A Story That Touched My Heart!

Today, my usual Starbucks excursion was derailed.  As I waited in the drive thru lane for my Quad Expresso Macchiatto with foam to the top,  I was told by the Barista, that the steam machines were not operating, therefore, No Starbucks!  Disappointed, I drove off, knowing that I would visit another Starbucks on my radar.

Upon arriving at that Starbucks, the Barista, an Asian woman I have known for five years, smiled as I walked in.  She didn't even ask me for my order- as she remembered my drink. We chatted for a few minutes, since I hadn't seen her in awhile.  I asked her how her daughter was.  She replied, "She's going into the third grade!"  "What?"  "Where has the time gone"?  I said.  When I first met her daughter, she was three years old.  Now she's eight!

She proceeded to tell me about her daughter's dream to become an Olympic Ice-Skater.  I smiled as she was telling me the story.  She said her daughter, Monica, went as far as drawing a picture of an ice-skater, with spotlights shining on her, and put it under her pillow one night, and told her mother that she was going to dream about being an Olympic Skater!  Tears welled up in my eyes.  The thought of an eight year old, having a passion to be an Olympic Skater and knowing that she will achieve her dream.  The woman said, "I am not sure where she is getting this from, because I was never like this!" She's telling everyone, her teachers, her friends." I looked at her and said:  "You have to make this happen!"  Smiling she said, "Yes, I don't know how I am going to do it, being a single mother, but I will do everything I can to help her achieve her dreams but it's going to cost a lot of money!"

As I left Starbucks, I thought to myself.  There is something very special about that little girl.  To have not only the dream and the passion to know what she wants- at eight years old, but then to visualize it on paper, is very powerful.  I am sure she doesn't even know about "The Secret!"

I  believe that there are no coincidences in life.  There's a reason I went to this other Starbucks.  Perhaps it was just to hear the story - of a little girl - who's dreams and passion inspired me, or a lesson to be learned.  Perhaps it was just to share this story with you.

Whatever the reason, I walked away knowing these things: The power of thought + passion = achieving your dreams.  To achieve those dreams, you must focus.  Pinpointing exactly what you want - not what it will get you is the message.  This eight year old was focused on being an Olympic Ice-skater.  She visualized how it would look.  She didn't visualize any other desire. 

Perhaps that is the lesson for each of us!

A Show Was Born....On the Red Carpet of Spam-a-lot!

My first Radio on-air experience began with the interview on Regenerative Medicine.  But what followed was more like the Divine Intervention!

I received a media alert about covering the opening of Spam-a-lot at the Wynn in Las Vegas.  At that point in my life, I had never been on a Red Carpet, nor a celebrity studded event.  The roster included

A- list celebrities including Diane Sawyer and her husband Mike Nichols. In my mind, all I was hoping for was to get a glimpse of George Clooney.  I had no idea if George would be there, but my intent was to make sure I was there if he was!!!  I was determined to meet him - (which I did at a later time!)

The Red Carpet was overwhelming.  I didn't quite expect what I found.  Wall to wall people, cameras,  and reporters all jockeying for position in the line - all wanting to get first dibs on whoever appeared first.  I was placed at the very end of the line - the place where the celebrities couldn't wait to get off the Red Carpet!  I was nervous.  I didn't know what to do - I wasn't totally prepared, because I didn't have Google with me.  I was positioned between the woman from the NY Times and Richard Abowitz who was reporting for the LA Times.  Norm Clarke, The Las Vegas Confidential, from the Las Vegas Review Journal was milling around.  I was still focused on getting into the party...where I would find George!  (Great imagination!)

John O'Hurley, his wife Lisa, and their newborn baby were the first to arrive on The Red Carpet.  I was listening to all the reporters ask questions... they all asked the same ones.  I became a little discouraged, thinking if I was a celebrity, I would be bored with the interviews after the second person.  It was at that moment I decided I didn't want to ask any questions.  I would rather interview them for twenty minutes in the radio studio where I could get one on one time.

I just watched and listened.  At this point, Norm Clarke started to badger me to get in the line to ask questions.  I replied, "No, it's ok...you go ahead."  I listened to Richard Abowitz's questions, and he was the only one to impress me.  I thought, "Wow" this guy knows his stuff.  I need to stay close to hear what he has to say!"  The next in line was Eric Idle, one of the creators of Monty Python.  Norm, once again was harassing me to get in line.  I was perfectly content in listening to Richard.  I stuck my microphone out there just to record what he was saying so that if I needed the soundbites, I would have some good material.

Next up, Robin Williams.  Now Norm is yelling at me to get in line to interview Robin.  I told him sternly, I don't work for you....what's the deal?  I don't want to interview Robin!  What am I going to ask him that five people in front of me already asked?"  Norm just looked at me and said, "Well, I'm not interviewing him...he's all yours!  At that exact moment, Norm jumped out of the line, and standing right in front of me, was Robin Williams.  I looked at him and smiled.  He smiled back.  Seconds felt like an eternity!  I had no idea what I was going to ask him.  All I could think of was his days as Mork!  That wouldn't work!!!! I smiled again...here's where the Divine Intervention took place.  I said, "Hi"... pausing.....smiling again! You can see Robin getting agitated.  I had to come up with something...Now!   I looked at him and said...."I'm the Vegas Insider....give me the scoop on something in your life that no one knows about!"  Robin stopped his antics...looking at me inquisitively  - and said... "What???"  I said... "Tell me something that no one knows about you... give me some shit!"  You know...dirt!!!"  He started to laugh...and rattled something off...

I am not sure what he said, or even where that came from, but I knew something just happened! I didn't have time to fall on my knees and thank the Lord,  Steve Martin was next up.  Looking at Steve, I said, this time more confidently, "I'm the Vegas Insider - give me the scoop on something in your life that no one knows about".  He laughed, catching him off guard as well.  He said -" OK - I am writing a book that no one knows about - and started to tell me about his book, "Born Standing Up!"

Next was Ben Vereen... and the Dancing with Stars guys, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Tony Dovolani.  Maks professed that he was not having an affair with his partner.  He lied!  And....I called him out on it!  He hugged me after that!  Smooth operator that guy!

Everything else after that was a blur.  I never did get into that party.  George Clooney was not there.  I actually forgot about him - for a brief moment!

What occurred on the Red Carpet that night changed my life!  Born on the Red Carpet to Spam-a-lot, was, "The Vegas Insider!"  That became the name of my radio show, and the very last question I would ask my guests during their interview.  Quite confidently I would ask, "I am the Vegas Insider, give me the scoop on something in your life that no one knows about....."  The answers I received....well...that's a whole other story!

An Opportunity That Surprised Me!

Several years ago, I had the great fortune of having my own radio show.  At first, I was thrilled at the opportunity.  But then, I became nervous.  I began to think it through.  I had Television interviewing experience, but Radio was a whole other story.  To be an interviewer on Radio, you had to be more animated, much more interesting, and you had to tell the story with "theater of the mind!" There weren't any pictures to help the listener "see" what you are talking about.  It was then I realized that I was in "way over my head!"  I thought I could tiptoe out of the situation gracefully, but the station manager was adamant.  "You can do this," he said.  I had my doubts. Taking a deep breath didn't help.  My adrenaline was pumping, heart racing, and  panic attacks set in.  The only thing I could think about was that I had to research my topic and be on top of my game.  The topic:  Regenerative Medicine!  I am laughing now, but at the time I thought to myself, what the hell do I know about this topic? 

Google to the rescue, I researched everything I needed to know about Regenerative Medicine.  Fortunately, there was a connection in my life.  One of the largest research centers on this subject was Duke University.  Living in North Carolina, and knowing about Duke - I had made a connection.  Pages upon pages of research was done.  I felt as though I was writing a thesis on the subject - I could have gone to Grad School if I really wanted to do all this work!  In the end, I felt I was fully prepared.

The day of the Radio Show, I was nervous.  My Production Director calmed my nerves by telling me the beauty in recording a show is that he can edit it.  Music to my ears.  The guest came in.  He is the President of Nevada's Biotechnology and Bioscience Consortium and the Executive Director of Regenerative Medicine Organization.  His title intimidated me! Oh, how I wished I paid attention in my Science classes.  It was not my favorite subject! 


Tape rolled, I was cued to go, the introductions were made, and the interview started. I had a list of questions on a piece of paper, but I didn't even look.  Once I began,  I could see the expressions on my guests face.  I started to feel more comfortable and confident. I felt there was a rhythm to the interview.  Almost as though music was playing in my head.  Each question had a certain tone, and a beat.  I felt like the drummer and the orchestra was following my lead!  Quantum physics couldn't even explain the momentum.  The interview - was flawless!  Twenty minutes felt like five, and I didn't want to stop.  I was bitten by the bug! 

The PR Representative, and my guest were both impressed.  They wanted to know how I knew so much about the subject. They both mentioned that of all the interviews they had done, I was the most versed on the subject.  I smiled, and said:  "This was my first Radio interview!

The look on their faces, was priceless!

Dating in Las Vegas

People always ask,"What is it like to date in Vegas?"  My response, with a laugh has been a multitude of different things:  "It's great if you want to date someone my daughter's age - she's 24."  Or, "Yes fun... especially when you find out that he's married and wasn't wearing his wedding ring!"  Or, better yet, you date someone, who brings his own date along, and then receive a phone call hours later that he is passed out on the Bellagio lawn.  (I didn't even know the Bellagio had a lawn!)  Or, when you discover that he has multiple personalities, and you don't know which one you are talking to.  Yes, dating in Las Vegas is just as colorful as the city.

But my favorite story, by far is the one about the baseball players.  It happened only a few months after I moved here to Las Vegas in 2006. I should have known that this was going to "set the stage" for my dating escapades.

The place:  Tao Nightclub
The event:  a VIP host's Birthday Party

I arrived at the birthday party right on time.  Yet, I was the only one in the room.  I texted the person's who's party it was, and he responded that he was on his way.  I should have known that no one in Vegas is on time for anything...especially their own birthday party.

While sitting against a sofa, two guys walked in.  Attractive guys.  They walked over to me and I asked if they were here for the party.  When they responded, "What party?" I knew they were crashers.  It didn't really matter to me, since I was in this room alone, and now I was in the room alone with two good looking guys.  The conversation continued and I asked what they did for a living.  They both replied, "Baseball Players."  Oh, really? I said, "For what team?"  One said Kansas City and the other Minnesota Twins.  One was a Short-stop, the other Outfielder.  I asked more questions about baseball - hell, I grew up a few blocks away from the Yankee Stadium. I went to all the baseball games. I owned bats, gloves and caps signed by the players. I know a little about the sport!

When the evening was over, the Kansas City Player asked me for my number - which I gladly gave him.

The next day at work, I was telling a coworker that I met two baseball players.  He asked me who they were, and I gave him their names.  About 20 minutes later, he came back into my office, and said, "Those guys lied to you.  They aren't baseball players - at least not for those teams!"  "What?" Not baseball players?  How could they lie to me about that?"  Yes..."Carol," who lived in the South -way too long- couldn't understand how someone could make that up!"  The same "Carol," who forgot that she grew up in the Bronx! The "Carol," who almost forgot where she was living - in the "Land of Make Believe!"

When the Kansas City Player called that afternoon, I asked once again if he played baseball for Kansas City.  The phone went quite for a second... "Ugh.....Yes, I play baseball, but not for Kansas City.  I played for a farm team." He said, "I don't know why I told you that?"  Yes, me either! "What about your friend, the Minnesota Twin player?"  "Yes, he is a baseball player and he played for the Colorado Rockies...not the Twins." Hmmmm...a little detective work was in order!  I got off the phone, and Googled his friend's name, Colorado Rockies Baseball team, baseball card photos, you name it.  What I found, was someone with the same name, but the photo...not even close!

In my book, two strikes and you are out!  Why wait for the third?  I decided that I couldn't go out with the Kansas City Player...even though he was a good catch!

For the last five years, I have been telling that story.  The story of the two Baseball Players, who weren't really Pro Baseball players, but "Players" none the less!  

Fast forward to last week - very close to the anniversary date of the "Meeting of the Players" five years ago.  I was working out in the gym, and happened to glance over at this guy who looked vaguely familiar.  Could it be the baseball player?  I walked over to him and called his name.  He turned around.  I asked if he played baseball.  He smiled, and said "Yes?"  "Pro-baseball I asked?"
He hesitated for a brief second, smiled, and then remembered. He remembered all about me!

Ironically, I never forgot about him either.  The story of the two Baseball Players - I met at a birthday party in Vegas - will live on forever.  Little do they both know, just how famous they have become!

My Uncle Carl

Today would have been my Uncle's 81st Birthday.  Last year, three days before his birthday, I had a premonition that I would never speak to him again.  I told myself, if he didn't answer the phone by a certain time I would call the police.  Sure enough, on March 9, when he didn't answer the phone by 4 PM PCT, 7PM EST, I called the police in Long Island City, NY and told them to break down the door.  They found my Uncle, wedged underneath his bed, still alive.  He thought he was there for two hours.  I knew he was there for two days.  They rushed him to the hospital, and I received a call from the emergency room doctor, telling me that he had a stage 4 massive brain tumor, and they were sending him to Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC.  My heart dropped.  Shocked, that none of us knew, or had the slightest inclination that something was wrong.  I had to break the news to my father - and that was the hardest thing I ever had to do.

I flew to NY the next day, and stood by my Uncle's side.  Not knowing where the knowledge of what to do, or even having the strength came from.  I just knew I needed to be there for him.  When the brain surgeon came in, he gave us little time to make decisions.  He wanted to operate right away.  My Uncle and I told the doctor, that when we were ready, we would tell him.  A life and death decision couldn't be made in a matter of seconds.  The doctor wasn't pleased.  But as I told him - it wasn't his life we were deciding upon.

Looking at my Uncle and holding his hand, I  said, "Well, what do you think?"  He said, "I am damned if I do, and damned if I don't!"  I said, 'Yes, pretty much...but what do you want to do?" He decided to go ahead with the surgery.  I kissed him, and said I would be there the whole time. My Uncle never shed a tear.  He never said, "Why me?" I was amazed by his courage.

He did make it through the surgery.  The prognosis was 10 months with chemo and radiation.  He didn't want to do either.  Three months is all we had.
He died on June 2, 2010.

My Uncle and I had a very special relationship.  Yes, he was my Uncle, yet he was so much more.  He was my teacher and my mentor.  I will always cherish our special bond.

During our last few months together, we talked about so many things.  I brought him a book of poems by Robert Frost.  I asked, "What is your favorite poem?"  He replied, "The Road Not Taken."
I asked why that was his favorite, and he said, "Its all about choices.  About good and evil."  I read the passages of the poem, and replied, "Its not about good and evil, Uncle.  It's about choices.  It doesn't matter what road you take, you will eventually end up in the same place." He smiled at me, and didn't say anything.  I read him the poem.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear,

Though as for the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted it I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

 

You can do anything if you put your mind to it!

Six years ago, on May 5, 2005, the Carolena Campanella Fine Art Gallery opened.  The gallery was named after my two grandmothers; two very important women in my life.  The concept was very different and artistic in it's own right.  It was the melding of antique furniture, Tibetan artifacts, contemporary art, ceramics, sculpture and glass.  Movable walls created visual spaces that changed each month creating rooms within the gallery.  Each room was an art showcase, allowing people to visualize how their home could be designed utilizing art. Everything in the gallery was an art-form.  The walls were faux painted. The floor - decorative concrete.  The lighting was artistically designed.  Architectural elements such as old shutters framed the interior windows.  Steinway agreed to showcase their art-cased pianos that were created by famous artists and fashion designers.  There wasn't another gallery like it in the country. 

This vision, was two years in the making.  As the opening date arrived, the gallery was still under construction.  I was told numerous times by the builder that the drop dead date for completion would be April 21.  I was assured that the gallery would be open on time.  April 21st arrived.  The gallery was a shell.  It remained that way until May 4 - the day before the opening.  Fortunately the flooring was complete, three quarters of the walls painted, and no lighting.  The owner of Steinway came by for a visit, saw the gallery, and remarked how I would not be receiving a piano for the opening.  I begged him to believe that the gallery would open.  After all, 750 invitations were sent out and the gallery would open on time.  He looked at me and said, "Have you looked around?  This place is a construction site!  There is no way you are going to open!  I have built three stores, so I know what I am talking about!"  Defiantly I said, "Just watch me"!  I had no idea how I was going to do this.  Panic was about to set in, when I stopped myself and thought - there are two things you can do, and quitting is not an option.  Plan A and Plan B.  Plan A was moving full steam ahead.  Plan B was moving full steam ahead with options.  As far as I was concerned plan A was all I knew.  The gallery was going to open.

I gathered the troops.  There were seven willing volunteers.
May 4, 2005
3 PM:  A truck filled with antique furniture was waiting outside.  We loaded all the furniture in, knowing ahead of time where everything would be placed.
11PM: We finished the furniture placement, but still had a lot more to do.  The lighting was not complete, the outside still a construction site, and the art still needed to be hung.
7AM - May 5: the artist began hanging her work. A work in progress. Placement of glass and ceramic art around the gallery.
NOON: The Steinway Piano arrived. Painting was almost complete.  Electricians frantically working on the lighting.
4 PM: a bulldozer shoveled away the debris outside the gallery.  Landscapers were laying hay, and placing flowers around the gallery.  Still the lighting was not complete.  We didn't even have power. water or occupancy.  I was assured everything would be OK.
5 PM:  Breathing deeply.  Not sure how this all came together.  Ran home to change, and had to be back before the guests arrived.
6 PM The first arrival of the guests.  I was at the front door, welcoming them to the gallery.  The last of the lighting was hung.  Music was playing on the Steinway. 
6:30 PM:  The owner of Steinway and the featured Glass Artist arrived.

Both stood in the doorway looking in disbelief.  They both saw the construction site the day before.  The Glass Artist, came up to me and said:  "I was here and saw the construction site. I am not sure how you opened this gallery?" "I didn't believe it could be done!"
I looked at him and replied:  "I am not sure how I did it - but I believe there was a bevy of angels around me!"  At that moment, the glass artist told me about the gallery he was opening, and proclaimed that he wanted me to run it.  He said, "Carol, If you could do this, you can do anything you put your mind to!"

That compliment, coming from one of the top glass artists in the world, was beyond belief.  He wasn't one to hand out compliments, nor offer a prestigious job right there on the spot!  I had to decline his offer graciously.  After all, this was my gallery.  I would be happy to showcase his art anytime.

Carolena Campanella Fine Art Gallery was a vision I created.  It began as a dream that I turned into a reality. Right then, I set the bar higher realizing that I could do anything I wanted to.  The key was to have a plan of action, move quickly and believe that this could be done.

When I find myself doubting my abilities, I have to go back to that day on May 5, 2005 - it is then I begin to realize, all over again...if I could turn a construction site into a gallery in less than 24 hours, I can do anything I want.
Stay tuned!