The Consigliere

Benvenuto, fellow seekers of knowledge. Welcome to your new home for stimulating conversation on a cornucopia of topics. 

For the uninitiated (read: not Italian), a consigliere is a trusted advisor; one who dispenses wise counsel.

I've spent the better part of my adult life offering advice to friends and family, telling stories of my proud ethnic heritage, studying the majestic history of this great country, and arguing sports & politics into the wee small hours. I've also been a newspaper and magazine writer as well as a lifelong professional musician.

Along the way people often have said, "You should write this stuff down and share it with a larger audience." And so I have.

I love discussing politics, sports, music, history, foreign policy, movie trivia, pop culture, and a few thousand other topics you could name. As I once told a magazine editor skittish about dispatching me for a speaking engagement: "There isn't anything I can't talk about for at least an hour." He don't know me very well, do he?

So we'll do so here according to these simple principles:

What you'll find.

Straight talk, cogent analysis, fact-based assertions, historical perspective, unusual insight, and a firm belief that Frank Sinatra is the greatest interpreter of American popular music in this or any other millennium. He's also in charge of the weather, which -- strange as it sounds -- you can't empirically disprove.

What you won't find.

Facile arguments, visceral reactions, non-sequiters, ad-hominem insults, or "conventional wisdom" -- a tired contradiction most often employed by the intellectually lazy. You can argue with me all the live-long day, but once the personal attacks start you won't hear from me again. You may, however, get a visit from my good friend Nunzio Fattungazz'.

So, in the bellowing parlance of the great Jackie Gleason (another hero of mine), "And awwayyy we go ... "

 Create your own free wiki!HelpPublic, not yet premium Privacy Policy RSS