The Little Thread Which Grew - the Apollo '73 to Everything But

[olska]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

any models that you can point to? hat write ups, so to speak?

these homes are tents or cardboard boxes

Regarding shelter for those made homeless in Haiti:

See calearth.org, in particular the material on "superadobe."

How a family -- father, mother, children, grandmother -- can build their own home using the dirt they stand on and empty coffee cans or other simple tools to dig it with. This building process was specifically designed for situations such as that of Haiti. With the money your daughter has to spend, thousands and thousands of people's lives could be changed...

 

[olska]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

Regarding food for the population of Haiti:

See urbanfarming.org for what's being done in the city of Detroit.

It's not an immediate solution for those hungry now, today; but it offers a long-term sustainable solution that could be adapted to conditions in Haiti, where so-called "subsistence farming" is already practiced in some areas.

"Subsistence farming" gets a bad name because it is associated with third-world countries, so-called "undeveloped" countries, extreme poverty, ignorance, etc. In actuality, "subsistence" and very small scale farming keeps people busy and occupied growing fresh healthy food. Yes it would be nice if they also had more money for the comforts of life such as those we enjoy; however, I hold that a life spent working at subsistence farming is better for body and soul than a life of crime or hunger and despair.

Assess the existing subsistence farming practices of Haiti, learn from the urban farming thing happening in Detroit (and other places), use what is learned plus some money spread broadly to improve the practices and yields from subsistence farming by a mere 10% to 20%, and a country could be brought out of hunger and despair.

Haiti has a very long growing season, well suited for one-season crops like sweet potatoes/ yams, tomatoes, melons, strawberries, beans, etc. etc. and also well suited for longer term crops like avocadoes, all the tropical fruits, possibly some nuts like those grown in California, maybe grapes. These will sustain life and could possibly be traded for grains. Cuba has done some amazing things with small-scale farming -- good to research because it's in the same general area of the planet.


I know little about their climate re: agriculture, but I do know they get a lot of rain all at once, with possible desert conditions when the rainy season is over. If fresh water for irrigating crops is a problem, then use some of that "big money" to build huge concrete cisterns that collect the rain water and then can be pumped out for irrigation when needed. Put a lot of unskilled laborers to work digging, pouring concrete, laying pipe to get that done.

The landscape suffers from deforestation, floods, erosion. Bamboo forests might offer a fast solution for that plus a resource crop for the future.

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Re: Haiti

Danger Condition still applies.

First, what is the ideal scene for Haiti? I don't mean Ideal Ideal, just ideal compared to what it is now?

As top banana I would be ruthless on criminality.

Must secure food, water, shelter, clothing so these basics do not present a problem for the people and a distraction to creating honest business and enterprise. If the basics and criminality are not addressed the country could eventually slip into literal non-existence. Seems like it is hovering not far from death anyway.

Whereas everything of value initially comes from the earth, I would, on a longer term, look to the earth and sea for sustainable, marketable product or raw material. As I understand it, Haiti had no raw materials, no mining, etc. ... What about off-shore drilling? All Haitians could have a piece of the action while some other country drilled and pumped.

Roger's idea of growing tobacco sounds great and not as complicated as drilling for oil. Not only sounds great but should be great, and marketable. They could also grow marijuana/hemp. This natural plant can be broken down into many useful products. So what if the people smoke some. Pot smokers are generally laid back and not prone to violence. Evidence exist that the oils of the plant are effective in addressing cancer. Wouldn't that be a boon to the economy if Haiti became THE world's producer of medical grade marijuana. Clinics could be built for people who can't get relief for their ailments through conventional means. But I am getting way ahead of myself...

hempbasics.com

Well, you did preface your question with me being top banana. Back to the Ideal Scene... What is it? That's what I would do.

Danger would be heaven for Haiti.

This government is actually working on non e, they know what is needed, what they need to know is how to create a capitalistic framework where lack of education, food, shelter is prevalent, and where criminality and mortality is super high.

Commerce can raise all boats given the current governments intentions. How to create a climate of one man, one woman, one child entrepreneurs?

how to educate, feed, create order and future for those ravished by poverty and the elements? - without doing it all for them

what are the steps to make a safe space to earn money, build a shelter, drink clean water, buy or grow food?

empowering the people, not creating serfs or parasites

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Dick Clark, RIP

I used to come home from school every week day and watch "American Bandstand"

In high school we watched "Where the Action Is"

On week ends, now, I listen on KEarth 101 to Gary Bryan, live with Dick Clark recordings.





Dick Clark, Entertainment Icon Nicknamed 'America's Oldest Teenager,' Dies at 82

ABC News – 49 minutes ago



Dick Clark, the music industry maverick, longtime TV host and powerhouse producer who changed the way we listened to pop music with "American Bandstand," and whose trademark "Rockin' Eve" became a fixture of New Year's celebrations, died today at the age of 82.

Clark's agent Paul Shefrin said in statement that the veteran host died this morning following a "massive heart attack."

Born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on Nov. 30, 1929, Richard Wagstaff Clark began his lifelong career in show business began before he was even out of high school. He started working in the mailroom of WRUN, a radio station in upstate New York run by his father and uncle. It wasn't long before the teenager was on the air, filling in for the weatherman and the announcer.

Clark pursued his passion at Syracuse University, working as a disc jockey at the student-run radio station while studying for his degree in business. After graduating in 1951, Clark went back to his family's radio station, but within a year, a bigger city and bigger shows were calling.

Clark landed a gig as a DJ at WFIL in Philadelphia in 1952, spinning records for a show he called "Dick Clark's Caravan of Music." There he broke into the big time, hosting Bandstand, an afternoon dance show for teenagers.

Within five years, the whole country was watching. ABC took the show national, and "American Bandstand" was born.

Blazing a New Trail in Pop Music

"American Bandstand's" formula was simple. Clean-cut boys and girls danced to the hottest hits and the newest singles. In between, Clark chatted with the teens, who helped "rate-a-record," turning songs into sensations. Everyone showed up on "American Bandstand," from Elvis Presley to Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry to Chubby Checker.

When Dick Clark moved to Hollywood in 1963, "American Bandstand" moved with him. He started Dick Clark Productions, and began cranking out one hit show after another; his name became synonymous with everything from the $25,000 "Pyramid" to "TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes" to the "American Music Awards." In 1972, Dick Clark became synonymous with one of the biggest nights of the year.
New Year's Rockin' Eve

"Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" on ABC became a Dec. 31 tradition, with Clark hosting the festivities for more than three decades, introducing the entertainment acts and, of course, counting down to midnight as the ball dropped in New York's Times Square.

But the traditional celebration saw a temporary stop in 2004, when Clark suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and struggling to speak. Regis Philbin stepped in. But by the next New Year's Eve, Dick Clark was back, his speech still impaired. In halting words, he told the audience, "I had to teach myself how to walk and talk again. It's been a long, hard fight. My speech is not perfect but I'm getting there."

But that didn't stop him: he returned each year, and recently he was joined by Ryan Seacrest.

The Museum of Broadcast Communications has done the math, and figures that Dick Clark Productions has turned out more than 7,500 hours of television programming, including more than 30 series and 250 specials, as well as more than 20 movies for theatre and TV.

All this earned Clark a long list of awards and accolades: Emmys, Grammys, induction in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It also made him one of the richest men in Hollywood; he also had stakes in a wide range of businesses, including restaurants, theatres and real estate.
In March, he put one of his homes on the market, asking $3.5 million for a one-of-a-kind house on 22 acres in Malibu, modeled after Fred and Wilma's house on "The Flintstones."

"America's Oldest Teenager"

Clark, whose eternally youthful look earned him the nickname "America's Oldest Teenager", is survived by his three children and his third wife, Keri Wigton, married to him since 1977. He credited his appearance to good genes, once saying "if you want to stay young looking, pick your parents very carefully."

Now, America's Oldest Teenager is gone, leaving his indelible mark on generations of fans, and helping change rock 'n' roll and TV forever. His signature sign-off was always "For now, Dick Clark … so long," said with a salute. Today, generations of Americans are saluting back.

 

[JackStraw]

Re: Dick Clark, RIP

I used to come home from school every week day and watch "American Bandstand"



"America's Oldest Teenager"

"It's gotta good beat, easy to dance to. I give it an 85..."

sad news

Jack

 

[Terril park]

Re: A Time Machine to Late 18th Century Music?

This performance is about the closest possible that one can come to watching and hearing a late 18th century piano and orchestra performance live:

Robert Levin is playing the 1785-1790 type of 5 octave piano and all of the orchestral pieces are also from that period as well. Check out the French Horns! There are no valves and the players have to create notes through usage of their lips plus moving their hands around inside the bell of the horn.

That piano is surprisingly good! It appears to be a very advanced action for it's time period. It is very different from a modern piano. It lacks in some areas but it seems to make up for is deficiencies in other areas. The sound it makes is a bit similar to that of a harp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HRDYVB9Hhg&feature=g-vrec&context=G22bbf5bRVAAAAAAAABA

Lakey

I'm really beginning to go overboard with Helene Grimaud. Spent hours
listening to the Bach/Busoni Chaconne. I liked her best, and there was strong competition, Artur Rubenstein for starters! To me she seems a kindred spirit to Furtwangler, passion and spirit as first concern.

Furtwangler is my favorite conductor. However I sometimes prefer others who go slower in climaxes. Can't find my favorites on the final of Brahms Fourth, but here is an example from Victorio De Sabata.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6d15_RGnvc

 

[lkwdblds]

Re: A Time Machine to Late 18th Century Music?

I'm really beginning to go overboard with Helene Grimaud. Spent hours
listening to the Bach/Busoni Chaconne. I liked her best, and there was strong competition, Artur Rubenstein for starters! To me she seems a kindred spirit to Furtwangler, passion and spirit as first concern.

Furtwangler is my favorite conductor. However I sometimes prefer others who go slower in climaxes. Can't find my favorites on the final of Brahms Fourth, but here is an example from Victorio De Sabata.


Wilhelm Furtwangler - Here is an almost surrealistic video clip of Furtwangler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin in February of 1942 with a lot of Nazi brass in the audience including Joseph Goebbels. The piece is the finale from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqff1F0Ijn0

After WWII, the great Jewish violinist, Yehudi Menuhin, held no malice towards Furtwangler, performed with him in concerts in 1949 and 1950 and defended Furtwangler. Here is a video of Menuhin explaining his feelings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6BJCjWtoqg&feature=related

Lakey

 

[FoTi]

Re: Haiti

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

The country shares an island with the Dominican Republic. The two countries are like night and day.

The dictators of the past wreaked havoc for decades. The hurricanes and the earthquake followed by the disease has pushed the living standard further down.

The economists' answers to buoying US jobs and prosperity don't even come close to applying.

If someone grows a plant in a victory garden, it will be stolen.

Money is kept on cell phone accounts because if it is carried, it will be stolen.

Our daughter, who works for the major cell phone company of Haiti, is on loan to the government of Haiti. She has been given the job of directing A LOT OF MONEY to something that will benefit the country's people.

any suggestions?

Roger, Face, Ted?

I agree with Ted....hemp would be an excellent product for the Haiti. Are they allowed to grow it there? I wish we could grow it here.

Also, sweet potatoes are a good product to grow. One sweet potato will put out about 50 vines. They grow fast, like warm weather and lots of water when they are starting out (good for rainy season), but can weather drought. The leaves are edible - taste kind of like spinach - I eat them. In fact, I cut the ends off of two sweet potatoes that I recently ate, put the end in water in a little bowl and I'm growing them on my dining room table. Better - more nourishing than rice or wheat.

Community gardens are good. Maybe whoever is providing the money could give them food in exchange for planting and working the gardens until they grow enough food, as a group, to harvest for themselves. If they fear food being stolen if they take it home, then maybe they could be fed as a group while they are at work.

I think the kind of education they need is to learn how to survive on the land....how to plant and what to plant, where to plant and how to grow their own food, fish, build shelter, sanitation, etc.

They look like they are living in chaos. They need help to pull together, organize and work together to build their community. Looks like they need a leader as well as teachers.....somebody to inspire them.

Those that are stealing need to be picked up and put somewhere else so that those who are willing to work and build honestly can get something done without being continually undermined. Perhaps they could organize a kind of neighborhood watch to help prevent the thefts and round up those that are causing others trouble.

You can all yell at me for saying so, but there is a product that would be very good for that situation and it's relatively inexpensive but very effective against disease. It's called MMS. Personally I wouldn't want to be there or be working there without it.

Yeh....like Ted said.....who is benefitting by all this poverty?

Good luck to your daughter, Carmelo.....she has a hell of a job to do there. I hope you will keep us posted on her progress with this project.

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Re: Dick Clark, RIP

"It's gotta good beat, easy to dance to. I give it an 85..."

sad news

Jack

[video=youtube;qeJ5aqOXsME]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeJ5aqOXsME[/video]

I think "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" was the first single that I bought because I heard it on American Bandstand.

[video=youtube;nQN0zcGWpcg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQN0zcGWpcg[/video]

 

[FoTi]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

I got my first bikini in the summer of 1958.....I was 16. I thought I was hot on the beach at Zuma Beach or walking down the sidewalks of Balboa Island.

A girlfriend and I used to take a transister radio to the beach, bake ourselves to a crisp in the California sun, listening to this while checkin' out the guys on the beach. What glorious days those were.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ENzT9k1LRs

I loved the surfing music. In 61' my husband and I used to go to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and watch the surfing movies.....I loved that.

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Dick Clark stories

I just heard Paul Peterson, from The Donna Reed Show, on KEarth101, talking about back when Rock 'n Roll wasn't the multi million dollar business that it is today.

Paul had a couple of hits, and Dick Clark asked him to be on Dick's "Caravan of Stars." The stars included Neil Sedaka, the Supremes, the Drifters, and others. They would put on a show in some town, then around 11PM, after the show, they would all hop on the bus, and travel 400 miles, through the night, to the next town.

He said the experiences of being on the bus with the Drifters and Supremes just sitting back, singing, for their own enjoyment on the bus, was just a privilege few ever experienced.

 

[Terril park]

Re: A Time Machine to Late 18th Century Music?

Wilhelm Furtwangler - Here is an almost surrealistic video clip of Furtwangler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in Berlin in February of 1942 with a lot of Nazi brass in the audience including Joseph Goebbels. The piece is the finale from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

I have the complete recording. In 1942 This was recorded by the Berlin Phil which I also have. More recently this was issued which was recorded the night before and in honour of Hitlers birthday.

 

[lkwdblds]

Re: A Time Machine to Late 18th Century Music?

I have the complete recording. In 1942 This was recorded by the Berlin Phil which I also have. More recently this was issued which was recorded the night before and in honour of Hitlers birthday.

Awesome Terril, I read somewhere, several months back that Germany developed the first high fidelity tape recording method right around 1941 or 1942. As I recall, it was developed sort of by accident for military applications and not for music. Previous recording methods done on vinyl records etc. were full of hissing and crackling. We've all heard those recordings - someone is singing a song and in the background it sounds like someone else in the room is frying bacon.

Furtwangler was one of those unfortunate talents in history whose name became linked with a despicable and evil movement when in actuality, Furtwangler did not actually support the goals of Nazism.

Furtwangler was nearly appointed to be the conductor of the Chicago Symphony in the early 1950's, in fact I believe that the appointment was announced but it was quickly squelched by the complaints of anti Nazi groups.

Some people who aided the Nazis were able to shake their Nazi connection after the war and others were not. Dr. Ferdinand Porche of automobile fame was accepted into society despite his working hard for the Hitler regime on tank development. He did not believe in Nazi principles at all but was willing to deal with the Nazis because they were willing to fund his "peoples' car' project. Then there is the famous and infamous Werner von Braun. He shook his Nazi past and rose to be the head of the U.S. aerospace and rocket programs. He was more than willing to get into bed with the Nazi regime, not just on scientific grounds but also on political grounds. I don't think that he was at all in favor of exterminating Jews but I believe that he did join the Nazi party on his own volition before WWII started.

I really admire Yehudi Menuhin for giving strong support to Furtwangler. It was a brave gesture for Menuhin to do this. He really stepped "outside the box" of his era in history. "Many are called but few are chosen." Menuhin was given an opportunity right after WWII to begin the healing process between nations and countries and he had the courage and integrity to do it.
Lakey

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

Re: A Time Machine to Late 18th Century Music?

Awesome Terril, I read somewhere, several months back that Germany developed the first high fidelity tape recording method right around 1941 or 1942. As I recall, it was developed sort of by accident for military applications and not for music. Previous recording methods done on vinyl records etc. were full of hissing and crackling. We've all heard those recordings - someone is singing a song and in the background it sounds like someone else in the room is frying bacon.

Furtwangler was one of those unfortunate talents in history whose name became linked with a despicable and evil movement when in actuality, Furtwangler did not actually support the goals of Nazism.

Furtwangler was nearly appointed to be the conductor of the Chicago Symphony in the early 1950's, in fact I believe that the appointment was announced but it was quickly squelched by the complaints of anti Nazi groups.

Some people who aided the Nazis were able to shake their Nazi connection after the war and others were not. Dr. Ferdinand Porche of automobile fame was accepted into society despite his working hard for the Hitler regime on tank development. He did not believe in Nazi principles at all but was willing to deal with the Nazis because they were willing to fund his "peoples' car' project. Then there is the famous and infamous Werner von Braun. He shook his Nazi past and rose to be the head of the U.S. aerospace and rocket programs. He was more than willing to get into bed with the Nazi regime, not just on scientific grounds but also on political grounds. I don't think that he was at all in favor of exterminating Jews but I believe that he did join the Nazi party on his own volition before WWII started.

I really admire Yehudi Menuhin for giving strong support to Furtwangler. It was a brave gesture for Menuhin to do this. He really stepped "outside the box" of his era in history. "Many are called but few are chosen." Menuhin was given an opportunity right after WWII to begin the healing process between nations and countries and he had the courage and integrity to do it.
Lakey

Even the huge American Oscar winning screen actor and star, Donald Duck was a part of Hitler's war machine (in his dream). It didn't hurt his career. He went on making dozens of popular films, and he even hosted the Oscars one year. Donald proved that the Academy is quick to reward actors who frequently go bottomless.

[video=youtube;5LYD0Fzf1LU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LYD0Fzf1LU[/video]

 

[RogerB]

Re: A Time Machine to Late 18th Century Music?

Awesome Terril, I read somewhere, several months back that Germany developed the first high fidelity tape recording method right around 1941 or 1942. As I recall, it was developed sort of by accident for military applications and not for music. Previous recording methods done on vinyl records etc. were full of hissing and crackling. We've all heard those recordings - someone is singing a song and in the background it sounds like someone else in the room is frying bacon.

Furtwangler was one of those unfortunate talents in history whose name became linked with a despicable and evil movement when in actuality, Furtwangler did not actually support the goals of Nazism.

Furtwangler was nearly appointed to be the conductor of the Chicago Symphony in the early 1950's, in fact I believe that the appointment was announced but it was quickly squelched by the complaints of anti Nazi groups.

Some people who aided the Nazis were able to shake their Nazi connection after the war and others were not. Dr. Ferdinand Porche of automobile fame was accepted into society despite his working hard for the Hitler regime on tank development. He did not believe in Nazi principles at all but was willing to deal with the Nazis because they were willing to fund his "peoples' car' project. Then there is the famous and infamous Werner von Braun. He shook his Nazi past and rose to be the head of the U.S. aerospace and rocket programs. He was more than willing to get into bed with the Nazi regime, not just on scientific grounds but also on political grounds. I don't think that he was at all in favor of exterminating Jews but I believe that he did join the Nazi party on his own volition before WWII started.

I really admire Yehudi Menuhin for giving strong support to Furtwangler. It was a brave gesture for Menuhin to do this. He really stepped "outside the box" of his era in history. "Many are called but few are chosen." Menuhin was given an opportunity right after WWII to begin the healing process between nations and countries and he had the courage and integrity to do it.
Lakey

Menuhin was a very loving man. He was a vegetarian on ethical and compassionate grounds. He and I met at the Int. Vegetarian Convention, in the UK (somewhere up in Derbyshire) in 1965, and of course he was part of the vegetarian clique in London along with the Dowdings . . . indeed Lady Dowding was the founder of the Beauty Without Cruelty movement with an office on Whitehall.

I have a vid of Menuhin tutoring and playing pieces with the young Nigel Kennedy. Being an old fiddler myself, it sort of captured my attention.

A very principled man was our Yehudi . . . .

R

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

More About Donald Duck

Back in the mid 1950s, on vacation in Anaheim, CA. with my parents, I met Donald Duck. Although, it was well known that he, like Mel Gibson, could have benefitted greatly from anger management classes, he was as nice as could be. If we weren't limited to a half hour on re editing posts, I would dig up a photograph and post it. He was very easy to talk to.

Totally coincidentally, in the 70s, when I was at Flag in Clearwater, I took a day off to go to an amusement park in Orlando, FL., I ran into him (Donald - we were on a first name basis). he remembered me, and just as before, he was most gracious and friendly. His wife, Daisy, was with him, so we didn't talk long.

Meet and greets with movers and shakers is always memorable.

 

[Terril park]

Re: More About Donald Duck

Back in the mid 1950s, on vacation in Anaheim, CA. with my parents, I met Donald Duck. Although, it was well known that he, like Mel Gibson, could have benefitted greatly from anger management classes, he was as nice as could be. If we weren't limited to a half hour on re editing posts, I would dig up a photograph and post it. He was very easy to talk to.

Totally coincidentally, in the 70s, when I was at Flag in Clearwater, I took a day off to go to an amusement park in Orlando, FL., I ran into him (Donald - we were on a first name basis). he remembered me, and just as before, he was most gracious and friendly. His wife, Daisy, was with him, so we didn't talk long.

Meet and greets with movers and shakers is always memorable.

Admit it! You are part of a Nazi Fifth column in Amerika!!!

Like go fuck a duck!

 

[CarmeloOrchards]

More About Dick Clark

Dick Clark ran company as he played host; fortune thought to be in 'hundreds of millions'


By Ryan Nakashima, AP Business Writer | Associated Press – 20 hours ago


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Dick Clark married music and television long before "American Idol." But his legacy extends well beyond the persona of the laid-back host of "American Bandstand" whose influence can still be seen on TV today.
He was the workaholic head of a publicly traded company, a restaurateur, a concert promoter and real estate investor. Clark, who died of a heart attack on Wednesday at age 82, left behind a fortune and is the model of entertainment entrepreneurship embodied today by "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest.

"Work was his hobby," said Fran La Maina, the longtime president of Dick Clark Productions Inc.

La Maina started as the production company's financial controller in 1966. He estimates Clark amassed a fortune that reached into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

"He had this never-give-up attitude. He was a great salesperson and a task master," La Maina said.

Clark was one of the early pioneers of the idea that a public company can be formed around an entertainer's personal appeal. By the time La Maina went to work for him, Clark already had three shows on air: "Swingin' Country," ''Where the Action Is," and, of course, "American Bandstand."

He promoted more than 100 concerts a year back when promoters, not bands, called the shots. His roster included The Rolling Stones and Engelbert Humperdinck. In the 1970s, he launched shows like the "American Music Awards" and "New Year's Rockin' Eve" — shows that are highly valued by advertisers because fans still want to watch them live in an age of digital video recorders.
At one point, he hosted shows on all three major TV networks, including "The $20,000 Pyramid" on ABC, "Live Wednesday" on CBS and "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes" on NBC. All the while, he was hosting shows "Dick Clark's Countdown" and "Rock, Roll & Remember" on the radio and running a business.

"He had boundless energy and a remarkable ability to do innumerable things at any given time," La Maina said.

By the time it went public in 1987, Dick Clark Productions had several thousand employees, had launched a restaurant chain with Clark's name on it, and ran a communications-promotion business. Revenue exceeded $100 million a year and the company was profitable.

His daily schedule was daunting, even when Clark was in his late 50s and 60s, according to longtime board member Enrique Senior, a managing director at Allen & Co. who helped Dick Clark Productions go public.

Senior remembers taking a peek at Clark's schedule after meetings.
"It frankly was the schedule of a 20-year-old," Senior said. "This guy was a dynamo. I've never seen anybody who would be so personally involved in everything he did."

Despite its profitability, the business didn't always keep pace with Wall Street's quarter-by-quarter demands. Clark decided the company should be taken private by a third party, even though, according to Senior, "he could have taken the company over by himself."

"He said, 'I want a third party to do it so there's no question that I'm taking advantage of the shareholders.'"

In 2002, the company was taken private for $140 million by a consortium led by Mosaic Media Group Inc.

Instead of cashing out, Clark sold a portion of his 70 percent stake, while reinvesting the rest with the new ownership group and staying on as CEO. He voluntarily accepted $12.50 per share when other shareholders got $14.50. Usually, company founders seek the highest premium in a buy-out.
"He wanted to reward the people that were loyal to him and who entrusted him with the stewardship of their capital," said LeRoy Kim, another Allen & Co. managing director who guided the transaction. "He was a different type of entrepreneur. He was an incredible man."

Clark suffered a stroke in 2004 that affected his ability to speak and walk and led to a reduced role at the company.

In 2007, the company was sold again, this time to Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder and his private equity firm RedZone Capital, for $175 million. Clark sold the remainder of his stake. He remained connected to the company only through his annual appearances on the New Year's Eve show.

Over the years, Clark invested in other assets outside the production company, including multiple properties in Malibu, according to Senior, Dick Clark Productions lawyer Marty Katz and others.

He paid nearly $15 million for a 12-acre oceanfront estate in Malibu known as Gull's Way in 2002, according to the Los Angeles Times. He had offices and his home in Malibu.

In his later years, Clark was trying to sell shows "just like any other independent producer," said his publicist, Paul Shefrin.

Senior said Clark would still be coming up with new show ideas today if he could.
"I never ever saw a side of him that would make me think he was a narcissist or egoist or that he needed to be in front of a camera in order to feel accomplished," Senior said. "It was all one thing for him. I don't think he really cared as long as he was involved."

Despite recent legal tussles involving Dick Clark Productions — including a running dispute over who has the rights to the Golden Globe Awards — Clark's personal integrity has been "untarnished" over the years, Katz said.

Seacrest said in a statement that Clark "has truly been one of the greatest influences in my life."

"I idolized him from the start, and I was graced early on in my career with his generous advice and counsel," Seacrest said. "When I joined his show in 2006, it was a dream come true to work with him every New Year's Eve for the last six years. He was smart, charming, funny and always a true gentleman. I learned a great deal from him, and I'll always be indebted to him for his faith and support of me. He was a remarkable host and businessman and left a rich legacy to television audiences around the world. We will all miss him."

 

[FoTi]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

Check out this one year old!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK_CHayG1XA

 

[FoTi]

Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973

More talented kids....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSedE5sU3uc&feature=related