I had a whole lot of stuff I was planning long thoughtful essays about, but I'm in the throes of obsession over finishing a particularly complicated logic puzzle. The problem with puzzle books and magazines is that I zip through the easier puzzles and procrastinate on the super-challenging ones at the end. So, if I want to get rid of some of the stack, I have to buckle down and solve the tough ones. Which are: a) absorbing and b) time consuming. I'm now down to the final stages of one I've been working on pretty much all day and I still don't know if Carolyn is Owens who bought shoes from Mr. Young or Lattimore who didn't shop in the men's department. And Henry may not be Smith, but could he have bought gloves from Mr. Vance and, if so, was that in the shoe department? I suspect this will be a late night. Not that I'm obsessive or anything.
Anyway, the obvious celebrity death of the week is Paul Winchell. What I found particularly interesting in his obituary was not that he had invented the first artificial heart, but that the obit writers emphasized his having been the voice of Tigger and barely mentioned his television show. Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney were a staple of my young childhood, particularly as my mother knew him. I'm a little bit vague on the association and seem to think she might have actually worked for him at some point. I know she has photos of herself cutting the cake at Jerry Mahoney's birthday party. (It just occurred to me that some people reading this might not get the reference. Jerry Mahoney was a puppet.)
Incidentally, it turns out that the actor who voiced Piglet died the very next day. If I were Eeyore, I'd be asking for bodyguards.
The other thing I want to write about has to do with my theory that everything happens at the same time. Namely, there were two concerts I really really really wanted to go to this month. So, of course, they were the same night. There are any number of ways to decide which to go to, but I will merely present my method. One was at a venue in Herndon, probably a half hour drive away and with potential to get lost as I'd never been to the venue before and I'm good at getting lost, so I really needed to allow an hour what with the potential for traffic and all. The other was right in Vienna, at a venue I've been to before and like. So, what I did was more or less decide to go to see Lou and Peter Berryman in Herndon, except that I thought it was at 7:30, so I didn't rush out of the office. I got home, saw it was at 7 and doubted that I could make it. Hence, Plan B and Jammin' Java in Vienna for The Waybacks.
It turned out quite well. I had heard exactly one of their songs before (on a mix CD that Mo had sent me) and had played it several times over. It's hard to characterize their music. Bluegrass instrumentation, but a wider range of acoustic styles than that suggests, with some rock and some folk and some Celtic influences. There was a good balance between old and new, between songs and tunes, and between serious and funny. I particularly Stevie Coyle's new song, "Petrified Man." And they did a very funny a capella piece called "I Can See Your Aura and It's Ugly," which turns out to be by Mark Graham. Overall, a lot of fun, and I had a mercifully short drive home in the torrential downpour that followed.
It turns out that decision by flaking out over the time is a perfectly reasonable way to choose a concert to go to. However, it won't help me figure out if Adam is Miller and whether Beverly or Angela is the Nolan who bought gloves from Mr. Vance. So, back to the puzzling.
Copyright 2005 Miriam H. Nadel