Update 2-17-04


Hi,

The three-day weekend special. In order of seniority ... er ... respect:

From Booker Gibson: It took me a little while, but I finally found a secretary at South who had the information about Vince Tampio's scholarship. So, I'll mail you a check at the end of the month. That's one of the few things I miss about school teaching -- we got paid twice monthly, instead of once.
     Also, if you remember, I've been raving about the almost-unknown American singer Eva Cassidy, who died from skin cancer in 1996 at the age of 33. Her voice is finally being heard more and more in this country. England and other countries have been doing their best to spread her reputation, since they heard her before most Americans -- except for some people who live in the Baltimore-Washington area, where she grew up and sang. Robin Seader Cottmeyer told me she saw her.
I'm going through all this again because I thought about you and West coast TV when I got a call from a lady who's the daughter of one of my closest college friends. I sent the mother some Cassidy CDs, and she forwarded them on to her daughter, who is music director of the NBC soap The Days Of Our Lives. I believe her name is Amy Burkhard Evans. They will be using Eva's famous recording of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" on February 18th for a "death scene." On the phone, Amy said the entire cast was shaken up by the recording. It's nice to know I'm not the only one.
     Amy's mother was one of the most beautiful and talented musicians I've ever known, but in recent years she's been hurt by Parkinson's Disease, and that's how I last saw her two years ago at our 50th reunion. Now, she can't play piano or organ, so that's another reason why she sent the CDs down to Amy in L.A. (She and her retired husband live up in a very quiet section of Northern California called Downieville.)
     Rich, I don't think you work at NBC, but if you do and meet this music director, Amy, please say hello. Bye now.

[Rich -- I don't work at NBC, and I only know a couple of music directors in the business -- and there are lots. But if anyone else runs into Amy, and there's always a chance, because it's a large business and a small business at the same time, please say hello to Amy. Meanwhile, let's all go buy some Eva Cassidy CDs.
     Also, as I just wrote Booker, I haven't started collecting the money for the Vince Tampio scholarship, because there are a few details still being worked out with South, and I've also been meaning to write Paul DeMartino to ask about accounting legalities (Hi, Paul). But, soon, I'll call in those pledges.]

From Emily Kleinman Schreiber: I got this from Arthur Wachtel: "Just spoke to Stu Kaplan. He had a triple bypass on Wednesday. He is fine and will be going home on Saturday or Sunday."
     I thought some of you would want to know about that. In case you want to contact Stu, his address is: 4128 Windhaven Lane, Dallas, Texas. His phone number is: 972-248-7810, and his e-mail address is: Studad2@aol.com

From Art Halprin, evidently envious that everyone else seems to be changing e-mail addresses: My new e-mail address is: arthalprin@msn.com Thanks.

From Barbara Blitfield Pech: just an update of sorts...thought i hit upon a class find...[and the story goes...] from my account call list, I needed to send samples to Vogue S.A [magazine]....my [new] contact person is Valerie Beiner..."hey..paydirt"...I thought to myself.."time to play Jewish geography"...then the reality of where I live..and who she works for set in..fast...her name is...but she is from Guatemala and pronounces it Bee-i-ner.. although..she was "fascinated" by my...northern story..had no idea that [anyone] outside of her immediate family shared the same name???...and certainly never heard of..Alan, Jeff..or Beiner Chevrolet...etc....[check please]..."hugs"...bbp

From Robert Fiveson: By the way, the picture of the iceberg Linda Cohen Greenseid forwarded to you is a famous doctored photo.

[Rich -- Yeah, I knew that. The photo showed a side view both above and below the water. The last person who was able to do something like that non-digitally was, reportedly, Moses.]

Philosophy, forwarded by Jerry Bittman: Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here, we might as well dance.

[Rich -- Speaking of which, Happy birthday, Andy Dolich. Happy birthday, Alan Finder. Happy birthday to me -- who's almost a whole year older than Alan, but six days younger than Andy.[

Finally, about the home page freeze: Over the past week-and-a-half, I've sent a series of notes to AOL, asking for help unlocking something called My FTP Space. On its troubleshooting site, AOL promises to get back to customers within 72 hours, so I was patiently sending notes every fourth day. Nothing. Then, this afternoon, simultaneously, I got replies from five different AOL technicians offering me solutions to the problem. They're long, and they're involved, and I don't have time to compare and contrast them just now, let alone follow their complicated directions. But I do have my evening free tomorrow, and I hope to unlock the home page then. That should let me update the latest e-mail addresses and post the recent updates. Meanwhile, you can still read all the information previously posted, and if I don't solve the problem tomorrow, I'll let you know next week.
     And that should let me go to bed.

The home page: http://hometown.aol.com/vssouth65

Rich