Desert Island Classics

Here are the movies, books and music, without which, I would die.

Movies: (in no particular order)

Patton
The Longest Day
Chariots of Fire
The Godftaher I & II
Caddyshack
National Lampoon's Vacation
The Quiet Man
Citizen Kane
A Hard Day's Night
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Wings of Desire

Books:

The Bible
On Being Catholic - Thomas Howard
Rain of Gold - Victor Villasenor
The Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe
Viper's Tangle - Francois Mauriac
The Great Divorce - CS Lewis
Witness to Hope - George Weigel
Don Quixote - Cervantes
Orthodoxy - GK Chesterton
Chronicles of Wasted Time - Malcolm Muggeridge
Autobiography of a Soul - Therese of Liseaux

Music:

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (Live) - Genesis
Passio - Arvo Part
Krupa vs. Rich - Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich
Meet the Beatles - The Beatles
Live at Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash
For Absent Lovers - King Crimson
East Side Story - The Squeeze
The Gift - The Jam
9th Symphony - Beethoven (Roger Norrington cond.)
The Party Never Ends - Robert Earl Keen
Kiko - Los Lobos
The Ride - Los Lobos
Peter Gabriel 1 - Peter Gabriel
Exile on Main Street - Rolling Stones

I guess if I had all these things on a deserted island...it'd be pretty crowded!

I love you guys!

At years end I start to reflect back on the things, places and people that warm the cockles of my heart. All are dear to me and I know that this pithy existence I live would be pithier without them. So I want to give a shout out to my long suffering wife, Sandra, for all her love and support...she grounds me like no other. My kids are the light of life regardless of how nerve racking they can be. Andrew, Samantha and Matthew give me hope for the future. My mom, Hilda, is a great woman, 'nuff said. My sisters and brother complete me. My nephews and nieces are a joy. My buds' Dennis, Greg and Jeff...over 25 years of friendship without which I would be a lost soul. Charles, who reminds me everyday that Life gives us roses to gather about us in joy. Thank you my brother.

For those no longer here...I still mourn everyday for the life that can no longer be touched, but rejoice for the reward you have received. Pop, I think of you everyday. I wish you were here to see your grandkids, though I know you see them better from where you are. And to have one more round on the links with you. Sally, we miss you terribly. Grandma and Tata you are my heart. Tata Pancho, you are my soul. And to all my tia's and tio's who have gone on, we'll meet again.

Merry Christmas...REJOICE!

Agog #2

Cecilia Bartoli

Again...my wife is numero uno! (keep repeating that...) But I have to say that I am absolutely smitten by Miss Cecilia here.

A number of years ago I attended my very first recital at a small venue in Pasadena. The mezzo-soprano performing that night was Cecilia.

What I knew of opera I learned from Bugs Bunny cartoons and Three Stooges shorts, which is to say, NOTHING!

So I lowered myself into my seat expecting a nice long nap.

Boy-o-boy was I wrong. She stepped out onto the stage and from the end of her first piece I was hooked.

A the end of Rossini's "Canzonetta Spagnuola 'En medio a mis colores'" I was floored.

I vowed then and there that I would bare the children of this fine woman...knowing of course that it could never happen - but the offer is still out there, if she'll have me.

I now have a mild thing for operatic pieces (get your minds out of the gutter...I mean music) and I can blame it all on the divine Miss Bartoli.

So while Salma (see below) is pretty darned good looking...Cecilia ROCKS!! (next to my wife of course! Hi sweetie! Luv ya...be home soon!)

Agog!

Salma Hayek.


Will someone explain to me how Salma is not the most gorgeous woman, ever? (next to my wife, of course!)

GIGANTOR!!

I remeber running home, as fast as I could, in order to catch the afternoon programing of our local public television station. Once stationed before the set, I turned it on and waited patiently for the tubes to warm up.

There he was Gigantor! Bigger than big, taller than tall, quicker than quick, stronger than strong, ready to fight for right, against wrong!

I can hear the theme song now...cool bongos and way out flute...ah...the droning chorus!

Where have you gone Jimmy Sparks and Dr. Bob Brilliant?

Tookie! We Hardly Knew Ye!

Actually, we knew quite a lot about you.

I'm sorry you ended up where you did.

I'm sorry that you decided to slay four innocent people...O, yes you did!

Slay them down wickedly.

And now that you stand before the Judge of us all, you can no longer deny it.

And no matter what those who support you say, you were not an innocent man.

Your redemption is between you and God on high...but from down here you sure didn't smell like a redeemed man. You smelled of something darker...and squishier.

You founded the Crips for gosh sakes! Do you know how many lives you helped to destroy?
Can you count the number of people you had an indirect hand in killing? Do you understand the magnitude of damage to whole communities you created through the nice little drug ring you founded?

Hopefully you see that now.

Because you sure didn't when you walked this green and pleasant land. You were an innocent!

You never renounced the children of the night that you produced. You never co-operated with authorities to bring down the terror you helped to create. You never once called for the destruction of the Crips, Bloods or other filthy rags you left behind.

Never...not once.

And you maintained to the end that you did not kill those four innocents you were charged with killing.

That's not redemption...that's denial.

But you wrote books, or actually, had someone write them for you, so that your redemption would appear complete.

But those four bodies remain. The store keeper, laying flat on his stomach, offering no resistance, with two blasts to his back. You weren't even man enough to shoot "the man" to his face, were you? And two elderly people with double blasts to their tiny bodies...and to their daughter, only one, which blew her once hopefilled face to smithereens.

What a man! Slaughterer of the elderly! Slayer of "the man"! Destroyer of the weak.

Some say you saved children from joining gangs. There lay your redemption!

But there is no way to verify that. No way! You can however look to your own son...sitting there in jail, for life, because of the life he led in your little fraternal organization. Too bad he couldn't be saved from that wretched life by one of your books.

You led a tragic life...but you received as you gave. Yeah, it took a little longer to get the needles in those well pumped guns of yours. That was (by accounts) 17 minutes longer than your victims had. You got to thank those who supported you in those 17 minutes. They didn't even have time to call out to God. Did you look at the victims relatives in those extra moments? Did you ask them for forgiveness?

Every report says you didn't.

The acts of a redeemed man.

To all the silly people who supported you...SHAME ON YOU!

But there is no shame for the foolish and stupid. None.

Good night and good riddance Tookie.