The Lovely & Talented Lindsay Wagner as Television's "The Bionic Woman"
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Good Morning, Everyone! It was a beautiful weekend here in Arizona. The temperatures have remained in the triple digits. For those of you living in other states, we endure extremely high temperatures three months out of the year before more comfortable climes return in September. I welcome that and look forward to some trail riding with equestrian friends of mine! Meanwhile...
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Many of you will remember actress Lindsay Wagner from the television series, "The Bionic Woman". The above photo reference is a great metaphor for me, because I have some wonderful ladies who are the same team with me to help make "A Concert for Trevor" a reality. They are: Sue,Jennifer, Brandie and Lisa. So, for me, they are "Bionic Women" who are willing to move some mountains with me, and I am thrilled to be along on this exciting journey in such good company. We can always use more helpers too!
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Much of today will be spent doing follow up phone calls to a number of people I have strategically contacted and mentioned in my recent BLOGS about Trevor Tredaway's fund raising concert. Yes, it is still on the table, and as promised, I wanted to post a BLOG today in response to a question I am often asked on my e-mail; I'll paraphrase: "Our hearts are touched by your posts on little Trevor. We want to help you in any way possible with 'A Concert for Trevor Tredaway'. But we don't live in Midland, Texas. What can we do to help you with this worthwhile project?" First off, I have to mention how genuinely touched I am by the level of sincerity and love I am receiving from these messages. It deserves a response, and since I am a guy who likes to keep things simple, let me just throw out my Top 5 Ideas for helping Trevor. I invite you to also share some of your own. Here we go:
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Trevor's website is provided by the non-profit organization called Caringbridge. Their mission is to provide children with serious medical conditions and their families a way to reach out and stay in touch with those who care. I have said this before, but it is really worth repeating. We are all living in very challenging economic times and I realize that not everyone can donate to Trevor's Medical Fund. However, you can visit his website at: www.caringbridge.org/visit/trevortredaway and Click On Trevor's Story, Photos, Journal and best of all, you can be a Guest to leave a comment for Todd and Melinda. It can be something as simple as telling them that you care and are interested in Trevor's progress. Parents tend to write, but so do single people like me! What could be easier than sharing from your heart? It costs you nothing and it will do your heart good. So, that's my first suggestion: As Folk singer Jewel Kilcher once said: "Be The Difference That Makes The Difference".
If you are in a position to donate, then yes, a special bank account has been established in Midland, Texas for Trevor's ongoing medical treatment. It is listed on his Home Page and I will repeat it at the bottom of this Blog Post. No amount is too small.
Here is a really Cool Idea! Let's say your heart has been touched as mine has by this remarkable little child. You don't live in Texas, but you want to help. As my musician friend, Deni Bonet taught me: "Sure we all have problems. But why wallow in misery when music has the ability to help us rise above our trivial concerns?" Deni is absolutely right! If you have a favorite bar and grille that features live music, why not consider approaching the owner or manager with a printed copy of The Midland Reporter Telegramarticle featuring Trevor's mother Melinda and myself at: http://michaelmanning.tv/blog/2009/07/were-off-to-great-start.html? If the owner and the band or musical artist would be willing to donate the door cover for one evening to Trevor's medical fund, it would be a "Win-Win" situation for them. And I say this because your local newspaper could be contacted with a request to feature a community story that profiles the venue (free publicity) and the cause (to help Trevor). This can be done easily and without a lot of hassle.
Let's say your church or synagogue has decided to help by having one or more of their members who are singers or musicians give a concert with a cover fee or on a "Donation" basis (known to most of us as "Pass the Plate") to attend the evening's musical program? It benefits everyone involved because it is musical and fun, while monies raised can be mailed to Trevor's Medical Fund. Again, very simple to arrange with a Priest, Pastor or Rabbi. In fact, I have often thought that if each of us were to collectively carry this out, we could brand these events: "The Trevor Tredaway Concert Series" (As you can tell, I've worked in broadcast marketing)! The bottom line is this: Let's Have Fun for a Great Cause!
My Final Suggestion: There are two opportunities for me to be available for telephone interviews on radio stations to help promote any worthwhile event held in any city to benefit Trevor and as a broadcaster, I am comfortable as a Guest. Here are 2 opportunities: A.) If you have an event of any size organized to benefit Trevor's Medical Fund and one of your local "News/Talk" radio stations would care to conduct an interview with me "Live" or taped, I am available Sundays and Mondays or in the evenings after 7:30 PM Pacific Time. Believe me, I have the energy and the passion to discuss this worthy cause and promote it! These interviews are typically done by AM "News/Talk" formats--generally speaking but this is not written in stone. I am available! B.) As the components for the Midland, Texas-based concert are finalized, I will also be available in this same capacity and in limited circumstances where her schedule permits, Melinda will be available to join me as well. Again, this initiative provides a radio station with a "Win-Win" opportunity that works to their favor in a couple of ways. First, helping Trevor and his family in any way is a wonderful thing to do. Secondly, the station benefits by positioning themselves in your community as the station that cares. This is simply good Public Relations and it extends to any musical format. From "News/Talk", Heavy Metal, Christian Contemporary, Jazz, Soul, Oldies, Rap, Rock, Soft Rock/Easy Listening, Classic Country, Today's Country...you get the idea. I've been a news anchor on just about every radio format there is and these interviews typically run 10-15 minutes in length. There you have it: My Top 5 Ideas! You may have some of your own. DO Share! I'll close here with the name and address of the special bank account that was established to help Trevor Tredaway and his family.
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Trevor Tredaway Fund Citizens Federal Credit Union P.O.Box 51070 Midland, TX 79710
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Thanks so much for your visit today! I really appreciate your time and welcome all feedback that is caring and constructive. Through sharing, some of the best ideas come together. Have a great week!
Back on April 5th of this year, I created a Blog post that I consider (in my relatively young life ) to be one of the best things I've ever written. I am putting a lot of thought into doing more with it. "Film at 11"...
Meanwhile. my CPA (who also happens to be my Pastor in West Texas) of 23 years forwarded me an article written by Regina Brett of The Cleveland Plain Dealer on the occasion of her 50th birthday in August of 2007. It is in her words, "the most-requested column I've ever written". I read it and liked it. So, after thinking about it all day Saturday I've decided to share it before we officially leave August of 2009. It's very good! See what you think.
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?”
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative – dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.
I looked at this photo of Melinda on a rare weekend boat outing with friends and laughed so hard. Notice that Trevor 4, and Morgan 2 are asleep! Boy, if I could only sleep this well!! To see brother and sister at play is fun and funny. Aren't they a pair?
Here's Trevor at Wal-Mart! Reminds me of myself whenever I walk into a Toy's R' Us!! -
Note from Michael: Good Morning, Everyone: On Monday, August 31st I am going to announce an exciting new way for any of you wishing to help Trevor Tredaway. Last night, Jennifer, one of my faithful colleagues who has volunteered to help me from San Antonio, Texas telephoned me and I shared that many of you want to help Trevor any way you can. You've read about him for months on this BLOG site. The question I receive most is "I wish I could help, but I don't live in Midland, Texas so what can I do?" Well, I have an answer that I will post on Monday, August 31st. Meantime, while I am awaiting word from Neurosurgeon and CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, M.D. about considering a television profile story on Trevor, and my broadcasting colleague in Dallas where I lived for 21 years, Kidd Kraddick, who has a wonderful morning radio show in syndication on KHKS Kiss 106.1 FM called "Kidd Kraddick in the Morning", I will turn over my BLOG here to my dear friend Melinda Tredaway. Melinda is Trevor's mother and wife of my friend Todd. Melinda is quite a remarkable gal. She holds a graduate degree in Elementary Education and is a 6th grade Teacher. She has been caring for little Trevor at home after his diagnosis with cancer, and also for the couple's sweet little daughter, Morgan. Todd and Melinda are dear friends of mine as are Trevor's Grandparents. Here is Melinda's message this morning.
"Hello again to everyone! I mentioned in my last update that September is 'Childhood Cancer Awareness Month'. I wanted to let everyone know what Chili's is doing to raise money that will be donated to St. Jude. I contacted our local Chili's, here in Midland, to verify the information.
"On September 28, 100% of the profits will be donated to St. Jude. I believe that this is a nationwide initiative. I would encourage everyone to make an attempt to eat at Chili's on this day. Our Chili's is trying to raise money outside of September 28 as well. They are selling "ad" space on their windows to the local businesses. A small window will cost $150 to place an ad, and a large window will cost $250. They are also selling golf balls and golf towels. You can also purchase a "chili pepper" for a dollar that will be placed on windows or in the store. I was told that their goal this year is to raise $12,000 to give to St. Jude. If you don't already know, St. Jude never turns any family away, regardless of their ability or inability to pay. With Trevor, they take what insurance pays. He receives all of his medications, and they also fly him and I there for each MRI. It is a phenomenal place for families dealing with the most difficult time of their lives. If you can, please try to support the hospital that is working to save our son's life". Much Love, Melinda
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All: Trevor has a Caringbridge website at: www.caringbridge.org/visit/trevortredaway and it would do your heart good to go over and leave a message. I cannot imagine why anyone wouldn't. If you are new to the Caringbridge website, you can read Trevor's' Story and Melinda's Journal. Click on "Guestbook" to leave a comment. New visitors: simply create a password and Voila! You can actually leave Melinda a message of Love and Supportiveness. I would argue that I have the most amazing, loving people on my Blogroll. Imagine how much your kindness in the form of a Comment on Trevor's site means to this young couple! They are so devoted to ensuring that Trevor continues on his journey of healing towards a cancer-free life. Thank you for all of your prayers, good thoughts and tender mercies both on my Blog site and your private e-mails to me.
As I receive confirmations on all aspects of "A Concert for Trevor" (our benefit concert) I will keep you updated here. Until then, God Bless You All and thank you for caring and sharing.
Dryfesdale Cemetery Memorial near Lockerbie, Scotland Names of 270 Victims of Pan Am Flight 103
A beautiful young life lost: Theodora Cohen, 20 was among 35 students
from Syracuse University on board Pan Am Flight 103
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Last Thursday, Scottish authorities released the man who was convicted in the December 21, 1988 Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was released "on humanitarian grounds" after being diagnosed last year with advanced prostate cancer and given three months to live. For the record, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton phoned Scotland's Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill urging him not to release alMegrahi. President Barack Obama said the Scottish decision to free terminally ill Abdel Basetal-Megrahi on compassionate grounds was a mistake and said he should be held under house arrest. Obama warned Libya not to give him a hero's welcome. Despite that warning, at the military airport in Tripoli where al-Megrahi's plane touched down, thousands of youths on hand cheered his return waving Libyan and Scottish flags as al-Megrahi left the plane wearing a dark suit and a tie and accompanied by Libyan leader MoammarGadhafi's son, Saifal-Islam Gadhafi.
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"I think it's appalling, disgusting and so sickening I can hardly find words to describe it," said Susan Cohen, of Cape May Court House, N.J., whose 20-year-old daughter, Theodora, died in the attack. Theodora was a 20 year-old drama student at Syracuse University. Last week, Susan Cohen told the Associated Press she wanted the bomber to die in prison. "The basic issue is he is a mass murderer and he should not be released.This isn't about compassionate release. This is part of give-Gadhafi-what-he-wants-so-we-can-have-the-oil." Cohen said. "Have we totally lost our moral compass? If you want to feel sorry for someone, feel sorry for me."
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For those of you who are too young to remember, at 7:02 PM on Wednesday, December 21, 1988 a Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) Boeing 747 jumbo jet departed London's Heathrow Airport for JFK Airport in New York. At 31,000 feet and just 38 minutes into the flight, a terrorist bomb made of the plastic explosive Semtex weighing less than a pound, exploded inside a large metal luggage container in front of the wing--in fact--just 25 inches from the left side of the aircraft's fuselage. The blast cut off the electrical power supply and blew an initial seven-inch hole through the aircraft fuselage. Within less than a second, the force caused by a secondary shock wave caused by the chemical conversion of the Semtex plastic explosive caused the 747's outer skin to rupture and peel back in three directions. One fracture tore back to the wing, while another ripped forward for 43 feet. The third fracture peeled open the aircraft in a circumferential manner under the belly of the plane and up the other side as both rivets and the jet's aluminum skin burst open. Within three seconds, the entire nose of the aircraft and First Class passenger section sheared off, and slanted back 180 degrees. It then struck the right wing and severed the number three engine before slamming into the tailplane. In a horrifying fashion, it is clear to investigators of this terrorist attack that both the cockpit crew, First Class cabin passengers and approximately 147 Coach Class passengers were likely alive, as they were ejected into the freezing atmosphere strapped to their seats for the 46 second plunge to earth at 200 miles per hour. Meanwhile, the remaining portion of the airplane cabin descended to 19,000 feet and then entered a vertical dive shedding debris and passengers. The separation of the Boeing 747 wings laden with 200,000 pounds of jet fuel impacted the ground in Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbievaporizing at least four houses and killing families in the homes, with the ensuing fireball visible 6 miles away. The crater from this impact was approximately 180 feet long, 100 feet wide and 60 feet deep. There was no sign of the wings--only remnants of jack bolt screws. The blast from this impact registered 1.6 on the Richter Scale, according to the British Geological Survey. Bodies were found dismembered, while others were horribly compressed from the impact of falling 31,000 feet.
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People around the world viewed the photo I have posted atop this Blog. It was published on the covers of both TIMEand Newsweek magazines. Investigators determined that Libyan agents shipped the bomb concealed in a Samsonite suitcase containing a Toshiba radio cassette player, similar to one used to conceal a Semtex bomb seized by West German police from the Palestinian militant group The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command just two months earlier. Items of clothing, which were subsequently proven to have been made in Malta, were also thought to have come from the same suitcase. The clothes were traced to a Maltese merchant, Tony Gauci, who became a key prosecution witness, testifying that he sold the clothes to a man of Libyan appearance, whom he later identified as Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.
Libyan agents placed the baggage containing the bomb on a Boeing 737 Air Malta flight from Malta to Frankfurt. From there, the baggage was placed onto a Pan Am Boeing 727 feeder flight to London where it was eventually placed aboard the Pan Am 747 bound for New York. The plane was delayed on takeoff, due to dense traffic. In fact, had the blast occurred just 90 seconds later, the Boeing 747 would have exploded over water and we would have had few, if any, clues. Local authorities teamed up with British, German and Israeli intelligence along with the CIA, FBI, NSA and other American agencies to painstakingly reconstruct the conspiracy.
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For Dan and Susan Cohen, who lost their daughter Susan, age 20, their lives will never be the same again. In all, 243 passengers, 16 Pan Am crew members and 11 people on the ground died. The investigation and subsequent murder trial took years. However, it is the pain and grief from this senseless act of murder that goes beyond the ken of human imagining. Justice was initially delayed. Now it appears to be denied. What are your thoughts?
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Authors Note: I waited almost one-week before deciding to write about this tragic situation. Outrage from people around the world who value life and embrace justice convinced me that writing about it was the right thing to do. To the victims' families, we can only offer our sincere thoughts and prayers. Like Susan Cohen, I ask you. "Have we totally lost our moral compass?" What are your thoughts?
Week in and week out, I am absolutely amazed at what we overlook in our day to day lives. Last week, a lovely woman approached me and said she owed me an apology. I had no idea what the was talking about. Apparently, as she explained, she had snapped at me during a conversation that I honestly cannot recall from a few weeks back. At any rate, the woman said she had been feeling a terrible burden of guilt ever since and stuck out her hand and said, "Can we start clean?" I shook her hand and reassured her with a smile that there was no problem and admitted that while her face seemed familiar, I could not recall the incident much less being treated badly. She was rare. Here was someone who had a conscience and no ego.
From what she told me, she was having a bad day and had many problems on her mind when I casually asked how her day was going. She claims that was the point at which she "snapped" at me. The thought of this woman feeling riddled with guilt and remorse for some behavior that was so out of character for her actually made me feel badly for her. Unknown to me, that was a burden she was carrying inside of her. Thankfully, she ran into me again. I honestly explained that even if I had been able to remember the incident, "We all have our moments and bad days. Don't worry about it". She was relieved and my faith was once again restored that there are good people around who are not caught up in a selfish maelstrom. These are the good people who will give of themselves. One day, someone will most likely reciprocate and give back to them.
While the musical concert fundraiser for Trevor Tredaway continues to develop, I fielded an e-mail for my response to commercial aviation mergers in the news. Long before I became a contributing editor with Airwaysmagazine, I was a financial reporter for Barron's Business & Financial Weekly--neither position has qualified me as an expert. Many people view owning an airline as a sexy business. Nothing could be further from the truth! I've sat down with too many CEO's of airlines around the country for hours and our conversations were quite sobering. So that you might a little sense of today's business news, here's what's going on-- and I'll even add my two cents in for good measure.
Delta Air Lines and US Airways recently announced "two simultaneous asset sales" (although no cash was ever exchanged) for some very hefty route swaps that makes some sense at New York's LaGuardia and Washington's Reagan National airports. Delta's acquisition of substantially all of Pan Am's Atlantic routes and their Boston-New York-Washington Shuttle back in 1991 catapulted that carrier into a major international player. In this deal, Delta, which recently acquired Northwest Airlines, will expand its New York operation with 125 pairs of slots from US Airways' New York's LaGuardia Airport. Those slots are currently flown by smaller US Airways Express regional jets, where Delta will substitute large jets. In return, Delta will swap off 42 pairs of slots at Reagan National Airport to US Airways, along with the rights to fly from Washington to Sao Paulo and Tokyo. This gives US Airways 15 brand new non-stop destinations from their profitable lock hold on Reagan National and Delta gets a chance to ramp up competition head-on with rivals Continental Airlines and JetBlue in New York (no that's not a misspelling--JetBlue is spelled that way).
Another separate swap of routes involves AirTran Airways and Continental Airlines. AirTran will turn over routes from New Jersey's Newark airport to Continental and in exchange, Continental will give AirTran slots at Washington's Reagan National Airport and New York's LaGuardia. Denver-based Frontier Airlines and Milwaukee's Midwest Airlines was just absorbed by regional jet service provider Republic Airways. More consolidation will follow. Midwest Airlines is the former Midwest Express--an all First Class airline that served steak and lobster on their flights along with baked chocolate chip cookies on board as a signature. I hate to see that culture go. Under Republic, the Boeing 717's will be disposed in favor of Embraer 190 regional jets. Republic does a nice job and is a great company; it just won't be quite the same. Meanwhile...
Few see US Airways as a stand-alone, long-term player. They have been courting United Airlines. Both airlines, unfortunately have a lot of problems, and combining two troubled airlines will not make for one healthy airline. Three years after US Airways was acquired by smaller but well regarded America West Airlines in Tempe, Arizona, a dispute over integrating pilot seniority lists leading the two company pilot groups to abandon their union ALPA, form separate unions and beat the hell out of each other in court.
Then we have Chicago-based United Airlines. Their employees have sought on at least two occasions to have their CEO, former Texaco oil executive Glenn Tilton replaced with a court-appointed trustee to help stem the airline's losses. Not to drop names, but one night in Ohio, I received an e-mail from American actor, political and economic commentator Ben Stein asking me where the hell I came up with the fact that during United's bankruptcy (when they were losing $24 million a day, Tilton leased an $18,000 a month condo in downtown Chicago). I told Ben that I'm also a journalist like him. But like a good neighbor, I backed it up by giving him a public domain source (but not my personal one). I haven't heard from Ben since, but he's still an interesting guy. But I digress. Continental will leave Delta-led Skyteam on Tuesday to join the United-led Star Alliance three days later. Smart move for the healthiest "legacy carrier" in the business!
On one side of this equation: Airlines merge to achieve "critical mass" and achieve "economies of scale and scope". Allow me to use plain language. The name of the game in consolidating airline companies is to become more dominant by capturing market share (achieving critical mass) while reducing operating costs (achieving economies of scale and scope). On the other side of the equation, when mergers of this scale occur, the consumer has less choice because the pricing power is determined by the handful of huge airlines left in business. In other words, they determine "market rates" in a scenario many call a monopoly. Nowhere is this more apparent than in England where Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways has sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama encouraging his administration to block the de-facto merger between American Airlines and financially troubled British Airways--the result of which would lock up 80% of the slots (slots, by the way, are landing and takeoff rights) to prestigious London Heathrow Airport. Sir Richard Branson, a shrewd businessman who is bold without overpaying for assets, has offered to take over select routes from ailing rival British Airways, should they elect to stop operating some of them. I see no end in sight with either the formation of new airlines and the consolidation of the current players. While United States airline deregulation has witnessed the collapse of over 200 airlines--including such iconic names as Pan Am, Eastern and Braniff International, consumers have benefited from lower fares. However, the airline business fluctuates so much because of it's high fixed costs and dependency on consumer demand. When competition leads to massive fare cuts and price matching, airlines typically are unable to cover their costs for delivering services. It is the only industry I'm aware of that operates with a negative working capital scenario. And no, this is not a joke.
Now my two cents: So, the question becomes, "How big do we allow our airlines to become?" and "Are we discouraging healthy competition and consumer choice by allowing competition, or should we allow the market place to determine who stays in business and who throws in the towel?" What has always been clear is that the public wants safe, dependable airline service with high frequencies and low costs. Whether airlines can stay ahead of the curve by merging and resorting to charging for baggage, soda pop, sandwiches, plastic headsets and on board in flight entertainment systems remains open to question. While I'm sympathetic to British Airways CEO Willie Walsh and his need to find a solution to stabilize BA, I side with Sir Richard Branson. As has also been evident on this BLOG Page for years, I am a fan of Sir Richard (Virgin Gallactic notwithstanding). He may be one of the richest men in the world, but unlike women who give you their e-mail and never answer you, Branson personally read and answered my letters years ago. He is the personification of Class! British Airways' decision to link up with the arrogant American Airlines (remember, I lived in Dallas for 21 years and know them well) is purely a business deal. British Airways is a fine airline (formed by the merger of BEO and BOAC).
Regarding Delta, I refuse to fly them on the grounds of principle. The way in which they went about acquiring what remained of beleaguered Pan American World Airways was indefensible. I'm sorry people, but I have many friends from Pan Am and there is right in wrong in life and in business. Delta had it's last true leader when Hollis Harris was at the helm, and no, the employees of Delta had nothing to do with Delta's checkered past. It all emanated from their CEO's office from around 1985 forward.
Last point: AirTran (yes, the spelling is correct here too) is a good Low Cost/Low Fare carrier. They operate Boeing 717's and 737's. Truth be told, they took a page out of the playbook of my late friend Marty Shugrue when he was Trustee at Eastern Airlines and attemptied to restart that proud carrier in 1995. Basically, what you are seeing with the success of AirTran was Shugrue's business plan for the "New" Eastern Airlines, in my opinion. I make no apologies for that observation either, it's the truth and I wish AirTran well. They have been a proverbial "thorn in Delta's side" for years. However, unlike TWA's effort to set up a second smaller hub at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport in 1993 and Eastern, who had a formidable hub there (if you're too young to recall, Eastern was once the third-largest airline in America) Delta was unable to run AirTran out of town.
Airlines in America lack marketing differentiation (with the exception of Southwest Airlines). We've become as complacent as the CEO's who run these companies. When we expect little, we get little. I hope this picture changes, because In terms of covering this exciting industry as a journalist, I would have to say that the heartaches far outweigh the joys in the current commodity-driven economy. This is my opinion only and no one elses. And having said that, I wish you all a...
If you've been following this past week's events here at my Blog, two initiatives are underway. Brandie has stepped forward to contact Dallas radio personality Kidd Kraddick to request that he increase public awareness of little Trevor Tredaway. Jennifer has made some contacts as well and we've been trying to get our schedules to click for a phone call. Sue has taken Trevor's needs to her church prayer group in Midland, Texas and she has graciously volunteered to be my "person on the ground" there for the benefit concert we are working on for Trevor. It has been a busy week for me.
During my day off last Monday, I was reaching out by telephone and letters to people who can make a difference. One of them is CNN medical correspondent and Neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta, M.D. Dr. Gupta is a positive and energetic presence on CNN. He is also a Neurosurgeon familiar with Trevor's medical condition. What a wonderful opportunity to raise public awareness of children with brain cancer! I feel that I can work with Dr. Gupta and I would be very comfortable speaking with him over the phone and in-person about this very important subject.
It's been seven-years since I lived and worked as broadcaster in Dallas, Texas. But it was fun to watch Kidd Kraddick's rise to popularity. We worked at different stations and I was a news anchor. Interestingly, I was also a producer for a former traffic reporter who was once part of Kidd's morning show lineup from 1999-2002. It may seem odd to many, but we never met. We chatted on the phone a few times, but it was brief and all business. So, while I would bump into colleagues in the industry at non-profit health organization emcee gigs every month (many in radio and television are asked to host luncheon and dinner events) I never had the opportunity to meet Kidd. Hopefully that will change.
Additional proposals that I've previously mentioned are still pending. It takes a commitment from others with a heart to help us. But we fully realize that all good things take time too. There is also usually a risk whenever one attempts any worthwhile event. But in this case, the scenario is very different. I can honestly say there is little if any downside and a tremendous upside to offering value to a venue that hosts our "grass roots" event. We will require enough lead time to involve more press. And if we're not careful , we may just have a lot of fun in the process! There's nothing better than wonderful people like Brandie, Jennifer and Sue who e-mailed me with offers of help from their own communities. I've said this before. Nobody who is successful in any endeavor goes it alone, and that is really true. We are serious about helping Trevor and of course, we hope that our sincere efforts are met with results soon. Music and fun has a way of bringing all good people together and that is our aim.
I encourage you to stop by Trevor's website and just say hello to his mother Melinda at www.caringbridge.org/visit/trevortredaway. As you might imagine, she is very good at passing along your messages to Trevor too! I also realize that we live in a very busy world. No problem! The great thing about Trevor's website is that there are no hours of operation; it is just like mine--open 24-hours for all kind people to come together and share. As the components of our project come together, Melinda and I will be available to talk with radio, newspaper and television media about Trevor and the initiatives underway to plan and present a benefit music concert in Midland, Texas. If you have an idea or wish to help, join us! Simply E-mail me at: michaelmanninginfo@GMail.com and let's explore the possibilities. I say this because when good people step forward, anything is possible. And yes, I believe in miracles too. Enjoy your weekend! Michael
Last night I was working out on a recumbent bike with the flat screen TV turned on in my apartment workout room when a television commercial came on about infant child seat safety. I had no idea that research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that as many as 80 percent of all car seats are improperly installed and used. Eighty percent. Wow! It's a significant factor in why automobile accidents are the number-one killer of children under 14. And where I live here in Phoenix, we lead the entire nation in traffic intersection fatalities. In fact, I saw a crash just down the street on my way home from work and phoned paramedics immediately. But wait! There's a simple solution for protecting children!
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On the way home from the hospital, new parents should make it a point to stop at any fire station where fire fighters will be happy to show you how to properly secure an infant's car seat in the back seat of your automobile. What could be a better solution? I thought it was great and wanted to Blog about it briefly this morning. Here's to each of you to have a safe and enjoyable weekend! Michael
I'm no Larry King, but I have a great audience too!
My BLOG Page feature, "The Interview" was resurrected after I made the decision in December, 2008 that "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" would end its 40-month run. This was necessary to free me up from a significant time commitment to pick up "The Interview" and run with it successfully. At the time, Jason Buckley, my Webmaster and I were working on completing a 3rd overhaul to my full website since 2004 that was quite extensive. This decision was driven by my desire to take my website into a new direction that was more personality-driven. Further, I was freed up to focus on "The Annual Steve McQueen Film Festival" which occurs every March. The level of quality demanded of these two remaining concepts demanded nothing less. In the months ahead we are rebuilding both my REEL and CONTACTPages. Meanwhile...
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We are committed now to "A Concert for Trevor". Who is "we"? Well, I am collecting names and phone contacts throughout the country of people who care about 4 year-old Trevor Tredaway that are "stepping up to the plate" to assist me. They have read the Midland Reporter Telegram newspaper article of July 27, 2009 (see this previous blog post) on Trevor and they are responding. As I have said here so often, "Nobody who is successful ever goes it alone". In that spirit, this is truly a team effort. National radio and television personalities have been contacted about Trevor's story, and we are all cautiously optimistic at the potential for all good things to happen when like-minded people who are loving and concerned come together as a community! Naturally, I will keep you updated on this special little boy who needs our help.
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My regular features will be here on the BLOG Page too. I just wanted to take a moment and update you and more importantly, to say "Thank You" to every lurker and commenter who visits here. Your generosity is never lost on me. More than 4,300 of you joined me last week during my visit with Special Guest, Ken Mansfield. Ken was the former head of Apple Records, Manager and Producer of The Beatles and it was a genuine Joy for this author to sit down with him and hear his amazing journey. Please be patient with me as I get around to visit all of you who have kindly visited me. Have a great week!
Michael Manning
- P.S. Would you like to visit Trevor's amazing Website? Stop by and say "Hello" at this address: www.caringbridge.org/visit/trevortredaway. You'll be glad you did! MM
Annemarie Lucas of DCI's Cable TV Series "Animal Precinct"
Pan Am Hero Al Topping saved 426 Lives on April 24, 1975
Actress, Model, Author & Philanthropist Barbara Leigh
Outspoken but brilliant ex-Continental CEO, Gordon Bethune
Artist and Author Connie Douglas
NASA Astronaut & Eastern Airlines Chief Colonel Frank Borman
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A fitting video to close out the past several days with Ken Mansfield's visit!
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Pictured above is a sampling of Guests who have made appearances on my Blog Page feature, "The Interview". Looking back 23 months ago, I pledged to you--my readers--that we would resurrect "The Interview" with Guests who were absolutely relevant and who brought to the table a vitality for life. All I can say with regard to all of the wonderful people who have been gracious to appear on these pages is that I've been blessed!
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My BLOG Page is simply a collection of topics that are important to to me, from humor to issues of the day and to causes close to my heart. In some ways, I feel that "The Interview" has gone from a proverbial empty office with a chair, a cardboard box with a notepad, pen and a telephone that rarely ever rang, to a vibrant collection of amazing Guests who did phone, rang the doorbell and stopped by with the gift of their time and a heart to share. I enjoy it and will continue to bring you the best I have. We don't have a set schedule (this allows me to have a life) and we are not constricted by obligation or ritual. The feature is available for Guests whom I feel are best suited for providing something fresh and different to you. And we have much more ahead...
THE INTERVIEW: BEATLES PRODUCER & AUTHOR KEN MANSFIELD (PART 4 OF 4).
Former Apple Records Building, 3 Saville Row, London, England
Ken Mansfield was There!
Ken Mansfield Today
Ken and Connie
Manning: There is a story you write about in the book about a tremendous weight that was lifted from your life during a Whitney Houston concert. Because that story showed so much character that every person reading this interview can relate to, I wonder if you could share that moment of truth with us?
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Mansfield: Well, it as a moment where God basically says where you read The Word about how God feels about pride. One of the hardest things for me was when everything fell apart was my pride. Because I've always had a ton of pride. There were smaller ways--and I didn't realize this until later--that He tried to make some inroads with me on that and they're all at The Starwood (Theater)--there's three stories. There's Julian Lennon. This is when I was a new Christian and I was really on my bottom at this time and just struggling. I had just come up the stairs up behind the Amphitheater and Julian came off (stage) after doing a sound check and we ran into each other on a cat walk. He walked past me and I just dropped my jaw and I said 'Julian'. And he stopped and looked at me and just said. 'Yes?' I said, 'I knew your father, I used to work for him.' And Julian just looked at me, this dirty old grimy, smelly stage hand. But he just looked past that and it was embarrassing for me to say I was once in a lofty position working to run the company for his father. He looked past that...
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Manning: ...No kidding!
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Mansfield: ...It was embarrassing. But he just wanted to know more about his father. He went right to that. He wanted to know things. So, I swallowed my pride. The reason that I wasn't going to say anything in the first place was because I was embarrassed. But I did it. And God rewarded me in just having a real conversation with Julian Lennon. The next thing happened was with James Taylor where here I was the head of Apple, and James was one of the first artists we signed and I was on top of the world. James was a new artist. The next time James and I got together, I was Vice President of MGM and we're all hanging out together and because Peter Asher was my friend and his producer. We were in the studio hanging out and cutting records like Fire and Rain. We had that time together. Now, I was working at the Starwood. James was headlining and I had to walk up to him during his sound check and ask where he wanted me to place his amps. And James looked at me and I was grimy, because after you've been out there in the hot sun ten or eleven hours working straight through, you're pretty much a mess. And he looked at me and bless his heart, it took a lot of guts for me. But I still didn't quite get what I was doing. I had to do it. And I didn't really put it together that God was really working on my pride. The night that I was working the Whitney Houston concert, it was like He was stepping it up. I didn't get that until later. (Houston had problems hearing her performance through her on-stage monitors and Mansfield walked out before a capacity crowd that included his former fellow executives sitting near the stage who recognized him as he made the sound adjustments for Whitney). The first time was Julian and it was behind the building--just he and I.
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Manning: Right.
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Mansfield: And the next time, was with James Taylor on stage with a couple of stage hands around and some musicians. I still didn't get it. So, God put me before twenty thousand people so I could work it out there (begins laughing). I don't know what He would have done next if I hadn't gotten it then! It was hard because I didn't want to do it. He delivered me from my pride. Even if you're delivered from it, you still have to deal with it all the time. These things just don't go away once and forever. I finally got it. I got what He was looking for. It was a great thing to be delivered from that knowing that He had delivered me. I understood what the situation was. Michael, a little caveat to that story. Connie and I were together at this point and she had seen all that I'd done and been through. She said to this day--and we've been together 25 years now--that for her, that's the proudest she's ever been of me my whole life. Not getting a Dove Award or a Grammy.
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Manning: So often so many people over-identify with their position in life, and here you had endured such a fall, and yet you survived where a lot of people succumb to a failed career and many of them, sadly, are no longer with us. But you retrenched and began life anew. You write about standing atop the Apple Building rooftop where The Beatles last performed (in the film Let It Be) There was a sense of closure. What is your life like today in your new role as an ordained minster, Ken?
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Mansfield: It's not about me anymore. I've structure it out that I'm an evangelist. I didn't really realize that about myself until I got going. I didn't want to go on the road. I did not want to be a speaker or a minister. It's a long story about how I ended up doing that. Once I ended up speaking at churches and being on the road, I discovered that I was an evangelist. My heart is to bring the truth to people. I'm looking at a particular group of people and that's those who normally wouldn't come into a church, wouldn't hear a testimony. But the fact that I know now that whole time period had nothing to do with me and what a big deal I was. It was just God putting together something quietly over thirty years to use later on and if that had to do with me being a big deal with The Beatles, it gave me a background or a platform for me to speak from. In all honesty, I think that everything about my forty years of life, in Ringo's life and Paul's life and Judy Garland's life --everything may have led up to me just mostly speaking before someone in Des Moines and to hit one person and to change their life, and that was the whole purpose with my life. That person may become the next Billy Graham or something. I don't know. We can't fathom how He works in that realm. But it could be that the whole reason for everything I did was that He had his eye on me for later on.
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Manning: That's what I understood when you write that when you were leaving the roof of The Apple Building in London recently, and it was just another roof! You just looked in another direction.
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Mansfield: Right. Now for Connie and I, it's just to be worthy to the call. We deal with our two dogs fighting in our life just like everybody else. But it's a constant to know that for us to be a good witness, we have to be a good witness. That's my life right now. My main concern is being pleasing to God. I just want Him to look down and say, 'You know, you're a good and faithful servant and in you, I'm well pleased'.
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Manning: And by the 'two dogs' example, Ken, you're talking about selfish versus self-less?
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Mansfield: Yeah. We're all selfish in many ways. But I just try to feed the self-less dog more than I do the selfish dog.
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Manning: Well, Ken I always ask my Guests on "THE INTERVIEW" if they have any final thoughts they would like to share as a sort of way to sum up their message or clarify any points they feel are crucially important to those who will be reading this for some time to come on the Web. And in that spirit I'd just really like to turn the floor over to you for any final thoughts you might like to share with us?
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Mansfield: Well, I do have a final thought. I think if I have to have a point. You know, Harry Nilsson used to say. 'Everybody has to have a point'. My point is that it doesn't matter where you've been, it doesn't matter how bad you've been, how wretched and shameless or what a big deal you were, or how you used you life or how long you were that. Once you drop to your knees and ask Jesus to come into your life as Lord and Savior, He's promised all mistakes are forgotten, all sins are forgiven and you're brand, brand new! And you're just as beautiful and shining as the best in the world when you become his child. Even with all your stuff, it's not like when you become a Christian it's going to become a rosy day and that the tattoo of the naked lady with a serpent around her neck doesn't fall off your arm just because you're saved. Because we do suffer the consequences of our sins. We do pay for some of these things. But we are redeemed. If I came to The Lord when I was 15 and you came to The Lord when you were 5, I'm just as saved as you are. I'm just as blessed. I'm just as much as His child. I just want people to know not to let that hold them back--that they feel so unworthy that they're not redeemable, because they are. In my book I write that I just value being a child of the King of Kings so much that because of what I went through before that and my decadence, it doesn't mean I'm more saved. I just recognize the consequence and this is just astounding the difference between the two lives. When I look back now I really think that my best day in the world is not as good as my best day as a Christian. Because there is a peace in the knowing and that hollow spot has been filled up.
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- My thanks to Ken Mansfield for making this interview possible.
If you are just joining us, this has been a phenomenal week spent with my very special Guest on "The Interview", Ken Mansfield. We began posting Monday, August 10th, Wednesday the 12th and of course yesterday, Friday, the 14th. We conclude my visit with Beatles Producer and Author Ken Mansfield "up close and personal" tomorrow, Sunday the 16th right here. It's been a Joy for me personally and, I hope you're enjoying it! Michael
THE INTERVIEW: BEATLES PRODUCER AND AUTHOR KEN MANSFIELD (PART 3)
Ken with George Harrison
...with Paul McCartney
...and of course Ringo Starr!
Manning: I found it amusing that you had to borrow a suit for the interview at Capitol Records. For those who are reading about this for the first time, tell us how this came about?
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Mansfield: I kept getting called back because the competition for this job was so stiff ,and I didn't have any clothes. I mean, I was just out of college and I had a Folk club and was a Folk singer and I certainly wasn't going to church. So, I didn't need anything for that. My buddy's father was a very wealthy San Diego surgeon and they were out on a European trip, so he took me to his father's closet and there were all these thousand-dollar suits and all of this jewelry, watches and cuff links and tie tacks and all that kind of stuff. He just dressed me up for my interview. Unfortunately, his father was heavier than I was and shorter than I was. So, I had to fold in and double fold the pants and wear them kind of low so they would come down far enough. I had to kind of hold the jacket. But it looked pretty good as long as I didn't move! They kept calling me back, and I would have to go with another outfit. I like to say that I got my job with somebody else's clothes.
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Manning: As I read on, it was a bit overwhelming to me to think of you entering The Beatles' inner sanctum. I can't even imagine what that must have been like. Could you share some of that with us? What was it like to, ultimately, enter The Beatles inner sanctum?
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Mansfield: Well, the thing that made it possible for me is that when I worked with them for the first time, I worked with them as the District Promotion Manager for Capitol Records on the West Coast. That was my responsibility with the band when they came to the area. First of all, I was an American executive with Capitol Records and that gave me credit with them. But they had grown up being fascinated with California. Here I was, the typical tanned, young hot-shot guy who started to let his hair grow, with a Cadillac convertible and the home up in the Hollywood hills with a pool. I was everything they ever read about! I had a single life back then. In a funny way, they were just as fascinated with me as I was fascinated with them--with their funny way that they said things and I said things like a Californian. Secondly, they were pretty taken with me that I was their age and that everybody else they worked with in the industry was a Chairman of the Board at EMI or Lord of EMI, president of Capitol or whatever. They felt comfortable with me and we got to spend on the first trip...they had a day off and they just wanted to know more about California. They invited me up to the house that they rented to spend time around the pool and stuff. When they came back the next year, we got to work together again and it was comfortable. So, when it came time to set up their record company (Apple) I was the executive they knew in America. They had a pretty high impression of me and they felt comfortable with me. I'm the guy they selected because they really didn't know anybody else except maybe some old fart. When they sent for me, at that point in my career, I just thought that I was as big a deal as they were. I wasn't intimidated by them. I didn't quite understand why they were so big. I knew they were big, I just didn't quite get it. So, I wasn't in awe of them and I wasn't nervous around them. George would store his guitars at my house and all the Capitol guys would stay at my house with a pool and the big house up in the Hollywood Hills. And it was just a natural kind of thing that we were in it together. I didn't think that much of it. As time evolved, there was levels of being in their inner circle--and I found myself on one of the inner circles. There was a couple of circles inside that I wasn't in--that would be the original guys like Neil (Aspinall) and Mal (Evans)--the guys they grew up with. At some point I was really in there to the point where they could talk to me about personal things.
Manning: Ken, for the benefit of my readers who may not be familiar, and correct me if I'm wrong. You're referencing producer Neil Aspinall and The Beatles' road manager Mal Evans?
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Mansfield: That's right.
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Manning: Okay. Ken, you'll have to forgive me here, because there is simply no way that I can avoid asking you this question. You knew each of The Beatles as friends. Could you give us a thumbnail sketch of each member of the group? You write that John Lennon was the more complicated of the four?
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Mansfield: Yeah. John was the one I felt that I never got to know because he was rough on me all the time, and was always yelling at me and expecting so much of me. I never felt like he really felt like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing for them. Later on, when he died, Ron Kass who was president of Apple, told me that John was the one that liked me best...
Manning: ...Oh, my.
Mansfield:... and the reason that he was like that was because he trusted me. And then I understood, because he didn't have to bullshit me. He just cut through the bull and just told me what he was thinking and what he expected, what he liked and didn't like and he was just being straight up with me. That was just his nature.
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Paul was like the most popular kid in high school. Everything seemed to revolve around what Paul thought--not badly--it was like, he was the one with all the ideas. It seemed like every project we did was because Paul had come up with it, and that Paul was the guy who kept it going. Paul would just wear you out! I mean. I went out with him at night and I'd have to beg off and go home, and I'm tired. I'm driving with one of the most famous people in the world and I'm just hanging out. But gee, gosh! You could only keep up with that guy for so long.
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Ringo was just easy. He and I had the longest relationship. He was the most common, in a way, just the simplest, easy one to be with.
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Having said that, George was the one that I really felt the closest to because of George's spiritual bent. He was just so pleasing to me and so gentle, and so caring and so kind, just so soft. And I would have all this responsibility. But I used to get the feeling that George was taking care of me instead of me taking care of him. Each was very individual, very individual.
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Manning:There's a lighter note in your book that I just loved. You describe a rather humorous Thanksgiving where Ringo Starr payed a surprise visit to your home and to several of your friends--to of all things--carve a Turkey and then leave! This made for some great laughter about Ringo. Would you mind sharing a little of that for someone who hasn't picked up the book yet?
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Mansfield: Well, you know Ringo afterward lived in L.A. for years. That was his favorite residence. And there was just a group of us. It was a very small, tight group of people that hung out together like Harry Nilsson, and a bunch of us that they had long, old relationships with. It was a very tight group that was very comfortable with each other. And we'd just hang and he was always a Beatle. That particular Thanksgiving...and Ringo and I had a tradition of spending every New Years Eve together for years. We would either have it at his house or my house, or this other fellow's house. It was just a tradition with us. But anyway, on that Thanksgiving, there were a handful--probably only three or four of us that invited Ringo over for Thanksgiving dinner. He just didn't feel that he could pick one of us and forget the others. He just got a bone handled English carving set, you know, just a beautiful carving set. So, he decided to just ask each one of us what time we were going to have our Turkey served. And in a couple of cases, we had to adjust our time a little bit and he just said, "I'll come over and carve the Turkey for your guests". So, we had about twelve people there and nobody knew and he comes in with his carving set. The Cook brings the Turkey out, sets it on the table and Ringo just says hello to everybody and starts carving the Turkey and putting it on our plates (laughter). When he was done serving everybody, he took a glass and toasted everybody, takes his carving set and leaves!
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Manning: That's funny! You know, I've seen him a couple of times with his All Starr Band and I've just always enjoyed that experience. Are you still in touch? Are you still friends today?
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Mansfield: You know, a couple of years ago--we hadn't seen each other in quite a while--and I was just a guest at one of those shows, and backstage we had a hard time keeping a conversation going. And here's two people who had real history. We'd gone through our up's and down's together, and wives together, and the drug scene, and messing up our lives, and getting our lives back together. I represented him later in the 90's and helped him bring his career back. I mean, we had so much history together! And yet, because we hadn't seen each other for years and now I'm in the ministry and he's still rockin' and after, you know--'How's Barbara (Bach) doing?' and 'Man. you know, how are you doing?' I think we'd just look at each other and it was uncomfortable.
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Manning: Oh!...
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Mansfield: ..I think for both of us. And to me it was like we had just gone our separate ways and just nothing bad, I don't know. It was very strange! Very strange.
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Manning: My oldest brother and I were reminiscing about our late father coming to America through Ellis Island and my brother said to me, 'Back then, you could basically just get a job and eventually make it in America'. And those words came back to me when I was reading your book, because you had a similar quote where you write: 'Back then, you used to have a dream and just go for it. Talent and imaginings could come off the street with heart and a handshake and become famous'. How is that different, Ken, from today's crowded music scene? And what are your observations about today's artists and the music you hear?
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Mansfield: Well, what was possible then is not possible now. Because now, you have to have a whole consortium behind you. You have to have had a lot of prior history in terms of experiencing making your own records and prove that you can sell records and you can sell out auditoriums, and you have to have a manager and an agent and you have to have money behind you and all that. It's all become big business! It's all accountants and attorneys. The groups are no longer...in a lot of cases...like we were in those days, we picked each other because we liked each other and we liked what we did. And we had a history together in other ways. But you know, now groups are manufactured a lot where they pick a guy from St. Louis with a low voice and a guy from Chicago with a high voice and you pick, maybe some good looking guys for the girls and they just fabricate these groups. And even though these groups are making good records, they never last. But the Stones and The Beatles and all these people are still out there performing in the geriatric stage of their life. It's because they were real people! They were put together because we loved the music...
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Manning: ...Absolutely, yeah!
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Mansfield: ...We would have done it for free, you know? So, there's a different mind set about the whole thing. Now it's a way for the Black kid to get out of the ghetto. It's a way for a White kid to get a Mercedes, just a way to make money and become famous. Almost everybody I knew back then, we were startled when we became successes! It wasn't our main goal. Our main goal was to make music! And then all of a sudden, all of this stiff starts happening. It was confusing to us, for the most part. The music business today? ...As successful as I was for so many years, I couldn't even begin to be successful these days because I just don't have that mind set.
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Manning: And the music being made today...do you stay current, Ken?
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Mansfield: I do, I do. And from the standpoint that I really like what's happening with the Alternative bands these days because I can hear the influence of maybe five or six bands from the past in there.
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Manning:Oh, really?
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Mansfield: Yes! I hear it as influence and not as copying. I hear it as music they grew up with. You know, riding in the car with their Dad and Mom was making breakfast and playing her music. I hear this music being part of them. They're picking up on things that they've gathered over the years. I mean I hear a lot of creativity. The fact that they can't get a record deal done like they used to and they have to go their avenues. And the young, Alternative bands are returning a little bit more to what we were like in a way. So, I find it very crazy. The only problem I find is I'll hear a band...I'll hear a record that knocks me out! But I can never remember the name of the band because I never hear another record by them. It's very seldom. I just heard a band that did a song on, So You Think You Can Dance? and they're called Blue October. I loved the song. I'm curious to see if I can hear anything else by them.
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Manning:Yeah, I'm reminded of Hoobastank and their hit, 'The Reason' (2004). And I never did hear anything after that. (The group actually had two additional hits: 'Crawling in the Dark' and Running Away'). Not long ago, I wrote a Blog about what it was like for me sitting in the second row at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas at a Tom Jones concert. with some young guys from Wales. And he managed to pull off his own arrangement of 'The Reason', and the place went nuts! He was that good, I mean--a standing ovation.
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Mansfield: Yeah.
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Manning: I have the CD from that band (Hoobastank) but then, nothing.
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Mansfield:Well, yeah.
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Manning: Do you find that there are friendships with those people who were part of your career before you found God? Are those friendships still intact now that you're into your ministry?
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Mansfield: I found that when I became a Christian, I felt that all of those past relationships would go away, that they wouldn't like me anymore. But what I found instead was a sense of respect that I really didn't lose any friends. If I did lose them it was just because they were so out there that they actually rejected me. But that was not the main thing. I found that I didn't lose any friends. It was a sense of 'Oh, Ken's got it together now. That's cool.'
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Manning: A sort of relief.
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Mansfield:They respected the choice I made. Like Glen Campbell. Glen and I were crazy back in the old days, but it was a double-edged sword. We were really able to share our faith together, which was really neat. But it's real special in that way. And I've had some of my old rocker friends come up to me and just say, 'There's something different about you now. What is it, you know?' (laughter)...they didn't know that I was saved. They just knew there was something different about me. I liked that a lot. And I was able to witness to them .
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My amazing visit with Ken Mansfield concludes this Sunday. His new book is called "Between Wyomings: My God and an Ipod on the Open Road" and it's very cool. We'll be back here Sunday for some final thoughts from Ken. Stay with us!
THE INTERVIEW: BEATLES PRODUCER AND AUTHOR KEN MANSFIELD (PART 2 )
Jessi Colter, Ken Mansfield and Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings with Ken Mansfield
The Legendary LP Produced by Ken Mansfield
Manning: You have a wonderful respect for the spirituality of the Native American culture that is evident throughout your new book. How did this come about?
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Mansfield: I grew up in it! I grew up observing it. I grew up in a small town where the Indians were treated even less than second class citizens. They were shoved off a reservation and when the reservation started looking nice, they were shoved off to a reservation that wasn't so nice. Because the White man wanted the land. There was a law, for example, that they weren't allowed fire water--which meant alcohol--and there was this mentality that we had a right to withhold anything from them. They were given just barely enough money to live on by the government who held them in poverty. Here were these people that were so beautiful that they loved the land. Their philosophy is 'We don't own anything; God owns everything'. They never drew property lines. Their property was shared and they were so in tune with nature in terms of how they just lived off the land. They were really into seasons and they had very strict tribal rules about morality and everything. You could take these things and just plug them right into a Christian lifestyle. I don't agonize over 'Well, wait a minute. Why am I so attracted or why do I fee so strong about the Indian spirituality?' When I became a Christian, I'm totally sold on that. I believe everything God said is true. I believe The Bible is the inerrant word of God and so I don't have these two things in conflict. I don't quite understand the difference. But it's not for me to know. I just know where I'm supposed to be. I happen to love the way they live. I just treasure having known that kind of background. It was always surrounded with beautiful rivers and trees and forests and hills and I think I was just very blessed to have been able to grow up with that.
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Manning: During Christmas of 1996, you were diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer and you were told by doctors that you had maybe one to three years left to live. Where were you in your spiritual journey at that time and how do you explain that you are still alive today?
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Mansfield: I was very deep into my spiritual journey at that time and I think that's why I was able to react the way I did. I just trust in God so much that like I said, if that had happened to me when I was in the world, I would have been absolutely freaked out. I don't think I could have even begun to handle it. I just trust Him so much and even when a situation like that comes about, all you just have to do is to give it to Him and it's already been paid for on The Cross--everything about it. In my first book I reprinted a letter I had from God that said, 'Dear Ken: Either you believe or you don't. Love, God'. And that was the strength He gave me. It was a peace that passes all understanding. It was Him saying, 'If you really do believe, then here's my gift to you--this peace. You're into something that is this big deal and you're having peace and that is my gift to you, and that's like your proof to yourself that you really believe. You don't need to question whether you trust or believe in me'. I had experimental treatment and it worked and there was no research on the cancer. It's still incurable. I still have the cancer. But I mean, here I am. I'm way out here. I'm already a miracle in terms that I'm twelve years out now on that cancer--almost thirteen years.
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Manning: I want to go back to your career a little bit because I think my readers will find this fascinating. Your book is written in a fascinating way where you include personalities like Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Glen Campbell. Then you reflect on your spiritual path. For somebody reading about you for the very first time, how do you go about reconciling the trappings of being such a successful record company executive and a producer at the top of the world when your life became the exact opposite in Nashville in the 1980s?
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Mansfield: It came about in pieces as a process. I wasn't a Christian. I dealt with it in worldly terms. I freaked out, I got higher, I would do anything to make a buck. I was available. I wanted to get back on top. I was dealing with all that pain and disillusionment and my pride lost and having to go bankrupt, and having my wife leave me, and having my kids end up on drugs and losing my estate and everything. It was one thing after another and it was horrible. But this was all stripping me down to nothing. I went to Nashville to start over with Willie and Waylon and the boys and all my crazy 'Outlaw' friends. I was there to get more drunk, more high, more women, more everything--that how I would react to it all. The third day I was down there, God put Connie in my path and she just turned everything right around right away. So, there I was three cardboard boxes and no work, no money, I owed a lot of money and I was hands-off with a lot of record companies because of my drug rep and all that.
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Manning: You write a lot about your close relationship with Waylon Jennings. He was the Best Man at your wedding and he stated that you were the only producer he trusted who understood him. How would you describe Waylon to my readers? He was a quiet, personal man wasn't he?
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Mansfield: Well, he was the single most off the wall person I ever met. He and I just had an affection for each other and we were so alike and so different at the same time. The things that we were alike were what drew us together and the things that we were different about is what fascinated us with each other. The main thing with Waylon was that he really didn't care what other people thought. And I mean he paid the price for that. It wasn't like he was trying to be a rough cowboy, or a stud or a James Dean. He was Waylon. If you didn't like it then that was fine. He didn't care if it cost him. He was going to do what he did and that was it. That was very liberating in a way. He didn't give a shit. Now, mixed in with that, the single most talented artist I worked with starting with The Beatles and Andy Williams, or Judy Garland or whoever was Waylon Jennings. He was just the single, authentic, truly uniquely talented person I ever worked with and I admired his music so much and I was a giant fan of his.
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Manning: I was too. By 1975, you were firmly established as a major force in what we know today as the "Outlaw" movement in progressive country music and I noticed something you wrote. "Hooking up with the 'Outlaws' was like jumping on a rocket". How did you become attracted to the 'Outlaw' movement?
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Mansfield: Because the producer is the songwriter and the arranger and all that stuff. I never liked to make the standard record. My first great adventure in the music business as a creative person was during the Folk-Rock era. I put together a six-piece group down in San Diego called The Deep Six. First of all it was five guys and a girl--which was unusual. Second of all, we did very involved harmonies and we were also electric instruments and we dressed really wild. We had a hit record on Liberty Records. So that evolved into what became that whole Buffalo Springfield, Byrds,Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young---that whole era that was coming out of Southern California. That was unique, because I grew up on Country, I fell in love with Folk music and yet I loved Classical music and Jazz. I was able to incorporate all these quirky things I do into that. I became a real producer, and I was always trying to make records into two markets. I wanted to make a record that a Pop person and a Country person could buy. Or a record that a Pop person and a a Rock person and an Easy Listening person could buy. That's what (Jessi Colter's) I'm Not Lisa came from. Country, Pop and Easy Listening.
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Manning: Where did Waylon Jennings come in?
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Mansfield: When I heard Waylon, I heard stuff in that first record that I never heard before. There was something that wasn't like George Jones. I was just fascinated with this man. And we met in this ballroom. It was like we were both working our way through this crowd and we ended up face to face. He knew who I was; I knew who he was. And we stood there and it was like this school fight about to begin where everybody backs off, and we're just looking at each other. The thing that put us in a conversation was that I was producing artist Doyle Holly who I took out of The Buck Owens Band and he made his first solo album. The concept I had was that I wanted to have a Waylon-esque track underneath, that beat of Waylon, that feel in there. I just said to him,"So, Waylon, who produces your records?" He just kind of looked at me like I was crazy and he said, 'Well, I guess I do'. I told him I was working on this project and I asked him, 'Would you be interested in arranging a couple of the songs on it?' He just gave me the funniest look, and it turned out that no one had asked him to do that before! Nobody had ever given him credit for anything other than just being this crazy cowboy. We ended up doing this record together and it ended up being a hit for Doyle Holly. It was called The Queen of the Silver Dollar. It was just magic for us in the studio together! Waylon taught me about feel and soul and that the lyric was the dominant thing. But what I brought to Waylon was that I wanted to be like Alan Parsons. I liked this really English production, really technical approach, spending time on stuff, and he loved what I brought to the table in terms of technology. Together we came up with something to where we could do the feel thing, and I would spend time on the technology thing and the record started sounding better. He trusted me and he would start leaving me alone with the tape.
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Manning: You're also a musician and you started out with The Town Crier. You graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing. But can you tell us how you started as a performing musician and how that set the background to the remaining part of your career?
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Mansfield: What it did is it gave me a background so that when the time came around for me to actually be in the business, I had a good background because of it. I was in a fraternity in college and that was during The Kingston Trio andThe Limeliters era. I ended up in a folk group and we were singing for beer and pizza. We started playing the small Southern California clubs and some Beverly Hills manager saw us one night and signed us to open for Fred Astaire and opening up for Mitzy Ganor and Steve Allen and Dick Gregory. These were big name for the time. I set up a folk club in San Diego--there was The Troubadorin Los Angeles and The Hungry I in San Francisco. My club, Land of Odenwas in San Diego. In this process, I met somebody from Capitol (Records) who was the head of Artist Relations and I was always out looking for action for my club and he was out scoping the club scene so he could make sure he was up with what was happening with these artists and we just struck up this friendship. When I interviewed for the job with Capitol, not only did I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing, but I also knew the street . I also knew what was happening for bands on the road. I also knew what it was like in the down and dirty club scene. All my life. it's all been about music. So, I had a great musical library in my head, so I could just talk with anybody about any kind of music. This all led up to the big thing at Capitol Records. Within eight months at Capitol, I ended up working with The Beatles. Pretty soon, they asked me to come run their new record company (Apple) in America.
THE INTERVIEW: BEATLES PRODUCER AND AUTHOR KEN MANSFIELD (PART 1)
My Guest on "The Interview", Ken Mansfield
Ken's New Book Just Released
It is my sincere privilege to welcome Ken Mansfield as my special guest on "THE INTERVIEW". Ken is a GrammyAward winning record producer and the former U.S. manager of The Beatles' Apple Record Company. As a top record producer and an executive with several renowned labels (including Capitol Records), Ken has also been associated with Waylon Jennings, James Taylor, Roy Orbison, Glen Campbell, Nick Gilder, David Cassidy, War, Eric Burdon, The Osmonds, Hank Williams, Jr., Tompall and the Glaser Brothers, and John Sebastian of Lovin' Spoonful, Bobby Gentry, The Beach Boys, Deep Six, Byron Berline and Sundance, Andy Williams, The Imperials, Flying Burrito Brothers, David Frizzell, OXO, The Steve Miller Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Band and Jessi Colter--to name but a few musical artists. Moreover, Ken was at the center of the "Outlaw" movement in country music, which he helped popularize. The progressive country music scene of Willie and Waylon took off like a rocket ship in the 1970's. Ken produced Waylon Jennings' top-selling album, Are You Ready for the Country and Jessi Colter's crossover hit song, I'm Not Lisa.Ken's career through the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's grew at a fast clip.
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Armed with a marketing degree from San Diego State University, Mansfield became employed with Capitol Records as one of its youngest executives at age 27. When The Beatles decided to form their own corporation in 1967, they turned to Ken Mansfield to run their record division as U.S. Manager of Apple Records, where he was involved with such legendary projects as The White Album, Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road and Let It Be. It's more than ironic that I previously ran photos and footage of the final live concert The Beatles performed atop the Apple Record Building on January 30, 1969. Ken is the man wearing the white winter coat at that truly once-in-a-lifetime musical event. By the 1980's, Ken's professional success with wealth and materialism collided with tremendous debt, and he succumbed to ruin with only a suitcase and a few boxes of clothing to begin his life over in Nashville, Tennessee. He survived!
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In his newly released book, Between Wyomings: My God and an Ipod on the Open Road, Ken and his wife Connie take to the open road in their van to reconnect with the good, the bad and the tragic periods of his life over 10,000 miles. As a man who started his life over again, Ken weaves a fascinating story against the background of the musical artists and circumstances that were once an integral part of his life in Los Angeles, London and Nashville. The book is a delightful read that flows by as if the reader were along on Ken's journey watching the white lines of the roadway pass by. This is Ken's story written with a rare honesty and humility.
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Today, Ken and his wife Connie reside in the California Sierra Nevada Mountains, far away from stadiums and clubs filled with screaming fans who filled his life for decades. Ken is an ordained minister and a highly sought after public speaker who appears in colleges and churches across the nation. He is the also the author of The Beatles, The Bible and Bodega Bay and The White Book. We caught up with each other last weekend and here's how our visit unfolded.
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Manning:Well Ken, you've certainly had a remarkable career in a rough and tumble business that was filled with accomplishments. Today, you're an ordained minister and on a new journey in your life. Do you miss the music business?
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Mansfield:There's a song that says: "I remember the good". And I do remember that and also in the same fact, I don't really miss it. I don't feel that I should still be doing it. I think that I have a very proper reflection of that (period). Because God's blessed me with kind of forgetting the bad and remember the good. There was a time for me to be over with it and simultaneously, the business decided it was time for it to be over me. We had a great respect for each other after thirty or forty years.
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Manning:Sounds like a very healthy philosophy.
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Mansfield: Oh, it is and I just think that it's a gift from God because I have so many friends who just can't let it go.
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Manning: There were so many things you wrote in the book that I admired. One area was where you discuss hitting bottom in the 1980's. This was after you were unfairly targeted in a false smear campaign by a rival manager, and you paid for it dearly.
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Mansfield: Oh, yeah!
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Manning: How did you make the decisions to emerge from that dark period and to get back on your feet?
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Mansfield: I didn't make that decision. I was incapable of really making good decisions at that point because everything I thought was in terms of the world and how I could get back, get even or get going. It was all me and what I could do. I take no credit. I praise God everyday for the circumstances He put me through, but I'd be brought all the way down to my knees to the very bottom. I know myself. I did know how I'm put together, and God loves me so much that in order for me to get broken, I had to go broke first. I just praise Him everyday for the circumstances I went through. Because if I wouldn't have gone through them, I would just never turn to Him. I would never need Him. You know? Why would I need Him if I was doing so good? So, it was a real blessing. Real blessing.
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Manning:It's impossible not to mention the role of your wife Connie during this time frame. You credit her for saving your life. But from what you write, she was no push over either. She obviously wasn't drawn to you for your past achievements in the music business. When did you know that your relationship was serious when Connie entered your life?
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Mansfield: The first time we went out, she pulled back her hair so I could see her face better. It was over! The last thing in the world I needed was a relationship. It was the last thing I wanted. I was stone broke. I had nothing. I wasn't in a position to be dating, and I had nothing to offer except I was a stoner, I had a guru, my life was messed up, I had a bad reputation. If I had put an ad in the paper, no one in their right mind would have answered it.
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Manning:Wow!
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Mansfield: And here she was at that point in time pressing into The Lord more. She had set aside a whole year just pressing into The Lord. She wanted to draw closer, and she was at the deepest point of her walk. I was absolutely not what she was looking for. We both just fell in love that first night. There was no question that when we met, that God had put us together. Because I had walked into a "Music Row" hangout in Nashville after flying into town a couple of nights before, and I walked into that place for like ten minutes, and she walked in for ten minutes. We had never seen each other, and I was rather aggressive and I did get her phone number. But God had a purpose. We've had this phenomenal marriage now. She's my side-kick in ministry now. She brought me to The Lord. She's just a faithful, faithful servant and no question about how we got together.
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Manning: You've lived in the fast-lane of Los Angeles, Ken. Where do so many people become lost and find their personal lives in serious trouble in the entertainment world today?
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Mansfield:One of the first problems is that we all start believing our own press and our publicity and we start thinking we are these people that we're touting ourselves to be. The reward for success is indulgence and decadence. If you are in this lifestyle, it's very gradual. When I first got into the music business I saw these crazies. All kind of crazies: drugged-out crazies, ego-crazies, there were power-crazy people and I thought. 'I'm just here for the music. I'm never going to become one of those people'. And about ten years later, I just stopped and I said, 'Wait! I am one of those people! That's exactly what I am'. Little by little, I don't care how you're brought up and how good you come into the thing. But you just give up a little piece here and there. 'Well, okay. I'm cool with this. Okay, I'll let this slide'. And all of a sudden one day, you've given away all of the pieces.
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Manning: That sounds like a stark realization. When you and Connie started your road trip in your van, Moses, yo write that you "felt adrift with no real roots", and I wanted to visit a quote you include from Donald Miller's book, Through Painted Deserts.
"We get one story, you and I, one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would e a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?
"It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out. I want to repeat one word for you: Leave"
This is such a powerful passage for a man who seemingly had it all with the intoxicating fame, money and power so many dream about in the music industry. At what point did you decide to write this book?
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Mansfield:Like most of the books I write, in some way I've been writing them for a long time. This book really came out of a book that I was incapable of writing because of my style of writing. I had an idea for a book entitled Stumbling On Open Ground. And that's taken from Jeremiah where you know, 'If you are weary running with men, how are you going to race with the horses? If you stumble on open ground, how will you do in Georges' Jungle?--I'm paraphrasing. I had this idea of stumbling on open ground, and I thought. 'Here I am. I'm a Christian. I've got all the promises, I've got all the assurances, I know everything about how my walk is supposed to go with The Lord. So, why would I have any doubt or any confusion? Why am I still stumbling on open ground?' So, I did start out on a journey where I went from very famous Pastors like Lee Strobel and it was kind of a book I was writing about 'Why Bad Things Happen to Good People?' type of thing. With Lee, I approached the subject and he gave me an answer. My whole idea was to travel from place to place to a Pastor of my youth, to the Pastor that brought me to The Lord, to the Pastor that spoke at my wedding. I was going to tape record all of these different kinds of Pastors, similar to what you and I are doing right now, but I'm not a reporter. I really had a hard time constructing it. I found I could write the travel part of it. But all I could do was repeat. I couldn't put anything of me in the other part. So, I ended up just putting it by the wayside. But it really inspired this idea of movement and gathering and revisiting this book really came out of that. The original title of this book was Idaho, I Don't Know. I Think I'll Take My Banana's and Go--which is a chapter title and I explain that.
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Manning: Sure.
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Mansfield:Maybe Moses was my next title. Between Wyomings--I had nothing to do with that, My publisher suggested that after reading the book. It has great meaning in it and it is a metaphorical journey and I mention in the book . The trip in the book is not an actual physical trip in total. It's a trip made up of a lot of little trips and what I did is that I glued them altogether using the van as my vehicle. I've traveled all those roads and experienced all those things and all those things happened. But they didn't happen all one at a time like it said in the book. What I did is I recreated the road trip of my life and put together as one single trip. And that was the idea that gave me the freedom to really kind of branch out a little bit more, so I wasn't totally restricted by the concept of the road trip where I was able to kind of put it together as I wanted to. I wanted to let it unfold in a linear way, and Moses (the van) was more or less my foil in this thing.
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Manning: Early in the book, you were reflecting on thirty years in the music business and two quotes stood out to me that would be of great interest to my readers. On the one hand you said, "As the old saying goes, if you remember the sixties, there's a real good chance you weren't there". And then afterward you write: "I must admit that I write like a Christian on acid. But to be honest, the whole entertainment industry is built on induced fantasy and even less certainty". It sounds to me like Ken Mansfield then and now?
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Mansfield:Well, you know, we are now from what we were made up from then. When I say that I 'write like a Christian on acid', and I promise you, I'm just so in love with The Lord--that's just everything to me. But when I start writing, I sometimes just start tripping out. The whole thing about getting high back when I used to get high is really about finding what we're like when we're not getting high on drugs, we're getting high on the beauty of the life that God gives us and His love and His mercy and His grace. So, when I start writing about that, it's almost like my mind goes into this other area and I really get out there sometimes. I really have to pull it back before it goes into print. I'm able to write about things as a Christian. But I'm also able to kind of let my life expand and pull in all the kind of nice things around it--almost like I'm sitting here with The Bible in one hand and getting a little high and writing.
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Manning:Ken, I have wide variety of wonderful bloggers and readers worldwide. Some are Christians, others are agnostic and some are athiests. I'd like to read a quote from your book about a tremendously honest statement you make about your faith. "To be brutally honest, there are times when I actually don't like being a Christian. It's that peculiar place That I find myself when I am really up against a stone wall that blocks me from my walk. It should be no surprise that there is a direct relationship to the fact that this is usually what happens when I am setting my own rocky course". It's a very human conflict you're describing, isn't it?
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Mansfield: We live in that conflict! It's made very clear in The Bible that we have our human nature and our Godly nature and these two are always warring with each other. And so when I say something like that, the thing that's always the hardest about being a Christian is that you don't have as many choices. Before, I could go out and I could get high or I could do anything that I wanted. Now, there's a very limited way that I can really respond to a situation and they all have to be as God tells me. So, what He's doing is this. He's made me independent. But that independence sometimes feels very restricted. I don't get to do everything my way anymore--which is absolutely the Good News. There's an old story that I thought about putting into the book, because I love the Indian people. I grew up around them and their beauty. There was an old Indian guy that got saved, and after a while he said he wanted to talk to the Pastor. And the Pastor said 'What's the problem?' The Indian said, 'Since I've been saved I feel like there's these two dogs fighting inside of me all of the time. And like, one's the dog that wants me to do the sinful things and the other is the dog that wants me to do the right thing--the Godly things. And these two dogs are driving me crazy'. The Pastor said, 'Which one is winning?' The Indian thought for a minute and said, 'The one I feed the most'. That's the dilemma that we have is the dog that is winning is the one we feed the most. There is that conflict we have inside.
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Wednesday:We journey back to Ken's career in the music industry. We'lltalk about Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and yes...The Beatles all straight ahead. As always, thank you for joining us!
This is just an educated guess. But judging from the photo above, here I am at roughly the same age as little Trevor Tredaway of Midland, Texas.
As you can see, I'm still a kid today (just older) here with Trevor. We were giggling up a storm when Melinda, Trevor's mother took this photo last August. Sitting on the floor with our shoes and socks off (Trevor insisted, since he enjoys going barefoot) he sat on my lap and promptly handed me a joy stick for us to operate his large toy train. He got such a kick out of my improvised sound effects of the train chugging its way up a hill. Trevor would turn around and giggle at me, then as the train approached the top of a hill, I'd hold him tight and we'd scream as if we were on a roller coaster! I'm telling you. This is a FUN little boy! I can't wait to see him. Melinda says he has grown so much and of course I am so heartened by his tenaciousness. That night was remarkable.
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Todd and Melinda were present with Trevor's sister, Morgan and their grandparents. When the evening drew to a close, I wondered where the time went? It flew by! That, my friends is the power of a child who loves you as a friend unconditionally. As I hugged everyone goodbye all the way around, it was time for me to leave their hotel room. I knew the Tredaway's had an 11-hour car trip back home to Texas. As I began making my way up a few steps outside, Trevor ran to the doorway and looked up at me. Four times he repeated my first name. No one had ever done that in my entire life! I knew by the sound of his voice that he was putting a question mark behind my name, and I could sense some fear and uncertainty. Have you ever been loved like that by anyone? I remember that I immediately walked back down those steps and knelt down to hold this little boy by the shoulders. I made a promise to Trevor that he would see me again and that I would be taking a Southwest Airlines plane to visit him soon. In the months that followed, Trevor's seizures (before his remarkable surgery last November) were volatile, and it just wasn't appropriate for me to try and force a trip when he was dealing with so much. That situation has improved tremendously! Since his surgery, Trevor has not had any seizures. None.
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Of course there is always a personal connection to events like the one I just described. So, I'll close with a true story.
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At ages 7 and 8 I was hospitalized in the Intensive Care unit of a hospital. A serious bicycle accident and a burst appendix one-year apart. I nearly lost my life on both occasions. So, I know what it is like to face a life threatening situation. That I am alive and writing to each of you in this moment is not lost on me--even if that sounds dramatic. What is clear to me today is that my experience has given me an empathy for Trevor on his journey. And you don't have to be rich or famous to make a difference.
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I am by my own admission, "the guy next door". I am NOT a celebrity and I certainly do not have clout of any kind. But I have an objectivity "from the outside looking in". If you were in my shoes and could see the tremendous difference between where Trevor was one year ago and where he is today, you would be surprised beyond belief! Trevor still has a long road ahead of him. As a child, I see him taking steps one day at a time bolstered by the same love that I had back when I was a young boy in the hospital. For example, I had wonderful parents; so does Trevor! I had wonderful grandparents; so does Trevor! I had the prayers of friends and neighbors who really loved me dearly. So does Trevor! In fact, I know from the e-mails I have been fielding this past week from residents of Midland, Texas who read Kathleen Thurber's article on Trevor in The Midland Reporter Telegram on July 27th that many are praying for him. One of those residents is renowned Gospel singer Sue Roseberry who wrote this to me: "I'll be glad to continue to funnel ideas or be someone on the ground in Midland to try and help with this". After speaking with Sue and and looking over her website, I was in awe of her offer to share her time and considerable talent to help us get this project organized and executed.
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In the days ahead, your collective thoughts and prayers are needed: first and foremost for Trevor to continue his journey to a life that is cancer-free. For his mother and dad, his sister and grandparents to be filled with the confidence knowing that we are behind them every step of the way. And lastly, if you wouldn't mind: a prayer for our event. We could really use a blessing right now in our efforts to "catch a break", and for all the components of this worthwhile concert to come together in Texas. What could be better than a night of many different musicians coming together to make really great music and rally the community with support for Trevor? Fed Ex Office & Print Centers is on board to provide posters, and The Midland Reporter Telegram will continue to cover our progress. I am collecting the names of people and organizations to explore all options! This event is entirely supportable when all good people come together and make a good idea into a really great idea! That is the direction we are heading. Thanks for letting me share this with you! Michael
Upon further reflection, I thought it might be fun to mention that my Guest coming up on "THE INTERVIEW" was close friends with this gentleman, the legendary Waylon Jennings. He also had quite a bit to do with this song.
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On a musical note, Elvis Presley and Waylon Jennings were probably the most influential male singers in my life. The first songs I ever heard from Waylon were "The Days of Sand and Shovels" and his rendition of "MacArthur Park". A friend of mine who was a gifted drummer attended a concert by Waylon Jennings. I heard about it for weeks on end. He told me that everywhere he looked, the "WAYLON" logo was emblazoned on tractor trailers, on shirts, and as is plainly seen in this short video, definitely on stage. There was never any question who you were seeing at this concert even without the bold, electric sign. His powerful baritone vocals carried a sincerity that I believe many fans recognized and related to.
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This has been a very busy week. Has your week been hectic? I ask that because I saw a full Moon while driving along the freeway last night. See you soon! Michael
Yes, it's good to be back after some additional maintenance issues. Hope you summer continues to be fun. It was 111 degrees yesterday! Nevertheless, we have music and some wonderful things ahead here and elsewhere. Ciao for now, Michael
The Beatles on the roof of the old Apple Building 3 Saville Row in London's financial district. Filming underway for "Let It Be". -
Good Morning! Music is a central core of the project for Trevor Tredaway that you have been reading about here on my Blog site. While I have no intention of diverting attention away from our fund raising project, "A Concert for Trevor" (see my previous posts) I will be bringing you an exciting new Guest on my BLOG Page feature, "THE INTERVIEW". No, I cannot divulge the name of my Guest at this time. But I can share with you a quote from my Guest, relative to the photos you see above.
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"On that day, January 30, 1969, four idealistic long-time friends had no idea they were saying good-bye to a monumental era in music history, as well as the end of a bond and friendship that would never have the same boyhood street passion that had anointed their music for so many years.
"That cold January day had always been the biggest day in my life. As I look around I discover--it is just a roof. I look away from the roof and there is forever".
Basically, I'm a Public Relations Consultant with a background in Broadcast News. I've worked as a Reporter and Anchor with PBS, ABC, CBS & NBC affiliates and in Cable Television. I'm active in Radio & Television Commercials, Guest Speaking engagements and I enjoy writing, music and sports.
The Lovely & Talented Lindsay Wagner as Television's "The Bionic Woman"
