Reflections: August 1998

POLITICS, TENNIS and IMMORTALITY: CLINTON-LEWINSKI-CUBA . . .
WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON?

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION — THERE'LL BE A TEST ON THIS COME NOVEMBER.

WHERE WERE WE WHEN THIS WHOLE THING BEGAN?

THEY WERE ALL THERE, IN HAVANA AWAITING THE EMINENT ARRIVAL OF POPE JOHN PAUL . . .

Rather, Brokaw, Jennings; all behind their sanctimonious sets ready to pundit us on maybe the most controversial sojourn by the Pope since his reign began.

Understand also that the reporter from Newsweek had the Tripp-Lewenski tapes, the story was packaged and ready to drop. Understand also that in this country whichever press outlet gets the story, any story — they "confirm the sources, check the facts and go to press RIGHT NOW — lest some other outlet beats us to the public with our EXCLUSIVE!" The theory being that any RUMOR OR LEAD YOU ARE PRIVY TO IS ALSO POSSIBLY IN THE EAR OF YOUR COMPETITOR! Each lead has multiple outlets outward from its source.

Why then did they wait for more than two weeks to break the blockbuster story... OVER THE INTERNET ON THE "DRUDGE REPORT," NO LESS! Rather, Brokaw and Jennings left Cuba in their haste to cover a tabloid story, without so much as a nod to Pope John Paul, who was planning to drop a bombshell of his own! While His Holiness, the moral compass of the free world, stated his opposition to the US boycott and embargo of Cuba, correctly noting that the thirty-some year old policy has done NOTHING to evoke change in the political landscape of Cuba. And while the Cuban people suffer in poverty, Castro still rides at the head of the column, while deftly using the embargo as an excuse for his administrative and political failures.

The Pope even challenged Castro to hold free elections and to release political prisoners. He complied to some extent on the prisoner issue, but had the embargo story gotten the attention it deserved, there would have been more pressure on Castro to respond in a more meaningful way. As there were no coverage, who knows . . .

But with the BIG THREE back in Washington, all eyes and ears shifted to the gossip emanating from the White House. We missed out on hearing and reacting to an important possibility.

If Clinton had any balls he'd go back to the place where everyone was when the story broke: Back to Cuba. LIFT THE DAMN BOYCOTT. Let the one-issue-at-a-time press chase that one for a while. Let those Voyeuristic Fools and those tabloid turkeys and pundits follow that bone around for a while and maybe by then there'd be some real news to cover . . . like Russia coming apart at the seams or the Worldwide monetary crisis, Maybe OJ will call a news conference!

The military guys were smart. They seized upon the idea to Wag The Dog in a way that Clinton of course couldn't say "No." The presented him with a plausible story which could garner the headlines and take him off the hook for a while, allow him to be Commander-In-Chief-like and Presidential. "Mr. President, we've determined that dropping some bombs in Sudan and Afghanestan, we'll rid the world of terrorism" "YES!, YES!, YES!" SAID HE AND WOULDN'T YOU?

IN SPORTS:

MY MOST ENDEARING MEMORIES OF THE US OPEN LAST YEAR WERE ANA KORNIKOVA'S PONYTAIL RAFTER CHARGING THE NET, AND VENUS WILLIAMS COMING INTO HER OWN.

Then there was the ugly incident where Richard Williams, her father, accused Irana Spirlea of being racist because she bumped Venus on the Crossover between sets. I hate it when some fool uses the term Racism frivolously. Had he been paying attention — he said he hadn't been watching the matches, he'd have seen that Spirlea chick dis' Anna Kornikova — BECAUSE SHE'S POPULAR AND PRETTY. JEALOUSY, BROTHER RICHARD. PURE JEALOUSY. Let us not always jump to the conclusion automatically that any conflict between folk of different races must be a result of racism. That's a WASTE of the term.

Richard Williams would have served his daughter, himself and all of us tennis fans better by thinking for a few seconds more and discovering that other factors sometimes come into play which have NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE!

Yet there he was again recently fanning the fires of ignorance from the sidelines suggesting that Serena would "kick Martina Hingus' butt."  Richard... Brother Richard!  Get Off It !!!!  THE PEANUT GALLERY IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU.

LET YOUR DAUGHTERS MAKE THE NEWS. THEY ARE FULLY CAPABLE WITHOUT YOUR "HELP."

AND, FINALLY . . .

MY WORLD WAS MADE SADDER AND SMALLER BY THE TRANSITIONS THIS WEEK OF VINCE CANNON AND GENE PAGE.

Gene made music fun and gave of his gifts freely and with a smile the width of Texas.  The last two times I saw him he was there in the studio arranging a producing some free session for yet another We-Are The-World kind of project.  The organizers of whichever charity knew that he just wouldn't say "No."  The Love Unlimited Orchestra which catapulted Barry White to fame was behind the scenes, the Gene Page Orchestra in that all those arrangements were his.  He was the sound of Motown —leading the Orchestra in the early years for The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, et al.

GO PLAY IN THE WIND, GENE.  I WILL NOT MISS YOU, BECAUSE I'LL FIND YOU THERE... THE REAL LOVE UNLIMITED ORCHESTRA IS RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE.

VINCE. Now Vince was a special soul. I'll quote another friend who stated, "Vince was more of a Brother than some Brothers I know, and I mean the good brother stuff."

Vince and I shared a funny line I'd heard somewhere: I told him "ITALIANS ARE JUST AFRICANS WHO COULD SWIM." He loved that quote. I think it validated his enormous love (which is not to say that he needed validation of any kind) for his African Queen, ARTIS LANE, in whose talent and beauty he basked.

They moved to New Mexico several years ago and he would often brighten my day by calling me with my music playing loud in the background saying: "Art is is painting beautiful pictures here and your music is all in the house! Listen!"

I'd listen. I could hear but a hint of music, the telephone being somewhat limiting in its ability to transmit music, but the love and joy that he could convey over the wires was real and overwhelming.

To paraphrase Ernest Holmes, Vince didn't prepare to meet his maker when he died. He prepared and met his maker every day in his joy, in his work, in his friendships (which were many), in the reflected glow of the art, paintings and sculpture emanating from their home and in the goodness that all who knew him treasured. THANK YOU, VINCE . . . THANK YOU, GENE. THANK YOU. I am better because I shared time and space with you.

ANOTHER FRIEND, MARSHALL BAURER, TRANSITIONED AS I WAS FIRST WRITING THIS. The third member of this musical brigade marched into Heaven's Gate. Marshall was a performance artist. I think he invented the term. A party at Marshall's house was a large cabaret Everybody sang or you didn't eat! He liked to make weird little art pieces that he scattered about the house which became the source of conversation and laughter. He checked himself out of a Hospice, preferring to go to his beloved Santa Fe to return to the earth where earth was really earth. I wish he had enjoyed more the Broadway revival of his beloved "Once Upon A Mattress." While it provided a launchpad for the career of Carol Burnette, Marshall didn't care for Sara Jessica Parker as the Princess. Marshall will probably be back among us soon. He soul-searched sometimes fruitlessly for peace and artistic fulfillment. As one of the most talented people I knew, he was easily the least fulfilled.
May he finally REST.

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