Last week was baseball’s opening day. and I wanted to remember the two finest people I ever knew in the sport, and probably the two finest people I had the pleasure to meet anywhere else either. The man on the left was Brooks Robinson, my very close friend for more than 50 years. We lost Brooks two years ago. And man on the my right, was Stan”The Man” Musial he has been gone 12 years.…
You may know of the legendary songwriter-lyricist, Johnny Mercer. Johnny was one of the great lyricists of all time, he wrote “Moon Rover”, “The Days of Wine and Roses ” and “Autumn Leaves”. Johnny Mercer was a giant in the songwriting world. One day in 1957 a woman named Sadie Vimmerstadt, a grandmother and beautician, from Youngstown , Ohio upon hearing that Ava Gardener left Frank Sinatra, (after Sinatra left his first wife), Sadie exclaimed…
When is the last time you wrote a letter? No, not a complaint, not a response to some bill, but an honest to goodness “pen in hand” letter. Of course, without any technology 150 years ago and before that, people effectively HAD to write hand written letters. Some were forceful, some were witty, many were romantic, and many more were direct and some even brilliant. But there was an art to letter writing. People who…
We are in uncharted territory in America. There is fear and anger and distrust and contempt everywhere. Everyone thinks they are right, often at the exclusion of others. The other day I came upon a short clip from the TV series “Afterlife”, a wonderful series starring and created by Ricky Gervais. Gervais plays a man who has lost the love of his life, and contemplates ending his life because he is lost and lonely. There’s…
We lived in the Pacific Palisades for twenty years. It was an idyllic place and community to raise three children. When we first arrived, it was a sleepy little seaside village, a welcomed respite from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. And now it’s completely gone. All that remains from this once vibrant and charming village of the Pacific Palisades, CA It’s so unimaginable, so surreal, to think such a beautiful place that harbored…
I want to salute and honor the brave men and women who are risking their lives battling the most horrific fires in California history and some of the worst fires this nation has seen or will ever see. It’s what we have to and should do. Respect, honor, and thank them. Because these first responders are working 18-19 hour shifts and are exhausted and without a lot of backup and support on their shifts. Jumping…