It was so exciting to choose my first classes as a freshman at Dartmouth College, September of 1978. When I saw that Erich Segal was teaching a class I just had to take it. He was but a few years removed from writing the #1 bestselling book and movie of 1971, “Love Story.” Plus, he …
One of the best parts of making my documentary, Beatles Stories, occurred after the interviews. None was better than after I interviewed the singer/songwriter Art Garfunkel. Of course, it was tremendously exciting to get the interview––I mean, Art Garfunkel was truly a big part of the fabric of the culture of the 1960s as a …
I grew up with the greatest pop music as the background to my childhood––so many hit songs with such lifelong memorable melodies. It was wall-to-wall great tunes throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s. One of the bands making those mega-hits was Three Dog Night, with their three lead vocalists. “I’ve never been to Spain,” “One is …
As a staff songwriter in the mid-1980s with Warner Chappell Music Company, I received a “Who’s Looking?” list every week––which consisted of many famous recording artists searching for new songs to record. I was in my mid-20s at the time, so when I saw the names of artists who I could try to write for, …
I loved to put together baseballs that had a theme. As an example, before I sold my collection, I had a baseball with men that played the game whose names had a color in them. Thus, the “color” ball was signed by Dick GREEN, Vida BLUE, Joe BLACK, RED Schoendienst and others…you get the picture. …
Dear Sir Paul, I thought you might enjoy a story of what it was when a very longtime fan of yours had the opportunity to meet you, unexpectedly. When I saw you running on the treadmill at my gym, it didn’t register for a good long moment that it was you in the flesh. I couldn’t help but walk over––not to get an autograph or a picture–– but to see if the treadmill next to you was taken. It wasn’t!
Corky Laing, me and Felix Cavaliere. NYC, 1987. I was sitting on my bed, 8 years old (1968) when Felix Cavaliere’s distinctive voice blared from my radio “people everywhere just got to be free”. I remember very distinctly having the thought: “I will never be able to write a song as good as that. I …
The day after 9/11/2001, Russian President Vladmir Putin issued a statement condemning the attacks in an attempt to calm fears that perhaps Russia had been involved in them. The next day, I wrote him a letter saying how much I––and, I suggested, many American citizens––appreciated his gesture during those scary first hours after the attack. …
