Week 8, 2014 in Lakeside

The week begins on Saturday at Lakeside, and it was a wonderful performance by Joan Ellison and the Lakeside Symphony in a tribute to the “Music of Judy Garland.”  Ms. Ellison is a member of the voice faculty at Baldwin-Wallace and has been a guest artist at many Ohio venues. 

I attended church twice today—lakefront with pastor Jennings, and at Hoover Auditorium. Martin Marty is the guest preacher/teacher this week, and there was a wonderful quintet that played at both services, the Phoenix  Wind Project, which will also present a concert this afternoon at 3 p.m. at the Lakeside Methodist church. A flute, 2 clarinets, French horn and bassoon (I think). Wonderful sound.  Also today is a Heritage Society lecture at 2 p.m. about Lakeside “old timers.”  This week’s lecture series is, Monday and Tuesday, Ohio Geology, history, mining and fracking; and health and medicine, two on cancer, and two on memory loss. There’s a nice architectural walking tour (right in my neighborhood), but it conflicts with the geology.  I hear a lot about architecture so I opt for geology. On Tuesday I’ll need to choose between the fracking and a lecture on fashion of the Downton Abbey era, by the curator of the Kent State University Museum.

The Monday night movie in Hoover, is Meet me in St. Louis, with Judy Garland and Tom Drake.  Drake was my sister-in-law’s Uncle Buddy, brother of her mother.  My nephew looks a lot like him.  Tuesday is Lakeside Symphony with a talented young artist, Gavin George and Wednesday Don Knotts daughter, Karen, will present “Tied up in Knotts” a tribute to her dad (Barney Fife) who died in 2006. On Thursday there is acoustic folk/rock guitarist Al Stewart, with the LSO finishing the week on Friday with violinist Jinjoo Cho and cellist Ana Kim.  And finally, there’s a movie at the local theater that I’d like to see “The Fault in our Stars.”

Wednesday night we’re having guests for dinner, so I’m hoping for good weather—5 people is a tight squeeze in our tiny kitchen.  Then on Friday and Saturday James and Leah from Cleveland will be visiting with us.

If it will fit in our car, my husband may bring back our family room couch for the cottage.  The couch here is probably 70 years old, and when we bought the cottage in 1988, we decided we would get rid of it. . . my how time flies.

Entertainers behaving badly

Kanye West at the MTV VMA awards insulted and flustered teenager Taylor Swift who'd just received an award--stealing her moment of glory. How she kept her composure and went on to perform live, shows she has a lot more class and talent than he has. After she appeared on The View, he apologized.

"More winners were revealed at the September 13 ceremony of the 26th Annual MTV Video Music Awards. This time, P. Diddy went onto the stage, announcing who was lucky to receive Best Male Video.

T.I. got the honor, thanks to his "Live Your Live" music video which guest stars Rihanna. There was no acceptance speech because the rapper is currently serving a 366-day prison sentence for felony weapons charges." (Aceshowbiz)

Then P. Diddy (Sean Combs, also a fashion designer and occasional actor), expecting everyone, including the NYPD to know who he is, or care that he is very rich and famous, forgot about his former arrests.

"Hip Hop mogul Diddy managed to avoid arrest after facing off with New York's "Hip Hop Police" recently.

Though all the details aren't immediately available, in a recent video posted by TMZ.com, Diddy is seen going back and forth with an NYPD officer after being asked to move.

"Lower your fucking voice when you're talking to me, I'm a man just like you" Diddy quipped at the aggressive officer.

"I gotta get everyone outta here [...] I don't give a fuck who you are," the unidentified officer screams at the rapper.

"I don't give a fuck who you are either motherfucker!" Diddy quickly retorted as he walked away.

Things quickly escalated when Diddy turn around to face off with the officer. Luckily for the rapper, his entourage held him back." Defsounds

President Obama called West a Jackass, and now ABC has apologized for letting it out. Obama didn't say if the NYPD acted stupidly.

All bets are off on who was the racist in these incidents. But Jimmy Carter will probably be called in to decide.

Lakeside 2008, John Davidson

Lakeside has its roots in the Methodist camp meeting tradition--but Bible class with J.C. Penney and WCTU conventions were never like this. John Davidson was a crowd pleaser last night--a real pro. He graduated from Denison University in 1963, so he even stopped by our gathering of the Directors Club Reception, hosted by a Denison president, at the hotel early in the evening. The dimpled, cute hunk of the 70s and 80s hosted the Tonight Show over 80 times and was popular on Hollywood Squares and still performs in musical theater and night clubs. Increasingly, he’s popular with us older folks with a versatility ranging from big band to hip hop and rap. I was sitting next to two stunning 80-somethings, tall, straight, silver haired and beautifully dressed, so John’s put-on temper tantrum (lying on the floor of the stage) about being 67 and a grandfather might have fallen a bit flat for some in the audience well beyond that. Especially since he seems to be in terrific condition for running down aisles, up stairs, and dancing with his back-up singers, The Inflatables. He has always been able to make an audience laugh by making fun of his image as America’s dimpled sweetheart. He said he used to “be cuter than Donnie Osmond--no, I used to be cuter than Marie!” Got a good laugh, although the young’ens might not have known what he was talking about. Although he’s been gray for a number of years, his hair was brown again having been dyed for his role in Chicago. Here’s a little video that shows some of his talents.

His final piece was from Man from La Mancha and he closed with "Impossible Dream." We have a Lakeside music box (attached to a painting of the pavilion) that plays that and for years we'd play it as we left our cottage--the impossible dream that came true.