My Tony Bennett Story

The legendary Tony Bennett passed away yesterday at age 96. Sadly, I never had the chance to see him perform live. I never had the chance to meet him. I also never had the chance to interview him on the radio. Yet, despite those things, I still have a Tony Bennett story that may make you laugh.

Whenever a Tony Bennett song comes on the radio, or his name comes up in conversation, there is one person who immediately comes to mind. My Italian grandmother.

This is a story that had I ever had the chance to talk to Tony, I wouldn’t share. You will soon see why.

“Everybody loved Tony” is a phrase that popped up in many celebrity tweets and videos today as they reflected on the man. Alec Baldwin, who did a fantastic Tony Bennett impression on Saturday Night Live, posted a video on his Instagram saying that exact phrase today. “Everybody loved Tony. Everybody loved him.” Well, not everyone ….

One day, we were all playing pinochle at my grandma’s house. Earlier that year, I had found a picture of Dean Martin (her favorite singer) and had it blown up into a poster. She framed it and at one point actually hung it in her garage so she could see him when they pulled in the car. Anyway, we began discussing singers. It was during this discussion that I learned of her feelings for Tony.

If memory serves me correct, we were playing cards and had the radio on a station that was playing “The Music of Your Life” stuff. It would be similar to the Sinatra channel on Sirius XM. “Sinatra was ok, but Dean Martin was better!” she told us. That was how the discussion began. This led to me asking about other singers.

“I’ll tell you one guy that I just can’t stand! That short, pimple faced one!” I had no idea who she was talking about. The more she tried to remember, the angrier she got. I finally asked her is she could think of one of his songs. She came up with “Rags to Riches” or “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” (I think. It was definitely one of his bigger hits)

“Oh! Tony Bennett?!” I said.

“Yeah!” she said, “Oh, I hate him!!”

This made me laugh and I asked her why. She never really had any type of concrete answer, but the fact that she disliked him could not have been more obvious.

This led to my dad, my brother, my friends, and me all finding ways to work Tony into conversation every time we visited. It also led to one of my favorite pranks to play on my grandma.

I was out shopping one day looking for a CD that I needed for an upcoming wedding I was to DJ. It was an older album, so I went to one of my favorite used record stores. After I found what I needed, an old LP caught my eye.

The big red letters shouting “TONY BENNETT” called me to it. I purchased it and wrapped it up for my grandma’s birthday or Christmas or something (I really don’t remember). I do remember her face when she opened it! She said, “Oh no! Not this pimple face! I hate him!” and threw it across the room – laughing, of course.

Now my grandmother could have easily just thrown the album away. She didn’t. She kept it on a shelf in both her house and eventually in her condo. Naturally, I had to have some fun with it. Every Sunday when we would visit, I would find a reason to slip away and get the album. I would then hide it somewhere in the house for her to find.

Many times it would be in a place she’d see right away. I’d put it behind the coffee pot, up on the chandelier, under a decorative pillow, on the chimney mantle, in place of an old 8X10 photo, under her pillow on her bed, in between the toilet seat and the lid, etc… It was every where! When she’d find it, she’d laugh and shout, “I HATE him!”

On second thought, maybe I would have told Tony that story if I met him. He might like to know that he was such a big part of my relationship with my grandma. Who knows…

Time Well Spent

Sometimes, you have to MAKE time. That is what I did the last time my boss asked for all of our “time off requests.” I chose one day a month and took it off to be sure that my wife and I get some “us” time. Last Friday, was the first of those days.

By the end of Wednesday night, I was ready to have that day off! Wednesday was a real mess. Everybody had really difficult patients. It was like someone deliberately put all of them on the same night to create the “Perfect Crapstorm!” I could hear Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock’s fantastic line, “What is your contingency plan for a crapstorm of this magnitude?” running through my head all night.

Thursday, I came home and was able to get some sleep. I was up at my normal time, and about to get ready for work when I received a text message that there were patients who cancelled and it was my turn to stay home. I cannot even begin to tell you how overjoyed I was to have a bonus night off!

I told my wife that after dinner, we were going to get ice cream! It certainly was not on my diet, but all that mattered was that I was going to have the night with the family. We all packed into the car and went to a local ice cream place about 8 miles from us. I tried to get a family picture while we were there, but neither of the kids knew we were taking the picture …

It was a perfect night. It wasn’t too hot, but there was plenty of sunshine. One of the best moments of the evening was watching Ella willingly share her ice cream with Andrew. It was so sweet to watch.

Then came Friday. Knowing that we were planning on having dinner out somewhere, Sam and I began to discuss where to go to eat. Why is trying to decide where to eat such a chore for couples? It’s crazy. Sam said she’d be happy going to Applebee’s, which I really didn’t want to do. So we looked at the internet and our “lists.” We have a list of places that we would love to try and a list of places that we like. We decided to stay close to home and go to one of our favorite Mexican places.

Prior to us dating, we used to go to this place with one of our teachers. The food is excellent. Once we began dating, we’d go there often. Now, there is one close to our house and we eat there frequently. We dropped the kids off at Sam’s sister’s house and we went to the restaurant that was close to the college.

They brought us their homemade chips and salsa, which is something I should have avoided because of how many points the chips are on Weight Watchers, but I didn’t. Instead, I made the healthy choice of avoiding the chimichangas I usually order, and opted for the chicken fajita, which is basically all free. I ate loads of veggies and chicken. I avoided the tortilla shells and the sour cream. It was delicious.

I also did something I hadn’t done in some time – I had a beer. I made sure to get a light beer and I counted the points for it. While I enjoyed it, I realized that I really have not missed it. There was a time where I was drinking beer almost every night. It was emotionally driven and brought on by stress. Today, I don’t feel the need to drink at all. I’m happy with my coffee or water.

After dinner, Sam and I drove to Target and walked through the store. We were looking for a couple things, but mostly just browsing. We got a few ideas for the kids for Christmas and enjoyed just walking – with no real hurry to get stuff done. It was wonderful.

The time together was much needed. It was a perfect evening. Driving home to get the kids, we talked, held hands and just enjoyed “us.” I am already looking forward to next month’s date day!!

The Shadow Knows!

Time to read is very rare in my life. My stack of books to read seems to always be growing. Every once in a while, I get a few moments to crack open a book and read, but those moments seem to be few and far between. This week, I started reading a book by James Patterson and Brian Sitts based on a character who is over 90 years old – The Shadow. The book is one of my birthday gifts from Sam.

The Shadow made his debut in the 1930’s in a variety of novels. The character has made appearances on radio, in magazines, comic books, comic strips, on TV, in serials, video games and at least 5 feature films.

From Britannica.com:

The Shadow, American radio program that ran from 1937 to 1954. The title character, a caped vigilante who was also featured in The Shadow Magazine, was one of the most enduring and influential creations of the pulp era.

The Shadow was originally created as the narrator of the 1930 radio show Detective Story Hour, a program that was intended to promote publisher Street & Smith’s Detective Story magazine. The character of the Shadow, given a mysterious voice and ominous laugh by actors James La Curto and Frank Readick, was popular enough to convince Street & Smith to develop him as the protagonist in his own pulp magazine. The magazine was commercially successful, and in 1937 the Shadow returned to radio on the Mutual network as the protagonist in a weekly series. Initially played by Orson Welles, this version of the Shadow was significantly different from the pulp version. On radio the Shadow was the secret identity of Lamont Cranston, who had the power to hypnotically cloud the minds of those near him to make himself invisible. In early episodes, he occasionally used telepathy and the ability to cause others to see illusions, though these other powers were gradually dropped in later seasons.

The many agents the Shadow employed in the pulp stories were dropped in favour of a single female companion named Margo Lane, initially played by Agnes Moorehead.. The radio episodes were melodramatic, with the Shadow often tracking down mass murderers and psychotic killers who were carrying out bizarre crimes. In one episode, a modern-day pirate uses a submarine to wreak havoc on the high seas, and in another a mad scientist rips airplanes out of the sky with a giant magnet. Using his invisibility to gather information and carry out psychological warfare on the criminals, the Shadow would inevitably foil their schemes. The show’s acting and production values were excellent, and it was popular enough to last for 17 years.

During this run, the Shadow was played by Welles, Bret Morrison, Bill Johnstone, John Archer, and Steve Courtleigh. Actresses who played Margo Lane included Moorehead, Marjorie Anderson, Marion Sharkley, Laura Mae Carpenter, Lesley Woods, Grace Matthews, and Gertrude Warner. The show was canceled in 1954, but many episodes were recorded and preserved.

I was introduced to the Shadow by my dad. We would listen to old radio shows together and it was one that played often. I can remember the first time I heard the organ theme to the show followed by those marvelous opening words:

“Who know what evil lurks in the hearts of man? The Shadow knows.” This was followed by that ominous laugh ….

At the end of every show, The Shadow would appear again to remind listeners:

“The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay. The Shadow knows.” This would be followed again by his laugh and the show was over.

I remember in the early 1990’s Alec Baldwin starred as the Shadow in a feature film. Many panned it, but I found it to be very good. It’s worth the watch.

I remember reading somewhere that James Patterson was going to tackle the Shadow. I wasn’t sure what to think and I will wait till I finish the book to pass judgement on it. I have high hopes for it and hope it does not disappoint.

Favorite Films – The 90’s

This blog is a continuation of a series I started a week or so ago. Somebody had the idea to post a list was to consist of your favorite films from each year of your life. So, you start with your birth year and move ahead year by year and list all the films from each year. A post from the Avocado site came up in my “Reader” list of blogs that had the same principle, but with one exception – you can only pick one movie from each year. My last “movie” blog focused on my favorites from the 1980’s and this one will feature the 1990’s.

As I looked through the films for this decade and was actually surprised. I thought that the as I moved forward, I’d have less films to talk about. I was wrong. Picking one favorite from each year is going to be tough.

1990 had plenty of sequels, one of which will end up my pick for favorite. Eddie Murphy was back with Another 48 Hours. Bruce Willis offered up Die Hard II. Almost 20 years later, The Corleone family returned in Godfather III. The second installment of Young Guns was in theaters and Sylvester Stallone returned as Mr. Balboa in Rocky V. Johnny Depp was Edward Scissorhands, Kevin Costner was Dancing with Wolves, while Sean Connery was underwater with the Hunt for Red October. Julia Roberts was “hooking” in Pretty Woman, Harrison Ford was Presumed Innocent, and Macaulay Culkin was left Home Alone. Comedies included Nuns on the Run, Madhouse, and Kindergarten Cop. The film adaption of Stephen King’s Misery will have be forever fearing sledgehammers!

I am going to catch some flack for this not being my favorite of this year. Goodfellas is a great film! It is. “You’re Italian, Keith! How can Goodfellas NOT be your pick?” It doesn’t matter. It’s my list.

My pick for favorite of 1990 is the conclusion of the Back to the Future series – Back to the Future Part III.

What can I say, I love these characters. By the end of Part II, I was wondering just how things were going to wrap up. While the end is a bit contrived and falls a bit flat, everything else I enjoyed. I enjoyed how in the old west we see the beginnings of the town, the clock tower (which plays such a big role in the first film), and the earlier family members of the characters. The suspense of getting that train up to 88mph had me on the edge of my seat in the theater. Loved this trilogy and it remains one of my all time favorites!

In 1991, there were silly comedies (Naked Gun 2 1/2, Hot Shots, Soapdish, and What about Bob?), action films (Robin Hood, Hook, and Thelma and Louise), and thrillers (Backdraft and Silence of the Lambs).

It is hard to pick one favorite for this year. As someone who has been fascinated with the JFK assassination, I really enjoyed Oliver Stone’s JFK. I had read so many books about the various conspiracies. What a stellar cast! Robin Williams put on an amazing performance in The Fisher King. I admit, when I rented this film, I expected a comedy. It was a very powerful story. See it if you haven’t! Billy Crystal and Jack Palance are just great together in City Slickers. “I crap bigger than you” remains a favorite movie quote!

My pick for this year may come as a surprise to those who have read previous blogs. Why? Because I have complained so often about Hollywood running out of ideas! I have bitched about how they are remaking everything! This is one of those exceptions. YES – it is a remake of a TV show, but this is also an instance of a good remake. The Addams Family.

I think what makes this such a good movie is that the cast is true to the characters of the cartoon and the TV show. Raul Julia is brilliant as Gomez. Anjelica Huston is spot on as Morticia. Christopher Lloyd is great as Fester. Christina Ricci is the perfect Wednesday. The film is funny and fun. I wasn’t so keen on the sequel, but this one was a blast (and a film I have to watch every October!).

1992 brought the return of Michael Keaton as Batman in Batman Returns, Whitney Houston was a superstar in The Bodyguard, and who can forget Sharon Stone in basic Instinct? Honeymoon in Vegas was ok, but had a great soundtrack! Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei are just wonderful together in My Cousin Vinny while Tom Hanks coaches Geena Davis and Madonna in A League of Their Own. We are also introduced to Wayne Campbell and his friend Garth in the SNL based Wayne’s World.

This almost was my pick for favorite – A Few Good Men. Such a great story, with a great cast, and powerful performances! Tom Cruise, Kevin Bacon, Demi Moore, Kevin Pollack, and Jack Nicholson are all superb in this film! My favorite, however, has to go to Disney’s Aladdin.

Why? Two words – Robin Williams! I have heard of the many hours of voice stuff he recorded for this film that was never used. I can only imagine the wonderful ad-libs he did in the studio! Friend Like Me is on my iPod and it gives me chills every time I listen to it.

1993 comedies included Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men In Tights, Wayne’s World II, Loaded Weapon, Groundhog Day, So I Married an Axe Murderer, and Mrs. Doubtfire. Another comedy that is a must watch (especially for the bloopers at the end) is Grumpy Old Men. Drama/Thrillers included John Grisham’s The Firm, Jurassic Park, and In The Line of Fire.

1993 brought two films that are considered classics that I have never seen. One of them, I have a reason, the other, I don’t. Schindler’s List and the Sandlot. Schindler’s list is one that I will watch – but I have the book and I want to read it first. The Sandlot I have heard quoted 100 times, I just have never had the chance to sit and watch it. I will – eventually.

Twice in the same decade, I am picking a remake – a remake of a TV show again. My pick for 1993 is The Fugitive.

Harrison Ford does a great job playing Richard Kimball. I loved the original series. Tommy Lee Jones is just hilarious in this. It truly is a great film and one I can watch over and over again.

Jim Carrey dominated the year with three films – The Mask, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and Dumb and Dumber. Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks, was a wonderful film! It had a great soundtrack and it was cool to see how they put his character into scenes from history. I could watch Jamie Lee Curtis over and over in True Lies. Dennis Leary is so funny in The Ref. It is one of those forgotten Holiday movies that I just love. Another forgotten film from this year is The Shadow. It is based on the old radio show, which was based on a comic book. Alec Baldwin stars in it and I thought it was very well done.

My favorite film from the year, hands down, is The Shawshank Redemption.

Based on a Stephen King short story, it remains one of my favorite films. Prior to seeing it, I knew King had wrote it. I had always associated him with horror films, so I never saw it. I am so glad that I was convinced to watch it. If you have never seen it – you should! It is a masterpiece!

1995 comedies featured SNL stars Chris Farley (in Tommy Boy) and Adam Sandler (in Billy Madison). Mel Gibson starred as William Wallace in Braveheart. Tom Hanks first uttered “Houston, we have a problem” in Apollo 13. He also starred as Sheriff Woody in the first installment of Toy Story. Robin Williams is stuck in a board game in Jumanji. There was a remake with a twist – The Brady Bunch Movie. What made this work, was that the cast is still stuck in the past, while living in the present day. It wasn’t hilarious, but it worked.

Again, here is a film that you would think should be THE pick for this year. Casino with Robert Deniro, Sharon Stone, and Joe Pesci. It truly is a great film, but my pick is The Usual Suspects.

I remember my grandmother used to watch Perry Mason and guess who the killer was all the time. Some movies, you can guess the ending, but this one caught me completely off guard. I never saw it coming. That is the reason I picked this one. Watching it the second time, I noticed all the things I missed throughout the first viewing. It is such s good film.

Comedies from 1996 include Leslie Nielsen in Spy Hard, Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore, and Jim Carrey as The Cable Guy. Drama/Thrillers included Ghosts of Mississippi, A Time To Kill, and Primal Fear. Tom Cruise appeared in Mission: Impossible (which I hated, because it was really all about his character while the TV show was more of a team effort). We first saw that stupid ghost mask in the first Scream movie, and Sean Connery starred in The Rock.

Before naming my pick for 1996, I will mention in passing a movie that was loaded with big name stars, but was just awful – Mars Attacks. Urgh!

My pick for 1996 is again, a remake. The Nutty Professor.

I want to say first of all that I LOVE the Jerry Lewis version of this movie. It is my all time favorite Jerry film. When I heard that he gave his blessing to this film, I gave it a chance and I am glad I did. While Jerry’s version takes a nerd and makes him a cool jerk, Eddie’s version takes an overweight, shy man and makes him a thin pompous jerk. Kudos to Eddie Murphy, who plays his entire family!

My list of 1997 films is a short one. I’m not sure why. There were some films that stood out, though. Two presidential movies this year – Absolute Power with Gene Hackman and Harrison Ford in Air Force One. Nicolas Cage was a con in Con Air and starred with John Travolta in Face/Off. Jim Carrey is very funny in Liar Liar and Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith star in the first Men In Black.

Almost nabbing the pick for the year is Mike Myers in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. It’s a funny and silly spy spoof and while many of the jokes are childish, the character is one that I found very funny. My pick for the year, however, is Titanic.

Let me say this – I hated the whole Jack/Rose love story BS in this film! It doesn’t make it a bad film, I understand why it was done. I think they thought no one would go see the story of the sinking ship without something “new” in it. At any rate, as someone who has been intrigued by the story of Titanic since I was in elementary school, I was amazed at the details of the ship. After the film came out they had a magazine that compared the shots from the movie with pictures from the real ship – it was neat to see just how close the set was to the real ship.

I had read the story of the Titanic many times. We read Walter Lord’s A Night To Remember in high school. The minute by minute account was so accurate. When I saw Titanic, I was left speechless. There were all the people I had read about. I will never forget watching it and seeing a passenger falls and hit the propeller on their way into the water – wow. I left the theater in complete silence. I got in the car and wept.

1998 saw Stephen King’s Apt Pupil come to the big screen, Robin Williams was wonderful as Patch Adams, and Pixar showed us A Bug’s Life. SNL and SNL actors were prominent in comedies. Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan starred in A Night at the Roxbury, while Adam Sandler was The Wedding Singer (with Drew Barrymore) and The Waterboy (with Henry Winkler and Jerry Reed). Norm MacDonald and Artie Lang star in one of my favorite comedies (though many people found it NOT funny) – Dirty Work. Finally, Antonio Banderas is excellent in The Mask of Zorro with Catherine Zeta Jones!

My pick for 1998 is the powerful D-Day film – Saving Private Ryan.

This movie is about as real as it gets. D-Day was a bloodbath. This is such a powerful movie. It leaves me in awe every time I see it.

As we reach the end of the 90’s, there are plenty of great movies in this final year of the decade. Comedies included the return of Austin Powers in The Spy Who Shagged Me, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Big Daddy, Analyze This, and Office Space. Adventure films included The Mummy, True Crime (the book was better), Sleepy Hollow, and Deep Blue Sea (Love the scene where Samuel L. Jackson gets it!). For kids (and adults) Woody and Buzz are back in Toy Story 2 and Episode 1 of Star Wars (The Phantom Menace) graced the screen (and left adults wanting to kill Jar Jar Binks!).

My pick for favorite is based on the Stephen King novel – The Green Mile.

This remains one of my favorite films. I cry like a baby at the end every time! What an amazing story! This is one of those rare instances where I have seen the movie and never read the book. I am not sure how different the film is from the book, but the book remains on a shelf at home in the “to be read” stack. Writing about it for this blog has just moved it up to the top of my list to read.

In closing

I have a feeling it will become easier to pick films in the decade ahead. As I move into the 2000’s, I know for a fact that I have seen less movies. I got to the point where I didn’t want to go to the movies to pay $10 to see a crappy movie. It was happening was too often so I started watching less movies.

19 more years to go …. See you next time!