News of the Week: Moonshots, Howard Stern, and How to Eat a Bagel in St. Louis

In the news for the week ending April 5, 2019, are a grocery store ghost, a naked police officer, a bagel controversy, and much more.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin poses in front of the U.S. flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 moon landing.
(NASA)

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New Books

I was reading the list of the top 10 spring books from Amazon’s Chris Schluep in the current issue of the Post and was reminded that I have to order that Lady from the Black Lagoon book by Mallory O’Meara. But before I hit the “order” button, I remembered that I currently have a dozen or so books on my Kindle app that I haven’t even started yet. (Related: I always forget that I even have a Kindle app.) So I didn’t order the O’Meara book, but I will! I just need to read a few of those others first so I can feel better about buying them in the first place.

If you’re actually caught up with your reading and you’re looking for something new, here are five other books you might want to read this spring.

American Moonshot, by Douglas Brinkley. Just in time the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in July comes this book from the acclaimed historian, which takes a behind-the-scenes look at the mission and how they accomplished the goal set forth by President Kennedy in 1961. Out now.

Fifty Things That Aren’t My Fault, by Cathy Guisewite. The cartoonist behind the comic strip Cathy (Aack!) has released a book described as “essays from the grown-up years” on everything from modern womanhood and aging parents to computer problems and the temptation to eat another doughnut. Out now.

Working, by Robert A. Caro. The man known for writing his books on a typewriter and legal pads and for taking his time writing them has released a new book on how he goes about researching and writing those other books, which include Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning biographies of Lyndon Johnson and Robert Moses. Out April 9.

White, by Bret Easton Ellis. The always-controversial author of such novels as American Psycho and Less Than Zero has written a nonfiction book that takes on the left, political correctness, race, pop culture, trigger warnings, and safe spaces. No, that doesn’t sound controversial at all. Out April 16.

Howard Stern Comes Again, by Howard Stern. This is the SiriusXM host’s first book in 24 years, and it’s also a behind-the-scenes look at how we went to the moon. Just kidding! It’s about Stern’s move from terrestrial radio to satellite radio and the people he has interviewed. Out May 14.

You’re the Man

The songs on the “new” Marvin Gaye album You’re the Man weren’t exactly “lost.” Many of them can be found on various anthology albums. But this is the first time that Gaye’s official follow-up album to What’s Going On? has been released in its entirety, 47 years after the project was abandoned.

You can listen to the entire album over at NPR.

A Ghost Story

There are strange things happening in supermarkets lately. First they were invaded by robots, and now they may be inhabited by ghosts.

A customer at the Wilmington, Massachusetts, Market Basket asked on Facebook if anyone else had seen a ghost in the store wearing a negligee, “near the frozen peas.” That seems like a joke, but then other customers said that they had seen the same thing. Oooooooooooooo, scary!

If you’re thinking about shopping there, don’t worry. A spokesperson for the store says that all of the Market Basket stores are ghost-free. Hopefully they’ll soon have a special on frozen peas.

America’s First Baseball Factory

I thought the baseballs used by Major League Baseball have always been made by Rawlings, but they were actually once made by a Massachusetts company called H.B. Harwood & Sons. Here’s the story from Chronicle:

Uploaded to YouTube by Chronicle 5 WCVB

RIP June Harding, Nipsey Hussle, Shane Rimmer, Charles Sanna, Tania Mallet, and Maury Laws

June Harding starred in such movies as The Trouble with Angels and the ’60s series The Richard Boone Show, as well as the early ’60s Broadway show Take Her, She’s Mine. She died last month at the age of 81.

Nipsey Hussle was a popular rapper and business owner whose album Victory Lap reached No. 4 on the Billboard charts. He died Sunday at the age of 33.

Shane Rimmer was a veteran actor who provided the voice of Scott Tracy on the cult ’60s puppet action show Thunderbirds. He also appeared in Dr. Strangelove, Batman Begins, Gandhi, and several James Bond movies, as well as TV shows like Space: 1999 and Coronation Street. He died last week at the age of 89.

Charles Sanna was the man responsible for Swiss Miss hot chocolate. He came up with the idea for the mix after having too many packets of powdered coffee creamer left over after sending shipments of them to American troops during the Korean War. He died last month at the age of 101.

Tania Mallet is best known as Tilly Masterson, the sister out for revenge who gets into a car accident with James Bond in Goldfinger. She went back to modeling after her appearance in the movie. She died recently at the age of 77.

Maury Laws was a composer and arranger who worked as musical director on such classic Rankin-Bass Christmas specials as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, The Year Without a Santa Claus, and Frosty the Snowman. He also wrote the scores for many movies. He died last week at the age of 95.

Headline of the Week

Naked Police Officer Arrests Naked Fugitive (We Can Explain)

This Week in History

Cigarette Ads on TV/Radio Outlawed (April 1, 1970)

President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act on this day. It banned all cigarette advertisements on television and radio.

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour Canceled (April 4, 1969)

The official reason CBS gave for canceling the variety show was that it failed to deliver completed episodes to the network on time. But this was probably just a way for the network to drop the show, which constantly irritated the network with its controversial political skits and commentary.

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: Oasis Cigarettes (April 2, 1960)

Cigarrette ad
April 2, 1960

National Coffee Cake Day

This Sunday is National Coffee Cake Day, and since Sunday is the official day to eat coffee cake (actually, I made that up, but it sounds right), here’s a boatload of coffee cake recipes for you to try.

This one is for the Best Ever Coffee Cake Recipe from Sweet & Savory Meals, and this one from Taste of Home is for Cinnamon Coffee Cake. The New York Times has a recipe for Sour Cream Coffee Cake, and A Spicy Perspective has this recipe for Kahlua Coffee Cake. Okay, that’s not exactly a “boatload,” but how many coffee cake recipes do you actually need?

And just to irritate the food shamers, don’t even slice the cake. Just serve it whole, give each member of your family a fork, and have them go to town on it.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

New Beer’s Eve (April 6)

Since this Sunday is National Beer Day, logically the night before that must be New Beer’s Eve, right?

Eight-Track Tape Day (April 11)

Having a special day to celebrate the eight-track tape is like having a special day to celebrate butter churns or a time before we had antibiotics, but if you still have some tapes (and a player to play them), this is the day to do it.

I still remember the player I had in my first car and how the tape clicked for a second during this song, around the 1:44 mark.

Featured image: NASA

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Comments

  1. I want to look into reading American Moonshot, especially with the 50th anniversary of the moon landing just a few months away. Thanks for the paragraph explaining the title of Howard Stern’s new book; my initial thought was of something else never mind.

    On the bagels, I like to slice them in half, sideways, for the cream cheese and lox. In the ’90s, I had a boss who’d bring in a box of bagels every Friday with lox and cream cheese from either Gelson’s or Noah’s Bagels. As far as being told how to eat them, tell the Food Shamers they’re entitled to their opinions but had better not tell me I’M not doing it right.

    The Market Basket story was interesting. Actually, it’s the first time I’ve heard the store’s name mentioned in a long time. We used to have them in the L.A. area until they disappeared in the late ’70s. Thank you President Nixon for signing the bill that banned cigarette ads from television and radio. As much as I hate cigarettes and smoking, the later TV commercials were some of the best ads in the business with the best jingles; especially Kent, Virginia Slims and Benson & Hedges. As far as this 1958 Oasis ad goes, it’s SO ridiculous, it’s wonderful. The April 1960 Oasis print ad is all kinds of wrong, especially the larger top photo.

    Sorry about the Smothers Brothers show cancellation due to political controversy. If anyone here cares to see Tom Smothers at his best, he’s in a great segment of ‘The Family: Hospital Visit from The Carol Burnett Show on YouTube. Naturally, “Ed”, “Eunice” and “Mama” are as well here, making his hospital stay anything but pleasant. I just watched it before putting in these comments. You should too!

    Thanks for the link for The Fools ‘It’s a Night for Beautiful Girls’. I’d forgotten about this group and might order a couple of their CD’s online to listen to in the car, along with a new CD of The Cars ’79 masterpiece, ‘Candy-O. Great then, even greater now. Don’t forget about their 2011 album ‘Move Like This’ either, to any other major Cars fans. Wonderful fusion of their classic sound, carefully updated for the 21st century.

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