13 posts tagged “qotd”

What song do you wish would never show up on a karaoke list?

Oh, man... Probably "I've Never Been To Me."

When we do karaoke (preferably at least annually for Heidi's birthday) we often get too loud too early, blowing out the voices with "Heaven On Their Minds." You cannot do that without warming up.

When was the last time you made a drastic change to your personal style (i.e., wardrobe, hairstyle, etc.)? What did you do? 
Submitted by miyna. 

This past Friday; I cut off almost all my hair.

the thin gray line

Our Sarbanes-Oxley auditor glanced at his watch late Friday afternoon and said "I'd like to get out of here in time to go down to Astor Place and get my hair cut." I thought that was such a good idea that I went myself, and after a weekful of 18-hour days I was too tired to think about what kind of haircut I'd want. I just knew I needed a haircut, really badly.

When my barber asked "So, what we doing today?" I told him "#4, all over"  -- something I've only done once or twice before in my personal-grooming history. The result is an extremely short, military-looking cut that has deeply divided fans & detractors in the family and workplace. Personally, I like it, although it itches a bit and it's pretty thin on top. Lots of colleagues like it (some feel the urge to rub my head), at least one person doesn't think much of it and has told me so.

My kids both like it -- they were away all week, and when I came home Friday night the first thing the two-year-old said was "Hi Daddy, I like your haircut!" Unfortunately, my wife is firmly in the "AAAGH!" column, believing that a proper haircut must grow out gracefully (and must cost more than $12).

Who would you call with your one phone call if arrested? (No lawyers!)

Hmm. Tricky. I've been told that I should definitely not call my friend the assistant district attorney, that would be bad.

Probably -- and this is a little embarrassing -- my father. He still knows everyone in the NYC legal system.

How many TVs do you have in your house?

2 actually hooked up to Dish, one not really active, one under a tarp on the porch. :-)

Have you ever met any celebrities? Any interesting stories?
Submitted by Tasha.

Summit

I grew up in a couple of New York City hotels (the Summit was a designated architectural landmark, no less, but one with a different name now), so we did have celebrities sort of coming and going.

At the Warwick, our family lived on the 27th floor, which also had two large rental suites occupied by the Faberge perfume company and Mr. Cary Grant respectively. I don't remember meeting Grant, but I'm told that he was gracious and friendly, even offering to babysit for my brother and me on occasion (a wee bit creepy). My mother and her friends apparently jumped up every time they heard the elevator and ran to the peephole to catch a glimpse of him.

The Summit was popular with sports teams and individual players, so I rode the elevators with tennis stars, gymnasts, and one time the entire starting frontcourt of the Charlotte Hornets. New York Mets broadcasters were also frequent guests, and I remember once -- I was probably 11 or so -- having lunch with my father and Mets announcers Fran Healy and Rusty Staub at Mickey Mantle's restaurant, when Mantle himself came by; I shook his hand.

Our favorite visitors were probably the Harlem Globetrotters, who stayed there whenever they were in NYC. One afternoon, center Robert "Babyface" Paige came over to play model trains for an hour or two.

Since childhood, if I count them up, I've met quite a few celebrities in various contexts:

• People I went to school with (mostly before they were well-known): Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Christianne Noll, Declan McCullagh, Cynthia Nixon & Christopher Collet, Charles Ardai, and Young MC
  
• As a college newspaper entertainment editor: Graham Chapman, Billy Bragg, Alan King and others
• Family friends: author Iris Rainer Dart (Beaches)
  
• Working for Entertainment Weekly & LIFE: AOL chat interviews of Leonard Nimoy, Tea Leoni, and (in person) Tom Hanks & Ron Howard for the Apollo 13 publicity tour; Alfred Eisenstaedt, Carl Mydans, Gordon Parks
  
• At the Explorer's Club annual dinner: Issac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Sylvia Earle (wonderfully friendly), Robert Ballard, John Young & Robert Crippen
  
• In acting classes and workshops: Fred Schneider from the B-52s, George Hearn, Lillias White (who is just awesome :-)
  

My two favorite celebrity encounter stories are from years ago...

At the Warwick, riding down the elevator one afternoon, my mother, my brother and I encountered two men. Mom seemed to recognize them and nodded a "hello." One of the men turned to me and my brother (we were about 5 and 2, respectively) and said "Hi there boys!"

"Hi," I said.

"Do you know who we are?" No idea; I shook my head. "We're on television..." Still no clue.

"Well, we're the Smothers Brothers; Tom and Dick Smothers."

I looked at my brother, looked up at them and said "Well, we're the Rose brothers; Michael and Richie Rose."

The other story comes from my time as a children's theater instructor on Martha's Vineyard. Our most famous student was Sally Taylor, daughter of James Taylor and Carly Simon, and she had a little bit of a crush on my brother. One afternoon, we did get a ride home from the beach with "Sally's dad" who was a bit cranky at the time. A couple of weeks later, we ran into Sally and some of her friends at the ice cream parlor; we were walking out as they were coming in.

As my brother exits the store, a tall, well-dressed woman walks by him on her way in. She stops at the doorway, turns around and looks at him.

"You're Rich, aren't you?"
"Yes," he says.
"I'm Sally's mom," she says.
"I know," he says. Of course he knows. It's frickin' Carly Simon.
She smiles, waves bye and walks into the store.

I actually caught up with Sally briefly, back in 2000; she and her band were playing in Aspen during the US Comedy Arts Festival. She's all grown up now.

Have you ever Googled your own name? How did you feel about the results?
Submitted by elen.

Well, having a name as popular as mine (reggae star, movie producer, NATO general) means I usually include middle initial or middle name if searching. The closest match that's not me is Michael T. Rose, the real estate developer in Virginia (mtr.com), which I don't feel really one way or the other about. The likeliest "real me" hits are our wedding announcement (makes me very happy) and a Gulf War I song parody that has, unfortunately, not aged that well (or possibly it's just that GW II makes GW I look rational by comparison). I'm even on IMDB, but that's not high on the Google list.

The song parody is, however, the only place you are likely to see me credited next to my Emmy-winning college buddy Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who I had the pleasure of editing when he was a columnist at The Tartan. We also took turns directing each other in various Scotch 'N' Soda productions.

A cascade of holiday plan changes this year. First, we were all going together to PA to spend Thanksgiving with my father-in-law and the extended family, for the first holiday since Elisabeth's death. Then, quite unexpectedly, Heidi got offered a spot on the NY Board of Rabbis Bridge to Understanding trip -- a week in Berlin, meeting with local luminaries and working with German high school students, all heavily subsidized -- and we had to think about it for, oh, a couple of minutes before saying "Yes." Seriously, had someone been trying to create the ideal program for Heidi's skill set and background, this would have been it. She even gets to visit with family friends and some of her mom's old school buddies, and at the end of the program she's taking a couple of days to visit her aunt & uncle in Barnstorf (the smallest small town in the northwest part of the country).

However, she had to fly today, on Thanksgiving. Not to mention she's leaving me alone with the girls for a week. :-)
[For context, our older daughter turns 6 in a couple of months; this is the longest Heidi's been away since her birth.]

So, plan B: I take Thing One and Thing Two up to Martha's Vineyard to Grandma's and have turkey with the whole family, including Ilana & Ashley -- a repeat, basically, of the trip earlier in the month, which was fine but exHAUsting. Boat to be booked, and with the various school schedules and reservation options it worked out that I would leave in the wee hours on Thursday morning for an 11 am ferry. Oy.

Unfortunately, Ilana's health problems forced her to cancel her trip, and then Ashley called off hers as well (since she was only going to be able to stay for a day and a half, too short to make it worth it). Monday night, Mom called to reconsider the wisdom etc., and we redirected to Rich's place instead (moments before Rich would have also bought a $100 ferry ticket). We had a rollicking Thanksgiving dinner with four kids, six grownups and enough food for ten more. Heidi was on her plane, and not everyone else could be there, but it was delightful anyway. Tomorrow, we go to Opa's for a quick visit.

Packed the kids back into the car for a wet, dark, slippery, get-lost-a-couple-times drive back to Brooklyn. Almost 2 hours later (which should take 1:15 under ideal conditions), we park down the block and it's raining, cold, and both girls are asleep. Take out #2, she wakes up. Open the door and wake up #1 (a nearly impossible task under the best of circumstances). Shoes on, and whining/screaming out into the cold rain in pajamas (not the best plan). Lug everyone upstairs, #1 to the bathroom, I accidentally step on her toes. She's miserable.

Everyone bundled into the bed. No Mommy, so this could turn ugly for #2, who is accustomed to nursing to sleep. A moment of fussing as  #1 drifts off, and then... #2 is down too, curled up like a hibernating bear cub at the end of the bed. A kiss for #1, "I love you, sweetie." "Muh love you tuh, Dadrrrsz..." is the best she can muster as her eyes are slamming shut with alacrity.

I'm thankful that I have the two best kids in the entire world.

What did you think you would never ever do... but did? 
Submitted by Murky.  

That thing parents do where they lick their thumbs and then wipe something off the child's face. Said I'd never do it, but I do it all the time now.

Do you listen to podcasts?  Are there any you'd recommend? 
Inspired by Alex.

Cover-frickin'-ville. Seriously. Coverville is the mack. My brother got me started listening to it and I'm so hooked. You must subscribe to Coverville. Buy a t-shirt and help Brian and Tina out.

If you listen to Episode 174, about 38 minutes in you'll hear my audio request for Steve Ball's cover of Talking Heads' Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place). I didn't request that version specifically, but that was the one I wanted to hear, and Brian Ibbott ACTUALLY READ MY MIND. :-) He and I are the same age and apparently listened to all the same music in high school, except he had better taste.

Naive Melodies

I also listen to some NPR (Wait Wait Don't Tell Me) and Mac-geeky podcasts, but Coverville is my morning coffee. Yum.

What is your earliest memory? 
Submitted by Megan.

My father walking out the door in Navy Reserve dress whites. I know it's a very early memory, because the visual perspective is odd -- I'm at table height, maybe in a high chair.