Sorry, I’m not celebrating
There’s been hardly happy news
And if there are future songs about 2021
They’ll mostly be the blues
Floods and fires and hatred
Were the prominent global themes
And COVID and its mutations
Yet politically it seems
We’re in two camps
The Give-a-Shit Tribe, alas
A Kool-Aid® guzzling counterpart
That just pulls shit out they ass
We’d be a laughingstock on the global stage
If the globe had a sense of humor
But looking around and Googling
Both presumptive fact and rumor
It’s all stones and glass houses
Man, we humans suck
Stumbling blindly with our big-assed brains
While we’re running out of luck
Mother Nature’s had it up to here
She’s sending us to our room
Because looking for fixes in thirty or fifty years
No matter what you’ve heard on Zoom
Is way, way, way, way, way too late
We’ll be toast in ten
The upside, rather selfishly
Is
I’ll be done rhyming this crap by then
The News
Trump lost, but he didn’t get the memo
He’s still posing as presidential
Lying and causing chaos
As if his life was consequential
He pardoned killers and cronies and scumbags
Extorted the President of Ukraine
And the Secretary of State of Georgia
Who implied he was insane
He shouted the Big “I Won” Lie
Fomenting insurrection
Sending violent, hate-filled zombies
To storm the Capitol at his direction
Which got him impeached for a second time
Surely, treason was a step too far
But the Republicans acquitted him in the Senate
Because it seems, that’s who they are
And he still won’t let it go
Likewise, his minions at Fox News
And millions of brain-dead parishioners
Kneeling in Evangelical pews
He’s among the worst humans who ever lived
I fact-checked, so, I’m sure
And unlike COVID-19
There is no vaccine and no cure
In the meantime, our real President
Has a plan to build back better
A whole slew of good ideas
That’s been drafted in a letter
To the Democratic Congress
Because Republicans just don’t care
But
At the end of the day, they’re all politicians
So, they can’t get from here to there
Too little’s getting done
We’re eddying down the loo
I’ve blogged myself hoarse in outrage
Because there’s little else to do
When an asshole like Joe Manchin
Given the chance to be a hero
Chooses otherwise because on a scale of 1 to 10
Joe Manchin is a zero
Rick Snyder was the Michigan governor
Who let Flint’s water flow with lead
But Michigan courts didn’t hold him culpable
They just slapped him on the wrist, instead
Aleksei Navalny was put in a Russian prison
Because Putin tried but couldn’t kill him
A parole board said that Sirhan Sirhan is eligible
Didn’t they notice that he’s still him, still him?
A Snowy Owl was spotted in Central Park
The first in 150 years
Lou Dobbs was cancelled from Fox News
I’m not shedding any tears
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested again
In a Myanmar military coup
Marjorie Taylor Greene was removed from all House committees
What’s a Q-loving bigot to do?
Aunt Jemima rebranded as the Pearl Milling Company
Most definitely more woke
Ted Cruz fled to Cancun when the Texas power grid failed
He’s a big, fat, ugly, ten-gallon Texas joke
NASA landed Percy on the surface of Mars
Cuomo’s no longer the Gov
Deb Haaland was sworn in as Secretary of the Interior
Showing Native Americans some overdue love
The Boy Scouts agreed to sell 60 Rockwell paintings
To cover $300,000,000 in claims of abuse
A policewoman shot and killed an unarmed black man with her gun
“I thought it was a taser”, was her excuse
Then, holy smoke, a Minnesota jury
Heard the facts and then
Found her guilty on all counts
And she’ll be going to the pen
Congress passed a $1,900,000,000 relief bill
Without a single Republican vote
The Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal for weeks
Because no one bothered to steer the boat
Georgia passed sweeping voter suppression laws
Many RED states followed suit
Israel came to its senses after 12 long years
And gave Netanyahu the boot
Our troops finally left Afghanistan
But in the most chaotic way
Totally fucked!
That’s all I have to say
The Taliban reseized power
Twenty years…what a crime
I don’t hold much hope but maybe
We learned something this time
Darnella Frazier was given a Pulitzer for filming George Floyd’s murder
The whole world witnessed it
Derek Chauvin was convicted on all counts
I hope they dropped him in a deep, dark pit
There’s a lot going on in space
Space-X will send men to the moon
And Bezos, Branson and Shatner left the planet
But returned to Earth too soon
NASA launched a rocket at an asteroid
Hoping to knock it off its course
In case we’re ever threatened that way
Finally…a job for Space Force
Juneteenth is a National Holiday
Hong Kong stifled the Apple Daily free press
Giuliani lost his NY law license
Because he’s a lawless piece of shit, I guess
Republicans tried to block the January 6th Commission
Trump Enterprises got indicted
The Colonial Pipeline paid a $5M ransom
The ransomers were delighted
President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti was assassinated
Kathy Hochul’s the first female NY Gov
Gavin Newsom triumphed in CA’s bogus recall election
When push finally came to shove
Half of a Miami condo collapsed
Buried 150 people in rubble
SPOTUS allowed a Texas vigilante law
To put Roe v. Wade in trouble
Elaine Chao, Mrs. Mitch, is under federal investigation
NPR turned 50
China landed a rover on the surface of Mars
Martian egg rolls might be nifty
The Keystone Pipeline XL was happily scrapped
They’re celebrating on the range
The UN filed a devasting report
On the effects of climate change
Pandemic deaths surpassed 4 million
And still counting everyday
Doctors tapped into a paralyzed man’s thoughts
To find out what he had to say
There was massive flooding in Europe and Japan
Many hundreds died
Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana
Where mostly everything yummy is fried
The Senate passed a bi-partisan infrastructure bill
Biden signed it into law
The Nobel Peace Prize went to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov
For journalistically reporting on things they saw
There was another crippling quake in Haiti
Record rainfall in NYC
The Opioid trial settlement shut down Purdue Pharma
But the fucking Sacklers got immunity
BUT WAIT!
A federal judge said, “I don’t think so.
$4.5 billion is a good start,
But those evil Sacklers cannot just walk away!”
And that kinda warms my heart
Human footprints were found in New Mexico
10,000 years earlier than thought
Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers were found guilty
Of not being carefully taught
Kyle Rittenhouse, on the other hand got off scot free
Wisconsin’s a scary place
While in Charlottesville a jury awarded $26,000,000
In the white supremacist/Nazi case
We pissed off France in a weird Australian arms deal
The Dems November elections shit the bed
Curtis Sliwa ran for NYC’s mayor
But they picked Eric Adams instead
A massive Bomb Cyclone pummeled California
After years-long, relentless drought
The House censured Paul Gosar for posting himself killing AOC
What would it take to get him thrown out?
Arizona’s Cyber Ninja election recall
Showed Biden had a bigger lead
Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam did not kill Malcom X
So, after 46 years, they’re freed
Facebook changed its name to Meta
That should make things better
Chris Cuomo was fired from CNN
For writing Andrew’s bogus apology letter
Michelle Wu is Boston’s first female mayor
Barbados left the British Empire
Another troubled kid got a gun
Went to school and opened fire
Jack Dorsey had enough of Twitter
He stepped down as CEO
The US announced to the Beijing Winter Olympics committee
That US athletes will not go
Chris Wallace left Fox for CNN
Record-breaking tornadoes took a toll
Chileans chose young, leftist Gabriel Boric as their President
When they showed up at the poll
Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking
What a slimy bitch
The James Webb space telescope will peek at the universe from a million miles away
And was launched without a hitch
Entertaining?
Amanda Gorman was the youngest inaugural poet
Reciting, The Hill We Climb
R. Kelly was finally convicted of multiple, decades-long sexual abuses
Sometimes, it just takes time
Josephine Baker was interred in Paris’s Panthéon
Britney won back control of her affairs
Bill Cosby was freed by PA’s Supreme Court
It’s just fucked up Pennsylvania, who cares?
Travis Scott rapped on through a deadly stampede
Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait sold for $39 mil
Alec Baldwin’s movie Rust
Should be retitled, Shoot to Kill
A Central Park concert to celebrate NY’s comeback
Was cancelled half-way through the show
By lightning, which is Mother Nature’s “show must go on” commentary
On when it’s time to just say, “No!”
The Golden Globes went to Borat, Nomadland
Schitt’s Creek and The Crown
There may have been some others
But I forgot to write them down
The Grammys feted Beyonce, (the most-winning female artist)
And Megan Thee Stallion for their art
But Billy Eilish won in every other category, (I think)
Which sets her far apart
The National Recording Registry inducted Kermit’s, Rainbow Connection
Satchmo’s, When the Saints Go Marching In
Albert King’s, Born Under a Bad Sign
As it should have been
Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, Labelle’s, Lady Marmalade
Matheny’s, Bright Size Life, Kool & the Gang’s, Celebration
Perhaps, there is a god
Nomadland won Best Picture at the Oscars
I was not surprised
Italy’s Maneskin won Eurovision
Which was globally televised
The new NEA Jazz Masters
Were Henry Threadgill, Tootie Heath
Terri Lyne Carrington, Phil Schapp
And if you check underneath
You’ll see the Rock and Roll Hall inductees
Tina Turner, Carole King
Foo Fighters, The Go-Gos, Todd Rundgren
And Jay Z for that Jay Z thing
Bruce cashed out his catelogue
I’m completely at a loss
Does this somehow mean
That Sony Music’s now The Boss?
Sports
Alabama won the National Championship
Not a big surprise
Bill Belichick declined Trump’s Presidential Medal of Freedom
He now looms larger in my eyes
Brady, Bucks, Superbowl LV
Blah…blah…blah…blah…blaw
MLB pulled the All-Star Game from Atlanta
Over Georgia’s restrictive voting law
Michael McDowell finally won the Daytona 500
Osaka and Djokovic were Australian Open champs
Phil Mickelson became the oldest major PGA winner
I think we should call him gramps
Tiger flipped his car multiple times
They had to use the Jaws of Life
Joe Musgrove threw the first no-hitter in Padres history
Then…he went home to hug his wife
Stanford women and Baylor men
Were the NCAA B-ball winners
Emma Raducanu, an unseeded teenager, won the US Open
Rarely accomplished by beginners
Hideki Matsuyama won The Masters
The first to do it from Japan
Tyson Fury KO’d Deontay Wilder
Tyson Fury is the man
Kobe Bryant was inducted into the B-Ball HOF
Ashleigh Barty and Novak Djokovic won the Wimbledon prize
The Bucks were NBA champs for only the second time in 50 years
Because they were this year’s best basketball guys
Patrick Cantlay won the FedEx Trophy
The US trounced Europe for the Ryder Cup
Oleksandr Usyk walked into a boxing ring
And beat Anthony Joshua up
The Brazil/Argentina World Cup prelim
Was stopped mid-game by officials of health
Max Scherzer signed with the Mets for a record $43.3M/year
Which should contribute to his wealth
But not so fast, Max
Before you sing and shout
Check to see if you still get paid
When MLB owners lock you out
Atlanta…yawn…won the World Series
Sometimes sports can be a bore
But not when Lionel Messi’s playing
He won his 7th Ballon d’Or
To correct a long-time wrong
Though he wasn’t a household name
Bud Fowler, the first black man to play organized professional baseball
Was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
And because all sports love their trophies
The best players win a prize
Alabama’s Bryce Young
Is now one of the Heisman guys
Personal
The wrap up from Saratoga Springs
My little corner of the globe
Where, it seems, I spent this dizzying year
Clad primarily in my robe
Was actually not the case
Though it passed by in a blink
There were many things this year
That didn’t categorically stink
The clan has all stayed healthy
We’re all but Griffin, triple vaxed
T-L and I took a trip to Gloucester
Where life is even more relaxed
The kids returned to school
I think they’re doing great
I’m still grappling with the methodology
Of how generations inter-relate
But
Zu will graduate this summer
Grif will be crossing the street to High
Rach and Oli are reinventing a future
And Teri-Lynn and I
Are doing the best we can
The proverbial one step at a time
She with her gentle view of the world
While yours truly confesses that I’m
Barely able to contain myself
The family helps me cope
And music…healing music
Still fills my life with hope
I became part of a producers’ group
A creative outlet with good food
And that’s been a mostly weekly haven
For a positive attitude
I produced We the Nighthawks
And then A New Noel
Two orchestral projects by Morris and Rivers
And if you permit me a moment to qvell
The writing is superb
Kim Hawkey sings like butter
And Assaf Gleisner’s musicality
Sets my soul aflutter
And while I’m being fluttery
Have you heard Jocelyn Arndt sing?
Well, she’s crazy good and her brother, Chris
Are
Excuse me, here’s the thing
They’re simply fucking amazing
And when their mentor/producer David B
Asked me to co-produce
Their phenomenal My Favorite Ghost CD
I immediately raised my hand
It will soon be on the way
Do yourself a favor and listen to it
When it finally drops, this May
Caffè Lena, Caffè Lena
My home away from home
Praises should be more odal
Than sing/song rhymey in a poem
But what a year of music
Community outreach and a school
Sixty-one years and counting
As an industrial music tool
That delivers something joyful every day
It’s a privilege to be a part
Of keeping her heart pumping
With magically musical Folk Art
And this year, as a denouement
From Dan and Oona and James
A Folk Club Kids CD
And if you look at all the names
Zuzu drew the cover
Hey…I’m up here…over the moon
All of you down there should check it out
And buy several copies, soon
In Passing
Klara Kasparova guided her son
Remarkable chess-master Garry…Covid-19
Tim Severin was a seafarer who replicated journeys of mythic explorers
Equally interesting and scary
Brian Urquhart was a British UN peace negotiator
Isaac Shoshan was an Israeli spy
Neil Sheehan was a Pulitzer-winning reporter
Known as the Pentagon Papers guy
Gordon Stewart founded Sandals Resorts
Bryan Sykes studied ancient origins through DNA
Alan Canfora was a Kent State protestor
Who survived to protest another day
Albert Roux brought fine French cuisine to London’s Le Gavroche
A mighty fine place to eat
Margo St. James was a leading advocate
For the rights of ladies on the street
Richard Means fought the political ‘machine’
To give all candidates a fair shake…Covid-19
Narinder S. Kapany was the Father of Fiber Optics
At the speed of light for heaven’s sake
Sheldon Adelson owned casinos
And financed evil on the right
Carrie Dann defended Shoshone ancestral land
Which didn’t come without a fight
Harold Bornstein was Trump’s quack doctor
Joanne Rogers was the wife of Fred
Eugenio Martinez burgled Watergate
Now, like all of those other assholes, he’s dead
Mary Catherine Bateson studied the evolution of women
Shirley Abrahamson was Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
George Whitmore was among the first to climb El Capitan
Which is arguably a sport…Covid-19
Ted Lumpkin, Jr. was a 100-year-old Tuskegee airman…Covid-19
Sharon Begley was a Newsweek science writer
Deborah Rhode was a Stanford law professor
And a crusading legal ethics fighter
Nikolai Antoshkin commanded the containment
Of the Chernobyl reactor fire…Covid-19
George Carruthers designed NASA mission telescopes
To help astronauts see much higher
Dr. Joseph Sannabend was a devoted AIDS researcher
Who made house calls for those in need
Rennie Davis was a Chicago Seven antiwar activist
Imprisoned, then later freed
Martinus Veltman won a physics Nobel
For his theoretical Standard Model study
Barry Lewis gave architectural Walking Tours of NYC
When it was dry or wet or muddy
Captain Tom Moore at 100-years-old
Raised over 45 million bucks
For hospitals and health workers battling COVID-19
Then got it and died…that sucks…Covid-19
John J. Sweeney led the AFL-CIO
For more than 14 years
Joe Allen was beloved on NY’s Restaurant Row
Serving smiles and food and beers
George McDonald gave up his big corporate job
To help those living on the street
S. Prestley Blake co-founded Friendly’s
A place some people like to eat
Paul Crutzen won a Nobel for studying the effects of Global Warming
Frank Shankwitz co-founded Make-a-Wish
David Mintz invented Tofutti
To eat in a cone or in a dish
Margaret Snyder was the UN’s first feminist ambassador
Abraham Twerski merged Judaica with AA
Karen Lewis fought to give Chicago teachers
Better conditions and better pay
George Schultz served under Nixon
Then under Reagan too
Maxine Cheshire reported on Beltway scandals for The Washington Post
Considerably more than just a few
Anthony Sowell was a convicted Cleveland serial killer
Leslie Robertson engineered the World Trade Center’s frame
Ron Wright was the first Congressman to succumb to…Covid-19
A dubious kind of fame
Arianna Rosenbluth’s algorithm changed the organization of data…Covid-19
Fred Segal’s stores sold California Cool
Isadore Singer bridged the fields of math and physics
And taught about it in school
Dr. John Bentson pioneered neuroradiology…Covid-19
Patricia Lynch investigated cults and their insidious reach
Reggie Jones was the longest serving lifeguard
Saving swimmers at Jones Beach
Dr. David Katzenstein brought AIDS prevention and treatment
To sub-Saharan Africans in need…Covid-19
Shlomo Hillel helped 120,00 Jews get from Iraq to Israeli
A miraculous exodus, indeed
James Ridgeway was a hard-hitting investigative journalist
Dr. Bernard Lown was the defibrillator inventor
Fanne Foxe was the notorious stripper
At a Congressional sex scandal’s epicenter
Arne Sorenson was president and CEO of Marriott
Leo Goodman introduced race and ethnicity to sociological studies…Covid-19
Vernon Jordan was a Civil Rights leader
Who called several Presidents buddies
Fuck Rush Limbaugh!
Ahmed Zaki Yamani was the Saudi oil minister
Who nationalized his countries treasure
Loretta Whitfield created the black doll, Baby Whitney
Anatomically realistic, for good measure
Michael Somare led Papua New Guinea’s independence from Australia
Joseph D. Duffey was an Apostle of liberalism and human rights
Roger Mudd was a veteran TV news anchor
Who read the news most weekday nights
Anna Majani was a famed Italian chocolatier…Covid-19
Stephen Bechtel, Jr. engineered BART
Hershel Shanks founded Biblical Archaeology Review
To popularize Israeli archaeology and ancient art…Covid-19
Allan McDonald warned of the Challenger disaster
Goodwill Zwelithini ka Bhekuzulu was King of the Zulu nation
Luis Palau was the Billy Graham of Latin America
Preaching crap from his own TV station
Aruká Juma was the last survivor of Brazil’s indigenous Juma people…Covid-19
Rosalind Cartwright was a psychologist of dreams
Steven Spurrier’s Judgement of Paris blind taste test
Proved wine isn’t always what it seems
Edward C. Luck was the genocide conscience of the UN
Dr. Carola Eisenberg helped start Physicians for Human Rights
Kent Taylor owned the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain
Where Texans line-danced on most nights…Covid-19
Ion Mihai Pacepa was a Romanian Cold War defector
Who revealed unspeakable communist crimes…Covid-19
G. Gordon Liddy led the Watergate break-in
Back in those rollicking Nixon times
John Magufuli the despotic President of Tanzania died of…Covid-19
After declaring it was a hoax
Greg Steltenpohl was a pioneer in plant-based beverages
For all the thirsty vegan folks
George Bass was the Father of Underwater Archaeology
Nawal El Saadawi advocated for women throughout the Arab world
Bernie Madoff was a Ponzi scheming asshole
Let the epithets be hurled!
Edith Prentiss fought for accessibility for NYC’s disabled
Isamu Akasaki won the Nobel for developing LEDs
Howard Weitzman defended O. J. and Michael Jackson
And won “Not Guilty” verdicts for their pleas
Martha Lou Gadsden’s Martha Lou’s Kitchen
Was a Charleston Soul Food shrine
Marshall Sahlins instigated Teach-ins
When the Viet Nam War was on the line
Robina Asti was a veteran, flight instructor
And crusader for the transgender cause
Ramsey Clark was Lyndon Johnson’s AG
Who fought ardently for Civil Rights laws
Kenneth C. Kelly was a respected space scientist
Bill Gamson invented fantasy games
Mariano Puig made perfume
With exotic Spanish names
Charles Coolidge was the oldest Medal of Honor recipient
Memam Ghafouri helped Yazidis flee ISIS in Iraq…Covid-19
Penelope Laingen began the Iran hostage Yellow Ribbon Campaign
While waiting for her husband to get back
Alcee Hastings was an impeached federal judge
Who then led a civil rights campaign
Yehuda Ben-Yishay was a pioneering psychologist
In treating injuries of the brain
Prince Philip was Queen Lizzie’s guy
Royalty, I just don’t get it
John Naisbitt predicted the rise of the tech industry
Warning we would regret it
Donald Ryder was an architect of black heritage sites
Hester Ford died at 116
LaDonna Brave Bull Allard led Dakota Pipeline protests
To keep land, air and water clean
Vartan Gregorian led the rescue
To save NYC’s Library from failing
Spencer Silver unintentionally invented the Post-it note
Years before emailing
Shawn Kennedy was one of the NY Times first black, female reporters
Who helped run the post-Katrina NOLA rebuild
Faye Schulman was a Nazi resistance fighter
Who documented how hundreds of thousands were killed
Walter Mondale was a liberal politician
And Jimmy Carter’s Veep
Charles Strum was the decades-long night editor of the NY Times
At night, when we were all asleep
Chuck Geschke created the PDF, and co-founded Adobe
Carl Spielvogel was an unconventional Mad Man
Lucinda Franks wrote Pulitzer-winning investigative reports
When the shit was hitting the fan
Peter Warner was a seafaring adventurer
Who once rescued shipwrecked boys
Geoff Crowther led people on exotic adventures
To escape from all the noise
Don Poynter invented novelties
The Black Box, the Dribble Spoon
Michael Collins piloted the Apollo 11 Orbiter
So, Armstrong and Aldrin could walk on the Moon
Daniel Kaminsky was an Internet security expert
Thomas Brock’s research led to the CORONA virus test
Eli Broad helped reshape LA into a cultural capital
“Not easy,” he confessed
John C. Martin developed drugs for H.I.V. and hepatitis
Helen Murray Free, the first easy test for diabetes
Edward Diener was called Dr. Happiness
But never appeared on a box of Wheaties®
Patrick O’Connell raised awareness of AIDS
With his red ribbon and his art
Robert Slavin was an innovator of child-learning techniques
To give kids a better start
Pamela Kraft was a champion of indigenous rights and culture
Bill McCreary was a color-breaking anchor of TV news
Helmut Jahn designed buildings in an unconventional way
Because those were his architectural views
William R. Harris fought against nuclear proliferation…Covid-19
Chad Kelepa Baybayan navigated by the stars
Antony Hewish won a Nobel for discovering pulsars
That came from somewhere, way past Mars
Leigh Perkins built Orvis into a lifestyle brand
For outdoorsy women and men
Yitzhak Arad was a survivor who led the Israeli Holocaust Study Center
To remind us, Never Again!
Eula Hall was a Hillbilly Activist
Who led the one-woman Appalachian Center
Jim Klobuchar was a hard-hitting journalist
And daughter Amy’s life-long mentor
Damon Weaver was a child reporter who interviewed Obama
Paul Van Doren built the Vans shoe empire
Yuan Longping’s agricultural research
Pushed rice yields even higher
Katherine Barber edited the Canadian Oxford Dictionary
And redefined Canadian colloquial speech
Paul J. Hanly, Jr. was a top litigator of class-action opioid cases
Who tried to keep opioids out of reach
John Warner was a former Naval Secretary and Virginia Senator
And Liz Taylor’s sixth ex
Arthur Staats coined the term “Time Out” for unruly kids
But child psychology proved more complex
Christopher Stone was an advocate for Nature
F. Lee Bailey defended O. J. and Patty Hearst
We all know Rosa Parks as a famous bus rider
But Martha White was historically first
Ganga Stone started God’s Love We Deliver
To bring hot meals to those suffering from AIDS
Bob Moses was a calm crusader for civil rights
And helped kids get better math grades
Cornelia Oberlander was an eco-minded landscape designer…Covid-19
Jessica Morris advocated for her own ailment, glioblastoma
William Regnery, III was a billionaire who bankrolled the batshit Alt Right
From somewhere in Oklahoma
Michael Smith was a loud voice for NY justice reform
Richard R. Ernst’s Nobel research led to the M.R.I.
Col. Dave Severance commanded US troops at Iwo Jima
Where so many would fight and die
Donald Rumsfeld was Secretary of Defense
He lied us into a war with Iraq
Richard J. Meislin was the NY Times editor that led to on-line editions
But later wished he could take it back
Herb Sturz was an unshakable force in the life of NYC’s underserved
Kenneth Kaunda was Zambia’s first elected leader
Lauren Berlant wrote Cruel Optimism about the nightmarish “American Dream”
If only more people would read her
Lee Ross was an expert in socialization over personality
Chief Leonard Crow Dog was the Lakota leader at Wounded Knee
The guy who invented virus protection then evaded his taxes
Was company founder, John McAfee
George Stranahan founded the Aspen Center for Physics
And the local Flying Dog Brewpub joint
Athan Theoharis chronicled the abuses of Hoover’s FBI
But they’re still abusive, so, what’s the point?
Benigno Aquino, III was President of the Philippines
Elizabeth Martinez gave the Chicana Movement her voice
Harry M. Rosenfeld decided Woodward and Bernstein
Were the Washington Post’s Watergate Break-in choice…Covid-19
David Wisnia sang to fellow prisoners in Auschwitz
And returned 75 years later to sing again
Frank Askin was the ACLU ‘s general counsel
Who fought for the rights of all men
Frieda Fritzshall survived Aushwitz to build a Holocaust Museum
Jack Downing was CIA chief during the Cold War
Yury Dokhoian was the chess grandmaster coach of Kasparov
Who knew what the bishops and castles were for…Covid-19
Dr. Barbara Murphy was a kidney transplant expert
Haunani-Kay Trask was a champion of Native Hawaiian Rights
Purnell Coppin’s research laid the groundwork for fighting COVID-19
Long before it was in our sights
Allan Reiver transformed a vacant Little Italy lot
Into the urban oasis, Elizabeth St. Garden Park
Jehan Sadat was Anwar’s wife
Who lead Egyptian women out of the dark
Erin Gilmer fought for people with disabilities
Gloria Richardson was an uncompromising advocate of civil rights
Carl Levin was a Michigan Senator
Who led countless corporate misconduct fights
Dr. Paul Auerbach was the Father of Wilderness Medicine
Ying-shih Yu was a scholar of Chinese tradition and thought
Joe Galloway was an intrepid Vietnam War correspondent
In a place he worked but never fought
John P. McMeel co-founded the largest newspaper syndication company
Toshihide Maskawa was a Nobelist of Big Bang Theory
Kathy Andrade fought to unionize migrant workers
Even when she was tired and weary
Abebech Gobena was the Mother Teresa of Africa
Lucille Times inspired the Montgomery bus boycott
Steven Weinberg explained the origins of the universe in The First Three Minutes
And a Nobel was what he got
Leon Litwack was a professor who brought passion and nuance
To the study of the marginalized and oppressed
Barbara Kannapell was an activist who empowered the deaf
For which she was blessedly obsessed
James Loewen wrote Lies My Teacher Told Me
Which challenged misleading history
Pearl Tytell examined countless historic documents
And solved mystery after forensic mystery
Dr. Gino Strada founded Emergency
To bring health care to the World’s most needy
Robert Durst was a murderer, and you could tell
Because his eyes were squinty and beady
Gary B. Nash fought to make history texts more accurate
Which caused a shit storm of Conservative ire
Patricia Maginnis was an abortion rights activist
Whose house was set on fire
Lloyd Dobyns co-anchored NBC News Overnight
George Holliday taped the police beating of Rodney King…Covid-19
Edward J. Greenfield was a NY State Supreme Court judge
Rhapsodic rulings were his thing
Robert L. James took the struggling McCann Erickson agency
And built it ad, by ad, by ad
Clive Sinclair was a pioneer of early personal computing
And could easily be called its dad
Joseph I. Kramer was a pay-what-you-can Country Doctor
Abolhassan Bani-Sadr was a former president of Iran
Ida Nudel fought for the right of Jews to leave Soviet Russia
Every woman, child and man
Gilbert Seltzer was the last of WWII’s ‘Ghost Army’
Abdelaziz Bouteflika was Algeria’s president for a long, long time
Neal Sher hunted down Nazis
To make sure they paid for their crime
Doris Diether was the Guardian of Greenwich Village
She helped save Washington Square and Shakespeare in the Park
Fred Hiatt oversaw the Washington Post editorial page
Which is where he left his mark
Ruth Sullivan advocated for children with autism
Anne Saxelby was a monger of American cheese
R. Allen Gardner taught sign language to chimps
In the jungle, amongst the trees
Marcia Freedman was the first American woman in the Knesset
William Conway reimagined American zoos
Abdul Qadeer-Khan was the father of Pakistan’s nuclear program
In case you hadn’t read the news
Robert Schiffmann was the inventive guru of the microwave
Mark Glaze crusaded for safety for guns
Chuck Bundrant built an empire of seafood
Which is yummy fried or broiled or on buns
Marie Wilcox was the guardian of the Wukchumni language
Helene Fortunoff built a family jewelry empire
F. W. De Klerk had a change of heart
And helped put out the incendiary Apartheid fire
Pamela McCorduck was an AI historian
Justus Rosenberg helped artists and intellectuals escape from Vichy France
Glen de Vries flew to space with Captain James T. Kirk
When he was given the chance
Jimmy Neary was the proprietor of Neary’s Pub
Michael Rutter was a child psychiatry pioneer
Susan Rosenblatt took on Big Tobacco
And won billions, so I hear
COLIN POWELL…Covid-19
Jim Warren was an early influencer in personal computing
Ruth Ann Minner was Delaware’s first female gov
Nathan Johnson was tasked to upgrade Detroit’s black churches
With care and trust and love
Jay Last co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor
The genesis of Silicon Valley
Peter Buck co-founded Subway
In Brooklyn, next to an alley
Philip B. Heymann prosecuted Watergate and Abscam
bell hooks was a black feminist force
Elfrida von Nardoff won big money on TV’s game show, Twenty-One
But it was all rigged, of course
Dr. Sherif R. Zaki was a disease detective
Who identified COVID, Ebola, Zika and West Nile
Linda McAlister was a philosopher who founded Hypatia
A journal to make feminists smile
Bob Dole
Shirley Zussman was an indefatigable sex therapist
Edward D. Shames was the last of the Band of Brothers
Franklin A. Thomas was chairman of the Ford Foundation
With an eye towards poverty and the education of others
Robert H. Grubbs won a Nobel for his research of “Green Chemistry”
Sarah Weddington was the 29-year-old lawyer who won Roe v. Wade
E. O. Wilson was obsessed with evolutionary biology
And the way that all things are made
Gordon Carey spent his lifetime
Crusading for Civil Rights
Desmond Tutu was a clear, constant voice against Apartheid
And one of the world’s most hopeful lights
Harry Reid was a principled Senator
He shepherded Obamacare into law
Thomas Lovejoy’s passion was rescuing the Amazon
Because its demise could be Earth’s last straw
Donald H. Elliott preserved NYC landmarks
Creative zoning and community involvement were two of his tricks
Richard Marcinko was the founding commander
Of the storied Seal Team 6
The Arts
Phyllis McGuire was the last tuneful sister
John Outerbridge was a sculptor of junk
Tanya Roberts was picked as a Charlie’s Angel and a Bond Girl
Because she had a lot of spunk
Joan Micklin Silver was a Writer/Director
Crossing Delancy and Hester Street
Asolfo “Shabba-Doo” Quiñones was an early innovator of street dancing
Who became famous by using his feet
Adál Maldonado was a provocative Nuyorican photographer
Gerry Marsden sang Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying
Carol Johnson used her landscape architect skills
To keep derelict parks from dying
Lee Breuer was Mabou Mines co-founder
And directed The Gospel at Colonus
Joanne Michaels wrote about the Hudson Valley
And helped preserve much of it as a bonus…Covid-19
Armando Manzanero was an influential Mexican singer/songwriter…Covid-19
Jean Valentine was a minimalist, dream-like poet
Paige Rense edited Architectural Digest
Where she could both write about stuff and show it
William Link co-created Mannix and Columbo
Also, Murder, She Wrote
Shamsur Rahman was a revivalist of Urdu literature
Which was truly something of note…Covid-19
Eric Jerome Dickey wrote about strong, black women
Eugene Wright played the Brubeck Quartet’s bass
Howard Johnson played tuba in the SNL band
And sometimes bari, just in case
Michael Apted directed Gorillas in the Mist
Coal Miner’s Daughter and the 7 Up docs
Sylvain Sylvain was a core member of the New York Dolls
A punk band that really rocks
Ved Mehta wrote a sweeping memoir of India
Barbara Weisberger founded the Pennsylvania Ballet
Sigfried Fischbacher did magic with tigers and Roy
Until he died one day
Claude Bolling was an acclaimed jazz pianist
Pat Loud was the An American Family mother
Larry King was an intrepid suspendered interviewer
Unquestionably like no other…Covid-19
Alice Rose George was a poet and photo editor
Jimmie Rodgers sang Honeycomb…Covid-19
Al Young wrote about jazz
Occasionally in the form of a poem
Phil Spector was a Rock and Roll legend
Few more influential to be found
But he killed a girl and died behind prison walls
Instead of his Wall of Sound
Frank Kimbrough was a jazz pianist/composer
Kim Tschang-Yeul painted with water drops
Marsha Zazula was the Metal Matriarch
Personally, I like when her music stops
Phillip J. Smith was chairman of the Schubert Organization…Covid-19
Elijah Moshinsky directed fanciful opera shows…Covid-19
Bob Avian choreographed Broadway musicals
A Chorus Line, Miss Saigon, were a couple of those
Barbara Shelley was the campy Queen of Horror
In British cinema, 60 years ago
Junior Mance was among the swingingest blues/jazz piano players
That you could ever know
Antonio Sabàto was an Italian action movie star…Covid-19
Charlene Gehm was a Joffrey dancer
If you wanted to know anything about Medieval England
Sharon Kay Penman had the answer
Walter Bernstein was a black-listed screenwriter
The Front, Fail Safe, Paris Blues…
Gunnel Lindblom was a Swedish actress
And a favorite Bergman muse
Elias Rahbani was a prolific Lebanese pop composer…Covid-19
Gregory Sierra played parts on Barney Miller and Sanford and Son
Cloris Leachman won an Oscar for The Last Picture Show
And was always a lot of fun
Juan Carlos Copes brought Tango Argentino to Broadway…Covid-19
Christopher Little took a chance on publishing Harry Potter
Jerry Brandt owned NYC’s Electric Circus and Ritz 13
But then…Covid-19 jumped up and got her
Cicely Tyson was a remarkable, principled activist/actress
She was also Miles Davis’s wife
Corky Lee took very personal photos
Of Asian/American life…Covid-19
Jonas Gwangwa was an Anti-Apartheid trombonist
Dustin Diamond was Screech on Saved by the Bell
Hal Holbrook was an actor’s actor
But as Mark Twain, he cast a spell
Edward “Duke Bootee” Fletcher wrote the iconic rap song, The Message
Sibongile Khumalo was South Africa’s First Lady of Song
Mary Wilson was one of the original Supremes
Who did much more than just sing-a-long
Robert Cohan brought contemporary dance to Great Britain
Jamie Tarses was a beleaguered writer/executive on TV
Sonny Fox hosted the long-running Wonderama for kids…Covid-19
Just like you and me
Marc Wilmore was a brilliant TV comedy writer
In Living Color and The Simpsons were shows he wrote for…Covid-19
Allan Burns created the mascot, Cap’n Crunch
And penned scripts for Lou Grant and Mary Tyler Moore
Ricky Powell photographed early hip-hop
And fringe art scenes in NYC
Sandie “Goddess Bunny” Crisp was a West Hollywood underground muse
For quirky films and shows on TV…Covid-19
Eva Coutaz used Harmonia Mundi
To mold classical music careers
S. Clay Wilson was a taboo-breaking, outrageous underground cartoonist
For many, many years
Christopher Plummer was a Shakespearean actor
Most remembered as The Sound of Music’s von Trapp
Ewert U-Roy Beckford was a DJ whose style
Was clearly a prelude to Rap
Anne Feeney was a Performer/Producer/Hellraiser…Covid-19
James Gunn won prizes for his science fiction
Jean-Claude Carrière wrote the Diary of a Chambermaid and The Unbearable Lightness of Being
With impeccably perfect diction
Larry Flynt fought for freedom of the press
For Hustler’s graphic pictures
Bruce Blackburn designed the NASA logo
Which emblazoned all of NASA’s fixtures
CHICK COREA
Danny Ray was James Brown’s original hype man
Brenda Ballin was a decades-long docent at The Met…Covid-19
Lynn Stalmaster was a Hollywood casting director
About the best that you could get
Johnny Pacheco co-founded Fania Records
He was a Salsa king
Bunny Wailer was Reggae’s spiritual leader
And man, that guy could sing
Art Cervi was Detroit TV’s Bozo the Clown
Peter G. Davis was the Opera critic for the New York Times
Margaret Maron wrote award-winning novels
About overly complicated crimes
Milford Graves was a polyrhythmic drummer
Prince Markie Dee was a founding member of Fat Boys
Lou Ottens invented the audio cassette
With all that maddening background noise
Jack Schwartz was a legendary NY news editor…Covid-19
Arturo Di Modica sculpted Wall St.’s Raging Bull
Douglas Turner Ward co-founded the Negro Ensemble Company
Years before the seats were full
Barry Le Va painted art on floors
Benedict J. Fernandez photographed the life of MLK
Lawrence Ferlinghetti owned City Lights Bookstore and wrote beat poetry
And had a lot of beat things to say
Raymond Cauchetier’s images captured New Wave Cinema…Covid-19
Rajie Cook co-created pictograms for public spaces
Henry Goldrich was owner, proprietor and curmudgeon of Manny’s Music
One of NYC’s go-to musician places
Toko Shinoda fused calligraphy with abstract expressionism
At 107, he died
Bill C. Davis wrote Mass Appeal
About some religious characters who lied…Covid-19
Tony Hendra was a stand-up comic, writer…child abuser
Carla Wallenda was the last of her Flying Wallendas clan
Norton Juster wrote The Phantom Tollbooth
Of which almost everyone was a fan
Richie Tienken co-owned NYC’s Comic Strip
Naomi Rosenblum helped elevate photography as art
Roger Englander produced Young People’s Concerts for CBS
So, kids could tell all the orchestral instruments apart
Erica Faye Watson was a Chicago-based comedienne/playwright…Covid-19
Charles Hill recovered the stolen Scream
Moufida Tlatli was the first breakout female Arab director
The Silences of the Palace was her answered dream…Covid-19
Ralph Peterson, Jr. was the last of Art Blakey’s disciples
Ricardo González Gutiérrez was Cepillin the Mexican clown,
Elsa Peretti designed jewelry for Tiffany
To wear with jeans, a pant suit or a gown
Aaron Rose was an innovative, reclusive photographer
Wilhelmina Cole Holladay founded the National Museum of Women in the Arts
Jessica Walter acted in Play Misty for Me and Arrested Development
Among many of her memorable parts
Patrick Dupond was a dancer/director of the Paris Opera Ballet
Leon Gast spent 22 years making When We Were Kings
James Levine was the beloved conductor of the Met Orchestra
But sexual abuse was one of his things
Yaphet Kotto was great in Midnight Run
Alien and Live and Let Die
Sally Grossman was the woman on the cover of Bringing it All Back Home
Where Dylan was the featured guy
Carmel Quinn sang for presidents
And filled Carnegie Hall for years on St. Patrick’s Day
Barbara Rickles was the beloved wife of Don
For whom he only had nice things to say
Bhaskar Menon turned around a failing Capitol Records
By releasing Dark Side of the Moon
George Segal excelled as a stand-up and actor
And could play a banjo tune
Marianne Carus was the creator/publisher of Cricket
A literary mag for kids to read
Kenneth Cooper was a harpsichordist/pianist/musicologist
Who was known for wearing tweed
Paul Jackson played with Headhunters, Santana, Pointer Sisters
He was the man on bass
Jack Bradley was a devoted photographer
Of Louis Armstrong’s face
David McCabe obsessively photographed Warhol
Paul Laubin crafted fine oboes by hand
Peter Manso wrote biographies of Brando, Mailer, Koch and Schwarzenegger
To help us understand
Daniel Wolf curated photos for the Getty
Larry McMurtry wrote Lonesome Dove and The Last Picture Show
Malcolm Cecil was a bass player, engineer and mad synthesizer scientist
Who everyone who loves music should know
Beverly Cleary was a beloved children’s author
She wrote Ramona Quimby tales
Craig muMs Grant was a slam poet and Oz actor
Who spent a lot of time in jails
Bertrand Tavernier directed Round Midnight and Death Watch
Robert Hershon was a poet and publisher of Hanging Loose Press
Joan Walsh Anglund wrote and illustrated A Friend is Someone Who Likes You
Mostly true, I guess
Freddie Redd was a jazz pianist/composer
Pat Collins was a Tony-winning director of light
When SNL first started
Lorne hired Anne Beatts to write
Arthur Kopit wrote Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad
It was my first starring role
I played the part of the Awkward Son
Because when casting it they said, “Get Joel!”
Louis St. Louis wrote songs for Grease
Earl DMX Simmons was a gangsta rapper and street poet
Gianluigi Colalucci was chosen to restore the Sistine Chapel
Thank God he didn’t blow it
Gloria Henry played Dennis the Menace’s mom on TV
Ethel Gabriel was a decades-long producer for RCA
Frank Jacobs was a satirist for 57 years at Mad Magazine
Until he passed away
James Hampton played Hannibal Dobbs
The bumbling bugler on F Troop
Liam Scarlett was a beloved British choreographer
Until outed in a sex scandal scoop
Benita Raphan created short, biographical “genius” films
Mary Ellen Moylan was Balanchine’s first great dancer
Jeopardy Clue: He wrote the songs for Bat Out of Hell?
Who was Jim Steinman: was the answer, (uh…question)
Giancarlo DiTrapano gave untested writers a shot
At his avant-garde imprint, Tyrant Books
Alber Elbaz was a beloved designer
Who created iconic fashion looks…Covid-19
Helen McCrory was in Harry Potter and Peaky Blinders
Tempest Storm took off her clothes
Paul Oscher played the blues
Because that’s the way it goes…Covid-19
Al Schmitt was the Godfather of Recorded Music
He was my friend for fifty years
Every musical thing he touched
Was made better by his ears
Rusty Young was a founding member of Poco
He introduced steel guitar to Pop
Monte Hellman was a little-known director
Who brought us the cultish Two-Lane Blacktop
Richard Rush directed The Stunt Man
Felix Silla was The Addams’ Cousin Itt
June Newton was the photographer/muse/wife of husband, Helmut
For whom she’d often sit
Joye Hummel was the first woman to write for Wonder Woman
Although uncredited for 70 years
Bob Fass was a pioneer of underground radio
And an inspiration to his peers
Les McKeown led The Bay City Rollers
Helen Weaver chronicled her Kerouac affair
Eulis Cathey was a respected jazz exec
And beloved DJ on the air
Mao Ayuth’s films survived the Khmer Rouge…Covid-19
Paul Kellogg supported City Opera and Glimmerglass
Anthony Powell was an Oscar-winning designer
Who covered actors’ heads, shoulders, legs and ass
Bob Porter was an influential jazz producer
And a champion of WBGO
Jill Corey was a real coal miner’s daughter
And a popular singer, don’t ya know?
Wayne Peterson was a controversial, Pulitzer-winning composer
Rajan Mishra was a raga singing star…Covid-19
Olympia Dukakis was an Oscar-winning actress
Her role in Moonstruck was her best, by far
Fred Jordan’s imprint, Grove Press
Was the publishing world’s lone pillar
To embrace taboo authors
Like Lawrence, Burroughs, Ginsberg and Miller
Jacques d’Amboise was a beloved City Ballet dancer
Choreographer, ambassador, tutor
Anna Halprin encouraged improvisational dance
Because rigidity did not suit her
Johnny Crawford was an original Mouseketeer
And The Rifleman’s TV son
Billie Hayes played Witchiepoo on H. R. Pufnstuf
Which seemed like a lot of fun
Charon Pollock was the playwright of Blood Relations
Anita Lane collaborated with Nick Cave
Barbara Stone taught countless supermodels
How to smile and walk and wave
Lloyd Price was a Rock n Roll Hall of Fame forefather
He wrote the oft-covered Stagger Lee
Which would have been enough, but he also wrote
Lawdy Miss Clawdy and Personality
Martin Bookspan was the voice of Live from Lincoln Center
For more than 30 years
Curtis Fuller was a jazz trombonist, teacher, philosopher
Adored by all his peers
Lynn McDonald wrote They Called It Passchendaele
From recorded accounts of WWI vets
Michelangelo Lovelace’s pictures of Cleveland’s street life
Were as fine as street art gets
Tawny Kitaen posed in Playboy
Then strutted in Whitesnake’s video for Jaguar Dance
Norman Lloyd acted, produced and directed movies
Whenever he had a chance
Pervis Staples sang harmony with his soulful family
Bob Koester produced, promoted and sold the blues
Arthur Pomposello was the 40-year manager of the Algonquin’s Oak Room
Then we got the awful news…Covid-19
Charles Grodin was a deadpan comedic actor
Midnight Run, The Heartbreak Kid
Paul Mooney wrote bits for Richard Pryor
And was funny at everything he did
Mary Ahern was the first director of the Paley Center for Media
She produced Omnibus on TV
Kathleen Andrews was the executive who chose to syndicate
Cathy, Ziggy and Doonesbury
Roger Hawkins was the heartbeat of the Muscle Shoals Sound
Lori Burton co-owned the NY Record Plant
Mark York was an Office regular who advocated for actors with disabilities
And wouldn’t let anyone say, “You can’t!”
Joel Chadabe was an electronic music pioneer/teacher/composer
Kentaro Miura created the epic Manga, Berserk
Samuel E. Wright was the voice of Sebastian in The Little Mermaid
Broadway acting was his work
Eric Carle wrote the beloved A Very Hungry Caterpillar
Chi Modu’s photography defined ‘90s Hip Hop
B. J. Thomas sang Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head and Hooked on a Feelin’
Which both charted all the way to the top
Mary Beth Edelson was a pioneering feminist artist
Carla Fracci was a doyenne of Italian ballet
Rusty Warren made the hit comedy album, Knockers Up
And had a lot of outrageously funny shit to say
Kay Tobin Lahusen photographed many early gay rights protests
John Davis was one of the “real” voices of Milli Vanilli…Covid-19
Gavin MacLeod was on Mary Tyler Moore and captained The Love Boat
And could act comedically, tragic or silly
Alix Dobkin’s, Lavender Jane Loves Women
Was a breakthrough album for lesbian folk
Jackie Mason gave the finger to Ed Sullivan
Eddie didn’t get the joke
Lois Ehlert created eye-popping children’s books
Clarence Williams, III played Mod Squad’s Linc
Dan Frank was an adventurous book editor
Of books that really made you think
Jerome Hellman produced Midnight Cowboy
Day of the Locusts and Coming Home
Graeme Ferguson was a cinematographer who created IMAX
So, he gets mentioned in my poem
Patrick Sky was an uilleann piper
Who crafted the pipes he played
Sophie Rivera photographed Puerto Rican street life in NYC
And once led the PR Day Parade
Friederike Mayröcker was the Grande Dame of post WWII literature
Douglas Kramer produced Dynasty and The Love Boat
Stuart Silver used theatrical presentations to revitalize museums
Of which, all museums should take note
Karla Burns won an Olivier as Show Boat’s Queenie
Gottfried Böhm was a master of architectural concrete
Richard Robinson turned a small magazine into the world’s largest publisher of children’s books
Admittedly, no small feat
Rezo Gabriadze was an avant-garde playwright/director/puppeteer
Lisa Banes was a beloved NYC actor
Ned Beatty was best known for Deliverance
Squealing like a pig could have been a factor
Milton Moses Ginsberg made quirky cult movies
The Werewolf of Washington and Coming Apart
Donald York was music director of the Paul Taylor Dance Company
He was the yang to Paul Taylor’s art
Richard Baron published Baldwin and Mailer
And wrote Report from Iron Mountain
Eva Sereny was an on-set photographer who captured candid moments
Like Sophia Loren in the Trevi Fountain
Frank Bonner played obnoxious Herb Tarlek
On WKRP in Cincinnati
Diego Cortez elevated Greenwich Village artists like Basquiat
Anderson, Laurie and Smith, Patti
Frances Stein designed for Halston, Calvin Klein and Chanel
Karl Wirsum was an eclectic art phenom on the Chicago scene
Richard Stolley was the founding editor
Of People Magazine
Gianna Rolandi was a spirited operatic soprano
Mostly in New York City
Steven Dunn was a Pulitzer-winning poet of the ‘ordinary’
Then he died…more’s the pity
Romulo Yanes shot food for Gourmet Magazine
John Sacret Young created TV’s China Beach
June Finch was a virtuosic mentor of body movement
For all the dancers she would teach
John Clem Clarke helped build SOHO‘s art colony
Ellen McIlwaine was astounding on slide guitar
John Langley co-created Cops
So, we could all ride along in the car
Louis Andriessen was a radical Dutch conductor/composer
Robert Sacchi was a Bogart double
Kurt Westergaard drew a cartoon of Muhammad
Which got him in all kinds of jihadi trouble
Mimi Stern-Wolfe presented socially conscious concerts
Mostly on the Lower East Side
Maki Kaji was the Godfather of Sudoku
Nine squares tall and nine squares wide
Boryana Straubel started an environmentally sustainable jewelry company
All her materials were reused
Hash Halper was a NYC chalk-drawing street artist
Whose work was both serious and bemused
Delia Fiallo was the Mistress of the Telenovela
Robert Downey, Sr. directed Putney Swope
Danny Shanahan was an hilarious New Yorker cartoonist
With an inherent ray of hope
Richard Donner directed Superman and Lethal Weapon
Paul Huntley was a Broadway hair master
Esther Bejarano called out hate with Hip Hop
After surviving the Auschwitz disaster
Walter Yetnikoff was a long time Columbia Records president
Whose abusiveness was well recorded
Ron Popeil’s inventions, the Veg-O-Matic and Pocket Fisherman
Were made in America, not imported
Peter Zinovieff was an inventor/composer/synthesist
For David Bowie, King Crimson, Pink Floyd
Alice Clark Brown was one of only a few black stars
That Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus employed
Byron Berline was a masterful fiddler
Charlie Robinson played Mac on Night Court
Some thought Christian Boltanski’s found object installations were trash
But they were nothing of the sort
Raffaella Carrà was a singing, dancing, Italian TV favorite
Oleg Briansky taught NYCB dancers to dance
Graham Vick spent a fortune trying to get broader audiences
To give opera performance a chance…Covid-19
Carol Easton wrote biographies of Jacqueline du Pré and Stan Kenton
Samuel Goldwyn and Agnes de Mille
The long-bearded bassist in ZZ Top
Was the fantastic Dusty Hill
Rick Laird was a fusion bassist for Mahavishnu Orchestra
Gil Wechsler was the lighting director of the Met
If there was ever a call for the Elvis of Merengue
Johnny Ventura was the guy that they’d get
George Rhoads designed fantastical ball machine sculptures
Patricia Kennealy-Morrison was unofficially married to Jim
Chuck E. Weiss was the LA rapscallion who inspired Ricki Lee Jones
To write Chuck E’s in Love just for him
Vladimir Menshov was an Oscar-winner for Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears
Jane Withers went from child star to Josephine the Plumber
Willie Winfield was an angelic-voiced Doo-Wop singer
And a sought-after street corner hummer
Biz Markie was the Clown Prince of Rap
Elliot Lawrence conducted the Tony orchestra for 50 years
Nanci Griffith was a beloved country/folk singer/songwriter
And her passing has brought me to tears
Floyd Cooper was an illustrator of black lives for children
George Forss photographed NYC streets in black and white
Reynold Ruffins designed iconic graphics in his Push Pin Studio
Night after night after night
Louise Fishman was a feminist abstract expressionist
Marcia Nasatir was the first woman United Artists VP
Dennis Thomas played saxophone for Kool and the Gang
And his friends all called him DeeTee
Rusty Young was Poco‘s steel guitarist
Paul Cotton was in Poco too
Cynthia Harris was a TV actress
Most notably the mom on Mad About You
Patricia Wilde was a favorite Balanchine ballerina
Neal Conan hosted NPR’s Talk of the Nation show
Markie Post was on The Fall Guy and Night Court
In case you didn’t know
Nach Waxman owned the Kitchen Arts & Letters Bookstore
Elka Schumann ran the Bread and Puppet Theater
Jean Breeze was the first woman of dub poetry
And I once had a chance to meet her
Herbert Schlosser oversaw SNL and Laugh-In
He championed Johnny Carson for host of The Tonight Show
Mike Finnegan was the golden-voiced sideman/organist to CSN&Y and Jimi
Man, that dude could blow
Una Stubbs was best known for portraying Sherlock’s landlady, Mrs. Hudson
Charlie Watts gathered no moss
Don Everly
Oh, Brother…what a loss
Janice Mirikitani was Poet Laureate of SF
Who fought for human rights
Chucky Thompson spent his time in the studio
Cutting Hip-Hop tracks most nights…Covid-19
Hiro was a surrealist fashion and still life photographer
Sonny Chiba directed ultra-violent martial arts pix
Chuck Close created out-sized photo-realistic portraits
Using lots of camera tricks
Kaari Upson’s works were dubbed “Art of Desire and Disturbance”
Tom T. Hall wrote Harper Valley P. T. A
Tony Mendez held the cue cards
So, Letterman would know what to say
Gustave Hauser was an early force in cable
Hung Liu blended the art of east and west
When it came to acting…almost anywhere
Ed Asner was among the best
Micki Grant wrote Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope
Larry Harlow was an influential Salsa force
Lee “Scratch” Perry was a Reggae innovator
And a Marley mentor, of course
Michael Morgan adventurously directed the Oakland Symphony
Mal Z. Lawrence made the Catskills laugh
If the best weathermen are rated ‘10’
Willard Scott was a Ten and a Half
Kenny Malone was a hit-making Nashville drummer…Covid-19
Ernst van de Wetering was the foremost authority on Rembrandt’s art
Mikis Theodorakis was a Greek composer and Marxist rebel
And it was hard to tell the two apart
Stephen Vizinczey wrote In Praise of Older Women
Michael K. Williams stood out as Omar on The Wire
Jean-Paul Belmondo starred in Breathless, Two Women and That Man from Rio
And virtually set the screen on fire
Phil Schaap was an encyclopedic Jazz DJ and historian
Jane Powell was Hollywood’s girl next door
Norm Macdonald was SNL’s Weekend Update anchor
Acerbically funny to his core
Michael Constantine was in My Big Fat Greek Wedding
He was also in Room 222
Elizabeth McCann won 7 Tony Awards
Bringing Elephant Man, Eqqus and Amadeus to you
Michel Laclotte oversaw the building of the Musée D’Orsay
And the pyramid entrance for the Louvre
Adalberto Álvarez was a Cuban dance music maestro
Who got Cubans to bust a move
Nickolas Davatzes was the force behind A&E and History Channel
Joan Washington was the dialect coach to the stars
Bennie Pete was the leader of the Hot 8
In NOLA’s streets and bars…Covid-19
Nino Castelnuovo starred in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Betty Lynn played Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show
George Wein was The Jazz Impresario
And the coolest cat you’d ever know
Ralph Irizarry was a timbale master
Reuben Klamer designed The Game of Life
Eleonore Von Trapp was a singer in the Sound of Music family
As a sister, mother, wife
Peter Williams painted the black experience in vibrant color
Takao Saito created manga superhero, Golgo 13
Jay Sandrich directed Mary Tyler Moore, Cosby and Golden Girls
As well as other hits, in between
Irma Kalish wrote about social issues
For All in the Family and Maude
Mike Renzi was a fantastic jazz musician
Whose piano accompaniment was never flawed
Willie Garson played Stanford Blatch on Sex in the City
Sarah Dash was the gospel-infused soprano of Labelle
Sue Thompson had the country/pop hit Norman
And Sad Movies (Make Me Cry), as well
Saadi Yacef was in Battle of Algiers
Melvin Van Peebles was Black Cinema’s Father
Alan Kalter was brilliant at pretending his announcing Letterman job
Was beneath him and a bother
Cliff Freeman created the campaign, “Where’s the Beef?”
Roger Michell directed Notting Hill
Bobby Zarem was a star-making PR master
Who bent the media to his will
George Mraz was the consummate jazz bassist
Billy Apple’s conceptual art was simply wild
Tommy Kirk was the star of Old Yeller
And The Shaggy Dog as a child
Bob Moore was a go-to Nashville bassist
George “Commander Cody” Frayne was an Alt/Country pioneer
Paddy Moloney led the Chieftains and played the pipes
For Irish music fans to hear
Carlisle Floyd was the librettist of Susannah
Pee Wee Ellis was MD for Van Morrison and James Brown
Dottie Dodgion played drums for Benny Goodman and Marian McParland
Laying a swinging, non-gender specific beat down
Dr. Lonnie Liston Smith was an innovative jazz organ genius
Jerry Pinkney was among the most acclaimed children’s book illustrators of all
Debby King was the artist liaison
And the Soul of Carnegie Hall
George Ferencz was an experimental stage director
Robert Roena was the leader of Apollo Sound
Raymond Gniewek was the Met Orchestra concertmaster
For 43 years, he stuck around
Peter C. Bunnell was the photography curator for MoMA
Ruthie Tompson was an uncredited animator in the Disney stable
Gary Paulsen wrote many young adult adventures
Whenever he was able
Martin Sherwin won the Pulitzer
For his book on Oppenheimer’s life
Brian Goldner turned Hasbro into a media powerhouse
Then went home and had dinner with his wife
Leslie Bricusse wrote the lyrics to Stop the World, I Want to Get Off
Roar of the Greasepaint and the Smell of the Crowd
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Whose songs we all have sung out loud
Victor/Victoria, Dr. Doolittle
I miss him, he was a friend
If you leave so many brilliant words behind
Perhaps, you never end
Diane Weyermann produced socially important documentaries
Food, Inc., A Convenient Truth
Peter Scolari co-starred on Newhart
And Bosom Buddies with Tom Hanks in his youth
Bernard Haitink conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
George Butler made Arnold’s Pumping Iron doc
Dorothy Steel began acting at 90 in Black Panther
Where she wore a queenly appropriate frock
James Michael Tyler played Gunther on Friends
Sonny Osborne was a bluegrass banjo star
Pat Martino was a way cool dude
And master of the jazz guitar
Jay Black was the Jay in the Americans
Petra Mayer was NPR’s “Resident Nerd”
Ivy Nicholson was a go-to Warhol model
Often seen but seldom heard
Mort Sahl was an acerbic, hilarious political pundit
And an ad master of satire
Ronnie Wilson co-founded the Gap Band
Which often lit my fire
David DePatie produced Pink Panther films
Rose Lee Maphis was a West Coast Country star
JoAnna Cameron was Saturday morning TV’s Isis
And the most-employed ad actress in history, by far
Val Bisoglio played Travolta’s dad in Saturday Night Fever
Camille Saviola was an actor on stage
Ronnie Tutt drummed for Jerry Garcia, Elvis Costello and Billy Joel
For most of Rock’s Golden Age
Nelson Freire was a renown Brazilian pianist
Graeme Edge co-founded the Moody Blues
Quandra Prettyman championed Black Women’s literature
From the perspective of a black woman’s shoes
Bettina Grossman was an eccentric resident artist at the Chelsea Hotel
Don Maddox was the last of Rockabilly’s The Maddox Brothers & Rose
If you were looking for an hilariously brilliant jazz piano playing/composer and creator of the music for Schoolhouse Rock
Dave Frishberg would be the only one of those
Dean Stockwell was an actor in A Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Blue Velvet and Quantum Leap
Lee Maracle was a combative indigenous author
Whose life story would make you weep
Terence “Astro” Wilson was UB40’s rapper
Bob Gill was the Master of the Visual Pun
Wilbur Smith wrote swashbuckling novels
For money and for fun
Ed Bullins was a leading playwright of the Black Arts Movement
Kariamu Welsh was a pioneer of African-inspired dance
Slide Hampton played trombone, arranged and produced great jazz
Which was more happenstance
Philip Margo was in the Tokens
He sang The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Maureen Cleave was a journalist friend of the Beatles
About whom she would often write
Robert Bly was the poet of Iron John
That portrayed American men as weak
Laszlo Z. Bito was a scientist and a novelist
With a philanthropic streak
STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Mick Rock was a Rock photographer
Wakefield Poole, a pioneer of gay porn
Franz Streitwieser was an avid collector of historic brass instruments
And not coincidentally, played the horn
Sylvia Weinstock was the ‘da Vinci’ of wedding cakes
Alvin Lucier composed experimental tunes
David Gulpilil was a famed Aboriginal actor
In Australia, amongst the dunes
Arlene Dahl was a red-haired ingenue
Who then started a successful cosmetics line
Anne Rice interviewed a vampire
Who drank blood instead of wine
Joanne Shenandoah was the matriarch of Native American musicians
Stonewall Jackson sang Waterloo
Barry Harris was a jazz pianist, teacher, mentor
And one of the hippest cats I ever knew
Antony Sher was an acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company actor
How ‘bout them apples, Bunky?
Mike Nesmith’s mom invented White Out
And…Hey, Hey, he was a Monkee
Eddie Mekka was Laverne & Shirley’s Carmine Ragusa
Lina Wertmüller’s movies were among Italy’s best
Rosalie Trombley was a hit-maker DJ at Detroit’s CKLW
That helped it stand above the rest
Marie-Claire Blais was a beloved French-Canadian author
David Lasley was a singer/songwriter extraordinaire
Suzette Winter Feldman produced 30 docs on the Golden Age of Hollywood
As if she were actually there
Greg Tate was a writer for the Village Voice
Who helped elevate hip-hop and street art
Robbie Shakespeare joined Peter Tosh and Bob Dylan
To play the funky bass part
Denis O’Brien was George Harrison’s partner in Handmade Films
Nai-Ni Chen’s company merged Eastern and Western dance
Marjorie Tallchief became a prima ballerina of the Paris Opera Ballet
When they gave her half a chance
Masayuki Uemura was the architect behind the Nintendo Entertainment System
Vicente Fernández was Mexican Ranchera’s, El Rey
Oriol Bohigas is a key architect
Behind how Barcelona looks today
Ken Kragen was an artists’, (once mine), manager
Who organized the We Are the World session
Carlos Marín was a member of Il Divo
Opera singer was his profession
Richard Rogers was a transformative architect of the Pompidou Center
And the Lloyds of London Tower
Grace Mirabella was the editor of Vogue
Who wielded enormously fashionable power
Harry Orenstein was the force behind Transformer toys and TV Poker
Steve Bronski’s, Bronski Beat was an ‘80s gay synth-pop band
Eve Babitz was a hedonist who wrote of excesses in Hollywood
Which were epic, from what I understand
Alexander Garvin directed the rebuilding of the World Trade site
Frederick Baldwin photographed rural America, nature and civil rights
Wayne Thiebaud playfully painted everyday life
In reds and blues and whites
Sally Ann Howes was the mom in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Thomas Kinsella was a poet and translator of ancient text
H. Jackson Brown, Jr. gave fatherly advice in Life’s Little Instruction Book
So, we all could plan what’s next
Joan Didion wrote Slouching Towards Bethlehem
The White Album and Play It As It Lays
Wanda Young sang Please, Mr. Postman with the Marvelettes
In the earliest of Motown’s days
Jean-Marc Vallée directed Dallas Buyers’ Club
And HBO’s Big Little Lies
Keri Hulme was a Maori writer who wrote The Bone People
That won the Booker Prize
Neil Marcus’s play Storm Reading
Helped disabled people to be seen
David Wagoner was a northwest poet/novelist/teacher
Who wrote of all things lush and green
J. D. Crowe was the leader of the Kentucky Mountain Boys
A banjo player with a blurry right hand
Ben McFall was the longest tenured bookseller
At NYC’s storied and legendary Strand
Oh crap, this just in
The beautiful Betty White has died
Just 17 days shy
Of a 100-year wild and wonderful ride
Sports
John Muckler won 5 Stanley Cups with the Oilers…Covid-19
Paul Westphal is in the NBA Hall of Fame
You can’t think of the Dodgers, Brooklyn or LA
Without thinking of Tommy Lasorda’s name
Floyd Little was a star for Syracuse and the Broncos
Don Sutton was a pitching legend in LA
Sekou Smith was an award-winning NBA reporter
With an awful lot to say…Covid-19
Michael Cusack was an inspirational Special Olympics athlete
Tony Trabert was twice the number one tennis pro
George Armstrong was an indigenous all-star
For the Toronto Maple Leafs, don’t you know?
HANK AARON
John Chaney was a beloved Temple basketball coach
Leon Spinks beat an overconfident Ali
Marty Schottenheimer won 200 games as an NFL coach
Which seems like a lot of games to me
Dianne Durham was the first African/American National Gymnastics champ
Mike Pearl produced sports for CBS and TNT
Aleksander Doba kayaked solo across the Atlantic
Three times…if you’re counting, like me
Marvelous Marvin Hagler was simply marvelous
Elgin Baylor was an acrobatic NBA all star
Sabine Schmitz was the only woman to win the 24-hours at Nürburgring
I think she did it in a car
Bill Wright was the first black golfer to win a USGA event
Bibian Mentel was a champion Paralympic snowboarder
Irv Cross was the first black network sports analyst
And an intrepid sports reporter
Howard Schnellenberger was a winning football coach
In college and the pros
Arlene Pieper Stine was the first woman to finish a marathon
Which hardly anybody knows
Bobby Leonard was a Hall-of-Fame Pacers coach
Nick Springer won Paralympic gold
Bill Freehan was an All-Star Tiger’s catcher
When I was fifteen years old
Bobby Unser was a three-time Indy champ
Del Crandall an All-Star catcher with the champion Braves
Mike Marshall was the first reliever to win the Cy Young Award
Probably due to all of his saves
Lee Evans won Olympic gold in ‘68
Then protested on the podium for Black Power
Rennie Stennett, a Pirate had seven hits in one game
Then hit the locker room and took a shower
Jim Fassel won a Super Bowl with the Giants
Ron Hill set a record for the Boston Marathon race
Milkha Singh was a track star called The Flying Sikh…Covid-19
Who often took first place
Mudcat Grant was the first black pitcher to win 20 games
Greg Noll was a surfer known as Da Bull
Paul Orndorff was a WWE wrestler
Known as Mr. Wonderful
Terry Donahue was UCLA’s most winning football coach
Dennis Murphy was the Impresario of the ABA
Tom Reich was an MLB player/agent
Who negotiated multi-million dollars of contractual pay
Shirley Fry Irvin was a Pre-Open Era grand slam tennis champ
Bobby Bowden was a legendary football coach at Florida State
Tony Esposito was a Hall-of-Fame Blackhawk
As a goalie, he was great
Bruce Kirby was an Olympic sailor
He changed sailing with a new design
Mick Tingelhoff was a Hall-of-Famer for the Vikings
At the center of their offensive line
Gareth Hughes produced sports teasers for CBS
Gerd Müller was Munich soccer’s scoring machine
Lee Elder was the first black PGA Pro
To come upon the scene
Rod Gilbert was called Mr. Ranger
David F. Kennedy made Nike a household name
David Roberts was a Mountain climber
But his books on Nature were his claim to fame
Terry Brennan was a short-term Notre Dame coach
Arnold Hano wrote A Day in the Bleachers
Bill Virdon managed four MLB teams
As one of baseballs’ most knowledgeable teachers
Rudy Riska oversaw the Heisman Trophy
Eddie Robinson was the oldest former major league player
Jane Brown Grimes was a rare female tennis exec
And yes, they’d under pay her
Tom Morey invented the Boogie Board
Jerry Remy called the Red Sox’ plays
Mark Roth was a powerful, 8-time Pro Bowling Champ
Who could rack up strikes for days
Medina Spirit won the ‘21 Kentucky Derby
He was a majestically beautiful horse
Who was overtrained until he died
Parimutuelly, of course
Al Unser was a four-time Indy 500 champ
Darlene Hard was a Pre-Pro Era tennis great
Manuel Santana was an influential Spaniard
Whose tennis championships numbered, eight
John Madden was the exuberant face and voice of the NFL
He coached the Raiders at their best
And his football video game
Was, hands down, better than the rest
Friends
The Force took a hit in Saratoga Springs
In case you don’t know what I’m talking about
The bright, kind light of Matt McCabe and Tony Markellis
Has suddenly and sadly gone out
Denouement
I’m sorry again, though it’s not my fault
Times are grim and dire
It’s hard to find any clear view
Without a raging dumpster fire
It’s not how I want to think
I’m searching for a ray of hope
But I’m not an ostrich wannabe
Or some mindless, starry-eyed dope
That thinks there’s cavalry on the way
That one night’s oil can burn for eight
Or that because it’s often said
That love can conquer hate
We’re skewed toward something else
We’re screwed if we can’t right it
And platitudes and word play
No matter which fool may recite it
Will not bring a brighter day
Until we learn to love each other
Until labels declaring our otherness
When every sister, every brother
Is just that
A fellow human being
Not pigeonholed for how we look or love
Where everyone’s worth seeing
Why can’t the world resolve that
On this New Year, ’22?
It seems to me it would be just as easy
As any other fucked up thing we do
•••
If you’re curious about my jOel cover
Or the lack of its inclusion
After 20 years of self-analysis
I may have reconciled my delusion
Of ever winning over Oprah
And luxuriating in her wealth
My Apple Watch says, “Move On” and “Breathe”
When tracking the steps to my mental health
•••
I still count myself among the luckiest
And to show my gratitude
Again this year, I’ve made a lovable donation, in all of your names to
Project Angel Food