Another Legend Passes
RIP Manhattan-born rock n roll legend Ronnie Spector, 78, who shot to music fame in the early ‘60’s as the lead singer of the Ronettes, a trio that included an older sister and cousin. Their breakout came under producer Phil Spector. Surprisingly, only Be My Baby cracked the top ten, rising to #2 in 1963. Baby, I Love You and Walking in the Rain cracked the top 25. Two other songs broke the top 40. To this day those tracks, featuring Phil’s signature Wall of Sound, are good listens. The Ronettes toured with the Beatles in ’66, but broke up in ’67. Ronnie’s career then fell off a cliff, hampered by the tyrant she married, whom she divorced in ’74. She was on the fringe of the business for more than a decade, then enjoyed a comeback in ’86, singing on Eddie Money’s top five hit Take Me Home Tonight. That began a long run of collaborations, although not as successful as that one. She released five solo albums, only one of which attracted interest, English Heart, in which she covered classic rock/pop songs. She is ranked #67 on VH1’s Greatest Women of Rock N Roll. Her second marriage, to her manager Jonathan Greenfield, lasted until her death. They have two sons. I mention her in Curious Sicilian. She means a lot to boomers, especially males. This morning, talk radio host Mark Simone said Billy Joel’s Say Goodbye to Hollywood, which begins with the exact drum beat as Be My Baby, is a tribute to Ronnie, based on her wee hours barefoot escape from the nutjob’s prison-like estate. Kudos, madam. Thank you.
Holy cow headline from nypost.com: “Scandal-ridden CNN sees ratings dive by 90% after 2021 coverage.” It may be time for a different approach, something like news, not propaganda.
Another NYP headline: “Made out like bandits: NY prisoners got $34M in federal COVID stimulus funds.” Only in America.
Not all the news is bad, headline from newsmax.com: “US Cancer Death Rate Down 32 Percent Since 1991: Study.”
Apparently the NFL has won its cultural war, its ratings this year the highest since 2015. I’m not caving. Include me out.
According to a sub-headline at foxnews.com, NYC car thefts are up 72% so far in 2022.
It was as good as a January day gets, mild temperature, no wind, ideal for selling stuff curbside. My thanks to my constant benefactress, who delivered several books, including two beautiful art pictorials, and who insisted on paying for Ivan: The Remarkable True Story Of The Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate; and to the sweet library lady volunteers, who donated a Russian short story collection that a gentleman later purchased; and to the woman who bought a novel in that language; and to the gentleman who overcompensated me for a travel book on Kenya.
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