Austin Powers

I met Tracy Austin in 1981 at the Wells Fargo event in Rancho Bernardo when I was 14 and didn't own a camera yet.

I was hoping to run into her yesterday — she was in town receiving the Tennis Mom of the Year award — but no such luck. I did, however, get to see her fabulous mosaic at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and threw my back out in her honor while taking these pictures! (More TK)

Postcard From Indian Wells

UPDATE: Woke to realize this never posted — I am guessing this blog-by-email technique doesn't like photo-intensive posts — but I will add images as technology permits!

Just back to the hotel from spending the day in/at Indian Wells and am too tired to write much more than to say we had a swell time — and to share a few photos before I turn in for the night, including sex bomb Valentin Vashero, who came up short against cutie Casper Ruud, and Djokopas, the doubles team we didn't know we needed!

Tomorrow is Joshua Tree en route to L.A., where I am looking forward to catching up with more friends and some R&R by the pool. xo

It Had to Be Betty

I recently finished Betty Hutton's autobiography, in which I learned she spent the last years of her life in Palm Springs. So I immediately thought of her when walking around downtown where the sidewalks are paved with the city's Walk of Stars, figuring she had to have been honored at some point.

Sure enough, she was listed in the directory, only she wasn't where I'd read she'd be. I quickly assumed she'd somehow been evicted given how terrible she'd been with her once-vast fortune. But then I realized I was on the south part of Palm Canyon Drive when I needed to be on the north — and then there she was!

Having grown up with the lore of my father and his twin (Kenny) being hand-selected by the star for a photo-op during a USO Tour stop in 1952 during the Korean War, I'd like to think my dad was smiling down from that Irish pub in the sky!

Greetings From Palm Springs

Not only did we have an uneventful flight to the desert and then dinner and drinks with a dear friend who bought and refurbished a house in nearby Palm Desert, I was also reminded of a blog-by-email option that I had never needed because of the erstwhile app. If you can see this post, then you know it was successful!

Go West

 

Just a reminder that I’m heading to the West Coast today. In the past, this would have meant the occasional “emergency” blog post from the road. Sadly, the app that once made this possible has gone the way of, well, the personal weblog itself, which means my days of remote blogging appear to be over.

I’m still trying to figure out a workaround, though I suspect the modern solution is something called social media(!).

The trip itself should be worth it. We’re heading to Indian Wells for the first time -- a pilgrimage for tennis fans -- and returning to Los Angeles for the first time in ages, even though it used to be an annual ritual for me. 

If you’re curious how it all unfolds, you can follow along on Instagram, where I will presumably be posting pictures of palm trees, tennis courts and whatever -- or whomever -- else happens to catch my eye, like my friend Greg already is: 

Still Chasing the Blue Gremlin

I was heartened to see that Fox 2 Detroit produced a short documentary marking the 50th anniversary of the Oakland County Child Killer case, which left an indelible mark on me as a child growing up in the area.

Sadly, despite all the technological advances in crime solving over the past five decades, it doesn't sound like investigators are any closer to solving the case. DNA is obviously how most cold cases are solved these days -- and the two male victims were both sexually assaulted. But I'm just now learning that rape kits weren't introduced in Detroit until the late 1970s or early 1980s, which may explain why this case could remain unsolved forever, because surely a familial search would have been conducted by now if they had any usable biological evidence.

As it stands, a few strands of hair without the roots are all investigators seem to be working with, and they were reportedly too few or too degraded for testing using Bode Technology's proprietary DNA X-traction process, which can sometimes generate nuclear DNA profiles from single rootless hairs. For now, we continue to hope someone comes forward. 

Have a look and let me know what you think. This North Fox Island angle -- which was not something I knew about back when -- is truly horrifying. 

P.S. I've also recently learned that the blue AMC Gremlin was eventually ruled out back in the day, which is perhaps why they used a Ford Pinto instead!