What--is it Labor Day already?
Aug. 30th, 2006 06:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shalannaI can't believe that Labor Day has sneaked up on me. Most years, I go out to Lone Star Park and work the phones for the MDA telethon, but this year I just didn't get set up to do that. And I don't know if I'm physically up to going out there (a horse racing track, in the semi-heat, although it's air-conditioned and you do get to meet the Channel Five news anchors and crew, whoopee-doo). When it used to be at Six Flags, that was a LOT more fun. We'd sneak out for short breaks and go to the top of the Oil Derrick or get a Pink Thing. That was back when I could actually enjoy standing on a rickety orange steel floor and feeling the derrick rock back and forth with the wind.
However, I'll be watching the telethon on Sunday and Monday. I'm a little worried about JL at his age and with his health, but you can bet he'll be there and in charge. He's done it when he was a lot sicker and could hardly breathe. You've gotta admire someone like that. (The polar opposite of me, in fact, although our birthdays are only a couple of days apart.) Try to catch Jack Jones, Steve Lawrence, Jason Alexander, and Maureen McGovern; they're great, and they're typically on every year. I never knew Jason Alexander ("Duckman" and "Seinfeld") could SING until I heard him do a Telethon medley. And Gary Lewis always makes a guest shot (although last year they interrupted it for some dumb weather warning, so I didn't get to hear him!)
Yes, I realize the Telethon is the butt of many, many rude jokes. Everyone's postmodern and cynical. But I think the cheesy acts are part of the fun, and many really GOOD acts are on during the most-watched hours. (They had the Five Browns one year, a family of concertizing pianists.) MDA is a well-run organization and you can be sure that your money goes toward the charity in the form of MDA camps, help to families, and research, not toward paying the staff. I hope that if you do tune in, you decide to pledge!
You can watch the Telethon live on the Internet, in fact. (I realize that many local markets have cut back on the number of hours they show or have eliminated it altogether.) Scroll down to the picture of the TV screen and click.
http://www.mdausa.org/
With that, we return you to my regularly scheduled whining.
However, I'll be watching the telethon on Sunday and Monday. I'm a little worried about JL at his age and with his health, but you can bet he'll be there and in charge. He's done it when he was a lot sicker and could hardly breathe. You've gotta admire someone like that. (The polar opposite of me, in fact, although our birthdays are only a couple of days apart.) Try to catch Jack Jones, Steve Lawrence, Jason Alexander, and Maureen McGovern; they're great, and they're typically on every year. I never knew Jason Alexander ("Duckman" and "Seinfeld") could SING until I heard him do a Telethon medley. And Gary Lewis always makes a guest shot (although last year they interrupted it for some dumb weather warning, so I didn't get to hear him!)
Yes, I realize the Telethon is the butt of many, many rude jokes. Everyone's postmodern and cynical. But I think the cheesy acts are part of the fun, and many really GOOD acts are on during the most-watched hours. (They had the Five Browns one year, a family of concertizing pianists.) MDA is a well-run organization and you can be sure that your money goes toward the charity in the form of MDA camps, help to families, and research, not toward paying the staff. I hope that if you do tune in, you decide to pledge!
You can watch the Telethon live on the Internet, in fact. (I realize that many local markets have cut back on the number of hours they show or have eliminated it altogether.) Scroll down to the picture of the TV screen and click.
http://www.mdausa.org/
With that, we return you to my regularly scheduled whining.
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MDA Telethon
Date: 2006-08-31 10:27 pm (UTC)Since you're an MDA regular, you might well have seen me, live from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, during the opening sequence. I was one of four singers who started that year's show.
Enjoy it -- I shall.
I am an idiot
Date: 2006-08-31 10:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-02 12:42 am (UTC)Another view of the telethons from someone with MD.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-02 12:50 am (UTC)