Number 24. This issue is for the week of September 4--10, 2000.
Happy Anniversary to Corey and Evelyn Castellano, who were married 7 years ago, September 4!
Happy birthday to columnist Mike Smith, who turns the big 4-0 this month! (the 16th!)
Top 10 fallout...and another late start...
It seems I'm forever apologizing for late starts to this, my beloved, weekly online "rag". I've got so much on my mind. Right now I'm thinking about the big filmmaker show I planned for The World of Nolan tomorrow (the 7th) and I couldn't find the tech-director until today (9-6-00). Very stressful. (If I couldn't find him, there'd be no show for the 7th.) So, Im saved. I'd hate to be forced to cancel an important episode. The thrills of public access. I can't describe it. Woo-hoo.
However, I am thrilled at the response our Pop Culture Review reader survey got of Top Ten albums of all time! We've talked about Top 10 movies, TV shows, whatever, before. I never saw anything like this! It just goes to show, music is very, very personal thing to everyone... more than any other form of entertainment. Almost everyone who wrote (or sent private emails, not for publication) now wants to "adjust" their list! The most commonly cited reason: because we were talking all rock, it never occured to them they could include jazz, blues, country, or comedy albums. So....
Mike and I thought it appropriate to ask everyone for their numbers 11 thru 20 Top 10 albums. It'll give everyone a chance to ease their guilty consciences about the records they left out.
Then, in a couple of weeks: The Top 10 WORST albums of all time! (Alternative: the worst idea for an album. Just throw it in.)
Thanks to "Reiki Master", Gary Schineller, for guest hosting The World of Nolan 8-31-00.
Long-time readers have probably put together by now that I'm not what you would call a "religious" man. I was brought up Catholic, but am now "recovered". (altho, it's been said you can never be a fully recovered Catholic--merely "recovering".)
I did not want to host TWON every week when I took over this spot in the schedule, despite my name in the title. A weekly show has to be thrown together too hastily for my taste. TWON was designed to be a series of specials, not a weekly thing. But, I digress...
So I put out feelers among the crew about who might want to host or find a host. My cameraman, Dave Andrews, told me about someone he knew he described (inaccurately) as a "psychic healer". Someone named Gary Schineller from a Metaphysical church in New Port Richey.
I went along with it, with some trepidations, because I like and trust Dave. But I haven't known him very long, so I began to have misgivings that his guest was going to present some kind of psychic informercial or something. I insisted on speaking with him personally. I'm glad I did, because there was a communication gap from the git-go.
Gary was immediately warm and friendly and I got a good feeling from him in minutes. Turns out he actually objected to the "psychic" reference and told me about Reiki (RAY-kee), his mind/body/spirit healing discipline of which he's a master and teacher. His unusual proposition: he would host for the hour by talking to a couple of his students--a la a quasi-therapy session--and take audience calls. One of his guests was healed from a terminal disease (the name of which she doesn't want publicly ID'd) with the power of Reiki! This started to sound like a cool show.
Well it was a cool show. I learned about this discipline/philosophy for the first time and got a great show in return for it! (My skeptical friends have given me criticism for sponsoring something like this, but I don't regret it.) The basic premise of Reiki as I gather it: you are never sick; you are out-of-balance. You don't "have" diseases; you are "diagnosed". Since you are a part of God and God can't get sick, you must not be sick, just not right with God or your world. Stress counts as a common indicator of this kind of imbalance. And he quoted the Bible often. However, I wouldn't call this a Christian religion. There were no references I heard to that. So, it may not be for everybody..
I am grateful to Gary Schineller and his guests/students John Baldwin and Angela Clements for making the 8-31-00 show a success. I'm putting his tape copy in the mail today! (Since he lives in New Port Richey, he couldn't get the access feed from Tampa.)
When Lightning Strikes.......
The special "World of Nolan" filmmaker episode (9-7-00) a success--even against multiple lightning strikes!! Story and review coming next issue.
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