"Oh, Danny Boy"

Jimmy Demers

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A couple months ago I was having dinner in Boston with a friend and she said something that hit rather home. "Jimmy, you're one step away from homeless." She paused and added, "I guess we all are. I mean, I am too, but that's why I own 5 homes." We had a little laugh, but days later, I found myself thinking about what she said, and although I've never owned a home, I've never really felt without one.

I was walking to my apartment last Tuesday evening, and as I always do, I greeted a man who happened to be walking in the opposite direction. Clearly, he had no home.  He looked like the actor Jason Lewis, from Sex in the City, and if he didn't have the authentic odor we all try to take a few steps away from that follows one without the luxury of a shower, I would've sworn it was Lewis doing research for a new role. After all, I do live in LA...I said "What's your name?" He answered "Danny."  Seeing his condition and without thinking; I just blurted out "Danny! What's going on? What happened?"  He looked at me with a genuine smile, paused for a moment and simply said, "I honestly don't know."  I didn't hear his answer so much as I felt it. As a singer, it's pretty much the same answer I give to just about everyone who upon hearing me sing always asks, "Why haven't you made it?"  My most truthful response, maybe not always with the smile, is said simply, "I honestly don't know."  I asked Danny what he wanted and he said "A shower", then added "Oh, and some clean clothes..." I said "Well, I can get you some clothes, what would you like?"  He said very specifically, "a white t-shirt, a pair of underwear, and a sweatshirt if you have one."  I asked him to wait on a set of steps and I went inside to get his things. A few minutes later, I handed Danny the bag, which ironically was a 'gift bag' from some swanky party I'd attended. I said "You got one of my favorite sweatshirts in here Danny! Wear it well! And there's also some shampoo, deodorant, conditioner and soap for whenever you find that shower."
It was a brief encounter, these two ships in the night, but a genuine connection. I was with a kindred spirit, perhaps a reflection of my own self -- and when I hugged him goodbye, it didn't matter to me how bad he smelled, which he did. I felt in that moment, I was hugging God.

We walked our separate ways, and before going back into my apartment, I wiped a tear from my eye knowing I'd never forget him. I may never really know why I'm here, or what it all means in "the Big Picture," but I do know I will always treasure that moment.

It only dawned on me after the fact that it was the night before St Patrick's Day, and his name was Danny.
So whenever I find myself wanting to take a few extra steps away from that odor that visits those temporarily less fortunate, I hope I will take a step or two closer.

And should anyone ever ask why I would step closer to someone others would step away from, I hope I'll be able to smile as genuinely as "oh, Danny boy" did, and simply say:
"I honestly don't know."

Reprinted from the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jimmy-demers/oh-danny-boy_b_512512.html#postComment

Comfort Food

Allergy season is upon us here in LaLa land (probably everywhere)...and it's something I’ve only recently been gifted.  It appears that AARP is not the only luminous treat from the “Old age gift basket” one receives after THE BIG transition to (I can’t say it out loud, nor can I type it… but it’s ½ off a hundred and a year more than 49). Having allergies is a lot worse than I ever imagined. For starters, it keeps you up at night trying to gauge when the left nostril will unplug so that it doesn't settle on your pillow, making sure to quickly turn over so that the right nostril can have it’s go at it!   Switching back and forth…all night long (screaming at that inner child who wanted so desperately to be an adult.)  Then there’s all of that hysterical sneezing! Is it me, or do sneezes (wouldn’t it be funny if the plural for that was sneez-I?) actually get louder with allergies? I sneezed (which technically should be snoozed) the other night so loud that my neighbor kicked the wall that separates our apartments! I think a picture had fallen or something.  It’s ridiculous what these allergies will do to you and to those unlucky enough to share a wall with you.

Well, after another one of those nights, I woke up feeling a little sad.  I was missing my mom. It’s been a little over 4 years since she was taken via the Cancer Trolley, and for some reason…today was going to be another one of those days where I just really wanted her to scream at me and tell me to get out of bed, that it was time for me to get up for school!

I hated waking up in the morning.  Like most kids, the warmth of my Flintstones comforter was a lot more appealing to me than getting up at the crack of dawn to be dragged out of the house and off to school! I remember pleading with my mom, telling her that I was too sick to go to school on this particular day.  I had cleverly (or foolishly, as I see it now) taken the shade off the lamp next to my bed, and turned the light on.  I pressed the light bulb up to my forehead.  As the light quickly warmed up, so did my forehead…and THAT was a sign of a fever in our house!

I could smell the French toast from the kitchen.  Or was it my forehead? No, it was the kitchen (my forehead doesn't have cinnamon); the butter and that cinnamon wafting through the air! This was my mother’s way of luring us all out of bed in the morning; fresh, thickly cut bread, drenched in an egg wash of vanilla and cream with a splash of sugar and cinnamon!  My mom made the best French toast in the neighborhood (but to me, it was the world!) I summoned her to my bunk bed, feigning illness and offering my forehead as proof.  How silly of me...I could never pull the wool over my mom’s eyes. Unfortunately, I wasn't the first child born in our house.  I have an older brother whom, I'm pretty sure would not have forgotten to put the lamp shade back on the lamp! I never was good at acting…and I’m still not! I made the best of it though... I got to have insanely delicious French toast before heading off to prison, I mean school.

So there I was, entombed in the memories of my childhood while I scratched at my itching throat with the back of my tongue (and how annoying is that, if you're in the same room with someone doing it?)  It was pretty obvious now, I was really missing my mother big time.

Suddenly a light went off in my head (probably the same one I used to fake a fever)!  I decided to gather the ingredients and whip up a breakfast of comfort food…French toast, ala my mom!  I even ground the cinnamon with my magic bullet and used whole eggs (not just whites) and cream! Plus, about a week or so ago, I had purchased FRENCH TOAST BREAD (that's actually what they call it) and put it in the freezer ...apparently just for a moment like this! When it was done, I savored every last bite. The aroma literally washed away the sadness (well, with the aid of perhaps a tear ...or maybe two).  Then it dawned on me, why do I deprive myself of food like this?  It was like having Cinnabon for breakfast!

It had been years since I had eaten French Toast, and I had really forgotten how much I loved it...but I had not forgotten how much I loved my mom and how much I miss her.

It’s true…there really is such a thing as COMFORT FOOD!

Karen Carpenter - March 2, 1950 - February 4,1983

It's hard to imagine that Karen Carpenter would have turned 60 today.  One of the greatest female singers to ever grace the world of popular music was silenced in 1983 from causes directly resulting from her affliction with anorexia nervosa. Over 27 years have passed since that shocking friday morning, when the world learned of Karen's death; however, her angelic voice is still ever present world wide. The Carpenters music continues to top the charts in Japan and England, where their soft blend of perfect harmonies have always been well received. Today I celebrate, KAREN CARPENTER.

The Boob Tube - Sunday Wrap

Last night was the Closing Ceremony of the Winter Olympics Games in Vancouver, B.C. Which number Olympics it was, I don't really recall.  It was a small one though, when you compare it to its Brother, the Summer Olympic Games (or sister, depending on which AA meeting you're at.)  This Sunday, however, all eyes were on the big hockey game that afternoon. That event was built up to rekindle the excitement of the "Miracle on Ice" from the Lake Placid games in 1980; however, while it was a decent game, the only comparison it shared was, well…it was the ice, really! 

After the U.S. got defeated by the Canadians in a tie-breaking 2-3 final, I started to gear my evening around the Closing Ceremony.  This would mean unplugging anything that would distract me from watching that portal to mediocrity, the boob tube! Telephones would be silenced.  Computers shut down. Even the blinds drawn, (yes, that’s how bad my ADD can get!) What do you want from me; it was a gorgeous moon out there last night!

Since I had been involved in a couple of Olympic ceremonies myself  (performing at the 2007 Closing Ceremonies of the Summer Games of the Special Olympics in Shanghai, China, and then performing again for the Special Olympics (and writing the song) for the Opening/Closing Ceremonies of the 2009 World Winter Games in Boise, I knew the work that was put into these glorious events.  Now if you're saying to yourself, the “Special Olympics” is not a comparison"...how wrong you are!  The event in Shanghai was in fact, equally as incredible and robust of a celebration as the Games that followed in Beijing.  Let's face it; the Chinese Government was on a mission to make a few social statements about their country.  Some critics have said, "They turned their people upside down (so that we could see them smile)".  I mean, after all, the Olympic Games definitely provides the perfect stage to showcase the very best of any country that wins the right to host it, so why not?   Whatever the motive, the Chinese had my attention...and they couldn't have been more gracious to me and my entourage. By the way, we landed in a monsoon, but that had nothing to do with their hospitality! Now I'm wondering if those critics might have been in a monsoon based on that harsh comment about being "upside down"! It sure does make you wonder. My point, however, was that the Special Olympics Ceremonies were equally as extravagant as any Olympics I had ever seen (much less, anything I  had ever been a part of).  So with all that in mind, I was eagerly looking forward to last nights Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony. 

Yes, we all got a chuckle from the opening segment, where a mime was seen parodying the awkward malfunction that delayed the lighting of the indoor cauldron at the opening ceremony. The mime was going through the motions of pulling the fourth arm of the massive cauldron from the floor of the BC Place as the audience members sat with obliging laughter.  It was clever, and it was perfect!  But (for me anyhow) it wasn't enough to prevent a wish that something like last weeks debacle would happen again.  At least it would be unpredictable, because the slow pace of this production had me nodding off.

From the Russian Choir to the oddly placed Michael J.Fox (hello...he's lived in the US for 30 years folks, he even told us! AWKWARD, party of one!) The Canadian's would probably have had better bragging rights if they featured a "Maple Leaf Coiffed" Lady Gaga. Nonetheless, there he was: American Actor, I mean Canadian born, Michael J. Fox... standing there on a stage with the roar of a standing ovation (for "Back to the Future"????) and murmuring words that could have been written by the gaffer from "The Electric Company." Okay, nothing against gaffers, by the way (or the EC) but seriously, couldn't they have written something a little more profound, or hilarious, or if nothing else, maybe a flashing 800 number for Muscular Dystrophy, or is it Multiple Sclerosis? Either would have been a better use of those 8 minutes! Don't get me wrong, I love me some MJF...who doesn't? I saw "Back to the Future" at least twice (okay the second time was on HBO when they ran movies, so maybe that doesn't count). But he rocks!  Oh, and who the F**k is Catherine O'Hara? Wasn't she in "Gone with the Wind"? How can she look that good if she was in that movie?  Okay, I get it, she’s Canadian.

Well, I held the lids up with toothpicks right until the awkward placement of a new show NBC decided they wanted to drop smack dab in the middle of the Closing Ceremonies!  WTF?  These are, after all, the geniuses that gave us "The Jay & Conan Train Wreck."  I'm pretty sure they are the same BOOBS in BOOB Tube. Nonetheless, this new show was no exception to the impeccable reputation of  this deformed breed of NBC honchos!  The program that these buffoons sliced the Closing Ceremonies of the Winter Games with was some lame (and I mean lame in the absolute nicest way), ridiculous, moronic and mindless brain child of Jerry Seinfeld. Clearly, this one got the green light because of who Jerry Seinfeld is...or can we now safely say, WAS?  

The Seinfeld creation is called, "The Marriage Ref." It’s about as painful as a Chevy Chase Talk Show...no, worse…Magic Johnson...no even worse than that ... Levi Johnson! This is the kind of shit that can (and WILL) bring down NBC (although, they really can't get down much lower). Keeping Saturday Night Live on another season is pretty low... sort of like waiting for George Burns to turn 100 just so we could say he did! By the way, wasn’t that a bit curious that George Burns passed right after he turned 100? Since we're going there, has anyone really seen Dick Clark in person?   Seriously though, this pile of pacadermy poo, is one of the worst shows in the history of TV! The premise involves a celebrity panel deciding who was "in the right" regarding issues involving MARRIED COUPLES and their disagreements.  In the premier episode, the first couple featured a GUIDO and his slave, I mean wife, from NY (naturally).  The husband had a dog that he had for a long time, but like all living creatures...it died.  I guess Mama's meatballs weren't enough! This guy needed to have that dog around ...even AFTER death. Guido couldn’t let go.  Against the will of his wife, the Bada Bing had it stuffed and mounted for display. This is where the celebs come in. 

The panel of “Celebatrysts” consisted of, Alec Baldwin (the chubby brother of at least a few good looking skinnier versions).  You know him, he's got MAD talent....and he's also the one that leaves his kid loving phone messages). Also on the panel was the perky and battery operated (Morning Side-kick of Regis Philbin), Kelly Rippa.  There's something wrong with her...remember, I told you here first.  Then of course, the permanent Jew with shpilkes in his Gunectagazoink, Jerry Seinfeld himself.  All I can say is (and I won't even give this show another mention after today) that it took 15 minutes away from my life and I'm pissed! I could have ...

This was my Sabbath? I was so farblondzhet!  I plugged everything back in (including the iron left on the ironing board!!!)   I needed to get back to the poison I enjoy…familiarity.  That meant, it was now time to watch the show I TiVo’d over the Olympics, "The Amazing Race!

After the first couple of minutes of the race, I wondered if I should just shut it off and watch it the next day instead.  As I sat there trying to understand the language spoken between Jeff and Jordan (are they even from this planet?), it dawned on me: this reminds me of making an Italian gravy; where you end up burning the tomatoes on the bottom of the pan (because you left it on medium-high too long) but you try to salvage the pot of glowing red stuff by removing all the black and charred scraps from the bottom!  The gravy is still red, so it must be okay, right? So you let it continue to cook for the remaining 2 hours. But alas, upon tasting it, your gravy has been violently transformed into the taste of burnt spaghetti sauce! Amazing how that happens, huh?  Well, not so amazing was The Amazing Race.  For me, it had turned into that burnt gravy.  It ultimately ended up being the cherry that topped off last nights BOREDOM BANQUET! I did everything I could just to hear the Aussie say, "You have been eliminated from the race!"  Now, if I could only remember who it was that was actually eliminated, that would be awesome! Unfortunately, the couple that got das boot were so forgettable...they could have easily been Weezy Jefferson and Clair Huxtable for all I knew because I wouldn’t have known the difference! 

The most important thing to me about last night (sadly) was saying goodbye to the Winter Olympics Games. I guess mostly because I knew that when I awoke the next morning, I would return to the normal Yahoo Front Page headlines.  This morning didn't disappoint with alternating headlines, Man finds game in basement worth $40,000 and 'You're So Vain' mystery rekindled ! Ah, the complacency of familiarity!