"Goodbye, Kids."

Saturday, Jan. 24, 2004 - 6:25 a.m.

I was on the telephone yesterday morning with Dave Marron.

It seems we are developing the rather nice habit of meeting a couple of mornings a week here, chatting for a while in IMs, and then switching to telephone around ten in the morning and each making breakfast.

We were in the middle of talking about something else during that breakfast, when he suddenly said "Ohhhh Nooooo." Not a Mr. Bill kind of Oh No, but that universal 'Oh No' with the high 'Oh' that slides down to the low and disbelieving 'No'.

That seems to be the universal english sound a person makes when they find out somebody has died.

So I said "Oh, dear. What's happened? Did we lose somebody?"

And Dave very quietly said "Yes. We did -- Bob Keeshan." Who of course is better known as Captain Kangaroo.

The news hit me like a punch in the stomach. I cried and said Fuck, and Dave and I agreed that Being A Grownup Really Sucks Sometimes.

The Captain Kangaroo show is the reason I used to do hand puppet shows for the neighborhood kids, and it's still the reason I own so many stuffed rabbits. In fact, ironically enough, I do have a bunny hand puppet right now, courtesy of Nelson Parker, Jamie's husband.

Sigh. I guess if I had to hear the news, then being able to hear it from a friend and have a virtual cry on his shoulder is the best way for that to have to go down.

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I finally caught an episode of 'Bands Reunited' last night on VH1.

Cheri has been asking if I've seen it, or remembered to watch, but last night the cosmic tumblers fell into place, namely I was awake at ten, and I was channel surfing.

Last night, the attempt was made to reunite the members of Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

They all looked like they were going to go see the dentist, but there was a few moments where they all made nice.

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I heard a cover of an old Tears For Fears song last night. It was a solo piano interpretation of 'Mad World'. Very nice, very haunting, and the artist's name is Gary Jules.

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Mars Spirit called home. Fingers crossed. :)

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3 of my readers commented on this entry

Old Buddy Dave
Gad...I hate hate HATE being the bearer of bad news...
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John
First, Fred Rogers; now, Bob Keeshan. At least WE had the opportunity to make them a part of our lives -- kids today only have Barney and the Teletubbies (unless their parents are smart enough to point them towards Bear in the Big Blue House).
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Bindyree
John, you're absolutely right, Bear rocks. :) And O.B. Dave, don't worry about that. I couldn't have found out in a nicer way.
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