There WAS collusion in Russia. Plus Billy Joel concerts. And vodka. Lots of vodka.
The Piano, Man, in Russia • Billy Joel
Category: Celebrities
My Divas – J-Lo, Mariah Carey, Vanessa Williams, Debbie Gibson
• Jennifer stole my heart • Mariah took me up and away......and left me cold • Little Debbie invited me up to her room So there we were, on 52nd Street, outside the now-shuttered Roseland Ballroom. It was 1999 and budding movie star Jennifer Lopez was throwing a party for the launch of her first … Continue reading My Divas – J-Lo, Mariah Carey, Vanessa Williams, Debbie Gibson
TV, GMA, Bee Gees, Mellencamp, Joel, Hall & Oates
• The move from radio to radio with pictures • I’m a Good Morning America music correspondent, alongside Joan Lunden and Charlie Gibson. • “Never pass up an opportunity to have sex or be on television” - Gore Vidal When I returned from Moscow in 1987 after successfully completing my first two TV pieces on … Continue reading TV, GMA, Bee Gees, Mellencamp, Joel, Hall & Oates
RSNN: The Rolling Stones News Network
• ABC’s Reporter on the Road.....doesn’t go on forever • Mick and Keith to the rescue. They keep me from going on the dole, mate • All the news that’s fit to print – or say – about the Steel Wheels tour As the Eighties drew to a close, so did my days as ABC … Continue reading RSNN: The Rolling Stones News Network
More Divas – Beyoncè, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, Spice Girls
• Call me "the Fourth Child" or "the Sixth Spice" • With Mandy Moore, bowling for column lines • More teen spirit than one man can take I mingled with Destiny’s Child at a Grammy Awards show or an MTV Video Music Awards show in the late ‘90s. I understand the young woman to my … Continue reading More Divas – Beyoncè, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, Spice Girls
Grip and Grin – Tupac, Snoop, Rodman, Will Smith, LL Cool J, Jenny McCarthy
• “Oh, before you go – one more thing....” • What really goes on backstage. Smile. • Before selfie sticks, one was at the mercy of the photography skills of the passer-by who was asked a favor. And it showed This post pretty much only exists because this picture, which I’ve posted before on Facebook, … Continue reading Grip and Grin – Tupac, Snoop, Rodman, Will Smith, LL Cool J, Jenny McCarthy
The Whole Enchilada
• Was this the most awesomely bad TV show ever? • Does anyone remember actually watching it? • Why has it been scrubbed from history? I’m about to dish out the whole enchilada about the Whole Enchilada, a recipe for hard-to-swallow TV. In 1989, right around the end of my ABC News years and just … Continue reading The Whole Enchilada
Showbiz Today, CNN – Pt. 1
• Which do you choose, a hard or soft option . . . in news? • Old saying in the business: “Sports is the toy store of journalism.” If that’s true, then what's news about entertainment? • Would there be no turning back? Would the journalism gate-keepers ever let me back into the hard news … Continue reading Showbiz Today, CNN – Pt. 1
Showbiz Today, CNN – Pt. 2
• A part of CNN at its post-Gulf War peak • Covering show business like it's a . . . . business • When celebrity breaks out, we break in! For the next twelve years, spanning the nineties, I had a most amazing time as a CNN correspondent. “No heavy lifting,” is how I … Continue reading Showbiz Today, CNN – Pt. 2
Howard Stern and Me
“So you’re the guy who defended Stuttering John’s First Amendment rights?” That was an incredulous Howard Stern, asking me, a CNN Showbiz Today correspondent, why I had tried to prevent one of his radio sidekicks from being tossed out of the Grammy Awards telecast at Radio City Music Hall in 1991. It was the first of many times I would appear on his program.
Reality Bites
• TV news once took Darwinism to a silly extreme • A pox on the medium gave Pax TV (R.I.P.) a far-fetched idea about hiring • Who was their HR guy, Jeff Probst? I despise so-called “reality TV.” Not just because it is supposedly “unscripted” and resulted in the elimination of jobs for writers in … Continue reading Reality Bites
One, Two, Many Woodstocks
Woodstock Nation lives! No. No, it doesn’t. I’ve attended every effort to revive it, and I won’t be fooled again. Here’s why:
The Bad Actors • John Travolta, Matt Dillon, Art Garfunkel, Courtney Love, Elton John
We were all smiles after the interview. Then my piece ran on CNN and Elton John's publicist went ballistic. Why? Come down in time for the answer.
I’ve Seen All Good People • Tom Hanks, Elvis Costello, Lou Reed, U2
Okay, I dished some dirt in a recent post, The Bad Actors. But really, people, isn’t tossing bouquets a better use of a blog than throwing shade? Here are some of what I thought were the good guys. Respect.
Rehearsing with the Stones
• “‘Allo, Darlin!” Keith extends an invitation to an awe-struck reporter • We watched the band working on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” • Whoa. What are Keith and Ronnie getting up to?” In the 1990’s, when I was covering entertainment news for CNN’s Showbiz Today, I was sent to Toronto, where the … Continue reading Rehearsing with the Stones
Q and A – Rod Stewart, Pavarotti, The Blues Brothers and Hubie effing Brown
• The Reporter on the Road goes the lazy journo route • Everything you wanted to know about ROTR but couldn’t be bothered to ask • Q & A = Quasi-journalistic and Apathetic? When I was a cub reporter writing for alternative weekly newspapers, I disliked the kind of article that used the Q & … Continue reading Q and A – Rod Stewart, Pavarotti, The Blues Brothers and Hubie effing Brown
Celebrity Hockey – Pt. 1
• The ultimate sports fantasy camp: you play in a televised game against the '74 and ’75 Stanley Cup champions. • What would you pay to spend a weekend treated like an NHL player? But wait – there’s more! • See how Dave “Full House” Coulier, Cameron “Beverly Hills 90102” Bancroft and I combined for … Continue reading Celebrity Hockey – Pt. 1
Hockey Celebrities – Pt. 2
• I got mugged by the Hanson brothers from “Slapshot” • Hung out with Gretzky, Messier, Huddy and Lowe at their Edmonton bar • Scored on an assist from Rod Gilbert. Honest Any reporter worth their salt gets amped up covering the stories that bring them in contact with some of their personal favorite subjects. … Continue reading Hockey Celebrities – Pt. 2
Hockey, News – Pt. 3
• WHA? As a PA announcer in the World Hockey Association, my safety was in question • D’oh! The Stanley Cup-clinching overtime goal this reporter missed • All the news that fits: covering college hockey for the NY Times People who have trouble ice skating sometimes say, “My ankles are weak.” Circa 1956 Mine weren’t, … Continue reading Hockey, News – Pt. 3
Overtime Hockey – Pt. 4
• Skating with Marty Brodeur; dodging ruts at Madison Square Garden • Playing the Red Army • Taking the worst photo of Bobby Hull the Golden Jet ever saw Marty Brodeur plays forward – in his goalie skates – better than you’d think. Unless you know that, when he was twelve he had to choose … Continue reading Overtime Hockey – Pt. 4
Glyph? TAFKAP? Sir? Yo? • I Forgot I Interviewed Prince
Tonight we’re going to party like it’s 1997. See a recently “unearthed,” rare interview with...y’know...whatshisname. Prince!
The Lost Bowie Soundbite
• Do you remember the movie, “The Linguini Incident?” I didn’t think so. • On a dusty old cassette, a bittersweet revelation: David Bowie’s unfulfilled dream • Another recollection from my distant pasta I have shoeboxes full of audio cassette tapes I haven’t listened to in 30 or 40 years -- interviews done for radio … Continue reading The Lost Bowie Soundbite
The Unreliability of Memory – Marc Maron, Sean Lennon, Mike Gittleman
• What goes on behind one’s back when interviewing the son of a Beatle • What this has to do with one of the sweetest jerks I ever worked with • Crying while blogging: very difficult. During a workout this weekend, I was listening to WTF, Marc Maron’s podcast. His guest was Sean Lennon, and … Continue reading The Unreliability of Memory – Marc Maron, Sean Lennon, Mike Gittleman
Bolton Bombed
• Michael Bolton showed me how to generate a smash hit • I lobbed a lot of softball questions at the pop star • Can’t anyone here play this game of giving him a decent pitch to hit? The pop star was popping up. And hopping mad. It was driving him crazy, his long blond … Continue reading Bolton Bombed
“Yesterday” and Today – The Beatles
• Paul, George, Ringo, and the one that got away “Yesterday, everyone knew The Beatles. Today, only Jack remembers their songs.” So goes the tease for the 2019 film, Yesterday. The movie-going public (or what was left of it) disagreed with film critics who find Yesterday kind of meh. The people rate it 90 on … Continue reading “Yesterday” and Today – The Beatles
Hey Dude
• Oh, I believe in Yesterday there's a curious throwback to a Paul McCartney flub. • Did screenwriter Richard Curtis nick a 28-year-old laugh line from Paul? • There are no spoilers here about the movie, Yesterday In an interview I did with Paul McCartney in 1991, he made a slip of the tongue that … Continue reading Hey Dude
Not My Type – E. Jean Carroll, Roger Ailes, Russell Crowe, Donald Trump
• How the Nineties keep coming back to haunt us • E. Jean Carroll’s fling with Gonzo Journalism . . . not with me • Roger Ailes explained his idea for a 24-hour news network to me Let me make this clear at the outset: I am not a character witness for E. Jean Carroll. … Continue reading Not My Type – E. Jean Carroll, Roger Ailes, Russell Crowe, Donald Trump
Dr. John
Around Christmas, 2008, I was sitting in the Carousel Bar off the lobby of the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans. Someone said, “Look, there’s Dr. John.” I hopped off my bar stool, which would continue its slow, counterclockwise revolving journey while I was gone, and went out to the lobby to say hi and pay … Continue reading Dr. John
A Message from Paul Shaffer
