Feeding the World with Harry Chapin

Harry Chapin - Gone too soon, too soon.

"Hunger is an obscenity and hunger in America is the ultimate obscenity.. We have to stop feeding the symptoms and get to the real root causes of hunger and poverty"

Harry Chapin

Wild About Harry

At the height of Harry Chapin's considerable impact and well-earned acclaim as a troubadour in the pop music world, he was actively involved in a number of social reform movements including the Union for Radical Political Economics.  And in the summer of '79 the URPEs came to Hampshire College for a few days of fomenting to envision a new world order.  Yours truly was earning money before returning to Hamilton College, by scrubbing pots for Food Services in the Hampshire dining hall, and working occasional extra hours at special events.

One afternoon, I joined a couple of co-workers including my brother and signed on to man the cookout grill for these Radical Economists.  Experience on the grill at McDonalds made me a good man for the job.  We clowns did set-up, fired that thing up, and got the burgers and dogs cooking.  Up the hill came marching the grimy throng - one with guitar case in hand.

We the noble laborers watched, rapt, as Harry jawboned with professors and organizers - his eyes lit up, his speech and body highly animated.  It was clear he was passionate on the topic, and very inspiring to those within earshot.  Then we rang the chow-bell, and it was time to line 'em up at the trough.

To Each, According To Need

As they all filed through the line with paper plates, each had to declare "Hamburger" or "Cheeseburger."  Harry requested a cheeseburger, saying "I'll take a Cheeseburger!"  I made sure he got one, responding "Here's your cheeseburger!"

It is worth pointing out that my brother Dave was inclined in these situations to tape a sheet of paper to his apron, announcing the hand-written message "I am the Condiments Man. If you Don't See It, we Don't Have It.  So, Don't Ask Me For It."

Rumor had it that Harry would be performing, campfire-style, to rollick the assembled rabble rousers after dinner as night fell.  And we learned the next day this is precisely what happened.  He'd played Chapin, Seeger, Guthrie, and Kingston Trio numbers.  But we working stiffs had been shoo'd away (by management, not URPE mind you) as soon as the last burger was issued and the grill scraped.

Chapin was then lobbying and cajoling the Carter government to establish the Presidential Commission on World Hunger and - with New World Order subversive Bill Ayres - he co-founded World Hunger Year (now Why Hunger).  The Chapin family continues this work today.

Note: Harry's older brother Jim had graduated from Hamilton College in 1963, and by this time in 1979 Harry's step-daughter, Jaime, was attending Hamilton along with me.  Although we had not previously become acquainted, Jaime and I had a brief and lighthearted moment when I introduced myself to her later in the fall of 1979 to recount my "cheeseburger" anecdote.

31 years ago this week - a year after I graduated, but before Jaime's senior year - Harry was killed in a car accident at 38.  His stories and works live on, and on.

Chapin recorded long narrative ballads ... that told stories about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people, about the social and political events of the day and the angst and struggles of human existence.

(excerpted from a really nice post on Colin Pinter's blog).

Heat Wave: My Ice-Cream Eating Marathon with Ben & Jerry

I Scream, You Scream - We ALL Scream for Ice Cream!

I got to crash a weekend-long confab of Ben & Jerry's "Scoop Shop" Operators, with ice cream for breakfast, lunch, dinner and every possible between-meal snack.

Irresistible Delight, served up by Dynamic Duo

Ben & Jerry were rewarding the operators for their hard work by taking over a conference facility near Phoenix, gathering the scoopers to celebrate their success, preview the coming new flavors and "novelties," exchange tips, and discuss all things ice cream.

The ticket? My piece of the multi-front effort to launch Animal Planet cable network was the development and publishing of Animal Planet CD-ROM, an animal encyclopedia and one of the first ever "internet-linked!" titles (animal video profiles on the disc connected to MS Encarta entries).  We'd cut a fun cross promotion deal with Ben & Jerry - they'd promote Animal Planet and give a $5-off coupon for the CD-ROM on the lid of every carton of Rain Forest Crunch (2 million units) and we'd promote Ben & Jery's by advertising a "free pint" coupon inside every CD-ROM package.

Save Rainforest by Eating

Usually I'd send the project manager on the road to do these previews.  In this special case, I pulled rank and went west to do the demo myself.

Those days and nights in Phoenix were long, and filled with ice cream.  The guys by then were fairly rotund (occupational hazard) and jolly (I'd be too), and Jerry in particular was genuinely interested in where we planned to go with the television network.  We discussed at length over Peace Pops - at the time, Animal Planet was envisioned to be a nature documentary and human/animal interest channel, and a strong advertising play.  Of course now it has become nothing but exploitative "reality"....  A violation?  Perhaps we were meant for each other (read on).

My afternoon demo followed the Marketing presentation:

Remember, Ben and Jerry's' well-earned brand promise is rich-tasting deliciousness based on innovative flavor combinations and mix-in's.  No one was ever going to look to B&J for vanilla (though their vanilla is unquestionably delicious).  But in spring 1996, the Marketing department had the idea that vanilla was the future for B&J.  Marketing Girl's logic? "People buy our pints, but we need market share of Ice Cream 'Occasions' - nobody's going to buy pints of NY Super Fudge Chunk to serve with the Thanksgiving pie, or at junior's 10th birthday party."

Ben & Jerry - Young Idealists

Well, that idea never panned out.  People don't look to Ben & Jerry's for vanilla (and if they do want a gallon of vanilla, they won't visit the scoop shop and stand in line to see it hand-packed).

Talk about following your bliss: here are a couple of ice-cream loving best friends from Merrick, NY who conquered the world of ice cream.

Cool Like a Brain-Freeze:
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were so "cool" they could, in corporate life, violate their socially-minded/counterculture identification with moves like the hiring of expert CEO Perry Odak from U.S. Repeating Arms Corporation (manufacturer of Winchester rifles), and ultimately the $326M exit sale to corporate megalith  Unilever.  Both were the right move, btw.

But now the duo are "Occupy Wall-Streeters" ...

Credit Where Due:

Come to Northampton MA, visit Herrell's, and meet Steve - the Albert Einstein behind the mix-in.  He selflessly schooled Ben and Jerry and they took the concept all the way to the bank.  But only Steve has the Hostess Cupcake Ice Cream Sundae...!

My Two Dates with Kathleen Turner... and a 28-Years-Late Thank You!

Do you remember where you were when you saw Body Heat in 1981?  I do... both times.

I had success on a first date with a college co-ed early that autumn, after watching the intensely seductive film together.  We spent the next three months together, and then parted ways when she had to leave town.  By December, I was barking up another tree and invited my new flame to watch Body Heat with me.  It had worked once, so why not?

"You're not very smart, are you? ... I like that in a man."

Well, this next relationship lasted two and a half years.

Nearly thirty years later, Kathleen visited our little burg of Amherst MA to help celebrate the Amherst Cinema and Pleasant Street Theater in our first annual Gala.  It was a beautiful night, and she really captivated the room.  No question that she's Still Got It.

Heat vs Humidity

After Q&A in which the Hollywood and accomplished stage actress shared brash insights and frank anecdotes, I saw my opening and pinned her down.  She locked on an listened to every word, every lurid detail of my story - chuckling, raising an eyebrow, tossing her hair...

"WELLDIDITWORK??!!" came the demand.

What do you think? was my reply.

We'll Meet Again...

Hearty-and-I-mean-hearty guffaw and a Big Wink from the star.  "I SHOULD HOPE SO!  ATTABOY!"

Twenty-six years ago tonight at the 1986 Academy Awards, Ms. Turner was a nominee for Best Actress in Peggy Sue Got Married.  But she and I go back a bit further than that, to two lovely, portentious nights.  We'll always have heat.

As I told Ms. Turner, I'll forever be grateful

Lucy Wilson Benson - Absolute Class

I can't tell you enough about how much I admire this lady!  My friend Lucy Wilson Benson serves as Chairman of the Board for the Amherst Cinema Arts Center, operator of the Amherst Cinema and the Pleasant Street Theater.  It has been my privilege to meet and get to know her whilst serving on the Board myself for the past four years.

In Virtue, One Gains Knowledge...

"You Never Can Tell!"  A devoted Smith College alumna, (Class of '49), Lucy married an Amherst man - Physics professor Bruce Benson - and has scaled the heights.  The phrase "distinguished career" is so often overused, but it fits Lucy like a smart Peck and Peck suit.  She became local, then state, then (1968-1974) national head of the League of Women Voters. Jimmy Carter named her Undersecretary of State, at the time the highest ranking woman ever at the State Department. 

''Don't ask me what it feels like to be a woman Under Secretary of State, because I don't know. I do know what it is like to be an Under Secretary of State, however.''

Lucy later served our state exceptionally as MA Secretary of Human Services under Governor Mike Dukakis.  A woman with clear head, a quick tongue - always constructive and right to the point.  A lover of life and funny as hell.

Two Beauties of the Silver Screen

Here is a nice profile written a few years back, in the Amherst College campus paper, about LWB.

I am proud to know Lucy - she went out to change the world after college, did so, and has remained our "United Nations of Amherst" treasure.

And her hair is spectacular!

Leigh Keno: an Elegant Highboy

Leigh Keno: A Hamilton Original

You know him as a peripatetic TV host and one half of a matched-set of enthused antique furniture appraisers.

I first knew him as a hyper, wired sort of guy in the class a year ahead of me at Hamilton College.  A local-area kid from Herkimer, one exit over on the NY Thruway, Leigh was a pretty good drummer who sat behind the kit for Robbie and the Nylons, a new wave band on campus that occasionally shared rehearsal space with the band I was in, Rogue.

Queen Anne, c. 1760

Leigh and I also took a couple of the same courses in Art History from notorious department head Rand Carter, although Leigh must have really been paying attention.  He and brother Leslie (Williams '79) have parlayed their love for the "breakfront," the "high-boy," and all things "clawfoot" into a multivariate avocation - not only as an appraiser, collector, gallery-owner, philanthropist and all-around personality, but most recently as impresario with Keno Auctions.

Come to find out that Leigh's quite involved with the antique and collectible car market, personally as a race-car collector & driver, and ceremonially as a judge at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance charity event.  And in 2005, he wrested a National Humanities Medal from the hands of President George W. Bush.

In college I had a '74 Chevy Nova 350-SS. No match for Leigh's 1938 Jaguar SS 100 . . .

Though I didn't know Leigh well, from our paths-crossings I can attest that what you see is what you get - he's really that nutty, animated and passionate about the 18th century furniture that your great-great-grandfather, in his youth, thought was long in the tooth.

Will Leigh Keno be our last link to the Golden Age of the American empire, now in such wretched decline?

Nell Newman, Soapsuds, and Me

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

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

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

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

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

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

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