Category Archives: Uncategorized

My 45-year working career has been varied and full. The first official paying job I held (after three years of mowing lawns) was in the summer of my 15th year when I worked as a janitor at my school stripping and waxing floors. That fall I started working full time as a disc jockey atContinue reading “It’s Good Work If You Can Get a Hobby”

When I was a child there were several absolutes growing up in my mother’s home. There were the obvious good-manner requirements of saying, “Yes ma’am,” “No ma’am,” “Please,” and “Thank you,” along with the typical mom demand to, “Make sure and wash behind your ears. Brush your teeth,” and, “Make sure and use soap whenContinue reading “Breakfast for Supper”

NEW ORLEANS— Every day of my life I wear a small button on my shirt, jacket, or vest— sometimes all three— that reads, “Eat Local.” It’s a professional philosophy and an outward statement of personal conviction. I have dozens of Eat Local pins. They stay on my jackets and suits that don’t go through aContinue reading “Eat Local”

For the past 20-plus years, my final column in December is always a list of the top dining experiences I enjoyed throughout the previous year. In a typical pre-2020 year, I spend a few months working in Italy and a good bit of time travelling across the United States doing research and development for ourContinue reading “RSJ’s Top 10 for 2021”

As a child I started thinking about what I wanted for Christmas around the Fourth of July. I reached a certain age where I was old enough for my mother to take me to her friend’s houses when she went for cocktails, but not old enough to stay home alone and trusted not to wreckContinue reading “The Wish Book”

My neighbors a few doors down started decorating their yard for Christmas a couple of decades ago. At first it just started with a small display in front of the house. Over the years they added new pieces, several new characters, scenes, settings, and festive holiday elements. This isn’t some cheap Clark Griswold-type Christmas yardContinue reading “Radio Days”

It is book season. For many people, that’s the time of year when summer paperbacks are released, or the holiday cookbooks hit bookstore shelves. For me it’s the time of year when I take to the road on an always interesting, sometimes grueling, book-signing schedule. The coffee table art book— and companion guide to theContinue reading “Wake-Up Call at A Gift Shop”

There are three constants that have been ever-present in my life from day one— food, music, and art. For the purposes of this column— and the release of my latest coffee table book— I will focus on art. I am not an artist. Though I grew up in the house of an artist. Tragedy struckContinue reading “Walter Anderson, A Free Man”

ORLANDO— I have had a long history with this city. In the summer of 1972, when I was 10 years old, my uncle took my cousin and me to the newly opened Disney World. I don’t remember too much. But I do remember buying a fake plaster arm cast and a sling at the magicContinue reading “All About the Mouse”