I’m old enough to remember a February 1964 night in Miami when a brash, young, Cassius Clay ripped the invincibility mask off an aging Sonny Liston. I thought Liston was going to kill this crazy, young loudmouth. That night, a seventh-round barrage of left jabs and hooks exposed Sonny as a man quite different from the Superman image we fight fans had of him. Liston appeared to age two decades that night. While listening to…
Saturday night, my wife Karen and I attended the Billy Joel concert at the Los Angeles’ spanking new Intuit Dome. For me, the past and future merged. Billy Joel is old, reliable and reassuring. The Dome is new and intimidating. Just getting to the venue proved to be a curious intermingling of current and future technology. The Intuit Dome was built by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at a cost to Ballmer of more than $2…
Bruce Springsteen celebrated his 75th birthday last month. And heres what he says about growing old. “Age. Age brings perspective. And the fine clarity one gets at midnight…on the tracks…looking into the lights of an oncoming train. It dawns on you rather quickly. Theres only so much time left. Only so many star filled nights….snowfalls…brisk fall afternoons…rainy midsummer days. So how you conduct yourself…and do your work..matters. How you treat your friends, your family, your…
I don’t know Tua Tagovailoa. I’ve never met him. By all accounts he is a very fine young man. He’s also, at age 26, so young and gifted he might be able to play football for another decade or so. That’s if he stayed healthy. I’m not in the business of telling people what they should do in their life. But if it were me, and had suffered those concussions, I know what I’d do.…
Legendary baseball player Rod Carew became an American citizen last month. As his long-time friend, I had the rare pleasure of attending his swearing-in ceremony. Fourteen-year-old Carew arrived here from Panama 64 years ago, and if baseball GMs had any idea of the impact that he would make on the game, they would have sent a limo for him. Rod won nearly every award a professional baseball player could: the 1967 American League Rookie of the Year, the…
Mickey Mantle died 29 years ago this week. The fact that it has been 29 years is mind boggling to me, and maybe to you too. Mickey was easily one of the most beloved baseball players of his generation, and among the greatest players of all time. He was deeply flawed. He was an alcoholic, a womaniser, had health issues that couldn’t keep him on the field. But Mickey seemed to be almost a mythic…
To me, the smartest, wisest, most thoughtful, and most articulate voice in American politics is the most “unelectable”, at least where the country is now. He’s Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford. In 2007, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours in philosophy, politics, and economics after studying at Pembroke College, Oxford. He’s also Harvard educated. He speaks eight…
And another thing. How hard would it have been for Trump to say”Although we have our differences, I congratulate Joe Biden for his service to this country, and I look forward to winning the election against whoever is the Democratic candidate”? Instead , all Trump said was ” Joe Biden is the WORST President in the history of this country”. First of all, its not even CLOSE to true. In fact, MOST historians say that…
R.Brandon Johnson: Actor/Host. From 2011 to 2013, the Minnesota native, starred as Gary Wilde on the Disney Channel series Shake It Up opposite ZENDAYA. . He has also hosted the TNT reality competition series 72 Hours. Johnson got his first big break on the small screen playing the recurring character Michael McBain on the ABC Daytime series One Life to Live in 2003, playing the role until 2004. Johnson returned to the series in 2007 and in 2008 in the recurring role of…
Mykelti Williamson: Actor/Director, has worked constantly over the course of his 40 year career. He is best known for his roles in the films Forrest Gump (as Bubba), 12 Angry Men (1997), Con Air, and Ali, and the television shows Boomtown, 24, and Justified. In 2016, he portrayed Gabriel Maxson in Denzel Washington’s acclaimed film adaptation of August Wilson’s play Fences, reprising his role from the 2010 Broadway revival. Mykelti has also directed numerous episodes of television including the Law & Order franchise.
Netflix is currently running an in-depth documentary entitled, Remembering Gene Wilder. This great comedic actor starred in such seminal movies as, The Producers, Willie Wonka, Bonnie and Clyde, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, Stir Crazy, and so many more. I had the privilege of working with Gene on a short-lived sitcom that I produced called Something Wilder. While Gene’s on-scene persona was that of an extrovert, the real Gene Wilder couldn’t have been more different. There were…
I love John Oliver. I think his show, “Last Week, Tonight”is one of the most entertaining, informative, and often drop dead funny shows on TV. His show goes deep into some of the most complicated subjects .He is fearless and acerbic and pointed, and Oliver says things that almost no one who reports the news would say or reflect on. John Oliver earns 1 million dollars per episode for his show on HBO. But yesterday,…
World renown entrepreneur Art Levitt will be joining Frank and Billy on A Mick A Mook and A Mic podcast this summer. Levitt was the founding CEO of Fandango, Inc., the premier online movie ticketing and entertainment business. Art launched Fandango in July 2000, and led the company to growth and profitability, establishing the company as a nationally recognized brand known for its creativity, operational excellence, and premium service experience. From 1996 to 2000, Levitt…
Over the course of the past three years A Mic A Mook and A Mic has produced 165 video podcasts. That is more than seven day’s worth of non-stop programming. It is assuredly better than a lot of that stuff you have been binge watching on Netflix or Hulu. Billy, Derrec and I have had to pleasure to speak with people from all walks of lives. The famous, almost famous, never famous, used to be…
Rodney Cline Carew was born on a train in Gatun, Panama on October 1, 1945. He moved with his family to New York when he was fourteen years old, and signed with the Minnesota Twins on the day he graduated from high school. Rod Carew is one of the most talented players to ever don a major league uniform. During his illustrious nineteen-year career he was selected to eighteen All-Star teams. He is the all-time…
There’s something about a ballpark. Any ballpark. Anywhere. Baseball ballparks are mostly outdoors, and if you’re lucky and you are there to witness it…theres a beauty you can see and feel in your surroundings. It’s in the sunset. It reaches into your soul. You don’t get the same wonder in football stadiums or arenas. This is sunset at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, perhaps the game’s most beautiful ballpark. The glory of a sunset kissing…
Here’s a funny and true story that references humility and accomplishment – and the fact that even when you finally do something really ‘great’ someone, somewhere, is doing better than you. This is a story that I tell in my live show. It involves three-time All-star Nate Colbert. All-star Nate was enjoying the game of his life. Colbert’s best day in the majors was August 1, 1972, when he hit five home runs – matching…
Actor and Director Todd Grinnell, known for playing janitor Dwayne Patrick “Pat” Schneider in Norman Lear’s 1970s sitcom, ONE DAY AT A TIME, joins Billy and Frankon the April 17th episode of A Mick A Mook and A Mic. Additional Grinnell credits include FOUR KINGS, GRACE & FRANKIE, and WITH LOVE. Born in Massachusetts, Grinnell landed his first professional gig at the age of 26, appearing in the film “Lost Soul” (2002). His television debut…
For many people, New Years’ Day is viewed and used as a new beginning. Hopefully, the new year will provide an opportunity for a fresh start. However, for me – one who has lived most of my life dealing with winter in the Northeast, Spring is that time of the year in which hope, and new beginnings, occur. The great English poet, Alexander Pope – who is the second most quoted English author in The…
(Editor’s Note: The following is an outtake from the book IF THESE LIPS COULD TALK by Frank Pace & Billy O’Connor. It never made it into the book. Nevertheless, we thought you might like to read it. To purchase the book, go to: https://amickamookandamic.com/product/if-these-lips-could-talk/ _______ My father used say “Frankie boy, if bullshit was music, you would be the whole brass band.” I learned how to “spin” at a very young age. I was working…
Tom Arnold is both a funny and controversial individual. This is definitely an episode you won’t want to miss, especially if you like show business stories. Arnold is best known for playing Arnie Thomas on Roseanne, which starred his ex-wife Roseanne Barr, and opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies. Tom has appeared in many films, including True Lies, Nine Months, Big Bully, Carpool, McHale’s Navy, Animal Factory , Cradle 2 the Grave, Mr. 3000, Happy Endings, Pride, The Great Buck Howard, and Madea’s Witness Protection Tom was also the host of The…
Ren Bell, one of America’s foremost young TV Comedy Directors, will join Billy and Frank on the April 3rd episode of A Mick A Mook and A Mic. This young, South Carolina native is not only a Dick Van Dyke lookalike he is a throwback to the days Van Dyke, Carroll O’Connor, Andy Griffith, Candice Bergen, and Robin Williams plied their trade under the watchful eyes of genius directors such as Howard Morris, Howard Storm,…
It was the Spring of 1964. Yes, you read that correctly …1964. 60-years ago! I was a kid who loved playing and watching baseball. It was a time when baseball was king. It was America’s pastime. Living south of Boston, I was a huge Red Sox fan. Growing up, Ted Williams was a Boston sports icon, and in 1961, Carl Yastrzemski took over the mantle from Ted, as the leader of the Sox. However, it…
Nyambi, best know for his roles on Night Court, The Good Fight, and Mike & Molly, will be joining Billy and Frank on the February 21st episode of A Mick A Mook and A Mic. Born in Norman, Oklahoma, Nyambi went to Bucknell on a scholarship to play basketball. He also became interested in acting during his final year and decided to study for his Master of Fine Arts at New York University. After completing…
Ravens and Lions fans are hurting. They were so close to seeing their teams win title games and vault into the Super Bowl. But they didn’t. Maybe it was a fumbled football, a dropped pass, a missed tackle, or in the case of the Lions two gambles that didn’t pay off. But those teams failed. It’s of little solace, but if you haven’t failed you will never succeed. Because you haven’t tried. I want to…