Seven Years Ago

We all know what happened seven years ago. I wanted to record my personal experiences regarding the day’s events and all the days that followed. It started as a fairly typical day. I got off my commuter train in Scarsdale and visited my dentist. When I rejoined Metro-North, heading for New York City, the train was very crowded and I had just enough room to stand by the door.

I walked across Manhattan as I did every day. The route took me through midtown from Grand Central Station to the far west end of 57^th Street. At the time, I worked at the CBS Broadcast Center as the manager of CBS News Graphics. I arrived at about 8:45 am and settled into my office. About ten minutes later, the guy who worked in the office next door to me said ‘Hey, you have to see what’s on TV! A plane crashed into The World Trade Center!’

Both of us were watching local TV newscasts and flipping back and forth between channels. It was approaching the top of the hour at nine o’clock. Our morning news show, The Early Show, was just about to sign off. Anchor Bryant Gumbel ended the last moments of the show with a shot of smoke coming out of the Trade Center making a quick comment as end credits ran on the air.

At the top of the hour, all the network and local newscasts returned to the air live. Everyone was confused. Immediate reports speculated that it might have been a wayward small plane. Distant shot or close-up, the entire world seemed to be watching the accident via television. Just a few minutes later, we saw the silhouette of another huge plane make a unusually large turn over the Hudson and plow into the other World Trade Center tower at full speed. We didn’t know what was going on but we knew it was going to be a long day.

Both my next door neighbor Brion and I were responsible for show crew requirements and we were already on the phone calling everyone we knew. The message was simple: Come to work and prepare to stay a long time. Newscasts would be on the air all day long and someone had to be in the studio to make it happen. We had mixed results. Some people wanted to run in. Others insisted on staying home. By about 9:45 am, we started hearing scattered reports about other plane hijackings around the country although the various accounts were only fragments of information.

Around ten, the first tower collapsed to the ground. I remember concentrating on my recruiting work and watching the TV in my office through the corner of my eye. Various directors and producers were calling clamoring for every person they could think of. Hotel rooms were being booked. Alternate transportation was being arranged. By 10:20, I remember NBC’s Today Show mentioning that there was a possibility that several other planes may have been hijacked with unknown destinations and that there was a massive fire at The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. It was obvious that an attack was in progress en masse but why it was happening and who was participating was a mystery.

Around the same time, people down the hall at CBS Master Control had received phone calls from the transmitter engineers on top of the North Tower. They were pleading for help surviving with the oxygen provided by Scott air packs that they had for emergencies. The panic was intense. How would they get down? There was a tremendous fire from the plane crash below them. I remember my corporate e-mail begin to be filled with reports from observers and gatherers of news as all-points bulletins to everyone who could read it. No one knew where this was going. It was around this time that I realized that my amateur radio handi-talkie had been stolen out of my carry-all bag never to be seen again.

At 10:30, the North Tower teetered and fell to the ground. The signature tall red and white TV antenna wobbled on the way down like a car whip antenna in the breeze. I remember thinking ‘So that’s what they look like when they fall’ knowing that I would probably never see anything like that again.

During the next hour, we heard more details about The Pentagon plane crash and another aircraft down in Pennsylvania. Fighter jets were everywhere, it seemed. All commercial flights had been diverted and grounded. Where was President Bush? Had Vice President Cheney taken over the government? Only then did we think that the CBS Broadcast Center might be a target, as well. Things calmed down a bit. I was glued to my phone still working on crew requirements.

As the day progressed, we heard that the Hudson River crossings were closed and that the West Side Highway had been halted in its tracks, as well. One of my Chyron operators was stuck in her car, stopped at a dead halt, for nearly six hours. Traffic was impossible. Some people managed to get in and arrived every once in awhile. Around 3:30 pm, my friend Kevin and I decided to venture outside to a local deli to bring back a late lunch. The air smelled like a wet construction site. We were miles away, yet we could easily sense our proximity. This was real.

By this time we were all exhausted and tired looking for adrenaline to carry us through the long haul ahead of us. One of my friends, a camerawoman named Michelle, had been rumored to have been at the site during the collapses. Later that evening I saw her covered with white powder as a souvenir of her plight. I was so glad to see her alive and well. It was another reminder of how close we were to the site.

The afternoon dragged on with endless speculation regarding what had happened. Of course, non-stop news and special reports were to continue all night. My telephone pleading for crews changed to a relentless search for hotel rooms. The work never ended. The requests kept coming for every future day part. Crew the overnight show. Crew the morning show. Get people in for emergency edit sessions. All of the New York City TV stations were off the air except Channel 2 who still had a transmitter at The Empire State Building. All the broadcasters’ equipment at WTC was now crushed and buried in the tower rubble.

If I remember correctly, we finally got off the air with continuous coverage at 9 am Wednesday morning about a full day after the initial events. My wife called me asking me to call my daughters’ school. It had not occurred to my daughter, until she went to class, that I had not come home. I insisted that she be brought out of class so I could tell her that I was OK. She sounded very relieved when she heard my voice. I had been up the entire night and I was hungry and tired and sleep-deprived. I finished my final hotel and crew arrangements and had my ducks in a row. I headed home just around noon time.

Manhattan was as quiet as it might be on an early Sunday morning. I walked across town back to Grand Central Station. I think only the main entrance was opened. The train home was unusually full. Grown men were seen wearing sunglasses to hide their eyes as they were crying and weeping aloud. Nearly every station I passed had women with children standing on the platform waiting for fathers and husbands to finally arrive. Some never did.

The days that followed were the beginning of a new world. Police and National Guardsmen were seen at nearly every Manhattan street corner. Complete streets were closed off by large concrete barriers. Travel was limited and restricted. Every building wall and lamp post was covered with flyers seeking missing people. Business was not back to usual for quite a long time. We got used to armed patrols on our commuter trains and in Grand Central Station. Suddenly, we really were in a police state.

As time went by, we heard about the casualties: The husband of a tennis partner, the brother of an old work mate, the sister of an employee. Everyone seemed to know someone who had been taken victim by the disaster. We all felt the lack of freedom. We all saw the new Manhattan skyline – towers missing in the distance. The planes following the LaGuardia flight path, that sends aircraft north up the Hudson River, now gave me chills and continues to. Things will never be the same. My daughter visited the disaster site months later. On a piece of plywood fence she left her summary: ‘god Bless Amarica. One home. One peas.’

Desert Island Discs

If you could bring only ten tunes to a desert island, what would they be? I just reorganized all my CDs and visited with some old musical friends. After brief thought, I compiled a list of ten favorite songs…and here they are:

1. LTD – Back In Love Again. If I had to embarrass myself by ‘getting down’ in my car, with the radio blasting, this would be the tune. It’s down-home danceable funk, complete with a hot horn section, perfect for polyester. You must check out the You Tube clip of this song ripped from an old recording of Soul Train! Lead Singer Jeffrey Osborne (pictured – before his solo career) leads a big band all dressed in red jumpsuits and serious Afro hair-dos. These guys are no amateurs! They used to back-up Sam and Dave! The bass line alone is plenty to get you up and going. I defy anyone to not dance to this! By the way, L T D stands for Love, Togetherness and Devotion ba-by!

2. Aretha Franklin – Freeway of Love. Mariah Carey? Celine Dion? Please! Aretha is the Queen of Soul and the Queen of All Singers. Ladies, take note: This is how it’s done. There is no other and there will never be. Her career is amazingly diverse in style. Her superior quality is constant. So, drop the top, baby and let’s cruise on into ‘It’s Better Than Ever’ street!

3. Michael Jackson - Don’t Stop (‘Till You Get Enough.) This is what happens when you simply have the best in the world: Michael Jackson, Hollywood’s finest session musicians, legendary Quincy Jones as producer and Bruce Swedien completing the final mix. Collaborative and complex, this recording is a delight to be enjoyed again and again. Listen on headphones. Listen on speakers. Listen in your car. You’ll hear more and more. Every instrument is crisp and present. The spatiality of the stereo image amazes me. So much is going on here and it all comes together with orchestral harmony. The song itself is killer enough to make any dance floor die and die again. Big band funk with Latin percussion. Who thought this up? Aren’t you glad they did!

4. Shawn Colvin – Tennessee. She may be from South Dakota, but her heart and soul heads towards Nashville and Memphis. Confident and filled with procacity, this is Shawn at her very best. Bela Fleck came by for this delight, the kind of record ready for flying along I-40 with the top down. Another beautifully clean recording with an amazing three-way guitar break creating a centerline for the progression of this tale. Who ever heard of a love song to a state? The lyrical imagery and the hot musicianship make this quite a valentine.

5. Mary Chapin Carpenter – I Feel Lucky. Chapin is a very smart lady. With Ivy League credentials, she has charmed us for years and years with her insightful storytelling and ingenious moving lyrics. Here she is - sassy and simply a lot of fun – a devil-may-care attitude to an improbable lottery win. Clever and crafty, this playful satire perfectly captures a sunny day of play. Great fun! (While you are at it, check out Wynonna Judd’s Girls With Guitars. It’s a stealth Mary Chapin song, with all the same feeling, that Wynonna was lucky to get and perform.)

6. Wilson Philips – You’re In Love. Sometimes formulaic pop music really does work. This song is a case in point. The singers are excellent. The tight musicianship compliments the unrequited regrets of the songwriter’s voice. I have always visioned the singer of this song peering sadly out the window of a small corporate jet heading skyward and not looking back. Michael Landau’s lead guitar delivers a solid statement of unquestioned fate for the former lover. I guess it was never meant to be but this song tells it so sweetly.

7. Chic – I Want Your Love. As far as I am concerned, Chic lead guitarist Nile Rodgers is the most prolific producer and musician of the late 20^th century. I Want Your Love was one of his earliest gems recorded with his bass player buddy Bernard Edwards by his side. Nile’s distinctive guitar lead and Bernard’s extraordinary bass line produce a groove like no other. (Catch Sister Sledge’s He’s the Greatest Dancer for another delightful dose of classic Chic sound.) In later life, Nile’s golden touch created masterpieces for Diana Ross, Deborah Harry, Madonna, Duran Duran, David Bowie, The B-52s and even rai star Cheb Mami. Rodgers continues to produce and inspire to this day.

8. Don Henley – End Of The Innocence. Written in 1987 during the era of Ronald Reagan and Gary Hart, this song, co-written by pianist Bruce Hornsby, sounds as rich as it did twenty years ago. The lyrics intertwine a hateful disdain for the political establishment and a passion for the songwriter’s true love. Was it intended to be a song for hopelessly-in-love political activists? You could think about this one for a very long time. Bruce Hornsby’s biting piano style perfectly frames some of the most brilliant lyrics you may ever encounter.

9. Steely Dan – Time Out Of Mind. Many consider Steely Dan’s Aja to be one of the greatest recordings, technically and creatively, ever made. This song belongs to their follow-up disc Gaucho. So, what is it all about? An enticement from a drug dealer? A challenge to embrace adulthood? It’s all in the ears of the beholder. Besides Steely Dan’s Fagen and Becker, you’ll hear Rick Marotta, The Brecker Brothers, David Sanborn and Mark Knopfler. Harmonies provided by Leslie Miller, Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson and Michael McDonald. The crème de la crème. This is a sophisticated recording for adults with a mature funk. Think of it as a fine blended whisky. So soothing… nice and tasty worthy of several helpings. So sweet the sound!

10. Natasha Bedingfield – Unwritten. Unwritten is like Jack’s beanstalk. It just grows and grows and grows! First released in 2004, it’s been a part of five movie soundtracks, world champion ice skating competitions and American Idol. It’s serenaded the Degrassi kids and served as the theme song for The Hills on MTV. Others know it for promoting Pantene hair products. Many versions and dance mixes have been released adding more and more life to it. Simply put, it’s everywhere! The lyrics are forthright and inspiring. Listen to this song and you’ll be ready to conquer the world! Natasha’s bluesy carefree style carries this anthem far and wide. It could easily be the most successful (and catchy) song of this century.

Postscript: The song of this summer should have been Metro Station’s Shake It, the infectious dance tune, until it was discovered that one of their lead players, Trace Cyrus, is the brother of Miley Cyrus a/k/a Hanna Montana! (Horrors!) The award therefore goes to Natasha Bedingfield for Pocketful of Sunshine, another dance-up tune from her repertoire of songs filled with motivational lyrics. Honorary mention goes to Jordin Sparks for One Step at a Time, inspiring listeners with positive lyrics and a well-crafted harmonious sound to create a tasty tip-of-the-hat tribute to Quincy Jones’ signature style.

Now the interactive part: What are your top ten tunes and why? What songs did I mention that are so off-base I have to be kidding? Send your comments by clicking below. I’m looking forward to see what you think!

Fall for Fun!

Last September, I wrote about events to anticipate during the fall season. Many of last year's favorites return in the next four weeks. What a month of anticipation and enjoyment!

It could be the best reason to own a television! Pushing Daisies is finally returning to the air on October 1st at 8 pm on ABC. There simply is no other show like it. Ned the pie maker, his true love (at a distance) and his unrequited love (named Olive Snook!) will be back in brilliantly colored high definition before you know it. Season two has a lot in store for us. Olive (pictured) becomes a singing nun, Chuck creates quite a buzz as an undercover 'bee girl,' and you'll dim sum and lose some! Personally, I can't wait!

Pushing Daisies is so cleverly written that you can't just watch it once. Recording the show is essential to catch every nuance of their brilliant writing and visual puns. Instructions: Repeat often and enjoy more and more! Each episode is a gem in itself. For die-hard fans, this fall's treat is doubled. All the episodes of Pushing Daisies' first season, including last year's amazing Halloween episode, are scheduled for release on Tuesday, September 16th on DVD and hi-def Blu-ray disc.

September will also be filled with music thanks to WLIW Productions on Long Island. Look for two of their presentations on your local PBS stations:

Carole King will welcome you into her living room starting Sunday, September 6th with an hour-long concert embracing her most famous signature songs along with her catalog of American standards that have proved successful for so many others. Her smiles alone will make this evening special.

Only a day later, Cape Breton's most famous lassie, Natalie MacMaster, will dance the night away fiddling a full round of new jigs and reels. Natalie will share the stage with several members of her talented family along with banjo legend Bela Fleck. Hayley Westenra adds her vocals to a memorable and haunting version of Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now.' What a weekend this will be! Look for Natalie starting Sunday, September 7th on PBS.

This autumn will be exciting on the big screen, as well. The highly-anticipated movie version of Jeanne Duprau's City of Ember is scheduled for release on October 10th. When the lights go out, Lina and Doon will be seeking clues to save the city in a big, big way! Stephenie Meyer's best-selling first novel, Twilight, will debut as a movie on November 21st just in time for Thanksgiving. Girl loves vampire. Love and blood...or is that love of blood? It should be a wild ride, we all agree!

Girls Like Carole, Joni and Carly

On a hot summer day in August of 1973, Carole King performed before tens of thousands of people in the middle of New York City's Central Park. The concert began at 7 pm, but the crowd began to gather hours and hours beforehand. I joined a bunch of friends from my high school to queue for most excellent viewing at about noon. We staked out a choice spot right in front of center stage. A better time you couldn't create if you tried!

Seven hours is a long time. We were lucky enough to watch sound check, at about 1 pm, consisting of a few fragments of Carole's songs performed to a near-empty lawn. We had a chance meeting with one of our very favorite high school teachers Alice Gold. My good friend Doug and I also had a casual conversation with an intriguing long-faced blonde woman who had something to do with the concert. Chatting near the performance stage, with a police department sawhorse between us, we talked about music, about the crowd and about life in general. It was interesting but seemingly insignificant. We didn't think much about our encounter at all.

Carole played a long show including nearly every song from her classic album Tapestry. As the day turned to dusk, Carole's performance shot electricity into New York City. Standing in the middle of a huge meadow, with 60,000 other fellow fans, the feeling was remarkable. New York's music lovers were celebrating in unison!

The show ended at about 9:30 pm and we picked up our blankets and headed home via the subway. It occurred to us that, if we made it home on time, we could watch coverage of the concert on the 11 o'clock TV news. I arrived home a few minutes before 11 and turned on the set. The Carole King story was the big item of the night and detailed coverage was everywhere. We saw footage of Carole performing, people in the audience, and (holy cow,) the blonde woman we talked to during the afternoon. It was Joni Mitchell!

Fast forward 35 years! As if a Freedom of Information Act request had been fulfilled, author Sheila Weller has now revealed everything you ever wanted to know about Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, James Taylor, David Crosby and the entire neighborhood of singer-songwriters of this genre. Her book, Girls Like Us, feels like a miraculous detailed dream of full-access to the longest rock tour of your life. You are surrounded by all the talent you could ever find in the 60s and 70s. Better still, you know everything about them: their lovers, their passions, their emotions and their struggles with artistic competition. This is an amazing book.

Ms. Weller would make an exceptional private investigator. Her book is filled with meticulous and inquisitive research leaving no stone unturned. She interviewed every personality, every friend and acquaintance and every passerby. She painted her story with the detail of a Where's Waldo? portrait. Not a soul was missed! Everyone is there and the stories are addictive. This is not a casual showbiz biography or the mere tale of three women who defined the music of their age. It is snapshot of an entire era perfectly capturing how life felt before, during and after the Summer of Love.

Sheila really knows how to tell a story. Open her book and begin a 600 page real-life mystery. New revelations abound! (Her vocabulary alone is inspiring.) Curious about Carly's romantic fling in France? Joni's days as a budding fashion model? Carole's teenage days at the Brill Building? It's all here! This book is more fun than a carnival ride that never ends. Trust me! I often felt like a little kid crying "Tell me more! Tell me more!" How I wish every book was like this.

Completely involved in this masterwork, I ordered a copy of Carole King's recently released Tapestry- Legacy Edition two CD set. One disc is her classic album now with full digital clarity. The bonus disc contains the entire album (except for Way Over Yonder) recorded live at concerts in 1973 and 1976 including the Central Park happening. Listening to this live CD brought me full-circle. I had stepped back in time more aware than I could ever imagine. 37 years later, Tapestry is still fresh and delightful.

Sheila Weller leaves no hanging threads! Her coverage of the lives of Carly, Carole and Joni continues to present day. Girls Like Us is only the start. For those who want to travel further, Sheila shares her journal detailing the creation of each chapter and provides an endless bibliography for your use. This book is entertaining, a great source of reference and a keeper. Pick up a copy before it's too late!

Bush Tree !

Just east of downtown Port Austin, Michigan, along the north side of Pointe Aux Barques Road, there is a miracle to behold. It's not just a bush. It's not just a tree. On first examination, there appears to be only one trunk! Somehow the bush and tree are one! It's the bush tree - Port Austin's most amazing natural wonder - now captured in exclusive pictures for Write or Karl Me! How did it come to be? The mystery may never be solved!

His Last Lecture

Randy Pausch died yesterday. At 47 years old, he is survived by his wife, Jai, and their three children.

His passing brings sadness but it was not unexpected. Randy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago. A well-known professor at Carnegie-Mellon University, he became renowned for his developmental work in the world of computer graphics. Pausch did not resign from his life after learning his fate. His predicament inspired him to write and present a last lecture encouraging others to achieve their childhood dreams. Randy lived to see his.

Pausch preached a mantra focusing on the importance of family, mentoring and creating a thoughtful legacy for oneself. In his words: "We can not change the cards we a dealt, only the way we play our hand." At face value, his talk pivoted on what many of us consider common sense peppered with his undying joie de vivre. His Last Lecture gained its popularity from the way it was delivered, not necessarily due to its novel content.

The Last Lecture was recorded for posterity as Randy's goodbye to the world. He simply wanted to create a vehicle to be remembered by for his family, friends and associates. The nearly two hour recording was posted on You Tube and became a phenomenon. His edgy assertive style and die-hard positive attitude quickly gained fame by word-of-mouth and media spin.

For a few months, Randy seemed blessed. His medical condition improved. He was invited to reprise his lecture across the country. The lecture was transcribed into a best-seller book. Now his flame has gone out but his love of life lives on.

We would all be blessed if our work, thoughts and beliefs were so universally received as Randy's. He was granted his last wish. If you are looking for new drive and direction in your life, The Last Lecture is a good place to find it. Spend two hours reading Randy's thoughts or watch him in action. You will be glad you did and that is exactly what he had in mind.

Mamma Mia!

Have you ever been to a party where nearly everyone is in on a private joke and you just don't get it? Now, through the miracle of modern cinema, this very uncomfortable feeling has been captured in 108 minutes of on-screen horror. It's called Mamma Mia! which is the probable reaction of every viewer who does not possess the required amount of estrogen necessary to embrace this mess within its designed framework. What were they thinking?

Mamma Mia! is based on a song which became the basis of a long-running Broadway musical. Now it's a screenplay! Its foundation is the remarkable catalog of music written and performed by ABBA, one of the most successful pop music groups of all time. Somehow this sure-fire train of success has become hopelessly derailed. A generic storyline of young people in love, combined with many beauty shots of romantic Grecian islands, kept the uninitiated viewers (like myself) occupied for the first two or three reels. Visual and aural pain followed!

The casting defies logic. Mamma Mia! is jam-packed with ABBA tunes at every appropriate (and inappropriate) moment. Yet, none of the main players can competently carry a tune. At least, to the audience I sat with, this deficiency was completely acceptable. It doesn't matter that she can't sing! That's Meryl Streep up there as the promiscuous mother of the bride-to-be! (Oh, brother!)

I completely confirmed this theory at the very end of the film. After 45 minutes of thinking to myself 'Please make it stop!' the entire ensemble appears on screen, decked out in disco attire, for a finale to accompany the credits. The song finally ends. The credits end but the movie doesn't. Meryl comes out of character, into a close-lens shot, and asks the audience 'Do you want another one? Huh?' More credits followed with more tuneless singing and new over-the-top costumes. This produced a final high-five between the movie and its assumed endearing audience.

The marketing geniuses at Universal should have subtitled this flick Postcards From The Edge II - The Greek Love-Child Wedding. ABBA's music was misused as an awkward vehicle for all the miscast stars. This is the Hollywood equivalent of an often-used vacation time strategy: Put ketchup on it. It will taste better. Meryl Streep, and her leading man Pierce Brosnan, should be turning red! Superstars or not, this movie is simply inedible.

Please keep in mind that I am not a subscriber to this gag so my kvetching maybe irrelevant to your potential enjoyment of this movie. Mamma Mia! has earned record-breaking box office numbers since its release propelled by the charms of its cast alone. Rest assured: It's not the plot. It's not the performances. Mamma Mia! indeed!