1984

The '84 karaoke party continues! From "It's a small world after all" (See April '99 Class Notes) we move onto the theme song to Different Strokes (whatever it was), which sums up nicely the jobrelated news of this month's column. And to that oh-so-memorable tune we first add a West African beat, drummed for us by Keith Levenson, who performs with the Jeh Kulu Dance and Drum Theater, based in Burlington, Vt. The group, launched in 1993, includes 13 dancers and six drummers, and Keith is one of the original members. They presented their fourth annual West African Dance and Drum Festival in Burlington, back in November.

Next the MIDI synthesizer goes on line and the music turns techno as JimClemens takes the mike and croons the theme song from Green Acres. Well, greener pastures is more like it for once again this column gets to announce a job change for Jim. But rather than tending pigs Jim now sells bug repellent—as vice president of worldwide sales at Network Integrity Inc., a Marlborough, Mass., firm which develops and markets "real-time data distribution and protection solutions." If you build a network, Jim will come.

Another fall '98 career move turns the dial to the oldies station and, as KarenFrancis hits the spotlight, the speakers start blaring a Beach Boys tune about cruising in a convertible. You pick the specific tune, just make sure the vehicle reference is to a GM product since Karen is now Oldsmobile marketing general manager. I suspect that this involved moving from Denver to Detroit, but stay tuned -and this station (um, column) will provide update as soon as the information is made available to us—no more than nine months or so after the fact.

The Beach Boys move us further west to California and to the cool rifs of the theme song from Night Court. While this melody is not nearly as memorable as the one from Different Strokes it is so apropos to EricTaylor's position that I couldn't resist: Eric was sworn in, about nine months ago, as a judge in Inglewood (Calif.) Municipal Court. This appointment follows, most recently, a number of legal positions with the Los Angeles county government. Now if any of us are ever cruising through L.A. with the top down and "Little Susie" blaring we know where to turn when we get pulled over for speeding!

The dial floats back East, as Mark Gorey gets up to croon "The White Cliffs of Dover." While not a regular karaoke tune it does combine Mark's new position, as of this school year, as an English teacher at Boothbay Regional High School and his stated appreciation for the cliffs, if not white ones, of Maine; cliffs which aren't that far from Dover, N.H. (Sorry!) Mark at sa femme Nathalie ont deux enfants, Alexandre and Nicolas.

Last call is announced and BradHutensky grabs the mike for one last tune, "Cincinnati Dreaming." No, Brad isn't planning on leaving Hartford but his family business, aptly named The Hutensky Group, is "actively looking for properties" in the area. The firm specializes in buying, improving, and then selling at a profit underachieving retail property.

The last bars of "Cincinnati" fade into the night, the lights go up, the smoke slowly dissipates, the last patron, staring at the lines on a yellow legal pad, takes one last swig from her single malt scotch. She's a goner, no hope for another story, unless...unless one of her sources comes through in time for the next deadline...

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