Giving Thanks

"Thanksgiving Day is coming and Mr. Turkey said, how very careful I must be or I will lose my head." Headless Turkey.

It was quite a couple of days. Maryann and I trekked into the city, met my son and his friend, had dinner at 'Cesca's on West 75th street and then went to the Beacon Theater to see The Brian Setzer Orchestra. What a band! Benney, Glenn, TD, Jimmy, Stan, Woody, The Duke and The Count would have loved this guy who truly is a worthy successor to the big bands of old. It was called a Christmas show but it was much more than that. He played some oldies in his rockin' style like "Jump Jive and Wail", "White Christmas", and " Jingle Bells". Then he played Glenn Miller's "In The Mood" and a dynamite version of "The Nutcracker Suite" which surpassed the Les Brown version of the same tune. Then it was his other hits like "Dirty Boogie" and "Rock This Town" which brought down the house. He played The Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ prior to this show and will wrap up the New York week at The North Fork Theater in Westbury on Saturday night. Catch him if you like, as I do, the jazz/rock style he plays. The band has a kind of similiarity to the old Louie Prima band with a lot of fun singing by Setzer, who does some scat on "As Long As I'm Singin'." Brian is not as dynamic as Prima was and who became Mr. Las Vegas in the fifties and sixties. However, I believe Setzer's band is superior to Prima's band musically. Now all the old guys will call me and accuse me of heresy.

Oh yes hockey! We got to my son's home in time to catch the Rangers in sixty. Thank God. I don't think I could have watched the whole game. Before my very old, tired eyes the Rangers are morphing into the NJ Devils. The scoring? Hah! Tyutin scored, which gave the Ranger defensemen the last six goals the Rangers have scored. The winning goal was scored by Colton Orr and the film should be saved and replayed every day at practice. Orr skated into the Lightning zone with a defenseman in front of him so Orr shot the puck, toward the oppositions net, and scored. Yes, you heard right he shot the puck at the opponents net. He didn't whirl, do a 360 and pass the puck back to no one. He shot the puck. He didn't make the safe play and put the puck into the corner. He shot the puck. He didn't pass the puck laterally to the center ice where a Ranger is usually a step late. He shot the puck. Amazing! Shoot that puck. Score that goal.

Henrik Lundqvist should have had his fifth shutout but it was ruined by coach clueless who had Jaromir Jagr on the ice with less than a minute to play and Tampa Bay with six skaters. But this is coach clueless's M.O. Remember last year against Buffalo in the playoffs, the last time Chris Drury scored a meaningful goal? Coach clueless wants to see Jagr get an empty netter because he obviously can't score full net. Well he could score if he would shoot. Jags, watch the Colton Orr tape. You face the goalie, you lift your stick, you bring it forward and it will hit the puck and send it propelling toward the other team's goalie. Oops, sorry, I forgot defense first.

We ended the holiday at my daughter's house in Holmdel, NJ where eight people had a very enjoyable diner and three stupid men watched the Jets get trampled. Come to think of it, they had trouble scoring also. Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to all.

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