tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25792372358499128602024-03-21T23:06:24.371-04:00Celebrity Romp"My Stroll Among The Stars... " by Tom PorterTom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-22051273108061690252013-10-23T11:35:00.002-04:002013-11-29T00:59:45.416-05:00G. William Miller - Investment Advice from the Treasury Secretary<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Legal Tender for All Debts</span></b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My favorite mentor is <b>Mike Cardozo</b>, a super gentleman, successful and principled by anyone's standards, who took an interest in me when I was a fun-loving and apparently undisciplined youth in the early 1980's. We were colleagues for a while at CTM, Mike's stopover between serving as White House counsel on telecommunications to Jimmy Carter, and a long career as a merchant banker.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Cardozo: Prime Mover. Porter: <i>Disciple.</i></b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In the mid 1980's, Mike associated with his Carter administration buddy, 65th Treasury Secretary G. William Miller, and David Rubinstein's wife Alice Rogoff, in the formation of GWM & Associates. When I was sorely in need of professional advice, I'd pop over to GWM and Mike would take me to the Palm, to impart brutal wisdom (such as <i><b>"What you need is Officer's Candidate School, Porter! A little discipline would do you good!"</b></i>).</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Gee - The Real William Miller</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I got to meet the Secretary several times and, when he was out, used his office on a few occasions to make calls while Mike wound up his pre-lunch meetings. Miller was debonair, and kind enough to make small talk with me and toss funny ideas around such as those pitched by entrepreneurs who had ideas on re-fitting an extrusion facility in Cleveland, or wanted GWM to bankroll the growing of hydroponic Belgian endive in the US, or the character who was going to teach the Chinese to eat cheese.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The punchline to this story is that, although I toiled in the TV and new media vineyards for several years, I eventually found myself handling finance and investment clients, including a series of engagements for the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (during the James Wolfensohn era). On one of these projects in 2004, my client called me and my team in for a presentation to the CEO. My two associates on the project (a major real estate developer and a marketer) were both named "<b>Bill Miller</b>" - but neither one was the Bill Miller of Carter heyday. Bizarre.... There were chortles and bon mots around the executive table, which I relayed to Mike, and he to GWM.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Secretary Miller passed away in 2006. Some say he had the strong hand as Fed Chairman in the onset of '70's <b><i>stagflation</i></b> in the US economy. More successful was his subsequent Treasury role in the Chrysler bailout. No matter - In our paths-crossings, he was solicitous beyond anything that was called for, and had real class. </span>Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-82357429072185078672013-09-25T20:45:00.000-04:002013-09-26T15:46:59.061-04:00Consciousness-Raising with Ted Turner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ted Turner believes that men should be barred</span> from holding elected position for the next one hundred years. I guess he now feels that women are suited to positions of true professional and public leadership. Nice to see <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/09/23/ted-turner-men-should-be-barred-holding-political-office-100-years#ixzz2fj80rGf4" target="_blank">Ted's thinking on the matter</a> has "evolved."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sail On, Sailor</b></span></span></td></tr>
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In February of 1985, I helped my boss, President of the Washington DC chapter of Women in Cable, organize a luncheon speech that Ted headlined, where he proceeded to lecture the assembled 95%+ female crowd:<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>"Can't believe these girls down at CNN who go out an' have a baby and then want to come back to work after two weeks, put that little baby with a nanny?!? It's crazy! Now it's a fact, a proven FACT, that a baby needs its mother's love - not its father's love, not "a Parent's" love - <i>its Mother's love</i>! Mama's gotta stay home with that baby!"</b></span> One of the professional ladies present politely cleared her throat and said, <b>"Excuse me, Mr. Turner, but I would hope that - at least after they have borne a child - you would refer to these female employees of yours as 'women,' not 'girls.' "</b><br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><b>"Naaaah, now, listen, Honey... lemme explain..."</b></span></i> (Collective gasp and disintegration of crowd). I admired his confident, self-destructive impulse.<br />
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But we'd met before. In 1982 I was writing business plans at CTM for pay-TV sports networks, and we were trying to package a roll-up of all the regionals into SSN, the Super Sports Network. Ted was then at war with acting <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/06/on-deck-with-commissioner-bud-selig.html" target="_blank"><b>Commissioner of MLB Bud Selig</b> </a>because of the rogue move of pulling his games out of the MLB network TV deal to feed his own channel. We thought, correctly, that he was likely to opt out of SSN (as would the Cubs and Mets, building similar superstation deals with WGN and WOR respectively); nevertheless, Turner and our CEO <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/07/george-steinbrenner-rip.html" target="_blank"><b>Bob Schmidt</b></a> were old jock buddies and Ted came by our offices in McLean, VA to learn more about the SSN plans. <br />
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Ted strolled into Bob's corner office, and I wandered by. <b>"Porter, get in here!"</b> yelled Bob. <b>"Got someone I want you to meet!"</b> He introduced me to Captain Outrageous, telling him I was an up and coming second baseman or some such nonsense. We yukked it up a bit and then Bob said to Ted, <b>"I had your friend Bud in here last week,"</b> and pointed at the desk, where a new Rawlings baseball sat on a display stand. Ted stared at it, scowled, picked it up an tossed it a few times in the air.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>"Gotta pen?"</b></span> Bob pulled the Mont Blanc from his shirt pocket. Ted grabbed it, boldly slashed a line through Bud Selig's autograph, signed his own, and handed the ball back to Bob.</span><br />
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In a later life, Ted launched our <b>National Geographic <i>EXPLORER</i></b><i> </i>series on TBS where it anchored the Sunday evening prime-time block, and he supported it generously for many years, always taking a personal interest, joining (and commandeering) the quarterly planning meetings, and treating us to CNN studio tours he personally led, and to Braves and Hawks tickets whenever we came to town. He loved National Geographic like a young Indiana Jones.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Only women in elected office? Maybe ol' Jane Fonda got through to him.</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Glamour and Boldness - A Pairing That No One Could Have Predicted</b></span></td></tr>
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<br />Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-84313990894157964502013-08-18T21:50:00.000-04:002013-08-26T03:37:10.317-04:00Big Apple Dreamin' - On Tour with Alice Cooper<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've just finished reading <i><b>Louder Than Hell</b></i>, and it's a great book - as the cover blurb attests:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: red;">"THE BOOK EVERY METAL FAN SHOULD OWN" - Alice Cooper.</span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The authors employ first-person accounts to trace the evolutionary history of Metal from progenitors Blue Cheer, Mountain and Black Sabbath through the later strands of heavy-, NWOBH-, glam-, thrash-, industrial-, nu-, speed-, death-, dark-, black-, and dork-metal (plus hardcore and metalcore).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>"I
looked around and I noticed that everyone I was trying to be like was
dead. I went, 'I get it. Alice has got to be one thing. And I've got to
be another. I can't co-exist with Alice; Alice has to be a character I
play onstage.' When the curtain comes down, he doesn't really want to
live my life, and I don't want to live his. He lives two hours a night
on stage. He doesn't play golf, he doesn't want to be married, he
doesn't want children. He doesn't like anything except what he does
onstage, and you leave him up there. To this day, we have a great
relationship."</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vincent Furnier/Alice Cooper,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Louder-Than-Hell-Definitive-History/dp/006195828X" target="_blank"><i><b>Louder Than Hell</b></i></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>!t</i> Books, (C) 2013</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In <i><b>LTH</b></i>, Alice Cooper earns <i>Founding Father </i>status for his early incorporation of dark on-stage symbology and theatrical make-up, both so widely and persistently imitated as to have become iconic.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Motif # 1</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In early July, 1997 I was on business in NYC and staying at the Righa Royal Hotel on West 54th. Waiting in the lobby for a colleague before heading out in suit & tie to the first meeting of the day, I was seated with Wall Street Journal in hand as Alice emerged from the elevator and walked briskly across the diagonal to the front door.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>We shared the lobby for all of 5 seconds. I instinctively dropped the Journal and rose from my chair.</b></i></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Maybe I Scared Him . . .</b></i></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now, in the late 70's my college band got a lot of mileage out of playing <b>School's Out </b>every spring, blasting away on the quad following the last day of classes. Naturally, I tried to yell out "School's Out!" but - in the excitement - could only produce a very loud and unintelligible grunt: "<i><b>HHhnhguuhyaugghhnnt!</b></i>" If you've ever heard the Derek and Clive routine wherein Peter Cook describes the sound made by a rival fan whom he claims to have kicked "square in the bollocks!" at an Arsenal-Spurs game, that's the sound I made . Maybe not unlike what Alice is used to hearing from the louts and punters 20-deep at the front in a general admission show.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">He looked up, smiled and raised an eyebrow at me as he reached for the revolving door and exited into the New York City summer sunshine.</span></b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I like to think that he's wondered from time to time who that obstreporous clod in the suit was.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b>"Skyscrapers and subways and stations<br />
Staring up at the United Nations<br />
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New York is waiting for you and me, baby<br />
Waiting to swallow us down<br />
New York, we're coming to see what you're made of ... "</b></span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Alice Cooper, 1972</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><i><b><span style="color: red;">Big Apple Dreamin</span></b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Also Part of the Scene:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><i><b><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/11/took-trip-in-gemini-spacecraft-my.html" target="_blank">Took A Trip In A Gemini Spacecraft: My Hollywood Dinner with Bowie and Iman</a></span>. </b></i></span></span></div>
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Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-49219346557302688732013-07-21T23:41:00.000-04:002013-07-25T21:21:32.485-04:00Jonathan Bennett - Teen Heartthrob Sighting on Nantucket<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Smooth Operator Bennett w/Juice Guys Smoothie in Hand </b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Last evening on Main Street, we stumbled upon a swarm of giggling, swooning young girls and then emerged from the scrum Jonathan Bennett - better (best?) known as Aaron Samuels, Lindsay Lohan's love interest in <span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><b>Mean Girls</b></i></span> (2004).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You remember <i><b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMRUl6Pv2KI" target="_blank">the "pencil" scene</a></b></i>, don't you?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A "Teen Choice Award" nominee, co-star of Amanda Bynes as well as Ms. Lohan and - by virtue of his turn in Mean Girls - a permanent stimulus to young girls everywhere, Johnathan was followed up and down the cobblestones by a pack of groupies.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>the Rocky Road to Stardom</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And OMG my intrepid twelve year old - </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>like a moth to the flame - </i></span></span>led the pack (though she worried she might be 'stalking').</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>...</i> <b>like father, like daughter!!</b> :-)</span></span>Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-1160542961056667622013-06-23T11:25:00.000-04:002013-07-01T19:26:53.560-04:00My Brother, Mr. Mouth-to-Mouth - Scot Samis<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you are preparing for summer beach action and looking for a good kick in the rear, check out or "NetFlix" (verb) the film "<b>Summer Rental</b>," a low-budget early-'80's Rob Reiner gem. John Candy stars, Rip Torn chews the scenery, and Richard Crenna is riveting as the jackass One-Pecenter whose greed and venality might scuttle Air Traffic Controller Candy's family vacation.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The film was shot in the Tampa/St. Pete basin and needed local talent for extras, so my college buddy Scot Samis, then earning a law degree at Stetson, answered the call of duty. He so impressed Reiner and crew that they gave him a name ("Russ" rather than Lifeguard #1, #2, ...), wrote him a few lines and bumped him to talking head of the otherwise interchangeable and mute tribe of spear-carrier lifeguards who inhabit the group house next to Candy ("Jack Chester")'s rental.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRw7qCIWx29rYeAMsZzYpL9fzardwe53e2mhMmxLNY9FSZKjDTvN2Nxl2X3xut2VOK3d_E7xZE25BX3cgltu8Ga5OBk3DO95bHUTZUC9afRR8TTzYrgrQLLrKm4VmuNqCVuzfZsCYBopSN/s1600/Scot+Samis.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRw7qCIWx29rYeAMsZzYpL9fzardwe53e2mhMmxLNY9FSZKjDTvN2Nxl2X3xut2VOK3d_E7xZE25BX3cgltu8Ga5OBk3DO95bHUTZUC9afRR8TTzYrgrQLLrKm4VmuNqCVuzfZsCYBopSN/s1600/Scot+Samis.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mr. Mouth-to-Mouth, Scot Samis, Esq. as "Russ"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Scot's moment in the summer sun comes when he and the gang of roommates charge out of their rental, underneath a jockstrap-festooned clothesline, and he stays behind to meet underage neighbor daughter Jennifer Chester. The exchange mesmerizes daughter (and provides bedevilment for old dad Jack) when - carrying an inflatable doll - Russ explains that the lifeguards refer to him as "<b><i>Mr. Mouth to Mouth</i></b>."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Scot is now a respected lawyer in St. Petersburg, FL. Well, I still respect him; while presenting a paper recent<span style="font-size: small;">ly on "preserving error in the trial court for review on appeal," his wag colleagues unspooled a fe<span style="font-size: small;">w choice scenes from <b>Summer Rental</b> on the screen behind him, to prank our unwitting barrister</span>.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">His recollections today nearly as crisp as the events were during that "busy" time, Scot shared this with </span>me:</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">As
for an anecdote ... the one
that sticks with
me is when John Candy, knowing I was a local, told me that he was going
on the Pritikin Diet and wanted to go out for one last night of
indulgence. I suggested "Watership Down," a local bar that had a popular reggae band.
He was a classic, big-man raver in the Steel (RIP)
tradition - - bellowing at the top of his lungs, buying drinks and even
getting up on stage and singing a tune with the band. I know this is a
pretty mundane story, but it was nice to see that he was a good guy.</span></span></span> </i></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisvKYENbdssH4npXEKP542kEx5xKjzz8HeTR2jZ25g8dgnn5oETUvZTZixQhup_pqrzMRWiQOy8Y8nxm1_z6-wXxtOJvcElLU_YxED4u8t_fB-EsMY4nT9cg70eIxo6eH6_1j43u3wLpuo/s1600/Bates+Rave+Samis+79.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisvKYENbdssH4npXEKP542kEx5xKjzz8HeTR2jZ25g8dgnn5oETUvZTZixQhup_pqrzMRWiQOy8Y8nxm1_z6-wXxtOJvcElLU_YxED4u8t_fB-EsMY4nT9cg70eIxo6eH6_1j43u3wLpuo/s320/Bates+Rave+Samis+79.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Stroll Up-Hill</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'd never refer to him this way today, but I'm proud to recall Scot as my "Little Brother," as he was during the pledging and initiation period of early 1978. Now that he's a big shot, we grateful, aging New Englanders occasionally get to head south for a weekend of nightspot-hopping, and a full battery of Red Sox/Rays games courtesy of the law firm's excellent box seats.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And if I ever find myself in the Pinellas County clink, I have a friend to call....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUZu6i0NvWFqHSaJaZUHw_JkIPssWQIJRZzMQqkO-G50qxkZvK45h0TNd7tYhq8ZD0uflqtL8FWi92_xDvUMOHSiF9jWBAH9X7iwRUxmeodOYXAuw9ZZ_kdJ4PULfDYsjXQF6QSBiNe4Gb/s1600/Candy+Symposium+-+Celebrity+Romp+-+Scot+Samis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUZu6i0NvWFqHSaJaZUHw_JkIPssWQIJRZzMQqkO-G50qxkZvK45h0TNd7tYhq8ZD0uflqtL8FWi92_xDvUMOHSiF9jWBAH9X7iwRUxmeodOYXAuw9ZZ_kdJ4PULfDYsjXQF6QSBiNe4Gb/s320/Candy+Symposium+-+Celebrity+Romp+-+Scot+Samis.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goodtime Academic Community Nonsense!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In our little college town, the Candy-colored clowns at the local bakery/coffeshop put on a Candy Symposium during inter-semester break a year ago, and I urged them to include <b>Summer Rental</b>. We argued over the counter about whether <b>Uncle Buck</b> really topped <b>Summer Rental</b>, and although I think I knew better, the baker held the programmer's lever and proceeded as he wished<span style="font-size: large;">.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Maybe nex<span style="font-size: large;">t semester<span style="font-size: large;">!</span></span></span> </span></span>Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-74852721681847073362013-05-09T12:02:00.001-04:002013-09-25T20:50:13.584-04:00In Love? with Sharyl Attkisson<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static01.mediaite.com/med/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Attkisson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://static01.mediaite.com/med/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Attkisson.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sharyl Attkisson Kozaki</b></span></i></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>She came to visit us at Discovery Channel when we were nobodies, and she was in her first (CNN) correspondent job, before then making her way with the big networks.</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyzXLCRcHDu7FT7IvStIvuZrKzC_Yfr_70H1vOqEXhLM9W8SqfEATkDV9zQkeOVzhU6YcYEgG5Nws-qNqE61vZjtb8LCVAFVbW8scsxoQAMYvZEpEMyg0Dy38KJG1fyvkqfdXXj-zBf49E/s1600/HRC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyzXLCRcHDu7FT7IvStIvuZrKzC_Yfr_70H1vOqEXhLM9W8SqfEATkDV9zQkeOVzhU6YcYEgG5Nws-qNqE61vZjtb8LCVAFVbW8scsxoQAMYvZEpEMyg0Dy38KJG1fyvkqfdXXj-zBf49E/s320/HRC.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h4>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hillary <span style="font-size: large;">Rodham</span> Clinto<span style="font-size: large;">n</span></span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now, Sharyl Attkisson's longtime employer <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2013/05/08/report-cbs-news-bosses-irked-by-correspondents-thorough-benghazi-reporting-n1591242" target="_blank">CBS News is "irked"</a> by her aggressive coverage on Benghazi, of which the White House and the HRC 2016 Election Committee are understandably wary.</span></b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Although we did not undertake any journalistic projects with Sharyl at the time, nor later, then (1991), she certainly made an impression. Friends <span style="color: red;"><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-men-in-sharkskin-suit-cheskin.html" target="_blank">Steve Cheskin</a></span>, Danny Salerno and </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mark Kozaki </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">in particular behaved as though they were smitten with Sharyl, almost to point of incapacitation. Intrepid Mark petitioned her later at her CNN offices for pictures, and we all received them by mail with gracious thank you notes.</span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For all I know.... </span></b>Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-42421214219505884902013-05-02T22:00:00.001-04:002013-05-05T19:43:12.078-04:00George Schultz: Marking History with the Secretary of State<div style="text-align: left;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.washtimes.com/media/image/2013/05/01/b1-fields_s160x360.jpg?88f184c573ce909601318583b18aab0eaeab2dee" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://media.washtimes.com/media/image/2013/05/01/b1-fields_s160x360.jpg?88f184c573ce909601318583b18aab0eaeab2dee" width="142" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>NOT EVER</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In May, 1993 (Bush 41 administration) as my wife and I waited with hundreds of others in line to enter the brand-newly opened <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/2/revisiting-hatred-of-the-jews/" target="_blank">Holocaust Museum</a>, we had our line cut by statesman and former Reagan-era Secretary of State <b>George Schultz</b>. Schultz <span style="font-size: large;">had done </span>a solid job as Secretary of State, supporting a president
with an ambitious agenda for world change, at an important tim<span style="font-size: large;">e<span style="font-size: large;">, and was now between assignments.</span></span> </span><br />
<br />
We'd arrived early to be admitted when the doors opened. It was about 20 minutes to opening time when up to the curb pulled a big black town car. Out popped a couple of muscle-men, one springing to the door handle to release Schultz who strode purposefully right past us and into the museum. What I recall was the brilliant shine of his black power-shoes. <b>He stomped right by and into the museum, getting a twenty minute head start on We, The Rabble.</b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2n2AzC6cRPug9doZk2YRXaWPVFfVxP6-fAj3cJsrCT9IDUFLv-dnu1D4Hgp-PsfZCA8Q2tb3vhjuKbyZs5N_I3n861WlAohhA2twzb5HbKHhVGRAypdXZZ51geRt9XzLlvKTyh2la9II/s400/%25235.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2n2AzC6cRPug9doZk2YRXaWPVFfVxP6-fAj3cJsrCT9IDUFLv-dnu1D4Hgp-PsfZCA8Q2tb3vhjuKbyZs5N_I3n861WlAohhA2twzb5HbKHhVGRAypdXZZ51geRt9XzLlvKTyh2la9II/s320/%25235.jpg" width="224" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">. . . ?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: blue;"><b>The museum was then - and is now - a breathtaking monument to human strength, faith, soul, and perseverance. I recommend it to anyone unafraid to confront the worst, and eager to be uplifted by the best, in human nature.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">One of the memorable exhibits is a railroad transport car<span style="font-size: large;">, through which one passes to enter a <span style="font-size: large;">huge space that is </span></span>overfilled with the confiscated shoes salvaged by the Nazis from the victims they murdered. The room in which this huge trove of shoes was piled smelled of leather and death; it was overpowering. <b>Never Again.</b></span><br />
<br />
We have come a long way in this country and the world, with Holocaust scholarship.<br />
<br />
I feel privileged to live now in a town with a university that supports the endeavor of Holocaust study with the resources and collection of the recently opened the <a href="http://www.umass.edu/ihgms/" target="_blank"><b>Institute for Holocaust, Genocide and Memory Studies</b></a>.<br />
<br />
I never got to speak with Mr. Secretary - he blew right by us. But twenty years later, I still recall the impression that his shoes left.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWmdiJ0mbxfszvS5W4EGpEbqJ5P78FFTuVVrP_cA1ljB4IRDT_Iw0KOem66bvs6vaDVtUh8NjqsUK18VpvVGfROqOiloZYesCdL8gUch4m5O7jpxIvPd1-YFaSA_bAU10ZiV1ZP57M9AY/s1600/George+Schultz+wing+tip+shoe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGWmdiJ0mbxfszvS5W4EGpEbqJ5P78FFTuVVrP_cA1ljB4IRDT_Iw0KOem66bvs6vaDVtUh8NjqsUK18VpvVGfROqOiloZYesCdL8gUch4m5O7jpxIvPd1-YFaSA_bAU10ZiV1ZP57M9AY/s400/George+Schultz+wing+tip+shoe.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>George Schultz</b></span></td></tr>
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<br />Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-37932325582047904152013-03-02T14:50:00.003-05:002013-04-07T12:32:03.622-04:00Swing Time in the NBC Commissary with Betty Furness<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/2/Open/Warner%20Brothers%20Distribution/Movies/Swing%20Time/_derived_jpg_q90_250x250_m0/SwingTime-Still3.jpg?partner=allrovi.com" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/2/Open/Warner%20Brothers%20Distribution/Movies/Swing%20Time/_derived_jpg_q90_250x250_m0/SwingTime-Still3.jpg?partner=allrovi.com" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Dapper Fred, Glamorous Betty</b></span></span><u><br /></u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">She danced with Fred "<i>Lucky Garnet</i>" Astaire (<i><b>Swing Time</b></i>, 1936), and had a good run in the 30's as an RKO contract player.</span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But by the time I came along, Betty Furness had served as a consumer protection advocate in the Johnson administration, and had become well-known for consumer affairs reporting on NBC, alongside of - and sometimes substituting for - Barbara Walters.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the late 1970's, Betty's reporting for NBC was appearing regularly on both the nightly news and the Today Show.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Once at that time, during the college spring break holiday, with brothers and cousin I was visiting my uncle whose office at NBC sat high above the skating rink at Rockefeller Center.</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0y5-dcPzzeHnpPShyphenhyphenauD1TnC-1PR_wNG3oSfjJvTGZZ3D-mfQaIbnbmMBoIqVLQacZ6h3259LdFHkWorDLmOySWmTo07_1-xyxng0pmklzkPbKmpGnyOyOZkXZ2dWv2JJZUTi1wnqHJQG/s1600/Betty+Furness+NBC.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0y5-dcPzzeHnpPShyphenhyphenauD1TnC-1PR_wNG3oSfjJvTGZZ3D-mfQaIbnbmMBoIqVLQacZ6h3259LdFHkWorDLmOySWmTo07_1-xyxng0pmklzkPbKmpGnyOyOZkXZ2dWv2JJZUTi1wnqHJQG/s400/Betty+Furness+NBC.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>NBC Reports: Furness on Chemicals in Food, Sept. 8, 1976</b></span></td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We marveled at Uncle Tony's executive suite complete with shower, snagged tickets to sit in the audience for <i><b>Saturday Night Live </b></i>(<a href="http://www.rockymusic.org/showvideo/2ecafdcd66bb54813d8730d8f89c627a.php" target="_blank">host: Christopher Lee, musical guest: Meatloaf</a>), and then headed to the cafeteria for lunch.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Now, the NBC Commissary has been the setting, or itself the butt, of many, many jokes</i> dating back to <i><b>The Tonight Show </b></i>and <i><b>Laugh-In</b></i>, and the tradition had been perpetuated on SNL. So we felt excited just to be allowed in there!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhI49IuBqwVVcCumiVyEnjZPQHEQrqtWVBVBUBbhQfpFljCE7fXpJMxwjTe8OKqlbayllAlUyRpXHdtTLvB9vLccLg1APZdl60Ea2HGeb6SFM1socKR6Ag3ZPDQRNcYQpexgp2HjF2FdRe/s1600/Betty+Furness+French+Fry+Thermometer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhI49IuBqwVVcCumiVyEnjZPQHEQrqtWVBVBUBbhQfpFljCE7fXpJMxwjTe8OKqlbayllAlUyRpXHdtTLvB9vLccLg1APZdl60Ea2HGeb6SFM1socKR6Ag3ZPDQRNcYQpexgp2HjF2FdRe/s400/Betty+Furness+French+Fry+Thermometer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>A Thermometer for French Fries?</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We had just settled in with our lunch-room trays, when Tony pointed out the elegant and proper looking woman at the next table as Betty Furness. She was eating a healthy, responsible meal of cottage cheese and fruit and she eyed us and our plates of fries with a bit of disdain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We didn't think much about it at the time, and she thought even less about us I suppose. <span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="background-color: blue;"><i>But how many women can say they've<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>danced with Fred Astaire?</i></span> If I'd only known it at the time, I'd have shaken her hand....</b></span></span>Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-64394842559915485592013-02-19T22:10:00.002-05:002013-02-20T20:12:44.503-05:00On Air with Tom Chapin<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9burmm3_RnWmUAxv6dLlLlgnw77910QDdpDdHU39scb57szdvrw_xnpn-QjEok7ubYXA-msfFiEUkdDA4AUNHjgbHP5rdcXp-8aYD-ABdObebk3hNI-F65n9ENQlVlQN7FP96EuPDSuCi/s1600/Nat+Geo+Celebrity+Romp+June+1970.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9burmm3_RnWmUAxv6dLlLlgnw77910QDdpDdHU39scb57szdvrw_xnpn-QjEok7ubYXA-msfFiEUkdDA4AUNHjgbHP5rdcXp-8aYD-ABdObebk3hNI-F65n9ENQlVlQN7FP96EuPDSuCi/s200/Nat+Geo+Celebrity+Romp+June+1970.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>"The World, and All That Is In It"</b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>When I was an un-sullied lad</b></span>, running business affairs for National Geographic TV, I had an assignment to set up our new production office at 1630 Broadway in Times Square. I hopped many Eastern Shuttles, learned to eat sushi that winter, and scouted the grimy pre-Giuliani splendor of the 'hood.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We had launched National Geographic EXPLORER on Nickelodeon in 1985, then moved it to WTBS before a year was out. At that juncture, we dropped hired-gun spokesmodel David Greenan and chose personable, charismatic Tom Chapin to host the 8-10pm Sunday night magazine-format show. Tom would eventually be succeeded by Robert Urich, and later <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/04/titanic-discoverer-bob-ballard-asked-me.html" target="_blank">Bob Ballard</a>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Tom Chapin of Nat Geo Explorer</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I got to meet Tom several times in the studio between 1986-1988, and he's a great guy. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz9cQOX4X3w" target="_blank"><i><b>Make a Wish!</b></i></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You will be relieved to learn that letters written to National Geographic Society during the roaring '80's always received close and respectful attention, and wide circulation among the department heads. Once early in Tom's tenure, for fun, I wrote a letter - in the voice of an earnest but cranky and befuddled National Geographic member - to Society President Gil Grosvenor complaining that "<span style="color: purple;"><i><b>your immoral Tom Chapin</b></i></span>" had been drunk on the air.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: purple;"><i><b>"My wife and I are Tee-Totalers!" </b></i><span style="color: black;">I wrote.</span> <i><b> "Disgraceful - by the end of the show, he Had The Glass Right There On The Desk Next To Him! Never will we watch your degrading 'television show' ever again!"</b></i></span> I used a friend's home address in Hollywood, and posted the letter from L.A. while on a business trip. Sure enough, a week later that letter came in the front door of the TV Division with stern instructions from the President that we review every minute of that program and "Get me an answer!" We cleared it, and we told Gil "<i><b>it must have been some crackpot....</b></i>"</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Clean-living Tom Chapin, deservedly, sailed through unblemished.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> * * * * * </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Tom and <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/07/feeding-world-with-harry-chapin.html" target="_blank">Harry</a><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/07/feeding-world-with-harry-chapin.html" target="_blank"> (whose hunger I satisfied)</a> were brotherly collaborators. From <a href="http://harrychapin.com/circle/circle_spring_03.pdf" target="_blank">Circle</a> newsletter:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Like most of Harry's songs, “Circle,” the one that became known as the “Chapin national anthem,” has a story behind it. When Tom Chapin was hired to host the weekly ABC Television children’s show "Make a Wish" in the Summer of 1971, the show consisted of two word topics in each episode like "fire" and "wind." They were looking for a songwriter to write a song for each word, helping to bring each word to life in a way that would be meaningful and appealing to kids.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Tom immediately recommended Harry for the job and the producers agreed. This was the year when Harry had gotten back into music and had created his first band with John Wallace, Ron Palmer, and Tim Scott. He was opening for his brothers’ band, "The Chapins," with Steve and Tom Chapin, and Phil Forbes and Doug Walker, who later became Harry's lead guitarist, every weekend at a club in Greenwich Village called The Village Gate. So writing songs for "Make A Wish," although very lucrative for him, was far down in the list of Harry's commitments.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One week the word was circle, and Harry still had not written the song—the night before the episode’s taping. "After the gigs at the Gate, we usually met, ate, and rehashed the evening at Maria's Diner in Brooklyn Heights," said Tom. "It was late Sunday night, and we were going to be shooting the episode for "Circle" early on Monday morning, and he promised me he'd have it done. So at 6:00 a.m. Harry called me and played the first verse and chorus over the phone while I took down words and scratched out the tune." Hours later Tom performed "Circle" for the first time on camera, walking around the Cinderella fountain in New York City's Central Park.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For a while it was only the first verse and chorus that existed. "Then our mother told Harry it was great song, and he ought to write some other verses. He did--and it became a signature Chapin song. All these years later, we still sing the song at concerts, weddings, funerals, and people all over the world love and sing that song."</span></i></blockquote>
Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-70928551870260844842013-01-29T14:30:00.000-05:002013-02-19T21:09:51.613-05:00Secretary of State Comity Club<span style="font-size: large;">The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, before which <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/09/nantucket-week-sen-john-kerry-d-ma.html" target="_blank">John Kerry</a> appeared as a war protester in 1971, and of which he most recently has served as Chairman, <span style="font-size: large;">today c</span>onfirmed him in a comity vote as U.S. Secretary of State.</span><b> </b><br />
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<b>The nomination will now go to the full Senate for another comity vote.</b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://writingcompany.blogs.com/this_isnt_writing_its_typ/images/kerryandtheelectras_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="http://writingcompany.blogs.com/this_isnt_writing_its_typ/images/kerryandtheelectras_3.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Electras </i>wild-man bass player John Kerry</b></span> </b><span style="font-size: small;">(standing, left of drummer)</span><b> - </b><span style="font-size: large;">St. Paul's Academy, Concord NH, 1961</span><b><br /></b></span></td></tr>
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If you believe in diplomacy, then U.S. Secretary of State is a pretty influential role on the world stage. I hope our next <b>Secretary of State <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/09/nantucket-week-sen-john-kerry-d-ma.html" target="_blank">John Kerry, with whom I dined in style</a></b> one evening, has as much success and influence as did Reagan Chief of Staff and G.H.W. Bush Secretary of State <b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/12/dec-25-in-prayer-with-james-baker.html" target="_blank">James Baker, with whom I attended church services</a></b>, in his day (1989-1992).<br />
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With a <i>reeeeeaaaal </i>stretch, one could argue that <b>Katherine Harris</b> has been the most influential SOS in recent history - as the <b>fifty <i>State </i>Secretaries of State</b> each get to count the votes in their own state. <span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">And after <b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/11/election-special-eye-to-eye-with.html" target="_blank">our history together</a></b>, she's still my favorite among the three...</span></span>Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-75546653929851218422013-01-15T18:55:00.001-05:002013-01-21T18:23:43.116-05:00Mary Schapiro, My Favorite Commissioner<span style="font-size: large;">I normally <span style="font-size: large;">do</span>n't call attention</span> <span style="font-size: large;">to a friendship with someone who's <i>currently </i>in a position of truly extraordinary importance,</span> ... as my associations with some of the <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/03/discovering-mickey-hart.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">other</span></a> <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2011/02/rip-dave-friedman.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">notorious</span></a> among the Celebrity tapestry could present them with - by what mathematicians call the associative property - <i>a disastrous public liability!</i> <b>But now that Mary Schapiro has resigned as Chairman of the SEC I can safely reveal that we are friends, and through the most political of Washington connections:</b> the sleepovers, trick-or-treat nights, and classroom hi-jinks of our schoolgirl daughters.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglqrKnvVJL7MDgSqsoB5G2sF9Jm9NWOd9_ahG1VNia3cwnnJM8qqeJurfdcMmHC9gCsGn6qGN6sS4vmcrW0T0AUSG4VbziGUdEeQmACdD8gtqipne85Z_kzYC8JUOJnHCU_AN43ClCVmPZ/s1600/Mary+Schapiro+2008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglqrKnvVJL7MDgSqsoB5G2sF9Jm9NWOd9_ahG1VNia3cwnnJM8qqeJurfdcMmHC9gCsGn6qGN6sS4vmcrW0T0AUSG4VbziGUdEeQmACdD8gtqipne85Z_kzYC8JUOJnHCU_AN43ClCVmPZ/s400/Mary+Schapiro+2008.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Supply/Demand: D.C. Cupcake Wars</b></span></td></tr>
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Mary and I were soccer side-liners for years and years as our girls were growing up. We did our part in the school pageants, fundraisers and field days, and the girls got hula lessons at Mary's house one wild afternoon. The year that I was a "classroom parent" (<i>don't ever sign up for more than one tour of such duty, please!</i>), we arranged for Ms. Mackie's 5th grade class to venture forth on a field trip from DC to NY, where Mary hosted them at her FINRA offices and arranged a bell-ringing at the stock exchange. <br />
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<i><b>Here's what Mary looks like when she's about to serve you a designer cupcake. Or, in my case, two:</b></i></div>
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She's done a fantastic job getting the SEC back on solid footing. I did have occasion to visit the SEC on business twice during Mary's tenure (although one of those times she had to duck out for an emergency summons to speak with friends in Congress), and I came away with greater respect for the work and mission of the institution, and of course reinforcement of the deep good feelings I already had toward my friend. <b>I'm due back there next month and I'll really miss her!</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">Power Play: <span style="color: red;">look for <span style="font-size: large;">six</span> at the <i>Sands Casino's</i> high-stakes Texas Hold 'em table:</span> <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/08/christina-romer-and-economics-of.html" target="_blank">Christina Romer</a>, <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/10/going-to-school-with-paul-volcker.html" target="_blank">Paul Volcker</a>, <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2011/08/roger-mudd-and-fannie-mae-kerfuffle.html" target="_blank">Dan Mudd</a><span style="font-size: large;">,</span> <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2011/02/breaking-news-tura-satana-has-died.html" target="_blank">Tura Satana</a>, <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2013/01/mary-schapiro-my-favorite-commissioner.html" target="_blank">Mary</a> and me . . . !</span></span></b>Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-76113036536039758492012-12-30T16:40:00.002-05:002013-01-29T14:42:16.084-05:00Surf's Up: on the Flight Deck with Brian Wilson<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The one and only, the great Brian Wilson.</b></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://pacific.orconhosting.net.nz/1924p.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://pacific.orconhosting.net.nz/1924p.jpg" width="221" /></a><b>In 1994, I was being recruited for a CEO job with Luna Imaging,</b> an L.A.-based start-up with Getty funding. Before my visit to meet the entrepreneur, when I would stay at <a href="http://www.shuttersonthebeach.com/" target="_blank"><b>Shutters on the Beach</b></a> and get the pitch, I first snuck out to the coast for a screening meeting during a half-day stop-over in LAX with Gary Hromadko, the VC backing the venture.<br />
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We met in the American Airlines Ambassador Lounge and sat in the big lounge chairs. <b>There, sunk comfortably into a huge chair ten feet away with a confidante? Brian Wilson!</b><br />
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Although I'd resisted my band-mate Dave's proselytizing in college about the Beach Boys, I eventually could admit I admired Brian - much more for his ballads than for the Beach Boy surf rave-ups. Especially because he was secure enough, whole enough (or crazy enough?) to write and sing with great emotional vulnerability about fear, and alone-ness, and crying, and doubt, and hurt - in songs like "<i><b>In My Room</b></i>," "<i><b>Girl Don't Tell Me</b></i>," "<i><b>Caroline, No</b></i>" and "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uK2itK3l5w" target="_blank"><i><b> 'Til I Die</b></i></a>."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Brian Wilson at the Bridge - on Sunset</b></span></td></tr>
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Flash forward to 1994 and by this point in my life, I was a confirmed fan, but had not yet developed a complete appreciation for Brian's production genius that would be fulfilled when I came late to <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Pet Sounds</b></span>, and - finally - when <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>SMiLE </b></span>finally had its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile_%28Brian_Wilson_album%29" target="_blank">38-years-late release</a>. Still I felt I had a kindred spirit in that he was the only other person I knew of who admired and openly praised the Four Freshmen - to others they were Squaresville, 'though not to me, and Brian has always honored them as his harmonic inspiration.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Perfect Pitch</span></b></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
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Gary and I spent a little over two hours talking. Sometime before we
wrapped up, Brian and his friend stood up, shook hands and parted. As
he walked away from us, I thought of the anonymous silhouettes, receding against
the day-glo horizon, in the classic key-art poster from the Bruce Brown film
"<b>Endless Summer</b>."<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I was too awe-struck, and too much captive of the interview moment, to get up and introduce myself. But I felt the warmth of his sun* ... and knew I'd now <i>truly </i>been <span style="font-size: large;">in</span> California!</b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Precision Genius</b></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b> . . . "Lately, I'd been depressed and preoccupied with death...Looking out toward the ocean, my mind, as it did almost every hour of every day, worked to explain the inconsistencies that dominated my life; the pain, torment, and confusion and the beautiful music I was able to make. Was there an answer? Did I have no control? Had I ever? Feeling shipwrecked on an existential island, I lost myself in the balance of darkness that stretched beyond the breaking waves to the other side of the earth. The ocean was so incredibly vast, the universe was so large, and suddenly I saw myself in proportion to that, a little pebble of sand, a jellyfish floating on top of the water; traveling with the current I felt dwarfed, temporary. The next day I began writing "'Til I Die", perhaps the most personal song I ever wrote for The Beach Boys...In doing so, I wanted to re-create the swell of emotions that I'd felt at the beach the previous night."</b></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">'<i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uK2itK3l5w" target="_blank">Til I Die</a></i></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> -</span> <b>Surf's Up</b>, 1971</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: small;">* Something interesting <a href="http://forgottenhits.com/the_story_behind_the_warmth_of_the_sun" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>.</span> </span></div>
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Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-61975692570640605872012-12-21T20:20:00.003-05:002013-02-13T21:50:50.677-05:00Julius Lester - Cupid and an Early Valentine<div style="text-align: center;">
<pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>"We are only human. We make mistakes. We oft times do not know what we are
doing, or why. We hurt each other out of the depths of hurts whose pain we have
not felt. This is what it means to be human - to love each other in our
mistakes, our hurting each other, and in the darkness that is always present."</b></span></pre>
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<pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><b>Journal, 1978</b> </b></span></pre>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDRtyP1R3eyxpA3ds-3GWW6s5_Mk74g8_EGHiiOMGlDdyuy2gSfBRP-D3vVpFKDsRb92yEOBJ6qPCv6dJNmA49l3YDIFAeUvQTHMR3jKRnYwCalg-YPUMRDwSd826MfIWOgZfGfWcSwMXA/s1600/Julius+Lester+celebrityromp.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDRtyP1R3eyxpA3ds-3GWW6s5_Mk74g8_EGHiiOMGlDdyuy2gSfBRP-D3vVpFKDsRb92yEOBJ6qPCv6dJNmA49l3YDIFAeUvQTHMR3jKRnYwCalg-YPUMRDwSd826MfIWOgZfGfWcSwMXA/s320/Julius+Lester+celebrityromp.gif" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Remarkable Julius Lester</span></b></span></span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In Amherst, MA we have a marvelous, unique and incredibly creative man, a man who has sought to understand human struggle - political, social, private and emotional - and documented it with force, feeling, and amazing tenderness. <b>He is Julius Lester.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />New School professor, distinguished UMass faculty icon; folksinger, board member 1965 Newport Folk Festiva<span style="font-size: small;">l<b>;</b></span> photo documentarian of the US civil rights movement (<a href="http://www.project1968.com/an-interview-with-julius-lester.html" target="_blank">here's a great interview</a>), Viet Nam war, and Castro/Cuba. Pioneer in Afro-American Studies, Judaic and Near Eastern Studies. But <b>I admire Julius most for three things:</b></span><br />
<ol>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.amherstbooks.com/LocalAuthors/LocalAuthorsPix/LesterCUPID.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.amherstbooks.com/LocalAuthors/LocalAuthorsPix/LesterCUPID.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhE9YlfJIcAoHv2GO_SOMmSefxsLa8NdULkHmhvxeH_hJfI8xsa7TQaSv_HqIcRq8c0w_DZ9EhXRUsKmm-M6S61cS9IiWtpxr0_mJjqS0B1QkdT94e86DjpomP_r10QwXJGcUXz6eHKpIU/s1600/Lester+Whitey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhE9YlfJIcAoHv2GO_SOMmSefxsLa8NdULkHmhvxeH_hJfI8xsa7TQaSv_HqIcRq8c0w_DZ9EhXRUsKmm-M6S61cS9IiWtpxr0_mJjqS0B1QkdT94e86DjpomP_r10QwXJGcUXz6eHKpIU/s200/Lester+Whitey.jpg" width="120" /> </a></span>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He wrote "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Look-Whitey-Black-Powers-Your/dp/039417139X" target="_blank"><i><b>Look Out, Whitey! Black Power's Gon' Get Your Mama!</b></i></a>" about his days (through early '68, though he must have turned the manuscript in <i>just </i>before April 4), as a field coordinator on the ramparts at the SNCC,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He wrote "<i><b>Cupid</b></i>," and when I heard his heart-melting reading at the Jones Library he left tears on many of our faces,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He occasionally reads, sings, or lay-leads at services in <b><a href="http://www.j-c-a.org/" target="_blank">our lively local synagogue</a></b>, the Jewish Community of Amherst.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When in Amherst, come to the back room at A. J. Hastings Newsdealer's, and search among the greeting cards for his hand-printed and signed masterpieces, including this one below ("<i><b>Black American Gothic</b></i>") which I presented to my wife one year on Valentine's Day. Then walk across the street to Amherst Books and purchase a copy of "<i><b>Cupid</b></i>," as I did for my eldest daughter as a Valentine's Day gift when she was coming of age.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv3GUhUuznfq3XDYhm8Vblv3Zngyacf-b7JjEEaEGz_g-PWeMgb-UPed5TAObWTTGX9yyAAIAsYgReSj2-irRxOTxZfmFePdvqHjW5t2S522oKeWAf2HINTvWn5rVvczL3eMw3t_kRwWNN/s1600/Julius+Lester+-+Mississippi+%235+(1966).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv3GUhUuznfq3XDYhm8Vblv3Zngyacf-b7JjEEaEGz_g-PWeMgb-UPed5TAObWTTGX9yyAAIAsYgReSj2-irRxOTxZfmFePdvqHjW5t2S522oKeWAf2HINTvWn5rVvczL3eMw3t_kRwWNN/s400/Julius+Lester+-+Mississippi+%235+(1966).jpg" width="500" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Black American Gothic (1966) - (c) Julius Lester</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I was lucky enough to speak with Julius recently when his photographs were on display at the JCA. Introduced myself as a reader and as the son of an old English department colleague. We shared a few words, and I met his lovely wife. I took a chance and complemented her that she was no doubt the blessing in his life who enables him to write so warmly about human love and vulnerability. Then I [coarsely] quoted him this passage from "<i><b>Cupid,</b></i>" and thanked him for the dialog his book had opened between me and my then 13 year old daughter:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>"There come moments in each of our journeys when we can no longer continue our lives as they are. But neither can we see what we will become. We either go forward, with no idea of where we are going or what we are doing, or we remain as we are - and begin to die, though we do not realize that is the choice we have made. This is why love is such a fearful undertaking....</b>"</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Cupid: A Tale of Love & Desire, <i>2007</i></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i> </i></b><i> </i></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjefTZdc4APtKKHxIXurIERUEHZYjMqIfYuYN8Y-LUaTDlPI8yegugeoLy4RNEqr6EWsZWWfDtDlVGB1Z0l8e7gqPh9y9DSBJBb7H3kgofJSkap0Q2bwCE_r2tHbaILxaMUUhVYbaQNPSQl/s1600/Julius+Lester+celebrity+romp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjefTZdc4APtKKHxIXurIERUEHZYjMqIfYuYN8Y-LUaTDlPI8yegugeoLy4RNEqr6EWsZWWfDtDlVGB1Z0l8e7gqPh9y9DSBJBb7H3kgofJSkap0Q2bwCE_r2tHbaILxaMUUhVYbaQNPSQl/s1600/Julius+Lester+celebrity+romp.jpg" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Shabbat Shalo<span style="font-size: large;">m</span> </b></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A man who understands struggle and love, and can enlighten us on each, is someone who understands much of what life is about.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Gratef</b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>ully Y</b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>ours</b></span><span style="font-size: large;">.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
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<pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></pre>
<pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></pre>
Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-37728588428107089452012-12-01T14:50:00.001-05:002013-04-06T11:57:12.955-04:00Fellow Breast Man Roger Ebert<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSballtkHIwVQF1MWRWFpJ8fbLMKiYw83H5nAQ7v-66GsKGSPjFh3URDfL4fitLaHhjio_Ov4ZZJAJ4-KLvoXXVOLNUoIKBc52hkNye20t3WUwhEXr3W85mGB1Sp7ZNUprJbxtXy087cYK/s1600/IMG01754-20120902-0727.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSballtkHIwVQF1MWRWFpJ8fbLMKiYw83H5nAQ7v-66GsKGSPjFh3URDfL4fitLaHhjio_Ov4ZZJAJ4-KLvoXXVOLNUoIKBc52hkNye20t3WUwhEXr3W85mGB1Sp7ZNUprJbxtXy087cYK/s400/IMG01754-20120902-0727.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Poolside: an Urgent call . . . </b></i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Roger Ebert is one of the best ever - perhaps the finest - movie/film critics in the world over the past 50 years<i><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><b><span style="font-size: small;">(T</span></b></i></span><b><span style="font-size: small;"><i>ake that, Paulene Kael!). </i>He and partner Gene Siskel (R.I.P.) created the "thumbs up/down" rating shorthand and had true chemistry as a reviewing team.</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Roger is a fanatic, on par with <a href="http://screenwritingfromiowa.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/tiny-pieces-of-time/" target="_blank">Peter Bogdonovich</a>; he's also always honest and thoughtful - and I think quite fair - in his reviewing. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I appreciated <a href="http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040224/REVIEWS/402240301/1023" target="_blank">this review</a> of Roger's.</span> I still disagree with RE about <b>Ryan's Daughter</b>, though.... </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://thechildrenofmarx.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/ebert460.jpg?w=450&h=150" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://thechildrenofmarx.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/ebert460.jpg?w=450&h=150" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Thumbs Up !</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Usually treated as an amusing footnote to his bio, the young Ebert of 1970 dabbled in debauchery with <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-friend-russ-meyer.html" target="_blank">my hero Russ Meyer</a> as screenplay collaborator on <b>Beyond the Valley of the Dolls</b>.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPyfjK_b7UR9BCI5EN6H47qLAaPeMJtuTxdLzeqmy2kCebFn8jrgqt5UQtT1CqGC3A1bmQq1ewGejs8Xxgo8GEqBde-qbpMxmHElWBxBFF2a7tf0kglWm_VWyRSlMstjhO1Ja78rKWAsE/s1600/IMG01757-20120902-0730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPyfjK_b7UR9BCI5EN6H47qLAaPeMJtuTxdLzeqmy2kCebFn8jrgqt5UQtT1CqGC3A1bmQq1ewGejs8Xxgo8GEqBde-qbpMxmHElWBxBFF2a7tf0kglWm_VWyRSlMstjhO1Ja78rKWAsE/s400/IMG01757-20120902-0730.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Ebert Surrounded - the Gang's All Here</span></b></i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In the spring of 2005 I finally got to meet Roger when <b><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/roger-ebert-bonnie-hammer-alan-and-susan-raymond-honored-54335732.html" target="_blank">he was honored</a></b> with a CINE Lifetime Achievement Award on M street NW in Washington DC. A friend had invited me to the event at National Geographic TV, and after seeing the Raymonds (Patient Zero progenitors with their high-quality PBS innovation "American Family" that indirectly begat today's 'reality' sewage) honored, I caught up with Roger.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b>First stop (establishing shot): Men's Room.</b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"<b>Porter Hall</b>," I
introduced myself. Ebert brightened, quizzically. "<b>We have a good,
mutual friend - RM</b>" I continued. "How do you know Russ?" asked Roger,
and we were off.</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><b>Initial exposition and plot-set-up. Backstory. All that rot. Choice private anecdotes for validation (<i>see below</i>). Confirmation. Camaraderie. Continuity. Drama, pathos and everything else, in ten minutes chat and a stroll from the Sumner School building down to the street, round the corner and a sidewalk parting at the cab on 17th street, NW.</b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ebert instantly connected the dots - he had heard Russ talk of his Washington 'insider' buddy, referring always to a "<b>Porter Hall</b>," whose original namesake is a shady character whom Ebert/Meyer contrived in the BVD script, played to a villainous T by Duncan McLeod. Well, that insider is yours truly.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTXXVqR_6GVCDp0c_rvv3itoBcGr7gqOwx88p2TgxOIM3bM5xHn" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTXXVqR_6GVCDp0c_rvv3itoBcGr7gqOwx88p2TgxOIM3bM5xHn" width="301" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Two Gentlemen <span style="font-size: large;">w</span>ithout Equal</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Roger and I lamented RM's passing the previous September. By his words about Rus,s it was instantly, abundantly and cantilevered-ly clear that Roger had been as genuine and devoted a friend as any man could ever have.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Now, Russ was without doubt the best raconteur I ever met, with a genius for tale-telling, a vocabulary that he could have copyrighted, and a bottomless well of incredible stories (<i><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">"Hemingway rousted us out of our fartsacks and paid our way into the best whorehouse in Paris"... "I screwed <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001142/" target="_blank">Uschi</a> all that summer on the carpet of my office at Fox!"... "Ebert got blown by the pool!" </span>... etc.</i>).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSrLei0sGv0bgZujAjTbksDxGbLcdVHwuaio1ZT9YW7zLgY0tezyRXRLNKjJGmlzsW6czE6gcvF9J9RZuQ0ovunZeU3nOWghPkeWKkWDpf36hpFO_7o780umVX2ne23fgmTzC07iF7DYBX/s1600/IMG01756-20120902-0728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSrLei0sGv0bgZujAjTbksDxGbLcdVHwuaio1ZT9YW7zLgY0tezyRXRLNKjJGmlzsW6czE6gcvF9J9RZuQ0ovunZeU3nOWghPkeWKkWDpf36hpFO_7o780umVX2ne23fgmTzC07iF7DYBX/s200/IMG01756-20120902-0728.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>On and On . . . </b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The bond between Roger and Russ was borne out by the hours of tales RM had spun with me about his exploits with the youthful Ebert, which are more fully chronicled and liberally sprinkled throughout RM's 19-lb., three-volume "<b>Breast of Russ Meyer</b>." And RM loved to recount these hi-jinks when we were out on the town. Once, over huge portions of liver and onions at the Daily Grill in Palm Desert, Russ referred to Ebert (with obvious gleeful affection) a "<b>that <i>Moravian bastard</i>!</b>" Russ was a demanding friend - he had no distractions in his own life other than self-selected obsessions, and he offered little and grudging latitude to those of us whose attention he craved; yet, although he no doubt vied competitively with her for RE's attention, RM always spoke with highest regard for RE's wife Chaz.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When we met, Roger was already struggling with the cancer that would eventually ravage his larynx, shoulder, jawbone, and facial structure. <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Head held high, he soldiers on un-deterred, and un-abashed, just like his best friend.</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>News: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-roger-ebert-appreciation-20130405,0,669989.story" target="_blank">Roger Ebert passed away</a> April 4, 20<span style="font-size: large;">13.</span></b></span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Rest In Peace, and See You At The Movies. </span></i></span> </b></span></span></div>
<br />Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-14889087614744511752012-11-12T20:47:00.001-05:002012-11-14T15:50:01.991-05:00Rockin' the Vote with Martha Quinn - My MTV All-Nighter<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>As an unsullied early-career kid, circa 1982-83, I had <span style="font-size: large;">but </span>one dream:</b></span>
to move to NYC and work in business development for MTV. I got my shot in
1985, but before then something even more magical happened: I met and of
course fell in love with Martha Quinn.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2011/07/marthaquinn2.jpg?w=630&h=420&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2011/07/marthaquinn2.jpg?w=630&h=420&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>My Martha: Ah, the Eighties ...</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Well, we all were in love with Martha, once she and her confreres hit
the airwaves in August '81. But of course I was sure that I loved her more than anyone
else possibly could.</span><br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggAh5JHlLnduAW7cI83cI37K1OmnWcnAOJoNWYhAWCawV6tHJuSrFc4Ynq3v4W-p_m9sF4Gtvry_D_sNMzZFgIUNx9lFCdiP0U5VngvL45CVHFxg6pgMkX-fcCkEbsv99Eagfrm584N-7F/s1600/Martha+Quinn+NCTA+83.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggAh5JHlLnduAW7cI83cI37K1OmnWcnAOJoNWYhAWCawV6tHJuSrFc4Ynq3v4W-p_m9sF4Gtvry_D_sNMzZFgIUNx9lFCdiP0U5VngvL45CVHFxg6pgMkX-fcCkEbsv99Eagfrm584N-7F/s400/Martha+Quinn+NCTA+83.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>California My Way</i> - 5th Dimension, later Main Ingredient</b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So it's late 1983, and I'm an east coast boy on his first visit to California. Had
already hit the beach in Malibu with <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/12/goodnight-dick-my-malibu-sunset-with.html" target="_blank">Dick "<i><b>Laugh-In</b></i>" Martin</a>, then rented a car and drove in a SoCal freeway Lot-49-and-L.A.-Woman revery down "the 5" and then east and west on Ball Road, bulked at Spaghetti Station, before checking in to the
Anaheim Hyatt on the Disneyland perimeter for two days of the Western
Cable Show.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I quickly found out where the night's action would be:
upstairs at the WASEC reception.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaRJz-OUuN62_Ovv0dhbtmh7i62Ghxq3nmR8hexIqKT6zLyeb1nigZXr9WDho1-HxlaPMFsGzHZ4a3AAxMh5sTnat1K4zR1TgWOL8Ro_3vlI72mL2f5QcfAsEZ01NwG09D6p2YDbzhu0gs/s1600/Martha+Quinn+at+NCTA+83.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaRJz-OUuN62_Ovv0dhbtmh7i62Ghxq3nmR8hexIqKT6zLyeb1nigZXr9WDho1-HxlaPMFsGzHZ4a3AAxMh5sTnat1K4zR1TgWOL8Ro_3vlI72mL2f5QcfAsEZ01NwG09D6p2YDbzhu0gs/s400/Martha+Quinn+at+NCTA+83.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Deep Purple: Place in Line</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bob Pittman was there, I schmoozed him a bit, hung with the marketing guys for a while, and then I spotted her, perched on a stool at the countertop, and lighting up the hospitality suite with her smile and laughter. <b>Martha Quinn</b> - tiny as a mouse, and bubbly like new champagne. Chortling along: uplink site techie Paul Beeman, a jolly middle-aged guy from the Smithtown TOC.</span><br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://static.flickr.com/61/204409992_3072a72135_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://static.flickr.com/61/204409992_3072a72135_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Diamond Dave - <i><b>Always O<span style="font-size: x-large;">n</span></b></i></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What developed next was a boisterous, high-pitched music trivia game between the three of us, and it went on for over three hours. Her handler got cranky because Martha was engrossed with us instead of working the crowd, but finally gave up and left us alone. Forward we rolled like Def Leppard - <i><b>On Through The Night</b></i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://i.ebayimg.com/t/80s-Game-Martha-Quinn-PC-2007/11/!!d5hGWwB2M~$(KGrHgoOKicEjlLmZ3G2BKlt9jtGOQ~~_35.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i.ebayimg.com/t/80s-Game-Martha-Quinn-PC-2007/11/!!d5hGWwB2M~$(KGrHgoOKicEjlLmZ3G2BKlt9jtGOQ~~_35.JPG" width="452" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>I'll Join You In That Time Capsule</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Martha really knew her 60's stuff, 80's Thompson-Twin techno/poppy-pop, and folk music, and she of course had the inside track on all the acts of the moment including the L.A. hair-metalers. Beeman was an encyclopedia - acts, songs, dates, labels and chart position. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I held my own on heavy metal/NWOBHM, 70's soul/R&B, San Francisco sound - and early 50's vocal groups. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is safe to say that we all showed each other up, and blew each other away. Over and over and over. <i><b>I could hear music.... </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>* * * * *</b></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We stayed up nearly 'til sunrise. Paul disappeared. Great breathtaking fun, lots and lots of jazzy, twinkly eye contact. <b>Where would it end?</b> Well, it would end back in New York....</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYDW7t4KrbmbpW92GoSbKV_r5Wq7k8By6s_8HyWiecCHsnKxGLswydhwu-K5R5yrHiw8o7qYQaoyLlof9enpr_G5JP7Iqt1M0lbWbjeM7qpTuRJkefxQlj3eiZTI_V-z9sVO6tN9QRPEpx/s1600/martha-quinn-now.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYDW7t4KrbmbpW92GoSbKV_r5Wq7k8By6s_8HyWiecCHsnKxGLswydhwu-K5R5yrHiw8o7qYQaoyLlof9enpr_G5JP7Iqt1M0lbWbjeM7qpTuRJkefxQlj3eiZTI_V-z9sVO6tN9QRPEpx/s400/martha-quinn-now.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>All Within Reach ... If You Know What To Do.</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Naturally - <i><b>what a rube! </b></i>- I imagined/hoped that this night was just the beginning. We exchanged numbers in the Hyatt lobby, agreed to each think about a trivia question that was really just a conversation continu-er concerning <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-years-eve-with-david-lee-roth.html" target="_blank">Van Halen</a> and the high number and interesting selection of cover songs they had produced and might next produce, and we made vague plans to see each other in New York.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://d13pix9kaak6wt.cloudfront.net/background/marthaquinn_1296046585_94.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://d13pix9kaak6wt.cloudfront.net/background/marthaquinn_1296046585_94.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Martha in Malibu - <span style="font-size: large;">I Want My ...</span></b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had to call through the MTV switchboard many, many fruitless times for her (it was obvious there was a never-ending queue of clowns calling and panting for her, and I guess I was one, albeit ultimately with an edge of <i>slight </i>legitimacy), and we did indeed re-connect later that winter, for coffee on Astor Place, and separately, briefly and awkwardly, at the Cherry Lane Theater, but the magic was gone. She was in her world, and I a visiting nobody from Nowheresville.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I later had opportunities to cross paths at the <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-years-eve-with-david-lee-roth.html" target="_blank">end-of-'84 MTV New Year's Eve Party</a>, and at the <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/10/robbin-crosby-ratt-infestation-in-radio.html" target="_blank">1985 MTV Music Awards</a>, but by then fate had cruelly decided that nothing would materialize.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Still, ....</b></span></span>Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-14934490266051203942012-11-08T06:45:00.001-05:002012-11-11T07:02:56.513-05:00Keep Counting, Florida !!<span style="font-size: large;"><b>My shining moment with Madame Secretary, <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/11/election-special-eye-to-eye-with.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Cheers, all!</b></i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LXOs6rNqc4e7E6acUFnAgAXHKblCTAr-dft34kBYTDBAFcAjKmamRIBS5vkQR0a66yFTsbnWqlqJIMGx03l09iDLVVEfW-5ymgwNStcqGyqP1eFlXZlZHuuIRaouiLSf38xcq2-hsggy/s1600/Katherine+Harris+-+Orchid+Ball+-+Celebrity+Romp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LXOs6rNqc4e7E6acUFnAgAXHKblCTAr-dft34kBYTDBAFcAjKmamRIBS5vkQR0a66yFTsbnWqlqJIMGx03l09iDLVVEfW-5ymgwNStcqGyqP1eFlXZlZHuuIRaouiLSf38xcq2-hsggy/s400/Katherine+Harris+-+Orchid+Ball+-+Celebrity+Romp.jpg" width="429" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Katherine Harris, at the Orchid Ball</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><b><b><i>"Those Who Do Not Learn From</i></b></b><b><b><i> Their History Are Doomed To Repeat It ! "</i></b></b></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><b><i>Winston Churchill, <span style="font-size: small;">paraphrasi</span>ng George Santayana </i></b></b></span><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div>
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Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-64364481736159234742012-10-27T23:00:00.000-04:002012-10-31T09:39:08.161-04:00Presidents and Near-Presidents I've Met, or Nearly Met<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.irc.vbschools.com/fortheweb/Political/images/PresidentialSeal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="http://www.irc.vbschools.com/fortheweb/Political/images/PresidentialSeal.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><i>You<span style="font-size: large;">'ve</span> <span style="color: blue;">Spoken,</span> and <span style="color: blue;">We've </span>Listened</i></span>: w</span>ith<span style="font-size: large;"> the Pres<span style="font-size: large;">id</span>ential Election <span style="font-size: large;">imminently upon us, I can't resist <span style="font-size: large;">re-stunting these posts for you, the well-informed electorate.</span></span></span> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><b>Like an erstaz Forrest Gump? Zelig? Joe Garagiola? I have blundered across the paths of more than one person who occupied or lusted to occupy the Oval office... or the U.S. Naval Observatory... and a couple who helped determine the outcome of a Presidential campaign or election.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><u><i>Meet a few of them here: </i></u></b></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2011/04/alan-cranston-and-first-pulled-punch.html" target="_blank">Alan Cranston</a> (D, 1984)</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/05/john-edwards-painful-fall-from-grace.html" target="_blank">John Edwards</a> (D, 2004, 2008)</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/05/on-stage-with-tony-goldwyn.html" target="_blank">Tony Goldwyn</a> (<span style="font-size: large;">R</span>, 2012) </b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2011/04/in-orbit-with-john-glenn.html" target="_blank">John Glenn</a> (D, 1984)</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/11/election-special-eye-to-eye-with.html" target="_blank">Katherine Harris</a> (R, 2000)</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/07/pinning-that-monkey-tail-on-donna-rice.html" target="_blank">Donna Rice</a> [Gary Hart (D, 1984, 1988)]</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2011/03/fritz-hollings-thinnest-fat-man.html" target="_blank">Fritz Hollings</a> (D, 1984)</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/10/camelot-on-connecticut-part-1-john-f.html" target="_blank">John F. Kennedy</a> (D, 1960)</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/12/ted-kennedy-hale-fellow-well-met.html" target="_blank">Teddy Kennedy</a> (D, 1980) </b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/09/nantucket-week-sen-john-kerry-d-ma.html" target="_blank">John Kerry</a> (D, 2004)</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/08/at-deli-counter-with-mrs-vice-president.html" target="_blank">Hadassah Lieberman</a> [Joe (D, 2000)]</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/10/rip-george-mcgovern-my-co-pilot.html" target="_blank">George McGovern</a> (D, 1972)</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2011/02/double-dating-with-george.html" target="_blank">George Stephanopoulos</a> [Bill Clinton (D, 1992)]</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/10/mo-udall-sweetheart-of-theta-delta-chi.html" target="_blank">Mo Udall</a> (D, 1976)</b></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<u><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>To come:</b></span></span></i></u><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Tipper Gore [Al Gore (D, 1992, 1996, 2000)]</b></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>H. Ross Perot (I, 1992)</b></span></span></li>
</ul>
Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-8663304692559292732012-10-24T07:40:00.004-04:002012-10-24T13:20:36.133-04:00Mo Udall, Sweetheart of Theta Delta Chi<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Well, it was a snowy, snowy winter's Saturday night, of which we had many, on the Hill. </b></span>Morris Udall (D, AZ) who had tried to capture the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination by running to the <i>left </i>of Jimmy Carter, visited the campus to speak in the Hamilton College Chapel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bisitaguam.com/images/abundance/039.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://bisitaguam.com/images/abundance/039.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Have a Drink on Me, Mr. President</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My politico friends attended, <b>I didn't</b>. I was at the Pub. But some of the lef<span style="font-size: small;">te</span>st-leaning students on the Program Board, who'd brought ol' Mo to Clinton, were upperclass members of Theta Delta Chi where I had friends, and where a second-shift party was to occur as the Pub was closing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the inexorable political movement of the moment, I followed in the<i><b> </b></i>hip-deep, snowy peloton of the happy throng ... to the promise of more beer.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Never Fail</b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Inside, it was elbow to elbow, cheek-by-jowl, and I found myself braced in a huddle of Psi U varsity basketball players just outside TDX's dimly-lit "library." Into the scene came Mo, himself a former pro hoopster with the [<i>original</i>] Denver Nuggets. Lots of back-slapping and Q&A about the Continentals' prospects ('77-'78: ECAC finalists, 23-3) - <i><b>"Go Conts!"</b></i> we loved to shout. So yours truly, head and shoulders shorter than the gaggle, was suddenly face to face - or chin to chest - with the Senator.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>"What's your name, son?" he boomed.</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>"<span style="font-size: large;">Tom. </span> <span style="font-size: large;">And I loved your speech!</span>"</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But for 7,500 votes to Carter in the Wisconsin primary two years before, <i><b>Big Mo</b></i> might have been in the White House that night in January, 1978. Instead, he was holding forth in Clinton, NY with clowns like my friends and me, leaning on a broken-down frat-house piano in the Great Hall of TDX.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>I know that we were all right where we belonged.</b></span></span></span></div>
Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-80014530935469145122012-10-21T16:00:00.001-04:002012-10-21T19:42:39.057-04:00R.I.P. George McGovern - My Co-Pilot<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He led thirty seven missions as a B-24 pilot in World War II, but <span style="font-size: large;"><b>my thrill was to sit across the aisle from George McGovern when we flew our joint mission</b></span> as passengers on the Eastern Shuttle, from Washington DC to New York City, one autumn morning in 1986.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We found ourselves seated in aisle seats opposite each other. Aloft, I allowed the Senator a few moments to enjoy the New York Times before catching his eye. "Senator McGovern, what an honor - I worked for you in 1972!" I blurted out. He smiled, closed his paper, and said graciously "<i><b>Really? You can't possibly be old enough to have worked on my Presidential campaign!</b></i>"</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>What I <span style="font-size: small;">W</span>ouldn't Give for a Little Un-Interrupted </b></span></span></i></span><span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Newspaper </b></span></span></i></span>Time!</b></span></span></i><u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></u></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"But it's true," I said: "I was 13, and I passed out McGovern-Shriver leaflets all over my neighborhood in Massachusetts!"</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRABs9c7Ey1tLbVJX7-4zmwYfyAOTloUi9NAZYRmsrKV37TmFdXrb-DmZ85fxMDBh2Tf05x0Gl6j9sgcqTAw1Ne2SzVTCWNjEV0tdYGWibqCm4bJgN1ZHHSttb-Uwmuxf1oMdmjCxEd8af/s1600/McGovern+72+Poster+-+Celebrity+Romp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRABs9c7Ey1tLbVJX7-4zmwYfyAOTloUi9NAZYRmsrKV37TmFdXrb-DmZ85fxMDBh2Tf05x0Gl6j9sgcqTAw1Ne2SzVTCWNjEV0tdYGWibqCm4bJgN1ZHHSttb-Uwmuxf1oMdmjCxEd8af/s400/McGovern+72+Poster+-+Celebrity+Romp.jpg" width="300" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"<i><b>Ah, Massachusetts</b></i>," he winked, and then said "<i><b>Whatever you did there... it worked!</b></i>"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Then he asked me what part of Massachusetts I came from. "Well, Amherst." I shared with him the interesting fact that, when the entire US save for Massachusetts and Washington DC had voted to re-elect Nixon, our perky little burg had gone all-in for McGovern - with 93% of the popular vote! Nixon collected 5%, and <span style="font-size: small;">Wallace 2%. <b>Yes, we in Amherst were a bit out of the mainstream, even then</b>.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjuB0EUnFWQ" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here is a nice clip of George signing books in Amherst <span style="font-size: small;">a <span style="font-size: small;">little</span></span> earlier this year.</span></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span><br />At
all this he laughed, adding "<i><b>What a great, great town. Academic town. Had
a lot of good support there! Probably thanks to all of your hard work!</b></i>"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>I wasn't sure I'd changed anyone's mind on West Street or Mill Lane</b></span>, but said lots of people including my parents had worked very hard for him, and were proud of what he hoped to accomplish for the country. We made a bit more conversation, landed, grabbed our respective overcoats from the overhead bins, and bid one another adieu. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Rest In Peace, Good Man</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">July 19, 1922 - October 21, 2012</span> </b></span></span></div>
Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-26934143523034119912012-10-17T07:40:00.001-04:002012-10-18T21:11:24.797-04:00On-Air with Diane Rehm<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Diane Rehm at the mic. and kicking it</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: purple;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>I took communion - or ate glazed donuts -</b></span></i></span> as a member of St. Columba's Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, with a variety of notables - Ray Suarez, <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2012/09/mor-ton-backing-up-mr-kondracke-in-pew.html" target="_blank">Mort Kondracke</a>, Judy Woodruff, and occasionally (C&E) James Baker. <b>Also in the lifeboat with us? NPR's wonderful Diane Rehm.</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2WuEneXwUtoBIGQTFUOy_YkxeW3f9N5MBvdlWsWzw4g7xrivA6uYP1Hfz3eSFuIXscw9C38JmEDIB5DdBTUHcCn5uJspY8cBz4SzBxYz0IkaMGaK1uPLtRkSgDbavAeJHC3KDz1ptqBI/s320/blog+%25C3%25A7ay.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2WuEneXwUtoBIGQTFUOy_YkxeW3f9N5MBvdlWsWzw4g7xrivA6uYP1Hfz3eSFuIXscw9C38JmEDIB5DdBTUHcCn5uJspY8cBz4SzBxYz0IkaMGaK1uPLtRkSgDbavAeJHC3KDz1ptqBI/s320/blog+%25C3%25A7ay.bmp" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Tea & Simit by the Bosphorus: and NPR on the radio!</b></td></tr>
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Diane and husband John were among the faithful, and among the very involved. I enjoyed meeting and getting to know Diane, and especially hearing her distinctive voice. <b>Mesmerizing!</b><br />
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We two exotics spoke once or twice about our shared roots in Turkey - she from Mersin and I, Istanbul - and in fact it was Diane who recommended the new <b><a href="http://www.cafedivan.com/" target="_blank">Cafe Divan</a></b> on Wisconsin Avenue, NW when it opened, as the place I must go for <i>d<span class="st"><i>ö</i></span>ner kabap</i>. She knew her stuff.<br />
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Today, at 11:00 a.m., Diane is presenting a <b><a href="http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-10-17/stephen-porter-world-claude-debussy" target="_blank">fantastic program on Claude Debussy</a></b> and I wouldn't miss it for all the world. <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Neither should you!</b></span>Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-67583937924951120732012-10-13T17:05:00.003-04:002014-01-17T14:02:07.151-05:00Joan Garry Is Alright<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Advocacy can be a blood sport, but there are some who lead with great class and one of these is Joan Garry</span>, whom I knew before she was running GLAAD. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Joan and Eileen</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Joan is civilly-united to a good old friend of mine, Eileen Opatut, and when we first met in 1985, Joan had the coolest job on earth (well, <i>I</i> thought so): business development at WASEC, the holding company that was building Nickelodeon and MTV rapidly into the megaliths they have become.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Eileen had many cool jobs herself picking programs for <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2011/03/panning-and-zooming-ken-burns-effect.html" target="_blank">National Geographic</a>, next 'programmes' for the BBC, and later suffering as EVP of Programming for the Food Network - <i>yumm</i>, and with a title like that you never have trouble getting a table at a good restaurant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Speaking of TV, does it seem lately as though the number of LGBT <a href="http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/10/05/study-number-of-gay-and-bisexual-tv-characters-at-highest-ever-level/" target="_blank">character</a>s on TV is increasing? I think so too. <a href="http://www.glaad.org/" target="_blank">GLAAD</a> has worked on this front as well as on many others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I haven't seen Joan in years - too many - but I like her a lot. She writes for HuffPost sometimes and here's a really nice article sharing her frank assessment of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-garry-/the-kids-are-all-right-no_b_659444.html" target="_blank">The Kids Are Alright</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Will TV shows and movies move the meter and get us to a day of peaceable coexistence? </b>That's putting a lot of responsibility on the the TV and film folk, more than they probably can shoulder alone. There is still a ways to go: see Joan's honest and personal <a href="http://www.baristanet.com/2011/06/joan-garry-ok-new-jersey-your-turn/" target="_blank">article</a> here about separate but equal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;">But <span style="color: red;">in </span>my <span style="color: red;">own </span>lifetime <span style="color: red;">we </span>are <span style="color: red;">already </span>now <span style="color: red;">miles </span>down <span style="color: red;">the </span>road <span style="color: red;">from </span>the <span style="color: red;">benighted </span>past.</span></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>:-)</b></span></span>Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-30348764252071939532012-09-30T16:15:00.000-04:002012-10-03T20:11:40.730-04:00On Safari to Stay: Key-Hammering with Peter Serkin<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQMza0phHjmHAgH-idNfIO-R6svCLWrcgRaSew_Q1YJbGN3L-7Yi_GFWGlgMLzJ-v13CoLWbmm6B-yilgr3MSwgKybxTKE-uAVtb02xca2ZJ2DXzyJJbBNZv2EEfPt6BHQb16sphwDx7Tm/s1600/Serkin+Porter+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQMza0phHjmHAgH-idNfIO-R6svCLWrcgRaSew_Q1YJbGN3L-7Yi_GFWGlgMLzJ-v13CoLWbmm6B-yilgr3MSwgKybxTKE-uAVtb02xca2ZJ2DXzyJJbBNZv2EEfPt6BHQb16sphwDx7Tm/s400/Serkin+Porter+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>A High Culture Treat in the Hinterlands</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: red;"><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Two rules of this blog - <b>rarely, but in extraordinary cases, broken</b> - are:</span></i></span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="color: red;"><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Don't post about people whom you nearly, but don't actually, meet - and</span></i></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Don't post about people whom you line up to meet at a performance (as in, standing in line to get Whitey Ford's autograph at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, lining up outside the stage door to meet Jeff Goldblum or Patti Smith, or buying a plate at a fundraiser where your hangdog Congressman is going to appear)</span></i></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="color: red;"><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>I may or may not be walking the line here</b>, but what the heck:</span></i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5zg4wqNEypedk18xRAYEzMJeYAdH86urP6YFigjSiUm0_5L33xSflNChui3j3XMa6RvUDSJKEMWADI_2lDMgPt_GzHLpN2JWRKALG_sF_5LPd-Iigf93vq7GPgLUKTqSCixNJSeyjd9zJ/s1600/Serkin+at+Springfield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5zg4wqNEypedk18xRAYEzMJeYAdH86urP6YFigjSiUm0_5L33xSflNChui3j3XMa6RvUDSJKEMWADI_2lDMgPt_GzHLpN2JWRKALG_sF_5LPd-Iigf93vq7GPgLUKTqSCixNJSeyjd9zJ/s320/Serkin+at+Springfield.jpg" width="315" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Elegance, Understatement... Malaise</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Last evening, my wife and I were lucky guests</b></span> of one of the major sponsors at the season Opening Night of the Springfield Symphony, featuring a performance by renowned pianist Peter Serkin. Our gracious host had an appointment to meet with Peter following the performance and champagne reception, and invited us to join him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Serkin dazzled at the piano seat with three movements of the Bartok Piano Concerto & Orchestra #3. From our third row seats 3/4 to the left, I had a great, close-up view of the underside of Pete's right sleeve, palm and fingertips, as he tickled the ivories - particularly on the very tender and striking 2nd movement, <b><i>Adagio religioso</i></b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The prospect of meeting <b><a href="http://www.wqxr.org/#!/programs/showdown/2012/jun/13/" target="_blank">piano scion</a></b> Serkin was interesting to me for a more personal reason: my brother, also a pianist of international high acclaim, had done a residency at Tanglewood three summers ago and, at the time, performed a Brahms sonata with cello - originally for violin - for Peter in the Serkin home. <b>Not a bad ice-breaker, thought yours truly.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Well, Mr. Serkin exited stage left following the Bartok and preceding the intermission. Finished with his own part of the program, the pianist alerted the stage manager he was feeling ill, and he retired before '<i>we-the-highbrows</i>' could finish hearing the rest of the program and move to the room where Junior Leaguers were pouring the champagne.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Where's Pete? Never saw him again.</b></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>At Symphony Hall - L: <i>Virtuoso </i>Serkin (dov'e?) R: <i>Vagabundo </i>Porter</b></td></tr>
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Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-65110891059625490652012-09-25T23:16:00.000-04:002012-09-26T08:15:03.347-04:00Mor-ton!! Backing up Mr. Kondracke in the Pew<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Kondracke: One of the Last True Journalists</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I became familiar with Morton Kondracke </b></span>as many did in the 1980's, by watching <b>The McLaughlin Group </b>- in its time a jarring "pundit / shouter" show that seemed boisterous, but maintained a higher level of discourse et decorum than almost any of its 21st century cable news descendants. <b>By today's standards it is quaint, even dignified. How we've devolved!</b><br />
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When I joined St. Columba's Church congregation, I eventually settled into a regular seat in the second pew, right of the aisle. Mor-ton! was the regular in the first pew, with his dear wife Milly.<br />
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Over nearly ten years, we exchanged the peace hundreds of times.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Milly passed away in 2004. R.I.P.</b></td></tr>
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We also got to know each other just a bit. For instance, I very much enjoyed a half-day enrichment session that he led at the church, organized by our rector Jim Donald, called "<i><b>Working for the Common Good.</b></i>" Mort led our small group in a series of explorations on finding soulful meaning in one's daily work. Tom Chappell of <b>Tom's (of Maine) Toothpaste</b><i><b> </b></i>also shared the couch with Morton for this nice and uplifting Saturday's exercise.<br />
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Mort has served as Executive Editor of both <b>New Republic </b>and <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/" target="_blank"><b>Roll Call</b></a>, written for the <b>Wall Street Journal </b>and appeared on numerous TV news outlets. He got his start as President of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dartmouth" target="_blank"><i><b>The Dartmouth</b></i></a> newspaper and incidentally, as a class of '60 grad, he overlapped there with Chris Miller in the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROxvT8KKdFw" target="_blank">Animal House</a> era. <i>To-ga!</i><br />
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When I mentioned once that I knew him, my mother, a Morton fan, instructed me to ask him "What kind of a name is 'Kondracke,' anyway - <i>Assyrian?</i>"<br />
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<b>Morton is a genuinely nice, committed, caring guy who works his tail off and thinks clearly about what he has to say before spouting off.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">I admire Mort Kondracke!</span></span></b></div>
<br />Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-70512347041490405002012-09-11T06:35:00.000-04:002012-11-03T18:40:52.034-04:00Citizen Kelley: Standing with Local Hero Larry Kelley<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Sound and Fury</b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; font-size: small;"><b>(Amherst, MA. September 11):</b></span><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">We</span></i> in scholarly Amherst like to think we're the center of wisdom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nevertheless, </span> often, we can be as closed-minded as many an academic 'burg - and in our most grandiose overreaches we achieve a pettiness, didacticism and tragedy worthy of Horton Foote's <i><b>Orphans' Home Cycle </b></i>characters of Harrison, East Texas.</div>
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<b style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not that there's anything <i>wrong </i>with that...! </span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Kevin Joy and Larry Kelley unfurl the Big One on the Town Common, 2011</b></td></tr>
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<b>Counterpoint:</b> Each yea<span style="font-size: small;">r</span><span style="font-size: small;"> on September 11, L</span>arry Kelley and many other local citizens, police and firefighters help bring attention to this momentous day in the history and life of our nation. Believe it or not, this upsets some in the town.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Viewed from within the Amherst bubble, Fox News appears <i>downright alien</i></b></td></tr>
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Larry was called to Boston last week to appear on Fox News, to explain to the rest of Planet Earth just how we in Amherst make sense of things, such as debating whether and how we ought to raise the flag on 9/11. <a href="http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2001/oct%202001/1021flag.htm" target="_blank">Predictably</a>,
we have a Professor here in town who attested before the Town Select
Board on September 10, 2001 - the evening before the attacks - that
Amherst should not fly the American flag because <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><b><i style="background-color: yellow;">"[The
U.S.] flag is a symbol of terrorism and death
and fear and destruction and oppression."</i> </b> This was eleven years ago, and got us plenty of attention in the aftermath as you would imagine.</span><br />
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What's rich is that so many fellow travelers here used to believe (<i>circa </i>2000-2008)
that <b>dissent was the highest form of patriotism</b>; now, in our current
'flap' over whether to raise the flag on 9/11 <b>we simultaneously prove,
and truly get to re-test, this maxim</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Tell It, Brother</b></span></td></tr>
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<u>Fast forward to 2012:</u> There's more to <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/31/massachusetts-town-officials-defend-decision-to-not-fly-us-flags-on-sept-11/" target="_blank">the story</a>, but in a nutshell one third of the town electors like to see the flag, so citizens get to see it once every fifth year. <i>What ???</i> Essentially, many in Amherst have "mixed feelings" about being part of the United States, the balance know that the town should observe 9/11, and so the Select Board put the flag-flying to a vote of the unruly 200+ Town Meeting congregation some years ago and - like Mayor Villaraigosa last week - made the determination that the vote had gone 2:1 <i>against </i>flying the flags. <b>The ingenious solution? Fly the flags every third year, to reflect public sentiment</b>! Then, at ten years, the Select Board voted to make it every fifth year because - I suppose - 5 years is an easier rhythm to remember than 3.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>You're Wearing <i>That</i>, Larry ??</b></span></td></tr>
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As town gadfly, Larry Kelley's daily local impact - and his occasional national prominence - are notorious, and thus frequently rankle the populace and the powers that be.</div>
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Flag-raising is only one front for soldier Kelley, and this week's national media attention not the first time he's figured in Amherst's questionable notoriety.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Loyal <span style="font-size: x-small;">l</span>ocal <span style="font-size: x-small;">p</span>atriot</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Stanley Do<span style="font-size: x-small;">rn</span>akowski</span></span></b></span></td></tr>
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In large part through Larry's civic-minded agitation, the melodramas of Amherst's high school drama department - (1999: first school or town ever to ban <i><b> West Side Story</b></i>, which has been performed in over 3,000 communities, over imaginary "racism"; 2004: righteous acting-out by staging the <i><b>Vagina Monologues</b></i>) - have brought Amherst under <b>Good Morning America</b>'s lens and drawn international <b>O'Reilly Factor </b>scrutiny for the healthy dose of opprobrium that some think we so richly deserve.</div>
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Larry is also an entrepreneur (and married to an entrepreneurship professor - they know what-of they speak in that household) who has operated a successful local fitness and instruction business, and had a hand in establishing a superior Chinese Immersion Charter School in the area, naturally a threat to the local public school hegemony.<br />
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Now he energetically publishes the fine "hyper-local" news blog <a href="http://onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><i><b>Only In Amherst</b></i></a>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Larry holds everyone's feet to the fire, including mine. </b></span>He forces the town government to be more transparent, the school committee more accountable, the university - administration, students, and the larger eco-system such as party-house landlords - to be more responsible.<br />
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He raises the standards of local journalism through competition and innovation.<br />
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<b>We need more Larry Kelleys</b>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Cinda and Larry frame the <i>real </i>issue</b></span></td></tr>
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As a sixth generation Amherst native, Larry also contributes much to the community in his role of ersatz local history curator. The current speculation on the existence of a second photographic image of <a href="http://onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com/2012/08/another-miss-emily.html" target="_blank">our Emily Dickinson</a> is something Larry reported on <i>3 weeks ahead </i>of the local press, and he <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=nSqrjpZkk6UC&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=Tom+Kelley+emily+dickinson&source=bl&ots=Qb2EN2gAwQ&sig=3ItAnx5arQAiwVdck5AcCIokWb4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vIovUNn_PInv0gGEnIG4Cw&ved=0CGcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Tom%20Kelley%20emily%20dickinson&f=false" target="_blank">has the bloodline</a> to pursue the facts. <u><b>Larry is a Local Hero</b></u>.</div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Remember Our Heroes today</b></i></span></span></div>
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And meet two of mine: <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/09/ann-campana-judge-rest-in-peace.html" target="_blank">Ann Judge</a> and <a href="http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-cousin-hero-jerry-della-salla.html" target="_blank">Jerry Della Salla</a></div>
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Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579237235849912860.post-76252553302726891962012-09-05T23:40:00.000-04:002013-06-29T09:04:56.257-04:00Mudhoney Soundgarden Sub-Pop Eating Crew<div style="color: #e69138; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Guess Who's Coming to Dinner...</b></i></span></div>
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What a pair of fortunate sons: had seen Soundgarden with
Bowled Geoffe (<b>"Hunted Down!"</b>) when they appeared at the New Music Seminar summer '88 Sub-Pop
showcase at CBGB's, and we
were itching for more of the stompin' Cornell/Thayil blend of
drone-riff-wailing. This night in March 1989, the Soundgardeners would support
headline act Mudhoney, and we were also keen to experience first-hand
Arm/Turner/Peters/Lukin's <i>raw power </i>energy.</div>
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<a href="http://www.thirdav.com/hd_discog/clubs/hoboken_maxwells-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://www.thirdav.com/hd_discog/clubs/hoboken_maxwells-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Hangin' at raucous Maxwell's in Hoboken, and we went in early for dinner before the show.</b></span></div>
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As our rollicking crew that included John Keim and Jim Bresson sat in the front room for dinner, we could hear the sound check winding up in the back, and then in walked the Seattle grunge crew... who sat right down at the two tables next to ours. <b>So this is the evening we "ate dinner with Soundgarden and Mudhoney."</b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTYTTyEAe8kkVmDpUtFS0vEXwmVIj9vqXXlJXDU32rYFSM-vEXg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTYTTyEAe8kkVmDpUtFS0vEXwmVIj9vqXXlJXDU32rYFSM-vEXg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Thayil: Brother Injoys</b></td></tr>
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We had just been served. When Soundgarden's turn came to order, Kim Thayil asked the waiter about the pasta with sausage and the waiter pointed at my plate. "<i><b>How is that, man?</b></i>" Kim asked me. "<i><b>Pretty good, man!</b></i>" I responded.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">He ordered "<i><b>what that guy's having,</b></i>" we gave each other the knowing nod, and went right on with our lives.</span></div>
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The show was incredible - high energy and crazed audience participation, in a very close space.<br />
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Cornell and crew
blasted off, propelled by the walnut-grinder riffs of pasta fan Thayil
and the rhythm & beat of Dave Cameron/Hiro Yamamoto. They ended
with a medley of <i>Working Man/18/Communication Breakdown</i> that sent the place up in flames.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgea-gUtyyvTMSHHp1NAmvEUKnRUW7aOOHs8sNqdIOT_0c8XtRJetBFCerkqdOrowa3qBkszODHDgLx6Y81p3aCM40Itss-wW29mooG8Vr94bt2k4drarMlY_WZ-tuzSMxaIe_nz86gitaB/s1600/Soundgarden+Maxwell%27s+1989.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgea-gUtyyvTMSHHp1NAmvEUKnRUW7aOOHs8sNqdIOT_0c8XtRJetBFCerkqdOrowa3qBkszODHDgLx6Y81p3aCM40Itss-wW29mooG8Vr94bt2k4drarMlY_WZ-tuzSMxaIe_nz86gitaB/s400/Soundgarden+Maxwell%27s+1989.jpg" width="440" /></a></span></b></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">I'm A Boy And I'm A Man</span></b></td></tr>
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I was partial to Soundgarden already, so I thought they ought to have been the headliners. But once the Mudhoney "Superfuzz Bigmuff" rocket-ride tore the roof off, we were sent into orbit and at one point found ourselves shoulder-to-shoulder with Thayil, oscillating in frenzy at the lip of the stage. </div>
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<i>Here is a decent account of the Mudhoney set and the general vibe:</i></div>
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<i><b>3/11/89 Maxwell's. Hoboken, NJ (55 min) </b></i><b style="color: black;">[ Thanks "<a href="http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/%7Eptn/mudhoney/tourbook/1989.html" target="_blank">Tourbook</a>" ]</b></div>
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He doesn't mention it but at one point in "<b>Mud-ride</b>," Mark Arm surfed over the crowd on his back, holding onto the wired mike, made a few mid-song oscillations, and then used the mike cord to reel himself hand-over-hand back to stage, as the stack into which his mike was plugged teetered and lurched precariously. Amp, Arm and crowd on the very knife edge.</div>
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<a href="http://theboken.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Maxwells-Hoboken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" src="http://theboken.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Maxwells-Hoboken.jpg" width="518" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>But an hour and a half earlier, we were knifing into our grungy grub together like hungry workingmen, ready for anything - ready to screeeeeeeeeam!</b></span></div>
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<b>* * * * * * *</b></div>
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<i><b><b>Q: Why a Mudhoney beer? </b></b></i><b><b>[ Thanks for the account below, <a href="http://thesunbreak.com/2011/09/09/punk-brewmaster-scott-hedeen-talks-mudhoney-beer-and-mudhoney-beer/" target="_blank">Sunbreak</a></b></b><i><b> </b></i><b>]</b><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;">Timing Dispute: "I know
whatcherthinkinpunk: was it 1989 or only 1988? Well to tell you the
truth, in all this confusion, I'm not too sure myself:"</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thesunbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/mudhoneybrew-474x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://thesunbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/mudhoneybrew-474x640.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>BURN IT CLEAN</b></span></td></tr>
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<i><b>
</b>In 1988, I saw Mudhoney at Maxwell’s in Hoboken </i><span style="color: black;"><b>(editor's note: Likelier, it was the Pyramid Club in Manhattan)</b></span><i>. About 30 seconds into the second song, they went into overdrive. It was Blue Cheer meets Black Flag. To top it off, they finished the set with the Dicks’ “Hate The Police.” I was hooked. (I kinda felt bad for Live Skull, the headlining act, having to follow that.) So if I had any band to make a beer for, why not them? I contacted Steve Turner and got his thumbs-up.</i></div>
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<i>As with our “higher gravities” theme, it’s 8.5% ABV. I dropped a bottle off at the local record store and heard back that it was “too sweet.” I told them that it’s a mega honey ale. I knew they really didn’t drink it because they were able to type afterwards.</i></div>
Tom Porterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763818256131443456noreply@blogger.com1