June 2023 - Page 6 of 6 - Ramblin' with Roger

Torschlusspanik: travel plans

one phone number at a time

From https://mocomi.com/torschlusspanik/

The Word Of The Day for April 26 was Torschlusspanik, pronounced toɐ̯ʃlʊsˈpanɪk. It means “The fear that time to act is running out.” It is a German word from the 1960s that literally means “gate-shut panic.” A sample sentence: “I raced to the train station with the Torschlusspanik that I was going to miss the last train of the evening.”

We felt this during the last two weeks of our travel plans before our trip to France—the first big worry: communication. I called my phone carrier to learn how to use my cell phone overseas. The answer: I can’t. Their service covers only the US and Canada.

I called a friend who has traveled to more countries than any three people I know, and they suggested a carrier. During the 90-minute call, I also ordered a new phone and a watch.

The new phone was supposed to arrive on Monday, six days before our departure, which would have been great. But it was rescheduled for Tuesday, a busy day; sure enough, the attempted delivery occurred while I was away from home.

It finally arrived on Wednesday morning, but I needed to accomplish so many non-trip tasks that I could not start on the phone tasks until Thursday, three days before departure. The first piece was setting up a remote WiFi device so my wife could use HER phone and I could access my computer. But I couldn’t get it to work.

Magic

I had to contact my current cell carrier and get a transfer PIN to give to the new carrier so I could keep my old phone number. After I unpackaged the new phone, I had to wait. My previous phone was the first iPhone I ever owned. I learned what others already knew, that the applications from Phone 1 move to Phone 2 when they are nearby.

Then my wife called to say she was coming home, and I had to take out the garbage, run the dishwasher and pack. We have to pick up our daughter from college the next day. Because my wife had to work Saturday, she correctly decided that we should drive out the night before and stay at a hotel.

We arrived at our daughter’s dorm. My, there’s a lot of stuff. We had brought home quite a bit at spring break. But I doubted whether what she packed could fit in the vehicle, and I’m an excellent car packer.

Ultimately, she abandoned a couple of items. Still, there were things under my daughter’s feet. Her dirty laundry was in a large plastic bag between my legs, which I pressed down so that it would not block the mirror on the passenger-side door.

We unloaded the car, and my daughter and I schlepped the items inside as my wife went to work. Our living room was a disaster area.

During this process, my new carrier assigned me a new telephone number. Yikes, no! I spent another two hours returning to my old cell number and synching it to the new watch.

Wizard’s Wardrobe

One day before departure, my wife was tabling in Washington Park during the Tulipfest on Saturday. She’s promoting where she works, Wizard’s Wardrobe, an afterschool tutoring program in Albany’s South End. I volunteered to work a three-hour shift, which was productive and fun, but it fed into the Torschlusspanik.

Ultimately, after I got home, my daughter got the SIM card into a device, scanned my wife’s and my passports into a Customs app, Mobile Passport Control, and did it all in four minutes after I was unsuccessful.

We’re packed and all set to go to France. Or I hope so.

Sunday Stealing: plans for June, et al

new ancestors

The current Sunday Stealing is again from Stolen from League of Extraordinary penpals. It addresses plans for June and other things.

1. What are your plans for June

It started busy. On June 2, I went to TWO art shows taking place simultaneously for First Friday. Art at APL is at the Pine Hills branch of the library, while my church had art, plus music by the Albany Gay Men’s Chorus. Fortunately, they were the #10 Western Avenue bus away from each other.

On June 3, I attended Pinkster at the Schuyler mansion. It is “a distinctly African celebration through which enslaved and free Africans maintained familial & community ties, traditions, and connections to African culture.

In the future: Help find book reviewers for the FFAPL Tuesday noon talks, working on the Underground Railroad Center’s July 4 event. Give blood this week. Visit another church congregation for a shared picnic. And probably participate in another choir funeral. I’m never bereft of tasks.

2. Your mid-year resolutions or goals

To get through the DVR before September. It’s currently 72% full. I record more than I watch and sometimes give up on programs. Still, I want to see those episodes of Finding Your Roots.

3. Are you good at taking care of plants

No. More than that, Stormy the cat eats plants and then gets sick, so that’s a non-starter.

4. What makes you feel nourished

Physically? Emotionally? I eat oatmeal with blueberries, strawberries, and bananas most days. I listen to music., currently the San Francisco Days CD by Chris Isaak. Listen to Solitary Man. BTW, I was listening to the Brazilian drummers at Pinkster, and I recognized a particular rhythm played on The Obvious Child by Paul Simon, about 3/4 of the way through.

5. Which animals do you see most in your area

Sometimes it’s ravens. The neighborhood cats like our backyard.

6. Books on your summer reading list

The same as are on last summer’s reading list. It’s longer because I keep buying books. The one I grabbed off the shelf was True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee by Abraham Riesman. There are a bunch of baseball books I’ve inherited.

Having nothing to do with football

7. Projects you want to tackle this summer

Get reimbursements for my health expenditures. Get a replacement for a lost savings bond. Clean my office.

Work on genealogy. BTW, I just discovered another ancestor this week. I was looking for my mother’s father’s mother, which was a dead end. BUT I found my mother’s father’s father’s parents. Daniel Williams and Sarah Benson had six kids, the eldest three born in Canada.

8. Do you have weddings, graduations, summer celebrations

The UREC 4th of July. Olin family reunion.

9. Which summer snacks are you excited to enjoy again

Corn on the cob, which I’ve already had.

10. How much time do you like to take for vacations

Optimally two weeks, but it doesn’t always work out that way, especially since my wife is still working.

11. How much has changed since last summer?

It’s less COVIDy. For most of last year, Albany County had moderate COVID transmission. Since April 2023, it’s been low transmission. This is huge, especially for congregational singing.

12. Something that would be out of character for you

Brandishing a weapon

13. What do you miss about winter?

My hay fever doesn’t bother me, then.

14. Your favorite free/cost-effective ways to have fun

Listen to music and read.

15. Who do you trust most to house & pet sit

My daughter’s oldest friend, K. we have a demented cat, Midnight, so it’s tricky.

1953: #1 hits the year I was born

Stalin died

Les.Roger.backporch — Les and Roger Green, back porch of 5 Gaines St, 2nd floor, 1953

It’s time for the #1 hits the year I was born, 1953, when I arranged the armistice which ended the Korean conflict and ordered Stalin to go away.

I’ve noticed that many of my friends who were born in the mid-1960s and later know the sensations of their natal year. I suppose a lot of that was them hearing the songs on oldies stations.

But the early 1950s was a bit of a neverland, neither the big band tunes of the 1930s and 1940s nor the rock and roll era that started c. 1955.

As it turned out, someone gave me a CD of the hits of that fateful annum. It came out in 2006 from SONY/BMG. Not all were #1s, but it did give me a more profound background about that year of music. The ones marked with an asterisk (*)were on the album.

All these #1s below, except No Other Love, were certified gold records. You will note there are 72 weeks represented because there were multiple charts involving sales, radio airplay, and jukebox play.

Songs

Vaya Con Dios (May God Be With You) – Les Paul and Mary Ford, eleven weeks at #1

The Song From Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your Heart) – Percy Faith with Fecilia Sanders on vocals, ten weeks at #1

*You You You – The Ames Brothers, eight weeks at #1 . I most remember Ed Ames from a hatchet demonstration he performed on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson

*RagsTo Riches – Tony Bennett with the Percy Faith Orchestra, eight weeks at #1

The Doggie In The Window – Patti Page, eight weeks at #1. My mother sang this novelty song around the house when I was growing up.

Till I Waltz With You Again – Teresa Brewer, seven weeks at #1

I’m Walking Behind You – Eddie Fisher, seven weeks at #1. That’s Sally Sweetland on harmony vocals

*Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes -Perry Como, five weeks at #1

No Other Love – Perry Como, four weeks at #1. From the musical Me and Juliet by Rodgers and Hammerstein.

St. George and the Dragonet – Stan Freburg, four weeks at #1, novelty

There were lower-charting songs I know quite well: Dean Martin’s That’s Amore (#2), Eh, Cumpare by Julius LaRosa (#2), and Eartha Kitt’s version of Santa Baby (#3).

Familiar songs from the album include Satin Doll by Duke Ellington, Venezuela by Harry Belafonte, and The Four Lads’ version of Istanbul.

For all you 1953 enthusiasts, 161 songs.

The last time I saw Gladys Crowder

1940-2023

The last time I saw Gladys Crowder (12 Dec 1940-31 May 2023) was at St. Peter’s Hospital about six weeks ago. I had not seen her in a long while, partly due to a series of ailments she had been experiencing. She was a bit groggy as she was talking to her husband, Tim. She did this double-take when she spotted me in the doorway; it was great.

When my father was dying in 2000 – though I didn’t know that until the day before he passed – his doctor said that the body could only stand so many “insults” – that’s the word he used. Gladys had suffered several “insults” in the past several months.

Two days before she died, I had a lengthy conversation with someone about her. It has proven to be very helpful. And yet, even though I knew the day was coming, I was gutted by the news. It’s cliche that knowing the trajectory doesn’t make it easier to accept.

After I heard the news of Gladys’ passing, I called her sister Grace. She instructed me to tell her funny stories about Gladys. But not yet. In nearly four decades, with stints in two different church choirs together and other shared histories, I should be able to come up with something in due time.

These pictures were taken in February 1986 at 224 Ontario Street in Albany, NY. No, I didn’t remember this. I labeled the back of the photos, and I probably took them with a disposable camera.

These people turn 70 in June

Northern Exposure

As part of my continual celebration of 1953, these people turn 70 in June 2023, or in one case, would have. I’m omitting a couple of musicians, who I will note separately.

Diana Canova (1st) played Corinne on the comedy series Soap, one of my favorite characters. This is how she got the part.

Cornel West (2nd) is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Philosophy & Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary. He has written 20 books, including Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. For a time, the outspoken philosopher was nearly ubiquitous, appearing in everything from the Matrix movies to documentaries and talk shows.

Kathleen Kennedy (5th) is the head of Lucasfilm. The first film she produced was E.T. She “has participated in making over 60 films that have earned over $11 billion worldwide, including five of the fifty highest-grossing films in motion picture history.”

John Edwards (10th) was a one-term US Senator from North Carolina who ran for President in 2004 and 2008. He was on the ticket with John Kerry in 2004 when W/Cheney soundly defeated them. In November 2004, his wife Elizabeth announced she was being treated for breast cancer; she died in December 2010. Rumors of John Edwards’ affair with a former campaign worker began in October 2007. He admitted the affair in August 2008 and acknowledged fathering her child in January 2010.

To infinity…and beyond!

Tim Allen (13th) starred in the sitcom Home Improvement (1991-1999), which I seldom watched, and Last Man Standing (2011-2021), which I never saw. But he was the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the four Toy Story films, all of which I saw.

Xi Jinping (15th) has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party since 2012 and president of the People’s Republic of China since 2013. He is considered the strongest Chinese leader since Mao. You might want to check out the articles about him in The Guardian.

Valerie Mahaffey (16th) I know best from two television series. One was the underrated sitcom The Powers That Be, created by Norman Lear. She played Caitlyn, the daughter of US Senator William Powers (John Forsythe) and his wife Margaret (Holland Taylor). Caitlyn is unhappily married to Congressman Theodore Van Horne (David Hyde Pierce). The other series was Northern Exposure, where she played the hypochondriac and very wealthy Eve in five episodes; Mahaffey won an Emmy for the role.

Benazir Bhutto (21st) was Pakistan’s 11th and 13th prime minister (1988-1990, 1993-1996). “She was the first woman elected to head a democratic government in a Muslim-majority country.” She was assassinated in 2007 by a 15-year-old suicide bomber. Her legacy is mixed; this assessment seems pretty fair.