A Wolaver Weekend, Vanderbilt Style

During summer 2009, this blog's first and only thread to tie the Vanderbilt family to the Olympics got posted in the form of a special offer for the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

Though I found no other direct Olympic connections to the Vanderbilts, this weekend afforded me a nice return visit to Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., for the wedding celebration of Annie Moses Band member Alex Wolaver, my second cousin. The family held the reception at the Lioncrest, which was great fun.

Following the morning ceremony and early afternoon reception, my cousin Karen Wolaver and I spent a chilly yet fun couple of hours driving the Biltmore Estate grounds, walking around the Biltmore House, and snapping photos of the "Being There" movie set including the gardens, forests and Inn on Biltmore Estate in the distance. To share our photos with the family and friends, posting some of the "greatest hits" with this blog. Enjoy!

I hope the Biltmore P.R. team will consider a donation to the Atlanta Press Club silent auction coming up in December. The Biltmore generously donated in recent years.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver and Karen Wolaver

Rock & Roll Ruhmeshalle Ruminations

Ruhmeshalle -- the world's original hall of fame circa 1853 -- was not at all on my radar during 2009, 2018 and twice in 2022 travels to Munich. 

According to online sources, the structure near the city's center endured terrible damage during WWII, with a multi-year restoration completed in time for the 1972 Olympics. 

At a glance I love the busts of individuals immortalized for their achievements and contributions to society and the world. There's also proximity to the Oktoberfest grounds to explore. 

Learning this history only since returning from Germany in September, Ruhmeshalle now tops the personal "must-see" list for the next Bavarian visit.

A more contemporary hall of renown was often on my mind this summer as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland announced its 2022 induction class. 

One glance at the honorees list (see below) instantaneously elevated ticketing research from "interested" to "must attend" status. 

Quite simply, they had me at Eurythmics. 

The journey to confirm a seat at the Nov. 5 ceremony proved surprisingly simple, easily achieved from the home office:

1. Buy a Rock & Roll HOF membership (bargain-priced at $50)
2. Await induction event deets and member online presale (encircled on calendar with red Sharpie)
3. Endure nail-biting on sale hour eventually picking up a single balcony ticket ($250+ fees), a preamble of sorts to what Taylor Swift ticket seekers apparently endured earlier this week
4. Book travel to LA noting the local destination: Microsoft Theater at LA Live

Here's a peek at walking into the venue about 15 minutes before showtime:

The in-person experience -- over 5.5 hours of music and speeches -- proved to be well worth the effort and expense, which also included a bargain-priced Hotels.com reservation at the downtown Biltmore and pre-show/poolside Tuscan feast at Sparrow. 

It shall be interesting to learn what show elements make the cut when HBO premieres the edited event broadcast Nov. 19. 

Will it be a two or three hour showcase? We shall see. 

No matter, now 13 days since the big night, I am still processing many aspects of the experience. 

Inductees, my personal fandom notes, and live ceremony highlights to watch for on HBO include:

• Eurythmics, whose album "Touch" was my very first music purchase for a penny, thanks to a fellow fifth grader answering a music club newspaper ad. The Edge from U2 introduced the duo with a rousing and aptly activism-charged speech before Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart brought down the house with "Would I Lie to You?" then "Missionary Man" and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)." Finally experiencing the band live was indeed sweet. 

• Duran Duran, another British pop group that captivated me as much in the 1990s as their earlier hits "A View to a Kill" and "Rio," appealed greatly. Hearing their "Save A Prayer" during a Torino 2006 Olympic workday in Italy rekindled interest and they've been a favorite since. Their induction by Robert Downey Jr. and performance of "Girls on Film" (which had an audio false start) with "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Ordinary World" built upon high energy experienced while attending their recent tour stop at Madison Square Garden. They punctuated their acceptance speech reading an open letter from absent bandmate Andy Taylor, who disclosed four years of treatment for prostate cancer. 

• Dolly Parton, whom I had seen perform live at two client events and one concert, lightened the evening as she had at previous events. When provided the opportunity to ask her Olympic interests in 2009, for instance, she smiled and admitted to none while cheerfully telling me, "It was sweet of you to ask!" I found it heartwarming that Brandy Carlile and P!nk performed "Coat of Many Colors" while Parton changed outfits to debut a new song and close out the evening with most of the other inductees. 

• 
  Lionel Richie, who performed in Atlanta at a client venue in the early 2000s where my boss opted to work that evening, so I missed the meet and greet and ever since have truly wanted to ask him about performing "All Night Long" at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic closing ceremony, which was referenced a time or two in his HOF induction video. On Nov. 5, he performed this hit as well as "Hello" and "Easy" which left me wondering why a duet rendition of "Endlesslove" with one of the female inductees went unsung. 

• Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam, who was building a massive Lake Minnetonka mansion west of the Twin Cities when I visited a Minnesota friend in 1991. I walked through the construction site including a tour bus garage (on Google Maps it's on Hardscrabble Circle in Mound, Minn.). Loved LOVED that Janet Jackson welcomed these collaborators into the HOF with one of the best speeches of the evening. 

• Carly Simon, another James Bond soundtrack singer ("Nobody Does It Better"), unfortunately did not attend nor perform following the recent loss of two sisters. However, reliable crowd-pleaser Olivia Rodrigo sang "You're So Vain" in her absence. 

• 
  Eminem, a.k.a. The Real Slim Shady, a.k.a. another huge performer yet to be experienced live, rocked one of the longest sets including new-to-my-ears "Rap God" followed by "Stan" with Ed Sheeran subbing for Dido then a commanding performance of "Forever" with Dr. Dre, his mentor-turned-HOF inductor. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Mathers described an overdose that nearly killed him, later listing with appreciation dozens if not hundreds of acts who inspired him. 

• Pat Benatar and her husband Neil Giraldo, yet another iconic act from my earliest radio days, performing "Love is a Battlefield" bookended with "All Fired Up" and "Heartbreaker"

• Harry Belafonte, now 95, still another musical legend and longtime favorite, did not appear but was heralded for early achievements in the history of rock'n'roll. I also learned a bit of history from the producer and lawyer inductees in this year's class. 

Perhaps the biggest overall surprise for me was how much I enjoyed the presentations and performance by Judas Priest, a band with which there was little past connection. 

Alice Cooper emerging for the speech, combined with the digital flames engulfing the stage during "Breaking the Law" got me fist pumping and dancing.  

Would I attend another induction? Maybe, depending on the right mix of musicians and the extent to which they resonate personally. Would I return to Cleveland to see the new 2022 inductee display? Absolutely! And anyone in or heading to Ohio may also enjoy the lakeside experience beneath the I.M. Pei pyramid. 

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver except Lionel Richie 1984 photo via Associated Press and Eminem photo via Getty Images for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which also is the credit for the Judas Priest/Alice Cooper and Janet Jackson images.

So Money, Baby!

Though their website does not seem to have it archived, NPR aired a "Morning Edition" report this week during which they reported news from BOCOG (Beijing's Olympic organizing committee) -- in spite of their carmine-hued national flag and gargantuan spending/budgets, China's Games emerged in the black with a whopping $176 million profit.

According to the Associated Press, some of this profit is to be attributed to hefty sales of souvenirs, coins and stamps.

Stamps?

Reading that stamps helped clear BOCOG of decades of debt made me chuckle as it was like searching for a needle in a haystack to find a post office, let alone collectible philatelic items, in Beijing!

During my month-long Games assignment last year, we encountered only two post offices -- both temporary counters set up for international visitors -- with one each at the Beijing International Media Center (BIMC ... short for "you couldn't get IOC accreditation consolation destination") and one in the massive Main Press Center/International Broadcast Center (MPC/IBC). They did have some interesting postal collectibles. But not enough stamps were moving to explain even a small percentage of Beijing's reported Games profit (thinking there was one person in line mailing a post card -- everyone else was e-mailing home, methinks).

Speaking of their profits, Beijing's results are right up there with another most profitable Olympic enterprise: The Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad at Los Angeles. Almost 25 years ago the City of Angels welcomed the world with tremendous success, to the tune of a $235 million profit, according to the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games (SCCOG).

Their site details how this tremendous financial windfall created a vast Olympic legacy enjoyed over the last 25 years (and for the foreseeable future).

In just a few weeks, SCCOG and the L.A. Sports Council are throwing a party to celebrate "LA84-XXV" -- the 25th anniversary of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

It hardly seems possible it's been a quarter of a century since the grand Opening Ceremonies, and this celebration on the floor of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. David Wolper (the man who brought dozens of grand pianos out of nowhere into the stadium -- the single moment that got me hooked on the Games) is the producer of the evening's festivities to commence July 18. They even got the Millennium Biltmore Hotel to roll back prices to $84 per night for the weekend!

My hope is that timing will permit travel to the LA84-XXV gathering, and will certainly blog about it more. Anyone else going? If so, drop me a line and we'll get toast the Games inside the 1932 and 1984 Olympic palace.

We'll also have to do the same at the Bird's Nest in 2033 -- marking calendar now to dust off Olympic stamp collection then, too.

Credit: Bird's Nest photo via Olympics.org; LA Memorial Coliseum photo via SCCOG; Monopoly card via Parker Brothers and Bankrate.com