who lived in Lakewood. These trips were my first exposure to Disneyland at a time when coupon books where used to get on rides and entrance admission didn't cost an arm and a leg. It was also my first exposure to just how good warm weather felt. You mean I don't need to have a jacket in July or August?

 

So you would have to say that my family were not really sun people. Lotion is what you put on after you get a nasty sunburn. It's still that way today. My sun protection when I go to Disneyland is a baseball hat, right up until the point in blows off my head going down Grizzly River Run. Sunscreen? What is it? Who needs it?

 

Well, me apparently. Enter a diagnosis of malignant superficial melanoma skin cancer for a spot that developed on my chin. It was caught early, and should be able to be totally removed in a surgical procedure scheduled in a little less than two weeks.

 

But there's a lesson to be learned here. Next time I walk through the Disneyland front gates, my face is going to be slathered in sunscreen. I think the doctor is going to insist on it. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

 

A skin cancer fact. You are at risk to get skin cancer if you have had a peeling sunburn as few as once or twice in your youth. Uh-Oh!!!

Roger Ebert (RIP) and Song Of The South

The Roger Ebert I Remember

Film critic Roger Ebert passed away earlier today after a long battle with cancer. At the time of his death, he could no longer eat or speak nor do these two common things we take for granted for several years. Cancer ravaged his body. His spirit continued to smile, move on, and led him to do the things which he held most dear - write, comment, and watch movies.

Probably for the better part of 40 years, Roger Ebert was a part of my life. He was the most influential film critic of his generation though he would probably smirk at that. When a new movie came out, everyone quickly ran to Roger Ebert in print and on TV to see what he thought of a movie. And up until his death in 1999, everyone went to Ebert and his longtime partner in film criticism crime Gene Siskel who passed away that year also from cancer, to see if they gave a movie thumbs up or thumbs down. Roger Ebert took intellectual film criticism and gave it accessibility to the masses. Rather than the snobbish, elitist movie reviews that were common in the 50's and 60's, Ebert looked at films from a common place perspective. His movie reviews were easy to read. His TV reviews were succinct and to the point. He loved movies. He praised them when they were good and railed against the ones that were bad. You could agree or disagree with Ebert but you just want to hear what he had to say.

Which brings me Walt Disney's Song of the South from 1946 long considered a Disney classic but withheld from distribution in the United States for decades because of it's racial undertones. Certainly Walt Disney didn't have any racial prejudices when he produced and released the film but the times we live in now define our sensibilities. Today, the film is considered 'politically incorrect' as the buzz words go in the U.S. Though filled with love and warmth from Uncle Remus and his characters, the film set in the post Civil War era still exudes a sometimes painful separation of black and white races.

Disney refuses to release the movie in the U.S. on blu-ray or any other home media.It's been that way for years though the film is available in other parts of the world (and available if you desire to get a copy). Disney fans and film historians constantly debate whether the film should be released. As Disney CEO Bob Iger has said many times that though releasing the film would bring Disney some financial gain, sometimes you don't do things because you think it is the right thing to do.

And that's the main problem with releasing Song of the South. It is constantly debated by Disney fans (like anyone who has every been on Splash Mountain or sang along with Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah") and film historians. It's debated by adults. But leave it Roger Ebert to take a different, simple, eloquent  position. Though Ebert hated film censorship of any kind, he believed Song of the South should be best left discussed in serious context with film schools. He looked at the film from the eyes of a child - "Any Disney film immediately becomes part of the consciousness of almost every child in America, and I would not want to be a black child going to school in the weeks following the release of Song of the South was first seen by my classmates" Ebert wrote. It should be mentioned while Roger Ebert had no children, he was married to an woman of African-American descent for many years. 

I admired Roger Ebert, his writing and his ability to take a subject matter such as film criticism and make it entertaining on TV. I subscribe to Twitter feeds from actors Albert Brooks and Steve Martin. Today they remembered the fondness for having known Roger Ebert though he occasionally ripped them in his commentaries for their performances. They both said he was a very nice and kind man and they would miss him greatly.

Roger Ebert Toward the End of His Inspiring Life

A Personal Note From The Disneyland Traveler

My apologies to all the readers of this blog - my Disneyland Traveler output has been a bit sporadic during this month of March 2013. Truth be told, over the last week or so I have been trying to decide whether I want to continue writing this blog at all.

Writing about Disney is a joyful pastime for me. But sometimes true life intersects with a Disney world and the realities of life will always win out in the end. My father-in-law is recovering from major surgery in a nursing facility in Los Angeles. He's due to be released in about a month or so. He no longer will be able to return to his home in Torrance but instead must be attended to 24x7 by someone, anyone who is able to watch over him. He has the onset of dementia, most likely Alzheimer's Disease. After going over the options, Mrs DisneylandTraveler and myself have decided the best option for now is for him to come stay with us here in Northern California.

Needless to say, with someone needing so much attention and care, planned trips to Disneyland have fallen by the wayside. So I thought about "killing off" the Disneyland Traveler is how I put it to Mrs. DLT. She said don't. 

I thought about writing a different blog, maybe something about movies or sports or gardening, but I'm failing in generating any enthusiasm toward those topics. It's Disney that keeps my mind looking at the world through the eyes of a child. I don't know what will happen with the Disneyland Traveler as we take this unexpected twist. Mrs. DLT said I should sneak off for a day or two just to take new pictures of the place that has meant so much to us.

As for trips for the two of us, at least for the foreseeable future, those may have come to an end.

Admit It - Indiana Jones 4 Stunk - Here's Why

I remember leaving the theater after seeing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal saying to myself "I want to like this movie. This is Indiana Jones, one of the greatest movie heroes of all time. I want to like this movie....."

Then the realization set in - "An alien? Are you kidding me?" Not to mention surviving a nuclear blast by being locked in a refrigerator and a punk kid who I just wanted to smack silly. It was bad. And in the bad marketing department - if you want a copy of Raiders of the Lost Ark on Blu-Ray, you have to buy all 4 Indiana Jones movies including this piece of garbage.

Now, thanks to the good people at Screen Junkies and their Honest Trailers YouTube site, we finally get some truth about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And it is plenty funny....

I don't know if we have seen our last Indiana Jones movie. Hopefully now that it is a Disney property something more can be done with a great character and franchise. If it exits with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, then that is a pretty sad way to go out.

The Oscars, Lincoln, and Disney

The Academy Award nominations came out yesterday and leading the pack was Steven Spielberg's epic biopic Lincoln with 12 nominations including all the major categories outside of Best Actress. Great honor for a worthy effort as Spielberg brought the words of historian Doris Kearns Goodwin to life in a memorable movie. 

Yesterday morning a lady I work with, who was watching some of the nomination activity on the TV before coming to work, mentioned that someone had said something about Lincoln being a Disney movie and she asked me if I knew that was true because "it sure didn't seem like a Disney movie". So I gave the explanation again. Lincoln was made by Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Pictures along with other financiers (including 20th Century Fox). DreamWorks makes movies but has a long term deal in place for Disney, through Disney's Touchstone Pictures subsidiary, to distribute all DreamWorks live action pictures (not the animated ones like Shrek or Kung-Fu Panda which are separate). Disney has absolutely no say so in the movies that DreamWorks makes. Disney only distributes the movies as they did with Lincoln (and only in the United States, international film distribution is also separate).

So when Steven Spielberg gets up to accept an Oscar or two for Lincoln, which he is favored to do, he will most likely say thanks to Disney execs for their help in delivering his masterpiece to the theaters and the large audience who have seen the movie but the movie is his and not Disney's.

Which brings me back to my soap box and Disneyland's Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. I hope with all the attention being brought to the great president, more people are stopping by Disneyland's Opera House to see Lincoln, perhaps the the most advanced animatronic on earth. It's a wonderful show that began with Walt Disney himself as the creator of the first animatronic Lincoln for the New York's World's Fair in 1963. Disney imagineers have continued to change and advance the show through the years and it's all done as a labor of love because no one goes to Disneyland to see Lincoln and there is no Lincoln souvenir shop. 

It saddens me to see scores of people walk (or run) through the entrance tunnels of Disneyland and never once look to the right where the magnificent Opera House stands with open arms. People are too focused on what is down at the end of Main Street - a world of rides and mountains. Hopefully now with more attention being paid toward Lincoln, the Opera House has more than a handful of people to see the short but great Lincoln presentation put on by Disneyland. It is time well spent, just like the movie.

Raiders of the Lost Christmas Spirit

The Raiders of the Lost Ark Movie Truck
At the Indiana Jones Adventure - Disneyland

I think I did my due diligence. Yesterday on Christmas Eve I watched a good chunk of A Christmas Story that TBS shows for 24 hours straight. Last night the family and I watched Will Ferrell as Elf and I followed that up with a A Charlie Brown Christmas (mandatory Christmas season viewing). 

This morning I got up, turned on the Christmas tree lights, lit a fire in the fireplace, and flipped on the Yule Log on the TV as we got our Christmas Day off to its start. The Yule Log didn't last long as USA was showing Raiders of the Lost Ark (along with all the other Indiana Jones movies to follow). And now the Disney Christmas Parade has started with a bunch of people I really don't know since I don't watch the Disney Channel.

Christmas isn't what it used to be as the years go by. Youthful joy is replaced by adult burdens in the Christmas Spirit department but we do what we can to carry on. Hopefully next year, there is an actual trip to Disneyland during the Christmas season to step up the spirit.  

What happened to my Christmas spirit?   "We've got our top men on it.....top....men". 

Anyway Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Sad

December 14, 2012

Our hearts and prayers go out to the children, parents, teachers, and staff of Sandy Hook Elementary School and the people of Newtown, CT on a horribly sad day.

The most valuable thing I ever learned in college was in some elective drama class where the teacher said the most important thing in life is to be kind to one another. There just isn't enough of that going on.

Hostess and Me

A small break from the Disney stuff to lament the passing of Hostess Bakeries, makers of Twinkies, Cup Cakes, Fruit Pies, Ding-Dongs, and many other bakery treats. Oh, yes, they made Wonder Bread too.

The company fell on its own sword this week, giving itself up in bankruptcy after being crippled by a strike where its workers said they just can't afford to give up any more. There's probably no winners here but you have to wonder why a company and its leadership would just give up and shut its doors. Something tells me there is some sort of financial shenanigans going on here - a common practice in today's business world.

I grew up on Hostess products. I grew up in San Francisco, a city littered with corner stores supplying grocery needs to neighborhoods. Some of my earliest childhood memories have me going to the corner store for my mom to pick up the essentials - 2 quarts of milk (a half gallon was just too large of a container for little kids hands), a loaf of bread (Wonder of course), and maybe a couple of rolls of toilet paper. If it was in our budget, sometimes she said I could also get cup cakes or a fruit pie for my lunch the next day or perhaps just as a sack. Those words were golden to me - Hostess cup cakes or a berry pie (sorry, never cared much for Twinkies).

Back then, cup cakes or Twinkies cost 12 or 13 cents. A fruit pie was more, all the way up to 15 cents. And trust me, they tasted much better than what Hostess was putting on supermarket shelves up till a few days ago. Through the years and decades, my Hostess treat of choice was always a berry pie. I think they stopped making berry pies some time back. Haven't seen one for a long time. Probably got to be too expensive or the artificial flavoring that they pack into all the products now just couldn't cut it.

And its funny, I would meet various people through the years who thought the same thing I did when I entered a supermarket, corner store, or even a gas station - "I feel like having a Hostess berry pie today"

But that's all gone now. Or is it? Something tells me you haven't seen the last of Hostess. They name itself is worth a ton of money. A Hostess company will probably resurface sometime in the future making inferior products with cheaper labor. That's kind of how it works.

Mickey Says - Set Your Clocks Back 1 Hr. Tonight.

We can all use an extra hour of sleep. How about tonight? Daylight Savings Time ends in most (but not all) of the good ol' USA. Set your clocks back 1 hour before you go to bed and all will be fine. For you smartphone and computer users, don't worry about the time. They are smarter than you are.

Halloween's Most Lasting Impression

Disneyland can dress itself up and decorate from now until doomsday and never replace my most lasting and favorite Halloween image.

This one.....

"I got a rock...."

Yes, Charlie Brown..... sometimes it just seems that way.

I wonder if Mickey ever got a rock?

A Disney Salute to Space Shuttle Endeavor

Space Shuttle Endeavor Flies Over Disney Studios - Burbank

Last Friday we here in California were given a treat as the now retired space shuttle Endeavor flew over some of our most scenic cities and landmarks on its way to its final home of the California Science Museum in Los Angeles. Disney wasn't forgotten as the massive jumbo jet carrying its historic passenger made its way over both Disneyland and the Disney Studios in Burbank.

Endeavor was the last of the 5 space shuttles constructed (as a replacement for the Challenger which tragically exploded during lift-off) and made its first flight in 1992 and the last of its 5 flights in May 2011. In all, the orbiting space craft spent 299 days in space and traveled over 122,000,000 miles.

Below is a Disney video of the Endeavor and its flight over Disneyland that was posted to YouTube. What a treat for the park visitors that day.

Here are a couple of more photos from last Friday's flight taken over the Golden Gate Bridge in my hometown of San Francisco and flying over the State Capitol at where I currently live near Sacramento.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of (Darkness)

Forgive me for continuing to explore the Indiana Jones character in a Disney blog but I can connect the dots. Even though Indiana Jones is NOT a Disney character (I believe our friend George Lucas is the rightful owner and maybe Paramount Pictures a little bit), the Indiana Jones Adventure - Temple of the Forbidden Eye ride continues to rank near the top of the favorite attractions when talking about Disneyland. When it runs, it is a great, great ride. It breaks down a lot and as mentioned earlier, several features inside the ride are not operational - hence it goes down for refurbishment on Tuesday and will not open until it is almost time for Santa Claus to come to town.

In the meantime, Raiders of the Lost Ark is set to hit a one week run on IMAX screens beginning next weekend and this is right ahead of the release of the Indiana Jones movies in high definition blu-ray on September 18. Of course, they make you buy all 4 Indiana Jones movies not giving the consumer the opportunity to pick and choose. So yes, in order to be able to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark in blu-ray at home, you will have had to also buy Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom along with it - two movies in that series that are not looked upon very fondly by many. (We'll give the third movie - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade a pass since Indy goes back to his Raiders roots and fights the Nazis and it has Sean Connery in it)

Yesterday, Sports Guy Bill Simmon's Grantland magazine (somehow connected to the Disney owned ESPN) published an article written by Bryan Curtis that explored the darkness of the second Indiana Jones movie - The Temple of Doom. It is a very interesting read on what was going on in the lives of George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg at that time. You can read the article from the link below.

Exploring Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Grantland

I'm not sure I am buying into all the doom and gloom aspects of the article. Granted, Temple of Doom did have a few disturbing scenes and a long period of the movie is spent in underground caves but I thought the movie was entertaining enough (though certainly not up to the standards set in Raiders of the Lost Ark). Anyway, it is an interesting article written about an interesting movie made by some interesting men. Memo to self: Go watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom again.

The Dark Knight (Tragically) Rises

This is a Disney blog. The Dark Knight Rises is not a Disney, Marvel, or Pixar movie or in any way connected with Disney or Disney movies. What occurred last night in Aurora, Colorado at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises is nothing short of an utterly senseless tragedy, the worst shooting spree in American history.

The Dark Knight Rises as a movie is not responsible for a gunman, who identified himself as The Joker to authorities, to go on a a shooting spree which to this point has killed 12 people and injured 58 others. The tragic act of violence belongs squarely with the killer.

Except.

I haven't seen The Dark Knight Rises. After last night's tragedy I don't plan to - in a theater anyway. It has nothing to do with being afraid of being in a captive movie theater audience. I just wouldn't feel right about seeing The Dark Knight Rises knowing the suffering and sadness of countless people who are left reeling in the wake of a random act of violence, all for just seeing a movie

Violence.

I did see The Dark Knight film from a few years ago, the second in this trilogy series of Batman films. It was a riveting, well crafted film. It was also quite dark and disturbing. It was also unrelentingly violent. Why it didn't get an 'R' rating, I don't know. There was nothing "nice" about The Dark Knight. It was a film consumed by one violent act after another.

When I was a boy, I read comic books. They were escapist entertainment for youth who wanted to see good conquer bad. Comic books were read - at arms length. Watching The Avengers and The Amazing Spiderman movies this year, I thought that these were movie adventures that could be safely watched from a distance, never once taking them seriously. There was a sense of fun about them and a bit of humor in both of them. The current Batman / Dark Knight series doesn't do that at all. It pulls you into a world that no one would want to be part of - gritty, dirty, and depressing. Out of this world, warped thinking could fester. It just did.

The Disneyland Traveler sends thoughts and prayers to the many victims of this tragedy, the dead, the injured, and all of the families and friends of those who had to be part of this sad, sad, event. Kind of makes you sick.

A Pause to Remember Levon Helm

I promise not to stop the endless Disney babble that comes out of this blog very often but every once in awhile, I need to pause and remember something/someone that isn't about Disney.  A few days ago legendary drummer and principal vocalist for The Band passed away after a long battle with cancer.  Though 4 of the members of The Band were from Canada, Levon Helm was from Arkansas and his scratchy voice with a southern twang can only be described as uniquely American. No one was able to present a sense of place and beat down emotion through the sound of a voice above the music like Levon Helm.

I actually can make a Disneyland connection if I do make a bit of a stretch.  As readers of this blog know, I am a huge fan of Great Moments of Mr. Lincoln.  Before the appearance of the great president himself there is a stirring pre-show highlighting the countryman vs. countryman, brother vs. brother tragedy that was a huge part of the Civil War.  If the pre-show takes a slightly pro Union bias  the counter to that would be Levon singing The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down.  That song is never far from my mind after a viewing of Lincoln.

As I wander up Main St. on one of those rare quiet mornings in Disneyland, grabbing a cup of coffee  at the Market House, I may head over to a nearby bench to grab a seat to enjoy the morning.  If I had already been at Disneyland for a few days, the bench is a welcome site to take a load off for awhile.  A load off?  Not far from memory I'll hear Levon's voice wearily singing The Weight (below).

The people I grew up watching, listening to are dying off.  Dick Clark died this past week.  Most people think of him as the guy who brought in New Years Eve on TV.  I remember when he was a game show host and before that, bringing music into the homes of American teenagers through his American Bandstand.  What does it all mean? Life grows shorter each day, for some of us, its a little bit shorter than the rest.

Rest in Peace Levon Helm and thanks.