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.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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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