More Lists From That Lawyer Dude: Ten Poignant Final Photos and Two Lists of Important Blawgs. On One You Can Vote For Your Favorites!

This is a quick hit. I was sent the link to this site after my blog roundup on Sunday. I love lists. I don't know why. While I was looking around, I saw this list of the last photo's taken of famous people. Though they did not know they would die soon after taking these pictures, there is a haunting aura about them as we know what is about to happen. I don't like to be maudlin, but I liked these portraits very much. What do you think? Have you thought about what you would like to do in your Final Photo?? I

Let me know what you think your's will look like in the Comments Section below.

While we are on the topic of Lists, Two Lists came out yesterday featuring the best of the law Blogs or BLAWGS.
One by E-Justice is called "The Top 50 Internet & Digital Law Blogs"

You will see some duplication with the "Top 100 Blogs of 2008" by the ABA Journal Law News Now. If you go on the site, you can vote for your favorites. I am following about 35 of those blogs in my RSS feed (I use Google Reader for law and news, and Opera Feeds for everything else.)

Breaking News Black Friday Tragedy : Disturbing Video

OThers bloggers are turning their attention away from India and onto the "Black Friday Tragedy" that killed Jdimytai Damour of Jamaica, Queens.

This is a very disturbing Video (Hattip: Anderson Cooper 360)

Newsday has a story about the kind of guy Jdimytai was. A gentle giant of Haitian roots he grew up on Long Island. He was the kind of guy who loved poetry and his family.

Money quote from his distraught father: "I don't know what happened to him. He's gone. Only God knows what happened to him," said his father, Ogera Charles.

Around The Blogosphere The Week of November 11, 2008 Part III of III* : Of Women, Music and All That Jazz.

*I know I previously said four. I reserve the right to consolidate because I am tired.

Here is my last installment from the Week of November 11, 2008.

1.Two Sex-Workers Talk About the Sex Trade.(Links are NSFW).

I spend a lot of time representing men and women who are involved in the Business of Sex. Some of their pursuits are legal, some not legal, some straddle the boarder. Occasionally I write about the experience. I also however keep up with what some of the people in the provider and "hobbyist" side of the field are saying.

This week the New York City Sex Bloggers rolled out their 2009 "pinup"calendar to benefit the Sex Workers Awareness (an education and outreach program)which I am told is a non-profit organization I have seen the way people treat Sex workers. I have seen the way that police discount them and how they have been marginalized though many are smart and hard working mothers, caretakers, students, and just regular folk. I would not treat a dog the way our criminal justice system treats these people. Hence I am giving their calendar a shout out here. I would have been at the rollout party last night but for a pressing and late breaking personal issue.

Meanwhile I thought I would highlight two posts from Sex Workers blogs.

A. This one at "The Real Princess Diaries" is about the way most sex-workers view their clientele. It doesn't apply to all and it doesn't apply to the entire strata anymore than any opinion piece can sum up the position of all workers in any field. It is indicative of how most of the clients I have see the scene.

B. Renegade Evolution is a blog, and from what I can gather a person too. She is a sex blogger and worker. She is opinionated, blunt and usually succinct. In this post she talks about a fact in the sex field that makes it hard to help sex workers (providers) and stops them from uniting. It is the Sex Worker Caste System and I see it everyday.

Stop a topless dancer and tell her she is a sex worker, she will tell you she is involved in a legal business and she is a good girl but that escorts are whores. She will tell you all she does is expose her body and people give her money for the privilege of seeing the Hand of God in her beauty.

The High end Escort will tell you that the stripper is the real whore, selling her body and teasing her clients for a buck here or there. She on the other hand does not expose herself before countless others. She only "dates" nice wealthy men who she would likely sleep with anyway if they met under other circumstances. In addition unlike the Porn star or stripper, her work is done in private and is "confidential".

The Porn Star thinks they are both insane. She will tell you she sleeps with men she knows and many whom she loves, she makes a lot of money far more than the others and she is engaged in a safe and legal field where the women call a lot of the shots.

Renegade Evolution thinks they should put away the Bull and unite to help each other. I have to say I agree with her. It is about time workers in the field get out of each others way, acknowledge the business they are all in and try to improve conditions for all. The fight is like criminal lawyers not acknowledging the work of litigators or transactional lawyers. It is all law just different...

2..The Music Scene

A. Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) have been celebrating Louis Armstrong and Thelonious Monk. Two of my all time favs. Here is a link to the post about the Armstrong speech and this one on e nights of Thelonious Monk tribute concerts.

B. Probation in Plea Deal for Blogger Who Leaked Guns N’ Roses Songs. Blogger streamed 9 G'n R songs on his blog, busted for the Copyright Infringement. Getting Probation, hasn't told where he got the songs from... still may however. I wonder if he had streamed only snippets of each song if that would have been protected speech??? IP Genius' any ideas?

C. "Tuba Man" Murdered by Teens, Seattle Mourns

Every city has a person or two who are as big if not bigger than that city itself. He is half village idiot, half sage, but he is beloved and the city adopts him. In NY it is the "Naked Cowboy", In San Francisco it's Frank Chu, In Washington DC it is President Bush, but in Seattle Washington it was Edward Scott McMichael aka "Tuba Man". He was a "busker" a man who made his living making his music on the streets. He was a guy who seemed to pop up everywhere, asking "DO YOU WANT TO BE A PART OF IT?? Who didn't want to be a part of it. He could take your worst day and make you smile with the "Um pa pa" of the Tuba.

"Tuba Man" was murdered allegedly by a group of teens who didn't recognize him. He didn't have his Tuba with him that day.
Story from the NY Times

Money Quote: “Ed would ask in his unmistakable baritone, ‘John, do you want to be a part of it tonight?’ ” Mr. Tangeman recalled. “This statement was part of the genius of Ed, as if contributing to Ed’s efforts, one was not only being a part of Ed’s life but being a part of something much larger, something almost unobtainable.”

That's it for now. I may or may not post another part later. If I do, consider this III of IV. Otherwise, who knows.

Jayci Yeager Has Died. She Was Ten Years Old.

You can find the story here. My prayers go with her, and her family. She appears to have been a very special person.

NEWSFLASH: Luciano Pavarotti, Italian Tenor, Is Dead at 71

The New York Times Reports that Maestro Luciano Pavarotti has died. With it, the heart of the opera world is broken and bereaved. As an American of Italian descent, an Opera lover and singer, and as a fan of Italian culture, I am more than sad. Another part of my history is gone.

I began hearing Maestro Pavarotti at a tender age. As he began to come of age as the world's pre-eminent post-World War tenor in the late 1960's and early 1970's his special brand of opera appeared on the Sunday Morning Italian American radio broadcasts and Shell Oil company sponsored Metropolitan Opera House Radio Performances that could be heard throughout my home. My mom and Dad would have breakfast to his and other great Italian-American singers, then dad would work around the house listening to the music these talented men and women made. Sunday was often the only day of the week we would even see my dad. If we wanted to be with him, and we always did, we learned to love Italian music.

Pavarotti, Roselli, Sinatra, Como, Prima, Butti, Connie Francis, all brought the different sounds of Italian music to my ears and home. Mind you I do not speak a word of real Italian. I understand some, and the more bastardized it is, the better I understand it. I know some of the Neapolitan dialect. But I can sing in the language. I can understand the great emotions that the music conjures up.

(If you never heard Luciano Pavarotti sing, click on this

In college, I had the opportunity to study opera. To sing with my first formal coach, and for a brief moment even pretend that I had sufficient talent to sing on the same stage as the Great Pavarotti. Alas, that was never to be. I was good, but he was great. I had a high B but my C was iffy and my D was usually bludgeoned into submission. I would never make it to the Met to perform. I did however go to see them work.

I new I could try cases someday. Maybe even argue in the SCOTUS or Der Hauge, but I would never know a 15 minute ovation in the Met, or La Scala. That is how NY said good by to Luciano Pavarotti. In his last performance, missing notes and in failing health, NY'ers didn't care. They had spent hundreds of dollars to hear what by would have been by all accounts a bad concert. Instead, we heard no errors, we heard the man of our opera youths, the man who made the art form real again. We loved him. And in his very human way, he loved us too.

Luciano Pavarotti, age 71, leading tenor for the NY Metropolitan Opera company has died, from pancreatic cancer complications. In my memory of my dad cutting wood and building homes and doing projects around my house, Pavarotti, just like my dad, will live forever.

Buona Notte Maestro.

A Life Well Lived: Rest in Peace Lieutenant (FDNY) Joseph P. Colleluori

One of my heroes died last Thursday evening. My cousin Joe. I am profoundly sad, and a bit angry, but mostly I am proud of him. I am proud of him for the way he lived his life, and for the way he died.

If eulogy leaves you maudlin, or if you think sentiment cheap, tune out now.

Joe's dad and my dad were brothers. Two of five brothers and three sisters children of Italian immigrants. Though seven years separated them, they shared the same birthday. Each lived only 67 years. They died 7 years apart. Joseph is his father's eldest son. His death on Thursday night came about seven years after my dad's. Each of these three men worked in fields where they were constantly exposed to toxins, especially asbestos.

In High School he was a state champion hurdler, and married his High School sweetheart (his next door neighbor) basically right out of High School. They have been married for 30 years. It is impossible to think of Coleen without thinking of Joe. Even as young people, these two were wise beyond their years. The one thing you could say about them is that they were not selfish. As their young marriage went on, they were thrust into situations that were difficult.

They helped care for Coleen’s dad and sister after her mom passed away. They cared for my uncle and aunt as they too contracted Cancer and died difficult deaths. They adapted to be there for others.

Joe was supportive of everyone’s endeavors. Whether you were trying to be an athlete, or were an artist or wanted to be a professional, Joe urged you on. In my own life, I wanted to be like him and my other cousins. I wanted to be as athletic as they were. Alas, Music and schoolwork was my forte. One day when I was still in High School, I was bemoaning the fact that I was just not very good at sports, Joseph took me aside. He knew I wanted to be a lawyer. He told me that while sports were a great thing, I should be proud of what I was good at. That someday, I would be able to do things that the athletes in the family would never be able to do. That I would help many people through my efforts to be a lawyer, and that they would be as in awe of me, as I was of them. I don’t know that I accomplished exactly what he had in mind, yet, but I strive to everyday. He was that kind of a motivator.

In 1983, Joe became a fireman in part at the urging of his friend Battalion Chief Brian Hickey NYFD dec. 9-11-01. Brian and Joey were friends forever. They worked together and Brian convinced Joe to take the fireman's exam. On 9-11-01, Joe was ordered to Shea Stadium to help organize the men there who would relieve the firemen at Ground Zero. It was a tough assignment for him. He wanted to be downtown where the action was. Where his son Brian was, where his friend Brian Hickey was.

When the towers came down, My heart was in my mouth. I knew how many firemen were there and I was sure either Brian or Joseph was there. Fortunately for us they weren't there. Unfortunately, then Captain Hickey was there. After serving his tour at Shea, Joe volunteered at ground zero on his days off. He had to search for his friend and golfing partner, Brian Hickey. Until the day he died, Joe missed Brian, and many of the other men who he had worked beside. Many have mentioned that if Heaven has a golf course on it, Joe and Brian are with Mr. Kelly and Coleen’s brother Frank teeing it up and enjoying the game. I guess my anger comes wondering what effect the work Joe did at Ground Zero effected the brain cancer that took him

I was amazed to see how many boys who played ball for Joe and Brian became firefighters. These two were a recruiting poster for the NYFD. One way to judge a man is by the mark he makes on others. Joseph certainly made a mark on these young men. These boys, now young firemen, were at the wake in droves, as were all the kids Joe had touched in life. Through the entire 2 year ordeal they have been there supporting the family, helping where they could. They are a tribute to their coach and mentor.

Joe's was a life well lived. He has 2 beautiful daughters and two handsome sons. Brian, the eldest, followed in his dad's boots, and is a NYFD firefighter. Brian married his high school sweetheart and they gave Joseph his pride a joy for the last 10 months, a granddaughter, Saige. They have another on the way.

I think Kevin, a sophomore in College, will be an all American lacrosse player. He is studying to be a dentist. Diana is going to be a teacher when she graduates college soon, and Melissa is a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Joe coached each child, in soccer or football or lacrosse or some other sport. They carry with them his steely determination and love for life.

Joe gave back to his hometown. Raised in Bethpage NY, Joe and his brothers excelled in Track and Field. Joe was a state finalist in the hurdles. By the time his son Brian hit high school, Joseph was active in the Bethpage Dad's club. He became President of the club and raised thousands of dollars to offset the extra costs of being a high school athlete. In a blue collar neighborhood like Bethpage, those extras can mean the difference between a kid playing ball, or never having the chance. Joe and those he worked with, made a difference, and they had a good time doing it. They helped obtain defibrulators and bought batting cages. Mostly they taught the kids they helped to have pride in their hometown and to give back to it.

Joe was Mr. Bethpage. He knew everyone and they knew him. He either coached them or went to High school with them, or worked with them in the Dad’s club. He helped them in a snow storm, or saved them from a burning building. Bethpage came to the wake by the hundreds. The wake was a tribute to a man who understood what it meant to be a neighbor, a friend, a Father, a husband, a man.

About two years ago, I was laying in a hospital in NYC, I had had surgery the day before, but I started bleeding, and had to undergo a second surgery. Unbeknownst to me, Joseph had taken a seizure earlier that day. The next morning I learned that we were in the same hospital, a floor apart. Joe had a deadly form of Brain cancer. The doctors had gone in and removed the tumor. Even so the survival rate was low. Because Joe was in such good shape they expected him to do as well as anyone. We spent Easter in the hospital together. It was one of the best Easter's I have ever had. Our families were together, and supported each other. Joe's firemen friends were there too. They helped to lighten the mood, as only those who regularly face death can do. I will never forget that week.

Thereafter, life changed for Joe. It was a regular routine of doctors and medicine. I never heard him complain about it. I never heard him whine about the unfairness of it. I only saw him work hard as he always did to beat his new foe. For over a year Joe was doing well. He even thought about returning to the FDNY on light duty. Then the cancer reappeared. Though he put up a valiant fight, Cancer won this time. Joe died at home, among his family, where he belonged.

As we prepare to bury Joseph today, at 10:45AM, we bury only a body, a carcass. The man’s spirit will never be buried. All that knew him and loved him, will carry that spirit forever. After today, we will be finding out how we will live without him. It will not be an easy task, he has set the bar high. No matter what, we will never forget him.

Rest in Peace Joe, we’ll get together again someday.

President Gerald Ford, Dead At 93 Years Of Age

AP announces that President Gerald R. Ford, America's only unelected President died earlier tonight. He was 93. Ford a Michigan Republican was always a solid leader who tried to heal a wounded nation after its long battle with Watergate and the Vietnam War. Ford had been Speaker of the House of representatives before then President Richard Nixon tapped him to be Vice President after Spiro T. Agnew resigned in disgrace from office. Nixon soon followed and Ford again stepped up and assumed the presidency. It was the first time an unelected man was to assume the nation's highest office.

Ford immediately set out to heal the nation's wounds. The world had become polarized and Watergate as much as anything led to the nation's distrust of its leaders. Ford, in an attempt to put Watergate behind us, Pardoned Former President Nixon 30 days after assuming office which led many to believe the pardon was a Nixon Quid Pro Quo for stepping down. Ford in a rare presidential appearance before a House of representatives committee, denied that a deal had been struck and the investigation was closed.

Ford, who had a penchant for pratt falling became the subject of Chevy Chase a comedian then of Saturday Night fame, mimicking. It hurt him badly in the election of 1976 against President Jimmy Carter. Between his becoming a joke and the pardon of Nixon Ford lost an election that was closer than it should have been to Jimmy Carter.

Ford never second guessed his decision to pardon Nixon, he saw it as the only way the country could move on. The move was widely questioned at the time, but History has proven Ford did the right thing. In 2000, the Kennedy Library gave a Profile in Courage to Gerald Ford based in large part on his decision to Pardon Nixon so that the country could heal, knowing that when he granted the pardon he was badly hurting his chances to be re-elected to his own term in office.
Rest in Peace Mr. President.

Death Of A Tiny Dancer: Goodbye Nakita

I was stunned by the news. I had a beautiful client named Nakita. She was a dancer. She was a kid. She was just 22. She is dead. No one knows how she died. No one knows why she died. The police officer said to me "sometimes people just go. We never find out why." Maybe God just needed a tiny dancer up in Heaven.

She has been dead for nearly 9 months now. I had lost track of her. A little over a year ago, I had helped her and she seemed to be starting to take control of her life. She appeared to be getting out of a life that ran too fast for her, and was settling into a life that was "normal."

I was tipped off to her death earlier today by a oblique e-mail. I did some sleuthing and next thing I know I was looking at her friends blog which paid tribute to Nakita. I saw her picture there, it was a different look for her, but the smile was unmistakable. I pulled my file and confirmed it was her. She was 22.

Police in her hometown had posted a number for those that might have information about her. I called and spoke to a detective who told me they have no known cause of death. I asked him if it was a homicide (which was natural since homicide is covering the case.) He said it had not been ruled a homicide or a suicide. He told me a few things I didn't know. I became sadder knowing she had not been able to put her old life completely behind her. She was a good kid. She had a certain spirit about her. And a naivete, which, given her field, seemed misfitted. I couldn't help but wonder if I had done enough for her.

In my practice, we try to go beyond handling cases and put time into clients. We attack their social problems and try to put them in better positions than when they came in. Not just legally but sociologically as well. We help them to try to find employment and to address their addiction concerns. We get them help with anger or with learning to handle family and job related responsibilities. We try to change their worlds enough so that they do not become clients again.

I wondered if she had been taking care of herself. I wondered if she had done this to herself or if someone had done it to her. I wondered about her dad, who she loved so. I felt bad I had not taken more time to check on her. I wonder if it would have mattered.

Life is busy. I have limited time to help those who are in my present care, and to care for those in my life who need me outside of the office. I know it is not my responsibility to care for a client's life after they are no longer a client. Still did I do enough for this one.

In my mind's eye I see the exotic dancer who spoke of loving the ballet. I see the daughter who feared she had let down her dad and mom. I see the young woman who was proud of herself for pulling her life back together. I see her smile. It will haunt me for nights to come.

Good night tiny dancer. Goodbye Nakita...