RIP Mary Tyler Moore

I was sad to hear of the passing of Mary Tyler Moore today...she was 80 years old.  The Mary Tyler Moore Show was ever-so-slightly before my time, but I remember my parents watching it.  I have friends for whom Mary was the model of how they wanted their lives to be when they entered the real world.  Over the years I've seen bits and pieces of the show, as well as The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Mary was great.  I came across this clip today, and thought it was a great testament to what talent she had as a comedic actress.


I'll have to add Ordinary People to my list to see her dramatic side--I saw it years ago, but don't remember much about it other than Pachelbel's Canon playing throughout. 


RIP Mary.

George Michael

This morning, George Michael's "Praying for Time" was running through my head.  Then, when I got to work, I saw that a friend of mine had posted a link to "Freedom" so I was thinking today's a good day to write a few words about George Michael.  We were in NYC for Christmas when we learned of his passing--I was so shocked and saddened.  I told my family that we'd listen to George on the way back home to Maryland, which we did.   My dad pointed out that he had forgotten how many songs he had.

My sister Debbie and I shared our experience of seeing him in concert a few years ago, where a really nice usher moved us from nosebleed seats down to near the floor.  I'm so glad we had that opportunity--it was a great show.

We also talked about how Debbie first heard "One More Try" during Debbie Thomas' exhibition performance at the 1988 Winter Olympics.  I'd forgotten about that, but enjoyed watching the video this evening.  George sounds so young on the recording. (Update 1/30/20: Unfortunately, the video is no longer available.)

And then as tends to happen when I watch one thing on YouTube, I started going down the rabbit hole and came across this great video from James Corden.  Who knew that George Michael was part of his first Carpool Karaoke?!

And finally, I've been trying to pick my favorite George Michael song--there's Careless Whisper, Praying for Time, Freedom, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me....but the one I always come back to is Kissing a Fool from the Faith album.  Any time I listen to George and get to this song, I always replay it two or three times in a row before moving to the next song.  (As I type this, I've listened to it three times...) I just love it.  And I loved George Michael.  May he rest in peace.