http://www.benjaminwagner.com New York City Singer/Songwriter, Journalist & Filmmaker Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:35:30 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Hollywood feeds on its young. To celebrate the thirty-seventh anniversary of my birth here, then, is not without irony. To be away from home and enduring what is typically the most challenging week of the year only added insult to injury. I woke, fittingly, to AT&T's oft-heard ringtone, a ... http://www.benjaminwagner.com/2008/09/05/37/ My hotel room is bigger than my apartment. Downtown Los Angeles sparkles outside my east-facing windows. The Hollywood sign is out the north. Last night after work, I pulled my Hyundai into valet as Kate Walsh and the cast of "Private Practice" walked a red carpet across the parking ... http://www.benjaminwagner.com/2008/09/04/hollywood-roosevelt-hotel-1023/ Abbi and I were in Seattle for a pal's wedding this weekend. We were full-on tourists. We had a great time riding the ferry to and from Bainbridge, jogging along Peugeot Sound, rambling through Pike's Place Market, and staring out from the Space Needle. We ate fresh seafood and ... http://www.benjaminwagner.com/2008/09/02/in-the-shadow-of-seattle/ http://www.benjaminwagner.com/2008/09/02/seattle-washington-fall-2008/ Sometimes, when I'm traveling somewhere distinct from my normal routine -- say, Nantucket, or Bray's Island -- I find it difficult to imagine anywhere else. I think I even remember when it started. I was sixteen-years-old snapping a photo from the double-yellow lines of a traffic-strewn Champs Elysées when I ... http://www.benjaminwagner.com/2008/08/28/the-miracle-of-showing-up-part-ii/ "New York is all about what could be," says David Cloyd, a 34-year-old musician who moved to the city from Austin ten years ago. "You know: The potential. The possibilities." New York Magazine is the source of Mr. Cloyd's quote, at least partially responsible for my sense of urban, upwardly-mobile aspiration. ... http://www.benjaminwagner.com/2008/08/26/at-least-well-leave-before-we-have-to-go/ I figure it takes a special kind of someone to wake up at 5:30 on a perfectly good Saturday morning, lace up the Asics, and run around the city for three hours. The really special someone, though, is the teammate who runs it with you. Yup, that was Abbi and ... http://www.benjaminwagner.com/2008/08/25/eighteen-more-reasons-to-love-her/ "Mister Rogers Talks To Parents About Divorce" premiered on Sunday February 15, 1981, just as my parents' marriage was falling apart. Unfortunately, it took twenty-five years to learn of the show's existence, and until this afternoon to see it myself for the very first time. All I knew of Susan Stamberg's relationship ... http://www.benjaminwagner.com/2008/08/24/remembering-the-crash-site/ Despite these challenging economic, political and existential times, the first three quarters of 2008 found Benjamin Wagner Deluxe, LLC, on solid ground thanks to a technological innovation, new product development, and the recent merger will Keller Industries. Q4 looks to be similarly stable and rewarding for shareholders. Here's a preview ... http://www.benjaminwagner.com/2008/08/22/fall-on-me-or-q4-in-a-nutshell/ Listen, I'm the guy who tears up during Gatorade commercials. Still, I gotta' say, I don't remember ever being moved by the Olympics. Until now. Sure, that the opening ceremonies were lip-synched and CGI-enhanced is weird, telling, and a bummer. And that NBC's coverage is chocked-full of hyped-drama, political softballs ... http://www.benjaminwagner.com/2008/08/19/the-thrill-of-victory-and-the-agony-of-defeat/