#ray appleton

John COLTRANE, Alice COLTRANE

"Cosmic Music"

Vida Blue would have started at 98th, peaked at 81st in 2016 and died at 94th. 

Since moving to California I would have made a lot of contacts and some real friends.  One of those I counted as a friend would be Ray Appleton of KMJ fm 105.9.  He’s a talk show host on the talk station in San Diego and he’s on from 11 am to 2 pm weekdays.  With the writer’s strike on my agent would not be paying attention to the obituaries.  Appleton himself would have called me for a brief radio interview in the middle of his first half hour.  Still groggy I would agree without hesitation.

Appleton: we’re back and here as promised, on the line from his home in Nevada is Phil Cole of Phillip and Cole’s Variety Team.  How are you, Phil?

PBC: Sleepy.

Appleton: Well, take a cup of coffee and talk to us a few minutes.

PBC: You know I don’t drink coffee at home.  Besides, I’ll be back in bed 10 minutes after4 the phone call.

Appleton: Well are you awake enough to react to a couple of headlines?

PBC: Yes, sure.

Appleton: There was another mass shooting in Texas.

PBC: Something is very wrong when folks are safer in warring countries than in an American shopping mall.

Appleton: That was fast.

PBC: You should hear me when I rehearse.

Appleton: Speaking of hearse...

PBC: Oh no!

Appleton: Did you hear that legendary pitcher Vida Blue has passed away.

PBC: No, really?

Appleton: Yes, he died yesterday at age...

PBC: 74.

Appleton: 73.

PBC: Those late year birthdays get me every time.

Appleton: Ha ha how did you know his age?

PBC: Because the first time I saw him pitch he was 21 and I know when that was.

Appleton: When?

PBC: When he was 21.

Appleton: Ha ha ha ha ha fresh out of bed and cracking me up already.

PBC: I’m not fresh out of bed.  You woke me up 4 hours ago.

Appleton: Does that mean you’re sleeping alone these days?

PBC: No...with a CPAP machine.

Appleton: Ha ha ha ha ha, well anyway, some of us were wondering...could Vida Blue be the last name on Phillip’s sick list?

PBC: Goodness no!  Is that what you called me for?  We’re friends.

Appleton: Friends have a right to an exclusive, don’t they?

PBC: Not when someone paid millions to find out first, but this one is ridiculous.  The only reason Phillip knows anything about Vida Blue is because he heard the rest of the team making jokes about him.

Appleton: You have Vida Blue jokes.

PBC: Yes.

Appleton: Let’s hear them.

PBC: OK, baseball is a colorful and patriotic American sport, with the flag’s colors: Red Schoendienst, Roy White and Vida Blue.

Appleton: Ha ha ha.

PBC: The As of the 1970s were a colorful team: Rick Green, Vida Blue and Blue Moon Odom.

Appleton: Alright.

PBC: Vida Blue ruined a great career with too much cocaine.

Appleton: Whoa.

PBC: Baseball is played between white lines, not with white lines.

Appleton: Oh boy.

PBC: I thought you were going to ask me about the playoffs.

Appleton: Who do you think is going to win?

PBC: The Celtics.

Appleton: That’s because you’re from Boston, right?

PBC: No, they got off to a great start and they’re not resting on their laurels like some people.

Appleton: You think maybe the Lakers are taking things for granted?

PBC: They sure did before.

Appleton: No need to get into that.

PBC: You asked for it.

Appleton: I sure did.  What about those Bruins?

PBC: Biggest choke in history, at least until Putin gives up.

Appleton: That’s good, and how about one political joke before I let you go?

PBC: Ok, Biden just said being 82 next year is an advantage.  It is.  He’s the only one who was alive the last time food was rationed.

Appleton: Oh man, that’s biting.  Thanks.

PBC: I won’’t say you’re welcome because you’re not.  Next time wake my agent up.

Freddie Hubbard - Little Sunflower (1967)

off of the album Backlash.

Freddie Hubbard - Flugelhorn, Trumpet

James Spalding - Alto Saxophone, Flute

Albert Dailey - Piano

Bob Cunningham - Bass

Ray Appleton - Drums