Auld acquaintance

WELCOME, 2-0-1-4. May it beA lot better than 2-0-1-3.

Happy New Year from all those you see

Who are listed at left (among others, plus me).

Season's greetings to one and all

Who do their thing at City Hall,

Including His Honor, of course, Michael Nutter.

(Despite stormy seas, his hand's on the rudder.)

And those before him (we wish them well):

Green, Goode, Street and Guv Ed Rendell;

To Bill Hite, who's giving our schools CPR;

To our four big-league teams, each player a star;

To Chief Charles Ramsey and his men in blue;

Retiring Lloyd Ayers' firefighters, too;

To our congresspersons, a big hurrah

(Schwartz and Brady and Chaka Fattah);

Bob Venturi, Bill Marrazzo of 'HYY,

David L. Cohen, Philly's go-to guy;

To His Eminence, Archbishop Charles Chaput;

Vikram Dewan (he's the boss at the Zoo);

The Village Band's maestro, Yannick Nezet-Seguin;

Dick Sprague, Dennis Wint, opera's David Devan;

City Council and its prez, Darrell Clarke;

Tom Knox, Sinatraphile Sid Mark,

Comcast's Robertses, father and son.

Season's greetings, everyone:

Sister Mary Scullion, John Bogle, Dr. J,

Sam Katz, Pedro Ramos, Tina Fey,

Amy Gutmann, the prexy at Penn,

Carl Dranoff, Jane Golden, Boyz II Men,

The Becks, Judge Phyllis and supershrink Tim,

Bart Blatstein, Vince Fumo (we can't forget him),

Bernard Hopkins, of fisticuffs fame,

Larry Magid, Bilal Qayum (a great name),

Kenny Gamble, Jerry Blavat, Carl Greene,

The Mattlemans, Herman and Marciene.

Rosemarie Greco, Sonny Hill, Kevin Bacon.

(What a joyous noise we're makin'!)

David Girard-diCarlo, Dawn Staley,

Dodo Hamilton, Jeremy Nowak, all hail! We

Salute Donna Cooper, Paul Levy, Georges Perrier,

Sidney Kimmel, folk impresario Gene Shay,

Jerry Mondesire, Kal Rudman, Farah Jimenez,

Nick DeBenedictis, Mike DiBerardinis,

Bernard Watson, Terry Gillen, Kevin Hart,

Timothy Rub, of the Museum of Art,

Temple's Neil Theobald, Jonathan Saidel,

Mark Segal, Alan Butkovitz, Patti LaBelle,

Zack Stalberg, Lynne Abraham, Joseph Neubauer,

Joseph Zuritsky, Nora Dowd Eisenhower,

Labor chief "Johnny Doc," a mover and shaker,

M. Night Shyamalan, super moviemaker,

Sharon Pinkenson, Ben Stango of United Way,

Peggy King, Derek Gillman, Lorene Cary. Hurray

For Barbara Weisberger, Dowager Queen of ballet,

Mayoral wannabe Tony Williams, Seth Williams (D.A.),

Judith Von Seldeneck, Drexel's John Fry,

Jill Scott, the Free Library's Siobhan Riordan. Hi,

Philanthropist Ray Perelman, Cheri Honkala,

Labor leader Henry Nicholas, Celeste Zappala,

Jose Garces, Meryl Levitz, Manny Stamatakis,

Marc Vetri, Joan Myers Brown, Joe Sestak. Is

That Neil Oxman we see before us?

Get well, Temple's Peter Liacouras.

Cheers, Blanka Zizka, Charles Pizzi, Will Smith,

Herb Lotman, Chuck Peruto, Estelle Richman. With

Glasses high, we toast Dennis Alter, Franny Rizzo,

Nick Foles, "Doc" Halladay (we hate to see him go),

Pat Gillespie, piano superstar Andre Watts,

Harris Steinberg, Helen Gym, Ron Rubin. Lots

Of luck to John Gallery, Sylvester Stallone,

Pink, Marwan Kreidie, Mariana Chilton,

Sheriff Jewell Williams, Lily Yeh, Stephen Starr,

Marty Weinberg, Ramona Africa, Isaiah Zagar,

Peter Benoliel (hi, Willo), Jane Pepper, Neil Stein,

Tom Leonard, Shelly Yanoff, Joe Torsella, Tom Kline,

The Phillie Phanatic, Pete Matthews, Jim Tayoun,

The O'Jays, Judy Wicks, Set Momjian, Tom Muldoon,

George Gephart, Cecilia Yep, Joe Vignola,

David Haas, Angel Ortiz. We're on a roll. A

Bow to Lance Haver, Dwight Evans, Susanna Foo,

Steve Cozen, Chubby Checker, C.B. Kimmins, too,

Feather Houstoun, Pat Croce, Larry Summers,

And (it's that time again) the incomparable Mummers!

Name missing? Sorry, it ought to be here.

To everyone: A happy new year

From this ancient retiree - a year that's great;

Come, one and all, let's celebrate!

- Don Harrison