I am mostly not happy this New Year
There’s little evidence of a reboot
Of the preposterously impossible situation we’re in
And if you consider my point to be moot
Well, I think you may be right
My complaints had little weight
I’ve become philosophically perplexed
As a schizophrenic hater of hate
What a waste of time
When there is so little of it to spare
Where every discussion is hijacked
By the buffoon with the crazy, orange hair
Did anyone leave a breadcrumb trail
To help us find a pathway back?
Can anything or anybody knock
His gold-plated toy train off the track?
The news has been rather bleak
And fake, so I am told
We need to stop joking, that if Global Warming’s a thing
How can it still be so damn cold?
I’ve tried to be more rosy
To search for things that make me smile
But they are few and far between
And it’s exhausting, after while
When
The President’s insane
The Congress is insaner
Who thought we’d miss the good old days
Of that blubbering fool, John Boener?
Everyone’s a sexual deviant
Off with all of their heads!
What happened to plain, old, consensual sex
In the privacy of our own beds?
There’s a looming threat of Nuclear War
Under your desks! Cover your ears!
There are two, dumb, fat fucks with the nuclear codes
And their fingers on all your worst fears
There’s terror and torture and disastrous weather
It seems we’re more intent on being separate then on coming together
And yet
I know many good people
I’m sure you all know a few
And just maybe, one baby step at a time
There are some things that we can do
So,
I’ll hold fast to a positive thought
‘Cause I’m a glass-nearly-half-full sort of poet
Rabidly rhyming away in my couplet-ed mania
Here’s 2017, as I know it
•••
Trump and Ailes, Weiner, Lauer and Weinstein
Spacey, Moore, Franken and Rose
Conyers, Keillor, O’Reilly, Simmons, Levine
The sexual misconduct list just grows and grows
Big pharma’s got us hooked
On opioids , ED pills and tranqs
The cure seems to be the problem
But hardly anyone says, “No thanks”
There are now transgender Boy Scouts
Krispy Kreme bought Panera Bread
The Village Voice quit putting papers in boxes
Choosing digital delivery instead
Obama surprised Biden with the Medal of Freedom
El Chapo is in a US jail
Jeff Bezos became the world’s richest man
By selling everything through the mail
Mt. Etna roared to life on Sicily
Toys R Us is going under
The President is presidenting
By blunder, after dumb-assed blunder
He’s sucked up to the Russians
His staff’s in disarray
He tried to announce Israel’s capital will move to Jerusalem
But his tongue got in the way
Jeff Sessions is a lying sack of shit
Ben Carson is a dope
He thinks slaves were actually immigrants
To which smart people just said, “Nope”
Bannon and Flynn were fired
Reince Priebus, (how is that even a name), got the ax
Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka and Jared, oh my
They’re all criminals and dems da facts
FBI Director, Comey, got the boot
He refused to kiss the ring
Bob Meuller was hired to clear things up
But when will that fat lady sing?
DT pulled out of the Paris Accords
He thinks Climate Change is a plot
Everyone’s afraid to tell him
That this is the only Earth that we’ve got
Fox dumped Bill O’Reilly
CBS canned Charlie Rose
Matt Lauer is out at NBC
All for mishandling their Little Joe’s
You can’t Zumba in Iran
Or be a rebel in Damascus
Or visit the US from a list of Muslim countries
Even if you nicely ask us
Violence erupted in Charlottesville
As Nazis took to the streets
But there were good people on both sides
At least according to Donald’s tweets
And
What about all that tweeting?
It proves the guy is nuts
How can so many Republican talking heads
Continue to blab with their heads up their butts?
Joe Arpaio is a bigot
And a felon, says the law
But he was pardoned by the President
Which is still far from the last straw
Harvey and Irma and Maria blew in
Amidst torrential rains and howls
Texas and Florida got some FEMA help
Puerto Rico got paper towels
Pranksters changed the Hollywood sign to Hollyweed
To signal the start of legal pot
SpaceX successfully launched a reused Falcon rocket
In a privately funded space shot
The GOP Senate changed Supreme Court judge approval
From two-thirds to fifty-one
One more whack job appointment
And democracy as we’ve known it is done
Syria used chemical weapons
Spicer, “At least Hitler didn’t use them.”
Trump dropped the largest non-nuclear weapon on the Afghans
Hoping it would confuse them
Tragic earthquakes shook Central Italy
There were attacks on Jewish holy sites
A passenger was pulled off a United Airlines plane
Violating about 3,000 of his rights
South Korea fired President Park
Uber axed Travis Kalanick for bad behavior
The Venezuelan Court named President Nicolás Maduro
The nation’s dictator and savior
Trump whined, ”Obama wiretapped me!”
Though the facts said it wasn’t so
When the DA wouldn’t press the issue
46 Federal ADAs were let go
The umpteenth attempt to repeal the ACA
Ended in a whimper and a huff
Because when push came to shove the brainless Republican Congress
Couldn’t agree how to fuck it up enough
A liberal, lunatic gunman
Opened fire on the Republican baseball team
Could the mysterious illnesses at the US Cuban embassy
Be as political as they seem?
The Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Won the well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize
Paul Manafort, Richard Gates, George Papadopoulos, Michael Flynn
Are a gang of greasy, guilty guys
Roy Moore nearly became a Senator
But Doug Jones somehow took him down
Tesla’s installed the world’s largest battery
To power an entire South Australian town
Two women and two dogs
Were rescued after five months at sea
The Tax Law has been signed
Bend over, baby!
Catalan O Catalan
No independence for you
Aung San Suu Kyi embraced the dark side
I can’t believe it, but it’s true
She ethnic-cleansed Myanmar’s Rohingya
Never heeding passion’s call
And
Erie PA
Had a record-breaking 56.5” snowfall
A whack job took a rental truck
And mowed down people on a path
Allah, if you’re listening
It might be time to show some wrath
dictionary.com‘s word-of-the-year was, Complicit
I kept thinking I was dreaming
When those that are supposed to be protecting and serving
Were doing all of the dastardly scheming
Trump has been pestered by truth and research
So he’s issued a ban on some terms
From all CDC literature and official reports
To help eliminate the spread of fact germs
So,
“Diversity”, out! “Entitlement”, too
“Fetus”, “Transgender”
I hate them, don’t you?
“Vulnerable” is iffy
“Evidence-based” is vague
And “Science-based” just may possibly be linked to The Plague
Liberia had a rare peaceful election
When it was done it was evident
They elected soccer striker, George Weah
To be their new President
•••
La La Land and Moonlight were the year’s Best Pictures
According to the Hollywood Foreign Press
The Grammys, last year, were like a private party
For Adele, I guess
The Oscar went to Moonlight
After a weird La La Land gaffe
Emmy’s went home with The Handmaid’s Tale and Big Little Lies
And SNL and Veep for a laugh
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Is no longer “The Greatest Show on Earth”
The tents were permanently folded after 146 years
From it’s humble hay and sawdust birth
The National Recording Registry picked “Over the Rainbow”
“Straight Outta Compton”, “Puttin’ on the Ritz”
“People”, Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog”
Among several other hits
Like
“In the Midnight Hour”, “Remain in Light”
The iconic “American Pie”
“The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”
Which still gives me a contact high
“We Are Family”, “I’ll Fly Away”
Judy Collins’ Amazing Grace”
Sonny Rollins’ “Saxophone Colossus”
Bebop for the human race
“Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs”, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
Richard Pryor’s “Wanted: Live in Concert”
Maybe the funniest recorded thing
The Square won the Palme d’Or
‘Cause the jury thought it should
David Grossman won the Man Booker Prize for A Horse Walks Into a Bar
‘Cause it was very, very good
Sophia Coppola was Cannes’ Best Director
David Letterman got the Mark Twain Prize
Dear Evan Hansen and Oslo were Tony winners
In most Broadway goers’ eyes
Dianne Reeves, Pat Matheny, Joanne Brackeen and Todd Barkan
Were the NEA Jazz Master picks
Tracy K. Smith wrote Life on Mars
A parody of life in the sticks
da Vinci’s, Salvator Mundi, sold for $450.3M
A record for art, so I’m told
Disney is set to buy 21st Century Fox for $52.4B
I think that’s just about all the World’s gold
The R&R Hall 2018 Inductees will be Bon Jovi, Dire Straits,
The Moody Blues, The Cars, Nina Simone
And Sister Rosetta Tharpe
For what she contributed all alone
•••
Clemson beat Bama in a wild, last-second game
North Carolina won the men’s Final Four
The Patriots came from 25 points down
To become Super Bowl champs once more
Mississippi State women ended UConn’s
111-game winning streak
Roger Federer won his 8th Wimbledon title
Who said, he’s past his peak?
The World Series was a wild one
The Astros came out on top
Always Dreaming won the Kentucky Derby
Because he ran fast and didn’t stop
USC women took the NCAA title
Sergio García won The Masters, at last
Russian athletes were banned from the Winter Olympics
Because it’s doping that makes them ski fast
Penguins repeated as Stanley Cup champs
The Warriors were best of the NBA
OJ was released from prison
What more is there to say?
Sloane Stephens won the US Open
Although she wasn’t a well-known name
Tim Raines, Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez
Were inducted into the Baseball HOF
In Memorium…
Ross Johnson was the epitome of greed
In Barbarians at the Gate
Roman Herzog was the ‘90s President
Of the unified German state
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Was once President of Iran
Gene Cernan was an astronaut
And, to date, the last Moon man
Oliver Smithies’ Nobel was for genes and disease
Roy Innes was the leader of CORE
Harold Rosen invented satellites
So we could communicate some more
Wayne Barrett went after Giuliani and Trump
From his editorial Village Voice seat
Victor Lownes developed the chain of Playboy Clubs
As a place for respectable perverts to meet
Lois Dickson Rice lobbied for Pell Grants
George Beall got Agnew to resign
Boyd Woodruff’s research paved the way for antibiotics
To help sickly folks feel fine
Vo Quy promoted environmental conservation
In Viet Nam, his country of birth
Lorenzo Servitje grew Wonder, Sara Lee and Entenmann’s
Into one of the biggest bakeries on Earth
Norma McCorvey was Jane Roe
Of the controversial Roe v. Wade
Joe Rogers, Jr. co-founded The Waffle House
Imagine all of the waffles he’d made
Thomas Forkner was Joe Rogers’ partner
William Liebenow rescued JFK’s boat
Stephen Cohen brokered peace talks in the Middle East
But the result hasn’t left much to note
James Nichols was an OKC bomber
Charles Bartlett introduced Jackie to John
Tony Alamo slinked away in shame
‘Cause his tele-ministry was simply a con
Mike Ilitch started Little Caesar’s Pizza
He owned the Tigers and Red Wings to boot
And contributed to Detroit’s reemergence
With his piles and piles of loot
Raymond Smullyan taught logic with puzzles
Aileen Hernandez set her feminist sights
Anthony Beilenson spent much of his life
As a champion of abortion rights
General Leonard Perroots diffused a nuclear crisis
Stanley Bard co-owned the Chelsea Hotel
Joseph Nicolosi advocated gay conversion therapy
Maybe they’re converting his ass in hell
Alan Colmes was the Yin to Sean Hannity’s Yang
Dorothy Rice championed Medicare
Martin McGuinness helped broker peace in Northern Ireland
When there was no chance of peace up there
Abba Tor engineered the TWA Terminal
Roger Wilkins was a civil rights leader
Paul Novograd owned Manhattan’s last public stable
So, if you had a city horse, you could feed her
Omar Abdel Rahman was a blind terrorist cleric
Francine Hughes fought domestic abuse
Roger Ailes created all the Fox News crap
For which there is no fair or balanced excuse
Dr. Mildred Dresselhaus was The Queen of Carbon
She fought for women’s place in science
Robert H. Boyle was the founder of Riverkeeper
And the Hudson River Protective Alliance
Mostafa el-Abbadi resurrected the Great Library of Alexandria
John Van de Kamp was the LA DA
Jimmy Breslin was a fiery journalist
And people read papers to read what he’d say
Hugh Hardy restored NYC landmarks
Ahmed Kathrada made Anti-Arpatheid his thing
Manuel Noriega was the President of Panama
Although he thought he was the king
Robert Taylor was an InterNet creator
Said to have designed the computer mouse
Howard Schmidt was the National cybersecurity adviser
Tasked to keep hackers from burglaring our house
They dubbed nurse Donald Harvey the Angel of Mercy
Gilbert Baker created the Rainbow Flag
Al Golin was McDonald’s PR guru
Promoting drive-thru meals you could eat from the bag
Jean Stein chronicled powerful LA families
Stan Weston created Hasbro’s G.I. Joe
John T. Curtin was the judge who upheld the law
Making segregation in Buffalo go
Rene Préval was the Haitian President
During its cataclysmic earthquake
Eugene Lang promised Harlem kids free college tuition
He believed it better to give than to take
David Rockefeller was a philanthropist
He chairmanned both MOMA and Chase Manhattan Bank
Donald Vidrine supervised the Deepwater Horizon
Up until the day it sank
George Weinberg coined “homophobia”
Alistaire Horne was a British spy
Anne Friedman Glauber fought against domestic abuse
So fewer housewives had to die
Leonard Litwin built Liberty Plaza
Henry Chung brought Hunan flavors to the West
Pamela Edstrom oversaw Microsoft’s public image
But Windows never passed the test
Roxcy Bolton fought hard for the ERA
Andimba Toivo ya Toivo gave Namibian’s hope
Ruth Sulzberger Holmberg and Anne Morrisey Merick fought for women journalists
Up a very slippery slope
Gary Steigman re-conceptualized matter in the Universe
Laura Biagiotti was the Cashmere Queen
Marion Goldin produced trailblazing 60 Minutes exposés
For the TV screen
Isabelle Rapin advanced the concept of an Autism Spectrum
William Sladen taught young birds to migrate
Helmut Kohl became German Chancellor
Once they opened the Brandenburg Gate
Qian Qichen was a Chinese diplomat
Otto Warmbier was tortured in a N. Korean jail
Florence Finch fought for the Philippines during WWII
Even though she seemed so frail
Nicholas Sand formulated Sunshine Acid
Neil Welch led the Abscam Sting
Robert Campeau owned the Bloomingdale’s stores
Where you could buy most everything
Zbigniew Brzezinski was National Security Advisor
During the Iran hostage ordeal
Jean Sammet co-designed COBOL computer language
Which never gained universal appeal
Elias Burstein was a semiconductor pioneer
Gabe Pressman was the dean of WNBC News
Jerry Nelson invented the segmented telescope
To assistant in long-range astronomers’ views
Hope Ryden fought for wild life
Suzanne Wasserman chronicled the lower East side
Frances Sliwa was The Guardian Angels Mama
And fought for them ’til she died
Maryam Mirzakhani won the Fields Medal for math
Marian Diamond studied Einstein’s brain
Charles Bentley was a polar scientist
Who spent his life in an ice cold terrain
Raymond Pfeifer was a 9/11 firefighter
Who fought tirelessly for survivors’ care
Charles Bachman created the algorithms
For most of everyone’s e-commerce software
Cathleen Morawetz solved aerospace problems
Norman Dorsen led the ACLU
Jeff Brotman founded Costco
To see how selling giant cereal boxes would do
Edward Allcard was a solo sailor
Yuri Drozdov was a Russian Super Spy
Daniel Yankelovich was a national pollster
And a public opinion guy
Frédérick Leboyer advocated less trauma at childbirth
Keith Connors set standards for A. D. H. D.
Dr. Herbert Needleman saw the harm of lead exposure to children
I wonder what it’s done to me
Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara was a longevity expert
He passed at 105
Roy Lunn oversaw development of the Mustang GT40
A cool-assed car to drive
Jack Rosenthal was an aide to Kennedy
And ran the NY Times Editorial Page
R. Rao was an Indian space engineer
Who guided India into the Space Age
Cecil Andrus was a preservationist and Interior Secretary
Alois Mock helped tear down the Berlin Wall
Keith Baird fought to replace Negro
With African-American, once and for all
Simone Veil fought for women’s rights in France
Liu Xiaobo was a Nobel Peace Prize winner
Maurice Bluestein modernized the Wind Chill Index
So we’d have stuff to talk about at dinner
Dennis Edwards presided over the trial of Mark David Chapman
Barbara Blaine fought for victims of priest abuse
Lotfi Zadeh was a nutty professor
Fuzzy Logic was his go-to excuse
Stanley Greene told uncomfortable stories
Through his photos of worldwide turmoil
Edward Kline distributed works by anti-Soviet dissidents
Which made the Kremlin boil
Dr. Lawrence Weed modernized compiling patient data
Douglas Dowd fought a war against war
Jeannie Rousseau de Clarens coaxed secrets from Nazi generals
Because that’s what her feminine wiles were for
Arthur Janov was the Father of Primal Scream Therapy
Vladimir Voevodsky had a mathematical mind
Michel Jouvet unlocked the mysteries of sleep
But mostly the eye-twitchy, REM kind
Joseph Schmitt was a space suit designer
Robert Blakeley designed the Fallout Shelter sign
Allan J. MacEachen helped bring public health care to Canada
So Canadian’s could all feel fine
Dennis Banks was a Native American activist
He occupied Wounded Knee
Joyce Matz advocated for historic preservation
All over NYC
Joan Tisch was a philanthropist and patron of the arts
She fought the fight against AIDS
Jeremy Hutchinson fought to keep Lady Chatterly’s Lover alive
Despite violent censorship raids
Paul Weitz was a Skylab and Challenger astronaut
Paul Otellini led Intel in its prime
Stanislav Petrov helped avert nuclear war
When we were running out of time
Richard Gordon flew Gemini and Apollo missions
John Raines provided stolen Anti-Viet Nam War docs
Fred Beckey conquered most of the North American peaks
And he always wore warm socks
Edith Windsor believed in same-sex marriage
Robert de Zafra found the ozone hole
Cherif Bassiouni was a war criminals jurist
Who fought to save the human soul
Dr. Marshall Klaus promoted closer contact
Between a mother and her new-born child
Vincent Scully was an influential architect and my teacher at Yale
When I was still running wild
Charles Manson is DEAD!
Did you hear what I said?
Charles Manson is DEAD!
John Anderson ran for President against Reagan and Carter
Bernard Law was a child-molesting priest
Yehoshua Hershkowitz provided meals to hundreds of needy Brooklyn families
As a veritable Brooklyn feast
Christine Keeler nearly toppled the British government
With a sex scandal that, today, seems tame
Bruce McCandless was the first to take an untethered space walk
Which is his claim to fame
Jerry Yellen flew the last WWII combat mission
Janet Elder climbed the ladder to a top NY Times post
Janet Benshoof fought for women’s rights
From coast to coast to coast
Ed Lee was San Francisco’s first Asian/American mayor
Simeon Booker reported on race for The Washington Post and Jet
Recy Taylor was raped by six, never-charged white men in Alabama
Justice was never hers to get
Edgar Smith murdered a 15-year-old girl
And duped William F. Buckley into setting him free
Marina Sturdza was a Romanian princess who returned
Years after she was forced to flee
John Portman was the architect of Detroit’s Renaissance Center
He was known for soaring interior spaces
Kenichi Yamamoto was the father of Mazda’s rotary engine
So Mazda could zoom, zoom along in races
•••
Allan Williams was The Beatles first manager
William Christopher was Father Mulcahy on M*A*S*H
Mel Tillis was a stutterer and beloved Country star
Who once toured with Johnny Cash
Georges Prêtre conducted Maria Callas
Maggie Roche was The Roches’ leader
Joanne Kyger was a poet
And all the beatniks loved to read her
John Berger was the host of “Ways of Seeing”
Challenging the way that we perceive art
Om Puri was a Bollywood actor
Who seemed to always have a part
Nat Hentoff was a critic and novelist
He wrote of jazz and political scandal
William Peter Blatty wrote The Exorcist
Which was more than some could handle
Buddy Bregman was a composer/arranger
He produced Ella and Bing
Roberta Peters was a Met soprano
Damn…that dame could sing!
Martha Swope photographed theater and dance
Paula Dell performed stunts on TV
Anthony Armstrong-Jones was a photographer who married Princess Margaret
To become pseudo Brit royalty
Tommy Allsup lost a coin toss
For a seat on Buddy Holly’s plane
Massaya Nakamura invented Pac Man
Which drove millions of gamers insane
Dick Gautier played Hymie the Robot
On the hilariously campy Get Smart
Miguel Ferrer made every part he played
Into acting art
Butch Trucks was a great rock drummer
For the Allman Brothers Band
Professor Irwin Corey was the World’s Foremost Authority
Who helped us all to understand
Buddy Greco was discovered by Benny Goodman
Then he moved to Vegas to swing
Chuck Stewart was a hard-working photographer
Jazz artists were his thing
Mary Tyler Moore was unique
With her grace and wit and style
And she had that special gift
To turn the world on with a smile
Gwendolyn Gillen sculpted the Mary Tyler Moore Statue
Near my old Minneapolis home
Byron Dobell edited Tom Wolfe, Mario Puzo and Gay Talese
Which secured him a place in this poem
Mike Connors was TV’s Mannix
Barbara Hale was Perry Mason’s, Della Street
Richard Portman added his magic to Star Wars and The Deer Hunter
From the important Sound Mixer’s seat
John Wetton was in King Crimson and Asia
Emmanuelle Riva was an actress from France
Bobby Freeman was the writer and singer
Of Do You Want to Dance?
Sir John Hurt was a storied English thespian
Unforgettable in Alien and The Elephant Man
Alec McCowen graced the British theater
Over a fifty-year-long career span
Frankie Pellegrino was an actor and singer
At Harlem’s RAO’s he was the king
The acting, the singing were tolerable
But the sauce, was everything
Max Wilcox produced Arthur Rubinstein
Bharati Mukkerjee wrote of immigrant life
Alan Simpson wrote Steptoe and Son
About a father, a son and his hilarious dead wife
Lennart Nilsson photographed a developing fetus
Dore Ashton championed Abstract Expressionist art
Harvey Lichtenstein envisioned the rebirth of BAM
Which had pretty much fallen apart
David Shepard restored countless silent films
By Chaplin and Keaton and more
Sven Asmussen was a pioneer of the jazz violin
Showing what the jazz violin was for
William Melvin Kelley wrote A Different Drummer
An exposé on race
Lev Navrozov was a literary translator
Who often got right in the Soviet’s face
Al Jarreau was a monumental talent
A master of his voice
Richard Schickel wrote honest movie critiques
To help others make a choice
Barbara Carroll was a lady of jazz
Dave Valentin played Latin jazz flute
Neil Fingleton was GOT’s, Mag the Mighty
Who was mighty, but not very cute
Junie Morrison was the Architect of Funk
Stuart McLean created the Vinyl Cafe
Irwin Stambler wrote, The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul
And he had a lot to say
Michael Rainey owned the Hung On You Boutique
A quirky, hip, London shop
Dick Bruna authored the Miffy books
But he died, so he had to stop
Bill Paxton starred in action films
Like Aliens, Titanic and Apollo XIII
Robert Osborne wrote a movie column
And hosted Classics on the TV screen
Judge Joseph Wapner presided over The Peoples’ Court
Ben Martin shot photos for Time
Albert Freedman rigged ‘50s TV game shows he produced
And went to the slammer for his crime
David Axelrod was an eccentric Jazz/Soul producer
Leon Ware produced Marvin Gaye
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski conducted the Minnesota Orchestra
In a classy, conducterly way
Clyde Stubblefield was James Brown’s ‘Funky Drummer’
James Stevenson drew New Yorker cartoons
Fred Weintraub was The Bitter End’s Impresario
For many, many moons
Fritz Koenig sculpted the Sphere
That was damaged in 911
Horace Parlan played Jazz piano
Since about the age of seven
Ward Chamberlin, Jr. was the architect of Public Broadcasting
Joni Sledge was Sister Sledge
Robert James Waller gave The Bridges of Madison County
A steamy, emotional edge
Nicholas Mosley wrote Accident
And chronicled his father’s fascist rise
David Rubinger photographed how war looks
Through an Israeli freedom fighter’s eyes
Derek Walcott was a Nobel laureate poet
James Cotton was a Blues harmonica master
William Powell wrote the controversial, Anarchist Cookbook
A recipe for disaster
Tommy LiPuma was a dilettante
But music was his thing
He devoted much of his remarkable life
Teaching the world to sing
Jim Czak was a true gentleman
And an engineer of note
Amy Krouse had an oddly whimsical style
In almost everything she wrote
Misha Mengelberg played avant garde piano in Holland
Colin Dexter gave us Inspector Morse
Robin O’Hara produced independent films
That were never par for the course
Chuck Berry was a king of Rock n Roll
From a very tender age
He influenced the music for over 50 years
Until he duck-walked off the stage
Robert Silvers was the founding editor
Of New York Review of Books
Trisha Brown’s choreography helped us understand
How dancing feels and looks
Chuck Barris ran The Gong Show
And maybe some CIA spies
George Braziller brought renowned world authors like Jean Paul Sartre
To American reader’s eyes
Skip Williamson was a radical cartoonist
Bernie Wrightson sketched Swamp Thing
Don Hunstein’s album photos of Ella, Duke and Dylan
Were awe inspiring
David Storey wrote The Changing Room
Angel Baby was Rose Hamlin’s hit
James Rosenquist was a Pop Art pioneer
Before he knew what he was painting, was it
Arthur Blythe was an Avant-garde jazz saxophonist
Radley Metzger tried to elevate porn
Ronald Witt posited that The Renaissance started 50 years earlier than thought
Which was still long before he was born
Jack Ziegler drew cartoons for The New Yorker
Yevgeny Yevtushenko was an anti-Stalinist poet
Charlie Murphy was a comedian, and Eddie’s brother
Although many people didn’t know it
Gary Austin founded the Groundlings
Where improv rued the day
Ikutaro Kakehashi founded Roland
So we’d have lots of cool instruments to play
Joe Harris gave us, “Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!”
Linda Hopkins sang the Blues
Who didn’t love Dorothy Mengering, Dave’s Mom?
Her passing was very sad news
Paul O’Neill founded The Trans-Siberian Orchestra
John Geils led the J. Geils Band
Louis Sarno preserved African ancestral music
So that the world might understand
Don Rickles was Mr. Warmth
For nearly 70 years
He could tear your heart out then tear you a new one right after
While filling the room with tears
Chelsea Brown was a regular on Laugh-In
Sandy Gallin managed a shit load of stars
Allan Holdsworth was among the very, very best
To ever have played guitars
Joe Rascoff handled Paul Simon’s business
As well as U2 and The Rolling Stones
David Lewiston roamed the world for much of his life
Recording indigenous tones
Patricia McKissack helped fill the void
Of black heroes in children’s books
Julian Stanczak was an Op Art pioneer
Often more visually challenging than it looks
David Peel sang, I Love Marijuana
Peter Hansen was on General Hospital for years
Tom Coyne was a Master mastering engineer
Who was respected by all of his peers
Bruce Langhorne was a Dylan sideman
Who inspired Mr. Tambourine Man
Mario Maglieri managed the Whiskey A Go Go and the Rainbow Bar & Grill
Over a forty-year managerial life span
Michael Ballhaus was the go-to cinematographer
For Scorsese and Fastbinder shoots
Robert M. Pirsig wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
With little mention of motorcycle boots
Sylvia Moy was a Motown producer/songwriter
She worked with Stevie Wonder and more
Cuba Gooding, Sr. sang with The Main Ingredient
Keeping clear of what the ingredients were for
Elizabeth Sargent was a sexual poet
The last artist/tenant in Carnegie Hall
Erin Moran played Joanie on Happy Days
And loved Chachi most of all
Kuki Gallmann’s I Dreamed of Africa
Made Kenyan poachers tense
Johnathan Demme directed Silence of the Lambs
And the brilliant Stop Making Sense
Martha Lavey was director of the Steppenwolf Theater
Chris Cornell was Soundgarden’s voice
Alan Root loved filming in African
And it’s wildlife, was his choice
Bill Brown was a magical Broadway orchestrator
Chuck Davis championed African dance
Jeanne Button was a lauded Broadway costume designer
Who could sew you a pair of pants
Ann Sneed founded the International Art of Jazz
Powers Boothe played bad guys on TV
Peter Sallis voiced Wallace and Grommit
As we imagined they’d be
Ed Sherin was a Law and Order exec
And directed Broadway’s The Great White Hope
Jerry Perenchio was a TV fight promoter
Who televised Ali’s rope-a-dope
Roger Moore became James Bond
As well as Simon Templar, The Saint
Elinor Bunin Munroe designed graphics for the movies and TV
With pencils and pens and paint
Brad Grey ran Paramount Pictures
He guided The Sopranos and The Larry Sanders Show
Judith Jones was a culinary editor
Who helped Julia Childs’ reputation grow
Nora Mae Lyng was the inspiration and star of Forbidden Broadway
Ann Birstein wrote, What I Saw at the Fair
Bill Dana, his name, José Jiménez
Hilarious, I swear
Channa Bloch translated the The Song of Solomon
Edith Shiffert’s poetry was of a natural sort
Gary DeCarlo’s Na Na, Hey Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye
Can be heard at almost any sport
Adam West was TV’s Batman
Michael Bond created Paddington Bear
Margaux Fragoso wrote Tiger, Tiger
Because life can be so unfair
Dahlia Lavi was an Israeli singer
And an actress in Lord Jim
Peter Spier illustrated Noah’s Ark
Although there was only one of him
Dina Merrill was actually an heiress
Who played one 30 times on the screen
Glenne Headly has died too young
Sometimes life can seem so mean
John Mace coached actors’ voices
Carla Fendi was a fashion plate
Stephen Furst played Flounder in Animal House
A part that would forever seal his fate
Gregg Allman was a legendary Southern Rocker
He was the Midnight Rider
In all things Lewis Carroll
Morton Cohen was the true insider
Marie Cosindas was a pioneer of color photography
Elliot Martin produced 75 shows
Dr. G. Yunupingu was an aboriginal singer
Who seldom wore many clothes
Jeffrey Tate interpreted German repertoire
Christopher Wong Won founded 2 Live Crew
Michael Nyqvist was an actor from Sweden
Who was in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Geri Allen was a swingin’ jazz artist
Irina Ratushinskaya was an imprisoned Russian poet
L. Woody was the self-alleged King of the Paparazzi
And he wanted everyone to know it
John Avildsen directed Rocky and The Karate Kid
Roger Abrahams preserved music of the streets
Syd Silverman published Variety
Long before we’d heard of tweets
Rosalie Sorrels was an iconic artist
A vagabond and singer of folk
Dick Gregory walked the Civil Rights walk
And his comedy was no joke
Roger Smith was on 77 Sunset Strip
And he managed Ann-Margret, his wife
George Romero was known for Night of the Living Dead
For most of his professional life
Pierre Henry composed in ambient sound
That he called musique concrete
Bill Collings designed and built the Collings Guitar
Which was rare and not easy to get
June Foray voiced Rocky the Flying Squirrel
And many other cartoon trend setters
A.R. Gurney wrote Cocktail Hour
And the oft performed and beloved Love Letters
John Heard was the Home Alone father
Martin Landau’s Oscar was for portraying Ed Wood
Elena Verdugo was an actress on Marcus Wellby, M.D.
And she was very, very good
Sam Glanzman was a comic book artist
Ray Phiri played Graceland guitar
Barbara Cook was Marian, the librarian
And a bonafide Broadway star
Ty Hardon was the star of Bronco
Bobby Taylor coached The Jackson 5
Chester Bennington was the lead singer for Linkin Park
When he was alive
L. Menard was the Cajun Hank Williams
Jeanne Moreau starred in Jules and Jim
Sam Shepard was a Pulitzer-winning author and actor
And everyone admired him
Chuck Loeb was a versatile guitarist
Paul Oliver wrote The Story of the Blues
John G. Morris edited photos for Look and The New York Times
So there would be pictures with the news
Alan Peckolick designed the logos for Mercedes-Benz
GM and Revlon as well
Harua Nakajima was the first actor to play Godzilla
As far as I can tell
Kenneth Silverman won the Pulitzer
He wrote about Poe, Houdini and Morse
Sonny Burgess was a rock-a-billy wild man
And an unbridled musical force
Jerry Lewis was The King of Comedy
Whether solo or with sidekick, Dean
Ask any Frenchman
He was the funniest they’d ever seen
Nelsan Ellis acted in True Blood
Gösta Peterson broke photo barriers in fashion
Peter Hall founded the Royal Shakespeare Company
Because…well, Shakespeare was his passion
Marty Sklar was a long time Disney aide
Who took charge of park designs
Eduardo del Río was a relentless Mexican cartoonist
Who blurred the church and state boundary lines
Arlene Gottfried was Gilbert’s sister
A street photographer of repute
Bruce Forsyth was a prolific British TV actor
Mostly in a three-piece suit
Thomas Meehan wrote the books for Annie
The Producers and Hairspray
Jo Walker-Meador was executive director of the Country Music Association
That relentlessly gives those CMA Awards away
Stuart Thompson produced Book of Mormon
Jay Thomas was on Cheers and Murphy Brown
John Abercrombie would have been the right call
To lay some lyrical jazz guitar lines down
Tobe Hooper directed, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Bernard Pomerance wrote The Elephant Man
Heathcote Williams co-founded Anarchist Nation
For when the shit hits the fan
Larry Elgart was a swing bandleader
Who recorded the theme for American Bandstand
Richard Anderson was on Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman
But he never got a mechanical hand
Glen Campbell was a crossover star
He was loved right from the start
“I’ll Be Me” chronicled his Alzheimer’s decline
It’ll simply break your heart
Joe Bologna was a character actor
Karoly Makk directed, Love
Frank Deford won the National Humanities Award
Because he was a cut above
Bea Wain was a big band singer
Anita Pallenberg was the muse to the Stones
Don Williams was a plain-spoken crooner
Who had Country in his bones
Murray Lerner directed Festival and From Mao to Mozart
Brian Aldiss inspired A.I. and Frankenstein Unbound
You called Frank Vincent or Gastone Moschin
If you needed a gangster-looking actor around
Fadwa Suleiman was a Syrian actress
Jack Keil drew crime-dog, McDuff
John Ashbery was the first poet to win the Pulitzer, National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award
Because one accolade just wasn’t enough
Kate Millett wrote of Sexual Politics
Halim El-Dabh composed music for Martha Graham ballets
Michael Friedman’s passion was the theater
And Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson’s bloody, bloody ways
Don Ohlmeyer programmed NBC
Len Wein created Swamp Thing and Wolverine
Novella Nelson was one of the hardest working actors
The stage, TV and film has ever seen
Harry Dean Stanton played quirky film characters
Jerry Pournelle wrote sci-fi, like Footfall
Rick Stevens was a Tower of Power singer
But a murderer, most of all
David Shepherd fought to preserve precious wildlife
P. Donleavy wrote The Ginger Man
Johnny Sandlin produced The Allman Brothers
Which was always his master plan
Marian Horosko fought daily for dancers
Denis Johnson wrote Jesus’ Son
Howard Kaminsky encouraged the work of Richard Simmons, Xaviera Hollander
And Richard Nixon before he was done
Lillian Ross was an acclaimed New Yorker reporter
Ritha Devi was an Indian dancer and teacher
Myrna Lamb was a feminist playwright
Scared, male critics couldn’t reach her
Bernie Casey was an NFL player
Who became a comedic actor
Pete Turner over-saturated the color of his photos
As a prime artistic factor
Brenda Lewis was a versatile soprano
From opera to Broadway to pop
Clancy Sigal was a black-listed, anti-war writer
Who tenaciously would not stop
Kelan Philip Cohran founded the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
Elsa Martinelli was a sexy movie star
Gin Wong designed futuristic post war buildings
Which you could see in LA from your car
Shelley Berman’s stand-up…or sit-down
Could bring audiences to tears
And his recordings raised the bar of comedy
For over 50 years
Walter Becker was half of Steely Dan
We hung out on Maui for a while
Gaucho may be my favorite LP
For its writing and unique sonic style
Hugh Hefner lived his life in jammies
Sex was always on his mind
He married twin twenty-year-olds in his eighties
He was truly one of a kind
Anne Jeffreys played Marion Kerby on TV’s Topper
Monty Hall emceed Let’s Make a Deal
Tom Petty was a Heartbreaker
Who sang about how regular folks feel
Jack Good produced Shindig
Gord Downie led the Tragically Hip
Tom Paley was a member of the New Lost City Ramblers
Which was a long, strange, folk trip
Kit Reed wrote darkly funny fiction
Grady Tate was a master of hard bop
CeDell Davis was a blues guitarist who used a knife as a slide
But then he had to stop
Nora Johnson wrote The World of Henry Orient
Walter Lassally filmed Zorba the Greek
Mel Rosenthal photographed The Bronx
So we all could get a peek
Albert Inaurato was a Broadway playwright
Lawrence Argent sculpted whimsical art
John Mollo created imaginative Star Wars costumes
So you could tell the aliens apart
Robert Guillaume played Benson
Richard Wilbur was a laureate poet
Richard Hambleton was New York’s “Shadowman”
Although most folks didn’t know it
Digby Diehl collaborated on celebrity bios
Jack Bannon played a part on Lou Grant
Vincent Nguini’s guitar gave Paul Simon’s tracks
That unique Cameroonian slant
I. Newhouse, Jr. was chairman of Condé Nast
The New Yorker and Vanity Fair
Can you imagine if Bob Schiller’s scripts for I Love Lucy, All in the Family and Maude
Never made the air?
Bunny Sigler was a force behind TSOP
Donald Bain ghosted Murder She Wrote
Pop music was richer for more than 40 years
Because of Paul Buckmaster’s arrangements of note
Blueberry Hill, Ain’t That a Shame, I’m Walkin’
Were but a few hits of the Fat Man
Fats Domino came to the Rock n Roll rescue
Like a heroic, Big Easy Bat Man
Nancy Friday wrote My Secret Garden
Katie Lee raged against the Glen Canyon Dam
Bruce Brown documented the Endless Summer
With a makeshift, surfboard cam
Malcolm Young played guitar for AC/DC
Earl Hyman played Cosby’s dad
Jon Hendricks may have been one of the most important voices
The World has ever had
Gemze de Lappe was the keeper of Agnes de Mille’s moves
Wayne Cochran was the White Knight of Soul
Fay Chiang was a poet of Asian-American culture
And the Asian-American role
David Cassidy was a ‘70s teen heartthrob
Liz Smith was the Queen of tabloid dirt
George Avakian was a legendary record producer
In his suit and tie and shirt
Wopo Holup was a public works artist
Johnny Hallyday was the Elvis of France
Shadia was famous in Egypt
She could sing and act and dance
Jim Nabors was best known as Gomer
Pete Moore sang Tracks of My Tears
Keely Smith’s Old Black Magic had me in her spell
For almost 50 years
Anthony Harvey directed Lion in Winter
And edited Dr. Strangelove as well
Howard Gottfried produced Network
Do you think he was mad as hell?
Frank Corsaro was an NYC Opera director
Martin Ransohoff produced Mr. Ed
Iona Opie was the authority on childish things
For kids to think of when they went to bed
John Hillerman was the caretaker on Magnum, P.I.
Johnny Fox swallowed swords as a thing
Kevin Mahogany could play
Kevin Mahogany could sing
Dominic Frontiere was a mentoring composer
Simonetta Puccini was Giacomo’s granddaughter
Norman Hatch documented WWII battles
And both US and Japanese slaughter
Robert De Cormier arranged for Peter, Paul and Mary
And Harry Belafonte for a while
Della Reese had an easy to listen to
Jazzy vocal style
Les Whitten was a muckraking columnist
Roswell Rudd played free-jazz trombone
Ralph Carney played saxophone for Elvis Costello and Tom Waites
With an immediate, distinctive tone
Ken Shapiro directed The Groove Tube
Z’ev was an industrial music pioneer
Larry Harris co-founded Casablanca Records
At least, that’s what I hear
Heather Menzies-Ulrich played Louisa
For The Sound of Music’s von Trapps
Girish Bhargava edited dance films
For ballet, swing and taps
Clifford Irving got caught red-handed
With his fake Autobiography of Howard Hughes
Don Hogan Charles was a lauded civil rights photographer
Whose shots were always in the news
Ivan Chermayeff designed logos for The Smithsonian and Showtime
Eric Salzman fought the Avante Garde music fight
Mitch Margo was a member of The Tokens
And sang, The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Sashi Kapoor was a Bollywood actor
His smile had a radiant glow
Rose Marie had a lifelong showbiz career
And appeared on the Dick Van Dyke Show
Sue Grafton created Kinsey Millhone
An alphabetically sleuthing sort
But Y, Is for Yesterday may have been her last
Leaving Kinsey one letter short
•••
Jean Vuarnet was an Olympic Gold Medal skier
He was the first to use “the tuck”
Tom Fleming was a two-time NY Marathon winner
Which takes more skill than luck
Bud Lilly was a conservationist and trout fisherman
Who encouraged “Catch and Release”
Lou Duva trained great fighters
Who always seemed to please
Raymond Kopa was the “Napoleon” of soccer
Brian Oldfield was a shot-put star
Eric Broadley could take a pencil and some clay
And design a sleek race car
John Severson founded Surfer Magazine
Jack McCloskey was the architect of Detroit’s “Bad Boys”
John Andariese was Knicks broadcaster, Johnny Hoops
Let’s hear ya make some noise!
David Levin was a Triple Crown balloonist
Ed Whitlock was the oldest marathoner at 86
Ueli Steck climbed many mountains
With titanium-forged ice picks
Steven Holcomb was an Olympic gold-medal bobsledder
Don Baylor got hit by 267 pitches
Dave Stallworth was the key player for the Knicks 1970 NBA title
But it never brought him riches
John Surtees was the only champ
In both motorcycles and cars
Darrall Imhoff guarded Wilt during his 100-point game
Then spent much of the rest of his career in bars
Gene Conely won titles with the Braves and the Knicks
Roy Sievers was the first Rookie of the Year
Felo Ramirez was the voice of MLB
For all Latin America to hear
Jim Bunning was a Hall of Fame pitcher
Dallas Green managed the Phillies first win
Jerry Krause was the Bulls GM
Who built a dynasty for Jordan to reign in
Jimmy Piersall battled his emotions in “Fear Strikes Out”
Pete Flynn was the Mets field keeper
Aaron Hernandez’s life went to shit
He went to prison to meet the Grim Reaper
Dan Rooney went from water boy to the Steelers’ boss
John Kindle was the oldest member of the Basketball Hall of Fame
Chuck Blazer was the FIFA official
Who scandalized the World’s favorite game
Adolph Kiefer was the oldest Olympian
He won gold in ’36
Herve Filion was a legendary sulky driver
Who knew lots of harness racing tricks
Ara Parseghian was a legend at Notre Dame
Ken Kaiser was a Major League ump
Norman Dyhrenfurth led the first American’s to the top of Everest
But never had the urge to jump
Hootie Johnson opposed women at Augusta National
Stupid good-ol’-boy rules
Margaret Bergmann was a dominant Jewish athlete
Banned from competing by Nazi fools
Larry Grantham’s defense helped upset the Colts
Penny Chenery was Secretariat’s breeder
Jud Heathcote coached MSU’s NCAA title
When Magic Johnson was their leader
Tony DiCicco coached US Women’s soccer
Bobby Heenan was a manager in the WWA
Jake LaMotta was The Raging Bull
Who never lacked for something to say
Rollie Massimino had over 800 wins
As coach of Villanova’s squad
Terry Downes defeated Sugar Ray Robinson
Which few fight fans would applaud
Pancho Segura was the tennis coach
Bob Wolff broadcast for 80 years
Connie Hawkins was a playground phenom turned NBA star
Through gales of adoring cheers
Roy Halladay won the Cy Young Award
Frank Kush ruled at Arizona State
Sugar Ramos’ beating of Davey Moore
Probably sealed his fate
Dave Semenko protected Gretsky
And once went 3 rounds with Ali
Red Miller led the Broncos to their first Super Bowl win
To be all that they could be
Frank Hamblen was Phil Jackson’s assistant
Through 7 championship rings
Jana Novotna was a Wimbledon Champion
I’m sure, among other things
Ferdie Pacheco was Ali’s fight doc
Steve ‘Snapper’ Jones was an NBA voice
Mamie “Peanut” Johnson was a pitching star of the Negro Baseball League
By passion and by choice
Y. A. Tittle was a legendary quarterback
Harriette Thompson, at 90 was still running by
Dick Enberg won’t be commentating any more
With his signature, “Oh, my!”
•••
This was the year Charlie Eble left us
His passing has made a huge hole
For anyone who was lucky enough
To have been touched by Charlie’s soul
Dénouement…
Of course, there will be music
There’s tunefulness up ahead
And my goal is to focus on the toe-tapping sounds
Rather than the background noise instead
This should be Ariana’s time to shine
If the Universe is in sync
There’s nobody better, no way, no how
At least, that’s what I think
The Hedonists are at it again
So, there’s a high expectation of fun
And you ain’t Heard nuthin’ yet
But you will as soon as it’s done
Golfström is a German or Russian word
But it’s harmonically delightful
And Wager’s got some surprises
Both rhythmic and insightful
Keep an ear out for Luc Garrett
Watch for the DPO
They have the repertoire and talent
To steal most any show
Clayton and I have been talking
We’ve got some ideas in the mix
I don’t think I’ll let him saw me in half
But we’ve got some other amazing tricks
And there’s the fantastic Caffe Lena
One thing is crystal clear
Each night you can either commune with the past
Or listen to where music’s going from here
But,
As for last year, how ‘bout a, “Good riddance!”?
We can surely do better than that
I know this New Year thing makes us anxious and hopeful
And here’s where all that’s at
We’ve got to resist the crazy
We’ve got to speak truth to lies
Kindness is key, seek it out!
In the sparkle of kind people’s eyes
Oh,
And I’m sorry if this news may shock some
It was mostly a personal thing
T-L and I got married
Because we heard the fat lady sing
We snuck off to Congress Park
Mayor Y helped make it so
We smiled, we hugged and had breakfast
Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho
And
My wife and I cherish you all
You help to keep us in a festive mood
So, a loving gift has been made in all of your names to:
Project Angel Food