UPBEAT TIMES • July 2015 • 29


REMINISCE Part 2 WORDPLAY


one another, their chil- dren, and the process of


lives and relationship “to Spirit,” as they called it. I’ve been so blessed in my life. Always a bit fascinated by ce- lebrity status, those I interviewed and be- friended were down- to-earth, great people, too. Leon M. Leon, magician, sound and prop man extradordi- naire was one of these. His father was also a


SANTA ROSA, CA. ~ [rem ih niss] I’ll begin by remind- ing myself that we seniors have an especial drive to reminisce (from the Latin word, “to rec- ollect.”) Story-retelling helps us discover the meanings our lives have, distill what’s truly valuable to us –fi nd the keep- ers.


kind, inquisitive listening ears, we mine the treasures of our stories more thoroughly. I scored a second interview


with Kenny Loggins through The Ford Group in La Jolla. Arielle Ford was the publicist for Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer --and Kenny Loggins. He and his second wife, Julia, had come out with a courageous new book, The Unimaginable Life.


I returned to Montecito, staying an astonishing four hours to be mentored and for- ever inspired by this couple, spiritually reaching for radi- cal honesty in their intimate, and troubled relationship. The book let us read entries from their journals and love letters to each other.


shared their addictions, fears, hopes and dreams, successes and failures. For me, they’d set a high-bar precedent for in- tegrity that no authors –or ce- lebrities before them had ever dared. (They had trouble get- ting a publisher!) There was a palpable honeyed sweetness to their love and dedication for


Julia and Ken If we are lucky to have


gag man in silent fi lms, helping pioneer “talkies,” and serving as a sound engineer in count- less productions.[ http://www. imdb.com/name/nm0502499/] He “uninten- tionally invent- ed the clap- board” back then, hitting two boards to- gether to sync the sound: “Take one, take two!” –and still used for actors to slate in for movie or tv au- ditions.


a genius with the mechani- cal stuff: many magicians


Leon was


working The Magic Castle in L.A. visited Mr. Leon for help with their acts. I met him while I was singing at an anniversary party for an auto repair/tire company: Leon’s mechanic! Leon lived around the corner in North Hollywood (NoHo). At age 92, his beloved wife of 67 years had just passed away... We became instant friends, Leon helping me with my ca- reer and infant Improv work- shops, and providing use of his garage /coverted performance theater. He loved videotaping, critiquing, advising us. In turn,


named Leon M. Leon. But Leon junior had started as a prop and


famous magician dedicating their Weird Facts & Fun Trivia #7


A baby platypus remains blind after birth for 11 weeks.


by Marcia Singer • lovearts@att.net


I offered him some compan- ionship and entertainment, and sometimes, my healing ser- vices --including his very fi rst massage. I knew this generous, gift- ed soul for his remaining four years on the planet. I still re- call his whistling as he went, an ageless bird, happy for each day of life, praising each re- maining day, granted to him. Leon would’ve liked anoth-


er of my older artistic friends --Earl Robinson.


years of age when I fi rst in- terviewed him.


nytimes.com/1991/07/23/ obituaries/earl-robinson-81-a- composer-of-labor-move- ment-songs-dies.html] Like Mr. Leon, Earl was dedicated to making the world a better place.


Earl was 77 [http://www.


There’s enough energy in ten minutes of one hurricane to match the nuclear stockpiles of the world.


$1,000,000 in $1 bills would weigh approximately one ton. Placed in a pile it would be 360 feet high - as tall as 60 average adults standing on top of each other.


Elephants can make low frequency sounds that are inaudible to humans. They make these sounds to keep in contact with members of their herd (and members of other herds) when they are far apart.


musician, he was a stand-out in the early American theater and labor movements, writing “The Ballad Of Joe Hill,” sung early on by his Black-Ameri- can world-re- nowned cohort Paul Robeson, and


had hits with Sinatra, Peter, Paul & Mary and Three Dog Night.


about justice for working people, but was black-listed during the Mc- Carthy era for his political views. Earl also


The brilliant Earl I knew was a deeply spiritual man, an ac- tive environmentalist,


posing experimental music in- spired by dolphins and beyond. He risked ridicule and enmity his whole life, to stand for his truths. Robinson taught me to strive to be involved with life, deeply and creatively --at any age.


experiences do you reminisce about? Shine deLight, Marcia


The summer night is like a perfection of thought. ~Wallace Stevens UPBEAT TIMES • July 2015 • 29 Thanks for listening in: what com-


vived by Joan Baez. Young Earl was


all later re- A classically trained


There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.


Celia Thaxter © Paul Doyle Photo 2015.


An elephant may consume 500 pounds of hay and 60 gallons of water in a single day.


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