…and what exactly does that mean for this Minnesota singer? well, not much in the 
singing department. December concerts are in the past, I’m up to my armpits in snow, and I’m actually trying to enjoy some time at home catching up on the things that have fallen to the wayside. Especially sending my long overdue holiday presents home to my family!
This past week I had an unfortunate turn of events with my computer – I caught the nasty Vundo trojan and it practically wiped me out of existence. Fortunately I’m enough of a geek that I was able to save the contents of my hard drive. I just ended up buying a new hard drive and reinstalled the operating system. Runs like a charm after a week of that “oh my gods” feeling. Can I say anything more about the importance of a good backup and good anti-spyware? I’ll take any recommendations for a reliable online source!
January is also the month that I would like to pay tribute to a favorite Aunt of mine. It
was during my New England tour in December that I learned Joan had passed. She was (as my husband called her) and great and classy ol’ broad. She lived in the same New York City apartment for the past 40 years on the Lower East Side of the City just a block from the East River and within walking distance to the U.N.
Joan was the one that gave me my first ice skating lesson at Rockefeller Center, took me to see the “Nutcracker” at Lincoln Center, gave me the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall and taught me what it was to be a strong, independant woman and artist.
Briefly married to publicist and producer, Gary Stevens, Joan studied cooking with James Beard, was best friends with actress & singer Marnie Nixon and NBC writer & producer Beryl Pfizer, was part of the production staff for NBC’s radio program, The Monitor, wrote for such NBC dignitaries as Hugh Downs, Jack Paar, Joe Garagiola and Barbara Walters, and later garnered an Emmy as an NBC producer in 1976.
Most of all, she was like my Auntie Mame. Allow me to share just a couple of wonderful memories….
Once on the way to her office, I got the private tour of the NBC studios where they did the news. I remember a background of the Empire State Building and a camera pointed
toward it. I got to pretend I was ‘King Kong’ scaling the building while watching myself on the monitor. Having all this fun, an actual tour group came up while this was taking place and everyone burst into laughter – it was a good time. After, I met the legendary baseball personality Joe Garagiola whom Joan worked with during her days on the ‘Today Show.’
Lyricist, writer, fantastic cook, sister, classy lady and a woman who taught me to enjoy a good scotch, here’s to you Aunt Joan.
May you be at peace.