DaveO Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 To Dean Smith who passed away last night and was evidently suffering from a form of dementia for the past few years and had been vacant from the public eye during these last period. Dean Smith was one of the all time great college basketball coaches. I believe he set a record for all time victories by the time he retired in the late 1990's (since broken at least twice--most recently by his long time competitor, Coach K). He coached at University of North Carolina and led them to an amazingly long streak of 20+ victories every year, many ACC championships, a large number of NCAA tournament bids and two NCAA championships. More fundamentally important he was a decent man and a courageous and leading actor on behalf of racial integration. He did that on a local level in North Carolina. He did it in his community and his church, and he did it on the basketball court providing a scholarship to one of or the first black basketball player on the UNC team, and I believe the ACC back in 1967. Over many decades he received universal love and affection from what must be hundreds of past members of his teams. Really extraordinary levels of fondness for him from his players over the many many decades. That says a lot. As a technical coach he was excellent devising the famous four corners offense, which was effective and confounding enough to be voided by rules changes, and swarming flows of fast breaks with both first and second waves of players. He generated a lot of devotion. A life well lived. to add.... I probably started watching ACC basketball since the end of the 1960's, a period during which Dean Smith had already established a dominant program. Having lived and gone to college in Maryland I became a U MD basketball fan during that period and of course found the strength of the UNC and the Duke programs endlessly frustrating. Dean Smith was the "perfect" coach at UNC. Maryland had the tempestuous and colorful Lefty Driesell in those days in the late 1960's and early 1970's. In any case, with that background I found these paragraphs very telling..... Once, during a coaches meeting, Dean Smith made Lefty Driesell so angry that the old Maryland coach wrote Smith a letter telling him he'd never shake his hand again. True to his word, the next time Maryland and North Carolina played, Driesell turned away the man he liked to call "a hook-nosed little sucker." Yet years later, when Driesell's son, Chuck, came to him for advice about coaching, Driesell had just one tip. "I told him, 'Don't model yourself after me; model yourself after Dean,'" Driesell recalled Sunday while driving home from Duke's game against Notre Dame. "Dean always said the right thing, did the right thing. He was a true gentleman." [+] EnlargeKevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesEven old opponents like Lefty Driesell couldn't help but respect Dean Smith. Time, and more the frailty of a rival, has a way of smoothing away past resentments, and so it was with Driesell and his animosity toward Smith. In the final years of Smith's life, Driesell called Smith's secretary almost weekly to check in. On Sunday, when he learned that Smith had died at the age of 83, he said simply and quietly, "I'll miss Dean." 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 To Dean Smith who passed away last night and was evidently suffering from a form of dementia for the past few years and had been vacant from the public eye during these last period. "Other than my parents, no one had a bigger influence on my life than Coach Smith. He was more than a coach - he was my mentor, my teacher, my second father. Coach was always there for me whenever I needed him and I loved him for it. In teaching me the game of basketball, he taught me about life. My heart goes out to Linnea and their kids. We've lost a great man who had an incredible impact on his players, his staff and the entire UNC family." -- Michael Jordan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lydia R Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 David Carr - late of the Gray Lady, but also remembered from City Paper. Bob Simon and now this. Longreads has a brief reading list of his writing and writing about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmer john Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Dean Smith was one of my greatest childhood idols. Another of them was my brother Bruce. Today I drink to both of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 David Carr - late of the Gray Lady, but also remembered from City Paper. Bob Simon and now this http://nytimes.com/2015/02/13/business/media/david-carr-media-equation-columnist-for-the-times-is-dead-at-58.html Also, Ned Colt, former international and war correspondent for NBC News, died of a stroke at 58. (It was announced on the 12th but I haven't seen a date of death.) He had left NBC to do humanitarian work in recent years. I saw a brief mention in a news aggregation newsletter and otherwise wouldn't have known. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweaked Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Carlos Llaguno Morales - chef of Les Halles and who appeared in several No Reservations episodes, including the fabulous episode in Puebla, Mexico, which featured his family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tujague Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 To Lesley Gore. It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 To Sally Willey, my Goddaughter, who told everyone withing earshot, "Daddy is an awesome cook!" Why, yes, he is. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveO Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 To Lesley Gore. It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to. You don't own me Don't tell me what to do hmmm. Appropriate in 1964 and still appropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 To my oldest nephew's wife, who has to be one of the most intrepid young women I've ever met. And to the baby, who is home safe through the snowstorm after three days at Johns Hopkins. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tujague Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 To Malcolm Boyd, activist, author, and one of the earliest Episcopal priest to come out as gay. GLBTQ people--both Christian and otherwise--owe him a debt of gratitude for his courage and grace when being openly gay--and Christian, to boot--was still nearly unthinkable. And to John Steinbruck, former pastor of Luther Place Memorial Church here in DC, a founder of Lutheran Volunteer Corps, and of N Street Village, which pioneered ministry with the homeless back in the 1970s. The changes we see now along the 14th Street corridor are perhaps unimaginable without the fierce commitment of this man to justice and care for the most vulnerable, particularly women. Indeed, everyone who's enjoying a drink along that street tonight or enjoying their shiny new apartments should lift a glass in his honor--and perhaps think for a second of those nearby who could never dream of spending $12+ for a craft cocktail or living in a $3,000-a-month apartment. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraB Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 To the West End Cinema. Closing at the end of March. We enjoyed many a film there that couldn't be found elsewhere in the vicinity. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstar965 Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 To the West End Cinema. Closing at the end of March. We enjoyed many a film there that couldn't be found elsewhere in the vicinity. But, Levin said, for several months the theater has been "treading water financially, and we have looming significant increases in our occupancy costs that we simply can't cover from operations." This is a real loss for independent and important films in DC. And, as the quoted part of the WaPo article indicates, it's likely at least partly the same fatal blow that threatens many restaurants: rising rents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 To the West End Cinema. Closing at the end of March. We enjoyed many a film there that couldn't be found elsewhere in the vicinity. We might raise a glass to memorialize the death of the movie theatre in general. The one that I still miss the most is the old AFI theatre at the Kennedy Center. I loved that institution and still don't understand why they killed it off. The deaths of the various commercial movie houses that I've loved and lost are at least understandable in market terms, but that just doesn't apply to AFI at the KC. I spent so many hundreds of happy hours there. Here's to those memories. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 The Biograph. The (original, single screen) MacArthur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 The Circle Theatre at 2501 Pennsylvania Avenue. This was on the same block as Le Gaulois. They tore the whole block down in (I think) 1986, leaving a surface parking lot in the space for something like a decade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstar965 Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Does anyone remember the "Visions DC Bistro Cinema" that was at Florida and 20th in North DuPont from 2000 until 2004? Evidently it was the Embassy Theater before that dating back to the 60s. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/8050 And, yes, these last few posts should be moved into the fine arts history or film forums. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithstg Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Does anyone remember the "Visions DC Bistro Cinema" that was at Florida and 20th in North DuPont from 2000 until 2004? Evidently it was the Embassy Theater before that dating back to the 60s. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/8050 And, yes, these last few posts should be moved into the fine arts history or film forums. :-) Absolutely! Loved it there. Also, the independent cinema in Van Ness, next to where Le Chat Noir is now. Saw a great documentary on Hank Greenberg there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Absolutely! Loved it there. Also, the independent cinema in Van Ness, next to where Le Chat Noir is now. Saw a great documentary on Hank Greenberg there... This confuses me. Le Chat Noir is in Tenleytown, not Van Ness. The movie theatre that used to be nearby was not next to it, but the next block down, and was the Outer Circle 1 and 2, and not an independent cinema, although it was mostly programmed as an "art house". There used to be some crappy little multiplexes in Van Ness, but never an independent that I can recall. The Outer Circle was next to the venerable Round Table restaurant on Wisconsin. Both buildings were eventually torn down and replaced by a bank and its parking lot. Such is progress. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tujague Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 This confuses me. Le Chat Noir is in Tenleytown, not Van Ness. The movie theatre that used to be nearby was not next to it, but the next block down, and was the Outer Circle 1 and 2, and not an independent cinema, although it was mostly programmed as an "art house". There used to be some crappy little multiplexes in Van Ness, but never an independent that I can recall. The Outer Circle was next to the venerable Round Table restaurant on Wisconsin. Both buildings were eventually torn down and replaced by a bank and its parking lot. Such is progress. That's right; I remember the Hank Greenberg movie played there for some time. I only went to the West End once, in its earlier incarnation, and I was appalled by the sightlines, not to mention a tiny screen that some home theaters put to shame. But I also had some great times at the Visions theater, not least taking Bob's Filipino mother to see a documentary on Imelda Marcos. The New America Foundation also sponsored some good pre-release screenings there, including "Thirteen." For now, I'm chomping at the bit for the National Gallery of Art's theater to reopen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squidsdc Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 To the Key Theatre in Georgetown. And to The Rocky Horror Picture Show at said venue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithstg Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 This confuses me. Le Chat Noir is in Tenleytown, not Van Ness. The movie theatre that used to be nearby was not next to it, but the next block down, and was the Outer Circle 1 and 2, and not an independent cinema, although it was mostly programmed as an "art house". There used to be some crappy little multiplexes in Van Ness, but never an independent that I can recall. The Outer Circle was next to the venerable Round Table restaurant on Wisconsin. Both buildings were eventually torn down and replaced by a bank and its parking lot. Such is progress. Yep, you are correct - Tenleytown it is. Sorry for the confusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 To Mr. Johnson (Dame Edna to Rockwellians). He's a real keeper. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waitman Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 To Albert Hofman and long strange trips -- that start with a bicycle ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmer john Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 my buddy Dave Brockie from GWAR- one year gone today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookluvingbabe Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 To the Key Theatre in Georgetown. And to The Rocky Horror Picture Show at said venue. The 8 year old already hates it when Mr. BLB and I start rattling off all the movies we saw at all the great (and not so great) lost theaters of DC. Of course the Key and the Biograph. And the Outer Circle (Tenley). But there used to be a $1 theater at Wisconsin and Brandywine. And the "purple theater" in the Fannie Mae building. And that awful dinky theater at Wisconsin and Van Ness that AU now owns. And the weird screens at the Dupont Theater. And the theater on CT where the Benneton is now. And the $1 movies at the Foundry. And all the movies I saw at Union Station when I didn't have air conditioning. Sigh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielK Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 We snuck into the West End a few weeks ago for one last film. I think they haven't cleaned the floors in a decade. Most of the seats are now folding chairs, and they were running a recent film FROM DVD rather than projection. Glad I didn't pay for those tickets. AFI at Kennedy Center closed simply because they opened their own building in Silver Spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstar965 Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Bud Hillerich, who is turning over in his grave today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 AFI at Kennedy Center closed simply because they opened their own building in Silver Spring. Wow, is that not true. The AFI National Film Theatre, one of the best rooms for screening films that I've ever seen, closed in 1998. The AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring opened in 2003. Even if one event had led immediately to the other, moving the AFI theatre from the Kennedy Center to Silver Spring makes about as much sense as moving the Metropolitan Opera from Lincoln Center to Secaucus. I'm sure others' experiences will vary a lot from mine, but I must have seen at least 100 films at the Kennedy Center incarnation of the AFI theatre. I've still never been to the Silver Spring version. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielK Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Just because Silver didn't open the day after the KC closed doesn't mean they weren't related actions. My recollection was that they were looking for a permanent home towards the end of their KC contract, and it simply took that long to get the project done. FWIW, the Silver is IMO the best theatre in the area right now. You really should check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tujague Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 To Billie Holiday. Happy 100th, Lady Day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPW Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Homaro Cantu. Way WAY too young. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lary Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 to don, on the 10th anniversary of this website thingie! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookluvingbabe Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Homaro Cantu. Way WAY too young. Indeed. I actually gasped when I saw the headline and I'm not usually one to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIShGo Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 to don, on the 10th anniversary of this website thingie! Yes, to Don and his wonderful website. Happy anniversary! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Abraham Lincoln died 150 years ago today. I'll drink to his memory. He's the only U.S. president that I get emotional about. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tujague Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 To Tinkerbell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPW Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 Loretta Lynch ! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookluvingbabe Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Bruce Jenner for finding and living his truth. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstar965 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 RIP Janiece Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstar965 Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 To ALL the people of Baltimore. Orioles game has been canceled, people have been hurt and businesses destroyed and looted. May it stop. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 To Marilyn Mosby, who is doing her job. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithstg Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 To BB King. His importance to popular music can not be overstated. I had the pleasure of meeting him several times and he was a true gentleman. Very gracious and humble. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 To David Letterman, on the occasion of his retirement. That was one classy finale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 To the fine people of Ireland. To Charlie Pierce, and have I mentioned how much I admire his writing? And to all the beautiful men and women slain in all the wretched conflicts down the centuries, in good causes or bad, who did their duty as they saw it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovehockey Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below.We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lieIn Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throwThe torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies growIn Flanders fields. LtC John McCrae, physician, WWI. Canadian. I remember as a little lovehockey reciting this with my class for WWI vets. And when I was in university attending the Remembrance Day ceremony that still had WWI vets. (November 11, which is Memorial Day and Veterans Day wrapped into one in Canada.) We live in freedom because of those who will voluntarily stand to defend it for us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 On this day of memorialization, then, to Thomas Hardy, who wrote this poetic masterpiece three or four months before the Great War began: Channel Firing That night your great guns, unawares, Shook all our coffins as we lay, And broke the chancel window-squares, We thought it was the Judgment-day And sat upright. While drearisome Arose the howl of wakened hounds: The mouse let fall the altar-crumb, The worms drew back into the mounds, The glebe cow drooled. Till God called, "No; It's gunnery practice out at sea Just as before you went below; The world is as it used to be: "All nations striving strong to make Red war yet redder. Mad as hatters They do no more for Christés sake Than you who are helpless in such matters. "That this is not the judgment-hour For some of them's a blessed thing, For if it were they'd have to scour Hell's floor for so much threatening.... "Ha, ha. It will be warmer when I blow the trumpet (if indeed I ever do; for you are men, And rest eternal sorely need)." So down we lay again. "I wonder, Will the world ever saner be," Said one, "than when He sent us under In our indifferent century!" And many a skeleton shook his head. "Instead of preaching forty year," My neighbour Parson Thirdly said, "I wish I had stuck to pipes and beer." Again the guns disturbed the hour, Roaring their readiness to avenge, As far inland as Stourton Tower, And Camelot, and starlit Stonehenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Boy Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 To my Uncle-in-law Dave, may he now RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squidsdc Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 To Beau Biden. Too young. RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 To Beau Biden. Too young. RIP. That poor man Joe Biden has had a rough life. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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