fauxklore

Shameless Self Promotion: I’m part of a Halloween show on Monday night, October 30th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. EDT. You can find details and register at the Artists Standing Strong Together website It’s free, but donations are gladly accepted.

Celebrity Death Watch: James M. Hoge was a journalist and publisher, best known as the editor of Foreign Affairs. Katherine Anderson sang with The Marvelettes. Evelyn Fox Keller was a physicist and went on to write about gender and science. Terry Kirkman performed with The Association and wrote their hit song “Cherish.” Barry Olivier founded the Berkeley Folk Music Festival. Burkey Belser designed the nutrition facts label. Matteo Messina Denaro was the head of the Italian Mafia. Pat Arrowsmith co-founded the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Theresa Kuruor was the first lady of Ghana from 2001 to 2009. I met and shook hands with her husband, John Kufuor, when I was in Ghana in 2006. Thomas Gambino was the caporegime of the Gambino crime family. Loyal Jones was an Appalachian folklorist. Burt Young was a character actor, best known for playing Paulie Pennino in the Rocky franchise. Herschel Savage was a porno actor. Buck Trent was a country musician who appeared on Hee Haw. Steven Lutwak wrote the score of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Martin Goetz held the first patent ever issued for software. Mark Goddard played Major Don West on Lost in Space, which was the first television series I ever saw in color. (We went over to a neighbor’s house to watch it, before we got a color TV of our own.) Rudolph Isley was one of the founding members of the Isley Brothers. Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane in the first season of the television series Adventures of Superman. Lara Parker played Angelique on Dark Shadows. Louise Gluck was a Pulitzer Prize winning poet and Nobel laureate. Piper Laurie was an actress whose roles included Carrie’s mother in the movie version of Carrie. Suzanne Somers was an actress, best known for playing Chrissie on Three’s Company. Joanna Merlin originated the role of Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway. Don Laughlin was a gambling entrepreneur and the town of Laughlin, Nevada is named after him. Lee Elliot Berk was the president of Berklee College of Music, which was originally Schillinger house but was renamed for him by his father in 1954. Richard Roundtree was an actor, best known for playing Shaft. Robert Irwin was an installation artist. Richard Moll played the bailiff on Night Court

David McCallum played Ilya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Ducky Mallard in NCIS, as well as many other television and film roles. He also recorded four albums of instrumental music in the 1960’s and narrated spoken word recordings of literary stories.

Brooks Robinson played third base for the Baltimore Orioles. His record of 2870 career games at third base remains the most game played by any player in major league history at a single position. He is best known for his skill as a defensive player. He also played a significant role in developing the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, specifically, the York Revolution.

Diane Feinstein was a long-serving senator from California. She’d come into political prominence as the mayor of San Francisco after the assassination of George Moscone and appeared to be particularly effective in that role. She broke a lot of glass ceilings for women in politics and I really wish she’d left office as her health declined instead of sticking it out until her death.

Tim Wakefield pitched for the Red Sox for 17 years. He is the all-time leader in innings pitched by a Red Sox pitcher. It’s probably worth noting that being a knuckleballer contributed to his longevity. He died of brain cancer at the young age of 57.

Dick Butkus played football for the Chicago Bears for 8 years, followed by a successful career as an actor and television pitchman. I think people of my generation will always associate him with Miller Lite.

Non-Celebrity Death Watch: Kek Robien died last week. I met her over 20 years ago, when we were both on a tour of Papua New Guinea and we stayed in touch via holiday cards and Facebook, as well as meeting for dinner in Chicago. She was over 90, so the news wasn’t terribly surprising. But I admired her for staying active and traveling for most of those years.

I also heard of the deaths of two people I grew up with. Matt McDermott was a year younger than me and lived next door while I was a kid. And Danny Goodman was a year older than me and was very friendly with my brother.

The Medicare Saga: I finally managed to successfully get into my Social Security account and change my password and, most importantly, update my phone number for two-factor authentication. I also discovered that they still haven’t finished reviewing my medicare application. It isn’t at all clear why, since it says that is normally takes 2 to 4 weeks and they started the review on September 22nd. Unless, maybe they are counting from when I brought in the documents they asked for (e.g. my birth certificate), which was October 2nd. At that time, the guy I worked with said it would take about one week. Yes, I am very frustrated and stressed over this.

The Tell-Tale Heart: Last Thursday night, my friend Cindy and I went to see Synetic Theatre’s production of The Tell-Tale Heart. This is a theatre that specializes in movement-based shows, sort of a cross between mime and ballet. This production also had a lot of narration and weird music. And, for some reason I can’t explain, vultures, including one on stilts. (That is, dancers dressed as vultures. Not actual birds.) I thought it was possible I’d forgotten something about Poe’s story, but I did go and re-read it and, no, there’s not even a crow or raven there. It was all very pretty, but too weird and too far from the source material for me.

Bazaar by Jose Andres: Before a concert on Friday night, my friend Kathleen and I had dinner at Bazaar by Jose Andres, which is in the Waldorf Astoria. (Which, by the way, I kept thinking was the Ritz Carlton.) It was a very extravagant meal. This is the sort of place with a lot of small dishes, many of them just one or two bites. My favorite was something called “Neptune’s Pillows” which was spicy tuna on some sort of sesame toast thing. There was a very interesting dish of brussels sprouts with grapes and apricots and lemon foam that looked like ice on top of it. There was also coconut rice and onion soup and tomato bread. I know Kathleen got a crab louie cone and a plate of different type of ham, and a taco which had gold leaf and caviar in it. There’s probably something else I’ve forgotten. The food and the service were exquisite, but it was quite pricy.

Randy Rainbow For President: The reason we were downtown on Friday night was to see Randy Rainbow’s show. For those who are somehow unfamiliar with him, he does parody songs on political themes, often based on show tunes. He’s very funny. I enjoyed the show, though I thought it was a bit longer than it needed to be.

Baseball: I don’t really care who wins the World Series this year. I feel sorry for the Phillies having had their collapse - and that was after Bryce Harper stole home in NLCS Game 5.

As for what really matters in baseball (namely, the Grand Unified Theory of Politics, Economics, and the American League East), I was pleased to see that the BoSox have given Craig Breslow the Chief of Baseball Operations job. The guy is smart - with a degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale. He was accepted to NYU Medical School but has postponed that a few times already, so I doubt that medicine is really his future career. I hope he’ll find them some depth in the pitching line-up.

To Be Continued: This is long enough for now, so I’ll put a write-up of my trip to Boston last weekend in a separate entry.

Shameless Self Promotion: I will be telling stories at the Washington Folk Festival on Sunday June 4th at 5:30 p.m. The festival is at Glen Echo Park and is free. There’s going to be plenty of other things to go to there - storytelling, yes, but also music and dance and crafts. And, of course, the famous Glen Echo Carousel.

Celebrity Death Watch: Hodding Carter III was the spokesperson for the State Department during the Carter administration. Harry Bentley Bradley designed cars for Hot Wheels. Gloria Molina was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Garoar Cortes founded The Icelandic Opera. Doyle Brunson was a Hall of Fame poker player. Robert Lucas got a Nobel Prize in Economics. Marlin Hagge co-founded the LPGA. “Superstar” Billy Graham was a professional wrestler. Andy Rourke was the bassist for The Smiths. Nicholas Gray owned Gray’s Papaya, a famous hot dog place in New York City. Pete Brown was a lyricist, whose work included lyrics for “Sunshine of Your Love” and “White Room.” Martin Amis was a novelist, best known for Time’s Arrow. Ed Ames was a singer and actor, known for playing Mingo on Daniel Boone. Chas Newby briefly played bass with The Beatles. James Lewis sang with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Robert Zimmer was a mathematician and president of the University of Chicago for 15 years. Sheldon Reynolds played guitar for Commodors and for Earth, Wind, & Fire. George Maharis played Buz Murdock on the TV series Route 66, as well as modeling nude in the second issue of Playgirl magazine. Bill Lee was a jazz musician and film composer, as well as the father of Spike Lee. Claudia Rosett was a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the only print journalist to witness the Tiananmen Square massacre. Milt Larsen created The Magic Castle. Alexander Dreyfoos, Jr. was a businessman and philanthropist who donated the money to MIT to build the Stata Center, aka the ugliest building in Cambridge. Mike Young was an outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles. Robin Wagner won three Tony Awards for set design. Harvey Pitt chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission in the early 2000’s. Gershon Edelsten headed the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Beni Brak, and was, thus, a major leader in Lithuanian Jewish Orthodoxy.

John Dunning was a writer, primarily of mysteries, though he also wrote a couple of books about old-time radio. His mystery series featuring Cliff Laneway, a bookseller, was quite entertaining. Check out Booked to Die and/or The Bookman’s Wake if you like detective fiction and have ever wanted to own a used bookstore.

Tina Turner was an eight-time Grammy winner. She overcame an abusive relationship with her first husband, Ike Turner, and went on to a very successful solo career.

Non-Celebrity Death Watch: Laura Beasley was a wonderful storyteller and a dear friend. I first met her in the 1990’s at the Southern California Story Swapping Festival, which she came to regularly with her son, Theo, and we saw each other every now and then through the years. I’ll miss her.

Don’t Analyze This Dream: I had a postcard from some organization (possibly google) saying they wouldn’t spam me. But, in the same batch of mail, I had the same postcard, only in Spanish.

You May Analyze This Dream: I was in some sort of competition (maybe writing>) I lost to a woman named Ella Siempre.

My interpretation is that I probably need to scale back on how much time I spend studying Spanish on Duolingo.


Alex Padilla: I went to a dinner with Senator Alex Padilla on Tuesday night, put on by the MIT Club of DC. It is always good to have intelligent conversation (with other attendees). His talk was mostly about his path from a mechanical engineering degree and a short career in the aerospace industry to a political career. He was entertaining and articulate. His major focus was on problem-solving in both contexts.

Travel Planning: I have three international trips coming up in the near-term, as well as one later in the year. I also have plans for two domestic trips. And I have plans for a few more things. None of this helps with my household decluttering activities.

Here’s a run-down on other things I’ve done so far this month, focused on the good things. (I’ll save the stressful stuff for another post, which will probably be a non-public one.) But first, an announcement of an upcoming event

Shameless Self-Promotion: I am going to be part of a show of an on-line storytelling show of Fractured Fairy Tales on Thursday February 9th at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Tickets and more information are available here. If you can’t make it live, it will be recorded and you can watch the replay.


Routine: I have a lot of standing meetings. Book Club is every 6 weeks. My Lithuanian Jewish genealogy mentoring session is monthly. I have a standing crafting get-together every Thursday afternoon. And I play board games with a couple of different groups regularly. I have another book club starting up, too.


Three Genealogy Things: I went to a genealogy talk last week specifically for grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. Since both my father and grandfather were survivors (of the Kaunas Ghetto and Dachau), I qualify as both a 2G and 3G. I don’t think I really learned anything new from the talk, but they sent out a good list of resources.

I submitted a proposal for a talk about Telling Family Stories at the IAJGS conference in London. I have no idea whether or not it will be accepted. I plan to go to the conference anyway, since it has been way too long since I have been to London.

And I got a reply from a cousin who I contacted a couple of years ago. Now I need to get back to her. I am hoping she has some info about my grandfather’s mother’s family.


Two Jews Walk Into a War: I went with my friend Cindy to this play at Theatre J last weekend, i.e. a week ago Saturday. The play is very loosely based on the actual story of the last two Jews in Afghanistan, who loathed each other. I am reasonably sure that neither of them was descended from a concentration camp survivor, however, since the Soviet Jews who came to Afghanistan in the 1930’s and 1940’s were from Central Asia. And they certainly would not have spoken any Yiddish. Nor was the klezmer music played between scenes at all appropriate. I can’t imagine why they didn’t even try to find something mizrahi to use.

On the plus side, much of the play was funny, albeit a bit cruder than I’d have preferred. The biggest plus was the actors. Bobby Smith and Sasha Olinick both gave excellent performances.

Bit of historical trivia is that after Ishaq Levin died and Zablon Simintov emigrated to Israel, it turned out that a distant cousin of Simintov’s, Tova Morandi was still living in Afghanistan. But she left (to Albania!) a month after he did.

Museum of Illusions: On Friday, Cindy and I went to the pop-up Museum of Illusions in downtown D.C. A lot of the exhibits are familiar optical illusions, e.g. things where two lines look different lengths but are the same or staring at something makes it seem to move and so on. But there are some fun interactive exhibits. You really need someone else there to take pictures of you playing with them.

For example, here is a picture taken from a short distance:




But, if the picture is taken from the right spot (marked on the floor), I turn into Edith Ann:




In some cases, you have to manipulate the photo, e.g. by rotating it to get the effect, as in this one:




And here I am, just beside myself because I’m playing cards with untrustworthy sorts:



Overall, it was a fun way to spend about 45 minutes, but it was pricy and rather more crowded than was optimal. The museum is there until late March if you want to check it out for yourself.


Post-Post Loser Party: This past Saturday night (i.e. a couple of days ago) was the annual Style Invitational Loser post-Holiday party. The WaPo may have dropped us, but Loserdom lives on and we’re continuing on Gene Weingarten’s substack page. There were about 75 people there and we ate and mingled before the obligatory sing-along of loser-written songs. Usually there’s a certain amount of topical (i.e. mostly political) humor in the songs, but this year’s were all focused on the Post having canceled the contest. Overall, I had a pretty good time.

Two Minor Triumphs: I got Redactle #287 in 1 guess. That falls in the category of things that are unlikely to happen ever again.

And, yesterday, I reached #1 in the Diamond League on Duolingo. So I’ve gotten all of the achievements except the ones for playing consecutive games. That satisfied my competitive spirit since I can reach that remaining achievement independent of what anyone else does.

I have a lot of catching up to do, but let’s start with a couple of items of shameless self-promotion.


Shameless Self-Promotion - Storytelling Edition: There are still a few days left for you to get tickets to my next storytelling show. This is Saturday night, November 27th at 7 pm EST and is both live at The Auld Shebeen in Fairfax, VA and being live streamed, so is watchable from anywhere. The theme is Thanksgiving: Stories of Gratitude, Grace, and Gravy and my story, which is up first, has to do with what I really learned in ballet class. Tickets are available at the Better Said Than Done website.


Shameless Self-Promotion - Podcast Edition: I am (again) on the Style Invitational podcast that Mike Gips produces. Six of us played a game show, which was tremendous fun. Theres an audio only version up right now at the You’re Invited website and a video version is in the works.


Celebrity Death Watch: Eddie Robinson played first base for the Cleveland Indians and later managed the Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves. Joy Watson wrote children’s books. Gerald Home was an actor and puppeteer who, among other things, operated Audrey II in the 1986 film version of Little Shop of Horrors. Pauline Bart was a sociologist who studied women’s issues, including rape. Granville Adams was an actor who was notorious for pushing somebody into an elevator shaft in a nightclub brawl. Ruthie Thompson was an animator for Disney and was 111 years old at her death. Paddy Moloney co-founded the Irish band The Chieftains. Marcus Malone was a percussionist who was one of the founding members of Santana. Ray Fosse was a catcher for the Cleveland Indians and Oakland A’s. Gary Paulsen wrote children’s and young adult fiction. Madame Nguyen Van Thieu was the first lady of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. Betty Lynn was an actress who was best known for playing Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show. George Butler made documentary films including Pumping Iron and a trilogy about Ernest Shackleton. Robin McNamara was a singer-songwriter, best known for “Lay a Little Loving’ On Me.” Jay Black headed up Jay and the Americans. Peter Scolari was a sitcom actor in Newhart and Bosom Buddies. Linwood Holton was governor of Virginia in the early 1970’s. Jerry Remy was a baseball player and long-time color commentator for the Red Sox. Justus Rosenberg was a member of the French resistance during World War II. Pat Martino was a jazz guitarist and composer. Aaron Beck was a psychiatrist who developed cognitive behavior therapy. Declan Mulligan was the guitarist for The Beau Brummells. Bettina Grossman was a conceptual artist. Ruth Ann Miner was the governor of Delaware from 2001 to 2009. Dean Stockwell was an actor who appeared in the TV show Quantum Leap as well as numerous movies. Max Cleland was a disabled Vietnam veteran (triple amputee) who served a term as a U.S. senator from Georgia. Graeme Edge was the drummer for the Moody Blues. Petra Nayer was a book reviewer for NPR. Sam Huff was a linebacker for the Washington Redskins. Julio Lugo played shortstop for the Red Sox. Clarissa Eden was the widow of former British prime minister Anthony Eden. Art Lafleur was a character actor who appeared in The Sandlot and Field of Dreams. Dave Frishberg wrote comic songs, including “My Attorney, Berne,” as well as a few songs for Schoolhouse Rock. Keith Allison was a singer and bassist for Paul Revere and the Raiders. Peter Buck co-founded Subway. Bill Virton was an outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates and later managed several teams, notably the Houston Astros. Robert Ellis was an artist whose work included what was at one time the largest tapestry in the world. Jay Last was one of the founders of Fairchild Semiconductor. Ron Shaffer originated the Dr. Gridlock transportation column in the Washington Post.


Arthur Mattock was a professor of mathematics at MIT. I am reasonably sure that I had him for 18.03 (Differential Equations) back in spring semester 1977. I have a vague memory of him assigning a problem set the day before it was due on the grounds that everyone does them last minute anyway.


Colin Powell was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993 and the Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He formulated a doctrine that said the U.S. should not intervene militarily unless American national security interests are at stake and there is overwhelming public support, but also gave a speech to the United Nations on the rationale for the Iraq War that did not meet those criteria. He had the integrity to leave the Republican party after the January 6th insurrection.


Leslie Bricusse was a composer and lyricist, His movie work included Dr. Doolittle and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. His most prominent musical theatre works were his collaborations with Anthony Newly on Stop the World - I Want to Get Off and The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd.

Mort Sahl was a comedian and broke new ground as a social satirist.

Neal Edward Smith was the longest serving U.S. representative from Iowa. He earned me 25 ghoul pool points.

F. W. de Klerk was the last apartheid era president of South Africa. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for dismantling apartheid but was controversial for the inadequacy of his apologies for the racist system.

Robert Bly was poet. His book Iron John is widely credited with starting the mythopoetic men’s movement.


Malaise: I’ve been in a bit of a funk for the past couple of weeks, for no obvious reason. I think it is most likely a combination of lack of sunlight and chilly temperatures. I am trying to counter it by doing things and planning more things.


Politics - Virginia: Another factor in my malaise was the outcome of the elections. There has been a lot of analysis about what went wrong in the Virginia gubernatorial race, but I think it’s really a lot simpler than the way the pundits have portrayed it. Namely, Terry McAuliffe ran a completely incompetent campaign. I got lots of mailers from him early in the race but nothing in the last two months. Youngkin had ads on the radio about every 5 minutes, while McAuliffe had none. He needed to get out beyond his supporters who went to rallies to counter the lies (primarily about education) that Youngkin was spouting.


Politics - Rittenhouse: While I am disappointed that Rittenhouse was acquitted on all charges, I’ve read a couple of pieces that provide a rational explanation. Namely, once the judge limited the case by removing the illegal possession of firearms charges, the only issue was whether or not he could claim self-defense. And, in Wisconsin, the burden of proof is on the State to prove he did not have grounds for that claim. Interestingly, the same is true in most states now. In fact, Virginia may be the last exception.


Broadway’s One Hit Wonders: Just before my vacation I went to a virtual One Day University lecture by Sean Hartley about Broadway’s One Hit Wonders. When I’d seen the description, I had some objections. Sure The Music Man was much more successful, but Meredith Willson also wrote The Unsinkable Molly Brown which did respectably. And Galt McDermott (who wrote the music for Hair) won a Tony for Two Gentlemen of Verona, a show I was surprised to like as much as I did. Hartley did talk about both of those and admit he was stretching the definition. At any rate, the talk was quite entertaining and informative. I’d say the gist of it is that the creative teams did not want to work together for various reasons. In addition, several of the people involved preferred to concentrate on other projects, e.g. pop music. Of course, there is also the tragedy of Rent with Jonathan Larson’s death the night before the off-Broadway premiere. (Which reminds me - I need to find time to see the movie version of Tick Tick Boom.) Perhaps it is more surprising that there are so many people who did have a string of Broadway hits.


Travel Talk: There was a (virtual) Travelers’ Century Club talk by John Gimlette about the Guianas this past weekend. This is a part of the world I’ve been interested in for a while. The talk was excellent - entertaining and informative, with a lot of practical information. I need to look up Gimlette’s book, Wild Coast (and, probably, his other travel books).


Criminal relatives: Today there was a JewishGen webinar about researching criminal ancestors. Ron Arons has written a couple of books on the subject and was fairly informative, but he needed way more than the one hour he had. And, yes, genealogy research is something else I am way way way behind on.


Another Genealogy Talk: There was a JGSGW meeting on Sunday with a talk on the topic of planning for what will happen to your research after you die. I’ll say the most useful part of that was the suggestion to just devote 30 minutes a day for 30 days to working on an action plan. I think I will wait until January, however.

Work: I am frustrated with the slow pace of decision making, which is keeping me from getting work done on updating a plan that depends on a senior level decision. There’s not much I can do about it, but that doesn’t make it less annoying.

I have plenty of other things to get done, but I really want to check this off.


Non-work: I have continued to be busy. I went to another Profs and Pints talk – on epidemics. I was glad that the focus was more on polio than on the Spanish flu, and there were a lot of interesting parallels to the current situation, e.g. equipment shortages. I thought some of the social distancing measures of the time were also interesting. There were towns that completely banned children, for example.

I also called into one storytelling show, participated in a story swap (and have the story I told recorded), and recorded another (new) story. It is very weird to do this, since, without an audience I can hear (they are muted on zoom calls), it is hard to judge my pacing. I played board games a couple of times. I went to a little bit of Awesome Con on-line, mostly to listen to one panel (on Women of Color in Science Fiction) and to participate in a trivia contest, which was too pop-culture heavy for me. I also listened to some folk music (Scottish traditional music plus John McCutcheon) live on-line. And I have hours of stuff saved to watch later.

Last night a zoom call with friends got weird when two people had a kerfuffle over whether or not it was okay to talk about politics. That should really have been sorted out beforehand, but it ended with both of the people involved leaving.


Shopping: I was able to buy toilet paper at Wegman’s yesterday. I was down to the last couple of rolls, so coming home with a 12 pack was quite a relief. I also have fresh vegetables and fruit again. (People usually say fruits and veggies in that order. I wonder why?) And yes, it is pathetic that this is exciting.




Shameless Self-Promotion Department: One advantage of things being on-line is the ability to go to non-local events. So I can encourage you all to check out the storytelling show I am part of on Friday May 8th at 8 p.m. My story involves Irene’s Beauty Salon, the permanent press setting on an iron, alternative uses for orange juice cans, and why my spirit animal is the alpaca. I am up first, so make sure to be on time!
"
For tickets see the Better Said Than Done website.

Celebrity Death Watch: Clint Walker was an actor, best known for his role in the TV series Cheyenne. Dovey Johnson Roundtree was a civil rights activist. Allyn Ann McLerie was an actress whose roles included Amy in Where’s Charley? (as in the song "Once in Love with Amy.") Richard Peck wrote children’s books. Ted Dabney cofounded Atari. Gardner Dozois was a science fiction writer and editor.

Philip Roth was a highly overrated writer. Portnoy’s Complaint is one of those books I finished only to see if it improved. It didn’t. His attitudes towards Judaism and towards women were simply obnoxious.

Alan Bean was the fourth person to walk on the moon. He had a later career as a painter, apparently incorporating moon dust from his patches into some of his art. There are now only four moonwalkers still alive – Buzz Aldrin, David Scott, Charles Duke, and Harrison Schmitt.

New England Trip: I flew up to PVD on Saturday morning. I always get a minor kick out of taking advantage of Star Alliance lounge access (thanks to my United Gold status) at IAD when I’m taking a short flight. Especially when it’s a flight on a CRJ, the most uncomfortable planes around. In this case, I had a nice breakfast at the Turkish Air lounge – yogurt, berries, and simit (the Turkish equivalent of sesame bagels, but better because the ratio of sesame seeds to crusty bread is higher) plus surprisingly drinkable coffee.

I rented a car and drove to Connecticut. I had planned to walk around Mystic, but it was very hot and there were big crowds for the holiday weekend, so I didn’t spend long there. Then I drove up to Mohegan Sun, which provided a quick lunch, people watching, and some gambling. It is remarkably glitzy. I was tired so drove on to my hotel (the Hampton Inn in Norwich) in the late afternoon. I took a nap and read for a while, before ordering in what proved to be mediocre Chinese food for supper. Overall, it was an unexciting day, but the next day was the real reason for the trip.

In the morning, I drove to northern Providence to pick up my friend, Ron, at the bus station. We then headed to Pawtucket, hoping to find somewhere to kill time before the PawSox game we were going to. Fortunately, there turned out to be a diner right by McCoy Stadium, where we had a reasonably cheap brunch. Then we headed to the stadium, which has something truly miraculous – free parking! We hung out for a while until the gates opened. That gave us time to notice cute sculptures of children playing ball, as well as a larger statue of Ben Mondor, who bought the team out of bankruptcy in 1977. There is also a mascot statue who needs new pants.

We stopped at the team store for me to buy a hoodie as the fleece I had brought with me had a broken zipper. This was a wise move as the weather was not very baseball suitable – cold and drizzly. Fortunately, the rain stayed light enough that the game could be played. The PawSox defeated the Lehigh Valley IronPigs 1-0. The most notable aspect of the game was a large number of walks. I should also mention there was a sports bottle give-away, so I got to add to my collection of ballpark gimmes.

McCoy Stadium is old (1942) and is at least somewhat endangered, but I thought there was nothing really wrong with it. It’s not at all glitzy, to be fair, but the seats are okay and the concessions, while unexciting, are pretty much in line with other minor league ballparks. The most unique thing there is the tradition of "fishing" for autographs. The field level seats aren’t really at field level, so people lower buckets to the dugouts on ropes with something to sign, a sharpie to sign it with, and some sort of "bait" (typically candy or gum). There are also lots of banners about team history and famous players, as well as a big display about the longest game ever played – the famous 33 inning game between the PawSox and the Rochester Red Wings.

I should also note that the PawSox follow a lot of Red Sox traditions – including singing "Sweet Caroline" in the moddle of the 8th inning and playing "Dirty Water" at the end of the game when they win. The latter doesn’t really make sense that far away from the Charles. Overall it was a fun afternoon, despite the weather.

I drove Ron to the Providence train station, then headed back to Pawtucket to the Hampton Inn there for the night. I read for a while, before walking over to an Irish pub right next to the hotel for supper. The food wasn’t great, but the Narragansett IPA was good.

I flew back Monday morning. I didn’t get nearly as much done Monday afternoon as I’d hoped to, though I did accomplish fairly major grocery shopping and fairly major napping.

Minor League Ballparks: I haven’t officially decided that I should go to a game at every minor league ballpark (as I did with the majors) but I am obsessive enough to sort of have it in mind. So, for the record, here are the ones I have been to (in chronological order):

Salt Lake Bees – Pacific Coast League (AAA) affiliate of the Anaheim (not L.A. damnit) Angels. Apparently, the stadium in Salt Lake City is called Smith’s Ballpark. It’s easy to get to, since there is a light rail stop one block away. I was in SLC for a conference in May 2006 and the game gave me something to do one evening.

Reno Aces – Pacific Coast League (AAA) affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Greater Nevada Field is conveniently located downtown, a short walk from the hotel area. I was in Reno mostly to do a volksmarch or three in April 2011, so this was another target of opportunity.

Portland Sea Dogs – Eastern League (AA) affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. I was in Portland, Maine for Sharing the Fire in April 2013 and thought it would be fun to spend Sunday afternoon going to a game at Hadlock Field. What I neglected in this thinking was the fact that Maine is still uninhabitable in April. Even though I wore multiple layers of clothes plus my winter parka, I don’t think I thawed out completely for a solid week.

Potomac Nationals – Carolina League (A-Advanced) affiliate of the Washington Nationals. G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium is in Woodbridge, Virginia. This is maybe 30 miles from my house, but one has to figure an hour, given traffic on I-95. It’s a shorter drive from Lorton, where I had spent the day at a storytelling event in July 2013. The main reason to go there is that it is a lot cheaper than going to a real Nats game.

Lexington Legends – South Atlantic League (A) affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. I was in Lexington for a Flyertalk Do in April 2014 and skipped out on Friday night partying to go to a game at Whitaker Bank Field because I am more obsessive about baseball than about either horses or bourbon.

Vancouver Canadians – Northwest League (A – Short Season) affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Another target of opportunity, as I was in Vancouver for the July 2015 NPL con. I figured I might as well go to a game at Scotiabank Field (aka Nat Bailey Stadium)

Toledo Mud Hens – International League (AAA) affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Fifth Third Field is downtown, as much as Toledo has a downtown. This was the first time I went somewhere specifically to go to a minor league game, as part of a FlyerTalk Do in September 2015.

Pawtucket Red Sox – International League (AAA) affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. McCoy Field is the oldest of the AAA ballparks and they are talking about either building a new stadium in Pawtucket or moving to Worcester. This was a trip specifically to go to a game there while the ballpark still exists.


Shameless Self-Promotion: I have a few storytelling performances coming up. This coming Sunday (June 3rd), I’ll be telling folktales having to do with Tricksters and Treatsters at the Washington Folk Festival. The festival is at Glen Echo Park in Cabin John, Maryland and is free. My set is at 5 p.m. but there is storytelling and music and dance all day (and all day Saturday, but I have another commitment then.)

On Wednesday June 20th at 7 p.m. I’ll be telling at a Better Said Than Done show at the Lake Anne Coffeehouse in Reston, Virginia. The theme is Top Chef: stories of dining, wining, and winning (or trying to. And on Saturday June 30th at 7 p.m. I’ll be at the Auld Shebeen, again with Better Said Than Done, as part of a show about S’More: stories about camping, food, and wanting more.

I have a real entry to write - mostly about my trip up to do more unshoveling of Mom's house, but also some comments on my own embarrassing chaos - but that will wait a day or more.

I wanted to make sure I don't forget to promote The Washington Folk Festival which is this coming weekend. Come out to Glen Echo Park for all the music, storytelling, and dancing you could want on both Saturday and Sunday. And it's free!

I'll be performing on the Storytelling Stage on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. with a set called "Fortune, Fools, and Fowl: old world stories of wisdom among the bird brains." This is family friendly and will answer such questions as "was Henny Penny a victim of autocorrect?"

On 29 October 2012, the storm surge of Superstorm Sandy devastated the South Shore of Long Island.

On 16 February 2013, member sof Voices in the Glen will be putting on a Story Surge to help restore a library that was one of Sandy's victims. This is the library in my home town of Island Park and I am super excited about being able to do something to help.



This is going to be a very entertaining evening at a wonderful venue (President Obama and his daughters bought books there for Christmas presents on Small Business Saturday and they sell wine and chocolates, too), so I am hoping for a great turn out.

If you are interested but not able to attend you can send a check, payable to The Island Park Public Library to

Attn: Island Park Public Library Restoration Fund
Nassau Library System
900 Jerusalem Ave.
Uniondale, NY, 11553-3039

And, yes, I have a ton of other things to blog about, but this has been occupying a lot of my mental energy for the past several weeks. Expect a surge of catching up come Sunday.

I have plenty of things to write about but I won't get to them for a few days.

I did, however, want to put out a reminder that the USA Science and Engineering Festival is this weekend at the D.C. Convention Center.

I am emceeing the main stage (designated Curie Stage on the festival map) on Saturday. I get to introduce people you have heard of.

I will also point you to Hall A, Booth 3557 at which my employer will answer the vital question, "Is the sky falling?"