esrosedotblog

This is an old story with no new twists.

The kind that old men tell over and over. Even if you say you have heard it before, you are going to hear it again.

Orion is up in the eastern morning sky.

He has been gone for awhile. It is still a thrill each year.

When I was a kid, our science teacher organized some weekly star watches. They lasted for two weeks. Only one other kid and I showed up. Richard H. who followed me to MIT the year after. We didn't bond there. Another story.

But the first constellation I ever saw was Orion. It is easy. The easiest. You look up and there he is. The familiar shape.

I do not remember any of the other constellations. I cannot even find the North Star. Never could.

Basically, because I don't give a shit about it all.

Why this one thing? Probably Mr. Ravelli. My first boyhood crush. I was one of his pets.

He was a smoker so I and a few others would get to "monitor" the class while he went down to have a smoke with Frank Blitz the building janitor and Ed Bosman the math teacher. They all reeked of tobacco smoke all the time. Tough to be a teacher that smokes. Especially now. Tough to be a smoker anywhere.

Anyway, Al Ravelli got in trouble with a girl in the class ahead of me. My Dad was on the School Board so I knew a lot more about it than I should have. Very upsetting. For all the reasons you might guess although I couldn't at the time.

He packed up and left town. I never heard from him again.

But I do hear about Orion. Or see him. Every year. And I remember the night on the hill with Al. Romantic, right? No. But a little sad. Bittersweet. Almost like a french movie.

Sublimation.

I couldn't have Al but I still have the guy in the sky.

Labels: astronomy, crushes

EDDY ARNOLD

I found myself humming and yodeling Cattle Call this morning (hear the sample at the site). I was loading grocery bags into the Jeep.

Eddy Arnold.

It was his theme song.

I had a crush on Eddy Arnold for many years.

I think that I still do.

I would stop and listen to any cut that was playing.

He was not strictly country and western. He was beyond genrés.

If you want to hear him sing (including the 'call') try this:

A Year of Eddy Arnold Part 1.

There are two other similar bits adjacent.

He has a website which is a little ramshackle.

But, I imagine Eddy is a bit ramshackle too. He is 89 years old and, as you will see, absolutely retired.

He is a phenomenal artist and had world wide success.

By some measure, he is figured to have sold more records than anyone else.

But his career was longer than anyone else's.

Fifty years.

But none of this matters to me. He always, always gave me a shiver which had nothing to do with his artistry. He was a very sexy guy. And I had a crush on him.

Labels: country, crushes, heroes