Tim Russert, we'll miss you

I wrote the following for Variety, but wanted to share with my blog readers. I've been watching the coverage of Tim Russert's death all weekend and it leaves me just absolutely heartbroken.

Life can be so freakin' fleeting.

I know I'm supposed to be a hardened journalist and not let news — both good and bad — affect me, but I can't help but feel devasted by the sudden and tragic loss of Tim Russert (pictured with his wife, writer Maureen Orth, and son Luke, who just graduated Boston College), who died at only 58 years old.

There's an old adage that we feel a special connection to people we see on television all the time. Much more so than in film, as those on TV are in our living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and everywhere else we watch.

And even more than that, Russert was on in the mornings on the "Today" show, in the afternoons occasionally as a political analyst on MSNBC, in the evenings on "Nightly News With Brian Williams" and then Saturdays on his conversational talkshow and, of course, the political big daddy, "Meet the Press" on every Sunday ayem.

What a tragedy. I still can't believe he's gone.

Russert was the booming political voice of NBC, and I'll always remember him with his dry erase board on election night in 2000, telling everyone how important Florida was going to be in determing whether Al Gore or George W. Bush would be president. "Florida, Florida, Florida" he reiterated over and over again. And was he ever right.

Just an hour before I heard the news Friday, I received my weekly email blast from NBC, which lists the guests on this Sunday's edition of "Meet the Press." And last night I set my Tivo for "Tim Russert," which I watch every Saturday. Tivo never disclosed who the guests were on his talkshow, so it was always a surprise if he'd be chatting up a public figure hawking a book -- Barbara Walters and Steve Martin were recent guests -- or a couple of politicos trying to get a sense of the presidential race.

Last week on "Meet the Press," Russell had what he called the "NBC political dream team" -- folks such as Andrea Mitchell, David Gregory, Chuck Todd and others -- figuring out what Obama's ascension as the Democratic presidential nominee meant, and where does Hillary go from here. He had such enthusiam for this stuff. His arms would wave, his voice would fill the room and full-throated discussions would ensue.

And then there was the family side of him. His first book, "Big Russ and Me," about his relationship with his father, and their relationship with Buffalo, N.Y., was a bestseller, and his affection for Dad was out there for all the world to appreciate.

His second tome, "Wisdom of Our Fathers," was also an homage to family, and to those men — sometimes quiet, sometimes boisterous — who took care of their wives and children, sometimes under trying circumstances, in the best way they knew how.

I interviewed Russert several years ago. He was at work, at the NBC studios in Washington, D.C., in the middle of a crazy news day, but took time to talk about his job, life and what it meant to be a political journalist. That conversation takes on added meaning to me now.

We'll elect another president in November, and there will be plenty of discussion of all things politics between now and then, but this election just won't be the same. Can't be without Russert.

I'm already missing the dry erase board.

It's Showtime … again

It may not be the '80s anymore, but I'm feeling very Showtime this week.

As in the Showtime Lakers, who used to regularly meet the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals a few decades ago. The real champs — that would be the Lakers, of course — won most of those battles after the Celtics handed it to them in the '60s on a regular basis.

As we get set for the first game Thursday (June 5) from what they used to call the Boston Gah-den, ESPN and every sports radio station here in town is doing nothing but talking about this storied rivalry. It was our best five -- Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Rambis and Byron Scott -- versus theirs, or what I would call good vs. evil.

I actually attended one of those Final games at the Fabulous Forum -- before Great Western bought the naming rights -- and watched the Lakers lose on a last second shot by Boston guard Dennis Johnson. It was a tough loss but a great game.

So make sure you root for the purple and gold over the next week or two. Or, hopefully, for only four games as the Lakers work on a sweep!

And down the stretch they come

It's still two weeks away, but I'm starting to get excited about the thought of Big Brown winning the Triple Crown if he can capture the Belmont Stakes.

The last time it happened was exactly 30 years ago when Affirmed won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont. Back then, winning the Triple Crown didn't seem all that difficult as it happened three times in the decade: 1978, 1977 with Seattle Slew and, of course, 1973 when Secretariat won the Belmont by an astonishing 31 lengths -- footage we're sure to see a few dozen times as the race on June 7 approaches.

I'm a horse racing guy. I went to the track as a little kid with my grandparents in Queens, N.Y., and amused myself by looking for winning tickets thrown on the ground. Never happened, but it was still a grand day.

Much later in life, I got a job as an editor at the Racing Times, where my colleagues and I would write and edit copy based on the horses running at the local Southern California track at the time of year (Santa Anita, Hollywood Park or Del Mar) or the big races around the country.

We would handicap races and debate the merits of some of the best horses as they would race against each other. The paper eventually got sold and we all had to find new work, but it was one of the best jobs I ever had.

Anyway, thoroughbred races has taken some hard knocks the past few years -- lower attendance, less interest among the casual sports fan, losing gambling dollars to the casinos, the deaths of Barbaro and, most recently, Eight Belles — but it's still a great game.

For nothing more than to give the sport a lift, I'm hoping Big Brown gets to the winner's circle at Belmont safe, sound and then runs for years to come.

Coming soon to a TV near you

With the networks announcing its new shows this week in New York -- an annual ritual called the TV Upfronts -- now's the time to take a look at the series I might want to check out.

Many looked interesting, but some more than others. There's the new J.J. Abrams series "Fringe" on Fox (above) and CBS has a series called "The Mentalist," with Simon Baker, that many people are high on.

Truth be told, though, it's some of new cable entries that are whetting my appetite more than on broadcast.

TNT is introducing a new show called "Truth in Advertising" with Tom Cavanagh ("Ed") and Eric McCormack ("Will & Grace") that looks very intriguing, about those who toil on Madison Avenue. If the concept sounds familiar, yeah, "Mad Men" on AMC is one of the best series on TV right now, so this might be a pale imitation. But we'll see.

On HBO, you have the new miniseries "Generation Kill" from David Simon, creator of "The Wire," and a vampire drama from "Six Feet Under" creator Alan Ball. And September marks the beginning of the last season of FX's masterful cop drama "The Shield."

So lots to look forward to. Now I've just got to find the time to watch everything.

Cannes 2008: Au revior mon amis

A bunch of my colleagues leave for Cannes tomorrow for the festival that takes over every inch of the small southern French city that rests on the shores of the Mediterranean. The crowds, as seen in the photo above, can become overwhelming.

I went last year but won't be attending this time around, which is absolutely OK. Lots of stuff to do at work here in the office and as glamorous as it sounds, spending 12 days at the fest is an exhaustive experience.

Since we put out a paper every day, you're stuck in the office for 12 hours --usually 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. -- with a skeleton staff: four editors, two designers and a small handful of reporters. And that's all you have to put out a 100-page paper during the first few days of the festival. As the fest winds down, the papers get smaller as well.

After work, many of us go to dinner together, and dinner in Cannes for parties of four or more never runs less than 2 hours. So by the time you settle back in at your apartment -- it's more cost effective to rent apartments than stay in hotels -- you don't get to bed before 1 or 2 a.m., depending on how many bars and latenight spots you want to hit up.

Then get up at 8-ish and start the cycle all over again. For 10 straight days. It's a great experience, but wearing nonetheless.

So to my friends heading over there during the next few days: safe journeys, get as much rest as possible, and be sure to see at least one movie… if you can squeeze it in.

All caught up on Tivo

'Cept for the last two episodes of the HBO miniseries "John Adams," I caught up and watched everything on Tivo this weekend.

Yup, two episodes of "Back to You" -- not sure why I'm still watching, but I feel obligated to finish the season out and finish what I started -- plus two episodes of "ER" and my usual weekend contingency: "Ebert and Roeper at the Movies," ESPN's "The Sports Reporters," "CBS Sunday Morning" and "60 Minutes." I'm feeling very accomplished now.

I even was able to catch "Cloverfield" on DVD, which I somehow missed in the theater. I thought it was a fine thriller, with a big-ass monster heading up and down Manhattan. The hand-held camera, which has never bothered me in such stellar shows as "Homicide," didn't do me any favors, though, and I honestly felt a little nauseous at the end of the movie. If I'd seen it in the theater, I would've had a hard time keeping my Raisinets down.

I caught "Lost" on Friday night -- a day after its broadcast airing -- and I absolutely love the show but I don't invest as much time and thought into it as others, who suss out every possible theory as to why Ben does this, why Jack does that and everything in between. I just enjoy it for its pure entertainment value, and showrunners Damon and Carlton always outdo themselves on that front.

It was a good weekend to stay inside, as the temperatues in L.A. hit near record highs. It got toasty playing golf Saturday morning in Burbank, though our 7:30 starting time made it quite bareable. If we had teed off a couple of hours later, we would've fried.

I'm looking forward to seeing a couple of movies this week that I've heard great things about. My Variety colleague Eddie Cockrell, a great film critic out of Australia, saw a small film called "Shotgun Stories" a year ago while we were at the Berlin Film Festival and gave it a rave. It's now just opened in the States and I'm going to try and catch it on Wednesday.

Tomorrow night is "Iron Man," the Marvel Comic-turned-feature film, which has gotten great -pre-release buzz. It needs to be a big box office winner, too, as I choose it in my summer box office pool. Go Robert Downey Jr.!

R.I.P. Danny

The E Street Band has given us in the Bruce community so much joy over the past 30 years, it's like we feel we know the folks on stage better than we actually do.

Really, we only connect with them through their music and the occasional print or TV interview, but when E Street organist extraordinaire Dan Federici passed away yesterday, it felt as if we lost a dear friend, and in many ways we did.

Federici, pictured here a few years ago in Florida with my good friend and fellow scribe Pete Kerasotis, was never center stage in concert, always to Max's right, playing away with such ease and professionalism that we barely gave it much thought. But that was Danny's gift. He made it look so easy that he never received the proper credit he deserved.

While other members of the band — with the exception of Garry Tallent — have much more showy roles, Danny blended in and helped create the legendary E Street sound we've loved and appreciated since that first listen we all heard way back when.

The E Street family has become so ingrained in us, that when I texted a friend upon hearing the news -- saying only DANNY DIED -- there was no one else who my friend could've imagined had passed away. For us who've made the trek around the country more than once, more than twice even, there's only one Danny, as there's only one Roy, Steve, Nils, etc.

Our heartfelt prayers go to Danny's family, friends and those who've played with him on E Street for the past 40 years. Here's hoping he's strapping on the accordion for one hell of an encore somewhere in the great beyond.

There's magic in the night

Twenty-four years after seeing my first Bruce Springsteen concerts, it felt like old times catching him twice this week at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Bruce got his "Magic" message across all right, as he did in October at the L.A. Sports Arena, but there was definitely a looser vibe at these shows. Having fun was a top priority this time around, and Bruce and the venerable E Street Band delivered in spades.

The setlists were top-notch, with opening songs that had everyone guessing. Monday night we were treated to "Light of Day" while on Tuesday "Thunder Road" was the first out of the gate, a classic that felt so wonderfully fresh after not being played in L.A. for years.

For some reason, while watching Bruce play "The Promised Land," I kept thinking what it must feel like to actually be Bruce Springsteen, and be "on" all the time, never having the luxury of having an off night. Other thoughts that came into my head were what would it be like to be one of Bruce's children and having a dad so famous that he's recognized around the world.

But I transgress. It was a great couple of nights, seeing friends in the Springsteen fan community that come into my life every time Bruce is in town. Folks I've known for decades — many by face only, with their names often escaping me — always greet me with a warm smile, hug and/or handshake. Our lives are far different from one another but we've always shared this common bond.

My friend and I arrived at the arena Tuesday around 3:30 in order to get our wristband and get randomly selected to watch the concert in the pit i.e. the very front of the floor adjacent to the stage. As it turned out, we didn't make it into the pit but were close enough to have an unobstructed view of Bruce and the E Streeters from about 30 feet from the stage.

Many folks good naturedly give me a hard time about my Springsteen obsession, but I embrace it wholeheartedly. Bruce and the band have given me such wonderful memories over the years, it's been an absolute joy, and honor, to be along for the ride.

With all of us getting older -- both me and the folks up on the stage night after night -- I'm just hoping it doesn't end soon.

What was I thinking????

OK, I'm officially jealous.

A bunch of my good friends are headed to Sacramento tomorrow morning for the Springsteen show Friday night in the state capitol. Arnold and the Boss rockin' out together. Should be quite a sight.

I'm seeing him twice next week in Anaheim but Bruce is doin' Cali and I'm not there. Twenty years ago this would've been considered blasphemy -- blasphemy I tell you!! -- but with jobs, kids, bills, blah, blah I can't pull this one off. Shame on me!!

The set lists listed on Backstreets have been really terrific, with all kinds of wild cards in there -- "Trapped," "Rosalita," "Lost in the Flood" and a slew of other gems. I just hope he saves a few goodies for Anaheim.

Have fun my amigos. Go forth and conquer!

"Damages" up close

Last Monday I was asked to moderate a panel at the Willam Paley Festival at the Cinerama Dome at Hollywood.

Every year, the Paley Festival brings the cast and creators of 10-12 TV shows -- both past and present -- to discuss the inner workings of a show in front of a few hundred fans. For a TV junkie, it's a great event to get to know the actors and writers who shape the shows we like.

I moderated "Damages," a well-executed and smart legal drama on FX that stars Glenn Close as a lawyer who bends the rules in extreme ways for her clients. The first season was about one case -- Ted Danson is a corporate guru who has swindled the pension and savings from his employees.

Both stars were at the Dome Monday and couldn't have been nicer. They've been very accessible as far as talking to the press about the show and the Paley fest is a publicist's best friend, getting all kinds of coverage on the Internet.

Danson is a long way from his days as bartender Sam Malone on "Cheers," and Close proved she's as much a presence on TV as she is in film after a stellar turn a few years back on FX's best show, "The Shield." It was nice to pick their brain about what makes good TV and why they feel like "Damages" is as good as anything out there on the small screen.

Moderating these panels can be a lot of fun -- just as long as you're very familiar with the show. If you're faking it up on stage, everyone will know. I've done seven panels now -- "Friday Night Lights" twice, "ER," "Scrubs," "28 Days," "Nip/Tuck" and "Damages" -- and it's a great way to interact with the cast and creators, all the while asking questions that you hope the audience finds as interesting as you do.

For comedies, like "Scrubs," you don't need to do much. Ask a question and let everyone start cracking jokes. The rapport between Zach Braff and Donald Faison had everyone in hysterics. Certainly funnier that I would've been.

Viva Las Vegas!

Just got home from Vegas this afternoon after my first annual -- and I can't believe I haven't done this before -- trip to casinos for the NCAA basketball tourney.

What a great time. I hit about 80% of my tickets yesterday. Sticking with straight win bets rather than parlays seemed a potent strategy and I got a few breaks along the way.

For instance, in the Michigan State-Temple game, I had the first half under at 61.5. With the store 34-26, a Michigan State player was fouled with 0.8 seconds left and had two free throws. He sinks them both and I'm a loser.

First up, swish. Second, off the back rim. Ka-ching! Stu's a winner!

Every seemed to go my way and for my friend Dave too, who hit a bunch of parlays and cashed more tickets than me. Hell, he hit a 10-1 horse by betting on the color of the horse's silks. Dave had game all weekend -- except for this morning, when he gave a few sheckels back.... Damn that Drake!!

We stayed at Planet Hollywood, and it was a terrific hotel. Situated right on the Strip next to Paris and across the street from Bellagio, it was a nice walk from there to Caesars, where we spent much of Saturday, including a great dinner at Bradley Ogden.

Though I didn't see any of the game, the Bruins sure looked good, winning by more than 40! Lots of tough teams ahead, though, including all the No. 1 seeds -- Kansas, North Carolina and Memphis.

Let the madness continue!

Missin' Marlo...

Sorry for the delay in posting. Here's the tidbits that are crossing my mind today:

-- I'm still lamenting the loss of "The Wire." After watching season five and blogging about it for the paper, I can't believe it's over. What a spectacularly written saga about the lives of those who call Baltimore home. I said it before the season started and I stand by it now. A case can be made for it to be called the the best show in the history of television.

-- Just about finished watching the entire season of HBO's current psychiatrist in residence series "In Treatment," and I like it a lot. No question Gabriel Byrne will be, and should be, talked about when Emmy nominations are discussed. Byrne wouldn't be the first person to come to mind if I was casting the series, but he's certainly done an outstanding job.

As have the rest of the cast, they're all solid. Each episode feels like a mini play, with, for the most part, only two or three actors in the entire episode. Melissa George plays his Monday client, Laura, who has developed a serious crush on her good doctor. Blair Underwood, a Navy pilot, his Tuesday patient and Wednesday is teen girl Mia Wasikowska, who I've never seen before but is annoying real as a teen girl who attempted suicide.

"Sports Night" fans will recall Josh Charles, with on-screen wife Embeth Davidtz, as a couple who do nothing but fight. And Friday, Byrne and Michelle Forbes ("Homicide") bring their relationship up for exploration to Diane Wiest. It's all good stuff. HBO replays a few billion times a week so make sure to check it out.

-- Last but not least on the HBO viewing schedule, I watched the part of the network's Emmy sure thing "John Adams" tonight. It's a bit tough to get into the first 20 minutes or so but, after that, it feels like a textbook about the Revolutionary War coming to life -- and that's meant as a compliment.

-- On vacation from work this week and then off to Vegas with my good friend Dave on Wednesday through Friday. Should be a blast. Gonna play some poker, maybe shoot some craps and watch and bet on the NCAA basketball tourney. Wish me luck!

-- Only three more weeks til Springsteen plays a couple of nights in Anaheim. The tour is really rounding into form now and we should be in store for some fun shows. I plan on going both nights (April 7-8) but only have tickets for the second, so if you have a single you can't use or know someone with an extra, lemme know.

-- How good was "Lost" last week!!! Can't belive Sun has a baby and Jin is dead. And that she's one of the Oceanic 6. Great stuff, Damon! Keep it up...

-- Until next time, Go Bruins!

Wrestling with demons

I wrote a story earlier this week about how the WWE -- that's Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment for those who don't know a turnbuckle from a flying scissors kick -- and it reminded me of my teen years growing up on Long Island and a huge fan of wrestling.

Sure, we all knew it was fake, but the theatrics were just so much fun. I remember watching it once a month on cable from a sold out Madison Square Garden, and then our whole family went one night to the Nassau Coliseum to witness the action live and in person.

Abruzzi, Italy's favorite son, Bruno Sammartino, was the reigning champ for many of the years that I was a devotee of the squared circle (as announcer and future WWE guru Vince McMahon would call it).

But it wasn't just Bruno who I rooted for. Fellas such as Ivan "Polish Power" Putski, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, Andre the Giant, Haystacks Calhoun, Bob Backlund (another champ) and S.D. "Special Delivery" Jones were all favorites, among many others. As for the best of the tag teams, there was the legendary Chief Jay Strongbow and his partner, Billy Whitewolf.

The bad guys consisted of "Magnificent" Don Moracco, Big Bob Duncan, Baron Scicluna (from the Isle of Malta, no less!), "Superstar" Billy Graham and, the one and only George "The Animal" Steele.

Wrestling got hugely popular in the mid-80s and early '90s when Hulk Hogan became champ and lost of all of its charm. I gave up on it then but it still holds a place in my heart, reminding me of a time where I'd do anything to stay up to midnight on a Saturday night, hoping to catch the local broadcast, where guys would be flying off the ropes and landing dropkicks aplenty.

Sing us a song, you're the piano man

Priscilla and I headed down to the Honda Center in Anaheim Saturday for the Billy Joel concert. I reviewed the show for the paper (this is a condensed, edited version of my original review and I'm happy to send the full-length one to anyone who's interested) and we ended up sitting in some choice seats, given to us by the promoter. With no traffic there or back, it was a fun night out indeed.

Billy Joel was a huge star while I was growing up on Long Island. Teens on the Island just loved him for his music and because he was from Hicksville, a town on the Island. It was a case of local boy making good.

And for reasons that still befuddle me, other musical groups that were also popular when I was in junior high and high school included a swath of Southern rockers, including Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Marshall Tucker Band, the Outlaws and, of course, Bay Area legends the Grateful Dead.

Joel played most of his hits to a sold-out crowd of fortysomethings looking to recapture their youth via his music. From his days in the early 1970s, Joel was a hit machine with one No. 1 single after another. He stopped writing pop music a couple of decades ago but remains a huge concert draw, witness his 12 shows a few years back at Madison Square Garden, which is, coincidentally, the first place I saw him in 1980 on the "Glass Houses" tour.

Anyway, here's the set list from Saturday night:

Angry Young Man

California Here I Come

My Life

Everybody Loves You Now
The Entertainer

The Ballad of Billy the Kid

Allentown

New York State of Mind

Zanzibar
Root Beer Rag

Movin' Out

Don't Ask Me Why

Captain Jack

Always a Woman to Me

Keeping the Faith

River of Dreams

Highway to Hell (sung by a roadie, Joel on guitar)

We Didn't Start the Fire

Still Rock 'n' Roll to Me

You May Be Right

Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Only the Good Die Young

Piano Man

Culture shock

The LA County Museum of Art opened up a new wing on Monday, called the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, in honor of philanthapist and very rich guy Eli Broad.

LACMA, which is practically across the street from Variety, is a great place to hang out. It has a few restaurants and a gift shop in case you need to buy a gift for someone who has everything.

Anyway, Priscilla and I gave it a visit … but, alas, tickets to the new portion of the place were sold out so we couldn't see the new exhibit. Tickets were free all weekend and more than 60,000 attended. Maybe next time.

Just walking around was a nice diversion from the malls and shopping complexes that are our usual weekend hangouts.

Here's a photo of me in front, by the lampost installation. I'll leave the light on for you!

L.A.'s hip hangout

We spent last night at the Grove, the superhot spot where all of L.A. hangs out now nowadays.

I remember about 7-8 years ago when the Grove was first being discussed. There were fierce detractors about how about a new shopping complex would destroy the ambiance of the genteel Farmers Market, one of the city's enduring landmarks from the days of Buster Keaton and the Hollywoodland sign.

Well, there's little doubt Charlie Chaplin or Judy Garland could've imagined shopping at an Apple store or American Girl. But would they have objected so much. Everything in Hollywood changes -- from talkies to shopping meccas.

Priscilla and I met a couple of friends for dinner at Cheesecake Factory at 6 p.m. Yeah, that plan went out the window when we arrived to find an 80-minute wait. We dashed across to La Piazza, where a pasta dinner hit the spot. Coffee and cake was had at Nordstrom, where they not only can do a $1,000 suit but a nice mocha as well.

Some folks still can't stand the Grove, with its immense crowds and Disneyland-like feel. Me, I'm OK with it. Just as long as I can find a parking spot.

It's been awhile, part deux

Yeah, I usually don't take two years between posts, but my good friend Bobby P. just began his new blog and linked to mine, so now I feel an obligation to get Stu's News back up in working order. I'll try to post something every day or two to keep things fresh.

So as if we never missed a step, here goes:

Just flew back from Berlin … and boy are my arms tired (Thanks. I'll be here all week. And don't forget to tip your waitresses.)

Seriously, just had my third go-around at the Berlin Film Festival, where Variety puts out a daily paper. I've been the reviews editor on these editions -- we publish at Berlin and Cannes -- and it's akin to a working vacation.

We put in extremely long hours -- about 12 a day -- but stay at nice hotels and are able to enjoy delicious meals on the company's dime. Here's the Marriott Hotel we stayed at. Nice. And right in a great part of town called Potsdamer Platz, where the majority of the fest takes place.

Since I'm working all day, I was only able to catch two movies, but both were very good. Check out the Variety reviews of "Elegy" and "Quiet Chaos."

Luckily, I wasn't forced to endure the Madonna movie "Filth and Wisdom." I have to hand it to her for still being culturally relevant 20-something years breaking into the music scene in a big way … but that still doesn't make her a director.

It sure would nice to attend a film festival one day as a moviegoer and be able to attend 3-4 films a day. One day, just not today.