A few years ago, we went on vacation to Hawaii, and made the obligatory visit to Pearl Harbor. I wasn’t sure what we’d see or how I’d react, but I got more than I bargained for. As part of the tour of the USS Arizona Memorial, we joined a hundred other tourists in the park’s […]
The White House gate crashers story is just another symptom of an All-American disease — the desire to be on television. The Salahis were desperate to get on a reality show, much like Richard Heene (Balloon Boy’s father) and his family. They craved attention and wanted to be famous, even if it meant being infamous. […]
Twenty-nine years after I first saw Bruce Springsteen in concert, I took my daughter to see him for the first time last night. We had a great time, singing along with all the songs she knows, impressed by how tight the E Street Band still sounds, wondering how Max Weinberg doesn’t drop dead of exhaustion […]
On this day in 1969, the Beatles issued a press release informing the world that Paul McCartney was not dead. Seven years later, Paul released a single called “Let ‘Em In,” proving that, while his body was still alive, his ability to write good songs wasn’t. At the time, it was hard to believe that […]
I’m not surprised that the Balloon Boy story now looks like it was a hoax. Despite Sheriff Jim Alderdon’s statements two days ago (including my conversation with him on WLS/Chicago), I still had my doubts. That disbelief was driven by the Heene family’s eager willingness to make so many TV appearances — all the network […]
Whatever happened to the paperless society we were promised? I’ve signed up for e-statements and online billing from virtually every institution we deal with, and still the printed material keeps coming. I just spent two hours filing away all sorts of paperwork that accumulated over the last few months. Receipts, statements, EOB insurance forms, tax […]