It was a quiet day on the street. Thanks to the Russian woman who purchased a number of books on knitting. Only two are left. Tomorrow I'll see if I'll have the same good luck with those on needlepoint, which were donated by my friend Arlynn.
As I was standing at the floating bookshop daydreaming, I was roused by an argument nearby. An Asian woman was giving it to a lady bus driver. She did not have exact change, ten quarters, or a MetroCard, so she demanded to be able to board with three one dollar bills. She wouldn't take no for an answer, finally slipping the money into a space against the windshield and storming to a seat. The driver surrendered. Hail to common sense.
In the first three weeks of the season the NFL is again showing why it is the best business sports model. The smallest market team, Green Bay, seems poised to make another strong run at the Super Bowl, and two teams that have struggled for years, Detroit and Buffalo, are 3-0. Love it.
Today is the anniversary of the birth of one of America's greatest composers, George Gershwin. The title Rhapsody in Blue may not ring a bell, but its dynamic opening and closing has been used in commercials and films, to great effect by Woody Allen in Manhattan ("I think people should mate for life - like pigeons - and Catholics.") Gershwin also composed An American in Paris, whose opening strands would also be familiar to most. And he created the folk opera Porgy and Bess (1935), based on the novel by DuBose Heyward, for which his older brother Ira wrote the lyrics, which reveal latter's genius, particularly in the beautiful Summertime and the brilliant It Ain't Necessarily So ("Dey tells all you chillun De debble's a villun"). Tragically, George died of a brain tumor at 38, depriving the world of who knows what musical wonders. Ira went on to write such standards as The Man That Got Away, which Judy Garland immortalized.
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