Sir Howard Stringer: Spiderman Comes to Broadway

from CBS Eye to Sony Watchman...

Even the Chairman of Sony America has to use the w.c. once in a while, and so it came to be that Welsh mogul Howard Stringer - legendary CBS producer/executive & Sony paternoster of Spiderman 1-2-3 and (coming 2012!) 4 - and I shuffled together into the loo at the Broadhurst Theater on 44th street last night, before watching intense Al Pacino shred the stage as the magnificent Shylock in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.

This Cardiff-lad-by-way-of-Oxford has a stake in everything you do, from listening to Taylor Swift to watching The Social Network, to looking forward to your new PSP Phone (coming December 9?). No doubt he'll be back on Broadway tomorrow evening for preview night of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.

The Spider and The Fly:

Little Jeff & Big Fan, 2005

In an occurrence unprecedented in Broadway history, the line for the Men's Room extended past that for the Women's Room during intermission in The Merchant of Venice.  Also on hand, and gently pulled from the line by my wife for an autograph: Jeff Goldblum, whom we'd "met" just next door in 2005 during his run as Tupolski in The Pillowman.

Yes, Men's Room @ The Broadhurst: The Place To Be!!!
 

11/29 Update: Oy... first reviews not so hot. "Give it up for Natalie Mendoza!"...
                       Mendoza receives concussion in rehearsal...
                       ...and, like Jeff G., let's not for 1 minute forget Laura Dern's beauty

Camelot on the Connecticut, Act 3: Liz Taylor, Richard Burton and JFK Slept Here

Happy Thanksgiving!

We in college-town Amherst and our friends in artsy Northampton, MA are put asunder by a four-mile stretch of commercial and farming land known as the Town of Hadley.  Incorporated in 1659 and largely Polish-settled in the 1800's, Hadley is small-town America at its finest.

DREAM SEQUENCE ALERT:

INTERIOR. Hadley American Legion Hall.  Evening.  Autumn, 1965.

Two aging Hadley-ites on barstools - who could be named Waskiewicz and Matuszko, or Gronastalski and Wanczyk, or Zagrahdnik and Perczak, but who in our tableaux are named Sienkiewicz and Gralinski - knocking back a couple of Miller High Lifes.

Sienkiewicz farms "Hadley Grass" (asparagus), also operating a vegetable stand (Stan's) on the property where it abuts the main road.

SIENKIEWICZ:

(groans)

Tractor needs fixin'

GRALINSKI:

Yep. Be a good harvest if the frost holds off.

Gralinski grows tobacco in his fields across Route 9, and half a mile up the street he leases a corner of his land, close to the Coolidge Bridge, to Barsellotti, who operates a red-checked-tablecloth and candle-in-the-chianti-bottle joint called the Aqua Vitae.

SIENKIEWICZ:

My daughter JANEY's passed her driver's test this week. Y'remember she served a burger to PRESIDENT KENNEDY, a month before he was killed.

GRALINSKI:

(sniffs, but not disrespectfully)

Yeah that's nothin' - I had LIZ and DICK in the restaurant last week, boozin' it up.

No words for a half minute.

SIENKIEWICZ:

"Think we'll get that frost?

Ramsey Lewis Trio's "The In Crowd" plays over the jukebox. Sienkiewicz picks at the label of his Miller.

Stan's, 2010

Aqua Vitae, 2010

 GRALINSKI:

Don't know.

But either way, ... y'better git that tractor fixed!

Don't let it be forgot

That once there was a spot,

For one brief, shining moment

That was known as Camelot.

 See Also: Camelot on the Connecticut, Act 1: John F. Kennedy

               Camelot on the Connecticut, Act 2: Liz & Dick Booze Cruise

Football with Queen Noor's Dad, Najeeb Halaby

Happy Thanksgiving!

Early Thanksgiving morning in 1983, my friend Suzy - shortly to become my boss's wife - called rounding up a gang for a friendly, co-ed football game at the park west of Massachusetts Avenue, just beyond Westmoreland Circle over the DC line in Maryland.  Suzy's angle was to bring a bunch of single folks together and I was living a bachelor existence at the time.  The carrot: "You'll meet my friend Alexa.  Her sister is the Queen of Jordan."

Playing football suddenly sounded like a wise move.

Well, we all got to meet Alexa, who of course was lovely, and I was picked to play on the team quarterbacked by her father, Najeeb Halaby.  What a charming, distinguished and friendly man.  At 68, he had tremendous energy and this hale fellow led us charging up and down the field.  At one point Najeeb and I connected on a beautiful buttonhook-right pattern for a very long TD.  I eventually (much later) learned that my team leader had been at Paul Nitze's side in the formulation of NSC-68, and thus an icon to any anti-communist, cold warrior or neo-con (the term "neo-con" then only recently-coined by Irving Kristol, in his 1979 "Confessions of a True, Self-Confessed, 'Neoconservative'.")

Halaby - active in both the Defense and State departments under Truman - later helped form Saudi Arabian Airlines, was eventually appointed by JFK as head of the Federal Aviation Administration (1961-65) and still later became CEO and Chairman of Pan American Airlines.  A record-setting pilot himself and lover of the skies, his bio will fascinate you.  As an aside, Suzy and I had met working at CTM for Robert L. Schmidt, a Georgetown Law grad from the Kennedy White House who'd onetime QB'ed for both Notre Dame and USC (see p.4) in college (the only player ever to do so, and a lefty to boot).  Thanks to Suzy I have the Kennedy / touch football connection with both of these accomplished field generals.

I ran into Alexa a few more times, usually at Suzy and Tim's, and last I heard (ages ago, still in the 80's) that she was in Jackson Hole hiding out with William Hurt.  But that's her Celebrity Romp to tell....

Supercharged Senator Warren Mosler, ( I ) CT

What Connecticut truly needed was a second Independent senator!

At a weekend cookout this Labor Day, I ate kosher hot dogs and chewed the fat with Warren Mosler, candidate for U.S. Senate from the Nutmeg State and, I learned afterward, described by some as a "Tea Party Democrat" (?)  Warren, in earlier life a bond trader, hedge fund manager ($5BB under management) and supercar manufacturing entrepreneur, brought his 37 years "insider" finance experience to the table: "Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, - all wrong about everything!"  Siding a bit with Christina Romer, Warren says he is confident that unsecured lending in 2008 would have led directly to liquidity and could have avoided the TARP panic and bail-out bedlam.

Post-Election Mortem:
Warren collected 11,261 votes to "Show" for a third place finish with 1% of popular vote, behind Dick Blumenthal (D, Winner) and Linda McMahon (R, to Place).

In his campaign, Warren proffered a plan featuring an immediate federal stipend to the states @ $500/capita, a payroll tax holiday for employers and workers, and a government paycheck at $8/hour to anyone not already employed, thusly:

The Mosler plan empowers the government to provide public service jobs without limit to anyone willing and able to work in a region with devastating unemployment. By providing a means for the government to employ all the labor that is currently idle in the public sector until private sector demand for labor increases, a peaceful and prosperous environment is promoted. And throughout history a government that can provide full employment and prosperity has always commanded the respect of both its citizens and the world at large.

This was Warren's prescription for the effective 20% unemployment in the US - and identically for the 30% (some say over 60%) among Palestinians.  I disagree that the government can nor should be in the business of creating jobs - although if you convince me that the only alternative is to give the money away as welfare & unemployment benefits, then I could support this idea as a more practical, productive alternative.

Warren Mosler - President, USA (2012) - with his Mosler Consulier and MT900

MOSLER'S LAW: "There is no financial crisis so deep that a sufficiently large tax cut or spending increase cannot deal with it."

 See Also: Economics Romp

Making the Connection with David Stern

"Traveling" called on NBA Commish:

Running for my gate in Chicago's O'Hare Airport - C Terminal - 23 years ago, I spotted NBA Commissioner David Stern approaching briskly, briefcase in hand and garment bag over his shoulder.

Like corpuscles coursing in opposite direction through the capillaries, we flashed past each other and it was over... No trash-talking, no obstructionist pick, no zone defense, no two-man weave.  Just pure airport artistry, (like O.J.!)

1984 NBA Finals - Ring Ceremony with Larry Bird of World Champion Boston Celtics

See Also: Nantucket Week - Danny Ainge

Took a Trip in a Gemini Spacecraft: My Hollywood Dinner with Bowie & Iman

"E3": The Electronic Entertainment Expo, every May in Los Angeles - a peek at next Christmas's hottest video games, new game platform introductions, and all that.  For a few cycles I led a crew that pitched a large-ish Discovery Multimedia booth in the main hall, across the aisle from Sega.  In 1995 it was the golden age of the CD-ROM...

We did a glitzy launch for Nick Maris' WINGS multimedia line, flying 24 buyers in small groups by helicopter up and down the coastline and inland over the "HOLLYWOOD" sign before landing on the roof of the Bank of America building, and heading inside for a penthouse dinner.  The final day of the show, "my publicist" & press maven Vicki Stearn and I packed up and headed out of town. It was 5:30 and we had a 10:00pm red-eye, so we steered the rental to Chaya Brasserie in Beverly Hills, by Cedars Sinai Hospital: time to review the bidding over a bottle of California cab and a nice steak.

Bowie / Iman: chopstick chicanery

Halfway through the meal, in sweep David Bowie and his bride, incomparable Iman, with another couple (no, not Ricky Gervais).  They all get seated right at the next table.  Now, in those days you could still light up in a restaurant in LA.

Out come the Gauloises, and up go the flames.

Bowie - Hollywood, 1948 ?

Wild, wild ... laughing, laughing, LAUGHING at the top of their lungs, the party of four carried on.  Teeth flashing and voices booming, none flashier nor boomier than Major Tom's.

Of course Iman was a knockout.  But what I recall is the perfectly stylized angularity and natural, theatrical precision of Bowie's presence. Fitted jacket, striking hair, movie-star cheekbones, Kabuki gestures. Most of all, the exaggerated way that the cigarette rested in his fingers as an essential prop: pointing due north at the ceiling as his elbow swept a perpendicular plane through our space, while the smoke - triangular - even seemed to do what he intended it to do.

Bowie - Smoke on Stage

Our dinner was long and leisurely, but their party were settled in for good (Bowie: osso bucco; Iman: spring salad), and outlasted us.  Too soon, too soon: we had our bill and set out on the rental return dash.  When the smoke cleared, we had dined with Bowie and been spellbound in his aura.

I tell you, the mime training really paid off!

"I owe it all to Lindsay" 

Ben Stein and I: Unindictable Watergate Co-Conspirators

Shave & Haircut: Two Bits.
Less N.P.V. if I let it grow another three weeks and then pay Two Bits...

Walking into the Watergate Office complex for a meeting at The Atlantic on a fall day in 2002, I looked up to see Ben Stein exiting the ground-floor retail area, where he'd just stepped from the Watergate Barbershop with a sharp new trim.

"Hi, Ben!" I ventured.  "Hello Sir!" came the reply.  The full extent of our friendship, to date.

We know Ben Stein for his iconic turn in Ferris Bueller, his Comcast spots with Shaquille "the Real Deal" O'Neill, and "his Money."  Nevertheless, I think of Ben foremost as an economist with lucid good advice.  He's usually got a clear head.  But he had his hair in his eyes on the sub-prime lending and foreclosure debacle....

 I've said to my wife repeatedly, I just want on my gravestone, 'He loved dogs' and 'Bueller, Bueller.'

Ben Stein, 2006

Camelot on the Connecticut, Act 2: Liz and Dick Booze Cruise

(attenuation, as in Act 1... )

My Welsh fellow-countryman Richard Burton would be 85 years old today.  Of course, when in Rome, Elizabeth Taylor and I love to celebrate our birthdays every year on February 27.  And when in Hadley, MA we can't get enough of the Aqua Vitae restaurant.

"What a Dump!" - Elizabeth Taylor, as Martha, impersonating Bette Davis' performance from Beyond the Forest (1941)

Segments of the 1966 film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? were filmed during autumn 1965 on and around the Smith College campus in Northampton, MA. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor portrayed George and Martha, in the intense screen adaptation of Edward Albee's literary 1962 Broadway production.  When not filming, Burton & Taylor frequented Northampton's Academy of Music, where they sat in the balcony to watch movies.  I imagine they must have watched Heston & Harrison in The Agony & The Ecstasy "back at the Academy."

Mano a mano, Tete - a - tete

Mike Nichols' masterpiece is a bourbon-fueled psychological opus of taunting marital tirades and disemboweling professorial jousting - not that there's anything wrong with that.  The stage play took place entirely in George and Martha's house, but the film sets a segment in a roadside bar, where drunken Martha dances suggestively with Nick until George flips his wig and yanks the jukebox power cord from its outlet.  Local legend has it that the small production crew trucked over the Coolidge Bridge to shoot this scene in the Aqua Vitae Restaurant at the Hadley end of the vaunted span.

In the early 60's the Aqua Vitae was the only local place that served spaghetti, and my (Naples born) mama taught me early that the label "Italian-American" (contra facto "Italian") means trouble.  Our family ate a first and last meal at AV in 1965.

I never forgot the place.  Thank heaven that I had the chance to take my own family there for a meal before Christmas in 2004 (it wasn't any better, although the owner had dropped "-American" from the menu and sign).  But the decrepit atmosphere was magical.

Magical most of all for having been occupied by Liz and Dick, in their hard-drinking, insult-trading, hair-pulling, b**ch-slapping glory.

Get Ready...

Aqua Vitae is gone.  Richard Burton is gone.  and...

[DREAM SEQUENCE ALERT:]

 Liz Taylor and I will celebrate our birthdays next February... together - at a nice, out-of-the-way Italian restaurant, and with a couple of large, bottomless glasses of whisk(e)y on the rocks!


See also: Camelot on the Connecticut, Act 1: John F. Kennedy
                Camelot on the Connecticut, Act 3: ... Slept Here

Chillin' wit NBA All-Star Chris Webber

A 43" vertical leap is one thing, but I still can't shoot a free throw...

MICHIGAN FAB FIVE: Juwan "Big Nook" Howard, Jimmy "Jim-Jam" King, Ray "Money" Jackson, Jalen "Jinx" Rose, and Chris "My Discovery" Webber

When former overall #1 NBA pick Chris Webber tired of the Golden State Warriors after one season, he packed his bags to head east and join college teammate Juwan Howard in DC on the Washington Bullets.

The Undisputed 'Truth': Polite tall guy.

Webber had been National HS Basketball Player of the Year at Detroit Country Day School in 1991, and our Discovery Channel communications topper Jim Boyle was an alumnus.

It must have been through Jim's industry that we snared Chris in 1995 to narrate an American history CD-ROM educational game: SkyTrip America.  Others contributing narration to the project were tennis champion Michael Chang, magic libertarian Penn Jillette, architect prodigy Maya Lin, and Irene Bedard (voice of Disney's Pocahontas).  We had them all in the studio at different times.  I managed to drop by Capitol Video the day Chris was in da house.

Chris came and did his job - very well, for a power forward not trained for voice-work.  I commended him for "Putting our Bullets on the map!" and asked about our chances in '96.  He declined to promise a championship* outright, but suggested season tickets would become an appreciating asset. Webber was easygoing and understated - dressed in chinos and a polo shirt.  No bling. No Michigan Wolverine "Fab Five" baggy shorts and black sneakers.

Much Drama
A flashy Bullet nonetheless, Chris had a few run-in's with the D.C. Police before winding up and parting ways with the team in 1998. A year later as "C. Webb" he released hip-hop CD "2 Much Drama" featuring the single Gangsta, Gangsta (How U Do It) and more recently dated Tyra Banks.  From strength to strength!  WebbaGotGame!

* Capitol Bullets 1995-1996: 39-43 (.476) 4th place, 21 GB

Election Special: Eye to Eye with Katherine Harris

What a Difference Ten Years Makes!

(with apologies to my Amherst friends)

A Proud Mount

Three days into the contested 2000 Presidential election and 35-day recount, I proposed a business idea to Verisign: use the trusted authority of its own authentication & digital certificate technology and the DNS architecture of newly acquired Network Solutons to bring integrity to voting.  Verisign hired me to develop the concept as VoteSecure (TM), an internet-enabled voter registration, balloting and tabulation solution.

By December the votes had been counted and by January a new President sworn in [remember?].  Our work was in full swing: we built Verisign Ventures - a skunkworks shop - and hustled like crazy. In no time I was dealing with the state capitals and I found myself meeting with big Washington players like EDS, UniSys, IBM, Booz Allen, Diebold, et alii.

The technology is one thing.  State law and bureaucracy - as we learned during the recount - is entirely another, and those folks in state legislature were hustling too, to define, interpret and pass new laws (it's all they know how to do).  Meanwhile, the State Secretaries of State - Katherine Harris and her 49 counterparts - convened at the US Capitol in March to examine the nationwide mess, and I was right up front and riveted for Ms. Harris' luncheon address to the group, upstairs at Bullfeathers on Capitol Hill. 

The woman they loved to hate: Ms. Harris was intensely charismatic, and all business.  As she was swarmed afterward, I made my way downstairs and was preparing to leave when a young, energetic aide on her Tallahassee staff tapped my shoulder at the coat check window to ask if I knew whether C-SPAN's studio was close enough to walk to.

So picture this pas de deux: as I began to recommend cabbing, I turned and our eyes met: Ms. Harris was struggling into a fine, tailored coat and had need of a third hand to hold her handbag - and my own hand was open.  "Why thank you!" she said as, thinking quickly, I reached gallantly for the Fendi purse with my left hand while fishing a business card from my shirt pocket with my right.  As Ms. Harris' own bejeweled hand emerged from her coat sleeve I placed my card in it and made my pitch: "Tom Porter, Ms. Harris, working for Verisign to design secure voting technology and failsafe authentication systems for the state-capital-to-county-registrar architecture.  We'd love to be in touch with your office!"

My Favorite Secretary of State

We spoke for another 45 seconds or so as I walked the Florida Secretary of State and her aide to the curb, saw them into a cab, and caught my breath.  Tallahassee and I did have 3 more conversations that spring, as well as an exchange by post with the Secretary, who kindly enclosed a memento for me to share with y'all. >>>

The Porter family name comes from ancestors who must have carried bags for the aristocracy.  My heritage prepared me well for this encounter with the Worth Avenue Fendi and its dynamite owner.

"See you at the Orchid Ball, Katherine....