WHS50 III

Part 3: Lancaster Redux and Cincinnati

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This is the third installment of my odyssey surrounding the Columbus West High School Class of January 1956 reunion.

Since I made the long trip to Ohio for a weekend, I extended the trip on each end for some adventures in Cincinnati, and passed through Carol’s homestead in Lancaster in each direction, as well. This epistle is divided into three parts; The Heartland, Columbus and the Reunion, and finally Lancaster Redux and Cincinnati.

If you want to know more about the food, I”m concurrently posting a food centric edition on my eats site.

Sunday, August 20, 2006 (continued)
“I”mmmm Baaaaack,” I called out as I came through the door. Liz and Bus were in their chairs and Bus said, “Alan will pick us up at four to go to the Logan Country Club for dinner.” Whodathunk there would ever be such a thing as Logan Country Club?! I had four hours to kill. I figured Carol should be up by 9:30, so I called. That took 15 minutes. So I called Sue Hupp, the girl I took on a double date with Jim Heil and Carol Hale in 1958. (It’s now Sue Mohr and she lives outside Baltimore, Ohio.) That took another 20 minutes. Idea!! “You folks had lunch?” Not really but not much thinking about it. “I”m going to Bob Evans (an Ohio cultural institution) so I can write about it. Want to come along?”

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“No, you go ahead, we”ll just have a little something here… dinner’s coming up.” Bob Evans is a mile or so toward town on the ridge above Memorial Drive. Although there was a wait, one for lunch and no preference on smoking snagged a quick seat at a table near the window in the smoking section. Nobody is smoking, I doubt that anybody would in a Bob Evans.

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WHS50 II

Part 2: Columbus and the Reunion

This is the second installment of my odyssey surrounding the Columbus West High School Class of January 1956 Reunion.

Since I made the long trip to Ohio for a weekend, I extended the trip on each end for some adventures in Cincinnati, and passed through Carol’s homestead in Lancaster in each direction, as well. This epistle is divided into three parts; The Heartland, Columbus and the Reunion, and finally Lancaster Redux and Cincinnati.

If you want to know more about the food, I”m concurrently posting a food centric edition on my eats site.

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Friday, August 18, 2006 (continued)
Just as I got in the car, it started to rain, not hard, but rain. I drove out of it within a mile. I kept taking “downtown” cues on what ever US-33 turned into and got off where it said Broad Street. This is now familiar territory, the streets I roamed before the freeways were built. I passed the State Capitol and thought I should have a digital picture of that. After circling a few blocks I parked on 3rd Street and pumped the meter with all the change I had for 22 minutes. Enough. In the course of walking around the capitol block, I took an oblique and a straight on picture, found a little but nice farmers market tucked into an alley off Broad Street, followed this young woman with a great ass, soaked in the scene and got back with 3 minutes to spare.

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Crank Up The Curiosity

If you are at all curious — it’s not a popular character trait right now, but I think it’s essential for happiness — you can find the most wonderful things, and the most wonderful ideas, and there are many most wonderful things and ideas, and that’s why getting up in the morning is a pleasure. With caffeine: even better.

–Jon Carroll, SF Chronicle 8/29/06

WHS50

The Glorious (we hope) Reunion of
West High School Class of January 1956
Part I: The Heartland

Now that I”m back, I”ve jazzed up this post with some pictures and a little editing, and decided to divide the trip into three parts; The Heartland, Columbus and the Reunion, and finally Lancaster Redux and Cincinnati.

If you want to know more about the food, I”m concurrently posting a food centric edition on my eats site.

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Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Our swell United airplane makes a smooth landing at Dulles International (the co-pilot is a woman) 40 minutes ahead of schedule. Doesn”t mean I”ll get home any earlier, what it means is I”ll have some time to kill. I know the concept of Dulles, very European; big transporters go to a plane and load people off, take them to the terminal which is a big room with a few “gates” where the transporters hook up. This is not the octopus type of airport where spiny legs stick out from the main termanel, and people walk, often a long way. Since it was designed by Eero Saarinan and built in 1982, things have changed. The Octopus” legs have been built but they”re not connected to the body. The big transporters go to the detached legs and get people who have assembled at a central gate and take them to another detatched leg or to the main terminal (body). So here I am on leg A, having come from leg D, and never having seen the magnificant terminal. Now that I”m writing this, I”m thinking that I should have gone to see it, I had time. But no… I had to have a Sam Adams Draft at the Cosi bar on the A leg.
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Masha in the City

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Hot damn! Summer in the City
Masha’s here and she’s lookin’ pretty
Walk around lookin’ for a ditty
Chinatown and every corner of the City

All around people doin” hip hop
Checked out Yerba Buena from the rooftop

Went ‘n’ found Titanic there
Spelling Bee was th’ next affair
C’mon c’mon there’s quilts in sight
That’s just for another night

And hey, doncha know it’s too witty
The days are good as the nights
In the summer, in the city
Masha’s in the city

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Let’s Rock

Hard RockThis morning, the Morning Show on KFOG interviewed a woman who runs a women’s band camp (unlike the band camp featured in American Pie), catering to women of all ages and backgrounds that want to start a rock band.

The question of band names came up, something unusual, catchy and band-like.

“Here’s one way; pick up any book at hand, go to page 62, third paragraph, third line, first two or three words, you”ve got your name.”

The book I”m reading just now is My Life in France by Julia Child. The name of the band:

JULIANNED CARROTS

Let’s hear your names.

The Notorious Betty Page

bpaa007.jpgA Review

Slim pickin’s on the movie scene. We walked to the Lumiere last night to see The Notorious Betty Page. Coming out of the theater, Carol said, “That was fun.”

“I was just going to say that myself,” I said.

It’s the story of a naive and open young girl from Nashville, abused by her father, growing into a naive and open woman in New York and taken advantage of by certain sleezeballs, befriended and sheltered by a nice husband and wife team who happen to do bondage photography.

What I knew: Betty Page is a pin-up queen; a wholesome, girl-next-door type who was totally built, but wasn”t terribly sexy. As noted in the movie, “She can be nude, without being naked.”
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KABOOM 2006

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This year we knew where to where to park and how to deal with the whole enchalada, so we took a picnic of sorts, pumped up the car radio, relaxed and let the show come to us.

The accolades I heaped on KABOOM last year still apply, so in case you missed it, here’s last year’s journal.

KABOOM 2005
KFOGs 12th Annual Music & Fireworks Show
And a beautiful day it was. One of those perfect San Francisco days when the sky is blue and clear, the sun is soft and warm on your skin and there is just that hint of cooling breeze that makes a loose overshirt feel just right. (Of course, if one has the right body, a tight tee shirt works too. We saw a few of those.)
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What a Festival It Was

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Ready For Work

Imagine going to 13 movies in 21 days and not seeing a single car chase, or building explode, or a guy jump from the top of a building onto a moving bus. When the lights dimmed and the projector whirred into action, we saw a rolling list of sponsor logos with new age background music, and then the Chinese characters for Perpetual Motion appeared on the screen. No commercials, no Previews of Coming Attractions accompanied by ear splitting sound, no “visit our snack bar in the lobby” please.
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SFiFF xiv: A Prairie Home Companion

A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (2006)
USA 103 minutes
Directed by Robert Altman, Written by Garrison Keillor

Cast:
Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen, Tommy Lee Jones, John C. Reilly, Lindsay Lohan, Lily Tomlin, Woody Harrelson, Garrison Keillor

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Closing Night. Lily Tomlin and Virginia Madsen were present for a Q&A after.

The movie was just plain fun, unencumbered by much of a story, and the blazing stars that Robert Altman brought along were sufficient to overshadow the sappy, stage hogging Garrison Keillor.
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mrating * * * * *
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