Rick Michel's Blog

I was watching Modern Family the other night, laughing my butt off as usual, and I realized that for some reason the actor Ed O’Neill cracks me up. Why am I bringing this up? Well, I’ve noticed a few Sinatra connections that I’d like to share. Read More

The Mile Square City is a marvelous blue-collar happening place with the best views of New York City anywhere and a fantastic spot to visit, especially for any fan of The Voice. In my guide to Sinatra’s New York, I mentioned how much I love to visit his old haunts when I travel and they literally don’t get any older than Hoboken. Read More

It was sad, in a nostalgic sort of way, to see another Las Vegas Strip icon close its doors for good this week after 60 years of being one of the city’s historic jewels – the Riviera Hotel and Casino. Read More

What do flowers, candy, and telephone calls have in common? On Mother’s Day, they represent love. Mother’s Day is the busiest day of the year for telephone calls and this Hallmark holiday accounts for one quarter of all flower sales. The day to celebrate Mom falls on May 10th this year, so pick up that telephone and give her a jingle. Read More

True genius transcends age, genre, gender, race, and even language. It doesn’t matter that Picasso painted differently; Beethoven worked his later years deaf; Georgia O’Keeffe was a woman; Frank Sinatra was from Italian parents; or Hank Williams sang country – talented artists will be recognized and appreciated across the world, without the limiting presence of prejudice. Read More

In my line of work, it’s a good thing I love to travel. There’s a certain almost-inexplicable excitement that shoots through me when I arrive in a new city, a cresting of anticipation that never fails to imprint a smile upon my face as my latest adventure begins. It’s a hobby of sorts to learn as much as I can about admired celebrities then apply that knowledge to seek out their favorite landmarks in a particular city. Today I plan to take you through some of the Chairman of the Board’s New York haunts. Read More

A trio of organizers, including Robert De Niro, formed the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002 as a rallying response to the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. The festival has been a smash hit, now drawing 3 million people to celebrate film in the great New York, New York. This year’s festival runs from April 15th to the 26th and, like so many across the world, is honoring the 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s birthday. Read More

Pair your favorite artist with your favorite song and you may come up with the perfect match – song covers are a huge part of music and most singers will give their own spin to another recording at some point in their career. Sometimes the result is magical, better than the original, but once in a while the endeavor can turn out to be a bit strange or even a complete disaster. “The Voice” was not immune to this. Read More

A top comedian has to stay fresh, cool, fast, and current – in other words, he or she needs to be smart. When you’re blunt, controversial, liberal, and self-described “politically incorrect,” being smart is even more important because you’re going to have a lot of people gunning for you. This is Bill Maher and I’ve found a few observations about how he keeps his A-game rather interesting. Read More

The most exciting thing about Frank Sinatra’s 100th Birthday year, besides all the deserved recognition and attention from baby boomers to millennials, is the new information that is rising to the top of the entertainment news stories for everyone to see. One of my favorites involves how the Chairman of the Board was a part of establishing one of the most iconic movie characters of all-time and Clint Eastwood’s most memorable role – “Dirty Harry.” Read More