Ben Soldinger - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Music has always been an inspiration for me in becoming a better person and continues to help motivate me in being a great athlete. A sound body will breed a sound mind & vice a versa. In college, I had a lifetime opportunity to wrestle on the University of Wisconsin-Madison team where I got to train with Olympic athletes. A lot of the discipline, good nature, and intensity I learned in sports has been applied to my everyday life. I have a pretty good business background. I am a partner in a Chicago based / internationally renowned accounting firm that was founded by one of my All-Time heroes, my Dad. We are full service specializing in M&A and public company audit and tax. Interestingly enough, my family also runs a famous Napa Valley, California-based winery conglomerate. For four years, I stepped in as the CFO in order to float the Company on the London AIM stock exchange. I became a Board Director of the company.I am also proud to be a Director of the Mt. Sinai Hospital Group- my accounting background entitles me to help management guide the business flow- Mt. Sinai is the MOST charitable hospital in the United States. All this type of work has me travel cross-continent quite a bit. Through my work and friends, I've been fortunate to see a lot of the country and experience overseas travel. I will often take pit-stops in Las Vegas and/or LA on my business trips between Chicago and Napa Valley.For fun and experience, I like to attend and play sports, see live music, and support restaurants. When in Chicago, I will regularly go to the local rock/rythm/and blues clubs, Chicago Bulls, White Sox, and Cub games - likewise, in Cali, I will support my music, go see Raiders, Niners, Giants, and A's games. I would love to go to a new park or venue any day. Of all the sports I know, golf is the one I practice the most these days - I love to brag that I am a 2X Longest Drive Champ in the Mike Ditka Celebrity Golf Tournament. At night, I will eat well, drink well, make new friends/get more aquainted with old ones, and hopefully see a live show. In late 2006, NBC selected me to blog about nightlife. Check out what I have to say on their website - it's fun. www.nbc5.com/streetteam/index.html Rock On!.. Home | Browse | Search | Invite | Film | Mail | Blog | Favorites | Forum | Groups | Events | Videos | Music | Comedy | Classifieds

My Interests

Food and wine- Work outs- great conversation- Music venues- Traveling- reading-

I'd like to meet:

I like to meet people with direction in life. By direction, I mean a path that is chosen to travel along - not just what he or she does for a living, but what kind of person he or she is and wants to eventually become. I would like to meet kind-hearted people that have a soul of substance.

Music:

KISS - (era w/out makeup- which I prefer), KISS - (era with make up), good Chicago blues - particularly Vance 'Guitar' Kelly, Winger, Tesla, Def Leppard, THE BEATLES, Aerosmith, Whitesnake, David Coverdale solo material, Type O, BLS, Alice Cooper, Cheep Trick, DLR era Van Halen, Motown music, Yes, Zebra, Velvet Revolver, Slash's Snakepit, Queensryche, Kip Winger solo material, The Highway Robbers, Motley Crue, Lynch Mob, Lynch/Pilson, Dokken, Ozzy, Clapton, any incarnation of Pink Floyd, Budgie, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Down, The Black Crowes, Ion Vein(great live Chicago band), Megadeth, Tommy Lee solo material, Uriah Heep, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Preminition, Black Sabbath, Extreme, MANOWAR - Hail!, Chris Long Band (local Chicago classic rock Guitar Hero), Journey, Soul Sirkus, Poison, Warrant, Rebel Meets Rebel, The Who, and of course, Spinal Tap

Movies:

Anything as long as it's good. Documentaries done well are awesome - 'Mondovino', and 'Roger and Me' are phenomenal. Comedies like 'Slap Shot', 'Fletch', 'Blues Bro's', 'Cable Guy', 'Groundhog Day', 'Grandma's Boy'are the types of comedy I like. Fantasy like 'Conan', 'Hearts and Armour', 'Lord of the Rings'- are nice to watch to get out of this world. A good horror flick like 'Prince of Darkness', or 'Nightmare on Elm Street', (anybody see) 'Frightners', stick with you - jeeps! Drama like 'A Few Good Men', 'Fisher King', ' Jerry MaGuire', and even 'Batman Begins' are timeless. A good Western, Bruce Lee, sports, or music movie are perfect for a Sunday morning. I am a regular attendee of the Cannes Film Festival...

Television:

The tube will have The Bears, The Bulls, and Chicago Baseball on. I TiVo '24','Smallville', 'Boston Legal, and both the Gene Simmons' 'Rock School' and 'Family Jewels' programs. In between these shows the TV will be on Fox News Channel and ESPN.- My all-time favorites are: Original 'Star Trek' only - all other versions do not compare, 'Cheers', 'Seinfeld', 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', 'Larry Sanders Show'.

Books:

I absolutely have a passion to read. My favorite is an exciting fiction novel with great character development...'Captains and Kings' by Taylor Caldwell, 'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo, 'Exodus' by Leon Uris, 'The Fountainhead' by Ayn Rand, 'The Dirt' by Motley Cure, 'The Jordan Rules' by Sam Smith, 'Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing' by Linda Blume...

Heroes:

My Mom, Walter Payton, Michael Jordan, Ceasar, My Dad, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Mitch Cosentino, and myself

My Blog

Business sense

What is it? As a Certified Public Accountant, it is required for me to have 120 hours of continuing professional education (CPE) every three years to keep my Accounting license certified. The m...
Posted by Ben Soldinger on Sat, 03 Mar 2007 07:46:00 PST

CHICAGO - Home of the Blues....

For a very long time, Chicago has been internationally renowned as the 'Home of the Blues'. Do you know, some people will say The Blues was born in Chicago! There is no doubt or dispute that The...
Posted by Ben Soldinger on Sun, 18 Mar 2007 11:44:00 PST

The Ultimate Blind Date From Hell!

My brother insisted that his girlfriend, who modeled in Playboy, set me up with her girlfriend (we'll call her Rose) who is so beautiful and perfect for me. I'm usually not interested in th...
Posted by Ben Soldinger on Sat, 02 Dec 2006 12:08:00 PST

Austria 2006

I share a special bond whenever I discover that there are other friends of mine that have visited the magnificent city of Vienna, Austria. The landscape and architecture are of an 'old world', c...
Posted by Ben Soldinger on Wed, 08 Nov 2006 07:13:00 PST

Saturday 9:24pm

I've had quite a few moments in my life that will never be forgotten. One of the most incredible experiences came around full circle almost 15 years later. It started off with my sophomore...
Posted by Ben Soldinger on Sat, 30 Sep 2006 12:58:00 PST

Cannes Film Festival 2006-Part I

Not only is the Cannes Film Festival the most glamourous, sophisticated, feel good festival of any industry year in and year out, it has that certain '*magical*' feeling that is in the 'air'. Ev...
Posted by Ben Soldinger on Wed, 05 Jul 2006 11:34:00 PST

Something that happend to me that only happens in movies

Sometimes you have something that happens to you that defies logic, that beats impossible odds, something that tells you that there is something more powerful in the universe out there. What I am abo...
Posted by Ben Soldinger on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST

Montego Bay, Jamaica

I just returned from a wonderful country. Whatever you've heard about the people there, the truth is Jamaicans are very spiritual people with a peaceful message to spread. Bob Marley is mo...
Posted by Ben Soldinger on Sat, 07 Jan 2006 12:12:00 PST

Sydney, Australia - Nov '05

Sydney, Australia is the kind of town that understands hospitality. When staying at a hotel, going to a restaurant, visiting the shops, and even hanging late nite at a club, you will find courte...
Posted by Ben Soldinger on Tue, 06 Dec 2005 09:38:00 PST

I saved the Cannes Film Festival

My first experience at the Cannes Film Festival was in 2003. It was the morning of the first day of the Festival. I was walking down the Coisette along the Meaditeranean Sea to an area to ...
Posted by Ben Soldinger on Sun, 28 Aug 2005 08:55:00 PST