The LuLac Edition #1334, Oct. 16th, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: OUR INTERVIEW LOGO.

INTERVIEW

Not many people get to write a book. I have. I feel humbled and privileged to have achieved that goal not once but a few times in my life. But a good friend of mine actually got in a book. A best seller. Here’s his story:
Q: What book are you in?
A: Jane Levy’s “The Last Boy”. It’s a book about Mickey Mantle.
Q: Levy wrote the biograpghy on Sandy Koufax.
A: Yes that’s when I met her. She actually gave me a copy of the book.
Q: How’d you get in the Mantle book?
A: I met Jane Levy at the Mantle family auction. I went there to see the things the family were auctioning off. I couldn’t afford anything but I went.
Q: That what the author said. She highlighted how you took a day off from work to watch the Mick’s funeral.
A: Yes And then she wrote that 8 years later I was at the auction.
Q: You just weren’t mentioned in the book. You were quoted. Twice.
A: Yep. On pages 16 and 23.
Q: In the preface.
A: Right. She also called me something I don’t know. Uber fan.
Q: Right. That means super fan.
A: Wow.
Q: Tell us about the David Mantle part.
A: There is an incident where David Mantle said that he learned stuff about his father that he never knew. From people like me who were telling him these things. I know a lot of stuff about the Mick.
Q: You have his high school graduation picture right?
A: Right from his Yearbook.
Q: Were you surprised at this, I mean she talked to you a few times.
A: David, I was shocked. She talked to over 500 people.
Q: How did find out?
A: Another friend of mine, Benny (Editor’s note: Benny is the guy who took the You Tube Video of a trip to Yankee Stadium we posted on September 221st, Edition #578 , 2008 of LuLac) called me and started screaming, “You’re in the book” Then he and his wife and I went to dinner and he gave me the book.
Q: Then what?
A: People started calling.
Q: You know you’re in the index too. Right above Jill Martin and below Billy.
A: Yeah, that’s something.
Q: I googled you too.
A: What’s that David? Is that with the computer?
Q: Yeah, I put your name in next to Mickey Mantle’s and there is this quote, the same thing on page 16 that came up. This is bigger than the book.
A: Uh huh.
Q: No it is. You don’t really get this. For the rest of your life on the internet, your name is going to be linked to your hero Mickey Mantle. Forever. For*******(edit)ever!!!! Right on the world wide web.
A: I didn’t realize that.
Q: Yes. And Mrs. LuLac just pulled you up on her Nook.
A: Her what?
Q: A Nook.
A: She bought the book already?
Q: No, a “Nook” is a device that can pull up a book. It's from Barnes and Noble. She’s reading it right now.
A: Wow. But there’s not a hard copy?
Q: No.
A: Oh.
Q: But you’re in the book and on the web. How does it feel?
A: Honored. Feel like I’m a part of history.
Q: Sports history my friend. This is going to be a best seller. And you’re are in the Preface.
A: Yes I am. I think she liked my enthusiasm.
Q: Ya think?
A: Well when I get going on the Mick I can’t stop.
Q: If they did a movie about this book, what actor would you want to play you?
A: As what?
Q: The uber fan.
A: DeNiro maybe.
Q: Now you’re talking. Congrats on this mention.
A: Thank you.
Q: Almost makes you want to buy a couple of copies.
A: Yeah.
Q: Maybe even a “Nook”?
A: Uh, no, no, I’d rather the hard copy. Not that little screen TV thing you’re talking about.
EDITOR'S NOTE: In some of the interviews I conduct, I use as subjects perfect strangers and get them to talk. In some other cases, I talk with my friends. Get them to say stuff they'd never put their name to. As I wrote this article today, I appreciated the fact that I could share this story with you. The level of that emotion didn't hit me until I realized that today's day was the birthday of another friend of mine. I'll refer to her as only JC because I don't know what impact this small note would have on her husband and family who chose not to publicize her death. JC died in mid September after a routine medical procedure that went bad. She would have been 54 today but the last I saw her at the Kirby during an Alice Cooper concert she looked about 38. She loved horses, the mountains and her little piece of land in the Endless Mountains. Sometimes she'd disappear for months at a time leaving a note and regaling us with calls from far away locations. JC met today's Interview subject once and immediately dubbed him Dr. Frank because she met him near the Dr. Frank's Eyewear Place in Kingston. (JC had her own type of logic). As I think about her today on this day she never made a big deal out of, I regret not only her untimely and irresponsible passing but also the opportunity to have her be one of my "Interview" subjects. With JC, it would have been priceless.