From The Vault: A Night To Remember - The Kenner Star 2000

            A lot of people in the New Orleans area know about Willie Pastrano, the light heavyweight boxing champ who died in 1997. I had a chance to meet Willie when I did my radio show on WWL-AM.  One of the best conversations I ever had.  I remember another boxer named Willie, and knowing him led me to one of the most memorable nights of my life.

            His name was Willie Pep. He was a featherweight out of Hartford, Connecticut  and he won more professional boxing matches than anyone before or since: 230 out of 241 fights.  He might have won more if a chartered plane crash hadn’t almost killed him. It merely slowed him down. There was no more exciting boxer than Willie Pep. His fights with Sandy Saddler are regarded by many as the wildest ever held.

From The Vault: The Unsinkable Edwin Edwards - The Kenner Star 2010

    I cannot remember the first time I met the man, but I do remember the first time I ever appeared with him on stage. I had received a call from a member of a local women’s business organization, who said her group was staging a mock awards program to make fun of New Orleans media types. They were calling it the Eddy Awards because they wanted me to co-host it with Governor Edwin Edwards. I said, “Does he know about this?”
    The lady replied, “Sure, he loves the idea.”
    So that was how I found myself on a stage in front of a rather large audience doing standup with the Grey Fox (that was one of the more polite nicknames given to the man usually known as Fast Eddy). The show was such a hit they asked us back to do it again the next year.

From The Vault: Scrapbook Memories- The Kenner Star 2009

    This past April 16th marks 36 years since I drove my ‘68 Volkswagen into the city of New Orleans, ready to go to work in radio. I recently came across a file folder I have kept over the years containing items connected with celebrities who have passed through New Orleans, or were gracious enough to take the time to talk to me by phone on the radio. So without further ado [I have never had any idea what an “ado” is], I will ask you to sit back, relax and travel with me through 36 years of time  I do need you to believe me when I tell you I am literally going to go through this memorial mess as I write this column. There will be no arranging in chronological order, no sorting, no sifting. I will simply relate to you a little something about each piece of memorabilia as I come to it. It’s a “live” show, folks.
    Now, the first thing we have instantly makes a liar out of me. It’s not from New Orleans, and not from the last 36 years. It’s a letter, dated July 7, 1970, from World War II hero Audie Murphy.

From The Vault: The Incredible Shrinking TV Screen - The Kenner Star 2010

    Lest you think that news teases in newspapers, on TV and on the web are my only gripe, (as I complained in 2008), think, as they say, again. Possibly of bigger concern to me is the way our TV screens are being cluttered these days, not just in newscasts, but in regular television programming. You cannot watch a drama, sitcom or movie without some animated promo scooting across the bottom of the screen taking up a minimum of a third of the picture. This, in addition to the permanent ID logo in the lower right hand corner. There are some exceptions, including Turner Classic Movies which sometimes removes their little logo in the lower right, and once in a while PBS will show you graphic-free TV.

From The Vault: Kissing Tammy Wynette - The Kenner Star May, 1998

    “No Show Jones.” That’s what they called him. If country singer George Jones was scheduled to perform at a certain time and place, you could make good money by betting that he would not show up...at all.  That’s what happened in the early 1980's when the hard drinking Jones was booked into the old  3-D Lounge at Chateau Village in Kenner.
    Of course, I had no idea that he wouldn’t show. I was thrilled that I was going to get to meet and interview a country music legend: “He Stopped Loving Her Today”; “The Race Is On”; “We’re Gonna Hold On” (with his wife Tammy Wynette); “She Thinks I Still Care” and many more. Yes, I had been stiffed by Johnny Cash, but I was putting my money on old George. Even though he had set the all time show business record by missing 54 performances in a single year , he just couldn’t be a no-show in Kenner.
    But as the time for the show came and went it was clear that George Jones was not going to make it to the 3-D Lounge. (Rumor had it that he was passed out at a motel on Williams Blvd. on a drinking binge with his old friend Johnny Paycheck.)
    A few weeks later, George’s ex-wife Tammy Wynette was scheduled to appear at the 3-D. The “First Lady of Country Music” showed up looking fine and gave an unrivaled performance that included  her big hits “Stand By Your Man”and  “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.”

From The Vault: My Brushes with Royalty -The Kenner Star May,2011

    The last time I was in Westminster Abbey was in the early 1980's. My most memorable moment came, actually, as I was leaving the building.  As I stepped out into the noon-day sun, along with the other mad dogs and Englishmen,  I heard a loud voice above the din of the taxis and double decker buses: “Hey, Ed Clancy. How ya doin’?”

From the Vault: MY Brush with Royalty - The Kenner Star 1997

    The death of Princess Diana has spawned a sea of ink and a mountain of print, and so I guess it’s my obligation, as a “journalist,” to add to the volumes that have already been written about “the people’s princess.”  I realize that by the time you get to see this you may have had your fill of “Candle in the Wind.” 

From the Vault: Jesse Jackson, Pete Fountain and My Mother - Kenner Star 2005

    I know you just can’t wait to get to the part in this column that explains the connection between two national celebrities and my mother, so here we go.
    Years ago my mother, Lucille, was in town and we lunched at atrium of the Hyatt Regency. Somehow the conversation got around to my mother “seeing things.” 
    “You know, Eddie,” (she always called me “Eddie,” and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it), “sometimes I think I’m seeing something when I know I can’t be.” I didn’t know what to make of that comment, but I did know that my mother’s concentration was not the best.
    “Whatever do you mean, mother?” I asked.
    “Well, I think I see somebody who couldn’t possibly be here.”
    “Who is that, mom?”
    “Jesse Jackson.”

From The Vault: I Knew Deep Throat - The Kenner Star 2005

    The revelation that a guy named Mark Felt was the mysterious Deep Throat of the Watergate scandal was not as big a deal to me as it might have been to a lot of other people. Over the years I, frankly, have had very little interest in who he was because I had already met Deep Throat. No, not Mark Felt. I met the real Deep Throat: Hal Holbrook.

From The Vault : Judy Judy Judy - The Kenner Star 1999

    From 1999 I present a piece I did on the lady known in the gay community as "Miss Judy Garland."  The main reason I am presenting this particular column at this particular time is that I have recently discovered the original interview, which was done on an ancient Uhrer reel to reel tape recorder in 1967 and I hope to soon transfer it to digital format which you can access here.

                                  Judy Judy Judy

 

From The Vault: The Caliph of Clink - Kenner Star 1996

    I was really anticipating a great afternoon of baseball in front of the tube.  LSU was playing Miami in the College World Series in Omaha.  Actually I have not followed professional  baseball all that much since I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, and college baseball got, basically, none of my attention at all.
    As the first few innings went along, I was only mildly involved, and was actually nodding off as I lay on my beanbag in the den. Then it happened. 

From The Vault :Traveling With Father Clancy - Kenner Star 1998

    As a good Catholic boy, I am aware that many mothers of same, at one time or another, think about their sons becoming priests.  Frankly, my mother never mentioned the subject to me, but I have always wondered what she would have thought about one episode of my life that gave me a chance to see things from the other side of the collar.

From The Vault : Pardon My Blooper - The Kenner Star from 1998 & 2010

   Turn on a TV set any day this week and you’ll hear  words we couldn’t say on the air when I was starting out in broadcasting. Cable TV notwithstanding, it seems any show that wants to stay on the air has to have a few of “h” and “d” words. But now the dreaded “a” word has crept into nightly prime time television,  along with a couple of “b” words. In the old days, the only way those words got on the air was accidentally,  in “live” shows. We called them Bloopers.

From The Vault: Elisabeth and the Easter Bunny - Kenner Star 1996

    It was Easter, 1990.  Elisabeth, my youngest,  was about 9 months old, and was complaining that I never take her to see the Easter Bunny.  (Please note, in some previous columns I have tried to keep my children from embarrassment by not using their real names-- at their request.  I usually refer to them as  Megan and Jennifer. But I now have their permission to use their real names, and so I shall. Besides, I could never remember which one I was talking about).

    But I digress.
    So, I decided to take her to get her photo taken with the Easter Bunny at the  Mall. This is, of course, where children may go see Santa Claus at Christmas time, and, I think,  even a pumpkin at Thanksgiving.     
    Being the cheapskate that I am, I brought along my video camera so I would only have to pay for the still photo and not the video that the concession people would be happy to take for me.
    Although Elisabeth was eager to see the Easter Bunny up close, being only 9 months old she felt she had to pretend to be scared of this person in a costume with an extremely large head.