Golden Star

I wanted to look for Frank Cezan’s polka club in Milwaukee but there wasn’t time. I think it was called Golden Star (or Ta Starra Ya Bona to those who were down with the Amerikanized Slovelinguo). Frank Cezon came over from Yugoslavia at the same time as my mom’s dad and they were the same age, 16. I’ll write more about my Grandpa Vessel in this blog at some point. I’m not trying to be timely, talking about my roots in the wake of a Day Without Immigrants. It’s just funny, I was in Milwaukee over the weekend, looking at the decimation (they done blowed up a big part of that town, presumably to put in a new town)…I wondered if Cezan’s club was part of what was done away with to make room for the new. That’s when all all these thoughts of my mom’s dad came to me. We were close and he told me stories about leaving home. Note: leaving home, not coming to America. His friend Frank Cezan had the typical big dreams of coming to America and making it as a professional musician, having a niteclub etc…and he sort of got that. Cezan was also lucky enough to open the club when Frankie Yankovic was making all those Capitol records in the 50’s. Polkas that were hits for the Love of Ljubljana!?!?!??!. I always got the sense that my Grandfather just left for the sake of leaving. His mom died, his dad married someone else, the new mom wanted the old kids out of her house and he was too sad about his mom dying to try staying. He had to get the fuck out. They should put that somewhere on the Statue of Liberty:

Give us your people who’ve just got to get the fuck out. They need a break too.

By the way, I’d like to say to my friends and family who vote for the Blue Ties because the represent the law and order crowd – why didn’t they take the opportunity to round up all the illegal/undocumented folks publicly protesting yesterday? Here’s your answer: If they don’t take the time to arrest them when they are working in their houses, why would they arrest them when they are marching in the streets? I have beloved family members who have strong feelings about how these undocumented aliens are costing us an arm and a leg in insurance rates. This is just a suspicion, but illegal or undocumented aliens don’t raise insurance rates, insurance agents do. The availability and the development of medical tech, research into both tech and medicines, advances in treating cancer etc are the blessings/bastards that will both help to prolong our lives and the lives of our loved ones – and cost us a bunch of money in insurance to meet rising health care costs. Your insurance premium did not go up because some brown-skinned kid who doesn’t speak English has pneumonia and is waiting in an ER in Morgansville, CA (I just made up the name of that town, it has no significance) – it’s more likely that rates went up because some actuary wants to put his kids through college, or buy a boat or develop some interest outside of being an actuary. Is that justice? Is that proper?

Sorry. I just like being a prick to those who think the Blue Tie Crowd really represents their values. In my case, I got what I wanted from the Reblikan Congress and Presidency (and I didn’t even have to vote for their presidential candidate, the Artist Formerly Known as ‘Tootie’) – two Supreme Court Justices that actually read the Constitution and try not to make up a bunch of shit as they go along. Do I think they will use their knowledge to protect issues of real liberty and life in the way that I think these things ought to be protected? No. Do I think they will roll back the Constitutional right of privacy and a whole bunch of other shit made up by the Court (all for good reasons of course but also setting the precedent that when it comes to applying the BofR by way of the 14th Amendment the SC can say make up whatever it wants)? Again, no. But they’re better than the guys that BF Kerry would’ve given us (although I’ve got a feeling if he actually won the Election of 2004, Sandra Day wouldn’t have retired and Rehnquist would’ve found a way not to die).

Here’s something I know a little more about…SPORTS!!!!

I admire the two Baby Blue bears (the Red Mur-Ton and Marshall Sweeping Curve Ball) more than I dislike Krusty and Ka-razy Carlos Zelda Zambrano. There is some hope for the Blue Squadron after all.

Cleveland fans booed my new Homie (but he got a nice insurance run in the 9th) and the shenanigans w/ AJ, well I understood all that. Especially the double whammy with AJ, first plunking him, then Boone or whoever trying to plow into him on the base paths. Only olekobe, Santi (who kept sending me those damned ‘Go Tribe!’ e-mails) and Sultan o’ Swaff will probably remember last year when the pesky Indians were cutting into the SOX seemingly insurmountable lead in the Central, there was a breakthrough game that the SOX had to win to stop their surging rivals. In that game AJ was running to 3rd when a wild throw came over there, Boone fell over in an attempt to field the errantly thrown ball and he landed flat on his stomach. As AJ rounded 3rd he stepped right in the middle of Boone’s back as if to say ‘We’re stepping right over you pricks to win this thing’ - - so believe me, I understand why the Tribe would retaliate thusly. I was surprised they waited this long. It was a great weekend in Chicago sports and I was glad to be wrong about how my beloved SOX would do against the Halos. I guess they got all the strikeouts out of the way against the Pink Bunny Team. And what the Bulls did to the Heat?!?!? MJ is still my favorite athlete ever, but if this team keeps doing stuff like this, I may end up loving the Baby Bulls more than the Jordan Bulls. Who am I kidding? Alex and I watched some crappy Bulls games this year – real suck fests. We couldn’t stop tuning in the next time around. Being a fan of the Bulls now is like a disease. Here’s hoping its chronic not terminal.

Heh heh heh…I said chronic.