Stretching

10-31-08

 

Stretching

 

I’ve felt that I would look like a pretzel if I didn’t stretch every day.  Stretching isn’t easy.  As you get older, it gets more and more difficult to do what you used to be able to do without stretching at all.

 

My poor Susan has to listen as I breathe, grunt and sometimes groan going through my daily morning ritual of stretching and physical therapy exercises.

 

The nice thing about stretching is that you can mark your success as you practice by marking your ability to stretch much as a mom marks her kid’s growth on a wall as they get older.

 

Four months ago, I couldn’t cross my legs when I sat down due to stiffness in my hips.  It took a lot of painful moments as I did the necessary stretches and strengthening exercises to get flexible to the point of being able to cross my legs when I sat down without dreading the pain it would cause.

 

Funny, I started my stretching routine so I wouldn’t look like a pretzel and now I do the most difficult of stretches so I can manipulate my body to look like a pretzel so I can sit in a meditating position.

 

What a revolting but satisfying feeling.  I wonder if the Tibetan Monks have to stretch the way I do just to be able to sit and meditate the way they do?

Movies

I see a lot of movies.  I have too.  My radio program is about Hollywood and its heart.  If I doze during a movie, I never blame it on myself, I blame it on the movie.  A great movie keeps my eyes wide open.  A good movie keeps me awake all the way through and a medium to bad movie might find me dozing off for a moment or two.  That’s not my problem, it’s the movie.  I love no sleepers and a dozer is worse then a doozer.

The Interview

The Interview

 

I’ve been doing interviews on radio and television now for a little over nine years. 

 

My first interview, on radio, was so bad my producer told me at our first break that this was radio and not mind reading.  The audience expected to hear me talk not listen to the emptiness of soundless air as I thought about what I wanted to say or ask my guest.

 

Somehow I survived that initial program and have done at least five hundred or so radio and television interviews.  The secret of my art, listening.  All I have to do is say hello to my guest and their answer always brings on the next statement from me or a meaningful question.  Without a thought, the interviews go to wonderful places as long as I listen rather then plan what I want to ask my guest.

 

I do my research and homework regarding my guest before the program so I have a subliminal structure for my questions but I forget that as soon as the interview starts.  To this day, I have never missed one item I wanted to cover in an interview by creating my priority question list and then forgetting it and letting the interview flow in a natural manner.

 

How did I learn this technique?  I learned by trial and error.  When I had my questions all lined up and ready to go in a specific order, every interview I did in that manner seemed stiff and lacked depth.  The first time I experimented with my current method was with Steve Allen and it was the best interview I had ever done.

 

I hope my skills improve with every interview but if they don’t, I promise I’ll improve my technique another notch and fill you in on it.

 

Funny but learning to listen for my professional needs has taught me to listen intently to every conversation I have in my personal life and it seems I enjoy every conversation I have with family, friends or loved one’s and they take on a very new and wonderful depth. 

 

People love to talk to you when they know you are paying as much attention to what they say as to what you say. 

 

I

 

 

He Ain’t Heavy…He’s Bob Russel

10-24-08    Bob Russell

 

I guess I was twenty five when I met the songwriter, Bob Russell.  He wrote many hit songs but the one that has stuck with me all my life was HE AIN’T HEAVY, HE’S MY BROTHER. 

 

Bob was tall, handsome and gracious.  His talent as a songwriter was second to none and his friendship as a man was warm, sincere and true.

 

I was a kid trying to make a name for myself in the P R business in Hollywood and Bob was a legendary song writer but for some reason, when we met, it was like we grew up together and had been friends all our lives.  I guess Bob was about thirty years older then I was at the time.

 

Bob was stricken with Cancer.  He had a beautiful family, gorgeous and comfortable home and all the money in the world but he didn’t have the one thing in the world he needed most, his health.

 

He fought Cancer like a Champion but lost the battle in a couple of tough years.

 

A few years later, I was managing Neil Diamond.  Neil was known for recording only his own songs but the thought of Neil’s voice and Bob’s song, haunted me.  I spoke to Neil about it and within a year or two he did in fact, record Bob’s classic song, HE AIN’T HEAVY, HE’S MY BROTHER. 

 

I don’t know if Neil recorded that song for me or his own brother but in my mind, he recorded it in the memory of my friend, Bob Russell.

 

I guess in a way, that gave back a little of the friendship I was so lucky to receive from Bob but in a way, I was the recipient of the song being recorded by Neil. 

 

I lost my brother Chuck around six years ago and every time I think of him, which is every day, I can hear in my mind, Neil’s rendition of that great song written by my friend Bob.  To Neil, Bob and my brother Chuck, none of you are Heavy and all are my brothers in one way or another.

 

Thank you Chuck for being the best older brother anyone in the world ever had, Bob, for your friendship and a song that warms my heart every time I hear or even think about it, and Neil, for our relationship, your talent and understanding as an artist.