Rainey Blogs on Some Days

New York. Fallen rock star Prince ’s musical comeback through last year’s CD and tour of the same name— Musicology —brought a mixed response from old and new fans. Long-time fans were excited about Prince’s return to the quality blend of rock and funk that made him a superstar in the 80s and early 90s. Unfortunately, Prince’s comeback was not without controversy among his newfound religious brethren. His etymological explanation of the term “musicology” frequently given at the nightly opening of his 34-city tour upset Jehovah’s Witness church officials. In each concert, Prince explained that the original Greek word behind the -ology portion of the word musicology is logos , a word that means "word" or "study." He then summarized his overall point by saying that the word musicology meant the study of music. As an example, when Prince opened his Madison Square Garden concert in New York, he emerged from a small guitar case in a haze of purple fog with black horned-ri...

“I wish I had a twin, so I could know what I`d look like without plastic surgery.” -- Joan Rivers During the summer I dropped my daughter Alyssa off at her summer day camp job each morning, and then I would go on to work. I had to go through Franklin Lakes, New Jersey on the way, and even now during the school year I still go through there sometimes. I have yet to see any of the Real Housewives of New Jersey, even though they supposedly live there. I saw ten minutes of one episode early in the summer, the one where one of them was going in for breast implants. I turned it off because I think this kind of vanity is over the top. I much prefer the authentic and natural over these extreme makeover types who go in for alterations. I’ll take a smaller inconvenient truth over a bigger, cosmetically altered lie any day. A few years ago a woman in my department at work was out for a couple of weeks. She was already attractive. But when she returned, her face looked like she’d gone toe-to-toe w...

We used to go to the Jersey Shore at Long Branch to a place on the beach near the back of the Ocean Place Hotel , right on the ocean. It was odd having people on the beach kind of mixed up with the wedding attendees. We watched one wedding and I couldn't hear what they said, but imagine it must have gone something like this. Man: Let me give you a hug. I've never seen you cry like this. You must be so happy! Woman: Happy? Are you kidding? I just married your brother, and he didn't even tuck his shirt in. Can you believe it? On the biggest day of his life, your brother doesn't even tuck in his shirt! Man: Well, it is a beach wedding. I think he thought casual was Okay. Woman: And it was a button-down collar, but did you notice? He didn't even button down the collar! What an idiot! This is the worst day of my life. Untucked, unbuttoned . . . unbelievable. I've never been so humiliated in all my life. Man: Well, I thought the wedding was beautiful. Wom...

I called my Grandmother to wish her a happy Mother's Day. "He's not feeling too good. He's turning 90 on his birthday. July 18," she said. "Does he stay active?" I said. "Well, he hires the lawn out, but he does little stuff around here," she said. "At least he does not clean the gutters himself anymore," I said. I hope they are not buying twelve-month certificates of deposit or extended warranties. They do not need a deep freezer for frozen strawberries. They should only buy fresh. They should not wish for the Cardinals to try to build a team from their farm system. They need them to win now. He's turning 90 on his birthday. He was my age in late December back in '63, the year his son and my mother got together, just as the song says. Maybe they were still mourning Kennedy’s assassination and thought they should steal a moment in the back of a ’60 Ford Falcon. But the moment turned into a baby boy and a life together. Then th...

I went to get a haircut at Adolfo's Haircutters in Cliffside Park yesterday, the barbershop I have been going to for the past fifteen years. Adolfo's is a real barbershop. It has a swirling red, white, and blue barber pole outside, and you don't need an appointment. Just show up, wait your turn and read the paper or a magazine until it is your turn to get in the chair. I only have to tell him "short" or "really short." No complicated layering, styling, or anything like that. I just want a regular haircut. I use the 97-cent Suave shampoo from Shop Rite, and I don't use styling gel, mousse, or any of those fancy hair products, so there's no need to try anything crazy. Just a regular haircut. It's not as if I'm the Jonas Brothers or anything. Each time I go to Adolpho's, I get a good look at my face in the mirror. I see the lines deepening on my forehead. I see the weariness that grows around my eyes. Some of these visits to the barbe...

This was a written and read at a men’s meeting at our church in April 2008 on the topic of “Our Need for Friendships and How Governor Eliot Spitzer Fell.” If a Jew has not seen a friend in over 30 days, tradition calls on that person to greet that friend with this blessing: "Praised are you Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, who brings the dead back to life." The blessing is a response to the rabbis' belief that when we lose touch with a friend, we lose a little bit of ourselves too. The author went on to explain: "To renew contact is to reawaken the part of us that no one but our friend animates. For each friend enlivens a specific constellation of our spiritual lives, impulses, our desires, our strengths, our hopes, and our memories." As I thought about this, I felt the rabbis were on to something important. What they seem to suggest is that the richness of a person's life is determined by the friendships they have. The blessing affirms this b...

Growing up in Southern Illinois meant you had to listen to Country Music. At least that’s what it meant for me, especially since my home spanned three generations and our summer vacations were usually spent in Nashville, Tennessee. But I didn ’t much care for Country music. I remember my first 45s that I purchased at Featherstun ’s, an appliance store that sold records. I bought Jim Croces ’ "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown" and Billy Preston’s "Will It Go Round in Circles." A white artist and a black artist. Kind of like our town: black and white. As time went on, though, I grew to prefer Soul and Disco music over Rock or Country. As an only child, I spent hours in my room, by myself, exploring music. Kiss. Peter Frampton . Sweet. The Brothers Johnson. Village People. The Bar- Kays . Con Funk Shun. Bootsy ’s Rubber Band. Johnny "Guitar" Watson. I watched American Bandstand and Soul Train on Saturdays. My friends were leaning toward Rock music like Aerosmith , but...