Artists & the world of sports
I had a grand time Friday night. The Dish and I attended the only concert we annually hit. 1964: The Tribute, a wonderful group of Beatles impersonators. I’ve been going for probably 10 years and look forward to it every time.
But Friday night was a special treat. For the first time that I’ve seen, the Fab Four had a little help. A brass section and a strings section accompanied them on on a couple of songs. And the violinist was a new friend, John Arnold.
I met John only a week ago, on my trip to the Super Bowl. He was seated on the front row of the Southwest flight to Phoenix on Sunday morning; he had the window seat and I took the aisle, and he introduced himself immediately. Turns out we have a mutual friend, Rusty Olson, who was my radio sidekick on KREF for several months before I switched stations.
John was on his way to the Super Bowl, too. His family was meeting in Phoenix and he was excited to see his nephews and enjoy the game with his brother-in-law, a big Patriots fan. We rode back on the same flight Monday morning and talked about our Super Bowl night. It was fun meeting John.
He told me he taught violin at OCU, but I never knew he could make the fancy fiddle dance like that. He was big-time good. MY brother-in-law, before he knew my connection to John, remarked what a superb musician he was.
And it all made me marvel again at what a diverse group of people make up sports fans. The stereotypical sports fan is that Saturday Night Live spoof of “Da Bears” fans. But sports fans are made up of all kinds of people, including artists.
The best teacher I ever had was Dennis Miller, who taught me 11th-grade philosophy at Norman High School and 12th-grade poetry. I took poetry only because he taught it. Dennis was tall, bearded, scholarly looking. He spoke very intelligently, but with a lyrical style that sort of mesmerized students. You learned something every day from Dennis. I went to college and graduated with a double major, history and English, and I never had a better professor than Dennis Miller.
Later, Dennis Miller became a very good friend. We didn’t sit around discussing Plato. We played hoops together. Dennis was a basketball player growing up in Kansas, and into his 50s he still could play. Better yet, he was a die-hard Dodger fan and baseball nut. Plus an OU sports follower and general all-around sports fan. He was a man of letters who also could talk Carl Furillo and Davey Lopes.
A violinist who loves the NFL. A philosopher who goes back 50 years with the Dodgers. Sports fans make the world go round.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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I saw a special on the ‘Orange Blossom Express’ and the tune that was written and played. Although I have heard it over the years, I did not know what it was called. What a great tune and the fiddle work is super.