Wendy Green:

Hello and welcome to the Hey Boomer show.

Wendy Green:

The show for those of us who believe that we are never too old to set another goal or

Wendy Green:

dream a new dream.

Wendy Green:

My name is Wendy Green and I am your host for.

Wendy Green:

Hey. Hey, Boomer.

Wendy Green:

This weekend.

Wendy Green:

I was out in my garden quite a bit.

Wendy Green:

I have a raised bed garden and in there I have about six sugar snap

Wendy Green:

peas that are really looking healthy.

Wendy Green:

I have two pepper plants, all of which are looking good and a couple of tomato plants, a

Wendy Green:

lettuce that's really struggling.

Wendy Green:

It's not looking real happy.

Wendy Green:

My fig tree.

Wendy Green:

My fig tree is waking up, new leaves bursting up to the sun.

Wendy Green:

It's wonderful.

Wendy Green:

I planted I planted wildflowers last week, fertilized everything.

Wendy Green:

I just love, love, love this time of year.

Wendy Green:

But fortunately, we also had some rain this weekend and I was able to snuggle up on my

Wendy Green:

couch and finish reading the second book in the Pinion Scorpion series Murder and

Wendy Green:

Hackford. And our guest today, Rick Bleiweiss, has written two of these Pinion

Wendy Green:

Scorpion books.

Wendy Green:

They deal with barber shop detectives.

Wendy Green:

They're really fun books.

Wendy Green:

He's also written a short story in an anthology called Hotel California Another

Wendy Green:

Mystery. So they they are fun.

Wendy Green:

They have definitely kept my interest and I wasn't able to figure out the whodunit, darn

Wendy Green:

it. And I really tried.

Wendy Green:

So I'm going to bring Rick on in a few minutes.

Wendy Green:

Hi, David. Before I bring him on, I want to talk about our sponsor, Rhodes Scholar.

Wendy Green:

You know that they are the not for profit leader in educational travel for people over

Wendy Green:

55 and for grandparent grandchild trips.

Wendy Green:

But when I was on their website the other day, I noticed a tab that said View special

Wendy Green:

offers. So I clicked on it and there you see a choice for singles at no extra cost.

Wendy Green:

Now you know how many travel companies will charge extra unless you have two people in

Wendy Green:

the room? The trips that were listed at singles for no extra cost included trips to

Wendy Green:

places like Scotland, Costa Rica, Peru, hiking and canoeing in Michigan and

Wendy Green:

Wisconsin, or whitewater rafting in Oregon's Grand Canyon.

Wendy Green:

So all sound like fun options.

Wendy Green:

You can go check out the Road scholar.

Wendy Green:

Opportunities for travel at road scholar.org slash.

Wendy Green:

Hey boomer. And please do.

Wendy Green:

Use the slash hey boomer because that lets them know that you heard about their.

Wendy Green:

Their offers from this show and it keeps them happy as a sponsor.

Wendy Green:

You've also heard me talk about the boomer banter.

Wendy Green:

It has been so much fun.

Wendy Green:

It's an online virtual community where we get together once a month on the third

Wendy Green:

Tuesday of every month, and we talk and we talk about all kinds of various topics and we

Wendy Green:

learn and we grow together.

Wendy Green:

But I was asking some of the people that come to the banter why they come, you know,

Wendy Green:

what do they get out of it?

Wendy Green:

So here are a couple of the answers I got.

Wendy Green:

One person said I joined the banter for the camaraderie, the community and an opportunity

Wendy Green:

to meet and engage with new people.

Wendy Green:

It was so much fun.

Wendy Green:

It was something I wanted to continue and something I look forward to every month.

Wendy Green:

Another person said, I really like the banter because you give me something new to

Wendy Green:

think about, and I enjoy hearing other perspectives and meeting new people.

Wendy Green:

Another person said it's fun to meet people and exchange ideas, opinions, laughs.

Wendy Green:

Et cetera. And I work alone all day, so it's good to see faces and hear voices in a

Wendy Green:

non-work mode.

Wendy Green:

I also enjoy it because it's a fun after dinner activity.

Wendy Green:

Sort of like dessert with friends.

Wendy Green:

Don't you love that dessert with friends?

Wendy Green:

And that is definitely what it would be for East Coast people because we meet from 630 to

Wendy Green:

730 East Coast time, like I said, on the third Wednesday, a third Tuesday of every

Wendy Green:

month. But for you, West Coast people you could think about.

Wendy Green:

Life is short.

Wendy Green:

Have dessert first and then join us and have dinner afterwards.

Wendy Green:

If you are interested in finding out more about the banter signing up for the

Wendy Green:

membership, you can find it on the Hey Boomer home page at Hey Boomer showbiz Busy.

Wendy Green:

$12 a month.

Wendy Green:

You can try it out for one month and see if you like it or it's a $116 for the year.

Wendy Green:

So come and join our community.

Wendy Green:

We would love to have you there.

Wendy Green:

All right. So let me tell you a bit about Rick.

Wendy Green:

I've seen so many fun people.

Wendy Green:

Okay. So Rick Rick has been a publishing executive, author, newspaper and magazine

Wendy Green:

columnist, former music industry executive and record producer in the music industry.

Wendy Green:

He worked.

Wendy Green:

He worked with many superstars and film soundtracks and produced over 50 records,

Wendy Green:

including one that was Grammy nominated.

Wendy Green:

Since 2006, Rick has been head of business development for Blackstone Publishing and

Wendy Green:

audio acquiring works by numerous bestselling authors and celebrities.

Wendy Green:

At 78 years old, oh, he was 77 at 77.

Wendy Green:

His first novel, Pinion Scorpion and the Barbershop Detectives, was published to great

Wendy Green:

acclaim and was Amazon's number one bestselling cozy mystery and number one

Wendy Green:

historical mystery.

Wendy Green:

Rick's second book in the series Murder and Hackford, though when I finished this

Wendy Green:

weekend, was published this past February and Rick is now 78.

Wendy Green:

Additionally, his story in the Mystery anthology Hotel California has received great

Wendy Green:

reviews. Rick is a member of the international thriller Writers, Mystery

Wendy Green:

Writers of America, historical Novel Society, Sisters in Crime and the Pacific

Wendy Green:

Northwest Writers Association, among other organizations.

Wendy Green:

Wow. Rick, welcome to the show.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Thank you, Andy.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I'm glad to be here.

Wendy Green:

I'm I have enjoyed every time we've talked, so I'm glad to bring you to this audience.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Cool.

Wendy Green:

So we call this show Rick Don't Stop Chasing Rainbows.

Wendy Green:

And we called it that because that was something you mentioned to me the first time

Wendy Green:

we talked. Can you tell me what you mean about not not stopping chasing rainbows?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Yes, surely.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Well, basically, my whole life I've kind of been an entrepreneur and a creative person,

Rick Bleiweiss:

both business and creative, kind of have a left brain, right brain going on

Rick Bleiweiss:

simultaneously. And I've always just tried new things, whether it was in in business I

Rick Bleiweiss:

were working for or on my own as a venture person, on my own entrepreneur.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And now that I'm older, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't keep doing what I've

Rick Bleiweiss:

been doing my whole life, chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And, you know, I.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I find the chase is exciting.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And, you know, sometimes you find the pot of gold, sometimes you don't.

Rick Bleiweiss:

But, you know, if you have the energy and the enthusiasm and the interest, just I don't

Rick Bleiweiss:

think I'll ever stop and I don't think anyone else should.

Wendy Green:

So you are now chasing a pot of gold as a writer and as an executive in the publishing

Wendy Green:

industry. And then you were telling me about something else earlier.

Wendy Green:

What? What other rainbows are you chasing?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Well, I'm.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I'm in the toward the end of writing a film script of a original idea.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I have and have had.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And the best way I could describe it is it would sort of be like if Home Alone met the

Rick Bleiweiss:

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Um, I'll leave that up to everybody's imagination as to what that would result in,

Rick Bleiweiss:

and hopefully you might see it on the silver screen one day or.

Wendy Green:

Want to see it.

Wendy Green:

I do want to see it because it sounds like so much fun.

Wendy Green:

Have you ever written a movie script before?

Rick Bleiweiss:

No, not really.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I know I bought a film script writing online program and I did

Rick Bleiweiss:

research and I read that's how we do a lot of things I do.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And I just started writing the film script.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And I've got a couple of friends who have written film scripts and they said, As soon

Rick Bleiweiss:

as I'm done with it, they'd like to read it and they'll make sure it's in the right

Rick Bleiweiss:

format and hopefully they'll enjoy it too.

Wendy Green:

Oh, that sounds great.

Wendy Green:

But let's talk about some of the mystery books that you've written.

Wendy Green:

So I'm always curious how people come up with ideas for stories and and and and while

Wendy Green:

you're telling me that, how did you come up with his name?

Wendy Green:

Pinion Scorpion.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Okay, I'll start with how I came up with his name.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Okay. And the real answer is research, because I did a ton of research to get the

Rick Bleiweiss:

minutia right in these books.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And part of that was names.

Rick Bleiweiss:

You know, I made sure I knew what names were popular in the era.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Et cetera. But as far as Scorpion goes, I kind of wanted to come up with a name that

Rick Bleiweiss:

was similar in its uniqueness, if you will, to Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Those are not your run of the mill everyday names.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So I wanted a character who had a distinctive name and I knew and I'll get to

Rick Bleiweiss:

how I write and it's part of how I knew.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I knew his ancestry would be Egyptian father and Haitian mother.

Rick Bleiweiss:

That was just part of what came to me.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And so I started researching Arabic and Egyptian last names, family names, and I came

Rick Bleiweiss:

across many of them.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And when I came across Scorpion, which stood for adventurous and entrepreneurial, which

Rick Bleiweiss:

applied to his father in the first book, there's a backstory of how his dad and mom

Rick Bleiweiss:

met. I just realized it fit the character and it was a familiar sounding word because

Rick Bleiweiss:

it was like Scorpion, right?

Rick Bleiweiss:

But it's just a little offshoot of it.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So I liked that.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And then as I'm researching Haiti, I find that there is an actual mountain and valley

Rick Bleiweiss:

in Haiti called Pinon that was named after the French Explorer, who was the first

Rick Bleiweiss:

European to go to that region.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And that's where I postulated in the book Scorpion's mother came from.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So I just thought it'd be cool to ceremoniously name him after the Pinion

Rick Bleiweiss:

region. And then when I strung them together, I liked the way Pinion Scorpion

Rick Bleiweiss:

worked as a name.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, and I'm glad that you put the actual correct pronunciation in the book, because I

Wendy Green:

would never have gotten it right otherwise.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Few people have called him Pinon Agree.

Wendy Green:

Dignan Right. That's how it looks.

Wendy Green:

Pignan But I like Pinon.

Wendy Green:

That sounds much more sophisticated.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And as to how I write, you know, there are plotters and there are pantsers there may be

Rick Bleiweiss:

others as well.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Plotters plot out everything they're going to write beforehand.

Rick Bleiweiss:

They may have sticky notes on the wall or bullet points or outlines, and I don't write

Rick Bleiweiss:

like that at all.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I am a pantser.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I fly by the seat of my pants and I just see the stories play out in my mind, like movies.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And my job is to sit at my computer keyboard and capture for someone who's going to read

Rick Bleiweiss:

it or see it.

Rick Bleiweiss:

What I'm seeing play out in my mind, and I often have parts of a story like I didn't

Rick Bleiweiss:

have Scorpion's name, but I had his background in my mind and it's kind of like

Rick Bleiweiss:

flow. I don't know if you're familiar with the word flow.

Rick Bleiweiss:

It's kind of become a hip or a used term these days, and I get caught in the flow of

Rick Bleiweiss:

the story and like everything else disappears and I'm just capturing these

Rick Bleiweiss:

characters and their universe.

Wendy Green:

Which comes across.

Wendy Green:

Rick It comes across that you're enjoying these characters as much as the reader is

Wendy Green:

enjoying the characters.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Oh, I totally do.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Yeah. I mean, they're like a second set of friends to me, you know?

Rick Bleiweiss:

It's a different life that's going on there.

Rick Bleiweiss:

But in my mind, it's as real as real life is because I get so lost in it that they become

Rick Bleiweiss:

other characters in my life.

Wendy Green:

Now, why did you decide to set this in early England?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Um, well, part of it is because of how much I really enjoy and have read all of Holmes and

Rick Bleiweiss:

Poirot and Marple and many other of the the era English mysteries.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And so I kind of am steeped as a reader in that.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Um, but beyond that, I specifically put it in the era it is because it's it.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Bridges When Poirot started coming to prominence and when Holmes had

Rick Bleiweiss:

died. So this is the era, right, between those two events.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So I thought this would be a good bridge era.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Plus, it wasn't World War One was not involved yet.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I didn't really want to deal with that in the writing.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And also I found that the year 1910, England was an interesting year of a number of events

Rick Bleiweiss:

happening, including George the fifth becoming King Edward the seventh had been his

Rick Bleiweiss:

father. The first round trip flight over the English Channel was taken that year and it

Rick Bleiweiss:

was taken by a man named Charles Rose, whose partner, Henry Royce.

Rick Bleiweiss:

You can see where that led to Rose Royce.

Rick Bleiweiss:

But Rose also became the first aviation fatality in English history that same year as

Rick Bleiweiss:

well. And also the man who invented the toilet, Thomas Crapper, died that year.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So I don't know.

Rick Bleiweiss:

It was just cool. And as far as England, I've been to England many times.

Rick Bleiweiss:

In fact, I was at a castle and I won a crossbow shooting contest.

Wendy Green:

Oh, yeah, the crossbow.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So some of what's in my books, I've been in hot air balloons, some of it, you know, kind

Rick Bleiweiss:

of like does pull on experiences I've had.

Rick Bleiweiss:

It just felt natural to me to put it then and there.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Being a fan of that era, the Downton Abbey Sherlock Holmes era.

Wendy Green:

Uh, yeah. Well, there certainly are fun.

Wendy Green:

You know, when you start reading it, you're hearing that more old English kind of talk

Wendy Green:

conversation. And so it takes for me, it took me a moment to get acclimated to that,

Wendy Green:

but then the characters really do come alive.

Wendy Green:

You've done a great job with that.

Wendy Green:

Well, thank you. Yeah.

Wendy Green:

So, um, as you said to me, you're 78, You're going to be 79 in July, I think you said.

Wendy Green:

Correct? Yeah, in July.

Wendy Green:

So. So how do you experience aging, Rick?

Rick Bleiweiss:

How do I experience it?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Well, think about it.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I mean, I'd be lying if I didn't say it doesn't cross my mind, but I don't fear it.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Um, you know, I.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I happen to believe in the spiritual and quantum planes, and so I.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I think there's a further adventure awaiting me after this life is done.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I don't know what it'll be, but I'm looking forward to it as another adventure.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Um, I also kind of look at aging as is interesting because I work because I want to,

Rick Bleiweiss:

not because I have to, and also because I think of my age and experience.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Um, people accept advice from me, you know, and some people look to me for, for advice

Rick Bleiweiss:

and I enjoy that.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I enjoy mentoring people, helping people.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I've done that my whole life.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And I guess as I get older, I've got more wisdom built up to impart.

Wendy Green:

At the Blackstone Publishing Company you are working with, I think, much younger people.

Wendy Green:

Is that right?

Rick Bleiweiss:

In general, that is true.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Yes.

Wendy Green:

Yeah. So how how does that play out?

Wendy Green:

Do you feel like you're you're learning from them?

Wendy Green:

They're learning from you.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Yes I am certainly not up on.

Rick Bleiweiss:

As up on contemporary trends and things, probably as my younger counterparts.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So I do learn from them every day and I hope that they take away things that that I do and

Rick Bleiweiss:

learn from me. And I think it's a very great symbiotic relationship and I really, truly

Rick Bleiweiss:

enjoy everybody I work with.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And that's great.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I mean, it's a fabulous work environment and culture and I couldn't ask for anything more.

Wendy Green:

So I have to ask you, though, you know, many people in this age group find it very

Wendy Green:

difficult to find another meaningful job.

Wendy Green:

And certainly you're an executive there now.

Wendy Green:

So that's a meaningful job that you have.

Wendy Green:

How did you get introduced and get the opportunity that you have there?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Well, the opportunity to be an employee of Blackstone happened in this manner.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I have a friend named Christopher who lives in Portland, Oregon.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And Christopher comes from a very theatrical family.

Rick Bleiweiss:

He himself is a film director.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Film and TV director.

Rick Bleiweiss:

He's an actor.

Rick Bleiweiss:

He comes from England.

Rick Bleiweiss:

In fact, he has proofed my books to make sure I got England right.

Rick Bleiweiss:

But his uncle, great uncle, was James Barrie, who wrote Peter Pan.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Oh, wow. And Christopher owned and still owns the audio rights to Winnie the Pooh.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So back in, I think it was 2006, Christopher called up one day and said to me and my wife,

Rick Bleiweiss:

Deborah, I'm coming down to Ashland, where we live in Oregon, and I'm going to be

Rick Bleiweiss:

licensed thing meeting with Blackstone Audio.

Rick Bleiweiss:

It was audio at the time to license them Winnie the Pooh.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And I said to him, What's a Blackstone?

Rick Bleiweiss:

And he explained, you know, the Blackstone was one of the oldest and biggest audiobook

Rick Bleiweiss:

companies. And he said, Do you mind when I'm down there if I stayed with you?

Rick Bleiweiss:

We said, Of course. So he stayed with us.

Rick Bleiweiss:

He met with Craig Black, who was the founder and owner of Blackstone, licensed him Winnie

Rick Bleiweiss:

the Pooh. We still have it.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And in the course of the conversations with Craig, Christopher mentioned me and my wife,

Rick Bleiweiss:

Deborah. And you should know that Deborah, in addition to me, was also a senior

Rick Bleiweiss:

executive in the music industry.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Okay. And so Christopher said to Craig, you know, you, Rick and Deborah probably have

Rick Bleiweiss:

some New York corporate knowledge that no one in your organization has.

Rick Bleiweiss:

You know, they could probably add to your organization in some way.

Rick Bleiweiss:

You should meet with them.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So Craig called us and we met with him for lunch the next week.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And at the end of the lunch, Craig said, I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with

Rick Bleiweiss:

you, but Christopher was right.

Rick Bleiweiss:

You do that my organization will benefit from.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So how about joining my board of directors and becoming consultants to the company?

Rick Bleiweiss:

And that's how it started.

Rick Bleiweiss:

That lasted about a year.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Then Deborah retired fully and I went on staff, still on the board, and I've been with

Rick Bleiweiss:

Blackstone ever since.

Wendy Green:

So that was very helpful to have a friend like that, to make that introduction.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Yeah, absolutely.

Rick Bleiweiss:

You know what networking friends that, you know, that's an important part of life,

Rick Bleiweiss:

period. You never know where friendships and networks are going to lead.

Wendy Green:

Yes, so true.

Wendy Green:

I think having having and learning how to ask for help from friends sometimes is

Wendy Green:

important.

Rick Bleiweiss:

When when when Deborah and I left New York and retired from the music industry and moved

Rick Bleiweiss:

out here to southern Oregon, I quickly got bored.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I mean, I'm a total type-A personality.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I even once did biofeedback and they found that I was more relaxed when I was problem

Rick Bleiweiss:

solving than when I was trying to relax.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So I got very bored and I joined the boards of directors of a number of local nonprofits,

Rick Bleiweiss:

and I still didn't feel like I was really utilizing everything that was going on in my

Rick Bleiweiss:

brain, all the knowledge I had.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So when this opportunity came along, I just went, Wow, this is great.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I mean, this is this will make me vital and vibrant again.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And coincidentally, at the same time, I started writing fiction.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So it's sort of like the two tracks happened almost simultaneously, but independently.

Wendy Green:

And that's so interesting, you know, because I think sometimes when we clear the space for

Wendy Green:

from from our past and the other work that we used to do, new things can start to

Wendy Green:

evolve. And I was going to ask you about that because you had experience writing

Wendy Green:

non-fiction articles and stuff, right?

Wendy Green:

Was it a difficult transition to start writing fiction?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Honestly, no.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I'm not sure why I didn't do it earlier in my career, but I had a next door neighbor

Rick Bleiweiss:

here who was a poet, and she was in a writer's group with poets, memoirists,

Rick Bleiweiss:

non-fiction writers, novelists.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And she had learned from me that I had written nonfiction.

Rick Bleiweiss:

She said, Why don't you join the group?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Think people would like you?

Rick Bleiweiss:

You'd like them. So I joined the group.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I really enjoyed the people and I just said, Hey, I'm going to try my hand.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Writing fiction and fiction stories just kept popping in my brain and channeling

Rick Bleiweiss:

through me.

Wendy Green:

That's amazing.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, we used to play a game in the car when we were traveling, you know, where somebody

Wendy Green:

would give a little piece of a story and then somebody else would try and build onto

Wendy Green:

it. And. And but to sit down and write a whole book.

Wendy Green:

Man, I have a lot of admiration for you.

Rick Bleiweiss:

You actually Scorpion is the third book.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I wrote. The first book that I wrote was a science fiction fantasy book.

Rick Bleiweiss:

The second one was a magical realism road trip book.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And neither of those were able to get any kind of traction or publishing contract.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And even, in fact, my writing group, you know, when I wrote them, they liked them, but

Rick Bleiweiss:

they said, these aren't the ones.

Rick Bleiweiss:

When I started reading them the very first of Scorpion to a person, they said, That's

Rick Bleiweiss:

the one.

Wendy Green:

Wow. So are other people in your writing group published?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Yes, many of them.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I'm not in that group anymore.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And fortunately, people moved away.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Few people passed away.

Rick Bleiweiss:

But yes, those who were and are still around, definitely many of them have been

Rick Bleiweiss:

published.

Wendy Green:

Huh. So tell me about your time in the music industry.

Wendy Green:

What was some of the highlights for you?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Wow. Some of the highlights.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Well, I've got to tell you, I.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I got to.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Certainly one of the highlights was producing records, you know, I mean, I, I

Rick Bleiweiss:

just as I said, I love the creative and I love the business.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And so I'll talk a little bit about both.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I loved I loved being a performer and I loved producing records.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And as you said, one of them got a Grammy nomination.

Rick Bleiweiss:

It was a spoken word record with Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows in the early, early days of

Rick Bleiweiss:

home computers when there was like Texas Instruments and Commodore.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Right. And nobody really knew what was going on.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I, I put together it was my idea.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And I put together an idea, an album called Everything You Want to Know About Home

Rick Bleiweiss:

Computers, but didn't Know Who to Ask.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And I had a computer expert write it and we did a whole booklet and the whole thing, and

Rick Bleiweiss:

it got nominated for Best Spoken Word.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And we lost out to Shari Lewis and her puppet Lamb Chop.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Oh.

Wendy Green:

I remember her.

Rick Bleiweiss:

That happened. And I had another group that I put together called Moon Lion, and they were

Rick Bleiweiss:

in the disco era, and they were named by a music historian, one of the top instrumental

Rick Bleiweiss:

disco groups of all time.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And the NFL used one of their songs for three years in their holiday broadcasts.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And the other thing I just going through some papers recently I just discovered and I

Rick Bleiweiss:

had forgotten, was that another disco record I made with them was a disco version of Sweet

Rick Bleiweiss:

Georgia Brown and the Harlem Globetrotters ended up using it as the version intro outro

Rick Bleiweiss:

for their TV show Popcorn Machine, and then for performances.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So stuff like that I just absolutely loved.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I loved performing.

Rick Bleiweiss:

My group opened for Three Dog Night the day the men landed on the moon.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Oh, wow. Three Dog Night refused to go on until the moon landing was over so they could

Rick Bleiweiss:

see it. So we ended up playing like three sets in a row.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Well, well, that was.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I love that. As far as business goes, I mean, I worked with them.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I'm not bragging here.

Rick Bleiweiss:

It's just a fact. I worked with a tons and tons of superstar music acts, you know,

Rick Bleiweiss:

Whitney Houston, U2, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Um, I don't know.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I'm just David Bowie.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I'm forgetting many of them.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Sure.

Wendy Green:

Yeah.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And I enjoyed that.

Rick Bleiweiss:

But what I really, really loved was I got to work.

Rick Bleiweiss:

As you had said earlier on, a lot of film soundtracks, and I worked on the first three

Rick Bleiweiss:

Star Wars soundtracks.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Oh, nice.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I was at the Lucas Ranch and, you know, George was there, you know, and yeah, well,

Rick Bleiweiss:

probably the funnest one was This is Spinal Tap.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I don't know if you remember that.

Wendy Green:

I do.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I put together the entire marketing campaign, not just for the album, but it almost became

Rick Bleiweiss:

the marketing campaign for the entire project.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And it was just a hoot working with the guys and Rob Reiner.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And, you know, I worked, um, Chariots of Fire.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And I remember we came out from the screening.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Some of our people are going, Well, there's no blood, there's no guts, there's no sex.

Rick Bleiweiss:

How is this movie ever going to make it?

Rick Bleiweiss:

You know? And of course, we had.

Wendy Green:

This brilliant movie.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, exactly.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So I just you know, it's hard to single things out because in general, I really enjoy

Rick Bleiweiss:

what I do. I've been fortunate that I've told my sons, if you work at your passion, it

Rick Bleiweiss:

will seem less like work.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I've always worked at my passion and it's always seemed like less work.

Wendy Green:

Which is such a gift, right?

Wendy Green:

My sister used to tell me that, and it didn't happen until I started doing the

Wendy Green:

podcast and coaching people.

Wendy Green:

Then I really felt it.

Wendy Green:

So I did a survey recently about retirement.

Wendy Green:

Mit put out a thing that said Men when they retire, they just want leisure and women need

Wendy Green:

to find purpose.

Wendy Green:

So I'm wondering, as you look around at your compadres, people, you know, I don't know

Wendy Green:

from 55 on up that might be thinking about retirement.

Wendy Green:

What do you see?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Um. I see too many people who aren't.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Uh, still being active.

Rick Bleiweiss:

That doesn't mean they're not enjoying their lives, but they're.

Rick Bleiweiss:

They're sort of like going, I don't have any new worlds to conquer.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And that's okay.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Because to me, it's whatever makes the individual happy that that's what life should

Rick Bleiweiss:

be about happiness and kindness.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And as long as you're happy, what does it matter?

Rick Bleiweiss:

But I don't see the difference.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And I guess by that definition, I must have a pretty strong feminine side.

Rick Bleiweiss:

But. But, um, I, I, I don't see a difference between the men and the women, although it is

Rick Bleiweiss:

interesting because in the nonprofits that I was working with here locally, there were

Rick Bleiweiss:

many, many more older women involved with them than men.

Rick Bleiweiss:

There's no question of that.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Now, as I look back on it, I don't know if that's typical or not.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, I don't know.

Wendy Green:

It's a it's an interesting question, you know, because I think I look at myself.

Wendy Green:

Right. I can't not have something meaningful to do.

Wendy Green:

Yeah. And and then I guess the other question is, well, can leisure be meaningful?

Wendy Green:

And as you said, if you're happy with it, why not?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Yeah. Yeah. I'm not a pickleball player.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I'm not a bridge player.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I'm not a tennis player.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I guess I'm a couch potato in some ways.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And, you know, I just, you know, to me, the intellectual pursuits, the writing, the work,

Rick Bleiweiss:

it's what keeps me energized.

Rick Bleiweiss:

You know, Betty Friedan, you know, at a comment, a statement that I love, you know,

Rick Bleiweiss:

she said, aging is not lost youth, but a new stage of opportunity and strength.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And yes, that's kind of how I look at life.

Rick Bleiweiss:

But that doesn't mean it's true for everyone.

Rick Bleiweiss:

But I don't think I would I would urge people who haven't tried, continue, who are

Rick Bleiweiss:

older and haven't tried continuing their pursuits in life.

Rick Bleiweiss:

If they are unhappy in their position in life to try it, what have you got to lose?

Rick Bleiweiss:

You know, I mean, I that's another thing.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I've never had an issue with rejection, you know, I mean, some people, it's like a dagger

Rick Bleiweiss:

through the heart.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I kind of think it goes with the territory.

Rick Bleiweiss:

If you're trying something new or you're trying something that's intellectual or

Rick Bleiweiss:

creative, the likelihood is you're going to fail more likelihood than you're going to

Rick Bleiweiss:

succeed. So it comes with the territory, live with it.

Wendy Green:

Which is why I so wanted you on the show, because that's the philosophy I try to put

Wendy Green:

out here is, you know, try things, see what you like, what you don't like.

Wendy Green:

You can let it go, you know, But this is your time of life to to experiment, to try

Wendy Green:

new things, to write a mystery story.

Wendy Green:

Murder in hex fraud.

Wendy Green:

So this one actually has two mysteries in it.

Wendy Green:

Yes, I know.

Wendy Green:

Here I was reading during the rain and thinking, okay, we solved one and but there's

Wendy Green:

more pages.

Wendy Green:

I kind of.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Look at it that in real life, police officers don't necessarily have the luxury of only

Rick Bleiweiss:

working one face at a time or so.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Try to, you know, like go, okay, what would happen over the course of a month?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Would there just be one case?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Well.

Wendy Green:

Well, in this little England English town, like a couple of murders.

Wendy Green:

Several murders.

Wendy Green:

I was like, oh, dear, that's a very.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Well, if you look at murder, she wrote, and the small Cabot Cove, they had murder up the

Rick Bleiweiss:

line. And then if you look at Death in Paradise, which is one of my favorite britbox

Rick Bleiweiss:

shows, this little tiny island nation has murder after it comes with the territory.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, Yeah.

Wendy Green:

And it's so fun how he brings in these these different kinds of characters from the barber

Wendy Green:

shop, you know, who have no police background but have an interest, and they ask

Wendy Green:

interesting questions. And of course you have to have the love interest in there.

Wendy Green:

So I'm not going to give that away.

Wendy Green:

No, but.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I will tell you that the female bookseller, bookstore owner, probably she and Scorpion

Rick Bleiweiss:

are my two single favorite characters.

Wendy Green:

Yeah. Yeah.

Wendy Green:

And you know, it shows because you like talk about how they're dressed and their attire

Wendy Green:

and their their hats and yeah, it's.

Wendy Green:

It's fun.

Wendy Green:

So what's next for you, Rick?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Well, let's see. I'm, I'm.

Rick Bleiweiss:

They've just finished half of.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And the full proposal for a business book on caring leadership.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Nice. So I've kind of reached back into my past and my experiences and my own style of

Rick Bleiweiss:

management and what I saw around me and kind of postulate that you don't have to be I'll

Rick Bleiweiss:

use the word you don't have to be an asshole to get good solid business results.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And in fact, in today's day and age, when the younger generations are caring so much

Rick Bleiweiss:

more about the culture they're working in and the jobs that they're doing, I think it's

Rick Bleiweiss:

important to have caring leadership to maximize businesses and staff these days so

Rick Bleiweiss:

that that book, my agent will be going out with that shortly.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Um, I'm writing my memoir and I'm writing that film script and had no idea what else,

Rick Bleiweiss:

but I'll be writing something else.

Wendy Green:

Oh, by the way, you're also on the board and building this business, this publishing

Wendy Green:

company. Wow.

Wendy Green:

Do you sleep, Rick?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Yeah, actually, I sleep pretty well.

Rick Bleiweiss:

The days I don't do a lot is when I don't sleep that well.

Wendy Green:

Yeah. Yeah. So you don't, like, wake up at night with.

Wendy Green:

Oh, I know where this mystery's going.

Wendy Green:

That doesn't happen to you.

Rick Bleiweiss:

It happens, but it usually happens when I wake up in the morning.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I don't prematurely wake up with an idea.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I can't say it never happened, but it's not usual.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I know. And I do have a patent and pen next to my on my nightstand just for that reason.

Wendy Green:

Interesting. Interesting.

Wendy Green:

Well, if you could, from your vantage point now and looking back at the people that we've

Wendy Green:

talked about, you know, the 55 and up, if you could give a couple of takeaways that you

Wendy Green:

think would benefit, maybe it's in the business realm, maybe it's in the personal

Wendy Green:

realm. What would you offer as a couple of takeaways?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Uh, well, the first takeaway would be have fun.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Seriously? The second one is don't stop living just because you're aging, you know?

Rick Bleiweiss:

If you've got a dream and you've got the ability to energy to go for it, go for it.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Um, take shots, you know?

Rick Bleiweiss:

I mean, you think Wayne Gretzky said you miss 100% of the shots you don't take?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Or, you know, so.

Rick Bleiweiss:

That's right. Exactly.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Um, and another thing I would say is think of your life positively.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Do you do you watch the show?

Rick Bleiweiss:

Grace and Frankie?

Wendy Green:

I love that show.

Wendy Green:

Okay.

Rick Bleiweiss:

There's a character on the show, Mary Elizabeth.

Rick Bleiweiss:

She's one of the friends right now in the very last episode of the show.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Uh, Mary Elizabeth said something which was obviously written by the writers of the show,

Rick Bleiweiss:

but it came out of her mouth.

Rick Bleiweiss:

But I agreed with so much.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And what Mary Elizabeth said was, You are always going to be disappointed if all you

Rick Bleiweiss:

remember are your failures.

Wendy Green:

Oh, beautiful.

Wendy Green:

That's right.

Rick Bleiweiss:

So part of it is as you as you look at your life both going forward and looking back,

Rick Bleiweiss:

don't be filled with angst, regret.

Rick Bleiweiss:

You know, look at the the happy times in your life.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I try to remember my successes, not my failures.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, that's.

Wendy Green:

I love that we.

Wendy Green:

Yeah. And thank you.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I'm going to, if you don't mind for a second.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Okay. I would like to just quickly talk about a book that I acquired at Blackstone

Rick Bleiweiss:

that, okay.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Fits what we're doing.

Wendy Green:

And that we're going to hopefully have on in a future show.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And this is the book.

Rick Bleiweiss:

It's called The Wisdom of Morrie by Morrie Schwartz Living in aging creatively and

Rick Bleiweiss:

joyfully. And Morrie is the Morrie of Tuesdays with Morrie.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And he wrote this book before he passed away, and his son and wife worked with the

Rick Bleiweiss:

manuscript, got it into shape.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And we've just published it recently to great acclaim, and it's doing unbelievably

Rick Bleiweiss:

well. But anybody that loved Tuesdays with Morrie, this is the natural extension.

Rick Bleiweiss:

This is Morrie himself, in his own words, talking about how to age gracefully.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And it is a brilliant, brilliant book.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And I don't say that about a lot of books.

Wendy Green:

Yeah. And you so graciously put me in touch with them.

Wendy Green:

So I'm hoping to get them scheduled probably this summer because we're booked out.

Wendy Green:

But yeah, I'm excited.

Wendy Green:

I'm excited about that.

Wendy Green:

Thank you, Rick.

Wendy Green:

That's going to be awesome.

Wendy Green:

Yeah. So let me let people know how they can reach out to you.

Wendy Green:

Rick has a website.

Wendy Green:

Rick Bleiweiss Bly is spelled b.

Wendy Green:

L e. I y w e.

Wendy Green:

I s. S.com.

Wendy Green:

And so you can see the books there.

Wendy Green:

You can learn more about Rick.

Wendy Green:

You can also email him at created by Rick at gmail.com.

Wendy Green:

And you can find any of these books on Amazon.

Wendy Green:

Like I said, let's see, the first one is Pinion Scorpion and the Barbershop

Wendy Green:

Detectives. Okay.

Wendy Green:

This is where you meet all those lovely characters we were talking about.

Wendy Green:

And the second one is the murder in Oxford.

Wendy Green:

Are we going to have more Pinion Scorpion books, do you think?

Wendy Green:

Yeah.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I should have mentioned that as well.

Rick Bleiweiss:

I'm I've already written probably about 40% of a third Scorpion book in the the main

Rick Bleiweiss:

mystery or there will be multiple mysteries is about a young female magician who has a

Rick Bleiweiss:

delusion that is so mystifying that even Harry Houdini, who I write into the book,

Rick Bleiweiss:

can't figure it out.

Rick Bleiweiss:

But wherever she performs mayhem and robbery and mystery, follow her.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And she paxford.

Wendy Green:

Yes. And you introduced her at the end of the Oxford book?

Wendy Green:

Yes. And then the compendium of short stories is called Hotel California, of which

Wendy Green:

Ricks short story mystery is in there.

Wendy Green:

Another surprise twist at the end of that one.

Wendy Green:

Yeah, that's that's.

Rick Bleiweiss:

The first of a series of murder music and mystery books or anthologies.

Rick Bleiweiss:

The next one is Thriller, which comes out this year and then next year is Back in Black

Rick Bleiweiss:

and Bat Out of Hell will be the one after that.

Rick Bleiweiss:

And I've got a story in each of them.

Wendy Green:

Oh, gosh. Okay.

Wendy Green:

Well, I can't wait. I can't wait.

Wendy Green:

Thank you.

Wendy Green:

Well, let me tell the audience about our guest for next week.

Wendy Green:

It's a bit of a turn.

Wendy Green:

Last this whole past month, we've had authors, so now we're taking a shift.

Wendy Green:

So my guest next week is Linda Rivera.

Wendy Green:

And Linda is a coach, a counselor and the creator of 55 and Boulder.

Wendy Green:

After losing her husband of 53 years, Linda sunk into a deep despair.

Wendy Green:

And as she says, she slogged her way back through the bleak landscape of grief and

Wendy Green:

confusion to the brilliant world of regeneration and discovery.

Wendy Green:

And this is what we're going to talk about next week, moving on after loss.

Wendy Green:

And as you know, I always like to leave you with the belief that we can all live with

Wendy Green:

curiosity. Live with courage and live with relevance.

Wendy Green:

And we are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream.

Wendy Green:

Rick, what a pleasure to have you on.

Wendy Green:

Thank you so much.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Oh, my pleasure.

Rick Bleiweiss:

My pleasure.

Rick Bleiweiss:

Okay. Thank you for having me.

Wendy Green:

My name is Wendy Greene, and this has been.