35 Questions Meme

Before that, though, deaths to note. The crash that killed the Polish leader and more than seven dozen other leaders was tremendously sad for that country; I found it deeply affecting. The guy who was dean of my library school when I attended died of cancer. Dixie Carter also succumbed to cancer; yes, I DID watch Designing Women, initially because it was between Newhart and Cagney & Lacey, but eventually on its own merits. Finally, I think the only thing that will create real mine safety is if someone from the WV mining company gets indicted and convicted of 29 counts of manslaughter, and that mine owners continue to be be held criminally liable; obviously, even heavy fines are treated as just the cost of doing business.
***
Sunday Stealing, again.

1. How far away is the last person you kissed?

About a foot away.

2. Has someone ever told you they would be with you forever?

More than once; didn't always work out. To be fair, that was a mutual pledge.

3. Last person you were in a car with?

The Wife and Daughter.

4. Any plans for tomorrow?

Play racquetball, go to work, come home; same as today.

5. How long does it take for you to take a shower?

10 minutes. Less when I'm in a hurry.

6. Best friend or close friends?

Close friends.

7. Is tomorrow going to be a good day?

Sure, why not?

8. Did you kiss anyone Friday?

I'm sure I did.

9. Ever thrown up in public?

Well, yes, actually, twice. The first time I remember quite vividly. I was at a party in my college town of New Paltz, NY and everyone, including me, was drinking. I was consuming a large amount of this Polish vodka, and I was really quite lucid. In fact, I had become the de facto host of the party because the host had passed out. The Polish vodka ran out, so I started drinking some Johnny Walker. In five minutes I went from sober to smashed - a late-arriving guest confirmed that he thought I was clear-headed only minutes earlier - to sick, fortunately in the bathroom. Lesson learned: don't mix drinks.

The other time, I had some flu or food poisoning. I had had a drink or two, but hardly enough to get sick. I always felt badly, though, because my friends Jean and Rich probably thought I was just drinking too much.

10. What's on your mind RIGHT NOW?

Baseball. Or sex. Or sleep. Or money. Wait, music.

11. Who was the last person you talked to?

The Wife.

12. What is the WORST subject they teach at school?

I don't know that there's a "worst" subject. There are things that I am more or less interested in.

13. Have you seen anyone lately that you don't get along with?

Not in person.

14. What is your favourite colour top to wear?

Blue. I have more blue shirts than any other.

15. Have you ever been in a car accident?

At least two that involved medical attention, one which put me in the hospital for a day and a half. Plus the bike avoiding the car thing. And a handful of lesser events.

16. What's the closest thing to you that's green?

When your name is green, your mother's, sisters', wife's, daughter's niece's names are all Green, so it is difficult to say. Oh, lower-case green: An ancient book called Play the Game: The Book of Sport that I used to read as a kid.

17. Where would you like to be right now?

On vacation. I just WAS on vacation.

18. Write down some lyrics to the song you're listening to?

Love is just like a baseball game
Three strikes you’re out

Up to bat
I thought I hit a love run
But to my surprise
I found I didn’t hit none

Threw her love so fast
She put me in a daze
Never knew that love
Could come so many ways

(Here's a recording.)

19. How many dogs do you have?

Zero. Haven't had one in decades.

20. Is anything bugging you right now?

Yes. Fred Phelps' "church", among other things.

21. Is life going right for you now?

It's more than tolerable. But I have a physical tomorrow, so we'll see.

22. Is there someone you care about more than yourself?

Yes.

23. What made you laugh today?

The Daughter: something she said.

24. What was the last movie you watched?

Crazy Heart.

25. Whats the last conversation you had about?

Housecleaning.

26. What were you doing at 7:00 this morning?

Will be getting ready for work.

27. Do you like your hair long or short?

What hair?

28. Do you want to see somebody right now?

If I had the power of teleporting, I'd use it a lot.

29. Do you like the rain?

In moderation.

30. Did you have a valentine this year?

Why, yes.

31. The last person you kissed needs you at 3 am, would you go?

Why not?

32. Would you honestly say you'd risk your life for someone else?

Yes.

33. Honestly, if you could go back 1 month and change something would you?

Not so much. Well, actually, if you said TWO months ago, then the answer would be yes.

34. How do you feel about boys smoking?

I hate smoking, no matter who is doing it.

35. Could you see yourself with someone forever?

I have my hopes.


ROG

Bob & Dick

I've noticed quite often that when someone, say, at church dies, who I might have known for a couple decades, they always have a back story revealed at the funeral I would not have imagined. Whereas the stories of public figures - actors, singers, and the like - are usually well-known to me.

So I was surprised that I was surprised to learn much more about Robert Culp, the actor who died last week at the age of 79. Not only was he a performer but also a writer and sometime director, often of the series on which he was performing at the time.

I knew Culp him best as Kelly Robinson on I Spy, partnering up with Bill Cosby's Alexander Scott. Cosby was a well-regarded young comedian, but known for his stand-up routines, not dramatic performances. Yet Sheldon Leonard gave him the job, Cosby got three Emmys in three years, and Cosby and Culp became good friends.

But what struck me when I get to Gordon's very nice obit of Robert Culp was this book cover of the Whitman novelization Message from Moscow by Brandon Keith (1966). I read this story at least a few times in my early teen years, but oddly I don't remember that much about it, except for one thing: the villain was quite literally "hoist by his own petard."

I Spy: I watched that show religiously for the three years it was on. I venture to say 90% of black Americans watched it, just like most black folk watched Nat King Cole's short-lived variety show a decade earlier. There just weren't that many opportunities to see people of color on the screen - and when you did, they were often in minor, often demeaning roles. I appreciated how both Culp and Cosby demanded that Cosby's race not be a centerpiece of the show. I may have to go to HULU and catch an episode or two to see if it is as good as I remember it.
***
I should mention the passing of Dick Giordano, whose ascension to the position of DC Comics' editor-in-chief corresponded to me starting at the comic book store FantaCo, in 1980. I wasn't a big DC fan, but I did find myself picking up more of their books in the decade or so he was in charge far more than in the period before. I have a vague recollection meeting him once very briefly at the San Diego Comic Con, and he didn't SEEM like a corporate stuffed shirt. I suspect that was because, most of all, he was an artist, specifically a quality inker, so he was inclined to try to undersand and appreciate the artist POV. A much better remembrance here.
***
Oh, and this is coincidentally related. My buddy Steve Bissette has been musing at length about Forgotten Comics Wars of the mid to late 1980s. Subtitled How Angry Freelancers Made It Possible for A New Mainstream Comics Era (Including Vertigo) to Exist, it is a very interesting take on an era when I was actively involved in the retail comics biz. I was going to compile the 12 parts once they were all released, but Mark Evanier, bless him, beat me to it. And ME notes: "That last installment has bittersweet meaning because of the recent passing of Dick Giordano, who was in the midst of the controversy."
ROG

the Experiment

Usually, I try to write something comprehensive (and ideally, comprehensible) to post the next morning. I have maybe a half dozen things in draft form, not quite ready to go. So as a one-off experience, I have gotten up at 5:03 a.m., slightly foggy, and will write for 20 minutes, and post whatever at 5:30.
**
Doing the March Madness thing. For those not familiar, it's college basketball. I think the idea that, theoretically, ANY ONE of the 65 teams (well, 64 now), can win lends a sense of democracy to the proceedings. I have our local team, Siena, winning their first game, over Purdue, just as they won their first first game the last two years as an underdog. Still haven't finished my picks, though, tentatively, I have Kansas over Syracuse, west Virginia over Baylor, and because I believe WV got jobbed out of being a #12 seed, WV over Kansas. Anyone who actually FOLLOWS basketball with insights, please comment. SOON.
***
Gave blood on Tuesday, BP was uncharacteristically high for me. It's usually 100 to 120; that day, it was 138. What changed has been a habituation to caffeinated cola; I mean one a day, not multiples, but I've just stopped. Yesterday about 4:30 pm, I went to the bathroom and threw cold water on my face.
***
Anyone out there use that free wifi searcher from Makayama? I downloaded it, put it on my thumb drive, but couldn't get it to work on my laptop at home.
***
I was checking Dead or Alive this morning.
Knew Peter Graves died. He started on the second season of the show Mission: Impossible, and those two or three seasons with him, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, were among the best in television. He was also in my top three favorite comedy, Airplane!
Merlin Olson died. I never saw a single fill episode of Little House on the Prairie. I knew him as a football player for the LA Rams, back in the days that Los Angeles actually had a pro football team. I mean besides UCLA and USC.
Caroline McWilliams died last month, which I never noted here. I used to love her in Soap and Benson.
Corey Haim died, and I don't know that I ever saw him in anything.
***
Ah, nuts. Time's up
***
EDIT:
Roger Ebert on Glenn Beck and Beck's "I beg you, look for the words social justice or economic justice on your church web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can."
***
Bummer: Alex Chilton died at the age of 59.
ROG

Behind the Curve

Partially because I deigned to watch football the last three weekends and partially because I have the annoying habit of taking on more stuff than I'm comfortable with, I'm behind in watching stuff on TV, reading the paper, etc.

That two-hour Haiti special, the album for which is the first #1 album that exists without an actual physical product? Haven't watched it.

The State of the Union - read the reviews, but not heard the actual address. The chat Obama had with Republicans that went so well for the President that FOX News stopped showing it 20 minutes in - plenty of places to read it or watch it, including here but hasn't happened yet. Still, I think Evanier's right when he notes: Once you tell your constituents that everything Obama does is evil, you can't meet him halfway on anything without appearing to be compromising with evil. You can't even support him when he does things you like. I think that's a lot of our problem right there.

Of course, being behind has its benefits. After Martha Coakley lost to Scott Brown in the Massachusetts race for US Senate, there's been this revisionist message that the Democrats only dumped on her because she lost. Watching the Sunday morning talk shows two and nine days before that election, it was clear that the Democrats, though muted in their criticism - she was still their candidate - suggested that she did not run the robust campaign she ought to have. Yes, in answer to her rhetorical question, you DO pass out fliers in front of Fenway Park.

Some stories I missed altogether, such as the death of Pernell Roberts, the eldest son on Bonanza who later became, in some bizarro world spinoff, Trapper John in the CBS drama Trapper John, MD. It was not a great show, though it was the jumping off point for now-Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell.

I plowed through a couple weeks of the Wall Street Journal and came across this story of Scarlett Johansson's debut on Broadway as well as a very positive review of "Gregory Mosher's revival of 'A View From the Bridge, Arthur Miller's
1955 play about love and death on the Brooklyn waterfront." "Of course you'll be wondering about Ms. Johansson, whose Broadway debut this is, and I can tell you all you need to know in a sentence: She is so completely submerged in her role that you could easily fail to spot her when she makes her first entrance. You'd never guess that she hasn't acted on a stage since she was a little girl."

Other stories I just didn't know what to say. I noticed that Kate McGarrigle of the singing/songwriting McGarrigle Sisters, and also mother of Rufus and Martha Wainwright, died of cancer at the age of 62 back on January 18. The best I could come with is a link to an obituary for Kate written by her sister Anna. I was listening to Trio, an album by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris this week. There's a Kate song called I've Had Enough, about lost love, but feels right here.

Love it's not I who didn't try
Hard enough, hard enough
And this is why I'm saying goodbye
I've had enough, I've had enough
Love you don't see
The pain in me
That's plain enough, plain enough
You're never here to catch the tears
I cried for us, I cried for us

I'll take my share but I'll be fair
There's not much stuff
Easy enough
And if you choose I'll break the news
This part is tough, so very tough

I've tried and tried to put aside
The time to talk, but without luck
So I'll just pin this note within your coat
And leave the garden gate unlocked

And this is why I'm saying goodbye
I've had enough, I've had enough

Her funeral is today in Montreal.

Little Boxes theme from Weeds by the McGarrigle Sisters.

ROG

LOST Question

This has nothing to do with the ABC-TV show of the same name.

The scripture in the lectionary was that reading in Luke where Jesus is 12 and he gets lost. OK, he doesn't think he's lost. Mary and Joseph think he's visiting other relatives, and travel a day before realizing he's not with the other travelers. Frantic, they return to Jerusalem and look all over for three days before finally finding him in the temple. Jesus says, "Yeesh, mom and dad, you should have KNOWN where I'd be." I always thought he was a little impudent. On the other hand, if they were in fact visited by angels before Jesus was born, maybe he had a point.

So my questions:

1. Have you ever been lost as a child?

I was at Ross Park Zoo in Binghamton, NY when I was four or five, maybe six. There were these huge culverts though the park and I wanted to know where they went. I got to the end, or at least as far as I wanted to go, and I came back. *I* didn't think I was lost; I knew exactly how to get back. But my parents thought I was lost. I vaguely recall their combination of relief and anger.

2. Have you ever lost a child?

Well, no, but I have thought from time to time that I had. Lydia has this annoying habit of hiding, and she's pretty good at it, too. So there have been a few times I Thought she was MIA, but fortunately, she was not.
***
And speaking of lost, we lost Chas. Balun, horror film expert, a funny, irreverent, and generally nice bear of a man, to cancer at the age of 61. I started dealing with Chas. in my FantaCo days in the early 1980s when Tom Skulan came across one of his publications and we started it sell it. Later we were putting out the magazine he edited, Deep Red, and eventually we published books he authored, such as Horror Holocaust (1986) and The Gore Score (1987). My dealing with him as the person in charge of the mail order, I'd talk to him about the prosaic issue of how the items were selling. We always seemed to find some amicable banter, primarily about music.

Steve Bissette wrote a nice piece about Chas.


ROG

Should old acquaintance

There are lots of ideas that I come up with for this blog but eventually abandon. Things like, my favorite albums of the aughts or my favorite TV shows of the aughts. I just can't wrap my head around the beginning and end points, I'd likely just forget a bunch of choices, and it'd be unsatisfactory for all involved. Especially me.

(Not to be confused with the things I start but haven't finished yet. Sssh, we won't mention THEM just yet.)

In fact, I don't even note the significant deaths of the year, because everyone else has already done so. I do want to note some deaths I had not mentioned here, most of which did NOT make it into those annual lists in the magazines, because the magazines came out in the FIRST WEEK IN DECEMBER. No one dies in December, it would seem; ask James Brown.

Edward Woodward (11/16, age 79) - there was this show I enjoyed in the mid-1980s called The Equalizer on CBS that I enjoyed immensely. it was about a secret agent for the US government (Woodward) who quit and helped individuals in dire straits. Unfortunately, it was head-to-head, Wednesday at 10 p.m. with St. Elsewhere on NBC, one of my favorite shows, for most of 1985-1988. So I only saw it when the hospital show was in reruns, until The Equalizer's last season, when St. Elsewhere had gone off the air.

Gene Barry (12/9, age 90) - the western Bat Masterson (1958-1961) was a little before my time, but Burke's Law (1963-1965) was not. It about a millionaire L.A. chief of detectives (Barry, pictured above with Jaye P. morgan in 1984), who'd get driven in his limousine to the latest celebrity murder; he was always surrounded by beautiful young women. A great theme song. LOTS of guest stars in these shows. I loved it, yet didn't follow Barry when the show segued into Amos Burke - Secret Agent in the 1965-1966 season.

Oral Roberts (12/15, age 91). When I was 12, his theology was right up my alley. By a decade later, it had become anathema to me. That clip that ABC News showed with Roberts proclaiming need for more money for the ministry, lest the Lord take him away, is one of the most vile pieces of "theology" I've seen.

Connie Hines (12/18, age 78). It must have be difficult for a working actress to be best known as the "mom" of TV horse Mr. Ed (1961-1966), especially since her character Carol didn't even know the equine talked; only her husband Wilbur (Alan Young) did. An insidious theme song, which unfortunately I've known by heart for decades. She seemed to have left acting in 1971.

Brittany Murphy (12/20, age 32!) I saw her in the movies Clueless and Girl, Interrupted. But I enjoyed her most as the voice of Luanne in the cartoon series King of the Hill, the extended theme by the Refreshments which can be found here.

Arnold Stang (12/20, age 91) the voice of a lot of nerdy cartoon characters, plus one of my favorite cartoon characters, the cool and unflappable Top Cat. He also did some onscreen performances. Evanier has a piece or two. I remember THAT theme too, and in case you don't, here's a singalong version.
***
The passing of the Spatula Forum blog, mentioned here only yesterday. I am sad but I understand. Sort of. There's been a number of blogs that I followed that bit the dust this year: Delenda Est Carthago by Greg Burgas, though he still has the Daughter Chronicles; Tom the Dog; Tosy and Cosh. The latter two are on Twitter, but it just ain't the same.
***
So because it pleases me, A Charlie Brown Hey Ya Christmas. Hey, it's only the seventh day of Christmas.


ROG

Anticipating Halloween QUESTIONS

In my twenties, I used to dress up for Halloween. While I might pull out my Frankenstein mask now and then - I REALLY can't breathe in that thing - I've lost my All Hallows Eve mojo.

But this year, the child is going to need an escort for her trick-or-treating; her costume is a ballet dress that lights up - I might just surprise myself by dressing

All I want to know:

Are you dressing up for Halloween? As what?
Are you going to a party, or parties?
Are you going trick or treating? Do you have a child to provide you cover?
***
Top 10 Spooky Buildings
***
My friend Fred Hembeck's comic icon, Soupy Sales, died this week. One of the many things Fred taught me about Soupy is that he was a Motown artist. Really. And some of the songs, as Fred noted, weren't half bad.
A suitable tribute for Soupy.
***
Scott from Scooter Chronicles answers my questions.
***
I've seen this a couple places on the Internet already: the octogenarian war vet's impassioned plea for gay rights.


ROG

Date afternoon

One of the things those relationship "experts" always say is that, in order to keep a relationship strong, you need to continue to "date" your spouse/s.o. It's ESPECIALLY necessary when you have children.

So we decided on a date afternoon this past Sunday. We used to do it once a month, in the middle of the month (we got married on 15 May), but that seems to have fallen by the wayside. The trick about Sunday is that it was communion Sunday (which means a longer service) AND the wife was partially in charge of the after-service snacks. And because my wife's a deacon, people had things to ask her. So while she was talking, I struck up a conversation with someone. It turns out she kept talking because I was talking, and I was talking because SHE was talking. By this point, our babysitter, who had previously had just been sitting around, had engaged in conversation.

So, it's 12:45 pm by the time we get home. too late really to feed the child and get to the 1 pm movies. So instead we went out to a restaurant. It's a Middle Eastern restaurant called Ma Moun. The food was good, but we were mildly worried that no one else came in the whole time we were there.

Then we went to Staples to buy a paper shredder. Tres romantique, n'est-ce pas? Except that it was just nice even doing something that mundane. the cool thing was that they were on sale 25%. The confusing thing was that the one we decided on was only marked down from $79.95 to $74.95; a larger machine would have cost the same. We took it to the counter for a price check and stated our confusion with that minimal discount; the clerk called the manager, who surveyed the situation and said, "How much do you want to pay for it?" Well, since you asked...The manager took $15 off, and the $59.95 was what we had in mind. Usually it's the wife who picks up on these pricing discrepancies, but this time I sussed it out.

It was a nice date.
***
Did that radio thing I was worried about yesterday; I haven't heard it yet, but once the nausea went away, I guess it went OK. I'll listen to it when it's available.
***
Yesterday afternoon about 5 pm, Joe Fludd, long-time FantaCo customer, e-mailed me with the sad news that Nic Morrison, another FantaCo regular who worked there for a time had died. I enjoyed seeing Nic around from time to time. As the obit noted, he "entered into eternal life on his 47th birthday, October 1, 2009, at the Hospice Inn at St. Peter's Hospital, ten days after suffering a devastating stroke." The wake was Sunday, the funeral yesterday; had I known sooner, I might have made one or the other. Quoting a mutual friend, "Nic was a gentle soul and a good person. 47 is too young."
***
Apparently, Blogger has a limit of 2000 labels, and I have reached that threshold. Thus, e.g., I cannot add Nic Morrison to the label. Sometime when I have absolutely nothing better to do, I will deal with relabeling fifty-three months of blogging.

The Random Dozen Meme

I'm Sunday Stealing again:

1. When you go to Wowmart, what one thing do you get every single time, besides a funky-wheeled squeaking cart full of frustration?

The heebie-jeebies. Since I never go there on my own, only with other people, usually those with whom I am related, I find that it's almost like suffocating.

2. What is something that people are currently “into” that you just don’t get or appreciate?

Probably a reality show that I haven't even heard of. I mean I never knew about Jon and Kate until their marriage went south, and now I hear about them ALL OF THE TIME. Oh, I know something else: Twilight. All I know about it is what I read in other people's blogs, none of it complimentary.

3. What is something that really hoists your sail that other people might feel “ho-hum” about?

Racquetball, the sport of kings. And I actually like to watch tennis tournaments such as the U.S. open and Wimbledon.

4. Favorite song to sing in the shower or car?

Oh, there's no singular favorite. It's often affected by my mood or what I've been listening to. On the bike, though, it's as often as not, "Keeping On Running" by the Spencer Davis Group; GREAT bass line.

5. A really great salad must have this ingredient:

Lettuce other than iceberg.

6. What advice in a nutshell would you give to new bloggers?

Write three days worth of stuff before you post your first item; otherwise, you'll have tabula rasa every day.

7. What was the alternate name that your parents almost named you? Do you wish they had chosen it instead of the one they gave you?

Actually, I was always going to be Roger, and my sister Leslie was going to be Leslie. I think my mom was pushing for Margaret for the baby sister, but Marcia was the compromise.

8. What in your life are you waiting for?

Very little. I find that waiting for even the weekend tends to diminish the time I'm in presently in. If it'd Wednesday and I want it to be Friday would mean Wednesday and Thursday are not being honored.

9. You get a package in the mail. What is it, and who is it from?

From my sister Marcia. Something she's passed on from my 18-year-old niece to my 5 year old daughter.

10. Today–what song represents you?

I'm So Tired by the Beatles.

11. What is one thing that blogging has taught you about yourself?

That I'm even more opinionated than I thought I was, and more disciplined.

12. How are you going to (or how did you) choose the clothes you’re wearing today?
What do they say about you in general or specifically how you’re feeling today?

Are they clean? Are they wrinkled? Do they vaguely match? Are they torn? If the answers are Yes, No, Yes, and Depends On Where And How Much, respectively, we're good to go. It means that clothes have never been that important to me.
***
I should note the passing of Larry Gelbart, writer of the TV show M*A*S*H (which I watched religiously), co-creator of the Broadway musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (hilarious, even in a local production I saw), and co-writer of Tootsie (a film I enjoyed), among many other credits, going back to working with Sid Caesar. But I'll just recommend this piece by Mark Evanier and also this one, which rightly points to this piece by Ken Levine.

ROG

Teddy/Ellie

I have had on my bookshelf for the longest time a book called "In Critical Condition: the Crisis in America's Health Care" by Edward M. Kennedy.
Chapter I: Sickness and Bankruptcy - A Double Disaster
Chapter II: What Price Good Health?
Chapter III: No Money, No Medical Care
Chapter IV: Where Have All the Doctors Gone?
Chapter V: The Medical Maze
Chapter VI: Good Care, Poor Care.
Chapter VII: Businessmen or Healers?
Chapter VIII: The Health Insurance Trap
Chapter IX- Better Health Care at Lower Cost in Other Countries
Chapter X: Good Health Care: A Right for All Americans
The book was published in 1972. Does any of the discussion sound at all familiar?

There is little doubt in my mind that Ted Kennedy was one of the greatest United States Senators ever. Just this past weekend on ABC News, John McCain (R-AZ) reiterated that the current health care debate has been stymied in part because his friend, the "Lion of the Senate", wasn't able to participate in the debate fully. Kennedy was an "old-time" senator who really DID work "across the aisle".

I believe his greatness in the Senate was fueled in no small part by the fact that he never became President. like his brother Jack did and his brother Bobby likely would have, had he not been assassinated in 1968. And I think it's because of a tragedy of his own making, Chappaquiddick, in 1969.

I supported Ted Kennedy when he challenged Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination in 1980. Yet, at the same time, I was scared to death for him. Every President who was elected, or re-elected in a year ending in zero, going back to 1840, had died in office. Moreover, all of Ted's brothers had died violent deaths, including his brother Joe in World War II.

(I always thought the 1980 primary season felt like a conversation among Carter, Kennedy and Jerry Brown to a Lovin' Spoonful song, It's Not Time Now.)

So Ted Kennedy's sad but unsurprising death would, in the movies, stir both sides to open their hearts, work together for comprehensive health care reform, and we'd have a nice warm, fuzzy feeling in our bellies as the end credits rolled.

I'm not counting on that.

I do think it would be a fine legacy if the Congress could get together and pass some meaningful reform, and if EMK'd death becomes the prompt, then so be it.
***
The Brill Building composers and producers held sway over popular music in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Among them were Goffin and King, Mann and Weil, Greenfield and Sedaka, Pomus and Shuman, Leiber and Stoller, Barry and Greenwich. The latter were Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, partners both musically and otherwise (they were married for a time).
Here are some songs written or co-written by Ellie Greenwich, who died this week:
AND THEN HE KISSED ME
BE MY BABY
CHAPEL OF LOVE
CHRISTMAS BABY (PLEASE COME HOME)
DA DOO RON RON
DO WAH DIDDY DIDDY
HANKY PANKY
LEADER OF THE PACK
RIVER DEEP. MOUNTAIN HIGH
and a whole bunch more.

She also produced a number of artists, notably early Neil Diamond. Somewhere in my vinyl I have the soundtrack for the Broadway musical Leader of the Pack, in which she starred in the 1980s.
ROG

The Now Vs. Then Meme

One of those Sunday Stealing memes that would have been far more onerous had I compared now with 20 years ago, rather than 10

Then: August 1999

1. Age: 46

2. Romantic Status: newly married 3 months

3. Occupation: librarian, working downtown

4. Fun night out: usually go out to eat

5. My BFFs: Karen, Mark, Norman

6. I spent way too much time: watching sports on TV

7. I spent not enough time: reading books

8. I wanted to be when I grew up: a minister or a lawyer

9. Biggest concern: money

10. What my biggest concern should have been: time

11. Where did I live: in the house that Carol purchased in 1992

12. Dumbest thing I did that year: pretend that I was really cool with Carol going off to Scotland with her friend Jeanne a couple months after we were married. I missed her terribly AND I was still getting used to the house. She still might have gone, but my nonchalance gave her false info.

13. If I could go back now and talk to myself I would say: you'll do OK.

Now: August 2009

1. Age: 56

2. Romantic Status: married

3. Occupation: librarian, working in soulless Corporate Woods

4. Fun night out: say what?

5. My BFFs: Karen, Mark, Norman

6. I spend way too much time: on the computer

7. I spend not enough time: reading books

8. I want to be when I grow up: I don't want to grow up

9. Biggest concern: time for myself

10. What my biggest concern should be: how easily I sunburn now and taking more precautions re: that.

11. Where do I live: in a house Carol and I bought in 2000

12. Dumbest thing I have done this year: knocking down a small beehive in Lydia's playhouse. Even though she was about 20 feet away, she ended up getting stung in the back of the neck by the bee/wasp/hornet. Then I got to listen to her ask, repeatedly, why it attacked her rather than me; the answer, of course, is that it would hurt me more if it stung her.

13. What I think I would say to myself in 10 years: you made it, more or less.

Summary:

1. What do I miss most from 1999: time

2. What do I miss least from 1999: uncertainty

3. What have I accomplished in 10 years that I am most proud of: staying married

4. What have I NOT accomplished in 10 years that I wish I had: that damn world peace; SO elusive.
***
One of the truly awful world events in my lifetime was the plane bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. Over a dozen of the victims had ties with the Albany, NY area where I live. But as Demeur lays out, the one convicted participant might very well have got out on appeal. The release of Megrahi by Scotland may have been more pragmatic than compassionate.
***
From Steve Bissette:
If you are or ever have been a fan of the work of writer Steve Perry of Time Spirits, Thundercats and Silverhawks – not to be confused with either the prolific and popular sf writer or the rock star — and you can afford to help a man on his last legs, please, do so.

Despite the best efforts of myself and others, Steve is in dire straits at this very moment, suffering terminal cancer and lack of any support, and sorely in need of any help that can be sent his way.
***
Two journalists died this past week. Don Hewitt ran the Kennedy-Nixon debate, dubbed Walter Cronkite and created 60 Minutes. He wussed out over a tobacco story, but no one's perfect.

My mom said if you have nothing good to say about someone, say nothing. Robert Novak: NOTHING.
***
Go here August 28 at 9:00AM ET and every Friday through September for a chance to get a Free Real Chocolate coupon for your favorite Mars product.


ROG

Some Meta Blog Stuff

I have a confession to make: I don't write this blog.

It writes itself.

By that, I mean that I experience what I experience, and then I start typing. I have a vague notion of what I want to say, where I want to go, but as often as not, something I write surprises me. "I didn't know I was going to write THAT; hmm, that's interesting."

But lately, there have been a half dozen different topics that have just refused to write themselves. I shan't name them, lest they develop a sense of self-importance: "Ha, we've shown him!" Eventually, they'll see the light of day. Or not.

Meanwhile, Vincent Wright of MyLinkingPowerForum.com notes that:

"We all use search engines.

"Most of us use Google most.

"However, suppose you got search results but, didn't know whether the BEST results for you came from Google, Yahoo, or Bing?

BlindSearch.Fejus.com does that for us."

He typed in his Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook ID, got the results, and was "surprised that the results I preferred were NOT from Google!"

I used my name in various combinations (RogerGreen, RogerOwenGreen, with and without spaces), and the results I preferred were in fact from Google. However, when I used one of my pseudonymous tags, as I do writing LOCs on some blogs such as Salon, the Yahoo! results are more to my liking.

The obvious point is that I ought to be using a consistent name across the Intersnet. Will I go make the change to do that? Maybe. Possibly? Eh, who am I kidding? Probably not. For while I often read those Search Engine Optimization articles, and I think many of them make perfect sense, there's only so many hours in the day. I can write or I can optimize; writing is usually fun, the above notwithstanding. SEO is work, and given the limited time resource between fun and work, I choose fun.

Now if I develop swine flu and am confined to my house, then maybe.
***
If I were writing this blog, I might note the passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and desribe her as essentially the creator of the Special Olympics. But since it's writing itself, it wants you to know that Ms. Shriver's efforts inspired a series of great Christmas music. I bought the first album back in 1987 because I was a sucker for a good cause. But I listened to it every season because it's good. The 1992 follow-up (the green cover) is pretty fine as well. Subsequent collections fall short but include some gems as well.


ROG

That scene in Field of Dreams always makes me cry

Even before my father died on August 10, 2000, there was a scene in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams where the Kevin Costner character is playing catch with his dad - you know, this one - that always got to me. My father and I didn't play catch that much, but he did take me to minor league games in Binghamton (the Triplets - farm team at various times of the Kansas City A's, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves) and explained the intricacies of the sport.

As I noted here, the evening before my father died, when he was in a comatose state, "I turned on a baseball game, and explained the action to my father. I think the sound was down, so I was doing a play-by-play for a couple innings. I told him about Jason Giambi, the long-haired player for the Oakland A's who had 'graced' the cover of Sports Illustrated within the previous year."

So baseball - and music, card playing and football - were shorthand ways for my father and me to deal with each other when other paths were not available.

Here's a couple pictures that my sister came across only last month of my father as an MP at the end of, and after World War II, either in Texas or somewhere in western Europe, sometime in 1945 or 1946:




ROG

John Hughes

I am certainly aware of the iconic nature of the John Hughes ouevre of the 1980s. Yet I am not all that well versed in it. Which is to say that I've never seen Molly Ringwald in a movie: no Sixteen Candles (1984), no The Breakfast Club (1985), no Pretty in Pink (1986). I've also managed to miss most of Hughes' other work.

So what HAVE I seen?

Delta House (1979), a short-lived TV show based on the movie National Lampoon's Animal House. Hughes as a writer. It was the most authentic of the Animal House derivatives, but none of them lasted for very long.

National Lampoon's Vacation (1983). Hughes as writer. Actually saw this in the theater, and recall enjoying it, though I probably haven't seen it since.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). Hughes as writer/director/producer. I'm pretty sure I saw it only on commercial TV. I think I need to see it on video/DVD, because I see the clips and I'm not remembering them.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989). Hughes as writer/producer. Seem to see this on TV a lot during the holidays, though I don't know if I've ever watched it from beginning to end.

Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Hughes as writer/producer. Both on commercial TV. The first one was mildly interesting, but the second one felt as though it was a retread.

Which brings me to my very favorite of the limited number of John Hughes movies I've seen, the only one besides Vacation I actually saw in the movie theater. A film I didn't know, or forgot, was a Hughes film:

Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

If you've not seen it, it is the story of two unlikely traveling companions, played by Steve Martin as a tightly wound man and the late John Candy as a too chummy guy who seems oblivious to the Martin character's boundaries. It's very funny, yet quite poignant. Anyone who's ever had transportation difficulties will definitely relate. I haven't made my Top 100 movie list yet, but I suspect it will contain this film.

Now, I'll have to add some John Hughes to my Netflix list.
ROG

Cory and Ike

I was surprisingly saddened by the death of Corazon "Cory" Cojuanco-Aquino last week, only in part because she led a peaceful revolution that toppled the corrupt Ferdinand Marcos regime in the Philippines two and a half years after the assassination of her husband. Interesting how there have been several presidents and prime ministers in Asian countries with relatively short post-colonization periods, but not yet in the USA.

I'm also reminded, though, of the father of an ex-girlfriend of mine. The ex and I have remained friends, so I would visit her from time to time. Her father, living only a couple blocks away from her, would come over and we'd all play hearts. During the game, he would test us on our knowledge of current events. On one visit back in 1986, all he said, "What does this mean?" He put his hand in the shape of the Aquino liberation L. Fortunately, I knew the answer. He died a few years back, and when I heard about Cory's death, I found myself mourning again his death.

Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, better known as Reverend Ike was a radio and television evangelist, a proponent of a prosperity gospel known as thinkonomics. Long before pikers like Joel Osteen, Ike was doing his thing. I thought he was a charlatan, a snake-oil salesman, but this was the 1970s, in my unchurched period, and I found him an entertaining charlatan.

Here's just a bit of his schtick, as reported here in 2007:

His mail ministry has long included an ever-changing variety of items: miracle prayer cloths, lucky coins, prosperity bracelets and the like, each said to help the user tap into his or her own inner divine power (Reverend Ike suggested, for instance, that the prayer cloth be used to rub lottery tickets or horsetrack betting slips). His latest offerings are "Musivation Ringtones," ringtones for cell-phones he says will motivate followers towards prosperity and success.

The Reverend Mrs. Eula M. Dent Eikerenkoetter (“Rev. Mrs. Ike”), B.A., M.A., D.Sc.L., his wife, serves as Senior Co-Pastor, and his son, The Right Reverend Xavier Frederick Eikerenkoetter (“Rev. Ike’s Son”), B.A., M.Sc.L, D.Sc.L., is his "Bishop Coadjutor."

"I love money and money loves me."
"The lack of money is the root of all evil."
"The Bible says that Jesus rode on a borrowed ass. But I would rather ride in a Rolls Royce than to ride somebody's ass!"
"Be proud of the way I look, because you spend $1,000 a week to buy my clothes."
"The best thing you can do for the poor is not be one of them."

Like the writer, I was surprised he was still around, and I had missed his passing until I saw it mentioned on ABC's This Week.

Another death to report: our cordless phone. My in-laws got it for us the week our daughter Lydia was born. I poo-pooed the need, but now I've miss it terribly the last four days. My father-in-law said it only cost about $15, and to replace the battery would cost about $12; talk about your planned obsolescence.

ROG

And Gordon

One of the very first albums I ever bought from the Capitol Record Club -11 albums for only one cent! (But read the fine print) was BIG HITS FROM ENGLAND AND USA: one side had two songs each from BEATLES, BEACH BOYS, and PETER & GORDON, the other side, 2 songs by NAT KING COLE and CILLA BLACK, plus "Tears and Roses" by AL MARTINO. I probably still have it upstairs in the attic.

The intriguing thing I discovered as I actually looked on the record's label was that Lennon-McCartney were listed as composers not only of the Beatles' songs, Can't Buy Me Love and You Can't Do That, but also of the songs of Peter & Gordon, A World Without Love and Nobody I Know. It took me a while to catch up on the Beatles' trivia that Peter, the one with the glasses, was the brother of Paul's girlfriend Jane Asher. Peter & Gordon recorded a number of Lennon/McCartney (really Macca) tunes such as I Don't Want To See You Again and Women, attributed to Bernard Webb to see if the songs were moving because of the Beatles' connection; based on its chart action, maybe they were.

Peter later became a prolific record producer for James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, among others.

But what of Gordon Waller after the 1968 breakup? According to Gordon's website, he also stayed busy in the music business, with an extensive, if not commercially successful discography.

He also had opportunities to sing with his old mate from time to time. Gordon Waller died of cardiac arrest on July 17 at the age of 64. Peter writes:

Gordon played such a significant role in my life that losing him is hard to comprehend – let alone to tolerate.

He was my best friend at school almost half a century ago. He was not only my musical partner but played a key role in my conversion from only a snooty jazz fan to a true rock and roll believer as well. Without Gordon I would never have begun my career in the music business in the first place. Our professional years together in the sixties constitute a major part of my life and I have always treasured them.

We remained good friends (unusual for a duo!) even while we were pursuing entirely separate professional paths and I was so delighted that after a hiatus of almost forty years we ended up singing and performing together again more recently for the sheer exhilarating fun of it. We had a terrific time doing so.

Gordon remains one of my very favourite singers of all time and I am still so proud of the work that we did together. I am just a harmony guy and Gordon was the heart and soul of our duo.

I shall miss him in so many different ways. The idea that I shall never get to sing those songs with him again, that I shall never again be able to get annoyed when he interrupts me on stage or to laugh at his unpredictable sense of humour or even to admire his newest model train or his latest gardening effort is an unthinkable change in my life with which I have not even begun to come to terms.

I'd read on one of the sites that the duo was originally billed as Gordon & Peter. It's tougher when you're after the ampersand.

World Without Love:

***
There was this old Shake 'N Bake commercial - do they still make that stuff?- and this girl with a STRONG Southern accent says, "And I Haiped!" Which is supposed to be "helped". Brian Ibbott's recent Kinks Koverville, er Coverville was a topic I suggested in honor of Ray Davies' 65th birthday last month. I also pointed out the Tom Jones version of Sunny afternoon, which he played to, so far, positive reaction, I'm surprised to note. ROG

Walter Cronkite

I knew Walter Cronkite was going to die soon. Before the rash of celebrity deaths (McMahon, Fawcett, et al.), it was reported that he was gravely ill. And yet his pasing yesterday still saddens me.

For some reason, I always knew his birthday, November 4. I always how he felt when his 63rd birthday was the taking of the hostages in Iran.

I was aware of his reporting during World War II. But my first recollection was watching him on a history program called The Twentieth Century, which was on from the time I was four to the time I was eleven; my, I was a geeky kid. I was an avid news watcher, pretty much alternating between Cronkite on CBS and Huntley-Brinkley on NBC, until Walter eventually won out.

I have some specific recollections. While I didn't see the now-famous announcement of JFK's death in real time - I was at school - I've seen the footage so often that I feel that I did. I was watching CBS News for wall-to-wall coverage of the aftermath (Oswald being shot, the JFK funeral).

When Cronkite went to Viet Nam in early 1968, then came back and declared in an editorial on February 27 that the war "unwinable, LBJ knew he was sunk and declared his decision not to run for re-election a little more than a month later. It, along with Martin Luther King's opposition to the war, also had a profound effect on my own view of the conflict, which, when I was 14, was vaguely, "It's an American war and I'm an American"; by the time I was 15, this changed to "What ARE we fighting for?" Speaking of King, it was from Cronkite that I heard the awful news of April 4, 1968.

Cronkite was a great cheerleader for space exploration. I must admit not being totally sold on it. But his enthusiasm for it, which won him NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award three years ago, was so infectious that I was almost as excited as he with each new launch.

He was a hoot playing himself on the Mary Tyler Moore Show in February 1974.

After he retired as anchor in 1981, I always made a point of watching him in documentaries. Until recently, he was also host of the Kennedy Center Honors.

In this rash of celebrity deaths, I heard a lot about how people should feel a certain way because they didn't "know" them personally. (Did we "know" JFK or King? Yet we mourned.) When you've let someone into your home through television (or music or whatever), you do feel that you've "known" them. Having let Walter Cronkite into my home for almost my entire life, now that I think of it, and in ways of great impact, I mourn his loss.

ROG

McNamara's Band

I have a strong sense that there's a whole bunch of younger people know the name Robert McNamara in their history books, if at all. But for me, he was a frustrating man, who, as Secretary of Defense under JFK and LBJ, oversaw the increased involvement by the United States in the Vietnam conflict. (I am loath to call it a war, for as in more current offenses, there was no actual declaration of war, only a Gulf of Tonkin resolution after some dubious circumstances.) It was a war of choice, causing huge divisions in this country, some of which - see the Swiftboating of John Kerry in 2004 - have been slow to heal.

McNamara's later mea culpa hardly makes up for the harm to so many. He died on July 6 at age 93.

ROG

Superheroes

You Would Be a Upstanding Superhero

You are alert and observant. You can see through people easily. You know who's evil and who's good. You need a lot of freedom in your life. You like to do your own thing, and you don't fit into any normal mold. You understand people quite well and often know what others are thinking. Because of this, you can get people to do what you want. You are a shapeshifter who fits in with almost any group. You can get along with anyone. You're quite flexible. You are a true philosopher. You are thirsty for wisdom. You are trying to figure out the meaning of life.

What Kind of Superhero Would You Be?

***
Steve McNair died. I must admit that, until there were more of them in the NFL, I used to keep track of all the black quarterbacks. There had been a prevailing feeling that they didn't have the "necessities" available to lead a team. McNair was one of the best.

Do you know what I don't get? Murder-suicide, which is a working theory in this case. If proven true in this case, it would be unusual in that the it would be the woman who killed McNair before killing herself.
ROG

Yawn - here now the news

I have found a lot of the details of the recent news less than riveting.

The Sanford sex scandal: more hypocrisy from someone who chastised others (in his case, Bill Clinton, among others.) Another sobbing confession; comparing himself to King David was a nice touch though. In fact, the only real issue for me is possible is him being "out of pocket" for a week. Don't know South Carolina law, but it's the disappearing that seems to be the real issue. And I can't help but think that if he HAD notified his staff and the lieutenant governor he was away, the sex part might not have come out at all.

The blow-by-blow of the joke we (not laughingly) call the New York State Senate doesn't interest me any more. I just want them to grow up and gt back to work. Last week, I asked my wife if she had heard the big news. She said, "You mean how a senator insulted the governor?" I said, "No, that Michael Jackson died." Don't even care which senator said what to whom. i DO think that the governor, David Paterson, is looking more..gubernatorial in all of this, though.

And speaking of Michael Jackson, we've now gotten into the silly season, and most of what has happened since about Monday, I've caught the headlines, but am actively not reading the stories. A couple things I noticed though. Last Friday's ABC News, which dedicated the majority of the show to Michael, played snippets of songs by the J5 and MJ; they described the first song as "One More Chance-1970" when it was "I Want You Back". It would have been an understandable error on Thursday as a breaking story on Thursday, but sloppy on Friday. At least two podcasts identified "Ebony and Ivory" as by Paul McCartney and MJ, when it was by Macca and Stevie Wonder. The good news is that a couple of folks - wish I could remember who - who noted that Off the Wall was Revolver to Thriller's Sgt. Pepper; less well-known but the better album.

Should Bernie Madoff gotten 150 years? Of course not. He should have gotten 99 years, and with good behavior would be out of prison before he hit 120. But seriously, it doesn't much matter to me.

Oscars are going to have 10 best picture nominees? Whatever. There were double-digit numbers of nominees in several categories in the late 1930s (and I don't care enough to even look it up!) I do recall that 1939, one of the best years in cinema, had a huge number of nominees. I wonder, though, that by dumping some of the non-competitive awards, it will change the character of the show. And would the nomination of, say, The Dark Knight and WALL-E (probably) in the Best Picture mix have changed the outcome last year? Unknowable, of course.

I'm watching Bill Moyers on PBS tonight, but even after that shot of Christianity in the liberal tradition, I'm convinced most people will still believe that when they hear the words "Christian in America", they'll assume, in the words of local pastor Jo Page: "anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-socialized medicine, pro-gun rights, pro-creationism, pro-abstinence and literalist when it comes to reading the Bible."

Is Shia Labouef dating Megan Fox? Surely, I don't care, but am surprised to note that I actually know who they are. (I saw the movie "Holes" and I read other blogs.)

I do care that Karl Malden died, but he's been out of the public eye so long - one appearance on the West Wing in 2000, nothing else since 1993 - that most people thought the 97-year-old had passed away years ago. I did watch The Streets of San Francisco regularly, but save for On The Waterfront, I'm not sure I ever saw him on film. And he never convinced me to buy American Express travelers' checks.

ROG