Boss

A host of A-list bands hit the road this year, and nearly every one played a show in the area. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band made a triumphant return to Baltimore, playing the 1st Mariner Arena for the first time since 1973, when they opened for Chicago. Springsteen led the band through an electric set that lasted nearly 3 1/2 hours. Frank Remesch, 1st Mariner's general manager, had tried for years to get The Boss to come back to Baltimore. When Springsteen finally returned to the old arena, in front of an audience of 14,839, Remesch said it was a religious experience.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the role of government regulations. Many Democrats will argue that we don't have enough. Many Republicans will argue that we have too many. So who's right? I don't think either is inherently right or wrong. I liken the government to a boss, and the economy to a job. The way the government and the economy interact is like an employee/manager relationship. So we must ask, what kind of boss do we feel successful with? Do we like a boss who is breathing down our necks, one who gives us a set of guidelines and allows us to work, or one who is totally absent?

I met George Steinbrenner when I was a Yankee fan and he went to Cleveland Indians games and he was not The Boss. He was a Williams College kid from Cleveland, but bubbling with high-pitched enthusiasm even then more than a half century ago. He ran track and helped edit a college newspaper in my hometown in Massachusetts. I was the sports editor of our high school paper, The Spirit, with my own cliché-stuffed column called "Toeing the Rubber." This all came back when I learned that Mr. Steinbrenner, the man who made the New York Yankees great once again — and then again — died at 80 of a heart attack last week at his home in Tampa.

When, a couple of days ago, I suggested accepting they  as a singular to provide the epicene pronoun English otherwise lacks, there was the sort of brouhaha that one encounters whenever some minor idol is toppled from its plinth.  It occurs to me that the comments fell immediately into the stereotyped responses in disputes over usage and that I could report them here, perhaps using them as a template for responses to further kerfuffles....

On Tuesday, December 21, 2004, LUCY WELLING BOSS; beloved wife of the late James G. Boss, mother of Ellen Mc Kisson and the late Thomas Stanley Boss, grandmother of Stephen W. Gilmer. Memorial services will be held 11 A. M Saturday, January 8, 2005, at St. Philips Episcopal Church, Laurel, MD. Interment private. Arrangements by Donaldson Funeral Home, P.A.

On May 13, 2005, MARGARET E. BOSS (nee Adams); devoted wife of the late Raymond Link Boss; loving mother of Raymond, Robert, Sr. (and his wife Kathy), and John (and his wife Lisa) Boss; cherished grandmom of Louis, Angie, Mike, A.J., Jennifer, Kristy, Matthew, and Bobby, Jr.; sister of Gladys Gardner, Betty Knecht, Arthur, William, and the late Donald, Gilbert, and Charles Adams. Relatives and friends may call at the family owned Ambrose Funeral Home, Inc., 1328 Sulphur Spring Road, Arbutus, on Monday from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 P.M., where a funeral service will follow at 8 P.M. Interment will be held Tuesday at 10 A.M. at the Veterans Cemetery of Garrison Forest.

Someone close to you is bossy. He/she is always telling you how you should do things. You're an adult, capable of making your own choices. You resent this bossy interference! But you usually go along with The Boss, because, when you have told him to butt out, it ended in arguments.Going along with a pushy person is your first mistake. Arguing with him is your second. In either case, it only enables him to become even more strong-minded.What are you supposed to do, move to Canada to get away from him?

A new program to help unemployed and low-income people start their own business was scheduled to be unveiled today.Entitled Business Owner Start-Up Services (BOSS), the program, is one of five state-run entrepreneurial training projects nationwide. Maryland's program, which began operation last Monday, will be piloted in the Baltimore metropolitan area. The other four projects are under way in Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa and Mississippi.BOSS is designed to provide business-skills training and opportunities for participants to apply for business loans.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. said yesterday that its chairman and chief executive, Edward Brennan, will retire Aug. 9 and be succeeded by Arthur C. Martinez, who now is chairman of the Sears Merchandise Group and credited for much of the company's dramatic retailing turnaround. He joined Sears in 1992 from Saks Fifth Avenue. Sears Vice Chairman James Denny will also be stepping down on Aug. 9.

I CAN'T REMEMBER exactly when we started calling my father The Boss, but I'll never forget why. His authoritarian style left no question as to who was in charge at our house. He could make me feel like I was being cross-examined in court, especially if I espoused ideas that differed from his. I had to be well-prepared and have my facts straight. Even if I won a debate, I didn't care; I was just thankful it was over. As a result, today I am able to hold my own with anyone.Admittedly, The Boss made a lot of mistakes and was wrong about a lot of things.

Keeping your opinions to yourself at work might not be easy in today's supercharged political climate. With the general election just weeks away, political discussions naturally come up in offices, on campuses and at job sites throughout the Baltimore area. But seemingly harmless banter about the latest debate or a candidate's misstep quickly can turn ugly, some workplace experts warn. Strong opinions on candidates and issues can become a source of conflict and tension, experts say, potentially offending colleagues, bosses, even customers.

A decade after graduating from Baltimore's Gilman School, some alumni might be vaulting up the ladder in careers as executives or politicians. But Brian Sher, Class of '86, was looking at the lowest rung - starting out as a trainee in the mailroom of a Hollywood talent agency. After attending Tulane and the University of Southern California, Sher had tried doing most of the things young people do to break into show business: working as production assistant on a movie, playing a walk-on character and writing a screenplay.

A Baltimore County man was found guilty on Tuesday of murdering his girlfriend's boss in 2008, according to a statement from the state's attorney's office. A jury convicted Antoine M. Reed Jr., 33, in the death of Milton Barnes, who was shot in the head at an apartment management office at 6307 Monika Place in Woodlawn on June 24, 2008. Barnes, 36, was the manager of the Hunter's Crossing Apartments and had been having difficulties with an employee, who had been dating Reed, the statement said.

Will Ed Reed show up at Ravens training camp at the end of the month? The Pro Bowl free safety gave us another tea leaf to read Saturday evening when he sent this message to his “bosses” via his Twitter account. “Back home with my son, he's riding his bike [and] I'm doing yard work! Tell the bosses I'm comfortable !” Though Reed was clearly trying to catch the Ravens' attention with the Tweet, I would caution against reading too much into one Tweet. Why do I say that?

Torsten Boss can get used to these wooden bats. In just his second game after leaving college, the Aberdeen IronBirds' third baseman slugged two home runs to lead the Orioles' short-season Single-A affiliate to a 8-3 victory over Hudson Valley on Tuesday night. It was a somewhat unusual display of power for Boss, the Orioles eighth-round pick in this month's amateur draft. Boss has the ability to go deep but never exceeded the seven-homer mark in three seasons at Michigan State.

Now that Vladimir Putin is Russia's president once again, the result of still another fraudulent election, we should expect ever more hostile relations with Moscow. Mr. Putin, a vain and vulgar man, was born and bred to despise the United States. And in recent times, Washington has given him little reason to change his mind. The latest example: President Obama waited several days before calling Mr. Putin to congratulate him on his election victory this month - though Mr. Obama did manage to call Francois Hollande just a few hours after he won the French presidential elections.

Belvedere Square wraps up its outdoor series of concerts on film with a documentary of Bruce Springsteen rocking out in Dublin. In We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, cameras follow the Boss and the Session Band on the final stop of the 2006 tour. The original album was a favorite of many critics, and the tour ramped up the material creatively. But the Seeger Sessions may put off Springsteen purists. The tour featured music by radical folk musician Pete Seeger, not songs penned by the Boss himself; the E-Street Band is nowhere to be found.

In the running for the Nicest Boss in Maryland award is this guy, who just bought 200 Mega Million tickets and promised to share the winnings -- in a big, big way, with his workers. Dennis Kane of Kane Construction said he was the only winner, he'd pay the mortgages off of everyone in his company. And that was before he knew the jackpot was up to $640 million. Maybe now he workers will also get cars. Cost of tickets: $200. Value in corporate good will of making a pledge like this: Priceless.

Steven "J.R. " Blackwell, the leader of an East Baltimore drug conspiracy linked to a yearlong street warwith rivals, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Friday as part of a guilty plea he struck with prosecutors last fall. Though he was not charged with any acts of violence, authorities believe Blackwell's organization is tied to a wave of shootings touched off by the abduction in April 2008 of his then-teenage brothers. But Blackwell, 27, still faced up to life in prison after being charged with overseeing a multimillion-dollar heroin conspiracy and laundering the proceeds through gambling winnings in Las Vegas and state lottery tickets.