Tag: obit

Mr. Peca

“Mr. Peca told us we were the smartest class he ever had. We, of course, believed him; dare I say we still do, in itself another of his legacies.”

My sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Paul Peca, died earlier this month at the age of only 73. You can read the obit here for as long as those Legacy pieces remain online. “Paul was a dedicated teacher for 35 years. 32 years in the Johnson City School District. He made a difference in many children’s lives.” I definitely believe that.

My friend Carol, not to be confused with my wife Carol, wrote in the guest book: “I also had Mr. Peca in 6th grade at Daniel S. Dickinson in Binghamton. He encouraged us to create our own in-house newsletter – he was interested in what we were thinking, and what we had to say. Very inspiring.

He told us we were the smartest class he ever had. We, of course, believed him (dare I say we still do, in itself another of his legacies – although you’ll notice by the venue we were one of his first classes…). What a wonderful, meaningful life. Much too short, but all of us, his students, were blessed to have been taught by him. With sympathy to the family.” We must have been one of his first classes, but hardly the last one to care deeply for the man.

All that Carol wrote is true. I also have more specific memories of that class than just about any other. How we had debates about the efficacy of dropping A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (he was in favor, or at least took that position, most of us weren’t), how we had a mock Presidential election (LBJ won 13-3, he favored AuH2O). He was always provocative, innovative, and intelligent.

The year after we were in his class, at least a half dozen of us walked to his house, just to visit him. He lived up near the airport, so we ended up walking at least 16 miles; I literally wore out a pair of shoes on that trip.

Paul Peca was the best teacher I ever had, at any level.

May Rambling

Susannah Spencer is somehow an ancestor of Diana Spencer, who married Prince Charles, who had two sons, William and Harry.

When Blogger was down for about 24 hours earlier this month, it really threw off my blogging rhythm. For reasons mundane (I’m used to it) and functional (it’s a backup system), I still compose my blog in Blogger, THEN copy and paste into this WordPress format. And the day it was down was a Thursday, which meant I actually HAD time to post for an hour between work and choir. Or go to other people’s blogs, or leave comments on other people’s blogs, but I couldn’t do that either. Then when Blogger finally came back up, I realized that none of the blogposts that I had Scheduled actually saw the light of day, so I had to repost them. Oh, well. Arthur, and others whose primary blogs are on Blogger, had it worse than I.
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Went to see HAIR this month.
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The eldest niece’s website.
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Gordon at Blog This, Pal! has been blogging for seven years, which is amazing. He’s the only out-of-area blogger I’ve met through blogging, when we went to a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field in 2008. Naturally, the home team lost.
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Who hit the most home runs during the 1960s? More than Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, or Willie McCovey. That would be Harmon Killebrew, whose goodbye note to his fans was very touching, and who died this month of cancer at the age of 74. He was probably my father-in-law’s favorite player. Incidentally, my father-in-law’s 75th birthday was this week.
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Samoa will lose a day! And willingly, no less. Gotta mess up birthdays, astrological charts…
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A Berlioz Requiem sampler of the Albany Pro Musica concert. The “Dies irae” and the “Lacrymosa” are only fragmentary parts of the longer originals, due to uploading limits.
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The National Jukebox, from your Library of Congress.
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Did you know Jack Kirby had an alternate design for Captain America, created for some purpose he couldn’t remember, that never appeared in a comic book?
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I feel as though I really need to see the movie Thor. It got a 70%+ positive rating from Rotten Tomatoes, but a real negative one from Roger Ebert. Something about his take, though, 1) compelled him to respond to his critics and 2) makes me think that I might like it anyway.
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Addresses of Marvel Superheroes in New York City.
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Fight the Rebellion! Darth Vader is countng on you!
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This is an interesting video. I’ve subsequently found more people doing this on other videos, but this pair seem to be the best.

Norman Whitfield

Grapevine, War, Car Wash


Surely, my initial appreciation for songwriter Norman Whitfield came at that juncture in the career of Motown’s Temptations in 1968 when David Ruffin, the lead vocalist on “My Girl” and most of the hits up to that point, left the group and was replaced by Dennis Edwards.

At the same time, Whitfield became the exclusive producer for the group and implemented what he freely admitted that he stole from Sly Stone: the multi-lead singer motif, best exemplified by the hit “I Can’t Get Next To You,” number 31 on this list. Also, he, along with Barrett Strong (who incidentally sang the first Motown hit, Money), wrote virtually all of their hits: “Cloud Nine,” “Psychedelic Shack,” “Ball of Confusion,” “Just My Imagination,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” to name just a few of the “psychedelic soul” tunes.

Tunes

But in fact, Norman wrote or co-wrote tunes for the early Temps (“Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep”) and many others:

Bright Lights, Big City by Jimmy Reed

I Heard It Through The Grapevine. This is the Pips version, which went to #2 in 1967. Rumor has it that it was covered later to even greater effect.

He Was Really Saying Something – the Velvelettes

(I Know)I’m Losing You  – the Temptations

Too Many Fish In The Sea – the Marvelettes

Needle In A Haystack– the Velvelettes

Not to mention:

Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) – Marvin Gaye

Too Busy Thinking About My Baby – Marvin Gaye

Smiling Faces Sometimes

War – Edwin Starr

Car Wash – Rose Royce

Norman Whitfield died Tuesday, September 16, at the age of 67. He suffered from complications of diabetes and had recently emerged from a coma, The Detroit Free Press reported.

Whitfield, with Barrett Strong, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004. They won the Grammy in 1972 for best R&B song for the Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.” Whitfield won another Grammy in 1976 for best original TV or motion picture score for the hit “Car Wash.”

Motown great Smokey Robinson called Whitfield “one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers of our time. He will live forever through his great music.”

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