Out and about, hither and yon
The scene outside the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on Opening Night this season:
The opera onstage was Medea (by Cherubini). It had never been staged by the Met. (For my review, go here.)
• Twilight at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif.:
A little memory: I first visited the library in 2003, when I was traveling with the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, for a piece about him. Rumsfeld was giving a speech at the library. Mrs. Rumsfeld — Joyce — was with him. (Wonderful person.) Nancy Reagan was in the audience.
“Mrs. Reagan, you are a beacon of courage,” said Rumsfeld. “And Joyce and I have such respect for you and for all you do, and for taking such loving care of our great president, Ronald Reagan.”
• Feel like a Daimler? A beautiful thing, right?
How ’bout this neon-green beauty? (Not sure what it is.)
Update: Readers tell me that the car is a 2022 Corvette Stingray. This is very helpful information, for my Christmas list.
• Here is a sad sight: Northpoint, in the Milwaukee airport. It has been closed since the onset of the pandemic. Apparently, it will not reopen.
Allow me to quote from a column I wrote in 2018:
There’s a meal I like — a lot — in Milwaukee. It comes from Northpoint Custard. I get a grilled-cheese sandwich (made with cheddar), a vanilla custard shake, and a Diet Pepsi. (Don’t give me grief over my choice of pop. It’s been done.) I jokingly, or half-jokingly, call this my “Death Row meal.”
I asked readers to tell me about their own Death Row meals. I published their responses in that column. Fascinating, and sometimes moving as well.
• Marquette University? (We’re still in Milwaukee. Will be there for a while.) I can’t help thinking of Al McGuire, the great basketball coach (who led the Marquette team from 1964 to 1977).
Marquette, under McGuire, won the national championship in that last year, 1977.
• The Irish Cultural & Heritage Center Center of Wisconsin — and a bride named Brigid. Isn’t that perfect?
• A Civil War monument: “To those who fought in the War for the Union, 1861–1865”:
Thank God for those men. Thank God for the preservation of the Union and the abolition of slavery.
“To those who served in the war with Spain, 1898–1902”:
Here you see a mother telling her child (I assume) about a great man:
• The Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame has a helluva cavalcade. Let’s start with that immortal hammerin’ man:
“Bart Starr.” When I was a kid, I thought that was practically the coolest name around.
But there could be no cooler nickname — certainly no more distinctive nickname — than “Crazylegs”:
A daunting back:
Feel the need for a speed? This guy always did, on ice:
Speaking of college-basketball coaches (as I did above, with McGuire): This one was an absolute bear, even though he was a Badger:
Herbert V. Kohler Jr., the magnate, was a mover in the golf world:
Herb Kohler passed away last month. My man Luther Ray Abel — who shared a town with Kohler — wrote him up.
• A river runs through it — through Milwaukee, I mean:
• Some fetching flowers — a touch of purple grace — near Lake Michigan:
• Back to sports, with the broad shoulders of Giannis:
• I thought this was rather haunting, or evocative — a car wash in the early morning:
• How do you like this train station, in Kansas City, and its pride in the local NFL team, which is “going great guns,” as we used to say in Michigan?
• How do you like the World War I Museum and Memorial? Impressive, and somber.
• This is something close to my heart — two statues, outside the Federal Reserve Bank: the Spirit of Commerce and the Spirit of Industry. We could use more of this spirit — these spirits? — in our country, as Left and Right get ever closer to agreement on statism.
• Him again — Washington, I mean:
• Miguel Díaz-Canel is a much worse leader than Washington, a real stinker. He’s the boss in Cuba, succeeding Raúl Castro, who succeeded his brother Fidel.
“Cuba Libre,” as you know, means “Free Cuba” (and “free” is an adjective in this case). The term indicates a desire for the liberation of Cuba. What about the word “singao”? Let’s consult an article, headed “‘Diaz-Canel is a Singao’: The Insult Cuba’s Dictator Hates.”
I will paste a paragraph:
“Singao” is a Cuban term or expletive that can be interpreted in several ways, but, in this case, it describes Diaz-Canel as a repudiable person who does unpleasant things. An evil, mean and vile person who has no empathy for anyone or anything. On the other hand, the term “singar” is a Cuban word admitted by the Royal Spanish Academy which means “to have sexual intercourse”. Therefore, there are also people who use and interpret it to insult the dictator using sexual connotations.
Let’s have one more paragraph:
The phrase “Díaz-Canel is a singao” or simply “Díaz-Canel singao” has been all over the Internet, especially on Twitter, and also reached the demonstrations of Cubans around the world. The now famous phrase was used in demonstrations all over Cuba, Miami, Argentina, Spain and many other countries.
• And what is this? New England, in Kansas City? In the middle of the Midwest?
The New England Building went up in 1886, to house the offices of the New England Safe Deposit and Trust Company.
I love this library — made out of a great bank, from 1906:
Hail the Western Union, too (1920):
And the Scarritt Building and Arcade (1906, same as the bank-turned-library):
Everything was certainly up to date in Kansas City.
Couple of theaters? Start with Mainstreet (1921):
Now you got the Folly (1900):
• I wonder what you think of the below sign. Is it kind of . . . boastful? Lily-gilding? In any case, it is arresting, I think, and amusing.
• We’re back in New York, spotting a fine orange Dodge:
• The Frick (an art museum), handsome:
• In Central Park, Indian summer (as we said in the bad old days):
• Rock out, Billy! (This is Billy Joel in Madison Square Garden.)
So nice to see you today, my friends. Thanks for joining me for a photographic travelogue (is that we we should call it?). Talk soon.
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