I could not believe the news today that Robin Williams has died, and
that his death was a suspected suicide. I’d heard about his problems with
alcoholism and substance abuse, but did not realize he was also struggling with
depression. My dad was the first person to apprise me of Williams’ comic genius
after he happened to catch the comedian in an episode of the ground-breaking sitcom
Mork and Mindy. Dad had a wonderful
sense of humor, and I’d never seen him so enthusiastic about a sitcom. Of
course, I had to see what he thought was so funny, and boy was he right. I
thought the guy was hilarious too. There was a rumor that the show’s formula
for success was to surround Williams with straight men and women with a basic
script, and then to let him ad lib as the cameras rolled. This guy was like no one
I’d ever seen before. Maybe Sid Caesar was as funny. Clearly, he was in a league
of his own as a stand-up comic, but what I did not expect was that Williams
would be a great actor as well. His range was enormous and he could play the
creepy photo store guy in One Hour Photo,
or the gay parent in The Birdcage, or
the tall tale teller in Jacob the Liar,
which I think was an adaptation of Isaac Singer’s short story Gimpel the Fool. His portrayal of the
psychiatrist in Good Will Hunting was
one of my all-time favorite Williams performances, and I think I liked him in everything
he was in. I just pulled out my Leonard Malton’s
2012 Movie Guide and I am reminded of the many great movies in which he starred;
movies like Dead Poets Society, The World
According to Garp, Good Morning Viet Nam, The Fisher King, Patch Adams, One Hour
Photo, and the list goes on. There
were over fifty movies in all, and I think he made every one of them better. I
feel the same way about him as I did upon hearing of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s
death. I feel as if the world has lost a great entertainer and a good, albeit
complicated man. My sincerest condolences to his wife and family.
Last weekend, I travelled to Buffalo for the 2014 Western N.Y Powerboat
Association Poker Run, and this one might have been the best so far. The
weather was perfect and the turnout was incredible. I started going to these
poker runs (which are essentially a lap around Grand Island and, weather
permitting, a 20-30 mile run down the south shore of Lake Erie) about four or
five years ago because my pal Bob is in the club that hosts them. When I
attended my first run, there were quite a few boats, but in the last two years,
it has grown to capacity (110 or so this year). It’s funny, because when Bob
joined WYNPA many years ago, the club was about to fold. Somehow the members
built it up again and now it hosts one of the more popular offshore runs in the country. The owner of Outer Limit
boats attended this year, bringing with him four of his more expensive models
to display and run. We joked about this year’s run, because it was as if there
were two runs on Saturday. There was the Buffalo contingent, some who have big
fast boats, but most who are like Bob with older, smaller 60-70MPH boats (Bob
owns a 42 year-old, beautifully restored 27’ Magnum sedan cruiser, with a top
speed of about 65MPH). Then, there were the extremely wealthy out-of town participants,
who travel all around the country with crews and expensive towing vehicles, trailing
their very expensive monsters to all the big runs. Boats were separated into
classes according to top speed, and there were four classes this year. We were
in the very slowest class, and saw little of the fastest boats as they ran (the
run is usually over 50 miles). Once we got out into the open lake, I did see a
rooster tail or two go by at over 100MPH, but saw nothing up close. To give you
an idea of what I am talking about, the most powerful boat in the run was a
catamaran, well over 40’ in length, with four
1300+hp big block V8s, capable of achieving a top speed in the vicinity of
170MPH. There is no boat show that I know of in North America that could be as much
fun for the powerboat enthusiast as these offshore powerboat runs.
Final notes ... did you know that there is a musical coming out, I believe in
Toronto, called Rob Ford the Musical?
I’d love to see it! Rumor has it Ford is trailing in the polls for the upcoming
mayoral election and John Tory, the guy I like, is in the lead. We’ll see what
the Ford Bros. tag team wrestlers have up their sleeves, but I think they may
be on the ropes for this match. Tonight, I play my second to last Tree Ring Tuesday performance, in Burk's Falls, with Hunter's Bay Radio host and fellow singer songwriter Christine Heron. My last performance will be next Tuesday in Huntsville, and I can safely say I have enjoyed this experience. While I will never count myself as much of a performer, I can cross this off my bucket list now of things I did that scared me, and I've met some great fellow songwriters.
Robin, I'll miss you and I mourn the uncreated art you had yet to give us all.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2014 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No comments:
Post a Comment