Ted’s a Nice Guy

The Whitman-Walker benefit Wednesday night was great. My promised interaction with Ted Koppel was limited to about 15 minutes backstage before his award was presented, but it was pretty entertaining. Mr. Koppel kept me entertained demonstrating a rope trick. Actually, when I walked up and said hello (while Cornelius was being interviewed outside by CNN), he gave me a length of rope with his housekeys tied to one end. He asked me to try putting a knot in the middle of the rope, using only the one hand holding the rope. I couldn’t do it of course, so he demonstrated, using one swift jerk to put a knot in the middle. It was quite impressive.

I asked, “Where did you learn to do that?” And before he could answer, his friend and Executive Producer Tom Bettag jumped in and said, “Are you kidding? Some days he does nothing but practice that trick!” Then it was time for the program to begin and Bettag and Koppel walked off. Ted hurried back briefly to retreive his housekeys, which I otherwise would have walked off with!

After the award presentation, a new and slim Jennifer Holliday put on an amazing concert. She was teriffically self-effacing for a reputed diva, and her presence and commitment to the music was really something to behold. She sang all her big hits from Dreamgirls.

There was a high-dollar donor reception after the concert. Ms. Holliday came up for pictures and autographs, and I got her to sign a copy of the program to Raymond. Ray was very happily suprised when I gave it to him last night, at a little JR’s drunkfest kicking off the boy’s holiday weekend in Pensacola.