I AM AN IDDIOT VIDDIOT LYDDIOT - IN MEMORY OF LYDIA DOYLE

Since 1995, I have belonged to an internet group known as The Idiot's Delight Digest, which started out as a celebration of all music, befitting the deejay Vin Scelsa who was a free-form radio dinosaur heard on stations like WNEW, WXRK, WFMU, and an "Idiot's Delight" show on Sirius satellite radio.  If not one of the first online discussion groups, the IDD must certainly rank as one of the longest-lasting - although it has branched out to appear mostly through splinter groups on Facebook and the like.

The IDD may have started as being about Scelsa, his radio show, and music in general, but it quickly grew beyond that (fueled in those early days by Bosnia and the OJ trial) to cover any topic imaginable.  And then we decided to take the plunge and finally meet each other face to face, which led to the annual tradition of IDD BBQs as well as going to concerts, plays, movies, and even baseball games.  Several marriages have resulted from this group of Iddiots, and I - who can proudly claim to have invented the term "Iddiot" to define us - am even prouder to be the godfather to a lovely young Iddiette of the next generation.

The reason I bring this up is that on Friday, the Iddiot clan lost one of its own - Lydia Doyle, an emergency room nurse in Long Island who finally lost her brave battle against "The C Word".  

In her memory, I want to share this rarity - the pilot for long-running soap opera 'General Hospital'.  You'll have to forgive the sound quality - nobody back then could have guessed there would be anyone interested in seeing old TV shows, let alone studying them!  O'Bviously it doesn't accurately reflect the world of the ER, let alone Lydia's experiences, but I saw it as a novel way to salute the memory of someone just as novel.  

Good night and may God bless, Lydia Doyle.  BCnU......