from Bruce
Anecdotes
Widows
• Women of the west gained respect from men of the west. After a widow travelling west succeeded through sheer determination in getting her children alive through Death Valley, the men traveling with her agreed that “she was the best man of the party.”
Work
• Aryeh Labe, aka Archie Lionel, was the youngest brother of the mother of Al Capp, creator of the comic strip Li’l Abner. As a young man, he didn’t know whether to become a rabbi or a dancer. One day, Aryeh and two friends visited his sister’s family. After eating, the two friends put on a dance demonstration for the family. They were magnificent, and Al’s mother asked her brother, “Archie, kind, can you dance that way?” Archie replied, “Never in a million years.” Hearing that, she advised her brother, “Then, Archie, tierer, become a rabbi.” He did. (By the way, the friends really were magnificent dancers. Their names were Arthur and Katherine Murray.)
• Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Meyer Berger was very poor when he was growing up. As a child, he and two brothers — one older, one younger — got up early to sell newspapers in diners. After the first batch of newspapers was sold, the youngest brother quit working; after the second batch was sold, Meyer quit working; finally, after all the newspapers were sold, the oldest brother quit working. As an adult, Meyer would sometimes arrive at work carrying a dozen copies of the same newspaper — he never said no to a newsboy.
• While appearing as a lecturer across the country, Will Rogers included a comic bit in which he and his nephew moved a piano across the stage. The nephew did the hard work of moving the piano, while Will “helped” by moving the piano stool. One night, an accident occurred on stage. The piano collapsed, the audience laughed, and Will said later, “I wish it would happen every night.”
• Eugene Field wanted a raise while he was working for the Chicago Daily News. So one day he and his four small children dressed in rags and went inside the editor’s office, where the children begged, “Please, sir, won’t you raise our father’s wages?”
Alcohol
• John Steinbeck always toasted Ava Gardner whenever he began to drink. Here’s the story: While Mr. Steinbeck was in Hollywood working as a scriptwriter, he got a call from Nunnally Johnson’s wife inviting him to a party and asking if he would escort Ava Gardner. Mr. Steinbeck was agreeable, but he later received another call saying that Ms. Gardner was ill and could he escort Ann Southern instead. Once again, he was agreeable, and so he escorted Ms. Southern and her chaperone, Elaine Scott, to the party. Mr. Steinbeck and Ms. Southern dated a few times, but one night Ms. Southern was busy and so she asked him to take care of Elaine. Mr. Steinbeck took Elaine out, discovered he really liked her, and he later married her. That’s why he always began his drinking by saying, “Here’s to Ava Gardner.”
• Patricia Cockburn’s mother once discovered the butler drunk and under the dining room table moments before a dinner party was to begin. She told him, “Stay where you are, Jones, and don’t touch any of the ladies’ ankles.”
Animals
• Late in the life of Rudolf Nureyev, the great ballet dancer owned a dog named Soloria that seemed completely unmanageable no matter what language they used to scold her. One day, Jeanette Etheredge made Mr. Nureyev a lunch and went to him in order to announce that it was ready. However, when they walked into the dining room, they discovered that Soloria had eaten everything. Ms. Etheredge told Mr. Nureyev, “You have to find a language that dog can understand!” Mr. Nureyev then shouted at the dog in German, and he succeeded in frightening it so much that it ran away and hid for two hours. Finally, they had discovered a language that the dog understood. After Mr. Nureyev died, the dog was adopted by Marika Besobrasova, who succeeded in teaching it to obey commands in several languages.
• American ballet master George Balanchine once choreographed a ballet, featuring 50 elephants and 50 young women, for the Ringling Brothers Circus. But first, he called on his friend, composer Igor Stravinsky, to write the music for the ballet. Mr. Stravinsky first asked for whom the ballet would be created. Mr. Balanchine replied, “For some elephants.” Mr. Stravinsky then asked, “How old?” Hearing the answer, “Very young,” Mr. Stravinsky said, “All right. If they are very young elephants, I will do it.” The dedication of his score for the ballet Circus Polka said, “For a young elephant.”
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
The Funniest People in Families — Free Downloads
The Funniest People in Families — Smashwords (Free Download)
The Funniest People in Families — Apple (Free Download)
Don’t Fear the Reaper — Kobo (Free Download)
The Funniest People in Families — Barnes and Noble (Free Download)
The Funniest People in Families — (Read Online Free)
***
The Funniest People in Families, Volume 2 — Free Downloads
The Funniest People in Families, Volume 2 — Smashwords (Free Download)
The Funniest People in Families, Volume 2 — Apple (Free Download)
The Funniest People in Families, Volume 2 — Kobo (Free Download)
The Funniest People in Families, Volume 2 — Barnes and Noble (Free Download)
The Funniest People in Families, Volume 2 — (Read Online Free — Smashwords Online Reader)
MANY FREE PDFs:
davidbrucebooks: FREE PDFs
David Bruce at Smashwords (PDFs and Other Formats)
NEW BLOG - davidbrucebooks: FREE PDFs
Presenting
Michael Egan
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Track: "Cave Beat"
Album: SCHLOCK SINGLES (EARLY RECORDINGS COMP VOL 1)
Artist: The Terrorsaurs (aka The Terrorsurfs)
Artist Location: Birmingham, UK
Info:
“Hailing from Birmingham UK The Terrorsaurs unique mix of garage, surf and classic heaviness is indefinable by any genre save that of pure Rock ‘n’ Roll. Since their classic line-up emerged in 2015 their notoriously theatrical live show has taken them all over the globe and the albums recorded at WILD studios, Hollywood CA perfectly capture this vital energy.”
“After two albums on ‘Wild’' as The Terrorsaurs (2014/15), El Guapo and T.T. mutated into ‘THE TERRORSURFS’ and moved onto surf label Sharawaji Records. The primordial zombie soup fleshed out by the feral bass grooves of BAMALAM, the unholy guitar twang of The Reverend Tonto and new drum beast King Fuzzo.”
Price: £1 (GBP) for track; £6 (GBP) for 12-track album
Genre: Terror Surf.
Links:
SCHLOCK SINGLES (EARLY RECORDINGS COMP VOL 1)
The Terroraurs on Bandcamp
The above page is for the first 2 albums and singles by The Terrorsaurs dating from 2014 and 2015.
The Terrorsaurs on Bandcamp (2)
The Terrorsurfs on Bandcamp
Ian B on YouTube
Carlos Mythos on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
davidbrucebooks: EDUCATE YOURSELF - Free PDFs
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
When I was a kid, every 4th of July, my brother & I would get new cap guns.
It stopped the year we discovered a hammer would pop a whole roll of caps at once.
After that, we still got caps for the holiday - just no more cap guns.
Back On Spotify
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Crosby, Stills and Nash apparently aren’t giving us just a song before they go. That’s because they’ve decided to return to Spotify, ending a boycott of the streamer that began in February in protest of podcaster Joe Rogan’s content.
Billboard reported.the return of the group’s music as of Saturday. David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash originally announced they were leaving the streaming service, joining ex-bandmate Neil Young and others. The boycotts concerned Rogan’s podcast guests, some of whom promoted theories on the pandemic that were counter to the official narrative.
To soften the return’s impact, the 50-year-old CSN said it would donate streaming proceeds to “COVID-19 charities for at least a month,” the magazine said. Crosby, Stills & Nash formed in 1968, with Young joining a year later.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Weekend Box Office
“Minions: The Rise of Gru”
Families went bananas for Minions this weekend at the movie theater. “Minions: The Rise of Gru” brought in an estimated $108.5 million in ticket sales from 4,391 screens in North America, Universal Pictures said Sunday. By the end of the Monday’s July Fourth holiday, it will likely have earned over $127.9 million.
The film is on track to become one of the biggest openings ever for a July Fourth holiday weekend, a record previously held by “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” which made $115.9 million in its first four days in 2011. Including international showings, where “Minions: The Rise of Gru” is playing in 61 markets, its worldwide gross is sitting at $202.2 million through Sunday.
In second place was “Top Gun: Maverick,” which continues to deliver six weeks in, adding another $25.5 million to its total, which has already surpassed $1 billion. The Paramount Pictures film is still playing in 3,843 locations.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.
1. “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” $108.5 million.
2. “Top Gun: Maverick,” $25.5 million.
3. “Elvis,” $19 million.
4. “Jurassic World: Dominion,” $15.7 million.
5. “The Black Phone,” $12.3 million.
6. “Lightyear,” $6.6 million.
7. “Mr. Malcolm’s List, $851,853.
8. “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” $551,974.
9. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” $390,000.
10. “JugJugg Jeeyo,” $318,000.
“Minions: The Rise of Gru”
Crew Involved In Accident
‘The Muppets Mayhem’
There was an accident on the set of Disney+’s upcoming comedy series Muppet Mayhem late Friday night when a crew truck crashed into a tree on the edge of a cliff near Griffith Observatory, sources tell Deadline. We hear no one was hurt but the time of the accident, around 11:30 PM, is likely to raise again Hollywood’s decades-long issue of long hours on set. According to sources, Muppet Mayhem has been filming for a few weeks consisting of long days.
Location shoots are permitted by FilmLA. The non-profit agency is supposed to be notified of all incidents that occur during exterior production on city streets or venues such as Griffith Park. FilmLA did not respond to request for comment from Deadline.
Developed and written by The Goldbergs creator Adam F. Goldberg, Muppets veteran Bill Barretta, and Jeff Yorkes, the series follows The Electric Mayhem Band as they go on an epic musical journey to finally record their first studio album.
Nora (Lilly Singh), a driven junior A&R executive, is tasked with managing and wrangling the mayhem that is The Electric Mayhem Band. With her help, the old-school Muppet band comes face to face with the current-day music scene as they try to go platinum.
‘The Muppets Mayhem’
Long-Missing Letter
Alexander Hamilton
A letter written by Alexander Hamilton in 1780 and believed stolen decades ago from the Massachusetts state archives is going back on display — though not exactly in the room where it happened.
The founding father’s letter will be the featured piece at the Commonwealth Museum’s annual July Fourth exhibit, Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office says. It’s the first time the public is getting a chance to see it since it was returned to the state after a lengthy court battle.
It will be featured alongside Massachusetts’ original copy of the Declaration of Independence.
Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury who’s been getting renewed attention in recent years because of the hit Broadway musical that bears his name, wrote the letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat who served as a general in the Continental Army.
Dated July 21, 1780, it details an imminent British threat to French forces in Rhode Island.
Alexander Hamilton
Bullet Test
Shireen Abu Akleh
Israel said on Sunday it would test a bullet that killed a Palestinian-American journalist to determine whether one of its soldiers shot her and said a U.S. observer would be present.
The Palestinians, who on Saturday handed over the bullet to a U.S. security coordinator, said they had been assured that Israel would not take part in the ballistics.
Washington has yet to comment. The United States has a holiday weekend to mark July 4.
The death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11 during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, and feuding between the sides as to the circumstances, have overshadowed a visit by U.S. President Joe Biden due this month.
Palestinians say the Israeli military deliberately killed Abu Akleh. Israel denies this, saying she may have been hit by errant army fire or by a bullet from one of the Palestinian gunmen who were clashing with its forces at the scene.
Shireen Abu Akleh
Gerrymandered Legislatures
SCOTUS
In overturning a half-century of nationwide legal protection for abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Roe v. Wade had been wrongly decided and that it was time to “return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives” in the states.
Whether those elected officials are truly representative of the people is a matter of debate, thanks to another high court decision that has enabled control of state legislatures to be skewed to the right or left.
In June 2019, three years before its momentous abortion ruling, the Supreme Court decided that it has no role in restraining partisan gerrymandering, in which Republicans or Democrats manipulate the boundaries of voting districts to give their candidates an edge.
The result is that many legislatures are more heavily partisan than the state’s population as a whole. Gerrymandering again flourished as politicians used the 2020 census data to redraw districts that could benefit their party both for this year’s elections and the next decade.
In some swing states with Republican-led legislatures, such as Michigan and Wisconsin, “arguably gerrymandering really is the primary reason that abortion is likely to be illegal,” said Chris Warshaw, a political scientist at George Washington University who analyzes redistricting data.
SCOTUS
Swiftly Raised $80M
Democrats
In the first week after the Supreme Court stripped away a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion, Democrats and aligned groups raised more than $80 million, a tangible early sign that the ruling may energize voters.
But party officials say donors are giving much of that money to national campaigns and causes instead of races for state office, where abortion policy will now be shaped as a result of the court’s decision. That’s where Republicans wield disproportionate power after more than a decade of plunging money and resources into critical but often-overlooked contests.
The fundraising disparity offers an example of how a lack of long-term planning can lead to both a structural disadvantage and an exasperated Democratic base. Short of the votes to pass legislation through a gridlocked and narrowly divided Congress, the right to abortion now appears to be the latest issue ceded largely to the states. That’s after failed Democratic efforts to expand voting rights, limit gerrymandering and significantly stiffen gun laws.
The massive $80 million fundraising haul was recorded by ActBlue, the Democrats’ online fundraising platform, which has a ticker that shows in real time the money passing through the organization. ActBlue took in over $20 million in the first 24 hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that determined abortion was a constitutional right. By Tuesday, the group had processed more than $51 million in donations, and by Friday, the total had reached $80 million.
Democrats
Sun Valley
Idaho
Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, flies in a Gulfstream G650. So do Jeff Bezos and Dan Schulman, PayPal’s CEO. The jets, roughly 470 of which are in operation, retail for about $75 million each.
Most days, those planes are spread out, ferrying captains of industry to meetings around the globe. But for one week in July, some of them converge on a single 100-foot-wide asphalt runway beside the jagged hills of Idaho’s Wood River Valley.
The occasion is the annual Sun Valley conference, a shoulder-rubbing bonanza organized by the secretive investment bank Allen & Co. Known as “summer camp for billionaires,” the conference kicks off this year on Tuesday, and it draws industry titans and their families — some of whom are watched over by local babysitters bound by nondisclosure agreements. In between organized hikes and fly-fishing at past gatherings, there have been sessions on creativity, climate change and immigration reform.
It is also the biggest week of the year for Chris Pomeroy, the director of Friedman Memorial Airport and the man responsible for making sure all the moguls come and go smoothly.
During a 24-hour period last year as the conference began, more than 300 flights passed through Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey, a small town near Sun Valley, according to data from Flightradar24, an industry data firm. They ranged from tiny propeller planes to long-wing commercial jets. By comparison, two weeks ago, when Pomeroy gave me a brief tour of the airport, just 44 flights took off or landed there over 24 hours, according to the data firm.
Idaho
Joins Delaware’s Artificial Reef System
Texas Star
A boat formerly used as a floating casino was recently sunk to the ocean floor off the coast of Delaware to become part of the state’s artificial reef program.
A Norfolk, Virginia-based marine contractor handled the sinking of the 180-foot-long Texas Star, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said in a news release Thursday.
“With today’s sinking of the Texas Star on Redbird Reef, one of 14 separate reef sites in the Delaware Bay and along the Atlantic Coast, we continue to enhance and expand the recreational fishing and diving experience in Delaware,” Shawn Garvin, the department’s secretary, said in a statement.
The ship built in 1977 was converted from a casino to a commercial scallop catcher and processor and now has found its “third life” as part of the artificial reef, the department said.
Texas Star
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
