weekender...

First Celebrity Dies of Swine Flu ...

And we all know who the carrier is...

have you no shame, Maxx?
this is serious.
an icon has...
fallen in the dump?

now, who's going to tell us the truth?

if you have to be told that if you press the play button you might be offended or it's not safe to watch at work, then you absolutely need to hear the truth...






i chose hope as one of the "labels" for this post because George was a beacon of hope for this crazy world we live in...

and cynicism because real hope is filled with it...

happy birthday, Barbra...

As if We Never Said Goodbye
from Sunset Boulevard

happy birthday...

Joan Baez...



wow... I find myself dealing with birthdays of celebrities, noted people and others that were part of what now has become my youth. today is Joan Baez's birthday - 67 years old. but, you know, she stills sounds exactly the same as she did in the 1960's when I first saw her live. it seems like only yesterday that i saw her in live performances and she didn't have any grey/white hair.

of course, neither did i. of course, i also had hair. now it's become more, maybe i should say less, of a pigment of my imagination. i realized about ten years ago that i had more and more forehead to wash and less and less hair to comb. now, i hardly ever bother combing it. of course, i have a barber who told me the trick to make it look like you have more hair is to keep your hair short. it works.



posting this week is light in both content and quantity. i have a busy schedule and am also doing some workshops and meetings a couple of days/evenings this week. [it's so nice to only work several days a month and get paid what i did working full time. i should have done this years ago. no one said it could be done. actually, they probably did, but i didn't listen.]

it's light in content because i'm getting really sick of hearing all this primary b***s***. it's the same thing over and over. we've had over a year of it and we still have 10-11 more months. i'm sick of hearing Jesse Jackson, Jr and John Edwards saying that real men don't cry and Hillary planned the whole thing. i'm over hearing about Huckabee's religion and Romney's flip-flops. [i like them better as things you wear on your feet.] i find myself turning off the television or watching the Bourne movies or Underworld: Evolution over and over because i don't have to think, only be entertained, and they seem to make more sense than reality - an overrated idea.

i have always loved Robin Williams' take on it: Reality! What a concept!

Dan Fogelberg...

One of the things that I've noticed while getting older is that you start to view hearing about people's deaths differently. Before, the reaction was a combination of initial shock and then a shrug of the shoulders. Like hearing a statement of fact that momentarily had an emotion attached to it.

Now, it's like, "Oh, another one." and an instant recall of memories associated with the person or a memory that I attached to a person. It weighs a little more than before.

News of Dan Fogelberg's death was on Page 2 of today's Chicago Sun-Times. My mind instantly went to the face of a friend I haven't seen or talked to in many years - April. I don't know exactly why we haven't kept in touch; we were very close. I contacted her a couple of times. I even got a clipping from her about her father's death a few years ago. I guess, no, I know, things just happen.

Why Dan Fogelberg brought her to mind, I'm not really sure. Maybe, it was his voice. Maybe, it was some song we shared by him. Who knows? At least, we'll always have memories.

I know a lot of people are familiar with the song Run For the Roses but I'm not sure that many are aware that Dan Fogelberg wrote it. I liked this video of it. Enjoy Dan's voice...

Obama and Oprah...

Take a look at the picture from the Obama/Oprah rally in Iowa. It's very interesting. The vast majority of people attending are white. White women are Oprah's base for both her show and other things.



Where are the African-Americans?

ABC World News Saturday made the observation that many people left the rally after Oprah spoke and before Obama began his stump.

as i said, interesting...

Posh (AKA Victoria Beckham) Spice...

to start the day on a light note.

In a Barbara Walters' interview with Victoria and David Beckham, David says he's always wanted lots of kids. His wife gave him a leery look out of the corner of her eye when he said that.

When Barbara Walters asked her about having more kids she responded, "Having three very active boys, it's become more an issue of crowd control."

how true. i never really thought about being in front of a class of 30+ kids all those years in these terms, but it fits...

if you have a theatre, symphony, sports, dance or opera subscription...

you may not know the name Danny Newman but he had a direct bearing on your life, especially with the 10% discount you usually receive from having that subscription.

Danny Newman wrote the book on subscriptions, Subscribe Now!, that is still used today as the bible for most organization in the arts and other areas. One could say that he single-handedly help save the arts in the world.

He was also the co-founder of the Lyric Opera of Chicago along with Carol Fox and a few others, not only one of the premier opera companies in the world but also one of the most successful.

Danny died this weekend at the age of 88. He was a marvel.

I met Danny a number of times over the years, with the restaurant at which I worked and through friends. He could not be easily forgotten. He had a story about everything in the arts and everyone in the opera world. Yet, I never heard a disparaging word from him on anyone. Heaven knows, in my life, I have heard some hair-raising stories about some very famous people. [AND no, i won't tell.] You can read some of the stories in a book he wrote last year - Tales of a Theatrical Guru. There are stories in it from Luciano Pavarotti to Jimmy Durante to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy to Maria Callas.

Danny also was famous at the Lyric as the bearer of bad news. If Danny walked out on stage before a performance, you would hear 3,2000 people groan all at once. He was there to announce that one of the singers had cancelled tonight's production. If you were lucky, he was announcing that "though indisposed by a cold, ________ has graciously decided to sing tonight and begs your understanding and forgiveness." John Von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune portrayed it best in today's obit:

"La-dies and gen-tle-men ... " he would begin, his voice ringing with clarion fervor, like a latter-day Moses delivering the 10 Commandments.

Before he retired, he was also the voice that you heard asking you to turn off your pagers and cellphones. No one ever booed..., they usually applauded.

It was always a warm and pleasant feeling when you saw Danny and you always ended up laughing. Appropriately, the Lyric named its Box Office after him when he retired. Talk about a fitting gift to the man who gave to so many others...

f*** 'em, if they can't take a joke...

happy birthday, Bette...




but seriously...




no, there's still a lot more to come...

gratuitous blond video...

you all know how i have this, this... thing for blond jokes. some people think that the video below actually started it all. it's not. it happened way before this...



it was actually because of Marilyn Monroe in the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire. well, maybe it was even before then. hell, i was probly born with it...

enjoy MM here -

Jerry Hadley...

died this past Wednesday after shooting himself in the head on July 12th. Suicide is always a sad thing when someone takes the ultimate hopeless escape. It's especially unfortunate when it's someone who creates beauty and enjoyment.

I had the privilege of seeing Mr. Hadley many times on stage live. He was always a pleasure and gave great performance. He performed all over the world including La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera. He was a staple at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and a native of Illinois.

The video below is of Leonard Bernstein's operetta Candide. It was the last performance that Bernstein conducted before his death. It is especially poignant because the maestro hand-picked the entire cast, especially Mr. Hadley and soprano June Anderson who is singing with him. Mr. Hadley was 55 years-old.



p.s. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you will understand that I am particularly fond of the last line of the work:

"Any questions?"

Bubbles is very ill...

Bubbles was Beverly Sills' childhood nickname and it has continued as an endearment to opera fans around the world.

Ms. Sills is probably second to Maria Callas for bringing the rebirth opera to the masses in the 20th century. She not only is a superb singer but works behind the scenes in fund raising, conducting, producing, etc., etc., etc.

The New York Times this morning has reported that she is gravely ill with cancer and has been fighting it for quite a long time.

Below is a great example of her explosive talent.



all the best, Ms. Sills. I have had the pleasure of hearing you in person and adoring every minute of it...

the lion sleeps tonight...

Hank Medress is the voice on one of the most popular songs written, the title of this post. He died at the age of 68 this past week. Below is what probably has become the most well-liked version produced:



brings a smile to my face every time I watch it...

the lion is asleep...

what's going on here (part XXIV)...

can someone, please, explain...

1. 'I Abhor Injustice,' Alleged Madam Says

Miz Julia was the pseudonym for Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the woman at the center of a sex scandal that has caused a deputy secretary of state to resign and has lawyers calling around town trying to keep their clients' names out of public view. A one-time law student, Palfrey ran for 13 years what she insists was a legal escort service. Federal prosecutors allege she was providing $300-an-hour prostitutes, and a grand jury indicted her in February on federal racketeering charges....

On Friday, Randall L. Tobias resigned as deputy secretary of state one day after confirming to Brian Ross of ABC that he had patronized the Pamela Martin firm. Speaking yesterday on "Good Morning America," Ross said Tobias told him Tobias's number was on Palfrey's phone records because he had called "to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage." There had been "no sex," Ross quoted Tobias as saying, and that recently he has used another service, "with Central American gals," for massages....

You see, if it ain't about money, then it's about sex. Oh, and by the way, though Mr. Tobias denies that there was any sex, he was K. George W's AID's Czar! Do massages count as abstinence? just asking...

2. New Noah's Ark ready to sail

SCHAGEN, Netherlands (AP) -- The massive central door in the side of Noah's Ark was thrown open Saturday -- you could say it was the first time in 4,000 years -- drawing a crowd of curious pilgrims and townsfolk to behold the wonder.

Of course, it's only a replica of the biblical Ark, built by Dutch creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.

Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, Johan's fully functional ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house. (Watch a tour of the replica Ark )

Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.

Some people have too much time on their hands. Some people have too much money and don't need anymore. [Did you notice the cash register in the video link? Think Noah had one too?] Some people will do anything for attention. Some people want everyone to believe as they believe only. Do you think the damn thing will even float? mmmmmm...

3. The Daddy Dilemma

YOU'D THINK that we have enough problems keeping fathers around in this country, what with out-of-wedlock births and divorce. But these days, American fatherhood has yet another hostile force to contend with: artificial insemination, or AI.

While the number of kids born as a result of the procedure (about 1 million so far in the United States) is still quite small, AI is having a disproportionate cultural and legal effect and is advancing a cause once celebrated only in the most obscure radical journals: the dad-free family.

Today's sperm banks provide lengthy online catalogs of donors, containing such basic stats as height, hair color, eye color and education, as well as results from personality tests for an extra fee. The sophisticated marketing of sperm banks, which appeals to single women and lesbians as well as infertile married couples, has coincided with what I call the "unmarriage revolution"— that is, the decoupling of marriage and child-rearing. The California Cryobank, the country's largest sperm bank, estimates that about 40% of its customers are unmarried women. The Sperm Bank of California says that two-thirds of its clientele are lesbian couples.

And the courts are going along with saying that the donor has absolutely no rights in the upbringing of the child. Activist judges? Hardly. It happened in Kansas recently. Now, the christianists don't seem to be taking any sort of stand on this that I could find, but where is their outrage on not only defending the traditional family but also on the attack towards the patriarchal nature of their religion? You don't even need a penis to have a baby anymore. where's the fun in that? oh, wait. It is technically part of Bush's abstinence policy...

4. Condoms Strike Fear At Iowa College

(Ankeny, Iowa) Several classrooms at Des Moines Area Community College were evacuated after college officials became nervous about a suspicious package.

College officials called police and postal inspectors after the box was delivered Thursday.

What they found inside wasn't a bomb - it was a box containing 500 condoms.

The package was sent to a teacher of a human sexuality class, and was sent by a person who had been a previous speaker at the class, said Rob Denson, the college's president.

See, I told you. Sex gets people's attention quicker than anything else. Oh? Do you think that this might have been a christianist conspiracy? it doesn't fit into their abstinence policy...

5. Actor calls daughter 'rude, thoughtless little pig'

A voice mail Baldwin left for his 11-year-old daughter, in which he can be heard calling her ''a rude, thoughtless little pig,'' was published Thursday by celebrity news site TMZ.com.

I was not going to touch this, but since I have a lot of experience with teaching 11/12-year olds, I have to say/ask, "Maybe she is a 'rude, thoughtless little pig'?" Most of them are, especially the girls. The boys will fight and break each other's jaws and then be best friends the next day again. The girls, on the other hand, go on and on and on and on... They rely on "he said, she said" tactics, refuse to pay any attention to reason, and show indignance when put to task. Am I lumping all 11/12-year old girls together with this? Pretty much so. When they turn 13 the vast majority stop behaving like this. [Go Figure. I've never been able to do so.] After teaching 5th & 6th grades for so many years, I had to ask a principal to please, please, please put me with a lower age group. My own puberty was bad enough. Going through it over and over with kids was starting to get to me. However, I do agree with one thing in the Baldwin situation: It should never have been made public. It is a private family matter and the person who made it available to the media should have their tubes tied so they never have (any more) kids. He/she is actually the "'rude, thoughtless little pig'!


Sources: 1. Washington Post, 2. CNN.com, 3. Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, 4. 365gay.com, 5. Chicago Sun-Times