One diver I'd met at Compass Point compared diving the reefs of Grand Cayman to "being dumped into an aquarium," and I could see why. There was life surging all around us: fish of vivid blues and purples, an eel, and a sea turtle--a sight that Jeremy missed only because he was focused on a lobster. Among the creatures of the sea, we become different creatures ourselves. We experienced the joy of moving weightlessly in silence. It's simply the most peaceful recreation there is. Click photo for full article.  


                  
My Dive Into Adventure

                 PR Legends
Lizzie Grubman, Julian Myers 
             & Michael Levine

Michael Levine is an example of how far a self-educated businessman can go. He’s a frequent guest commentator on the Today Show, Nightline, CNN, MSNBC and others, and he authored the enormously successful public relations guide, Guerilla PR – yet he says the odds of him being successful were a million to one. His message? “The game is not easy or fair, but it’s winnable.” Read more on Michael -- and publicists Lizzie Grubman and Julian Myers -- at www.celebstaff.com.   

     Book Review 
     
                        
As a writer of serious music
He could dream for a while in the stars
And step down from the heights of Grand Opera
To a chorus of 32 bars
-Irving Berlin on George Gershwin

As one of America’s finest musical exports, George Gershwin has had many previous biographers, but with 15,000 items now archived at the Library of Congress, there is room for one more. Much has come to light since the first attempt in 1929, and Howard Pollack draws upon a wealth of recordings, manuscripts and publications – some of which revise history – to offer the most deeply informed study yet. Born in Brooklyn to Russian Jews in 1898, Gershwin spent most of his adolescence living on the Lower East Side and in Harlem. He recorded piano rolls and plugged songs for Remick Music before he first tasted fame at the age of 21, when he wrote an international hit for Al Jolson called “Swanee.” That same year he wrote his first Broadway show, La-La-Lucille!, marking the beginning of a prolific and varied career that would only end with his death in 1937 from a brain tumor.        The man who said he wanted “to represent the life and spirit of this country” was uniquely molded by it, and his biographer traces how the influence of both serious and lighter music from home and abroad equipped him reflect our lives back to us in such a compelling way. Whether writing concert pieces or musical comedies, Gershwin’s compositions reflect an appreciation that spanned from Italian opera to Irving Berlin. In fact, it was his “extraordinary ability to absorb a wide spectrum of seemingly incongruous styles and materials” that distinguished him from contemporaries like Cole Porter and Richard Rodgers. Still, he encouraged his peers’ efforts and was enthusiastic about their contributions. He held what amounted to musical salons at his home, where fellow songwriters could critique each other’s work (as a radio host in 1934, he told his audience to imagine, “you had simply dropped in at my house or I at yours, to run over a few tunes….”).
     One of the most satisfying aspects of this book is its exploration of this kind of camaraderie with the likes of Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and Harold Arlen. Music history lovers will especially appreciate Part II of the book, which is devoted to the reception of his work, show synopses and production notes – from to his earliest composition at age 14 to blockbusters like Funny Face and Porgy and Bess. We also learn that, despite the composer’s downplaying of his formal learning, he was in fact a meticulous student of music, studying classical scores and striving throughout his career to improve his technical skills.      While working within the confines of American theater, Gershwin raised the genre to a higher level while keeping it accessible to the average listener. In his private life, he was an energetic athlete, a serious art collector and an artist himself, focusing on portraiture that endeavored to capture the complexity of his subjects. Pollack, too, has painted a perceptive portrait, illustrating the development of a talent that still makes our hearts soar to “Summertime” and our feet tap to “'S’ Wonderful.” - VF

George Gershwin: His Life and Work
by Howard Pollack
909 pages/51 b&w photographs January 2007, University of California Press.

This article originally appeared in Jet Settin' magazine.

     
                                                                
Every week, grateful viewers tune in from around the world to watch Jo Frost tame toddlers and empower parents. The structure, if not the execution, is simple. Frost demonstrates how to transform behavior that’s, well, childish; then mom and dad try the techniques. The results have everyone from David Letterman to Newsweek deeming it must-see TV. Ricochet is now expanding on that credibility by launching a related series, and Nick Gilhool, the production company’s casting director, says they’re casting a wide net for their newest host. 

Read the full Supernanny article at www.celebstaff.com.

                       

   
  Of Fish and Flesh
         The Bumpy Road to   
   Vegetarianism...and back

Although I grew up in the mountains, where a lake was the centerpiece of our valley, I didn’t go fishing until I was 20 years old. Many Big Bear locals eschewed such pastimes; when you have to walk through a hundred-yard stretch of forest to get to school, camping is almost redundant. These activities, we thought, were for tourists. Each year, tens of thousands of city folk drove up our hill in new plaid shirts and suede hiking boots from Land’s End to tackle a list of outdoor activities as if they were earning Scouts’ certificates: Build campfire—check! Cook meal over open flame—check!

I didn’t even know how to start a fire, much less toast a s’more over it. At home, I took the chill off by stretching out in front of our wall furnace and ate canned ravioli. So it wasn’t until I was living in North Hollywood years later that I experienced my first camping trip—and my first fishing expedition.

On the day of the journey, I set out with my companions, a married couple I worked with, at 5 a.m. to make the three-hour drive to Kern River. Tom and Tina were dressed in overalls and rubber boots; they let me sleep with my head against the window. It was still early morning when we arrived at our campsite, secluded within a grove of trees. Tom jumped out of the truck to take in the scenery.

“Ahhhhh,” he said, taking a deep breath.“This is what I’m talking about.” Tina stood, hands on her hips, and looked around with satisfaction, as if she were home at last.

After setting up the tent and sleeping bags, we headed out with our fishing gear toward Taylor Creek. We hiked for 30 minutes along an overgrown trail—Tom and Tina sighing deeply with satisfaction all the way—listening to the 40-foot waterfalls in the distance.

At last the low hum of the water became a roar, and our noses told us we were riverside. Tom walked to the edge of the water. “This,” he said, making an expansive gesture, “is our fishing hole.”

Downstream and around a bend in the current, the water plunged mightily into the south fork of the river. Here, the water pooled with just enough flow to keep it from stagnating, running clear enough to make visible the 10-inch catfish and bluegill swimming lazily at the bottom of the bed.

Tina got straight to work putting hooks on lines, handing me a fishing rod with a smile.

“Now you can pick out your worm,” she said, opening the tackle box with a flourish.

I looked inside and asked doubtfully, “You hook ’em when they’re still alive?”

Tina snuck a look at Tom and answered, “Yeah, you do.”

I chose a worm, immediately dropping it with a shudder when it wiggled between my fingers. Tom snickered.

“Shut up, Tom. Try again, Van.”

I picked the little wriggler up again and touched it to the tip of the hook. It recoiled slightly. “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” I chanted to it, as I slipped the hook through one side and out the other. The worm was still wiggling. I winced and looked up in time to catch Tom and Tina turning their backs, shoulders shaking with amusement.

Tom showed me how to cast the line, and then we each chose a boulder on the shore to sit on. I was the first to get a bite.

“Look,” Tina yelled, pointing at my taut line. She had a broad grin on her face, and I knew she felt we were participating in a Wholesome All-American Moment.

“Pull up!” Tom shouted. I did, and was horrified to see that the resistance on my pole was coming from the roof of an animal’s mouth. My friends stood on either side of me, coaching me like I was in childbirth, only in reverse.

“Pull!”

“Give it some slack!”

“Reel it in!”

“It’s going to be a beaut’!”

Between groans of “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” I wound the line closer to me, gave a final heave, and the fish landed in the dirt at my feet. We all crowded around.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

What we did was put it in a basket, and then we piled more on top as they were caught.

The rest of the day’s bounty was Tom and Tina’s doing; I was through with fishing.

Something they don’t tell you as you’re headed happily for the water is that while you’re catching new fish, your first catches are dying a slow death, suffocating second by second to a soundtrack of your whoops of excitement in the background. I couldn’t imagine a worse way to die.

Being served flesh foods in tidy three-inch ovals all my life had somehow disconnected me from the idea that those tasty servings of protein had once been... living creatures. As we headed back down the trail to feast on our catches, I couldn’t take my eyes off those little tails still waving limply back and forth.

Back at camp, when it came time to prepare lunch, I was torn. I was reluctant to inflict more harm, yet I had already killed a fish. Then I remembered a scene from Dances with Wolves showing that what had broken the Native Americans’ hearts was not that white men had killed buffalo, but that they had slaughtered them for sport. I remembered their faces as they took in the wasted bodies strewn across the prairie, carcasses never even mined for food or fur. I pulled the first fish out of the basket, scaled it and gave it to Tina to fry.

I wouldn't eat meat again for eight years.

Vanessa Finney is the news writer for KBHR 93.3FM in Big Bear Lake, where she still avoids fishing.

                   Kurt Elling         
                                  Interview
       with a Grammy winner  

Music moves us all, but for some listeners, it evokes poetry, prayer or even an epic story. This is the art of vocalese: Setting lyrics to previously recorded instrumentals -- invented by Eddie Jefferson, mastered by Jon Hendricks and given new depth by Kurt Elling. Click photo for full article.

     Book Review
             

     Gypsy at Sea

Neva Sullaway intended to be the first woman to sail alone around the world, but a more unpredictable path awaited her.
   Before establishing herself as a photojournalist and champion sailboarder, she spent her 24th year sailing the South Pacific at the mercy of the elements, wild animals and the people that call the ocean their home. A survivor of abuse in both the Catholic Church and a marriage, Sullaway begins her voyage running from demons, only to find new ones sharing a ship with her. 
   After a sailor gets her out of Tahitian jail for a visa violation, she fights off sharks, tropical fever, and an island prince who wants her for a bride. Eventually dumped with no resources on a Fiji island, she signs up as crew with a violent “captain” who refuses to chart their course on the open water – a dangerous negligence that compels her to do the navigation secretly while he sleeps. She escapes his menace after docking in Australia, and after bicycling 1200 miles up the coast, takes a cooking job on a prawn trawler in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Gulf is known as “Never-Never” for its isolation, and it is here that she’s nearly traded to another boat against her will.
   The author brings these characters vividly to life – from simple foul tempers to men that have lost their minds to the sea – and the book was rightfully chosen as Best Travel Book 2005 by the North American Travel Journalists Association, and as finalist for the 2005 National Outdoor Book Award.
   By the end of her journey, Sullaway is lucky to be alive, but more than that, the skills she develops dealing with the chaotic conditions on board help her finally put her turbulent past to rest. Between the drug smugglers, deadly sea snakes and fingers broken on the mast, there are moments of beauty and clarity for this young traveler. Aside from the obvious hardships in her stories, readers will find themselves imagining the smell of ocean air, the feel of wind in their hair, and even signing up for
sailing lessons. - VF 

Chasing Dreamtime: A Sea-Going Hitchhiker's Journey Through Memory and Myth by Neva Sullaway.
336 pages, January 2005, Brookview Press  

This article originally appeared in Jet Settin' magazine.

                      


                         
  Whimsical Wildlife
             The Art of Andy Cobb

A crane looking through binoculars, a frog painting a landscape: These are the types of figures Andy Cobb coaxes from copper. It’s a cast of characters that would be at home in a children’s storybook – in fact, his first frog was inspired by The Wind in the Willow – but adults around the country find them immensely appealing. 
   In many ways it’s a typical story. Cobb first created the sculptures as a hobby and gave them away for several years before people convinced him he could actually sell them.
   “Just for fun I started putting up some pieces in local restaurants—that’s how a lot of amateur artists get started—and they started selling rather readily," says Cobb. “I just did the math and figured if I budgeted, I could probably make a living, and it’s worked out.”
   Those budgeting skills and a sense of discipline were what assured Cobb’s talent would become financially viable.
   "I knew a lot of people who made art for living who had trouble with the business side,” says Cobb. “But coming from the business world, I set up a routine pretty quickly, because I was used to getting up and going five days a week.”
   Cobb started out working with clay, but ultimately chose metal for its durability.
   “I’ve done steel, I’ve done aluminum, and several other kinds of metals,” says Cobb. “But I wanted to do statues that used copper. Copper has this wonderful warmth to it that no other metal does. It’s almost alive; it has colors, it moves, it’s malleable, it feels like skin.”
   Cobb begins creating his copper sculptures using Revere brand 16-ounce sheets bought wholesale through a nearby roofing company. He then brings an image to life from the ground up, welding, soldering and braising his way from a figure’s toes to the top of its head (or hat). Along the way, he constructs a steel infrastructure, since the gauge of copper he uses “is not strong enough for sculptures you want to last for hundreds of years.”
   He then uses either a black or a green patina for frogs, and if the sculpture is destined for the indoors, he may add some paint to complete the costume.
   In the early days, Cobb worked through his downtime between commissions, until a bout with skin cancer made him re-evaluate his life.
   “Cancer took me out completely for about two years, so I’m down to working when it’s the right thing to do,” says Cobb. “And having the commissions come in and being able to pick and choose is making life easier as well.”
   He concedes that doing shows is necessary when an artist is starting out, but they’re also a lot of hard work. He now markets exclusively online and says it has been years since he’s been between commissions. Over the years, his pieces have been bought for display throughout the U.S., the majority of them landing within 150 miles of his home in Wilmington, North Carolina.
   Although Cobb began with serious wildlife pieces and still does those on occasion, the majority of commissions are his whimsical sculptures.
   “The frogs can do anything so I get a lot of requests,” adds Cobb. “The whimsy is delightful for me.”

This article appears online at   . 
http://copper.org/copperliving/arts/2007/may/