Roger O Green

Jerry Seinfeld is 70

Nothing

Likely, the first time I saw Jerry Seinfeld was on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I thought he was rather funny.

I relate to a bit from his IMDb page: “A recent survey stated that the average person’s greatest fear is having to give a speech in public. Somehow, this ranked even higher than death, which was third on the list. So, you’re telling me that at a funeral, most people would rather be the guy in the coffin than have to stand up and give a eulogy?”

“I’ve learned that “his father was of Hungarian Jewish descent, while Jerry’s maternal grandparents… were Syrian Jewish immigrants (from Aleppo).” He got married the same year as I did but on Christmas Day.

I was a fan of the TV show Seinfeld early on. I’m probably an outlier in that I enjoyed the first seasons when it really WAS about “nothing.” The quintessential show was about being unable to find the car in a parking garage. The Chinese Restaurant, The Boyfriend with Keith Hernandez and the “second spitter,” and The Contest are classics.

I suppose I got tired of these people who, as intended by co-creators Seinfeld and Larry David, never really evolved. The episode in which George’s finance died irritated me greatly. The shows about trying to make a sitcom out of their lives might have been too meta for me. Constanza working for Yankee owner George Steinbrenner was funnier in concept for me.

And yet I kept watching, thanks to the VCR, through the unpleasant ending.

Commercials

Oddly, given my general disdain for ads, I liked the American Express commercials that Jerry did. I could relate to failing to open the plastic bag in the produce section or trying to hit the exact dollar amount at the gas pump. And I haven’t watched them since they first aired.

I enjoyed the Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee series, and I don’t care about cars or coffee. I didn’t catch every episode, but I enjoyed the ones I saw, especially the show with well-known comedian Barack Obama.

If I get a chance, I’d like to watch the film Unfrosted, a fictionalized development of Kellogg’s Pop Tarts.

Happy birthday, Jerry (said in the voice of Newman!)

Sunday Stealing: the best thing

irrational

Once more, Sunday Stealing is purloining from How Far Will You Go?

1. What’s the best thing to inherit other than money?

Good health, I suppose. I would say a long life, but if one’s health were awful, that wouldn’t be so great.

2. What one thing would you most like to happen tomorrow?

I’d like to write a blog post. I’m falling behind and my reserves are rapidly shrinking. What should I write about?

3. Who is the person with whom you’ve been most infatuated?

I wrote a whole blog post about this in 2008. And I’m sure there were others, not to mention the ones I knew personally; we won’t get into THAT!

4. In what part of the day does time go slowest and fastest?

It ALL goes pretty fast. My list of things to do doesn’t seem to shrink.

5. Whose thoughts would you most like to read?

djt. What’s really going on there?

6. Who is the person you’d least like to touch?

Odd question. What are they, lepers? I suppose the person others think they ought not to touch would be the person I would be most compelled to touch.

Genes

7. What is the best quality you inherited from your parents?

My father had a good musical ear. My mother was very kind.

8. Who is the friend you most often disagree with?

There is one, who I am not going to name. This week, I shared what I thought was an interesting upcoming musical release but it was pooh-poohed. Whatevs.

9. What’s the best ritual of your daily life?

It’s playing Wordle (485-game streak) and Quordle.

10. What is the most useful job you’ve ever had?

I’ll pick working at FantaCo (May 1980-November 1988), a comic book store/publisher/convention place that became a “third place” for many patrons. I balanced the checkbook, helped order products, wrote and edited a few magazines, et al. A lot of things I learned were useful in being a business librarian (1994-2019).

11. In which year of your life did you change the most?

Lessee, 1972. Or 1974, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1991, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004. If pressed, I’ll pick 1978. 1977 was the year I bounced from New Paltz, NY to Charlotte, NC to NYC, and back to New Paltz to Schenectady, NY. In 1978, I got a job I liked at the Schenectady Arts Council in a metro area I have lived in ever since.

12. What’s the best thing you’ve ever gotten for free?

A trip to Barbados, courtesy of the game show JEOPARDY! It wasn’t totally free in that I had to pay taxes on the value of the trip; the trip’s value was $2100, if I remember correctly.

13, What is the thing you are best at?

I can connect numbers with events, such as those years in question 11.

I can walk under ladders

14. What was the luckiest moment in your life?

I don’t know about THE luckiest, but I thought of this event recently. As a college student in New Paltz, NY in the 1970s, I often hitchhiked from my hometown of Binghamton to school and back. Once, I walked just outside New Paltz village and found a white and orange metal sign with 17 on it. To get home, I would take NY-299 W to US-44 E to NY-52 W to NY-17 W to Binghamton. I put up the sign, and about five minutes later, a guy from the CIA picked me up and dropped me at Exit 72 just above my grandma’s house in Binghamton. BTW, the guy was from the Culinary Institute of America, not the Central Intelligence Agency.

15. What is the single most important thing you have ever learned?

People are irrational, motivated by factors they don’t always understand themselves. This week, a person in my neighborhood drove past a Road Closed sign. They must have thought, “Surely, if I can drive past the sign, I should be able to get down the block.” Nope, the road construction was at the end of the road. They had to turn around in someone’s driveway and return to the main street. I got just a soupçon of delight from this.

2024 National Recording Registry Listing

Also, rock hall

The 2024 National Recording Registry includes 25 items as usual. For me, the real find is the Kronos Quartet’s Pieces of Africa, which I will probably buy. The McFerrin track’s inclusion amused me since he had said years ago that he would never sing it again.

Links in the left column are to the single or the whole album. Links in the right column are to a song from the album. * means I own it.

Also check out Coverville 1486: Covers of 2024’s National Recording Registry.

Eclectic

Clarinet Marmalade (single)	Jim Europe’s 369th Band Additional Information	1919	2024	Pop (Pre-1955)
Kauhavan Polkka (single)	Viola Turpeinen & John Rosendahl Additional Information	1928	2024	Folk
Wisconsin Folksong Recordings (collection)	Various Additional Information	1937-46	2024	Field
Rose Room (single)	Benny Goodman Sextet with Charlie Christian Additional Information	1939	2024	Jazz
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer* (single)	Autry, Gene Additional Information	1949	2024	Pop (Pre-1955)
Tennessee Waltz* (single)	Patti Page Additional Information	1950	2024	Country/Bluegrass
Rocket “88”* (single)	Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats Additional Information	1951	2024	Pop (Pre-1955)
*Catch A Falling Star/Magic Moments (single)**	Perry Como Additional Information	1957	2024	Pop (1955-1975)
Chances Are* (single)	Johnny Mathis Additional Information	1957	2024	Pop (1955-1975)
The Sidewinder (album)	Lee Morgan Additional Information	1964	2024	Jazz; The Sidewinder (1st track)
Surrealistic Pillow* (album)	Jefferson Airplane Additional Information	1967	2024	Pop (1955-1975); Comin’ Back To Me
Ain’t No Sunshine* (single)	Bill Withers Additional Information	1971	2024	Pop (1955-1975)
This is a Recording (album)	Lily Tomlin Additional Information	1971	2024	Comedy/Novelty; The Bordello
J. D. Crowe & the New South (album)	J.D. Crowe & the New South Additional Information	1975	2024	Country/Bluegrass
Arrival (album)	ABBA Additional Information	1976	2024	Disco/Dance; Dancing Queen*
Parallel Lines (album)	Blondie Additional Information	1978	2024	Disco/Dance
The Cars (album)	The Cars Additional Information	1978	2024	Pop (1976-1996); Good Times Roll*
El Cantante (single)	Héctor Lavoe Additional Information	1978	2024	Latin
La-Di-Da-Di (single)	Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick Additional Information	1985	2024	Rap/Hip Hop
Don’t Worry, Be Happy* (single)	Bobby McFerrin Additional Information	1988	2024	Pop (1976-1996)
Amor Eterno (single)	Juan Gabriel Additional Information	1990	2024	Latin
Pieces of Africa (album)	Kronos Quartet Additional Information	1992	2024	Classical; Mai Nozipo (“Mother Nozipo”)
Dookie* (album)	Green Day Additional Information	1994	2024	Pop (1976-1996); Longview
Ready to Die (album)	Notorious BIG Additional Information	1994	2024	Rap/Hip Hop; One More Chance
Wide Open Spaces* (album)	Dixie Chicks Additional Information	1998	2024	Country/Bluegrass’ Wide Open Spaces

Rock Hall

About 24 hours before the fan ballot for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame closed, I captured the tally. I was curious how closely the “will of the people” jibed with the final inductee decision.

Dave Matthews Band 564,296. IN, I didn’t vote for.
Foreigner 507,349. IN, I didn’t vote for. But I like songs with sax solos. Urgent
Peter Frampton 507,091 IN, I voted for. Show Me The Way (Live)
Ozzy Osbourne 464,364 IN, I didn’t vote for.
Cher 329,649 IN, I voted for. Just Like Jesse James
Lenny Kravitz 300,319 NOT IN, I voted for occasionally. A friend of mine sent me this fun video labeled Cool Church Choir’s Unexpected Guest from 2010
Kool & the Gang 277,231 IN, I voted for. Hollywood Swinging. The top 7 was the collective fan ballot.
Mariah Carey 243,282 NOT IN, I didn’t vote for. Early on, Carey was ahead of Kool but fell further behind by the week.
Sinéad O’Connor 163,901. NOT IN, I voted for
Oasis 162,307 NOT IN, I didn’t vote for
Sade 157,892 NOT IN, I voted for
Jane’s Addiction 137,229 NOT IN, I didn’t vote for
Mary J. Blige 110,874 IN, I occasionally voted for. Real Love
A Tribe Called Quest 86,672 IN, I Voted for. Scenario
Eric B. & Rakim54,250 NOT IN, I voted for

Also

I was more excited about the other awardees.

Musical Excellence

Jimmy Buffett: Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes

MC5 (who I’ve voted for): Over and Over

Dionne Warwick, a recent Kennedy Center honoree: A House Is Not A Home

Norman Whitfield, songwriter/producer for Motown’s Temps, Pips, et al.: War

Musical Influence

Alexis Korner: Get Off My Cloud

John Mayall: Room To Move

Big Mama Thornton: Hound Dog

Ahmet Ertegun Award

Suzanne de Passe – Motown executive and more

Lydster: two decades

cleaning the wound

This is the second part of the daughter at two decades extravaganza.

One of the mild life frustrations I’ve had is that my daughter didn’t get to know my birth family nearly as well as she related to my wife’s family. My father died in 2000 before she was born. While she did meet my mother a few times, most recently in 2009, she didn’t get to know her well. She had seen her cousin Rebecca on the TV show Wipeout but never in person until my mother’s funeral in 2011. In part, that’s why she and I went to Carnegie Hall in 2022 to see my sister Leslie sing, before which we experienced an … interesting… taxi ride.

But it’s nice that she has seen my wife’s family regularly. Though my wife’s brother John died in 2002, my daughter has gotten to know her grandparents before her grandpa Richard Powell died in 2020. I think my daughter “supported” John McCain in 2008 for President because he vaguely looked like Richard. Her grandmother now lives in Albany County.

She knows her mother’s other two brothers, their wives, and their three daughters. One family, with twin girls, lives in Catskill, about an hour away, though one of the daughters is now in NYC. The other family lived in Massachusetts, but now in southeastern Pennsylvania, a fair distance but a lot closer than Charlotte, NC, and San Diego, CA. She’s attended several Olin family reunions.

Self-advocating

She became more confident in many areas. It used to be that when we went to a restaurant, she wanted one of her parents to tell the server that she had a peanut and tree nut allergy. Then, about five years ago, she insisted on doing it herself.

During COVID, she would spend hours in her room. It was difficult to ascertain whether this was a function of the pandemic, the phase of being a teenager, or both. This eventually passed.

Early on, I wondered how to introduce issues of national and world events to her. As it turned out when she was about nine, I’d be watching the TV news in the living room; she was paying attention while in the dining room.

Her parents talk with her a LOT about whatever she asks, including issues of race. It’s impossible to protect one’s child from bigotry. When there were vigils after George Floyd’s murder in 2020, she organized a regular event in our neighborhood for about two months; as it was her gig, I only went once or twice.

Column A or Column B

There is a loose demarcation of what she will ask which parent. Her mother tends to get questions about cooking, cleaning, and first aid. Indeed, when one of her friends was mildly injured at college, she used tips her mother taught her to clean the wound.

I tend to get the music, movies, and politics questions. Also, because I am a librarian, she asks me college-related questions about finding citations, attribution, and the like. Both of us might field questions, such as relationship issues and money, though I tend to be more available as a retiree.

In her first year in college, she’d call or text now and then. This year, she phones more often. She called just to talk recently, and we were on the phone for an hour and a half.

We tell her we love her, and she reciprocates, which is very nice.

I would have served on the djt jury

volunteers of America

One of the things I do with some regularity is to try to put myself in others’ shoes. I concluded that I believe I would have served on the djt jury if I had lived in New York County (Manhattan). In spite of my… antipathy for the man, I think I could have looked at the facts in this particular case.

And I am specifying the “hush money” case, not the election interference case or the overthrow of the government case, about which I just can’t shake the overwhelming evidence that I’ve seen and heard.

Maybe it’s because I watched a LOT of lawyer shows growing up. They included Perry Mason, of course, but also The Defenders with E.G. Marshall and a pre-Brady Bunch Robert Reed (I have the first season on DVD); Judd For The Defense, starring a post-Donna Reed Show Carl Betz ; and The Bold Ones: The Lawyers with Burl Ives, Joseph Campanella, and James Farentino.

In fact, I watch so much of them that, for a good while, I thought I would become a lawyer until I didn’t.

Often, I imagine how I would respond to certain circumstances. In the 1980s, there was high-profile murder case, the details I’ve largely forgotten. A lawyer who came into FantaCo regularly was attending the trial daily, and he was convinced the person would surely be convicted of second-degree murder. All I knew was from television and newspaper reporting, but I became convinced that the alleged perpetrator would be found guilty of the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter. Much to the shock of the attorney, it was precisely how the trial was decided.

Picking the jury

After watching about how they chose a jury in this case, I realized that, if I had lived in Manhattan, I could have been questioned in voir dire, somewhat differently than I experienced in 2014. I’d get to indicate my disdain for almost all of his policies – with him listening, which seems like that could be enjoyable – but that I would promise to treat his case fairly.

Ultimately, though, I would have served because it’s important. Yes, I would have to weigh the appeal of civic duty with time considerations: The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.

Personal safety, I suppose, would also have been a concern. CNN, among others, essentially outed some jurors. “Juror five is a young Black woman who teaches English in a public charter school system. She has a Master’s degree in education, is not married and doesn’t have any kids.” When her friends and relatives note she’s largely unavailable for a couple of months, they will surely figure it out.

American values

The Weekly Sift guy called trial by jury as defending American values. Trial by jury is fundamental to the American ethic. He notes: “The central mission of a rising authoritarian movement is to destroy public trust in any institution that can stand in its way.”

Specifically, the movement tells us:

We can’t trust historians to recount the story of American racism, or librarians to make sound decisions about books that discuss either race or sex. So we have to push back against ignorance.
We can’t trust our secretaries of state and local election officials to count votes. This is why I was a poll watcher in the past and should do so more often going forward.

Interestingly, I haven’t been called for jury duty in a decade. Only recently, I discovered I could volunteer to be included in the jury pool in the state of New York if I can understand and communicate in English, am a citizen of the US, am over 18, haven’t been a juror in state federal court in the last six years, and a couple of other factors. Frankly, I think it’s a little weird.

Do I want to volunteer? Maybe, after I check some items off my Must Do list.