Life 2.0

The first AFL–NFL World Championship football game was played on January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The National Football League champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American Football League champion Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 35–10, winning their tenth championship and becoming the first NFL team to win double-digit championships. It wouldn...

In 1967, singer Danny Hutton invited Chuck Negron to join him and Cory Wells to form the band Three Dog Night. The group became one of the most successful bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s, selling approximately 60 million records and earning Gold records for singles that featured Negron as lead vocalist, including "Joy to the World", "One", "Mama Told Me Not to Come", "Old Fashioned Love So...

He's one of a handful of men who played in Super Bowls I & II, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018, and is the author of five best-selling books, including Run to Win, written with Bob Fox in 2023. Jerry Kramer turned 90 yesterday (and shares a birthday with my son, Andy). This Saturday Rewind was an easy choice, with another look back at the glory days of pro football, whe...

I had to wait a few days to mourn the Bears' loss to the Rams and gather my thoughts (not really), but once again, I am reminded that football (really all sports) is tribal warfare and is based on the woulda, coulda, shoulda game plan. That means that if we woulda changed a play, or coulda caused a turnover, or shoulda kicked a field goal, somehow we'd reach the promised land. I've got about 20 ye...

During his lifetime, Pete Huttlinger became widely known as one of the most awe-inspiring acoustic guitar players in the world. His unique arrangements and spell-binding musicality and precision entertained audiences from Nashville to Los Angeles to Milan. He toured with such major acts as LeAnn Rimes and John Oates of Hall & Oates and became John Denver's lead guitar player in 1994.  Born wit...

I had thought about taking the easy route today, as Da Bears are hosting the Packers tonight in the first playoff round and chatting up that decades-old rivalry. But then, the events of the past week wouldn't leave me alone, and I literally sat for an hour before turning on the mic this morning, arguing with myself if I had anything at all worth sharing as it pertained to making sense of the sense...

Here we are once again, at the beginning of a brand new calendar year. I've got a few thoughts on where we've been, why we are here, and where we are going in the next 365 sunrises. In addition, a good friend of mine sent me a sorta "Rules of the Road" message to start the new year, mostly as it pertains to those of us who are past the half-century mark, and I found it worth sharing. And just like...

As we celebrate New Year's Eve, I am reminded that today would have been John Denver's 82nd birthday. I've produced and hosted numerous tribute shows in his memory over the years, and every time I think it's no longer important to do so, I remember John's own words,  "Though the singer is silent, there still is the truth of the songs..." In a world of turmoil, his music and message continue to rin...

I've been a bona fide "Ted Head" since the age of 10 or so, when I read a story about TR as a boy, growing up in New York, and securing the skull of a dead harbor seal as the most impressive artifact for the Roosevelt Natural History Museum (which consisted of a drawerful of animal bones in his bedroom). A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine gifted me a copy of "In The Arena" by David S. Brown,...

This Saturday Morning Rewind is from Christmas 2022. It all started back in 1980 when I volunteered to be the Santa at the NAS Glenview Air Base during my first year of enlistment. Then, the CO of CGAS Chicago asked me to do it for the Coast Guard Christmas party. Then, a few of the guys on the crew asked me to do it for their kids. The word spread, and eventually, I donned the red suit and beard,...

This past week, I caught up with country music icon John Berry, who is on his 29th annual Christmas tour. While we were having a great breakfast that included JB, his wife Robin, manager Brian Smith, and a couple of the band guys, I couldn't help but think that there are few, if any, recording artists who have overcome as much as he has. At the age of 21, while riding his motorcycle, Berry was hit...

This past May, Chicago Cubs legend Randy Hundley and I went to hit a few balls at Top Golf, and a chance encounter with Patti Guzak has become one of the greatest "You're not gonna believe what happened next" moments you'll ever hear. As it turned out, Patti had a book concept on her computer for 16 years, and I am happy and proud to announce that "The Not-So-Exciting Adventures of Tuxedo Man" is...

As I prepare to head out shortly to a book launch for a new author that I am working with, I came across some great audio from Thanksgiving in 2004, and my conversation with the creator of "The Waltons," the late, great Earl Hamner. There's just something about the Virginia lilt in his voice, his down-home way, and simplistic way of seeing the world, that I needed to be reminded of this morning. ...

Back in 2021, I was approached by Michele Phillips to support her in creating a book based on her concept that you can actually energize your happiness by learning how to direct your PEA (Personal Energy Alignment) and change your life for the better. I agreed to take on the book; little did I know it would be the longest project I've ever worked on with an author. Four years later, this incredibl...

I have begun the process of culling the cassette herd of hundreds of tapes from my radio shows over the decades, which I have in storage, looking for the ones that might contain some valuable conversations.  Everything else is going into the Techno-Trash can. At the very top of the "keepers list" is my last on-air conversation with the late, great Capt. Jerry Coffee (USN Ret.), who was one of the...

Welcome to another edition of The Wednesday Rant! As I was about to fire up the Life 2.0 microphone, a power rodding company took up residence about 100 yards south of my studio, in an effort to unclog the sewer system, and that took me back to my days in the Sewer Dept. It also got me thinking about the two "miracle" strainers I have to send back to QVC, the guy that came in a couple weeks ago to...

What happens when genuine transformation meets unchecked power? Before Tony Robbins filled stadiums, before The Secret became a global phenomenon, before transformation became a multi-billion-dollar industry, there was Erhard Seminars Training (est). And behind est was a young woman who would help build one of the most influential personal development organizations in history—while struggling to f...

The first person that comes to mind every November 1st is the late, great Walter Payton, who passed away on this date in 1999. I had the good fortune of working with "Sweetness" for a few years, and as it turns out, today is also Day of the Dead for millions of people who take this day to remember those they have lost over the years. With tomorrow being All Souls Day, it seemed appropriate to shar...

For most of the year, my dad was a mild-mannered banker, avid bowler, and frustrated architect. But, in October, he transformed himself into "The Count" and used his design skills to build out one of the most popular haunted houses in Chicago for over twenty years. A steady cast of werewolves, Frankenstein's monster, creepy cavemen, and assorted ghouls and goblins waited in the darkness to scare t...

Throwback Thursday. Had occasion yesterday to drive east on Washington St. into the city and found myself in somewhat familiar place as I hit the stop sign on Aberdeen, one block west of Carpenter Street. To my left, what was once Harpo Studios (now McDonald's Corporate Headquarters), and on the south side of the street, is where the studios of Oprah Radio were located, which now appear to be cond...

We live in a time when we are virtually closer than ever before, but also further apart from one another. Too much information (TMI) leads to Turbulent Mind Syndrome (TMS) as we cannot possibly assimilate all the headlines begging our attention, that serve one purpose-to kick off our fight or flight response, and drench our central nervous system with stuff we can't do anything about-except rachet...

My journey as a book coach/ghostwriter/publisher has brought me down some interesting paths. Each project brings with it a certain sense of fate, as if the person I'm working with and I have a date with destiny. Of the dozen or more books I've helped bring into the world, that sense of the unseen hand guiding me to someone was never more apparent than when I met Trudy Gronning in 2015. She'd grown...

It's one thing to take a lunch break, quite another to drop everything I'm doing to watch "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" for the 438th time. But that's exactly what happened today. But what I didn't know was that apparently, the Gill-Man (as well as all the other favorite movie monsters) is really a metaphor for something else in life. The same goes for the Wizard of Oz, which I will never l...

I haven't played high school football since Gerald Ford was president, but that really doesn't matter-because today is game day! For the past eleven seasons, a huge huddle of Schurz Bulldogs has gathered once a year to not only have a major all-school reunion called "The Bulldog Bash", but also raise some serious coin for kids who have no idea who we are, or why we support them as we do. We're pay...

28 years ago today, October 12th, 1997, John Denver's experimental aircraft plunged into the waters of Monterey Bay, and he died at the age of 53. Ever since that day, I've continued to honor the man and his music, and his support of my work, long before I could see it myself. I wasn't planning on doing this podcast, but then early this morning, I remembered that I wouldn't even be behind a microp...