70 Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Grisham, Daniels, Grammer turn 70 in Feb ’25

Ferrer, Jobs, Gottfried

Here are some folks who turn 70 in February 2025, plus a few who did not make it.

Criminal lawyer-turned-author John Grisham (8th) has written a slew of legal thrillers. I haven’t read any of them, though I did see two of the nine movies made from his books, The Firm (1993) and A Time to Kill (1996).

But I’m most interested in his recent non-fiction book. “From a moral perspective, it is imperative for a society to face and correct injustice… We decided to write about and focus on the ten most astonishing cases, and publish them as Framed. There are hundreds of others.” Grisham wrote this with Jim McCloskey, “the godfather of the innocence movement.”

Jeff Daniels (19th) is an actor I’ve seen in many films, including Terms of Endearment, Purple Rose of Cairo, Heartburn, Speed, Pleasantville, The Hours, Because of Winn-Dixie, and The Martian.

He has also appeared on Broadway, most recently originating Atticus in the reimagined To Kill A Mockingbird. (I did not see him, but I did catch Richard Thomas in the touring show.)

“In 1991, Daniels founded a not-for-profit organization called The Purple Rose Theatre Company, which offers an attractive apprenticeship program for youngsters looking for a career in theatre.”

Kelsey Grammer (21st) is most notable for his two-decade-long portrayal of Dr. Frasier Crane in the hit series Cheers and its spin-off, Frasier. I watched virtually all of those episodes. The reboot of Frasier, which I had seen infrequently, recently concluded after a two-season run. He has also done a great deal of voice acting, most notably as Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons.

RIP

Then there were these folks that WOULD have been 70 had they made it to 2025.

Miguel Ferrer (7th) was an American actor who broke through after portraying Bob Morton in RoboCop. I knew him from the movies Traffic and The Manchurian Candidate, as well as the TV procedural Crossing Jordan. His parents were the performers José Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney. He died on January 19, 2017, from throat cancer at the age of 61.

College dropout Steve Jobs (24th) founded or co-founded Apple Inc., Pixar Animation Studios, and NeXT Inc. He was responsible for developing “the iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPad, and the iPhone, which ushered in a new era in the computer, music, and film industries.” Here’s all about Steve.

He died on October 5, 2011, from pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer at the age of 56.

Gilbert Gottfried (28th): While I saw him on several programs, including The Cosby Show and Beverly Hills Cop II, most know him for the voice: the wise-cracking parrot “Iago” in Aladdin (1992) and the AFLAC duck.

In the documentary Life, Animated (2016), about a child who learned to communicate by watching Disney films, the young man Owen had a fan club. He invited Gilbert to one of their events, and Gilbert gladly showed up.

He died on April 12, 2022, from recurrent ventricular tachycardia, complicated by type II myotonic dystrophy, at the age of 67.

Musician Joe Jackson is 70 (11 Aug)

“You gotta have no illusions.”

Musician Joe Jackson was considered one of those “angry young men” in the pop scene that straddled the 1970s and 1980s. I first heard his music on WQBK-FM, Q 104 in the Albany area, a station I listened to constantly for about a decade.

I bought several of his earlier albums on vinyl and a few of the latter ones on CD. Here are some of his songs.

Down To London, from Blaze Of Glory, 1989. My friend Rocco and I saw him perform at the Palace Theatre in Albany in 1989. After sharing maybe one or two earlier songs, he announced that he would play the album’s first six songs. He threw in a few familiar songs and then launched into the last six songs of the album. Much of the audience just walked out of the auditorium. They didn’t leave the building but went to the concession stand or whatnot. Many didn’t return until he started playing songs they recognized. It’s a good album, which I purchased, but the performance ticked off the audience unnecessarily.

Captain Of Industry (Overture), from the Tucker soundtrack, 1988

A Slow Song, originally from Night and Day, 1982 – I had a buddy named Mary Margaret who loved this song. She particularly liked the live version from the 1980/86 album, which came out in 1988.

I’m The Man, from I’m The Man, 1979 – a frenetic song about a guy willing to sell you anything. I love the way he sings “yo-yo.”

One More Time, from Look Sharp!, 1979, has a running bass line that I love.

Sunday Papers, from Look Sharp! , 1979 speaks to the sensationalist media, which needs to get the story first, even if it’s wrong. I like that reggae beat.

Nineteen Forever, from Blaze Of Glory, 1989

A couple of title songs

Look Sharp, from Look Sharp!, 1979- “You gotta have no illusions. Just keep going your way, looking over your shoulder.”

Beat Crazy, from Beat Crazy, 1980 – I love the contrast between the Graham Maby melodic line and Jackson’s harder response.

Jumpin’ Jive, from Joe Jackson’s Jumpin’ Jive, 1981 – “on the Jersey side.” This is a Cab Calloway song. I loved this album and bought a copy for my mother for her birthday or Christmas one year, thinking she would enjoy it, with songs by Louis Jordan and others. She did not. It was one of those”fail” presents.

Stepping Out, from Night and Day, 1982 – a wonderful anticipatory song

Is She Really Going Out With Him, from Look Sharp!, 1979. This song appears thrice on his 1988 album Live 1980/86. One version was an a cappella dop wop.

Cancer, from Night and Day, 1982. Such a cheerful, danceable song

You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want), from Body and Soul, 1984 – a Latin feel and a great slap bass

Fools In Love, from Look Sharp!, 1979. “Are there any creatures more pathetic?” I definitely could relate!

Joe Jackson turns 70 on August 11.

Folks born in October 1953

a J5 connection

Before I turn to folks born in October 1953, I should note that I missed September altogether.

Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (S 4) played Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington on the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. He was also in Roots and played the father Joe Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream.

Amy Irving (S 10) I saw in several movies, including Honeysuckle Rose, Yentl, and likely others. But I also HEARD her singing voice as Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Rita Rudner (S 17): “Beginning her career as a Broadway dancer, Rudner noticed the lack of female comedians in New York City and turned to stand-up comedy, where she has flourished for over three decades.”

This exercise is for one year only. It mentions people born the same year as I was.

The month in question

Christopher Norris (O 7). “She is probably best known for her portrayal of nurse Gloria “Ripples” Brancusi in the television series Trapper John, M.D.” I watched the show, although the linkage to MASH was tenuous at best.

Tony Shalhoub (O 9). I know him mainly from the TV series Wings. I’ve seen him in Barton Fink, Primary Colors, and other films. But the little I’ve seen of Monk and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel makes me think I should start watching them.

David Morse (O 11) When I first started watching St. Elsewhere in 1982, I thought Morse’s character, Dr. Jack “Boomer” Morrison, was the star because he had many of the early scenes. I soon learned it was more of an ensemble show. Since then, I’ve seen him in many TV and theatrical films.

Greg Evigan (O 14). I never saw an episode of B.J. and the Bear. But I did see a few episodes of My Two Dads. He had previously appeared on Broadway in Jesus Christ Superstar and Grease.

Also in The Jacksons

Toriano Adaryll “Tito” Jackson (O 15) is the third child and second son of Joe and Katherine. He and four of his brothers were the Jackson Five. Although a guitarist, he wasn’t allowed to play on Motown sessions. “His guitar work did not debut until he and the Jacksons left Motown for CBS Records in 1976.” He’s primarily a blues musician these days.

“In 2016, he had his first commercially successful solo single on the Billboard charts with “Get It Baby”, featuring Big Daddy Kane from his album Tito Time, becoming the ninth and final Jackson family sibling to place a solo single on the charts.”

Bill Nunn (O 20): I saw him as Radio Raheem in Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing and Robbie Robertson in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man film trilogy. He died on September 24, 2016, from leukemia.

That Star Trek guy

Robert Picardo (pictured – O 27): He was Coach Cutlip on The Wonder Years and Captain Dick Richard on the ABC series China Beach, for three seasons simultaneously. He’s best known as the Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager.

Desmond Child (O 28): Born John Charles Barrett, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

“His list of accolades includes Grammy awards, 70 Top 40 singles, and songs that have sold over 300 million albums worldwide.

“Child’s career has been highlighted by a stunning array of diversity. His collaborations run the gamut… from Bon Jovi & Aerosmith to Ricky Martin… from KISS to Kelly Clarkson… from Cher to Alice Cooper.”

You Give Love A Bad Name – Bon Jovi

Angel – Aerosmith

Living La Vida Loca – Ricky Martin

Love on a Rooftop – Desmond Child

Performer John Hiatt turns 70

“I’ll be there to catch your fall”

I’ve been listening to John Hiatt for nearly four decades. So enamored with his music was I that I wrote a post about him when he turned 54. Since then, I’ve got the albums The Open Road (2010), Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns (2011), and Terms of My Surrender (2014).

His sixth album I have on vinyl. Hiatt said, “I always kind of look at Riding with the King (1983) as the first album where I really put it all together.” And that’s probably true. Warming Up to the Ice Age (1985) failed commercially, and Geffen dropped him from the roster. Bring The Family (1987) was his first Billboard 200 album and is probably my favorite.

Slow Turning (1988) has such great songs that several were covered by other artists. Indeed, LOTS of artists have covered his songs, many of which I own. A small list: Sure As I’m Sitting Here (Three Dog Night), Across the Borderline (Willie Nelson), Thing Called Love (Bonnie Raitt), When We Ran (Linda Ronstadt), and Riding With The King (B.B. King and Eric Clapton).

My wife and I saw him at the Troy (NY) Music Hall in 2003.

Twelve songs

Here are a dozen John Hiatt tunes. If I were to pick my favorites, almost half would be from Bring The Family.

The Tiki Bar Is Open – the title track. Someone on a video wrote of John that he “has remained a fringe artist all these years despite his incredible songwriting skills and emotive and highly recognizable vocal style. He just keeps putting out amazing stuff year after year.”

Trudy and Dave – Slow Turning. My mom was named Trudy. I had a whimsical thought that mom had run off with another guy. “They’re out of their minds.”

Real Fine Love – Stolen Moments.

Feels Like Rain – Slow Turning.

Crossing Muddy Waters – the title song. I think songs from this acoustic album were performed by Hiatt on A Prairie Home Companion c. 2000.

The Most Unoriginal Sin – Beneath This Gruff Exterior. This was recorded by Willie Nelson in 1993, a full decade before Hiatt put it on the end of an album.

She Loves The Jerk – Riding With The King.

Slow Turning – the title track. Namechecks Charlie Watts.

Shredding The Document – Walk On. The lyrics are a bit dated – Larry King, e.g. – but I LOVE the harmony on the chorus.

Perfectly Good Guitar – the title track. Apparently, this ticked off Pete Townshend for a time.

I Don’t Even Try – Riding With The King. A variation on a familiar pop hook.

Have A Little Faith In Me – Bring the Family. When I made a mixed tape for my now-wife Carol, this was the centerpiece.

Bio

My friend Rocco read a biography that he really liked, Have a Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story by Michael Elliott. It is “a long-overdue, in-depth biography of Americana’s most enigmatic characters,” according to the review in Americana UK.

The writer touched on every studio album that Hiatt did and gave some great insight into what made it happen even the one live album, Rocco reports.

Christine Baranski of Buffalo turns 70

Diane Lockhart

I’ve enjoyed the performances of Christine Baranski for many years. She was the best thing in the sitcom Cybill (1995-1998) as the sophisticated Maryann Thorpe. But I, and most people, know her as the smart and calculating Diane Lockhart in The Good Wife and its successor series, The Good Fight.

In a CBS Sunday Morning interview from January 2022, “Correspondent Mo Rocca asked Baranski, ‘Why do you think so often you’ve been cast as intellectual, sophisticated, high-status characters?’

“‘Because I’m sophisticated and intellectual!’ she laughed. ‘I don’t know! It makes me laugh, because when… people really look up… Buffalo and the Buffalo Bills, and where I come from?’

“Yes, Baranski is a proud Buffalonian, the daughter of Virginia and Lucien Baranski, who grew up steeped in her family’s Polish culture.”

That’s it. Even when she’s the snarky friend in Mamma Mia or the haughty reporter in Chicago – “Understandable! Understandable!” – she has that upstate New York rootedness. Her father died when she was eight. She attended Catholic school for 12 years, including an all-girls high school.

Mame

In Town and Country, she described sharing a room with her grandmother, “who had been an actress in the Polish theater. ‘I grew up with an Auntie Mame kind of personality. She was vivacious,’” and she passed on a love of the stage to her granddaughter…

“‘By the time I was 17 or 18, I was acting in not only plays in high school, but I got into this workshop and was doing street theater and performing with kids from all over the city. I was from a very insular kind of life. And suddenly, I was performing with Black kids and Jewish kids and it blew my world wide open.’

“Around that time, she read about the Juilliard School, and pinned the article to her wall, thinking: ‘This is where I want to go.'” But as she noted in the New Yorker, she was initially waitlisted. “I had my teeth capped and would do a series of syllable and ‘S’ exercises. Then I returned to New York for an audition and did nothing but pages of ‘S’ words, and they let me in. So I would say I got in by the skin of my teeth.”

More upper-crust

Nathan Lane spoke of his “the Birdcage” co-star, “She is a consummate actress and professional and a great deal of fun.” He only regrets that they didn’t have more scenes together in their new project The Gilded Age. Christine once again plays that upper-crust role, the moneyed Agnes Van Rhijn.

I think she is quite centered, not just because of her background. Probably it’s because she was a working stage performer before her television career started in her forties. Though she had been encouraged early on to change her name to something less ethnic, she never did.

Christine Baranski turns 70 on May 2.