Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Volare (1960)

 

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

1) The word "volare" is Italian for "to fly." Say something else in Italian. "Cantare" means "sing." It's in the next line of the song. Duh. (Since I'm the one who does the questions, I can make a smartass response with complete impunity.)

2) This week, Bobby Rydell invites us to take off with him up in the clouds and promises we'll find a rainbow. Countless lyricists have included rainbows in their songs. Can you name another song that mentions rainbows? I have loved this song since I first saw Ski Party on the after school movie when I was a little girl. I have spent much of my adult life on public transportation. I can attest that the movie misled me and this never, ever happens on buses in real life.

 

 

 

3) His happy heart is singing. What is making you happy this morning? I just learned that my beloved Joe Maddon is returning to Chicago for next weekend's Cubs Convention. He was manager of the magic 2016 World Series team but has not appeared at anything Cubs related since management fired his ass declined to renew his contract. I get such a kick out of old Joe and am looking forward to seeing him as part of the convention. (Rizzo will be there, too! My heart is not only singing. It's spinning around like Julie Andrews on a mountaintop.)

 

4) Bobby Rydell, like Frankie Avalon and Fabian, was a 1950s teen idol who hailed from Philadelphia. Home to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, Philly is Pennsylvania's most populous city. Have you ever been there? Many times. I was once in a long-distance relationship and came dangerously close to moving to Bala Cynwyd, a suburb less than half an hour outside Philly.

 

5) Bobby was such a perfect example of a clean-cut American boy that when Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey sat down to write the play Grease, they named their fictional high school Rydell High after him. Do you have a favorite song from Grease? Wella wella wella uh! Summer Lovin'.

 

6) In addition to singing, Bobby also acted. His most famous film role was opposite Ann-Margret in Bye, Bye, Birdie (1963). Have you seen it? Yes, but I don't think of it a an Ann-Margret/Bobby Rydell movie. I remember it for this Dick Van Dyke musical number. (We sang it for our fathers at the annual Girl Scout Daddy/Daughter Dinner.)

 

 

 

7) In 1960, when this record was popular, so were hand-loomed, 100% virgin wool sweaters from Italy. You could order one from the Sears catalog for $12.60 (approx. $135 in today's dollars). That sweater was labeled "dry clean only." Do you have any garments waiting to be picked up from the cleaners? Nope. Since I retired from advertising, I seldom wear those grown up/suitable for big presentations/dry clean only jackets. I really should donate them to Goodwill before they go too far out of style.

 
8) Also in 1960, Princess Margaret married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones. They met when he was commissioned to take her official portrait. Who took the most recent photo of you? My niece took a freaking adorable photo of me with her baby on Christmas morning. I told her that from now on, she does all my portraits.

 

9) Random question: Is your oldest friend also your best friend? Not anymore. This makes me sad because we met in kindergarten and, for more than 40 years, we were best friends. But she has changed and while my heart goes out to her and I work to understand the financial, physical and emotional challenges she has faced since moving to Los Angeles in 2011, I can't honestly even refer to us as friends anymore. That implies an equal partnership she is simply incapable of. I legitimately cannot recall the last time we talked about anything but her: her anxieties, her money troubles, her (completely one-sided) "love affair" with her landlord ... It's depressing and exhausting. Every time she reaches out, I respond because I love her and honor our history. But I'd by lying if I didn't admit I emit a heavy sigh and wonder, "Now, what?" when I see a message from her.

 

 

I'm sorry he's upset, or maybe I'm not

I've long known Will's politics are different from mine. There were clues on his social media – like when he was effusive on LinkedIn over his former employer's publishing a children's book devoted to Amy Coney Barrett, or his X post about Governor Pritzker. I've never engaged him. It's his social media, these are his opinions, and this is where he should express them. 

Will is the founder/moderator of our movie group and members of the group have been very outspoken in their criticism of Trump. As long as it somehow ties to the film we're discussing, Will doesn't weigh in. I've always respected him for that. 

From cnn.com

He knows where I stand on things, as I'm very outspoken on Facebook and we are friends on one another's pages. When Trump changed the name of the Kennedy Center,* I posted: Dear Leader is at it again. Who thinks this is a good thing? How soon before he begins naming airports, schools and roads after himself? I bet the first act of the privatized postal service will be a Trump postage stamp. When will be the penny be reintroduced with his face on it?

 For some reason, Will decided to respond: Plenty to get upset about. This isn't it, in my opinion.

First of all, I wasn't crazy about the tone. I don't need Will's permission to "get upset." Especially not on my own Facebook page.

Secondly, you don't have to know me long to understand that there are three topics I have down: The Chicago Cubs, the Beatles, and the Kennedy family. 

Lastly, Will used to work for a scholastic publisher. He worked with historians. If he doesn't understand the propaganda implications of Trump naming shit after himself, he should.

My response, while civil, reflected the second and third points. I let the first, more personal one, go.

Ever since, I've heard from Will over and over and over again. More than ever before. Now he thinks my Facebook posts are brilliant. In our text chain, he ❤'s that I'll be joining him and Elaine at a Barbara Stanwyck screening later in the month. He made me aware of another classic film on the big screen and offered to go along with me. Just now he sent me a link to a revival of a play he knows I like.

I feel like telling him it's fine. We're fine. He doesn't have to work so hard to repair damage because no damage has been done.

Except he shouldn't have done it. Condescending to me like that on my own Facebook page is rude. Same with this blog. If you disagree with me, fine. That's what your blog is for. Do not come into my (cyber) living room just to be provocative.

 

*Technically, he allowed it to be renamed, though if you believe he wasn't behind it, well, bless your heart.