https://musicrow.com/2024/07/song-poet-mark-germino-passes/?origin=serp_auto

https://folkways.si.edu/news-and-press/remembering-barbara-dane-1927-2024?origin=serp_auto

Sadly, Quincy Jones has passed away at the age of 91. RIP Q.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/04/entertainment/quincy-jones-obit/index.html

R.I.P. Q

RIP Quincy Jones... 😔 pic.twitter.com/m4HIbVsZcI

— Dihya (@Cecilia271212) November 4, 2024

RIP Quincy Jones
When he wasn't making groundbreaking albums with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, he scored movies. In the Heat of the Night, The Italian Job, The Getaway and this, Soul Bossa Nova from 1962 which Austin Powers inherited.
A Legend has passed. pic.twitter.com/OPStNzODIo

— The Sting (@TheStingisBack) November 4, 2024

when you lose a close friend, a piece of your heart goes with them. @QuincyDJones pic.twitter.com/VzYpcIHWaL

— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (@kaj33) November 4, 2024

Boalt Hall alum....

He was the kind of Republican that helped make the entire nation work. He had his beliefs, but he wasn’t steeped in hyped up grievance and rage. RIP

Theodore B. Olson, Conservative Lawyer Who Took Up Liberal Causes, Dies at 84 https://t.co/OJ4YSao2e5

— David Poland (@DavidPoland) November 13, 2024

CBS' weekly Sunday Morning show runs a Sunday Passage segment.
Here are the last two.

Arthur Frommer, travel writer and guidebook publisher, dead at 95 | CNN


https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/18/travel/arthur-frommer-travel-guidebooks-dead-obituary/index.html

I think this was the version I had when I went backpacking in Europe the summer of 1976 (…and there was a heat wave):



*The book turned Europe into a giant Disneyland, except instead of seeing the same people at different rides, you would bump into the same travelers in different countries all trying to check into the same fleabag hotels and hostels.

bearister said:

---

Arthur Frommer, travel writer and guidebook publisher, dead at 95 | CNN


https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/18/travel/arthur-frommer-travel-guidebooks-dead-obituary/index.html

I think this was the version I had when I went backpacking in Europe the summer of 1976 (…and there was a heat wave):



*The book turned Europe into a giant Disneyland, except instead of seeing the same people at different rides, you would bump into the same travelers in different countries all trying to check into the same fleabag hotels and hostels.

---

Frommer gave quite a boost to the travel business, and caused a great many college students to backpack around Europe on the cheap. I did the backpack thing in the Fall of 1984, spending 3 months in Europe on less than $2K, much of the savings coming from tips in Frommer's book, 1984 edition, still advertising Europe on $10 a day.

You are also right about the fleabags. Several times I walked into a hotel, and asked for a room. I would stay a day or two, and then politely but firmly be asked to leave, because they had a reservation about to arrive. After getting booted from one charming place on the Left Bank, I had to trudge around all day in the rain, before I found another vacancy. It was in the Hotel Henry IV on the Ile de la Cite in the Seine River. It was 6 stories high with no elevator, and my room was on the top floor, for $6 a night, and I lugged my pack up the 6 flights. The bed was a few inches higher in the middle than in the sides. I started to fall asleep, and began to roll toward the edge. It didn't matter where I tried to lie down, I would start to slide or roll onto the floor. The room wasn't big enough to put the mattress on the floor, so I just lay there on the bed until the sun came up, and didn't sleep a wink. The next day, I was off looking for another of Frommer's affordable hotels. Once in a while, I'd get a night's sleep, or a good meal, and I have to thank Arthur Frommer for that, and for the money I saved while having a great and exciting trip.

SFCityBear said:

---

bearister said:

---

Arthur Frommer, travel writer and guidebook publisher, dead at 95 | CNN


https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/18/travel/arthur-frommer-travel-guidebooks-dead-obituary/index.html

I think this was the version I had when I went backpacking in Europe the summer of 1976 (…and there was a heat wave):



*The book turned Europe into a giant Disneyland, except instead of seeing the same people at different rides, you would bump into the same travelers in different countries all trying to check into the same fleabag hotels and hostels.

---

Frommer gave quite a boost to the travel business, and caused a great many college students to backpack around Europe on the cheap. I did the backpack thing in the Fall of 1984, spending 3 months in Europe on less than $2K, much of the savings coming from tips in Frommer's book, 1984 edition, still advertising Europe on $10 a day.

You are also right about the fleabags. Several times I walked into a hotel, and asked for a room. I would stay a day or two, and then politely but firmly be asked to leave, because they had a reservation about to arrive. After getting booted from one charming place on the Left Bank, I had to trudge around all day in the rain, before I found another vacancy. It was in the Hotel Henry IV on the Ile de la Cite in the Seine River. It was 6 stories high with no elevator, and my room was on the top floor, for $6 a night, and I lugged my pack up the 6 flights. The bed was a few inches higher in the middle than in the sides. I started to fall asleep, and began to roll toward the edge. It didn't matter where I tried to lie down, I would start to slide or roll onto the floor. The room wasn't big enough to put the mattress on the floor, so I just lay there on the bed until the sun came up, and didn't sleep a wink. The next day, I was off looking for another of Frommer's affordable hotels. Once in a while, I'd get a night's sleep, or a good meal, and I have to thank Arthur Frommer for that, and for the money I saved while having a great and exciting trip.

---

3 months in 90 and 3 more in 92.
$33/day after airfare and eurail pass.

If you went in 84, how old were you then? I mean, after all your stories of watching Wilt and other stars from the dark ages, you likely were the oldest guy out there. I thought you were rest-homing it back 10 years ago when you wrote of quitting BI because you only had limited time left, and I talked you into staying. But now look at you, going stronger than ever!

Great memories from my travels, too. We lived off "Let's Go Europe", bread, cheese, and beer.

I remember the cleaning ladies exclaiming Dutch profanities of disgust when they came into our quaint room in Amsterdam - we had peeled off so many gluey beer bottle labels and put them on the window. You know, they slide off quite easily, we discovered, when soaking in ice water. And it made great art!
Except by morning, they dried and glued on hard. We're talking razor blade job.

But to be honest, that and enter an Italian church in shorts was the worst offense I committed.

bearister said:

---

Arthur Frommer, travel writer and guidebook publisher, dead at 95 | CNN


https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/18/travel/arthur-frommer-travel-guidebooks-dead-obituary/index.html

I think this was the version I had when I went backpacking in Europe the summer of 1976 (…and there was a heat wave):



*The book turned Europe into a giant Disneyland, except instead of seeing the same people at different rides, you would bump into the same travelers in different countries all trying to check into the same fleabag hotels and hostels.

---

Didn't read this book but I basically did this on my cross country bike trip in 1982. I didn't stay in many pay-for places though. A few camp sites, hostels, motels to get a shower occasionally but I spent many nights in open fields, little league fields, a park in downtown Cincinnati (which turned in a whino haven after I was asleep), etc. I basically spent $10/day. Still don't know how I did that. Best thing I ever did.

82gradDLSdad said:

---

bearister said:

---

Arthur Frommer, travel writer and guidebook publisher, dead at 95 | CNN


https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/18/travel/arthur-frommer-travel-guidebooks-dead-obituary/index.html

I think this was the version I had when I went backpacking in Europe the summer of 1976 (…and there was a heat wave):



*The book turned Europe into a giant Disneyland, except instead of seeing the same people at different rides, you would bump into the same travelers in different countries all trying to check into the same fleabag hotels and hostels.

---

Didn't read this book but I basically did this on my cross country bike trip in 1982. I didn't stay in many pay-for places though. A few camp sites, hostels, motels to get a shower occasionally but I spent many nights in open fields, little league fields, a park in downtown Cincinnati (which turned in a whino haven after I was asleep), etc. I basically spent $10/day. Still don't know how I did that. Best thing I ever did.

---

Have you written your book for your descendants?
I discovered I have a ggggg grandfather who sailed the world since a boy to age 35. Canton, Honolulu, London… 1790's final trip was 2 years slaughtering 13000 elephant seals for their hides and barrels of oil, sold in NYC.

OMG, where's the book, grandpa?
It doesn't exist.

Have your kids interview you on tape, if nothing else.

concordtom said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

bearister said:

---

Arthur Frommer, travel writer and guidebook publisher, dead at 95 | CNN


https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/18/travel/arthur-frommer-travel-guidebooks-dead-obituary/index.html

I think this was the version I had when I went backpacking in Europe the summer of 1976 (…and there was a heat wave):



*The book turned Europe into a giant Disneyland, except instead of seeing the same people at different rides, you would bump into the same travelers in different countries all trying to check into the same fleabag hotels and hostels.

---

Didn't read this book but I basically did this on my cross country bike trip in 1982. I didn't stay in many pay-for places though. A few camp sites, hostels, motels to get a shower occasionally but I spent many nights in open fields, little league fields, a park in downtown Cincinnati (which turned in a whino haven after I was asleep), etc. I basically spent $10/day. Still don't know how I did that. Best thing I ever did.

---

Have you written your book for your descendants?
I discovered I have a ggggg grandfather who sailed the world since a boy to age 35. Canton, Honolulu, London… 1790's final trip was 2 years slaughtering 13000 elephant seals for their hides and barrels of oil, sold in NYC.

OMG, where's the book, grandpa?
It doesn't exist.

Have your kids interview you on tape, if nothing else.

---

I will definitely give this some thought. We are not an emotional family but maybe my kids will change that. Thanks for the idea.

https://welcome.storyworth.com/

Our daughter did this for my wife and I. One question by email per week for a year about your life, your thoughts , etc. I had the time to take it seriously being retired and wrote long essays. I also downloaded photos. At the end of the year the company put it into book form. I can't recommend it enough….but if you are too busy working you probably don't have the time the project deserves, so defer.

Interesting story, as usual, SFCB. I will add just a few details to my comment.

After staying in a couple of salty places Frommer suggested, my buddy and I took to calling Arthur Frommer, Arthur Bremer (George Wallace's would be assassin).

One of the last Frommer recommended place's we stayed at was in Brussels on our way home. It was a real dump with photographs of the owner's show dogs all over the lobby, common areas and rooms. Many travelers had seen fit to write a comment on the wallpaper in our room. I succumbed to temptation and engaged in probably the only act of vandalism in my life: I scribbled, "F@uck you Arthur Frommer" on the wallpaper.

My backpacking trip lasted about 7 weeks. I think the total price (airfare, Eurail pass, lodging and booze) was $1500. Since we were drinking more than eating I think I lost about 15 pounds. There was a heatwave the summer of '76 in Europe so I was literally fried hauling my backpack over every back alley and train station in Europe. I started Hasting's a little more than a week after I returned….wholly unprepared for that adventure, mentally or physically. I was 21.