Favorite Things

Smart-Aleck Hall of Fame

"New Hampshire. I spent a year there one weekend."

One of the joys of my Saturday mornings is the Law and Order marathons they run on the TNT Network.

This is one of those shows that bear repeated watchings because of the quality of the writing and acting, not because of the "suspense" factor.

My favorite character on the series, by a mile, is wise-cracking detective Lennie Briscoe, memorably portrayed by the late Jerry Orbach.



Of course I know that his dialogue was scripted, but it was his delivery of those sardonic one-liners that qualifies him for a spot in my Smart-Aleck Hall of Fame.

Things That Make Me Happy: Home Game Edition

My beloved Missouri Tigers are currently taking on the Connecticut Huskies at Faurot Field in Columbia. It is perfect late-September weather, sunny and not too warm. There really isn't much that can compare to a college campus on Game Day. Mizzou-RAH!

Faurot Field a few hours before kick-off.

Politically Incorrect

Until Next Time...

One of the less pleasant aspects of my growing up was discovering that the seemingly idyllic world of performing artists isn't really much different from the mundane lives most of us lead. Throughout my high school years, I watched as group after group of my musical favorites bickered, disbanded, or collapsed due to substance abuse. It was a fact of musical life, but some of these break-ups hit me harder than others.

When Simon & Garfunkel's album Bridge Over Troubled Water was released in January of 1970, mid-way through my junior year in high school, it was an immediate success, and eventually spent 10 consecutive weeks at the top to the Billboard album charts. For quite awhile it held the record for best-selling album of all time. But it was bittersweet for me since the group, one of my favorites, was known to have broken up during the recording sessions for the album. Knowing it would be their final album took a lot of the pleasure out of listening to it for me.

On September 19, 1981, the estranged musical partners re-united for the first time in more than a decade, and performed before approximately 500,000 people in New York's Central Park. The event was a benefit designed to raise funds for much-needed improvements to the iconic park, but almost no one who attended (or watched the special broadcast on HBO) cared much about that. What mattered was that one of the most popular acts of the '60s was performing again. They certainly recreated the magic that had made them famous.

Today's send-off is their performance that night of the traditional English ballad "Scarborough Fair," and even after nearly half a century since I first heard them, the sound of those two voices singing together gives me chills. Enjoy...