I’ve been too busy the past few months to keep up with my personal blog, but I’m ready to rock and roll again…. So here’s my first update in a long time…. I get on the subway, and the woman who has been pregnant for the last four years gets in my car and starts asking for money again…. She moves on, and we get to 59th Street where another woman gets on and proceeds to tell us that she lives with her 99 year old mom who needs surgery, but she also needs money for the surgery… Hate to be a cynic, but somehow I didn’t buy that story. Then at 50th Street, a guy walking with a cane gets on the train and lays it out…. “I am a drug addict and I need money. I need a dollar, a quarter, a dime. Whatever you got, I’ll take. Just give me some money and I’ll say God Bless You.” It’s always interesting underground.
Happy birthday America!
We can argue over health care… We can complain about the economy… We can criticize President Obama… We can rally for Mitt Romney… We can protest House Republicans… We can be Catholic… We can be Jewish… We can be Muslim… We can read any book we want… We can write a book… We can own a gun… We can call for gun control… We can fight for rights if we are not like the majority… We can be gay… We can demonstrate against gay marriage… We can vote… We can fight for our country… We can protest war… We can celebrate our heroes… We can chase our dreams… There’s no place like it on Earth. Be grateful you can call yourself American. Happy birthday.
My 2012 Summer Reading List
I try to make a list of books every summer. I usually get through most of the books, although not always before summer is over. Here is my list for this summer. Hope you get to read a few good books, and please share your recommendations on GoodReads!
1. Night by Elie Wiesel
2. Fearless by Eric Blehm
3. The Real Crash by Peter Schiff
4. In One Person by John Irving
5. The President’s Club by Nancy Gibbs
6. The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani
7. Ulysses by James Joyce
8. King Lear by William Shakespeare
9. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
10. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Remember Gary Papa
So it was approaching midnight on a Saturday night and I was home just hanging out. Single guy then, but pretty beat from working overnights. The phone rang. “Yo kid,” the voice said. It was Gary Papa.
On the sideline with Gary Papa prior to the NFC Championship game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Carolina Panthers on January 18, 2004.
“What the hell are you doing home on a Saturday night?” He knew I had no life on that overnight shift. Freaking brutal shift for anyone who works it.
“Why don’t you come over and watch the fight?” he asked. I don’t remember who was fighting, but it was a big one – One of those pay-per-view deals.
So I went over to his house, and a bunch of people were there watching the fight on one of those big screen televisions – not an HDTV, but a big screen tv. It was a fun time. A night that I always remembered.
Why am I telling you this story? Because Gary Papa never forgot anyone, and so I don’t want you to forget him. Please make a donation to the 2012 Gary Papa Run and help fight prostate cancer. Below is the link to the 6abc team page, which still needs more than $10,000 to reach its goal. Please donate and make a difference.
Click here to donate to the 6abc team!
Remembering Dick Clark
I never got to meet Dick Clark in person. My earliest memory is watching American Bandstand and seeing a very young Michael Jackson performing with the Jackson 5 on an old black and white tv. I was impressed because Michael wasn’t all that much older than me.
Years later, I got to work in the building that rumor had it was built for Dick Clark. He opted instead for Los Angeles, the story went.
A year or so before he suffered a stroke, I did get to talk to Dick. He was visiting Japan at the time and had a terrible cold, but I had to do a satellite interview with him about the American Music Awards. I don’t remember much of the interview, but we had a chance to chat for just a minute or two beforehand. He had not forgotten many of the people with whom he worked in Philadelphia, and asked me about them and how they were doing. That really struck a chord with me, that no matter how successful he had become since leaving Philadelphia, he never forgot the people who helped him get started.
Good man. New Year’s won’t be the same. RIP.
