I wanted to be a radio newsman but had to spin some platters at first, and the bookstore was out of “Radio News for Dummies.” I’ve cued up that story here.
Alice Cooper, Black Panthers, Rookie Newsman
Category: Celebrities
Straight Up – Mondays on UHF Ch. 30
• Watch! As Seals and Crofts and I bore a very small audience to death in 1974 • Took 13 years before anybody would let me on TV again • The gatekeepers of Public Television must have been stoned that week This is the 60th post on this blog since I began chronicling the professional … Continue reading Straight Up – Mondays on UHF Ch. 30
The Greatest
• My lunch with Muhammad Ali • He ate, I took his picture. • Call me crazy, but. . .that’s what Ali did in 1996 I get the question sometimes: “Who was the first famous person you interviewed?” Or, “Who was the most famous person you interviewed?” They were one and the same: Muhammad Ali. … Continue reading The Greatest
The Jump to the Major Leagues – Pt. 1
Evel Knievel, Jerry Springer, Larry Flynt, Pete Rose... A lost episode of Celebrity Big Brother? No, just some of the people who crossed my path at (Not) WKRP in Cincinnati. A two-parter set in the Queen City.
(Not) WKRP in Cincinnati – Pt.2 • Jerry Springer, Pete Rose, Larry Flynt
Evel Knievel, Jerry Springer, Larry Flynt, Pete Rose... A lost episode of Celebrity Big Brother? No, just some of the people who crossed my path at (Not) WKRP in Cincinnati. A two-parter set in the Queen City
Purple Woody Hayes
In 1978, Ohio State and Clemsen met each other in the Gator Bowl and Jimi Hendrix immortalized it in song. Sort of. A 20-second audio flashback:
Philadelphia, Pt. 1 – Muhammad Ali, Tommy Lasorda, Anita, Mark Goodman
“I spent a week in Philadelphia one day” – Old joke often attributed to W.C. Fields but not likely his. I spent four years there, and tell about it in this first of 3 posts. After three years at Cincinnati’s WEBN-FM, in the fall of 1978 I received a call from a radio program director … Continue reading Philadelphia, Pt. 1 – Muhammad Ali, Tommy Lasorda, Anita, Mark Goodman
Philadelphia, Pt. 2 – Jane Fonda, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Pope John Paul II
Of Popes, miracles (on ice) and nuclear meltdowns. All in Part 2 of the Philadelphia story. Among the stories I covered in Philly was Three Mile Island, the nuke plant that nearly melted down just a hundred miles upwind from the radio station. It was a scary night when I had to come into the … Continue reading Philadelphia, Pt. 2 – Jane Fonda, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Pope John Paul II
Sun Ra – I Invaded His Space
• Space is the Place. So was a rooftop in West Philly • An Introduction to filmmaking in the 1970’s. • Behind the scenes of Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise Picking up a part-time gig here and there was a part of my budding career in radio in the 1970’s. The pay for newscasters at … Continue reading Sun Ra – I Invaded His Space
Philadelphia, Pt. 3 – Dial Sports, Daryl Dawkins, Pete Rose, Doc Emrick
Philadelphia sports fans booed and pelted Santa Claus with snowballs. I don’t judge them; they used to pay 50 cents a phone call to help keep me employed. If you’re keeping score, here’s how it was done in 1981. I was in Philly during good times for its pro sports teams. Sports, it turned out, … Continue reading Philadelphia, Pt. 3 – Dial Sports, Daryl Dawkins, Pete Rose, Doc Emrick
How About That?
I grew up a NY Yankees fan, listening to the great Mel Allen call the games in which my first sports hero, Mickey Mantle, starred. In the 1980s, a friend, Bill Gubbins, hired Allen to do some voice work on a media project. He asked Mel to record an answering machine message for me and … Continue reading How About That?
Old Style Chicago – Ernie Banks, Pete Townshend, Francois Truffaut, Harry Caray, John Lennon
• The City of Broad Shoulders makes hauling watermelon easy • Old Style is not only the local beer brand, it’s the way WMET partied • Classic Rock, ahead of its time The Cubs cap speaks for itself. The watermelon? It was at a party, about to be injected with vodka. Pretty well sums up … Continue reading Old Style Chicago – Ernie Banks, Pete Townshend, Francois Truffaut, Harry Caray, John Lennon
Why, You’re Welcome, Ms. Chambers, Mr. Rodgers
• Miss Manners was no stranger to Marilyn and Paul • You’ve heard about it – now you can hear it. The naked radio interview, last aired in 1981 • For some reason, my posts about Marilyn Chambers get a lot of clicks It occurred to me today that, as far as I can recall, … Continue reading Why, You’re Welcome, Ms. Chambers, Mr. Rodgers
Live Aid
The film “Bohemian Rhapsody” does a great job of re-creating Queen’s performance at Live Aid. I try to re-create my backstage – and onstage – experiences on that weekend.
Ethiopia
A couple of months after Live Aid and We Are the World, an opportunity arose to see firsthand what some of the money raised by the benefit concert and charity song was actually doing for the people afflicted by the drought and famine in Africa.
Sudan
If a plane carrying Harry Belafonte and me disappeared in a Western Darfur sandstorm, only one of us would make the headline. How that no-brainer was arrived at.
Eric Clapton, Ronnie Lane and a Texas Ambush
Can a reporter be compelled to testify in a Houston courtroom? Can he be jailed for conspiracy to go skinny-dipping in Austin? The answers may be found - or not - here.
Rock in Rio – Yes, Ozzy, AC/DC, Go-Gos, Iron Maiden (and more!)
• Is it possible to have a crappy time at a rock concert in Rio de Janiero? • We go Flying Down to Rio. . . but forget about that Girl From Ipanema • Do you want some whine with that caipirinha? A newspaper comic strip popular with my journalist friends, called “Shoe” featured some … Continue reading Rock in Rio – Yes, Ozzy, AC/DC, Go-Gos, Iron Maiden (and more!)
The Wimbledon Press Pass Caper and Other Stories
The Wimbledon Press Pass Caper and Other Stories, in which gates are crashed, wristwatches are smuggled and Richard Burton expires.
State of the Standups 1985 • Seinfeld, Leno, Wright, Lewis, Klein
Weird Al Yankovic was promoting one of his Michael Jackson parodies. I guess I thought I’d do a lame Jackson impersonation. (I had nothing on my face but a stupid look.) Anyway, Weird Al’s not in this blog post. Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Wright, Jay Leno, Richard Lewis and Robert Klein are, but I didn’t have photos with them.
Odds and Sods – Brian Wilson, Biggie Smalls, Oasis, Bob Dylan
• These are a few of my favorite things. . . that happened while interviewing celebs • Notorious B.I.G. almost ruins an interview with his eyes closed • The guy from Fountains of Wayne versus the guy from Wayne, N.J. Brian Wilson was still under the spell of a weird therapist, Eugene Landy, and extremely … Continue reading Odds and Sods – Brian Wilson, Biggie Smalls, Oasis, Bob Dylan
Unconventional Coverage
• Presidential nominating conventions aren’t what they used to be: interesting • They used to let long-haired freaks walk right up to the podium and place a collect call • What it was like covering that big Brian Wilson story no one can forget at the ’84 Dallas Republican confab • In the heat of … Continue reading Unconventional Coverage
Hollywood for Ugly People – Frank Zappa, Tipper Gore, Prince, Pearl Jam and Gerald Ford
• James Carville and/or Paul Begala called Washington, DC “Hollywood for Ugly People” • I must have fit right in; I got sent there often enough • Me and Tipper Gore in a hotel room I was based in New York with ABC News and CNN from 1983 to 2001. But I spent considerable time … Continue reading Hollywood for Ugly People – Frank Zappa, Tipper Gore, Prince, Pearl Jam and Gerald Ford
1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division
• Ever seen US Marines slam-dancing? • Not exactly “3 Days of Peace and Music” • Cheap Trick, Kansas, Doobie Brothers, for the boys They used to send Bob Hope to entertain the troops. Or Playboy playmates (both in fiction – “Apocalypse Now” – and in reality -- Playmate of the Year Jo Collins visited … Continue reading 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division
Caption Contest
(Welder by day, dancer by night)
Seventh Son – Willie Dixon
If you like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Cream and the Doors, you've probably heard them - and others - play a song written by Willie Dixon: "Whole Lotta Love," "I Just Want to Make Love to You," "Little Red Rooster," "My Babe," "Back Door Man," "Spoonful," "You Can't Judge a … Continue reading Seventh Son – Willie Dixon
I Think it was the Fourth of July – The Beach Boys, Jimmy Page and Joan Jett
• Remembering when The Beach Boys were the most controversial thing on the National Mall on July 4th • That time Ronald Reagan stood up for Rock n’ Roll • The Malling of America was a best-selling book in 1985. Just a trivia fact It appears to some that, with a speech at the Lincoln … Continue reading I Think it was the Fourth of July – The Beach Boys, Jimmy Page and Joan Jett
Stone ROSRS
• The age-defying Rolling Stones wrap up a swing through North America this summer to some very enthusiastic reviews • Thirty years ago, I ramped up my own enthusiasm describing what they did backstage before the opening riff of “Start Me Up” • What’s a ROSR? Stay tuned In December of 1989, the Stones wound … Continue reading Stone ROSRS
The Who’s Tommy
• Fifty years of that deaf, dumb and blind kid • And I thought I felt old at the 20th anniversary celebration • Hope I don’t die before the 60th I can’t say that “It could have been 1989 in Madison Square Garden the other night.” Because, clearly, it wasn’t. This was September 1, 2019. … Continue reading The Who’s Tommy
Reviews Are In • Siskel & Ebert
My outgoing answering machine messages got a good review from the late Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert: