What's better than finding a book you really like, by an author you haven't read previously, and then discovering that there are six, or eight or ten other books by the same author, perhaps even a series featuring the characters you just enjoyed so much?
I know that from a literary standpoint authors of series are sometimes regarded as lightweights. I guess there is a case to be made that it is more creative to start each new novel from scratch, creating entirely new characters and placing them in an original setting. Certainly, many of the authors widely regarded as literary have worked this way -- from Dickens, Twain and Dostoyevsky to Faulkner, Steinbeck and Hemingway to the likes of John Updike and Joyce Carol Oates. On the other hand, a very strong character or creative literary setting can justify repeated visits. Who would wish that Arthur Conan Doyle had cut short the career of Sherlock Holmes after only one or two cases? Or that L. Frank Baum hadn't given us many opportunities to visit Oz?
For me, the questions that matter are: Do I enjoy reading the book(s)? Is the writing clear and engaging, not stilted or loaded with cliches? Are the characters fully drawn and believable? Are the stories well-crafted and paced, and do they manage to walk that fine line between predictability and implausibility?
When I find a series of books that meet these criteria, I am delighted - all the more so if the author is still actively expanding the series with new titles. It gives me something to look forward to every year or so.
What follows is a list of a few of my favorite authors and the series of their books that I have enjoyed. Because my tastes tend to run that way, the focus is on the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror and crime fiction. For now, I will just briefly describe the work of each author. At some future time, I may revisit some of them for a more detailed discussion.
Isaac Asimov - The Foundation and Robot series
I joined the Science Fiction Book Club when I was about 12 years old. The introductory package consisted of five selections for a dime (plus shipping). This was back in the mid-1960s. I think they even had you tape your dime to the subscription card when you filled it out and mailed in your selections.
Among the titles that were offered, there were a number that had notations such as "Three Books - Counts as One Selection!" Being greedy, I thought that these selections were too good too pass up. After all, I wanted to get maximum mileage for my dime.
Thus, one of the first titles I got from the SFBC was The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov. When the books arrived in the mail, I was a little miffed to find that, in this case, the three books that counted as one selection were also bound in one cover (in a special SFBC edition). However, they really were three separate, albeit it fairly short novels - Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation.
In subsequent years, I learned that Asimov was one of the most respected science fiction authors and read many of his other stories and novels. He was also an excellent science writer, popularizing new discoveries in biology, chemistry, physics and astronomy in essays intended for the general public. For more than 30 years, he authored a monthly column on science fact that appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, never missing his deadline until a few months before he died in 1992, when his terminal illness finally prevented him from working.
Asimov was one of the most prolific authors in history with more than 500 books that he either wrote or edited. His books are represented in 9 of the 10 major categories of the Dewey Decimal System, the only exception being the 100s -- books on philosophy and psychology. Actually, I find this omission surprising, because as a fiction writer, his stories often dealt with psychological themes. Along with Robert Heinlein, Asimov was one of the earliest authors of what was termed "social science fiction," in which the focus turned from rocketry and gadgets to the impact of technology on future civilizations.
The Foundation Trilogy is the keystone of Asimov's "future history," his imagined galaxy-wide future human civilization. In it Asimov created a character named Hari Seldon whose research in psychohistory revealed that the galactic empire was on the verge of collapse, and that a long dark ages would ensue. The Foundation was Seldon's attempt to preserve as much of the pre-collapse culture as possible in order to shorten the dark times. The trilogy is essentially the story of how accurate Seldon's predictions were and how effective his Foundation was in fulfilling its objectives. Along with Frank Herbert's Dune and Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, The Foundation Trilogy is considered one of the most famous works in the science fiction genre.
Asimov's other series consisted of a collection of short stories and novelettes he wrote over a number of years about robots. These stories were collected and published in two anthologies - I, Robot and The Rest of the Robots. One of the most famous artifacts of Asimov's robot series is his Three Laws of Robotics, a code that he came up with to prevent a Terminator-like outcome as robots became more and more capable of competing with and even outperforming humans. As I recall, the three laws went something like this: (1) A robot may not cause or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm; (2) A robot must obey orders given it by a human being, except where in conflict with the First Law; and (3) A robot must protect its own existence except where in conflict with the First or Second Law. In many of the robot stories Asimov came up with scenarios where these laws were severly tested.
In the last decade or so of his life, Asimov revisited his Foundation series, adding a number of prequels and sequels to the original trilogy. In the end, he even tied his robots into the same milieu as the Foundation stories with the novels The Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire.
In summary, here is an unofficial list of titles that make up Asimov's future history:
Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation
I, Robot (anthology)
The Rest of the Robots (anthology)
The Robots of Dawn
Robots and Empire
Foundation's Edge
Foundation and Earth
Prelude to Foundation
Forward the Foundation
With the approval of Asimov's estate, other science fiction writers, including Gregory Benford, Greg Bear and David Brin, have further expanded Asimov's future history with additional titles.
That's all for today. Next up: Marion Zimmer Bradley and Ursula K. Le Guin.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year
It's been a long time, now I'm coming back home...
As in 2007, I failed to make a very good go of this blogging thing during 2008. I made a better start of it, but in my too characteristic fashion, I failed to maintain the effort for very long. One of my problems is that I get too hung up with grandiose notions of what I want to say or do with the blog, and when I can't carry those plans out to my satisfaction, I give up in frustration.
My resolutions for 2009 are to try to make entries at least three times a week and to not worry too much about the content or any grand schemes. Over time, I will get to the things I want to share my opinions about, and if I want to get better at blogging, the most important thing is to just do it!
Good Riddance to 2008
What a year, eh? Thank whatever powers there be that it is over.
The most positive note is that America did the right thing and elected the most hopeful and inspiring candidate to serve as our 44th President. And our first African-American President, at that. (Our first minority President, as far as that goes.)
Along the way, of course, plenty of Americans got to show how little progress we have made in eliminating bigotry and ignorance. We live in an information-rich age, with news, opinions and research available 24 hours a day at the touch of a button, but many people still cling to their narrow interpretations, refusing to join the rest of us in the world of fact-based reality.
Our own head lame brain, I mean lame duck, good old G.W., has spent most of the last eight years living in his own bubble, in which all sorts of things are true, despite the heavy weight of evidence to the contrary. Saddam Hussein had, or was about to deploy weapons of mass destruction... He was also behind the terrorist attacks of 09/11/2001... The jury is still out on global warming... Brownie did a heck of a job managing FEMA... and so on.
The 2008 elections highlighted how easily fear and prejudice can surface among the electorate, especially during tough economic times. Lunatics showed up at McCain and Palin rallies to chant racial epithets and assassination threats against Obama. Even worse were the campaign pols, who know better, but who tried to manipulate the public by spreading outright lies about Obama and other candidates. Fortunately, this time, these "swift boating" strategies fell short.
Besides the election, the big, bad news of 2008 was the economy. Politicians were shocked! to discover that greedy men left to their own devices (i.e., free market capitalism at its best) would take a blow torch to the public interest, if that's what it took, to amass as much personal wealth as possible. This seems to be a lesson that needs to be relearned every generation or so, from the robber barons of the early industrial age to war profiteers to Michael Milken and the junk bond purveyers of the '80s (remember Michael Douglas in "Wall Street?") to today's mess.
For all its faults, 2008 can hardly be described as the worst year ever in American history. A column by Rich Lowry made this point in the newspaper the other day. Among the other years he suggests were worse are 1862, 1938 and 1968. As Lowry points out, almost any year during the American Civil War was among the worst in our history. Things looked particularly bad for the republic in 1862, with Lee driving Union forces out of Fredericksburg, Virginia and practically to the doorstep of the White House and France on the verge of formally recognizing the Confederacy. In 1938, unemployment reached 19%, despite five years of FDR's New Deal programs. Even the most pessimistic don't expect it to take nearly as long to recover from our current economic woes. And in 1968, we experienced an even more tumultuous political season than last year. It was a year marked by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. in May and Bobby Kennedy in July. There was rioting, looting and burning in cities across the country. The Democratic National Convention held in Chicago became a battleground of the generation gap and cultural revolution. In the end, we elected Richard Nixon, who despite some significant accomplishments, was a deeply flawed President.
We came through those and other bad years and ultimately prospered again. So keep that chin up and carry on. Our best days are still ahead of us. Happy New Year!
As in 2007, I failed to make a very good go of this blogging thing during 2008. I made a better start of it, but in my too characteristic fashion, I failed to maintain the effort for very long. One of my problems is that I get too hung up with grandiose notions of what I want to say or do with the blog, and when I can't carry those plans out to my satisfaction, I give up in frustration.
My resolutions for 2009 are to try to make entries at least three times a week and to not worry too much about the content or any grand schemes. Over time, I will get to the things I want to share my opinions about, and if I want to get better at blogging, the most important thing is to just do it!
Good Riddance to 2008
What a year, eh? Thank whatever powers there be that it is over.
The most positive note is that America did the right thing and elected the most hopeful and inspiring candidate to serve as our 44th President. And our first African-American President, at that. (Our first minority President, as far as that goes.)
Along the way, of course, plenty of Americans got to show how little progress we have made in eliminating bigotry and ignorance. We live in an information-rich age, with news, opinions and research available 24 hours a day at the touch of a button, but many people still cling to their narrow interpretations, refusing to join the rest of us in the world of fact-based reality.
Our own head lame brain, I mean lame duck, good old G.W., has spent most of the last eight years living in his own bubble, in which all sorts of things are true, despite the heavy weight of evidence to the contrary. Saddam Hussein had, or was about to deploy weapons of mass destruction... He was also behind the terrorist attacks of 09/11/2001... The jury is still out on global warming... Brownie did a heck of a job managing FEMA... and so on.
The 2008 elections highlighted how easily fear and prejudice can surface among the electorate, especially during tough economic times. Lunatics showed up at McCain and Palin rallies to chant racial epithets and assassination threats against Obama. Even worse were the campaign pols, who know better, but who tried to manipulate the public by spreading outright lies about Obama and other candidates. Fortunately, this time, these "swift boating" strategies fell short.
Besides the election, the big, bad news of 2008 was the economy. Politicians were shocked! to discover that greedy men left to their own devices (i.e., free market capitalism at its best) would take a blow torch to the public interest, if that's what it took, to amass as much personal wealth as possible. This seems to be a lesson that needs to be relearned every generation or so, from the robber barons of the early industrial age to war profiteers to Michael Milken and the junk bond purveyers of the '80s (remember Michael Douglas in "Wall Street?") to today's mess.
For all its faults, 2008 can hardly be described as the worst year ever in American history. A column by Rich Lowry made this point in the newspaper the other day. Among the other years he suggests were worse are 1862, 1938 and 1968. As Lowry points out, almost any year during the American Civil War was among the worst in our history. Things looked particularly bad for the republic in 1862, with Lee driving Union forces out of Fredericksburg, Virginia and practically to the doorstep of the White House and France on the verge of formally recognizing the Confederacy. In 1938, unemployment reached 19%, despite five years of FDR's New Deal programs. Even the most pessimistic don't expect it to take nearly as long to recover from our current economic woes. And in 1968, we experienced an even more tumultuous political season than last year. It was a year marked by the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. in May and Bobby Kennedy in July. There was rioting, looting and burning in cities across the country. The Democratic National Convention held in Chicago became a battleground of the generation gap and cultural revolution. In the end, we elected Richard Nixon, who despite some significant accomplishments, was a deeply flawed President.
We came through those and other bad years and ultimately prospered again. So keep that chin up and carry on. Our best days are still ahead of us. Happy New Year!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
A Lazy, Hot, Summer Holiday Weekend
We finally got a break in the heat this afternoon. It's raining outside now, and the front that moved in brought the temperature down into the 70ºs for the first time in several days. I had just enough time after the men's finals at Wimbledon ended (at last) to run out and mow the grass in the front yard before the storm hit. (More about Wimbledon below.)
Sue and I have had a nice, quiet 4th of July weekend. TJ, Amy and Amanda are down at Lake Powell with some of Amy's family. Stephanie is still down in Texas, finishing up her Teach for America training in Houston. Along with a group of about 20 corps members, she spent most of the weekend down at the beach near Galveston. She called Friday morning, a little bit homesick, because she noticed that Wimbledon tennis was on TV, and she was wondering if we were watching it. (We were.)
Stephanie will finish her training this week. After that, she is going to drive to San Antonio to visit her grandmother (Sue's mom) for two or three days. Next Monday, she will fly up to Salt Lake to spend a week with us before she heads to St. Louis to start her stint with Teach for America. It's good timing, because I got four lawn passes for the Elvis Costello/Police concert at Usana Amphitheater on July 19. Stephanie, TJ, Amy and I will go while Sue babysits Amanda. (She would have been a good sport and gone along, if Stephanie weren't here, but Elvis Costello and the Police aren't really Sue's kind of music (think Neil Diamond), and she wasn't looking forward to several hours sitting on the ground.)
We took it easy pretty much all weekend. With temperatures over 100º, neither of us felt motivated to try anything ambitious. We worked on the sprinkler system for a while yesterday, and did a little other yardwork. Sue pruned her roses. A couple of weeks ago, they all looked spectacular, with dozens of blossoms. In a couple weeks, they should go through another blooming cycle. We barbecued both Friday and Saturday evening – some pork shoulder strips on Friday and beef spare ribs last night.
Wimbledon
Both Wimbledon finals were worth watching. Yesterday, Venus and Serena Williams squared off for the women's title, and even though Venus won in straight sets, it was a good, hard-fought match. Today, the men's final featured Roger Federer, attempting to win an unprecedented (in the open era) sixth straight men's singles title, and Rafael Nadal, the four-time French Open champion, facing Federer in the Wimbledon finals for the third straight year.
Early in the match, Federer seemed somewhat tense, and was not playing as loosely and confidently as usual. As a result, Nadal jumped out to an early lead, winning the first two sets, 6-4, 6-4. Partway through the third set, play was interrupted when rain moved in. When play resumed, Federer seemed to have collected himself, and he won the third set in a tie-breaker.
The fourth set was close throughout. Nadal had some chances to end the match early. In one game late in the set, he had Federer down 15-40 in a service game, but Roger managed to hold serve. They went on to a 6-6 tie and another tie-breaker. Nadal opened up a 5-2 lead in the tie-breaker, and had two serves to try to win the match. Instead, Federer won four straight points to take a 6-5 lead, and went on to win the tie-breaker and even the match at two sets each.
Despite a few break opportunities, Federer and Nadal stayed on serve throughout the fifth set. There was another rain delay with the set tied 2-2 and Federer serving at deuce. By the time they returned after this second interruption, it was about 8:30 pm in London, and time was short if we were going to crown a winner today. Federer held service to take a 3-2 lead, then Nadal evened the set 3-3, and so on. Nadal survived one break point in the eighth game of the set, and Federer faced a double-break opportunity for Nadal in the 11th game, yet held serve. They got to 6-6, but this time there would be no tie-breaker. In a deciding fifth set for the Wimbledon title, the players must continue until one or the other has a two-game advantage.
After failing to capitalize on a 15-40 lead at 5-5, Nadal sees another opportunity slip away when Federer hangs on to take a 7-6 lead, despite losing the first two points and trailing 0-30. In the 15th game of the set, Federer again falls behind 0-30. He gets to 15-30, but then Nadal hits a winner off his backhand to give him another double-break chance. Federer gets an ace and wins another point to even the game at deuce. Nadal wins the next point, and Federer faces another break point, which he again erases with an ace. Nadal wins the next point to get the advantage, and this time he ends the game, taking an 8-7 lead and a chance to serve for the title.
The final game is as hard-fought as the rest of the match. Nadal gets to 40-30 to earn his third championship point (the first two came late in the fourth set), but the ever resilient Federer again denies him with a blistering return of what looked like a very good serve. At deuce, Nadal answers with an ace to get back to championship point. This time, Federer's forehand finds the net, and the match is finally over.
To his great credit, Federer was gracious in defeat, saying that he tried everything, but that Nadal, who he called a deserving champion, just had too much. Nadal was giddy and filled with disbelief that the Wimbledon crown was finally his. After climbing into the stands to hug his family and the Prince and Princess of Spain, who were watching from the Royal Box, Nadal posed for several minutes, playfully biting one of the handles on the championship cup in what has become his signature gesture. Cameras followed him a few minutes later as he paused to sign autographs for fans as he departed the All-England Tennis Club.
In post-match interviews with both players, John McEnroe said this was the greatest tennis match he had ever witnessed. That's saying something, coming from a man who participated in historic battles at Wimbledon and at the U.S Open against players such as Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ilie Nastase, to say nothing of the many matches he has since seen as a television commentator.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
iPod Madness
Over the last few days, I've come up with a few new playlists for my iPod and my iTunes library on my PC. It had been a while since I had created any lists. Lately, I've mostly been listening to music by artist or by album, but I felt like it was time to add a little variety.
For my first list, I wanted to select good solid quality tracks, but not limit my choices by too many rules. I didn't include any classical, of course, but a few show tunes crept in (e.g., Patty Lupone singing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from Evita) and some jazz, too (Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis). I did stop myself after ten Beatles tracks made the cut, and decided no other artist would get nearly that many.
I had titled this playlist "A Few Favorites." After I finished going through my music library and making selections, I checked to see how many I had picked. It turns out that my few favorites number 595 tracks. Well, I wanted variety.
For my next effort, I decided that NO ONE, not even the Beatles, would get multiple tracks. Also, I decided that for the purposes of this list only music that fit the pop music genres (including rock, folk, R&B, blues and the like) would be considered. Show music and jazz, as well as anything classical, will be dealt with in future lists.
I called the new list "Best of the Best," and when I was finished it included a still too high 191 tracks.
Finally, this evening, I decided to pare the "Best of the Best" down to an even 100, all by different artists, which I naturally call the "Top 100." This is not to say that I am characterizing my list as the greatest 100 rock/pop songs ever or anything. I wouldn't even say I necessarily picked the best song from each artist. It's just the 100 songs by the 100 artists that most appealed to me when I was going through what was available on my iPod.
Without further ado, here is the "Top 100" playlist that I will be listening to from time to time on my iPod (alphabetically by artist):
Melissa (The Allman Brothers Band)
The Weight (The Band)
Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys)
A Day In The Life (The Beatles)
(Don't Fear) The Reaper (Blue Öyster Cult)
Changes (David Bowie)
Fountain Of Sorrow (Jackson Browne)
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley)
My Back Pages (The Byrds)
Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash)
Taxi (Harry Chapin)
Georgia On My Mind (Ray Charles)
With a Little Help from My Friends (Joe Cocker)
Viva la Vida (Coldplay)
Farewell To Tarwathie (Judy Collins)
School's Out (Alice Cooper)
Veronica (Elvis Costello)
Ode to My Family (The Cranberries)
Badge (Cream)
Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels) (Jim Croce)
Helpless (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
Gimme Some Lovin' (The Spencer Davis Group)
Layla (Derek & The Dominos)
Listen To The Music (The Doobie Brothers)
Light My Fire (The Doors)
Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)
Hotel California (The Eagles)
Telephone Line (Electric Light Orchestra)
O-o-h Child (The Five Stairsteps)
The Chain (Fleetwood Mac)
Baby, I Love Your Way (Peter Frampton)
What's Going On? (Marvin Gaye)
Radar Love (Golden Earring)
Friend Of The Devil (Grateful Dead)
American Woman (The Guess Who)
All Along the Watchtower (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
The End Of The Innocence (Don Henley)
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (The Hollies)
Mony Mony (Tommy James & The Shondells)
Funk #49 (James Gang)
Somebody To Love (Jefferson Airplane)
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant (Billy Joel)
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Elton John)
Me & Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin)
Dust In The Wind (Kansas)
Stand By Me (Ben E. King & The Drifters)
Jazzman (Carole King)
Greenback Dollar (Kingston Trio)
A Well Respected Man (The Kinks)
Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
Imagine (John Lennon)
Canadian Railroad Trilogy (Gordon Lightfoot)
Danny's Song (Loggins & Messina)
Darling Be Home Soon (The Lovin' Spoonful)
Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Monday, Monday (The Mamas & The Papas)
No Woman No Cry (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell)
Question (The Moody Blues)
Caravan (Van Morrison)
All The Young Dudes (Mott The Hoople)
Love Hurts (Nazareth)
Still The One (Orleans)
Simply Irresistable (Robert Palmer)
The Last Thing On My Mind (Tom Paxton)
Rolling Home (Peter, Paul & Mary)
Don't Do Me Like That (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd)
Every Breath You Take (The Police)
A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum)
Amie (Pure Prairie League)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
Right Down The Line (Gerry Rafferty)
(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding)
Can't Fight This Feeling (REO Speedwagon)
Sympathy for the Devil (Rolling Stones)
When Will I Be Loved (Linda Ronstadt)
Oye Como Va (Santana)
The Girl You Think You See (Carly Simon)
The Boxer (Paul Simon)
Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)
Streets Of Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen)
Born to Be Wild (Steppenwolf)
Wild World (Cat Stevens)
July, You're A Woman (John Stewart)
Reason To Believe (Rod Stewart)
Sweet Baby James (James Taylor)
The Things We Do For Love (10cc)
Hold On Loosely (.38 Special)
Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic)
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree (KT Tunstall)
Where The Streets Have No Name (U2)
Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh)
Baba O'Riley (The Who)
Frankenstein (Edgar Winter)
Overjoyed (Stevie Wonder)
Roundabout (Yes)
The Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young)
Hasten Down The Wind (Warren Zevon)
Tush (ZZ Top)
While I said that no artists have more than one track in this list, there are a few individuals who appear more than once. John Lennon is here as a solo artist as well as with the Beatles. Similarly, Don Henley, Paul Simon and Neil Young are all here as solo artists and as members of The Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel and CSNY, respectively. Eric Clapton is here in both Cream and Derek and the Dominoes, David Crosby in both The Byrds and CSNY, Graham Nash in both The Hollies and CSNY, and Steve Winwood in both The Spencer Davis Group and Traffic. The champion, with three appearances, is Joe Walsh, included as a solo artist, with the James Gang and with The Eagles.
For my first list, I wanted to select good solid quality tracks, but not limit my choices by too many rules. I didn't include any classical, of course, but a few show tunes crept in (e.g., Patty Lupone singing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from Evita) and some jazz, too (Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis). I did stop myself after ten Beatles tracks made the cut, and decided no other artist would get nearly that many.
I had titled this playlist "A Few Favorites." After I finished going through my music library and making selections, I checked to see how many I had picked. It turns out that my few favorites number 595 tracks. Well, I wanted variety.
For my next effort, I decided that NO ONE, not even the Beatles, would get multiple tracks. Also, I decided that for the purposes of this list only music that fit the pop music genres (including rock, folk, R&B, blues and the like) would be considered. Show music and jazz, as well as anything classical, will be dealt with in future lists.
I called the new list "Best of the Best," and when I was finished it included a still too high 191 tracks.
Finally, this evening, I decided to pare the "Best of the Best" down to an even 100, all by different artists, which I naturally call the "Top 100." This is not to say that I am characterizing my list as the greatest 100 rock/pop songs ever or anything. I wouldn't even say I necessarily picked the best song from each artist. It's just the 100 songs by the 100 artists that most appealed to me when I was going through what was available on my iPod.
Without further ado, here is the "Top 100" playlist that I will be listening to from time to time on my iPod (alphabetically by artist):
Melissa (The Allman Brothers Band)
The Weight (The Band)
Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys)
A Day In The Life (The Beatles)
(Don't Fear) The Reaper (Blue Öyster Cult)
Changes (David Bowie)
Fountain Of Sorrow (Jackson Browne)
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley)
My Back Pages (The Byrds)
Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash)
Taxi (Harry Chapin)
Georgia On My Mind (Ray Charles)
With a Little Help from My Friends (Joe Cocker)
Viva la Vida (Coldplay)
Farewell To Tarwathie (Judy Collins)
School's Out (Alice Cooper)
Veronica (Elvis Costello)
Ode to My Family (The Cranberries)
Badge (Cream)
Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels) (Jim Croce)
Helpless (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
Gimme Some Lovin' (The Spencer Davis Group)
Layla (Derek & The Dominos)
Listen To The Music (The Doobie Brothers)
Light My Fire (The Doors)
Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)
Hotel California (The Eagles)
Telephone Line (Electric Light Orchestra)
O-o-h Child (The Five Stairsteps)
The Chain (Fleetwood Mac)
Baby, I Love Your Way (Peter Frampton)
What's Going On? (Marvin Gaye)
Radar Love (Golden Earring)
Friend Of The Devil (Grateful Dead)
American Woman (The Guess Who)
All Along the Watchtower (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
The End Of The Innocence (Don Henley)
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (The Hollies)
Mony Mony (Tommy James & The Shondells)
Funk #49 (James Gang)
Somebody To Love (Jefferson Airplane)
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant (Billy Joel)
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Elton John)
Me & Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin)
Dust In The Wind (Kansas)
Stand By Me (Ben E. King & The Drifters)
Jazzman (Carole King)
Greenback Dollar (Kingston Trio)
A Well Respected Man (The Kinks)
Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
Imagine (John Lennon)
Canadian Railroad Trilogy (Gordon Lightfoot)
Danny's Song (Loggins & Messina)
Darling Be Home Soon (The Lovin' Spoonful)
Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Monday, Monday (The Mamas & The Papas)
No Woman No Cry (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell)
Question (The Moody Blues)
Caravan (Van Morrison)
All The Young Dudes (Mott The Hoople)
Love Hurts (Nazareth)
Still The One (Orleans)
Simply Irresistable (Robert Palmer)
The Last Thing On My Mind (Tom Paxton)
Rolling Home (Peter, Paul & Mary)
Don't Do Me Like That (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd)
Every Breath You Take (The Police)
A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum)
Amie (Pure Prairie League)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
Right Down The Line (Gerry Rafferty)
(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding)
Can't Fight This Feeling (REO Speedwagon)
Sympathy for the Devil (Rolling Stones)
When Will I Be Loved (Linda Ronstadt)
Oye Como Va (Santana)
The Girl You Think You See (Carly Simon)
The Boxer (Paul Simon)
Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)
Streets Of Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen)
Born to Be Wild (Steppenwolf)
Wild World (Cat Stevens)
July, You're A Woman (John Stewart)
Reason To Believe (Rod Stewart)
Sweet Baby James (James Taylor)
The Things We Do For Love (10cc)
Hold On Loosely (.38 Special)
Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic)
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree (KT Tunstall)
Where The Streets Have No Name (U2)
Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh)
Baba O'Riley (The Who)
Frankenstein (Edgar Winter)
Overjoyed (Stevie Wonder)
Roundabout (Yes)
The Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young)
Hasten Down The Wind (Warren Zevon)
Tush (ZZ Top)
While I said that no artists have more than one track in this list, there are a few individuals who appear more than once. John Lennon is here as a solo artist as well as with the Beatles. Similarly, Don Henley, Paul Simon and Neil Young are all here as solo artists and as members of The Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel and CSNY, respectively. Eric Clapton is here in both Cream and Derek and the Dominoes, David Crosby in both The Byrds and CSNY, Graham Nash in both The Hollies and CSNY, and Steve Winwood in both The Spencer Davis Group and Traffic. The champion, with three appearances, is Joe Walsh, included as a solo artist, with the James Gang and with The Eagles.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Coming Soon! A New Blog from Yours Truly
That's right ... in the not too distant future, I plan to unveil a new blog. I am currently at work on the research. This new blog will return me to my curmudgeonly blogger roots. No happy memories or singing the praises of those I believe deserve it there! Quite the oppo, in fact. It will be a 96-installment, month by month history of the worst presidency in American history.
That's right! You guessed it. I am refering, of course, to the one we all cannot wait to see end. The Current Occupant, as Garrison Keiller calls him. AKA the dumbest shithead ever to walk out of Texas with his boots on the wrong feet. ("Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I don't understand it, Laura. These boots is new, but they hurts like h-e-double hockey sticks!")
I plan to try to space the entries, so that my recounting (oh, if only we could have really recounted in 2000!!) of the high(?) and oh so many low points of the GWB years will end just as we all waken from the national nightmare next January 20. Join me, and please feel free to add to the fun with your own favorite memories!!
Meanwhile, I also plan to keep this blog going, hopefully on a more regular basis, with intermittent glimpses at the people and things musical, literary, cinematic and otherwise that I find fascinating and about which I feel compelled to share. Enjoy.
That's right! You guessed it. I am refering, of course, to the one we all cannot wait to see end. The Current Occupant, as Garrison Keiller calls him. AKA the dumbest shithead ever to walk out of Texas with his boots on the wrong feet. ("Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I don't understand it, Laura. These boots is new, but they hurts like h-e-double hockey sticks!")
I plan to try to space the entries, so that my recounting (oh, if only we could have really recounted in 2000!!) of the high(?) and oh so many low points of the GWB years will end just as we all waken from the national nightmare next January 20. Join me, and please feel free to add to the fun with your own favorite memories!!
Meanwhile, I also plan to keep this blog going, hopefully on a more regular basis, with intermittent glimpses at the people and things musical, literary, cinematic and otherwise that I find fascinating and about which I feel compelled to share. Enjoy.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Two Champions and a Postscript
Last night saw the NBA championship return home to Boston after 22 years on the road. No other NBA franchise has held the championship as often - 17 times now. Of course, the lion's share of those championships came a good many years ago, during the 1950s and 60s. Red Auerbach was the head coach during nine of those championship seasons between 1956 and 1966. Nine chamionships out of ten consecutive seasons(!), interrupted only during the 1957-58 season, when the Celtics made it to the NBA finals, but lost in six games to the St. Louis Hawks (who now reside in Atlanta).
Eight out of the nine NBA players who have the most championship rings played on those Celtics teams: Bill Russell with 11 (Russell continued to play and won two more championships in the 1960s after Red had retired from the bench, though he was still the GM of the Celtics.), Sam Jones with 10, Tommy Heinsohn, KC Jones, Tom Sanders and John Havlicek each with eight, Jim Loscutoff and Frank Ramsey with seven and tied with Robert Horry, the first non-Celtic in this list. One more Celtic, Bob Cousy is tied with Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Scottie Pippen with six championship rings.
The Celtics added three more championships during the 1980s with another stellar line-up of players that included Cedric Maxwell (MVP in 1981) and Larry Bird (MVP in 1984 and 1986) and their teammates: Robert Parrish, Nate Archibald, Kevin McHale, Rick Robey, Chris Ford, Gerald Henderson, Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge, Scott Wedman, Quinn Buckner, M. L. Carr and Bill Walton among them.
Watching them complete this latest championship in the TD Banknorth Garden (not quite as poetic as the Boston Garden, is it?) I was struck, not only by the sixteen championship banners hanging from the rafters, but by the banner emblazoned with the player numbers they have retired. Twenty-one former Celtics are remembered there, including, I'm sure, many of those mentioned in the last two paragraphs. See the complete list here.)
This final game of the 2007-08 season, this deciding game 6 of the championship series was a study in teamwork, a study in relentless team defense, a study in doing the right things right. The Celtics ran the Lakers off the court. I don't think they slowed down until they reached St. Louis on their way back to the coast. This Celtic team made fools of the sports analysts (most of them, it seemed) who predicted it would be the Lakers who would prevail in six games. Kobe won't be denied?? Please!
Kobe didn't even come close. He scored 22 points last night, but after starting out 4 for 5 from the field, Kobe then missed seven attempts in a row. In the Eastern Conference finals, King James pushed the Celtics harder, to a deciding game 7, and he scored 45 points for the Cavaliers in that ultimately losing effort. LeBron did it with a less talented supporting cast than the one surrounding Kobe. I hope I never hear Steven A. Smith call Kobe the greatest player on the planet again. (I may just have to swear off ESPN.)
The day before the NBA's finale, another champion was crowned - this one winning the U.S. Open golf title for 2008. It's hardly a surprise who the title went to - after all, Tiger Woods had won thirteen majors before this, and in 2007 he had possibly the greatest year in professional golf since Bobby Jones' Grand Slam in 1930 and Byron Nelson's record-setting year in 1945.
The manner in which Tiger brought this one home was remarkable, however. As the week progressed, it became more and more clear that Tiger's left knee still was not right. By the middle of round 4 on Sunday, TV viewers could see Tiger grimacing or gritting his teeth in pain after each hard swing. Tiger was not to be deterred, however. The back nine on Sunday afternoon included two eagles and a miracle birdie on the 17th hole.
The eagle on the final hole Sunday was just enough to help Tiger overtake Rocco Mediate, forcing an 18-hole head to head playoff on Monday. The good news was that Tiger still had a shot, but it meant that he had to go out and nurse than knee through another entire round of golf.
Monday's round was another dramatic battle. With eight holes to play, it looked like Tiger had it wrapped up with a three stroke lead. However, Tiger bogeyed one hole, and Rocco had three birdies in a row, so as they came to the last couple holes, it was Mediate who led, though only by a single stroke. Tiger caught up with him again, with a birdie this time on the eighteenth hole. Fortunately, this time the tie led to a sudden death playoff, rather than another entire round. Tiger made short work of it, beating Rocco by a stroke on the first hole of sudden death.
Today, it was announced that Woods is done for the year. Not only has he been playing on an injured ACL, it turns out that he suffered a double stress fracture of the tibia two weeks before the Open. Nonetheless, Tiger saw the U.S. Open, especially at Torrey Pines, a course where he has seen remarkable success in the past, as his best chance to win a major tournament in 2008. So he played. And it paid off. Now he will let his doctors and surgeons work on the knee and tibia, and he will give his leg time to heal. And hope he can then return to form.
Should Tiger have played on such a bad leg? I don't know. Time will tell, I guess. However, I do know it took courage, not just for him to play, but for him to reach deep within himself and find the determination to face down challenges, not only from Rocco Mediate, but also from Lee Westwood, who finished Sunday in third place, one stroke out of the playoff. It made for one of the most memorable U.S. Opens in history. And it added another page to Tiger's legend.
Postscript - This evening, after dinner, I watched the memorial to Tim Russert that had been televised earlier this afternoon on MSNBC. It was a moving tribute. A private funeral Mass was celebrated this morning at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown. On the news they said that with no fanfare, and no entourages attending them, the two presumptive candidates in the upcoming presidential election, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, entered the church and sat next to each other during the funeral.
The public memorial was held at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. After the presentation of the colors and a stirring rendition of the National Anthem, Tom Brokaw spoke first. He promised a celebration, in the Irish tradition, of the life of Tim Russert. He went on to direct most of his remarks to Tim's family members - his son Luke, his widow Maureen, and his dad Big Russ, who was watching the proceedings from Buffalo. Brokaw promised to raise a mug of Rolling Rock beer (which he pilfered from Tim's cooler at the NBC News offices in Washington) to Big Russ on election night, thanking him for his gift of Tim.
Others who made remarks included former Governor of New York Mario Cuomo, Brian Williams, Maria Shriver and Doris Kearns Goodwin. Luke Russert delivered an abbreviated version of the eulogy he had given earlier in the day at the funeral. He joked that he had learned the trick of adapting a prepared speech for different audiences from his father. He told all of the charities, foundations, associations and what-not, who invited Tim Russert to speak, that he was sorry to break the news to them, but that Russert did not write an original speech for each of them.
Following the oratory, the memorial turned musical. Tim Russert's brother-in-law, Tony Scozzaro, a musician from Buffalo (of course) played a heartfelt and technically brilliant instrumental of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" on guitar. Then Tom Brokaw and Luke Russert introduced, via satellite from Europe, where he is currently touring with the E Street Band, the Boss himself. Springsteen spoke about his friendship with Tim for a few minutes, recalling an early morning when he looked out and saw Tim eagerly watching from the crowd as he and the E Street Band played in the plaza at 30 Rock for the Today Show. Knowing what Tim's day job was, Springsteen said he was sure Russert must have had more important places to be. He then sang "Thunder Road," dedicating it to Tim as he did a in concert last Friday night after he learned of Tim's death. The lyrics are full of energy and optimism, so it's no surprise that it was one of Tim's favorite songs.
I find myself more and more moved by the tributes and memories of Tim Russert I have seen these past few days. His colleagues all recall the enthusiasm he brought to every new day, to every new assignment. For some time now, I haven't had that kind of enthusiasm, though I can still remember when I did.
Lately, I feel like I have been too self-absorbed and allowed myself to play the victim. I may have my problems, with ADD, depression and the rest, but that's not reason enough to allow myself to wither and rot. What's the point of living, if you don't make the most of it?
Tim Russert made the most of it, most every day, according to his friends and family. Tiger Woods made the most of it this past week, despite the devastating pain he had to face and the lengthy recovery ahead. The Boston Celtics, after a long drought, made the most of it last night and throughout a successful season in which they posted the greatest turnaround in NBA history.
I want to do the same. To raise my own game, to face each day with optimism and enthusiasm - that would be the best tribute I could offer in Tim Russert's name.
Eight out of the nine NBA players who have the most championship rings played on those Celtics teams: Bill Russell with 11 (Russell continued to play and won two more championships in the 1960s after Red had retired from the bench, though he was still the GM of the Celtics.), Sam Jones with 10, Tommy Heinsohn, KC Jones, Tom Sanders and John Havlicek each with eight, Jim Loscutoff and Frank Ramsey with seven and tied with Robert Horry, the first non-Celtic in this list. One more Celtic, Bob Cousy is tied with Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Scottie Pippen with six championship rings.
The Celtics added three more championships during the 1980s with another stellar line-up of players that included Cedric Maxwell (MVP in 1981) and Larry Bird (MVP in 1984 and 1986) and their teammates: Robert Parrish, Nate Archibald, Kevin McHale, Rick Robey, Chris Ford, Gerald Henderson, Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge, Scott Wedman, Quinn Buckner, M. L. Carr and Bill Walton among them.
Watching them complete this latest championship in the TD Banknorth Garden (not quite as poetic as the Boston Garden, is it?) I was struck, not only by the sixteen championship banners hanging from the rafters, but by the banner emblazoned with the player numbers they have retired. Twenty-one former Celtics are remembered there, including, I'm sure, many of those mentioned in the last two paragraphs. See the complete list here.)
This final game of the 2007-08 season, this deciding game 6 of the championship series was a study in teamwork, a study in relentless team defense, a study in doing the right things right. The Celtics ran the Lakers off the court. I don't think they slowed down until they reached St. Louis on their way back to the coast. This Celtic team made fools of the sports analysts (most of them, it seemed) who predicted it would be the Lakers who would prevail in six games. Kobe won't be denied?? Please!
Kobe didn't even come close. He scored 22 points last night, but after starting out 4 for 5 from the field, Kobe then missed seven attempts in a row. In the Eastern Conference finals, King James pushed the Celtics harder, to a deciding game 7, and he scored 45 points for the Cavaliers in that ultimately losing effort. LeBron did it with a less talented supporting cast than the one surrounding Kobe. I hope I never hear Steven A. Smith call Kobe the greatest player on the planet again. (I may just have to swear off ESPN.)
The day before the NBA's finale, another champion was crowned - this one winning the U.S. Open golf title for 2008. It's hardly a surprise who the title went to - after all, Tiger Woods had won thirteen majors before this, and in 2007 he had possibly the greatest year in professional golf since Bobby Jones' Grand Slam in 1930 and Byron Nelson's record-setting year in 1945.
The manner in which Tiger brought this one home was remarkable, however. As the week progressed, it became more and more clear that Tiger's left knee still was not right. By the middle of round 4 on Sunday, TV viewers could see Tiger grimacing or gritting his teeth in pain after each hard swing. Tiger was not to be deterred, however. The back nine on Sunday afternoon included two eagles and a miracle birdie on the 17th hole.
The eagle on the final hole Sunday was just enough to help Tiger overtake Rocco Mediate, forcing an 18-hole head to head playoff on Monday. The good news was that Tiger still had a shot, but it meant that he had to go out and nurse than knee through another entire round of golf.
Monday's round was another dramatic battle. With eight holes to play, it looked like Tiger had it wrapped up with a three stroke lead. However, Tiger bogeyed one hole, and Rocco had three birdies in a row, so as they came to the last couple holes, it was Mediate who led, though only by a single stroke. Tiger caught up with him again, with a birdie this time on the eighteenth hole. Fortunately, this time the tie led to a sudden death playoff, rather than another entire round. Tiger made short work of it, beating Rocco by a stroke on the first hole of sudden death.
Today, it was announced that Woods is done for the year. Not only has he been playing on an injured ACL, it turns out that he suffered a double stress fracture of the tibia two weeks before the Open. Nonetheless, Tiger saw the U.S. Open, especially at Torrey Pines, a course where he has seen remarkable success in the past, as his best chance to win a major tournament in 2008. So he played. And it paid off. Now he will let his doctors and surgeons work on the knee and tibia, and he will give his leg time to heal. And hope he can then return to form.
Should Tiger have played on such a bad leg? I don't know. Time will tell, I guess. However, I do know it took courage, not just for him to play, but for him to reach deep within himself and find the determination to face down challenges, not only from Rocco Mediate, but also from Lee Westwood, who finished Sunday in third place, one stroke out of the playoff. It made for one of the most memorable U.S. Opens in history. And it added another page to Tiger's legend.
Postscript - This evening, after dinner, I watched the memorial to Tim Russert that had been televised earlier this afternoon on MSNBC. It was a moving tribute. A private funeral Mass was celebrated this morning at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown. On the news they said that with no fanfare, and no entourages attending them, the two presumptive candidates in the upcoming presidential election, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, entered the church and sat next to each other during the funeral.
The public memorial was held at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. After the presentation of the colors and a stirring rendition of the National Anthem, Tom Brokaw spoke first. He promised a celebration, in the Irish tradition, of the life of Tim Russert. He went on to direct most of his remarks to Tim's family members - his son Luke, his widow Maureen, and his dad Big Russ, who was watching the proceedings from Buffalo. Brokaw promised to raise a mug of Rolling Rock beer (which he pilfered from Tim's cooler at the NBC News offices in Washington) to Big Russ on election night, thanking him for his gift of Tim.
Others who made remarks included former Governor of New York Mario Cuomo, Brian Williams, Maria Shriver and Doris Kearns Goodwin. Luke Russert delivered an abbreviated version of the eulogy he had given earlier in the day at the funeral. He joked that he had learned the trick of adapting a prepared speech for different audiences from his father. He told all of the charities, foundations, associations and what-not, who invited Tim Russert to speak, that he was sorry to break the news to them, but that Russert did not write an original speech for each of them.
Following the oratory, the memorial turned musical. Tim Russert's brother-in-law, Tony Scozzaro, a musician from Buffalo (of course) played a heartfelt and technically brilliant instrumental of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" on guitar. Then Tom Brokaw and Luke Russert introduced, via satellite from Europe, where he is currently touring with the E Street Band, the Boss himself. Springsteen spoke about his friendship with Tim for a few minutes, recalling an early morning when he looked out and saw Tim eagerly watching from the crowd as he and the E Street Band played in the plaza at 30 Rock for the Today Show. Knowing what Tim's day job was, Springsteen said he was sure Russert must have had more important places to be. He then sang "Thunder Road," dedicating it to Tim as he did a in concert last Friday night after he learned of Tim's death. The lyrics are full of energy and optimism, so it's no surprise that it was one of Tim's favorite songs.
I find myself more and more moved by the tributes and memories of Tim Russert I have seen these past few days. His colleagues all recall the enthusiasm he brought to every new day, to every new assignment. For some time now, I haven't had that kind of enthusiasm, though I can still remember when I did.
Lately, I feel like I have been too self-absorbed and allowed myself to play the victim. I may have my problems, with ADD, depression and the rest, but that's not reason enough to allow myself to wither and rot. What's the point of living, if you don't make the most of it?
Tim Russert made the most of it, most every day, according to his friends and family. Tiger Woods made the most of it this past week, despite the devastating pain he had to face and the lengthy recovery ahead. The Boston Celtics, after a long drought, made the most of it last night and throughout a successful season in which they posted the greatest turnaround in NBA history.
I want to do the same. To raise my own game, to face each day with optimism and enthusiasm - that would be the best tribute I could offer in Tim Russert's name.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
A Great Loss
A few days ago, American political discourse suffered a great loss. It's hard to imagine watching the election returns this coming November without the analysis and commentary of Tim Russert to help us understand the emerging trends and make sense of it all.
How many of us remember his on air performance in the 2000 presidential election, when he used the back of a legal pad, and then the famous white dry-erase boards to analyze the best chances of the two candidates? As the networks' computer projections declared one state after another either blue for Vice President Al Gore or red for Governor G. W. Bush, as NBC itself awarded Florida to Gore, then reversed itself and called it too close to call, as Tim Russert clearly was enjoying himself sitting next to Tom Brokaw watching the madness unfold, we saw it all come down to the one state Tim had famously predicted would decide the election. He didn't say "I told you so," at least not in so many words, but you could tell he was enjoying himself when he held up the small white board bearing the legend, "Florida, Florida, Florida." (In 2004, Tim was right again. This time, it was "Ohio, Ohio, Ohio.")
Many viewers became fans of Tim Russert that night in 2000, but the fact is, he had been hard at work for years, using a sharp mind and a prosecutorial zeal for truth and justice to help us make sense of the world of Americal politics. Tim first entered that world working in the 1976 Senatorial campaign of Daniel Patrick Moynahan. Moynahan was in some ways an unlikely choice, but he was the candidate Tim Russert believed had the qualities and held the values that New York, and America, needed.
Moynahan was a scholar who, by 1976, had already served in the administrations of four presidents in succession from John F. Kennedy to Gerald Ford. In today's highly polarized environment, it seems hard to believe, but prior to being appointed, by Richard Nixon, to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Moynahan had been a member of the White House Staff during Nixon's first term, serving as Counselor to the President on urban affairs. The 1976 Senate race in New York was tumultuous, with Moynahan pitted against an array of iconic Democrats, including Bella Abzug and Ramsay Clark, as well as incumbent Conservative Party Senator James L. Buckley, but in the end, Moynahan was victorious, launching a four-term career in the United States Senate.
Tim Russert so distinguished himself during that successful campaign, that he emerged from a pack of seemingly better groomed staffers to become Moynahan's chief of staff in 1977. Sensing that Russert, a kid from working class roots in Buffalo might be intimidated by the Harvard/Yale crowd he would be supervising, Moynahan reportedly took Tim aside and told him, "What they know, you can learn. What you know, they can never learn."
What Tim Russert knew that Moynahan saw in him was how things should be done and that, no matter how tempting, it was never right to take the expedient route, when you knew that the hard way was the right way. Russert had learned this, as many have recalled this past weekend, partly from the nuns and Jesuits who had taught him in South Buffalo parochial schools, at Canisiuis High School and at John Carroll University. Even more, however, as Tim himself poignantly remembered in his bestselling book, Big Russ & Me, he got these values from his father, who had worked two full-time jobs, as a newspaper delivery driver and as a sanitation worker, to provide his children with a greater education and broader opportunities.
Tim Russert made the most of those opportunities. He left Moynahan's staff in 1983 to help Mario Cuomo win office as governor of New York. After a short stint on Cuomo's staff, he left politics for journalism in 1984, joining NBC News in an executive position. He became the Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News in 1988, a position he held until his death last week. In 1991, he stepped before the camera for the first time as host of Meet the Press. He went on to moderate the show for longer than anyone who had preceded him.
He also breathed new life into an institution, the Sunday morning political gabfest, that had become tired and moribund. Unlike many of today's political talk show hosts, whether on television or radio, Tim Russert was not cynical and cranky like Bill O'Reilly, nor was he a shallow shill for a particular political agenda, like Rush Limbaugh. Instead, he worked tirelessly to prepare for each interview, and used that preparation to come up with questions that were both fair and carefully designed to get at the truth. He did not ambush his guests or seek to embarass them, but he had no sympathy for a guest who came to Meet the Press without adequate preparation. To Tim's mind, this was a failure to keep faith with the American people. If you want to seek and hold high office or serve in important appointed positions, you should be ready to answer relevant questions, and do so truthfully.
Tim died in his office, preparing for upcoming interviews on Meet the Press. He had just returned from a vacation in Italy with his wife and his son, Luke. They were celebrating Luke's graduation from Boston College. Despite his reputation for hard work, family always came first for Russert. Along with hard work and respect for the truth, this was one of the values he got from Big Russ. Sadly, the first Sunday following his death was Father's Day. As much as he will be missed by his fans and colleagues in politics and jounalism, it's hard to imagine what a loss this is to his wife and son.
The Father's Day broadcast of Meet the Press was dedicated to Tim's memory. Tom Brokaw, Doris Kearns Goodwin, James Carville, Mary Matalin, Maria Shriver and others recalled Tim in anecdotes, and clips of some of his many interviews were played. The question is, where will NBC go now? As Tim always said at the end of each broadcast, "If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press." It has been for 61 years, longer than any other show on network television. I'm sure it will be for many years to come, but without Tim Russert, it won't be the same.
Over the years, Time Russert has been accorded many awards and honors.
To wrap up this brief and inadequate tribute, here is a quote from Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post, about Tim Russert's impact.
How many of us remember his on air performance in the 2000 presidential election, when he used the back of a legal pad, and then the famous white dry-erase boards to analyze the best chances of the two candidates? As the networks' computer projections declared one state after another either blue for Vice President Al Gore or red for Governor G. W. Bush, as NBC itself awarded Florida to Gore, then reversed itself and called it too close to call, as Tim Russert clearly was enjoying himself sitting next to Tom Brokaw watching the madness unfold, we saw it all come down to the one state Tim had famously predicted would decide the election. He didn't say "I told you so," at least not in so many words, but you could tell he was enjoying himself when he held up the small white board bearing the legend, "Florida, Florida, Florida." (In 2004, Tim was right again. This time, it was "Ohio, Ohio, Ohio.")
Many viewers became fans of Tim Russert that night in 2000, but the fact is, he had been hard at work for years, using a sharp mind and a prosecutorial zeal for truth and justice to help us make sense of the world of Americal politics. Tim first entered that world working in the 1976 Senatorial campaign of Daniel Patrick Moynahan. Moynahan was in some ways an unlikely choice, but he was the candidate Tim Russert believed had the qualities and held the values that New York, and America, needed.
Moynahan was a scholar who, by 1976, had already served in the administrations of four presidents in succession from John F. Kennedy to Gerald Ford. In today's highly polarized environment, it seems hard to believe, but prior to being appointed, by Richard Nixon, to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Moynahan had been a member of the White House Staff during Nixon's first term, serving as Counselor to the President on urban affairs. The 1976 Senate race in New York was tumultuous, with Moynahan pitted against an array of iconic Democrats, including Bella Abzug and Ramsay Clark, as well as incumbent Conservative Party Senator James L. Buckley, but in the end, Moynahan was victorious, launching a four-term career in the United States Senate.
Tim Russert so distinguished himself during that successful campaign, that he emerged from a pack of seemingly better groomed staffers to become Moynahan's chief of staff in 1977. Sensing that Russert, a kid from working class roots in Buffalo might be intimidated by the Harvard/Yale crowd he would be supervising, Moynahan reportedly took Tim aside and told him, "What they know, you can learn. What you know, they can never learn."
What Tim Russert knew that Moynahan saw in him was how things should be done and that, no matter how tempting, it was never right to take the expedient route, when you knew that the hard way was the right way. Russert had learned this, as many have recalled this past weekend, partly from the nuns and Jesuits who had taught him in South Buffalo parochial schools, at Canisiuis High School and at John Carroll University. Even more, however, as Tim himself poignantly remembered in his bestselling book, Big Russ & Me, he got these values from his father, who had worked two full-time jobs, as a newspaper delivery driver and as a sanitation worker, to provide his children with a greater education and broader opportunities.
Tim Russert made the most of those opportunities. He left Moynahan's staff in 1983 to help Mario Cuomo win office as governor of New York. After a short stint on Cuomo's staff, he left politics for journalism in 1984, joining NBC News in an executive position. He became the Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News in 1988, a position he held until his death last week. In 1991, he stepped before the camera for the first time as host of Meet the Press. He went on to moderate the show for longer than anyone who had preceded him.
He also breathed new life into an institution, the Sunday morning political gabfest, that had become tired and moribund. Unlike many of today's political talk show hosts, whether on television or radio, Tim Russert was not cynical and cranky like Bill O'Reilly, nor was he a shallow shill for a particular political agenda, like Rush Limbaugh. Instead, he worked tirelessly to prepare for each interview, and used that preparation to come up with questions that were both fair and carefully designed to get at the truth. He did not ambush his guests or seek to embarass them, but he had no sympathy for a guest who came to Meet the Press without adequate preparation. To Tim's mind, this was a failure to keep faith with the American people. If you want to seek and hold high office or serve in important appointed positions, you should be ready to answer relevant questions, and do so truthfully.
Tim died in his office, preparing for upcoming interviews on Meet the Press. He had just returned from a vacation in Italy with his wife and his son, Luke. They were celebrating Luke's graduation from Boston College. Despite his reputation for hard work, family always came first for Russert. Along with hard work and respect for the truth, this was one of the values he got from Big Russ. Sadly, the first Sunday following his death was Father's Day. As much as he will be missed by his fans and colleagues in politics and jounalism, it's hard to imagine what a loss this is to his wife and son.
The Father's Day broadcast of Meet the Press was dedicated to Tim's memory. Tom Brokaw, Doris Kearns Goodwin, James Carville, Mary Matalin, Maria Shriver and others recalled Tim in anecdotes, and clips of some of his many interviews were played. The question is, where will NBC go now? As Tim always said at the end of each broadcast, "If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press." It has been for 61 years, longer than any other show on network television. I'm sure it will be for many years to come, but without Tim Russert, it won't be the same.
Over the years, Time Russert has been accorded many awards and honors.
To wrap up this brief and inadequate tribute, here is a quote from Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post, about Tim Russert's impact.
"Tim Russert was a transformative jounalist. He changed American television news, by bringing to it his own values: integrity, fairness, good humor, humility, and a unique sense of how reporting, history and politics are bound together. He was masterful at exposing hypocrisy. I knew him as a source, a colleague, a competitor, and - on the air - as the subject of his tough questions. His approach to every role was always the same: he loved what he did, and sought a way to tell the truth, often unconventionally."
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