Sunday, March 30, 2008

Thank you GG and LN!!


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GG and LN-it was great speaking with each of you today. Thanks so much for your thoughtful insight and ideas about launching ChaiLife. We hope to get together for a planning meeting in mid April to brainstorm. If you are interested in attending, please let me know.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

In Treatment Finale


Is anyone else an In Treatment viewer? I was so happy that Paul did not end up with Laura in the season finale. And if he said "mmm" one more time, I was going to throw something at the television. My final word..... a man in midlife crisis...egocentric and narcissistic. And I will leave it at that.

Friday, March 28, 2008

What exactly is a Baby Boomer?



I found this definition at Baby Boomers Headquarters.com http://www.bbhq.com/


" Stated very simply, the demographers, sociologists and the media define baby boomers as those born between (and including) 1946 and 1964. (There is no law or constitutional amendment so stating; and other boundaries have been suggested. But this is the time frame most commonly used.) In 2007, that would make us between 43 and 61 years old. There are about 75 million boomers in the U.S.; we currently represent about 29% of the U.S. population. (In Canada, we are sometimes known as "Boomies"; there are 6 million of us there. In Britain, our generation is known as "the bulge.")
The term is used (nobody knows who coined the phrase) to define the "boom" in births after WWII. Our Boomer Stats page identifies the number of U.S. births during the 40s, 50s and 60s.
The 1960s is the decade that defined the boomers. The music, events, and the social changes made a permanent impression on us. Those of us born during the "peak" boomer years, '52-'57, were in our formative years during the sixties. There were so many changes in the sixties that how old you were during the decade greatly affected how you turned out. 1961 was a whole lot different from 1969!
Those born at the early end of the spectrum were in our early 20s by 1970. The deaths of President Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King; the Vietnam war and related protests; and the Watergate scandal... all made deep impressions on us.
At the other end, those born after 1959 have no direct recollection of the assassination of President Kennedy; they were not yet listening to rock music by the time the Beatles broke up. They were much more likely to use illegal drugs.... often to a great and disturbing excess. And they were never subjected to the military draft. So any attempt to lump us all together probably won't work. We can tell, by the e-mail we receive here at BBHQ, that there is much that ties us together, but also much that separates us.
Our e-mail indicates that many of us are committed to marriage and are still happily married to our high school sweethearts. And many of us have been married and divorced... more than once. We are the generation that pushed the divorce rate up to 50%... and made it seem "normal" and thus acceptable.
Many of us went to work for a company, worked our way up the ladder, and are now enjoying the fruits of our labors. We will retire in a few years, and live a life of leisure, or embark on a second career. But many of us are entrepreneurs, and have never worked for a big company. Many of us plan never to retire."

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

My favorite bargain wine..Norton Malbec Reserve 2004


Another Costco deal, $12.99 for a Wine Spectator 91pt. wine.Well worth the time to let this wine open, besides the aromas expanding and the flavors maturing & concentrating, a slight hotness to the finish mellows. Mellow cherry-cranberry aromas and a trace of fresh cut wood that adds to the fruit without over shadowing it. The color undeniably purple. As with most Malbec's I've tried, soft yet lush structure. Medium body and finish yet firm, nice tannic feel. Earthy dark plum, dark mocha and a slight exotic spicy flavor.
And never a headache the next day! What is your favorite bargain wine?

Fingers crossed......Wednesday at noon!



WE EXCEL AWARDWomen Business Owner of the Year
A Woman Entrepreneur who has owned her business for at least 5 years and has demonstrated exemplary business achievement, customer growth, community leadership, industry influence and entrepreneurial success in the past year. She is also a woman who has earned public recognition and serves as a mentor for other women.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Jewish Humor


1. The High Holidays have absolutely nothing to do with marijuana.
2. Where there's smoke, there may be salmon.
3. No meal is complete without leftovers.
4. According to Jewish dietary law, pork and shellfish may be eaten only in Chinese restaurants.
5. A shmata is a dress that your husband's ex is wearing.
6. You need ten men for a minyan, but only four in polyester pants and white shoes for pinochle.
7. One mitzvah can change the world; two will just make you tired.
8. After the destruction of the Second temple, God created Neiman Marcus
9. Anything worth saying is worth repeating a thousand times.
1 0. Never take a front row seat at a Bris.
11. Next year in Jerusalem . The year after that, how about a nice cruise?
12. Never leave a restaurant empty handed.
13. Spring ahead, fall back, winter in Boca.
14. WASP's leave and never say good bye; Jews say good bye and never leave.
15. Always whisper the names of diseases.
16. If it tastes good, it's probably not kosher.
17. The important Jewish holidays are the ones on which alternate side of the street parking is suspended.
18. Without Jewish mothers, who would need therapy?
19. If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it. But if you can afford it, make sure to tell everybody what you paid.
20. Laugh now, but one day you'll be driving a Lexus and eating dinner at 4:00 PM in Florida .

Monday, March 24, 2008

Gone in an Instant...Say Goodbye to the Polaroid Picture


I am lamenting the near extinction of the Polaroid Instant Camera. Some of my favorite photos are Polaroid black and whites.....capturing special moments in time. I will always remember the smell of a developing Polaroid picture and the accompanying words of my father telling me NOT TO TOUCH IT until it dried. The odor was not pleasant but you still had to sniff the developing picture anyway. It will stay in my olfactory memory somewhere near Playdoh, prescription cough medicine, Crayolas,Tinker Toys, Golden Books and the Weekly Reader. The following is a story from the NY Times regarding this genius invention:


"It was a wonder in its time: A camera that spat out photos that developed themselves in a few minutes as you watched. You got to see them where and when you took them, not a week later when the prints came back from the drugstore.
But in a day when nearly every cellphone has a digital camera in it, “instant” photography long ago stopped being instant enough for most people. So today, the inevitable end of an era came: Polaroid is getting out of the Polaroid business.
The company, which stopped making instant cameras for consumers a year ago and for commercial use a year before that, said today that as soon as it had enough instant film manufactured to last it through 2009, it would stop making that, too. Three plants that make large-format instant film will close by the end of the quarter, and two that make consumer film packets will be shut by the end of the year, Bloomberg News reports.
The company, which will concentrate on digital cameras and printers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2001 and was acquired by a private investment company in 2005. It started in 1937 making polarized lenses for scientific and military applications, and introduced its first instant camera in 1948.
The Lede remembers fondly how magical it was to watch the image gradually manifest itself from the chemical murk right there in your hand. But truth be told, the Lede’s own scuffed Polaroid SX-70 camera, which used to get regular use in all manner of situations, from producing a quick step-by-step primer on how to do the Ickey Shuffle to documenting a problem with a house he was buying that cropped up the day before the closing, hasn’t come out of its cabinet drawer in years.
Loyal users take heart, though — Polaroid said it would happily license the technology to other manufacturers should they want to go on supplying the niche market with film after 2009. "

Friday, March 21, 2008

Happy Bark Mitzvah Coco Sue!




Today is Coco's Bark Mitzvah, 13th birthday. She hosted 25 of her favorite people for lunch. Mazel Tov, Coco! xxxxxoooooo

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Love Is All You Need!



Hello, my name is Debbie and I am a Beatlesaholic. I am obsessed with everything Beatles. Their music resonates with me more today than as a musically savvy teenager. The lyrics are brilliant. The musical arrangements genius. I can’t tell you how many times I have listened to the White Album, Rubber Soul, Sgt. Peppers and Abbey Road on LP, cassette tape, CD and Ipod.

My addiction led me to Love, the Cirque de Soleil homage to the Beatles, at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. I have seen this show 5(!!!) times and each time I can’t get enough of it. The theater was built specifically for the show and the configuration is theater in the round. There is not a bad seat in the house. The audience is comprised of Beatles fans of all ages, mostly baby boomers who sing along and a lot of children of boomers, who have discovered that the Beatles is the best band of all times ! All of the music is digitally remixed and remastered by legendary Beatles producer, Sir George Martin and his son, music producer, Giles Martin. The sound and mix is phenomenal. The soundtrack received two Grammies this past year. If you don’t have it, get it immediately. You will not be disappointed. Add incredibly talented performers from all over the world, mostly young dancers in fabulous clothing reminiscent of the 60’s, coupled with great cirque type stunts and interactive special effects and this show will blow you away. ……better than the effect of any mild altering drug. As cliché as this may sound, this show is a life changing, joyous experience in sight and sound.

The following is a review of the show by Phil Gallo in "Variety", June, 2006:

"Everything about "Love" is done in service to the Beatles; there's not a single moment in which a visual element overrides the audio. It's Cirque trying to find a new pace that responds to the music, meaning measured movements on ropes in one scene, zippy skateboarders in another. The rope climbers and bungee jumpers seen in Cirque shows are present; the balancing acts, clowns and aerial daredevils are not.
The star is the Beatles, and the point is driven home when superbly edited footage of the Fab Four is shown during the closer, "All You Need Is Love." The band's producer George Martin and his son Giles have taken a "mash-up" approach to the Beatles music, overlapping rhythm tracks from one song onto the melody of another, squeezing incidental background noises from three or four tunes into the coda of another and even segueing from a demo of a song into its final version. The reworking of the tunes reveals a richness, depth and pliability that reinforces their place atop the rock 'n' roll canon.
The joint music directors have gloriously reinvented -- through added color and rhythm -- "Within You Without You," "Lady Madonna" and "I Am the Walrus," making them viable singles to introduce the Beatles to a new generation. Using only sounds that John, Paul, George and Ringo recorded at EMI in the '60s, the Martins have spectacularly refreshed staples of oldies radio. It's the element MasterCard would label "priceless" in this $125 million production.
With more than 6,000 speakers at the ready, sound designer Jonathan Deans has made the music majestic in spots and intimate in others, toying with the occasional fun gimmick -- single words from "Come Together" emanate from the speaker in each audience member's chair -- but never getting carried away with the technical options.
Music showers down from the ceiling -- "A Day in the Life" is a powerful example -- or swirls around the room and envelops the listener in a manner that no 5.1 system could at home.
Presenting the show in the round -- there's probably not a bad seat in the house -- helmer-writer Dominic Champagne has sets, characters, screens and props floating to center stage from every angle.
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" is the masterpiece of the production. Faceless characters in vivid costumes, a half-dozen song snippets dropped into the main tune and the combination of frivolity and acrobatics make it the evening's most compelling vignette.
At other times, to quote a Beatles lyric, "It's all too much." It's a madhouse, for example, during "I Am the Walrus," as the eye scrambles to find a focal point among the multitude of performers interacting with one another. Once the eye settles on a dancer or some kids in a bed, there's an element of disappointment; yes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but the parts can be lacking on their own.
Champagne has fashioned a story that begins in darkness with the Beatles harmonizing a capella on "Because." Rope climbers, at least seven of them, begin to ascend as a bandstand arises with Sgt. Pepper at its center and, in what seems like little more than a heartbeat, the scene is shifted to the final Beatles performance, on a London rooftop in 1969.
Concert footage from "Let It Be" has been converted to silhouettes, and "Get Back" puts the show on an uptempo path until the psychedelic orchestration of "Glass Onion" drives the story back to the Fab Four's childhood in war-ravaged Liverpool. (Cirque, whose best shows expand the imagination, has needlessly printed times and places on the screen during these segs, a bad move.)
With the exception of a medley of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Drive My Car," "What You're Doing" and "The Word" that chronicles the heyday of Beatlemania, the boys' story is over, fairly early in the show. Characters from songs -- Dr. Robert, Sgt. Pepper and the underutilized quartet of comic Nowhere Men -- dominate the action until "Love" goes into literal mode.
"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" (with a fun aerial exercise), "Octopus's Garden" and "Here Comes the Sun" are played as strict, visually attractive interpretations of the lyrics; "Lady Madonna," featuring a pregnant lead dancer, is the lone tune that sidesteps the lyric to allow for some sweetly choreographed tap-dancing in rain boots.
Tone of the piece then makes another dramatic shift, this time explaining the Beatles' effect on the counterculture with a cops-and-protesters battle during "Revolution." Well-choreographed, it makes absolute sense until the song segues into "Back in the U.S.S.R." and the action doesn't change. The political tone of the song, of course, is vastly different -- a missed opportunity to bring in classic Cirque touches in costumes and ethnic dance.
Multitude of costumes by Philippe Guillotel are colorful, whimsical and, when necessary, rooted in Beatles lore; Jean Rabasse's sets range from the sublime to the outrageous and consistently impress; Yves Aucoin's lighting is effective in mood-setting but less impressive in guiding the audience around the good-sized stage.
Kudos to the creatives who made the white VW Beetle from the cover of "Abbey Road" a key part of the show -- complete with "LMW/28IF" license plate. Toying with Beatles trivia like that could add some extra levity to the production.
Evening closes with a sing-along, clap-along, feel-good trio of "Hey Jude," the reprise of "Sgt. Pepper" and "All You Need Is Love." It delivers the goods in the manner of the best Vegas shows: The senses are overloaded, spirits are high, and there's an urgency to spread the word."

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Holy Divinity!! The Divine Miss M Ignites in Vegas!!


I had the privilege of seeing Bette Midler perform her new show
"The Showgirl Must Go On" , a $10 million dollar specacular, this past weekend at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Bette Midler is a nice Jewish girl from Hawaii. At 62, she defies age and is the consummate poster child for the notion that age is only a number. She looks absolutely gorgeous....svelte, toned, great hair and dare I say....great facial plastic surgery....not a wrinkle on her face. In fact, she looks better than she did in 1972 when I first heard her debut album "The Divine Miss M". Add in her illustrous film career from "The Rose" to "Beaches" to "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" and "The First Wives Club" together with her philanthropic act of love for the city of New York ,The New York Restoration Project, and she continues to shine even brighter than ever in every facet of her life. As she sings her entire catalogue of ballads and hit songs, her voice is strong , soulful and just perfect....live and actually no lip syncing!! "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "From A Distance" still bring tears to my eyes.
If you are a Bette fan, this show is a must see!


The following is a review of the show by Laura Rauch for The New York Times on March 10 :

"Bette Midler, who ignited a career by giving a good name to bad taste, has arrived in this sprawling gambling mecca, a steroidal temple of tackiness. And she claims to be right at home.
For as she merrily boasts in her new extravaganza, “The Showgirl Must Go On,” she has been telling dirty jokes for three decades, and flashed her flesh way back in the day. (Not for the paparazzi either, like these crazy kids today, but for paying audiences, thank you very much.) Sin city, antiseptic and corporate though it mostly feels today, is her kind of town.
Ms. Midler has lost little of the verve, bawdiness and originality that first captivated gay audiences back in the early 1970s. That hip-wiggling strut — how many entertainers can be said to have a trademark walk, by the way? — is every bit as manic, even if the heels are a tad lower. The voice still throbs with palpable feeling, even when the sentiment would sound ersatz sung by almost any other performer.
But Ms. Midler’s movie career has brought her a wide audience, and the culture has happily embraced all that once seemed transgressive in her act. By the standards of today her winking brand of vulgarity — the old-school Sophie Tucker gags, the jubilant camping — seems positively wholesome.
So it is that Ms. Midler is now installed in the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, where Celine Dion recently held court for a five-year stint. Ms. Midler has moved in with her own $10 million spectacular, playing five nights a week for a total of about 100 performances a year for two years. Beginning in May, Cher will alternate with her in this cavernous space of more than 4,000 seats, where Elton John is also in residence. Noting the appeal of this showbiz trinity, Ms. Midler quipped, “Does it get any gayer?” Well, possibly — O Barbra, where art thou? Is it a little dismaying for longtime fans of Ms. Midler to find her installed in Las Vegas as the latest luxury product for high rollers in a city awash in them? (Ticket prices top out at $250, which could also buy dinner for one at Guy Savoy in the same hotel.) Well, possibly. And “The Showgirl Must Go On,” a career survey offering a sort of Midler 101, is clearly aimed at the masses who flock to this city in stupefying numbers in fervid search of ways to get rid of their money.
In a speedy 90 minutes (apparently the maximum time audiences here will agree to be entertained away from the slots and tables), and backed by a strong 13-piece band, Ms. Midler performs virtually all of her hits and signature tunes. She sings with a polish — and in a few cases, an emotional intensity — that belies the passing of the years and the many occasions on which she has been called upon to perform them before. Now 62, she makes self-pitying sport of her supposed infirmity in the course of her dash through her songbook, but when the encore arrives — the inexorable, the inevitable, dare I say the infernal “Wind Beneath My Wings” — Ms. Midler hits all the notes with breath to spare.
After a somewhat uninspired entrance — the diva ascends from under center stage atop an enormous pile of Louis Vuitton luggage. Ms. Midler, trim in a silver sequined pantsuit, her hair a nimbus of tight blond curls, hurls herself into high gear to perform the blazingly funny title song, a new composition that pays witty homage to that great Las Vegas institution of the showgirl.
Racing back and forth across the truly colossal Colosseum stage (it is 120 feet wide) Ms. Midler showers the audience in tart patter — she laments that she’s got an adjustable rate mortgage on the place — and introduces her latest trio of backup singers, the Harlettes (2.0? 3.0? 12.0?), and the 20 leggy chorines who back them up. “The best thing is, not one of them is a French-Canadian circus performer,” she exults, referring to the ubiquity of the Cirque du Soleil brand in the city.
Interspersed with performances of all her standards — “Do You Want to Dance?,” “From a Distance,” “Hello in There,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” — are affectionate nods to entertainers associated with Las Vegas. The city was once a refuge for the oddballs and also-rans of showbiz, so Ms. Midler’s Delores DeLago character, the wheelchair-riding mermaid with the odoriferous lounge act, is naturally right at home.
She is introduced, via video, by the arbiters of “American Idol,” and sings a medley of Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra hits. Soph, the naughty jokemistress modeled on Sophie Tucker, is reimagined here as an indomitable showgirl, encumbered by a headdress “half the size of Tennessee,” in another standout segment.
Ms. Midler’s outsize persona — the Divine thing — serves her well here. Staging a show of this kind on a long strip of stage must be like putting a Broadway show on a subway platform. The strain sometimes shows; even 20 leggy women aren’t quite enough to eat up the space, and the choreography by Toni Basil, delightful in the Soph-and-the-showgirls segment, flounders at other points.
The set designs, by the opera veteran Michael Levine, are dominated by a series of shimmering curtains of gold coins that pay elegant tribute to the tradition of Las Vegas glitz. But there’s no escaping the flattening influence of the giant video screen that looms over the stage and makes the space feel a bit like a supersize Imax theater.
That Ms. Midler is capable of instantly warming up a room this daunting and filling a stage this forbidding is a testament to her consummate skills as an entertainer. The temperature dips now and then, but she keeps the antiseptic at bay with regular infusions of the down-and-dirty earthiness that is so central to her appeal.
Flinging herself on her back at one point, in mock exhaustion, she crankily observes that her predecessor “must have been a robot.” Having seen Ms. Dion’s show, I can attest to the perspicacity of that assessment.
Nobody leaving “The Showgirl Must Go On” will confuse Ms. Midler with a mechanical contraption. She still tears into the soulful ballad “When a Man Loves a Woman,” to cite just one example, with a fierceness that excavates every ounce of pain from it.
Like all great showgirls, she may wear sequins like a second skin, but the woman underneath is all flesh and blood, humor and heart."

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Sweet Tooth...Candy from the 60's




For some reason, the other day when I tapped into my long term memory bank, I suddenly thought of a candy from my childhood "Chocolate Babies". Why did I think of them? I don't know. Chocolate Babies are from the candy corn family, but in chocolate. So I googled Chocolate Babies and actually discovered that they are available on the website http://www.oldtimecandy.com/.


The following is a list of candies which were popular in the 60's. A stroll down gustational memory lane............
100 Grand Bar, 5th Avenue, Anise Squares, Astro Pops, Atomic Fire Balls, Bazooka Bubble Gum, BB Bats, Bit-O-Honey, Black Taffy, Boston Baked Beans, Bubble Gum Cigars, Butterfingers, Candy Buttons, Candy Cigarettes, Candy Necklace, Carmel Creams, Charleston Chews, Charms, Chick-o-Sticks, Chiclets, Chuckles, Cinnamon Bears, Dots, French Chew Taffy, Gold Mine Gum, Good & Plenty, Hot Dog Gum, Indian Brand Pumpkin Seeds, Jaw Breakers, Jelly Nougats, Jujubes, Jujyfruits, Junior Mints, Kits, Lemonheads, Life Savers, Long Boys, Mary Janes, Necco Wafers, Nik-L-Nips, Now & Later, Pay Day, Peanut Butter Bars, Planter's Peanut Bar, Rainblo Gum, Red Hots, Red Vines, Root Beer Barrels, Saf-T-Pops, Sen Sen, Sixlets, Sky Bar, Slap Stix, Slo Pokes, Smarties, Smith Brothers Cough Drops, Sourballs, Sugar Baby, Sugar Daddy, Swedish Fish, Sweet & Sour Pops, Sweetarts, Teaberry Gum, Tootsie Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Vanilla Caramels, Walnettos, Wax Lips, Whoppers and Zagnut.

What is your favorite childhood candy? In the interim, I think I'll grab a Twizzler.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

In Treatment.....the Doctor is in!



I am just enthralled with the new HBO series "In Treatment". It airs nightly, Monday through Friday at 9:30 pm. Here is a synopsis from the HBO website:

"An innovative and emotional new series, ‘In Treatment’ brings dynamic focus to a staple of modern society – the psychotherapy session. Adapted from a popular Israeli series, the show follows psychoanalyst Paul Weston through his week, capturing a session each night with his patients – Laura, Alex, Sophie and married couple Jake and Amy – before concluding each Friday in the office of Paul’s own therapist, Gina. Stepping inside the tangled mind of a man who counsels others for a living, ‘In Treatment’ renders an intricate portrayal of the experts we rely on for perspective.
'In Treatment' is based on the Series "Be 'Tipul" created by Hagai Levi with Ori Sivan & Nir Bergman. Other writers for the series include Yael Hedaya, Ari Fulman, Daphna Levin, Asaf Zippor and Maya Heffner.
Executive-produced by Hagai Levi, Rodrigo Garcia, Steve Levinson and Mark Wahlberg, ‘In Treatment’ stars Gabriel Byrne (“The Usual Suspects,” “Vanity Fair”) as Paul, Josh Charles (“Sports Night,” “Four Brothers”) as Jake, Embeth Davidtz (“Schindler’s List,” “Junebug”) as Amy, Melissa George (“Alias,” “30 Days of Night”) as Laura, Blair Underwood (“L.A. Law,” “Dirty Sexy Money”) as Alex, Mia Wasikowska (“Suburban Mayhem”) as Sophie, Dianne Wiest (Oscar® winner for “Hannah and Her Sisters” and “Bullets over Broadway”) as Dr. Gina Toll and Michelle Forbes (“Kalifornia,” “Battlestar Galactica: Razor”) as Paul’s wife Kate."

The series includes 43 shows. We are now at the end of Week 6. All of the actors are superb but the dynamics between Paul Weston and Alex are really intense. And then throw in a tryst between Alex and Laura, with whom married Paul Weston is in love. And Paul's wife has just ended an affair.....ad nauseum.

Alot of people are blogging about the show...even psychiatrists! http://psychiatrist-blog.blogspot.com/.

A very tangled web. Tune in for some intense therapy.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Do you want to be in the bloglight?


Tell us about yourself......


  • Who are you?

  • In which part of Atlanta do you live?

  • What is your favorite restaurant in Atlanta?

  • Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks?

  • Publix or Whole Foods or Kroger?

  • Do you kiss on the first date?

  • Your favorite movies? Books? TV Shows?

Inquiring minds would like to know so please share!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Growing up Jewish...................




WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER????


If you are Jewish, and grew up in city with a large Jewish population, or are gentile with Jewish friends or associates, the following will invoke heartfelt memories, so read on.........


  • The Yiddish word for Today is PULKES (PUHL-kees) Translation: THIGHS. Please note: this word has been traced back to the language of one of the original Tribes of Israel , the Cellulites.

  • The only good advice that your Jewish mother gave you was:"Go! You might meet somebody!"

  • You grew up thinking it was normal for someone to shout "Are you okay?" through the bathroom door when you were in there longer than 3 minutes.

  • Your family dog responded to commands in Yiddish.

  • Every Saturday morning your father went to the neighborhood deli (called an "appetitizing store") for whitefish salad, whitefish "chubs"), lox (nova if you were rich!), herring, corned beef, roast beef, cole slaw, potato salad, a 1/2-dozen huge barrel pickles which you reached into the brine for, a dozen assorted bagels, cream cheese and rye bread (sliced while he waited). All of which would be strictly off-limits until Sunday morning.

  • Every Sunday afternoon was spent visiting your grandparents and/or other relatives.You experienced the phenomenon of 50 people fitting into a 10-foot-wide dining room hitting each other with plastic plates trying to get to a deli tray.

  • You had at least one female relative who penciled on eyebrows which were always asymmetrical.

  • You thought pasta was stuff used exclusively for Kugel and kasha with bowties.

  • You were as tall as your grandmother by the age of seven.

  • You were as tall as your grandfather by age seven and a half.

  • You never knew anyone whose last name didn't end in one of 5 standard suffixes (berg, baum, man, stein and witz).

  • You were surprised to discover that wine doesn't always taste like cranberry sauce.

  • You can look at gefilte fish and not turn green.

  • When your mother smacked you really hard, she continued to make you feel bad for hurting her hand.

  • You can understand Yiddish but you can't speak it.

  • You know how to pronounce numerous Yiddish words and use them correctly in context, yet you don't know exactly what they mean. Kaynahurra.

  • You're still angry at your parents for not speaking both Yiddish and English to you when you were a baby.

  • You have at least one ancestor who is somehow related to your spouse's ancestor.

  • Your grandparents' newly washed linoleum floor was covered with the NY Times, which your grandparents couldn't read.

  • You thought speaking loud was normal.

  • You considered your Bar or Bat Mitzvah a "Get Out of Hebrew School Free" card.

  • You think eating half a jar of dill pickles is a wholesome snack.

  • You're compelled to mention your grandmother's "steel cannonballs" upon seeing fluffy matzo balls served at restaurants.

  • You buy 3 shopping bags worth of hot bagels on every trip to NYC and ship them home via FedEx. (Or, if you live near NYC or Philadelphia or another Jewish city hub, you drive 3 hours just to buy a dozen "real"bagels.)

  • Your mother or grandmother took personal pride when a Jew was noted for some accomplishment (showbiz, medicine, politics, etc.) and was ashamed and embarrassed when a Jew was accused of a crime ...as if they were relatives.

  • You thought only non-Jews went to sleep away colleges. Jews went to city schools ... unless they had scholarships or made an Ivy League school.

  • And finally, you knew that Sunday night and the night after any Jewish holiday was designated for Chinese food. Zei gezunt!!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

TALK ABOUT MY GENERATION.........


Last night while channel surfing, I came across a great show on Georgia Public Broadcasting....."My Music..My Generation".
The latest production in the My Music series focuses on the years 1965–1969 and includes essential 1960s folk rock, Rhythm & Blues and pop hits from the decade of change, peace, love and protest music.
I have always loved music from the 60's.........and always feel happy when listening to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, the Association, Tommy James and the Shondells, The Turtles, Herman's Hermits, Janis Joplin, The Turtles,Mitch Ryder, Steppenwolf and so many more!
I highly recommend this 2 hour television concert for those of you who also love the music of the 60's. Check out the Georgia Public Broadcasting schedule as this show will be replayed throughout the month of March. http://www.gpb.org/
And yes, I did become a member and got the 8 CD set of all of the oldies but goodies.

Monday, March 3, 2008

CAN WE TALK?








I would like to update you on the evolution of ChaiLife Atlanta. The good news is that people are interested in joining! We have had a very positive response to the flyers which have been disseminated within the past week.

Please spread the word. Our first ad in the Jewish Times is running this Friday.

Why don't you jump right in and become involved in the birth of the premiere social networking group for the finest Jewish baby boomers in the metropolitan Atlanta area?

Sunday, March 2, 2008

It's That Time of Year Again!!









We are rapidly approaching my favorite time of year in Atlanta.....Chastain Park Concert Time!



Today Live Nation announced and placed on sale Part A of its series which includes The Moody Blues,Santana, Sheryl Crow, Duran Duran, ZZ Top, True Colors(Cyndi Lauper, The B 52s, Rosie O'Donnell), Chicago and the Doobie Brothers, REO Speedwagon with Joan Jett and the Blachhearts, Donna Summer, Robert Plant and Allison Krauss, Earth , Wind & Fire, Mark Knopfler and the hardest to get ticket in town....James Taylor. I was lucky enough to score 8 tickets for each of James' 2 May concerts and tickets to the Moody Blues and Sheryl Crow.

Classic Chastain, sponsored by the Atlanta Symphony, has not announced its lineup. I have been fortunate to have a pit table for the Friday night series for over 10 years. Bring a delicious meal and some great wine and even a disappointing performer will be music to your ears.
So, maybe, concerts at Chastain would be fun activities for ChaiLife Atlanta. What do you think?

What is the best concert you have seen at Chastain? My top four are Traffic, Henry Mancini, Tony Bennett and Brian Wilson performing his symphony, Smile.