Roger O Green

Kennedy Center Honors, Part 1

The Martin edition.

The Kennedy Center Honors took place on December 2. Increasingly, the honorees are very much familiar to me. This year is no exception, with four of the five artists. The show airs on CBS on Wednesday, December 26 at 9 pm EST, and I WILL watch (or more accurately, record to watch at a later time.)

The person with whom I am least familiar is also the oldest. Leon Fleisher was a fine pianist who lost the use of his right hand, but helped developed a left-hand repertoire. I recall seeing a television program on that phenomenon. Here’s a recollection by a former neighbor.

I’ve seen a number of movies by Martin Scorcese, including
Cape Fear (1991)
The Color of Money (1986)
The King of Comedy (1983)
Raging Bull (1980)
The Last Waltz (1978)
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)
and also
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005)
“The Blues” – Feel Like Going Home (2003) TV episode
But I’ve managed to miss some of his best-known films:
The Departed (2006) – not a surprise lately
Gangs of New York (2002) – got a mixed feel from the reviews
Kundun (1997) – possibly one of a couple movies of that year I missed
Casino (1995)
Goodfellas (1990) – I actually saw a good chunk of this on TV, but not enough to count
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) – and I really wanted to
Taxi Driver (1976) – have long been wary of it
Mean Streets (1973) – don’t think it played where I went to college and it just didn’t happen
This coming year, I’ll promise to see at least one of these films.

Even before I really knew who he really was, I was enjoying the work of Steve Martin. As a writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour – a show I watched religiously – he won an Emmy, along with the rest of the writing staff, in 1969. I recall seeing him in sketches, and playing banjo on skits on that show, and the shows of Glen Campbell, Sonny and Cher, and yes, Ken Berry.
Of course, like most of America, I really got to know him from his wild and crazy appearances on Saturday Night Live. He had a hit single, King Tut, which I have on one of those Dr. Demento albums. I even have one of his LPs
However, I know him best from the movies. Here’s a list of the ones I’ve seen:
The Out-of-Towners (1999)
The Spanish Prisoner (1997) great role
Father of the Bride Part II (1995)
Leap of Faith (1992) I recall really liking his evangelist character
HouseSitter (1992)
Grand Canyon (1991) His character has one of the best lines about movies in film history: “That’s part of your problem: you haven’t seen enough movies. All of life’s riddles are answered in the movies.”
Father of the Bride (1991)
L.A. Story (1991)
Parenthood (1989)
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) I have a peculiar affection for this movie
Roxanne (1987) I haven’t seen it since, but I had a great affection for this movie at the time; wonder if it holds up?
All of Me (1984) I thought the scene in which the Lily Tomlin character takes over his body was hilarious; again, a movie I haven’t seen since
The Muppet Movie (1979)
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
I’ve seen large chunks of The Jerk (1979)
Currently, the screenwriter and playwright – there was a play he wrote at Cap Rep, which I unfortunately missed – has his autobiography on the best seller list; here are reviews by Jaquandor and Gordon, which seem to be consistent with most observations that the book is NOT a laugh riot. My favorite book title of his, though, is one he did with fellow New Yorker magazine contributor, cartoonist Roz Chast: The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z! Sounds like a book I could enjoy while pretending to give it to my daughter.

I received a mixed Christmas CD recently, and the last cut is…strange. Reportedly, one night late in 1979, Steve Martin, Paul Simon, and Billy Joel all ran into one another while out on the town drinking, and spontaneously decided to go into a studio and record a holiday tune. So they did, with Steve adlibbing the monolog portion.
Then they all sobered up and decided not to release it–but undoubtedly some engineer slipped a bootleg copy out on the sly, and ended up on this disc. I’m assured this story is true. The tale is as much of a hoot as the tune.

ROG

Snow emergency

I hate being wrong. Sure, most people do, I suppose, but the librarian in me specifically hates giving out wrong information, especially when it’s not my fault.

We’ve been having some nasty weather around Albany recently. The snow and ice storm that came on Thursday meant that after-school activities were called off, my Bible study and choir were canceled, and it took forever to get home, as one totally full Western Avenue bus drove right by me before I caught another. Generally, Albany calls a snow emergency when the snowfall hits six inches, which involves alternate side parking and towed cars. It was 6.4″ at the airport, but the city demurred, probably in anticipation of a second storm Saturday into Sunday.

So, how does one find out about these snow emergencies? You have to dial (518) 476-SNOW when it seems that conditions are likely. So 11 a.m. Monday, I called and got the recording that there would be an emergency starting Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. This was VERY unusual, for while the city’s webpage said that it COULD start snow emergency at 8 a.m., I have no recollection of this taking place in my 28 years in the city; snow emergencies always started at 8 p.m.

So I sent a blind e-mail to some Albany folks to let them know. One writes back, “How do you know? The 476-SNOW number’s not working, and nothing’s on the city page.” So, I called the main number of the Department of General Services around 11:30 a.m. and the woman I spoke to said that she knew that 476-SNOW wasn’t working, that they were working on it, but that the snow emergency would take place Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. I sent an e-mail to this effect to a couple of the TV stations’ websites and posted it on a blog.

About 12:45, I check the Channel 13 website, and it’s stating that there is a snow emergency in Albany starting at 8 P.M. ON MONDAY. What? I called 476-SNOW, and that’s what the message now said. Sometime between 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., someone in the Albany bureaucracy CHANGED his or her mind? This meant that I had to re-send an e-mail to everyone I had previousdly sent an e-mail to, with the new information.

Did I mention that I hate being wrong?
ROG

Hanna-Barbera Turns 50

Until I read about it in Mark Evanier’s recent column I had missed the fact that Hanna-Barbera hit the half century mark last week. This company produced the cartoons that got me through the early part of my childhood. When I was scared, in the hospital at five and a half with a nosebleed that wouldn’t stop, it was the Huckleberry Hound dog howdy of him singing Clementine that helped pass the time.

My father had a single called “Yogi” by the Ivy Three, 30 seconds of which can be heard on this novelty compilation album. The song went up to #8 on the Billboard charts in the second half of 1960. While the group was considered a “one-hit wonder”, Charles Koppelman, one of the group members, found other success in the music industry.

A New Orleans compilation disc I own features the Dirty Dozen Brass Band playing “The Flintstones Meet The President”, with the Flintstones theme alternating with various patriotic songs.

But the real effect H-B had on me is that, to this day, I still know the themes to Huckleberry Hound

Top Cat

the Flintstones, the Jetsons, and heaven help me, Magilla Gorilla.

ROG

The Social Contract

Saturday, a couple friends of mine came over to our house. They didn’t know each other, but they discovered that they had both spent time in the northern plains of the United States, particularly North Dakota, at different times. One had lived in Fargo (yeah, I hear you doing those Frances McDormand imitations), and noted that not only did people keep their houses and cars unlocked 20 to 30 years ago, they often left the keys in the car, in case one of their neighbors had a need to move it. Leave your keys in the ignition now, and someone is likely to to move the auto – to another state.

This reminded me of my childhood in Binghamton, NY. My hometown tended to be cloudy and rainy. When I was walking to school, especially the last three years of high school, I’d see cars with their lights left on. I’d open the car door and turn the lights off. I did this a LOT. One day alone, I did this 22 times. Of course, now I’d have neither the means (automatic locks hinder access), the need (automatic lights now go out) or the nerve (someone would assume I was stealing their vehicle, which actually happened in Jackson Heights, Queens, NYC in 1977).

No one told me to turn off car lights; I just figured that if I were in a similar situation, I’d rather someone turn off my lights rather than let the battery run down. A few people have at least told me that I had left my bike lights on, and perhaps some kind stranger has actually turned the light off.

Of course, one can disagree about what constitutes the social contract. My wife wanted me to not shovel the walk yesterday until the storm stopped so that the freezing rain would sit atop the snow. But my sense of the contract is that if I am able, and have the time, I should remove the four or five inches in the morning, then return to put down deicer as necessary. As we trudged through the snow to and from the bus stop yesterday, I think she appreciated more my point of view. Not only did I shovel our walk, but I also shoveled a pathway all the way to the street in case our newspaper delivery lady needed to use it, and she did.

As it turns out, some bloggers have designated today, December 17, as a day to post their stories about the acts of kindness they have performed recently. I was recalling a conversation on Anthony’s page, especially the comments, as to whether we need to designate a day to give thanks. Well, theoretically no, but in actually, perhaps. In the same manner, we ought not need a day to be kind to others, but if it helps makes the world just a little less hostile, I’m in favor. Whether I’ve done anything recently that would qualify specifically as a kindness, I’m not sure, but I’ll settle with trying to do so every day.

ROG

Turning 90, iff

Thinking about the next year, 2008, I was tooling around the Dead or Alive website and found a search mechanism by date. All of these folks were born in 1918, so are hitting the big 9-0 in 2008, barring events:
Oral Roberts 01/24 that guy with a university named after himself
Ernie Harwell 01/25 the great announcer for the Detroit Tigers who shows up on ESPN occasionally
Philip José Farmer 01/26 science fiction writer
John Forsythe 01/29 I remember him best as the lead in a sitcom called Bachelor Father MANY years ago. Oh yeah, he was on Dynasty and was the voice of Charlie on Charlie’s Angels
Janet Waldo 02/04 voice actress (Judy Jetson, Josie of the Pussycats)
Allan Arbus 02/15 the shrink on the M*A*S*H TV show
Patty Andrews 02/16 surviving member of the singing Andrews Sisters (Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree)
Don Pardo 02/22 announcer for the original JEOPARDY program and other game shows, as well as Saturday Night Live
Marian McPartland 03/20 great jazz pianist who my late friend Donna loved
Bobby Doerr 04/07 2nd base, BoSox
Betty Ford 04/08 started a health clinic of some kind, had a husband involved in politics
Jørn Utzon 04/09 designed the Sydney Opera House (I did not know that!)
Mike Wallace 05/09 a game show and talk show host who became that 60 Minutes guy
Eddy Arnold 05/15 noted country singer for decades
Joseph Wiseman 05/15 noted stage actor who I was not familiar with
Yasuhiro Nakasone 05/27 former prime minister of Japan; I knew that name was familiar
Barry Morse 06/10 the original Lt. Gerard on The Fugitive
Abigail Van Buren 07/04 the original Dear Abby; twin sister of the late Ann Landers Nelson Mandela 07/18 spent lots of years in jail before leading South Africa
Marjorie Lord 07/26 Danny Thomas’ TV wife
Helen Wagner 09/03 my grandmother used to watch As the World Turns and the Nancy Hughes character; I think she’s still on!
Paul Harvey 09/04 radio commentator I listened to decades ago; good day
Baby Peggy 10/26 a silent film start I had never heard of
Griffin Bell 10/31 US Attorney General under Jimmy Carter
Bob Feller 11/03 Rapid Robert was a pitcher for Cleveland
Billy Graham 11/07 probably somewhere in my house I have a book he wrote that I received when I was 9 called A Talk with God
Claiborne Pell 11/22 senator from Rhode Island; those educational grants are named for him
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. 11/30 actor I remember from The FBI TV show
Aleksander Solzhenitsyn 12/11 author of The Gulag Archipelago
Helmut Schmidt 12/23/1918 once chancellor of West Germany
Ahmed Ben Bella 12/25/1918 led the Algerian independence movement and later led the country; not a name I knew

Oh, and these guys were born in 1908, thus potentially hitting the century mark:
Michael DeBakey 09/07 heart surgeon
Claude Lévi-Strauss 11/28 French anthropologist

This database says it only has living people over 50. So why does Rodney Allen Rippy, who’s only turning 40, show up?
ROG