Glory Days

Across America, Moose, Elk and Lions are becoming endangered species. The Junior Chamber of Commerce is getting a bit senior. Optimists' numbers look, well, less than optimistic.The ranks of traditional service organizations are thinning at the end of the 1990s -- making it harder for groups that once united main streets to accomplish their missions of community service.The reasons are many.Two-career couples, now commuting from suburbs and exurbs, have less time to commit to organizations, particularly those with lots of meetings.

Contrary to popular belief, you can go home again. What you can't do is expect things to be exactly as they were -- especially if it has been a dozen or more years since last you were there.Seeing Bruce Springsteen back together with the E Street Band for the first time since the late '80s was a lot like going home for many of the roughly 20,000 fans packed into Washington's MCI Center last night.They mainly played the old favorites, the songs that made Springsteen a rock and roll legend: "The River," "Jungleland," "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run."

ARE YOU in your 20s and want to start investing? "There's no time like the present," says Black Enterprise magazine."If you start in your 20s you'll have more money -- and be able to retire earlier -- than will your older counterparts."Investing $100 a month starting at age 25 at 12 percent -- only 1.5 percentage points above stocks' annual average 70-year growth rate -- your money will reach $1 million by age 65."If you wait till 30 you'll need $200 a month to reach $1 million."Because you're young and won't need the money right away, sock more dollars into aggressive investments like stocks and stock funds rather than in conservative investments like Treasury bonds or certificates of deposit.

The South Carroll Republican Club will have its third annual Ol' Glory Days Dinner June 18 at Martin's Westminster.Guests will be U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson, an Arkansas Republican, and U.S. Sen. Robert C. Smith, a New Hampshire Republican who is a presidential candidate.A private reception with the guests will be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., followed by the dinner and program.Tickets are $40 for the dinner and $100 for dinner and reception. Deadline for tickets is Friday.Information: 410-781-6316 or 410-875-0605.

I SIPPED THE PAST the other afternoon, and it tasted pretty good. National Premium -- a locally made beer once considered among the classiest lagers in the land, only to drop out of production in 1996 -- is making a comeback.The reborn beer was served last week at the Baltimore Waterfront Festival by its new owner, Frederick Brewing Co., the Maryland craft brewery known for its variety of small-batch beers, including one made with hemp seed.Judging by the glass of National Premium I downed, the old favorite is off to a promising second start.

BOSTON -- On a bright Friday morning, Ray Flynn shows up at the hiring hall of the International Longshoremen's Association to pick up the union's endorsement.It was voted a couple of weeks ago, but it is necessary to have a press conference to announce it. As it happens, the only press on hand is one out-of-town reporter but, what the hell, in politics you go through the drill. So William McNamara, vice president of the ILA, says the union "will never forget what he did as mayor of Boston for the working people of the city of Boston."

Roddy McDowall may never have achieved superstar status, but his death Saturday at his Los Angeles home deprives us of one of the last, and most active, links to Hollywood's Golden Age.Today on AMC, you can get a hint of how expansive McDowall's career was. A tribute to the former child star begins at noon with his appearance on the cable channel's whimsical series about life at a fictional 1940s radio station, "Remember WENN." At 12: 30, McDowall stars in 1943's "My Friend Flicka," as a young boy struggling to raise a sickly horse; the sequel, 1945's "Thunderhead, Son of Flicka," follows at 2 p.m. At 3: 30, McDowall and Doris Day star in "Midnight Lace."

CLEVELAND -- After nearly five days of discussions, the Washington Bullets have agreed to a contract with Bernie Bickerstaff, who will be introduced today as the team's new coach.Bickerstaff, who began the season as the coach of the Denver Nuggets before stepping aside to resume his duties of general manager, was the top choice of the Bullets from the time the team fired Jim Lynam on Wednesday."We've agreed to a contract, in principle," Bullets general manager Wes Unseld said last night before the start of the NBA All-Star Game.

ASK ABOUT Pikesville rye these days and chances are Marylanders will more readily identify it as a country music band than as a whiskey that once was distilled in Baltimore and enjoyed throughout the region. Will the same thing happen to National Bohemian beer, a favorite Baltimore brew for 111 years (except during Prohibition) after Stroh's closes its Halethorpe brewery and transfers the production of the brand to Pennsylvania?These are unsettling days for the nation's industrial brewers.

IN ITS GLORY days, more than 260 years ago, London Town on the banks of the South River rivaled nearby Annapolis. It was a port officially designated for export and import. Yet in 1747, this prosperity ended when a new Tobacco Inspection Act was enacted and London Town could no longer serve as one of the ports for tobacco export. Did Annapolis' envy of a neighboring community cause this diminution in London Town's status? We will probably never know for sure because no documents about the decision have survived.

You did not have to be around for the glory days of the Orioles to understand why putting Baltimore back on the road jerseys is so uplifting to the city's soul. "Every other team comes in here with their city's name on the front of their jerseys," said Kris Burton of Parkville as he stood inside the Gallery at Harborplace for the unveiling of the new jerseys yesterday afternoon. "It means a lot to me. I'm proud of Baltimore. It doesn't matter how bad [the Orioles have] been or how much they've been losing.

1 Payoff time: The $390,000 winner's purse is at stake today in the final round of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship at Baltimore Country Club (4 p.m., ch. 11). First tee is 8:30 a.m. 2 'I shook up the world': It's Cassius Clay's last fight, sort of. He meets champ Sonny Liston in 1964 (1 p.m., ESPN Classic). The next day, Clay said he was changing his name to Muhammad Ali. 3 Raising awareness: Figure skaters, gymnasts and musical performers look to raise awareness of women's cancers in the two-hour "Frosted Pink With a Twist" (4 p.m., Ch. 2)

Loren Roberts, the defending champion of the Constellation Energy Senior Tour Championship, was in town yesterday to do interviews with the media as he prepares to defend his title Oct. 9-12 against a field that includes Tom Watson, Jeff Sluman, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Jay Haas, Mark O'Meara and Maryland's own Fred Funk. Roberts cruised last year, beating Watson by six shots. Since its inception, the tournament has raised more than $8.5 million for local charities. Always a good sport, Roberts agreed to answer five wacky questions from us. 1. Politics aside, whom do you like in an alternate-shot match between Barack Obama-Joe Biden and John McCain-Sarah Palin?

English Beat at Rams Head Relive the glory days of ska when the English Beat hits Rams Head Tavern for two concerts this week. The group performs at 7 p.m. today and tomorrow at the tavern, 33 West St., Annapolis. Tickets are $31.50. Call 410-268-4545 or go to ticketing.ramsheadtavern.com FYI Edward Gunts has the day off. His architecture column does not appear today.

Larry Doyle can seem a little obsessed with high school. He is 48, and the winner of two Emmy Awards for his writing on The Simpsons, but his resume still lists this achievement: National Merit Scholar, Buffalo Grove High School, 1976. Doyle would also like you to know that he graduated 13th in his class of 513, but that some of the people above him took easy classes. He wrote for the school paper, acted in student plays and was on the speech team (but not debate: he had his limits). It goes without saying that he still has dreams set at his alma mater.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani now leads Arizona Sen. John McCain in the race for the Republican nomination. Given conservatives' wariness toward Mr. Giuliani - who is twice divorced and supports both reproductive and gay rights - it's surprising to find "America's mayor" as the GOP front-runner. Here's my theory for why Mr. Giuliani is ascendant: It's not so much because he triggers memories of the horrific day in the fall of 2001 when the terrorists attacked, but that he reminds Republicans of the fall of 2002.

How long will a commercial building sit vacant in Baltimore, even along a well-traveled street that seems otherwise to be a business-healthy rialto? It's as if Baltimore has a short supply of entrepreneurial talent -- or maybe we complain too much about a lack of parking. I was snooping around near the Washington Monument this week and taking in the great weather that my father, Joe Kelly, calls the Bonus Days. He means, of course, unseasonably fine weather, before everyone goes into hiding for the winter penalty period.

Curbside delivery combines takeout with the roller-skating diner servers from decades ago. Patrons call ahead to order, give the restaurant a description of their car, pull into a special parking spot and waiters bring the food out to them. Many restaurant chains offer the service. Here's howsome compared: APPLEBEE'S 8610 LaSalle Road, Towson 410-296-7077 HOURS -- 11 a.m. to midnightMonday to Thursday; 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday to Saturday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday Two can share the Sicilian sirloinmeal, $12.49,which comes with two 5.5-ounce steaks cooked to order.

Before it was canceled, Walker, Texas Ranger was a mediocre television show that often hovered in the bottom half of the ratings. When the last round of political conventions befell us in 2000, though, the CBS action show still outdrew the network's coverage of the Republican coronation of George W. Bush nearly 2-1. Four years later, ratings like that suggest the biggest question confronting the Democrats this week in Boston and the GOP next month in...

OK, television lovers, get out your maps of TV Land, because we have a new locale to chart. It's an island called Glory, and it's somewhere between Dawson's Creek and Jessica Fletcher's Cabot Cove. And, if its architect, Kevin Williamson, can build on the foundation that he lays in tonight's pilot, Glory Island could be a regular weekly stop for millions of young viewers. Glory Days is a new WB series that is part murder-mystery-suspense and part twentysomething relationship drama from the creator of the feature film Scream and the WB teen drama Dawson's Creek.