Maria Mendiola, who has died aged 69, was one half of Baccara, whose Eurodisco anthem Yes Sir, I Can Boogie reached No 1 in the UK in 1977 and is claimed to be the best-selling single ever by a female duo; latterly, it had been adopted by the Scotland football team as their unofficial …
Author Archives: Pete
Summer Slide
Maybe it’s the weather or it’s something like that, but I’m done here for a while. In the meantime: 1. Vita Breva Every day I post an obituary worth reading at @passed_present. Check it out. As spake Ian Dury, “There ain’t half been some clever [folks].” 2. Ars Longa Good heavens, your walls. …
The Zaire Road
When Twins 1 & 2 were infants, I discovered that taking them outside on a chilly day would calm them. So I’d bundle them up and take them out in their stroller, a swank model with rugged tires. It was on these expeditions I learned that bumpy surfaces soothed them as well. We’d go a …
RIPQ
Editor’s note: this post is about a British music magazine. If you think it’s about something else, take your tin foil hat back to Facebook. Last year I went into Harvard Square to look for the final issue of Q. I figured the Coop might have it. Nope. As the manager explained, magazines were sold …
Number Nonsense
Remember in 2019 when India and Pakistan launched air strikes against each other? I pay attention to that stuff, and you should too. If they had a nuclear war, it would be a decade of pain for all of us. Anyway, I distinctly remember three things from that incident. First, the Indian pilot saying his …
March Madness
Having ordered the twins to load the car, I took a look and thought: this looks like something from a movie called The Samoan Job. The rest of the day I had this in my head: Of course, per geography, we were laden not with Samoas, but Caramel deLites. So every time I …
No No Song
If there is one matter on which I can speak with authority – or at least experience – it is rejection. I started sending stories out for publication fifteen years ago. For a while I kept count of the rejections. After about a hundred, for the purpose of ego maintenance, I decided to stop. Let’s …
Phatic Balance
At the recommendation of friends, I watched Horace and Pete. It didn’t do for me what it seemed to do for them, and the best thing about it is, indisputably, Paul Simon’s theme song. The other thing that really made an impression on me was this Garry Shandling quote at the end of one …