After Dark: An Awkward Meeting With O. J. Simpson
IT'S MONDAY NIGHT, DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR LINKEDIN AFTER DARK IS?
You've arrived at the digital party where Social Networking (See our comment section below), Music and Business converge.
IN MEMORY OF DAVID BOWIE
Curtain Time
Opening Number: Cat People - David Bowie
Welcome to LinkedIn After Dark
Perception is everything. Have you ever been mistaken for someone you're not? It happened to me one evening walking home from work when I took an unplanned detour through the lobby of a hotel on Park Avenue in New York City.
A sense of adventure spurred me to enter the hotel that night along with my curiosity about the regal red carpet and two metallic extra large high-beam spotlights out front that pierced a summer night sky growing darker by the second. In retrospect, a carpet and two super-intense spotlights were all it took to draw me in like a moth to a flame.
I walked inside the lobby, looked around and seeing nothing out of the ordinary started to walk out when I was mistaken as a hotel employee by Pele, the world's most famous soccer player (photo below). He approached me and asked if I knew where the hotel's grand ballroom was. I knew the answer to his question and told him that I'd be happy to escort him there personally.
This happened prior to the 9/11 days of heightened security in New York. Given the VIP nature of this event there was a security checkpoint that visitors taking the elevators up to the grand ballroom had to pass through. As it was assumed that I was Pele's friend I accompanied him into the elevator without any questions asked.
Once we arrived on the third floor I steered Pele to the grand ballroom's entrance and he thanked me and walked inside.
I was about to take the elevator back down to the lobby when I noticed that there wasn't a host responsible for seating the hundreds of expected guests that were starting to trickle in. Instead, there was a long table in front of the ballroom's entrance with a few hundred multi-page photocopied alphabetical seating lists containing the names of the attendees and their assigned table numbers.
Seizing an opportunity, I disposed of all the seating plans except for one, situated myself authoritatively in front of the ballroom's entrance and voila! I became the event's instant host/maitre'd. I soon learned that this was a lifetime achievement ceremony for a well-known producer of sports-themed televised events such as the Super Bowl, The World Series and the Olympic Games.
So there I was, the "must-see go-to-person" for celebrity and guest logistics for the evening.
After everyone was seated I took my self-appointed position to the next level and strode confidently into the ballroom to make sure that the event was proceeding smoothly for my new friends.
I walked over to a television cameraman preparing to film the event and told him that he had a great job. "You're the one with the great job" he said. I couldn't have agreed more.
Hollywood Golden Age star and wife of the late great Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall was a guest. Lauren gestured me over to her table and as I bent down to hear what she had to say over the ballroom's noise, she whispered into my ear that her champagne was warm. I nodded in agreement, practically swearing in a french accent that it was totally unacceptable and promptly walked into the ballroom's kitchen unquestioned by an army of waiters, cooks and chefs and shaking my head as if the most horrific catastrophe imaginable had just occurred stated to the group that "Ms. Bacall's champagne is warm!" Someone immediately gave me a new bottle in an ice-filled bucket that I gratefully accepted and promptly delivered to Lauren earning her thanks and trademark wink :-)
Lauren Bacall (Photo Above)
It was then that first I spotted him. He was either sitting at Lauren Bacall's table or one right next to it. I'm referring to O. J. Simpson. I also vividly remember the stunning, suntanned blonde-haired woman seated to his left who looked up at me and smiled. It was Nicole Brown, the soon to be Mrs. O. J. Simpson. I asked them if everything was satisfactory. O. J. looked me in the eye and animatedly remarked that he'd like me to "make like a magician and disappear." An awkward sensation immediately swept through me as a celebrity television sports announcer seated at the table laughed-either to break the tension-or because he truly found the remark amusing.
O. J. Simpson and Nicole
Years later, when O. J. became the main suspect for the murders of then ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman I wasn't amused. I'm still not amused.
Speaking of amusement, let's continue with our exploration into the world of poetry. Here's the inimitable Harvey Keitel reciting It's All in A State of Mind by Walter D. Wintle.
Harvey Keitel (Portrait Above)
Meet This Week's LinkedIn After Dark Mascot - He IS LinkedIn After Dark!
Justin Reilly
I normally use this site on my lunch-breaks so I have never, until just now, read any of your posts with sound (and watching the videos). Oh boy, what a mistake! Reading your post, whilst listening to the tracks, brings a great dimension that I have previously missed.
Thank you Justin. We'll make sure to keep the videos with sound on the show. Let this serve as yet another friendly public reminder to those of you that are reading LinkedIn After Dark without any sound (we know who you are) to please turn up the volume!
LinkedIn After Dark Intro/Theme: Helter Skelter - Paul McCartney
Teagan Geneviene's Nell's Nightclub is Now Open
This Week's Definitely Ready for Prime Time Guest Listers: Anupriya Abnave, Dupe Adeoye, Doug Ales, Qamar Ali Khan, Samira Akpan, Joel Anderson, Justin Bariso, Olivia Barrow, Denise M. Barry, Monica Bazi, Brett Berhoff, Amy J. Biel, Mathew Biju, Kaylaa T. Blackwell, Steve Blakeman, Conor Boden, Jennifer Boggs, Andrew Books, Renee Booths, Laurent Boscherini, Larry Boyer, Downtown Julie Brown, Marc Bulandr, Steven Burda, Antoinette Capesso, Nicola Chambers-Holder, Debesh Choudhury, Richard Ciach, Nick Ciubotariu, Kathie Kinde Clarke, Michael Clarke, Matthew Cohen, Cheryl Snapp Conner, Peter Cook, Margarita Cramer, Marietta Gentles Crawford, Paul Croubalian, John Curran, Anthony Curtis, Tasha Curtis, Kimberly Davis, Dianne Dawson, Juliet de Baubigny, Tess De Marzo, Marielle de Natris, Pascal Derrien, Welcome Richard DiPilla, Milos Djukic, James Dooney, Paul Drury, Michael Durcan, Kushal Ekbote, Sarah Elkins, Barry Enderwick, Donna-Luisa Eversley, Nir Eyal, Odile Faludi, Shona Flack, Tom Foremski, Gregory Foster, Byron Frayne, Phil Friedman, Dan Galante, Cory Galbraith, Lisa Gallagher, Chuck Garcia, Mary Gee, Teagan Geneviene, Jacqui Genow, Tasia Gonsalves-Barriero, Tom Goodwin, Linda Gordon, Roshan Manjunath Gowda, Marianne Griebler, Peter Gruben, Bin Guan, Kent Gustavson, Melissa Harmon, Deb Helfrich, R. Leonardo Helton, Robin A. Henderson, Julie Hickman, Neil Hughes, Welcome Brigette Hyacinth, Shama Hyder, Ivo Iacovelli, Thomas Jackson, Melvin Jarman, Elizabeth Jeanne Dehn, Rachel Jones, Steve Karlik, Suzanne Kelly, Megan Lucas, Joanne S. Kim, Harley King, Artur Kozik, George Kripner, Phil Larabee, Jackie Larson, Glenn Leibowitz, Welcome Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren, Welcome City VP Manjit, Juliet Markby, John Marrett, Catherine McDonald, James McElearney, Bob McIntosh, Brian McKenzie, Arnie McKinnis, Dustin McKissen, Lorena Mena Camare, Laura Mikolaitis, Amanda Mitchell, Nick Mlatchkov, Asim Mohapatra, Francoise Morvan, Jim Murray, Timi Nadela, Lee Naik, Rekha Narayan, Wilka Nascimento, Ian Nethercott, Kaia Niambi Shivers, Bwiko Kyriakos Nyamasyeki, MaryJane Obichere, Joanna Johnston Osburn, Nick Padilla, Adam Park, Paula M. Parker, Thomas Parr, Loribeth Pierson, Becky Ponce, Karthik Rajan, Alex Rankovic, Nicola Ray, Ralph Richter, Salma Rodriguez, Reno Schembri, Kate Schwid, Alex Schitter, Trent Selbrede, Sky Sharma, Vinod Sharma, Soheir Shalaby, Deepak Sharma, Vishal Sharma, Gary Sharpe, Jatin Sheth, Pankaj Shrivastava, Melissa Shull, Robyn D. Shulman, Yvan Sidler, Dan Simon, P. K. Smith, Cheryl Stieffel, Matt Sweetwood, Stephen Templin, Joseph David Thomas, Brynne Tillman, Tai Tran, Thomas Trang, Cindy Tripodi, Shenoy U.K., Natasha Weisheimer, John White, Kellye Whitney, Kiara Imani Williams, Pamela I. Williams, Martin Wright, Gillian Zoe Segal, Marysia Zipser and... Diane Young
Meet Featured Guest: Vincent Bugliosi
Vincent T. Bugliosi, Jr. (/?bu?li?o?si/; August 18, 1934 – June 6, 2015) was an American attorney and New York Times bestselling author. During his eight years in the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, he successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, which included 21 murder convictions without a single loss. He was best known for prosecuting Charles Manson and other defendants accused of the seven Tate–LaBianca murders of August 9–10, 1969. Although Manson did not physically participate in the murders at Sharon Tate's home, Bugliosi used circumstantial evidence to show that he had orchestrated the killings.
After leaving the LA district attorney's office in 1972, Bugliosi turned to private practice and represented three criminal defendants, achieving successful acquittals on behalf of all three—the most famous of which was Stephanie Stearns (referred to as "Jennifer Jenkins" in his book), whom he defended for the murder of Eleanor "Muff" Graham which occurred on the South Pacific island of Palmyra Atoll. The case was the subject of his 1991 #1 New York Times bestselling book And the Sea Will Tell. He turned down opportunities to represent famous defendants Jeffrey MacDonaldand Dan White because he did not represent anyone whom he believed to be guilty of murder. Mr. Bugliosi passed away on June 6th 2015. (Source: Wikipedia).
Bugliosi, along with Curt Gentry, authored the book Helter Skelter in 1974, which presented the account of the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of Charles Manson and the Manson family. He later wrote Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder and Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O.J. Simpson Got Away With Murder.
Notes:
“For a lawyer to do less than his utmost is, I strongly feel, a betrayal of his client.
Though in criminal trials one tends to focus on the defense attorney and his client the accused, the prosecutor is also a lawyer, and he too has a client: the People. And the People are equally entitled to their day in court, to a fair and impartial trial, and to justice.”
"In literature a murder scene is often likened to a picture puzzle. If one is patient and keeps trying, eventually all the pieces will fit into place.
Veteran policemen know otherwise. A much better analogy would be two picture puzzles, or three or more-no one of which is in itself complete. Even after a solution emerges, if one does, there will be leftover pieces, evidence that just doesn't fit. And some pieces will always be missing."
“Since we place so much value on human life, why do we glorify, in a perverse sort of way, the extinguishment of life?
The answer to that question, whatever it is, is at least a partial answer to why people continue to be fascinated by Hitler, Jack the Ripper—Manson.” - Helter Skelter
Vincent's SURPRISE! Theme Song: Paperback Writer - The B52's
INTERMISSION
If you think you know Isvari... Think again!
Here's our past featured guest (see After Dark: The ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME!) Isvari Mohan in perhaps the most mind-blowing TED Talk of them all.
Watch Isvari's amazing TED Talk 'But Why?' Below
Look, I don't really care who the heck you guys are... - But Why?
Did you see it? Here's our official review of But Why? (See video below)
Meet Featured Guests Chip Heath & Dan Heath
Chip Heath is a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, teaching courses on business strategy and organizations. He is the co-author (along with his brother, Dan) of three books. Their latest book, Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions in Life and Work was published in spring of 2013 and debuted at #1 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list and #2 on the New York Times. Their 2010 book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, hit #1 on both bestseller lists. Their first book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, spent two years on the Business Week bestseller list and was an Amazon Top 10 Business Book for both editors and readers.
Dan Heath is a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE center, which supports social entrepreneurs. At CASE, he founded the Change Academy, a program designed to boost the impact of social sector leaders.
Dan is the co-author, along with his brother Chip, of three New York Times bestsellers: Decisive, Switch, and Made to Stick. Amazon.com’s editors named Switch one of the Best Nonfiction Books of the Year, and it spent 47 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. Made to Stick was named the Best Business Book of the Year and spent 24 months on the BusinessWeek bestseller list. Their books have been translated into over 30 languages.
Notes:
Our rational brain has a problem focus when it needs a solution focus. If you are a manager, ask yourself, what is the ratio of the time you spend solving problems versus scaling successes? We need to switch from archaeological problem solving to bright-spot evangelizing.”
“Plans are useful in the sense that they’re proof that planning has taken place. The planning process forces people to think through the right issues. But as for the plans themselves, they just don’t work on the battle field.”
“The first problem of communication is getting people’s attention.”
Chip Heath & Dan Heath's SURPRISE! Theme Song: I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry
Grand Finale: Summertime Sadness - Lana Del Rey
Good night and stay thirsty my friends.
More of our David Bowie Tribute Below
C U Next Monday @ 8:30 PM Eastern Time
Sales and Business at Shiva Industries
9 年Alan Geller. This is something new for me but I enjoy reading and understanding your stand and how beautifully you have managed. Good to read your post.
Business Opportunity Creator - New World New Business
9 年David Bowie had a state of mind. It's what makes a difference in moving from where we are to where we want to be. Thank you for Harvey Keitel and this great piece of inspiration Alan Geller. Thought I would get personal with you and say..Thank you for the inspiration. Every week the party stuns and shares so much its impact is phenomenal on me.Sometimes my water tastes like the Chablis I wish I had bottles of to consume while listening and reading. There is so much to gain from LinkedIn after dark, I'm not sure if you can imagine how beautiful and relaxing it can be. I can have my party and dance anytime, be inspired by your selections - and I'm almost sure the dream fairy visits you after I dream! Okay folks...by now you know DWordslayer is #mushy... much love and thanks. You are super Alan Geller!
CEO & Co-Founder Aitana Kumar
9 年Thanks ever so much Alan Geller for always including me in your prime time guest list. Your show has grown in stature and I congratulate you for the unique way you have managed to entertain your fans & followers.
Lead Product Management and Delivery at CDK Global ? Executive Leadership ? Solution Development ? Strategy ? Certified ? SME ? Retired Military ? Blacksmith
9 年Great party honoring David Bowie
No longer using Linked in as of 20th May 2021 - Thanks for the 7 years here to everyone. Learned much from you all on the way.
9 年John Martin definitely represents the spirit of collaboration whether it is in conjunction with Swedish House Mafia or Avicii and it is this same co-writing sense of collaboration which is hallmark of David Bowie, especially that amazing video of him working with a young and unknown singer Luther Vandross. That is what also makes the Coldplay story is so true to when Bowie replied "not one your best" - and that captures both the spirit of his honesty and the surprise that made everyone laugh in the studio. Bowie loved experimenting but not just to dabble a little here or there, but to reinvent in a way that produced something entirely new - because he had the faculties to listen deeply and reimagine music or how a piano is played etc even when it might be tiring for the people co-inventing with him, all of them recognized that something new and magical would be labour of love. Personally for me, much of what I really like about David Bowie is captured in the naming of his son "David Zowie Haywood Jones". His son is very successful today and his success is as a Jones and not as a Bowie - so David Bowie knew where he came from, knew who he was, knew that he was Jones and not the creation he called "Bowie" - but he did way more than that in the name of his son, he playfully combined Ziggy and Bowie as Zowie - which says that he pays respect to his creations, but what I find far more fascinating is his inclusion of Haywood in Duncan's name. Haywood as it turns out is the surname of the daughter born to his wife Iman from a prior marriage to Spencer Haywood. By including Haywood in this sons name, he is telling Duncan that this daughter is family - no creation we admire is greater for me than the exhibition of that deep sense of love and family. The dark side is not the evil side, and Bowie was not afraid to operate in the dark side because it represents a healthy state of being not to be afraid of the total sense of who we are, rather than the partial sense of what we cling onto because we are so deathly afraid of exploration of all that is our life. That darkness does not submerge his consciousness because this is a honest expression of an honest guy - and an incredibly nice guy who could not help himself smiling brightly and with a down to earth spirit - one which could equally move in cognito in public spaces without people even realizing he was David Bowie, as well as creating his art and living a complete life. In this regard Bowie went well beyond bright spot evangelizing, because we don't need to if we are genuinely a free spirit. Yet he was more than a free spirit, he encapsulated art with supreme business acumen - and in the process doing to financial things what he did with musical things - make them emerge differently in pure innovation - and Bowie Bonds is but one example. David Bowie was a shining symbol of goodness in an industry that can be evil and that evil is what drove Charles Manson further into evil. To associate dark with evil is totally wrong because that is in one part a throw back to racism. I do not care if someone wants to challenge that view I see, because they are not looking at the same soap advert I did as follows: Pears Soap Advert https://brobible.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/pears-soap3.jpg Dark and light for me is a continuum of intelligence and evil such as O.J.Simpson is an assault on that intelligence - and the evil that Charles Manson tried to justify with Helter-Skelter, is not someone who is psychologically disturbed to think the Beatles are sending him a message, but someone is psychologically evil. This society has to separate mental illness from evil. What Manson inspired was evil of the worst sort - if we think that radicalization is the name we give to terrorists, we need to put all these people into the same bucket - and that bucket is called brainwashing and drawing upon evil to create more evil. David Bowie represents the complete antithesis of evil. Even if someone with an evil intent wanted to show us that Bowie was not who he was, we have way too much of Bowie on record to know that firstly Bowie knew himself better than any of us, secondly he was a genius which sets him apart, thirdly he was at the extreme of the nice people side of the spectrum. Bowie did know that he wasn't David Bowie - and that is his artistic genius and the greatest gift he left behind, is the same gift we have the capacity to discover, which is the love of our family - in Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones - that is the sign-off to a great life, in the album Lazurus, that is the swansong to his professional work and to his genius of artistic expression. [CityVP Manjit - 04 Feb 2016 - Thinker & Mind]