I'm Not Making This Up

 

In 1990 my good friend Meghan gave me the book "Dave Barry Talks Back" by the Pulitzer Prize winning author and humorist for the Miami Herald. I still laugh about Barry's text describing a dead beached whale and small town law enforcement's botched attempts to remove it with dynamite.

Some of my favorite Barry columns ran nationally during the 1994 Winter Olympics of Lillehammer (my personal favorite referenced "Mr. Suave" offering a bronze medal winner some lutefisk), and during my Olympic days working at Edelman I spoke with Barry's sports reporter wife to invite her to client events.

So it was great fun to attend the Valentine's Day breakfast and book signing event hosted by the Atlanta Press Club, at which Barry shared selected details from his new book "Insane City." He said the book takes place in Miami, the city he moved to from the United States, the city with the tag line "Come back ... we weren't shooting at you!"

I found it interesting Barry's son is now a Wall Street Journal reporter and recent newlywed whose nuptials may have factored for the new book. Barry said his mother's "tell it like it is" attitude also influenced his upbringing (Example: On a bad day mom might respond to "how's your day going?" with a straightforward reply "just shitty"). Less surprising, Barry's other literary influences varied from writers in The New Yorker to MAD magazine.

During the audience Q&A session I asked Barry two questions:

1. Since another best-selling author (Tom Wolfe) recently wrote about Miami in detail, was there any collaboration or a meeting of the minds?

Answer: No. (This surprised me since Wolfe typically networks with prominent residents while researching local color for his novels.)

2. Given the many Olympic travels Barry experienced, is there a particular Olympic memory that stands out?

Answer: Getting hit by a taxi in Athens!

Barry said during the Athens 2004 Olympics, while dining at a sidewalk cafe with his wife and another sports reporter, his chair was toppled by a Greek taxi driver who was inclined to drive on said sidewalk (a memory affirmed by his Oct. 2004 column). Ouch! He also relayed a preference for the summer versus winter competitions.

I added "Insane City" to my reading list, just a title or two after Wolfe's latest, "Back To Blood." And I'll be looking for Barry in Rio's taxi stands and sidewalk cafes in 2016.

Photo by Nicholas Wolaver; book covers via Amazon.com

 

 

He Ted, Not Jane

On the eve of travel to work at IAAPA Attractions Expo 2008 in Orlando (er, actually it was just a couple of hours before the flight to Florida from Atlanta, on Nov. 14), the Atlanta Press Club hosted another great lunchtime event at downtown's Commerce Club just a few blocks from my desk at Edelman.

The guest of honor was one of my favorite fellow-Atlantans: The one and only Mr. Ted Turner. "The Mouth of the South" has a new book titled "Call Me Ted" which I've found to be an interesting read that filled in the blanks on several excerpts from another Turner biography of the mid-1990s titled "Citizen Turner" (sidebar: I picked up a copy of this book from a dumpster at Columbia University's School of Journalism, which was undergoing asbestos abatement while I was house sitting in Manhattan during October 1996, on post-Atlanta Games holiday -- by contrast, I paid the cover price for "Call Me Ted" and it is worth every penny).

Turner was on site with several members of his family (no sign of his former spouse, Jane Fonda, who was filmed for this blog just the week before Ted's press club engagement -- thanks again, G-CAPP, which wants you to know that three out of 10 girls in the U.S. become pregnant at least once before age 20 - see their other "fast facts" to learn more). There were also many current or former CNN employees in the audience, and Ted spent most of his time at the podium answering questions from the standing room crowd.

As shown on the video for this post, I posed an Olympic question to Mr. Turner that was only half-answered by "Citizen Turner" and escaped mention in "Call Me Ted." Paraphrasing here:

Mr. Turner, your book mentions milestones of your sailing career, but not your attempts to make the U.S. Olympic Sailing teams of the early 1960s (as noted in "Citizen Turner") -- can you please talk about any level of regret or recollections on the Olympic trials?

Turner's answer was very good (see video) and not entirely surprising, and he also kept on message about his book talking about his last days at AOL/Time Warner. Thank you, Mr. Turner, for answering my question.

Among many other memorable remarks of the event (reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in "PeachBuzz" the day after the lunch event) was the notion that Mr. Turner is looking for new friends (an audience member suggested he create a new reality TV show to recruit a few). I also loved Turner's answers to audience questions about CNN Headline News ("I can't watch it anymore"), President Bush and General Motors. Former CNN Chairman Tom Johnson's introductory remarks were outstanding as well.

One other remark that stuck with me was that Turner commented about litter and downtown, with sort of a "Give A Hoot: Don't Pollute!" Woodsy Owl tone. He explained that while walking through urban Atlanta he often takes time to pick up litter, and my impression was that he encourages his current team to do the same.

Since we are neighbors and he made a good point, since Nov. 14 I've taken a moment to pick up cans, discarded newsprint or other waste while walking to lunch at CNN Center or on MARTA, and it would be cool to see others do the same (that was, after all, an action that led me to that copy of "Citizen Turner" while exploring Columbia University back in the day).

I'd love to hear other reader feedback about "Call Me Ted" and hope folks will post their impressions of the text as a comment. Happy reading!

History Repeats Itself

Got a heads up today that the Atlanta History Center has a recent new arrival to its Olympic collection from the 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta: A torch from the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay. Anyone visiting, or residing in, the U.S. South before or during Beijing's go would likely enjoy the museum's collection from Atlanta's glory days. Good stuff!

What About Bob?

One thing (among many) to love about the Atlanta Press Club is that if you attend one of their events at which a "national correspondent of _______" will attend, chances are very good you'll get to shake hands with that V.I.P.

Last's night's annual APC awards dinner afforded many in attendance some time to quiz Bob Edwards about his experiences at National Public Radio and his current gig with XM Satellite Radio.

When asked about his favorite Olympic interview memory, Edwards was quick to point out there were many Olympian interviews conducted over the years, but none he could recall taking place before or during a Games. Rather, "Usually only years later and after they had their memoirs out or something [similar]," said Edwards.

Though he did not mention a specific Olympic interview, there are several archived NPR interviews conducted by Edwards online, including one interview regarding the state of the Iraq Olympic team.

When asked about Beijing, Edwards said, "It will certainly be different [that other] Games," and that XM would not be sending staff members to China.

Edwards' prepared remarks at the sold out APC event included other Q&A about his tenure and departure from NPR, the state of journalism (and the march towards citizen journalism) and the extent to which XM Satellite Radio is similar to not-for-profit radio (he joked that with XM breaking even for many consecutive years, it's not exactly 'for profit' either).