Saturday 9

 
Saturday 9: Hurting Each Other (1972)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This week's song was written by Gary Geld and Peter Udell, who also wrote 1962's "Sealed with a Kiss." What was in the last envelope you sealed? I sent a donation to PAWS Chicago to help with their good works and to thank them for the calendar now brightening my kitchen wall.

2) In "Hurting Each Other," Karen Carpenter sings she wishes she and her lover could stop making each other cry. Have you most recently shed a tear in the last week, the last month, or longer ago than that? It was in mid-December, before Christmas, when I cancelled my trip to Key West and realized I may never see my friend Henry again.

3) One of the Carpenters' first records was a cover of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride." Both Karen and Richard were huge fans and nervous about how the Beatles would react to their version. They were thrilled to learn that Paul McCartney responded by saying Karen had "one of the best female voices in the world." Tell us some news you received recently that brightened your day. I'm excited about one of the movies announced for the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival, and even more than that, I was happy when I was alerted to the announcement by fellow film nerds who know how much I enjoy this one. I like being part of this obsessed little community.

Russ Tamblyn will be on hand to introduce the movie

4) Karen died in 1983, but her musical partner and big brother Richard is still with us. He has said he grew up a big fan Top 40 radio, listening every morning as he got ready for school and every afternoon while doing homework. When you were a kid, did you like to study with music or the TV on? Or would you prefer quiet? I have had tinnitus for as long as I can remember, so white noise is my friend. It distracts me.

5) Karen and Richard spent their teen years in Downey, California. It has the distinction of being home to the nation's oldest, still-operating McDonald's. It's been on the same site on Lakewood Blvd. since 1953. Tell us about a business in your neighborhood that seems to have always been right there, in that spot. Our local movie theater has been in the same spot since 1936.

6) The siblings may have had a squeaky clean public image, but Richard did have a brush with the law while in Downey. The Carpenter family lived for a time in an apartment complex, and one of their neighbors -- a policeman -- objected to Richard "banging on the piano" at all hours. When did you most recently interact with an officer of the law? I've passed police officers on the sidewalk in our shopping district but we haven't interacted. They are very friendly, though. Usually they're chatting with someone.

7) In 1972, when this song was popular, Mark Spitz was America's premier Olympian, winning seven Gold Medals. A poster of Spitz wearing his red, white and blue swim trunks and all seven medals was a top seller. Can you recall a poster that decorated your bedroom wall when you were a kid? These very pictures adorned the back of my bedroom door beginning in 1964.

8) Also in 1972, Liza Minnelli was encouraging us to "come to the cabaret." Without looking it up, do you know who Liza's famous parents were? Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli. They fell in love while making Meet Me in St. Louis.

9) Random question: Are you a better student or teacher? Teacher

 

Call me "sweetheart." Or "honey," if you prefer.

I had quite the dental adventure on Thursday. I'm still a little swollen and a little discoloration is visible along my jawline, but I'm fine. I only needed the prescription-strength painkiller Thursday into Friday, and it looks like I'm healing well.

It's the oral surgeon who really suffered.

I had a double crown lengthening -- hard tissue (that's what the bill says). More tooth is required to affix the two side-by-side permanent crowns. So the surgeon cut away my gums to expose bone. Then he filed and reshaped them and stitched me back up. He told me this would take about 45 minutes.

It was more than an hour. The position on my lower left jaw -- midway between my front teeth and my back molars -- as well as the shape of my mouth made it harder for him to access the area for the reshaping and stitching. He had a hard time finding the right angle and the right tools to complete the procedure.

Let me state it plainly: I was in no pain. I wasn't enjoying myself, not by a long shot. I was dealing with the icky noises and smells and sounds that go with being in the chair for a long procedure. But I was, as they say, comfortably numb.

I knew there were complications by the mumbled conversations behind my head. The surgeon kept changing his position and sending the hygienist away for different tools. And he was giving me unnecessary words of encouragement.

"You're doing great, Sweetheart." Um, I'm not actually doing anything.

"We've got this, Honey." Again, I'm immobile and have contributed nothing to this situation but bad teeth and an apparently freakishly small mouth. He was doing all the work.

"We'll get you cleaned up, Sweetheart." This was when we were finally done. What I thought was water spraying onto my cheek and jaw was, apparently, mixed with my blood and I guess I looked like I was in a horror movie. I didn't see it, though. As he promised, my face was dabbed clean before I could see my reflection.

I'm aware that in today's world, men and women don't exchange endearments in a professional setting. On the one hand, "Sweetheart" and "Honey" confirmed my suspicion that he'd encountered unexpected complications. On the other hand, I was comforted that he cared about me and was committed to doing a good job. After the nightmare of what happened in June of 2021 in a different dentist's office -- when the hygienist removed a permanent crown instead of them temporary one -- that's not small.