A Legend Passes

Has WWIII begun? Scary times. Let’s hope the death of Khamenei will mean a short battle, and that U.S. and Israeli casualties are minimal. Look away — this addition to today’s news may be too depressing. Headline from nypost.com: “Headhunters: Ukraine ups target to 50,000 Russian casualties a month — with The Post seeing the killer drones of war.”

I break my silence on modern pro sports for this NYP headline, which is political as well: “How much MLB star Merrill Kelly saves in taxes by spurning California contract for Arizona.” According to the article by Ariel Zilber, $2.5 million on a $40 million contract.

From NYP: “Fury as LA admits it takes 270 days to repair a streetlight.” Good news for criminals who may want to take out blocks at a time.

Bad news for Republicans regarding the midterms. From NYP: “US wholesale prices arrive hotter than expected, up 2.9% from a year ago.” No, the Dems will not lower them, but people usually punish the party in power.

RIP music icon Neil Sedaka, 86. Born in Brooklyn, he was a graduate of Abraham Lincoln H. S.. He was learning piano at nine and eventually received training at the prestigious Juilliard School. He would break from classical music for pop. His career took off when he met Howard Greenfield. Working out of the famous Brill Building, they wrote Stupid Cupid and Where the Boys Are for Connie Francis. In ’62 the Everly Brothers reached #6 with Crying in the Rain. Sedaka soon went solo and banged out a number of hits: Oh! Carol, Stairway to Heaven, Little Devil, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, Next Door To An Angel, Calendar Girl and Breaking Up Is Hard To Do. In 1975 the Captain and Tennille scored a worldwide #1 hit and the Grammy for Record of the Year with Sedaka/Greenfield’s Love Will Keep Us Together. That year he had three #1’s of his own: Bad Blood and Laughter in the Rain, co-written with Phil Cody, and, making music history with the release of Breaking Up Is Hard to Do as a ballad, the first song recorded in two different versions by the same artist to reach #1. The Captain and Teneille’s Lonely Night (Angel Face), written solely by Sedaka, hit #3 on The Billboard Hot 100. In 1995 he returned to his roots, releasing an album of classical pieces. In 2004 Clay Aiken had a hit with Sedaka’s Solitaire, which peaked at #4. He received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Popular Music /Songwriters Hall of Fame at the organization’s 35th annual induction. He was presented The Guinness Award for (Is This the Way to) Amarillo as the best selling single of the 21st century in the UK, a song originally performed by Tony Christie in 1971. In 2010, inspired by his grandkids, he released Waking Up is Hard to Do, a collection of his hits reinvented as children’s songs. Again returning to his classical roots, he composed his first symphonic piece, appropriately titled Joie De Vivre, and his first piano concerto, Manhattan Intermezzo. In all he released 53 albums, 280 singles and EPs. He had nine Top Ten hits, several #1s. Other artists who recorded his songs: The Carpenters, Andy Williams, The 5th Dimension, Tom Jones, The Monkees, Frank and Nancy Sinatra. Married since 1962, he was a father of two. What a legacy! Calendar Girl was my first favorite song. It is part of my guitar repetoire. Thank you, Sir. Facts gleaned largely from a bio by Steven Lieberman at neilsedaka.com. Photos from Google Images:

Second straight good session of the Anti-Inflation Book Shop. My thanks to those who donated and bought. Here’s what sold: two books in Russian, The Wolves of Calla by Stephen King, Lightning by Danielle Steel; A Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market by Matthew R. Kratter; Idiot’s Guide to Personal Finance in Your 20s & 30s; The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For by David McCullough; Saucer by Stephen Coonts; Women Who Love Too Much: When You Keep Wishing and Hoping He’ll Change by Robin Norwood; City of Bones by Michael Connelly; Out by Matsuo Kirino.

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