"Rejoice Dear Hearts" Read online

"Rejoice Dear Hearts"

  Peter Cavanaugh

  Copyright 2014 by Peter Cavanaugh

  FOREWORD

  On May 31, 2013, Eileen and I were together with all four daughters (each one lovelier than the other three) and eleven grandchildren (each one smarter then the other ten) for the first time in six years. It was a Cavanaugh Family Reunion occasioned by the graduation from High School of our oldest grandson, Will Pyron, in Middletown, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati.

  When I decided to do a follow-up to last year’s “No Irish Need Apply” with another compilation of essays, Sierra Star columns and other scribbled notations from 2013, I thought I would lead off with two particular pieces referencing my thoughts on the demonstrable value of a Jesuit education as reflected in the actions of our new Jesuit Pope. Relax. It’s all cool stuff.

  Since protocol required some sort of graphic depiction of the book title, the cover picture of our family get together in Ohio seemed absolutely perfect, although having almost nothing to do with Chapters One and Two of this collection, other than in a lovingly abstractive way.

  “Rejoice Dear Hearts” generally follows the year 2013 chronologically, picking things up where “No Irish Need Apply” leaves off and ending with my final column of the year, “Getting It.”

  With the Republican Party of early 2014 almost as torn as our national political profile as a whole, it’s a fine time to get in the game and hang on for a great ride ahead.

  It’s important to pay taxes, but even more important paying attention.

  Then – trust yourself.

  Peter Cavanaugh

  Oakhurst California

  March 17, 2014

  Chapter One – “Rejoice Dear Hearts”

  As any of our four daughters and eleven grandchildren would surely testify, my primary philosophical observation about life in general and any subject in particular all comes down to this: “It’s all in how you look at it. All in how you study it.” For me, this really does seem to say it all.

  I herein pay tribute to my original source for such a deceptively simple and powerfully influential and inspirational saying, that being one “Brother Dave Gardner”.

  “Brother Dave” was a singer/comedian from Jackson, Tennessee. After a one-semester term as a Southern Baptist ministerial student at Union University, he began a musical career as a drummer and vocalist. He started filling time between songs with stream-of-conscious commentary and was surprised when he discovered his audiences came to see his “comedic routines” rather than music, even though Dave had a national Top 20 hit in 1957 with an instrumental called, “White Silver Sands.”

  Legendary RCA artist Chet Atkins was amazed with “Brother Dave” and produced a comedy album in 1959 that catapulted Gardner into national prominence. “Rejoice, Dear Hearts!” sold a million copies. Numerous appearances on “The Tonight Show” continued his ascent into the entertainment stratosphere, but arrest for marijuana possession in 1962 brought his career to a screeching halt. This was seven years before Woodstock. He died of a heart attack in 1983 at the age of 57.

  Many folks considered Dave Gardner to be blatantly Conservative. In the early 1980s, Texas Oilman H. L. Hunt moved Brother Dave and his wife to Dallas, but soon became disenchanted with Gardner’s alcohol and drug abuse. Simultaneously, Gardner was often quoted in the Liberal press for “telling it like it is”, particularly his strong opposition to American involvement in Vietnam. Referencing his own experiences, Gardner would say, “ I was in World War Two and I saw lots of blood spilled, but it never sent anyone to Heaven.”

  Those who knew him report it was impossible pinning Gardner down on anything given his amazing proclivity to verbally dance between subjects, positions and ideas with lightning rapidity, juxtaposing all elements at every turn. The universal consensus was — Brother Dave Gardner made you think.

  I’m sure that’s why I took to him so quickly. Brother Dave Gardner was like a Jesuit!

  I was particularly blessed in my youth receiving the benefit of a four-year Jesuit education at Le Moyne College in Syracuse. I still often tell friends, “The Sisters at Cathedral School taught me WHAT to think, but the Jesuits at Le Moyne taught me HOW to think.”

  The essence of Jesuit instruction is to present as many sides of a given topic as possible, then insist you make up your own mind without claiming absolute certitude. The Jesuits are often said to be “the intellectual vanguard of the Catholic Church” — a distinction historically supported by being booted out or suppressed individually and as a group by The Vatican more than once. A Doctor of Philosophy from Syracuse University who taught one senior class in Theology at Le Moyne was an atheist.

  So I delight in talking with everyone about everything.

  I just finished communicating with John Pero, Central Valley Tea Party Coordinator, about a “Gun Control” meeting scheduled for Oakhurst. I enjoy my conversations with John and have applauded his dedication to civic involvement in print as well as in person, even though we hold widely disparate views on many national issues.

  I look forward to hosting Madera County Sheriff John Anderson, a fine Republican, at our March 2nd Meeting of the Democratic Club of Oakhurst. With the Ole’ Kettle gone, we’ve moved to Sweetwater Steak House for a while. Sheriff Anderson will be bringing us all up to date on various local law enforcement fronts and will be glad to answer any questions raised.

  I remain continually impressed by District Five Supervisor Tom Wheeler’s Town Meetings at our Community Center and again urge everyone to be at the next one here or in Ahwahnee, Coarsegold, North Fork or Raymond. Tom does more shows than Elvis in his prime.

  And I wish that our Congressional representatives in Washington in both Senate and House could put us first in their thoughts and learn to listen to — rather than talk at each other. They might just find out they share much more in common than not and that hard work and cooperative effort over time can bring brilliant consequences. I haven’t given up yet.

  “Don’tcha know a diamond ain’t nothin’ but a piece of coal that’s stuck with it?” —

   
Brother Dave Gardner (1959)

  Chapter Two – “Rejoice Dear Hearts” (Part Two)

  Father Phil Keane, SS. (1941 – 2012)

  With time flying by at laser velocity even faster than Superman’s iconic speeding bullet, it’s amazing to recall that our “For Your Consideration” column is now well into its fourth year as a regular weekly feature.

  Initiated through the efforts of Lynn Jacobsson in late Autumn ’09, colleague Alan Cheah and I have enjoyed sharing a hopefully more progressive perspective on national and local politics than that so generously offered by other regular Star contributors such as Dr. Bill and Junior Froelich.

  There are even times when we are accidently more prescient than usual, such as in the newspaper’s February 21st issue. In an offering entitled, “Rejoice, Dear Hearts.” I devoted significant space to a discussion of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, a Jesuit institution.

  The whole thrust was stressing the importance of critical thinking as encouraged by a Jesuit philosophy exposing students to comparative schools of reflective thought without fear of concurrent contamination. One learns to avoid confusing knowledge with belief or firm facts with fanciful fiction. My specific point of focus was the brilliant early ’60′s comedy of a gentleman named Dave Gardner, who reminded me very much of “a Jesuit” in his awesome ability to seemingly reflect on almost everything at once.

  Little did I know that within a few short weeks Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina would be chosen to head the Roman Catholic Church, naming himself Pope Francis the First. In the process, our New Holiness also becomes the f
irst Pope ever hailing from the Americas and, of even greater significance, the first Jesuit to reign supreme over a billion plus faithful souls around the world.

  Make no mistake. There’s much more happening here than meets the uninformed eye. Don’t look for immediate, obvious, rapid change. Do expect extraordinary thought, rigid reorganization, steel discipline and exemplary dedication to social justice and economic equity.

  Less welcomed by many will be initial adherence to traditional male organizational dominance and most matters concerning S-E-X. This wild and dangerous area includes negative outlooks on homosexuality, promiscuity, birth control, abortion, masturbation, all sensitive body parts, and fond memories of innocently discovering puberty — or any extended conduct –mental or physical — relating to all of the preceding.

  So I submit Francis the First will be sexually and constrictively conservative, while socially and positively progressive. You know what? I’ll take that for openers.

  Late last year, I lost an old friend.

  Father Philip Keane, S.S. had attended school with me for six years at Cathedral Academy in Syracuse. When we graduated in ’59, I headed for Le Moyne as Phil began his studies for the priesthood, eventually becoming Proctor at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and obtaining global renown as a major Catholic Theologian.

  In 1977, the Paulist Press published a masterwork by Father Keane entitled, “Sexual Morality.” Among other brilliantly reasoned positions was Phil’s argument that “homosexual conduct cannot be understood as absolutely immoral.” In May of 1984, the Vatican’s Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger ordered the book banned by officially lifting its imprimatur, believing Father Phil was promoting an “intrinsic evil.“

  This is the same Joseph Ratzinger who despises Rock & Roll music for being “an expression of elemental passions,” referencing “Heavy Metal” as “an instrument of The Devil”, and hates Harry Potter for being guilty of “subtle seductions, which act imperceptibly and deeply, dissolving Christianity in the soul before it can grow properly.” Yep. The same former member of Hitler Youth who — in 1990 — defended the Church’s Inquisition driven condemnation of Galileo in 1633 as being “rational and just.” Galileo’s mortal sin, of course, was to insist that the earth moves around the sun.

  In 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI. A few weeks ago, Benedict became the Sarah Palin of Pontiffs, quitting before his job was done.

  Phil Keane would have made a fine Jesuit.

  I remember Father Phil’s final words to the class after celebrating Mass at our 50th High School Reunion in 2009.

  “I’ll pray for you for all Eternity.”

  To which I responded at the time in my heart and now in print — “Rejoice, Dear Hearts!”


  Perhaps there’s hope in this new Pope.

  Chapter Three – “Heave – Ho – Ho – Ho!”

  It didn’t matter if they’d been naughty or nice.

  Last Thursday (12/6/12) yet another several hundred radio employees across the nation were unceremoniously heaved out the door in time for Christmas by Clear Channel Communications, including many who had been at their respective stations for many decades. For any practical purpose, most are discovering they have no place to go. Traditional business models in the broadcast industry have been savaged by unrestrained self-interest. Make no mistake. These are not “layoffs”. They are career executions — loyal service and consistent performance reflecting a job retention value of ice cold zero.

  Why not ignore former pledges to serve a community by fulfilling FCC license obligations on airways owned by the people with dozens of employees covering important assignments in news and public affairs programming when you can get away with effectively not offering anything to anyone? After all, isn’t that what makes a market free? Reducing statutory obligations to a desirable state of functional impotency until they mean absolutely nothing?

  An accompanying Clear Channel Corporate Press Release patronizingly states: “Like every successful business, our strategy continues to evolve as we move forward as a company; this creates new jobs and unfortunately eliminates others. These are never easy decisions to make.”

  What nonsense. Clear Channel has become alarmingly facile in reaching such determinations, particularly since Bain Capital got involved four years ago. Last week’s gallows drops brought the total body count to over eleven thousand dismissals in the wake of industry consolidation driven by governmental deregulation and the escalation of leveraged borrowing. As far as being a “successful business” is concerned, even as many banks are celebrating the end of a banner year boasting record profits and payoffs, Clear Channel is now over eleven billion dollars in debt with major balloon payments due just around the corner.

  This is a pernicious pattern we see elsewhere, most notably in recent days with the much discussed and disgusting Hostess Brand debacle in which 18,500 employees are paying the price for decades of miserable mismanagement — malfeasance continuing with the absurd allegation that demise of the “Ding Dong” represents an unavoidable consequence of American unionism.

  Ultimately “Twinkies”, “Ding Dongs” and “Wonder Bread” will rise again as these valuable franchise names are sold to new owners, but with a work force severely crippled in consequential compensation. Meanwhile, former bosses have personally made millions of dollars wheeling and dealing their way out of self imposed crisis after crisis, funded by fast times, hot action and easy money. You can bank on that.

  Wild gambits have been paying off far too often for wily gamblers at the escalating expense of all not financially fixed in a wretchedly rigged game.

  That’s why I’m so happy Massachusetts Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren (D) is said to have been chosen for a leading role on the new Senate Banking Committee in our 113th Congress about to convene in January.

  Harvard Law Professor Warren handily defeated incumbent Republican Scott Brown in November to become the first woman senator in Massachusetts state history and now inherits the seat held for 47 years by the late Edward Kennedy.

  Senator Warren’s position on the Banking Committee will come nearly two years after oppositional forces successfully campaigned against her from running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau she both envisioned and created.

  Now she’s back to address desperately needed changes, including the introduction of appropriate remedial legislation and reinstitution of the Glass-Steagull Act — abandonment of which in 1999 lead directly to subsequent economic nightmares in 2007.

  Here’s hoping 2013 will witness Senator Warren decisively delivering a retributive “Ho-Ho-Ho!” against all those banks that feed wild corporate greed. Wall Street has regarded Elizabeth Warren as an enemy ever since 2008 when she served as chief watchdog in overseeing the seven hundred billion dollar bailout, taking both the institutions involved AND the Federal government to task time and time again for ineptitude and incompetence.

  It’s taken her five years to reach a position of prime power.

  The last laugh is the longest.

  Chapter Four – “Still Stoned”

  “I had a dream last night.

  I was piloting a plane.

  And all the passengers were drunk and insane.

  Lost all the treasure in an overseas war.

  It just goes to show you don’t get what you pay for!”

  The Rolling Stones — “Doom & Gloom” — December 2012

  The world is still here.

  So are death, taxes and The Rolling Stones.

  Shortly after Eileen and I moved to Des Moines upon my appointment as Program Director of KSO Radio in 1964, a group of young investors brought a new English band into town who were heralded as a bunch of “dirty Beatles”, sporting not only “long hair”, but “street clothing”, an “insolent attitude”, “coarse language” and “rude behavior”. I found the first two allegations to be true, but the last three were nothing more than flamboyant record company press agent drivel.

&nbs
p; Their first American release, an explosive remake of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away”, had not been a smash hit, but had brought them to the public eye. Standing before the microphone in only a partially-filled auditorium with easily less than several hundred in attendance, it was clear the boys were very much on the ascent given the unusually enthusiastic welcome accorded by the crowd following my words of introduction.

  “Ladies and Gentleman. The Rolling Stones!” 
I found the Stones to be thoroughly engaging, although genuinely exhausted. They were disappointed in the turnout, but pleased to be playing in “The States” and were convincingly confident that better things lay ahead. They were looking forward to again spending some recording time in Chicago on their tour and were particularly excited about a return visit to Chess Records in the Windy City where Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and other Black Icons had put it in the grooves.

  Judging from the title of their first million-seller which was to come out of the Chess sessions, Mick and company certainly found playing within such sacred studio walls the source of inspired “Satisfaction”.

  Shortly thereafter, our two year old daughter Laurie stopped repeatedly going “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” like the Beatles and started imitating Mick Jagger’s “Come-On!” which sounded more like “Ka-Mow!” Her Irish grandmother asked me if she had been “exposed to Negroes”. Of course, with her father blasting every cut off “Aftermath” at top volume on the family “Stereo Hi-Fi” from dawn till dusk, she had — and in a particularly important way.

  The Rolling Stones’ early successes and later global triumphs brought final international recognition to the primitive urban blues typified by their heroes at Chess Records, especially African-American artists such as Muddy Waters, writer of “Rollin’ Stone”, for which the band is named.