Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from Me to You

Here's wishing all of you the happiest holiday season ever, and may your new year bring you love, peace, and happiness. 

                                                                            Joe Cuhaj

And the Winners Are...

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Thank you for participating in my annual Holiday Giveaway. I hope you enjoyed the freebies I lined up this year.

If you didn't pick up any of the freebie giveaways, never fear! The web page will be available through January 1st.

As you know, as well as giving away some free goodies like new short stories, podcast, and hiking guide, I was also giving you the chance to win one of three autographed copies of Hiking Alabama-4th Edition. I'm happy to announce our winners:

Bill Rozier

Nancy Hayes

Florence Bradley

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy the book. And thanks to ALL of you for your support this past year! Stick around, 2019 is going to be a big year with 2 new books coming out (Best Dog Hikes Alabama in March, Hidden History of Mobile in late summer), 2 new books simmering on the stove getting ready for release, and I'm re-introducing the short story podcasts, "Joe's Shorts", with a ton of new stories.

Stay tuned! And I'll see you down the trail.

Avoid Having Your Dog Become a Pup-Cicle During Winter Hiking

Bringing your dog along on a hike is a great experience. They love exploring and will probably show you a few things you might have missed on the trail, too.

Hiking with your dog in winter, however, poses new challenges for the dog owner. Here are a few tips for you to keep in mind when hiking with Fido this winter. You can learn more in my forthcoming book, Best Dog Hikes Alabama.

1. The Basics

Always check with the volunteers or organizations that manage the trail you will be hiking before heading out. Some trails will be closed in freezing weather or if snow is expected or deep. Still other trails may be closed or access restricted as the ground begins to thaw to prevent erosion.

How long should the hike be? The general consensus for an average dog is, when temperatures are below freezing, keep the walks short, like 10 to 15-minutes. Above freezing, 30 to 45 minutes. Of course you can extend the trip if your dog can handle the cold. In any event, make sure to take frequent breaks.

2. Protect Their Paws

A lot of hikers scoff at putting booties on their dog, but they can really make a difference in your dog’s experience on that wintery trail. Ice and snow can get packed between their pads causing extreme discomfort and heat loss. And by the way, booties are good to use around the house, too, if you live in an area where rock salt is used on sidewalks. That salt can burn their pads.

3. Gear to Consider

If you have a short hair dog, it is a good idea to outfit them with a jacket. Long hair dogs may overheat with that extra layer on.

If you’re traveling in an area where there will be snow, use a bright colored leash and collar so you can see them if you walk them off leash or they accidentally get away. During hunting season, have them wear an orange vest.

4. Hydration and Snacking

It’s very important to keep yourself and your pup hydrated in winter. Pack along at least double the normal amount of water you would carry for them in warmer months.

That cold weather is also going to cause your pup to burn a lot of calories. It is important to give them plenty of high calorie snacks on the trail. Bring snacks that are crunchy/chewy. Soft snacks can freeze hard.

5. Carry an Insulated Pad

Do you like sitting on the cold ground or snow? Neither does your dog. Bring along an insulated pad for them to sit and lay on during your breaks.

6. Hike Trails with Solid Footing

Doing a short hike in the snow can be fun, but it won’t be fun for long for your dog. Icy trails are dangerous for both of you and snow causes dogs to jump through it rather than walk causing them to burn more energy and tire quickly.

7. Know When to Say When

The most important thing to know is when to call it quits and cut the hike short because your dog is in distress and becoming dangerously cold. Short hair dogs are more prone to cold weather emergencies, but long hairs can also develop serious illness. Watch for these signs:

• ·         Barking and whining for no reason
• ·         Stops walking frequently
• ·         Noticeable shivering
• ·         Cold paws, nose, ears, tip of the tail
• ·         Discoloration of paws, nose, ears, tips of the tail. This could be a sign of frostbite.
• ·         Your dog is anxious and looks for shelter

The Holiday Giveaway Continues

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you, your family, and friends are having the best holiday season ever!

Don’t forget, my Holiday 2018 Giveaway is going on right now. Visit my Holiday Giveaway page to register to win a free autographed copy of Hiking Alabama 4th Edition. Today is the LAST DAY to enter! Winners will be drawn tomorrow (December 14, 2018).

And, as always, there are some neat little freebies you can download including new short stories and some old classics of mine, a new holiday podcast, “A Wish Book Christmas”, a new hiking booklet – 10 Favorite Historic Hikes in Alabama – and a couple of old favorite hiking booklets from past giveaways including Top Trails and Gulf Coast Hikes.

The Giveaway is just my little way of saying thank you for all of your support over the years with my books, podcasts, and more. I truly appreciate it.

By the way, I always fail to mention, but if you ever have any questions about my books, writings, outdoor recreation (hiking, paddling, tent camping, etc.) or have a comment, be it good or bad (just be kind J), please drop me a line at joe cuhaj author@gmail.com (take out the spaces), post a comment on my Facebook page, or message me on Facebook Messenger.

Happy Holidays, all!

Hiking through History Alabama: The Gulf Coast

With over 300 years of history, the city of Mobile, Alabama, and the Alabama Gulf Coast is a prime area to hike through history. Let's take a trip back in time with this look at only a few of these hikes from my book "Hiking through History Alabama", available at your favorite bookstore or online.

Best Dog Hikes Alabama: Making Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

Here's a great recipe that I included in my forthcoming book, "Best Dog Hikes Alabama" - Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits. The recipe is quick, easy, and your dog will love them! Thanks to my Granddaughter, Cora, for doing some of the filming and lending a hand in the kitchen.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Tis the Season – the cold winds of winter are barreling down from Canada. Snow is piling up across the country. Christmas is just around the corner (a public service announcement for those of you who haven’t even THOUGHT about starting your Christmas shopping).

With that in mind, it’s time once again for my annual, albeit humble, Holiday Giveaway! It’s just my way of saying thank you for your support through the year by buying my books, following my articles and blog, and listening and viewing my podcasts and videos.

Once again you’ll be able to download eBook, PDF, and MP3 audio versions of some of my classic Christmas short stories. And this year, there will be a brand new Christmas short story podcast to listen to or download and a new eBook – “Joe’s Shorts!” Think about that one.

You can also register to win autographed copies of my book, Hiking Alabama-4^th Edition!

My Holiday Giveaway 2018 page will be posted VERY SOON! Be on the lookout for the announcement here on the Blog, on my Facebook pages, and on my website in the next few days.

Thanks again for all of your support this past year and a VERY Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Everyone's Gone to the Moon

The research for the book Everyone’s Gone to the Moon has really been fascinating. The book will revolve around the first lunar landing in July 1969. It will touch on the landing but focus more on the events and pop-culture that was happening at the same time, an overview of July 1969.

So far, the tidbits of history I’m gleaning are truly fascinating. For instance, it was on the first week of July, 1969, that Charles Phillip Arthur George officially became the Prince of Wales during an investiture ceremony that was nearly derailed by bombs that were detonated near the rail line that would carry the royal family to the ceremony.

And I’ve learned that history really does repeat itself. For example, in 2018, we hear of alleged attempts by White House staff to establish secret back channel communications with Russia in an effort to skirt the nation’s intelligence agencies. In July 1969, Soviet diplomat Anatoly Dobrynin attempted to do the same thing, working with President Nixon’s staff to create a secret communications link.

But this little bit doesn’t even skim the surface of the history I’m pulling out from the murky mists of time for this book – remarkable space news that was going on at the time we first walked on the moon, the world of pop-culture, and the stories of everyday people and what life was like in July 1969.

Stick around. There are some amazing stories to tell!

Goin' to the Dogs

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday.

For me, it will be a busy weekend at the old keyboard. I’ll be hammering out a couple of chapters for the book, Everyone’s Gone to the Moon, prepping publicity for the release of Best Dog Hikes Alabama, and finishing up three videos that will be posted next week that I think you’ll enjoy.

On the subject of my latest Falcon guide, Best Dog Hikes Alabama, you may (or may not) remember not too long ago that I asked for a little help planning some fund raisers to coincide with the release of the book in March. Still needing a little help.

I would like to host at least 5 pet adoptions in conjunction with local animal rescues across Alabama – Mobile, Montgomery, Birmingham, Huntsville, and Talladega. The events will give the rescues another chance to bring their animals out and have them adopted, have a few presentations about you and your dog including vet and training tips, and allow you to take a rescue for a short hike (and hopefully fall in love with them). I will be selling copies of the books and t-shirts with proceeds going to help the rescues.

I need a little help in locating a good venue to hold such an event and contacts for reputable animal shelters in those areas to get the ball rolling. SO, if you know of a good location and who I should contact, or have contact information for some rescues, I would LOVE to hear from you!

You can either Message me through Messenger or go to my contact page on my website, www.joe-cuhaj.com/contact.html and drop me a line.

Thanks in advance for your help – and helping rescues!

Say Hey! The Willie Mays Song and Mobile (Alabama) History

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, two out of my three new book proposals have been approved. There is a “slight” hiccup on the Everyone’s Gone to the Moon contract, but that’s being ironed out.

As for the second title, the research is already beginning. Now, I know that my friends and followers from outside of Alabama and the Mobile area will probably say “ho-hum” with this title, but believe me, it’s a fascinating look at the 300+ year history of the Port City – Mobile – and it’s little known, hidden history. Hence the title, Hidden History of Mobile.

There is so much to the city’s history that has rarely, if ever, been told but I'll be combing the dusty city archives and the bowels of the Mobile Library to pull them out and bring them back to life. I think it will be a title you will all enjoy.

One aspect of the city’s history I will focus on is its musical side. Yes, we’ve had some notable musicians and singers from the Alabama Gulf Coast, everyone from Metropolitan Opera star Linda Zoghby to big band trumpeter Cootie Williams to Jimmy Buffet. There is one group from Mobile, however, that doesn’t get much recognition – the Treniers, or as they were originally billed, the “Rockin’ Rollin’ Treniers”.

The group was started by twins Clifton and Claude Trenier. After stints with Jimmy Lunceford's big band in the 40s, the twins struck out on their own and made a mark in the early history of Rock ‘n Roll influencing others like Bill Haley, England’s The Shadows, and more. They appeared in several early rock movies like Alan Freed’s Don’t Knock the Rock and The Girl Can’t Help It.

The Treniers in Don’t Knock the Rock

One recording by the Treniers brought my understanding of Mobile’s musical history and its baseball legacy (as seen in my book Baseball in Mobile) full circle. It was in 1955 when they recorded a classic song celebrating Alabama’s own Willie Mays – the song was Say Hey (the Willie Mays Song). What’s interesting is that the 45-rpm single that was released credits the tune to Willie Mays with the Treniers, although Willie only says 10 words in the song.

The Treniers: Say Hey (the Willie Mays Song)

Just some of the fun, sometimes tragic, but always remarkable history I’ll be uncovering and bringing back to life within the pages of Hidden History of Mobile.

The adventure is just beginning.

Planning for Best Dog Hike Events Begins

Perseverance (and a bit of whining) does pay off. Three of my new book proposals are now in the laps and hands of publishers – one is approved (I’ll talk about that in an upcoming blog), the other two are just inches away. Keep fingers crossed!

But that’s not why I’m adding an entry to the blog today. IF you read my blog entry from September 20^th (and if not – why not? J) I mentioned that my new book, “Best Dog Hikes Alabama” is on the fast track to completion with the final copy coming my way for approval shortly.

With the completion of the book, I’m ready to move ahead with plans I had early on to help some of the many no-kill animal shelters in the state raise awareness about rescue dogs, raise a little money to help them and their mission, and to maybe help some of their rescues find Forever Homes.

BUT, I need a little help – from YOU! – to make this happen.

Here’s what I would like to do. Remember, this will all begin around March 2019:

• Hold rescue events on the Gulf Coast (Mobile/Baldwin County), Montgomery, Birmingham, and Huntsville to start. After that, we’ll see how it goes to move it to other cities
• Each event will be a single day event with:Tents where local shelters can set up and accept donations and (hopefully) adopt a few rescues.
• I would like the event to be in an area where potential new puppy parents can “test walk” the dog they plan to adopt – a short hiking trail at the site is perfect
• Presentations to help you with your new friend on training and bringing them home by local trainers, info on medical care by local vets
• A shop where you can buy t-shirts and copies of the new book with proceeds going to the shelters
• Booths by local pet shops with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the shelters
• Food Trucks

 Whew! That should do it (what can I say? I think big.)

Here’s what I need help with. If you live in any of the areas mentioned, I am in need of contacts for any of the above – local animal shelters that need help, a couple of local vets and trainers who may be able to do a presentation or two, and a good venue in the area where this can be held and (since I’m out of area) a suggestion on who to contact to set up the venue.

I would really appreciate any suggestions! Please send me an email at joecuhajauthor @ gmail.com (take out the spaces), drop me a line on Messenger, or use my online Contact Form at www.joe-cuhaj.com/contact.html.

Of course, I will keep you posted as events are set up.

I can’t thank you enough for helping make these events happen! Until next time….

Best Dog Hikes Alabama - The End is Near

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to writing something else, here comes second round of edits for Best Dog Hikes Alabama.

I just received it yesterday and all I can say is, wow! The layout department at Falcon Guides did an amazing job on it! I think you’re going to like the colors and format of this one. The editors took my suggestions to heart, corrected me on some issues, and it reads well. Like my old high school Creative Writing teacher, Mr. George Sterling, used to say, “It made me feel like I was really there.”

So, I’m doing my last proof read to make sure we haven’t glossed over any glaring errors, like leading you and your dog off a cliff (just kidding!!!) and will have it back to the publisher in a week. Then the final read comes soon after WITH the new cover (my favorite part - to see which of my photos they have selected).

The bottom line is that we are on target for a March 2019 release! Can’t wait.

Now, as I announced a few months ago, after finishing researching and writing Best Dog Hikes Alabama, I decided that I really wanted to help some of the rescue organizations that do a wonderful job finding forever homes for these pets. What I am trying to do is set up a events on the Gulf Coast (Mobile / Baldwin County), Montgomery, Birmingham, and Huntsville. There will be possibly be others but right now I’m shooting for the big four cities.

My “dream” is to have these events in a location where we can have several dog rescue groups from those cities gather with some of their pups, where you can “test drive” one on a short hike, then adopt them. We would have copies of the book and other merchandise for sale and food with a good portion of the proceeds going to these non-profits. I’d like to have trainers, vets, and outfitters do a few presentations…what can I say? I think big!

If you live in or near one of these cities, I’m looking for suggestions on a good venue to hold the event that fit the bill (for example, Remy’s Dog Park at Red Mountain..hint, hint) and a few names of the rescue organizations in those cities I can contact to get the ball rolling.

If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear from you. You can send me a message on Facebook or drop me a line at Joe Cuhaj Author @ gmail.com (take out the spaces). I look forward to hearing from you.

‘Til next time…

Short Stories and the Story Pod

As you may – or may not – know, I do two different types of podcasts, one audio and one video. If you’ve ever had a chance to view or listen to one, I’d like to hear from you and get your opinions on them. Just add a comment below, drop me a message of Facebook, or visit my online contact page.

As I said, there are two types of podcasts I produce. First, there are my videos that run the gambit, from sharing some of my favorite hikes and outdoor adventures, to short historical documentaries, to music videos by my old band. I usually post these once a month but have two planned for September, a new one from my book, Hiking through History Alabama, and the first one for my new book, Best Dog Hikes Alabama.

The audio podcasts are my absolute favorite to produce, probably because of my old radio career that to me was my dream job. I call these podcasts my “Story Pods”. They are simply short stories about growing up that hopefully we can all relate to, that bring back happy memories for you, or just get you thinking. I always post at least one a month to SoundCloud for your listening pleasure.

Several of the stories have been culled from my book, Living in a Banana Dream, but there have been new stories produced with more on the way, all of which are “loosely based on faulty memories”.

I love producing these for several reasons. The first, as I mentioned, was that I get to put my radio chops to work. I love to work in a studio. The other reason, and most obvious, it that they take me – and hopefully you, too – back to our childhoods when life was simpler.

I love producing these for several reasons. The first, as I mentioned, was that I get to put my radio chops to work. I love to work in a studio. The other reason, and most obvious, is that they take me, and hopefully you, too, back to our childhoods when life was simpler.

So, the stories from Banana Dream, including a ton of new ones, are being refurbished and will be winging their way to a publisher hopefully by the end of the year. We’ll see how that goes. In the meantime, there are more stories to tell so be on the lookout for them. The September 2018 edition is called, “Love is a Many Splintered Thing”, the story of the very first time you go out on a date with the opposite sex. Uh-huh. You’re already reliving your experience, aren’t you?

Don’t forget, you can listen to all of the Story Pods on my website, JoeCuhaj.Com.

Till next time….

The Edits are In! The Edits are In!

My wait is over. I’ve received the first of two go-arounds of edits for the “Best Dog Hikes Alabama” book. All I can say is, at least the Table of Contents is correct. Just kidding! It actually looks great.

From what I see the corrections are the typical lot - a lot of basic “should hyphenate this” and “shouldn’t have abbreviated that”. The rules always slightly change with each book, but that’s ok. I’ll take it!

It really does look good and I think you will enjoy this guide book. I didn’t realize how much detail went into this one until I glossed over it last night.

This first edit is my “corrective” go-around where I get a chance to correct any mistakes that I missed when I proofed it the first time, add any missing tidbits, and make the changes the editors requested. I also get a chance to change any mistakes on the maps.

My hat’s off to the cartographers who did an amazing job transferring my GPS maps and handwritten and diagramed topographic maps into really great looking images.

So, I have 10-days to turn this around and get it back to the editors. The next time I see it there will be no more changes, only minor corrections in grammar and punctuation. It will have all of the full-color photos placed within and I’ll finally get to see the actual cover, which, of course, I will share with all of you just as soon as I see it.

Well, best get to it!

Dear Sir or Madam, Will You Read My Book?

I’m in that Twilight Zone period that all writers face. It’s that void, that black hole where you seem lost, disoriented. You’re not sure what you should do. If you do have an idea about what you should do, you’re not sure where to begin.

That’s right, I’m between projects.

If you are a writer, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I currently have proposals for a few new books sitting on the desks of acquisition editors around the country. You put in long, hard hours on the proposals, putting down on paper (or Word Doc) in great detail the concept behind the book, who the book will appeal to, the marketing plan for the book with solid examples of what you will do to help make it a New York Times bestseller, write a long and lengthy annotated table of contents (which basically outlines the entire book), and then produce at least three sample chapters.

And then you wait.

A response could take anywhere from 2-weeks to 6-months. But here’s the rub: you may NEVER receive a response. Either because they don't like it or they just never read it. So you would think, well, I’ll send the manuscript to multiple publishers. Oh, no. You can’t do that. The publishers you send them to have a strict rule – “no simultaneous submissions”.  What that means is, “You sent the proposal to us, now don’t send it to anyone else until we reply”.

But what if they never reply?

And that’s where I get thrown off the rails. I know the books are rock solid and will do well. Trust me, that’s not conceit. You have to feel that way or why are you writing the book and submitting a proposal in the first place? You want to keep pushing the manuscript to exhaustion before moving on to something else but you know that there is, more often than not, that chance of never hearing from the publisher again for whatever reason. So you feel like you've wasted your time sending the proposal to only one publisher and not hearing anything in 6-months...but you couldn't send it anywhere else. Ugh.

And that’s where I am. I have three proposals out there, manuscripts that I have always wanted to write, that I finally did write, and now they are out there helplessly waiting for the go ahead, or the snub. When you put that much work into something it can be hard to pry yourself out of the hole where all you want to do is just keep pushing the manuscripts out there and do more to give them a fighting chance. But you know that there isn’t much you can do for them except wait, change gears, and get yourself motivated to start on other projects that you have always wanted to do.

But those other proposals…..

King Pong

Greetings again, one and all!

Here we are in the dead of summer. Heat indexes here on the Alabama Gulf Coast will be 110 today so I thought it would be a good idea to clean up my old recording studio and writing room to get it ready for painting. I found boxes of old recordings by my former band, “Quits” and old radio air checks from my broadcasting career. I started thumbing through a filing cabinet and found some remarkable treasures I forgot I had – scripts and ad copy I wrote during my radio days, old short stories from as far back as my high school days, and one story I forgot I had written that I really loved but never had it published.

I thought I’d share the story with you in this entry in the old Blog. This is a story written probably around 1990 or so. I think all parents – maybe even their kids – can relate. It was titled “King Pong” (ok, so it needs a better title.)

# # # # # 

Ugh. I shudder when I think about it. I used the most dreaded phrase ever uttered by mankind the other day. A phrase that I swore I would never use against my own offspring, but there it was, flowing from my mouth like Niagara Falls. It was like a tsunami – it just couldn’t be stopped.

            “When I was your age…”

            How could this have happened? I shake my head now as I think about it. I have become my parents with their constant barrage of, “When I was your age I had to shovel snow in Antarctica!” I had become my grandparents, ramming the phrase into my parent’s heads like a Monty Python sketch gone awry.

            “When we were your age, we had to get up three hours before we went to bed, put a roof on the shed, repaint the barn, and that was all before breakfast.”

            And odds are, I’ve become my great-grandparents as well. I can hear them now as they travelled across the Atlantic, looking for a new life away from Eastern Europe:

            “Vina minda yaga, du hast mina bitta gooda.”

            Loosely translated, “When we were your age, we lived in a shoebox in the middle of the street with only a candle for heat in the dead of winter and the only school we had was the school of fish in the aquarium.”

            In one single breath, I officially became old, stogy, and – GASP! – uncool. It was innocent enough: a simple argument with my daughter about her getting a video game, a Sega, I think it was. In the heat of the battle the phrase came coursing from my lips. I recoiled as the sound of it echoed through the room. But that’s not the worst of it. Not only did I utter those immortal words, I finished it with an equally stupid remark:

            “When I was your age, all we had was Pong!”

            Please pay the gravedigger after he finishes digging this hole for me, won’t you?

            I winced as I waited for the inevitable, the retort from my daughter, the response that has been the guaranteed comeback for countless generations of children over the centuries, “I can’t believe you said that.” But there was nothing. Not a sound. It was quiet. Too quiet.

            I opened one eye, then the other, only to see her staring at me, her head cocked to one side like an inquisitive puppy. Her expression had question marks written all over it.

            “What’s Pong?” she asked.

            “It’s a game,” I answered. “A video game.”

            “You had video games?” she asked surprised.

            “Ah, yeah,” I responded sarcastically. “Do you think I’m from the Dark Ages?”

            I threw my finger up and pointed at her. “DON’T even go there!” I said.

            “You had video games?” she asked again.

            “That’s what I said,” I replied getting a little irritated. “Do I look like Mel Tillis?”

            “Mel…”

            I cut her off mid-sentence. “Do you think I stutter?” I asked. “Oh, never mind.”

            Truth be known, this wasn’t the first time we had a discussion like this. The dialogue usually centered on music. From time in memorial, parents and children have never agreed on music. The classic musical battles over the decades have included parents vs Eminem (“In my day it was M.C. Hammer!”); parents vs the Beatles (“Give me Frankie Avalon any day!”); parents vs Frank Sinatra (“Al Jolson, now there’s music!”). Heck, I imagine that even in the Middle Ages parents were getting onto their kids about listening to some roving minstrel show and a madrigal they didn’t approve of.

            “Brickenden! That lute player is a bad influence! I don’t want you listening to him anymore!”

            And so it was. I was perpetuating the parental idiom and I didn’t like it. No sir, not one bit. But one day, the unexpected happened. It came out of nowhere. It caught me quite by surprise. One day my family came full circle and it all happened innocently enough.

            I was walking down the hallway past my daughter’s bedroom when I heard a seemingly familiar song playing. I paused, cocked my head to get a better listen, and then knocked on the door. She cracked it open and the muffled rap music playing from within became quite clear.

            “So I took a big chance at the high school dance with a missy who was ready to play. It Was it me she was foolin’? Cause she knew what she was doin’ when she told me to walk this way.”

            My face lit up. My daughter turned the CD off.

            “Go on,” she said. “Say it. You don’t like it. Back in my day, blah, blah, blah.”

            “Who is that?” I asked.

            “It’s Run D.M.C.”

            I grabbed her by the hand and whisked her downstairs. Rushing into the den I ran up to a CD player that was sitting on a bookshelf, rifled through a stack of discs, then finding what I was looking for, I plugged it into the machine and hit play. The music came roaring out. It was a favorite of my generation from back in those halcyon days of high school in the 70s. It was Aerosmith singing, “Walk This Way”.

            My daughter started stammering. “But…but…I thought Run D.M.C. wrote it!”

            “No, ma’am,” I said proudly. “Steven Tyler and Aerosmith.”

            “Wow!” she exclaimed. “What else do they sing?”

            I hit the track button and on came another song:

            “Got me the strangest woman, believe me this trick’s no cinch. But I really get her goin’ when I get out my big ten-inch…record of her favorite blues.”

            “That is so cool!” she said.

            Just then my mother, who happened to be visiting at the time, entered the room. She paused, cocked her head, then her face lit up.

            “Hang on,” she said and ran from the room.

            Returning, she turned off the CD, plugged in an old, yellowed cassette tape, and hit play. The sound of a deep, husky male voice swept over us. The sound was undeniably from the 50s:

            “Last night I tried to tease her, I gave my love a little pinch. She said now stop that jivin’, now whip out that big ten-inch…record of your favorite blues.”

            My God! The impossible had happened! In this one, fleeting moment, a bridge spanning the generations was built. It was: Run D.M.C. to Aerosmith to Big Moose Jackson, as beautiful of a combination as Tinkers to Evers to Chance turning a double play. For that brief moment, three generations stopped bickering over which generation was the best.

It wasn’t long before the music faded away, the last note clinging to the air for a moment before my daughter turned and scurried out of the room.

“Still not as good as Green Day!” she shouted.

“Artie Shaw, Missy!” my Mom shouted back. “Now THERE’S music!”

Ripping the cassette out of the machine she stormed from the room.

“Huh,” I said out loud to no one in the room. “That went well.”

I hit the CD play button and the sound of Aerosmith once again filled the room. As the music swelled I realized that for as much as the generations are different, we are all the same, and though we fight it and try hard not to be like the generation before us – our parents – we are the same, cut from the same cloth, or in some cases, vinyl.