Over And Over

H

ave a coffee. Sit down and reflect.

The past week has been terrible for people of a certain age. We lost Nichelle Nichols, Bill Russell, Vin Scully and Mo Ostin. All people who helped to form me in my youth.

You probably know the first three especially if you like science fiction and sports.

Nichelle Nichols played Nytoa Uhuru in Star Trek. She was about the future, hope and possibilities. just as the show was, and is. My then wife once pointed out that of the seven main characters, three were women. The show was first broadcast in 1964.

Bill Russell was a basketball player, but oh, what an athlete. He changed basketball. He fought for human rights. He might well have been one of the greatest athletes ever. That puts him in a group that includes Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali.

Vin Scully was the Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster in my youth. He knew the game and he knew how to leave space between the notes, letting the game and crowd noises take over whenever a great event took place. A lot of people have been playing their favorite broadcasts. Everyone of them took me right back to being eight or nine years old when I listened to him on my transistor radio.

Finally, Mo Ostin. I know, who? Mo was a music man. He was appointed to the position of president of Reprise Records by the man who started the label, some guy called Frank Sinatra. Mo changed popular music by taking chances in the late 1960s through the 1990s when he left Warner/Reprise. He signed musicians like Van Morrison, Arlo Guthrie. Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young and Prince. He offered contracts for five records so that the musicians he signed could grow in their own time.

Reflect? I asked you to reflect.

I lost a lot of touchstones of my youth in one week. Of course, it’s happened in the past and it will happen in the future. But, not quite like this. This reminds me that time is short, very short. Don’t waste it. At my age, I try to do what pleases me without causing distress to those around me.

O

h, the picture. I was watching the espresso stream into the cup from the machine and I thought “I oughta take a picture.”

So I did.

I made it dreamy and a little moody in post production.

Then, I shared it with you.