TONIGHT…..AQUA IDOL

Tonight! Aqua Idol! The start of a new season.

From 6:30-8:00, 14 brand new contestants will vie to be the next Aqua Idol. A journey taking several weeks. Every tuesday evening till there is a winner.

At Aqua, of course.

The event a fundraiser. Held to support the Waterfront Playhouse. Lynda Frechette heads Aqua Idol. She scours the lower Keys for new contestants each season. Fourteen needed. They compete tonight for the first time.

Aqua Idol has been a popular event for years. Get to Aqua early if you wish a seat. It will be wall to wall.

I get cheated. I cannot be there. I will be into final preparations for my podcast show this evening. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou at 9. A quick half hour of interesting political and social events. Accompanied by my comments, of course. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Football injuries are much in the news these days. Both pro and college ball. There was another time when football injuries were big time. The early 1900s. College ball. Pro ball was in its infant stages.

No helmets or shoulder pads in those days.

Deaths commonplace. A large number each season.

President Theodore Roosevelt got involved. He straightened things out. Had he not, football would have been banned in the United States. That close. Several prominent colleges had already banned football.

The opening topic this evening concerns Roosevelt and how he saved football.

Also, the inaugural this week. God help us! The Mexican people and their unhappiness. Major business closings. Some surprising. ISIS gaining ground in Albania. D.A.R.E. ends its anti-weed campaign. Plus, more.

Spent yesterday afternoon working on tonight’s blog talk radio show.

Then to Aqua for Dueling Bartenders. Tom and Rick. Sheila and David. Liz and Mary. And many more.

Dinner afterwards at Mangoes with Barbara and Liz. My first time to the new Mangoes. Lovely. Service excellent. Food merely ok. Not worth the cost.

Major announcement! My new show will begin monday. Going Live with Key West Lou. On Facebook. The show in addition to this blog and my tuesday night podcast.

You will see as well as hear me.

I will do several brief commentaries each day. Whatever strikes me at the moment. Whatever tickles my fancy. From wherever I am. All I have to do is pull out my cell phone and get to it.

The comments will be short. Generally 30-60 seconds.

Archived. Several commentaries can be read at one time.

I am excited. Hope it goes over well. Hope nothing pops up which causes me to push the opening date ahead.

Once again, a problem with stranded whales. Off Hog Key on the Gulf side of Florida. Ninety five whales involved. Eighty one already dead. Naturally or euthanized.

There have been stranded whales near Key West in past years. More than one time. I recall several years ago a pod stranded off Cudjoe Key. Went to take a look.

More than 500 volunteers and professionals appeared over a period of several days to help. Wet suits available to all who wanted to assist.

Some whales saved. Some died.

The effort impressive.

William Hackley mentioned yesterday his hope that what appeared to be a new Seminole War in 1856 would not be as expensive as previous ones. How expensive was expensive back in those days?

I did a bit of research. There were three Seminole Indian Wars. The first in the 1820s. the last 1855-1858.

Strange fact pattern. The federal government wanted to move the Florida Seminoles west to Oklahoma. Contrasted with the post Civil War years when the federal government was trying to move western Indians to Florida.

The Second Seminole War was the expensive one. Cost $30 million in a year when the federal budget was only $25 million. The basis for Hackley’s statement in 1856.

On this day in 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower spoke to the Nation. He warned to beware the “military-industrial complex.” He was well aware of their greedy nature and not necessarily acting in the best interests of the country.

Eisenhower was correct. His words not heeded. The military-industrial complex thriving. Encourages wars, overcharges, etc.

I close with Syracuse. My Syracuse. Settling in that this will not be one of Syracuse’s best seasons. Lost yesterday 85-68 to North Carolina.

Syracuse cannot play with the big guys this year.

Enjoy your day!