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Rod in “The Best is Yet to Come” 11/6/04
Photo by Shira Greenburg ©2004 by Broadway.com. Used by Permission
A Thought for Today
I measure success by the ones who come
back.
Dear Diary,
The sad news of Cy Coleman’s death reached me just as this Flight Plan
was being sent off to Webmaster Ken for uploading. He died on Thursday
night from a heart attack after attending a Broadway opening night. Our
heartfelt thoughts go out to his widow Shelby and his daughter Lily Cye.
In addition to being a multi-Tony winning Broadway composer and popular
songwriter, Cy was a brilliant jazz pianist. Those of you who attended
the performance of The Best is Yet to Come two weeks ago witnessed his
final public performance.
All of us who knew Cy will miss him and everyone who loves The Great
American Song will always be in his debt.
RM 11/19/04
FROM the¨BOOKS
Two Poems from Beyond the Boardwalk.
LARGO / for Bill Walsh
Tall men of pride,
raw like November
carry on their shoulders
their weight and more.
You see them not at dockside
but winding up the Ferris wheel
or planning beams of light
till they are straight and simple
defused and dull enough
to beautify their plainest lover.
Tall and raw as mid-November.
True men of pride concern themselves
with the worth of smaller things.
LOOKING STRAIGHT AHEAD
I will not let a war or warriors
kill my thirst
or appetite for love.
Though I do not travel into battle
with roses in the barrel
of my gun
I still go forward into life
looking straight ahead.
War worries me.
Not because
the generals lie to us.
I worry
that as each day moves
beneath the cloud of autumn
we may be lying to ourselves
enough to kill what truth existed
when we started out.
I worry that
beneath our helmets
our heads are only capable
of hating,
that further down
in our anatomy
we've lost the open space
within each heart set aside
for love.
I will not let this war
or any others
kill my appetite for caring.
I'll try to keep some open spaces
beneath and underneath
my breastplate
for the next tomorrow.
Another in my helmet.
There will always be
room for new ideas
to rattle, bounce and jog along.
- from "Beyond the Boardwalk," 1974, 75, 76
A special Happy Birthday to Richard Kegler. Rich is the honcho and head
designer at what is to my way of thinking the best type house on or off
the net. As many of you know we’ve done a fair amount of work together,
including several CD’s and fonts including Beatsville Daddy-O and The
Stanyan Font.
And in honor of Richard’s birthday here’s a birthday present to all of
you from him and me. Richard’s latest P22 Stanyan font is called
“Autumn” and with it comes a sixteen track MP3 set of some of my
favorite performances. Here’s a link:
http://www.p22.com/products/autumn.html
I’ll be hoisting a martini or two or three to my friend and Stanyan’s
buddy Richard tonight. I hope you’ll join me & here’s another link to
the recipe for The Kegler Martini I developed a few years back. For
those of you not brave enough for Gin, substitute vodka (preferably Tall
Blonde or Grey Goose).
http://www.mckuen.com/P22/martini1.htm
Sleep warm (guaranteed after 1 or 2 Kegler Martini’s). Drink sensibly &
safely and join me again Monday.
RM 11/20/04 12:38AM PST
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