Jeannette Black turned 104 this past week, a staggering age to have reached. How did she manage this achievement? There is no reasonable explanation, though avoiding sweets may be one of her secrets to longevity. On being presented with a Carvel ice cream birthday cake, she proclaimed it to be, “too sweet”. Or it may be her lifelong embrace of sarcasm and negativity, a sensible outlook given that she has lived through two once-in-a-century pandemics. On the other side of the Atlantic, Queen Elizabeth II died after a reign of over 70 years. Whatever she embodied socially and politically, she did provide a consistent unifying presence for the UK, and was the only monarch most living humans have known. Unless you turned 104 this week, in which case you have lived during the reigns of five sovereigns: George V, Edward VIII, George VI, QEII, and now King Charles III. To put that in mathematical and historical perspective, if you take Jeannette’s birth year, 1918 and subtract her 104 years, you land on 1814, when George III was the monarch. Yes, the same George III who was king during the American revolution.
In other news this week, it was the 21st anniversary of the September 11th attacks, which provides a moment to remember those lost on that day, and also to stare in disbelief at how those intervening years have turned Mayor Rudy Giuliani from a mostly respected political leader into a crazed nihilistic side show.
And Lewis’s “Off the Rails” tour returns this week, with a jam-packed circumnavigation of the New England states, and then it’s on to Ohio and Indiana next week. Lewis is looking forward to being back on stage and is hoping he will remember his act, as he has left preparations for the shows to the last minute. “The Rant Is Due” is also back, so send in your rants and remember to tune into the live streams this weekend and throughout the upcoming tour.

Submit rants to Lewis
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Check out Lewis’ Grammy-nominated special, Thanks For Risking Your Life
https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/LewisWE

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