GOING LIVE WITH KEY WEST LOU…..ON AIR!

Let the drums roll, the band play. Finally made it. The first segment of Going Live with Key West Lou aired earlier this morning. More as the day progresses.

Going Live makes it possible for me to be seen as well as heard. Use your cellphone. Go to Facebook. Enter Key West Lou.

I intend to do 30-60 second presentations. Need some time to adjust. My first entry this morning was a little over 3 minutes.

The show archives. There for you any time of the day or days.

My first comment concerned accused terrorist Harlem Suarez who is presently on trial in Key West for planning to bury a nail filled back pack bomb on Smathers Beach. To be detonated with a cell phone.

My yesterday began with a morning airport drop. Barbara returned home.

Spent two hours in the early afternoon working on Growing Up Italian. I have been at it four years. Work on it, then put it aside for a while.

I have rewritten most parts three times. This is my fourth rewrite. My last! Good, bad or indifferent, this is it!

I have decided to break the work into several books. Three at least. The first will be titled Growing Up Italian, Part I, The First Six Years. Part I presently contains 48 chapters.

Then Sloan for a couple of hours to finish up the Going Live show.

Hunger beset me. Desired some company and a drink. Headed to Hogfish. Sat at the bar next to an elderly weather beaten shrimp fisherman. We talked about the storm that hit sunday and monday. His shrimp boat just made it in.

Women’s International Flag Football time. The 26th annual tournament begins today. Will last several days. Teams from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Norway, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden and other parts of the world.

The tournament named after Kelley McGillis. McGillis of Top Gun fame. A flaming beauty! She was a resident of Key West for many years. Owned and operated several restaurants.

McGillis will be in Key West for the event. She presently resides in Pennsylvania.

The social aspect begins saturday at 4 pm at La Te Da. Diane Nyad the keynote speaker. Diane was the first person to swim Cuba to Key West without a shark cage.

There is rising opposition to the amphitheater. Many believe the necessary pro forma has not been done. Many questions that should be answered and resolved pre-construction not done.

Dinner tonight with my lesbian wives. Donna and Terri. Love them! We are celebrating their anniversary and Terri’s birthday.

Terri undergoing chemo. Donna told me yesterday Terri shaved her head completely bald. Most of her hair had fallen out.

I bet she looks terrific!

Enjoy your day!

REPUGNANT / INSULTING

Some things are as American as apple pie. They need not be changed and should not be changed.

Budweiser has announced it is changing its name. Temporarily.From May 23 through election day. The new name….. America.

Bud is trying to capitalize on the election. Remember, Trump is going to make America great again. Bud is capitalizing on election fever.

The renaming applies only to 12 ounce bottles and cans.

The move is not a political one. Rather an advertising idea to boost sales. Bud has been turning out millions less beers the past several years ago.

It also has to do with poor foreign judgement. Bud is a Belgian company run by a Brazilian. What does the home office know about these things!

Worked through the lunch hour yesterday. Fine tuning last night’s blog talk radio show. Left me with some free time in the afternoon. I put it to good use.

I drove up US 1 to Mangrove Mama’s. Lobster reuben time in a pleasant relaxing atmosphere.

I enjoyed doing last night’s show.

Two issues appear to have garnered the most interest.

One, the Portland School Board voting to ban school texts denying the existence of global warming.

The other America’s suicide rate. It is the highest it has been in 30 years. Suicides up for women and those formerly of the middle class. Only place not up is for those over 75. Places me in the safe group. A benefit of being 80.

Pass the buck time in the Florida keys. By public officials. Nothing new.

The Monroe Country Board of Commissioners wants to add to the sin tax. The tax on alcohol and tobacco. To pay for fire and ambulance services and to fund monies given to social service agencies. The alcohol/tobacco part is what gives it the sin tax label.

My problem with the proposal is the County Commissioners do not have the balls to vote on the issue themselves. And then defend the result the next time they run for election.

Instead, they propose having the people vote on the issue at the elections on November 8.

What further galls me is that the election result will not be a non binding one.

Voting by the citizenry does not seem to carry any weight. Commissioners do not feel bound to abide by the election result. Point: Peary Court.

The Marker Waterfront Resort opened two years ago. It sits near Schooner Wharf. Marker does not have an inside bar. Only a bar outside by the pool. Tried it twice. Did not enjoy. The place was dead.

Marker has come up with an idea to goose interest in the bar. One I like.

Marker is going to run movies outside by the pool every thursday evening at 8:30. Starting tomorrow night and running through the summer.

Top Gun came out 30 years ago. Marker is celebrating the film’s birthday by running it as its first film. One of Key West’s best known luminaries Kelley McGillis is the female head.

Zika. Controversial. This morning’s Key West Citizen has a Letter to the Editor re the issue. By John Prosser of Big Pine. Excellent. Suggest you read it.

Prosser does not understand the sound and fury.  He attributes the sudden concern the result of media hysteria and prediction of epidemics.

Prosser clearly stands on one side of the issue.

I stand on the same side. I spoke recently on my blog talk radio show Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou that I thought Zika was another Ebola. Sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Thus far, 157 pregnant women in the United States have come down with Zika. The number does not make for an epidemic.

I am going to be buried tomorrow with comments by those disagreeing with me. Bring them on! There are two sides to the issue.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

KELLEY MC GILLIS / FLAG FOOTBALL

The 25th annual Kelley McGillis International Women and Girls’ Flag Football Championship games begin January 25 in Key West. A welcome event every year!

The games have become closely associated with Kelley McGillis. A former top movie star. She was the female lead to Tom Cruise in Top Gun and Harrison Ford in Witness.

Kelley lived many years in Key West. She and her then husband owned three restaurants. Kelley’s on Whitehead is named after her. Kelley now resides on a farm in Pennsylvania.

She returns every year for the flag football event. She is an active participant in peripheral  activities. I do not know whether she still plays the game.

These championship games have grown. Sixty teams will arrive in Key West to participate. Primarily from North America, Latin America and Europe.

Cuba got into the picture in 2005. They now have an active flag football league.

Today is the day! Out of the house! I am ok. Feel fine. Need to shave first. Look like a bum.

I need food! Bad! Publix a definite stop. Tissues a must. Amazing the number of boxes you go through when you have a cold.

I want to go out tonight. I need to go out. Something easy. Like Don’s Place. I miss everyone.

Cold! 58 degrees at 7 this morning! High today 71. Even that number is cold for Key Westers, though better than high 50s. I am glad I have heat. My cold would have turned into pneumonia if not.

Many do not have heat in Key West. Key West is in the sub-tropics. Supposedly always warm. Not true.

You can get along without heat if you have a spouse. Two warm bodies next to each other. I did not put the heat in till after my wife left me.

The Flint, Michigan thing a disgrace. Lead in the water. Should not occur in modern America. Does not happen in the United States of today. But it did!

There will be a lot of blame to go around. Properly so. Thousands of children will develop brain problems in later years because they drank the water. I know about these things. My firm handled a number of lead poisoning cases years ago.

I spoke re the Flint problem on my January 5 blog talk radio show. The #1 topic. Somewhere the same day of the show, I came up with something about the problem. I could not understand why the national media were not dealing with it. It is only this past week they have gotten into it.

Cause and effect always an issue. I was aware that Flint got its water for many years from Detroit. Detroit had been in bankruptcy. Flint was under some kind of manager. The governor had taken over the running of Flint because of its financial problems.

At the time, I said money had to be the problem. The cause. The effect obvious. I thought the trustee in bankruptcy might have raised the cost of water to Detroit water users. Recall how Detroit was turning off water to thousands of homes where people were three months behind on their bills.

I took it another step. Thought that Flint had to drop Detroit water because it was too expensive. The governor appointed manager had to find ways to cut also. He concluded use Flint River water.

I cannot believe the Flint River waters were not tested. It is the way things are done. Another mistake in this scenario?

Big time snowstorm predicted up north. Two to three feet. A lot of snow. Many will be snowed in.

We went through this several times over the years in Utica. Never minded being snowed in. The 2-3 days were family time. Just me, the wife and children. There was a calm involved. Except when the kids were at each other’s throats!

Enjoy your day!