Happy Birthday, Gertrude.  Even if you didn’t love Oakland, Oakland still loves you.  The city doesn’t hold grudges, and doesn’t need anyone’s approval to feel good about itself.  So we celebrate one who snubbed Oak-town.  Too bad, you woulda felt right at home in today’s East Bay.

You may not be widely seen, nor read, but because of you so many of our most beloved painters and writers were.  So, thanks, Gertrude!

I’ll guide you to her final resting place on my VoiceMap tours of the Père Lachaise cemetery, and recite stories from her life.

Coming soon…

See funny pictures and text from our picnic together in The Chairfather book.

The passed have never been more alive!

Book a lunch date with the fallen famous NOW!

Or later…

Really, it doesn’t matter. Their agendas are quite open.

© 2018 Copyright Joe Start. All rights reserved.

Happy Birthday to a former President of the Republic.  Not because he was a great guy.  He wasn’t, presiding over the Dreyfus affaire. Georges Clemenceau said of Faure, “He wanted to be César; he ended up being Pompei.”  Only with the spelling ‘pompé’ it has a whole other meaning!

Faure was pumped too much, and it was his undoing, and our laugh riot.  What a way to go!  If he did nothing else, he gave his public a final story which blew them away!

That’s a good site more than we’ll remember Flanby for!

Coming soon…

I’ll guide you to his final resting place on my VoiceMap tours of the Père Lachaise cemetery, and recite stories from his life.  See funny pictures and text from our picnic together in The Chairfather book.

The passed have never been more alive!

Book a lunch date with the fallen famous NOW!

Or later…

Really, it doesn’t matter. Their agendas are quite open.

© 2018 Copyright Joe Start. All rights reserved.

Happy Birthday Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette.  Before Mickey Mantle, she was the most famous switch-hitter.  She was also the original cat lady, so crazy about felines she said:

“Time spent with a cat is never wasted.”

So, in her honor, here’s a kooky cat video…

I found this review of The Vagabond which describes her first-person writing style quite nicely:

Colette has more punch than Proust

For more of her quotes, checkout Writers Write.

Coming soon…

I’ll guide you to her final resting place on my VoiceMap tours of the Père Lachaise cemetery, and recite stories from her life.  See funny pictures and text from our picnic together in The Chairfather book.

The passed have never been more alive!

Book a lunch date with the fallen famous NOW!

Or later…

Really, it doesn’t matter. Their agendas are quite open.

© 2018 Copyright Joe Start. All rights reserved.

Happy Birthday Fulgence Bienvenüe!

Without him, most Parisians wouldn’t get anywhere.  He’s the third from the last stop on line 3 of my Chairfather tours.

Coming soon…

I’ll guide you to his final resting place on my VoiceMap tours of the Père Lachaise cemetery, and recite stories from his life.  See funny pictures and text from our picnic together in The Chairfather book.

The passed have never been more alive!

Book a lunch date with the fallen famous NOW!

Or later…

Really, it doesn’t matter. Their agendas are quite open.

© 2018 Copyright Joe Start. All rights reserved.

Happy B-day Stéphane Grappelli!!!

I’m so excited to tell you all about one of my favorite dudes ever!  It’s something to be a great musician, but it’s amazing to use your instrument like nobody before you!  Unexpected and delightful.  I was enchanted the first time I heard him, and I still am.  Want some music to cheer you up?  Look no further!

I’ll let you know more about his life in a bit.  Meanwhile, he’d like to share this with you…

Coming soon…

I’ll guide you to his final resting place on my VoiceMap tours of the Père Lachaise cemetery, and recite stories from his life.  See funny pictures and text from our picnic together in The Chairfather book.

The passed have never been more alive!

Book a lunch date with the fallen famous NOW!

Or later…

Really, it doesn’t matter. Their agendas are quite open.

© 2018 Copyright Joe Start. All rights reserved.

Happy B-day Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known as Molière.  Molière turns 396 this month.

If you don’t know about his life, you gotta go on my tour.  If you don’t know about his death, you gotta read my book.

Here’s a little preview: Molière pulled a Dick Shawn way before Dick Shawn.

Who was Dick Shawn?  Are you kidding me?  Stop what you’re doing immediately and watch this clip from It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Groovy, baby!

Anyway, good ol’ DS put that much energy into everything he did, and had them laughing all the way to the end, and beyond!  During a comical performance at UCSD (that’s right, Trevor!) he had a heart attack on stage and  died.  For several minutes everyone thought it was part of the act.  Dick Shawn was always pulling pranks like that of dubious taste (hey, sounds a lot like me). But not this time, bucko, it was for realsies.

Now, I bet you can’t wait to read about Molière’s final act, can you?

Coming soon…

I’ll guide you to his final resting place on my VoiceMap tours of the Père Lachaise cemetery, and recite stories from his life.  See funny pictures and text from our picnic together in The Chairfather book.

The passed have never been more alive!

Book a lunch date with the fallen famous NOW!

Or later…

Really, it doesn’t matter. Their agendas are quite open.

© 2018 Copyright Joe Start. All rights reserved.

Happy B-day Pierre-Augustin Caron, aka de Beaumarchais!  Thanks to this slick gun-runner, the Americans had more weapons to fight the British and win our independence.

He’d be 286 today, which is also the name of my first computer!  (Joke for us oldies).  Although he didn’t have a computer, he still found a way to write stuff, like this:

« Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n’est point d’éloge flatteur. Il n’y a que les petits hommes qui redoutent les petits écrits. » 

Which means, ‘Hey, dude, if I can’t criticize you, my flattering comments are worth diddley.  Only little men worry about little words.’

I’ve been researching de B, along with about 50 other folks as part of four cool projects I’m working on.  Watch this space for more info about the residents of the world’s most visited resting place.

Coming soon…

I’ll guide you to his final demeure on my VoiceMap tours of the Père Lachaise cemetery, and recite stories from his life.  See funny pictures and text from our picnic together in The Chairfather book.

The passed have never been more alive!

Book a lunch date with the fallen famous NOW!

Or later…

Really, it doesn’t matter. Their agendas are quite open.

© 2018 Copyright Joe Start. All rights reserved.