Saturday 9

Linda (1946)

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

1) In this song, Buddy Clark sings that when he can't sleep he doesn't count sheep, he enumerates Linda's charms. Did you sleep well last night? It was fine. I got up in the middle of night for to go to the bathroom and have a glass of water, but I do that most nights.

2) In addition to singing with big bands, Buddy sang commercial jingles live on radio programs and was the voice of Carnation Milk. Can you think of a jingle that's stayed in your head? 1-877-Kars4Kids. K-A-R-S Kars4Kids. 1-877-Kars4Kids. Donate your car today.

3) For "Linda," Buddy Clark performed with bandleader Ray Noble. Ray was classically trained at London's Royal Academy of Music, but much preferred big band music to that of Mozart, Beethoven or Chopin. When did you last listen to classical music? I never intentionally listen to classical music. It may have been piped into a room I happened to be in. I don't recall.

 

4) Composer Jack Lawrence named this song after a particular little girl, the daughter of his lawyer, Lee Eastman. Without looking it up, do you know what became of Lee Eastman's daughter Linda?

 

5) According to the Social Security Administration Linda was long one of the most popular names for American baby girls. It was #2 in the 1940s and 1950s (second only to Mary). By the 1960s it slipped to #7 and by the 1970s it fell to #68. Are there many Lindas in your life? The only Linda is a former coworker who was born in 1947.

6) 1946, the year this record was released, is regarded as the first year of the Baby Boom, which lasted until 1964. Are you from The Silent Generation or are you Boomer, a Gen-Xer, a Gen-Yer, or a Millennial? Boomer.

7) In the summer of '46, hats were a standard part of any woman's outfit. Hats for day, hats for evening, hats for rainy days ... The 1946 Sears Spring-Summer catalog devoted nine pages to women's hats. Do you own many hats? If yes, for what occasions do you wear them? I don't do hats. I hate hat hair. In winter I wear ear muffs or a hood.

8) Also in 1946, the Mensa Society was created. The only qualification to join was an IQ in the top 98th percentile. Do you know your IQ? Nope.

9) Random question: Tell us something you admire about your best friend. Whomever owns the coveted title of The Gal's Best Friend changes with my mood, but it's usually John or my oldest friend. One thing they share is that they take me as I am. I treasure them for their inclusivity and acceptance.

August Happiness Challenge -- Day 4

My 2023 Happiness Icon

Today's Happiness: A lovely surprise. In today's mail I found a bill, a credit card balance transfer offer, and package! My friend Lisa Wechtenhiser (aka Snarkypants) sent me a copy of her book, Dive. 

It's a pretty book -- all tranquil blue and purple -- and it's filled with prompts to get me to think about myself and my life in a new way. There's space for me to write my reflections. It's going to be revealing for me in this new chapter of my life.

So of course it makes me happy!

August Happiness Challenge -- Day 3

My 2023 Happiness Icon

Today's Happiness: "Return to Sender." Today was a rough day. It began with an 8:30 dental appointment, a follow up to the crown lengthening procedure. Then a chiropractic appointment for my stiff and achy back. Followed by the condo association meeting, where we announced there would be an 11% increase in assessments in 2024. (No, I don't like it, either, but it has to be done.)

It's 90º, and heat makes me grumpy.

With the scary news about Rizz (see post below) I didn't feel like baseball tonight. So I turned to TCM. I had no idea what was going to be on and was thrilled to see I joined the broadcast at the perfect moment: The King climbed onto the stage and begin swiveling his hips. 

Suddenly I was happy.

Stop butchering my baby!

Today the Yankees announced my favorite most player, Anthony Rizzo, has been placed on the IL. He sustained a concussion on this play ... back on May 28.

Before this collision, he was hitting .304 with 11 home runs in 53 games. Since the collision, his average dropped to .172 and he has hit just one home run. Yankee management insisted he was fine. Yankee fans started booing him (a first in his career). Every day he went out there, did his best with his glove, but struck out over and over and over again.

Finally this week -- after two months -- a neurologist was consulted. Anthony Rizzo has been playing, day in and day out, with a concussion. This is inexcusable.

And it's not even the first time. 

Last year he was having back spasms. How did the New York Yankees respond? With chiropractic adjustments and massage?* No, with an invasive epidural. It went badly, and spinal fluid leaked into his brain, leaving Rizzo with crippling headaches. Read this harrowing tale here.

What the ever-loving fuck?

He's going to be 34 next week. That's old for a ballplayer but young for a man. How dare they be so cavalier with his well being? 

I was very proud of him for meeting the press today. Almost 20 minutes, taking every question tossed his way. Listen to him share what he's been through these past two months, blaming himself for all those bad at-bats.

But this shouldn't have happened to him. Not to any player, but especially not to him. Overshadowed by this collision and botched treatment plan is his Swing for the Fences Auction. In June he raised more than $1 million to help families battling pediatric cancer. In July he sponsored a luau for young patients at the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital. And he took the field for almost every game while battling a concussion. He endured Yankee fans calling him lazy and demanding he be DFA'd (released). He went from being an elite player to, statistically, the worst in the league. Where's the fairness in all that?

Also, I'm suffering from deja Henry. I know from my dear friend's TBI that the brain is remarkably fragile, and difficult to treat. Although you'd think that the Yankees, a world-famous organization that's worth more than $7 billion, coulda gotten one of its employees decent neurological care in a timely manner.

I am angry.

*That's how his back was treated during his years as a Cub. I know because we shared the same doctor.

Thursday Thirteen #320

The Way We Were. 50 years ago, live broadcast TV was the primary way we got our entertainment. There were only three networks (CBS, NBC and ABC), maybe PBS and a local syndicated station if you were in a more populous area or you had a really good antenna on the roof. No cable channels and no way to video record. You watched your favorite show when it was shown and if you missed an episode, you waited months for the rerun. 

And you had a TV book. Either you kept the one that came free in your Sunday newspaper or you bought/subscribed to TV Guide. Here are 13 covers from 1973. I instantly recognized these people/shows. How many are familiar to you?

#1. Here's Mary Richards with her two best friends, Georgette and Rhoda.

#2. Now an Oscar winner, Goldie Hawn returns to TV with a variety special.

#3. A sitcom set in Chicago! Dr. Bob Hartley was a Cub fan, as Bob Newhart is in real life.

#4. The gang from the M*A*S*H 4077th.

#5. Sanford and Son. I never could stand Redd Foxx so I didn't watch this show. But I know the theme song. I'd hear the first bars as I raced across the room to change the channel. (No remotes in those days, either.)

#6. Lucille Ball and Desi, Jr. Lucy was the first woman to appear on TV visibly pregnant; 20 years later that baby co-starred with her on Here's Lucy.

#7. The Waltons. This multigenerational family drama was set in The Depression.

#8. Columbo. I didn't watch this when it was first broadcast but I've seen every episode on cable and am a fan.

#9. Kung Fu. I didn't watch this, either, but I knew about it because all the boys in my class loved it and my PE teacher would call us "Grasshopper."

10. Dick Cavett. Johnny Carson was the undisputed King of Late Night, but I had a crush on Cavett. 

11. Sonny & Cher. We all tuned in to see what Cher was wearing. 

12. Telly Savalas as Kojak. Who loves ya, baby?

13. Hee Haw. Never watched this and remain convinced I didn't miss much.

Please join us for THURSDAY THIRTEEN. Click here to play along, and to see other interesting compilations of 13 things.

August Happiness Challenge -- Day 2

 

2023 August Happiness Icon

Today's happiness: A nap

Tuesday was a busy day: yoga, therapist appointment, monitoring social media non-stop about the baseball trade deadline,* listening to the Yankees, watching the Cubs, trying to be a grown up by following the latest DOJ revelation of Trump's blatant lawlessness ...

Thursday will be an even busier day: dentist, chiropractor, condo board meeting (about the 2024 budget, no less).

So I luxuriated in Wednesday being so uneventful I was able to take a nap. I need days like this.

Happy August Happiness Challenge!

 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

*No, the Cubs didn't trade Bellinger or Stroman. YAY!

August Happiness Challenge: Day 1

2023 August Happiness Icon

Today's happiness: Genevieve McGillicuddy

 

You're probably saying, "WHO?" But if you're a classic film nerd, you know Genevieve. Her title at TCM was Vice President of Enterprises and Partnerships, but we knew her as the goddess who ran the film festival, and she was unceremoniously axed at the end of June.

Well guess what she posted at about 9:30 CST yesterday (so yes, it was so August 1!): "I've been asked to return to produce the 2024 TCM Film Festival."

 

As soon as I learned about the firings, I emailed David Zaslav, head of Warner Bros./Discovery+, TCM's parent company. I tweeted relentlessly. I sent snail mail. I lobbied all my friends -- virtual and in real life (thank you, Kwizgiver) to beg that TCM not be gutted. Charles Tabesh, a Senior VP let go the same day as Genevieve, was rehired in early July. And our girl Genevieve McGillicuddy is back home where she belongs, too.

 

Is this because of activist rabid film fans like me? In part, yes. Spielberg and Scorcese pitching in to help undoubtedly had even more impact. And then there's Barbie. She's likely to make a $1 billion for Warner Bros., and that probably allowed Zaslav to be a bit more free with money.

 

Why am I thrilled? Because this proves that doing something is preferable to bitching and moaning. Because I'm going to Hollywood to see my classic film tribe this spring. Because I love TCM. 

Happy August Happiness Challenge!

 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

WWW.WEDNESDAY

 

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I can no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardner by MC Beaton. Agatha Raisin went away on a solo vacation, hoping that absence from her neighbor, James Lacey, would make his heart grow fonder. Instead she returns to find a new woman in town, a divorcee named Mary Fortune, has displaced her! Mary is not only blonde and slender, she's adept at gardening, one of Robert's passions. So Agatha -- devious, prickly, delightfully human Agatha -- decides to take up gardening, too. She joins the local horticultural society so she can keep an eye on James and Mary.

But she hates gardening. She hates Mary Fortune. She hates to admit it, but what Agatha is longing for is a nice juicy murder that will remind James how much fun they had together investigating. Fortunately one of the denizens of her small town cooperates and turns up dead. So far, this "cozy mystery" (#3 in the series) is keeping me entertained.

2. What did you recently finish reading? Teammate by David Ross. Timing is everything. Perhaps if I'd read this book in 2017, right after the Cubs won the Series, I'd have simply loved David's insider view of how my guys went from Lovable Losers to World Champions. Maybe I'd have felt nothing but delight when Rossy took me behind the scenes of Game 7 of the greatest baseball championship series ever. I could have just been happy for Ross, the back up catcher, who got a White House shout out from Barack Obama, appeared on Saturday Night Live and went on to Dancing with the Stars.

 

But now it's 2023. David Ross' paeans to his wife now sound like treacle because I know he left her in 2019 and went on to have a high-profile romance with an actress from Chicago Med, who says she dumped him because of his surreptitious use of dating apps. (Oh yeah, in the book he insists he doesn't even really know how what Instagram works. Glad to see you're more tech savvy now, David.)

So while the baseball stuff here is fascinating and his insights in sports and concussion protocol are fascinating, the tips on life and how to be a good teammate and better person were just annoying. I liked Joe Maddon's book better.

 

3. What will read next? A biography of President Eisenhower.

 

Sunday Stealing

STOLEN FROM SWAP BOT

1. Does love come from the brain, the heart or elsewhere? Depends on which type of love we're discussing. When it comes to romance, it's a combination of the heart and elsewhere. On Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw spoke for me when she talked about the zsa zsa zu, defined as "'the butterflies-in-your-stomach thing that happens when you not only love the person, but you gotta have them. Isn’t that what gets you through the years? Even if it fades, at least you have the memory of the zsa zsa zsu…'”  The zsa zsa zsu has led my astray, but I treasure the memory of it. There are other types of love, too. Friendship, filial, and of course the love between humans and our companion animals. "Elsewhere" plays no role in these.

2. Have you ever given a shot? Nope.

3. Can you lick your elbow? (Come on, didja try?) Nope, and yes I did try.

4. If I was going to be talking to you for 10 minutes, what would be something really interesting you know a little bit about but would like to know more? President Eisenhower. I keep meaning to find a good biography of him that I can dive into and learn more. 

5. What do you think of the Sopranos? I don't really. I watched the first season but it never grasped me. Maybe I'll revisit it now.

6. Have you ever had a crush on your teacher?  How about your boss? Teacher, yes. Boss, no.

7. Have you ever seen a movie in 3D? In March I saw Titanic in 3D. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

8. How difficult do you think it is for immigrants to come into your country? Very. Especially since so many politicians have worked so hard to demonize them. (How terribly "Christian" of those self-proclaimed Christians!)

9. Do you have what it takes to go live in another country, maybe for years, where you don't speak the language as your first language? Nope. It must take a tremendous amount of courage. My grandfather had such stories and he always made it seem like a grand adventure. Now that I'm an adult, I'd love to ask him about the loneliness he must have felt, the fear of the unknown.

10. Have you ever died in your dreams? Nope.

11. What book should our political leaders read and why? Not a book but legal papers: the Trump indictments. Then maybe they would stop misleading their constituents about any false equivalencies between Trump's handling of classified documents and Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Mike Pence. It's all there in the filings and it's all heinous. Of course, whether or not their constituents would believe the truth is another issue. As Trump himself said, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and not lose voters." It's apparently true. All those "God bless President Trump" folks: are they proud of that?

12. What is your favorite glass object? My Grandpa's ceramic cable car. He used it to store his cufflinks and his licorice throat lozenges. It's one of my treasures.

13. Do you like to window shop? Yes.

14. Are you more likely to buy one really nice expensive outfit or a couple of cheap outfits? I'll go cheap.

15. If you could, would you wear everything once, throw it out and buy something new? No! Our planet is in peril, people! Let's be thoughtful about what goes into the landfill. Plus there's something glorious about timeless fashion. Here are Tatiana Schlossberg, her mother Caroline Kennedy, and her grandmother Jacqueline Onassis all wearing the same 1972 Valentino. (Unlike my answer to #14, Jackie never went cheap.)

8 in a row!

My guys are on a streak! The Cubs have won their last 8, and 9 of their last 10. Blessed to be in the league's worst division,  they're only 3 games out of first place. So, even though this team has over the season lost as many as it has won, the playoffs are definitely within reach. 

This last series has been emotional for me because it's Cubs-Cards, the greatest rivalry in sports.* For now Willson Contreras is a Cardinal. My goddam backstop in the 2016 World Series is now one of Them! I simply cannot cheer against Willie. It's not in me. While of course I want the Cubs to prevail (in my baseball and my politics, I root for blue over red), I wish Willie well personally. Once my guy, always my guy.

Which naturally leads me to ...

Anthony Rizzo is not out of it yet, either. The Yankees are in last place, but their record is actually better than the Cubs'. Their division is just tougher. But they're only 3.5 games out of the play-offs (and first place, for that matter). It's doable with Judge back and with Rizz getting on base again. I know him, I've been watching him for a decade now. Yankee fans want him to go yard with every at-bat, and I'm sure he'd prefer that, too, but he's getting singles, taking walks, getting hit by pitches. At this stage in the season, he's concentrating on getting on base, and that's such an improvement over all those strike outs he endured during his "power outage."

God, I love baseball!

*Yeah, I know about Yankees-Red Sox and am firmly on the Yankees side, but I just don't feel Cubs-Cardinals passion there. In fact, the Yankees seem more jacked to be playing the Orioles. I think the New York media is just used to that Yankees-Red Sox storyline.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: I've Got Your Number (1965)

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

Chosen in memory of Tony Bennett, who passed away on July 21.

 

1) In this song, Tony sings that he recognizes his lover's insecurities because she's a lot like him. Are you unsure in social situations? Or do you meet new people easily? During my career I gave lots of presentations and discovered I'm seldom nervous while speaking in public. You can prepare for that. Similarly, at the TCM Film Festival in Los Angeles last April, I was very comfortable talking to the shuttle bus filled with strangers. But after the movie, on the shuttle back, a man who remembered me from the ride over and wanted to sit with me and talk ... and I was nervous. One on twelve or twenty or two hundred and I'm fine. One on one with a stranger can leave me unsure.

 

2) While singing was his livelihood, painting was Tony Bennett's passion. What hobby do you participate in with the greatest enthusiasm? I don't consider them a "hobby," but I am passionate about these two. I love them very much.

Connie sprucing up Roy Hobbs

3) Tony was a proud son of New Jersey. Many singers hail from The Garden State, including Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and Frank Sinatra. What heroes, heroines or celebrities hail from your home state? You're welcome, America.

#16 and #44

4) Though Tony dreamed of becoming a commercial artist, he had to drop out of school in his teens to help support his family. Looking back on your teen years, what did you want to do for a living? Is that what you ended up doing? I was going to be a journalist. It was the 1970s. Woodward and Bernstein cast a long, wide, shadow. I ended up writing, but as an advertising copywriter (aka "content creator").

5) During WWII, Tony served in Germany. The first time his voice was broadcast was during an aircheck for Armed Forced Radio. For the occasion he sang "St. James Infirmary." That was Tony's first. Let's contrast it with your last. What's the most recent song you sang? "Have You Never Been Mellow." I sang along with ONJ and my shower radio.

6) After the War, Bob Hope saw him perform under his real name, Anthony Benedetto. Hope told him that, no matter how great his talent, his name would hold him back because it was too long for a marquee. And so, Tony Bennett was born. Tell us about a marquee in your town. Is it announcing a movie, play, or concert performance? There's a movie theater around the corner from me and right now it features Barbie (<<<go see it!). But these are my favorite Chicago marquees. Seeing them always makes me happy.

 

7) In 2006, he recorded his Duets album, partnering with a variety of singers he admired. Tony said he enjoyed working with Paul McCartney at London's Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles created their classic recordings. If you vacationed in London, what would you be sure to visit? I know it's outside London, but I'd love to tour Highclere (aka Downton Abbey).

8) "I've Got Your Number" was performed by Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore on The Dick Van Dyke Show. According to Dick, they were so believable as a married couple that he received glares from a hotel clerk while checking in with his real-life wife, Margie. What TV or movie couple do you feel had "chemistry?" Thinking of Downton Abbey, I'll go with Matthew and Lady Mary. (Sigh ...)

9) Special summertime random question: Would you have more fun at a pro baseball game or an art museum exhibit? Though right now my friend Elaine is planning a trip for us to The Art Institute of Chicago and I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time, it's no secret I love baseball more than just about anything.