I finally met Les Paul. Dad did too.

Of all the luminaries in the world of the guitar that I had hoped to meet, Les Paul was the one I'd wanted to meet the most. Ever since I was a young lad in the Pennsylvania hills, the music of Les Paul and Mary Ford had resonated from our radios and phonographs. Their sound-on-sound, multi-tracked recordings could literally take your breath away.

As far as I'm concerned, of all the world's guitarists, Les is the king. What he did for the guitar, and for the world of music, is truly beyond measurement.

These days, as our fingers fly over these ubiquitous computer keyboards, it's hard to realize that not too long ago the pen and the pencil were the principal vehicles of communication in this world. Then, the typewriters came along, and personal writing instruments began to bow to technology. After WWII, the ink pen was improved with ball-point, and later, gel technology- but by the 1980's, computers were eclipsing the pens and typewriters, running them off the map. Nowadays, those small hand-held text-messaging devices and electric memo pads would seem to make handwriting virtually obsolete...

Each year about this time, I start to think about the veterans of our armed forces who have done more for our country than most of us may ever realize. November 11th, of course, marks the traditional Veterans Day celebration in communities across our land. Lakewood area veterans will meet at the memorial in Lakewood Park at 11 a.m. on that day to honor those who have served our nation in uniform over the years...

On October 10th, Alaska Governor and Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Michael T. George Center for Community Living in North Olmsted. This facility, operated by Welcome House, will be serving senior individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities...

Mr Mark Walter, Principal of Garfield Middle School, has informed me that on November 10th, from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., area veterans and their families, or surviving family members, are invited to attend a breakfast and recognition ceremony at Lakewood's new Garfield Middle School (13114 Detroit Ave.)

By now, I imagine all of you are sick of hearing those political points of view. Left or right, up or down, one way or another, in a few short days it will all be over...at least for the time being. One way or the other, I suspect that our country will survive. In the midst of all the turmoil and ill will during this political season, I thought it might not be a bad idea to write a column about people who put aside their differences for the common, greater good...

A few years ago, I was doing my usual hike through one of our local flea markets with a friend who shares my love of music. As we were talking, I wondered whether he had ever heard of my grandfather, who had been an old-time fiddler. My friend acted as if he had been hit by a thunderbolt, and said that not only had he HEARD of my grandfather, but he had his records as well! Thanks to my friend, I found out many things concerning a grandfather whom I'd never met...

How many of you have written one of these types of essays on your first day back to school? For that matter (and let's be truthful here) how many of you still get that special feeling when you hear those ubiquitous words "Back to School" annually? But I digress. One column topic at a time...

A hundred years represents a substantial chunk of time, at least to me. But my 88-year-old father feels that his own lifetime has flown by in the blink of an eye. However you might look at time, I think most of us would agree the past hundred years have been a time of utterly dynamic change--both for Lakewood and for the world...

About seven hundred years ago, in the Middle Ages, there was once a powerful group called the Knights Templar. That organization was responsible to no one except the Pope. The Templars, in a great many ways, were very much a law unto themselves. At the same time, they were an order of warriors, and an order of religious men bound by a solemn rule--and to the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience...

In the first column that I wrote for this paper, back in May of 2006, I told about part of my traumatic experience moving from our Pennsylvania home to Lakewood back in 1958. As an only-child country boy, that was a difficult transition, to be sure... but there was even more to that story than made it into print. I guess with any story, there always is...

When I was a Political Science major in college, there were frequent discussions about the world of politics generally, and running for office, particularly. I seem to recall that there were at least two topics virtually guaranteed to be off-limits (if handled in a negative way) for anyone wanting to get elected to any kind of office. One was cats, and the other was dogs...

Dr. Richard Dutro's life is one that has been filled with the rich experiences of helping other people, particularly in Lakewood's educational community.

Dr. Dutro served the Lakewood Public Schools as an elementary teacher, a remedial reading specialist, and a principal of two elementary buildings at the same time! He was also Lakewood City School District's first Coordinator of Language Arts. Dr. Dutro completed his professional administrative career as Lakewood's Director of Elementary Education before retiring in 1991. Additionally, he has served as President of the Ohio Reading Teachers' Association and has worked at Baldwin Wallace College to help train future teachers...

Although this column was written prior to the tragic events of June 11th, I'd like to dedicate this work to those who recently lost their lives in the tragedy at Little Sioux, as well as to their leaders and the other Scout survivors. Heroes all...

I would suspect there are few Lakewood businesses with the longevity, not to mention the utterly fascinating heritage, of Fridrich Moving and Storage.

The Fridrich family has been well-known in Cleveland business circles for well over a hundred years. According to Mike Fridrich, president of Fridrich Moving and Storage, one branch of the family (George) started the Fridrich bicycle business over on Lorain Avenue, while another (William) went into the moving and storage business...

When we were children, dreams flooded our imaginations as to whether one day we might become famous, successful, and/or perhaps hugely contribute to the betterment of the human race. As young people, we looked around and dreamed of doing things and going places that our elders (we thought) had never dreamed of. Of course, with the passage of time, and as our dreams became new realities, we hopefully did achieve some of our goals, while others were left at the gate of life...

OK, so the house gas bills were high. Everything's going up, right? That's just the way it is...or so I thought. Little did I know that Dad and I could have died just a couple of weeks ago...

From the time I was a little one, I've had a fascination with rocks of all kinds. I suppose that fascination could have carried forward to my involvement in the world of rock and roll, but that might be making a real stretch...

To me, these words, opening the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, sum up much of the 1960's. Of course, I was less of a Bible student than a musician, so the Byrds' cover of Pete Seeger's song, "Turn, Turn, Turn," gave me that most poignant vision of Biblical expressions concerning those times.

For those of us who lived through the turbulent days of 1968 in Lakewood, it was a time for coming of age...

I'll be the first one to admit it. I'm no gardener. Too many allergies interfered with those "magic outdoor moments" that everyone else seemed to have during their childhood years.

I did take Horticulture in high school. I even tried to raise orchids for awhile. Having no sense of smell, I could not, for the life of me, figure out why the family had trouble with the fish emulsion fertilizer that I used to grow them with. In addition, at night my orchids needed to be in a completely dark environment. The least little streams of light and no blooms would come forth! Before long, those orchids went the way of so many other diversions of the past, as did my interest in cultivating green things...

With apologies to Charles Dickens, this story could also carry the title of his story about two cities, because our story today does, in fact, involve the two cities of Lakewood and Cleveland...

Did you ever stop and think about all the people who've inspired you over the years? These people plant little seeds of encouragement in your soul, and before you know it, those little seeds start to develop into fresh ideas of their own...

Okay, so we're not Miami Beach, and yes, I'm (hopefully) not in denial, and yes, I do "get it." Still, I will make an unabashed claim that Lakewood's weather is one of the best "weathers" around, at least here in Cuyahoga County...

When I was a teenager, a friend of mine pulled up into our driveway with a very unusual car. It was called a King Midget, and had been made right here in Ohio! King Midgets were made continually from 1946 to 1970, and they were certainly head-turners wherever they went...

Well, it came down. What's that they say? Out with the old, and in with...what, exactly?...