Literary Pick (****)

Every Day Is For The Thief
-Teju Cole

Photo of the Day

Queen Elizabeth II smiles at Prince Harry as she inspects soldiers at their passing-out Sovereign's Parade at Sandhurst Military Academy, April 12, 2006, in Surrey, England.

Literary Pick (**)

Gift from the Sea
-Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Funk of the Day

Give It All You Got
-Chuck Mangione

Released	1980
Format	7" (45 rpm)
Recorded	1979
Genre	Smooth jazz
Length	3:55 (single edit) 6:16 (album version)
Label	A&M
Writer(s)	Chuck Mangione
Producer(s)	Chuck Mangione

Literary Pick (***)

The Dead
-James Joyce

I won't even attempt to review Joyce.

Vintage TV Show Theme Song

Hill Street Blues

Literary Pick (****)

Troublemaker
-Leah Remini

Funk of the Day

Effi 
-Charles Tolliver

Dick Van Patten

Dick Van Patten

Born: December 9, 1928, Kew Gardens, New York City, NY

Died: June 23, 2015, Santa Monica, CA

Actor Dick Van Patten, who played the father on the TV show Eight Is Enough, died Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif., of complications from diabetes. He was 86.
The news was confirmed in a statement by his publicist, Jeff Ballard.
Van Patten began his acting career at the age of 7, moving from roles on Broadway to television. He appeared in I Remember Mama, which ran from 1949 to 1957, as well as The New Dick Van Dyke Show. More recently, Van Patten appeared in Arrested Development and Hot in Cleveland. But it was the role of patriarch Tom Bradford on ABC's Eight Is Enough, which ran from 1977 to 1981, for which Van Patten was most famous.
Van Patten was an animal lover who co-founded Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Pet Foods in 1989; he founded the National Guide Dog Month, which raises awareness and money for nonprofit guide dog schools.
Van Patten is survived by his wife of 62 years, Patricia Van Patten, as well as his three sons, Nels, Jimmy and Vincent.

-NPR

Literary Pick (****)

Just Mercy
-Bryan Stevenson

I first heard of this book while listening to NPR, where Bryan Stevenson, a civil rights attorney, and the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), was discussing the case of Mr. Walter Mcmillan, a sweet gentle black man who was falsely accused of murder in Alabama by police who perjured themselves in order to solve the murder of a white woman Ronda Morrison, and spent 6 years on death row awaiting his execution. He was sentenced by the racist Judge Robert E. Lee Key Jr.

Possibly the most powerful book I've read this year thus far, and I urge everyone to read this book. Sadly it's a book that probably won't be read by the people who need to read it the most. 

I believe this is the clip I listened to on NPR that made me want to run out and get the book.
NPR interview with Bryan Stevenson 

Walter McMillan  

Literary Pick (****)

This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection 
-Carol Burnett
 

Al Molinaro

Al Molinaro

Born: June 24, 1919, Kenosha, WI

Died: October 30, 2015, Glendale, CA

Character actor best known as diner owner in 50s sitcom and as police officer Murray in The Odd Couple dies in hospital

Al Molinaro, the actor known to millions of television viewers for his roles as the diner owner Al Delvecchio in Happy Days, and Murray the cop in The Odd Couple, has died at the age of 96.

His son, Michael, said he died on Friday at Verdugo Hills hospital in Glendale, California, following complications from gallstone problems.
Molinaro retired from acting in the 1990s having made his breakthrough in a comedy improv class two decades earlier. Producer Garry Marshall heard about Molinaro and hired him for the part of police officer Murray Greshler in The Odd Couple, the TV version of Neil Simon’s play about feuding room-mates. It starred Tony Randall as photographer Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as sports writer Oscar Madison and featured Molinaro as one of their friends, a simple-minded policeman who at times seemed as much of a threat to his friends as he did to any criminals.
Michael Molinaro said his father “was good friends till the end” with everyone involved in The Odd Couple, which ran from 1970-75.
He took up his role in Happy Days in 1976, two years into the decade-long run of the 1950s sitcom that starred Ron Howard and Henry Winkler. He replaced Pat Morita as the owner of Arnold’s Drive-In, with his trademark saying “Yep-yep-yep-yep”, and remained until 1982.
In ABC’s 1992 Happy Days Reunion Special, Molinaro defended the show from criticism that it sentimentalised the 1950s. “In the industry, they used to consider us like a bubblegum show,” he said. “But I think they overlooked one thing. To the public in America, Happy Days was an important show.”
Molinaro took his character of Al into the spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi and, in 1987, he and Anson Williams, who played Potsie on Happy Days, started Big Al’s, a midwestern diner chain. He brought Al back for a brief appearance in Buddy Holly, a 1995 music video for the group Weezer that was directed by Spike Jonze.
The actor played a grandfather in The Family Man, a sitcom that aired from 1990-91, and continued to make guest appearances on other series through the early 90s. He also filmed commercials.
Molinaro had a son, Michael, from his first marriage. He and his second wife, Betty Farrell, married in 1981.
-The Guardian

Robert Loggia

Robert Loggia

Born: January 3, 1930, Staten Island, New York City, NY

Died: December 4, 2015

Robert Loggia, a durable and versatile tough guy actor in movies and TV shows including Brian De Palma’s 1983 drama “Scarface” and “Big,” died Friday at his home in Los Angeles, his widow Audrey confirmed to Variety. He was 85.
Loggia had been battling Alzheimer’s Disease for the past five years, according to his widow. They had been married for 33 years.
He was nominated for a supporting actor Academy Award for “Jagged Edge” in 1986 for his portrayal of  blunt private detective Sam Ransom.
Loggia’s most notable film credits included “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “Prizzi’s Honor,” “Independence Day,” David Lynch’s “Lost Highway” and “Big,” in which he played a toy company owner and performed a memorable duet on a giant foot-operated piano with Tom Hanks. He played Miami drug lord Frank Lopez in “Scarface.”
Loggia was nominated for an Emmy in 1989 for his portrayal of FBI agent Nick Mancuso in the series “Mancuso FBI” — which has a spin-off of the character he created in the “Favorite Son” miniseries starring Harry Hamlin — and again in 2000 for his guest star role in “Malcolm in the Middle.”
Loggia was a versatile supporting actor, assembling credits on three different episodes of “The Rockford Files” as three different characters. He also appeared in three different “Pink Panther” movies with three different character names.
Loggia played Anwar Sadat in the 1982 TV movie “A Woman Called Golda” opposite Ingrid Bergman. He also portrayed a fearsome mobster-bakery owner Feech La Manna on several episodes of “The Sopranos.”
Loggia was a native of Staten Island, born to Italian immigrants. He received a football scholarship to Wagner College and transferred to the University of Missouri. After serving two years in the U.S. Army, he began classes with Stella Adler and at the Actors Studio.
“He loved being an actor,” his widow told Variety. “He used to say that he never had to work. He never had to wait tables.”
“I loved Bob like a father,” Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns told Variety. “I will miss him tremendously.”
He broke into the entertainment business performing in stage plays in New York. His first film credit came in 1957 in the noirish “The Garment Jungle.” His first TV credits came in 1958 as lawman Elfego Baca in a series of Walt Disney TV shows. He starred in the 1966-67 series “T.H.E. Cat” as a cat burglar who would introduce himself as “T. Hewitt Edward Cat.”
Loggia’s TV credits included “The Untouchables,” “Columbo,” “Gunsmoke,” “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” “The Big Valley,” “Rawhide,” “Little House on the Prairie,” “Starsky and Hutch,”  “Charlie’s Angels,” “Magnum, P.I.,” “Kojak,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “The Bionic Woman,” “Frasier” and “Monk.”
His other film roles include “Revenge of the Pink Panther,” “Trail of the Pink Panther,” “Curse of the Pink Panther,” “Over The Top,” “Necessary Roughness,” “Return to Me” and “Armed and Dangerous.”
Loggia is survived by his widow; three children, Tracy, John and Kristina, and a stepchild, Cynthia.
His family has asked that donations be made to the Motion Picture and Television Fund. Loggia was an active supporter of the fund.
Funeral services will be private.

-Variety 

Literary Pick (**)

Starting Over: The Making of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy 
 -Ken Sharp  

Album Cover of the Day

Cheo Feliciano 
With a Little Help From my Friend

Literary Pick (**)

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef 
-Gabrielle Hamilton