I want to relate a really neat story regarding the band Duran Duran and how they gave my daughter, Dina, what one could call “an early Christmas Card” one spring weekend several years ago.

Dina has been a fan of Duran Duran since she was three and our family has seen them in concert something like eight or nine times over the years.  We had tickets to see them on a Saturday evening in Atlantic City—about a two-hour drive from our home in northern New Jersey—and made plans to stay overnight at the hotel at which they were playing; you know, make a weekend out of it.  The concert venue at the hotel provided what could be called “festival” seating—or, in this case, festival “standing”, because when the band first came onstage, a large throng of spectators rushed forward through the front, non-seating area.  For the entire show, the band’s fans—called “Duranies”—stood something like 20-deep in front of the stage, blocking the view of many.  My daughter, who uses a wheelchair, was tremendously inconvenienced, not being able to see the band at all.   We were forced to stand at the very edge of the stage area all the way to the side.  Not a good situation in which to view a concert, also considering the price of the tickets and the cost of the hotel room for three people.

Duran Duran not only puts on a great show, but they love to make time for their fans. Now that's a Christmas gift!

Seeing our predicament, a man approached Dina and mentioned how difficult it must be for her since she has to be lower than pretty much everyone else.  He asked her if she could make it to Philadelphia–even a longer ride from our home–two days later when the band was to play in a Philadelphia suburb.   As it turned out, he was a member of Duran Duran’s management crew and, being sympathetic to her plight, offered free tickets and access to the members of the band prior to the show two days hence.  Naturally, we could not pass up this invitation!

So, that next Monday, we got on the Turnpike south right after work, arriving in Upper Darby, Penn. at 7:30 for the show that was to begin at 8.   (That the concert was at the Tower Theater was additionally exciting to me because that where the Beatles had played way back 1964.)  We were told that the band would be meeting a small group of fans—which included us, of course—in a dressing room area of the venue, which was down a long, winding group of stairs leading into the theater’s basement.  Because of the wheelchair issue, I had to carry my daughter all that way down to where she could meet the band.  We made it okay and waited quite impatiently on a couch.  After a few minutes, there they were, Duran Duran!  They immediately plopped themselves around Dina, engaging her in friendly conversation and were very accommodating, especially Dina’s favorite, bassist John Taylor.  Finally, after the short visit and several photos, we made the trek back upstairs and were led to our seats, where we again enjoyed—for the second time in three days—another great (and loud) performance.  The long trek home took another two hours plus and it certainly was a bit difficult to get up early for work the next morning; but the thrill of the previous night’s events far outweighed the inconvenience of the next day.

Duran Duran is again appearing in our area in a couple of months and, if she’s lucky, maybe Dina can again finagle her way into experiencing yet another “Christmas card” from her favorite band of all time!

A consummate actor and businessman, Bruce Willis has an enduring appeal to both male and female moviegoers. Bruce is considered a family man and I’m sure his Christmas cards would include his three daughters. Sounds good, but I would love to have a Christmas card with Bruce when he was bald-headed and grinning. Oh yeah, that’s how he looks now, so maybe we could have him send out “then and now” Christmas cards. I, for one, would love to see that grin in a baby pic. For some reason that “I’m up to something, but you gotta love me” grin just makes me melt.

Christmas cards from Bruce Willis? We could certainly "Die Hard" over those!

Bruce Willis was born on March 19, 1955 in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany. His mother was German and his father an American soldier. Willis was the first of four children. His parents moved back to Penns Grove, New Jersey in 1957. Bruce’s parents separated in 1972 when Willis was in High School. After working at several jobs locally, Willis enrolled in drama at Montclair State University. Willis left school in his junior year to move to New York City to pursue his acting career. He appeared in the off Broadway plays, Heaven and Earth and Fool for Love. He also gained exposure in a Levi’s commercial before heading to California for fame and fortune.

Willis was chosen out of 3,000 aspiring actors for the role of David Addison, Jr. in Moonlighting, which lasted for five years. He has since acted in more than 60 films including the Die Hard series, which was a commercial and critical success! He also successfully started the Planet Hollywood restaurants with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Willis is involved in various other businesses and has a variety of real estate holdings.

Willis married Demi Moore in 1987 and they have three daughters – Rumer, Scout and Tallulah. They divorced in 2000, and Willis considered this his biggest failure. He remains friends with Demi, with whom he shares custody and her husband, Ashton Kutcher. Willis married Emma Heming in March of 2009. He is sometimes an active Republican, and is strong in supporting U.S. troops, going so far as to visit the troops in Iraq.

I don’t think I will ever get my dream Christmas cards from Bruce, but he remains on my list of best of the best in personality, and yes, “the IT factor.” Yippey-Ki-Yay Bruce Willis!!!

More than forty years ago, John Lennon and Yoko Ono sent acorns to world leaders to promote the idea of peace.  It was their way of trying to get across the idea that war and strife can be avoided if only people—and countries–would change their way of thinking.  Although the acorns were sent out in the spring of 1969, one could think that it was their way of sending out an early Christmas card.  (It was a few years after that that their audio Christmas card went out—the song, “Happy Christmas (War is Over)”.)   With all the negative goings on happening in the world today, perhaps we need another John & Yoko to come to the fore.

We will be observing the 10th anniversary of 9/11 later this year and we are still a long ways from eliminating the threat of terrorism.  The United States is still at war.  The power struggle in Libya between the government forces and the rebels is still very volatile.  Japan is doing their best to move forward after the devastating earthquake and tsunami and all the nuclear issues threatening the health of their people.  Polarization amongst the different political factions in this country and the gulf between the haves and the have-nots seems to be getting wider and wider.

It just looks like the world is going to hell in a hand basket!

We need someone or some group of people to promote goodwill, whether it be a politician speaking sincerely about the issues that are dividing us all, a musician—through public appearances and/or song—getting the word out, a popular movie or television personality spreading the word, or a world-famous sport figure who can make a difference.  It can be done slowly through that person’s “Christmas card” and then it can be taken from there.  We have nothing to lose.

I would think that after the spiritedly heated 30-minute interview New York sports talk radio host Mike Francesa did with former New York Giant Tiki Barber awhile back that there probably won’t be Christmas cards exchanged between the two this coming holiday season.

When Mike Francesa and Tiki Barber meet the hot air in the room is enough to make an elephant pass out.

Let me set up the scenario for you: Barber, whose ego is about the size of the stadium where he used to play his home games, was a guest on the program, “Mike’d Up” where Francesa—whose large ego is as big as his oversized girth—interviewed Barber about his announced intention to unretire from pro football.  Barber, who joined the staff of the “Today” show (among other media jobs) following his leaving the Giants about five years ago but is no longer working as a television journalist, was appearing to obviously promote himself and his possible comeback.  Francesa, who can be caustic and has never shied away from trying to make sure that how smart he thinks he is always comes through on the air, basically accused Barber of being fired by NBC.  Tiki, of course, told Mike that he didn’t know the whole story.  Francesa, naturally, said “The guys at NBC, and I know all of them (yeah, sure!), they felt that you did a bad job,” and that you were a failure.  Then what followed was a heated exchange between two people who, under most conditions, would never, ever admit that either was ever wrong about anything.

Francesa, for his part, is most of the time extremely well-informed and has been one of the most—if not the most—popular sports talk show host on New York radio for the past 20 years.  He is often overbearing, nasty, belligerent and overly-sensitive when criticized.  Barber, whose big mouth and negative comments regarding his former coach, Tom Coughlin, and former teammate, Eli Manning, had alienated himself from Giants fans who at one time considered him a great guy, was also involved in a contentious situation a year ago when he left his pregnant wife (who was having twins) to take up with a former NBC intern.   So, we’re dealing with two people here who can and have rubbed a lot of us the wrong way many times over the past 15-20 years.  That they squared off against each other on live radio was truly something interesting and memorable and really cemented the feeling in most peoples’ minds that here are few of us who can really stand either one of them for very long.

Who would ever expect to see Robert De Niro posing in such a happy holiday picture?!? After all, most of us see him as a hard core gangster and psycho (on and off the screen). This photo features De Niro posing with the Broadway cast of White Christmas. After the play, he stopped to talk to the cast of the show, and asked someone to take this shot with his own camera. This picture would make a great photo for his Christmas cards. It’s nice seeing Robert De Niro in a more festive light.

You may think of Robert De Niro as a real 'Raging Bull', but it turns out he's just an old Christmas softie.

Recently, De Niro starred in the movie, Everybody’s Fine, which showed the softer side of an actor who always plays a hard liner. This movie is about a man who recently lost his wife. She was the glue that held her family together, and now that she is gone, De Niro, who plays Frank Goode, wants to be with his children around the Christmas holiday. Frank Goode envisions having the perfect cookie cutter Christmas cards holiday, but as we all know, life doesn’t always turn out as planned.

In real life, De Niro has a very twisted and confusing family, for which he must spread himself thin to spend time with them on Christmas. His most recent Christmas cards probably featured himself along with second wife, Grace Hightower, and 12-year-old son Elliot. He also has a son, Raphael, whom he had with his first wife, Diahnne Abbott. To make matters even more confusing, he also has twin sons, Julian and Aaron, who were mothered by his ex-girlfriend, former model Toukie Smith. Imagine all of De Niro’s offspring with their respective mothers posing for a Christmas photo…that would make for one interesting holiday card.