
Brotherly Joy Just a Phone Call Away
My brother and I
If a picture could have a title, I’d call this one Brotherly Joy. I’m the younger boy in the picture. The older boy is my brother Terry who turned sixty in June. My brother and I don’t get to see one another much anymore. I fly back to my home town once a year and we send birthday cards and holiday cards in between those visits. But we stay connected by the telephone. We always call on each other’s birthday, the major holidays, and when one of us feels it has been too long since the last call.
Phone calls
I enjoy those phone calls. There’s an update on how our spouses are doing, a status report on our children, and in his case, the latest on his two grandchildren. We also talk about cars, our lawns, household projects, our jobs, a neighbor or family friend who had recently passed away, professional sports, my golf game, his horse shoe pitching tournament, our sister and her family, our dad, our hometown, and which Mass we attended on that particular weekend.
The calls go on for about thirty to forty-five minutes. We end with a guess as to the next time I’ll be back east to visit. We say goodbye. I then tell my wife what we talked about and I suspect my brother does the same thing with his wife. The gift of our phone calls is one I cherish the most. My brother and I don’t exchange emails, and the cards we send at birthdays and on holidays include signing our names with maybe a line or two about the weather. But on the phone, we open up and have a great conversation.
I light up when I see his number on my caller ID. My moving to California a decade ago put three-thousand miles in physical distance between my brother and me. But the phone calls have, in my opinion, brought us closer together.
Steve Newvine lives in Merced
Hollywood Beckons
Visiting Hollywood
Soon, I’ll be heading down to Hollywood to visit a couple of friends I’ve known for thirty years. I’ve been to the movie and television capitol about a dozen times since moving to California ten years ago. Every time I visit, I learn something new or see something special.
As I wrote in my book 9 From 99 Experiences in California’s Central Valley several years ago, my first visit to Hollywood included a “map to the stars” and a detour that found my friend and I in front of Johnny Carson’s mansion in Malibu.
Beautiful downtown Burbank
Two years later, I was in the NBC studio looking at the multi-colored stage curtain that Johnny passed through during the years he hosted the Tonight Show from “beautiful downtown Burbank”. Since coming to the Golden State, I’ve been in the audience for three television shows:
- The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
- Wheel of Fortune
- Jeopardy!
The Jay Leno experience was interesting because I made my national singing debut on that show… sort of. During one of the commercial breaks, a singer from the house band went into the audience singing the Beatles song Come Together. During the chorus of the song, she’d engage audience members to sing the words, “come together, right now, for the beat.” I was sitting in an aisle seat when she approached me with the microphone. Thankfully for music lovers, that segment was only seen by the studio audience while the rest of America watched a commercial.
Jeopardy!
Sitting in the audience for Jeopardy! was memorable thanks to the game show industry standard of taping multiple shows during one four-hour stretch. Prior to the start of the taping, we were told that we were welcomed to stay for all four shows being taped that day.
That sounds exciting to a former broadcaster, but the reality was that you pretty much have all the studio audience member excitement you’ll want by the end of the first show. The rest of the taping seemed repetitive. We left after three shows to get a head start on pre-rush hour traffic.
Pat Sajak and Vanna White
The taping for Wheel of Fortune was similar in structure. There would be four shows taped that day. The Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune programs are taped on movie soundstages at the Sony Pictures studios, formerly the home of Metro Goldwyn Meyer.
We were told by the usher that this particular Hollywood soundstage was used in the MGM movie The Wizard of Oz. Again this time, my wife and I stayed for three shows. But we left with a lasting memory. A shot of my wife and I cheering Pat Sajak and Vanna White at the beginning of the show has been used several times after the original broadcast of the program.
We’ve seen ourselves in the audience at least four times in the past few years. Even friends and family members have told us they have spotted us in shots of the Wheel of Fortune audience.
So I’m looking forward to my next trip to Hollywood. I may see another celebrity, or be part of the audience of another television show. But I’m really going because I want to reunite with good friends, have a few laughs, and create memories that will last at least until the next time I visit.
Steve Newvine lives in Merced.
His book 9 From 99 Experiences in California’s Central Valley is now in a second printing and available from Lulu.com
Top Ten Things I’m Thankful for About Merced
Photo by steve newvine
Our guests are safely back home after a visit. And like I explained to them why Merced is a great town to live in, I will give you my top ten list concerning Merced. Here are my top ten things I’m thankful for about my life in Merced County.
Please note these are not in any particular order.
1. Merced is just two hours away from the Pacific coast.
You can get there from here or here from there in just a little over two hours. That makes family outings doable.
2. Two-thousand Thanksgiving dinners were served at the Merced Rescue Mission on the holiday.
That satisfied the hungers of two-thousand people, and made dozens of volunteers feel good about their service to the community.
3. Our two Colleges:
UC Merced (founded 2005) and Merced College (founded 1962)
A business colleague once told me that having an institution of higher learning is a great community cultural asset as well as an economic engine. We have two, and both are important to the fabric of Merced.
4. Yosemite National Park and the gift of the scenic vistas we can enjoy on a clear day in Merced County.
5. The Steven Stayner statue at Applegate Park.
While it’s a fitting tribute to a local hero, it also reminds us to watch and protect our children. If you are not familiar with the story of Steven Stayner, go to the Park and read the inscription on the base of the statue. Then hug your kids the next time you see them.
6. Easy navigation along most of our lettered or numbered streets in the City of Merced.
If you know the alphabet or can count, you shouldn’t have any problem getting around our city.
7. This website, (mercedcountyevents.com) and the Sun Star’s community events section.
Both prove there really are a lot of things going on practically any weekend.
8. Merced Theatre.
It has hit the ground running since the grand opening earlier in the year with everything from classic movies to symphonies, to cowboy singing groups to Johnny Cash impersonators.
9. Neighbors who keep an eye on their neighbors’ homes while folks are away, or even if something doesn’t look quite right.
10. Sunshine.
What a great feeling it is to wake up practically every morning knowing the sun will likely be out and helping to make each day just a little bit brighter.
There’s a lot to be thankful for. This list could be a lot longer.
Steve Newvine lives in Merced.
To explore Steve Newvine's complete collection of books, simply click on the link below.
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Steve is also open to delivering speeches for service club programs and other public speaking engagements.
Contact him at: SteveNewvine@sbcglobal.net