A BIG VISITORS WEEKEND

 

Charles Kuralt considered Schooner Wharf the center of the universe. I believe it is the Chart Room. We may both be wrong. It may be Key West itself!

This weekend is a biggie for Key West visitors. Many notables.

Pulitzer Prize winner and Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson spoke at The Studios of Key West friday night. He had been here the whole week. His wife Avis is notable in her own right. She is an artist. Her work has been showing all week at the Studios.

The Blue Angels are in town! No one has to tell you! They can be heard. Several times a day for the past few days. Flying low over Key West. Low low! I stood on my second floor balcony to watch them fly over. I thought if I put my hand up, I could touch the planes. Some one commented the planes were flying so low, he could see the pilot clearly. The Blue Angels are performing this weekend at Boca Chica Naval Base.

My bocce partner Erika flew with the Blue Angels friday. Not in a jet. In a large C-130 cargo plane. Called Fat Albert by the Navy.

Burt Reynolds, Angie Dickinson, and Tippi Hedren were in Key West friday evening. Perhaps you have to be my age to know/remember them. Sad if that is the case. They were big movie stars of another generation. My generation.

All three were here for an opening at Rote’s Gallery on Duval. All three friends of owner Adam Scott Rote. Reynolds and Dickinson drove up in a Rolls-Royce.

Burt was a big time male star in the 1960s through the 1980s. Comparable to Tom Cruise who followed him. Reynolds interestingly has a sort of connection with the Blue Angels who are performing this weekend in Key West. In 1960 and 1961, Reynolds appeared in several episodes of the TV show Blue Angels.

Angie Dickinson was a wow! The loveliest of the lovelies! A big time female star. She worked with all the major male stars. She also was engaged heavily in television. A close friend of Frank Sinatra, she starred in the first Oceans 11 movie with Sinatra.

Tippi Hedren is best recalled by The Birds. The beautiful woman being chased by an army of run away birds.

Last but not least, the Budweiser Clydesdales are in town. All eight of them. They made a delivery on Duval Street friday. They performed at the Blue Angels air show saturday.

Key West Lou was here, also. I never got to see or meet any of the luminaries mentioned. My fault. A shame.

This blog is very late this morning because I was up after midnight watching the Syracuse/California basketball game. Syracuse won 66-60. Syracuse once had a 14 point lead. It got widdled down to 4 thereafter. Syracuse’s defense won the game for them. They completely tied up California’s big time star Crabbe. He scored only 8 points. You could see the exasperation on his face.

Syracuse went 12 minutes in the second half without even taking a shot. Can you imagine! They were fouled constantly, however. It was not Syracuse’s evening to shine on the foul line. The team only made 15 of 41 foul shots.

Onward to the Sweet Sixteen! Either Indiana or Temple. Those two play this afternoon.

Jake. Made his first long car trip yesterday. To Miami and back. Lisa said he was very good. He either rested on the floor or sat in someone’s lap looking out the window.

I noticed something unusual about Jake friday. The way he runs. He bounds. Maybe leaps. Whatever. He is a small dog. Each bound/leap is good for five feet. He is fast. Ain’t nothing that is going to get away from him.

Key West weather continues to be fantastic! 83 yesterday. It will be the same today. No humidity. Such a pleasure!

Enjoy your sunday!

 

BOCCE, BLUE ANGELS AND EUGENE ROBINSON

 

A spectacular bocce evening last night!

We won all three games. We played well. On top of which, I shot what has to have been the best bocce of my life! They were falling in for me. I could do no wrong.

Thank you, Lord!

Frankie and I were partners. He is recovering well from his heart surgery. Frankie mentioned in passing that five years ago he was in Rome, NY and played in the International Bocce Tournament . An annual event.  His team played a team from Italy. The team had been the overall winner the year before. Frankie said his team got killed! So bad that he could not wait to get out of Dodge the next day.

Rome is 15 miles from my home town of Utica. The bocce tournament is a big deal.

The Blue Angels arrived in Key West yesterday. The US Navy daredevils of the sky. They arrived by flying low the length of Duval Street. Then up the road to the Naval Base at Boca Chica. They will be performing this weekend.

My other bocce partner Erika is Controller at the Key West Citizen. The Citizen is one of the sponsors of the Blue Angels event. Tomorrow Erika will be flying in a two seater pursuit plane which will be overseeing the Blue Angels. Excited she is!

Once again Key West is blessed with the presence of a person of fame and reputation. Eugene Robinson. Pulitzer Prize winner, syndicated columnist, Associate Editor of the Washington Post, round table member of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and whatever else. Robinson is speaking this evening at 6 at The Studios of Key West. The event is free and open to the public.

Robinson’s wife brings him to Key West. She is a painter. Her work has been showing all week at The Studios.

Another person of repute arrived in Key West yesterday. Terri White is back! With wife Donna Barnett. They are in Key West to celebrate Passover with family.

Terri and Donna refer to themselves as my lesbian wives. They are. I can’t wait to see them. They are not staying with me this visit. I have been abandoned.

Syracuse won its first tournament game last night. Beat Montana 81-34. Big! Syracuse plays California saturday. May Syracuse continue to be victorious!

I had intended to lunch yesterday at Hogfish. Never made it. Final preparations for today’s TV/internet show took more time than I expected.

This morning the Key West Lou Legal Hour. Ten my time. Available on television all the way up through Miami-Dade County on Comcast Channel 87 and U-Verse Channel 19. Available world wide via the internet. www.tvchannel19.com.

Join me. A good show. I am going to beat up the banks a bit, discuss the tragedy of Cyprus, and make comment regarding a 1349 massacre of Jews. Plus more.

Dee, where are you?

Enjoy your day!