Saturday, May 2, 2015

Saturday 9


Saturday 9: Careless Whisper (1984)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) You can't miss George Michael's gold hoops in the photo at the left or in the "Careless Whisper" video. Are you wearing any jewelry right now?
I wear only two pieces of jewelry, a necklace that says "Grandma" on the front and "a Grandma's love is forever" on the back, that my grandkids gave me for my 70th birthday, and a pair of earrings that they gave me for Christmas last year.  I don't ever take them off.

2) Though the label says this hit is performed by "Wham! featuring George Michael," George Michael is the only member of the pop duo who appears in the video. Do you remember the name of the other guy who was in Wham?
Not only do I not remember the other guy who was Wham, I don't remember Wham!  In fact, I had not heard of George Michael until he bought John Lennon's "Imagine" piano and my friend Steve Schalchlin got to play it.


3) Much of the video was filmed on Watson Island, a man-made island near South Beach. Have you ever been to Miami?
Florida is one of only a handful of states that I have never been in, so no.  (I've missed most of the southern states and the ones straight down from No. Dakota)


4) Born Georgios Panayiotou, George Michael is of Greek descent, the son of the Greek restauranteur in East London. When you think of Greek cuisine, what comes to mind?
Spanakopita, the Greek spinach pie, which I have made a couple of times.  Also, isn't baklava Greek?  (I've made that too)

5) Today he lives in a tiny suburb called Highgate, and his neighbors are Kate Moss and Sting. Tell us about one of your neighbors.
This is kind of a difficult question, since, though we have lived here >40 years, I really don't know my neighbors.  There was a difficulty early in our years here and I was told "nobody in the neighborhood likes you" and most of those neighbors are still living here, so I have not extended myself to neighbors, almost none of whom expressed sympathy at the death of either of our children, though it seemed that almost everybody else in Davis did. However, it was a huge surprise and touched me deeply when one of our neighbors took up a collection from all of those neighbors and presented me with >$200 in donations when I had my head shaved for cancer research.


6) George Michael fans can purchase officially licensed merchandise from his website, including an iPhone cover with his photo and signature. Tell us about your cell phone. Is it Apple or Android? Is it a smartphone?
It's an iPhone 4, so not as smart as other iPhones, but smart enough.


7) George Michael sang Stevie Wonder's "You and I" for Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton. What's your favorite love song?
I don't really have a favorite, but I do like John Denver's "For You," which I watched him sing on video when he shyly joked that he was just a sentimental guy.  (When Walt and I were dating, "our song" was "Puff the Magic Dragon.")


8) In 2014, George had a health scare. He was rushed to the hospital for tests and released the next day. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?
My only ambulance ride was after I fell off my bike at the end of a 32 mile charity ride in 2003 and dislocated my shoulder.  As the attendants huffed and puffed trying to get me into the ambulance, I told them that I'll bet they were happy I had lost 80 lbs that year.

9) Known for hard partying in his youth, George is now in his 50s and says he's quite happy to spend his evenings eating takeout and watching DVDs. Are you doing any socializing this weekend?
I am reviewing a show in Sacramento tomorrow night but nothing planned for Sunday.  I will undoubtedly visit my mother at some point to bring her her meds for next week.

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