801 Elwood
“Hit me!… c’mon, hit me!…Hit me, you chicken!” said Paul Nathanson offering his upper arm to Jerry Gruenberg.
Published: January 23rd, 2014
Ike's Boys
Geoff Nate’s grandfather Ike Nathanson came from a family of seven sons and only one daughter. Ike and my grandmother Rose raised seven handsome boys and no daughters. This blog is all about their very colorful family of “Stout-Hearted” ladies’ men.
Bits and Pieces of an Ordinary Life
Ike’s Boys
My Uncle Harold Nathanson, my father’s older brother by two years, was a doctor, an allergist who started to lose his sight in his early 30s.
Begged and Borrowed
Benjamin Nathanson: Midwestern Patriarch
Hats off to cousin Iric Nathanson for chronicling our family’s early history as they shipped out of Lithuania and somehow wound up in Minnesota.
ETC, ETC, ETC
Carol Bruce Sings to the Troops
Uncle Milt, the family’s great lover, did the Nathansons proud when, after a whirlwind courtship, he married Carol Bruce, a beautiful movie actress, nightclub singer, and Broadway star.
Published: February 15th, 2014
Tri-Polar Express
Bits and Pieces of an Ordinary Life
Tri-Polar Express
Global warming’s vicious sub-zero bite back is no stranger to this blogger, who spent his early years actually enjoying those famous Minnesota winters. The temperatures may have been sub-zero and the snow a foot deep, but no one ever called off a football game because of the weather.
The Chinese General
The year was 1944. The United States was at war. Follow our 14-year-old ninth grade cadet as he prepares to defend his country at a Catholic military school on the banks of the Mississippi.
Begged and Borrowed
Published: April 4th, 2014
Car Stories
Thank you Janis Joplin. Actually, Geoff Nate has a long and challenging history with the automobile dating back to his misadventures with the family Buick, (see Blog 12) or in the Cigar Company’s van (see Blog 10). Based on personal experience, he would suggest the best way for a young man to change his driving luck is to purchase a car with his own hard-earned cash. It makes better drivers of us all.
Bits and Pieces of an Ordinary Life
Chapter 1: The Mellow Yellow Plymouth Convertible
Geoff Nate’s first car, a sturdy little love boat he drove all over the U.S. and Mexico with adventures to share. If only the little rag top could talk. Come drive with us…
Chapter 2: The $250 Jaguar
“Yes, really,” said Elayne and her girlfriend Soni together, “He really did say he would sell us his big white Jaguar for $250. We promised you would call tomorrow.”
Chapter 3: The Mercedes Convertible Saga
But, Elayne and Soni never gave up. From a $250 Jaguar to a Mercedes convertible. What were those ladies smoking?
Begged and Borrowed
I’ve Been Everywhere
If you have ever motored around western America in search of a static-free radio station, you could always find Johnny Cash and a bunch of his buddies.
ETC, ETC, ETC
Published: May 16th, 2014
The "Goodnight Johnny"
Do you remember the days when family stability hinged on such mundane little tasks as turning off a TV set? Would you believe that Geoff Nate’s wife, Elayne, deserves credit for her important contribution to the preservation of peace and harmony in the American family of the late nineteen seventies and eighties?
Bits and Pieces of an Ordinary Life
The “Goodnight Johnny”
Geoff Nate’s Blog 14 deals with Elayne’s “gadget,” Johnny Carson, late night television and the little robot that “could.”
Begged and Borrowed
Best of Johnny Carson
There has never been a more popular late night TV host than Johnny Carson. Let us share with you a few of his most memorable sketches… Enjoy.
Published: July 3rd, 2014
The Black Box
We should have titled Blog 15 “Confessions of a Chronic Entrepreneur.” Nobody wanted anything we were selling back in the early 1970s. Cable television was in its infancy, but “Pay TV” was forbidden fruit. We just couldn’t resist the challenge. Return with us here as we relive those adventures along with a side story, featuring a famous mouse’s evolution into a pot-smoking hippie.
Bits and Pieces of an Ordinary Life
“The Black Box” (How Hollywood’s Movies Wired America)
Nobody wanted anything we were selling back in the early 1970s. Cable television was in its infancy, but “Pay TV” was forbidden fruit. We just couldn’t resist the challenge.
Animation Adventure
A little side story, featuring a famous mouse’s evolution into a pot-smoking hippie.
Begged and Borrowed
The Wall Animation Videos by Gerald Scarfe
Gerald Scarfe, the cartoonist who created our pot-smoking mouse, was to later win accolades for his amazing animation in Pink Floyd’s hit movie, “The Wall.”
Published: August 29th, 2014
The State Fair
The late 1940s and early 1950s, following the end of World War II, were blossoming years for the American college boy. This Blog, Number 16, chronicles several of Geoff Nate’s adventures as he grapples with the challenges of early manhood and the prospect of being called to serve his country in yet another war. (Music courtesy of Scott Joplin)
Bits and Pieces of an Ordinary Life
The State Fair
Minnesota’s State Fair is the nation’s largest and occupies 350 acres in West St. Paul. In just 10 days it draws over 2,000,000 visitors, many of whom were potential customers for this fledgling ice cream salesman.
The Stewardess
Miami Beach sounded great to this Minnesota college boy back in the cold cold winter of 1950. He and his buddy just couldn’t pass up the chance when offered an opportunity to drive some Minneapolis millionaire’s Cadillac south for the season. Adventures follow, as does romance, in the high skies.
Begged and Borrowed
A Cable Merger Too Far
The proposed merger between cable TV powers Comcast and Time Warner would be a big big mistake. The New York Times editorial page back on May 27, 2014 is a short and sweet explanation of why.
Published: December 30th, 2014
Grandpa's First "Trip"
Call it what you may, Pot, Weed, Grass, Ganja, Bud or Herb… or in Geoff Nate’s day, Reefer, Tea, Gage or Mary Jane, marijuana has been around for a long time. Louis Armstrong called it “Muggles” in his song by the same name. Geoff Nate stayed clear of the wicked weed for sixty-eight years… that is, until he bought that damn cookie. Blog 17, “Grandpa’s First Trip,” was a “high” to remember.
Bits and Pieces of an Ordinary Life
Grandpa’s First “Trip”
Thank you Peter, Paul and Mary. Though Geoff Nate never really puffed that magic dragon. He was done in at a ripe old age by an innocent chocolate cookie.
Begged and Borrowed
“Grass: History of Marijuana”
The best documentary on the early history of marijuana was produced by a Canadian company in 1999 and narrated by Woody Harrelson. We’ve cherry-picked some of the “highlights” (pardon the expression) for our Begged and Borrowed segment.
ETC, ETC, ETC
Cab Calloway’s “Reefer Man”
Many marijuana songs have been written and recorded and filmed over the years by such greats as Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles and even the Beatles, but Cab Calloway’s short video is our favorite. Be our guests.