birthday Archives - Page 2 of 49 - Ramblin' with Roger

Lydster: something substantial

clarinet

My daughter has commanded that I write something substantial about her for her significant birthday. But it’s TWO hard! How can I encapsulate her TWO decades in one post? I know – I’ll write TWO posts over TWO months! My blog, my rules.

Let’s start before the beginning. My wife had asked, more than once, if I was ready to have a child. My response, of course, was: how the heck do I know? I had said I was amenable to trying, but when you’re five decades old, you don’t know if it would happen.

Then it did. My wife and I remember when we first knew she was pregnant, but no one else, save for folks in the doctor’s office, did. We were returning from a small party when we saw our friend Fred. He was out with his one-week-old named Carol. Indeed, Fred has mentioned this encounter in the past year, so it was significant to him, too, especially after he heard about our secret.

We developed a birth plan, and when we realized the ob/gyn was not on board, my wife changed doctors at eight months pregnant, which I thought was great. Scary, but bold.

Eureka!

The child was born. She didn’t sleep well for a few days, so neither did we. But things got better eventually. Someone had told us that the way one gets a child to sleep is to drive them around. This was SO not the case for her! On trips to see her maternal grandparents in Oneonta, NY, she’d cry -OK, wail – for ten minutes before falling asleep for an hour. She’d wake up and start wailing again UNLESS her father got into the back seat with her and sang to her constantly: e.g., OldMcDonaldHadAFarmEIEIOAndOnThatFarm… This generally worked.

My workmates had gotten us a red carriage, and I loved to ride her around the neighborhood. The school district has razed the 99-year-old School 19 and then built Pine Hills Elementary School on the same site. I appreciated that they built a new structure just for my daughter, or so I chose to believe.

After my wife returned to work, she dropped our daughter off at a private daycare for the first year. It was during that time that I SHOULD have been recording all of her milestones: when she started to crawl then walk – the former was earlier than the norm, the latter, slightly later. She crawled up the stairs, much to the horror of her mother.

As a result of NOT tracking her progress in the book, I’ve been writing about her EVERY month on the 26th since May 2005. I might have written about her on other days, but this is at least the 227th piece. Now, I could wade through this blog and pick out highlights in her life. But, with few exceptions, I will wing it instead.

Daycare

Around that time, I took her to Mercy Cares for Kids, right on the bus line. We were happy about the diverse population of the children. I loved dropping her off, and it was our little time together. Then I’d take another bus to work.

Only one time that she got there but refused to stay, and it was a morning that, for some reason, we got there about a half hour late. She did NOT like to go in when all of the other kids were already there. So I brought her home and took off the day from work. Even then, she had rules.

When she started school, she attended Watervliet Elementary for kindergarten since her mother taught there. Then, she went to Pine Hills Elementary for grades 1-6. She met her bestie, Kay, there.

Her sense of fashion was evident early on. After she outgrew the hand-me-downs my wife’s friend Alison gave us, my daughter largely specified her wardrobe. Early on, it was pink and purple, but she quickly developed her own style. She also started taking care of her hair, in part because her parents were fairly hapless. Eventually, she also got into makeup. Her process is tied to her sense of art, which is very strong.

Popular culture

We watched a lot of television together, such as Little Bear and Franklin. Wonder Pets was a favorite; her mom was Linny, the guinea pig, I was Turtle Tuck, and she was Ming-Ming Duckling. Later, she watched some Disney shows, some of which were not awful.

The first compact disc I bought her was the Beatles #1s. When we saw Paul McCartney in 2014, she knew most of the band’s songs but was less versed in solo Macca and Wings. I also tried to let her know about 1960s and 1970s Motown. Ultimately, she found her taste, listening to Pentatonix, then BTS, but ultimately 1990’s soul, especially Blaque. She owns a 3-LP set of

My daughter was involved in various ballet, soccer, and other activities. It’s all a learning process, and we never prodded her to continue. She WAS pretty good at the clarinet, though, and we still have the instrument in case she ever wants to return to it.

That’s enough for this month, except to wish her a wonderful birthday!

Ron Howard Is 70

From Mayberry To The Moon

I have been watching Ron Howard since I was seven when he played Opie Taylor (1960-1968) on The Andy Griffith Show. Sheriff Andy Taylor seemed like a pretty cool dad. Andy’s show was a spinoff of The Danny Thomas Show, and Opie appeared in that backdoor pilot.

Maybe I saw him earlier than that. Ron had a small part in the Walking Distance episode of The Twilight Zone (1959) inspired by Recreation Park in Binghamton, NY.

He appeared as a guest star in various programs I watched, including Dr. Kildare, I Spy, and The Fugitive. You likely do not remember The Smith Family (1971-1972) series, even though it starred Henry Fonda. Ron Howard was in 39 episodes of that, and I watched.

In 1973, Ron starred in the movie American Graffiti, directed by George Lucas, the springboard for several actors. I still recall his appearance in MASH the same year, which was a strong performance.

Of course, he starred in Happy Days (1974-1984). I watched it until shortly after Fonzie jumped the shark.

One performance I missed until I saw it on television in the 21st century was in his role of Winthrop Paroo, the younger brother of Marion (Shirley Jones), in the 1962 movie The Music Man. Here’s the Wells Fargo Wagon.

Director

In the late 1970s, he started stepping away from in front of the camera. These are movies he’s directed that I’ve seen, all in the cinema: Night Shift (1982), Splash (1983), Cocoon (1985), and Apollo 13 (1995). I’ve greatly admired Apollo 13, for which one feels real tension, even though one knows how the real story ended.

Ron also directed and produced these films I saw: Parenthood (1989), Cinderella Man (2005), Frost/Nixon (2008), and A Beautiful Mind (2001), for which he won two Academy Awards.

He was the executive producer of TV shows such as Sports Night (1998-2000), Parenthood (1990-1991, 2010-2015), and Arrested Development (2003-2019), serving as the announcer for the latter.

Ron has been married to Cheryl Allen since 1975. They have four children, including actor Bryce Dallas Howard. Ron has a brother, Clint Howard, who I’ve also seen perform since his debut on The Andy Griffith Show at age 2.

Beverly Gray wrote a 2003 bio, Ron Howard: From Mayberry to the Moon…and Beyond, which I have not read, but it’s a great title. It feels as though Ronny Howard, or Ron Howard, has been in my life forever on television and movie screens.

Oprah Winfrey turns 70

National Women’s Hall of Fame

When someone answers “Oprah” on JEOPARDY, when the correct response is “Oprah Winfrey,” the answer is generally adjudged to be correct. It’s like “Elvis” for “Elvis Presley.”.

Oprah’s A.M. Chicago show, which was much more successful with her at the helm, went national after her “Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for—her performance as Sofia in the film The Color Purple.”

I started watching her program early in its run, around 1986. I did not view it regularly as it was on in the afternoon. But I appreciated seeing her show the empathy that allowed celebrities and regular folks to open up to her.

I know I saw her interviews with the Little Rock Nine, the black kids trying to integrate the Arkansas high school in 1957, requiring the support of troops sent by President Eisenhower. But also participating were a bunch of white kids who jeered the Nine. There was a rapprochement that was truly powerful.

I saw some stars, such as Paul McCartney and Tom Cruise, the latter of whom “jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell rapturously to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his then-girlfriend, Katie Holmes…

“On February 10, 1993, Winfrey sat down in a prime-time special broadcast with Michael Jackson, who had performed ten days earlier in the Super Bowl XXVII halftime show, for what would become the most-watched interview in television history.” I watched that, too.

Personal

She was an effective interviewer because of her vulnerability and compassion. “On November 10, 1986, during a show about sexual abuse, Winfrey revealed that she was raped by a relative when she was nine years old. Since this episode, Winfrey has used the show as a platform to help catch child predators, raise awareness, and give victims a voice.”

And from 1995, “I was involved with a man in my twenties who introduced me to cocaine. I always felt that the drug itself was not the problem but that I was addicted to the man… I have said many times I did things I was ashamed of in my twenties, and I’ve done things I’ve felt guilty about. And that is my life’s great secret that’s been held over my head. I understand the shame, and I understand the guilt, I understand the secrecy, I understand all that.”

She had segments I enjoyed, such as her Book Club and the fiscal advice from Suze Orman. I was much less enthused by two other folks whom she helped launch, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Phil McGraw.

Oprah became a millionaire in 1986 and a billionaire by 2004. In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. “Winfrey has won many accolades throughout her career,” including the Kennedy Center Honors in 2010. She was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.

She aids numerous programs, including an impressive school for girls in South Africa.

Taraji P. Henson Praises Oprah at ‘The Color Purple’ Screening: “She Was There Holding Our Hands.” Oprah produced the Warner Bros. musical remake, which stars Henson alongside Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks.

1973: the class trip to DC

New Paltz Democratic Club

I intend to finish my 1973 diary recollections by the end of 2023. Though I found nothing I wanted to share in the first two months, the class trip to DC was particularly noteworthy.

Wed, Mar 7: I was famished that evening and was going to eat. But the Okie said she was going to bring food. Then my parents and my sisters arrived, surprising me near or on my birthday for the second year in a row.

We were about to leave when a car with a little girl barreled down the street in reverse. Dad tried to stop it, but he couldn’t. It rammed into another vehicle. The girl was okay. She was trying to adjust the radio station and released the brake. My family went to a Chinese restaurant called Great Wall.

Tues, Apr 10: I attended, not for the first time, a New Paltz Democratic Club meeting. Ralph Kulseng nominated me to be the acting recording secretary. Someone whispered, “Who’s Roger Green?” I whispered, “I’m Roger Green!”

[I joined the Club after I was allowed to register to vote in the town. The law in New York State at the time was that no one would gain or lose the right to vote by attending college. The Republican registrar was going to deny me the chance to vote there. But the Democrat, noting that the Okie was already registered in Ulster County and that it would be silly for a married couple to have to be registered in different counties.]

I won the election and was given postcards, the membership list, etc.

Sat, Apr 14: I was back in Binghamton. I met a legislative assistant of my Congressman Howard Robison at the Federal Building about war, Watergate, and other issues.

District of Columbia

Sun, May 13: My classmates (Sid, Andi, Ivy, Gary, Jay, Mitch, Stu, Charles, Jerry, Tom, and Linda ) and I drove down to DC for a trip arranged by our professor, Ron Steinberg. We ate at the Mayflower Diner. Nixon arrived at the Washington Monument grounds by helicopter, causing chaos. We stayed at a hostel.

Mon, May 14: After breakfast at a greasy spoon, we take a bus to the Supreme Court. They ruled 8-1, Rehnquist dissenting, that a servicewoman could claim her husband for benefits as easily as a serviceman could claim his wife. (As I read the case now, it was a bit more nuanced than that.) We talked with chief clerk Rodak, a real PR man, about court caseloads.

At the Justice Department, we talked with Phil Locavara, deputy solicitor general, who was very candid, even about Watergate.

The last day in DC

Tues, May 15: We had a meeting at the EPA with a guy named Stuart, who was very interesting and informative. I got lost going to the Common Cause meeting, seeing an Ethiopian parade en route. Later, the FCC PR man gave us terse, frustratingly evasive answers.

Wed, May 16: Took a bus to the New Senate Office Building. I hated carrying around my duffel bag, which was searched every time I entered there or the Supreme Court. Ron, Sid, and I ate at the NSOB cafeteria. We got Senate passes from the office of Senator James Buckley (C-NY). I went to the Senate on the subway, but only four Senators were on the floor.

We went to the Old Senate Office Building for a meeting with a subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary with two of the staff on Senator Sam Ervin (D-NC).

Then we went to see former Chief Justice Earl Warren. Ron made only an introductory statement and asked the last question over an hour later. )I wrote about this here.)

We all drove back to New Paltz, very tired.

Tony Bennett Day

Anthony Benedetto

It’s Tony Bennett Day!

I’ve often been a sucker for a comeback story. Tony Bennett’s is a great one. Instead of changing with the times – his attempts to do so were disastrous – he returned to being who he’d always been, and the times changed with HIM.

He was born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in 1926 in Queens, New York, but was singing as Joe Bari when Bob Hope made a better suggestion.

Tony was one of those crooners I remember seeing on the variety shows hosted by Perry Como, Judy Garland, Red Skelton, Danny Kaye, Andy Williams, and Dean Martin. Of course, he was on Ed Sullivan, where he appeared 18 times between 1952 and 1971.

While he didn’t entirely fade away, he became less relevant to the cultural conversation for a time.

Rebirth

As Wikipedia noted, his son Danny was pivotal in the change: “His father… had tremendous musical talent, but had trouble sustaining a career from it and had little financial sense. Danny signed on as his father’s manager.

“Danny got his father’s expenses under control, moved him back to New York City, and began booking him in colleges and small theaters to get him away from a ‘Vegas’ image. The singer had also reunited with Ralph Sharon as his pianist and musical director (and would remain with him until Sharon’s retirement in 2002).

“By 1986, Tony Bennett was re-signed to Columbia Records, this time with creative control, and released The Art of Excellence. This became his first album to reach the charts since 1972.

“Danny began regularly to book his father on Late Night with David Letterman… This was subsequently followed by appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Sesame Street, The Simpsons, Muppets Tonight, and various MTV programs.” I specifically remember Capital City on the Simpsons; the song is on my Simpsons’ Songs in the Key of Springfield CD.

In the collection

I have several Tony Bennett albums, all but one from 1993 or later when the video of Steppin’ Out With My Baby from the album Steppin’ Out was in heavy rotation on MTV.

Then Tony had an MTV Unplugged special, which I watched. Elvis Costello and k.d. lang showed up for one song each. I own his two Duets albums with various collaborators and Tony and lang, Diana Krall, and Lady Gaga on whole albums.

Between 1963 and 1966, he was nominated for eight Grammys, winning two for I Left My Heart in San Francisco. From 1991 to 2022, he was nominated 33 times for a Grammy, receiving 17, plus a Lifetime Achievement Award. Many were songs or albums with artists decades younger than he, including Stevie Wonder and the late Amy Winehouse. He became the king of duets.

I had the pleasure of seeing Tony Bennett at Tanglewood, I believe, in the late 1990s. His opening act was Krall, and they performed songs together as well. Ralph Sharon was the pianist/musical director.

I was reading the 60 Minutes interview about Tony preparing for two concerts at Radio City Music Hall with Gaga. He was aided by his wife, Susan, while living with Alzheimer’s disease. The shows, which he did not remember only days later, were tremendous. It was recently rebroadcast on CBS.

American Songwriter called these the Top 10 10 Bennett songs. Check out his paintings.

Citations

Bennett was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame and received the United Nations “Citizen of the World” award.

The US Senate recently passed a resolution declaring August 3 as Tony Bennett Day. Senate Majority Chuck Schumer “cited Bennett’s service in World War II, as well as his decision to march with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama in 1965, ‘at a time when the agents of most entertainers discouraged them from marching in these kinds of things because they might lose some fans. But Tony didn’t care; he believed in equality.’” The House passed a similar measure.

Here is a life in pictures from The Guardian. Today would have been Tony Bennett’s 97th birthday. He was the gold standard for singers.