Southern Bookman

Farewell, Bob Edwards, the mellow voice of morning

Bob Edwards brightened my mornings.

Each day, I listened to Edwards' radio show while driving to the Lenox MARTA station for my trip to downtown Atlanta and work at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

His voice, resonant with the deep tones of his native Kentucky, was like that of an old friend. Interviewing a variety of fascinating guests, he opened new vistas on American culture. Edwards' listeners believed they were part of the conversation.

Best known as the leading light of National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" from 1979-2004, Edwards died Saturday at age 76 at a Washington area rehabilitation center from heart failure and complications of bladder cancer, according to his wife, the NPR Capitol reporter Windsor Johnston.

NPR's firing of Edwards from "Morning Edition" drew widespread outrage from listeners. To its shame, NPR believed Edwards' urbane style no longer fit with the new world of breaking news and divisive politics.

He moved on to Sirius XM Radio, hosting "The Bob Edwards Show," to which I listened each morning, giving me encouragement for another day.

I still fondly remember his interview with Carol Kaye, the virtuoso bass player of Columbia Records' group of crack studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, although Kaye said she had never heard that name. In the interview, Kaye showed that she was one of the era's great musical innovators.

Songwriter Jimmy Webb was another memorable subject, explaining the meanings of his psychedelic hit "MacArthur Park" and his process in writing songs like "Galveston" and "Wichita Lineman." The interview raised my appreciation of Webb.

I first heard about author Don DeLillo's short story "Pafko at the Wall" during Edwards' wide-ranging interview with DeLillo. The story, published in Esquire, was the first chapter of DeLillo's monumental novel "Underworld," one of my favorite novels.

Edwards was also a noted author, writing an authoritative biography of his hero, CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow, and a memoir about his long friendship with former Brooklyn Dodgers announcer Red Barber.

The weekly conversations between Edwards and Barber were a beloved feature of "Morning Edition." Barber, who'd retired to Florida, spoke to Edwards about the changing seasons and the natural world. As the voice of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Barber discovered another broadcasting legend, Vin Scully.

Like Scully and Barber, Edwards brought an intimacy to broadcasting, making a personal connection with each listener.

While Edwards never lost his Kentucky accent, he sounded like an 1950s urban hipster, his voice a jazz instrument. Edwards was curious about many subjects, always giving his guests space to tell their stories.

I always thought of him as a model of how to live.

 

 

 

 

Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday reflect human existence

Valentine's Day arrives on Ash Wednesday this year.

Chocolate and roses to begin Lent.

The two holidays share immense symbolic significance.

One celebrates romantic love. The other recalls the fragility of life.

This year, their rituals will be enacted on the same day, revealing two sides of a continuous story.

 

Medical procedure brings gratitude for Piedmont Hospital

I continued my long history with Piedmont Hospital Thursday, undergoing a medical procedure at the state-of-the art Marcus Tower.

In striking contrast to when I received a leedless pacemaker at the height of the Covid epidemic, the surgical center was bustling with visitors and patients.

I'm always fascinated by the different disciplines of the medical staff, from receptionists to nurses to doctors. They display a cordial spirit with each other, an admirable sense of teamwork

During a weeklong stay at Piedmont a few years ago, I watched through my hospital room window the construction of the Marcus tower. As the workers in their hard hats and colorful vests marched past down below, I imagined them suddenly breaking into song and dance as in an old Busby Berkeley musical.

Thanks to Home Depot billionaire Bernie Marcus, the center gives a vital service to Atlanta. Our discharging nurse said that up to 100 surgeries a day are performed there, covering the spectrum from joint replacements to heart operations.

Piedmont has dramatically changed since our first visits there 40 years ago for the births of our children.

Through the changes over the years, Piedmont has shone as one of Atlanta's special treasures.

 

 

 

Farewell, Sam Waterston, and District Attorney Jack McCoy

Sam Waterston's Jack McCoy will soon furrow his thick eyebrows for the last time on "Law and Order."

The 83-year-old Waterston announced last week that he's leaving the show after 30 years playing McCoy, who first appeared in 1994 as an assistant Manhattan district attorney before taking over as DA for the last few seasons of the show's first run. Waterston has portrayed McCoy in different iterations of Dick Wolf's franchise. 

McCoy makes his final appearance on the Feb. 22 episode of the show, which returned to prime time TV on Feb. 24, 2022. The show's original 20-year run ended on May 24, 2010.

Waterston's encore as McCoy gave a sense of continuity when the series returned. While gamely carrying on, Waterston has shown his age during the revival. In a warm farewell letter, Waterston expressed appreciation to the show's fans. He'll be replaced as DA by Tony Goldwyn.

In the series' early days, Waterston's young, swashbuckling assistant DA McCoy often butted heads with Steven Hill's Adam Schiff, the best DA in the series' long history. While disagreeing on courtroom tactics, Schiff and McCoy displayed a gruff fondness for each other.

Portrayed as the son of a Chicago policeman, McCoy often pushed the legal boundaries to support conservative beliefs such as backing the death penalty.

McCoy had a fraught relationship with Jerry Orbach's detective Lenny Briscoe, making for some memorable scenes between the two Broadway pros.

A lover of fine Scotch, McCoy also heated up the screen with an illicit relationship with his beautiful assistant, Jill Hennessy's Claire Kincaid, one of several such affairs for which McCoy was notorious.

Kincaid was killed off in an auto accident in one of the show's most shocking episodes. Recovering alcoholic Briscoe's falling off the wagon led to the fatal crash.

After Kincaid's death, McCoy became more circumspect, conducting cordial yet Platonic relationships with later gorgeous assistants Jamie Ross, played by Carey Lowell, and Abbie Carmichael, portrayed by Angie Harmon.

Nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 1984 film "The Killing Fields," Waterston received acclaim for a variety of Broadway roles. He said in an interview for "Fresh Air" a few years ago that his "Law and Order" salary allowed him to keep performing on the stage. He observed that he thought Wolf deserved a Tony award for keeping so many New York stage actors employed.

In his farewell letter, Waterston expressed a desire for more roles. While I wasn't enthusiastic about his performance when I saw him portray Prospero in a Shakespeare in the Park production of "The Tempest" at Central Park in New York City, I'd love for Waterston to crown his career by playing King Lear or Hickey in Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh."

Along with Orbach's Briscoe, Waterston's Jack McCoy holds an esteemed place in the TV character hall of fame.

Downtown Atlanta hopes for World Cup boost

The clock ticks - or whatever it does digitally - for downtown Atlanta to fix itself up for the 2026 World Cup soccer championship.

Several World Cup games, including a semi-finals match - will be played at Mercedes-Benz stadium, where natural grass is being planted to replace the knee-jarring artificial surface.

Major projects like the Centennial Yards at the downtown railroad gulch will race toward completion to impress international World Cup fans, the AJC reported. A development near Underground might get under way. And Underground says it'll rise to the occasion.

A developer even told the AJC that construction cranes would be a good look for the city during the soccer matches.

For years, downtown's risen and fallen with a long list of unrealized dreams.

With post-Covid vacancies still high, office towers are being converted into residential spaces, boosting downtown's permanent population, a goal for years. 

The 1996 Olympics brought Centennial Olympics Park, and attractions like the College Football Hall of Fame bring life to the inner city. Hawks games and concerts draw crowds along with games at Mercedes Benz. 

Once again, downtown pins its hopes on a temporary sugar high. Perhaps its after-effects will continue.

New Yorker marks 99th anniversary with digital Eustace Tilley

The New Yorker's 99th anniversary issue has arrived online, adorned with a digital conception of the magazine's Eustace Tilley character.

Tillley, a foppish dandy wearing a tophat, formal jacket and cravat, appeared on the cover of the magazine's first issue on Feb. 25, 1925. He views a butterfly through a looking glass.

Artist Rea Irvin created the character for Harold Ross's humor magazine, which sought to cover the glamour and excitement of New York City's Jazz Age.

With a few exceptions, the Tilley character has appeared each year to mark the magazine's anniversary. In 1994, the magazine broke the precedent of Irvin's image appearing each year, when Robert Crump envisioned him as a wised-up street kid wearing a baseball cap. In 2023, Christopher Niemann depicted him as a robot named Till-E.

Nicholas Konrad, an arts director at the magazine, conceived the latest version of Tilley, called "Online Profile."  In the work, Tilley and the butterfly are composed of green phosphorescent light. Tilley sinks into the online void, leaving the butterfly to roam freely across the screen.

The Feb. 12 and 19 double issue for some reason appears two weeks earlier than the magazine's actual anniversary. Perhaps magazine editor David Remnick wanted to present an early treat to readers, and viewers.

After years in which I subscribed to the print magazine, its issues lying stacked like tombstones across a living room wall, I read the New Yorker online. I increasingly dislike the fiction, probably a generational failing, but still religiously read Elizabeth Kolbert's essential environmental pieces,and the work of nonfiction writers Patrick Radden Keefe, Dexter Filkins and Margaret Talbot.

Among the magazine's newest generation of writers, I admire the Hollywood reporting of Michael Schulman, a great complement to Anthony Lane's film criticism.

The magazine suffered a spate of layoffs recently, but overall appears somewhat shielded from the financial difficulties plaguing other magazines owned by Conde Nast.

Unlike publications like Vanity Fair, the New Yorker never depended on newsstand sales, and still holds a loyal core readership of baby boomers and early milllennials.

After weeks of horrible news about the future of digital media, Eustace Tilley's electric butterfly offers an image of hope.