LOOKIN' FOR RAIN

NGUYEN CAO KY

Nguyen Cao Ky is dead.  According to the Los Angeles Times, the former South Vietnamese premier died at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he was being treated for a respiratory problem.  He was 80 years old.

I met the former general once, though it was not in Vietnam, in spite of my "foreign correspondent style" leisure suit shown in this photo.

That's his wife du jour in the center.  He was married three times.  Anyway, it was in northern California where a refugee camp had been set up for hundreds of Vietnamese fleeing the communist victory in the war and takeover of the entire country.

Over the years, I've had numerous people view this picture and say "I didn't know you were in Vietnam."  I had to then explain the photo.

Nguyen Cao Ky was running a liquor store in Southern California shortly after these photos were taken.  He spent the rest of his life living in California and Vietnam.

JOHNNY D

This is a photograph of a man who might be a Hollywood actor, right?  Nice gentle flicker of a smile, eyes a bit wary.  Not wary enough, as it turned out.  This is John Dillinger, infamous bank robber and killer of the 1920's and 30's.  He led the FBI on a merry chase for a long time but they caught up with him coming out of the Biograph Theatre in Chicago and shot him down on the sidewalk.  Johnny was 31 years and one month old when it happened . . . 77 years ago today.

Another Johnny D portrayed Dillinger in the movie, Public Enemy.  That's Johnny Depp above with the same gentle smile but eyes that seem to bore through you.

ALL THE NEWS THAT'S . . .

First the important stuff.  Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew broke his ankle in last night's Diamondbacks game and is out for the season.  He was trying to score from second on a fly to left field and when he slid at home, his right foot got caught, twisted and snapped.  Oddly enough, on the very next play Milwaukee's center fielder,  Carlos Gomez, made a spectacular diving catch of a blooper, landed on his shoulder and broke his clavicle.  He's out of the lineup indefinitely.  Baseball ain't no sport for sissies, in spite of what the football fans say.

Now then.  My pal Danny Bananas sent me a link in an email to some spectacular aerial photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.  They're well worth a look and you can seen them here.

That's all for today, folks.

A LITTLE BIT OF THIS, A LITTLE BIT OF THAT

Sometimes one's best posts are merely referrals to those of another blogger.  Such is the case today as I encourage you to read and view Lucy's post from Brittany about the whimsical work of scrap merchant artist Robert Coudray.

On another subject, I have just finished the late Frank Conroy's wonderful book on the life of a musician "Body and Soul."  It gets a bit deep sometimes when talking about the theory of particular compositions or styles but, all in all, it's a wonderful gripping read.  In tribute to it, I offer this video of one of the musicians mentioned frequently in the book, pianist Art Tatum.

AWRIGHT ALREADY!

My former colleague and long-time friend Tommy the C sent a short e-mail today, gigging me a bit about my lack of posts of late.  So . . . here's a compendium of my most original thoughts recently.

When Rupert Murdoch got pied this morning during a hearing before a Parliamentary committee in London, the only hero was . . no, not Rupert . . no, not James . . no, not the pie tosser (a supposed comedian) . . and no, certainly not the rather spineless questioners among the MPs;  no, the hero of the day was Rupert's wife, Wendy, who leaped up and slapped the pie tosser with a long, right arm.  One of the typically idiot MPs later complimented Wendy on her left cross.

 = = =

It's been hot across the nation this week.  But nothing out of the ordinary here in Arizona.  108 in Phoenix today.  About 85 up here.  We had a little rain today.  Ho hum.  Just normal.

= = =

My Diamondbacks have been on a bit of a run lately.  Until tonight.  Right now it's 11 to 3 in favor of Milwaukee in the 9th inning.  Might be a hill to high to climb.  Yup, it was.  Game over.

= = =

The Republican presidential field continues to grow.  Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer is going to announce tomorrow.  Texas Governor . . oh, wait a sec . . . oh, yeah, Rick Perry.  I had to Google it to remember his name.  He's apparently thinking more and more about taking the bait.  And yet another group of Big Biz money men are trying to convince New Jersey Govenor Chris Christie to get in.  And Michelle Bachmann's people were roughing up a reporter trying to ask about her migraine headaches.  Does this sound like a crazy campaign to you?  Too?

= = =

So, yadda yadda yadda.  You see?  I really haven't had much to say lately.

YIPPIE-KI-YI-YAY!

This is a fairly common sight in my town.  You see, once upon a time this was a huge cattle ranch, owned by the Fain family.  Little by little the Fains either donated or sold the land so Prescott Valley could be established.  But not all of it.  So that's why you can frequently find cattle grazing within sight of town buildings and residences.

So far, it's an easy accomodation and everybody lives with it.

'Course there are these two who seem to be doing a line from the movie "Taxi Driver" - "Hey, are you lookin' at me?"

By the way, this was not an original idea.  Jarart/Judy did it first last month and better than I did.  You can see her post here.