What child is this?

He grew up to be very famous.

Here’s a hint. He appears somewhere in the following photograph (click to enlarge) and he is neither wearing a dress nor playing a violin:

That's right! It is none other than William Jefferson Clinton, who grew up to become the 42nd president of the United States, as a little boy in 1950. It is a little-known fact that his surname in childhood was Blythe.

It is also a little-known fact that at the other end of the red carpet in the second photograph, behind the photographer, were these people:

And some people say blogging isn’t educational.

Thai me kangaroo down, sport

In honor of a blogger friend of mine from Yorkshire who is currently working in Bangkok, I present the following recipe for your edification:

Pud Thai

8 oz. rice sticks/noodles
6-8 prawns
1 egg
2 tablespoons oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon red curry paste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
water, as needed
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 lime, wedged

Put rice noodles in large bowl covered in warm water and soak for at least 20 minutes. Heat wok to medium-high temperature. Stir fry prawns. Scramble egg in wok and set aside. Heat oil in wok on high setting. Add garlic and curry paste. Stir fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Drain noodles and add to wok. Fry the noodles, constantly turning and stirring them so that they cook evenly. Add sugar and fish sauce. If the noodles remain tough after about 5 minutes of frying, add about 1/4 cup of water and stir, letting the water absorb and boil off. Repeat as necessary. To serve, put noodles in a bowl and top with prawns, egg, peanuts, green onions, and bean sprouts. Serve lime wedges on a side plate. Serves: 4

Mmmm, yummy!

Readers in Australia may wish to use kangaroo instead of prawns.

In my last post I showed you the graves of Elvis Presley and Richard M. Nixon. Here is a photo I found today of them together, alive, in the Oval Office, which will enlarge if you click on it (the photo, I mean, not the Oval Office):

A photograph of Richard Nixon is germane to this, my first recipe in more than five years of blogging, because it prompts me to tell you something important:

I am not a cook.

Gone but not forgotten

Yesterday (January 8th) was the birthday of Elvis Presley and today (January 9th -- it is still January 9th where I am) is the birthday of Richard Milhous Nixon.

Happy birthday to them both.

Posthumously, of course.

The former (if he had lived) would have been 78 and the latter (ditto) would have been 90.

I myself am a mere 71 and 3/4.

How time flies when you’re having fun.

Mazel tov?

Just when you think you are finally beginning to understand how the world works, something else comes along.

On December 28th JTA (“The Global News Service of the Jewish People”) published a list of Gentiles of the Year 2012.

As Jack Paar would say, “I kid you not.”

Actually, they have been doing this for years, but I became aware of them only recently.

Here’s the list:

1. Benjamin Millepied
2. Claire Danes
3. Istvan Ujhelyi
4. Bob Costas
5. Newt Gingrich
6. Chaka Khan
7. President Mohamed Morsi or Egypt
8. Brian Flynn and Ryan Parry (shared)
9. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
10. President Obama

I know, I know, I never heard of some of them either. And I wondered why some of the ones I have heard of made JTA’s list.

If you also want to know why these people were chosen (the people on the list, I mean, not the Jews), read this.

We’re not quite done yet

If you clicked on Auld Lang Syne #1 in my previous post, you heard what I consider to be a really bad musical saw rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” by Nicki Jaine. I’m sure Nicki is a lovely young lady, but I fervently hope that her technique has improved since 2006 (the date of the clip). It made my ears hurt because of just how off-key it is in places and also because of the swoops and slides from note to note, never a good thing. I’m assuming you understand that I included it in our festival precisely because it was so bad, just as I included Darlene Edwards in an earlier post for the same reason, which some of you did not seem to catch. Of course, Darlene’s performance (a parody by the great Jo Stafford) was purposely bad. Nicki’s, I think, was not.

A new commenter, Michelle, gave us a link to a pitch-perfect rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” on the musical saw by a young lady who has performed it in the subways of New York every New Year’s Eve for the past 17 years.

Here is the same person playing John Rutter’s "Pie Jesu" in a trio consisting of musical saw, recorder, and piano in a Lutheran Church.

She is none other than Natalia Paruz, the increasingly well-known “Saw Lady.” Natalia has performed on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion and with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic.

Now we’re done.

Well, with New Year’s Eve, “Auld Lang Syne,” and the musical saw, at least.

For now.

Janus the two-faced god

...was always looking backward and forward at the same time. The month of January is named after him.

I’m not very good at looking into the future, nor am I too eager to do so, what with Mr. Obama in the White House and all, but I do enjoy reminiscing about the past. I mean, what else are you going to reminisce about?

Accordingly, it being January once again, I find that I missed the Festival of Auld Lang Syne Performances that we enjoyed a couple of times in years gone by. So let’s do it again, since New Year’s Eve was not all that long ago and the year 2013 is still in its infancy.

The first performance in our Festival will be on the musical saw with accordion accompaniment, plus there is a bit of the human voice. Experiencing this particular performance is eerily reminiscent of listening to Darlene Edwards, whom you may recall from this recent post. When the voice enters (which I believe is female, but I may be wrong), you may actually be able to forget Darlene for a little while by concentrating instead on what seems to be a very poor imitation of the young Bob Dylan from back in the day when Bob’s lyrics were still actually comprehensible. Here, then, from 2006, is the androgynous Nicki Jaine on both the saw and the vocal, accompanied by Roy Ashley on accordion, performing Auld Lang Syne #1 (2:41).

Next, class, we travel through both time and space to Detroit in the year 1987 to hear the young Aretha Franklin and Billy Preston sing a Motown version of our festival theme, Auld Lang Syne #2 (2:07). Inexplicably, there is a brief appearance by comedian David Brenner at the end of the performance.

As we continue to mellow and chill and let 2012 fade into history, who better than saxophonist Kenny G to put us in the proper mood? Here is the third rung on our festival ladder, Auld Lang Syne #3 (4:52). You may skip this step only if you majored in jazz saxophone in college and feel that Kenny G sold out for commercial success.

I have searched for a fitting rendition of Auld Lang Syne with which to close the festival. I have decided against subjecting you to Barbra Streisand’s turn-of-the-millenium Las Vegas concert version and have chosen instead one of the purest voices ever to come down the pike, the young Julie Andrews, for our Auld Lang Syne #4 (2:02).

In her role as silent-film star Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson had one of the great movie lines of all time: “They didn’t need dialogue. They had faces then!” When I listen to Julie Andrews, I feel like saying, “They had voices then!” I shudder to think what fans of today’s popular music will consider “golden oldies” thirty or forty years from now.

Some of us may not see many more Januarys Januaries years roll around. For us it is always December now, which brings with it some special challenges. Our Festival now closes with a special encore, Ed Ames singing “Try To Remember” from The Fantasticks (4:48). Although his voice is still quite good, he babbles incoherently at the end, much as your correspondent often appears to be doing.

Our Festival has now come to an end. As you return to your humdrum, everyday lives, you are free to choose any kind of music that helps you get through your day.

Ze blog, she is working again

When I said in my last post that in all likelihood I [wouldn’t] be posting much for the next few days, I knew not whereof I spoke. It turned out that truer words were never spoken. Not only did I not post much, I haven’t been able to post anything at all. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Until this morning, every time I went to my blog, the line at the top of the screen that lets me sign in was missing. Absent. Gone. Nowhere in sight. All I could do was stare at the screen and scratch my head. And although it has been only five days (I had scheduled the last post in advance), it has seemed like an eternity.

So, dear friends, even though you probably didn’t miss me because of my incredibly accurate prediction, I’m ba-a-ack!

But now I can’t think of anything to say.

Stay tuned.