FRIDAY MOVIE SUGGESTION NIGHT PRESENTS "THE BLACK STALLION"!
From the moment he first saw the stallion, he knew it would either destroy him, or carry him where no one had ever been before...
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On July 30th, 2000 I lost my Cousin, just seven months after losing my Dad during Christmas week. Her passion in life was raising Arabian horses. This "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" feature is dedicated to my Cousin's memory with Love. I miss her dearly. In my apartment on a corner table sits three Breyer horse figurines next to a large framed photo of my Cousin. When Martin Landau was asked about fellow actor and personal friend Steve McQueen (the two were selected from 2,000 into Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio), his comment would have fit my late Cousin well. Martin said. "He was complicated. But that complication makes for a very interesting person". My Cousin was this way in my eyes. I choose to honor her for the love that was in her heart for my family. But her God-given gift was caring for animals throughout her entire life.
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At the age of 3, my Cousin was sitting with her Mom on a park bench. It was a Spring day when a sparrow landed on her shoulder.This simple event set the stage for a life-long love and kinship she shared with animals. As a young tot, I can remember her dog, a beautiful Collie/Chow mix with red fur whom she named "Dancer" because my cousin had always dreamed of becoming a ballerina. Instead, she raised three Arabian horses and nursed wounded animals back to life and placed them with good homes. She was a beautiful woman and highly educated with a Masters Degree in Russian. A high school English teacher, she could be a tough cookie. Once (and I laugh about this) she was grading papers at home after dinner, and she wrote atop the page of a student's paper in red ink: "Maybe if you stopped picking your nose in class so much and picked your brain instead, you might do better!" She was truly a saddle bred gal who would pick me up at my parents' house in her bright Red Triumph two-seater convertible sports car and drive us to her stables where I rode her horse. Yes, she was a free spirit. She drove her cars hard and fast. Her last sports car was a light orange 1980 MGB--the last year of the car's production. I can remember being 9 years old and we sped down a very long hill with the convertible top down and she yelled: "Feel the wind in your hair!"An extremely well read person who adored the Classics in literature, she took only The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times newspapers. She disliked injustice in society and tried always to do her part to correct it. Above all, she loved me, and although terminally ill, she was determined to be in the audience attending my June 11, 1999 college Cap and Gown Ceremony from the same University she once attended. Afterwards, she hugged me and told me that she was heading home early because she was in a lot of pain. I embrace the good memories of my dear Cousin. Now a short bit on the movie...
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This movie is about a boy and a horse shipwrecked on an island and how they learn to survive by helping each other. The boy saves the horse and with the help of Mickey Rooney, gives it a new purpose in life. Both the photography and story are family friendly and very beautiful. So to you, dear Cousin, I post this with a strong heart, just as you taught me to have.
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THE CAST: Kelly Reno, Mickey Rooney, Teri Garr, Clarence Muse, Hoyt Axton DIRECTED BY: Carroll Ballard; WRITTEN BY: William D. Wittliff, Melissa Mathison, and Jeanne Rosenberg CINEMATOGRAPHY BY: Caleb Deschanel MUSIC BY: Carmine Coppola, son of PRODUCER: Francis Ford Coppola. This 1979 film received two nominations for the Academy Awards in 1980. Mickey Rooney was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Robert Dalva was nominated for Best Film Editing; Alan Splet was awarded with a Special Achievement Award for sound editing. Based on the classic children's novel by Walter Farley, in 2002, The Black Stallion was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Our "Summer Series" of films continues proudly, and I hope you will love this touching film!
The other night, I had so much fun visiting Trevor Tredawayand Gunner Gillespie over at Gus and Janna's place. As you know from my previous Blogs on these precious children, Trevor is 3 years old and the son of Todd and Melinda Tredaway. And does he have energy! Once he saw me walk into the hotel room, he raised one eye brow, and when I smiled he just beamed and ran over at about 60 miles per hour to hug me! What a sweet little boy!! He and I played with his toys and Gunner was such a great, understanding playmate. This allowed Janna and Melinda to catch up as the two girls are great friends. I was blessed beyond belief to be a part of this visit!
After posting about Gunner, I began receiving e-mails from many of you who asked me for an update on Trevor and his condition. I had blogged about the boys in May and June. Trevor's medical diagnosis is a bit different from Gunner. One month before Gunner's diagnosis in Benton, Kentucky, Trevor was diagnosed with "an infiltrating astrocytoma"--this is a mass on his brain along with two tumors on his spine. While he has been having seizures, the day of my visit he was completely seizure-free and his spirits are in high gear, let me tell you! Like Gunner, Trevor is a very determined little boy who just loves people. And the Love from these children is so pure and unconditional. Oh, if we adults could somehow follow the example of these children! Imagine what a better place our world would be!!
As with Gunner, I must tell each of you that the cost of medical treatments to eradicate Trevor's tumors are unbelievably expensive. It is no surprise to any of us that insurance companies do NOT cover alternative medicine. But here are two ways we can help The Tredaway Family. First let's look at a Fund Raiser that is literally "just around the corner" for my friends in West Texas who may (or may not) remember my newscasts on "Bill Mack's Midnight Cowboy Trucking Network"on WBAP News/Talk 820 AM (1999-2000), and later during Mid-Days on "The Marc Davis Show"--(2000-2002) which is now in national. syndication. Anyway let's have a look below!
WEST TEXAS FUND RAISER FOR TREVOR TREDAWAY!
Team Roping:Okay, Cowboys & Cowgirls. Saddle up for August 2nd & 3rd at the West Texas Horse Center in Odessa, exit 108 on I-20. The books open at 9 AM and they close at 9:45 AM, so that means skoot your boots! I'm serious too! The roping starts at 10:00 AM sharp on both days. The Grandprize is Awesome!: A horse trailer to high point roper for the weekend! BIG SPRING, TEXAS GOLF TOURNAMENT:August 23, shotgun start at 8:00 AM. 4 man scramble/$50 per person. Hole sponsorship: $1,000 per hole. If you would like to sponsor a hole, please contact Kelli Tredaway at 432-213-2373
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Hey, let's come together to support this adorable little boy who has so much energy and is always on the lookout for new friends!
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Last but certainly not least, a special bank fund has been established to help Trevor and his family handle his medical bills. Here it is:
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The Trevor Tredaway Fund Citizens Federal Credit Union P.O.Box 51070 Midland , TX 79710
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Here is Melinda:
Hello to everyone! Well, we are still in Scottsdale and have decided to continue treatment for 3 more weeks. Trevor will have his last treatment on August 14, and that will be a total of 30 poly treatments. We will go back to Midland that weekend. We hope to have an MRI soon after we return. If we need to come back to Scottsdale, we will.
Trevor is doing good!! He has gone 3 days without a seizure. I have added 4 more supplements to his daily regimen which include ruta, calphos, boswellia and a DHA supplement for brain funtion. I know that something is working!!
I again want to thank everyone that had anything to do with the benefit at the Hop Pit last weekend. Whether it was working it, getting it together or just showing up, everyone's support for Trevor means the world to us!!
The team roping is coming up this weekend in Odessa. The grandprize is a horse trailer. There is also a golf tournament in Big Spring on August 23. I will post the details below.
Kelli updated the montage of Trevor. There are some new pics towards the end. I updated the link under "links".
Have a good week!
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One of the beautiful things about Blogging is that I have the privilege of being your eyes and ears here in Arizona and I must tell you. There is no more precious gift, than---to quote my friend Brian Jones---"the innocence of a child". Nothing else really matters because nothing else carries more meaning. Not what we do for a living, what kind of car we drive, or how big our homes are. We live in an often cynical world. Yet, all of this melts away when you meet children as I have with Gunner Gillespie and Trevor Tredaway. I first heard about Trevor through my Pastor of 22 years. He and his wife sent me a late night e-mail last November that read: "We are so concerned about a little boy in Midland, Texas named Trevor Tredaway. Please pray for him".Long story-short: After my friends in Missouri, Shannon and Amy Aldridge made me aware of Gunner Gillespie, my Pastor's e-mail followed soon after with information about Trevor. As it turned out, my Pastor and his wife have a friend who knows Melinda Tredaway...and the rest as they say, is history. Later, I started speaking to to my friends Gus and Janna Gillespie about Trevor and here we all are Arizona where alternative treatments are available! I hope you will answer the call to help Trevor. During my visit, he signed the words "I Love You" to me and I signed it back. Now YOU have a chance to do the same long-distance. Thanks again for reading this post and for your continued prayers and positive thoughts about these very precious children and their parents, whom I am blessed to call my friends.
With our collective Love and Supportiveness, they will survive this serious medical challenge in a world that needs them dearly!
Trevor's Blog is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/trevortredaway
Wow! You know it's a nasty music industry when The Rolling Stones sever ties with EMI Group's recording label after 20 years and move their entire catalogue over to Vivendi's Universal Group. "Universal are forward-thinking, creative, and hands-on music people," the band said in a statement. "We really look forward to working with them." Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
My neighbors were pretty good about Sunday. You'd think after moving to Phoenix last December that I'd be one-hundred-percent caught up on unpacking and projects. Well, yes and no. I finished all but two projects that sat in the "Que" (a.k.a. atop my living room coffee table), and the last order of business here is to select one of three music teachers I've spoken with. Each has a different approach to teaching. I'll decide this week. Thus, my earlier post about how all of us balance blogging with our schedules. I have strength training twice a week after work and weekends melt like the Stone's song "Blinded By Rainbows", only not quite that dramatic. It was fun to hook everything my gear, though. The neighbors (who I think were out) otherwise got a mid afternoon shock of The Who's "ICan't Explain", (they must have been out, right?). Bud Buckley's suggestion to replace my medium gauge acoustic guitar strings with light gauge turned out to be "just what the doctor ordered". All of this came about after my practice amp decided to become deader than a doorknob on me. My first job at age 14 was in a television repair shop in Western Cincinnati, so with a V-U Meter, I know what to check out (yes, unplugged). For the record, the only thing I haven't unpacked are my leaded window frames. But then, I'm hoping this is my last apartment too. Hope things are groovy at your apartment or home.
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Speaking of groovy digs, Carolyn at The Ginger Quill is not only a Singer/Musician, she has some really nice photos of her home remodeling. Stop over and say hello! By the way, I am half way through my Blogroll on catch-up visits. See you soon!
If you haven't guessed by now, every June I do a post for my friends over at ASPCA to remind all of us about "Adopt A Shelter Cat Month". ASPCA is awesome (and they let me interview them on what else? "THE INTERVIEW"). Anyhow, ASPCA held a photo contest of Shelter Cats from June and here are just a few friends I helped to support. There is an Arizona License Plate that reads "Pets Enrich Our Lives" and I know this for a fact. I have teetered on adopting a Maltese puppy, but the time is not right in the Manning household (I'm single but I still qualify as a "household", believe me). May these photos inspire you to be kind to pets, and please consider adopting a Cat or Dog from an ASPCA Shelter, because Pets promote Love and Peace. They are a responsibility, I know, But they give back so much to a loving home. Have a nice week!
So many of you have been thoughtful enough to send me e-mails asking for an update on Gunner Gillespie. Well, I had dinner last evening with Gunner, age 7, his sister Garlynn, age 5, and their parents and my dear friends Gus and Janna. Gunner is in good spirits as he continues to receive treatments for a Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, (DIPG) which is a cancerous tumor on the brain stem. Gunner is one of approximately 200 children in the United States who receive this diagnosis annually. He is a wonderful little boy who loves trains. In fact, his favorite movie is "The Polar Express" with actor Tom Hanks. Many e-mails ask me how to keep up with Gunner's updates.
Gunner's website on Caringbridge is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gunnergillespie. Gunner is from Marshall County, Kentucky. Now, here's what others are currently doing and even how you can contribute to help Gunner and his parents with their enormous medical expenses.
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See a Penny? Pick it up and send it to Gunner with a prayer for good luck. Friends of Gunner have set up a special bank account too at:
The Gunner Gillespie Fund Community Financial Services Bank (CFSB) P.O. Box 467 Benton, KY. 42025
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SOUTHERN ILLINOIS FUND RAISER TODAY!: at the Party Room at Jaycess Park, Centralia, Illinois (where the Centralia, Illinois Orphans play baseball). Entry Fee: $55.00 Registration: by 3:00 PM Play Starts at: 4:00 PM
Prize Fund and Drawings of Prizes include a Family Pass to Holiday World, 4 Good Seats to the Cards/Cubs Game, Tickets to Southern Illinois Minors Games, an autographed Matt Shaw Southern Illinois Practice Jersey and other SIU items. RSVP with: Mike at (618) 322-0638
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BENTON, KENTUCKY FUND RAISER ON FRI. AUG. 8TH "Glowing for Gunner Night Gold 4-Person Scramble" Check In Time: 7:30 PM Start Time: 8:30 PM Where: Benton Golf & Country Club, Benton, KY. $200 Per Team Glow Balls Will Be Provided! Make Checks Payable to: The Gillespie Family Special Account Anyone Interested in Being a Hole Sponsor @ $100? We want to hear from you! Contact Information: Jeff Wiseman (270) 527-3135 Day (270) 527-7545 Night jrpharmacy@hotmail.comBobby Love (270)703-2442bobby.love@marshall.kyschools.us
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LAWRENCEVILLE, ILLINOIS FUND RAISER ON OCT. 25TH
This is going to be a Celebrity & Business Auction! (Very cool, huh?)
Start Time is:6 PM
We would also like to know how to get in touch with the lady driver that sends G-Man stuff! Maybe she can help us get in touch with other race car drivers. Anyone who would like to donate can contact:
Sue Loftis:(618) 943-7349 (Home) or (618) 928-0259 (Cell) or: Katy Loftis: (618) 943-7349 (Home) or (618) 943-3286 (Cell)
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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA MARATHON 4 GUNNER FUND RAISER, NOV. 1ST Patrick Cork of Vincennes, Indiana will be running a 26.2 mile marathon in Gunner's honor on November 1st, 2008. Here's Patrick: "As I train this summer, I am collecting "marathon donations" in the amount of $26.20 to help pay for Gunner's treatment. Every dollar collected makes my training just a little bit easier so please spread the word. Checks can be made payable to:
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MARATHON 4 GUNNER
Old National Bank 909 12th Street Lawrenceville, Illinois 62439
UPDATE: "There have been a number of people that have made $26.20 tribute donations for each of their healthy children. This is a great idea for those thinking of donating that have kids and /or grand kids of their own. Those of us who have children with no major health problems sometimes forget how blessed we are".
For more information and updates on this particular fund raiser, you can visit:www.freewebs.com/marathon4 gunner.
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TO OUR FRIENDS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM WHO WISH TO HELP! If anyone would like some of the postcards of Gunner and his Magic Train then please email Paul Whally at: pwhally96@msn.com with a one-dollar donation and postage sent to The Gunner Gillespie Fund listed above.
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My thanks to all of the brothers and sisters listed here who, like me, are on Gunner's Journey to see him through to a normal tumor-free life. Thanks for reading, my friends and enjoy your Saturday!
As my late cousin wrote to me in a note after she attended my college graduation Cap & Gown Ceremony in 1999: "Clearly, it is never too late". This story really drives home that point.
I will be visiting you this weekend. Enjoy the inspiration and the music, for they go hand-in-hand!
FRIDAY MOVIE SUGGESTION NIGHT PRESENTS: "BRIAN WILSON LIVE AT THE ROXY THEATRE!"
We continue the high energy Summer theme of "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" with an incredible Rock & Roll concert film (and a sneak preview above via You Tube) about the man who is the genius behind "America's Band", the legendary Beach Boys' Brian Wilson! In 1961, Brian with brothers Carl, and Dennis teamed up with cousin Mike Love and Al Jardine in their suburban Hawthorne, California to create, ultimately 36 Number 1 Top 40 hits (the most of any U.S. rock band), 56 Billboard "Hot 100" hits including 4 Number 1 singles and the honor of being listed byRolling Stonemagazine as among the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Driven mercilessly by an emotionally and physically abusive father in Murry Wilson, a violent confrontation inside a recording studio in 1964 led to his ouster from the band. Later that year, the pressure of relentless touring and torturous emotional scarring within the Wilson family left a tremendous toll. By the start of 1965, Brian Wilson left the road as the group's leader, bassist and keyboardist. He was replaced by Bruce Johnson.
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Throughout the early 1960's The Beach Boys fashioned hits about bikini-clad girls, surfing and the hot rod car cruising culture of California's "Endless Summer" with extremely tight harmonies that were later redeployed on more mature themes culminating in the band's 1967 seminal answer to The Beatles "Sergeant Pepper" album with their own "Pet Sounds". Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney stated that Wilson's "God Only Knows" was the most incredible song he had ever heard. In the studio, the band gradually brought in accomplished session musicians such as drummer Hal Blaine and bassist Karol Kayne. A sampling of hits include: "Surfer Girl", "Do It Again", "Barbara Ann", "409", "California Girls", Surfin' USA", "Help Me Rhonda", "I Get Around", and "The Little Girl I Once Knew". The band toured worldwide while Brian Wilson stayed back home in California writing and becoming one of the most highly regarded recording engineers in the world. In fact, "Good Vibrations" (featured in this concert) required no less than six miles of recording tape and endless takes before Wilson was satisfied. Mental and physical health issues witnessed decades of self-imposed exile and deterioration that nearly cost Brian his life on several occasions. Still, the band replete with its own internal conflicts soldiered on through the 1970's bigger than ever in the United Kingdom, while their popularity waned in the United States. Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar had joined the band's tour in 1972.
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By 1974, the band enjoyed a comeback with double albums "Endless Summer" and "Spirit of America". They joined the band Chicago singing background vocals on "Wishing You Were Here" and on Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". In 1983, Dennis Wilson tragically drowned after a history of heavy alcohol and drug abuse. Still, the band continued on. David Lee Roth had his own hit with the release of Brian's "California Girls" in 1987. In 1988, The Beach Boys were inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and that same year, Tom Cruise's film "Cocktail" featured an unexpected Beach Boys hit "Kokomo". Then Brian himself surprised everyone by recovering from drug dependency sufficiently enough to record a self-titled CD that met with critical acclaim (a suggested cut is "Let It Shine" removed from Brian's life after he had become overly possessive. ). But the remaining band members fought to have Brian's controversial therapist Dr. Eugene LandyLandy was successfully removed from Brian's affairs. Tragedy struck again in 1998 when Carl Wilson, a heavy cigarette smoker died of lung cancer.
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In recent years, the first of many sad legal battles over rights to the bands extensive catalogue of hits was filed by singer Mike Love who stated in a second legal suit filed in 2005: “Once again the people around Brian, my cousin and collaborator on many hits, who I love and care about, have used him for their own financial gain without regard to his rights, or my rights, or even the rights of the estates of his deceased brothers, Carl and Dennis, and their children... Unfortunately, history repeats itself. Because of Brian’s mental issues he has always been vulnerable to manipulation. I simply want to stop the infringers and stop the deception". However, in 2006 the surviving band members reunited for a 40th Anniversary celebration of the release of the album "Pet Sounds". Brian Wilson today is happily married with two children. He has rebuilt his relationship with daughters Carnie and Wendy Wilson (of the band Wilson-Phillips) and this film is itself a celebration that Brian is a survivor.
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Recorded at the famous Roxy Theater in Hollywood, California this concert drew virtually every major rock artist out to see Brian performing his hits "live" for the first time in many years. It's part of my focus on Summer, and I hope you enjoy this film! Here's the DVD set List:
Note from Michael: As a life-long supporter of live music, Bud Buckley is an exciting artist and a fellow blogger to so many of us. He is a dear friend, and I've been privileged to see Bud in concert twice. He is a refreshingly down-to-earth and talented guy that I would describe as a genuine people-person. You have been reading his excellent Blog site for years, and Bud was of course among the first bloggers that I began communicating with. As you look over this concert schedule, you'll note that there are 5 opportunities for New York residents to see Bud, and I encourage you to make the trip to the venue by car, bus or rail travel if this can be done easily. I also urge you to make it a point to introduce yourself to Bud. This is a wonderful musical opportunity for you and the ones you love this summer to meet the man behind the blog page and the microphone!
It's been well over a year since I have written a Blog similar to a Larry King blotter in USA Today. So, here goes! Al Neuharth (yes, founder of USAToday) once wrote back to me. That was 16 years ago, but Al did write back! Did I mention that Ben Stein was curious about a source I had after commenting on an article he wrote? Yeah, it's true. Curiously, Ben hasn't replied to a handful of relevant e-mails since. But then, one look at Ben's career in Wikipedia and you kinda get the idea he's a busy guy. Elsewhere, I see in our local newspaper that Jerry Seinfeld is appearing at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace for two nights in August. I missed Damon Wayons in Vegas last year. I always enjoyed him in television's "My Wife and Kids". This has really been my friend Singer/Songwriter Bud Buckley's year! He has a new CD, he's just filmed a live performance in Clearwater, Florida and he has a touring schedule for Florida venues along with appearances for those in New York who have followed Bud's career that is honed much like one of his Taylor Guitars...with great devotion! Seraphine has penned a cool blog on graffiti versus art. Back in Ohio, several street gangs regularly defaced a retaining wall so many times that someone finally came up with the idea to sponsor an art contest for the rival gangs to submit a colored pencil rendering of a mural. In the end, a handful of gangs were each given a portion of the wall to paint. That's my last mention of Ohio, although I can barely believe Eric Carmen of The Raspberries lives there...saw him in concert at Kings Island Amusement Park where The Brady Bunch filmed an episode. Very cool! Green Tea has penned a blog about books that stay with you after you read them. I had this same feeling about the Jodie Foster movie "Stealing Home", but few shared my enthusiasm...but then, it is my enthusiasm. Ta-Da! ...Hey, is it me or are the girls of the U.S. Women's Open getting cuter? Christie Kerr and Lorena Ochea come to mind. And in tennis, the very married Maria Sharapova has been working on getting her game back after serving erratically of late--so they say. To quote the late Dudley Moore, "Of course we all know who 'they' are". Pete Rose still isn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame...nor should he be. I predict that my pal and radio legend Doug Mileswill go national. US technology giant Apple has seen profits beat forecasts, but warned that current quarter profits would falter. How have they held on? I mean, have you seen those motivational CD's with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet on the cover? No, I never mastered the MacIntosh. Probably because I'm a writer and not a graphic art designer. Carl Icahn is the only billionaire I know of who trots out the same greenmailing line for decades and gets away with it. All of which leads me to ask. "When is enough, enough?" Are you following The Olympic Torch through China? I really wish they'd give up on bashing Tibet and Taiwan. ShelbyLynne...if you're reading this, schedule a concert in Phoenix and mail me a front row ticket. She's fun, has a lot of sass and boy does she have a great voice. Remember James Brown asking John Belushi in The Blues Brothers movie: "Have you seen the light?" Well, Arizona's state airport is getting status lights...I like that name, "status lights"...to alert pilots if it's unsafe "to use, enter or take off on a runway". Hmm...I guess I have too much common sense for my own good. Why not just give air traffic controllers the raise they deserve and the technology upgrades to avoid runway incursions altogether? Lastly, The 12 nominees for this year's Mercury Prize will be announced "later". I have to laugh, because the nominations will be announced today. So much for "later". Maybe they meant later today. I dunno...But this Award is for all albums made by UK and Irish acts. Last year, you'll recall that The Klaxons won with their release Myths of the Near Future. The 2008 shortlist includes (drum rolls on kitchen table tops, please): Radiohead, Coldplay and Duffy. The prize and a £20,000 cheque will be presented to the winner as it has since 1992, when Primal Scream won for for Screamadelica.See ya later!
A lot of truly memorable Bloggers have closed their BLOG Pages since I opened mine in 2005. And I miss them. Recently, a Blog bud surprised me after admitting that she has weighed closing her site. It's a subject I have visited less than a handful of times, but this week I admit that it crossed my mind. In fact, I found myself laughing about "Mr. Carlin" (played by Jack Riley)--the kooky character of the patient to Psychologist Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart) in the sit-com "The Bob Newhart Show" which ran on CBS television from 1972 to 1978. I can laugh because I earned my college degree in Psychology. The Bob Newhart Show is in heavy rotation on cable television. I imagined Carlin having a session with Bob talking about his feelings associated with the prospect of closing his Blog Page! Bob would have likely asked "How do you feel about that?" and I'm quite sure they'd explore options, such as going on "Hiatus", transitioning to an irregular posting schedule, or closing comments. I have experienced this from my own visits to the sites listed on my Blogroll. The reasons for a fun blog site being closed down by my friends has included: the demands of a new marriage, parenthood, a new job, escaping a stalker, or the death of someone close. Several blog sites appear to be abandoned; they remain in existence, but little or no posts have been created. Others state on their Blog sites that they feel creatively drained.
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Personally, I enjoy blogging tremendously because I've been a writer since I first penned a grade school essay about missing my brother, who was drafted in Vietnam. In high school, I was on the debate team, cross country, track and I wrote for the school newspaper. After college, I continued to write news for radio and television as a reporter, a news anchor and most memorably for a weekend radio music magazine. Newspaper editorials and commercial magazine articles have been part of my life for 16 years. Each month, I take two days (usually in a row) to read and comment on every blog site I list in my Blogroll, in addition to the regular Bloggers I am blessed to have.
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There are funny things about having a Blog page. One of the stands-outs (as some of you can relate) is that many long-time Bloggers do not realize after four years that my Blog Page is only one component of an entire Website! Over the weekend, I received a long-distance call from a friend who could not find Page 3 of my Photo Page. I had to explain that words "Next Page" accompanied by an arrow was actually an honest to good Click On Button. Another person asked about an Independent film I made in 2003, blogged about at least six times and even have still photos posted on Photo Page 1. I didn't find that funny, and I suspect neither would Dr. Hartley much less Andy Rooney of "60 Minutes".But to be fair, not everyone has one of my cards which has my photo, title and my Website (www.michaelmanning.tv) on it. My Pastor of 22 years loves to scan my NewsPage daily. Another friend three days ago admitted that she was one of my "Lurkers"-which ended in laughter! (Andy Rooney would have laughed too!). A local broadcasting colleague asked if I had a Reel Page (she knows better, I mean a fellow journalist? Please). I honestly couldn't tell you without a straw poll if my About Page is viewed at all. I don't have a separate meter on it, and besides, I don't like polls. Speaking engagements have been sparse for some time, so maybe my Contact Page is the epitome of Three Dog Night's hit song "One" and qualifies as "the loneliest number"? For rush hour Bloggers, my Home Page is the most concise. As most Home Pages go, however, it doesn't change much. Truth be told, serious blogging requires a commitment of time. But with a huge debt of gratitude for the readers who visit regularly, I have chosen, again, to keep my Blog Page intact. There is no hard and fast rule for Blogging. And like each of you, when a day or two goes by and I don't have a new post, it's only because I am attending to something I've been neglecting. For instance, it could be I'm visiting a friend after a long absence, visiting an animal adoption shelter, practicing my guitar, working out, or deadlining on a magazine assignment. At the end of the day, my Pastor has the final word about "To Blog or Not To Blog".When I told him, that maybe I should consider options similar to what Mr. Carlin would tell Dr. Hartley about Blogging, he said: "Don't you dare!" Seems like sound advice. So, for now--you're stuck with me. But I'm curious. Have you considered not Blogging anymore? Do tell and share why.
Have a nice Monday! My Complete Website is: www.michaelmanning.tv!
I could listen to this everyday! Do remember to turn up your speakers.
This is dedicated to all of my Blog buds who have music kick on when I open their sites in the morning and wind up spilling coffee over myself. Just kidding, of course. :D)
Good Morning! I would like to introduce you to a new website I have added to my Blogroll: Air Charity Network. Every 24-minutes, a child or an adult in need is being flown through the generous volunteer and donor resources of this charitable aviation network.
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Air Charity Network (ACN) provides access for people in need seeking free air transportation to specialized health care facilities or distant destinations due to family, community or national crisis. The network includes the following: Airlift Hope,Angel Flight Central, Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic,Angel Flight Northeast, Angel Flight Southeast,Angel Flight West and Mercy Flight Southeast. Each of these entities coordinates volunteer pilot missions in the continental United States as well as Alaska and Hawaii.
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Mercy Medical Airlift coordinates free airline tickets for missions over 1,000 miles and negotiates low cost air ambulance service for individuals and families, who are in need of this special service. Each of the seven member organizations you see listed above holds a seat on the ACN Board, and the officer positions currently rotate annually among the member organizations. Air Charity Network also has a full-time Executive Director who helps manage the day-to-day national-level responsibilities and foster healthy and helpful cooperative communication among the members. I am proud to welcome Air Charity Network and I invite you to have a look at what they offer!
FRIDAY MOVIE SUGGESTION NIGHT PRESENTS: FRANKIE & JOHNNY!
April has come and gone-it's July... And have we got a film for you! _
With the slap of the hands, I'm back! This time with a summertime sizzler of a film that was largely overlooked. But the good news is that we have it! Al Pacino teams up opposite the ever-amazing Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1991 film "FRANKIE & JOHNNY". There's no other way to say this. What we have in this film is "cinema magic". Now, why is that? Because this movie is alive, it's poignant and it's totally honest. Apart from being one of the best romantic movies ever assembled (the script is excellent), Pacino is transformed into "Johnny", who has just been released from prison after serving 18 months for forgery. During his incarceration, he loses his wife and child to another man. However devastated, Johnny manages to cope by developing a love for Classical Literature and Cooking (which I've conveniently Capitalized to keep your attention).
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On the other side of the coin is the ever-amazing actress Michelle Pfeiffer, who is transformed into the role a hardened waitress in a Greek coffee shop whose life with men has been seared in the agony of abuse and despair. What emerges is a wonderful exploration of the fears and hesitations we all experience at starting a new life. Is is worth mentioning that this film is no fantasy world romance. This is 'real life' in overcrowded New York where two isolated people who feel completely destroyed and insignificant to the outside world find a reason to believe life is worth living. Interestingly, Michelle Pfeiffer stated to James Lipton on "Inside the Actor's Studio" (See my "50 Things About Me" list) that she savored the role because "it wasn't what people would expect of me." Prior to this film, Pfeiffer was typically cast for her looks. In this film, director Gary Marshall deliberately dresses Pfeiffer as a dowdy waitress with an attitude. Unlike Terrence McNally's 1987 off-Broadway production of "Frankie & Johnny in the Clair-de-Lune" with only two characters (starring Kathy Bates, who was turned down for this film along with Barbra Streisand) the film version is vastly different. There are additional characters and multiple environments to provide a subtext amid a harsh working class culture that is at once believable and riveting. Not to Be Missed: the scene where Pacino is alone with Pfeiffer when he states "everything I want is in this room". Powerful! Pacino has a hell of a lot of work to do if he stands a chance at winning Frankie's heart. So, he fights for her love by reading Romeo & Juliet, dancing like his life depends on it, chopping vegetables at record speed and alternately, being very patient. This is a curious relationship that leads to an unpredictable and dramatic outcome. The Cast: Al Pacino is (what else?)...Johnny; Michelle Pfeifferis Frankie; Hector Elizondo is the greasy spoon owner, Nick; Nathan Lane is Tim; Kate Nelliganis Cora; Jane Morris is Nedda, and Greg Lewis is Tino. Directed by Garry Marshall; Written by: Terrence McNally.
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A footnote on Debussy's "Clair de Lune": When I started in broadcasting for one year of overnight radio work, my relief, scheduled for 6 AM thrived on timing every traffic light to arrive just 60 seconds before broadcast time. So, one day I began a prank of programming IsaoTomita'smoog synthesizer performance of Claude Debussy's "Clair de-Lune". My relief, who was a purist at heart hated this version and the thankless task of back-announcing it so much that he was given to fits of shouting at me after he went to commercials. He threw away the CD. Then two weeks later, I located a copy of Tomita's "Live at Linz, Austria" where the artist was suspended in a glass pyramid over 80,000 fans performing music from his CD "Snowflakes are Dancing" (music of Debussy). So, I began signing off my air shift with a "live" version of Tomita performing "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", which was hysterical! Eventually, we reached a truce.
L-R: Richie Espinoza of En Vivo Live Media, Lolita De La Vega, Editor In Chief of Temas Magazine and Florette Vassall, Founder & Executive Director of The EVVY Cultural Interchange.
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Florette Vassall is the Founder and Executive Director of The EVVY Cultural Interchange--a non-profit organization established in 1983. She is also a dear friend of mine whom I featured on "THE INTERVIEW". The Annual EVVY Awards sprang forth from a full decade of "The Annual New York EVVY Fashion Awards". With this vehicle, Flo has recognized and honored Independent Fashion Designers who assisted in her first presentation in 1973. The following year, New York Mayor Abraham D. Beame issued a proclamation making EVVY "The Official Fashion Award" in New York City, the world's fashion leader. Proceeds from The EVVY Awards were donated to The Catholic Home Bureau in a gesture of appreciation from Flo for placing her with a wonderful foster mother during the years that she and her brother and sister were separated from their parents. Today, EVVY contributes funds to assist foster children pursuing careers in Fashion and assisting them with their educational expenses. Next November 5th-7th, The EVVY Cultural Exchange will be hosted between New York City, Acapulco and Montreal. For more information, tune into Flo's program on Brooklyn Community Access Television (BCAT) Channel 68 (Cablevision) and Channel 35 Time Warner Saturdays, 3:30-4:00 P.M.
A short time ago, I made a promise to list the films that I've presented here on this BLOG Page every Thursday for a feature called "Friday Movie Suggestion Night". With a tongue incheek sensibility, I don't really take myself seriously. But I do take my love of film very seriously! For Newcomers: I began this feature on September 15, 2005. For reasons I'll never know, I failed to save 2006's featured film listings (a.k.a. A Dumb Mistake). So, at least 52 films are "Missing". But the positive side of all of this is that I managed to salvage a good sampling of what happens here on Thursdays. Okay, here we go!
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32 Short Films About Glenn Gould, Cinema Paradiso,Cool Runnings, Children of a Lesser God,Patch Adams, The Last Waltz,Play It Again, Sam,Woodstock (The 1969 Aquarian Music & Arts Festival),Author!, Author!!,The Legend of Zorro,The Fisher King,Stealing Home, The Graduate, The Horse Whisperer, The Verdict,Junior Bonner,12 Angry Men,The Towering Inferno,The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Last Picture Show,The Pink Panther,Exodus,Sabrina,Dirty Dancing,Scent of a Woman,La Traviata (Zeffirelli-Opera film), Taxi Driver,Cactus Flower,Chariots of Fire,American Graffitti,Brubaker,Let It Be (The Beatles), Beyond the Sea,Casablanca,The Outlaw Josie Wales,The Banger Sisters,A Black and White Night (Roy Orbison Concert Documentary),Atlantic City, The Freshman, Tom Horn,The Electric Horseman,The Getaway,Papillon,Le Mans, The Sand Pebbles, The Great Escape,Never So Few,Standing in the Shadows of Motown (The Funk Brothers' Documentary),Swept Away (Foreign Film),Kramer vs. Kramer,Serpico, Conrack, The Big Chill,Starting Over,Moonstruck,Broadcast News, In the Heat of the Night,West Side Story, East of Eden, Citizen Kane, Someone to Love,Bridges of Madison County,Elvis: Aloha Via Satellite from Hawaii (1973 Worldwide Concert), To Sir With Love, Summer of 42', Over the Rainbow: A Performance by Eva Cassidy,St. Elmo's Fire, August Rush, Capote, Nell,Five Easy Pieces,Silver Streak, "10",Miracle On 34thStreet, The Maltese Falcon,Patience, From Here To Eternity, Experience: Jimi Hendrix Live in The United Kingdom, Message in a Bottle,In The Shadow of The Moon (The Apollo Astronaut's Documentary),Coal Miner's Daughter, That's Life!, Good Night and Good News, Driving Miss Daisy, Picnic, Rear Window,Network,Good Morning Vietnam,Key Largo, Round Midnight, Wall Street, The Man Who Loved Women, This Is Elvis (Documentary),Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, The Commitments, HUD,Moulin Rouge,Grand Canyon, For Your Eyes Only, Belle De Jour (Foreign Film),I Am Sam,High Fidelity,Tender Mercies,The Magnificent Seven, Soldier In The Rain, Annie Hall, Deliverance,Barefoot in the Park, The Sound of Music,Quiz Show, The African Queen, Gigot!, Arthur,Save the Tiger, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The Cincinnati Kid, Bullitt, The Hunter,Love With The Proper Stranger, The Misfits...
Wow! Saturday began for me with breakfast and then my "nose to the grind stone" reviewing my notes from the night before for an intense long-distance telephone interview for Airways magazine. I had been preparing for the 30 minute discussion with an aviation Legend (whose identity I cannot yet reveal) for well over a month. More on that after we go to press and are out in fine bookstores, such as Barnes & Noble in the U.S. and to magazine racks in the U.K. and eventually all 4 corners of the globe. Later in the evening, I caught Scott Dixon's Indy Firestone 200 win with only 29 laps left before rain caused the Red Flag to come out with a new winner. Did you see the race?
Meet Steve's son, Chad McQueen! Actor/Driver/Producer/Director _
My thanks to Blog bud CosmicCrayola who was inspired enough by my "AUTOMOBILE WEEK" to send me this photo! Imagine a day spent chatting with Chad McQueen. Fantastic! By the way, work on next year's "4th Annual Steve McQueen Film Festival" here is underway! And we will be teaming up with http:/mcqueenonline.com. A great site for Steve McQueen fans everywhere. Have a nice Saturday everyone!
The famous "blown turn scene" that Steve left in the final cut of "Bullitt", May, 1968.
The less-than-famous re-creation from my Indie film "Turning Back Time" saluting Steve McQueen in November, 2003. Ford Motor Company executives in Dearborn, Michigan loved viewing this scene on a closed circuit feed. No, it isn't available, sorry!
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Who knows what we'll focus on next week? Enjoy You Weekend!
"For us to capture on film the greatest endurance race in the world has really got us excited. I'm thrilled because we think we'll be able to do things with the camera no one has ever done before. For instance, we'd like to effectively capture the speed of 220-225 mph at [the] Mulsanne [Straight]. If we can, cinematically, give people a pleasant feeling and yet give them the sheer sense of speed at the edge of infinity, then we've created greatness".
--Steve McQueen (Motor Trend Interview, 1969)
For anyone, including me--a bona fide super fan of the legendary actor Steve McQueen--capturing the real-life drama surrounding the filming of Le Mans during the summer of 1970 as a chapter in a book, let alone a Blog post for "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" is utterly exasperating! While this film simmered within Steve's soul for years (even invading his consciousness in 1966 during filming of the epic Academy Award-winning film "The Sand Pebbles") it took a toll on the cast and crew. Le Mans is today widely acknowledged as the greatest racing film of all time. It debuted in Indianapolis the night before the famed Indy 500 race. McQueen and his Solar Productions had become seduced by the octane-fueled challenges associated with the great endurance racing events of the 12-hours of Sebring (where Steve and co-driver Peter Revsonplaced a respectable second with a Porsche 908 Spyder), the 24-hours of Daytona and the subject of this film--the 24-hours of Le Mans which has taken place since 1923 in the countryside of Paris. But with so little space and time to provide the entire story, I'll endeavor to touch on the basics of this film. In 2001, Steve's son, actor/director and race car driver Chad McQueen hosted the documentary "Filming at Speed: The Making of the Movie Le Mans". Joining Chad was five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell who recalled the film thusly. "It's stood the test of time. It's something I never thought would stand up thirty-years later. It's like vintage wine: better today than it was then". For the first 3 minutes and 40 seconds of this movie, there is only Steve shifting a 1970 Porsche 911S through the Paris countryside. But the tension steams off of the screen as McQueen ponders a fatal accident that he caused the previous summer. The first 15-minutes of Le Mans is guided by frequent camera shots of a clock leading up to the races starting time that is easy to construe as a device that either Alfred Hitchcock or Orson Welles might conceivably utilize as a prop to portend a sinewy line tied to mortality. The sound of a beating heart seemingly channeled through a stethoscope accentuates that this movie and the automobiles featured would do things never before captured on film. Another tension is the ever-halting undercurrent of attraction between Michael DeLaney (McQueen's character) and the grieving widow who misses her husband, but is eager to move on with her life--if she can only talk with someone who can validate her feelings of loss. Their brief dialogue during a meal break is not to be missed--dually filmed from outside the dining area, through a window and alternately four-feet from the couple as McQueen brings to the surface a steely, if non-threatening persona of a man so completely consumed with the sport. Central to the acting technique, both characters are "fighting for" one thing: to be understood. By contrast, a European driver and his wife work together to reach an understanding that once the race has ended, it is time for him to walk away from the sport. This is a look into the soul of a race car driver. It is the ultimate racing film.
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The story of Le Mans is also featured from a purely mechanical perspective in Matt Stone's wonderful book, "McQueen's Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon" with a Foreword by Chad McQueen. Viewed today, this film is respected as racings' finest hour. I hope you concur.The Cast:Steve McQueen is Michael Delaney; Sigfried Rauch is Erich Stahler; Elga Anderson is Lisa Belgetti; Fred Haltiner is Johann Ritter; Louise Edlind is Mrs. Anna Ritter; Ronald Leigh-Hunt is David Townsend; Jean-Claude Bercq is Paul Jacques Dion; Director: Lee Katzman, Writer: Michael Kleiner; Executive Producer: Robert Relyea. Original Music by Michel Legrand. Cheers to the 44 Drivers in this spectacular film!
“The key is going through this tough time and coming out with a cost structure and a model lineup that’s competitive,”
---Alan Mulally, president and CEO, The Ford Motor Company
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Bill Ford must be credited with taking on a job he really never wanted--heading up his family's namesake company. And while I am clearly no expert on any subject, one of the privileges I enjoy with my Blog Page is observing upon subjects that are of sincere concern to me. This is particularly true where the human element is involved because that is where I thrive. There are short-term opportunists and then there are the guys and gals who are "in the game" for the long haul. The latter is my style. And in the car business, the one thing I will remember about Bill Ford's tenure is a single decision he and his family made, along with their board of directors. He reached out to ex-Boeing Company and Boeing Commercial Airplane Group vice president Alan Mulally. An engineer and businessman, Mulally is responsible for orchestrating a common cockpit technology with the Boeing 757 and 767 while fending off competition from rival Airbus Industrie. If that sounds a bit like a tennis player rallying late in the game, again, I enjoy writing about those who are passionate about life. Bill Ford is passionate about Ford and he decided to challenge the way many think about another competition: the car business.
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For as long as I can remember, traditional thinking has been that whether you are in the airline industry, managing athletes, running a restaurant or leading a well known car company your choices were limited to considering only those candidates within a given business. Here is where Bill Ford recognized his own weaknesses and decided to accentuate his strengths by saving his family's company (the Ford family retains a controlling interest) and going with Mulally. Mulally has led with consensus and conviction that what has been ailing Ford for years must be put in the past tense and that Ford's survival is paramount.
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Prior to Mulally's arrival to Detroit from Seattle's Boeing Company, Ford's bread and butter consisted largely of it's international operations. Domestically, the company has coasted for years with the popular Ford Mustang and Ford Truck's venerable F-150 as its only solid stalwarts. So, Ford has really suffered from a lack of new designs for many years and this led to a shocking loss of over one-third of it's market share here in the United States. It is presently responsible for only 16 percent of all U.S. car sales. Couple this with a revolving door of executives over the past decade--including the controversial Jacques Nassar. Under Nassar as CEO, Ford affected the multi-billion dollar purchase of Volvo Cars from Volvo Group of Sweden and the ill-advised purchase of Range Rover from BMW which I'll bring up in a moment. To be fair, Nassar did consolidate Ford's one-third stake in Mazda under the Ford banner. But his questionable investments into non-core businesses included automotive salvage yard chains, repair shops, and recycling facilities that according to one Ford designer I interviewed (on the condition of anonymity) routinely lost upwards of $4 million per week before Mr. Nassar's firing was outrageous. Bill Ford, the great grandson of founder Henry Ford, sold off these risky ventures and served as President, CEO and Chief Operating Officer of Ford Motor Company from 2001 through 2006. Then he turned over the reigns to Mulally.
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Under Mulally, it's a new chapter for Ford with "actions that speak louder than words"--to coin a phrase. Among the pleasant news is his collaborative style, his consistency in weaving vision with solid pragmatism, and encouraging inclusiveness where an often antagonizing Nassar alienated Ford's supply chain network through ruthless cost-cutting. The latter earned him the nickname "Jack the Knife". Curiously, Nassar exercised a peculiar penchant for comparing Ford's progress with business models that were entirely unrelated to the auto industry such as Dell (computers) and even dot com businesses. Mulally by comparison recognized that in the 21st Century, U.S auto manufacturing firms can realistically expect to capture 20 percent of the market to remain solidly profitable. Among the unpleasant news, seven plants were shut down. Enough already! Here's the plan.
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The Plan: Overhauling the company from the factory floor on up by asking fed up employees who are "in the trenches" day in and day out for their input and then acting on it; taking additional direction from institutional investors, fed up shareholders and dealers. As my late father used to say, "Think twice and act once". Mulally salvaged the Ford Taurus and threw out the aforementioned plan to almost exclusively build trucks. In Ford's case, he is shrinking the company to achieve "economies of scale and scope". Over the past decade preceding his arrival, one-third of Ford's employees were laid off. The plan today is to rebuild after stabilizing market share and undoing senseless business deals from his predecessors as it did this past March when the company announced the sale of Aston Martin for close to $1 billion. Next came the sale of Jaguar (which cost Ford $10.5 billion in losses alone after redesigning the car) and former BMW subsidiary Land Rover to Tata Motors of India. Mulally's 22-month tenure has improved total quality control in cars and trucks by boldly shutting down production lines when a problem was discovered as was the case with Edge--a crossover vehicle. International operations have grown by 60 percent. Mulally has guided Ford with common sense to develop cars in one region and sell them globally while cutting redundant engineering costs. He is refocusing on four brands: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company has recently considered selling Volvo and is said to be re-visiting whether to retain the Mercury moniker to focus heavily on Ford and Lincoln brands. Of the "Big Three" only Ford can borrow from The Rolling Stones' song "Time Is On My Side". And that's because they are in the best cash position to continue reinventing themselves.
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Mulally grew up in Kansas. I understand he likes to use the term "way cool" a lot. That would apply to the company's final salute to legendary actor Steve McQueen with the unveiling of the Mustang "Bullitt" on the occasion of the film's 40th Anniversary release (the previous salute to McQueen was the 2001 Mustang "Bullitt"). I must say that after crawling under and around the car, it is superbly constructed.
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Ford employees have been through tremendous pain and job losses and this is terrible. However, if I were a betting man, of the "Big Three" I'd bank on Ford under Mulally. I noticed that they posted a $100 million profit in the First Quarter of this year--their first such showing in two years. Ultimately, Ford is a survivor. Let's hope they can get completely repositioned domestically for an expansion that is justifiable. I wish them well!
General Motors was once an amazing company. At one time the company (founded in 1908) consisted of Cadillac,Chevrolet,Oldsmobile,Pontiac and Buick. Today, you can add Saab, Hummer, G.M. Trucks and Saturn, but cross Oldsmobile off "The List" (and possibly Pontiac, Buick and Saturn; Hummer has been put up for sale and is expected to fetch less than $1 billion to Mahindra & Mahindra Corporation. A combination of sad and stupid. I hate to be so blunt but consider the following.
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The G.M. I remember showed us what a real Corvette looked like--a "Sting Ray". Today, it's hard not to laugh at middle aged guys on weekends wearing dress shoes with no socks, short pants with golf shirts and smoking cigars who climb into a car that has the "Corvette" name on it, but otherwise has nothing in common with such a proud history of a car that began as "The Ugly Duckling" in 1953. It later became the subject of Beach Boys songs like "Custom Machine" in the 1960's. And what about those cars Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi like? A 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 for "The Boss" and a 1972 Chevelle SS convertible for Bon Jovi, respectively. Both cars are little more than a memory. Old's Cutlass in 1972 was dubbed "the last muscle car". Buick was always sort of the "poor man's Cadillac". And even Cadillac today has little innovation. Pontiac was the car for the young set with John DeLorean's G.T.O., the Firebird and Trans Am. Today the brand captures only 2 percent of the U.S. marketplace. Each brand has its own budget, dealerships and is poorly organized, unlike a no-hassle sales floor at Saturn where sales people don't rely on a commission. Why can't they translate that across the board into brands people want? Because they have serious "issues".
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Saab alone drains over $150 million from G.M. in losses. GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation), the financing arm was sold off just in time for those menacing Di-Tech dot com commercials to run in heavy rotation for home sales until the housing market crashed. Oldsmobile was dumped in 2000 and ended up costing G.M. $500 million to make it disappear. Buick is so far from the 1948 Roadmaster convertible featured in the movie "Rainman" that it isn't funny. Buick is still a big deal in China, but who can name three models of Buick's today? See? The same is true for Pontiac which has only 2 percent of the U.S. car market. Unbelievable! Can you identify a "G-6", a "G-8" and tell me how it differs in looks from a "Grand Prix"? Or, can you imagine driving a Hummer in Phoenix with gas at three grades of prices: $4.25, $4.35 and $4.55 a gallon? I doubt even Demi Moore drives a Ashton Kutcher around in L.A. in one with the windows tinted black! I regard the Hummer the way I do an Airbus A380 jet aircraft with one word: "Odious". Enough already. What's "The Plan"?
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The Plan: CEORon Wagoner wants to cut all G.M. brands down to just 3 and raise $15 billion in capital quickly. His aim is to make G.M. profitable by 2010. He better work fast at the rate this company is burning through money with it's shamefully outdated company structure. It has just 6,700 dealers but that will shrink as the financially stronger ones will be buying up the smaller, weaker dealers. Credit must go to G.M. for investing in "The Volt" an alternative energy car. G.M. is moving on this front faster than Ford or Chrysler. White collar lay offs numbering into the thousands are next as this company hopes it can "shrink" to producing just 20% of the U.S. market. You know the world has changed here in the United States when Toyota's Camry outsells all of G.M. brands combined. Detroit has never been in worse shape, as a city that leads the nation in violent crime. Like Pittsburgh's shuttered steel mills, Detroit and other dead-end cities like Cincinnati no longer have well paying jobs. Just a lot of empty decaying buildings, neighborhoods rotting away and unemployed workers who know the well-paying jobs they once had are gone forever unless they move on elsewhere. And if G.M's plan fails? With 284,000 employees worldwide, Chapter 11 at least is one item that will not be crossed off "The List" anytime soon. Sad as it is, my professor in a class I took called "Psychology in the Workplace" said "If you don't embrace change, you'll be left behind". He is right. Tomorrow, we look at Ford and my Mustang GT!
Jay Leno's 1956 Chrysler 300 (one of 116 cars Jay has collected)
"I believe that, all things being equal, Americans will buy American. It just has to be as good as the competition; it doesn’t have to be better. The classic example is Harley-Davidson. Throughout the ’70s, the motorcycle maker had huge quality-control problems. Then Harley-Davidson said, “Look, let’s take our time. Let’s build fewer bikes. Let’s build them properly, so they don’t leak oil and they’ll run forever.” Harley-Davidson won back the market share it had lost, and it continues to dominate today. Even though the bikes might not be technically superior, they’re bulletproof and they’re American. People will buy American if given the chance".
--Jay Leno
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From the age of 6, I fell in love with cars. As a little kid, I could spot a car half a mile away and call out the make. That was fun! I hand-assembled over 120 model car kits. The cars I really love are the ones built before 1973--the ones that you see guys like Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi leaning against in CD liner photos. But the world has changed. The "Big Three"--General Motors, Ford and Chrysler axed 269,440 jobs. The weakest company of the "Big Three" is Chrysler Corporation, LLC. In the 1970's, CEO Lee Iacocca and a brilliant Chief Financial Officer named Gerald Greenwald pulled off a stunning victory from bankruptcy. They were hero's. But Lee and Jerry are mega millionaires now, and enjoy living the good life without all the heartburn (and Pepto-Bismol) associated with running a car company. Unfortunately, Germany's Daimler-Benz Corporation bought Chrysler for $36 billion in 1998, joked about having lied about their intentions and spent the last 10 years letting the company slide into trouble before they sold it for just $7.4 billion to private investors. The investors bought out the shareholders and now have 80.1 percent control with Daimler holding 19.9 percent. They call themselves by a weird name, too: "Cerberus". Daimler-Chrysler had just laid off 13,000 employees before the sale to Cerberus closed, and recently 10,000 more jobs were eliminated. Cars such as the Dodge Magnum, the Chrysler Crossfire, Pacifica, and the PT Cruiser convertible were halted due to poor sales. Experts say this was necessary. But how will Chrysler rebuild? Do they have time? Not much. Chrysler's problems are similar to their competitors. They have too many dealers, an outdated product that nobody was buying (with the possible exception of Jeeps), and just 10 percent of the overseas market with $9 billion in the bank. When I was a kid, Plymouth was the "muscle car" to "Wow" over! Today, that moniker is long gone. And Charger is the only "muscle car" left over (to compete with Ford's Mustang GT). I used to own a Mustang GT (see my Photo Pages). Gas was well under $2.00 a gallon (U.S.) when I sold it, and as much fun as that car was, I don't miss it. In fact, the gas bills from my 88-mile daily commutes in broadcasting back then was a huge burden. So, today only Bill Gates and Warren Buffett get to drive my old car...Seriously! Enough already. Let's look at Chrysler's survival plan.
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The Plan: Chrysler has loaded up the company with experienced executives to help out CEO Bob Nardelli, ex of Home Depot (yeah, that guy). They come to Chrysler from backgrounds at Ford, G.M, Lexus and Nissan. They will move quickly to shrink the company, buff up the product line and place Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep under one roof--so to speak. Since they have neither time or deep pockets (rivals G.M. and Ford have 4 times more capital on hand) Nissan will build a subcompact for Chrysler to market in South America, while China's Chery Automobile will make a small car this year for international markets that looks a lot like the Chevy Cobalt.
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My View: They have a shot, but it's a very "long shot". And I say this because privately owned Chrysler is still building fuel guzzlers such as the Dodge Journey at 19 miles per gallon (in city driving). Their "hybrids" are the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen full-sized S.U.V.'s (which are almost identical, and just plain stupid because nobody can afford to drive them anymore!). The company is too weak to float a public offering. So, they need to be nimble and they will need a lot of luck to avoid joining the ranks of companies they bought out in the past who found themselves in the same situation. Those car companies were around long before you and I were even a thought in our parent's minds: Hudson, Nash and Overland-Willy's (the latter became Jeep). These three consolidated to become "American Motors". Chrysler bought AMC in 1987 when they were still a huge corporation. Now, Chrysler is a mere shadow of itself. For the sake of the remaining American employees, I wish them well!
_ In the next 2 days we'll look at G.M. and Ford. Why?... because this is AUTOMOBILE WEEK!
Yesterday, I was genuinely shocked to see that I had neglected to update my "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" Blog Page since early May! To belabor the obvious, I've been swamped "behind the scenes" with so many things competing for my attention that the term "up to my neck in alligators" applies. That has been corrected. Not to sound confusing, as a component of my Blog Page you can "Click On" to "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" to see and read all of the movies we have featured. This page was added in 2005. For our first year, movie features appear on a "List" only. Soon, I hope to detail all of the movies we have featured over the past few years--many of which are on the "Top 100 List" of the American Film Institute. During the last three months of the year, I spend quality time in libraries walking past literally thousands of archived films. I usually emerge a few hours later with three full pages--front and back--containing lists of films. We have featured Drama, Comedy, Foreign Films, Independent Films, full scale Concerts, Opera, and even Documentaries and ALL IN GOOD FUN! I try very hard to balance out the seasons of the year with offerings that are bold, captivating, inspiring and occasionally controversial--but never in poor taste. My list is a typical "work in progress". For example, I recently cut 5 films from the roster because I felt that the list needed more strength for Summer. Here's an unusual tidbit.
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If a movie comes out in theater release and does not perform well, believe it or not, the results are duplicated on FMSN. For instance, Blake Edwards' "That's Life!" was withdrawn and later re-released to the movie-going public because the producers were bewildered why such a hysterical comedy failed to draw big numbers at the box office. Go figure! The same was true on my humble "Friday Movie Suggestion Night". So, I featured the film again one year later on FMSN and wouldn't ya know it? it received little attention. Another real-life example that was repeated here was Robert Redford's "Quiz Show". I even inserted a comment of apology to Redford in the highly unlikely event that Bob "Googled" it and noticed that a handful or less responded. Truthfully, the only lack of response that surprised me was when I featured Otto Preminger's "Exodus" with Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint. That "drawing back" effect has never happened since. Finally, I'll close by saying that I have deleted offerings the night before, or even an hour before post time because my gut instincts told me to pull it. To recap, I spend ample time laughing at myself because as I've mentioned earlier, I do NOT take myself seriously with this feature (or even in my daily life!). But I DO take the Joy of featuring this gem of a feature seriously enough to endeavor to do my best and come up with surprises every week. Manning Movie Classics (MMC) is my "tongue in cheek" comedic sensibility with (here comes that term) "Kooky Humor".
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Hey, watch the intersections out there! Phoenix leads the nation in traffic fatalities at intersections. Tom Cruise notwithstanding, the operative term is "Eyes Wide Open". Be well! :-)
Good Morning! The response to the "Over the Rainbow" performance by Eva Cassidy for "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" has been very heartening for me and it really restores my faith in humanity. Admittedly, it is a strange phenomenon to check my counter and see (as I go to press here) 1,140 "lurkers", since I first featured Eva this week! Since roughly 70% of my Bloggers listed on my Blogroll were not with me from the time that I began blogging in 2004, it would be helpful to offer this explanation. The term "lurkers" refers to people who stop by and visit a Blogsite, and for whatever reason they take leave without commenting. All of which is fine with me, because that tells me that I have, indeed, reached many more people than I could have possibly imagined! Hopefully I was reaching hearts and not just heads--as they say--with what I wrote and I am eternally grateful.
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Speaking of Rainbows, my friends GUNNER GILLESPIE and TREVOR TREDAWAY are responding favorably to their cancer treatments! If you are new to my site, I've posted about Gunner, age 7 (on May 12th and June 13th), and Trevor, age 3 (on May 29th and June 21st) along with their photos. Please go back and have a look! I can report to you that these boys are blessed with the most wonderful parents you could imagine. And I have been privileged to welcome each of them and their daughters as my new friends out here in Arizona. It is just remarkable to meet them in-person and connect a face with the name. This has really made my summer so memorable already!
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Have a nice weekend and thanks to each of you who have reached out with your financial support, thoughts and prayers for these families. I know first-hand how much they are sincerely moved by your Love and Tender Mercies!
FRIDAY MOVIE SUGGESTION NIGHT PRESENTS "OVER THE RAINBOW", A PERFORMANCE OF THE SONG BY EVA CASSIDY!
It took a lot of soul-searching for me to initiate another "First" for "Friday Movie Suggestion Night"--not with a full length film, but a You Tube that is slightly longer than 5 minutes. This is Eva Cassidy's remarkable rendition of "Over the Rainbow".
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The story of Eva Cassidy was included in my June 9, 2008 Blog entitled "On The Meaning of Life 1,000 Blogs Later" (my Blogaverssary). In that post, I featured a 2004 broadcast from ABC News' "Nightline". Over the past few weeks, I've tried to answer (for myself) why this young musician became so beloved by millions of people worldwide, but not in her lifetime? I asked a few of my most trusted friends to weigh in, and I listened to a variety of feedback. At the end of the day, as I'm wanton to do, I reached my own conclusion.
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What did it take for American audiences to wake up to Eva's talent? It wasn't her passing, because she labored in obscurity during her lifetime, and it was not until 2002 (6 years after Eva's untimely passing at just 33) that people barely started to take notice of her talent. I have watched her music withstand the harshest critics. Furthermore, the proof--as they say--"is in the pudding". That is to say, I don't see grief. What I see is consideration. People standing at listening stations in music shops just having a listen and deciding for themselves whether to pick up a CD during a shopping trip or not. Truth be told, it took our friends "across the pond" in England to wake us up to our shameful oversight of this Washington, D.C.-based musician who was a terrific singer and guitarist. Eva had a rare knack for selecting really Great material from the genre's of Rock, Blues, Soul, and Jazz. She refused to let others box her into any category and define her--all music was her love and this girl held her ground! By most accounts she was painfully shy and could have cared less about becoming a commercial success. This fact alone is amazing! Eva's arrangements of covers had her own thumb print so indelibly annealed in a song that it is actually easy to forget that they were written by songwriters Eva admired as much as they later grew to admire her. More to the point, she infused each song with a spiritual emotionality summoned up from a deep reservoir as she does here with Judy Garland's signature piece. The singer Edith Piaf once remarked that when someone sings out from the depths of their soul, (as Eva does here) it awakens each of us to our own mortality and the need to take hold of our lives with both hands and live it! Lastly, there was more to Eva's incredible voice; there was humility. It's evident here too. So it is fitting that I don't see sadness as much as I see people "Celebrating" the fact that Eva's music is reaching many listeners worldwide, and with great pleasure. It's hard not to smile at the thought of what Eva Cassidy would make of all of this fame that today honors her parents. This past Monday evening, I decided to watch film clips of the only video tape in existence featuring a live performance of Eva at Washington's "Blues Alley". The You Tube captioned above is our "Friday Movie Suggestion Night"selection. We've never done this before; as I said, this is yet another "First". It's a sweet and touching performance for summer.
Paul Simon's song has stayed with me for more than a week. So, I've decided that it was meant for me to include it here this week. This mix alternates back and forth between the late Eva Cassidy, whose music I first discovered in early 2003, and Paul's recording. Enjoy!
Basically, I'm a Public Relations Consultant with a background in Broadcast News. I've worked as a Reporter and Anchor with PBS, ABC, CBS & NBC affiliates and in Cable Television. I'm active in Radio & Television Commercials, Guest Speaking engagements and I enjoy writing, music and sports.
