Divamensch

The 2023 Grammy for Best Pop Dance Recording went to Kylie Minogue for "Padam Padam." Diva: Minogue "Padam Padam" Mensch: Piaf "Padam Padam" I know, Edith Piaf is no one's idea of a mensch but Minogue and her team doing a song called "Padam Padam" seemed to imply a wink, a nudge, and a tip of the hat to the song by the same name by Miss Piaf. The unwritten (unintended?) tribute to Piaf is a mensch move.

I was saddened this morning to read about the death of Maria Riva. She died last week at the age of 100. She was an actress and producer but best known as the only child of Marlene Dietrich. I always describe Dietrich as "my first movie star" - - the Milwaukee PBS station used to show a week of old movies starring the same person in summer afternoons and I was maybe 12 or 13 when they showed a week of Dietrich movies. I was a goner. Riva wrote a startling biography of her mot