The first David memorial jersey?

September 11, 2009

I'll put it on every September 23, and/or I'll send it around the world and have it signed by a hundred people. It's the 2009 New York Mets "Lance Broadway #35" jersey, and it's real to the touch . . .

[see "Lance Broadway Fan Club" note below]

Ben Kim

The Lance Broadway Fan Club

August 30, 2009

Plucked from the stream of things about which I'd like to exchange thoughts with David:

a) The new THOMAS PYCHON, which I might just read, having been on a crime/mystery kick lately (Scandinavian stuff, Hard Case Crime book club).

b) Yesterday's METS debut by the improbably named pitcher LANCE BROADWAY. He would've *loved* that . . .

Ben Kim

The Mets, and the Everglades

August 25, 2009

I love reading about David!

On May 30 I called David to see if he could join me & my son at Citifield as I was given good seats on the 3rd base side for 5/30. Dave & I talked about the Mets since the 69 Miracle but never made it to a game together.

Unfortunately he had to decline because he had a performance to review at the same time as the game (as I recall he said this was one of the few things that could tempt him to reject a job but he was committed)....

5/30/09 was the last day I spoke to David. He sounded great, and I remember it being one of our typical conversations: we always had stuff to talk about because, as I think Matt said, he was always interesting, and interested. We would talk & laugh (can't everyone still hear that laugh?) and laugh & talk, for an hour or two at a time and we'd only get off the phone if one of us HAD to attend to something else. What I'll miss the most is how easy it was to talk to him about anything. One topic would lead to another like movements in a symphony.

I'll always regret not going to a Met game with David. However, I remember going to the Everglades with him in a December, I think 1986 or 87. He introduced me to Turtle Soup and alligator (tastes like chicken!) at a place in the Keys, I think Islamorada...anyone know the name of that place? He had been there a few times. Maybe The Turtle Inn?

That's just one of many favorite David memories for me.

Steve Mernoff

1986 Mets with David

August 24, 2009

Okay, here's my David/Mets story...we were dating when the Mets won the 1986 World Series so it was a quite a memorable and emotional time for us! During a fateful game that helped decide the series (I can't remember which one but I think it was actually during the playoffs, I'm sure you Mets fans out there can fill in the blanks), we were walking around Manhattan and people were gathered around parked cars listening to the game on their radios. We squeezed into an Irish pub on 7th Avenue in midtown to catch the last hour of the game, which was exciting beyond belief :-). We talked about this adventure for years. And I recall sitting on the couch in his Baltic St. apartment watching the Mets actually win the series, and thinking that I would never forget that moment, which so far has proved to be true. So of course whenever anyone mentions the 1986 Mets, which happens at least several times every baseball season, I think of David...

I also recall buying sushi with David (an exotic delicacy that David introduced me to) and bringing it to a Mets game. This was at a time when the only food you could buy at Shea Stadium was hot dogs and pretzels!

No doubt David is up there somewhere laughing at all of our stories and memories...

Sherri Maxman

More Mets memories

August 24, 2009

I *think* I went to a Mets game with David, way back when . . . the glory days of Mookie, Keith, and my favourite Kevin "Big Mac" McReynolds.

He gave me and my then husband tickets for a game as a wedding gift, and I think he joined us. They were nose-bleed bleacher seats, and I don't remember much of the game itself, but knowing how much all three of us loved the Mutts, am sure we had a lot to talk about in terms of game play.

I also just found a Mets schedule tucked inside a manila envelope containing his play. I'd never noticed it was there before. I find this happening a lot: David surprising me with "Easter Eggs" to remind me he's still around...

x joy
[Joy Remuzzi]

His sporting side: the Mets, soccer, and polo (not chicken)?!?

August 24, 2009

Dolph's wonderful tribute mentioned David's fandom for the Mets, an up-and-inevitably-down proposition these past few years. I wonder if he made it to Citi Field in this, its inaugural season. I suspect not, because it would've turned up on the blog. I vaguely remember attending a game with him at the terrible Shea Stadium during or right after college, perhaps with Howie in tow.

Harris and I saw the Mets this season in Baltimore, and we thought of David, as Camden was overrun with Mets fans. I sent him an account of the game and this photo of a "big Mets fan" we encountered. I was going to enclose the ticket stub in the get well card I never got to send. By the way, the Mets beat the Orioles that night.

I gleaned that David's sporting side had expanded to include soccer, and even polo! I'm especially interested in the latter. See, during our college years at University of Virginia, "preppies" were ascendant, polo was something preppies would enjoy, and David was no preppie. He must've had an epiphany similar to the one I had about lacrosse, 20 years later when preppies weren't all up in our heads: hey, this is a great sport!

Ben Kim

From Portland, Oregon

August 10, 2009

David,

It has always been difficult for me to write for you. As I write today, your service is taking place on Long Island and I am sitting in a hotel room in Portland, Oregon wishing I could be with you, your family and friends. In a way, we are both home right now and I feel as close to you as anyone in attendance at your memorial.

I think you knew I struggled when I was writing something for you to read or edit. Though I pride myself on written expression, I was always more nervous turning in something to you than to any other. Our relationships (yes, plural) made sharing our skills an exercise in maintaining a delicate balance. I'm sure you remember that when we met you were the assistant to my predecessor as director of an editorial department. You trained me in my new job before I promoted you to the artists publicity representative position in which you excelled. Together, we computerized the department while setting new standards for editorial discipline. You flourished in the role and kept me honest when I was tempted to be lazy about pushing the status quo.

We bonded that first year by enthusiastically following the Mets' unbelievable road to the 1986 World Series. I was in awe of your ability to impersonate the batting stance of so many of the players. One would not think that a batting stance would be memorable. The truth is, your takes on Mookie and Darryl and Gary and Keith and Ray and Lenny were not only spot on but totally hilarious. I've not met anyone since who could do it.

Within a year, our department added a top-drawer wordsmith. Naomi came to us with a Duke degree in Latin and a grad degree in Classics from UNC along with a Southern upbringing. Her cubicle was next to yours. There were tiffs, brawls and battle royals concerning proper usage. My favorites were the grudge matches where one of you would come back days later with the coups de gras over some issue of editorial disagreement. You cared so much about the job and it made us all better.

When you left Columbia Artists for Life Magazine, our interest in the arts and particularly independent film kept us in touch. I soon stopped being amazed when, at a screening of an obscure film by Tati or Fassbinder (or a Chuck Jones fest), wife Susan would poke me and say, "look, there's David in the next row!" It was during this period that you asked me to contribute to a story to a book you were compiling. In editing, it was then that you instructed me to “murder your darlings” (a phrase first coined by Arthur Quiller-Couch or Fitzgerald or Twain depending on who you believe). I have remembered that since thank you, though not today.

Our last stint as co-workers ended 7 1/2 years ago though it seems like many fewer. Again, editorial content and computers were involved as we led a team to create internet lessons for travel agents. Again, you were the standard bearer for quality and correctness and I for expediency and productivity. I am so glad that you won most arguments and that the product we helped develop is still going strong all these years later. Once more, my association with you made me a better person.

Most recently I have been a fan, and sometime participant, enjoying "Blog About Town" and your other online endeavors. Your work once again has been instructive to me and I've used some of your postings in my own classroom.

So, here we are. You have assembled an amazing group for your memorial which is not in the least surprising. If anything, you always knew how to bring people together. I am here in my home town, sorry that I could not share my thoughts in person but glad to hear of the great outpouring of feelings and memories. And now, I am past deadline and you are (I hope) waiting patiently.

David, I am going to miss you a lot. I have a feeling that you know you are a unique and exceptional person. I hope you know that your influence will live on with me and with so many others. I also know that if you could, you would cut this piece of writing in half. You would eliminate cliches and unmix metaphors. Not today David. Today I am sending this out just as I wrote it. I am sending it out just as I feel it. I hope you understand.

Godspeed,
Dolph Timmerman