Gene Shalit - A Burl Ives for the Rest of Us!

My brother Steve wrote the existentialist stage play Taung Children, in which the characters are Man, Woman, Store-owner, Jimmy, and Burl Ives.  I've always liked that Burl Ives* was in there, among the mortals.

Opening this week on stage at Western Washington Center for the Arts in Port Orchard, WA is Drop Dead, featuring a Cast of Characters that includes "Ex-porn star," who has become involved with a mysterious actor identified among the Players as "Gene Shalit's Brother."

     INTERIOR. Saturday Afternoon, Late Summer 2005.

     Stockbridge, MA. Sun, breeze filter into the Red Lion Inn's comfy lobby lounge.

     Close-up

ME

(in sotto voce)

Isn't that Gene Shalit?  The old NBC movie reviewer?!?

WIFE

Son of a gun - what's he doing here?

Heads turn. A hairy, whimsical-looking gentleman scowls.  Dream Sequence Alert: A cloud passes before the face of the sun.

ME

He's Bozo - or a Koren character!

WIFE
(grits teeth, removes pin from grenade) 
Let's get out of here before he recognizes you!

* btw, my Dad had a Celebrity Romp experience of his own in the late 1940's, riding the train back to college from the muckland outside of Buffalo, NY.  On return to campus, he reported with excitement to his fraternity brothers that he had "actually seen Burl Ives on the train!" - and was roundly rebuked & ridiculed as a rube by his high-born citified classmates.

Nell Newman, Soapsuds, and Me

During the long, hot summer of 1979, I won a Movie Star Look-Alike contest (entering as James Dean), at the AMC Theaters' Grand Opening in Hampshire Mall.  I also toiled away with my brother Dave, some HS soccer team buddies and assorted others on the Hampshire College Dining Hall food service crew.  Dave was The Condiments Man, and I washed pots.

Among the assorted others: a live wire with a pixie cut named Nell Newman.

I assumed that Nell was a Hampshire undergrad, but cannot confirm that she really attended the school (Hampshire then was like a Grateful Dead tent city or a KOA Kampground - you could blow in from any direction, land there and stay as long as you liked).

Wow!! - Nell had her Dad's brilliant, knock-you-back-on-your-heels blue eyes. We scrubbed pots side by side for several shifts as various groups (Doll Collectors of America, the Union for Radical Political Economics, MA-state meals program for children of migrant workers, Martial Arts camp, etc.) passed through town, using Hampshire College facilities for their programs and needing to be fed.

350cc V-8 & a plain plastic "bench" seat up front: Glorious!

At the time I had a '74 Chevy Nova SS-350 and Papa Newman was making a name for himself on the race car circuit, so - as our casual acquaintance grew - I invited Ms. Newman to take a spin with me around the campus, and showed off the hotrod, suggesting that she "Tell your father I'm ready to race him!"  Nell was polite enough but, as you've already presumed, we never got that far...

I think of pretty Nell whenever I sip a Newman's Own coffee, or bite into a Fig Newman.  Exquisite!

Hooman Majd: Ahmadinejad's Polymath Translator

Out Today: The Ayatollah's Democracy - An Iranian Challenge.  Must-read follow-up to 2008's The Ayatollah Begs To Differ from Hooman Majd, who may again reprise his unique past role as translator of Iran Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's honeyed words, this week at the U.N. General Assembly.

During the summer of 2001, I spent many days in a cramped 5th Avenue Manhattan office above 42nd street working with hard-core music/entertainment entrepreneurs building Artist Network Ventures, a US/UK based concern with heavy hitter (Mike Philipp, Quincy Jones, Dave Stewart) backing.  In fact we toiled all day September 10th running between the offices and the AN board meeting at the St. Regis hotel a dozen blocks north.  Among the motley crew: Hooman Majd, then most recently Head of Film & Music at Palm Pictures and previously EVP at Island Records (U2, Melissa Etheridge).

The next morning, all hell broke loose.  I'd canceled a Tuesday morning meeting in SoHo to return very late Monday to DC by train, but was safely away from the Pentagon; NY office-mate Larry Werner described the scene on 5th Avenue for me and set about by week's end to re-open the business, with Hooman's help and others'.

I enjoyed knowing Hooman, who was clearly too deep a thinker to be toiling in the music biz.  Here's an interesting account I found, of Hooman's views following the surprising elections in Iran in 2008.  The new book promises to be highly intriguing.

Yours truly is as repulsed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as anyone in the US can be.  But Hooman is the real deal: "100% Iranian and 100% American." I'm happy to know that he's got his finger on the pulse-beat, as Iran is so fascinating and influential a factor in the world of the 21st century.

UPDATE: Ahmadinejad's UN rant and Hooman's coverage in Daily Beast, here.

Katharine Graham: Ass-Grabber!

A (very classy) little old lady when I met her, Katharine Graham (1917-2001) was larger than life: incredibly driven, energetic and prescient, very wise and supremely influential.  The Washington Post Company, which her father Eugene Meyer had bought in 1933 and she took over on her husband Philip's death in 1963, grew to a dominant position in the news media and to diversify successfully into many other realms (education, television and technology in particular).

By 1999 the Post empire was leading the way in digital news delivery with the ambitious, groundbreaking washingtonpost.com. and for 8 months yours truly sat in the newsroom among veterans like Doug Feaver (the midnight desk editor who took the call June 18, 1972 about the Watergate burglary), young bucks like hysterical cut-up Daniel Froomkin (then Metro Editor), and sundry other journo's.

As we worked together for several months on a cool technology project, the digital division's deputy General Counsel Katharine Weymouth (then Scully) became a good friend, and I eventually learned that she was Ms. Graham's namesake and grand-daughter (young Katharine is now Publisher & CEO, and assumed by many to be heir apparent to WPO when Uncle Don decides to retire).

there's a Ben Bradlee's connection too... but that's another story!

One day that April, Kay left the 15th street NW HQ and surprised the 'post.com staff in Arlington VA.  As she chewed the fat with newsies and with chief executive Marc Teren, the young Katharine appeared and yelled, "Hi, Gran!"  Grandma wheeled around, embraced our legal counsel, and then grabbed a good handful of little Katharine's rear end, giving it a quick squeeze followed by three or four long, loving grandmotherly kneeeeads.

If you have children or grandchildren, you remember this reflexive, affectionate and innocent fondle from when they were 2 or 3 years old. Quite a different effect here for us in attendance - but most pleasing!

Thank You, Mayor Adrian Fenty

Well, last night Washington DC Mayor Adrian Fenty lost his primary bid to stand for re-election this fall. 

He's been a good mayor and is a real person who cares deeply about the city. He gave 100% every single day of his term in office and will push right through to the baton pass in January when - most likely - city councilman Vince Gray who defeated him last night takes the office.

I met Adrian several times between 1985 and 1995 whenever I went to buy Saucony running shoes at Fleet Feet, his dad's sneaker shop in Adams Morgan. Adrian and his brother Shawn, high-schoolers then, were always helping in the store, and Adrian - on the way to becoming the youngest mayor in city history - also achieved elite status as a triathlete along the way. Father Phil is a genuine, wise, caring and impressive character who he raised his sons right.

The Fenty family are a tremendous, shining example of community heroes.  I know that Wasington DC is far better today for the sustained contribution of the Fenty family and Citizen Adrian.

Ann Campana Judge, Rest In Peace

Ann Judge never sought notoriety, but it found her on September 11, 2001 aboard United flight 77 en route from Washington Dulles airport to Los Angeles.

On behalf of the National Geographic Society, where we met and had worked together, Ann was escorting three sixth-grade students and their teachers to the Channel Islands national marine sanctuary near Santa Barbara, CA for a Society-sponsored educational research project on ocean life sustainability. Ann was a lover of life, whose calling was in brilliantly arranging and stewarding the oftentimes highly complex and eccentric travel support for the National Geographic field photographers and film crews; she also handled the mundane 'safaris' of suits like me who took the Eastern Shuttle between DC and New York.

I knew Ann Judge well for several years, and never once saw her without a smile and a gleam in her eye.  Ann, you were my friend.  May you rest in peace.

Goldie Hawn: Still Got It

She got the window table, but as I herded the family in to grab a bite of lunch on west 56th in NYC, my party was seated across the small room from exquisite Goldie Hawn.

Even refracted through a 2006 lens, the Laugh In-era bodypaint and pealing giggle... those Bird on a Wire-era legs... I had to steady myself.  In excitement I discreetly directed the kids' attention to Goldie Hawn.  Four blank stares.  She was on Laugh In!: (nothing). Starred in There's A Girl In My Soup!: (more of the same).  She's Kate Hudson's mother!!:  "OMiGoDDD! OMiGoDDD!!" - finally, a reaction registers.

Ever since Cameron Crowe's lovely Almost Famous and that great August 2001 InStyle magazine cover, Kate Hudson has ceased to be "Goldie Hawn's daughter" and Goldie is now "Kate Hudson's mom."  But I'm still an old school Goldie fan. Sock It To Me!

LAUGH-IN Reunion: 1983 People article with nice shot of Goldie, references Dick Martin Malibu Beach meet up

Bruce Jenner: The Last American Hero?

Fifteen years ago tonight, Bruce Jenner and I sipped beers and ate giant steaks as we watched Cal Ripkin, Jr. break "Iron Man" Lou Gehrig's record by playing in his 2,131st consecutive major league baseball game.

Then, I was running a software business for Discovery Channel, and had traveled to the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel for the 1995 RetailVision sales conference to pre-sell new CD-ROMs and videogames to the trade.

Typically we would commission a developer to produce our titles, but in this instance we had out-bid the competition to pick up North American rights to the IOC's "official" history of the Summer Olympic Games - a multimedia encyclopedia of facts and highlights that would be introduced in March, ahead of the Atlanta Olympics.  This was our chance to demo the title for buyers and meet the press reviewers.  Through his wife Kris, my teammate Val had lined up Bruce to pitch the title and he was gung-ho to do it.

Our pitch spot was 7:30 - 7:55am, the morning of September 7 - so the night before, we'd agreed to meet at The Cliff restaurant, with a gorgeous lookout view over the Pacific.  It was a perfect SoCal night, and the indoor/outdoor restaurant was packed with people.  All heads turned as Bruce moved through the room, smiling and waving.  The guy was clearly in his element - the center of attention.  Still fit nearly 20 years after winning the '76 Olympic Decathlon in Montreal, full of charm and all smiles.  We settled in at a table with a view of the ocean as well as large screen coverage of the historic Orioles game getting underway, and we talked about Bruce's career from HS to Graceland College in Iowa, to the Olympics.

Jenner 2012 - Still Got It !

What a thrill to hear about the 1976 Olympics from the Wheaties Champion himself - and when he learned I had spent the summer of '76 wearing a paper hat at McDonald's and handing Olympic scratch-off cards to customers who hoped to win a Big Mac, he actually grabbed a handful of fries off my plate and shook them at me, hooting while he cited the promotion: "Gold medal: Big Mac - Silver medal: a MEASLY BAG OF FRIES!!!"

Well, Cal's feat became official the moment that the game passed 5 1/2 innings.  We all stood and cheered in  the deafening din - and Bruce led those around us in a clapping exercise, beaming and nodding approvingly.  Cal tipped his hat.  "Good job, Cal!" said Bruce.  The cheering continued a minute or two, Cal repeatedly tipping his hat and waving.  "Yeah, this is your moment, buddy" added Jenner, slowing his clap tempo noticeably.  Long, loving panning shots of the stadium. Still the clapping continued.

Cal broke into a loping lap around the perimeter of the park, and the fans went wild.

"Yeah, this is all great, but, you know, it's going on a little bit, don't you think?" said the smiling Jenner, his gleaming teeth now gritted.  "Little bit long??"

Cal finished his victory lap, and the place was still going up in flames.

By now Jenner's eyebrows had that distinctive "V" shape.  "Cal's not likin' this - Yeah, I know what its like.  He's gettin' a little TIRED of this!  'Cause I know I sure am!"

Eventually after the fervor subsided, and the game resumed, Bruce was able to resume a calm state too.

Reality Check (l to r): Decadent & Decathlete...

We made a number of appearances together over the next many months - Bruce still sporting the same blown-dry 70's bowl cut that had shamed Jimmy Conners and left Pistol Pete Maravich in the dust, back when.  Bruce did a great job, always stoked, and always a lot of fun.  He was a class act, and distinguished by his positive vibe, high energy, and focused professionalism. We had a lot of laughs... and coming out of our discussions I was able to piece together the amazing interlock of relationships connecting the Jenners, Michael Jackson, Elvis, OJ, and - a name no one yet knew - Bobby Kardashian.  When the darn thing turns up I will mind-map it and update this post.

Of course the Kardashian girls were just budding Marymount High Schoolers then...

September 6, 1995: I watched one great athletic hero have his "moment," in the company of another great whose moment lives on for me, ... and maybe for you too?

Alexandra Steele: Here's That Rainy Day

After fleeing Nantucket ahead of Hurricane Earl and then falling asleep in the wee small hours in front of The Weather Channel's half-decent coverage, I awoke with visions of Alexandra Steele dancing in my head.

Ten years ago, Alexandra was big-market local weathergirl (er, "meteorologist") in Washington DC.  One wet, snowy Saturday eve in mid-December, my wife and I trudged across the lawn for our next door neighbors' annual tuxedo-optional Christmas party & piano singalong, carrying an overdressed eight-day-old baby in our arms.  Our friends had invited a colleague from the WRC "News4" team at NBC's O&O station, and in the door came Ms. Steele radiant, like a warming trend of 80-degree sunshine.

She and I found ourselves sitting together, clowning and singing a few songs.  My wife, noticing our camaraderie, quickly pulled me aside to point out the pure folly of Alex's toes, dripping from the slush she'd walked through in strappy summer sandals.  And handed me the baby.

Later I asked my weathergirl if she'd had any idea that the weather would be so foul when she was dressing for the party.  She dangled the sandal off her toe, looked right at me with a winning twinkle in her eye, and said in southern molasses, "Ah nevvuh pay attention to that stuff!" 

As the man says: "How beautiful she is!"

Maybe I should have saved those leftover dreams...

Nantucket Week: Sen. John Kerry (D) MA.

Nantucket Week cut a bit short: this will be the final missive as ACK braces for Hurricane Earl

A window table for the Senator's party

The finest restaurant on Nantucket is The Galley, hands down.  Amazing food, perfect ambiance, tremendous staff, and the only Nantucket setting whence you can watch the sun set into the ocean while you sip champagne.  The Silva family has refined this masterpiece every year for decades and it is absolutely #1.

During one July evening in the run-up to the 2008 elections, as my party was tucking into dessert, in came John (President) Kerry, (First Lady) Theresa Heinz Kerry, and John's daughter Alexandra.  We exchanged brief pleasantries as he worked the room, my father (not a Kerry fan) nonetheless warming to him and commending him on his commitment as Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship.  We Massachusetts citizens ("voters") were honored to be in his company and delighted when he took the table behind ours, with the beach view.

On this particular night Theresa ordered the swordfish; The Senator had the duck.

After a day of wind-surfing, Senator John Kerry (D), MA is wont to drop by The Galley for delicious fare, and a highball or two with with the high-rolling island plumbers and electricians.