Mark Dawidziak, John Olesky

Reunion

With

Music

I go to concerts and wind up having reunions with former BJ co-workers.

First, Paula and I ran into Editorial Board retiree Sarah Vradenburg and we had a chat and a reunion.

Sarah Vradenburg

Several days later we encountered Mark Dawidziak, PD and former BJ pop culture critic who was there with his wife Sara and daughter Becky. The Moonlight Serenaders (think Glen Miller music) were performing on the Grandview United Methodist Church lawn in Cuyahoga Falls.

And at our third concert in less than a week we ran into Sandy Bee Lynn, the Doylestown delight, who once worked as a BJ librarian. I call that a perfecta trifecta. Sandy also was a librarian in Wadsworth and Orrville.

Sandy Bee Lynn

Mark will have the 25^th book he’s involved with published September 1 by Rowman & Littlefield’s Lyons Press. It’s "The Shawshank Redemption Revealed: How One Story Keeps Hope Alive," tied to the 1994 movie that brought Morgan Freeman an Oscar nomination. The film is based on  the 1982 Stephen King novella “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.”

The Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield was used as the setting for the movie.

Tim Robbins is the murderer sentenced to life in prison. Bob Gunton played the nasty warden.

I was Television Editor when Mark replaced David Bianculli as my pop culture critic at Ol’ Blue Walls in the 44 E. Exchange Street building.