Life Crawls Along
Jan. 27th, 2020 02:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fauxkloreCelebrity Death Watch: Bruno Nettl was an ethnomusicologist. Steve Martin Caro was the lead singer of The Left Banke, best known for their hit song “Walk Away, Renee.” David Olney was a singer-songwriter, who died in the middle of a concert. Lee Gelber was an urban historian and tour guide in New York City. Morgan Wootten was a basketball coach at DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland, mentoring a number of students who went on to be pro players. John Karlen was an actor, best known for playing Willie Loomis in Dark Shadows. Sonny Grosso was a policeman who was immortalized for breaking up :the French connection.” Margo Lion was a theatre producer, best known for Hairspray. Michou was a French drag queen.
Christopher Tolkien edited The Silmarrilion and had, apparently, drawn the original maps for The Lord of the Rings. He was on my back-up list for my ghoul pool, which gets me nothing. Related to this (but completely independent), Barbara Remington drew the cover art for the first paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings. If those illustrations seem a bit off, she hadn't read the books first.
Frieda Caplan introduced a lot of exotic foods to the United States, including several varieties of mushrooms, kiwi fruit, jicama, and spaghetti squash. Her company was the first wholesale produce company to be founded, owned, and operated by a woman.
Terry Jones was one of the creators of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He directed three of their movies. He was also a medieval historian and wrote children’s books. He was a very funny man and will be missed.
Jim Lehrer was a journalist, best known for his television partnership with Robert MacNeil, as well as for moderating Presidential debates.
Pete Stark was the first member of Congress to publicly identify as an atheist. He is also known for fighting for health care reform. Unfortunately, he was also notably anti-Semitic and sexist and, generally uncivil towards fellow representatives.
Kobe Bryant played basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers. He was also a noted philanthropist. That legacy is marred by a credible rape accusation in 2003, which was closed when the victim withdrew from testifying because of threats against her. On the plus side, Bryant did go on to be a strong supporter of his daughter (and women’s basketball, in general), who was also killed in the helicopter crash. It's all very complex.
TCC Luncheon: The only thing I went out of my house for this weekend was the Travelers’ Century Club luncheon. We were in the bar area at J. Gilbert’s this time, which didn’t work well for me. The acoustics were terrible, for one thing. For another, the service was even worse than usual and our table practically had to beg to get someone to take our orders. It was a little easier to mingle, but still crowded enough that it was hard to get around to talk to people. Still, there was lots of interesting conversation, so it was worth going. And, by the way, for those who think I am insanely intrepid, I would not be willing to go to some places some people go to. Syria? No thanks.
Retirement Planning: I realized that retiring on October 1st means I should be able to go to Jonesborough (for the National Storytelling Festival) and to an art retreat in Ocean City. However, even without work to consider, it appears that my life will continue to be a schedule conflict.
More Living Room Archaeology: I think I can safely get rid of a schedule for performances at Wolf Trap in 2016.
Grammy Awards: I am glad Angelique Kidjo won for world music album. Also, I realized I don’t understand what the definitions of the overwhelming majority of genres are.
Christopher Tolkien edited The Silmarrilion and had, apparently, drawn the original maps for The Lord of the Rings. He was on my back-up list for my ghoul pool, which gets me nothing. Related to this (but completely independent), Barbara Remington drew the cover art for the first paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings. If those illustrations seem a bit off, she hadn't read the books first.
Frieda Caplan introduced a lot of exotic foods to the United States, including several varieties of mushrooms, kiwi fruit, jicama, and spaghetti squash. Her company was the first wholesale produce company to be founded, owned, and operated by a woman.
Terry Jones was one of the creators of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He directed three of their movies. He was also a medieval historian and wrote children’s books. He was a very funny man and will be missed.
Jim Lehrer was a journalist, best known for his television partnership with Robert MacNeil, as well as for moderating Presidential debates.
Pete Stark was the first member of Congress to publicly identify as an atheist. He is also known for fighting for health care reform. Unfortunately, he was also notably anti-Semitic and sexist and, generally uncivil towards fellow representatives.
Kobe Bryant played basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers. He was also a noted philanthropist. That legacy is marred by a credible rape accusation in 2003, which was closed when the victim withdrew from testifying because of threats against her. On the plus side, Bryant did go on to be a strong supporter of his daughter (and women’s basketball, in general), who was also killed in the helicopter crash. It's all very complex.
TCC Luncheon: The only thing I went out of my house for this weekend was the Travelers’ Century Club luncheon. We were in the bar area at J. Gilbert’s this time, which didn’t work well for me. The acoustics were terrible, for one thing. For another, the service was even worse than usual and our table practically had to beg to get someone to take our orders. It was a little easier to mingle, but still crowded enough that it was hard to get around to talk to people. Still, there was lots of interesting conversation, so it was worth going. And, by the way, for those who think I am insanely intrepid, I would not be willing to go to some places some people go to. Syria? No thanks.
Retirement Planning: I realized that retiring on October 1st means I should be able to go to Jonesborough (for the National Storytelling Festival) and to an art retreat in Ocean City. However, even without work to consider, it appears that my life will continue to be a schedule conflict.
More Living Room Archaeology: I think I can safely get rid of a schedule for performances at Wolf Trap in 2016.
Grammy Awards: I am glad Angelique Kidjo won for world music album. Also, I realized I don’t understand what the definitions of the overwhelming majority of genres are.
