Suprise Me

First, to set the scene: My dad and I are sitting on the couch on a Friday night (a Friday night that we don’t go to the synagogue for Shabbat services), and it’s time for the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports’ Friday Night Fights on TV. My dad, first in his family to go to college… Read More

“What do you remember about Watergate?” asks this week’s prompt. I am finding it a very difficult question to answer. Right now I could tell you everything that happened from the night of the break-in at Democratic Headquarters on June 17, 1972 (two days after I graduated from college), to the resignation of Richard Nixon… Read More

One morning my parents sat me down and told me that Jocelyn had passed away… that was when I started being serious about playing the piano. Read More

Long before Mr. Rogers, there was Ding Dong School. Read More

My older brother and I were Disney nuts. We loved all things Disney. I skipped piano practice so I could watch the afternoon TV show as a kid. My first movie, as a four year old was Fantasia, some lovely stuff there, but some pretty scary stuff too. I don’t remember my reaction, but I’m sure… Read More

I fear I’m talking about what we find on television to pass the time as we head into our ninth month of the pandemic. Read More

There's always the Google machine. Read More

"The Cops are coming, the cops are coming" - what were the conditions in the late 60's that inspired the take over and occupation of Harvard University's administration building? Read More

"As soon as your brother passes," Cathy said, "you call me up, and I’ll take good care of him." I’d noticed that the hospice people also talked in a matter-of-fact way about his death. “When he passes, you’ll have to do x and y,” they’d say, as if he were going on a two-week vacation. It was strangely comforting, as if this were the natural next step and not something to be dreaded. Read More

Brubeck Over the years I’ve seen many memorable performances, early on as a teenager hearing Ella Fitzgerald at the Danbury Fair  (See The Camper-Waitress Goes to the Fair) ; and since dramas and musicals on Broadway, Off Broadway,  and at regional theater (See On the Aisle);  and wonderful  performances at cabarets, concert halls, and stadiums  –… Read More