But I have since been humbled… to say the least.  I’ve been to New York City several times. I even saw Pope John Paul II here in ’95. But never have I experienced a full-fledged rush hour at Grand Central Station when Yankee Stadium was hosting its last ever All-Star Game.

In order to get to the Bronx, I had to squeeze into the #4 express train heading Uptown and beyond… Problem was every subway car that pulled up in that dank, dark and hot hole in the ground was already brimming over with Yankee fans… along with basic New Yorkers just trying to get home.

Just by chance I was able to actually sit down inside a subway car that was literally stuffed tighter than a sardine can. It was at this moment that I started to take it all in. In NTX, we honk, scream, yell and curse each other into abandoned as we sit in the air-conditioned comfort of our over-priced automobiles.

But at no time did I hear one person on that over-stuffed train car complaining. In fact, they were all squeezing in tighter, trying to allow as many others as possible on to this blown-out sardine can.

I listened as they related stories to each other in their unmistakable New York accents about how this traffic jam was nothing compared to the last time the Yankees were in the World Series.

But again, no one was complaining or pushing or acting a fool. When we got to Yankee Stadium everyone piled out happy as clams and went about their way… Just glad to be alive and given the pleasure of watching another historic game at there beloved iconic stadium.

And believe me folks, every last seat at Yankee Stadium was filled and they all stayed until the bitter end… 15 innings and 4-and-a-half hours later. No doubt they all gutted-it-up and rode the same rails home. Again, just happy at being given the chance to enjoy America’s Past-time. (One player later said it was if “the stadium didn’t want it to end.” A new Yankee Stadium opens next season)

It all made me realize that New Yorkers are the strongest, most resilient and courageous people on earth… Considering everything they’ve been through. And its made me think that I will take that next traffic jam in-stride… realizing, in my air-conditioned comfort that I’m not bound to the discomforts of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is… Anyone who says New Yorkers are rude has never been to New York.

God bless the Big Apple and all the wonderful people who make it the greatest city on the planet.

Later

That’s why it was almost ironic that I had an extremely close encounter with a towering (and I do mean that literally) figure in Major League Baseball.

I’m in New York City this week (July 14th) on vacation and hanging out with an old friend of mine who actually is a local sportscaster in the Tri-State area.

We were standing in the Hyatt Hotel where he was picking up press credentials for the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

I decided to go wandering around and wasn’t watching where I was going as I rounded a corner (not a smart thing to do anywhere in NYC) and nearly got knocked to the ground.

I look up and there’s the Toast of NY himself Derek Jeter. No, the most-popular Yankee to currently grace the field didn’t even bother to look at me, but he did mutter “‘scuse me.”

So much for my brush with greatness. Who knows, maybe I will catch a glimpse of the Material Girl. Oh yeah, that’s Pay-Rod who’s destroying his life over Madonna. 

Later

I was sitting there watching the new ZZ Top Live From Texas DVD this past weekend, 6-29-08, when all of sudden there I was on my own television screen watching myself interview that Little Ol’ Band from Tejas while Lyle was performing his duties on the NBC 5 News field camera.

I literally yelled “WHAAAAAT????!!!!! Was that really MEEE?” Despite the fact that Lyle and I are on there for a whopping 45-seconds (I know that sounds short but in TV News that’s a lifetime… certainly no flash-in-the-pan.) I still had to back the video up and watch it again several times before I actually believed it.

This is how it all went down. On Halloween night 2007, Lyle and I, thanks to our good friend and legendary DJ Redbeard, scored an exclusive interview with Billy, Frank and Dusty at Nokia. It was actually the night of rehearsals… the band would not play before a full live audience until the next night. After interviewing the boys for about 10-minutes I got another thrill of a lifetime when all three of them signed my original copy of their classic album “Rio Grande Mud.” We then were allowed to shoot several songs of the rehearsal so that we would have footage to work with when Lyle and I produced our stories that aired the next day.

I had forgotten that while all of this was happening a camera crew hired by ZZ was shooting us shooting them. So, this past thursday I bought a copy of the new ZZ Top Live From Texas DVD that had just hit the store shelves two days before (It’s the band’s first ever live commercially produced digital video).

I had been watching the concert portion of the DVD for two full days before I finally checked out some of the “Bonus Features.” I clicked on the featurette entitled: “Dallas Show Day.” I noticed a girl in said featurette being interviewed by ZZ’s crew that I had acutally interviewed live on NBC 5 the day of the show and thought “Wow, I know her.”

Then, exactly 1:30 into said featurette,pops up this fat bald guy holding a microphone and conducting an interview with the band… that’s when I yelled “WHAAAATT???!!!” There I was talking to one of the greatest three-piece rock and roll bands that has ever graced a stage. The funny thing is the producer of said featurette used the exact same soundbytes from Billy that I used in my NBC 5 stories 8months earlier. You even get to hear me ask a question: “So, What are we going to see?” And that’s when Billy mentions the tailgate party and it cuts to the outdoor pre-concert soiree in the parking lot. Again, my 45 seconds of fame! But, the cool thing is, Lyle and I will be forever immortalized in a ZZ Top DVD. (Even though it’s the portion very few people will actually watch.)

Later

There are some talented people on the show but the whole mess lacks a true
identity. If its going to strictly be an Idol ripoff then rob Simon and Paula
blind.  Because, right now, it’s just plain lame. I was under the impression
that this was going to be the country music answer to Idols overall pop genre.
But so far the contestants are doing everything from Aretha to, threatening to
at least, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Sadly, the mother of 5 from Dalworthington
Gardens was nearly voted off the show despite having one of the strongest
performances the week prior. Maybe as they whittle down the field of contestants
it will get much more interesting. But at this point its like “here’s a quarter
call someone who cares.”

Later

It’s getting way past the point of being annoying.

In fact, its getting down right embarrassing.

I’m talking about people screaming “get in the hole” every time a player strikes the ball at any televised PGA Golf event.

It became excruciatingly nerve-racking during this past weekend’s US Open Championship.

Every single time a player hit the ball (especially Tiger Woods) you could hear some drunken idiot in the gallery screaming, “get in the hole.”

It wasn’t happening only on the putts when the ball actually had a chance of getting into the hole. No, it happened on every 300-yard lay-up shot… Heck, you could even faintly hear it on T-shots on 600-yard Par 5′s.

I’m not sure when men (you never hear it from a female voice) quit being gentleman while watching the ultimate gentleman’s game… But its high time it stopped.

I wish the USGA would start escorting every numb-skull off the premises that yelled it.

I attended the British Open in 2006 and I don’t recall one Scouser every screaming that ridiculous line.

So, listen up America…. Why don’t we show the rest of the world we have some grace and dignity and leave “get in the hole” buried in the six-foot deep hole it so richly deserves to die in.

Thank you.

Later.

First off, let’s talk about the show itself. I was hoping it would attempt to have it’s own identity… but so far it appears to be a three-quarter baked version of it’s much more popular counter-part. The opening number with all 12 contestants performing together was so full of Simon Fuller (Idol’s creator) it was nauseating. I can’t even recall what song it was they all performed but it was bad. And the over-baked drama at the end when Jewel must decide on who shall stay and who shall go was even worse than an Idol episode. The reason is: during Idol we’ve gotten to know these contestants already and, for the most part, have an emotional interest in their success or failure. I couldn’t have cared less which one of those clowns fell of the face of the earth… so, the groaning music underneath just made me groan even louder.

Now to the judges… the producer guy, I think his name is Jeffrey Steele, believe it or not, exudes the most credibility as far as I’m concerned… even though I wouldn’t know this guy if he had bitten me. (But, Yo Dawg, I didn’t know Randy Jackson nor Simon Cowell when Idol got underway 7 years ago) He seems fair enough and competent enough to handle the gig without being overly obnoxious.

The Big and Rich clown can already hit the highway as far as I’m concerned… he may be a part of the biggest act on the panel at this point but if he’s supposed to be the Simon Cowell counter-part then he needs to lose that hat and the half-cocked attitude. If you’re gonna be a horses @$$ then be one! And I sure hope you’re not going to dance with Jewel every episode. If so, I would hope that Ty Murray would come and lay one of his many All-Around Cowboy buckles upside your square head,

Now to Jewel… I will admit that she’s gorgeous and sings like an angel… so maybe I’m being a bit biased. But so far, she’s seems to be handling this role very well. Because unlike the pharmaceutically-induced Paula Abdul, who can’t even remember how many times a contestant has performed in a single show, Jewel appears confident and critical enough to be a legitimate judge. Maybe that’s why the producers let her swing the axe and cut the first performer.

One thing I did like that totally sets the show apart from Idol is… the judges all have guitars at their finger-tips and can actually pick one up and play their critiques to the contestants. Nice touch on behalf of the producers for recognizes the talent pool within their own panel.

Now to the contestants. By far, the best singer was the mother of 5… who is far from svelte but is definitely cute with a great personality. If it doesn’t turn in to a beauty contestant I would already predict she could win it.

Other than that no one else seems to stand out. I am glad the judges cut the Barf-Brooks-Wanna-be… because he did want to make me barf. 

It’s interesting that the show is allowing duets and trios to perform as a single entry… that certainly sets it apart from Idol. But by seasons end I predict it will be a single performer, not an ensemble, that wins the coveted Nashville Star belt buckle.

That’s about all I have to say at this point… I’m sure I will get to be even more biting and sarcastic as this over-wrought copy-cat roles along. I just hope it doesn’t get sent back down to the minors (cable) before it has a chance to grow on the viewers. If I remember correctly Idol didn’t exactly come screaming out of the gate like Big Brown on steroids.

Later

Anyway, if you haven’t seen this movie stop reading right now because I will be giving away the plot. ( Not that you won’t be figuring it all out way in advance once the opening credits roll.)

Ok. Yes, it was completely predictable… but so was the series. I’ve read several movie critics who have said that it wasn’t as snappy as the series as far as the writing goes… I disagree to a point. I once heard Michael Patrick King(the writer and director) say that if he could make his writing partner blow snot onto the computer screen he knew he had congered up a witty, memorable and funny line. Let me tell you folks, there were people blowing snot all up and down the aisles of that theater and I was one of them.

But the whole point of me going to see this movie and writing a blog about it is to give a man’s point of view about it.

First off, anyone who couldn’t see that Big was going to leave Carrie standing at the alter is an idiot. The second they “agreed” to get married and “she” started turning it into a “circus”(to quote Big) you knew that this 2-time-loser-with-no-desire-to-repeat-the-same-mistake-again was going to bail… BIG time!

So, no surprise there. But it was hilarious to watch Carrie beat the crap out of him with a bouquet of roses right in the middle of the BIG Apple.

Second of all, anyone who couldn’t see that Miranda and Steve were going to have huge issues is an idiot. That’s been written in the cards since the day they introduced Steve’s character.  Miranda is smart and I like her character but she’s treated that poor schmuck like a low-rent-never-wanted-to-be-dogpile from the beginning. So, no surprise there.

Third of all, Samantha and that brainless-boy-toy she’s been doing for the past 5 years should’ve thrown in the towel back when the series was still being produced. So, no surprise there.

I won’t even get in to Charlotte’s worthless life… but I will say the hardest I laughed during the entire movie was when she had her “Poughkeepsie” moment in Mexico.

I guess the best part of sitting there for 2-and-a-half-hours was I didn’t have to buy a plane ticket to go back to New York for an afternoon. Because, let me tell you, I’ve been going to NYC regularly for the past 15 years, and anyone who says they don’t love NYC has never been.

Surprisingly, the freshest aspect to the movie was Jennifer Hudson as Carrie’s new assistant. The girl has fantastic on-screen charisma and is just completely lovable. In fact, the only point where I got even remotely sentimental about this word-fest was when Jen and Carrie parted ways.

I honestly thought that this was going to be like sitting through 5 episodes of SATC. Instead,  it was like sitting through an entire season. But, truthfully, I didn’t have a problem with that… it was all neatly tied-up in the end.

So, in essence if there is a 2nd SATC movie it will have to be about all of them getting divorced or killing each other I guess.

Later

I realize that every older generation looks down upon the younger generation and shudders to think that the world is going to “hell-in-a-hand basket” to quote my late grandmother. But I have to wonder if that’s what every older generation thought of the next batch of up-and-comers?

The latest Newsweek (June 2, 2008) has an article entitled: The Dumbest Generation? Don’t Be Dumb.

It concerns a book written by an Emory University professor about how “the digital age stupefies young Americans and jeopardizes our future (or don’t trust anyone under 30).

I have to admit that I am amazed that the young interns who blow through NBC5 every semester claiming they want to be the next “Katie Couric,” couldn’t tell you who Lee Harvey Oswald was nor do they have any inkling to the significance of November 22, 1963.

I recently chastised a young intern after we drove past the historic Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff and she could not tell me why that building was historically important. She got an earful about Oswald’s arrest and the murder of a Dallas Police Officer named J. D. Tippet that occurred just minutes before the arrest and minutes after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

I told her if she expected to be a reporter in this market she had better “D#*n well” have those events seared into her sub consciousness.

Of course, “she just looked at me uncomprehendingly, like a cow at a passing train” to quote Don Henley.

The truth is she probably doesn’t know who Don Henley is either for that matter.

Recently, a P.R. woman at a large Fort Worth Hospital, who has to be approaching 30 and is married, asked if I had “interviewed anyone famous lately?” I proudly said, ”Why, yes, Dan Aykroyd!”  She looked at me with that blank stare. I mean, come on, do you want to tell me this woman has never heard of the “Bass-O-Mastic” nor seen “Ghostbusters”?

I didn’t exactly grow up in the Andy Griffith era, but I can whistle that opening credits tune as well as anybody with the black and white image of Andy and Opine loping off on a cane-pole fishing trip. And by being aware of current events, I can also tell you the man who composed that catchy tune, Earle Hagen, recently passed away at age 88.

The same thing occurred when an intern asked an NBC photojournalist about any Celebes he had recently met, when he replied “ZZ Top” she became the proverbial deer-in-headlights.

What blows me away about that one is ZZ just appeared on American Idol with the show’s newly crowned winner, David Cook.

I recently met a fascinating woman, 42 years old and an attorney, who is an expert on World War 2.

I have not asked her when she became enamored with the subject but I would imagine it was when she was in her teens or early 20′s.. But again, that’s a topic most women of the post baby-boomer age couldn’t give a kraut-rats about.

Being a music buff,I can rattle on ad-nauseum about how the Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers practically invented country music...leading to Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and a truck driver from Tupelo to develop  the “Rock and Roll” sound.

Often times when I’m trying to impress the younger generation with such knowledge, I get the obligatory scoff and incredulous sneer about, “How do I now about all of this?”.

That’s when I jump on my soap box about how ignorance is not bliss,and pull those earbuds out of your head and learn something about the past.

The “Dumbest Generation” book laments about how “George Santayana, too, despaired of a generation‘s ignorance,” by warning that, ‘“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’”

And, that was in 1905!

So, I guess at this point I should just rest my case.

Later

A good old razor should be all you would ever need.

That leads me to a line I once heard Jerry Sienfeld mutter: “Why is it women will allow hot wax to be dripped on to (the area of the body in question) and have the hair ripped out by the roots… yet they’re afraid of a spider?’

Arachnaphobia is not an issue for me… Hair getting ripped out by the roots would be a major problem.

Later