Ramblin' with Roger

Dare to tell Sunday Stealing

Rebecca Jade

Dare to tell is the current Sunday Stealing meme. Most questions aren’t THAT daring.

What type of day are you having?

It’s very busy. My wife has a foot injury, so I’m bringing the pillows she uses to prop up her leg upstairs as she’s going to bed. Then downstairs as she sits on the sofa.

Other tasks, such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry, are fine; I can do those. But the pillows naturally have to be just so. The solution: I ordered more pillows online; they haven’t arrived yet, but it’ll make life easier. …

Was there anyone who “made your day”?

My friend Bruce, who brought my wife to the doctor and then picked her up, always makes my day.

Are you liking how you look today?

A complicated question you’ll have to ask my therapist if I had one.

Have you ever eaten a bug?

Not to my recollection.

Are you vegetarian?

No, I like chicken too much. But I have been eating more fruit.

When was your last paycheck?

July 2019, and it included my unused vacation time. To quote a late local car dealer, it was HUGE.

How many pets do you have?

Two cats, one of whom is neurotic. Yesterday he freaked out when I was carrying the laundry basket, and I picked up a container of Tide. He started growling and hissing for a couple of hours until he meandered to the basement. After the hours-long timeout, he was still skittish. The tambourine is a last resort t keep him at bay.

What kind of toothpaste do you use?

Pretty much whatever’s on sale. Currently, it’s Crest.

Are you closer to being rich or poor?

As a middle-class American, I’m WAY closer to being rich on a global scale.

Shamelessly plugging my niece at every opportunity

What was the last gift someone gave you?

A compact disc of my niece Rebecca Jade called A Shade of Jade.

Do you appreciate that person?

Yes, I appreciate my sister.

Did you talk to anyone you didn’t like today?

Nah, and I’m no longer in a position having to talk to people I don’t like. Retirement is wonderful.

Do you like picnics?

Sure? But I don’t like ants.

What book are you currently reading?

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

What song did you last listen to?

Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Neil Young; sorry, Mary H.

How many tabs are open on your computer?

64. To be fair, I opened three of them to fill out this quiz.

Are you a very stressed-out person?

Less so than I used to be. Still, I was rather stressed out when I started treating my wife’s wounds because I didn’t know what I was doing. It’s like riding somewhere in a car when someone else is driving, then needing to drive the route yourself.

Performer Jeff Goldblum is 70

Brown Shoe

I’ve been following the quirky career of Jeff Goldblum for a very long time. While I saw him in early films such as California Split (1974), Nashville (1975), and Annie Hall (1977), I think I first really knew who he was in the remake of The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978).

I may have been one of the 14 people who watched Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980), in which “a con-man [Ben Vereen] and an accountant-wanna-be private eye [Goldblum] team up to fight crime.” It didn’t catch on despite being written by Stephen J. Cannell, the scribe of The Rockford Files and The Greatest American Hero.

He appeared in The Fly (1986) and Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) with Geena Davis, his wife from 1987 to 1991. After playing Jeff Goldblum in The Player (1992), he appeared in one of his franchise films, Jurassic Park (1993). I’ve only seen that first film. However, I’ve read he’s one of the only reasons to see Jurassic World Dominion (2022).

Jake Coyle of the Associated Press wrote in June 2022 that the actor has not been defined by his roles in Jurassic Day or Independence Day. “It’s more that Goldblum, in putting his own idiosyncratic spin on them, marks the characters, rather than the other way around.”

TV cop

This is true in Law and Order: Criminal Intent (2009-2010), in which he played detective Zack Nichols for a season. His character, like the man himself, plays a bit of jazz piano. And then he reprieved the role in, of all things, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in the Civil Forfeiture episode (2014) at 14:07.

Goldblum was great as Deputy Kovacs in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and the Grandmaster in Thor: Ragnarok (2017). He also voiced Duke in the animated Isle of Dogs (2018).

I haven’t seen The World According to Jeff Goldblum, but I suspect it’d be entertaining. As Coyle noted: “Chaos and harmony feature prominently in most conversations with Goldblum, an ever-riffing, cosmetically attuned raconteur.” he shows up playing

Heck, even his commercials for Apartments.com are a bit off-center. But he can also be serious, as this clip from Finding Your Roots shows.

Happy 70th birthday to Jeff Goldblum.

Edythe Wayne was Holland-Dozier-Holland

“And our love will surely grow”

Edythe Wayne was a pseudonym used by Holland, Dozier, and Holland for contractual reasons after they left Motown. From here: “In 1967, H-D-H… entered into a dispute with Berry Gordy Jr. over profit-sharing and royalties. Eddie Holland had the others stage a work slowdown, and by early 1968 the trio had left the label.

“They started their own labels, Invictus Records and Hot Wax Records, which were modestly successful. When Motown sued for breach of contract, H-D-H countersued. The subsequent litigation was one of the longest legal battles in music industry history. Because they were legally contracted to Motown’s publishing arm, Jobete, they could not use their own names on songs they wrote, and their material was credited to Wayne-Dunbar, ‘Edythe Wayne’ being a pseudonym and Ronald Dunbar being an associate who was a songwriter and producer. The lawsuit was settled in 1977.”

1967

Jimmy Mack – Martha and the Vandellas, #10 pop, #1 RB in 1967
Bernadette – The Four Tops, #4 pop, #3 RB in 1967
The Happening – Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, #32 pop in 1967 (Orig. The Supremes, #1 pop, #12 RB in 1967.) Written by H-D-H, and Frank De Vol
7 Rooms Of Gloom – The Four Tops, #14 pop, #10 RB in 1967

Your Changing Love – Marvin Gaye, #33 pop, #7 RB in 1967
I’ll Turn To Stone – The Supremes, album cut in 1967 (Orig. The Four Tops, #76 pop, #50 RB.) Written by H-D-H, and R. Dean Taylor
Going Down For The Third Time – Diana Ross and the Supremes, album cut in 1967, probably my favorite non-singles Supremes track

1968 and later

Forever Came Today – The Jackson 5, #60 pop, #6 RB in 1975 (Orig. Diana Ross and the Supremes, #28 pop, #17 RB in 1968)
Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While) – The Doobie Brothers, #11 pop in 1975 (Orig. The Isley Brothers, #22 pop, #52 RB in 1968)
I’m In A Different World – The Four Tops, #51 pop, #23 in 1968. Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and R. Dean Taylor

Give Me Just A Little More Time – Chairmen of the Board, #3 pop, #8 RB in 1970. Written by “Edyth Wayne” and Ronald Dunbar
Band Of Gold – Freda Payne, #3 pop, #20 RB in 1970. Written by “Edyth Wayne,” Daphne Dumas, and Ronald Dunbar.

There are also songs written by the Holland brothers, together, solo, or with others. For instance, Eddie Holland and Norman Whitfield created several numbers for the Temptations. But since Lamont Dozier’s death inspired these posts, I’ll pass on those for now.

Being panhandled and Lazarus

the Gospel according to Luke

I read about fillyjonk being panhandled INSIDE of her local Walmart, and it reminded me of something.

My wife and I had to take a fairly large piece of art to be reframed. It was raining, so I had two large plastic bags over it, which was awkward. This guy comes up and asks for a dollar.

To tell the truth, I tend to be a reasonably easy touch for people who need money. But I had both hands full, and my wife was holding an umbrella, trying to keep me and the art dry. So I said, “Sorry.” And I was. But, dude, don’t you recognize situational panhandling? People with full hands are not likely to stop, especially in the rain.

But on the way back to the car, with my hands empty, I actually looked for the guy to give him some money. I didn’t see him.

That week’s sermon was about Jesus’ parable about Lazarus and the rich man from Luke 16: 19-31. It is the scripture that inspired the theological leanings of Albert Schweitzer. You try to help the poor.

The kicker

Oh, the piece of art being reframed was the picture of Jesus that our daughter created. About a month earlier, it was at the church, being moved so that it would not be damaged either by the film crew making The Gilded Age or by the folks running the August election primary.

Almost as soon as it was carried onto the small stage, everyone heard a loud CRASH. I knew instantly that it had been the glass protecting the piece. Also, the frame got bent. The guy who dropped it felt absolutely terrible, as he told my wife and me several times. Stuff happens, even to representations of the Lord.

I found it amusingly ironic that I couldn’t help the poor because I was carrying an image of Jesus.

Oh, and to those of you who might suggest that I shouldn’t give money because I should refer them to the appropriate social service entity, two things. 1) I do give to such entities, but 2) saying to someone to go somewhere else, if it’s a small ask, just doesn’t feel right.

Recontextualized

more… something required

Something good happened recently, and I was partially responsible for it. But I worried that if I talked about, or worse, wrote about it, it would seem self-aggrandizing. Then I talked about it with someone, and I recontextualized it.

You may remember that I wrote about the passing of my friend from my previous church, Jim Kalas. I wrote, “Sometime this century, Jim told me that he wanted How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place sung at his funeral, which will be on October 1 at Trinity.” I called the Trinity church office to inform someone of this fact. The office administrator gave me the email of the choir director.

The choir director wrote back to me saying he’d be out of town. But he must have sent a message to his small choir because Nancy, who I used to sing with, managed to wrangle a total of 15 of us to perform it at the service, with a previous keyboardist accompanying us. And I was pleased about this outcome

Someone pointed out that I did it to honor Jim’s memory, and I know that intellectually. Moreover, I was told, and this is correct, that I should appreciate my gift of remembering this particular detail. The fact is that, deep down, I know I have skills. Also, I like to be useful. But certain parties, and I shan’t go into who, I allowed to short-circuit my confidence for a time.

Not Shecky Greene, but an unreasonable facsimile

It’s weird. I’m finding these situations where I, in small ways, can bring talents I didn’t even know I had to bear. It often surprises me. Someone asked me to introduce the raffle at an event after church. My general position is usually to say yes and then figure out what I’m supposed to do. I take it that I was pretty good at this brief gig, and I was even occasionally funny. It was an odd self-awareness at the moment.

So I can say, hey, I wrote the foreword for a book that will be published next year, written by someone in the comic book field. I gave them the first draft, having no idea what I was doing or how long the piece should be, yet they really liked it. Now I have to write a brief bio of myself, which will be interesting.

I am a patron of the podcast Coverville. Every month, I send host Brian Ibbott a list of musical artists whose birthdays are or would have been divisible by five. I suggested for September that he group together three deceased country legends, Patsy Cline, Gene Autry, and Jimmie Rodgers. And he did, namechecking me at the end.

Hang on to your ego

It was an ego boost, and I must remember that it’s not all a bad thing. Apparently, several people told Mark Evanier that Samatha Bee’s show, Full Frontal, was canceled, but I was the one to send a link; I was mentioned.

I was talking at the library with two people about different types of intelligence. But I noticed this person I did not know nodding their head knowingly, as if to say, “Yes, I think I’ve been underestimated.” And there were other situations, one involving chairs, another regarding a sartorial suggestion that worked well, plus a couple of things that have since slipped my mind.

I guess I’m saying I’m okay being okay.