Michael Jackson TalkRadio Content

n one visit to Paris I asked Art Buchwald for a restaurant recommendation. I was going to be in the French capital for only one night, and without hesitation he recommended L'Ami Louis. I found it in one of the least fashionable of the central city neighborhoods; 32, rue du Vertbois.It's expensive, but then, these days, everything purchased with a Euro is costly. It is, without a doubt, one of the finest restaurants of France but a long way from the haughty haute cuisine of the three-star eateries..The very first internationally recognizable face I spotted there that evening was Art's; he was seated at the next table. When I showed surprise at his presence, he said he'd dined there every night since my restaurant request, in the hope of meeting with Alana and myself to make some menu suggestions. He was almost believable. He died today in the company of his family. The famed author and newspaper columnist was 81 years old. He'd told me once that he was aiming to be 95 and still playing tennis with the likes of Agassi, because Agassi couldn't handle his serve! (Well, as I said, he was almost believable). During my 32 years of broadcasting at KABC in Los Angeles and twenty odd years in TV, he was perhaps the most frequently heard guest. Sometimes the conversations were in person but most frequently by telephone. We very seldom had a set subject, but he was up to conversing and having fun with almost any topic. He was capable of zinging the high and mighty and the humor challenged. At his best Buchwald was writing columns that were syndicated to more than 550 newspapers. He won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1982. He also published over 30 books. Before death and dying became a topic for his columns, his favorite starting point was politics. He was a very long-running observer of the nation's political scene. His most favorite president was Richard Nixon, about whom I heard him say "I worship the very quicksand he walks on". (As I may have said earlier, he was almost believable). I believed him to be one of the nicest, most accomplished, funniest and most talented of owlish, cigar-chomping, ex- marines. Last year started badly for Art. Vascular and kidney problems caused doctors to amputate one of his legs. He subsequently entered Washington Home and Community Hospices where he did not do as most would have expected; he didn't die. He lived long enough to finish his last book, "Too Soon To Say Goodbye",there. He left the hospice and went to a place he loved for many years, Martha's Vineyard, where he is to be buried alongside his wife Ann. He told many that he always wanted to be known as an author, not a humorist. "People don't take humorists seriously". Two of his books assured that he'd be known as both a humorist and a writer; "Leaving Home", 1993 and "I'll always have Paris" helped his elevation to the American Academy of Arts and Letters". He endured, survived and overcame mental disorders; clinical depression and manic depression. He would tell friends (and my audience) that if he'd had a third bout of depression he'd be "inducted into the Bipolar Hall of Fame". I could say and write so much more about this very special man and about the privilege I felt knowing him. I have dozens of tapes of our conversations. Tonight we'll listen to a few.