1. Hunter Thompson Flies the Coupe

    Posted in: Videos on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

    Hunter Thompson Profile

    I spent a week with Hunter S. Thompson one day in 1988.  If that sounds impossible, let’s just say when Hunter was wired and inspired keeping up with him for 24 hours left you feeling as if you’d lost a week somewhere but you couldn’t remember where.  I was interviewing him for a story on the Today Show as part of my “Flying the Coupe” series.  I started thinking about that day when I saw the trailer for the new Johnny Depp movie, “The Rum Diary” which is based on Thompson’s novel.

    Getting him to agree to the interview was made easier by the fact he had a new book, a collection of his columns, coming out.  But I had been warned that getting him to actually sit down and do the interview would be the challenge.  I believed I had a secret weapon, an irrestible lure, to insure his cooperation, my 1963 red Cadillac Coupe de Ville convertible.  I was right, Hunter was up for riding in the car and talking about life, writing, politics, and excess.  A slight correction, actually he had no interest in riding in the car, he insisted on driving.

    As you will see in this video I gave him the keys and then I got in the passenger seat, which may have been riskier than when I climbed through the Khumbu icefall on Everest.  Hunter, as was his habit, had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol before we started driving and he brought along a couple of loaded weapons to increase the entertainment factor.

    Someday I’ll write the full story of everything that happened that day and night, but for now just enjoy the part of the encounter we deemed suitable for morning television in 1988.

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  2. Flying the Coupe to Psychic Town

    Posted in: Videos on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

    Flying the Coupe to Psychic Town

    In the 80′s the Today Show let me drive my ’63 red Cadillac Coupe De Ville around the country for a series of stories called, “Flying the Coupe”.  A different kind of interview occurs when your interviewee is riding around in the front seat of a classic caddy convertible.  When the top’s down, people seemed to also let their guard down, giving me a glimpse of the real person.  The people featured in the Coupe series ran the gamet from the most serious to the most outrageous, from Georgia Senator Sam Nunn to gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson.

    In the very first, “Flying the Coupe,” story I drove around to visit a variety of psychics, crystal ball gazers, palm readers, and fortune tellers to ask for their insights into the political issues of the day.  The concept was inspired by the revelation that Nancy Reagan had been getting astrological advice on what would be the best dates for Pres. Reagan to hold important meetings.

    This is the video of that first story.

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  3. Belinda Carlisle in the Red Cadillac

    Posted in: Videos on Sunday, February 20th, 2011

    watch?v=aCpFXUw2yE0

    A confession.  I’m an “American Idol” junkie.  I know it’s embarrassing for a guy my age.  I even swore off the show at the end of last year saying no more.  But out of curiosity to see what the new judges would be like I checked out an early show this year.  Steven Tyler, who knows something about addiction, has got me hooked on the show again.  He’s honest, funny, compassionate, and entertaining,  just a real person connecting with viewers and contestants.

    But that still doesn’t explain my long running obsession with American Idol.  Unlike most of those who try out for the show, I know I can’t sing. And yet I’m convinced I know who can sing, what songs they should be singing, and I think I know when they go off key.  So I do my own judging each week from my couch, much to the annoyance of my family.

    I lay claim to some expertise in this area because I used to cover the music industry as journalist.  For about five years during the time I was a correspondent for the Today Show record companies sent me copies of every new album they released.  I went to countless concerts in small clubs and big arenas, went on tour with some groups, went to recording sessions, and for a while did a segment on the show called “On the Record”.

    Of course that doesn’t make me a music expert, but it does give me a good baseline for comparison.  And like most journalists who have a little bit of exposure to those on the inside it gives me the confidence to spout off with a air of authority.  What really got me thinking about my past connections to the music business was a talk I gave this week to media and broadcasting students at Drexel University in Philly.  While talking about the twists & turns my career has taken, the music stories came up and I was remembering how much fun I had on some of those interviews.   Later I also also did a few music stories while working for USA Today on TV.

    This Belinda Carlisle story was one of my USA Today interviews from 1989.  She didn’t quite know what to expect when I asked her to do the interview in my Cadillac convertible sitting in the parking lot, but she smiled and went along with it.

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