Happy Birthday Fred MacMurray - 110 years old in heaven today!

Today is Fred MacMurray's 100th birthday, which he celebrates in heaven.  He was born on August 30, 1908 - and before acting, made his way in the world as sax player!

With the exception of "Double Indemnity," my favorite MacMurray films are his comedies from the 1930s and 1940s.  My least favorite MacMurray film is "The Apartment" - tough to like the guy when he plays a creep. 

Here is a nice obituary from "People" magazine (which covers a good chunk of his years on "My Three Sons").

Hopefully I'll get to watch a MacMurray film tonight :D

Happy Birthday Fred!

jack kerouac 90 years old in heaven today!

jack kerouac was born 90 years ago today, in lowell, massachusetts, on march 12, 1922.  i posted on the occasion of his 89th birthday, last year (can a year have flown by that quickly?).  this year, however, some really big news is worth reporting - his classic autobiographical novel, "on the road" has finally been filmed!  at some point this year "on the road" will reach the big screen and we'll have the opportunity to see it.

in the meantime, here is the official trailer:



the film is directed by walter salles, who also directed "the motorcycle diaries," another fantastic road epic!

happy birthday, in heaven, jack!

happy birthday charles dickens: 200 years old in heaven today :D

today is the 200th anniversary of charles dicken's birth on february 7, 1812. i've read a lot of dickens over the years, and my favorite is still is "oliver twist" - which i and legions of students first read in high school english classes. this may have more to do with the film, "oliver!," which i forever associate with the novel.

while "oliver twist" is the clearly the sentimental favorite, as a trusts and estates lawyer, "bleak house" is more up my alley :D

the morgan library is holding a special dickens exhibition to celebrate his 200th birthday - which includes the original exhibition to "a christmas carol." if you're a fan of dickens, don't pass it up!

happy birthday henry miller - 120 years old in heaven today!

henry miller was born december 26, 1891, and died at the ripe old age of 88 years old on june 7, 1980.  it's hard to believe more than 30 years have passed since his death - the same month i graduated from high school.  at that time i doubt i had any inkling who miller was - it would be another year or so before i would read tropic of cancer and eventually become a huge fan of the man and the incredible scope of his literary output.  i like to think of him as a proto-beat - someone who would come to influence kerouac's spontaneous prose.

aside from the controversy over his lifestyle and the more pointed criticism that his work was merely obscene and pornographic (at best), the litigation surrounding publication of tropic of cancer here in the united states in the early 1960's was part of series of landmark decisions expanding the breath and scope of constitutionally protected speech.  it's hard to believe a brooklyn boy (proud denizen of the 14th ward - a/k/a williamsburg - during his formative years) could have such a profound impact on both literature and law.

during college i ran into a number of lit majors who were viscerally repulsed by miller - his work and the then (and perhaps still) current trope that he was a blatant misogynist.  it wasn't until years later (the 90's) that i read the first, of numerous, miller biographies.  he covered a lot of ground in those 88 years - and certainly collected his share of faults along the way.  but, going back to the final lines of tropic of cancer, from practically the outset of his literary career, miller offers something of an preemptive apologia:

"human beings make a strange fauna and flora.  from a distance they appear negligible; close up they are apt to appear ugly and malicious.  more than anything they need to be surrounded with sufficient space - space even more than time."

happy 120th birthday henrey miller :D

happy birthday bob dylan - 70 years old today!

bob dylan is 7o years old today, may 24, 2011 - and for 50+ years of that life, he has been making some incredible music. and dylan is still going strong, putting out albums and continuing to tour the world. not only is dylan touring these days, but his artwork now does it's own touring! and dylan himself shows no signs of slowing down - kicking off a european tour next month.

in one word dylan is iconic. and, to slip in a second word, he is still relevant today. just last month, as an example of how ubiquitous his impact is - fordham law school held a two day conference on dylan and the law! check out this interesting factoid: "According to the National Law Journal, a 2006 study determined that Bob Dylan is the musician most cited in appellate court opinions." as a lawyer, i find that tidbit nothing short of remarkable.

ironically, my all-time favorite dylan song is "joey" - a mid-70's release that dramatized (fictionalized) the life of mobster joey gallo. dylan rarely plays it in concert, but a fantastic live version of the song is on "dylan and the dead," released a decade after he originally recorded it.

another of my favorite dylan connections is his relationship with the beat generation. and that with allen ginsberg, to be specific. here is a poem ginsberg wrote about dylan's work, appropriately titled, "on reading dylan's writings," that he penned in london, during the summer of 1973.

Now that it's dust and ashes
now that it's human skin
Here's to you Bob Dylan
a poem for the laurels you win

Sincerest form of flattery
is imitation they say
I've broke my long line down
to write a song your way

Those "chains of flashing images" that came to you at night
were highest farm boy's day dreams
that glimpse the Angels light.

And tho the dross of wisdom's come
and left you lone on earth
remember when the Angels call
your soul for a new birth

It wasn't dope that gave you truth
nor money that you stole-- was God himself that entered in
shining your heavenly soul.

it was reprinted in rock sessions magazine, hamburg, germany, 1979.

happy birthday bob dylan!

a birthday dinner at malatesta trattoria :D

katie celebrated her birthday with a group of her friends at a great italian restaurant in the west village, malatesta trattoria. malatesta sometimes translates into "crazy" - which may or may not be appropriate :D

it was her second celebration of turning 16 - pat and i took her out to dinner at the cheesecake factory on her actual birthday. and katie has one more to go, on easter, when her family joins us in celebrating her :D

oh, and then start the dreaded driving lessons :O

happy sweet 16 katie :D

we just got back from the cheesecake factory - where we celebrated katie's birthday with some cheesecake. it's a big day for katie - her 16th birthday! all the talk around here has been about a learner's permit, driving lessons, and driving the car!

life is going to get a lot more stressful for me :D

happy birthday harry houdini - 137 years old in heaven today :D

harry houdini, then known as erik weisz (and later spelled ehrich weiss) was born on march 24, 1874, in budapest, hungry. he and his family emigrated to the united states 4 years later, and initially settled in appleton, wisconsin. in later years, for unknown reasons, houdini would claim that his birthday was april 6, 1874. he would also go on to claim that he was born in appleton, not budapest.

houdini, the easily the greatest showman of his day and age (magician, escape artist, movie star, writer, were just a sampling of his avocations), is more often remember for his death (at the age of 52) on halloween (october 31, 1926). annual seances are still held on halloween in an attempt to contact his spirit! his wife, bess, did so for the first 10 years after his death - and finally extinguished the candle, to use her terms, in 1936.

the better part of houdini's later years were spent debunking the spiritualist movement, and included a running feud with sir arthur conan doyle on whether there was an afterlife (and, if so, could we make contact with the spirits). he exposed fraudulent mediums at every opportunity - and even testified before congress on the need to protect the public from their predatory activities.

today houdini is best remembered as an escape artist and, to a lessor extent, magician. even so, he is still a household word 85 years after his death!

happy birthday harry houdini

happy birthday jack kerouac - 89 years old in heaven today :D

jack kerouac was born on march 12, 1922, and died from the ravages of alcoholism in october, 1969, at the tragically young age of 47. today he celebrates his 89th birthday in heaven. as a founder of the beat generation, his dramatic impact on american culture can't be understated. decades after his glory days, beat culture is still alive and well. kerouac's work is as relevant today as it was in when it burst into the staid literary world of the 1950s!

i was, and still am, a huge fan of jack kerouac. he came to a sad and lonely end as the 1950s gave way to the 60s generation. kerouac couldn't (or wouldn't) adapt to the changing world - finding solace in greater and greater quantities of alcohol. the kerouac of 1969 was a far cry from the kerouac of 1959 - even the just published kerouac of 1949! but regardless of his last years, kerouac left behind a huge trove of material from his prolific years.

so today take some time to remember jack kerouac today.

happy birthday, in heaven, jack!

happy birthday neal cassady - 85 years old in heaven today!

neal cassady, the "dean moriarty" of jack kerouac's "on the road" and "secret hero" of allen ginsberg's "howl" is 85 years old in heaven today. cassady was born on february 8, 1926, and died tragically in mexico on february 4, 1968, at the way too young age of 41. during the 40's and 50's, cassady - through his close relationships with kerouac and ginsberg - was an integral part of the nascent beat generation.

by the end of the decade, cassady was a quasi-tragic figure as he found himself in san quentin for marijuana possession. then, in the early 60's he befriended ken kesey and morphed into one of his merry pranksters. cassady become the official driver of the intrepid psychedelic bus "further" - as he criss-crossed the country with a new generation of hipsters.

aside from his unfinished biography, published posthumously as "the first third," and his collected correspondence, cassady wrote no prose or poetry. in that regard he wasn't technically beat generation author in the classic sense. but cassady letters to kerouac in the late 1940's were the inspiration behind kerouac's break from the tom wolfe style his prose then aped to kerouac's more famous "spontaneous" prosody of the 1950's.

one of cassady's more infamous letters - known as the "joan anderson letter" (of which only a significant fragment survives) - was made into a movie, "the last time i committed suicide." put it on your netflix queue and check it out!

happy birthday, neal cassady, in heaven!

ronald reagan 100 years old in heaven today!

president ronald reagan celebrates his centennial in heaven today. he was born february 6, 2011, and died june 5, 2004, at the age of 93. although i wasn't a fan when he was elected president, by the end of his second term i was one of his admirers. today he's easily my second favorite president, narrowly behind teddy roosevelt.

in honor of his 100th birthday, i'm currently reading "reagan: the hollywood years," by mac eliot. i've read plenty of reagan biographies over the years (including one that focused entirely on his "early" years) - but this is the first book devoted exclusively to his career as an actor and president of the screen actors guild.

happy birthday, in heaven, president reagan!

happy birthday tom petty - 60 years old today!

it's hard to believe tom petty is 60 years old today! tom petty and the heartbreakers was staple of my high school music scene in the 1970's - and he's been going strong ever since. since his "live anthology" was released a in 2009, petty tunes have made a major return to my ipod play list. the 4 cd collection of his live performances quickly became on of my all time favorite petty releases. this year petty followed up the live anthology with "mojo," an album of new music that showed his talent is in no way fading with the years.

two years ago i caught peter bogdanovich's 2007 documentary on petty's career, "runnin down a dream," which is a must watch for any petty fan. it's a fascinating look at the many sides of his music - and life. come to think of it, i'm going to add it to my netflix queue - and listen to his live anthology on my ipod today!

happy birthday tom petty!!

hermann hesse was born 133 years ago today!

german author (and nobel prize winner) hermann hesse was born 133 years ago today, on july 2, 1877. he died almost 50 years ago, on august 9, 1962, in switzerland. while hesse may no longer be a household name these days, i was (and still am) a huge fan of his work. "steppenwolf," "siddhartha," and "demian" are on my list of all time favorite novels. back in my college days i also read "narccissus and goldmund" and "the glass bead game."

hesse (who was also a poet and essayist) is hard to classify. a good short-hand brief would be to say that his work focused on the individual's search for meaning (both spiritual and self-actualization). hesse was a proponent of eastern thought decades before it reached our western consciousness. i consider him a must-read author.

here is one of my favorite hesse quotes:

"without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity."

happy birthday tom jones - 70 years old today!

tom jones, born june 7, 1940, celebrates his 70th birthday today, it may seem a bit unusual, but i've been a huge fan of tom jones for years! his songs have populated my ipod playlists for years - "delilah" (my all time favorite jones song), "what's new pussycat," "it's not unusual," and "she's a lady" to name some hits. "delilah" also contains some of the most gruesome imagery of any pop song i've every heard!

in a fun fact, jones purchased dean martin's bel air mansion in 1974 and has occupied it ever since (although after 35 years, he announced plans to leave los angeles and return to the united kingdom)!

happy birthday, tom jones!

happy birthday allen ginsberg - 84 years old in heaven today!

allen ginsberg was born june 3, 1926, and would have been 84 years old today. he died in 1997 at the age of 70 - and was already a legend in his time. ginsberg, together with jack kerouac and william burroughs, was a founding member of the beat generation. his landmark epic, "howl" redefined the boundaries of poetic expression - and became part of the landmark battle against literary censorship in the 1950's.

but ginsberg was much more than a poet, he was an agent provocateur for all things artistic (and beyond). during the course of his life he traveled, wrote prose, kept diaries, photographed, set his poems to music, performed those poems/songs, and helped out countless artists over all those years to pursue their works.

ginsberg is one of my favorite poets. my favorite image of him is from a performance to celebrate walt whitman in brooklyn heights during the early 1990's. i've been a fan of allen ginsberg for decades. spend some time reading ginsberg today!

happy birthday allen (in heaven, or the void - your choice)!!

happy birthday rachel carson - 103 in heaven today

rachel carson, a marine biologist by profession, was born on may 27, 1907 and died in 1964, at the young age of 56. but carson had already made her mark with the publication of her call to arms, "silent spring," two years earlier, in 1962. carson, at that time, was a well-established writer on natural history (her first major book, "the sea around us," had been published a decade earlier). "silent spring," however, made her into an environmental activist!

the books publication set off a storm of controversy in the united states over the use of pesticides. carson didn't advocate for a ban on all pesticides, only the most virulent forms. the upshot, almost a decade after its publication and in the wake of all the activism that ensued, was the ban on the use of ddt as a pesticide.

i've been a fan of rachel carson for years. from scientist to conservationist, to environmental activist pioneer, she was a legendary woman. happy birthday rachel carson!

happy birthday jim fixx!

for runners like me, of certain age that is, jim fixx is a household name - as are the memories of his ubiquitous classic, "the complete book of running," during the late 1970's. jim fixx was born on april 23, 1932, and died suddenly on july 20, 1984 - at the tragically young age of 52. fixx died of a heart attack just after he finished his daily run. it's hard to understate the impact his 1977 book had on creating the first modern running boom. and, ironically, his death was seized upon by opponents (of running) as proof that running was an inherently dangerous activity.

in the 25+ years since the death of jim fixx - and the 30+ years since publication of "the complete book of running" - the running movement itself has become ubiquitous. its growth was due in in no small part because of the millions of people who read his book (and the 1980 follow-up: "jim fixx's second book of running"), and took up running.

on a personal note, during the summer of 2000, i reread both of his books and they helped kicked off my return to running. from the low mileage and just two races i ran that year, i'm now about to celebrate 10 years of running and racing (from track to ultras - and everything in between). i've run the jim fixx 5 miler in greenwich a few times too - and so glad that his memory is kept alive!



happy birthday, in heaven, jim fixx!

happy birthday peter frampton - 60 years old today!

Peter Frampton was born 60 years ago today, on April 22, 1950. In the late 1960's he was a co-founder of Humble Pie. But it was almost a decade later, as a solo artist in the mid-1970's, when he released "Frampton Comes Alive" that Frampton became a household word in the world of rock music. Even now, "Frampton Comes Alive" is one of the largest selling live albums of all time (in its day, it was the largest selling).

That album was huge in my high school days. Almost everyone I knew (me included) had the album cover up on a wall as decoration! Now, 30+ years removed, I’m listening to "Frampton Comes Alive II" on my computer as I post this blog entry! Frampton released that one in 1995, and covered most of his 1980's material on it. He even finds room for the voice box effect (made infamous on "Do You Feel Like We Do," on "Can’t Take That Away."

Today, we’re less than a week away from Frampton’s newest release. "Thank You Mr. Churchill" is due out on Tuesday. It’s his follow-up to the 2006 Grammy winning instrumental album, "Fingerprints." The new one not only returns the vocals, but includes a guest appearance with his son Julian on one tracks, "Return to the Sun." It looks like good things are happening for Mr. Frampton :D

Happy Birthday!

happy birthday pat!

today is pat's birthday - woo hoo!!

i won't give away pat's age today, but will say that she's definitely younger than i am :D pat's birthday follows on the heels of katie's - and is the second of the two april birthdays in our household.

i can predict, with almost certainty, that tonight's menu will include lamb chops - her favorite. followed by a chocolate cake :D

happy birthday charlie chaplin!

charlie chaplin, born on april 16, 1889, is 121 years old in heaven today! chaplin died in switzerland in 1977 - he was 88 years old and the world's greatest comic genius. but comedy and film making aside, chaplin was an incredibly controversial political figure here in the united states- at least during the very cold war years of the late 40's and 50's.

his leftist politics were so anathema to the u.s. government that he was denied reentry to the united states in 1952 - after traveling to england for the premier of limelight. in 1953 chaplin vowed that he would never return to the united states! a vow that lasted until 1972, when he briefly returned the state to collect a special oscar at the academy awards. his appearance set a record for the longest standing ovation ever given a performer (5 minutes) in the academy's history!

three years later, in 1975, he was finally knighted by the queen. chaplin was first proposed for knighthood in 1931 - and again in 1956. but the british foreign office vetoed the proposal because of his communist sympathies and (im)moral behavior (his pair of marriage to 16 year old girls). sir charlie chaplin had by then become a living legend - and father of 8 children with his wife oona (the daughter of playwright eugene o'neill).

politics (and morals) aside, chapin was a great performer. his immortal character, the little tramp, has become a worldwide cultural icon. his comedies aren't just classics, but great films - in and of themselves! i'm huge fan of his work. over the years i've read many a chaplin biography. most recently, last year i read stephen weissman's "chaplin: a life" - an interesting psychological take on the impact of chaplin's impoverished childhood on his films.

last, but not least, despite loving his classic tramp comedies... my all time favorite chaplin film is undoubtedly the dark comedy, "monsieur verdoux" - narrowly edging out "the gold rush" for that honor :D

happy birthday in heaven sir charlie chaplin!