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Friday, February 10, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Superbowl comeback(s)
That late drive by Eli Manning and the Giants was the 7th fourth quarter comeback to win for the team in this season.
Hats off to Manning, his teammates and coach Tom Coughlin. Sportswriters and fans were calling for his head just weeks earlier.
Now, at 65, he had led the team to a Super Bowl victory.
Hats off to Manning, his teammates and coach Tom Coughlin. Sportswriters and fans were calling for his head just weeks earlier.
Now, at 65, he had led the team to a Super Bowl victory.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
EC for kids, too
We were guests of an old friend this holiday season. We go back a long way, and I always look forward to reconnecting this time of year, especially. When I took up tennis in mid-age some years ago, George was the most welcoming member of the local tennis center. He forbear my ineptitude, and even partnered in doubles with me. With him as my teacher, I learned fast. We had many great matches as doubles partners; even came "that close" to winning a club championship one time. In addition to being a gracious, and warm person, he was a superb tennis player with joie de vivre. When he hit a winner, he would punctuate the moment with an "ole!"
Today we had the pleasure of meeting his son, Jim, wife Ann, and their two charming daughters, Elizabeth, 8, and Olivia, 6.
Turns out Jim had borrowed his dad's copy of Extraordinary Comebacks. He had been reading it to his daughters, who shared some of their favorite stories with me, notably Abraham Lincoln, among others. (What intelligent children....and what could flatter an author more --- than familiarity with his work?)
Basking in this bit of unexpected recognition, and storing some of the vibe away for fuel as I work on volume 3, I soon thought of another great good friend's words, when I asked him for a comment:
"......This should be required reading for young people about to get "smacked upside the head" a few times by life. This book will give them 201 reasons to get up off the canvas and keep on keeping on. Older readers will be nodding in agreement -- wishing they had read this book forty years ago."
Tim Kazurinsky, screenwriter, actor, former cast member, "Saturday Night Live"
Today we had the pleasure of meeting his son, Jim, wife Ann, and their two charming daughters, Elizabeth, 8, and Olivia, 6.
Turns out Jim had borrowed his dad's copy of Extraordinary Comebacks. He had been reading it to his daughters, who shared some of their favorite stories with me, notably Abraham Lincoln, among others. (What intelligent children....and what could flatter an author more --- than familiarity with his work?)
Basking in this bit of unexpected recognition, and storing some of the vibe away for fuel as I work on volume 3, I soon thought of another great good friend's words, when I asked him for a comment:
"......This should be required reading for young people about to get "smacked upside the head" a few times by life. This book will give them 201 reasons to get up off the canvas and keep on keeping on. Older readers will be nodding in agreement -- wishing they had read this book forty years ago."
Tim Kazurinsky, screenwriter, actor, former cast member, "Saturday Night Live"
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Handel's comeback story and the background of his Messiah
It’s humbling to fail anytime, but approaching your sunset years, poor, in debt, with the prospects of going to prison for your remaining days ---- especially bitter to take.
That was the fate facing someone who would be remembered later as one of the greatest composers who ever lived: Handel himself.
Dark days in 1741 for him, age 56. His biblical dramas like Esther and Israel in Egypt competed with rival opera companies. It was an up and down career for Handel, but the downs were winning out. By 1741, he was deep in debt, overworking to get out, and losing his health as a result.
Back then, there was scant welfare, and no creation of fiat money to bail out broke governments and banks. You went bust, you paid for it by going to debtor’s prison. That prospect haunted Handel.
He was preparing for the worst. On April 8, 1741, he gave his farewell concert. He planned to retire from public activity. Then, seemingly out of the blue, two events converged. Handel had a wealthy friend who gave him a libretto based on the life of Christ. A Dublin, Ireland charity commissioned him to compose a work for a benefit performance – to help raise funds to release men held in, yes, debtor’s prison.
Handel could not turn it down.
So he went to work in his house on Brook Street, London. He started on August 22, and it was if a trance overtook him. He wrote Part One in just six days. Then Part Two, nine days. Then Part Three, six days. Orchestration, two days. Some 260 pages of manuscript had been produced in just 24 days.
The work: Messiah.
Handel realized he had never left his house in those three weeks. In fact, he had barely eaten. He had a visitor from time to time, one who reported seeing him sobbing with intense emotion. Later, to try to explain, he paraphrased apostle Paul: “whether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not.”
The work had its first performance the next year, April 13, 1742, in Dublin as planned. The charitable benefit raised £400, enough to free 142 men. One year later, it was produced in London. The King of England himself was in attendance. When the Hallelujah chorus sounded, he rose. The entire audience was obliged to, as well, thus starting a tradition that has carried to this very day.
With this superb recognition, Handel’s fortunes turned for good. He remained in demand until his passing 16 years later. He personally conducted some 30 performances of his powerful work, often for charity.
One writer said: “Messiah has fed the hungry, clothed the naked, fostered the orphan….” Another opined that no other musical work had so alleviated the suffering of man. Yet another said that no other work had done so much to convince listeners that there is a God, with mercy for all who believe.
Handel passed on to meet the one of whom he wrote April 14, 1759, Easter Saturday, as it turned out. Some 3,000 attended his funeral in Westminster Abbey, where the greats of England were laid to rest. There a statue of Handel shows him holding the manuscript, Part Three, which begins with the solo, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”
That was the fate facing someone who would be remembered later as one of the greatest composers who ever lived: Handel himself.
Dark days in 1741 for him, age 56. His biblical dramas like Esther and Israel in Egypt competed with rival opera companies. It was an up and down career for Handel, but the downs were winning out. By 1741, he was deep in debt, overworking to get out, and losing his health as a result.
Back then, there was scant welfare, and no creation of fiat money to bail out broke governments and banks. You went bust, you paid for it by going to debtor’s prison. That prospect haunted Handel.
He was preparing for the worst. On April 8, 1741, he gave his farewell concert. He planned to retire from public activity. Then, seemingly out of the blue, two events converged. Handel had a wealthy friend who gave him a libretto based on the life of Christ. A Dublin, Ireland charity commissioned him to compose a work for a benefit performance – to help raise funds to release men held in, yes, debtor’s prison.
Handel could not turn it down.
So he went to work in his house on Brook Street, London. He started on August 22, and it was if a trance overtook him. He wrote Part One in just six days. Then Part Two, nine days. Then Part Three, six days. Orchestration, two days. Some 260 pages of manuscript had been produced in just 24 days.
The work: Messiah.
Handel realized he had never left his house in those three weeks. In fact, he had barely eaten. He had a visitor from time to time, one who reported seeing him sobbing with intense emotion. Later, to try to explain, he paraphrased apostle Paul: “whether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not.”
The work had its first performance the next year, April 13, 1742, in Dublin as planned. The charitable benefit raised £400, enough to free 142 men. One year later, it was produced in London. The King of England himself was in attendance. When the Hallelujah chorus sounded, he rose. The entire audience was obliged to, as well, thus starting a tradition that has carried to this very day.
With this superb recognition, Handel’s fortunes turned for good. He remained in demand until his passing 16 years later. He personally conducted some 30 performances of his powerful work, often for charity.
One writer said: “Messiah has fed the hungry, clothed the naked, fostered the orphan….” Another opined that no other musical work had so alleviated the suffering of man. Yet another said that no other work had done so much to convince listeners that there is a God, with mercy for all who believe.
Handel passed on to meet the one of whom he wrote April 14, 1759, Easter Saturday, as it turned out. Some 3,000 attended his funeral in Westminster Abbey, where the greats of England were laid to rest. There a statue of Handel shows him holding the manuscript, Part Three, which begins with the solo, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
On Leadership, and our cruise on the Titanic
If a corporation were facing bankruptcy, and the CEO took a "hands off" stance, and left the management of the crisis to middle managers, and they failed, and he did nothing, would he be deemed a hero?
Would he be a 'lion of business and commerce,' like the recently departed Steve Jobs?
Or would he be tossed by the board of directors for incompetence?
What will Pres. Obama's legacy be then?
The sending of 2500 Marines to Australia while the ship of state careens, like the Titantic, careens towards the glacier of debt crisis?
In last night's debate, only Ron Paul grasped the urgency.
If the Occupy Wall Street protesters want radical change, why would they not join hands with Ron Paul? He called their movement "healthy."
Someone, please explain....
====================================================================
Btw, from the Huff. Post, Jobs to Obama: 'you are failing'
Quoting from a book review of his new biography:
Would he be a 'lion of business and commerce,' like the recently departed Steve Jobs?
Or would he be tossed by the board of directors for incompetence?
What will Pres. Obama's legacy be then?
The sending of 2500 Marines to Australia while the ship of state careens, like the Titantic, careens towards the glacier of debt crisis?
In last night's debate, only Ron Paul grasped the urgency.
If the Occupy Wall Street protesters want radical change, why would they not join hands with Ron Paul? He called their movement "healthy."
Someone, please explain....
====================================================================
Btw, from the Huff. Post, Jobs to Obama: 'you are failing'
Quoting from a book review of his new biography:
Jobs, who was known for his prickly, stubborn personality, almost missed meeting President Obama in the fall of 2010 because he insisted that the president personally ask him for a meeting. Though his wife told him that Obama "was really psyched to meet with you," Jobs insisted on the personal invitation, and the standoff lasted for five days. When he finally relented and they met at the Westin San Francisco Airport, Jobs was characteristically blunt. He seemed to have transformed from a liberal into a conservative.
"You're headed for a one-term presidency," he told Obama at the start of their meeting, insisting that the administration needed to be more business-friendly. As an example, Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where "regulations and unnecessary costs" make it difficult for them.
Jobs also criticized America's education system, saying it was "crippled by union work rules," noted Isaacson. "Until the teachers' unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform." Jobs proposed allowing principals to hire and fire teachers based on merit, that schools stay open until 6 p.m. and that they be open 11 months a year.
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