R.I.P. Dave Stern

I should have posted about this a few days ago, but the press of events has prevented me.

My college roommate, friend and writing partner, Dave Stern, died suddenly of a heart attack last weekend in his hometown of Marblehead, Mass. His love and commitment to his community were evident on Monday at his funeral -- about 1,000 people attended the service at Temple Emanu-El in Marblehead.

Dave was 51, and left us all far too soon. We will always remember his humor, intelligence, energy, and innumerable kindnesses. In your thoughts and prayers please remember Dave; his wife, Sylvia; and their sons, Sam and Jeff.

Here is a link to Dave's death notice, which ran in The Boston Globe:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=david-m-stern&pid=140695622

Book Panel

I hope to be blogging a little more about this as the date gets nearer. In the meantime, I'd just like to put out an alert that I'll be appearing on a panel titled "Hard-Boiled Mysteries: Killing With an Edge" at the Mid-Manhattan Library on Tuesday, March 23. The panel kicks off at 6:30 p.m.

Here's a link for more details:

http://www.mwa-ny.org/pdf_2010/FLYER%20-%20HARD%20BOILED%20MYSTERIES%203_24_10.pdf

Jane Jarvis, R.I.P.

I'd be remiss if I didn't note the recent death of Jane Jarvis, the longtime organist at Shea Stadium back in the day. I have a lot of good memories of those games, and her organ-playing created a much better environment than the current insistence management has on inflicting eardrum-splitting noise on its paying customers.

Anyway, here's a link to the Times obit, which will probably tell you a few things you didn't know:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/arts/31jarvis.html?ref=obituaries

Deep Thought

It seemed appropriate that the Yankees shared the podium at City Hall with Mayor Bloomberg today. This week the team and the mayor showed that the rich and the powerful can buy whatever they want in this country.

Evil Everywhere

This is the point where I should be gracious and congratulate the Yankees on winning the World Series.

But I won't.

Another Gig

I'll be participating on a panel sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America on March 23, 2010. The panel is titled "Hard-Boiled Mysteries: Killing With an Edge." It will be held at the Mid-Manhattan branch of the New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 4oth Street.

I'll provide more information once I know more. Once we get close, I might get obsessive about it.

The Triumph of Evil

Deep thought:

For a Mets fans, the upcoming Yankees-Phillies World Series is the baseball equivalent of Hitler vs. Stalin. (Okay, my analogy is a tad overblown. Mets fans will understand.)