Louie Anderson & Sebastião Salgado
Two connected streams of love, beauty, and art, are included in this Post, to hopefully uplift and inspire.
The first is my tribute to the late, very great, comedian Louie Anderson, with reference to my favorite photo Chinstrap Penguins - and favorite photographer Sebastião Salgado. Scroll down and read up the email string for context and clarity.
The second is an exquisite 20-minute video by Salgado, on the occasion of his 2022 ICP Infinity Lifetime Achievement Award.
Salgado’s soliloquy of life and art is pure perfection. Scroll down to find the video treasure, linked in Peter Fetterman’s email below. I recommend you watch it in full screen mode for optimal impact.
Sharing the love of two very great artists. Hope you enjoy!
From: Martin Keller
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2022 10:44 AM
To: Jim Seidl
Cc: Louie Anderson
Subject: Prayers, Penguins & Seidl Family Best Wishes
Hi Jim
I have passed on your lovely message to Louie's "people". thx for reaching out at a difficult time. --Mk
Martin Keller
Media Savant Communications
From: Jim Seidl
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2022 8:05 PM
To: Louie Anderson
Cc: Martin Keller
Subject: Prayers, Penguins & Seidl Family Best Wishes
Dear Louie:
I’m so very sorry to hear of the health challenges you are so bravely facing. My family’s thoughts, prayers, and best wishes are with you, for a full, speedy, and pain-free recovery.
Recalling how wonderfully kind you were to uplift my brother Mark when he suffered his stroke in 2018, I wanted you to know how much you are loved by our Seidl family in Minnesota - Mark, wife Vicki, son Jake, his wife Jess, brother Steve, my dog Yoshi (photo of his lick attached), and me. 😊
Please know that your extraordinary gift of humor elevates each of us daily, and whenever asked who helped Mark the most during his hellish first-year stroke nightmare, it was Louie, and your beautiful note below. And yes, we still laugh till it hurts - whenever we read, watch, and talk Louie together.
Except for this week, when we read about your hospitalization.
Recognizing your love of all things beautiful – and with the hope that it uplifts you as it does me - I share an image of my favorite photograph below, which my business partner of 44 years, Gus, recently gave to me, taken by the gifted photographer Sebastião Salgado of Wim Wenders Salt of the Earth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OivMlWXtWpY) documentary fame.
Savor the image of Selgado’s Chinstrap Penguins photo below and observe:
The perfect dive of the first. Looking up and out, in perfect form.
Second thoughts for the second in line. Just another fine mess you’ve gotten me into. Intimidated by the grace and courage of the first penguin’s dive.
The one in the middle. Calm. Cool. Collected. Not a worry in the world.
The two side-by side. Sunday in the Park with George.
The last one in line. A safe distance back. The most cautious. Perhaps the wisest.
All, a wonder to behold!
Reminds me of a favorite poem by Apollinaire – which you may have read in Mrs. McEvoy’s class, oh-so-many years ago:
Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It’s too high.
Come to the edge.
And they came,
And he pushed,
And they flew.
Thanks for all you do to make our world a better and funnier place, dear Louie. Including the gentle uplifts and laughs along the way, as you did so lovingly and generously to brother Mark.
May you find miraculous healing, hugs, and hope in the days ahead!
Chinstrap penguins on an iceberg, between Zavodovski and Visokoi islands. South Sandwich Islands, 2009.
With prayers, positivity, admiration, and love!
Jim
From: Jim Seidl
Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2018 9:17 PM
To: Louie Anderson
Cc: Martin Keller
Subject: Louie Anderson & Mark Seidl: Thanks
Good evening, Louie.
Thank you from the center of my soul for your exquisite letter to my brother Mark.
It’s a perfect expression of love, empathy, encouragement and inspiration. I’m not embarrassed to admit that you brought tears of joy to me tonight. Your loving kindness and sense of humor will bring enormous uplift to Mark when I share it with him tomorrow at White Pines Assisted Living in Blaine, where he’s recovering from stroke-related surgery this past Friday morning.
I plan to bring your beautiful letter, and ten copies of your brilliant Hey Mom book to him. He’ll be thrilled!
Hopefully he’ll be able to attend your next scheduled performance in Minneapolis on December 31. If so, I’ll inform you and Martin in advance. If you return home to the Twin Cities before then for an unscheduled show, I’d be grateful for a heads-up from your business office.
In the interim, please know that you’ve brought enormous joy, laughter, and uplift to your raving fans, Mark, Vicki, Jake, and brother Steve, who is also a Johnson High School graduate.
Blessings on you, dear Louie.
PS, Thanks again Martin, for reconnecting Louie with his Eastside friends and admirers. I’m so grateful for your kindness.
My very best wishes and warmest regards.
Jim
Cell: 612.325.8995
Landline: 651.439.7116
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimseidl/
From: Martin Keller
Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2018 5:04 PM
To: Jim Seidl
Subject: Louie Anderson Email for Your Brother
Hi Jim,
Below is the email Louie sent last night. I hope it goes a long way toward healing -- and fundraising.
Forward!
Mk
Martin Keller
Media Savant Communications
Hi Mark,
It’s Louie, I heard you were a big fan.... I’m always humbled by someone being a fan of mine, a fat kid from the Eastside of St. Paul, who always wanted to be liked, who always wanted to be loved, not worshiped though, too much pressure in that!
Who doesn’t want to be liked & loved, I’ll tell you that: You are liked & loved, your Brother Jim, Vicki & Jacob, just to name a few!
So, you went to Johnson! Go Governors! Class of '71’ here, I love the St.Paul, Eastside Pride!!!
I also heard you had a stroke! My Dad had many strokes, including one right after he saw me do Stand-up for the first time. I always felt guilty about that! The good news? He recovered from all of them, not 100 percent but pretty close. He was such a tough SOB! Never give up was his motto.
I’m pulling for you & You are in my Prayers & I encourage you to hang in there & work hard, because I want you to attend one of my upcoming Stand-up shows in Minnesota!
Love,
Louie
From: Jim Seidl
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2018 10:57 AM
To: Louie Anderson
Subject: Martin Keller Introduction
Dear Louie:
Recalling Martin Keller’s superb article “Our Matron Saint of Comedy” (http://mspmag.com/arts-and-culture/our-matron-saint-of-comedy/) in Mpls St Paul Magazine, I recently sought his advice on how I might reach you, to present a special request on behalf of my beloved brother Mark.
When Martin very kindly suggested that I email you directly, I flashed back to 1971 and thought of the attached photo of you in the 1971 Johnson High School Governor Yearbook in Mrs. McEvoy’s Popular Novel class. Hope it elicits a big smile and great memories, as it did for me.
Forty-seven years later, I pop up in your email inbox on a Sunday morning, thanks to Martin’s thoughtful introduction. And yes, it’s snowing in Minnesota today.
In addition to years 1969-71 at Johnson High School, we coincidentally share: the same birth year; St. Paul east-side home-town roots – ours was 915 East Hawthorne; life-long Hubert Humphrey Minnesota Democratic loyalties; Swedish heritage and smorgasbord sensibilities (possibly including lutefisk?); guilty pleasures of ice cream and cookies; love of most things pickled; passion for writing (for my two brothers and me, from our dad Ed who was City Editor at the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press); eternal love of our late, very great and extraordinarily sweet and wonderful Moms – Ora Zella and Leona – including daily conversations with each; a consuming love of laughter – growing up watching Laurel & Hardy, W.C. Fields, Jonathan Winters, Rodney Dangerfield, Eddy Murphy, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, and David Letterman; and the thrill of hearing Johnny Carson in 1984 say “Louie! Come back out here and take another bow!”
From that moment on, preeminent comedian, award-winning actor, esteemed author and story-teller, and Olympic luge and bobsled team hopeful, Louie Anderson, has been my brother Mark’s and my favorite entertainer. We’ve attended your Twin Cities performances over the years, watched your brilliant TV shows, laughed uncontrollably at your comic genius, and cheered for you as your career success has skyrocketed.
Which brings us full circle to my outreach today, on behalf of my dear brother Mark, who suffered a debilitating stroke a day before his 67th birthday on February 1, and is in great need of a laugh. As are his extraordinary wife Vicki, and dear son Jacob.
To that end, absolutely nothing would make Mark’s heart happier than to receive an encouraging email or letter from you, kind Sir, to post on the GoFundMe site that my brother Steve and I recently launched to help Vicki pay for Mark’s exorbitant rehabilitation and care costs not covered by insurance. With remarkably generous hometown support, we’re currently 25%-to-goal at week three of our Mark and Vicki mission, fully committed to goal achievement for by year-end.
As you will see if you click this link to Mark’s GoFundMe site, we’ve taken the liberty to include a photo of you, Mark and Vicki, taken at a post-performance gathering at Northrup: Mark Seidl.
The next time you visit the Twin Cities, I’d love to introduce you to Mark, Vicki, Jake and Steve. In the interim, any support you are able to provide to Mark will be a gift from heaven, knowing how much Mark loves your sense of humor and story-telling genius. And because you are so greatly loved and respected throughout the world, your support will encourage others to donate to Mark’s healthcare, rehab and recovery costs, which again would greatly help Mark and Vicki overcome the enormous, unexpected life challenge that they face.
I’m aware of your extensive and remarkably impressive Facebook and Twitter following. If you’re also willing to help us expand our social media outreach for Mark, we’d be over the moon with appreciation and adoration. And then there’s that brilliant freelance journalist who has so kindly reconnected us, who just might be willing to write a follow-up story to his Matron Saint article about your heart of gold and enduring love of Minnesota.
Thanks in advance for any help you are able to provide in bringing laughter back to my dear brother Mark.
PS, last night I ordered ten copies of your extraordinary Hey Mom book to share with Mark, Vicki, Jake, Steve, and family.
My heartfelt congratulations on the success of your career, new book, and Christine character in Baskets.
As the snow begins to accumulate on the shores of Square Lake, my very best wishes and warmest regards.
Respectfully,
Jim Seidl
President
Legal Research Center
LegalResearch.com
Jim.Seidl@LegalResearch.com
From: Peter Fetterman Gallery
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2022 1:55 PM
To: Jim Seidl
Subject: ICP Infinity Lifetime Achievement Award - Sebastião Salgado
Dear Friends,We are pleased to share this extraordinary twenty-minute film on the life of our great friend and artist, Sebastião Salgado, produced by ICP Museum and MediaStorm, to celebrate his receiving this year’s Infinity Lifetime Achievement Award.
Enjoy!
Peace and love,
Peter Fetterman