Messages from Friends

Belly up to the table, friends! On this episode Mr. B reviews the Elvis movie and a recent Elvis Documentary as well as some of his favorites from the BeeGees. Plus, he discusses the traits of a good student and shares some helpful messages from his friends along his spiritual journey to recovery. 

For inquires regarding Sunnyside Biographies, simple email your inquiry/interest to troy@sunnysidefarmstudios.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:03

For dinner. Ding ding ding ding ding ding. From the creative mind of Scott Bertelson, after four decades of teaching our impressionable youth, you are invited to enjoy conversational morsels for the mind at Mr. B's dinner party.

SPEAKER_03 0:23

Oh, hello out there in podcast line. It's time for Mr. B's dinner party.

SPEAKER_05 0:32

Mr. B's got the table so five. School days tells a movie on two. Wisdom with the sky. From travel spot to a spiritual climb. Morsels of music served in rice.

SPEAKER_03 1:13

Oh, I'm so hungry. I have been really, really, really cutting back lately, and I just need to sit down at this table with my happy podcast friends and partake of the delectable morsels that I'm going to be hopefully sharing with you today. So hopefully you'll want to belly up to the table. So let's get started.

SPEAKER_04 1:45

For the next course, come one, come on. Nothing spoiled here. From Comfort Classics to What's Hot Now. Film reviews from Mr. B's Rewatchables.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

For my rewatchables, folks, I have two films that I would like to talk about that are very much related. One would be the film Elvis, a 2022 film, and Epic, Elvis Presley in Concert, which just came out in uh February of this year, which I have seen. I have seen the Elvis movie probably five or six times. It is one of my favorite films. I know you've heard me say that before, but it is true here. So, anyway, Elvis, the film, 2022, produced and directed by Buzz Lerman, one of my favorite directors, who directed, as I think I've told you before, The Great Gatsby, and of course Moulin Rouge. And it chronicles the life of, of course, an American rock and roll singer and actor. I use that term loosely, Elvis Presley, under the management of Colonel Tom Parker. Tom Hanks plays Parker, and Austin Butler plays Elvis Presley. And lots of other people are in it too. Okay, so what I like about the movie is that it, and there have been many other biographies of Elvis Presley, TV movies, maybe even theatrical films. But what this film did is talk about largely the relationship between Colonel Parker and Elvis Presley, and how invariably Colonel Parker took advantage of Elvis Presley and really, in many ways, restricted him from performing in places that he really wanted to, and took a large, large, large share of his profits for himself. So it is not necessarily a feel-good film. Are there some great uh recreations of Elvis on stage? Oh, absolutely. Adam Butler is absolutely phenomenal as Elvis Presley. Moves like him, uh, he does his own singing, it sounds like him, looks like him, it is uncanny. Absolutely. And to believe that a man who wasn't Elvis could take on those characteristics was absolutely enthralling. That's the word I would use, enthralling. So if you haven't seen the film, you've got to see Adam Butler as Elvis. I don't think anybody else even comes close to taking on that persona in any of the biographical films. Tom Hanks is phenomenal as Colonel Parker. Colonel Parker and Elvis meet when Elvis is very, very young. And Colonel Parker latches on to him because he knows he's going to be a huge, huge, huge star, as he is and was. And really is the motivating force behind Elvis uh taking on the residency in Las Vegas, I believe, in 1969, 1970, and he played there, I believe, for ten years, close to that. Now, Elvis really wanted to perform overseas, but the colonel did everything in his power to squelch that idea. So Elvis never performed in Europe. He used the excuse that they couldn't find enough security, but that really wasn't it. According to the film, uh he had made uh a deal with the owners of the International Hotel, which is what it was called at that time, in Las Vegas, that Elvis would um be in residency there all those years. And so Elvis worked and worked and worked, sometimes doing two shows a night, working a large share of the year at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. But then Elvis finds out that this was shown in the film, that the colonel has been taking advantage of him financially. Why it took him that long to figure that out, I'm not sure, and fires the colonel and wants to try to find new management. But then the colonel comes back at him, he has kept an itemized list of expenses that he has spent on Elvis since the beginning of their collaboration, and Elvis doesn't have the funds to pay it because Elvis spends money very loosely and didn't have the money to cover that bill that he the colonel was going to use as a binding contract. And so he had to go back to the colonel. The film depicts a colonel in many ways as a very deceitful, conniving, ruthless man who in no shape or form cared personally about Elvis. He only cared about his fame, which would add money to his pocketbook. And so that's where the sadness of the film comes in. Uh with of course Elvis dying the way that he did tragically in 1977, and also the colonel who died, I believe, penniless because he was a huge gambler and spent most of the money that he um gleaned from Elvis uh on gambling. He was addicted to that. And so it was very sad for both of them. But the film chronicles Elvis from a very, very young boy being influenced by gospel, being influenced by rhythm and blues, and music from the black culture, and all the way to his death, and his uh marriage to Priscilla, uh, what happened to Elvis in his later years with the drug use and um the weight gain and the terrible um sickness that he had and unhappiness that he endured. Very, very, very, very sad. But the upside of it is in this film, excuse me, is that you get to see some recreations of him on the stage in Las Vegas, absolutely spellbinding, uh, of what Adam Butler does. And you can find YouTube videos where they show Adam Butler as Elvis in the actual video of Elvis performing, and it is the same thing, the same moves, the same intensity of the voice. It's uncanny, absolutely uncanny. So I am highly recommending that you see the 2022 Buzz Lerman film Elvis, if you have not seen it. It is uh beautiful to watch. Uh Buzz Lerman is the master of cinematography, and he does so many interesting things in his film. He uses uh animation, uh, he uses brilliant colors, and he keeps the story moving. And again, you really can see how Elvis Presley was one of the or the greatest performer on stage we have ever had in our lifetime. But also, unfortunately, you get to see the underside of his life, the sadness of with his mother being an alcoholic, the sadness of his father uh being manipulated by Colonel Parker, the sadness of his marriage breaking up, the sadness most of all of how Colonel Parker manipulated and used him for all those years that unfortunately ended in his untimely demise in 1977, and the world weeped, weeped for a long time when Elvis died at the age of forty. Now I've had the opportunity to be to Graceland, I've been to the museums, I've seen where he's buried, and Graceland is uh a wonderful place that you should try to go to sometime. Of course, it's all um decorated in a 70s decor because they kept it as it was, much different from today. But you really after going to the museum and seeing all of his cars and finding out about his um stint in the army and seeing all of the uh jumpsuits that he wore for his Vegas residency and all the albums he made, it makes you realize Elvis Presley was one of a kind. Now you might say, okay, so Scott, I'm going to go see hopefully Elvis sometime. You can see it on streaming, you can catch it on cable. Tell me about this epic movie. Okay. So Buzz Lerman, the director of Elvis, while he was researching for the film Elvis, found out that there was a number of never before seen films of Elvis on stage. And they were kept in a salt mine so they would be preserved. And he went to this salt mine and found lots and lots of video, film of Elvis Presley on stage. And so he decided that after having the success of Elvis, the movie, that he would create an Elvis Presley documentary largely focusing on Elvis Presley performing in his glory days in Las Vegas. Because what had happened is after Elvis got out of the army, he became a motion picture star and he made 33, 35 different movies, all the same story, just different girls in different locations, and then he got really tired out of all of that, and he wanted to go back to the stage. And so then he uh made the famous 1968 comeback special where he wore that amazing leather outfit and played his greatest hits, and people fell in love with him all over again. And then that led to the residency in Las Vegas, where he was the king for many, many years, even to the point where he didn't want to do it anymore. Anyway, so Buzz Lerman decided to remaster edit these never before seen images of Elvis on stage in Las Vegas during his prime. I do want to emphasize this, this is really the very robust, exhilarating Elvis that we see on stage. And he does also go into some detail about his life, about his marriage, about his upbringing. And what's great also about this documentary called Epic, Elvis Presley in Concert, is that Elvis narrates it because they found um interviews with Elvis and they use that to have as narration for the story. So essentially, Elvis is telling his own story. And you get to see the man behind the myth. You get to find out what he's like preparing for his Vegas residency. You get to find out uh his relationship with his band members, what that was like. You get to see how he uh prepares to go on stage, and then you get to see some of his greatest performances. Now, yes, there's been other documentaries, uh, concert films of Elvis, I think two or three that came out years ago. But with these remastered uh tapes, it is brilliant color, brilliant sound, and it's gotta be seen on the big screen. It really does. To get the full embodiment of what the king was like on stage, and you get to see how he interacts with his audience, especially the women, how they reacted to him. It's amazing. He essentially almost kissed every woman in the room. I don't know how he did it, but he did. And you could really tell from this film that Elvis Presley loved, loved, loved performing. And so you might roll your eyes and say, Elvis Presley, who's that? Go to Spotify and listen to some of his songs. He has many, many, many, many, many albums. He has a wonderful voice that can't be matched by anybody else. And in this film, you get to hear it to its greatest level. So, folks, I highly suggest that you see the Buzz Lerman film Elvis 2022 and then see the Buzz Lerman documentary Epic Elvis Presley in concert. And whether or not you've ever seen him perform, I don't see how you could not be absolutely amazed by his voice, his movement on stage, his personality, and let's face it folks, Elvis Presley was one good looking guy. And he embodied everything that made him the perfect yes, I said it, the perfect entertainer. Please do yourself a favor and see these two films. Folks, I haven't been talking much about education lately, and I'm back today with what I consider to be the characteristics of a good student. Now, you have to be careful what you mean or say when you say good student. I believe all students are great. That's why I keep subbing. I was subbing today, I've subbed all this week. I love having interaction with young people. Uh, it keeps me young, it keeps me attuned to what's happening with young people. And students today sometimes get a bad rap that all they want to do is play on their phones and they have short attention spans and they don't really see the value of education, and maybe some of that is true. Okay, I'll I'll give you that. But I have in my many years of being an educator met many great students, the majority of them all had strengths, and I'm sure now as adults that they are uh utilizing those strengths. So being a good student doesn't just mean achieving high scores on tests. I want to make that very clear. Uh you can cram for a test and do really well on it and then Forget all the information immediately. I don't see that as being a good student. Fighting for um extra credit, I don't see as being a good student. I think a so-called good student is number one has a love of learning. He or she wants to know about things, about countries, about people, about what's happening, about literature, about music. You want to know things. You want to absorb things. And I think that's really uh something that is established in a home environment as a child. Number two, I think a good student has a passion for knowledge, which is very similar to a love of learning. You want to be well read, you want to uh see all viewpoints on something, you want to uh be non-judgmental, you want to be aware of what's happening in your environment, with politics or with your family or with your um living environment. I also think a good student has a hunger to grow academically, not just receive perfect scores on tests and then lose all the information, but actually use that information to grow and be a better person. So the next one would be a good student has a growth mindset, which is that a person can learn anything if you are given enough time and effort. If, for example, your child says, I can't do this, then you need to add, yet I can't do this yet. I love that, yet I can't do this yet. Explaining a concept to a child will affect the ways that they view their learning. So, evidence says that understanding of a growth mindset allows for greater growth in learning. Don't say that you can't do it. You can do it. Here's another one. A good student is brave, will take a risk, and will use experiences in their learning and their growing. A student who is brave quickly establishes what he or she loves and doesn't like and to create a life they love. I love that. If you're educated, you can create a life you love. They're going to take learning that leads to out-of-the-box thinking. Wow. If that isn't something all of us should have every day, out of the box thinking. We need that kind of thinker. This is the type of student who takes on challenges, even fearful, but doing it anyway. Sometimes when we talk to our kids, we say, Oh, don't be afraid or don't be silly, it's going to be fine. Well, do you realize this implies that fear is something to be ashamed of? Fear is human and we should expect it. But we also need to overcome fear. It doesn't happen by magic. We know that, my smart audience people. It comes from modeling, teaching, and explaining. Here's another characteristic of a good student. He or she is organized. We all know that a high school student can study as many as nine different subjects with nine different teachers and nine different sets of expectations, and still remain highly organized. But we have to remember that organization is something we teach. We should encourage students to use planners, study schedules, anything like that. You might be asking, what's another characteristic of a good student? Well, that would be a good student is consistent and persistent. We learn to read at a young age, we learn to write at a young age, and we keep practicing that. But we also know that consistency is not as popular or as uh advantageous as it used to be in adolescence. It's becoming less common. Some of the areas most affected by teens' lack of consistency today would be math, music, and languages. And we have to remember there has to be a mastery of basic skills that come with practice, practice, practice. That leads to consistency. Be persistent, practice. Here's the next characteristic. I love this one. A good student is able to deal with failure. It's one of the greatest tools that we can use. But unfortunately, a lot of people get overwhelmed by failure rather than being able to stand back and look at the lesson it teaches us. They think that they are worthless, terrible, awful person. We need to teach kids to look at failure as a way to find growth. Find success. What went wrong that led to the failure? None of us are immune from failure. None of us. But we shouldn't use it as a means to not wanting to try. The next one is a good student always sets a goal. Whether it's an academic goal, a social goal, a physical goal, make sure that the goal is achievable. Break it into small bite-sized pieces so you can learn to be more successful. Small wins always lead to big achievements. Here's one that I always try to implement in my classroom, as I'm sure many, many teachers do. Try to show the connection of learning to actual life. How can I use what I'm learning in this classroom in my actual life? That way you don't have a student who just says, What's the point of learning this? If a child sees the reason, a child is more likely or anybody to utilize and remember that information. So it's really up to parents to ensure children that they be exposed to lots of ideas and sources, resources, and experiences. Teachers really need to try to link what is happening in the classroom to the world outside that classroom. And the more that's done, the more open-minded and thoughtful that student will be. Next point, as we come to the end of this here soon, a good student has to always be aware of their mental health. Students who reported feeling confident while doing difficult school work fell from 76% to 59%. It is very difficult to learn when in a state of stress. If a child hasn't been taught emotional skills, they will not succeed. You have to be cognizant of your mental health. If something's bothering you, get help. If it's affecting you that you're becoming depressed, get help. If you're at a point where you're contemplating something that you shouldn't, get help. And the last one I'm going to share, I think I went beyond ten. You know I can't count. A good student always values education, which is again, as I said, something that can be instilled in a child at home. We very rarely persist or strive in an endeavor if we don't think that it's valuable. Students are going to be likely to embrace education and succeed in homes where education is valued, where there are books and where parents are engaged in learning. So I share this with you today, folks, because our future is in our children. And if we can do anything to help them grow and mature, we need to instill in them the importance of education in their lives.

SPEAKER_06 33:15

So let's do that. Let's put our children first. Let's put their education first.

SPEAKER_03 33:29

And then we will have the opportunity to leave this world to a well-educated group of people. I can't think of anything better. And that's the reason that I stayed in education all those years. And why I'm so grateful that I had that opportunity. Look at your own child if you're listening and you have a child at home. Would you consider them a quote good unquote student? Is there something that you can do to enhance their learning? Is there something that you can do to make them have a deeper appreciation for what's happening in their classroom? When they come home from school and you say, What did you learn today? What do they say? Do you want them to say, I learned this in math today, I learned this in history today, I learned this in English today? I think we all want that. It's an investment worth taking.

SPEAKER_04 34:58

Hello, friends and neighbors. Welcome to the Sunny Side of Life Bible in a year experience. Join me each day as I read the Bible from start to finish. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. These are the instructions for the guilt offering. If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. Do you really think these men are coming here to honor your father? Fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices. You who have understanding, everyone knows that God doesn't sin. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His door is closed and put underlap and went to the temple of the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord says to Israel. How long, O Lord, must I call for help? The word was with God. And the word was God. But by Jesus Christ Himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead. He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, Yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's holy people. Its own podcast, January 1st through December 31st, every year. The Sunny Side of Life, Bible in a Year experience. For free from Sunnyside Farm Studios. I pray this daily reading will bless you as much as it does me. So let's get started.

SPEAKER_03 36:33

Music lovers. Hello! Oh, how much I love music. I've shared with you some of the hits from the 70s and the 80s and 90s, the early 2000s. I did an extensive um review of Elton John and his great library of music. I would like to talk about today the Bee Gees. Oh yes, there's still one BG alive. The other two, unfortunately, passed away. And I have been in love with the BGs since probably the 70s. And the Bee Gees, the Australian group of three brothers, uh had the most unique sound. They had superb songwriting skills. And what's so amazing about the three of them is that many times they did not get along, they had controversy, conflict with each other, but they always came together for the music. And they really performed a number of different styles of music. Now I really became enthralled with them with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack when that movie, one of my favorite movies, again, of all time, with John Travolta, that came out, I believe, in 1976 or 77, about the disco era. That soundtrack, I believe, was or still is the greatest selling soundtrack of all time. And that's when they uh dived into the world of disco music. Now that was just one of the styles of music that they sang. And on that album, you had the great, great, great dance song You Should Be Dancing, Night Fever, How Deep Is Your Love, and of course my favorite from the album, Staying Alive, which is the opening song for the film, where you see John Travolta with those boots walking down the street, and it is just absolutely amazing. I still turn to the Saturday Fever soundtrack. Lots of other artists on there also, but primarily it was BG music, and it really catapulted them to a level of success that they had never achieved before. But before they were classified as disco singers, they had quite the career before that. Some of the songs that I really like, some of their earlier songs, would be I Gotta Get a Message to You. That came out in 1968. I started a joke, also in the late 60s. Then the classic love song, Massachusetts, love that song, and Jive Talking, love that song. Do you hear a pattern here? Tragedy, that great um salute to disco after Saturday Night Fever, tragedy, and I would probably have to say, and I know there's many songs I'm not going to mention here, but I'm going to end by saying my favorite song of all time is Too Much Heaven.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Nobody gets too much heaven no more.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

You don't want to listen to me. Listen to the bee cheese singing Too Much Heaven. It is perfection. Absolutely perfection. So next time you're in your car or you're walking, go to Spotify and put in Bee Gees. And if you've never listened to them before, at least take a risk to listen to some of their songs. All the way from the late 60s to the early 2000s. The Bee Gees have sung a variety of different styles and created some of the most meaningful song lyrics ever. And you can go to YouTube and you can see some of their music videos. And you can also see uh a performance they gave in Vegas a number of years ago called One Night Only, where they perform their greatest hits, and it is an amazing, amazing concert. So don't ever underestimate the musical wonderment of the bee.

SPEAKER_07 43:17

Something's tickling me. She thought I was crazy. She said, Well, open your coat. I unbuttoned my coat and opened it up. There was the mouse.

SPEAKER_04 43:26

Stories. Everybody has them. The stories of our parents, grandparents, and our friends remind us who they are.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

That's kinda what I think it is, too, is memories. I re growing up, my dad did a couple, my dad was an English teacher.

SPEAKER_04 43:41

How they got here and what they've learned on the way. What if you could collect as many of your loved ones' stories in a high quality audio format to keep forever? What if you could share the sound of your loved one's voice, their laughter, and their thoughtful manner with your children? Or when you are simply driving to work.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Three months in North Dakota freezing buckets of ice water to make this awesome ice fort that we never spent time in, but it was amazing for the moment it was done.

SPEAKER_04 44:11

Well, you can with a Sunny Side of Life biography produced here at Sunnyside Farm Studios. I'll sit down with your loved one for one, two, or several sessions to record their stories.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

I think my students are going to have good memories of me.

SPEAKER_04 44:29

You'll receive the full raw recording, an edited selection arranged in audio chapters for easy reference, and produced segments you can use for family gatherings, special moments, or any time you just want to hear your loved one's voice.

SPEAKER_00 44:41

And those are probably my most cherished things.

SPEAKER_04 44:44

Share it with your family and make it a keepsake. Because that's what stories are keepsakes of the time we had together. Never forget that.com. The email is also in this show's notes. Let me record your loved one's story so you can share the sunny side of their life in their own words for years to come. Let's have a seat round the proverbial table. Would you like to say Grace? With a nod to our higher power and Mr. B's spiritual journey.

SPEAKER_03 45:27

For my spiritual journey this week, folks, I'm going to take a break from the 12 steps. And I just think they're so wonderful, and I receive these every day, and they are so motivating to me to keep myself clean and sober that I thought I would share some more with you today. Here's one life is precious. So make joy, peace, and love a priority. Now take that and smear it on your heart. Oh, yes, I think that's warranted to repeat. Life is precious. So make joy, peace, and love a priority. Here's another one. When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. Whoa! Whoa! Here we go again. When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. If we turn ourselves over to our higher power, there's no limit as to our happiness or what we can achieve. Here's one that really struck me. So incredibly simple. Things just work out. They just work out. I believe that. I absolutely believe that in my heart. And that's my motivating factor for staying clean and sober with my food. I just have to learn to trust my higher power, whom I call God, that things are going to work out the way they're supposed to. I may not understand when, where, why, but they will work out. Because my higher power loves me and wants me to be happy. I've got a couple more. Your soul is attracted to people the same way flowers are attracted to the sun. Surround yourself only with those who want to see you grow. Your soul attracted to people the same way flowers are attracted to the sun. If you have somebody around you who doesn't want to see you grow, maybe you need to uh no longer be involved with that person in your life. Two more. Here's your daily to-do list. Number one, wrap your arms around yourself and do a little wiggle. Number two, look in the mirror and say something nice about yourself. Yes. About yourself. Number three, relax. No, seriously. You need to relax. Turn it over. Let your higher power take care of it. Next one, drink more water. You can never have enough water. It's great for your body. And the last one, do one thing that you love every day. Do one thing that you love. And to round out my memes, this is called the butterfly effect. Never underestimate the power of one small change. Every day. Can you make one small change that will enhance your life? If you make it today, maybe you'll make it tomorrow and the next day and the next day. One small change. So folks, this program has been instrumental in my life in turning it around and having me become a much happier, stable person. And I really wish that for all of you too. Now, you may not have an issue with food as I do. Maybe you have some other addiction, maybe you don't. But that doesn't mean that you can't work on self-improvement. And that doesn't mean that you can't turn your life and your sense of control over to a higher power and let that higher power take care of you. It makes daily living so much easier. Okay, folks, that's it. Time to clean the table, time to do the dishes. Oh, you're not going to hang around for that, huh? Okay, I'll take care of it. I'm so glad that you came and sat down at the proverbial table with me today, and that we had a chance to cover a number of different topics, reflect on it, change as a person, and be happy with yourself. Can you think of anything better than just being happy with yourself and saying to yourself, you're okay? Well, my happy podcast friends, you're okay. Until we talk again, continue to tell yourself, you're okay.

SPEAKER_05 51:32

Television dramas and comedic reviews, pet peeves buzzing like honeydew blues, poetry sprinkled like salt on a dish, every word served with a twist and a switched belly up to the table, my friend. The feast of thought will never end. From travel spar to a spiritual climb. More toast of music to dinner.

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Mr. B's dinner party is hosted by Scott Bertelson. Edited and produced by Troy Thompson. Recorded and distributed at Sunnyside Farm Studios and platform by Butterscrap.

SPEAKER_05 52:12

Stations flowing like fine red wine. World journeys mapped with tails divine. He's hosting a dinner for your hungry mind. A banquet of life where you can unwind the lead up to the table, my friend. The feast of thought will never end. From travel spot to a spiritual climb. Morsels of music.

SPEAKER_04 52:51

Subscribe so you never miss an episode and share with your friends. Listen and enjoy every other Wednesday. Conversational Morsels for the Mind on Mr. B's dinner party.