Rant #1,964: Having a Wild Weekend

What a weekend!

Where do I begin?

I just don't know, but I am going to start right here ...

1) Jerry Lewis Passes: The entertainer passed away this weekend at age 91 at his home in Las Vegas, Nev.

Where others call themselves "The Kings of Comedy," Lewis didn't need to proclaim himself as such. He was the real deal, and he did it the right way for nearly 70 years.

Beginning to hone his craft in the Borscht Belt, in the Catskill Mountains of New York, Lewis one day was teamed with a mild mannered singer, Dean Martin, and pretty much the rest is history.

They went on to Hollywood, became the successors to Bud Abbott and Lou Costello as America's favorite comedy team, made movies, did lots of television when the medium was in its infancy, and heck, they were so popular that they had their own comic book.

And then they broke apart due to reasons only they probably knew.

Both might have gone their separate ways, but in something extremely unusual, both Martin and Lewis became even more popular apart as they were together.

Lewis went on to write, direct and star in numerous films, he had a successful TV show, and he was loved by many here, and was absolutely revered in France, where he was given that country's Legion of Merit. And yes, he still had his own comic book and later, his own cartoon show.

He also headlined the annual Muscular Dystrophy Telethon for 40 years, keeping in the spotlight even when his movie and television career faded.

Like many comics, he was a tortured soul, and he had many, many critics, who panned his films as being childish, and who panned his MDA chores as grandstanding while he was belittling the very people he was supposedly helping.

But he kept on going, because the public adored him.

He had many personal battles, including cancer, constant pain, and a very bad back, but he soldiered on, making people laugh into his early 90s.

He was the real deal, and he will be dearly missed, in particular by those who love clean, straight as an arrow comedy that both makes you laugh and makes you think without using vulgarity or vicious putdowns, stuff which define today's comic world.

2) Food Weekend: Personally, I had a food weekend this past weekend, which actually started on Friday night, when I left work early to meet up with some old friends at an eatery in Manhattan.

We meet every few months, and one or two of us suggested something exotic this time around, so we dined at a restaurant that featured Ethiopian food.

This type of food is kind of light fare, but I found that it was quite good, and something totally different from what I was used to.

What we had were three platters filled with various vegetables and garnishes which ranged from mild to very spicy.

In the middle of each platter was some type of meat, ranging from beef to chicken to what I think was lamb.

Some type of spongy bread is used to pick up the vegetables, the garnishes and the meat together, and it leads to an interesting hit to your taste buds as you eat and digest it.

And there is no silverware to use, so the bread-like substance is used as your fork.

It was something totally different, and something that I found I liked more with every mouthful.

After several bread-fulls of food, I was done, but I have to say that the food and the company made it a fine evening.

Then after a fast-food Saturday, on Sunday, we had a family barbecue, where the usual franks, chicken and fish were the food of choices for the day.

These people are my family, less my daughter, who did not show up for her own reasons, and two of my nephews, one who lives on the West Coast and the other who is in school outside the area.

We have a small family, but young and old blend with each other very well, and it is always fun getting together.

My wife, my mother and I worked our tails off to make everything just right, and I think we succeeded, although on my end, a couple of hamburgers fell apart, which always riles me.

Otherwise, I made so much food that we will have barbecue leftovers for a week, but that is fine, the food won't go to waste.

3) Eclipse Today: It isn't part of the weekend, per se, but the fever pitch leading up to today's eclipse built to feverish proportions this weekend.

Those looking for proper glasses to view the eclipse found that they were out of luck, those coming into areas where the total eclipse will be felt the most found that there isn't much elbow room to move, as so many have converged on states in the direct path of the eclipse like South Carolina, and it seems like the entire country is on a frenzy rarely seen.

In New York, we will only get a partial eclipse, but it should be interesting for those who can experience it. Me, I will be at work, with my blinds closed as they always are, so the only eclipse I will get is from the newspapers and television shows that I watch that will tell me what I missed.

Perhaps our country can use the eclipse as a rallying point, something to use to get together, for once, where we don't have to fight, don't have to shove our political differences down other people's throats, and we can just relax and enjoy this occurrence.

I am sure that isn't going to happen, but wouldn't it be nice if it did?

Onward to the week, which I am sure won't be as interesting as this past weekend was.