Helio Castroneves Wins

Helio Castroneves was not the best dancer, although he and his partner won Dancing with the Starz. But America voted. Probably a lot of female voters. After all, he is a good looking Latin (Brazilian), rich race car driver living in Miami. He really is a fun loving guy though, that you can't help but like.

When he won his first Indy 500, I interviewed him at Tavern On The Green in Central Park,NYC at a press party. He said he knew people were having a problem pronouncing his name in his introductory speech. Sooo, latter when I had a chance to interview him one on one, I introduced him to the camera as Julio Inglesias. He laughed so hard...... The interview went great because he saw I wasn't gonna be like the rest of the dumb ass NY press, who really know nothing about racing to begin with ! Think I'll rerun that interview if I can find the tape........

Cool Pictures from The Past

Thulcandra at Max's Kansas City

Here's a quick addition to the Ramones / Linda Stein Blog....

Here is a flyer from when we played Max's Kansas City in NYC.

A Ramones / Linda Stein Memory

Yesterday my administrator Sineddie, who has been taking care of my new internet ventures along with helping video the show this summer and has been a musical cohort for awhile now, asked if I had any interesting Ramone's stories to blog.(He knew I did, but just wanted me to put one out there).

Then last night Linda Stein was murdered in NYC.She was a co-manager of The Ramones at one time. Now I'm not saying Ed had anything to do with the murder, but the timing was a little scary here, ya think?! On friggin' Halloween too. And if you've seen or heard the reports, this was an inside job. And it probably has something to do with her past/present associations with her real-estate and music friends. We'll see in the next few days how this pans out.

In the 70's I was sitting at a table with her and her husband at Max's Kansas City in NYC. I can't remember if it was a showcase or contract signing party
that we were there for. The "we" was my future better half who worked for the record company Jem Records at the time here in NJ. After the Ramones played they turned to her and asked what she thought. She said they were gonna make allot of money for them ! Personally, I liked the opening act better. It was a young Blondie. I think they had something to do with them eventually too.
So, what did I know?! The band I was in at the time (Thulcandra) was playing progressive rock. Some pretty heavy stuff too. Yeah, by the time the records started getting airplay I understood where they were coming from and became a fan too. And we ended playing at Max's too eventually. Max's, for those who may not know, was across the street from Andy Warhol's studio. He and Truman Capote, and that crowd used to hang out there!...More next time....DC