birthday Archives - Page 8 of 49 - Ramblin' with Roger

Performer Lynda Carter turns 70

back to singing

If I ever watched the TV show Wonder Woman, it was by chance. Yet, it was nigh unto impossible for me to have not seen Lynda Carter in that spangled costume in ads, on notebooks, in magazines, usually in her superhero pose.

So I recognized her instantly when I recently saw her in episodes from 2005 of Law and Order, and its spinoff, Special Victims Unit. Her character was NOT heroic. She’s been a working performer for a lot of years.

From Biography: “The youngest of four siblings raised in Arizona, Carter studied performing and by her mid-teens was fronting bands as lead vocalist. Although she qualified for an academic scholarship to attend Arizona State University, Carter opted for a life on the road, touring and performing in venues from the Catskills to Las Vegas.”

She segued into modeling. “Participating in beauty pageants brought the titles of Miss Arizona and then Miss World U.S.A… The pageant titles helped land acting auditions and in 1975 she burst onto television screens as Wonder Woman, and with the role came fame on a global level.”

She married “Hollywood producer and manager Ron Samuels in 1977,” which she describes as “an unfortunate chapter.” They divorced in 1982.

True love

She met attorney Robert Altman – not to be confused with the film director – and married him in 1984. They built a house in Potomac, MD, just outside D.C. They raised their children James (b. 1988) and daughter Jessica (b. 1990) there. Lynda was also “a fundraiser and advocate for causes important to her such as Pro-Choice rights for women, equality for the LGBTQ population and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.”

Unfortunately, Robert Altman died in February 2021 at the age of 73 from complications from a medical procedure.

She wrote on her website: “Robert is the love of my life and he always will be. Our 37 years of marriage were an extraordinary gift. We shared the passion I hope everyone is lucky enough to experience in their lifetime. We protected each other and were each other’s champions always.”

She had battled alcoholism in her past. But she’s been sober since 1998.

Like a good mom, she’s using her site to plug her daughter’s 2020 EP No Rules. It includes at least two covers, Spooky (Classics IV) and Sunny Afternoon (The Kinks). Lynda has rekindled her own love of music, and the two women have performed together.

In June 2021, Lynda bought a Florida condo for $15 million

A few months ago, Chuck Miller went gaga over an encounter with the performer.

Here’s to a Wonderful day for Lynda Carter as she turns 70 today.

Sister Leslie as emcee/hostess

pancakes!

Rebecca Jade, Leslie Green - May 2018 — Rebecca Jade, Leslie Green – May 2018

As noted, my sisters and I have been talking on ZOOM almost every week for… what, maybe a year? You would think we would run out of topics to talk about. You’d be wrong.

It’s an odd thing. We’re still hashing out the weird stuff about our parents. The fact that they died in 2000 (Dad) and 2011 (Mom) hasn’t buried the issues. If anything, their passing has given us permission to address the stuff we wouldn’t have dared discuss with them or even fully acknowledge the issues.

In some ways, the three of us had very different lanes growing up. Marcia, as the youngest, was the rebellious “don’t BS me” child who Leslie and I couldn’t imagine being. I was the bookish, somewhat insular one.

Leslie, by contrast, was the child most likely to try to please others. When visitors, friends of my parents, came over to see my parents, Marcia could bail as the youngest. I would come out of my room to say hello then go back to my books/baseball cards/music, which was more interesting to me than people who didn’t ostensibly come to see me anyway.

Leslie was wired differently. She would talk to my parents’ friends a lot more than I did. It seemed that she was like an emcee. This made adults like her more, which was not MY concern.

In some ways, it served her in good stead. She was a very personable performer. Her first job, while in high school, was to be a hostess at the Perkins Pancake House on Main Street, near Glenwood Avenue, in Binghamton. She worked in the hotel industry in a function, not unlike a concierge. And even her other jobs involve communicating well with others.

Recovering

Three years ago, as I noted more than once, Leslie was in a bicycle accident and almost died. She’s a lot better, though not 100%. There are still some issues with her eyes, her mouth, and a few other aspects. But she’s mostly OK.

I noted that I had seen the movie Summer of Soul recently. It reminded me that three years ago, less than a month before the accident, she was singing duets on a cruise ship with Larry Graham, the bass player for Sly and the Family Stone. Now that’s the kind of situation that being a talented and personable type will gain you.

Happy birthday, Leslie.

Presents for my wife on her birthday…

They say, “It’s the thought that counts…”

I have noted several times that buying presents for my wife is not my favorite thing. Whether it be for her birthday, Christmas, or our anniversary, it’s always been a challenge.

For our last anniversary, I think I agreed to go in on getting a bike rack for our vehicle. I’m not sure because we haven’t actually done so. In any case, it was her idea, not mine, so it’s more difficult for it to stick in the brain.

Last year, as I’ve noted, she had hinted about getting two pieces of jewelry for Christmas. So I bought them in August. In September, she proudly announced she had ordered the self-same pieces herself. I audibly groaned. She said, “You didn’t TELL you bought them…”

I recently discovered in this blog that she did pretty much the same thing circa 2012. She hinted that she really wanted a particular book from National Geographic. I bought it. Then SHE bought it. I grimaced and ended giving it to something else. I don’t know WHAT I ended up getting her that Christmas.

Sharp

A good friend of my wife has a daughter who is selling Cutco knives. The daughter wanted to make an appointment with my wife; my wife didn’t HAVE to buy anything because the friend’s daughter gets “points” just for doing the presentation.

I’m familiar with this gig. Back in the 1980s, my girlfriend’s daughter was selling Cutco knives. I let her make the pitch to me. My, those knives were expensive! But I bought one because it seemed to be the thing to do.

So my wife ends up buying several pieces of cutlery. It got to be a little pricey, which can happen easily. Hey, for her birthday this year, would I want to go halfsies on the knives? Yeah, sure, I guess. Oh, and the bill is already due.

So I gave her money for her birthday, a prosaic gift, but at least it won’t be something someone will have to return.

And, finally, I think I hit on something that she wants. I’ve ordered it. Allah willing, she won’t have purchased it for herself. Plus, we’ll go out to dinner.

I kvetch, but she’s otherwise pretty swell. I love you, dear.

BTW, this is a pic of my wife at a restaurant a block from our house, pre-pandemic. You can tell I took it because it’s fuzzy.

Actor Kurt Russell turns 70

Portland Mavericks

When I told my wife I was probably going to write about Kurt Russell turning 70, she went “Oh!” “What does THAT mean?” “Kurt Russell was my first crush.”

Not that I’m jealous, mind you.

I was utterly fascinated by Kurt Russell as a kid. He wasn’t much older than I was. I know I watched The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963), a western, though I don’t specifically remember the storyline. “Twelve-year-old Jamie McPheeters, along with his ne’er-do-well father and a ragtag group of pioneers, travel westward from Paducah, Kentucky to the California gold fields in 1849.” Nope, still don’t recall it.

And there were a series of movies, some with Disney, which I almost certainly watched.

The New Land (1974) featured “the trials of a settler family of Swedish immigrants to America.” Watched that, too. If you don’t remember it, it’s probably because lasted only six episodes.

He didn’t become one of those child stars who ended up troubled. Instead, he developed into a successful adult actor, primarily in movies. And most of them I never viewed! In fact, looking at his IMDB roster of films, there are only three I’m positive I saw: Silwood (1983), Swing Shift (1984), and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). Oh, I did see the Elvis TV movie in 1979.

Baseball

There’s a film I just read about that I want to see. The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014) is a “documentary film about the Portland [OR] Mavericks, a defunct minor league baseball team… They played five seasons in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, from 1973 through 1977. Owned by actor Bing Russell [Kurt’s dad], the Mavericks were an independent team, without the affiliation of a parent team in the major leagues.”

The things I discover. “Kurt Russell was a switch-hitting second baseman for the California Angels minor league affiliates, the Bend Rainbows (1971) and Walla Walla Islanders (1972) in the short-season Class A-Short Season Northwest League, then moved up to Class AA in 1973 with the El Paso Sun Kings of the Texas League.

“While in the field turning the pivot of a double play early in the season, the incoming runner at second base collided with him and tore the rotator cuff in Russell’s right (throwing) shoulder.

“He did not return to El Paso but was a designated hitter for the… Mavericks… late in their short season… He had been doing promotional work for them in the interim. The injury forced his retirement from baseball in 1973 and led to his return to acting.”

Goldie

Russell appeared in five films with performer Goldie Hawn, possibly still best known for Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. The first was way back in 1968, The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band. Goldie made her big-screen debut in a bit part. She was 21, but he was only 16.

During the making of Swing Shift (1984), they became romantic partners. They were also in Overboard (1987), and the two Christmas Chronicles films (2018, 2020).

They’ve been together since 1983. Her kids (Kate and Oliver Hudson) are his kids. His kid Boston Russell is her kid. They have a son together, Wyatt. And they are happily unmarried.

Goldie said, and Kurt would agree: “We have done just perfectly without marrying. I already feel devoted and isn’t that what marriage is supposed to do? So as long as my emotional state is in a state of devotion, honesty, caring, and loving, then we’re fine.

“We have raised our children brilliantly; they are beautiful people. We did a great job there and we didn’t have to get married to do that. I like waking up every day and seeing that he is there and knowing that I have a choice. There is really no reason to marry.”

Kurt Russell turns 70 on St. Patrick’s Day.

68: “Put it back on the menu”

Didn’t Neil Diamond write that?

For all those years not divisible by 5, or otherwise significant (double numbers such as 66, 57 Heinz variety, 52 cards in a deck), remembering my age is sometimes a challenge. What does Wikipedia say about 68?

“It is the largest known number to be the sum of two primes in exactly two different ways: 68 = 7 + 61 = 31 + 37.” Now THAT is exciting. Isn’t it?

“68 is the atomic number of erbium, a lanthanide.” What?
“In the restaurant industry, 68 may be used as a code meaning ‘put back on the menu’, being the opposite of 86 which means ‘remove from the menu'”. I had never heard that.
“The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament has involved 68 teams in each edition since 2011 when the First Four round was introduced.” And I’ve always hated those play-in games, especially the 11th seeds.

The photo, taken by my daughter on her phone, was for her Environmental Science course. Apparently, it takes 170 gallons of water to create that 750 ml bottle of wine.

Anyway, I don’t blog on my birthday. See you manana.