Lori and Joe wait for car in Detroit

Originally uploaded by hjoew.

Originally uploaded by hjoew.

Holy crap! It was fun! More later… gotta run to the game…

There’s a lot of people I can call on who know somebody who know somebody. Yeah, I’m proud of that. And this week, thanks to my dear friend Maggie Downs, I now can call Jessica Biel, Brad Pitt and Kate Winslet and that cute little girl from “Little Miss Sunshine” some of my dear near-friends. I plan to use these new relationships sparsely and selectively, so don’t rush me for movie tickets, glossy autographed photographs or seat-holder gigs at the Academy Awards. You’re not gettin’ ‘em. That’s for me - if they call me back.

But if you don’t believe me - or maybe you know Maggie and want to see her in action - check out Palm Spring’s hippest columnist (and Cincinnati’s former hippest columnist) interviewing all the Big Stars on the red carpet at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. She’s like a real “Entertainment Tonight” reporter, but with a background in print (I swear that a good thing, MED).

Last night I spied Sid D’Souza as he served a hamburger to a patron at Cooper’s On Main in Over-the-Rhine. And a I got a photo.

And he told us he was in India…

It’s been a while, but I’ve uploaded more photos to my Web site. Recently added items include photos of my 32nd birthday get-together with family and a few friends and my nephew’s coming-of-age 5th birthday extravaganza. Plus photos taken at the Heart’s Desire Party at the Red Cheetah and ASG’s Civic Engagement Series at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Fairmount, led by Peter Block.

Some days just suck. And today, it appears, is going to be one of them. I just learned that my friend, mentor, veteran journalist and all-around good guy Al Salvato died unexpectedly Monday after complications related to his battle with leukemia. I really don’t know what to say. He was supposed to be fine.
Stunned wouldn’t even begin to describe the feelings I’m having right now. In a profession that is so competitive, impersonal and often cutthroat, it’s rare anyone meets someone like Al. It seemed no matter when I popped by campus or phoned him, he was always ready to talk a little shop. He encouraged me to keep plugging away, even when circumstances and my own will seemed determined to get the best of me. After devastating developments in my own professional life last March, I found my way to the chair across from his inside his UC office. He was his usual supportive self, offering to make calls and quickly jotted down a long list of editors he knew that I should call to look for a new job. This was a minor setback, he assured me. It helped give me the strength to go on a bit more, to keep trying, to remain confident in my abilities as a journalist.

In our often long conversations I learned so much about the business and his passion for it. I liked looking at the framed 8-by-10 house ad from The Cincinnati Post he had on top of his bookcase. It was him, sometime in the 1970s, I think, leaning against a wall, with his arms crossed, wearing a shirt and tie with the sleeves rolled up. The consumate reporter, I would think, looking at the black-and-white re-print. It was obvious he was proud of it, though he’d brush off any references to it. The copy next to the photo spoke of his achievements as a reporter and, subtly, how the readers of The Post should be proud that they get to read Al’s work. It was neat to see.

I couldn’t stop telling him how impressed and proud I was that he influenced such dramatic changes at the University of Cincinnati’s student newspaper, The News Record. When I was a student at UC our paper was not really anything to be proud of. I’d tell fellow students back then I worked at the paper and they’d retort, “Oh, you mean The News Retched.” Even as bad as it was, that place whetted my appetite for journalism (and then the night-side staffers at The Cincinnati Enquirer solidified it when I was a news aide there in the late 90s). I struggled to deal with how bad The News Record was and how much I wanted it to be better. Students today do not have to worry about that. They have Al to thank.
Back then the paper was bad, it was corrupt and the people there didn’t care too much. Al came along and changed all that. A few years ago the paper won “Best Student Newspaper” at the Ohio SPJ Awards. It beat out powerhouses like Ohio University’s student newspaper, backed, arguably, by one of the top-three journalism programs in the country. I could not have been prouder, though I had nothing to do with it. Al did, and I could hold my head high and say, “Yeah, I went to that school.” It was a special moment.

Later Al asked me to join the UC Communications Board. The “Comm Board”, as it is known colloquially, was the big Higher Power that could right wrongs and make sweeping changes to the paper. Back when I was a student I always hoped they’d be the ones to save our paper. It seemed the only hope for fixing all the wacky things that were going on. Now, I would sit on this board and help guide the students into making this paper the best it could be. It was and has been a true honor. Al made that happen.

Al and I last spoke Wednesday about his coup, of sorts: landing The New York Times’ Joe Treaster to keynote our upcoming SPJ regional convention. He sounded a little hoarse on the phone, apologizing a few times for coughing, but saying, overall, he was feeling better. He told me and others he expected to be back at work yesterday. Instead, he died.

An avid runner, YMCA volunteer and coordinator of the Flying Pig marathon, he knew what it meant to be a journalist and be active in his community. It’s something we shared (though not the running - he would have kicked my butt there).

It’s been a rough morning, bleeding now into the afternoon. I just spoke to another colleague who said Al’s wife was by his side when he died. It breaks my heart to think about it. I just sent an e-mail out to 1,500 SPJ members and media people. One of the nice things about being a leader in SPJ is I get to hear about things usually first. So, when I send out an e-mail to so many people, some reply their own thoughts. This time replies, as one would expect, have been exceptional and emotional.
Many have echoed my own thoughts about what a warm, kind, caring, professional person he was, but added that they never knew a better editor, a gentler friend and more competent colleague. Some had known him decades, they’ve said.

I liked one response in particular. Bill Sloat, Cincinnati correspondent for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, wrote me this: “(Al) is probably chasing a story in heaven right now. Or meeting Mencken and John Peter Zenger. I can imagine Mike Kelley handling the introductions.”

I bet he’s right. Another fine addition to that great newsroom in the sky. God bless you, Al. I couldn’t have written it better myself.

View obituary in The Kentucky Post

View obituary in The Cincinnati Enquirer

View story in The News Record

Former News Record staffers, students and friends remember Al

View Pat Crowley’s column in The Kentucky Enquirer

Al Salvato ’s funeral arrangements (confirmed)

Visitation is 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 2, 2006 at Muehlenkamp-Erschell Funeral Home, 427 S. Fort Thomas Ave., Fort Thomas, Ky. Get Directions

Mass of Christian Burial is 11 a.m. Friday, March 3, 2006 at St. Catherine of Siena Church, 1803 N. Fort Thomas Ave., Fort Thomas, Ky. Get Directions

I’ve known Jill Whitesill (ahem, “Jill Baker“) since she was nine years old. Reunited with her in recent months after a long period (she is the cousin of some of my old neighbors back in Colerain Township), in the interim she’s come a long way from the little girl who hung out at the YMCA where I worked into this ultra-cool, kind, hip, thoughtful and community-minded activist. She’s done a lot of growing up during our time apart and I’m happy now that I see her, well, just about everywhere and doing fantastic.

A few days ago I ran into her in Sidewinders Coffee in Northside where she told me about her efforts to help save one of Cincinnati’s many crown jewels, WOXY.com - quite literally the hippest radio station (now only on the Internet) in the universe. Jill has leaped into action. I hope you’ll consider supporting her efforts and save this great radio station.

Here are the details:

First, a Web site with more information.

Hosted By: WOXY.com Message Board Kids
When: 10 p.m., Saturday, March 4, 2006
Where: Alchemize, 1122 Walnut St. Cincinnati, 45202.
Cost: $5

For the past two nights we celebrated the Birth of Sid.
Seems appropriate given the time of year. After all, he is quite possibly the only person I know who could - and has - pulled off three going away parties spanning two months and three days. We are assured this time, though, he is actually leaving.
Dances-in-Suits, as we so affectionately call him, is the best-dressed young professional in all of Greater Cincinnati. Shockingly, at his going away party last night he was not wearing a suit nor a tie, opting instead of the shirt-under-a-sweater. Business casual has changed forever.
No matter. When he does have a suit on there is never a crease or a wrinkle on that premium navy blue or black suit, powder blue button-down shirt and red power tie tied in a double-Windsor knot. And that’s at 4 a.m., standing on Fountain Square. Others? Scruffy and worn from the long day and even longer night before. Sid? Dressed for a board meeting. It’s amazing.
Now we bid a fond farewell to Mr. D’Souza. He is leaving us for India, we think. Indiana? Bangor, Maine? No one’s really sure, but what we hear it’s hard or maybe even impossible to drive there. When he gets back he says he’s going to business school. He won’t say where. It is, apparently, none of our business.
Seriously though, Sid D’Souza is going to be missed. The consummate gentleman, friend, confidant and professional, Sid has been a mainstay on the local young professionals scene long before I arrived back here in Cincinnati in 2003. He has to spare charisma, kindness, charm, a sense of humor, intellect, a stellar smile and a swooning entourage of endearing ladies, not to mention a collection of personally signed and autographed books authored by a Who’s Who of local and national Fortune 500 CEOs who all wish they could be as suave as Sid (and they write it so inside the front flap). Plus, he as a superhero-like ability to wear full business attire even while swimming laps in the YMCA pool and simply amazes just about everyone he meets. Plus, he likes to tell people that he and I met in jail - which is true. And funny.
I’ll miss him and the energy he brings to the effort to keep Cincinnati relevant and hip for young professionals in the area. I have enjoyed our evenings running around Cincinnati, sharing some good laughs and good times. I enjoyed having him as a guest on the radio show this summer (listen to his interview), introducing him to Senor Bumblebee and running into him everywhere I went without him, bringing ubiquity to a whole new level and creating a if-Sid-is-not-at-the-party-then-we-are-at-the-wrong-party criteria to every local event.
As one final parting gift to a good friend, here’s smattering of photos taken at Sid’s Going Away Party: Month II Part II.
Good luck, my friend. We’ll be waiting for the postcards.