You Just Never Know

For the past week I have been suffering from a cold. As I, and the people at the National Business Office, are in the final throes of preparation for next week's Board of Directors Meeting at the National Convention in Scottsdale, AZ, just staying home and treating it is not an option.

I have been struggling but am seeing progress as I have been leaving the office about an hour early to go home and get some sleep. This usually results in me waking up at some strange hour with little or nothing to do and little ambition to do anything in any event.

As I am going on 12 years without owning a TV, I do not have that to lull me back to sleep. I usually end up on line checking out news sites such as the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Fox News and CNN.

The last few days have seen some well known people pass from the scene and in a manner that appears to give credence to the belief that "things happen in threes."

First, Ed McMahon passed away at age 86. Most people remember him as the announcer and straight man to Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." Others might remember him working with Jerry Lewis on the annual Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Telethon.

My recollection goes back much further as a friend of mine and I used to ditch school on occasion to watch Wee Willie Webber and his morning cartoon show in Philadelphia followed by Carson and McMahon on "Who Do You Trust?"

While it was supposed to be a game show, it was really a platform for Carson to do stand-up comedy with McMahon as his straight man. The contestants on the show were either willing foils or window dressing. It kept us in stitches and it came as no surprise to us when Carson moved to the Tonight Show after Jack Parr left in early to mid 1962.

Today, I learned that Farrah Fawcett died at age 62. While McMahon was almost as old as my mother this one hit closer to home as she and I are/were the same age. Of course, many of the stories mentioned, and showed, the famous poster of her that went on sale in 1976. At the time, it seemed like a photograph of the "ideal woman" and, as much as anything else, help build the expectations of the Baby Boomers beyond reality. It survives to his day as an icon of what used to be called "pin-up photography."

Less well-known are the photos of Fawcett that appeared after she had been beaten by her, now former, husband. Completely gone was look of the poster girl and for me it reinforced what I already knew, money, looks and fame are no safeguard from making bad decisions. As it is with many cases of that happening, there was nothing I could do but sympathize with her plight and express anger and distress that some groups used, what I consider an aberration, as proof that this is a trait common to all men.

Today's final shock came when I learned that Michael Jackson died, possibly of cardiac arrest, at age 50. It is unfortunate that most people today only remember him as a disgraced pop star who allegedly engaged in strange behavior, mostly with children. He was one of the most creative personalities to see the light of day in the music industry from the late 1960's to the early 1990's.

In the heyday of MTV, when it really was Music Television, Jackson was one of a small band of performers and directors that turned the music video into an art form. Watching those videos from the 1980's made one realize that the marriage of film and music had created something that was special and worth watching. My guess is that many film school careers were launched between 1981 and 1990 because of what played on MTV.

For some of that time I was working as a photo and film rep and potential clients always expressed a desire to have their commercials "look like MTV." Of course, once they discovered what it cost to achieve that look, their thoughts changed and that is also what turned MTV into the Junk TV it is today. Record companies did not see enough of a return on their investment and too many directors were trying to get the same type of money they got for directing full-length films. In the end it was, all about the money.

Still, I would hope that at some point someone would do a retrospective of Jackson's videos so people could get a sense of his real talent and creativity. They really were something to see.

All these folks, while famous and at one time, wealthy, are really not that much different from all of us. They suffered from bad decisions and physical conditions that, in the end, could not be overcome by a sudden change in the script.

I think the larger lesson here is that life is short and happiness fleeting. All of us should take a moment to stand back and look at ourselves and how we interact with those around us and probably consider changing some of what we do.

I can honestly say that over most of my 62 years I have been flabbergasted and amazed at how petty stuff can cause so much discontent, anger and distress, sometimes to the point of rage, and hatred. We human beings are strange creatures. Things of great import slide right by us and things of the most temporary nature and fleeting value inspire us to behavior that borders on animalistic.

As Byron once said, "Truth is strange, stranger than fiction."

Even More Breaking News

Around the middle of July, we will be posting all the reports submitted by officers, directors, committee chairs and employees for the Board of Directors meeting on www.tcamembers.org.

They will be posted as PDF files and you will need Adobe Reader to open and download them. This is a free software program that can be found on the Adobe website.

This is another way to keep the membership informed and up to date with what is happening in their Association. Watch for them!

Breaking News

Well friends, Nicole Peace the TCA webmaster, has helped TCA take yet another step into the 21st century. She recently created Facebook Pages for TCA and the National Toy Train Museum. In less than 24 hours, the Museum had acquired 10 fans, one of whom lives in Serbia.

Not satisfied with this feat, she then created a Twitter Account for the Museum. She will be posting Tweets to help everyone keep up. As I do not currently have a Twitter account, I cannot tell you how many Tweets are posted nor how many people are following the NTTM on Twitter.

I do have a Facebook page but I admit that I only look at it once a week, and then only if I remember. Usually, someone send me a message through Facebook and that reminds me to look at my page. The real reason I set up a Facebook page was because the woman who is promotions director at the local swing dance club kept bugging me to do so.

My guess is that Facebook will make more people aware of TCA and our great museum. I am hoping that this will inspire them to visit.