Davy Jones

February 29/11.

I was so very sad to hear today of the death of Davy Jones at the age of 66.

Hey Hey! I loved Monkee Davy! In fact, I loved them ALL!

This was the first album I ever owned! I still remember when my friend, Pam Gorman, gave it to me at my
11th birthday party. I opened it up, having no clue what LP she would have chosen, and burst into tears with excitement when I saw it was The Monkees first record! I had a tiny little GE record player and this album got played on it hundreds of times till it was worn right down!

Davy was known as "the cute one", and almost everybody's favourite. (as for me, I loved Mickey Dolenz, because I ALWAYS adored the funny guys!) But I DID idolize Davy for his singing voice, gentle nature and signature dance moves, (which I tried to do over & over again, and never could get just right).

 
 The flowing bell bottoms he always wore made the moves look so easy! (My fave parts are at
1:10 and 1:59).

Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork, Mike "Woolhat" Nesmith, Davy Jones. I couldn't wait to watch them every week.

Even now, I have copies of the 58 episodes and still watch them from time to time on VHS.

I'll never forget seeing them in performance at the old Forum at Ontario Place, (it was a blast),

and while working at Global TV as entertainment reporter, getting the chance to meet and interview Davy and Mickey several times. I remember being saddened by the bitterness Davy lived with from day to day. He told me in our chat that he (and the other lads) should have been much better compensated for their work back in the days of The Monkees. He felt cheated. But those feelings never seemed to come across on stage, when he always had a smile on his face and played to the crowd.

Said to be Davy's last performance of Daydream Believer with the other Monkees, (except for Mike, of course), June 16, 2011. I don't want to believe that sweet singing voice has been silenced.

He remained as handsome as ever till the end of his life. I miss you already Davy.

 
And what teenager in the '70s could ever forget when Davy sang "Girl" on The Brady Bunch??????? Outasite!  And "Marcia Marcia Marcia" was the lucky one to get up close & personal with him!
I ask you, what girl in this universe wouldn't like to hear the man she loves sing THESE lyrics to her?

Girl, look what you've done to me,
Me, and my whole world,
Girl, you brought the sun to me,
With your smile, you did it girl,

I'm telling you girl, something unknown to me,
Makes you what you are,
and what you are is all I could ask for me,
and its good to feel that way girl.

Thank you girl, for making the morning brighter
Girl, for making the night time nicer
Girl, for making a better world for me.

I'm telling you girl, something unknown to me,
Makes you what you are,
and what you are is all that I want for me,
and its good to feel that way girl.

Thank you Girl, for making the morning brighter
Girl, for making the night time nicer
Girl, for making a better world for me.

Thank you Girl, for making the winter warmer
Girl, for making the music softer,
Girl, for making a better world for me.

Thank you Girl, for making the morning brighter
Girl, for making the night time nicer (fades off here)
Girl, for making a better world for me.

 
Marcia Brady (Maureen McCormick) meets Davy! I remember wanting to be Marcia that day!
Sigh.

Thanks for sharing your talent with us Davy. My heart goes out to his wife, four daughters, all his family and friends, - and especially, to the other Monkees, whom I'm sure are very sad today.

Emotions

Hey!  Start jumping!

It's Leap Day! - Only once every four years. I keep forgetting there's a February 29th to contend with this year. What to do with an extra day!

In honour of this special day, (ha ha), my daughter Kate's boyfriend, Damian Sommer, (independent video game developer), jumped over lilypads at the chance to come up with one in tribute to Kate! In his own words, "It features ukelele playing and giant evil bats!" He stressed to me that it was created in only two hours. If you play this game, you'll hear Kate's songs, singing voice, ukelele strumming AND be able to kill bats, all at the same time. Awesome!
Check it out. (might take a minute or so to load).

Damian made a game for Kate!

I'm amazed by Damian's creativity. He has lots of other games on the go too. As for my OWN creativity, good grief. I love to write, but why is it I can't EVER take good auto-pics, (let alone create online games!) Tried to take some shots today. All horrible.

Either WAY too light,

MUCH too dark,

way too heavy on the devil red-eye,

insanely blurry & over-exposed, - ai carumba! I mean, come ON!  Just ONE decent shot please!!!!!!!!!

I friggin' give up. Books, instructions, tripods, photography, just NOT my forte!

I keep listening to Howard Stern on SIRIUS, talking about his current photography lessons, (when he's not swamped with America's Got Talent),

his Nikon, all his success with celebrity shots,

calendars featuring his gorgeous wife, Beth, you name it. Guess all it takes is money to finance major-league lessons. Not altogether true though. Howard can just do ANYTHING he puts his mind to.

This one was about the best I could do. Oh well. Whatever.

After all these failed attempts, headed off to visit Auntie Ray at Christie Gardens. Has been far too long since she's held court with me. This is the parking lot, on the way up to see her.

Sam loaned me his iPad, (after giving me a crash course lesson on how to use it - no easy feat, as I am severely iPad-challenged), so I could show Auntie Ray the "squirrel/porcupine" videos shot by my sister, Carrie. I had a sh**load of notes jotted down to try & follow to make this happen.

Miraculously, managed to put the contraption in front of Auntie Ray and actually SCREEN Prickles the Porcupine in action! I knew in my heart, she HAD to see the tribute to Uncle Ev, so lovingly and beautifully put together by Carrie. (between the two of us, I think we were Uncle Ev's BIGGEST fans).

 
 I kneeled beside Ray to watch the video "Imagine the Possibilities", (knowing she would be in tears by the end), when Carrie sings the number she composed and performed, in honour of Uncle Ev, and Stella, the squirrel. Yep, Auntie Ray cried. And so did I. Then I hugged her. Haven't even told CARRIE yet that I gave Auntie Ray a private screening! She raved on & on about Carrie's talent, as a singer, composer, puppeteer, voice artist, etc. And I second ALL of that in EVERY way. After the show, I took her down to the dining room, made sure she got seated for dinner, and cried when I left.

Ray Staples is a very special person. I love her.

Weekend shenanigans

February 26/12.

To quote my Facebook pal, Paul Mackay,

"This weekend was snakey!" (his word for wild & busy).

 I returned to Urban Nails, "the scene of the nail shellac crime" on Saturday,

where Kelly "acetoned off" the old pale light pink shellac and re-did them in a brighter shade.
(Are those Medusa's snakes behind us)?? .

LOVE it! This having painted nails thing is stunning me out, since I've never had them before! Still sporting all my "empowerment" rings. (One of these days I'll knock it off, but for now, just feels better wearing them).

FYI - I've never forgotten the first time I saw the Hammer horror flick The Gorgon (1964), in which the star of the film had snakes for hair. (now THAT'S snakey!)

Next on the agenda? Fruit & veggie shopping on The Danforth. Carrie says I need to eat a lot of broccoli. (and since Mum isn't around to advise me of that anymore, guess I have to listen to Carrie!)

Checked out the latest window at It's My Party. Always colourful. Currently an underwater theme with fish.

Then, strangely, a couple of blocks away at a Chinatown pet store, the clerk was bagging up goldfish and guppies for a customer to take home. (er, I THINK they were guppies!) I never had fish as pets before. Only cats.

Realized I'd forgotten something on the Danforth, so drove back to the corner of Broadview & Danforth,

only to spot a CBC TV satellite truck,

then, a CITY truck,

and a gaggle of reporters, photogs & videographers all grappling for the money shot and the sound bite.
What WAS IT?? - I felt like I was back at Global TV, clamouring for an angle.

Turned out, it was interim Liberal leader Bob Rae making a statement and answering questions!
(With Art Eggleton right behind him). Haven't seen Eggleton up close since we went on ONE date circa 1978. (I was the 680 News City Hall reporter at the time). Funny.

Bob held court in the freezing cold for at least a half an hour, discussing Stephen Harper's dirty tricks.

Went walking through Riverdale Park and couldn't believe the weather! Very chilly, but sunny. After that, did a lot of shopping for gifts, to prepare for a family party in Newmarket on Sunday.

Whenever Sam's brother, Neil and his wife, Carolyn throw a bash, they always do it up big!

The spread of food was fab, and there were tulips everywhere!

And plenty of goodies and drinks!

This party was in honour of all the family members with birthdays in January and February.

There were so many guests, 23 in all, that an extra "kid's table" had to be set up in the foyer between the front door and the kitchen!

There were THREE delectable cakes! (carrot cake, strawberry shortcake and chocolate). I had my pic taken with all the members of the birthday brigade, (left to right), bro-in-law, Neil, nephew Justin, niece, Jenny, nephew, Adam and my son, Max!
That's a lot of wishes to make! Hope they all come true!

Neil and Carolyn's oldest son, Jason, couldn't make the party. He was in Kingston, getting ready to leave for a working trip to Ottawa. Uncle Vlado "brought" Jason to the party table via SKYPE. Hi Jason!! We missed you!

Young nephew Zander (just 7), is a riot.

He kept us all in stitches with his Jim Carrey-like antics and agility.

My kids, Kate & Max, just adore him!

Then it was time for prezzies! We gave Justin a shirt that suits him to a tee! Also gave him a gift card for Urban Planet so he can pick out some clothes he really likes.

Adam's Grandma gave him a much-needed tool box with 50 tools inside! (Our present to Adam was a gift card for Tim Horton's. Everyone can always use one of those!)

From his Auntie Cass and Uncle Mark, he also got seasons 3 & 4 of Saturday Night Live, back in the glory days of Dan Aykroyd & Steve Martin ("two WILD & CRAZY GUYS!) and the great Gilda Radner & Bill Murray. Now THOSE sketches would be fun to watch!

I'm a big fan of Adam's. He just turned 20 and is a very talented young man, - sings, acts, dances, juggles, skates, writes and has a beautiful new girlfriend, Alex!

Neil & Carolyn own ALL the seasons of my fave show, House! I have seasons too, but haven't finished watching them all yet!  I kinda just like looking at all those pics of Hugh Laurie!

My parents-in-law, Ben & Jean Bornstein enjoyed overseeing the whole event and being with the fam!

It was a blast of a bash and a good time was had by all! Thanks for the invite!!

Afterwards, I managed to drive home from Newmarket with the help of Bossy GPS broad, who got Kate, Max and I safely there, all in one piece, while Sam drove his parents back to their condo. After that, it was time for the Oscars!

And the return of Billy Crystal! - LOVED it!