NPR has a story today about a Pacific War Hero, Guy Gabaldon, who never received but deserves the Medal of Honor.

Filmmaker: Pacific War Hero Deserved Higher Honor

by Richard Gonzales

Steve Rubin, whom some of who you may remember from my October 2006 column about the World War Two website he launched, made a documentary about Gabaldon, "East LA Marine," which is mentioned and a clip of which can be seen on the site. (Steve is not only a friend but a producing partner on a project --as discussed in the column). Let's hope this helps Steve's documentary and that Gabaldon gets the honor he deserves.

Posting the pic of me at Kerouac's grave sent me hurtling into my photo archives to see what other other's graves I had visited and taken pictures.


What immediately came to mind was a visit at age 20 to the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris where we gathered to commune with the spirit of Jim Morrison.

Kinda looks like an album cover?

Left to right: Mary M., Jay S., yours truly, and Larry S.

I then sat down for a conversation with Marcel Proust.

a bit pretentious, it strikes me now. But no regrets. If you can't be pretentious at 20 -- then you don't have the pictures to post.

News that the current managing editor of the Wall Street Journal is leaving and that Murdoch will shortly put his own person in situ, combined with a recent study of the WSJ in the weeks since Murdoch's purchase all point to the same conclusion: Murdoch's got his fingerprints all over the thing. So much for the "No Editorial Interference" claim with which he wooed the  Bancroft family. One one level, given the Journal's stance as the standard bearer for free markets, they should be the last to complain --. However, it just goes to show, that Murdoch is as Murdoch does.

At the same time, there is news that Zell will sell Newsday to Murdoch for some $580 million, about six times cash flow. A low price in real estate terms but an amazing price for Zell when you consider that as has been widely reported, Zell purchased the entire Tribune company with only some $350 Million of his own cash and much of the rest of the more than $7 Billion through a complex tax advantaged Employee Stock Option Plan vehicle --It sounds like Zell will now have none of his own money in the Tribune and about $200 Million in his pocket. Wow! that's some deal. Sounds like Zell should be doing those "No Money down" late night infomercials.

Here's the video and first single from Was/Not Was' first album in 16 years - with Sweet Pea Atkinson on lead vocals

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That's the code to embed. Here's the link or try  this

While reading Jonathan Rosen's "The Life of the Skies" (FSG), I came across this story from the Baal Shem Tov, which Rosen quotes from Gershon Scholem's "Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism." It struck me, like the Passover story of the four sons, as a parable about assimilation and changes among generations of descendants and about the importance of the seder itself.

"When the Baal Shem, the Master of The name, as the founder of Hasidism was called, had a difficult task, he would go to a certain place in the woods, light a fire and meditate in prayer -- and what he set out to perform was doene. When a generation later, the Maggid of Meseritz was faced with the same task, he would go to the same place in the woods and say: "We can no longer light the fire, we can still speak the prayers --and what he wanted done became reality. Again a generation later Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov had to perform this task. And he, too, went into the woods and said: "We can no longer light a fire, nor do we know the secret meditations belonging to the prayer, but we know the place in the woods where it all belongs--and that must be sufficient," and sufficient it was. But then another generation had passed and Rabbi Israel of Rishin was called upon to perform the task, he sat down in the golden chair in his castle and said: "We cannot light the fire, we cannot speak the pryers, we do not know the place, but we can tell the story of how it was done." And the story teller adds, the story which he told had te same effect as the actions the other three."

Laurie Frank hosted a book signing event for May Pang's "Instamatic Karma" a collection of photos she took of John Lennon during their 18 month "lost weekend" relationship, with accompanying stories.

I found myself waiting on line to get a signed copy behind Al Coury, who worked with John Lennon and May on John's solo work at Capitol Records. Coury who is retired and lives in Ventura (coincidentally he lives in the same development as Steve Binder, subject of my recent "Elvis" column.

While we were waiting Coury told me the story of how he rescued Lennon's "Rock 'N Roll album" from Phil Spector. Spector had kept the tapes. John had gone back to NY. Then Spector was in a bad car accident and disappeared -- he was east of Palm Springs, but completely incommiunicado.
Coury called up Spector's attorney and asked what it would take to get the tapes back.
It turned ou that Specitor had spent a good of his Warner's money that perhaps he shouldn't have. If Coury could come up with $159,000, he could get the tapes, the lawyer promised. Coury agreed.
On the appointed day a truck pulled into the Capital Records parking lot. Coury had someone double check each tape to make sure all the masters were there --- and then handed over a check.
Coury then called Lennon in NY and told him he had the tapes. Lennon asked him to bring them to NY.
Coury then got on a commercial airliner with the tapes in several large containers in the hold.
When he arrived in New York -- Lennon had six limousines waiting on the tarmack (this was in the days before 9/11 security) -- and that's how Lennon got back the Phil Spector produced Rock "N Roll tapes.

    The Demolition of the existing Santa Monica mall began just the other day, with an official launch party attended by Santa Monica politicos, and officials from the mall developer, Mecerich.
    Eco friendly bags were handed out, as well as T shirts and cupcakes. Smart and Sweet wins the day.
    FYI - Mecerich is a German company, whose US headquarters are in Santa Monica.
    All this gives me pause to remember that on one of my fist visits to Santa Monica, as a student, I was taken to see the new Santa Monica Mall. Being a New York City dweller, I didn't completely get the concept or the attendant excitement. It was Christmastime and my recollection is that there was a skating rink set up in the atrium -- which given that it was a gorgeous Sunny Santa Monica day struck me as funny (I had not yet embraced moral relativism in weather and sports activities that is one of the core principles of California living).
    As I recall, back then (1979, or `1980) The Third Street promenade was a desolate dirty pedestrian area whose stores were, for the most part, used bookstores and Army Navy stores and thrift shops. Back then the Mall was the draw.
    Times have changed so much that now the 3rd Street Promenade is the draw and the mall at its edge is so neglected as to be demolished in favor of an open air structure that will extend the Promendae and follow the  retailing examples (and hopefully success) of The Grove and Century City Malls.
    The new Mall is slated to open Fall 2009..
 

Michael Sherwood, a relative of mine (my father's cousin, or second cousin)has written his memoir.

 

You can view a preview of the book at
http://www.lulu.com/content/1999042

You can order the book here <http://www.lulu.com/content/1999042> : The
cost is $20.62 plus shipping.

Here is the description of the book:


Michael Sherwood was born Meyer (Misha) Teichholz in Tarnopol, Poland in 1923. He escaped from Poland into Russia, serving in the Red Army at Stalingrad before being imprisoned in the Soviet Gulag. 

This is the amazing story of his Odyssey, his life and loves, the relatives and friends he lost, and how he was able to reunite with his brother during the war, in the gulag, and after the war. 

Most of all, it is about Michael Sherwood's unstoppable life force that propelled his incredible survival and led him after the war to Israel, New York, and to a
successful career leading tours to the Soviet Union. 

Michael Sherwood lives in New York surrounded by his wife, children and grandchildren.

Last Friday night I attended a benefit at the Roxy organized by a group of ninth graders at Crossroads who call themselves HEADTHIEF. The money they were raising that night was for "Keep a child alive" an organization that is respoding the AIDS pandemic in Africa particularly as it affects children (www.keepachildalive.org).

Let me cut to the chase here: I saw some incredibly talented ninth-graders performing. Doing so reminded me that Steve Winwood, Bob Weir, Jackson Browne and so many others were the same age when they started performing professionally.

Among the Crossroads 9th graders including Nick Shapiro, a vocalist with more than passing nod to Jim Morrison, who is also a stellar and guitarist and drummer Henry Fagenson, also known on Facebook as Henry Was, son of Don Was (ne Don Fagenson) and Deacon Frey, a great singer and even more amazing guitarist.


















They played some numbers together, and then they backed up some of the celebrity guests such as Daniel Powter (you had a bad day).

 They also played with some of their accomplished parents.












What was great about seeing Henry Fagenson playing on stage with Don Was, in a performance with Glenn Frey and his son Deacon Frey, was to see the joy in the Dad's faces. That was priceless.

But let me tell you, as the Who so famously put it, The Kids are alright. Deacon took leads on vocals and guitar on such songs "Take it Easy" and "Hotel California", while Henry kept the beat and Nick Shapiro had some amazing solos, leading Glenn Frey to remark, "Once again, I'm the third best guitar player on stage."


 

It was a great night. If these kids are the future, then, as said in the headline, the future sounds good indeed.

Another book I read on my vacation is Chess Story by Stefan Zweig which has been recently republished in a new edition by New York Review of Book Classics.

Chess Story is a novella by Zweig and the last thing he wrote before committing suicide with his wife in Brazil in 1940.

Zweig is the Austrian writer who wrote the incredible memoir "The World of Yesterday" which I recommend unabashedly.

"Chess game" is somewhat old fashioned but enjoyable nonetheless (and it's short which is a virtue these days).

It is the story of a chess prodigy aboard a ship and a match he plays against a man who is a chess genius of a different sort-- while in prison he memorized a book of great chess matches but went a little crazy playing the games against himself in his head.

There's an excellent introduction by Peter Gay that sets Zweig and Chess Story in context and that is really worth reading You can order it here.

I've been posting on The Huffington Post this week (and forgetting to put the posts up here on my own blog!)

So go to The Huffington Post and in the corner search window type in "teicholz" that should bring up my items.

or you can click here

Then when you read them, hit the "buzz me up" item. Let 'em know I'm being read.

Tommywood readers in the New York Metro area will want to be at Cafe Sabarsky at the Neue Gallerie on 86th Street at Fifth Avenue to see Martha Eggerth perform for her 96th Birthday, on April 17

Here's the item from today's New York Times:

Arts, Briefly

Ninety-Six and Counting

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Compiled by LAWRENCE VAN GELDER

Published: April 9, 2008

How does Marta Eggerth, above, plan to celebrate her 96th birthday? By singing at the Café Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie. The cabaret performance on April 17 will be her second there this month. The other performance will take place on Thursday. Ms. Eggerth, whose career has embraced operetta, opera, lieder and European and American film, gave sold-out performances in October at Café Sabarsky, where she has been appearing since 2005. She will be accompanied by the pianist David Maiullo.

Martha Eggerth is perhaps most famous for her performances as "The Merry Widow." She was married to the famous Polish tenor Jan Kiepura.  A long time family friend, she is above all, a wonderful spirit.

Celebrate her (and tell her I sent you with my best regards!)

The Pulitzer Prizes were awarded on Monday. A special citation was given for Bob Dylan. He didn't even submit, but they decided to give him an award anyhow.

In the meantime, I must confess that for the first time in my life, an article of mine was submitted for consideration for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and my editor,  Susan Freudenheim put in the time and effort to assemble a submission of my cover story about "my father who said he wasn't a hero."

So what won? The Putlizer for feature writing was

Awarded to Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post for his chronicling of a world-class violinist who, as an experiment, played beautiful music in a subway station filled with unheeding commuters.
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: Thomas Curwen of the Los Angeles Times for his vivid account of a grizzly bear attack and the recovery of the two victims, and Kevin Vaughan of the Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colo., for his sensitive retelling of a school bus and train collision at a rural crossing in 1961 that killed 20 children.

The violonist in question was Joshua Bell, and the story got tremendous play on all the media.

Now, while it is true, that I didn't actually expect to win -- you can't enter and not for a minute not consider the possibility. I also thought it would have been terrific for the Jewish Journal to win, as a recognition of the great work that goes on at community and small circulation weeklies all over the country that provide writers the opportunity to publish work that is personal.

Would have been nice. But I suppose, as in the case of Dylan, if you keep doing good work, you never know, they come after you......

As for my vacation reading,,,,

I finally finished Richard Price's "Lush Life." I've been hyping the book and excited to read it, and I will say that in many ways it lives up to my expectations. BUT -- you knew  a BUT was coming.

First the good: Price is unsurpassed in his ability to write and move the story along a certain groove, as well as the amount of information he creates and conveys as he leads the reader through a neighborhood and builds his story.

Price's natural ability with dialogue has been honed in this book to an artform -- In this week's New Yorker critic James Woods has a good essay about Price's unrivalled abilities with dialogue. Price also managed to finesse the ending -- the story builds towards a climax and then delivers a surprise from left field that adds an unexpected note of grace to the novel -- I liked that.

I also felt that Price successfully conveyed the frustration an older person who has not achieved his dreams feels having to listen to the raging optimism of successive waves of younger talent (some of whom may indeed succeed where he has not).

-- I know you're waiting for the BUT -- here it comes -- BUT at the end of lush life, I felt something was missing.

Price is sometimes compared to Dickens, Zola, Balzac and other 19th century novelists who went into the field and brought back sociological accounts of the highest and lowest strata of the societies in which they lived. The comparison is valid, but in those novels the characters' conflicts add meaning to the portrait of society. Price accomplished that in "Clockers," but here I felt he was hiding out.

Price uses the police procedural crime thriller genre as a spine for his book, but in some ways I felt that the police aspect was an avoidance. Where were the ghosts of the lower east side that Price claimed his main character was writing about -- where was the neshama -- the soul of his characters. It is one thing for successive generations to assimilate without any consciousness of the past, or of their own past -- it is another thing for Price to have characters, Rabbis even, who display no genuine connection to where they come from or who they are.

In one scene the main character takes someone down to the basement to show them markings that are present in a Jacob Riis photo. The other person is non-plussed. Maybe that is Price's point: no one cares anymore.

But still, I wasn't convinced what Price cared about. What was the take-away?

Sitting by the pool, reading, although something theoretically possible at home, is the shangri-la of my vactions, something arrived at miraculously.

I am always curious at to what others are reading by the pool. At the Parker in Pam Springs it was an eclectic mix.

Strange to say there was nary a John Grisham or Jodi Picault in sight.

One young woman was busily devouring "Many Lives, Many Masters" by Brian Weiss, a pyschiatrist's tale of the past life regression therapy with a young charge.

Others sun worshippers were more focused on the business world, a womn reading a thick tome of Dealmaking in Hollywood, another reading Don Passman's tome on the Music business.

Another former Hollywood exec was reading "The Game" by Neil Strauss, while his girlfriend with a domino tattoo on one arm tapped away on her laptop headphones on.

Finally an older couple (well, he was older; his consort less so) settled in with more traditional tastes, he reading Michael Connolly; she "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Perhaps the popularity of reality TV speaks to the popularity of reality reading.

The Tommywood blog is on Spring break for a few days in residence at the Parker Hotel in Palm Springs, where the hipsters and hipsters-in-their-own-minds with kids (me for example).

But the research never stops! Accordingly, I have been

deeply ensconced in conversation with the photographer Ben Watts (who has a well known sister named Naomi) and the subjects of his shoot for Victoria's Secret -- my new best friends. For some of Mr. Watts work in the current Sport's Illustrated Swimsuit issue click here

Having a late night conversation round the fire pit with members of the Funeral Directors of America convention --I KID YOU NOT -- (the new trends are life videos -- like the bar/bat mitzvah video) and party favors -- or Keepsakes -- take aways from the funeral or memorial service, being a pamphlet with favorite quotations or poems, DVD or mix tape.

Enjoying all that Soak City has to offer in water slides

Go-Karting at Boomer's

Reading by the pool -- and more reading by the pool.

the excellent and quite decadent breakfasts at Norma's (at the Parker)

The steaks at Fleming's

I could go on -- but my research calls me.