“Like a Heat Wave,” Martha and the Vandellas
I arose at 3 a.m. to catch a flight to Salt Lake City and
then Palm Springs. At the Highland
airport bus station numerous Yucca plants were in bloom; the woman on duty,
calling them moonflowers, said they bloomed at night and gave off a lovely
fragrance. A lightning storm near O’Hare
delayed take-off for two hours.
Fortunately the pilot made up about 20 minutes, allowing me to reach my
connection with just minutes to spare. I
hurriedly purchased a fruit cup near the gate and left the boarding pass on the
counter but quickly realized my mistake.
At the Palm Springs Airport Hertz counter I left a birthday package of
candy behind and went back to find that the lady who waited on me was on her
way to catch me. A record heat wave made
Rancho Mirage in June even more sweltering than normal – afternoon temperatures
reached 118, 120, 120, and 122. The
latter on Saturday was within 12 degrees of the highest temperature ever
recorded on earth, in Death Valley. The
Holiday Inn swimming pool resembled a hot tub, and one could have cooked an egg
on the Corolla rent-a-car hood.
I visited with Midge for a couple hours Wednesday before
ordering a light supper and a couple Michelob Ultra drafts at Applebee’s. Server Andrea Aguirre greeted me warmly. At lunch the next day the Mirage Inn cafeteria
served sliders with onion rings, a new menu item and quite good, Midge and I
agreed. It being her birthday (number
97), the waitresses serenaded her and brought balloons and a cupcake with a
candle on it. In the afternoon I drove
35 miles to Pioneertown, where Cracker will be performing in mid-September at a
legendary Mojave Desert roadhouse called Pappy and Harriet’s. Even though Pioneertown seemed a ghost town
(nearby were abandoned buildings used as the backdrop for old Gene Autry and
Roy Rogers westerns), Pappy and Harriet’s was hopping, with bikers playing
pool, families having lunch, and hippie-types at the bar. That evening we dined at Shame on the Moon,
and for dessert the waiter brought Midge a miniature chocolate cake.
The HBO documentary “The Out List” profiled 16 LGBTs,
including Dallas County, Texas, sheriff Lupe Valdez. Discussing her first visit to the
gay-friendly Metropolitan Community Church, she said, “Just like every other person that ever tried to come in there, we
drove around the church a couple times trying to get brave enough to come
in.” Born in 1947 the youngest of
eight children, Lupe worked in the fields alongside her migrant worker parents
and paid her own way through college.
She served in the army, as a jailer in a federal prison, with the U.S.
Customs Service, and as a senior agent for the Department of Homeland Security before
winning office in 2004. Noting that she
was the first woman, the first ethnic minority person, the first lesbian, and a
Democrat in a solidly Republican state, the Dallas
Morning News commented that “voters
managed to shatter at least four different stereotypes in one fell swoop.”
Friday I took Midge to have her hearing aids cleaned and
batteries replaced at a cleverly named center called HUH (Help U Hear) – as in
“huh?”. Next stop: the Palm Desert branch
of Palm Springs Art Museum, which had works by Chihuli, Picasso, de Kooning,
and Rauschenberg, plus interesting pieces by Native Americans. What impressed me most were two works by Red
Grooms, a three dimensional litho-print sculpture of Picasso and a painting of
the Cedar Bar in Greenwich Village with renderings of abstract impressionists
who hung out there. After lunch at
Applebee’s we took in a show at Mirage Inn’s Club Bistro – a 73 year-old
pianist playing familiar old standards.
above, paintings by Red Grooms; below, Jimbo and Crosby; Addy and Midge
Saturday Bob, Niki, Addison, and Crosby arrived from San
Diego for a second birthday celebration.
We met at a children’s discovery center and then dined at the Yard
House, which bragged of carrying 180 types of draft beer. Waitress Sarah, originally from Naperville,
Illinois, suggested Goose Island Honker’s Ale, a good choice and a familiar
one. At meal’s end Sarah brought Midge
warm apple crisp topped with ice cream and a candle. When we sang Happy Birthday, other patrons
joined in, including a friend of Midge dining with her granddaughter. A man from the next table asked if she were
single. Afterwards, I played hide and
seek with Addie and Crosby in their hotel room and watched them swim before
turning in early since I had a 6:15 flight the next morning. Bob plays third base on a softball team,
which gave me an opportunity to talk about my playing days, including my lone
home run.
Watching a weekly news summary, I was struck by all the
attention given the George Zimmerman trial and the Aaron Hernandez murder
case. MSNBC and CNN carried the trial
live, and defense attorney Don West spent hours badgering Trayvon Martin’s
friend Rachel Jeantel and playing up the fact that Trayvon called the man
stalking him a “creepy-ass cracker.” The Supreme Court, after disgracing itself by
striking down portions of the Voting Rights Act, made amends (at least Justice
Kennedy did) by declaring the federal Defense of Marriage Act
unconstitutional. It was passed in 1996
and signed into law by President Bill “Slick Willie” Clinton, fearful that
doleful Senator Bob Dole and the Republicans would use it against him to derail
his bid for re-election. How public
opinion has changed since then. Senator
Wendy Davis spoke for 11 hours in the Texas chamber in a filibuster to prevent
passage of an anti-abortion bill.
Thousands of pro-choice protesters filled the chambers and shouted down
roll call vote attempts before the midnight deadline. Janet Bayer found a “Living Blue” poster that
captured the hypocrisy of pro-life fanatics.
As Nelson Mandela lay in critical condition, President
Obama arrived in South Africa, met with his family, and visited Robben Island,
where the beloved leader spent 18 years in a tiny prison cell. During a previous stop in Senegal Obama made
an emotional pilgrimage to Goree Island and peered through the “Door of No
Return,” where slaves were forced onto ships bound for North America. During the layover in Salt Lake City I caught
a CNN telecast of Obama speaking to Capetown University students about difference
makers. He quoted from a 1966 Bobby
Kennedy speech from the same location and claimed his first foray into politics
was speaking out during the disinvestment movement to end apartheid.
During the first leg of my return trip I sat next to a
beautiful, 46 year-old blond named Michele, journeying to Manchester, NH, to be
with a man she’d first met on Facebook.
They had a mutual friend, and he decided he wanted to get to know
her. After exchanging messages and
talking for hours on the phone, he visited her in Palm Springs, and things
clicked. Lucky guy! On my second flight a marine was initially
next to me, but the flight attendant asked if he wanted a free upgrade to first
class, so I had the extra space to myself.
A Chinese passenger was almost a dead ringer for blowhard Bill O’Reilly.
While I was gone, neighbors Mike and Nicole got married
and James and Becca appeared in the Ross Summer Music Theatre presentation “50
Years of Excellence.” Becca had three
solos, “Goodnight My Someone,” “Climb Every Mountain,” and “You’ll Never Walk
Alone.” James sang “76 Trombones” and
did a duet with Melanie Paterson to “Put On a Happy Face” from “Bye Bye
Birdie.” Also Alissa and Josh stopped at
the condo on their way back from a birthday party in Chicago. Ron Cohen dropped off Michael
Kramer’s “The Republic of Rock: Music and Citizenship in the Sixties Counterculture.” Kramer begins: “I quite literally owe my life to the music of the 1960s: my parents
met on the way to the 1968 Newport Folk Festival.”
Of the hundred emails awaiting attention, this from
renowned photographer Camilo Vergara was the most interesting: “I
plan to celebrate the
50th anniversary of the March on Washington by organizing poster shows across
the US. I will have 10 copies of 13 posters
each 20"X30" in size for my use. How about placing one of the shows in an abandoned building such
as City Methodist Church or the East 5th St. Library? And doing it around August 27 at the time MLK
Jr. gave his I Have a Dream Speech? And making a video of the hanging. My U. of Chicago friend David
Schalliol is willing to help. Let me know if you are interested. I hope to see you in 2013
amigo.” I’m
interested and hope to involve Sam Barnett and Corey Hagelberg in the project.
Los Angeles Times reporter Rich Simon, researching
lesser known Washington, DC, monuments, came across one of James Buchanan in
Meridan Hill Park and learned from Don Ritchie that I was a descendent. He wondered if I cared to comment on Buchanan
rating a statue, given he was one of our worst presidents. I responded: “Buchanan's
low reputation is based largely on the fact that he didn't stop Southern states
from seceding, but Lincoln used similar caution until the South ‘fired the
first shot.’ Also for those like myself that believe the Civil War was
inevitable, he can't be blamed for not preventing it.” According to Google, the monument, unveiled in
1930, contains this quote from Buchanan’s attorney-general Jeremiah S. Black: “The incorruptible statesman whose walk was
upon the mountain ranges of the law.”
House Republicans want to allocate tens of
billions of dollars for Mexican border security but are still balking at the
compromise Senate bill. Ray Smock
composed this “House of Representatives Ode to Immigration (with apologies
to Emma Lazarus and to the Statue of Liberty)”
Don't let in the
Tired, the Poor
Or the huddled
masses yearning for free food
Or the Wretched
Refuse crossing the Rio Grande
Send these, the
homeless, tempest-tossed
To any other
country besides America
We hereby shut
the Golden Door.
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