Sunday Stealing: The $80K Meme

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Back in 2007, Sparky Duck at Philly Transplant played the $50,000 Meme. That was nearly 20 years ago. To make it more relevant to our day and age, it’s been updated and is now the …

The $80K Meme

 

Premise: A philanthropist awards you $80,000 with the stipulation that you must spend half on yourself and half for the benefit of others. 

For our overseas players, here’s a currency calculator. 

 1. Of the $40,000 you must spend on yourself: 

a. First you throw yourself a lavish birthday party. Tell us about it. 

Other than providing transportation for my far-flung friends to attend, I have no real feel for this. The truth is that I’d probably send out a survey and ask them what THEY would like to do. A concert? A trip down the Hudson River?  And knowing my friends, there would be no consensus at all.

b. Then you take off on a cruise. Where are you headed?

Three come to mind. A trip down the Mississippi River, getting out at the states I’ve never been to: Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas. Or a trip down the Danube River, since I’ve been to NONE of those countries. Possibly a trip around Ireland and the UK, visiting Liverpool, England (Beatles’ hometown, of course) and County Cork, Ireland, where I clearly have ancestors.   

Give it away

2. Of the $40,000 you must spend for the benefit of others: 

a. Who would be on your gift list? What would you buy them?

I’d pay off the parental home where my baby sister lives. If there was anything left, I’d probably give it out to random strangers. 

b. Which charities would you support?

There are SO many. Internet Archive, a non-profit library of millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more. The Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex. Electronic Frontier Foundation, the leading nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation. Red Cross volunteers and staff work to deliver vital services – from providing relief and support to those in crisis, to helping you be prepared to respond in emergencies.

And some local organizations, most notably the Underground Railroad Education Center, which researches and preserves the local and national history of the Underground Railroad movement, its international connections, and its legacy to today’s social justice issues, thereby empowering people of all ages to be agents of change toward an equitable and just society.

Money – Barrett Strong

Money, Money, Money -ABBA

The first one I thought of was Money Makes The World Go Round – Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, from Cabaret

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

The #1 easy listening hits of 1966

Westminster Abigail

The #1 easy listening hits of 1966 are listed here. Interestingly, the category name went from easy listening (7/17/1961) to middle-road singles (11/3/1962) to pop-standard singles (5/2/1964) to middle-road singles (10/24/1964), back to pop-standard singles (5/1/1965), finally back to easy listening (6/5/1965). It stayed there until 4/7/1979, when it became adult contemporary. I usually list the category as AC.

*Strangers in the Night – Frank Sinatra (Reprise), 7 weeks at #1; also, #1 pop

Born Free – Roger Williams (Kapp), 6 weeks at #1; also #7 pop. From the movie. He’s NOT the Roger Williams who founded Rhode Island.

*The Ballad of the Green Berets – SSgtBarry Sadler (RCA Victor), 5 weeks at #1

Spanish Eyes – Al Martino (Capitol), 4 weeks at #1; also #15 pop.

From J-archive:

#823, aired 1988-03-16

 DOUBLE TALK $800 (Daily Double): It’s what Al Martino wanted the girl to say in the following song: “Blue Spanish eyes / Teardrops are falling from your Spanish eyes…”

Somewhere My Love – Ray Coniff & the Singers, 4 weeks at #1; also #9 pop. a/k/a Larta’s Theme from the movie Dr. Zhivago. 

The Wheel Of Hurt – Margaret Whiting (London), 4 weeks at #1; also #26 pop

*Winchester Cathedral – The New Vaudeville Band (Fontana), 4 weeks at #1; also #1 pop for three weeks

Crying Time – Ray Charles (ABC-Paramount), 3 weeks at #1; also #5 RB, #6 pop

*I Want to Go With You – Eddy Arnold, (RCA Victor), 3 weeks at #1; also #1 CW for six weeks

Together Again – Ray Charles (ABC-Paramount), 3 weeks at #1; also #10 RB, #19 pop

That’s Life – Frank Sinatra  (Reprise)- 3 weeks at #1; also #4 pop, #25 RB. It was also #1 on Record World, but I’m focusing here on Billboard.

Band Of Gold – Mel Carter (Imperial), 2 weeks at #1; #32 pop

In The Arms Of Love – Andy Williams (Columbia), 2 weeks at #1; also #49 pop. Co-written by Henry Mancini.

The remaining songs were #1 AC for one week

England Swings – Roger Miller (Smash); also #3 CW, #8 pop. For reasons, when this came out, I changed a line to  “Westminster Abigail, the tower  Big Benjamin. The rosy-red cheeks of the little children-alin.”

It Was A Very Good Year – Frank Sinatra (Reprise); also #28 pop

The Impossible Dream (the Quest) – Jack Jones (Kapp); also #35 pop. The only song from Man of La Mancha I know. The changed lyric is not an improvement, but it is probably more radio-friendly than the “march into hell ” line.

I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love – Petula Clark (Warner); also #9 pop

Summer Wind – Frank Sinatra (Reprise); also #25 pop

The JEOPARDY response, What is “Si, si”?

Talking with sister Leslie

singer

Recently, I spent about an hour talking with sister Leslie about resolving an issue between a couple other parties. While I have had the chance to be the interlocutor occasionally, she is more likely to take on the role.

She’s always been more of a “people person” than I was/am.  There is a certain narrative she’s shared that’s largely true. Folks would come over to visit our parents. I was usually hanging out in my bedroom, reading a book or playing with my baseball cards. Out of a sense of obligation, I’d come out to the living room and say hello, then returned to my sanctuary. These people didn’t come to see me, after all.  

By contrast, Leslie would come out and stay for a while. I was aware enough of this – it was a small enough house – to know this. Frankly, I found it a bit baffling.  But it seemed to serve her, from her job as a hostess at Perkins Pancake to her brief career as a model to her time as a professional singer, which I suspect I’ve mentioned in the past.

In the past year or so, she has talked with cousins of ours, whom I do not know, one each on our mother’s and father’s sides . She took copious notes, which I should eventually add to the Ancestry tree.

Tunes

Sister Leslie has always needed to sing. As I was looking through my hometown newspapers, there was a hit for “Leslie Green will sing and play the guitar.” She received her guitar for her 12th birthday, and was remarkably proficient a month later.  

Presently, she sings in one or more churches most Sundays, is a member of a couple of chorales, and sits in on a few gigs, occasionally with her daughter, Rebecca Jade. Twice recently, she performed as the headliner; I hope she has the opportunity to do this more often.

Happy birthday to Les and Trudy’s second-born.

Bad air

on the wife’s birthday

stolen from Don Levy, who stole it from someone else

It was Wednesday, 15 July, my wife’s birthday. My wife and I were in bed c. 7 a.m., but hadn’t gotten up. Even with the shades drawn, we knew it looked weird out. Where is the sun?

By the time we got downstairs, I had figured it out: bad air. The poor air quality was SUPPOSED to hit Syracuse, to the west of Albany, and Poughkeepsie, to the south, but the Capital District was supposed to be spared. Obviously, no one told the wind that information.

Because of the magpie thing, I briefly became obsessed with the AQI or Air Quality Index, not just in my area but in suburban Washington, DC, where I have a good friend who is vulnerable. I noticed that, at one point in the past week, Duluth, MN was horrific. I signed up for notifications. 

Here’s an article explaining this further.

Forecasts Current AQI Values Levels Colors

Naturally, FOTUS threatened new Canada tariffs over fires sending ‘filthy’ air into US cities. I could note that the US actions cutting environmental protection has escalated global warming (see much of Europe in 2026.) Theoretically, the US could send help to fight the fires, though it appears to be another robust fire season in the United States.

Natal day stuff

My wife noted that weird stuff can happen on her birthday. In 1995, a derecho, a straight line wind event started in the Midwest and eventually struck the Adirondacks and Albany. A derecho is “a line of intense, widespread, and fast-moving windstorms and sometimes thunderstorms that moves across a great distance and is characterized by damaging winds.” Those 70+ mph winds rattled the windows and woke us both from a sound sleep a little before 7 a.m.

It tore up some trees in nearby Washington Park. But a member of our then-church had dozens of broken bones when a tree fell on her up in the aforementioned Adirondacks.

The Secret Garden; Mystic Pizza

My wife and I saw two musicals in July, The Secret Garden and Mystic Pizza. The former we saw at the Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham, NY on

“In a house of secrets, a young girl unlocks the door to forgiveness, love, and new beginnings.” The children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett was first published in book form in 1911. Decades later, it became a Broadway musical.

The book and lyrics are by Marsha Norman; she won a Tony for the former and was nominated for the latter. The music by Lucy Simon, sister of Carly and Joanne, was also nominated for a Tony. 

The theater always attracts top-notch young adult talent. J. Peter Bergman wrote in the Berkshire Edge: “Wild Handel plays Mary Lennox. Did I say ‘plays’? I should have said ‘becomes,’ for that is what happens here. She is the star of this show, and she deserves to be, for she is both amazing and more amazing in this role. She has the self-assurance of a woman of 30 who has played all the tough parts right. She sings beautifully, acts thoroughly, and maintains an India-influenced English accent throughout the show.” 

But the cast was strong throughout. Since I wasn’t at all familiar with the source material – though my wife was – it took a few minutes to grasp the narrative flow. But it was quite worthwhile.  

Connecticut

I saw the movie Mystic Pizza when it came out in 1988 or perhaps early 1989. My recollection  is that I liked it. But I couldn’t remember the plot.

As it turns out, the musical I saw at Capital Rep in Albany on Saturday, July 18, had much of the storyline from the Wikipedia description of the film: 

“Sisters Kat and Daisy Araújo, and their friend Josephina “JoJo” Barboza, are young Portuguese-American women working as waitresses at Mystic Pizza, a pizza parlor owned by Leona…in the fishing town of Mystic, Connecticut. But no husband for Leona.

What the movie DIDN’T have was a litany of music from the 1980s. While well-performed throughout by the talented cast, some landed better than others. Small Town (Mellencamp) FOUR times? And I ceased to believe that Girls Just Want To Have Fun.

But other songs worked better, notably Into the Mystic, which is a 1970s song, but whatever, tied to Kat and her would-be beau Tim. 

And while Steve Barnes from the Times Union (paywall likely) didn’t buy it, both my wife and I thought Charlie, the preppy courting Daisy, sold Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

Barnes also noted: “Veteran local actor Marc Christopher makes the most of his debut at The Rep, becoming hilariously over the top in multiple roles, especially as a restaurant critic so imperious that he makes Anton Ego from the movie ‘Ratatouille’ seem friendly.” He was also the priest who was to perform the wedding ceremony for for JoJo and Bill, which was hysterical.

Barnes noted that the “17-member cast gorgeously singing Starship’s ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” …felt more like a concert than an evening at the theater.

The show is playing through August 9. 

 

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