tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77181782011-07-14T17:28:45.980-04:00Jim Van Nostrandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12244561350886559296noreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1091284244814889202004-07-31T09:51:00.000-04:002004-07-31T10:31:49.666-04:00

Back home, I'll try to answer the question I posed last week: "Why go to Boston?" I got out of it what so many others did: Access. As a reporter, I came away with invaluable contacts in political and entertainment circles -- just as, I'm sure, lobbyists got their access to politicians and grass-roots delegates got access to politicians and protesters got their access to the media. Balloon-drop

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833525780408689045noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1091130477994015042004-07-29T15:45:00.000-04:002004-07-29T17:34:13.666-04:00

One hallway at the FleetCenter is lined with tables, each with a radio control board, a couple of chairs and two microphones. Seems like every radio talk host in America is set up on "Radio Row" for the convention. At any given moment, several dozen wonks, members of Congress, celebs and such are being interviewed. Moments ago, I caught Air America's Al Franken and Fox News' Sean Hannity actually

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833525780408689045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1091084349292064342004-07-29T02:58:00.000-04:002004-07-29T18:20:22.493-04:00

There's certainly a diversity of entertainment in this town. Take Wednesday night. At the posh Louis Boston, the Red Hot Chili Peppers  headlined an event. (I'd mention the sponsor, but the heinous, umbrella-wielding press-list gatekeeper turned me away, even though I'd cleared an invitation.)  The rope line offered glimpses of Alyssa Milano, Richard Schiff, Richard Kind (a Bucks County boy),

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833525780408689045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1090996300048751522004-07-28T01:38:00.000-04:002004-07-28T19:01:19.880-04:00

What is going on in Boston? From 8 a.m., when state delegations start their days over muffins in their hotel meeting rooms, till 2 a.m, when the bars close, there's something going on. The most diligent delegates spend all day in meetings, ostensibly to work out party issues, before they wend their way through security in midafternoon to go to the FleetCenter. Most delegates balance meetings with

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833525780408689045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1090954843711726942004-07-27T14:51:00.000-04:002004-07-27T17:12:06.360-04:00

I spoke with Philly's Patti LaBelle before she went on stage Monday night to wrap the evening's convention speeches by singing the Sam Cooke number "A Change Is Gonna Come." What brought her to Boston? "America is going to the dogs," she said flatly. "I'm hoping we can have honest people around, The climate is pretty scary." Contacted only recently by the DNC, she says she cut short an island

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833525780408689045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1090906717196945672004-07-27T01:20:00.000-04:002004-07-27T15:54:21.850-04:00

Ran into Jerry Springer a half-hour ago at a big bash thrown by the Democratic Governors Association, which took over Rowes Wharf on Boston Harbor. The Chicago-based Springer is a delegate from his home state of Ohio, and he acknowledged that he's been getting more face time than the average Ohio delegate because of his celebrity. I've ran into a dozen or so delegates over the last two days, and

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833525780408689045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1090873102574768462004-07-26T16:16:00.000-04:002004-07-26T16:18:22.576-04:00

Saw WCAU-TV (Channel 10) anchor Renee Chenault-Fattah shlepping kids Cameron and Chandler (in a stroller) through her hotel. They and her mother are in town with her husband, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah. Chenault-Fattah is not working, unless you count diapering.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833525780408689045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1090823894998116152004-07-26T02:36:00.000-04:002004-07-26T03:16:51.450-04:00

Had to mention a New Jersey connection we found at the Urban Outfitters stores in Cambridge and Boston. They just started stocking toilet-paper rolls -- bearing either the face of John Kerry or George W. Bush and carrying the campaign slogan "This message has been approved." You won't take the price sitting down. Urban Outfitters marked 'em at $12 a roll. The TP is the creation of Ventnor

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833525780408689045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1090822604027355772004-07-26T02:16:00.000-04:002004-07-26T07:36:58.906-04:00

Had this choice Sunday night: Join a gazillion revelers at "The Jumpoff," a party sponsored by Rock the Vote that was to feature a drive-by from the Clintons, as well as entertainment by the X-Ecutioners and a DJ set by Biz Markie. Plus perhaps an appearance by Ohio delegate Jerry Springer. Or... Be the lone newspaper reporter at a fairly private soiree thrown by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833525780408689045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1090787161925396092004-07-25T16:16:00.000-04:002004-07-25T18:57:03.920-04:00

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge at a Comcast-sponsored youth-vote program called The Power of 1.  Ben Affleck and Danny Glover headlined a panel to highlight the importance of voting. D.L. Hughley emceed. (Line that killed: "You're young and you're talented -- that's why you have a way to grow up to marry Britney Spears.") In the hallway beforehand,

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833525780408689045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1090760534200532832004-07-25T08:42:00.000-04:002004-07-25T11:33:34.826-04:00

Even grizzled, hard-to-impress, convention-savvy media types were amazed by last night's welcome party for the thousands of journos at the new Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston, which I hear set back the Boston Globe and Boston 2004 committee $700,000. Booze flowed at many open bars. (One drink: a 'Razz the Vote," consisting of Stoli Razberi and Ocean Spray cranberry juice. Ocean

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15833525780408689045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7718178.post-1090539842245308892004-07-23T14:53:00.000-04:002004-07-25T00:44:58.566-04:00

Why? Why go to Boston for the Democratic convention? The town will be packed with 15,000 some odd (and some really odd) journalists, 5,000 delegates, thousands of fat cats, lobbyists, pols, aides, campaign financiers and combinations thereof. (Oh, and one presumptive candidate.) And traffic. And a major security detail. Why go? I'm not as interested in the raw politics as I am in what and who

Jim Van Nostrandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12244561350886559296noreply@blogger.com0