Eartha Kitt

All I can say is, a bit of my childhood has gone. As I posted before, and will repost below for your convenience, Ms Kitt's Uska Dara was an indelible memory from age seven:

When I was about seven, and we were living in rural Hertfordshire, England, one afternoon my mother and I were listening to BBC radio when the disc jockey said, "And now, here's some Turkish music." What followed was a tune so hooky that it remained caught in my memory until some thirty or so years later when Mike McGovern, a New York Daily News writer who later became known as Kinky Friedman's sidekick in the Kinkster's detective novels, invited several of us who had closed down the Lion's Head to come to his place for a nightcap. He poured us each some whiskey, then put an Eartha Kitt album on his turntable. After a couple of cuts, I was amazed to hear the same exotic tune that had so captivated me as a child. Judge it for yourself here:

Season's Greetings

Tomorrow morning I am off to the very edge of the Great Frozen North, to the banks of the mighty St. Lawrence, there to celebrate Christmas. My opportunities for posting from that location may be few or none, so I leave you for now with warmest greetings of the season, and a scene of carolers gathered by the tree at the entrance to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.