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“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

Fifty years ago this month, those immortal words from Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong were heard by hundreds of millions of awestruck earthlings, roughly 240,000 miles away. And they echoed throughout human history.

Since the beginning of homo-sapiens, man has looked up to the night sky and mused about the pure white light from the Moon. It’s periodically changing shape and brightness has long-fascinated hunters, farmers, and gatherers. Its regular monthly cycle became the first clock by which humans measured the passage of time. Certain aspects of the lunar cycle steadfastly marked the arrival of special activities, such as the start of harvest season. The gravitational pull of the Moon on our oceans creates tides, by which ancient mariners would schedule their voyages. Occasionally, it almost looks as if one could touch it. In some ways, the Moon has become an extension of the human psyche, like the mountains and oceans here on Earth.

The study of celestial objects, astronomy, is the oldest of our recognized sciences. World famous scientists, such as Galileo and Kepler, improved crude telescopes so they could view the Moon more intimately and study its various mountains, craters, and plains in detail. The invention of the telescope greatly expanded the human study of the cosmos.

But, our Moon, remained vexingly beyond our physical grasp…

That is, until the Cold War, when rocket technology was in its formative stages. The Soviet Union and the United States decided that space was both a strategic national security frontier and an ideal environment in which to showcase technological superiority to the rest of the world.  The Soviets staked the first claim in October 1957 by placing a small satellite called Sputnik into orbit around the Earth.

The first man-made object to reach the Moon was also Soviet—the unmanned probe Luna 2, which was purposefully crashed on the Moon’s surface in September 1959. This was followed by numerous probes from both the Soviet Union and the United States doing flybys, orbits, and controlled crashes with many failures along the way.

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy ignited a dramatic expansion of the great Moon race of the 1960s. In a televised speech to Congress, he proposed the U.S. “should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

Both the Soviet and U.S. space agencies had been focusing their efforts on unmanned probes and robot landers. Now the entire game had changed—humans were going to the Moon instead!

Finally, in February 1966, the USSR unmanned Luna 9 successfully made the first soft landing on the Moon and transmitted photographic data back to Earth. Four months later, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) unmanned Surveyor 1 made the first U.S. soft landing and gathered data about the lunar surface for the upcoming Apollo landings.

For various reasons, the U.S.S.R. manned spaceflight program then ran into many rocket delays and launch failures, although their unmanned programs kept moving forward.

After two NASA lunar orbital flights—Apollo 8, in December, 1968, and Apollo 10, in May, 1969—the entire world anxiously anticipated the flight of Apollo 11.

On July 16, 1969, a mighty Saturn V rocket launched the Apollo 11 mission from Kennedy Space Center with three astronauts inside the command module. The Mission Commander was Neil Armstrong, the Lunar Module Pilot was Buzz Aldrin, and the Command Module Pilot was Michael Collins.

Following a three-day translunar flight, the command module Columbia was guided into lunar orbit. After several hours, the lunar module Eagle separated from the main spacecraft with Armstrong and Aldrin inside, and descended to the Moon’s surface. The LM was the very first true spacecraft, designed to fly in the vacuum of space, not in Earth’s atmosphere.

The Eagle landed very near to the planned target point in the Sea of Tranquility. That’s when Armstrong radioed to NASA mission control in Houston “The Eagle has landed.”  Hundreds of millions of TV viewers were momentarily “welded together as one mind” in the collective awe of having a human finally being on the surface of the Moon.

After a few hours of rest, both astronauts dressed in their space suits. Armstrong exited the LM first, slowly descending a ladder. After making the three-foot jump from the bottom step to the Moon’s surface he uttered “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Twenty minutes later, Aldrin carefully crawled across the “porch” of the LM and descended the ladder to join Armstrong on the surface. During their moonwalk of two and a half hours, they set up several experiments, planted an American flag, collected Moon rocks and soil samples, took many photographs, and provided verbal descriptions of surface features. Most of this activity was watched on live black and white TV back on Earth.

When the lunar surface Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) plan had been completed, they re-entered the LM with 48 pounds of lunar rocks (Earth weight) and prepared to blast off to rendezvous with Collins, who had orbited the Moon alone 25 times in the command module Columbia.

A few hours later, all the three astronauts were together again and their spacecraft headed back to Earth using a gravity-assisted return trajectory.

On July 24, the spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near Johnston Island. The WWII-era aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CVS-12) flawlessly recovered the spacecraft and its three-man crew. Using a formal NASA quarantine protocol to prevent potential moon germs from getting into the Earth’s biosphere, the astronauts exited their spacecraft wearing special biological isolation garments. The outside of these suits were then wiped down by a Navy UDT swimmer using a bleach solution. 

After being flown back to the Hornet by helicopter, the astronauts were ensconced in a unique NASA trailer called a Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) where they changed into flight suits. An hour later, from inside the MQF, the three astronauts chatted with President Richard Nixon who welcomed them back to Earth. This was the only time a President had ever been physically present for a spacecraft recovery at sea. The ceremony was broadcast live to 500 million TV viewers worldwide!

The Apollo 11 lunar landing mission is considered the greatest scientific achievement in the history of mankind. While earthlings will inevitably go back to the Moon and on to Mars and beyond, we will forever be standing on the shoulders of the vast Apollo program team. This is estimated to have consisted of 400,000 people – NASA employees, university professors and students, commercial contractors and parts suppliers—not to mention the American taxpayers who footed the $25 billion cost!

From July 16 to 24, the USS Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum will be joining the Smithsonian Institution, NASA, the Navy and other organizations in commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. More information about the public Splashdown 50 event can be found at https://uss-hornet.org/splashdown50 

and my lifelong fascination with the genre

As creepy as that headline sounds, please allow me to clarify and expand on the notion that boy bands are now and have always been cool. A boy band (or boyband) is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their early twenties at the time of formation, singing love songs marketed towards young women. They often also incorporate choreographed dance routines to perform along with their songs. I’m certainly not saying that I have boyband music on my Spotify playlist… Okay, if I’m being completely honest there may be a few Backstreet or New Kids songs there, but this music/entertainment phenomenon has shown lasting endurance and I unabashedly admit, it is a genre that has held my attention for almost 50 years.

My boyband admiration, adoration and aspirations probably started with The Osmond Brothers and Jackson 5. As an elementary and junior high school student, with no real academic proclivity, I remember watching American Bandstand and Soul Train, not to mention a host of evening variety shows (Sonny & Cher, Flip Wilson, Tony Orlando & Dawn, etc.), and thinking it would be so cool to be singing and dancing my way through life.

As a member of a boyband, I would travel the world applying my craft, while making huge amounts of money and attracting the “lose your mind” attention of the 14 – 18 year old female demographic. Sweet! I begged my parents to birth or adopt four more boys just so I could create my own family boyband in the carport of our suburban home. Two Car Garage Boys was just a working name. Their irritation with my fixation undoubtedly reached a boiling point when their talentless son sang and danced his way through little league baseball games, the school spelling bee and Cub Scouts. It sounds worse than it was, but darn it, I had a dream.

While Motown legends such as the Temptations, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Four Tops, The Isley Brothers and The Spinners might have been on the older side of official boyband status, they did provide the harmonies and dance moves to make a compelling argument that they could be included in the boyband conversation. Don’t let me forget Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, who while they did originally play instruments, this New York based quartet could get down with the best of them. Most of the guys in these 60s and 70s groups grew up together and honed their vocal stylings around a street lamp or in church. These pioneering groups proved to have the right assemblage of talent, looks, sweet dance moves and a swooning female fan base to inspire a rebirth in the genre and the formation of later boybands.

Today’s biggest music sensation is BTS, also known as “Bandtan Boys,” a seven- member boyband from South Korea. They recently appeared on Saturday Night Live and Lorne Michaels was quoted as saying this was the most popular music act SNL has had in the last 20 years. When you think of boybands, you instinctively go right away to *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, New Kids on the Block, One Direction, 98 Degrees, New Edition (which spawned Bel Biv Devoe), Boys II Men and Nickelodeon’s Big Time Rush. Every member of every group has probably made millions of dollars and yet many still perform and tour even though most of the members are now men in their 40s.

Needless to say, I use the term “boyband” very loosely. The only time a boyband ever breaks up is when a member becomes so popular they don’t need to split up the pot anymore…. Justin Timberlake. Some get hot for a while—Bobby Brown and Nick Lachey—but they always come back when that popularity fades. Others, like One Direction, who it should be pointed out never took up the choreographed dance moves, are currently on a long hiatus without actually saying they broke up. I give it another 12-18 months before their reunion tour. On the other hand, *NSYNC will probably never get back together given the global musical/acting and SNL hosting appeal of the previously mentioned JT, Justin Timberlake.

An Orlando, Florida based (PT Barnum type) promotor named Lou Perlman was the opportunistic mastermind behind the meteoritic boyband popularity of The Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and O-Town. Perlman, who it was later determined made his money operating a long running investment Ponzi scheme that would later send him to prison, was fascinated by the success of New Kids on the Block. Around 1993, with little more than a $3 million initial investment, Perlman ran an open audition/talent show to recruit five teenagers who ultimately became the Backstreet Boys who went on to sell over 130 million albums.

Several years later, Perlman struck gold again with the formation of *NSYNC who sold over 70 million records. Perlman even co-wrote a bestselling book Bands, Brands and Billions before his legal troubles began. Among an assortment of misdeeds, Perlman was sued by virtually every band he discovered and managed for misappropriation of funds and other related offenses. Would you believe, contractually, he was a sixth member of both BSB and *NSYNC collecting royalties in addition to management and agent commissions? Sadly, or not, he died in prison at the age of 62.

With all due respect to the guys, there have been a fair share of pretty terrific girl bands over the years too including Destiny’s Child (featuring the young Queen B), TLC, En Vogue, The Spice Girls, The Pussycat Dolls and Fifth Harmony, to name just a few. Even before those groups came into popularity there was The Pointer Sisters, Sister Sledge and Wilson Phillips. I give it up to these fiercely talented women, but other than that one confusing year in high school, I never dreamed of being in a girl band. Historical recognition should also be made to the girl groups of the 60s including The Supremes, The Shirelles, the Shangri-Las, The Marvelettes and The Ronettes. I guess you could also include The Lennon Sisters who found fame on The Lawrence Welk Show. Just to answer the question, no, I did now watch LW, but my Dad liked the show.  

Despite giving up a lot of their childhoods in exchange for fame and fortune, you don’t hear of too many former boyband members going off the deep end and ruining their lives through drugs, crime or college admission cheating scandals. Oh sure, Joey Fatone of *NSYNC was dressed as a rabbit on the reality show, The Masked Singer, but it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Drew Lachey from 98 Degrees won season two of Dancing with the Stars while his brother, Nick, hosted several music related reality shows. BSB, Kevin Richardson (Chicago), *NSYNCer Joey Fatone (Little Shop of Horrors and Rent) and NKOTB member Joey McIntyre (The Fantasticks) have all appeared in Broadway Musicals. As far as the silver screen, Michael Jackson appeared as the Scarecrow in The Wiz, a 1978 musical adaption of The Wizard of Oz. More recently, Justin Timberlake of *NSYNC had shown his acting chops in numerous flicks including Alpha Dog, Trouble with the Curve and The Social Network. Ralph Tresvant of New Edition played Sam Cooke in the biopic Get on Up. Donnie Wahlberg of NKOTB appeared in The Sixth Sense and is a regular cast member in the CBS series Blue Bloods. Just last year, Harry Styles of One Direction was in the World War II epic, Dunkirk. Kudos to the casting directors who saw the ability to capitalize on the popularity of these multi-talented heartthrobs. Acting was not even a consideration in my boyband pursuits. Perhaps it should have been.

There seems to be a resurgence in popularity in the 80s boybands and many of these acts will be touring this summer. Both New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys have both had extended residencies at major venues in Las Vegas.

While my dreams of achieving boyband status were never recognized, I always appreciated the talent, hard work and dedication that went into these groups long running successes. I wish these men continued health, happiness and prosperity even if it does come across a little creepy. Don’t judge me.

You can’t tell the players without a program.

BTS – V, J-hope, RM, Jin, Jimin, Jungkook and Suga

New Kids On The Block – Donnie, Joey, Danny, Jordan and Jonathan

Backstreet Boys – Nick, AJ, Kevin, Brian and Howie

NSYNC – Justin, JT, Lance, Joey and Chris

New Edition – Bobby, Ricky, Ralph, Ronnie and Michael

Bel Biv Devoe – Ricky, Michael and Ronnie

O-Town – Erik-Michael, Trevor, Jacob and Dan

Boys to Men – Nathan, Shawn, Wanya and Michael

98 Degrees – Nick, Drew, Justin and Jeff

One Direction – Harry, Louie, Zayn, Liam and Niall

Big Tim Rush – Kendall, James, Logan and Carlos

Osmond Brothers – Donnie, Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay
Jackson 5 – Michael, Jackie, Jermaine, Tito and Marlon

The project that started out as CAHSRA (California High Speed Rail Authority) has suffered some shortcomings. Among these was the Federal Government’s withdrawal of almost one Billion Dollars. This was also one of former California Governor Jerry Brown’s legacy projects. As a conservative, there were many issues on which I agreed with the former governor, such as his tight grip on spending our hard-earned tax dollars. The California Bullet Train to nowhere, however, was NOT one of them.

The problem was, it didn’t look like the empty suits in charge of CAHSRA, ever bothered to talk to anybody who already had such a system up and running. They could have spoken to the folks who run the TGV (Train Grande Vitesse) system of France. The TGV carries 100 million passengers per year and connects various large cities in France with Paris. My wife and I rode the TGV from the Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris at the Latin Quarter station in about 47 minutes.

They could also have chatted with the people at Trenitalia, the national railway company of Italy, which runs their high-speed or Alta Velocità train system named, Frecciarossa (Red Arrow) travelling at speeds of 360 kph or about 223 mph, that connects major cities in Italy. And BTW, this is the train my wife and I rode in 2008, from Naples to Rome in 57 minutes, in comfort like on a 747 Jet.

They could have approached the people who run Eurostar, with trains travelling at speeds up to 186 mph and will get you from London to Paris in three hours. Even smaller countries like Austria and Hungary are connected via Railjet trains which link Austrian cities with Budapest, Prague, Munich and Zurich. Your Railjet ride from Budapest to Vienna only takes 2 ½ hours. How could these small countries build a high-speed rail system, and California couldn’t? Was it planning and cooperation? CAHSRA’s management could have spoken with Chinese High-Speed-Rail management that runs Maglev (or magnetic Levitation) trains, at speed of up to 268 mph, and HSR-wheeled high-speed trains which have attained speeds of 303 mph. They could have asked our friends in Japan, at the Shinkansen high-speed rail system if they could help us out. See where I’m going with this? All these countries, some that we consider beneath us technologically, have left us at the Bullet-Train station in nowheres-ville.

The point of these references is that all these trains run on board-flat topography. They go through tunnels and roll up on elevated tracks, as the ones proposed on the CAHSRA line. Tunnels need to be bored, to keep the tracks level, however elevated sections of tracks have already been built, 50 to 60 feet high above ground. What do you think will happen to a train travelling at 200 mph on an elevated track, in the event of an earthquake?

Some tunneling needs to be done. A 13 ½ mile tunnel is needed through the undulating topography of Pacheco Pass. Experts from around the world guestimated a price tag of between $5.6 billion and $14.5 billion, to get the tunneling done, which is exacerbated by the treacherous makeup of this seismically-active region; quite a chunk out of the $65 Billion budget.

California voters approved the $9 billion Proposition 1A to begin construction of the initial leg of this convoluted plan, which promised to eventually run from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The Jan 06, 2015 groundbreaking ceremony, which took place in Fresno, was for the first 29-mile segment between Fresno and Madera, with an expected completion date of December 31, 2022. The initial operating segment between San Jose and Bakersfield, was expected in 2027. The completion of the San Francisco to Anaheim line was to materialize sometime in 2033.

Sacramento thought that this was a great idea. Jerry Brown believed that it would be his legacy. Alas, his original $33 billion dream turned into a $65 billion nightmare by the 2^nd year of construction. The worst part of Jerry’s nightmare is, Governor Gavin reconfigured the whole project as the Central Valley Express (CVE). CAHSRA will not connect San Francisco to L.A., because, the Governor has so decreed. The Central Valley Express will probably still cost $65 billion or more. There are many miles of high-speed rail already laid and numerous elevated sections built. However, segments of tracks are not yet contiguous. Perhaps, not even all the real estate has yet been purchased. The completed CVE will give farm workers between Fresno and Bakersfield a quick ride home after 12 hours of working in the fields. But, will they be able to afford the ride. And of course, former Democrat senator Reid of Nevada will be disappointed that CAHSRA won’t fly suckers all the way to Las Vegas.

My question is: if all the money spent didn’t go to funding this chug-along project, where did it go? Did some of it find its way to fill potholes in our decrepit roadways and bridges? Did the incompetents in Sacramento spend some of that money on fixing reservoirs and maybe building new ones? I haven’t seen any movement in those regards. Where did the money go? Did some of it go line the pockets of Democrat politicians. I don’t believe Jerry Brown pocketed any of those funds, because I actually believe that he’s a rather honest individual, due in part to his early Jesuit school training. But all that money had to go somewhere. Maybe it all sunk in the muck of the Sacramento swamp? California used to be hailed as the technological capital of the world. So, how come we couldn’t even conjure up a high-speed rail system?

Last year, I gave a reasonable alternative that would improve California passenger transportation. We already have several passenger train lines. One can ride the California Zephyr all the way to Chicago, leaving from Emeryville. We have the Capitol Corridor line which runs from San Jose to Auburn. The Sunset Limited will get you from Los Angeles to New Orleans. The Coast Starlight will take you from Los Angeles to Seattle. All these lines run Diesel locomotives able to reach speeds of up to 110 mph. That’s reasonably fast. However, the problem is not the speed the locomotives could attain. The problem is, freight trains have priority on all rail lines, because they own the tracks.

More folks would ride trains in California, if they would arrive at their destinations on time. The solution appears simple: instead of wasting Billions more on that CVE, build dedicated lines for passenger trains, so they don’t get stuck behind the lumbering freight haulers. How about connecting new passenger lines to the already build high-speed rail line? US diesels can roll at about 110 mph. That’s a lot faster than having to follow freight haulers. The most important thing is to get passenger trains their own tracks, which would greatly speed up passenger transportation.

For a bullet-speed future, have CAHSRA form a partnership with neighboring states, and then design a more encompassing plan, that would connect multiple states via high-speed rail. Learn something from our European friends about cooperation with neighbors. That way, the cost is shared as well as design resources. The whole idea out of Sacramento was, to show the rest of the country, and maybe the world, that California can accomplish anything it wants. And, Sacramento blew it by putting in charge a band of incompetents with enormous egos.

The result? Millions of dollars wasted, out of OUR pockets!

Are you driving your dream car or is your dream just an elusive work of art? The mission statement of the Antique Automobile Club of America states “Since its inception there has been something about the sight, sound, and feel of the automobile that stirs the imagination and the desire to experience the freedom of the open road. Whether it’s the clatter of the single cylinder brass era car or the heavy thumping of big block Detroit muscle cars that fuels the addiction, we are all kindred spirits.”

In the late 1950s when I was in high school, cars were the focus of most young men. The rage at that time was for cars with big fins and blaring mufflers, but the main goal of a high school boy was obtaining his wheels. It was their ticket to freedom and independence, and of course, necessary for picking up one’s date and showing off to one’s friends.

It used to be that automobiles had unique style and shape, with real personality and could even be recognized by make and model from far away. But now, I have a fear that the artistic beauty of American cars and cars in general is rapidly going away as they become more and more mundane looking. Many cars today can only be identified when you are close enough to see the name on the back fender and the symbol on the car’s hood. Yes, I applaud the fact that cars are now designed to create less air drag to improve gas mileage, which is indeed important for humanity, but I also fear that we have relegated one of our great forms of metallic art design to the dustbin of history.

This past month, in my search for my next art inspired article, I had the good fortune to visit with Andrew Warren in the Blackhawk Museum where he gave me a tour of the museum and shared with me the story about the evolving mission of the museum, to bring our communities great opportunities for edification and inspiration. Mr. Warren photographed, edited and refined the beautiful current images of the cars the Blackhawk Museum supplied to me for this article.

Originally, the museum was designed exclusively to exhibit historic and collectible automobiles, however, today this vision is changing. Yes, there is still a beautiful and intriguing “Automotive Gallery” that contains exquisite gems of our automotive yesteryears, but today there is so much more for you and your family to explore within the new gallery walls.

June is an excellent month to take a little trip down memory lane in the automobile gallery and learn some really neat things about automobiles you probably never new. Among the 50 gorgeous pieces of “precious metal,” as I like to call collectible cars, you will have an opportunity to see and examine historically significant classic, sports, and innovatively stylish vehicles that range from conventional American masterpieces, to works of automotive art from many corners of the world.

Along with their collection of automotive dream-cars you will discover a myriad of associated stories tied to the passions that brought these “precious metals” to fruition. The selection of vehicles is broad, beautiful, and provides a wonderful trip down their memory lane for many people. Some of my favorites are the Blue 1931 Pierce Arrow, the Yellow Cord, the red Delahaye convertible, Chevrolets, Packard’s, Plymouth’s, Mercury’s and Fords of the 50s and 60s. I would also suggest that you seek out the Docent presentations, where you may even be able to learn the stories behind the stories that made specific automobiles the legends that they have become.

In addition, the museum offers another gallery which is described as the “Spirit of the Old West,” a historical exhibition primarily designed to edify and encourage interactive learning experiences. Now you and your children may explore the lives of Native Americans and American settlers in the old West. There is also an opportunity for you to explore and experience the “Art of Africa” gallery, where you will see art created by the many indigenous people of sub-Saharan Africa. It is my plan to focus on several of these subjects over a couple of months, to give you some idea of where you can go and what you can do that would be lots of fun for dad and mom and little kids too.

For the July issue, I will share some insights from an actual tour in the “Spirit of the Old West” historical exhibit and the Art of Africa exhibit.

The museum is located at 3700 Blackhawk Plaza Circle in Danville. The museum is open Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 AM to 5 PM. The admission fees are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors/students, children six years of age and under and active military personnel are free. There should be ample free parking in the Blackhawk Plaza parking lot near or adjacent to the Cinemark Century Blackhawk Plaza Theater facility.