Tag: obit

My ambivance about Ed Koch

Ed Koch also didn’t endear himself to upstate voters when he ran for the Democratic nomination for governor of New York State in 1982, again against Mario Cuomo.

 

Edward I. Koch died recently. He was the brash, outspoken mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989. You should watch this interview conducted in 2007, where he “reflected on his life and political career, and talked of how he would like to be remembered.” I would agree that he brought some fiscal stability to a city on the brink of bankruptcy, “turning a $1 billion budget deficit into a $500 million surplus in five years. He restored the city’s credit, doubled the annual budget to $26 billion and oversaw $19 billion in capital improvements.”

The year 1977 was tough for both NYCNY and me. The city had a blackout that led to widespread looting. A guy dubbed Son of Sam was going around shooting people. I had graduated from college the year before and was underemployed in my college town in the autumn of 1976. In desperation, I lived with my parents in Charlotte, NC for the first four months of 1977; not my favorite place at the time. Then, after a brief trip to Binghamton, NY, I ended up living in the apartment of my sister and her husband at the time. Much of the time, they were in Boston, though they were present some of the time, and he and I did not get along that well.

I had a 30 hour per week telephone job from 6 pm until midnight. I spent most of my time hanging out in Greenwich Village with a co-worker named Michael, who pursued an ill-fated romance with a young woman. I’ve long since lost track of him, but have remained friends with the woman to this day.

So I wasn’t all that engaged with the politics that was going on. It seemed that there were a half dozen folks running for mayor. Ed Koch had been a reform-minded member of Congress, but his pro-death penalty position troubled me greatly. I ended up rooting for Mario Cuomo, who was the state’s Secretary of State.

Despite living there, I was totally unaware of signs that were apparently all over the city saying “Vote for Cuomo, not the homo.” Mario Cuomo has continually denied being behind these signs, and though Cuomo and Koch appeared together from time to time subsequently, Koch never forgave either Mario, or his son Andrew, the current New York State governor. (I tend to believe Mario, but wouldn’t be surprised if Andrew were involved; he was a very nasty guy.)

He also didn’t endear himself to upstate voters when he ran for the Democratic nomination for governor of New York State in 1982, again against Mario Cuomo. Koch described his run as hubris. He was hurt by an interview with Playboy magazine, where he was insulting to upstaters, describing rural life as “a joke,” for instance.

Amid his accomplishments, and they were many, it was thought by many that he was lousy on race relations with blacks, and extremely slow in responding to the HIV/AIDS crisis.

After his time as mayor, he worked as a partner in a law firm, did radio commentary, wrote newspaper columns, and even movie reviews. talk-show guest. his support of the war in Iraq peeved me, especially since he had opposed the Vietnam war as a Congressman. More recently, he tried, unsuccessfully, to get nonpartisan reapportionment done, which I support.

The writer Pete Hamill said in 2005 that he was “some mad combination of a Lindy’s waiter, Coney Island barker, Catskills comedian, irritated school principal and eccentric uncle.” This was meant as a compliment, and it’s pretty accurate. The praise he received was no doubt warranted, but somehow, I was not his biggest fan.
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Artists Against Fracking is a video postcard from Yoko Ono to Andrew Cuomo

From the 1977 Sacred Songs album, NYCNY by Daryl Hall, which rather sounds like NYC, NY of 1977

Sporting news: Earl Weaver, Stan Musial, Lance Armstrong

I’m less distressed by Lance Armstrong’s cheating, and the inevitable lying that he did, but really bothered by the bullying threats to those who would dare besmirch his name.

I was a big New York Yankees fan when I was a child. But when the Bronx Bombers went into a tailspin after the 1964 World Series and were frankly terrible for close to a decade, I had to find a secondary American League team to support. That franchise was the Baltimore Orioles with the Robinson “brothers,” Brooks and Frank, fine pitchers such as Jim Palmer, and their feisty Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver, who died this week at the age of 82. He was thrown out of more Major League Baseball games than any other manager; he could be quite entertaining.

Not that I ALWAYS rooted for the Orioles in the World Series. In 1969, I HAD to root for the New York Mets over the Orioles, and of course, the Amazin’s won. But I was cheering on the Orioles in 1970 when they beat the Cincinnati Reds, the team that had given up on Frank Robinson. I chose to support the Pittsburgh Pirates, though, in 1971 – I loved Roberto Clemente – and 1979, both of which the Bucs won.

In fact, when Baltimore was up 3 games to 1 in the 1979 Series, I did something very unusual: I wagered money on a baseball game, not very much, but still. I picked Pittsburgh to win Game 5, and it did. Then I bet Pittsburgh would win Game 6, and it did. But I was not brave enough to bet that the Pirates would win Game 7, which it did, taking the Series.

I was watching some TV obit about Hall of Fame baseball player Stan Musial; it referred to him as a shortstop, which didn’t sound right. He played mostly in the outfield, and at first base, though he did pitch one game. I saw him play only at the end of his illustrious career, as he retired after the 1963 season. I remember when Albert Pujols, the Cardinals’ recent All-Star first baseman moved to the Angels, it was proof that he’d never be “another Stan Musial,” loyal to one team; I thought it was unfair, as these are different times, and few ballplayers stay with one team their entire careers.

I’m still disappointed that the Baseball Hall of Fame did not allow ANY recent players into Cooperstown this year. Punish the folks you thought, or knew, were using performance-enhancing drugs (PED), but there were plenty of “clean” players to pick from as well. Lee Smith, who was the career saves leader (it’s a pitching stat) when he retired, and still can’t get 50% of the writers’ vote, let alone the 75% needed for induction.

Speaking of PED, I am reminded that when Lance Armstrong was stripped last year of his seven Tour de France tournament wins, there was great criticism by many people of the anti-doping agency that concluded that Armstrong had doped. “Not our Lance!” Frankly, I’m less distressed by his cheating, and the inevitable lying that he did, but really bothered by the bullying threats to those who would dare besmirch his name, even suing accusers. It was only when he heard his son protecting his name that he had to say to the lad, “Stop defending me,” and at least some of the truth came out.

I really enjoy Dustbury’s accounts of Oklahoma City Thunder NBA basketball games, enough that I’ve become a fan of the team.
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As for the National Football League, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons this week, which I was happy about. The Falcons collapsed the previous week against Seattle (who I was rooting for), and won only with a last-second field goal; the Falcons tanked against the 49ers, after taking a 17-0 lead. I’ve always liked San Francisco teams. My second favorite baseball team growing up was the SF Giants, which had my favorite ballplayer of all time, Willie Mays. Somehow, this affection geographically spread to the NFL 49ers.

The Baltimore Ravens beat the New England Patriots. I’m not much of a Ravens fan, but I have an even more irrational dislike of Patriots coach Bill Belichick and his quarterback, Tom Brady. After they won the Super Bowl a couple of times, I found them to be insufferable.

In the Super Bowl: Go 49ers!

Signed, Dear Abby

The name Abigail Van Buren came from a Biblical woman and a one-term President.

Even as a child in Binghamton, NY, I religiously read Ann Landers in the morning paper, the Sun-Bulletin, and Dear Abby in the Evening Press. When the papers merged, both columns appeared.

Someone of a younger vintage might not appreciate the impact of the social significance of these columns written for many years by twin sisters, born July 4, 1918. Ask Ann Landers was originally the pen name created by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Ruth Crowley in 1943, but it was taken over by Eppie Lederer in 1955, and used until her death in 2002 when the name was retired; it was Eppie with whom the pseudonym was most identified.

A few months after Eppie became Ann, Pauline Phillips started the similar Dear Abby; the name Abigail Van Buren came from a Biblical woman and a one-term President. The sisters feuded for years. Pauline’s daughter Jeanne Phillips, took over Dear Abby in 2002, officially, when Pauline’s Alzheimer’s became known, though, in fact, Jeanne’s participation went back to her time as a teenager.

I long preferred Ann to Abby. I thought she was more tolerant, especially after her 1975 announcement about the end of her 32-year marriage.

Yet it was Dear Abby, by the structural simplicity of the pen name, which was the better known of the two. “Dear Abby” generated many more references in popular culture, such as this piece by the Bitchy Waiter. My favorite is the song Dear Abby by John Prine [LISTEN].

Pauline Phillips, the original Dear Abby, died on January 16.
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Conrad Bain died this week. I must note that I wasn’t a big fan of Diff’rent Strokes, which was about this rich white man, who had a young daughter, adopting two black kids. Arnold often said to his brother, “What’chu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” I think it was supposed to be funny.

I did watch and enjoy Bain on Maude as Dr. Arthur Harmon, her neighbor, and Republican foil to her liberal views.

40 Years Ago: My 1st Presidential Vote, for George McGovern

I got to see George McGovern at a rally at my college, SUNY New Paltz in the autumn of 1972.

There were a LOT of people running for the Democratic nomination for President against Richard Nixon in 1972. The general consensus early on, though, was that Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine would be the selection. He had been the Vice-Presidential nominee in 1968 and had been a credible candidate in a close race. But he was sunk early on by the crying incident, which, to this day, I find utterly bewildering, and dropped out of the race early on.

This seemed to give segregationist Governor George Wallace of Alabama some momentum, much to the chagrin of all right-minded people. An assassination attempt in May paralyzed him and effectively ended his campaign.

Many of the leading candidates – Muskie, and other 1968 candidates Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy – would have been OK to me. I was suspicious of the hawkish Scoop Jackson, though, especially after he later led an “Anybody but McGovern” coalition “that raised what would be known as the ‘Acid, Amnesty and Abortion’ questions” about the South Dakotan. My preferred candidate, though, was Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm of New York, the first black woman to win a primary (New Jersey), though, by the time of the June primary in New York, the race was all but over.

Still, I liked McGovern. He was one of the early opponents to the war in Vietnam and having flown nearly three dozen missions over Nazi-occupied Europe, he had a lot more credibility than today’s chicken hawks, who haven’t seen a war they don’t want to fight, or rather, would send our young men and women to fight.

Unfortunately, his Vice-Presidential pick of Thomas Eagleton proved to be a disaster, when it was revealed the junior senator from Missouri had received psychiatric care, which was bad enough in those days but also had twice been given electroshock treatments, which brought up unfair comparisons to Frankenstein’s monster. This incident reflected poorly on McGovern’s decision-making, and eventually, he forced Eagleton off the ticket, to be replaced by Kennedy in-law and former Peace Corps head Sargent Shriver.

As you can see from these not-too-great pictures, taken by me with a point-and-shoot camera, I got to see McGovern at a rally at my college, State University College at New Paltz in the autumn. That was one of the first of many times I saw Pete Seeger perform, too.

Of course, McGovern lost that election badly, carrying only one state, plus the District of Columbia. Many folks, in 1973 and 1974, during the Watergate scandal that McGovern had complained about during the campaign, had bumper stickers that read, “Don’t blame me, I’m from Massachusetts,” referring to the one-state the senator carried, whether they were or not.

George McGovern died this week at the age of 90. It seems, though, that he saw vindication of his positions in his lifetime, and never sold his soul.

For instance, from his acceptance speech for the party’s nomination:
“The tax system today does not reward hard work: it penalizes it. Inherited or invested wealth frequently multiplies itself while paying no taxes at all. But wages on the assembly line or in farming the land, these hard-earned dollars are taxed to the very last penny. There is a depletion allowance for oil wells, but no depletion for the farmer who feeds us, or the worker who serves us all.”

Sounds – unfortunately – VERY Current.
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A much wiser Arthur@AmeriNZ re: his feeling about McGovern, then and now.

Hal David, R.I.P.

I have nothing more to say. Hal David said it all.

I had this conversation back in the 1980s with this comic book writer, and he was lightly complaining about how the artist always seemed to get the credit for a magazine’s success. That may or may not have been a valid complaint, given the Marvel style of putting the product together.

My own complaint is that in a songwriting duo with defined roles, it seems that the person writing the music seems to get more attention than the guy who writes the words. Perhaps lyricists are less outgoing. That certainly appears to be the case with lyricist Hal David, who died recently, in a relationship with long-time partner Burt Bacharach. Check out this article for a history of their team.

The duo was recently awarded the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

I have nothing more to say. Hal David said it all, with his lyrics. Links to all songs.
(I made a point of NOT picking only Dionne Warwick songs, which would have been easy to do.)

Gene Pitney – Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa
Cilla Black – Anyone who had a heart
Dusty Springfield – Wishin and Hopin
Jackie DeShannon – What the World Needs Now
Billy J Kramer – Trains And Boats And Planes
Dionne Warwick – Message To Michael
Dionne Warwick – The Windows of the World
Aretha Franklin – I Say a Little Prayer
Herb Alpert – This Guy’s in Love with You
Isaac Hayes – Walk on By short (4:30) version; the longer version here
B.J. Thomas – Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head
The 5th Dimension – One Less Bell to Answer
Carpenters – Close to You
Naked Eyes- Always Something There To Remind Me
James Taylor – The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Luther Vandross – A House Is Not A Home (live)

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