TAPED A TV SHOW

I taped a TV show yesterday. Jenna interviewed me for her TV show. Good Morning Florida Keys with Jenna Stauffer. I am not sure when it will air.

The show was taped at a lovely private home in the Casa Marine area. Assisting Jenna with the filming, etc. were Iris, Leo Martinez, and Austin Svedjan.

Iris is the Boston University student who interned with Jenna this past summer. She is working on her Masters which she expects to receive early next year.

Leo and Austin are seniors at Key West High School. Impressive young men. They have been getting work time with Jenna. Both enthusiastic media people. Tomorrow’s giants in the industry. Both headed off to name colleges to study various aspects of television and radio.

They functioned as professionals. I was impressed. They obviously had a background in TV. I asked where, how?

Turns out the Key West High School has a TV Production department. Key West teens are exposed to television and radio as part of the curriculum.

There is a significance to the program. It is ranked 4th in the nation. Yes, Key West has an apparently excellent media program which worthy of national recognition. Leo and Austin spoke proudly of the program.

Key Westers should be aware of the program. It is a shining star!

My evening began at the Chart Room. Initially, it was me and Emily. Then Che showed. Che and I went at it for more than an hour. He is argumentative and intelligent. Extremely well read. A good person to have a give and take with.

Che asked that I convey a message to Marty. He says he was born in Philadelphia. However spent most of his life in New York. Even though he lost a $100 bet to Marty at one time as to the location of a New York City hotel.

I was on my way home. It was around 7. Stopped at Don’s Place. Ended up going to dinner with John. John mentioned he wanted a steak. I said let’s go to Michael’s. He agreed.

I do not know why I do not go to Michael’s more often. It is a fine restaurant. The ambiance special. A great outside bar to sit at and have dinner. The food outstanding.

Suzette working the bar as usual. Suzette is reason enough to become more of a regular at Michael’s. A charming person.

Syracuse football at noon. It is like sitting in a war zone and knowing that shortly the bombs will fall. Syracuse plays Florida State. #1 in the nation. The spread is three touchdowns. The actual score could be more.

There is always hope. I can remember sometime in the 1980’s, Syracuse was playing #1 Nebraska. That Syracuse team was not as good as the current one which respectfully is bad. Syracuse beat #1 Nebraska!

I will be watching the game at John Lukas’ Big Ten sports Pub.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DON’T SLEEP ON THE JOB

Do not fall asleep when you are supposed to be working! It happened to me last night.

I had an early dinner at Lisa’s. She had me home by 6:30. My blog talk radio show was scheduled for 9. I had time to kill.

Normally, I get ready mechanically at 8:30 for the show. Then at 8:45 connect in with Blog Talk Radio. By 8:50, I am ready. I have 10 minutes to kill till show time. I spend those 10 minutes reviewing my notes for the show.

A few seconds before 9, a female voice comes on. For my ears only at that point. YOUR SHOW BEGINS IN FIVE SECONDS……5 4 3 2 1. There is a brief pause and then the voice returns. This time everyone can hear. WELCOME TO BLOG TALK RADIO!

Back to Lisa dropping me off at 6:30.

I decided to watch some TV. I had two hours to kill. I laid on my bed and inadvertently fell asleep. When I woke, the room was dark. I thought I had enjoyed a deep long night’s sleep. Then it hit me! I slept through the show! I hit the light. It was 8:59. One minute to show time!

The race was on.

I rushed like hell in that minute to show time.  Down the stairs. Completed the 8:30 and 8:45 preliminaries. As I connected with blog talk radio, I heard…..YOUR SHOW BEGINS IN FIVE SECONDS.

God was with me.

I enjoyed an early dinner with Lisa. My car is at the repair shop. Joe’s Auto Repair on US 1. He took care of my Mercedes when I brought it to Key West 4 years ago. I had dropped the Volkswagen off in the morning. He called later and explained the problem. Needed parts from Miami. The car would not be ready till thursday. Which means I am stuck at home till then.

No problem from my perspective. I will hang home for a couple of days and hopefully get my book writing caught up. I am behind.

Yesterday morning, I still had the car. I stopped at Lori’s for a hair cut. She leaves tomorrow for three weeks on Long Island and in Maine. Then I delivered the Volkswagen to Joe’s. He provides good service. Had one of his men drive me home. The car will be delivered to my house on thursday.

I completed writing next week’s KONK Life column. JOHN PAUL JONES Part 1. I had to break it into two parts. There was much to write. Part 1 involves the good he did. Part 2 will follow one week later. Part 2 will center on his shortcomings, most of which are generally unknown, yet nevertheless interesting.

Ain’t no frightful weather in Key West! Another dramatic morning. Another quiet and still morning. Peace abounds. Beauty everywhere.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

EARTHQUAKE AGAIN

I was surprised when I walked into the Chart Room last night and Emily asked me about the earthquake. What earthquake? Turns out there was another one about 8 miles off the coast of Cuba wednesday night at 10:20. About  seven miles below the water’s surface. I who read the newspapers all the time had failed to read yesterday’s Key West Citizen. I was unaware.

The earthquake was a 5.1 on the Rector scale. Apparently no damage anywhere. I did not feel it in Key West. Nor did Emily and others at the Chart Room last night.

I have a concern. Earthquakes in this area are uncommon. Now there have been two off the coast of Cuba in a month. Do these two earthquakes portend something? Is there a big one in the making? Should we be concerned about a tsunami?

Don’t laugh! So far the weather media has not discussed this aspect. I am not overly concerned. Such thoughts occur to me, however.

Conch Republic Admiral Frankie was part of our bar discussion last night. Besides the earthquake, the discussion involved the Olympics and skiing. Turns out Emily was/is a skier and a pretty proficient one at that. I thought she was born and raised in Key West. Not so. She was born in Indiana, spent time in Virginia and elsewhere. She developed her skiing prowess in those places.

Before heading to the Chart Room, I stopped at Christine’s opening night of her art exhibit. Christine Cordone has risen to a new level. She now has people in her paintings. I was impressed. Her water colors warm the heart and brighten a room!

Ralph Kiner died yesterday. A baseball great! Played many years with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Then spent even more years as the Mets broadcaster. He is a Hall of Famer.

My recollection goes back to the mid to late 1940s. Baseball was everything. My buddies and I used to spend some summer afternoons sitting around on the floor in someone’s living room listening to major league baseball games. One of our heroes was Ralph Kiner.

Listening is the operative word in the previous paragraph. There was no television back then. It was radio!

Enjoy your day!

DAYS 24 and 25

I am glad I wore clean underwear.

Wait till you read this story!

First, I could not write yesterday. Sorry. Traveling, etc. No time. Ergo, I have combined this blog to cover two days.

I am in Amorgos. Mykonos behind me. I am glad to have left Mykonos. Overall, it was not one of my favorite places.

Short of returning home, Amorgos was the only place I could get to and get out of when I wanted to. To get to Amorgos, I had to go by boat. A big speedboat. Four hundred passengers.

Because of the strong winds, there had been no boats out of Mykonos for three days. The whole world was waiting to get out.

I arrived at the boat dock one hour before departure as required. Sun boiling hot. Wind still brutal.I found a shady spot next to a building which also broke the wnd.

Time came for the boat. Still no boat. However, all four hundred of us were required to form a line up to the dock. We stood there in the hot sun for another hour.

Finally, the boat arrived. We had to wait for the 400 on to get off before we 400 waiting could get on. Another half hour. In the sun.

There were a group of Asians surrounding me. Father, mother and three college age daughters. Behind me about a half dozen teenagers on break. The two groups were not traveling together..

The line started moving. I had my ticket in one hand and was pulling my suitcase with the other. At some point, we were out onto the actual dock. The wind was beating us up. Extremely strong. Little neadles of sand blowing into us.

I was wearing a sport shirt, shorts and sandals. And a pair of jockey shorts. The sport shirt was being worn ouside my shorts.

All of a sudden, a large gust of wind hit us. The wind swooped my shirt upwards. The shirt was in my armpits and above my head. I immediately dropped the suitcase, held tight to my ticket, and raised my arms up to bring my shirt down. As my arms went up, my shorts went down. To my ankles. There I was. Standing with my arms over my head, my shirt in my armpits and my shorts down around my ankles.

Louis in all his bvd glory.

I was glad I had listened to my mother who told me to always wear clean underwear.

Everything was rapid, but seemed to be happening in slow motion.

The Asian family in front of me starred wide eyed. The father looked grim. I could not see the Asian girls to my rear.

I pulled my shorts up, shirt down. Did not even break a smile. Proceeded on as if nothing had happened.

My next story from yesterday is about a know it all who got hustled. I was the know it all.

The boats had not traveled for 3 days. The wind too strong. I drove the ticket lady crazy every two hours the third day. The winds were supposed to die down a bit and it was anticipated the boats would be able to travel the next day.

It was 9 at night. I am dealing with a hard assed middle aged Greek woman who could care less about the plight I was in. I had to get out of Myknonos.

There was only one boat scheduled for the next day. Amorgos would be the fourth stop. These boats operate like trains and buses.

She could get me a ticket/seat to the first stop. However, there was no room at the inn thereafter. Genius me said why don’t I try to influence her. I took out a ten euro bill. I slipped it towards her on the counter and said…..look again, you might have overlooked something.

Her eyes brightened as she saw the ten euro bill. As she grabbed for it, she exlaimed…..oh, yes I do have one more seat. There was one problem. I would have to change seats at the first stop. No problem!

There was a problem. It became apparent when I went to change seats at the first stop. The new seat was in section P and had a number 401. There was no section P nor seat numbered 401.

I smiled. She had hustled me!

No way was I going to get off the boat. I had a ticket, even though it was a bogus one. I went to the back of the boat and sat on the floor. There were a dozen others who must have been hustled also. We were all sitting on the floor for the rest of the trip. No one bothered us.

My third story involves Demetrius and dinner last night.

When I got off the boat in Amorgos, I was tired. The boat ride had been rocky. There was an outside cafe immediately where the boat dropped passengers off. I went and sat down. I was the only customer. It was around 7 in the evening.

I asked of a drink. Introduced myself. His name was Demetrius. He gave me a drink and some cheese and olives.

I felt sorry for Demetrius. No customers, except for me. I
said I would return for dinner.

Demetrius was a typical looking 60ish Greek Man. White haired, paunchy.

I returned two hours later for dinner. The place was packed!

When I finished my meal, I knew why. Fantastic tasting food!

It was my mother’s cooking.

I had two spectacular dishes.

The first was a mixture of zucchini, tomatoes and potatoes all cooked in a red oily sauce. Actually buried in the sauce.

The first mouthful told the story. It took me back 60 years. The same dish my mother used to make.

I cleaned up the sauce with bread. Not a drop was left on the plate.

The next dish was fried eggplant. I have not had fried eggplant since my mother passed away some 25 years ago.

Hers and Demetrius’, to die for!

My mother used to make parmaggian. I probably spelled the word wrong. On occasion, I can be a poor Italian. The first thing she had to do was fry the sliced eggplant. I always loved the fried product. My mother used to holler at me for eating it that way. It was to be part of the larger dish she was preparing.

Last night I experienced that taste again.

I found a place to stay. Elini’s. I am in a first floor apartment. Across the street is the beach and ocean. My apartment is not a cave as in Santorini, but it is quaint little white cottage. I am sitting on the terrace in front writing this blog.

Enjoy your day!