WA2K Radio is now on the air

well, dj, I just discovered that Jooles Holland(sp) worked with Hugh Laurie, buddy, and I don't quite understand, "The Best Immitation of Myself", but I liked the black screen and the song. Thanks again, Canada.

Here's a funny one by Hugh, y'all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0SXH5Y9PEc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YR-fz36LUI

John Mellencamp at the Dylan tribute

well, edgar, I enjoyed the mellencamp tribute except for the two women who tended to scream a bit too much. Had to research The Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat, and found it was not exactly a tribute to Jackie O.

How about a little surprise, folks; A lovely symphony for Sunday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OBgKZAMY9A

Good Afternoon WA2K.

Wishing a Happy 89th to Abe Vigoda; 76th to composer Michel Legrand ); 68th to Barry Bostwick and 42nd to Billy Zane.




and a Good Day/Evening to all.

Hey, Raggedy. Thanks once again for the delightful and colorful collage of celebs.

Never cared for Bill Zane, and YouTube is taking Sunday off, so here is a song about a Princess Bride. (I think)

Zane did star in that movie, right? Sorry about having to substitute, y'all.

http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/the_princess_bride_soundtrack/

for whatever reason there's no video, just the song

That's what made it unique, dj. Incidentally, are you having trouble accessing YouTube?

Your PD wants to know, Canada.

Well, folks, we'll do it the old fashioned way.

The Sound of Silence

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence

haven't tried since this morning, i'll let you know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEshZvwomA8

Melanie on youtube, Phil Ochs Memorial Concert

Marjorie Main
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born Mary Tomlinson
February 24, 1890(1890-02-24)
Acton, Indiana, United States
Died April 10, 1975 (aged 85)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Spouse(s) Stanley LeFevre Krebs
(1921-1935) (his death)

Marjorie Main (February 24, 1890 - April 10, 1975) was an Oscar-nominated American character actress, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.





Early life

Marjorie Main was born in Acton, Indiana, as Mary Tomlinson. She attended Franklin College, in Franklin, Indiana, and adopted a stage name to avoid embarrassing her father, who was a minister. She worked in vaudeville on the Chautauqua and Orpheum circuits, and debuted on Broadway in 1916. Her first film was A House Divided in 1931.


Career

Marjorie Main began playing upper class dowagers, but was ultimately typecast in abrasive, domineering, salty roles, for which her distinct voice was well suited. She repeated her stage role in Dead End in the movie version of 1937, and was subsequently cast repeatedly as the mother of gangsters. She again transferred a strong stage performance, as a dude ranch operator in The Women, to film in 1939. She made six comedies with Wallace Beery in the 1940s.

Perhaps her most famous role is that of "Ma Kettle", which she first played in The Egg and I in 1947 opposite Percy Kilbride as "Pa Kettle". She was nominated for an Academy Award for the role, and portrayed the character in nine more Ma and Pa Kettle films.


Private life

Main married Stanley LeFevre Krebs, who died in 1935. Her near-pathological fear of germs[citation needed] did not interfere with her career. She was the companion of Spring Byington for much of her later life.

Main died in Los Angeles, California, of lung cancer at the age of 85. Her grave marker lists both her stage name and "Mrs. Mary Tomlinson Krebs."

Zachary Scott
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born February 24, 1914
Austin, Texas, U.S.
Died October 3, 1966
Austin, Texas, U.S.

Zachary Scott (February 24, 1914 - October 3, 1965) was an American actor, most notable for his roles as villains and "mystery men".

Born in Austin, Texas, he was a distant cousin of both George Washington and Bat Masterson. Scott's father was a physician and his grandfather had been a very successful cattle rancher.

Scott intended to be a doctor like his father, but after attending the University of Texas for a while, he decided to switch to acting. He signed on as a cabin boy on a freighter which took him to England, where he acted in repertory theatre for a while, before he returned to Austin, and began acting in local theater.

Alfred Lunt discovered Scott in Texas and convinced him to move to New York City, where he appeared on Broadway. Jack Warner saw him in a performance, and signed him to appear in a movie, The Mask of Dimitrios, in 1944.

He appeared the next year in Mildred Pierce to much acclaim. In the film, Scott was Joan Crawford's love interest who ends up dead due to an illicit liaison with Crawford's teenager daughter, played by Ann Blyth. During this period, Scott and his first wife Elaine socialized regularly with Angela Lansbury and her first husband, Richard Cromwell. Elaine Scott had met Zachary Scott back in Austin and she made a name for herself behind the scenes on Broadway as stage manager for the original production of Oklahoma!. The Scotts had one child together.

Zachary Scott enjoyed playing scoundrels and the public did, too. Scott went on to star in such movies as The Southerner, The Unfaithful, Cass Timberlane, Flamingo Road, Flaxy Martin, Guilty Bystander, Wings of Danger, and Shadow on the Wall, opposite Nancy Davis Reagan and Ann Sothern. He later starred in Luis Buñuel's The Young One (La Joven, 1960), Buñuel's only movie filmed in English.

In 1950, Scott was involved in a rafting accident. Also during that year, he divorced his first wife, Elaine, who subsequently married writer John Steinbeck. Possibly as a result of these developments or due to a box-office slump, Scott succumbed to a depression which in turn limited his acting. Since Warner Bros. did not particularly continue to advertise his films, he turned back to the stage, and also appeared on television. During this period Scott remarried and he and his second wife had a child together as well. He moved back to Austin, where he died from a brain tumor at the age of 51.

A theatre center in Austin bears his name. His family has endowed two chairs at the University of Texas's theatre department in his name.

Scott has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Abe Vigoda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born Abraham Charles Vigodah
February 24, 1921 (1921-02-24) (age 87)
New York City, U.S.
Other name(s) Abe Vigoda
Occupation Actor
Years active 1969 - Present

Abraham Charles Vigodah (born February 24, 1921), best known as Abe Vigoda, is an American movie and television actor.





Early life and family

Vigoda was born in New York City to Lena and Samuel Vigodah, Jewish immigrants from Russia.[1] His brother Bill Vigoda was a comic-book artist who drew for the "Archie" comics franchise and others in the 1940s.[2]


Career

Vigoda gained fame through his supporting character roles, notably as mobster Sal Tessio in the 1972 movie The Godfather. He later played Detective Sgt. Fish on the television series Barney Miller and its spinoff Fish. Before Barney Miller, he made a few appearances on the ABC-TV soap Dark Shadows. He has appeared on Broadway in Marat/Sade (1967), The Man in the Glass Booth (1968), Inquest (1970), Tough to Get Help (1972), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1987).

He has been mentioned in popular works by artists such as the Beastie Boys and Liz Phair. He makes regular appearances as himself (usually in skits relating to his age) on the television show Late Night with Conan O'Brien.


Reports of his death

In 1982, People magazine erroneously declared him dead. Vigoda took the error with good humor, posing for a photograph showing him sitting up in a coffin, holding the magazine in question. This rumor was nearly started again in 1987 when a reporter for Secaucus, New Jersey television station WWOR, Channel 9 erroneously referred to him as "the late Abe Vigoda".[citation needed] She corrected herself on the air the next day. His erroneous death has remained a running joke for Vigoda. For example, a Late Night with David Letterman skit showed Letterman trying to summon Vigoda's ghost. Vigoda then walked in and declared, "I'm not dead, you idiot!" In 2002, Greg Galcik recorded a gothic rock song "Abe Vigoda's Dead", a parody of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus. A November 2006 Conan O'Brien sketch showed an audience member summoning the dead. The "deceased person" turned out to be Vigoda. Additionally, the Web site at abevigoda.com, run by an outside party, has as its sole purpose a status announcement of whether the actor is alive or dead.

As of February 2008, Mr. Vigoda is alive and resides in Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Michel Legrand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born February 24, 1932 (1932-02-24) (age 76)
Bécon-les-Bruyères, France
Occupation Film score composer
[fan site Official website]

Michel Legrand (born February 24, 1932 in Paris) is a French- Armenian musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist.

Legrand has composed more than two hundred film and television scores, several musicals, and made well over a hundred albums. He has won three Oscars (out of 13 nominations), five Grammys, and has been nominated for an Emmy. He was twenty-two when his first album, I Love Paris, became one of the best-selling instrumental albums ever released. He is a virtuoso jazz and classical pianist and an accomplished arranger and conductor who performs with orchestras all over the world. He studied music at the Paris Conservatoire from 1943-50 (ages 11-20), working with, among others, Nadia Boulanger, the teacher also of many other composers, including Aaron Copland and Philip Glass. Legrand graduated with top honors as both a composer and a pianist.




Jazz recordings

In the early 1950s, Legrand was one of the first Europeans to work with jazz innovators such as Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz. His jazz-oriented projects, though infrequent, have been almost uniformly outstanding. While on a visit to the U.S. in 1958, Legrand collaborated with such musicians as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Phil Woods, Ben Webster, Hank Jones, and Art Farmer in an album of inventive orchestrations of jazz standards titled Legrand Jazz. The following year, back in Paris with bassist Guy Pedersen and percussionist Gus Wallez, he recorded an album of Paris-themed songs arranged for jazz piano trio, titled Paris Jazz Piano. Nearly a decade later he recorded At Shelly's Manne-Hole (1968), a live trio session with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne, in which four of the compositions were improvised on the spot. Legrand also provided an odd scat vocal on "My Funny Valentine." After another decade had elapsed, Legrand returned to jazz and collaboration with Phil Woods on Jazz Le Grand (1979) and After the Rain (1982); then he collaborated with violinist Stephane Grappelli on an album in 1992. Not as well received as his earlier work was a 1994 album for LaserLight titled Michel Plays Legrand. More recently, in 2002, he recorded a masterful solo jazz piano album reworking fourteen of his classic songs, Michel Legrand by Michel Legrand. His jazz piano style is virtuosic and eclectic, drawing upon such influences as Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, and Bill Evans.

A number of his songs have become jazz standards, covered frequently by other artists, including "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?," "Watch What Happens," "The Summer Knows," and "You Must Believe in Spring."


Eclecticism

During various periods of creative work, Legrand became a conductor for orchestras in St. Petersburg, Vancouver, Montreal, Atlanta, and Denver. He recorded more than one hundred albums with international musical stars (spanning the genres of jazz, variety, and classical) and worked with such diverse musicians as Phil Woods, Ray Charles, Perry Como, Neil Diamond, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Lena Horne, James Ingram, Jack Jones, Kiri te Kanawa, Tereza Kesovija, Johnny Mathis, Jessye Norman, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughan, and Regine Velasquez.

Legrand has also recorded classical piano pieces by composers such as Erik Satie and George Gershwin.

His sister, Christiane Legrand, was a member of The Swingle Singers.


Film scores

Legrand is known principally as a composer of innovative music for films, composing film scores (about two hundred to date) for directors Jean-Luc Godard, Richard Brooks, Claude Lelouch, Clint Eastwood, Robert Altman, and many others. Legrand himself appears and performs in Agnès Varda's French New Wave classic, Cleo from 5 to 7 (1961). After his songs appeared in Jacques Demy's films The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1966), Legrand became famous worldwide. Les Parapluies de Cherbourg was a sung-through musical in which all the dialogue was set to music, a revolutionary concept at the time.

Hollywood soon became interested in Legrand after Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, bombarding him with requests to compose music for films. Having begun to collaborate with Hollywood, Legrand continued to work there for many years. Among his best-known scores are those for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), which features the hit song "The Windmills of Your Mind," and Summer of '42 (1971), which features another hit song, "The Summer Knows." Legrand also wrote the score for Orson Welles's last-completed film, F for Fake (1974).

Currently, Legrand divides his time between America and France.

Barry Bostwick
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born February 24, 1945 (1945-02-24) (age 63)
San Mateo, California, U.S.
Occupation film actor
stage actor
Years active 1972-Present
Spouse(s) Sherri Jensen (1994-present)
Stacey Nelkin (1987-1991)
Awards won
Golden Globe Awards
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
War and Remembrance

Tony Awards
Best Leading Actor in a Musical
The Robber Bridgegroom


Barry Knapp Bostwick (born on February 24, 1945[1]) is an American actor and singer. He is known for playing Brad Majors in the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as well as the mayor in the sitcom Spin City. He has also had considerable fame in musical theatre.




Biography

Early life

Bostwick, one of two children, was born in San Mateo, California, the son of Betty (née Defendorf), a homemaker, and Henry "Bud" Bostwick, Jr., a city planner and actor.[2][3] His only sibling, Henry "Pete" Bostwick, was killed in a car accident on June 20, 1973. Bostwick attended San Diego's United States International University in 1967, majoring in acting, and worked for a time as a circus performer.


Career

In 1972, Bostwick originated the role of bad boy, Danny Zuko in the stage production of Grease, earning a Tony Award nomination for his performance. In 1975 he starred with Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon in the Rocky Horror Picture show. He also won a Tony Award for his performance in the 1977 musical The Robber Bridegroom. From 1996 to 2002, Bostwick portrayed the Mayor of New York City in the sitcom Spin City opposite Michael J. Fox and his successor, Charlie Sheen.

Since 2004, Bostwick has had a recurring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Other television credits include guest appearances in Charlie's Angels, Hawaii Five-O, The Golden Palace, Grace Under Fire, Cold Case, Scrubs, and Las Vegas, among others. He has also had leading roles in various mini-series, including George Washington, its sequel The Forging of a Nation, Scruples, A Woman of Substance, War and Remembrance, and Till We Meet Again.

Bostwick served as host of the nationally televised annual Capitol Fourth celebration on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for eight years.

Bostwick was also seen in a Pepsi Twist commercial. In the Cold Case episode Creatures of the Night, in which he is the main suspect, the theme of the episode revolves around The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is among his best-known performances to date.


Personal life

Bostwick married Stacey Nelkin, but they were divorced in 1991. Bostwick is married to his second wife Sherri Ellen Jenkins and has two children, Brian and Chelsea.

In 1997, Bostwick was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and 10 days later had his prostate removed. In 2004, he won the Gilda Radner Courage Award from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

Additionally, In 2003, Bostwick appeared on Scrubs as a patient also diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Billy Zane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born William George Zane, Jr.
February 24, 1966 (1966-02-24) (age 42)
Chicago, Illinois
Years active 1985 - present

Spouse(s) Engaged to British actress-turned-model Kelly Brook
William George "Billy" Zane, Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor and director. He is perhaps best recognized for his role as Caledon Hockley in the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic, as the deranged psychopath Hughie Warriner in Dead Calm, and as The Phantom in the 1996 eponymous film based upon the comic book superhero. As of 2008, Zane has appeared in over 50 films and numerous TV-series.[1]




Biography

Early life

Zane was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Thalia and William George Zane, Sr., both of whom were amateur actors and founders of a school for medical technicians.[2][3] His family's original surname, "Zanikopolous", was anglicized to "Zane" by his grandparents.[4] Both of his parents are Greek American and Zane was raised in the Greek Orthodox religion.[5][6] He has an older sister, Lisa Zane, who is also an actress. After completing a year abroad at The American School in Switzerland, Zane graduated from the Francis W. Parker School and attended Harand Camp of the Theater Arts, located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.


Career

1980s

Zane's first screen role was in Back to the Future (1985) playing one of Biff Tannen's friends/henchmen. Zane later reprised the role for the 1989 sequel, Back to the Future II. Later the same year, Zane gained international recognition with the role of psychotic villain Hughie Warriner in the thriller Dead Calm, alongside Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill.

He also starred in the NBC film, The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989).


1990s

Zane's first starring role was in a 1990 independent film, the low budget science fiction thriller, Megaville. In 1990, he also co-starred in the film Memphis Belle, a film version of a 1944 documentary about a World War II bomber plane. Zane also forayed into television work, and in 1991 he appeared as John Justice Wheeler in several episodes of David Lynch's hit TV-show Twin Peaks. In 1993, he played the Shakespearian actor "Mr. Fabian" in Tombstone, and took a starring role in Sniper. He also starred in a couple of Tales From The Crypt productions, including "Tales From the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight," where he plays a henchman of Satan called The Collector, and the episode "Well-Cooked Hams," where he plays a poorly skilled magician who kills to steal good tricks from other magicians.

In 1996, Zane played the eponymous classic comic book hero in the big budget action film The Phantom, based on Lee Falk's comic. The Phantom being his favorite comic, Zane pumped iron for over a year and a half to fill the character's tight spandex costume properly, and studied samples of the comic carefully in his attempt to copy the character's body language.

Although The Phantom was no box office success, Zane achieved success shortly after by playing Caledon Hockley in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic, which to this date remains his best known characterization. The role of Kate Winslet's wicked fiance went on to getting him nominated to an MTV Movie Award for "Best Villain" in Titanic, and a Blockbuster Entertainment Award. He was also nominated for a SAG-award.

In 1998, Zane starred in and produced I Woke Up Early The Day I Died, a silent film based on Ed Wood's last script, intended as a parody on bad filmmaking. He won several awards at the B-Movie Film Festival, including Best Movie and Best Actor, for this work. The year after, he starred opposite Timothy Dalton and Leonor Varela (who became his fiance after shooting ended) in a TV-movie about Cleopatra. Zane played the part of Mark Anthony.


2000s

Zane was instrumental in getting the critically acclaimed film The Believer made, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2001.[7] In it, he portrayed neo-Nazi Curtis Zampf, and starred opposite Ryan Gosling. The same year, he also had a cameo as himself in the popular comedy Zoolander, which gave birth to the popular quote "Listen to your friend Billy Zane, he's a cool dude."

Zane keeps busy in other parts of the entertainment industry as well. He is a singer and can occasionally be seen in various Broadway shows, like Chicago, where he played lawyer Billy Flynn.

He appeared in Marilyn Manson's music video for his single "The Dope Show".

He voiced John Rolfe in Pocahontas 2, and Ansem in Squaresoft and Disney's renowned video game Kingdom Hearts, and voiced Etrigan "The Demon" in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. Zane also had a recurring role in the popular television series Charmed in which he played poetry loving ex-demon Drake.

Premature hair loss has not diminished Zane's acting career. In some of his most famous films, like Titanic and The Phantom, he wore a hairpiece, and frequently does so when the role requires it. Billy Zane appeared in the 2006 Turkish film, Valley of the Wolves Iraq, (Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak, in Turkish). [8] Accused of anti-Americanism [9] and anti-Semitism,[10] the film tells the story of the U.S. Army run amok in Iraq, and brought into check by a brave Turkish soldier; Zane plays Sam William Marshall, a cruel and inhumane U.S. soldier; mixed martial artist Tito Ortiz plays a fellow soldier, and Gary Busey plays a Jewish-American Army doctor who harvests fresh organs from injured Iraqi prisoners to sell to rich Jews around the world.

Zane's debut as a director was Big Kiss, a light-hearted romantic comedy about two journalists involved in a diamond caper in which he also starred. Although released in Sweden in 2004, the date of a wider distribution remains uncertain. In January 2006, he made his debut on the London stage in Arthur Allan Seidelman's production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks by Richard Alfieri, a two-hander in which he co-starred with Claire Bloom.

As of 2007, Zane is rumoured to be a candidate for the role of Marlon Brando in a biopic about the legendary actor written by newcomer Johnny Bas. He is also rumoured to star in a dark comedy produced by Bob Yari, the man behind the Academy Award-winning Crash.[11] Zane has lined up several projects, including horror-comedy The Mad, ; 4Chosen (together with Laurence Fishburne); Alien Agent; Don Juan; and his second directorial effort, Uptown, about a man who starts a theater company for the mentally ill. Memory, a psychological thriller where Zane stars opposite Ann-Margret and Dennis Hopper, will be released in 2007. Zane is also set to star in a biopic on singer Mario Lanza, and opposite his fiancee Kelly Brook in family-comedy Fishtales.[12] In 2007, he signed on to star in World War II drama The Hessen Affair, to be directed by Paul Breuls.[13]


Personal life

Zane married actress Lisa Collins in 1989. The couple divorced in 1995. He was also engaged for a time to Chilean actress Leonor Varela, his costar in the 1999 television movie Cleopatra, where he played Marcus Antonius. As of 2006, Zane is engaged to marry British model turned actress Kelly Brook whom he met when starring with her in the movie "Survival Island/Three (UK title)". His leisure interests include riding, painting, swimming, photography, frisbees, taking nature walks, riding a bicycle, and collecting cars.[citation needed] He has described his movie heroes to be Sean Connery, Gene Kelly, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.[citation needed]

In 1999, Zane participated in the first Gumball 3000 rally, driving a 1964 Aston Martin DB5. He was featured in the music video, Epiphany, by Staind, and appeared in his friend Marilyn Manson's Dope Show video.

Zane executive-produced a CD made by bluesman Tim O'Connor. The album includes three songs from Dead Calm, where Zane had one of the lead roles.

The Old Man and the Dog

By Catherine Moore

"Watch out! You nearly broad sided that car!" My father yelled at me.
"Can't you do anything right?"

Those words hurt worse than blows. I turned my head toward the elderly
man in the seat beside me, daring me to challenge him. A lump rose in
my throat as I averted my eyes. I wasn't prepared for another battle.

"I saw the car, Dad. Please don't yell at me when I'm driving." My
voice was measured and steady, sounding far calmer than I really felt.

Dad glared at me, then turned away and settled back. At home, I left
Dad in front of the television and went outside to collect my
thoughts. Dark, heavy clouds hung in the air with a promise of rain.
The rumble of distant thunder seemed to echo my inner turmoil. What
could I do about him?

Dad had been a lumberjack in Washington and Oregon. He had enjoyed
being outdoors and had reveled in pitting his strength against the
forces of nature. He had entered grueling lumberjack competitions, and had
placed often. The shelves in his house were filled with trophies that
attested to his prowess.

The years marched on relentlessly. The first time he couldn't lift a
heavy log, he joked about it; but later that same day I saw him
outside alone, straining to lift it. He became irritable whenever
anyone teased him about his advancing age, or when he couldn't do
something he had done as a younger man.

Four days after his sixty-seventh birthday, he had a heart attack. An
ambulance sped him to the hospital while a paramedic administered CPR
to keep blood and oxygen flowing. At the hospital, Dad was rushed into
an operating room. He was lucky; he survived.

But something inside Dad died. His zest for life was gone. He
obstinately refused to follow doctor's orders. Suggestions and offers
of help were turned aside with sarcasm and insults. The number of
visitors thinned,
then finally stopped altogether. Dad was left alone.

My husband, Dick, and I asked Dad to come live with us on our small
farm. We hoped the fresh air and rustic atmosphere would help him
adjust. Within a week after he moved in, I regretted the invitation.
It seemed nothing was satisfactory. He criticized everything I did. I
became frustrated and moody. Soon I was taking my pent-up anger out on
Dick. We began to bicker and argue.

Alarmed, Dick sought out our pastor and explained the situation. The
clergyman set up weekly counseling appointments for us. At the close
of each session, he prayed, asking God to soothe Dad's troubled mind.
But the months wore on, and God was silent. Something had to be done,
and it was up to me to do it.

The next day, I sat down with the phone book and methodically called
each of the mental health clinics listed in the Yellow Pages. I
explained to each of the sympathetic voices that answered… In vain.
Just when I was giving up hope, one of the voices suddenly exclaimed,
"I just read something that might help you! Let me get the article."

I listened as she read. The article described a remarkable study done
at a nursing home. All of the patients were under treatment for
chronic depression. Yet their attitudes had improved dramatically when
they were given responsibility for a dog.

I drove to the animal shelter that afternoon. After I filled out a
questionnaire, a uniformed officer led me to the kennels. The odor of
disinfectant stung my nostrils as I moved down the row of pens. Each
contained five to seven dogs. Long-haired dogs, curly-haired dogs,
black dogs, spotted dogs… All jumped up, trying to reach me. I studied
each one but rejected one after the other for various reasons: too
big, too small, too much hair…

As I neared the last pen, a dog in the shadows of the far corner
struggled to his feet, walked to the front of the run and sat down. It
was a pointer, one of the dog world's aristocrats. But this was a
caricature of the breed. Years had etched his face and muzzle with
shades of gray. His hipbones jutted out in lopsided triangles. But it
was his eyes that caught and held my attention. Calm and clear, they
beheld me unwaveringly.

I pointed to the dog. "Can you tell me about him?" The officer looked,
then shook his head in puzzlement.

"He's a funny one. Appeared out of nowhere and sat in front of the
gate. We brought him in, figuring someone would be right down to claim
him. That was two weeks ago, and we've heard nothing. His time is up
tomorrow." He gestured helplessly.

As the words sank in, I turned to the man in horror. "You mean you're
going to kill him?"

"Ma'am," he said gently, "that's our policy. We don't have room for
every unclaimed dog."

I looked at the pointer again. The calm brown eyes awaited my decision.

"I'll take him," I said.

I drove home with the dog on the front seat beside me. When I reached
the house, I honked the horn twice. I was helping my prize out of the
car when Dad shuffled onto the front porch.

"Ta-da! Look what I got for you, Dad!" I said excitedly.

Dad looked, then wrinkled his face in disgust. "If I had wanted a dog,
I would have gotten one. And I would have picked out a better specimen
than that bag of bones. Keep it! I don't want it" Dad waved his arm
scornfully and turned back toward the house.

Anger rose inside me. It squeezed together my throat muscles and
pounded into my temples.

"You'd better get used to him, Dad. He's staying!" Dad ignored me.
"Did you hear me, Dad?" I screamed.

At those words, Dad whirled angrily, his hands clenched at his sides,
his eyes narrowed and blazing with hate. We stood, glaring at each
other like duelists, when suddenly the pointer pulled free from my
grasp. He wobbled toward my dad and sat down in front of him. Then
slowly, carefully, he raised his paw.

Dad's lower jaw trembled as he stared at the uplifted paw. Confusion
replaced the anger in his eyes. The pointer waited patiently. Then Dad
was on his knees, hugging the animal. It was the beginning of a warm
and intimate friendship.

Dad named the pointer Cheyenne. Together he and Cheyenne explored the
community. They spent long hours walking down dusty lanes. They spent
reflective moments on the banks of streams, angling for tasty trout.
They even started to attend Sunday services together, Dad sitting in a
pew and Cheyenne lying quietly at his feet.

Dad and Cheyenne were inseparable throughout the next three years.
Dad's bitterness faded, and he and Cheyenne made many friends. Then
late one night, I was startled to feel Cheyenne's cold nose burrowing
through our bed covers. He had never before come into our bedroom at
night. I woke Dick, put on my robe and ran into my father's room. Dad
lay in his bed, his face serene. But his spirit had left quietly
sometime during the night.

Two days later my shock and grief deepened when I discovered Cheyenne
lying dead beside Dad's bed. I wrapped his still form in the rag rug
he had slept on. As Dick and I buried him near a favorite fishing
hole, I silently thanked the dog for the help he had given me in
restoring Dad's peace of mind.

The morning of Dad's funeral dawned overcast and dreary. This day
looks like the way I feel, I thought, as I walked down the aisle to
the pews reserved for family. I was surprised to see the many friends
Dad and Cheyenne had made, filling the church.

The pastor began his eulogy. It was a tribute to both Dad and the dog
who had changed his life. And then the pastor turned to Hebrews 13:2.
"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers."

"I've often thanked God for sending that angel," he said.

For me, the past dropped into place, completing a puzzle that I had
not seen before: the sympathetic voice that had just read the right
article...

Cheyenne's unexpected appearance at the animal shelter... His calm
acceptance and complete devotion to my father…. and the proximity of
their deaths. And suddenly I understood. I knew that God had answered
my prayers after all.

Life is too short for drama &petty things, so laugh hard, love truly
and forgive quickly.

Live While You Are Alive. Tell the people you love that you love them,
at every opportunity.

Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second time.

Here is one of the very few rare Obama accomplishments (since we've mentioned McCain) that we can learn a bit from.

"Obama voted against a bill extending the cuts in capital gains and dividends tax rates that Congress enacted in 2003, and against the repeal of the tax on inherited wealth, the estate tax."

Now who's the "Taxman"?

MCCain has a clear record of years of NEVER "raising" taxes...

votes don't lie.

Well, folks, it seems that we now have our sound restored. Thanks, edgar for the Melanie song. Loved her "You Have a Brand New pair of Roller Skates..", but that tribute to Phil Ochs was awesome.

Glad that our hawkman made it today, and we appreciate his background on the celebs, and the lovely but sad story about the old man and the dog was very spiritual, Bio Bob. Needless to say, it made me misty-eyed.

Heh, heh, Rex. Votes don't lie? I can see that you have forgotten Florida, Maine. I'm usually apolitical, but I do get a kick out of some funny stuff about politicians. Here's a funny one, folks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El9RZvbXIj4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WT6-BIav2I

Pete Seger and friends
On the writing of Turn Turn Turn