Carl, not Roger

          Good evening, 919 Gang. I made a terrible error last night, crediting Carl Larsen's message about Stephen Covey to Roger Conlee. Big apologies to Carl and Roger and to all the people I confused. I have edited the next two messages to remove Roger's name and prevent repeating the error.

          DON BAUDER writes:

          I have no respect whatsoever for Covey. I had to sit through a week of his utter quackery while I was at the U-T. After the first hour I was fidgety and after the whole gruesome week I was about to explode. Such banality. I am hearing for the first time that Bell actually paid to bring this mush-maker in. Not surprised, actually. San Diego had a guy named Blanchard who wrote One Minute Manager. I remember I wrote a review before it even came out. I said it was jejune, but it would sell. For once, I was right. The silly book sold by the millions. Pretty soon he was following up with other One Minute tomes: One Minute Multi-Billionaire, One Minute Atomic Physicist, etc.

          P.S. I want to add one item to my critique of Covey. The other day, I wrote that If 20% of respondents to my columns and blog items don't call me a no good son of a bitch, I think I am preaching to the choir. Craig Rose wrote to me and observed, "Just read your missive to the 919 blog. And rest assured you're being modest. Far more than 20% of the people who read (or know) you call you a 'no good son of a bitch.'"

          I wrote Craig back: "Craig: You are right. I will send an 'in all fairness I erred' correction to Reber, stating that 20% call me a no good son of a bitch, and 80% use stronger, unprintable pejoratives. Thanks for pointing out my egregious error.

          WELTON JONES writes:

          I always wondered if the management folk actually enjoyed those cunning little games produced by those high-priced hustlers while the rest of us struggled to get the paper out and maybe even make it better.

          REBER: I'll leave it up to each of the managers who attended the Covey sessions as to whether they found them worthwhile. The important thing to me is that the top brass at the U-T seemed to realize (for the first time) that managing people requires some skill and that it was worth time and money to try to improve those skills.

          Gene Bell, president of the U-T at the time, was night and day compared to previous people who had his chair. His immediate predecessor is a fellow whose name I have forgotten, but I believe "idiot" was the word Neil Morgan used to describe him at a staff meeting, and this was before Helen Copley fired the idiot. Before that we had Gary Goss, friendly enough if you ever got to see him, and perhaps competent. I'll let others judge. Bell was the first top boss I recall (after Jim Copley) who was really accessible to the staff. Unlike his predecessors, he actually visited the newsroom. Imagine that. Sometimes he had someone he wanted to talk to; sometimes he just wandered through the room, available to anyone. He also sat in on a long series of small gatherings with staffers. He seemed interested in us, and I can't say that about the people who came before him.

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          CRAIG MacDONALD writes:

          The legendary and lovable Dick Desick, an often quiet, modest man of wisdom, continually built his knowledge base by reading dozens of newspapers that he would pluck from UT wastebaskets and garbage cans during his daily wanderings through the building. If you were lucky enough to have him reminisce, you were in for a real treat. He once told me about covering a murder story in a remote area of LA. The LA Times reporter was calling in the story from the only phone booth within miles, purposely staying on the line so Desick couldn't file his. Dick went over and whispered something in his photographer's ear, then the two ran to their car and sped off. The Times reporter thought there was a new development and ran from the booth to follow them. Desick drove around the block and raced back to grab the phone and meet his deadline. In 1974, he looked at a story I was typing on a former POW, shook his head and said, "It's too good for this paper!" On September 2,1978, he said he found a news clipping error while looking in a file for info on "Ducks Unlimited." Someone had filed a story with the headline, "Gov. Brown Ducks Reporters." Dick will always be part of all of us lucky enough to have known him.

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          KENT FREELAND writes:

          There have been some refererences lately by the Gang to Ellsworth Zahm.

          He was News Editor when I started on the news desk in 1978.

          My recollection is that he went on vacation to Hawaii and never returned.

          Is that accurate?

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          RICK SMITH writes:

          I missed some of the Ed Krueger stuff. Quiet guy, dark hair. Did he marry a blonde copy girl whose father was Alan McGrew, the San Diego Chamber of Commerce guy, originally out of Escondido?

          REBER: I don't believe it is the same guy. Eddie was no loud-mouth, but I wouldn't call him quiet. A happy, outgoing personality. I believe he was married when he joined the Tribune, and that was long after you left.

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          PATRIC PETRIE writes:

          Many thanks to Don Bauder (and you, too, Jack) for the words of praise, which sadly, I was late to read being as it was the morning after the night before. Oy. Never again. Jameson & red wine do not mix, no matter what they say in Escondido!

          Jack, you were right about Danny Boy, as per Jimmy Thornton, which, by the by, I was always told was written by a Jewish songwriter on New York's Tin Pan Alley. It is indeed a lovely song, one of the best, and I have been known to warble a verse or two, usually at a wake. Which is how I got in to the predicament at the beginning of my tale. But that's another story.

          By the way, the 919 lives! In one short week I've had the opportunity to spend time with Don Bartletti, John Gastaldo, Rick and Sylvia Shaughnessey and Ellen Duris, as well as wave hello to Neil Morgan's old house, all of whom are doing well and the very picture of health and happiness. Truly we are blessed, and better, for the experience of knowing and working with each other.

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          ROSE MARIE SCOTT-BLAIR writes:

          I got one of those "joke emails" today that get sent 'round and 'round. Guess that the person who sent it must have thought it was terribly funny, but to me, it was very sad.

          The subject line was Technology Marches On! And it read:

          I was visiting my son and daughter-in-law last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper. "This is the 21st century, old man," my son said. "We don't waste money on newspapers. Here, you can borrow my iPod." I can tell you, that bloody fly never knew what hit it.

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          JIMMY THORNTON writes:

          It’s always good to hear the younger son Shamus report something good about a newspaper. He is visiting Chicago friends and kin and seeing the sights and has enjoyed a cruise on the lake while dining on the boat. Gives ice cream float a new meaning. In his latest email, sent from a Starbucks as he sipped coffee, he praised a newspaper he had been buying on the street. In his words: “I love the Chicago Tribune newspaper. I've been picking it up, and reading much of interest in it. It is a great paper. I rarely find so much of interest to read in a paper.” Perhaps others are familiar with the newspaper and can comment on it, too. For the record: Neither of my sons, Brendon nor Shamus, became newspapermen. They are very successful with computer programming, none of which I fully understand. If I push too hard for an explanation, they simply respond, “Byte me!” Just kidding

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          REBER: Time to wish Happy Birthday (July 31) to Noel Osment. Enjoy your day, Noel.

Jack Justus Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065

U.S.A.

Bios or fiction?

          Good evening, 919 Gang. I get on these tangents. Recently I have been reading entertainers' biographies. I read Kitty Kelley's book on Frank Sinatra and the one by Frank's daughter Nancy. Don't trust either one. Deana Martin's book about father Dean was remarkably candid. I'd go nuts if I had to live or work with that guy. Just finished June Allyson's autobiography. Quick, usually pleasant read, but she left out some stuff. No mention of a battle with her mother over custody of her children or that a former lover was named their legal guardian. She alludes to a second marriage, but not once mentions the name of the man she married and divorced twice.

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          JOE BROWN writes:

          I was happy to read Reenie Shea’s updating of Ed Krueger, whom I have not seen since the 1960s when he was a copy kid at the SD Union. Ed and three others, including myself, 919er Cliff Smith and Ellsworth Zahm (who went to Hawaii from his Union days) once backpacked 10 miles into the wilderness in Sequoia National Park. Toting 40 pounds of pack each, we hiked at different speeds – Cliff was plop-plop like a tortoise, Zahm and Krueger were the jackrabbits, bounding ahead. My pace was somewhere in between. Odd thing was that we all arrived at our campsite goal at the same time. 

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          ROGER CONLEE writes:

          I didn’t know until a recent Rebergram that Joe Brown used to work on the old L.A. Herald-Express. I wish I’d known that a few years ago when doing research for my novel “Counterclockwise.” This World War II tale features a fictitious military writer for that long-gone Hearst daily. I interviewed an old-timer who’d been on the Herald’s copy desk and I think I got the building right, as well as the South Trenton Street neighborhood, the Continental, a popular watering hole across the street, etc. All that is long gone, demolished years ago to make way for the L.A. Convention Center. Joe, if you ever read “Counterclockwise,” I’d love to hear your feedback. That goes for any other 919ers who may have been on the H-E. (Oh yes, the legendary Agness Underwood gets a mention.)

----------------------------------------

          MICHAEL GRANT writes:

          Re the mystery man in the Desick photo, Cliff Smith suggests it might be me, but I didn’t’ arrive until 1972. Though late for this photo, I am eternally grateful to have arrived in time to encounter Desick, who was a terrific hallway mentor, and other old-timers so frequently mentioned here.

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          DAVID MARTIN writes:

          John Martin mentioned a WWII-era news story that referred to "Ruth Moody, onetime Hollywood Baby Wampus film starlet." This naturally made me wonder what a Wampus was. Could it be a deep-sea dolphin? No, that's a grampus, and few starlets would enjoy being likened to one.

          WAMPAS Baby Starlets were selected by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers from 1922 to 1934. The group, long extinct now, chose actresses it believed were headed for the big time. The selection committee did a good job, because many of the actresses went on to great fame. But maybe you have to be like me, a devotee of Turner Classic Movies, or a film scholar to recognize some of the names. The annual groups included:

          1922--Bessie Love.

          1924--Clara Bow.

          1926--Mary Astor, Dolores Costello, Joan Crawford, Dolores del Rio, Janet Gaynor and Fay Wray.

          1927--Sally Rand of ostrich feather and bubble dance fame. (No prejudice against burlesque by WAMPAS, obviously.)

          1928--Lupe Velez.

          1929--Jean Arthur and Loretta Young.

          1931--Joan Blondell and Frances Dee.

          1932--Ginger Rogers and Gloria Stuart. Ginger needs no introduction, and Gloria had roles ranging from Claude Rains' girlfriend in 1933's "The Invisible Man" to a quite elderly lady in 1997's "Titanic," for which she received an Oscar nomination at age 87.

          Below are the Baby Starlets of 1932, with Gloria Stuart fourth from left, back row, and Ginger Rogers sixth from left.

----------------------------------------------------

          ROGER CONLEE writes:

Stephen Covey

          God had 10 commandments.  The late Stephen Covey had seven.

          Covey, one of the leading management consultants of recent years, died earlier this month at 79 from injuries suffered in a mountain-biking accident. He was a hard charger, a product of the Harvard Business School who sold millions of books – as well as personal “day planners” incorporating his organizational precepts. He made millions, and was greeted as a saint within the halls of the nation’s top companies, for whom he led motivational seminars. Deeply religious, Covey freely used his faith in his work.

          If you were working at the U-T during the reign of CEO Gene Bell, you were exposed to and perhaps indoctrinated in Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” And, if you had an “effective manager” who was a disciple of Covey’s method, then you were lucky to be working on a team with a leader who focused on issues and solutions, and not on personalities.  One newsroom manager confided to me that he still has a wallet-sized card of the “7 Habits’ attached to his computer.

          Covey’s motivational program was part of Bell’s effort to turn around the culture at the newspaper, a sea change that few in the 919 Gang have written about, and which still sends ripples of contempt up some spines. That effort included the elimination of the Newspaper Guild as bargaining agent for U-T employees. While we can argue about the methods, I don’t think anyone can argue that the U-T was sorely in need of adopting management systems bringing it in line with accepted practice at most companies. This era, led by Bell, is one of the great unexamined stories of the U-T, I believe.

          My first appreciation of this new day at the U-T was on a walk to the production building from the newsroom. On a bulletin board, an organizational sheet had been posted, showing the executive hierarchy. There was Bell at the top, and on the same horizontal line below were shown the managers of various divisions, from circulation through production to editorial. “Wow,” I thought, ‘the editor is on the same line as the ad manager.” I had always thought of a newspaper’s editor as the one who really ran the show, de-facto style. They were the ones, the “face” of the paper, weren’t they? The editor was the one who fought for journalistic integrity and who was out in the community. Did an editor answer to anyone except perhaps the publisher?

          (Of course, that organizational chart didn’t show that, unlike the circulation director, Neil Morgan, Gerry Warren or Karin Winner all had the ability to pick up their phone and get through to Helen or David Copley at a minute’s notice!)

          Bell was a stickler for the annual employee-review process, which gave him and others in management the “objective” paper trail needed to reward outstanding performance and to flag non-performers.  This replaced the “good old boy” network, or seat of the pants management, which offered no protection for the company if it was called to defend its actions regarding employees in arbitration or in court. He also was a stickler for daily performance reports, noting if deadlines had been met, and whether the presses started on time.  He boosted in-house recognition programs (remember the U-Team?) and in-house awards for outstanding journalism.

          Few may remember that Bell brought Covey to the U-T, where Covey led a mandatory week-long training program for all managers. I don’t remember a lot about it – other than exercises emphasizing the strength of diversity, and team-building with colleagues from other departments. One was a game: “Tell us something about yourself that’s not commonly known.”  Bringing Covey to San Diego must have cost Bell a small fortune, but it was viewed as such a major need that managers from all departments assembled off-site for nearly a week to learn how to adopt the “7 Habits.”

          I revisited the “7 Habits” over the weekend, picking up Covey’s book – probably one of millions of copies distributed free to employees by company human relations departments – at a local book sale.

          For the $1 price, it all came back – “change agents,” “emotional bank account,” and “sharpening your saw” (taking time to smell the roses).  Then there was his let’s all get on the same track theme by drafting mission statements for entire companies and divisions that were crafted from participation by employees of all ranks and not in the boardroom.

          Covey’s era ran into an unfortunate head-wind, when companies began to be anteed up by corporate boards like so many poker chips at a Vegas casino, and when work groups were regularly downsized or outsourced, or missions radically redefined. This sent any sense of continuity out the window. How do you create meaningful, productive relationships when the guy at the next desk or down the hall may be out tomorrow?

          Still, he confirmed for me one of my big mantras about the workplace, and how to approach it. It’s a pre-Covey statement I crafted when my career was on some perilously thin ice: “Don’t get too close to it, because it can burn you.”

          Today, I don’t think of Covey so much as a corporate hired-gun, but as one who saw potential in all humans and wanted them to find a path to use it. After reading the passage that follows, I think you can see he recognized early on what we, as individuals, all have on our plates, and that my amateurish mantra wasn’t that far off base.

          About those who place work foremost, he wrote: “A work-centered person may be a ‘workaholic,’ driving himself to produce at the sacrifice of health, relationships and other important areas of this life. His fundamental identity comes from his work. …

          “Because his identity, his sense of self-worth, is wrapped up in his work, his security is vulnerable to anything that happens to prevent him from continuing in it. His guidance is a function of demands of the work. His wisdom and power come in the limited areas of his work, rendering him ineffective in other areas of life.”

          Oh, and what about those “7 Habits?” Here they are:

          1. Be Proactive.

          2. Begin with the End in Mind

          3. Put First Things First

          4. Think “Win/Win”

          5. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.

          6. Synergize

          7. Sharpen the Saw

          REBER: One of the exercises I remember in the Covey training was when we were asked to guess the most common name in the U.S. There were many nominations: John Brown, Charles Smith, James Johnson and on and on. I don't remember the correct answer, but the name was feminine and Hispanic -- a lesson that we needed to change the way we looked at the world.

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          JIMMY THORNTON writes:

          Enough with the dissing of Danny Boy. Each time the name of Patric Petrie is mentioned in Jack Reber’s blog, he points out that she does Irish music that is NOT Danny Boy. Not long ago, I moistened the eyes listing to an Irish music program performed by Irish singers in Dublin, an Irish town of note. And I watched members of the audience, Dubliners I’d guess as well as Irish visitors from around the place. They sat with great respect and reverence as Danny Boy filled the auditorium with sweet music that touches the soul of many an Irishman.

          The song is sacred. Yes, there are Irish pieces that are more authentic and put a spark in your soul. And they are truly Irish. Danny Boy, I hear, was written by an Englishman in New York City. But the song has become a standard among Irish the world over. I for one love the song. It touches my heart with a sentiment that is purely Irish. Yes, other Irish music exists, but Danny Boy is known the world over. I also love Yankee Doodle Dandy since watching it as a small boy of 6 with my parents in San Antonio, Texas. James Cagney was delightful and I still see his dance routines from the movie. Some musical productions capture both your imagination and your heart. Danny Boy and Yankee Doodle Dandy have it. And, yes, I would love to hear the Irish beauties performed by Ms Petrie.

          "Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling

          "From glen to glen, and down the mountain side

          "The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying

          "'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.

          "But come ye back when summer's in the meadow

          "Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow

          "'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow

          "Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so."

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          SUZANNE MACK writes:

          You can just post this on the 919 for Don Bartletti or anyone else who may want a car or knows someone who might be in the market for one. The guy selling it is a triple ASE master mechanic and instructor in automotive technology, so everything on this auto has been serviced and kept in tip top shape. It's clean inside and out. He has been offered $9,500 from a dealer who would turn around and sell it for $16,000. He is asking only $11,500.  Call (619) 286-7939 It's a 2007 Hyundai Sonata ...silver... Engine has 21K miles on it, automatic transmission, 5 speed with sport shift, anti lock brake system w/ Electronic Stability Control, cruise control, air conditioning, Infinity audio system (w/disc player), sun roof, power outside mirrors, air bags (front and side), EPA Rated 18-21-27 mpg.

          REBER: Suzanne sent photos I can forward to anyone interested.

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          REBER: Before July melts away, join me in wishing Happy Birthday (July 30) to Joe Holly and Kelly Murphy.

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          GENE CIECHANOWSKI forwards:

          Food allergies. Very clever and well-done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9QbC41oQRo

Jack Justus Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065

U.S.A.

A fragmented ligato

          Good evening, 919 Gang. More memories tonight of long-ago Union staffers Dick Desick and Nelson Fisher. These continue to be rich topics.

          DICK BARNES writes:

          I worked with “Doctor” Desick, as some of us called him, from the mid-1960s to 1972, when I left for The Times. I’ve got lots of Desick stories, either about him or told by him, but most of them are crude, filthy or just generally unrepeatable in polite company.

          One of Desick’s great charms was that even though he was as cultured and erudite a man who ever worked a city room, he had a deep love for dirty jokes and stories, the raunchier the better.

          But none of those stories today. Here’s a short, clean one:

          Desick liked to stroll around the newsroom as he ate his dinner, always an open-face sandwich in tin foil made by his wife, Norma. I’d only been there a few weeks, when one evening as he passed my desk, he burped or maybe belched. He stopped, gave me a look me and said, “I’m fragmenting my legato,” and walked on.

          I had no idea what he was talking about and had to look up the word “legato.” (It’s a musical term.) In our years working together, I probably heard him say “You’re fragmenting your legato” a dozen times when someone belched within his hearing.

          After some asking around, I found out Desick knew what he was wisecracking about. He was a classical music and opera scholar and freelanced for Opera News on the West Coast.

          He got his “Doctor” handle during his time on the old L.A. Examiner, where he became the Hearsts’ favorite science and medicine writer and was frequently consulted on Hearst family medical problems.

          One of the most unforgettable characters I’ve ever known, and a huge influence on a whole generation of young and not-so-young Union reporters.

          DAVID FARMER writes:

          Recently I gave Dick Desick's first initials as S.I. Following my standard fact-checking policy, I decided after the story ran to see if my memory was right. It wasn't. Desick's initials were S.A., cited correctly by our Don Bauder in the San Diego Reader, February 2010. Don, who's been too polite (or busy) to point out my error, was writing about talented reporters hired by the Copley papers from the Los Angeles Herald or Examiner (at least I got that part right).

          While engaging in what I like to call retroactive research, I also discovered that the University of Southern California library contains a collection of Examiner stories and photos. One of them, written by Desick in 1951, is about a Los Angeles man who was shot during a home-invasion robbery.

          Nine black and white photos accompany the article, and they call to mind a 50s noir movie. One picture shows the victim strapped to a gurney. Another depicts the distraught wife, apparently pointing to a bullet hole in her living room floor. There's also an LAPD detective in a rumpled suit and snap-brim hat, examining a pair of glasses dropped by the robber. Finally, Desick himself, interviewing the injured man at his hospital bedside.

          If the tale had adhered to noir conventions, Desick would track clues provided by the lost spectacles and discover that the wife hired the gunman herself. Motive: put an inconvenient husband out of the way, collect his life insurance, and run off with the shooter. Didn't James M. Cain write the story and call it "Double Indemnity"?

          I'll get back to you after further retroactive research.

          REBER: A few nights ago David Farmer supplied a photo that included Desick and an unidentified staffer. There was a guess the staffer was Cliff Smith, but that's not the case.

          CLIFF SMITH writes:

          The fourth man in Farmer's photo I took as Michael Grant. I never sat that straight or wore short sleeves. Good pic of serious night ace Dave anyway.

---------------------------------------------

          JOHN MARTIN writes:

          One 919 Gang writer remembers Nelson Fisher in uniform sitting in the sports department and banging out a story. I believe I have a clipping of a story he wrote while serving in the Army at Camp Callan, a training center in San Diego during World War II.

          The clipping is undated and unidentified, so it takes some detective work to guess its author. Fisher was an avid tennis fan (and possibly played as well). This story announced the arrival for basic training of one of the game's top players from the 1930s, Les Stoefen, a player whose serve was so classic that he became the model for thousands of tennis trophies adorned with a figure for which Stoefen was the model. The story contains no byline at the start but ends with initials. I don't know if this was from the Camp Callan newspaper or The San Diego Union. It begins:

Tennis Star Les Stoefen

Swaps Racquet for Rifle

          Joining the parade of Camp Callan’s athletic greats last week was Pvt Lester R. Stofen, 32, former American Davis Cup tennis star, who arrived from Fort MacArthur reception center to begin basic training down in A-52.

          Fourteen paragraphs later, the story concludes:

          "Stoefen is married to the attractive former Ruth Moody, one-time Hollywood Baby Wampus film starlet. —- N.L.F."

          Perhaps other 919ers can fill in more gaps in Fisher's life story. If they are tennis-related, I would like to use them in a research report I'm compiling for the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame.

          REBER: Yes, I certainly hope to hear more stories about Fisher and Desick.

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          REENIE SHEA writes:

          I ran into Eddie Krueger yesterday at Costco. Eddie remains the happy-go-lucky, positive individual who is now enjoying retirement and grandchildren. I asked if he was a member of 919 but he said no and has turned a chapter on his former life. He admitted he very rarely uses a PC, and the past is the past. He looks great and healthy, a nice reunion.

          REBER: Glad to hear it. Eddie is one of a kind -- good-natured, hard-working and talented. A great combination.

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          DAVID FARMER writes:

          Lew Little sent me the news story about Jim Walton stepping down as CNN chief and suggested that I comment for this group. I'm no media expert, but I did work there for a dozen years. What follows is not intended to be partisan, just my best professional judgment.

          I think the main reason CNN has been losing audience has more to do with the viewers than with the channel. When I was at CNN from 1983 to 1995, it was the only one of its kind. Toward the end of that time, MSNBC and Fox News Channel came along and siphoned off parts of the audience. MSNBC was perceived to be more liberal than CNN, and Fox more conservative.

          Many people seem to prefer getting their news from a source with which they agree. Conservative viewers and listeners are, in my observation, more dedicated to their news outlets than liberals or moderates. I think that's why there are many more conservative radio shows than the other kind, and their hosts often become national media stars. I can come up with only one or two names at the left end of the spectrum or even near the middle.

          Around 1995, Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes realized that there was a big potential audience for a conservative news channel. I worked for Fox for a few months when it started, and I'm certain that it was designed to appeal to the right. It's also a highly professional outfit that does a fine job covering the news. The channel has succeeded brilliantly.

          Finally, CNN was once the only place you could get breaking news nationally and around the world as it happened. Now there are many more media sources, and not just TV channels. With the Internet, everyone has his or her own personal wire service, complete with pictures.

          Jim Walton is being forced out as head of CNN, but I don't expect his replacement to succeed in getting the ratings back where they were. The audience has simply moved on.

          REBER: Interesting to me that while CNN's ratings are down it is recording record profits.

------------------------------------------------

          REBER: We've read that 919er Patric Petrie was nominated for an important music award.

          DON BAUDER writes:

          For me, Patric Petrie epitomized the generation gap. She has a beautiful voice and sings Irish songs almost exclusively. So one day I told her that the only Irish song I had ever heard was "Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder?" Believe it or not, she had never even heard of that barroom song. Incidentally, Beethoven wrote Irish, Welsh and Scottish songs, and Haydn wrote Welsh and Scottish lieder. In Haydn's case, he really only wrote the accompaniment to existing folk songs. I think that is true of Beethoven, too

          REBER: My favorite Petrie quote was when she was offered a St. Patrick's Day engagement at some local establishment. She said (and I paraphrase) "I told them I only do real Irish music. If they want to hear 'Danny Boy' they can forget it."

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          DON BARTLETTI writes:

          My wife’s car was “totaled” in a parking lot mishap.  No injuries, but now she’s looking for a sensible, reliable used car replacement.

          Diana asks if any of my fellow 919sters might know of something available.  She’d like to deal with a private party and thought our network would be a helpful resource.  We can be reached at d.bartletti@cox.net.

          The shock and trauma from the crash was learning how easily the car was “totaled”.  Her venerable 1996 Honda Accord was front-swiped at 5 mph in a shopping center parking lot.  The front bumper was tweaked about 2 inches off center.  Both airbags deployed.  The passenger side bag blasted through the dashboard, cracking the windshield.

          Our trusted body shop guy said, “She’s ready for Mexico”; airbag replacements are required for driving in Gringolandia, but they’re more expensive than the car’s Blue Book value.  Many thanks for any tips.

          REBER: Don works for the L.A. Times, so prospective sellers probably should be in Southern California.

Jack Justus Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065

U.S.A.