We avoided the schlock of New Year's Not-So-Rockin' Eve till the half hour before the countdown, playing a spirited and wonderful silly match of Cranium with the kids while tossing down wine and wings. Then it was time to flip on the lunatics in Times Square from the warmth of the glowing Sony, stare in wonder at the spreading, er, talent of Mariah Carey, and see how old Dick Clark was faring these many months after his stroke.
Now, my New Year's Eve humbuggery runs deeper than Scrooge - hate it - but December 31st on the tube, the last half hour or so, has always featured the perpetual teenager. Not that I'm a Clark fan; hell, I dug Soul Train far more than American Bandstand as a young twig. But you know, repetition has its upside - to this day I'm not sure what else distinguished Guy Lombardo's career but damn if Auld Lang Syne doesn't conjure flickering black and white images of the bandleader at the Waldorf, and warm memories of late evenings spent with my grandmother while the folks were out at real parties. So I was inclined toward a warm-hearted view toward Clark's comeback on his popular ABC Times Square platform. None less than Joe Gandelman summed up my feelings with perfection:
Clark's appearance was a testament to the never-say-die human spirit. He was going to be on no matter what this year. And it's a testament to ABC's willingness to air, ever-so-briefly, a fellow human being's act of personal courage and grit and let a bit of reality intrude on New Year's Eve.Those of us who have had relatives felled by strokes know the harsh reality: it is not easy coming back from them, particularly at an advanced age. And many give up on life.
Dick Clark hasn't. And ABC let us see it.
Like Joe, I'm a bit of a sucker for the struggle of the human spirit - for those who believe, like Bob Dylan, that there are times when you can come back, but you can't come back all the way. And speaking of Gandelman, to those who would take a shot at his great Moderate Voice blog, and you know who you are, I scream "for shame." Joe presents many different views, left and right and middle. He and his team find all sorts of stories and links you can't get anywhere. They provide an incredible service. Sure, sometimes it's not always "moderate" per say. But it's almost always reasonable - and a reasonable voice is something to hear these days.
from Amazon.
