Well, she did seem frigid.

It's like that with any good Roman Catholic Italian in or around Chicago...
You die and are laid to rest at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois. We literally spend an entire day there paying respects to dozens of passed relatives and friends.

That has to be a very interesting cemetery. North Side Gang and the Chicago Outfit in one place.

Funny you mention that, Bam. Whenever I'd take a funeral to Saint John's Cemetery in Middle Village, or Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, I'd joke that there were enough wiseguys there to start a sixth family.

My good friend Mr. Grossman used to say that the only difference between Jews and Italians was that the grandmothers had different accents.

Sorry to see anyone pass, but especially so out of the blue like that. RIP Joan.

WAY better, in general... but Italian gets pretty boring and redundant after a while!

...then again, how much corned beef and pastrami can one eat?

A lot! ...but still.

Kasha varnishkes -- not offensive, but boring.
Kishka -- not boring, yet offensive! lol

But to be honest, I'm sick and tired of Italian red sauce (it's not "gravy" you fakes, unless it's an all-day stew type thing!) after all these years... I'd much prefer a quick pan sauce of wine/butter/garlic or something that actually is made right there.

Then again... what the fuck beats a bagel or bialy with lox?? (bagel with cream cheese, but bialy with butter - that's how I roll)

...or Matzah brei with a sprinkle of sugar?

Food is good, and good food is better. Doesn't matter where it comes from!

Her comments about the Gaza conflict were not kosher. She is no mensch.

Tributes have been paid to American pop star Simone Battle who has died aged 25.

The former US X Factor contestant, who was later a member of girl group G.R.L., was found dead at 8am on Friday at her home in Los Angeles.

http://news.sky.com/story/1331330/former-x-factor-star-dies-in-los-angeles

And furthermore, she was cremated on a SATURDAY. So much for Shabbos!

Jewish law generally prohibits cremation.

And on a Saturday, to boot. That was my point .

I only heard this within the last couple of days, but Joan Rivers recently had her arm tattooed with "6M" - for the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust.

If you follow strict Jewish law (which she obviously didn't), tattoos are forbidden; you must leave this world as you entered it.

I am not mentioning this to judge in any way, only as a point of information.


Signor V.

That's interesting, SV. You know I'm not Jewish, but you also know that I worked in the Jewish community for many years and I consider myself close to Judaism. Without Judaism, there's no Catholicism. There's no Christianity at all, for that matter.

Anyway, I wasn't judging Joan either. I've known divorced Catholics who have wormed their way into Church weddings through sham annulments, and I've known a Jew or two who enjoyed a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. Do you follow me?

Big picture and all that. If you're a person of faith, and you do more good than bad in this world, I think the man upstairs will reward you for it (tattoos, divorces and dietary laws aside). But that's just me .

Actor Richard Kiel has passed away at the age of 74. Best known as Jaws in a couple of James Bond movies, and Adam Sandler's boss in Happy Gilmore. RIP

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/james-bond-villain-richard-kiel-732088

He was always my favorite Bond villilan and it was good too see him turn good at the end of Moonraker. RIP big man..

Kiel was very likable. He had that "gentle giant" thing going for him. He was great in "Happy Gilmore."

RIP, big fella .

Frank Torre, older brother of Joe Torre, and a decent ballplayer in his own right died at age 82. Nobody had picked him on their list despite his being in failing health for a few years. Both Torre brothers played for the Braves together in the '60s. They were residents of the next neighborhood over from mine (Marine Park).

R.I.P. Frank

God bless him, though. They had the guy dead in '96. Eighteen quality years with a heart transplant. Great story .

I used to live in Marine park. There was a Joe Torre youth baseball club house on Marine Park on ave S east 34 street

Didnt he also have a sister who was a nun?

My dear departed father was an Hungarian Jew married my mother Italian catholic originally from Naples. He was an original stalker. His friends had the candy store on Hun 10 strett Subway station. He saw her comming out of the subway.

He told his friends he was going to marry that women. Unfortunately for all of us he did.

He was more like us then we knew go figure?

But I do remember this about him when I was very young. The women with sit outside talking. When the Italian men would come home they never would kiss their wives in public.

They would kiss their men friends but not their wives.

My Daddio would kiss my mother in front of the other ladies outside. I seem to remember the other ladies would smile they liked to see him do that.

To bad his personality changed once we got in the house.

Yes.

NEW YORK (AP)  Emmy-winning actress and singer Polly Bergen, who in a long career played the terrorized wife in the original "Cape Fear" and the first woman president in "Kisses for My President," died Saturday, according to her publicist. She was 84.

Yes, I just heard of Bergen's passing. I remember her from way back. From Cape Fear to Doris Day movies (can't recall which)and more recently she was in a season of Desperate Housewives.

Anyone remember years ago (70s I think), she started her own line of skin/beauty products with turtle oil I believe. She did always look nice. RIP



TIS

She was also in the Sopranos, playing the mistress of Johnny Soprano.

Sally Field is a woman that always looked younger than she was.

I remember her in those episodes. She played the part quite well.

Rocker Paul Revere leader of 'Paul Revere and the Raiders' has passed away at the age 76.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/05/showbiz/paul-revere-obit/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that. I had some of their music and thought Mark Lindsay was great as their lead singer. "Kicks" and "Just Like Me" couple of my favorites, off the top of my head. AND, I liked Lindsay solo "Indian Reservation" as well.




TIS

Geoffrey Holder, the Tony-winning actor, dancer and choreographer known to millions as Baron Samedi in Bond movie Live and Let Die, has died at 84.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-29505646

Holder had a great speaking voice. If I'm not mistaken he did a commercial on tv for some soda, and it was wonderful to hear that voice boom out "Uncola" (with that Caribbean accent).