March 14, 2009, Tucson Festival of Books, University of Arizona Campus.
I asked local Tucson, TV news anchor, Tom McNamara how he’d gotten so lucky as to draw the Urrea moderator gig – he admitted that he didn’t know but delighted in the job. Following a brief introduction, all he had do, was to sit back and laugh his ass off like the rest of the 300 guests who packed the UofA Gallagher Theater for the presentation. Midway through the Urrea performance, McNamara interrupted once to ask if Luis had ever considered doing “standup.” Yes, it was that funny!
Subsequent to the hour plus talk, Luis challenged the notorious, beloved Elmore Leonard to a signing duel. Their tents erected side by side. The sun broke free from the clouds and warmed the desert air. The tense horde assembled, formed two orderly lines and it commenced. Sign, smile, sign, chat, smile, sign, sign, sign, and sign here, “to Alicia.” It was exhausting yet exhilarating to watch the 84 year-old hang-in there with the younger Turk. Tucson showed its love and respect to both authors. After what seemed an eternity, tired and arm weary, this admittedly biased, but honest observer, declared the contest a draw.
The 3:10 tooted as it passed through Tucson and the nearby Devil’s Highway headed for Yuma -- without incident.
As night descended, Urrea was last seen his signing arm packed in ice, wagon loaded to proceed north. He’d heard that there was a New Mexico town that knew about the “Devil’s Highway’ and the “Daughter.” It too was probably loaded with books requiring an Urrea scribble and/or a Hummingbird doodle.
A whip cracked and I heard Luis shout, “Giddy-up!”
A woman sat up straight and alert next to the driver, shotgun across her lap. It looked like -- it was, yes, Cinderella.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Giardello statue announced
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(Joey Giardello, center in suit, surrounded by boxing champion friends after a 1972 Charity Exhibition. Son, Carman sits between his dad and great,Willie Pep)
Philadelphia's greatest middleweight boxer will be immortalized with a life-sized statue in his old South Philadelphia stomping grounds and the very heart of South Philly Boxing. The original bronze artwork by world renowned artist Carl LeVotch will be installed on the triangle of East Passyunk Avenue, South 13th Street and Mifflin Street - just one block from where the legendary Passyunk Gym stood and two blocks from the former site of the Alhambra fight club, both of which were Giardello haunts during his legendary Hall of Fame career.
The statue project is a non-profit effort (501.c.3) being conducted by a partnership between the Veteran Boxers Association-Ring One, the Harrowgate Boxing Club and Philly Boxing History. On web site, www.joeygiardello.net you can find up to date information about the project, including the development of the statue, the status of our fund-raising efforts, and ways you can contribute through donations, sponsorships, and the purchase of exclusive Joey Giardello merchandise items.
The finished statue will not only honor Joey Giardello, it will be a tribute to boxing itself and a fine public art piece in the middle of the bustling East Passyunk district. Please get involved and help us make this happen. We can not do this without your interest and support.
To make a contribution, make your check or money order payable to:
"Harrowgate Boxing Club / Giardello Statue" and mail it to: Boxing Statue, P.O. Box 428, Sewell, NJ 08080
Friday, February 6, 2009
Urrea Perpetual Book Tour Packs House
Garrison Keillor doesn’t know it as yet, but the bar has been raised to a near unobtainable height for his appearance later this year at the 14th Annual Writer’s Symposium by the Sea. That’s because he follows in the wake of Urrea, who Tuesday evening packed the auditorium of Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. The spirit of Teresita descended upon the audience as host and moderator Dr. Dean Nelson posed some unusual and, I think, unexpected questions. Luis answered with candor, thoughtfulness, and many times with a humorous story. The event was recorded for telecast on UCSD-TV. I made friends there and will find a way to obtain a copy. Dr. Nelson gushed after the presentation that the “room was throbbing with love.” He noted also that the lobby crowd after the presentation was the biggest that they’ve ever had. Book sales were brisk and many a copy went home with a wildly flapping hummingbird on the title page, after a considerable wait. Sorry you all couldn’t be there. You would have been proud of our Sensei.
--Charlie
--Charlie
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A Black man in the White House, Halleljah
Dedicated to Wm Thompson Ong, committed Obama campaign worker
Santa Monica, CA, January 20, 2009
Open verse to President Obama:
A Black man in the White House, Hallelujah
By Charlie Redner
(a northern, Caucasian who regretfully missed the “‘64 buses” headed south)
A Black man in the White House, Hallelujah
Hallelujah not because he’s Black but because he was elected by a white majority.
A Black man in the White House shows the world that this Nation may now claim
our ballot box colorblind.
A Black man at the helm of the most powerful Vessel in the world exclaims: Slave ships, out of our way -- we’ve been there, done that, and finally, finally we’re sailing on.
Here’s proof positive that Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner did not die in vain. A victory won over great pain, borne by all the Freedom Riders, and those for whom they fought.
Here’s proof positive that Doctor Martin Luther King Jr’s Dream has at last, long last, come true. His vision of a better land where little children can be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin has arrived.
Here’s proof positive that, not as the founding fathers scribed, but as attested this day: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men (and women) are created equal.”
President Obama, the hopes of this Nation rest upon your shoulders as they did Washington and Lincoln -- a prayer that you prove your supporters right, and that your detractors discover they were wrong.
Please be a good President. Great, would be better!
God, Bless America.
Land of the Free and home of the Brave where we celebrate our first,
Black man to live and govern in the White House.
Hallelujah!
Santa Monica, CA, January 20, 2009
Open verse to President Obama:
A Black man in the White House, Hallelujah
By Charlie Redner
(a northern, Caucasian who regretfully missed the “‘64 buses” headed south)
A Black man in the White House, Hallelujah
Hallelujah not because he’s Black but because he was elected by a white majority.
A Black man in the White House shows the world that this Nation may now claim
our ballot box colorblind.
A Black man at the helm of the most powerful Vessel in the world exclaims: Slave ships, out of our way -- we’ve been there, done that, and finally, finally we’re sailing on.
Here’s proof positive that Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner did not die in vain. A victory won over great pain, borne by all the Freedom Riders, and those for whom they fought.
Here’s proof positive that Doctor Martin Luther King Jr’s Dream has at last, long last, come true. His vision of a better land where little children can be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin has arrived.
Here’s proof positive that, not as the founding fathers scribed, but as attested this day: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men (and women) are created equal.”
President Obama, the hopes of this Nation rest upon your shoulders as they did Washington and Lincoln -- a prayer that you prove your supporters right, and that your detractors discover they were wrong.
Please be a good President. Great, would be better!
God, Bless America.
Land of the Free and home of the Brave where we celebrate our first,
Black man to live and govern in the White House.
Hallelujah!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Happy 2009
Yeah! Two thousand and eight is going, going, gone! Good riddance -- now, on to make 2009 one of the best. Didn’t do a resolution list, but know what I’m after: Continued good health for me and mine; watch my portfolio grow back into positive territory; finish my Giardello bio project including the marketing, publishing and promotion of it. Research First Encounter and write same. Wishing you and yours, the best for the New Year.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Birth of A Christmas Carol
Christmas came on a Friday in 1868.
The Sunday School children of the Episcopal Church of Holy Trinity, on Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square, stood up at their special holiday service, and sang a little song. It was especially written for the occasion, by the pastor of the church and the organist. It was a simple Christmas song. Nobody expected it ever to be heard beyond the walls of Holy Trinity.
The children had rehearsed the song on the previous Sunday morning. “O, Little Town of Bethlehem,” it began, “how still we see thee lie.” This Christmas, the 140th Christmas since that day, hundreds of thousands of Christians and many creeds and languages will sing the carol that the children first sang at Holy Trinity. The Sunday School song that became a traditional carol was born in the upstairs rear apartment at 113 Walnut Street. That was the residence of the Rev. Phillips Brooks, rector of Holy Trinity. Mr. Brooks had just turned 33 on December 13, and was already pastor of an impressive 11-year-old church on fashionable Rittenhouse Square. He would go on to become bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts and a leader of the Episcopal Church. He had just come back from a trip to the Holy Land. The sights and sounds of the actual location of the Christmas story were on his mind.
So was the upcoming Sunday School program. Mr. Brooks sat at his desk and began to write a poem. Perhaps, he thought, his organist, Lewis H. Redner, could write an appropriate melody for it. The song would have to be finished by the Sunday before Christmas, so the children could learn it. Four verses he wrote, picturing the everlasting light of the Nativity illuminating the dark streets of quiet Bethlehem.
He gave the poem to Redner, who said he would see what he could do. Redner was a real estate man, with an office at 735 Walnut Street. He was jolly, mustachioed bachelor. His friends called him “Bubbles.” He was known for donating peanuts in bushel quantities to the students of the Episcopal Divinity School, and for conducting midnight religious services for the employees of the Philadelphia Gas Works. On the Friday before the day for rehearsal, the rector asked his organist, “Have you ground out that music yet?
“No,” Redner replied, “but I’ll have it by Sunday.”
He kept thinking about it, but when he went to bed in his residence at 1711 Spruce Street, Saturday night, he still had no finished idea. “But I was roused from my sleep late in the night,” Redner wrote later, “hearing an angel strain whispering in my ear, and seizing a piece of music paper, I jotted down the treble of the tune as we now have it, and on Sunday morning, before going to church, I filled in the harmony. Neither Mr. Brooks nor I ever thought the carol or the music to it would live beyond that Christmas 1868.”
(This story was written by my friend, James Smart, for the Philadelphia Bulletin 12/22/68 on an anniversary of the carol. He called to ask me if I was related to Lewis Redner, and I was happy to report that he was my great, great uncle, according to family folklore.)
www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/l/olittle.htm
The Sunday School children of the Episcopal Church of Holy Trinity, on Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square, stood up at their special holiday service, and sang a little song. It was especially written for the occasion, by the pastor of the church and the organist. It was a simple Christmas song. Nobody expected it ever to be heard beyond the walls of Holy Trinity.
The children had rehearsed the song on the previous Sunday morning. “O, Little Town of Bethlehem,” it began, “how still we see thee lie.” This Christmas, the 140th Christmas since that day, hundreds of thousands of Christians and many creeds and languages will sing the carol that the children first sang at Holy Trinity. The Sunday School song that became a traditional carol was born in the upstairs rear apartment at 113 Walnut Street. That was the residence of the Rev. Phillips Brooks, rector of Holy Trinity. Mr. Brooks had just turned 33 on December 13, and was already pastor of an impressive 11-year-old church on fashionable Rittenhouse Square. He would go on to become bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts and a leader of the Episcopal Church. He had just come back from a trip to the Holy Land. The sights and sounds of the actual location of the Christmas story were on his mind.
So was the upcoming Sunday School program. Mr. Brooks sat at his desk and began to write a poem. Perhaps, he thought, his organist, Lewis H. Redner, could write an appropriate melody for it. The song would have to be finished by the Sunday before Christmas, so the children could learn it. Four verses he wrote, picturing the everlasting light of the Nativity illuminating the dark streets of quiet Bethlehem.
He gave the poem to Redner, who said he would see what he could do. Redner was a real estate man, with an office at 735 Walnut Street. He was jolly, mustachioed bachelor. His friends called him “Bubbles.” He was known for donating peanuts in bushel quantities to the students of the Episcopal Divinity School, and for conducting midnight religious services for the employees of the Philadelphia Gas Works. On the Friday before the day for rehearsal, the rector asked his organist, “Have you ground out that music yet?
“No,” Redner replied, “but I’ll have it by Sunday.”
He kept thinking about it, but when he went to bed in his residence at 1711 Spruce Street, Saturday night, he still had no finished idea. “But I was roused from my sleep late in the night,” Redner wrote later, “hearing an angel strain whispering in my ear, and seizing a piece of music paper, I jotted down the treble of the tune as we now have it, and on Sunday morning, before going to church, I filled in the harmony. Neither Mr. Brooks nor I ever thought the carol or the music to it would live beyond that Christmas 1868.”
(This story was written by my friend, James Smart, for the Philadelphia Bulletin 12/22/68 on an anniversary of the carol. He called to ask me if I was related to Lewis Redner, and I was happy to report that he was my great, great uncle, according to family folklore.)
www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/l/olittle.htm
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Giardello statue announced
PHILADELPHIA (December 2, 2008) – Former middleweight champion Joey Giardello will be honored with a life-sized statue on East Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia in 2009.
This Sunday, December 7, 2008, a ceremony is scheduled for 11:00 AM to officially announce the statue project at the future site of the monument – the triangle of East Passyunk Avenue, South 13th Street, and Mifflin Street. Both the public and media are welcome to attend.
The December 7th event date commemorates the 45th anniversary of Giardello’s winning of the middleweight championship in 1963. At the event, Giardello will be remembered, the statue location will be dedicated, and refreshments will be served.
The statue project is a non-profit effort being conducted by a partnership between the Veteran Boxers Association – Ring One, the Harrowgate Boxing Club, and the Web site Philly Boxing History.com. 1st District Councilman Frank DiCicco cleared the way for the group to use the East Passyunk location and is supporting the project completely.
World-renowned artist Carl LeVotch has been commissioned to create the statue of Giardello. LeVotch is responsible for numerous artistic works throughout the world, including such boxing-related pieces as “The Spirit of Boxing”, “The End of the 9th”, and the “Briscoe Award.”
Giardello, who became champion by defeating Dick Tiger at Atlantic City’s Convention Hall, was born in Brooklyn but lived most of his life in South Philadelphia and Cherry Hill, NJ. Giardello passed away September 4, 2008.
This Sunday, December 7, 2008, a ceremony is scheduled for 11:00 AM to officially announce the statue project at the future site of the monument – the triangle of East Passyunk Avenue, South 13th Street, and Mifflin Street. Both the public and media are welcome to attend.
The December 7th event date commemorates the 45th anniversary of Giardello’s winning of the middleweight championship in 1963. At the event, Giardello will be remembered, the statue location will be dedicated, and refreshments will be served.
The statue project is a non-profit effort being conducted by a partnership between the Veteran Boxers Association – Ring One, the Harrowgate Boxing Club, and the Web site Philly Boxing History.com. 1st District Councilman Frank DiCicco cleared the way for the group to use the East Passyunk location and is supporting the project completely.
World-renowned artist Carl LeVotch has been commissioned to create the statue of Giardello. LeVotch is responsible for numerous artistic works throughout the world, including such boxing-related pieces as “The Spirit of Boxing”, “The End of the 9th”, and the “Briscoe Award.”
Giardello, who became champion by defeating Dick Tiger at Atlantic City’s Convention Hall, was born in Brooklyn but lived most of his life in South Philadelphia and Cherry Hill, NJ. Giardello passed away September 4, 2008.
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