God first. A distant third after my family, I love country music, Ohio State Football and great food. No particular order.
Riverton
Joined November 2011
- Tweets17.6K
- Following1.5K
- Followers1.4K
- Likes23.6K
Donald Sico retweeted
Here are my thoughts on the Dolly Parton tribute produced by CMA and ABC.
The nicest thing I can say is that last night proved there's only one Dolly Parton.
The other nicest thing I can say is that, whether you know it or not, if you watched last night, her estate was clearly not involved in the production of the tribute.
It's clear that anyone who really, truly knew her was not involved. I'm not saying with knowledge that they were against it. They were just not in the mix in a substantial way.
This is not a criticism of, or an insult to, any one individual involved in last night. There were nice performances and people who truly adored Dolly involved.
But bottom line, it was terrible.
The biggest criticism I can give of last night is that it was small.
It felt very, very small.
It felt like the tribute you would give to a mid-level country artist, not to one of the most important musicians and songwriters of the past century in any genre, and a giant in country music.
I have listened to every single Dolly Parton song available on the market. When I say every single... I mean every single Dolly Parton song. It was a mission of mine a number of years ago.
I'm obviously an enormous fan, and I consider myself a bit of a Dolly Parton historian.
I'm not naive enough to think a tribute would have to feature obscure songs. I don't expect popular country artists to get up there on a two-hour special and sing "When Possession Gets Too Strong."
From the song choices, to the artists chosen to sing them, to who was missing, it was terrible, and it was not befitting of Dolly's incredible legacy.
What was remarkable about it, and this really shows what a disaster it was, is that you had people with enormous talent slotted into the wrong songs.
Take Lainey Wilson. I love Lainey Wilson. I think she's incredibly talented, and she was made to sing a bluegrass song. She did not sing it the way a bluegrass singer should.
Other songs were transposed into lower keys to accommodate the singers' ranges. I get it, you don't want to sing out of your range, but some songs aren't meant to be sung in certain keys.
Then you had song choices that were just ridiculous, like "You Can't Make Old Friends." That was a Kenny Rogers song that Dolly joined him on in 2013. It's a beautiful song that makes me very emotional when I listen to it, but it's not a Dolly Parton song.
And then you had the pre-recorded video tributes from celebrities who were part of Dolly's life at one point or another: Oprah Winfrey, Julia Roberts (who starred with her in Steel Magnolias), Carol Burnett, Barbara Mandrell, Goldie Hawn, Bono, and Sabrina Carpenter.
There's no doubt they all belonged there, especially Barbara Mandrell, but it just didn't feel substantial given how many people could have been part of this. So many people were missing from the videos broadcast during the tribute.
And then you have decisions like having Zac Brown sing "Butterfly," a song he released with Dolly just a year ago.
Zac didn't even write "Butterfly" with Dolly in mind!
He wrote it for his kids, and then she joined him. A song that isn't even really a Dolly Parton song at a tribute for her?
What? You only have 14 song slots, and that's what you choose?
The thing Dolly was clear about for many years, and what she wanted to be remembered for most besides the Imagination Library, was being a songwriter.
Of the 14 songs they featured last night, only six were ones she wrote.
Six out of 14. You can't even give her a majority? That's not to downgrade songs she's known for, like "Here You Come Again" and "Islands in the Stream," but at least give the woman a majority of the songs.
There's no shortage of them, that's for sure.
Then there's this. I am an Ella fella. I am a fan of Ella Langley, but her performance of "Jolene" was just unacceptable, and she can sing. I've heard her do great covers. It's not like she isn't capable of singing somebody else's songs. She just phoned it in. I know she's been on tour, but she phoned it in.
In fact, there were three duds in a row:
Ella Langley, "Jolene"
Kelsea Ballerini, "Here You Come Again"
Darius Rucker, "Two Doors Down"
The whole evening was just too small for something like this. I hope this still happens, and I know DOLLYFEST is coming in 2027 in Nashville and London, but she deserved an arena tribute with major country artists and major musicians there.
A 70-year career deserves something massive, and she didn't get that.
Look at Alan Jackson's farewell concert this year at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, the highest-grossing single concert in history. It was a big, proper goodbye. Give the woman a proper goodbye. If you can't do it right, don't do it at all.
I can't believe they did this. I cannot.
It's an insult to her legacy. Her legacy won't be marred by this, but it's an insult to what she's done for people, and an insult to what she's done for country music.
Look at all the people who weren't there.
Some of them were on tour, but it's a long list, and it shouldn't have been done this way at all.
Anyway...I know DollyFest will get it right and I hope the Grammys do something that is worthy of her.
Michael Bloomberg. I’ll wait.
I refuse to give up our kids’ futures to the highest bidder.
While Elon Musk is throwing money behind Tom Kean Jr., I’m not taking corporate PAC money because I want New Jerseyans to know exactly who I serve.
semafor.com/article/09/08/20…
Donald Sico retweeted
In the dark hours of a freezing night in occupied France, a woman took off her clothes and squeezed through the narrow iron bars of a Gestapo prison cell. She held her dress between her teeth, dropped onto the street, and disappeared. Her name was Marie-Madeleine Fourcade.
Before the war she had lived a life of fast cars, airplanes, and classical music. When the Germans occupied France she joined a small secret network that gathered intelligence for the Allies. In 1941 its leader was arrested and handed control to her. She was thirty-one, the mother of two young children, and she accepted without hesitation.
Under her leadership the group grew into Alliance, the largest secret intelligence network in France. More than three thousand men and women joined. Nearly twenty percent were women. They used animal code names. The Gestapo called the organization Noah’s Ark. Marie-Madeleine chose Hedgehog for herself.
The Nazis spent years looking for a male general. They never imagined the person running the network was the fashionable young woman standing in front of them.
Many of her closest agents were captured, tortured, or killed. To protect her own children she sent them away. She could not even hug them goodbye. She stood behind a curtain and watched them walk down the street.
She was captured twice and escaped both times. Her agents gathered intelligence on German positions along the Normandy beaches that helped the Allies plan the invasion.
When the war ended, official recognition often favored men. She was left off many lists of national heroes. She never seemed interested in personal glory. For the rest of her life she helped surviving agents and the families of those who had been killed.
Near the end she said, “God gave me the strength to stand in the dark so that others could walk in the light.”
Donald Sico retweeted
I love @KaceyMusgraves’s music. Beautiful woman, angelic voice. That said, it is astounding to be so confident in your historical ignorance. Zero eloquence, zero knowledge. Just a buffoon spewing childish opinions.
Donald Sico retweeted
I actually cannot believe high school girls are still having to take it upon themselves to enact change against an obvious injustice.
Not the adults, or the coaches, or the Governor, or the sporting governing body...the 14 year old girls.
Donald Sico retweeted
Columbus Day has always held special meaning for my family.
My father was the son of Italian immigrants who came to America with little more than hope and a willingness to work hard. He never forgot where he came from, and neither have I.
Generations of Italian Americans helped build New York and this nation, overcoming prejudice and hardship through sacrifice, determination and an unwavering belief in the American Dream.
Their contributions deserve our gratitude, their heritage deserves our respect, and their traditions deserve to be celebrated, not diminished.
Happy Columbus Day! 🇮🇹🇺🇸
Donald Sico retweeted
Kelly Clarkson out there fighting the necessary social justice fight, making sure that entitled, very wealthy white women do not have to suffer the HORROR of being mistaken for a middle-class normie who wouldn't want to pay $15K for a singing bird.
She's like a new generation Rosa Parks.
Go get 'em, warrior.
Cool, cool. Sure, it wasn’t for sale. That’s the narrative Art of Play is gonna go with 👍 so the whole conversation we had when I asked you if it was for sale whilst pointing to the price tag hanging on the wall with the title Singing Bird didn’t happen as you elevator eyed me saying in a condescending tone “yes, it’s for sale but it costs 15,000 dollars so if you’d like me to find something comparable for you I can.” That all never happened and now it’s not for sale. Okay, cool. So you’re not only rude, you’re also a liar. Got it ✅
And by the way, I obviously support small businesses because I was literally at a small business trying to purchase things. I love small businesses and know they are important and I always support them, but you don’t get a free pass to treat people less than in your store just because you are a small business. It’s not that hard to be kind. I never blast people but you my friend were an exception.
Your store is really cool.
Unfortunately, you aren’t.
Donald Sico retweeted
FEVER FANS, THIS IS WHAT WE WANTED TO HEAR!
Indiana Fever GM Amber Cox says the team WILL talk to Sophie Cunningham about an extension, and her off court comments will have NO BEARING on the team’s efforts to re sign her! ❤️💛
Sophie has Caitlin Clark’s back, brings toughness to this team, and has become a fan favorite in Indiana.
#caitlinclark #indianafever #WNBA
Donald Sico retweeted
On March 14, 1891, eleven Italians were lynched in New Orleans. It was the largest mass lynching in the American South.
"He (President Harrison) knew Italians faced bigotry and institutionalized discrimination. He knew they faced mob violence throughout the land. He wanted to make things right — and in the process show the world a different side of America.
"He settled on two courses of action. First, he agreed to pay each family of the lynched Italians $25,000, a substantial sum in 1891. Then he did something remarkable: he decided to use the office of the president to acknowledge the contributions of Italians and Italian Americans to the United States.
"An American president, for the first time, would affirm officially the rightful place of Italians in the fabric of American life, turning a new page in how Protestant America saw Catholic immigrants. No longer, he wanted to make clear, could the racist editors at the New York Times approve of the lynching of anyone anywhere in the United States without rebuke."
The Italian men lynched were Antonio Bagnetto, James Caruso, Loreto Comitis, Rocco Geraci, Joseph P. Macheca, Antonio Marchesi, Pietro Monasterio, Emmanuele Polizzi, Frank Romero, Antonio Scaffidi, and Charles Traina.
medium.com/@nevaer1/the-lync…
@TheIACRL
Donald Sico retweeted
Grampa Yogi's Perfect Game glove is temporarily on loan to the @YogiBerraMuseum for our new exhibit, "If the World Were Perfect: Celebrating 70 Years of the Perfect Game." Come visit! – at Clifton, NJ
Yogi Berra used this mitt, part of the Hall of Fame’s collection, to catch Don Larsen’s perfect game on this date in 1956.
The Game 5 masterpiece led to a Yankees championship and remains the only perfect game in AL/NL postseason history. ow.ly/hkTW50ZVTbQ
ALT Studio portrait of a brown leather catcher’s mitt worn by Yogi Berra on October 8, 1956. (Milo Stewart Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)
Donald Sico retweeted
The WNBA is fortunate to have Sophie Cunningham - who is singularly willing to stand up for girls’ sports. If the league wants to broaden its reach, keeping her on the court and acknowledging the common-sense position that men don’t belong in women’s sports or locker rooms would be a good start.
From @TheAthletic: If the Indiana Fever ever wants to go back to being a basketball team, Sophie Cunningham has to go, our columnist writes. "Cunningham is too combustible, her takes too turbulent to be paired with Caitlin Clark." nyti.ms/4eiBPJ0
The WNBA Should Enact “Female-Only” Eligibility Criteria - Sign the Petition! c.org/sQYjZT2zjk via @Change
Donald Sico retweeted
Buckner seems to forget the W in @WNBA stand for women. There was nothing wrong with what Sophie said originally. It’s the response from WNBA that made it blow up.
The policy is the problem, not Sophie Cunningham
Donald Sico retweeted
At the age of 18, Martina Navratilova defected from communist Czechoslovakia while she was playing in the 1975 US Open to be able to play as a free woman. She sacrificed her citizenship and seeing her homeland and her family for many years.
Then in 1981, Martina became one of the first openly gay professional athletes. She sacrificed millions in endorsements, which she knew she would when she came out.
59 grand slam titles that included 9 Wimbledon titles. Few people in this world have ice running through their veins the way Martina does.
And now Martina is defending Sophie Cunningham against the New York Times / WNBA media.
They are in the wrong for this ridiculous hit piece against Sophie today (and the inevitable hit pieces coming to try to push Sophie out of the WNBA).
Buckner seems to forget the W in @WNBA stand for women. There was nothing wrong with what Sophie said originally. It’s the response from WNBA that made it blow up.
The policy is the problem, not Sophie Cunningham
Action Needed — Urge Governor Sherrill to Opt New Jersey Into the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit votervoice.net/Shares/BAAAAA…
If you love cheese, there’s nothing better than @cabotcreamery And they will always make it right! Thank you, Michael.
Donald Sico retweeted
McDonald's is spending 8.5 billion dollars to find out why families stopped coming.
I can save them the 8.5 billion.
They took out the playground.
The plan, announced Wednesday at investor day. Better food, faster service, new equipment, AI tools, hospitality training, and a bigger push into chicken and beverages. They call it Next. The goal, they say, is making customers feel more comfortable.
Wall Street loved it so much the stock fell 5 percent to its lowest since 2022.
Over five years McDonald's shares are down 3 percent. Burger King's parent is up 14. The owner of Taco Bell and KFC is up 13.
This is not a hamburger problem. This is a McDonald's problem.
So let us talk about who used to eat there.
Parents. That was the whole business. Parents at 5:40 on a Tuesday with three kids in the back and nothing thawed at home.
You did not go for the burger. You went because your kids could run screaming through a plastic tube for 40 minutes while you sat with a coffee and experienced silence.
That was the product. The food was the cover charge.
The first PlayPlace opened in 1971 in Birmingham, Alabama, and for fifty years it did one job. It made small children demand to go to McDonald's.
Then 2020 arrived, every play area in the country closed, and a great many never came back. The equipment came out during a remodeling program named Experience of the Future.
The Experience of the Future turned out to be a touchscreen.
Their own chief executive said he did not know if ball pits were in their future.
Sir, you were not selling ball pits. You were selling forty minutes.
So now there is no counter, no playground, and no reason for a seven year old to want to go. A screen, a window, and a bag.
And for that we pay prices that require a moment of reflection in the parking lot.
For thin, overcooked, oddly uniform pucks that taste like a memory of beef.
I did not love them because they were good. I loved them because I was eight and there was a slide.
And have you seen the new buildings.
The old ones were unmistakable. Red roof, yellow arches, legible from a highway at 70 to a child who could not yet read.
The new ones are a flat gray box with a small logo and a drive through wrapped around it. A regional claims office with a fryer.
They removed the color, the characters, the counter, and the playground, and then hired consultants to find out why it no longer feels like anywhere.
Which is why, when I have to eat fast food, I go to Chick-fil-A.
Not for the politics. For the competence.
They have led the customer satisfaction index for fast food eleven years running, and average 8.5 million dollars per location against McDonald's 4 million.
More than double, while closed on Sundays. Fifty two days a year with the lights off, and still double.
A seventeen year old hands you a bag and says my pleasure and means it about 70 percent, which is 70 percent more than a touchscreen has managed.
McDonald's is spending 8.5 billion on hospitality training.
Chick-fil-A earns 8.5 million per restaurant by just having some.
So here is my consulting proposal, free of charge, on behalf of mothers everywhere.
Put the playgrounds back.
Not a nostalgia campaign. Not a retro cup. The structure. Tubes, slides, a door the kids cannot open from the inside, and a bench where a tired woman can sit.
And understand what you are buying, because it is not lunch.
A six year old does not know your food is bad. He has no basis for comparison and no functioning palate. He thinks the burger is incredible because he is standing in a castle made of tubes.
That is the window. That is the only window you get.
You catch them before the taste buds arrive, and thirty years later they drive past your sign, feel something they cannot explain, and pull in anyway.
That is not a menu strategy. That is imprinting, and you shut it down in 2020 to save on cleaning.
Eight and a half billion dollars for AI tools and hospitality training.
Or a slide.
🦋
