Lobster in the rough (Boston Globe)

From The Boston Globe:

By Hilary Nangle
Globe Correspondent / July 19, 2009

The only place for the messy operation of eating lobster is a classic shack, usually within sight and scent of the ocean.

http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/maine/articles/2009/07/19/lobster_in_the_rough/

Belmont University Class Visits 40 States in 40 Days (Washington Post)

From the Washington Post:

By Andrea Sachs
Washington Post
July 19, 2009

"On June 6, 10 college students, two professors and one sleeper bus departed Belmont University in Nashville for the ultimate field trip: 40 states in 40 days. But this was no summer vacation: Homework assignments included 30 blogs each and post-trip papers for the students' travel-writing and sociology courses. We caught up with professor Ken Spring, junior Emma Shouse and senior Heather Gillespie in Washington -- or as they called it, Day 35. (For the itinerary, student bios and blogs, and more, see http://www.belmont.edu/40states.)"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/17/AR2009071701665.html

The People Speak: No Michael Jackson Sculpture in Butter at the Iowa Fair (NY Times)

From The New York Times:

By MONICA DAVEY
Published: July 18, 2009

“We started hearing concerns from the public that he wasn’t an Iowan and didn’t have a connection to the fair,” said Lori Chappell, the fair’s marketing director, explaining why organizers ultimately put the question to a public vote.

No such concerns were raised about Tiger Woods or Harry Potter, previous honorees. And in truth, Ms. Chappell said, the King of Pop and his four brothers did perform at the fair in 1971. But apparently the link was too tenuous (or discomforting) to a majority of those who cast votes last week in the fair’s admittedly “unscientific online poll.”

Butter sculptures — and above all, the butter cow, an icon of the annual Des Moines celebration — have long been integral elements of the 155-year-old fair. The cow, five and a half feet tall, made of 600 pounds of Iowa butter and stored in a 40-degree cooler, was first carved in 1911, though the art form dates back further, fair leaders say, and once involved lard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/us/19butter.html?ref=us

The Art of the Obituary by Walter Cronkite (NPR)

From NPR News:

By Walter Cronkite
All Things Considered, April 20, 2006

One way to measure the fame of a celebrity might be the length of his obituary. Another might be how far in advance it is prepared. So says veteran newsman Walter Cronkite, who has covered the lives, and deaths, of many famous Americans. Cronkite talks about the art of marking someone's passing, including some of the stories he presented as anchor of the CBS Evening News.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5353784

Passing: Walter Cronkite

From The New York Times:

Walter Cronkite, an iconic CBS News journalist who defined the role of anchorman for a generation of television viewers, died Friday at the age of 92, his family said.

“My father Walter Cronkite died,” his son Chip said just before 8 p.m. Eastern. CBS interrupted prime time programming to show an obituary for the man who defined the network’s news division.

Mr. Cronkite anchored the “CBS Evening News” from 1962 to 1981, at a time when television became the dominant medium of the United States. He figuratively held the hand of the American public during the civil rights movement, the space race, the Vietnam war, and the impeachment of Richard Nixon. During his tenure, network newscasts were expanded to 30 minutes from 15.

“It is impossible to imagine CBS News, journalism or indeed America without Walter Cronkite,” Sean McManus, the president of CBS News, said in a statement. “More than just the best and most trusted anchor in history, he guided America through our crises, tragedies and also our victories and greatest moments.”

Mr. McManus added: “No matter what the news event was, Walter was always the consummate professional with an un-paralleled sense of compassion, integrity, humanity, warmth, and occasionally even humor. There will never be another figure in American history who will hold the position Walter held in our minds, our hearts and on the television. We were blessed to have this man in our lives and words cannot describe how much he will be missed by those of us at CBS News and by all of America.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/17/eveningnews/main5170556.shtml?tag=cbsContentWrap;cbsContent

Katie Couric on CBS:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5170603n&tag=related;photovideo

Also:
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/walter-cronkite-iconic-anchorman-dies/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31447291#31447291

Walter Cronkite's essays on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/cronkite/

Walter Cronkite: History's Lessons:
In a series of occasional essays for NPR, veteran journalist Walter Cronkite comments on news events he reported on over the past century that still resonate today.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6711860

Tom Shales (Washington Post):
"...He was ours, we were his, and he didn't so much deliver the news to us as join us in experiencing the world outside our own homes and schools and towns. He won virtually every award that is given out in the annals of broadcasting, but he won a lot more than that. He earned our friendship, our trust and even, as we perhaps now realize more than at any other time in the relationship, our love".
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/17/AR2009071703501.html?hpid=topnews

Howard Kurtz: Cronkite's passing, in the end, is the passing of an era, an era of black-and-white television, of mass audiences, of a slower time when the country waited for the headlines at 6:30 in the evening. No anchor -- no journalist -- will ever wield that authority again.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/17/AR2009071703787.html?sid%3DST2009071703376&sub=AR

About Walter Cronkite on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday (with Scott Simon):
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106770499

Scott Simon on "Why There's No Place For Another Cronkite"
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106770503


Boston Globe: Friends and locals on Martha’s Vineyard recalled Walter Cronkite as a summertime fixture who appreciated the quieter life of Dukes County when not in the anchor’s chair.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/19/vineyard_recalls_cronkites_love_of_sailing_life_on_the_island/

Finally, A NY Times Editorial Page appreciation from Verlyn Klinkenborg:
"....Some deaths end only a life. Some end a generation. Walter Cronkite’s death ends something larger and more profound. He stood for a world, a century, that no longer exists. His death is like losing the last veteran of a world-changing war, one of those men who saw too much but was never embittered by it..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/opinion/cronk2.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

80 years of hospitality, opulence in Toronto: The Royal York Hotel (National Post)

From the National Post:

By Karen Hawthorne, National Post

The hotel has a long tradition of exquisite attention to detail and grand hospitality. She turned 80 this month and, with a few nips and tucks over the years, still maintains her fabulous good looks over an entire city block across from Union Station, downtown central: hand-painted ceilings, Travertine pillars, ornate furnishings, wall hangings and crystal chandeliers. Back in 1929, the hotel was the tallest building in the British Empire. There were 28 floors, 10 passenger elevators and 1,048 rooms, each with radios, private showers and bathtubs. The total cost was $16-million.

http://www.canada.com/travel/years+hospitality+opulence+Toronto+Royal+York+Hotel/1763876/story.html

Montana's Badlands (NY Times)

From The New York Times:

By ERIC KONIGSBERG
Published: July 17, 2009

Eastern Montana’s plains are rich with prehistoric creatures and American history.

Accompanied by slide show.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/travel/escapes/17Montana.html?ref=escapes

National Trust seeks 'Distinctive Destinations' nominations (USA Today)

Via USA Today.com:

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is seeking nominations for its 2010 list of Dozen Distinctive Destinations.

The list has been issued annually since 2000. This time, however, once the 12 places are announced Feb. 3, the public will, for the first time, get to vote on a "fan favorite."

The National Trust selects the destinations to honor places that offer authentic cultural and recreational experiences. On the 2009 list were Santa Barbara, Calif.; Athens, Ga.; Saugatuck-Douglas, Mich.; Virginia City, Nev.; Santa Fe; Buffalo; Litiz, Pa.; Bristol, R.I.; Hot Springs, S.D.; Franklin, Tenn.; Fort Worth, and Lake Geneva, Wis.

Nominations for the list can be made by convention and visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, Main Street offices, Historic Hotels of America, and other tourism, preservation or local organizations. Individuals who want to nominate a place are encouraged to contact an organization of this type to support the submission. There is a $150 application fee.

Applications are due Sept. 1, and may include images, video and letters. Forms can be accessed at PreservationNation.org/ddd.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2009-07-16-distinctive-destinations_N.htm

Garrison Keillor Goes to the Fair (National Geographic)

We're heading into State Fair season - a time and place unto itself. It is at once celebratory but with some sadness - as one suddenly realizes that the Summer is soon to end.

Garrison Keillor writes in the July, 2009 National Geographic of this phenomemna. Worth the read.

http://bit.ly/Kila8

Canadiens' All-Time Team Ceremony -1983

Yes, it's summer - the off season for hockey.

But I found this remarkable video on You Tube.

As the Montreal Canadiens continue to celebrate their centennial year, we look back to the team's 75th anniversary celebration at the Montreal Forum (Oh, how I miss that building).

Bob Cole and John Davidson provide commentary as these greats are introduced in uniform: Toe Blake (Coach) (with Scotty Bowman as Buffalo coach looking on), Jacques Plante (Goal), Doug Harvey & Larry Robinson (Defense), Dickie Moore (Left Wing), Jean Beliveau (Centre), Maurice Richard (Right Wing)and as an added feature the then 83 year old Aural Joliat.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UpUjW0ccwk&feature=related
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gVx0kcc_TI&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dKacbITUOQ&feature=related

Passing: Reggie Fleming, Gritty NHLer of the 1960's (Chicago Tribune)

From The Chicago Tribune:

By Fred Mitchell | Tribune staff reporter
July 12, 2009

Reggie Fleming, one of the National Hockey League’s toughest players in the 1960s, died Saturday (July 11) in a suburban Chicago hospital. He was 73.

He was a fan favorite in the cities where he played, including six in the N.H.L. Although renowned for his willingness and ability to fight, Fleming was also versatile enough to be used as a defenseman and as a forward, shutting down star players on the other team.

Fleming spent 12 full seasons in the N.H.L. from 1960 to 1971, playing 749 games, scoring 108 goals and compiling 1,468 penalty minutes. During his stint with the Rangers from 1966 through 1970, he spent so much time in the Madison Square Garden penalty box, he told John Halligan, the team’s longtime public-relations director, that “I got my mail delivered there.”

Fleming also played for Montreal, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Buffalo in the N.H.L., for Chicago in the World Hockey Association and for several minor league teams before retiring at 41.

Fleming was confined to bed during the last five years because of complications arising from a stroke. His son posted several videos on YouTube in which his father reminisced about his life from his hospital bed.

"I wanted people to see another side of a famous hockey player, a ruffian," he said. "And I wanted people to see what happens sometimes to celebrities and athletes in their later days when they go through these trials and tribulations. I wanted people to see how they fight it and that we are all human.

And I wanted people to see that just because someone is dying, basically, or sick ... it doesn't mean you just write them off. Those could be the greatest memories you ever have. And they actually were for me because we got to talk about things we never talked about before."


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4STfe5Hbgc).

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/chi-12-reggie-fleming-blackhawks-webjul12,0,1866138.story?page=2

WNYC Buys WQXR

"The Radio Station of the New York Times" will have to find a new slogan.

WQXR, which has been broadcasting classical music to New Yorkers for decades has been sold.

In a complex deal, the buyers are WNYC (New York Public Radio) and Univision. In addition to the New York Times banner, 96.3 fm will pass to a new station as well (For years WQXR had broadcast at 1560 AM).

Owned by the New York Times since 1944, the station was founded in 1936 and calls itself the country’s oldest commercial radio broadcaster of classical music, and is in fact one of the first FM stations anywhere, as well as the oldest in New York.

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/radio/wnyc_buys_nyts_classical_music_station_121577.asp

Music For Bastille Day (NPR)

From NPR News:

Morning Edition
July 14, 2009

It's Bastille Day, which marks the beginning of the French Revolution and the beginning of the end of French royalty.

Along with all the ruckus and rioting that accompanied the revolution, commentator Miles Hoffman says there was also music in the air.

Drop in to any concert hall or ballroom and you could have heard plenty of Italian and French opera, choral music and orchestras. But most of the significant music of the day, Hoffman says, was not written by the French.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106488903

How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ’n’ Roll (NY Times Book Review)

From The New York Times:

By PETER KEEPNEWS
Published: July 10, 2009


A book that asks why is it that the Beatles and others who “built on the work of black precursors but took the music in new directions” in the 1960s have been routinely praised for accomplishing this feat, while Whiteman has been roundly condemned for doing essentially the same thing 40 years earlier?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/books/review/Keepnews-t.html?ref=books

Anyone Remember Banner Day ?

A piece in the Sunday NY Times Sports Section for July 12 brought back memories. In it was a picture of a Banner Day parade at Shea Stadium, circa 1978. If you notice this scoreboard with the Schafer beer and, Manufacturers Hanover Bank ads, you'll also see a reference to "Senior Citizens Day". Buy, so much has changed. How about "Ladies' Day" ?

Check out the article the piece: http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/the-bedsheet-blog-send-the-mets-a-message/?ref=sports, and share with us what you recall from baseball that is now lost (i.e. Banner Day or Sunday/holiday doubleheaders).

America's Longest Running Restuarants (Business Week)

From Business Week:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/07/0707_americas_oldest_restaurants/32.htm

How Pepsi won the Quebec Cola Wars (Montreal Gazette)

From The Montreal Gazette:

By René Bruemmer, The Gazette
July 11, 2009

Pepsi is celebrating its 75th anniversary in Quebec this year, in conjunction with the opening of the Montreal plant in 1934. It’s rolling out a new logo and ad campaign, one of more than a dozen branding changes over a history that dates back to 1898.

“They have become part of the cultural landscape, both through marketing and direct involvement in the province,” says Éric Blais of Toronto-based Headspace Marketing, which advises companies on how to reach the Quebec market.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Pepsi+Quebec+Cola+Wars/1782446/story.html

Rediscovering Henry Hudson (CBS News)

From CBS News:

CBS Sunday Morning
July 5, 2009

Seventeenth-century explorer Henry Hudson, the English captain who mapped the river valley that now bears his name, was by one historian's account the Steve Jobs of his day — on the cutting edge in a new era of globalization. (

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/05/sunday/main5134460.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColUpperPromoArea