Mike O'Connell

It’s not often that I tune in to watch something “live” on TV. An actual channel at a specific time on a particular day? Who the heck does that anymore?

Last night’s star-studded celebration of Tony Bennett’s 90th birthday on NBC was well worth the effort. Yes, there were some less-than-magical efforts from some less-than “stars” (who were some of those people?), but there were actual celebrities galore and the man himself to sing a few tunes as well. Mr. Bennett showed us why he is still the best in the business.

Some people who’ve been in show business a long time sort of outkick the coverage when it comes to fame in their later years and are all but forgotten when they’re gone. Tony Bennett shows no signs of going anywhere, and somehow stays relevant, every few years attracting a younger audience to keep his star power current. He’s not just a living legend; he’s a current star. Wow.

Bravo, Tony Bennett, and Happy Birthday (a few months late).

[As for our local football team… the less said the better.]

This Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the premiere airing of one of the most beloved Christmas stories of all time: Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Based on the Seuss book from nine years earlier, “The Grinch” is 30 minutes of poetic beauty and poetic justice. There is song, there is dance, there is pomp, there is circumstance. Good triumphs over evil and no one is harmed in the process.

The episode also contains one of my favorite lines from all of cinema, one that has entered my everyday lexicon…

What a great Grinchy trick!

Snide remarks aside, “Grinch” is beyond classic. It is unfortunate that it lives in a world with Charlie Brown, whose Christmas special preceded it by a year, but as Linus Van Pelt once said (about the Great Pumpkin): perhaps being number two, you try harder.

I have refused to see any of the remakes and reimaginings of the original Grinch for 34 years and will continue to do so until the day I die. Nothing can top the original. End of story. NBC has already aired the original this season, but look for additional airings in your local listings… for those of you who don’t own it on VHS!

One of the great details of Christmas, of course, is Christmas music, and there are few people in the world who love it more than I do. I’d play Christmas music 12 months a year if it were socially acceptable.

This is the first year my son actually understands Christmas and among other things I’ve enjoyed sharing with him the great songs of the holiday. He has taken to Frank Sinatra’s “Jingle Bells” (you know the one… J-I-N-G-L-E Bells) and can now not only call for it by name and artist but spell it as well.

“Sinatra Christmas,” he’ll say, when I request a playlist for our morning commute.

Frank Sinatra would be 101 today, spreading Christmas joy to a new century, and a new generation of O’Connell.

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Hawaiian military base that brought our nation into World War II. President Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy,” and over the last three-quarters of a century few dates have been more infamous.

The nation of men and women who lived through and served in World War II has been, of course, disappearing over the past generation or more. I mean this literally and figuratively. Tom Brokaw called them “the Greatest Generation,” and I have no reason to disagree. It was my honor to know some of these men and women in my younger days, though in 2016 it is becoming more and more difficult to meet them.

We’ll set politics and football aside for a moment today to thank the World War II generation for their contributions not only to this nation but to the world at large, which was faced with tyranny and unspeakable ugliness in 1941. That brave generation of Americans 75 years ago rolled back that ugliness in the most costly of ways. They were a people dedicated to domestic peace and human dignity, and carried those ideals with them across the globe. All gave some, some gave all, and for that we are truly blessed today.

Somehow Donald Trump is already making “deals” out there with private companies, spreading around some holiday cheer a few weeks before Christmas.

I mean Inauguration Day.

Regular readers of this blog or its forerunners on TV or in print know how I feel about politicians who make “deals” with private businesses. My reaction is to reach for my wallet.

I try to be nothing if not consistent, so yes, even though I’m a fan of Donald Trump and can’t wait for him to be President, this is one I can do without. Using taxpayer dollars to prop up certain businesses and play some against others? An old phrase of mine comes to mind. With Republicans like these…

Good to see the mainstream media and other Trump haters out there giving our President-elect the business (pardon the expression) on this jobs “deal” with Carrier. Funny how changing the party registration of the person brokering the deal (read: getting credit for it) changes the tune of those nattering nabobs. Suddenly we all become concerned with the free market when Republicans try to bribe companies with “incentives” or threaten sanctions against those who refuse to play ball.

Well, if this is what it takes to get the media to promote capitalism…

Deal me in.