Bob Sutton out as defensive coordinator for Kansas City.
To steal a riff from Tuesday Morning Quarterback, “Sure, you got us to the AFC championship game and into overtime against New England. But what have you done for us lately?”
To steal a riff from TMQ Watch: “Gave up two touchdowns at the end of regulation and failed to stop New England in overtime.”
Tony Mendez, legendary CIA officer.
He was most famous for his role in smuggling six US diplomats out of Iran during the hostage crisis.
Before their rescue, the six had managed to escape from a building near the American Embassy. They were sheltered and protected for two months by Canadian diplomats, including the country’s ambassador to Iran, Kenneth D. Taylor, who helped engineer their rescue.
Canadian and American officials were trying to figure out how to get them out when Mr. Mendez devised the elaborate plan that would carry the day. He had them pose as a Canadian film crew scouting for a place in Tehran to shoot a movie. He supplied them with fake Canadian identities and instructed them in the proper mind-set to pass through armed Iranian security; and he led the way, pretending to be the crew’s production manager.
As I’m sure everyone knows, this became the basis for the movie “Argo“. He also wrote several books (the only one I’ve read is “Argo”) and has another one forthcoming.
Some of the six State Department employees whom Mr. Mendez had escorted to safety, euphemistically called “houseguests,” said in emails to his wife that he was the bravest man they had ever known.
“Not a surprise that Tony slipped away quietly,” two of them, Mark Lijek and Cora Amburn-Lijek, wrote. “What else would you expect from the master of disguise?”
I’m not going to do a full Lawrence here, but I want to mention a couple of interesting things I’ve found at Half-Price Books recently:
Not much to say about this one: anybody who knows me well, or even regularly reads this blog, understands why I had to pick this one up.
Spoiler: that “bizarre menace” is…LSD.
I actually already have, and have read, The Ravens, and rather liked it. (Christoper Robbins also wrote Air America, which the Robert Downey Jr./Mel Gibson movie was based on.) But prices on this seem to be all over the place, and I thought it might be worth taking a flyer on for $7.99…
…and then I took a look at the title page:
If you can’t read it, this appears to have been signed to somebody named “Chris” by multiple former Ravens. I think this is kind of nifty, and will probably hang onto this copy. (I might flip the other one.) I don’t think the “Chris” in question is the author, as he died in London in 2012, and his bio doesn’t say anything about military service. I suspect there’s a sad story behind this ending up at HPB that I don’t really want to think about, but I hope wherever “Chris” is, he knows that someone values his book.
Also, just to drive one or two of my friends crazy: I picked up some more Jack O’Connor. The two volume Hunting on Three Continents, which I found for $14.99 (minus 20% because it was after Christmas), and the Jim Casada edited The Lost Classics of Jack O’Connor. which I probably overpaid for. But both are in mint shape. I actually do not remember if I already have Lost Classics, but if I find it in one of the boxes I’ll flip it. I know I didn’t have Three Continents previously: that was a real find.
Probably the next thing I’m going to curl up with, though, is Drinking with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Holy Happy Hour which was a Christmas gift from my beloved and indulgent sister.
I wanted to give the Carol Channing obit a chance to shake out before posting it. I’m kind of glad I did: now they’re leading off the obit with the Hirschfeld drawing, which fills me with delight down to the bottom of my coal black heart.
…
As Lawrence pointed out to me yesterday, she was also in “Skidoo“. (Honest to Ghu, I thought that had been released on Criterion, but apparently not.)
This one goes out to my friend Todd: Alan R. Pearlman, synthesizer pioneer and founder of ARP Instruments.
ARP’s analog synthesizers — particularly the compact, portable ARP Odyssey, introduced in 1972 — grew ubiquitous in pop and electronic music. By the mid-1970s, ARP was the leading synthesizer manufacturer, commanding 40 percent of the market and outselling its predecessors and competitors, Moog and Buchla.
ARP sounds were central to numerous songs, including Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein,” Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon,” Kraftwerk’s “The Robots,” Underworld’s “Rez,” Nine Inch Nails’ “The Hand That Feeds” and the early-1980s version of the theme to the television series “Doctor Who.”
The five-note signature motif of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was played on an ARP 2500 synthesizer, which is seen in the film. An ARP 2600, mixed with natural sounds, provided the voice of R2-D2 in the first “Star Wars” movie.
Carlos Sánchez, best known as Juan Valdez in the commercials for Colombian coffee.
(Hattip on this to my beloved and indulgent sister-in-law.)
This is a menu from the (now closed) Roebling Tea Room in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It is the only time I have WANTED a waiter to explain the menu to me; instead he stood there sneeringly and pretended “Anchovies that have been sitting by a fire for raw beef” made perfect sense. pic.twitter.com/MvjTRFjFMh
— Jennifer Vega (@Star_Anise_H) January 7, 2019
Mostly for this followup:
3 hours later, I'm still thinking about this and how I can't believe it's not from Achewood https://t.co/hv7TNavLOw
— Lauren O'Neal (@laureneoneal) January 8, 2019
I don’t mean to seem lazy, but I can’t put it much better than Reason‘s “Hit and Run” did:
Chicago Alderman and Notorious Nanny-Stater Ed Burke Charged in Federal Corruption Scheme
I know: a corrupt Chicago alderman? Who’d thunk it? From the Tribune:
A federal criminal complaint unsealed Thursday charged Burke with attempted extortion for allegedly using his position as alderman to try to steer business to his private law firm from a company seeking to renovate a fast-food restaurant in his ward. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison on conviction.
The complaint also alleged Burke asked one of the company’s executives in December 2017 to attend an upcoming political fundraiser for “another politician.” Sources identified the politician as Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is running for Chicago mayor.
I missed this story, but there was an FBI raid on Burke’s office a few weeks ago:
This is amusing: I can’t tell if Burke was a member of Crooked Mayors Against Self-Defense (or if he was even eligable, being an alderman) but he was a big time gun grabber:
Of course, innocent until proven guilty, yadda yadda, but: they caught him on the wire. I’m looking forward to Alderman Burke going to prison for a long, long time.
Rosenda Monteros, prominent Mexican actress.
She was perhaps most famous in the US as Petra, Chico’s romantic interest in the 1960 version of “The Magnificent Seven”.
Interesting side note from the obit:
“The Magnificent Seven” was shot in Mexico, where a government censor kept a close eye on the production to make sure that Mexicans were depicted positively. Mr. Sturges told The New York Times in 1960 that the censor was “an autocrat” who operated “on the theory that anything debatable should be stricken out.”
Mr. Sturges took note of one major change to the script: Instead of setting out to hire American fighters from the start, the farmers at first tried to buy guns for themselves.
The new council members get sworn in later today.
However, the city hasn’t updated the contact information yet. For example, the page for District 1 has Natasha Harper-Madison’s name on it, with “Biographical information coming soon”, but the email form still says “Send email to Ora Houston”.
Point being, I’m not ignoring that the contact information pages need to be updated: I’m just waiting on the city of Austin, and Travis County, and Congress, to get their acts together.
Tom Thibodeau fired as coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
He was 97-107 overall (I’m not clear on how long he was coach). The team is 19-21 this season, and had just beaten the Lakers when Thibodeau was called in and fired.
Brian Garfield, noted author.
He was probably best known for Death Wish and the movies based on it, but he was prolific in both the mystery/suspense and western genres. (He was also a past president of both the Western Writers of America and the Mystery Writers of America.)
Mr. Garfield was rarely involved in the film adaptations of his books, deliberately extricating himself from a process he found distasteful even though it meant giving up control. (His 1975 novel “Hopscotch,” which won an Edgar Award, was an exception: He adapted it into a comedy starring Walter Matthau in 1980.)
“I’m not really patient enough to put up with that, and I learned that the credit ‘associate producer’ means you’re the only person who’s willing to associate with the producer,” he said in an interview with the website PopMatters in 2008.
I’ve heard that “Hopscotch” is a swell movie: I haven’t seen it yet, but it is on our list.
Ringo Lam, noted Hong Kong film director.
I need to rewatch “City on Fire” (and watch “School on Fire” and “Prison on Fire“). I saw it once, back when there was a theater on Riverside Drive that showed Hong Kong movies at midnight. But as I recall, when they showed “City on Fire” they somehow got the reels out of order…
Doug Johnson, longtime Houston weatherman for KPRC. Tribute from KPRC, which includes the chicken. When I was growing up in Houston, my family’s news and weather came from Ron Stone and Doug Johnson. I never met the man, but he sure seemed like (and was, by all accounts I’ve heard) a good guy.
Herb Kelleher, legendary co-founder of Southwest Airlines. NYT. Dallas Morning News.
As much as I complain about Southwest (“your cattle car in the sky”), I have to admit: they aren’t any worse than any other airline (“United Breaks Guitars”) and are frequently cheaper.
And:
By paying his employees well, avoiding layoffs and instilling a spirit of fun in the company’s culture, Mr. Kelleher also set a tone for Southwest that translated into customer loyalty.
“You have to treat your employees like customers,” he told Fortune magazine in 2001. “When you treat them right, then they will treat your outside customers right. That has been a powerful competitive weapon for us.”
What sounded like a business cliché translated into tremendous cost savings for Southwest. Its employee productivity levels were far higher than those of the competition, and even as salaries rose, the company managed to keep fares low and profits high. The company was a perennial choice for Fortune’s “Most Admired Companies” list.
…
There’s another story I (kind of) remember about Southwest testing a new route near Thanksgiving. When passengers got off the plane, they were offered either a frozen turkey…or a bottle of Wild Turkey.
They don’t make them like that any more.
For the historical records:
Daryl Dragon, the “Captain” in “Captain and Tennille”.
Bob “Super Dave Osborne” Einstein.
Gene Okerlund, wrestling guy.
It’s that time of year, folks. You know the drill.
Non-NFL: “multiple reports” say Steve Alford is out as UCLA basketball coach. I don’t see anything about this in the LAT, but there’s supposed to be a press conference this afternoon.
Marvin Lewis fired as head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals after 16 seasons.
He was 131-122-3 overall and 0-7 in playoff games.
Adam Gase fired as head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
Vance Joseph out as head coach of the Denver Broncos. He was 11-21 overall, and 6-10 this season.
That’s all I have for now. I’m going to be running around most of the day, but I will try to update if and when I can.
Edited to add: Steve Wilks out as Arizona Cardinals head coach after one season and a 3-13 record.
Edited to add 2: The Atlanta Falcons fired offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel, and special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong. But they kept Dan Quinn on as head coach.