121685953 - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I've lived an interesting life so far. Over the years, I've worked with countless celebrities, sports figures, and heads of state. I've filmed commercials from helicopters over downtown Chicago, and from Lear jets over Lake Michigan and above New Orleans. I've worked on feature films such as "Blade Runner"(see pics), worked for CBS News with Walter Cronkite, videotaped Golda Meir, produced McDonald's commercials with Michael Jordan and Rice Krispies commercials with Jerry Lewis. I've been to Miles Davis' home in New York City, interviewed many Jazz greats such as Nina Simone and Bill Evans; been backstage at Loggins and Messina's final concert in Hawaii, been in recording studios in Hollywood with Stevie Wonder, Jackson Browne, James Taylor and many more. I've traveled throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico on a classic 1972 Norton Commando motorcycle. I'm a boxing official and have worked professional fights on HBO, Showtime, ESPN2 and Telefutura. In 2008 I judged over 300 amateur bouts as well. I raised my 23 year old son by myself since the time he was 8. He's now a successful DJ in Chicago, and is also an audio engineer and musician. I enjoy film, boxing, jazz, blues, art, science, science fiction, all kinds of food, theater, good TV, many kinds of music, and travel. Even now, I look for new things to experience. I've been married and divorced twice. The significant women in my life were actresses, artists or scholars. They were smart and beautiful and I admired and loved each of them. I've made good decisions and bad - and tried to learn from them both. I live quietly in Chicago and count myself lucky to be alive.

My Interests

I'd like to meet:

I'm drawn to people who live for the arts. As a producer, I am surrounded by people with artistic skills -actors, writers, art directors, musicians, designers, special effects people, editors, costumers, makeup artists- the list goes on. I love creativity in all its' forms. I want to meet people- of all ages-who feel the same way. And of course I also want to meet anyone who loves boxing.

My Blog

Nanci, My First Wife, And Her Encounters with Salvador Dali

Nanci was a force of nature. She had thick chestnut brown hair, green eyes and was nearly 5' 10" tall. She exuded confidence and style. When we were together, people's attention was always focused o...
Posted by on Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:11:00 GMT

Aerial CInematography 2 - Flying Through the Chicago Loop.

In the late fall of 1986, I produced a commercial for Commonwealth Edison, Chicago's electric utility company. The spot was called "Windmill" and the idea behind it was that you couldn't get electrici...
Posted by on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:04:00 GMT

Aerial Cinematography- On the Job Fun.

From 1981-1985 I was a producer at Campbell-Mithun Advertising in Chicago. One of their accounts was the now defunct Midway Airlines. We were asked to produce the first set of television commercials ...
Posted by on Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:07:00 GMT

Dealing With Celebrities, Part 2 -Tom Skerritt

As I explained in an earlier blog, I managed to get Tom Skerritt to be the spokesperson for the University of Kansas Medical Center. The original contract was for three years, and I know they filmed a...
Posted by on Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:53:00 GMT

The Hotel Mondrian, 1980s - Part 2

The Hotel Mondrian is located on the south side of Sunset Blvd. a couple of blocks east of La Cienega Blvd. in West Hollywood. It is 12 stories tall, not very interesting to look at from the outside, ...
Posted by on Sun, 13 Jul 2008 08:37:00 GMT

Dealing With Celebrities, Part 1 -Jerry Lewis

Over the years, part of my job has been to work with celebrities. I strongly suspect that the attraction some people have had for me on MySpace is due to that fact. They are interested in knowing abou...
Posted by on Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:33:00 GMT

Leo Burnett and the Hotel Mondrian, West Hollywood - 1980s

For five years in the late 1980's and early 1990's, I worked at Leo Burnett. It is the largest advertising agency in the Midwest, and at the time, I think the biggest privately held agency in the worl...
Posted by on Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:59:00 GMT

BLADE RUNNER Part 3. Flying Glass and Flying Cars.

Two more nights on the New York Street set of Warner Brothers Burbank Studios come to mind. As usual, each time, my call was at sunset for the all-night shoot. On one night, the Camera Department, und...
Posted by on Sat, 17 May 2008 15:19:00 GMT

Crystal Sound Studios, Hollywood - In the 1970s.

In the early 1970's, not long after I moved to Los Angeles from New York, I met a very talented and highly motivated young man by the name of Andrew Berliner.Andrew's dad was a pioneer in orthodontics...
Posted by on Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:49:00 GMT

Special Effects: An Inside View.

For those of you who are interested in a bit of an inside view of the impact of special effects on film making, I have just posted two new videos. They are two views of another of the Kansas Universit...
Posted by on Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:56:00 GMT