I can't help but think of this story every year during the Christmas-New Year Holidays, and I always have this burning desire to share it.  It took place just before New Year's Eve in about 1960.

++++++++++

Gigs for Italian singers had been terrible for a long time. But then out of nowhere came "That's Amore," "Mel Blu di Pinto di Blue," and "Al di La." And things got very good for them.

And that's when Macino Rapuchi, with his Sam Maceo-esque billing, "the International Continental Stylist," hit Galveston with his guitar and accordion, and found his way to headline at the Studio Lounge upstairs over the Turf Grill at 2214 Market Street.  That very spot had headlined Peggy Lee, Myron Cohen, Sinatra, Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy, and a host of others; that is as long as the casino above it was operating.

But about five years before Mazino hit town, the famed Texas Rangers had permanently closed Galveston's illegal casino gambling

So for the first time in a long time, business at the Studio Lounge got really good, and it was because Macino knew those songs, and he sang them over and over again as he paraded around the room strumming his guitar or squeezing his accordion. Macino was tall and good looking and was full of personality. He spoke broken English. The girls loved him. 

When he'd finish a tune, he'd yell, "Ecco! Ecco!" That was notice for the audience to clap their hands off. 

Men had no choice but to take their dates to the Studio Lounge to hear Macino Rapuchi, the International Continental Stylist. Drinks were 75 cents a piece and you had to tip Macino a buck every time he sang a line or two at your table. Macino could make it by your table with his hand out at least a dozen times a night. Be prepared for that date to cost 30 bucks.

Now you remember me telling you about wise guy Joe Pajucie with his cheap looking girls in their Frederick's of Hollywood bullet bras and Carmen Miranda wedge shoes, all piled in his two-payment past-due used red Cadillac convertible from Child's Motors, don't you?

Well, on this Friday night around New Year's Eve-time, Joe was in the mood for some loving. So he picked up his cheap looking girls from the bar at the Derrick Club, loaded them in the red Cadillac convertible and headed downtown to the Studio Lounge.

He figured he'd finally be able to hit a home run and get in some smooching with at least one of the three if he took them to see Macino Rapuchi, the International Continental Stylist.

Macino was singing "Al di La" when they walked in. 

Al di la, del bene plu prezioso, ci sei tu, ci sei tu

   Al di la, del sogno plu ambizoso, ci sei tu, ci sei tu 

Even though the Studio Lounge's carpet was worn thin, and the black light on the murals couldn't hide the years that had past since it had last been redecorated, and the odor of Pine ‘o Pine coming from the restrooms was far from subtle, nevertheless on the way over, Joe Pajucie had convinced the girls that the Studio Lounge in its earlier days had been the place where new talent was auditioned for the chance of a future engagement at the Balinese Room.

They sat down, ordered, and the waitress brought them their drinks along with a small bowl of Goldfish crackers. Macino was on to "Volare," and he was whaling his lungs out and the accordion was huffing and puffing trying its best to accompany him.

Macino finished, and went into his ending, "Ecco! Ecco!" The audience, especially the women, started clapping their hands off. 

And that's when one of Joe Pajucie's cheap looking girls, Madeleine was her name, started slowly rising like a human Phoenix out of the banquette and she looked Macino square in the eye and said for him and everyone else in the room to hear, "I love you!"

With that and without saying a word, Macino set down his accordion in front of him on the dance floor, went to the juke box, threw in a quarter, and quickly punched up six tunes, one of them the real "Al di La" by a fellow named Domenico Modugno.

Then Macino came to the banquette, took Madeleine by the hand, and they walked out of the Studio Lounge arm and arm toward the elevator as the audience, realizing what was probably going to happen soon, started laughing and chanting "Ecco! Ecco!"

Joe Pajucie and the two remaining cheap looking girls couldn't believe their eyes. In an attempt to save the night, Joe Pajucie said to them, "Let go to the Pirate Club for an Oscar steak." When they got downstairs and got into the two payment past due red Cadillac convertible, wouldn't you know that the battery was dead. The girls caught a cab back to the Derrick Club.

Joe Pajucie started walking toward the Watch Shop to see if Isadore Jansburg, Sonny Martini and Charlie Killebrew would let him play a hand or two of gin rummy that they usually had going on in the back room. When he got there, the place was dark.

Copyright 2003 - William S. Cherry

All rights reserved

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Selling America Since 1964

214 503-8563

800 314-7110

Everyone has heard about Bernard Madoff by now.  He's the guy who has allegedly run the largest and longest running Ponzi scheme ever.  And now his investors, the SEC, and anyone else who wants to either cry because of their losses, or make out like they knew he was a gonif all along, are wondering what will happen now.

What is starting to get on my nerves is this latest "Light Bulb Going Off In the Head Proclamation" that many of the radio and TV pundits and their call-in guests are saying as if it's their original thought.   It goes like this:

"Madoff hasn't perpetrated the world's biggest Ponzi scheme...there's one even bigger than that."  And then the guy who makes the statement waits for the person he's addressing to say, "Oh?  What would that be?"

And then when he does, the brain child responds as if what he's getting ready to say should make him Mensa material.  "The biggest Ponzi scheme is Social Security system! Ha, ha, ha...."

Well, the Social Security formula doesn't begin to meet the definition of a Ponzi scheme. 

To begin with, if the fund runs short, the federal government covers the shortfall.  How?  By raising taxes on those who are current and future participants.  Since "government" is us, there is no third party. 

Attorney Algonquin J. Calhoun would explain it this way,  "You see, Kingfish, we, the people, is the Ponzis and we is also the Ponzees."

In contrast, Ponzi schemes have no way to balance the books because the guy whose "Ponzi" has no intention of covering his clients' losses, and every intent of convincing them that they are making a profit while they are contemporaneously losing their Palm Beach high rises.

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Our 44th Year Selling America

214 503-8563

800 314-7110

WHAT ELSE UNIVERSITY BAPTIST CHURCH CAN TEACH US

There are several very valuable business lessons here, so stick with me as I tell this story.

BACKGROUND

Although my primary profession is as a real estate broker, and that's been the case for more than forty years, throughout it all, I've also played cocktail piano professionally and tuned hundreds and hundreds of pianos.

I'm sorry. I just have this need to be near, around and in touch with pianos.  That need dates back to my childhood.  So I juggle tuning, repairing and playing pianos with my real estate career.

THE STORY

About ten years ago, I was retained by Instrumental Director Bob Wall to service and tune the nearly twenty pianos that were in the sanctuary, classrooms, choir rehearsal hall and chapels of the University Baptist Church in the Houston suburb of Clear Lake City. 

Clear Lake City is a bedroom community -- a byproduct caused by the development of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Craft Center between Houston and Galveston. 

In June 1974, five families got together to found and build a new Baptist church to serve Clear Lake City.  They named it University Baptist Church.  They called their first pastor, Dr. Bill McGregor.  Then they began meeting in space they rented at a public elementary school. 

But by that Christmas, tragedy had struck.  Dr. McGregor and his family had died in a plane crash. 

Nevertheless, the five founding members revitalized their strength to continue their dedication, and within a couple of years, the membership had grown to 150.

But there were still not enough members to convince local banks to lend the church money to buy land and build its first building.  So most if not all of the membership agreed to jointly co-sign the church's mortgages.  Land on Middlebrook was acquired and first sanctuary was built. 

By the time I arrived to tune the twenty pianos about 1998, the church was being pastored by Holy Bible scholar and noted minister, Dr. R. Robert Creech.  Its dynamic membership had grown in numbers to many thousands.  Every day I came to tune several of those twenty pianos, there was a lot of member activity going on.

So when I ran into Dr. Creech for the first time in the hallway, and we introduced ourselves, I couldn't help but ask...

THE QUESTION

THE ANSWER

He told me that the founding members had retained a professional market study firm to determine where in the NASA area the most families lived who 1) had young children, and 2) were most likely to not have found a permanent church home.

Once that was established, University Baptist Church located undeveloped land that was near the center of that area, and that could be bought for a reasonable price.  They began construction of the first building.

Next came how to attract members. 

The marketing firm suggested that the church buy 500 copies of the TV History Channel's DVD on the "Life of Christ."  They then put stickers on each box that said, "Compliments of the University Baptist Church, 16106 Middlebrook, Houston."

After church services on Sundays as well as other days, the then small congregation began methodically ringing the doorbells of homes within the church's target area.  Although paraphrased, here's in general what they said when the doors were answered:

"I'm John Doe and my family and I are members of the University Baptist Church.  We built it on Middlebrook so that it would serve your neighborhood.  We'd like for you to have a copy of the History Channel's TV program, "The Life of Christ."  You're sure to find it interesting. 

"After you've watched it, perhaps you'll pass it on to one of your friends.  Meanwhile, here's a piece about our church with the programs we offer and the times of our services.  We'd love for you to join us.  I'll call you in a few days to see how you liked the DVD, and whether or not you have any questions."

Dr. Creech said that one investment of about $6,000 and the time of that few people began the quick and exponential growth of University Baptist Church.

"And now we have programs here every day," he continued.  "Caterers are always delivering at lunchtime....barbecue, pizza, Tex-Mex, Italian.  We have almost constant activities for men, women and our young people.  We keep our members thoroughly involved in the church and in touch with each other."

Now the campus of Houston's University Baptist Church is enormous, the parking lots are either full or almost full for every service.  An full orchestra plays for most services. 

The contribution University Baptist Church has made to the spiritual lives of thousands is, at least to me, amazing. 

Nevertheless, at its foundation was focused-marketing, developed and orchestrated by a professional company.  That's how any business increases its chance of winning.  In this case it was a win for The Three in One.

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Our 44th Year Selling America

214 503-8563

800 314-7110

One of the primary reasons churches, for an example, don't pay property taxes is to encourage them to become a part of the community.  One of the first things a prospective newcomer will ask is where his church will be; not that all ever really plan to become active members, but because they feel if the church is there, that is a significant indication that the town is morally viable.

How a town supports its arts, churches and public facilities is directly proportionate to how viable its real estate market is.  Real estate professionals frequently take the contributions of these programs and facilities for granted.

In my view, that is a huge mistake. 

One of Dallas' most spectacular facilities is the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.  It was designed by I.M. Pei and built in downtown Dallas in 1989 as the home of the Dallas Symphony. 

Ross Perot made a sizable donation and asked that when it was built that it would be named after his sidekick at EDI, Mort Meyerson.

But in reality, the amount of public funds and personal, foundation and corporate donations that were made to the Myerson are what guaranteed it would be built.  And it is the continuing public donations that guarantee that it will remain viable.

As we do every Christmas Season, Patty and I and our friends, Cindi and John Burnside, recently went to the Meyerson for the Dallas Symphony's Christmas program. 

As I looked through the printed program, all of the significant donations that had been made were listed.

What interested me was that of all of the real estate brokerage firms in Dallas, and of all of the "power agents" who claim to sell multi-millions of dollars worth of homes every year, and insinuate that their earnings are as much as a million dollars, I found only one firm that was listed as a donor.  And it was the firm that almost every Dallasite would expect to find listed there.

That is a very significant statement.

Real estate agents and companies should consider supporting the arts, tithing at their church, and helping fund community events before they budget for their vanity ads in magazines and newspapers. 

It's a moral cost of doing business.  For without those community affiliations, we would not be successful in our business. 

It's odd how few of us seem to grasp this concept. 

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Our 44th Year Selling America

214 503-8563

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

             I'm never sure exactly when it's going to happen, but every year at this time I realize how much I miss jazz singer Mel Torme. 

            Torme knew more about the mixing of cord harmonies than anyone did before or has since. 

             He was the one who taught that art to bandleaders Les Baxter and Artie Shaw, and singers Ginny O'Connor (Henry Mancini's wife), the Hi-Los and the Manhattan Transfer. 

             He's the one who wrote the arrangements for Chico Marx's band when he was but a teenager.

            He's also the one my business colleague of twenty-plus years ago, Boston real estate planner, Carol Todreas, and I tromped on  many bitter-cold snowy nights from our Central Park South hotel. the Essex House, to see at a small Manhattan dinner club called Marty's. 

             There we'd hear Mel along with pianist George Shearing and his Trio, in a packed house that held no more than 70 people.

             Marty's was carved out of the corner of a multi-story parking garage.  It was New York's best kept secret. 

             No way did the owner make any money, and it's for sure Torme and Shearing were working for not much more than a free meal.  But for them it was the perfect gig.  For the audience it was the venue of succes d'estime.

            Mel Torme wrote the tune and most of the words to the Christmas song that goes, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  Jack Frost nipping at your nose."  And he did it when he was just 22-years old. 

             The following summer he appeared to a packed house in the Marine Ballroom at Galveston's Pleasure Pier.  And he had one successful appearance after another at the famed Balinese Room, although his name never seems to be included in the list of the B-Room's star performers like Phil Harris, Myron Cohen, Frank Sinatra and the like when someone speaks or writes about those days.

            The symphony did its annual Christmas Pops concert this past Saturday night.  The house was packed.  Looking around one would have thought every senior citizen within a fifty-mile radius of Dallas was in the audience, all the while the young people must have been somewhere else.

            The orchestra played arrangements of many of the favorites - Adeste Fideles, Little Drummer Boy, Deck the Halls, O Come All Ye Faithful and so on.  But before that, they played my old friend Mel's song. 

            And I sung along in my head, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Yule time carols...."  My tears began to flow.

            And while the orchestra and the rest of the audience moved on in the program, they left me behind, as they always do, to think of Christmases of the past when Mel was still singing his songs, Carol and I were tromping through the Manhattan snow to hear him at Marty's, and all of the members of the Cherry family were still alive and together awaiting the wonderful celebration of Christmas. 

             Those are the very special reasons I miss my friend, Mel Torme, who passed away in 1999. 

             His friendship, style and wonderful voice only remain with me in my memory, and through the recordings he made long ago. 

             And oddly, many singing "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire," this season don't know its real title is "The Christmas Song," and most have never heard of Mel Torme.

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Our 44th Year Selling America

214 503-8563

800 314 7110

ATT - U-VERSE -- TO BE OR NOT TO BE, THAT IS THE QUESTION

HOW YOU GET IT.

Representatives of ATT are knocking on Dallas doors and ringing telephones, all in a big push to get thousands of TV owners to change from whatever receiving service they now use to ATT's.  It's called U-Verse.

While these representatives commonly infer that subscribers will get their signals by fiber optics, the newer and more pure method of transmittal than cable, satellite and rooftop antennas, that's not what they are offering.

IT'S NOT TRUE FIBER OPTICS

In an effort to save massive upfront costs, ATT engineers and vendors developed a hybred system.  In generalities, the signal does go by fiber optics from the "main office" to large chests of wire in residential neighborhoods, but it travels from that chest by regular copper telephone wire to the homes.  It's the same wire that the telephone voice signals have been transmitted to your home for years.

THE PROBABLE REASON FOR FAILURES

Those wires, in most cases, are old and have countless splices in them as phone service has been added, subtracted and modified over the years.  So while voice travels them with reasonable intelligence, that's often not the case with the massively more complex television signals.

When the signal reaches its destination along with telephone and Internet signals, it is divided by a splitter that's called a baling, and fed to a modem that directs the signal to the TVs.

THE PROBLEM COMPOUNDED

Here is the problem in a nutshell.  The technology apparently works swell in the laboratory where everything is new, where weather isn't involved and where line runs are short.  But it often times does not work when applied in real-life situations.

And if that isn't bad enough, the technicians who come to try to locate problems are very limited in their actual understanding of what causes problems and how to correct them.  So the manner in which they approach correction is two fold:  make sure all of the wires are tightly connected, and change out component parts with the hopes that will solve the problem.

IN A NUTSHELL

The service technicians don't know how or why it works.  That's the paradox.  If you don't know how or why, what chance have you to know why it isn't?

OUR EXPERIENCE AT WORLD HEADQUARTERS

We added U-Verse at World Headquarters about six months or so ago.  It has never worked properly although ATT has sent out at least eighteen different technicians to try to fix it.  And oft times a technician has spent well over two hours disrupting our lives while he's making one more attempt to stop the failures.

The common problems are feezing and pixalating.  You simply can't enjoy a program because you miss huge chuncks of it as a result of the U-Verse failures.  Beginning last evening, our TVs will just freeze on a frame and remain that way.  The only way to bypass that malfunction is to turn the modem off and reboot it.

The tech supervisor has promised to come on Monday, but if he can't get it resolved, we are going to immediately change services. 

WHAT OTHERS HAVE EXPERIENCED

If you speak with neighbors, read Internet posting and the like, you'll find people either get great service or bad service.  And it appears to me that at least in Dallas, it is not evenly divided.  Most people seem to wish they had never seen U-Verse.

WHAT'S YOUR EXPERIENCE?

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Our 44th Year Selling America

214 503-8563

Financial Advisor, Alfred E. Neumann

Financial advisors of every nature --- stock brokers, life insurance specialists, real estate investment mentors, trust officers, economists, the list goes on and on -- not only neglected to work to get their clients out of the equities market before it began its decent, but were encouraging them to continue taking more risks by increasing their portfolios.

That's indisputable, and it's indisputable that the majorities' advice and the products they were pushing are, in the main, what has caused the world financial markets to tumble to their present low points.  So in the opinion of many, it was that advice that caused their clients to be in the awkward positions they are in today.

So my question is simply this:  Why would anyone follow those same people's advice as to how to handle their investment accounts now?

In reality, there are only three logical positions those who are in the market should take at this point, regardless of the size of their corpus -- a few thousand bucks or multi-millions:

1.  Do nothing.  Keep the status quo, no matter how scared you are or how hard it is to convince yourself that this is the right tact.  Selling and converting to cash at this point does nothing more than assure that you've got and will have losses.

2.  Methodically sell portions of those equities that have losses and take the write-off against your current income, and then reinvest that entire capital amount back into like investments.  This should only be done with the meticulous advice of your tax advisor.  It is a very positive tact.  It's the ray of sunshine.

3.  And finally, this one:  Take a deep breath, and then begin investing more cash into conservative companies, real estate and the like, that are not over-valued at their current market price, so that you can not only increase the possibilities of recovery profits, but also will experience the recovery faster than by holding to the status quo.

Probably the worse consideration for most at this point is redeeming accounts and putting the proceeds in other forms of investments.  Remember, most financial advisors only make money for themselves when clients are buying or selling. 

In our case, we are following a blend of No. 2 and No. 3.  However, that's certainly not meant to be advice for you or anyone else to follow. 

You need and should make your own decisions.  In a huge number of cases, that people followed others' advice is why they've seen their estates take huge haircuts.  Your best friend today is an astute and knowledgeable Certified Public Accountant.

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Our 44th Year Selling America

214 503-8663

WHAT A PARADE!

When I drove into Dallas for the first time in 1960 and on my way to near-by Denton to enroll at North Texas State Un-iversity, I noticed a bravura, an aura that was entirely different than the other two big southern cities I was familiar with -- Houston and New Orleans.

It showed at its best to me among the close, but weaving streets of Downtown Dallas.  Architecture that was inconsistent with each other in period and style, but placed perfectly to cause a wholeness, a giant compliment to those who had caused it and those who embraced and perpetuated it.

As because Dallasites have diligently tried since then, the city remains a formal and cultured spot in the center of Texas that has taught many the art of being urbane themselves.  Almost as if they were from Paris or London or Rome but with just enough of a bit of Texas oil man in them to let them stand above the crowd.

Throughout it all -- at least for the past several generations, and no one is alive today who can remember before then -- the cornerstone, the base, the teachers, the remembrances of that culture have been reminders of what being a Dallasite requires of you.  And those cornerstones have been and remain the Adolpus Hotel and Neiman-Marcus.

This morning, as residents have for the past twenty years, dressed in the warm clothes, they lined the main streets of Downtown Dallas to watch, enjoy and participate in the annual Children's Parade that is a joint venture sponsorship of Neiman's, the Adolpus and the Children's Medical Center. 

The journalists reported that there were nearly one-half million people there to watch it.  Patty and I were there with Patty's son Randy, his wife Susan, two of their children, Alice and Emelia, two of the grandfathers, Ken and Norman.  And Susan's friend from their college days, Gina, was with us, too.  If I've listed everyone, it should total ten.  And it was also Emelia's first birthday.  December 6th.  We were sorry that grandsons Randy, Jr. and Reid weren't able to be with us.

The parade was wonderfully organized and had exceptional participation -- you know my love of high school bands -- and of all the parades I've attended over the years, there has never been one that had a more genteel audience. That's what most certainly marked it as a Dallas event.

There among those gerrymandered streets with the architectural street-scape that hit me as the signature of Dallas in 1960, 450,000 people acted like Dallasites, the way they had been raised to act by the influence of their forebears and most certainly the founders of the Adolpus Hotel and Neiman-Marcus.

And one final thought:  Although a Jew, no one on earth enjoyed the Christmas Spirit more than Stanley Marcus.  I'm positive that whole presentation and experience today especially honored him.  At least it did in my mind, and I said a quick prayer of thanksgiving for his many contributions.

All of it made me proud to live in Dallas, the birth home of my second family.  Merry Christmas to all!

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Our 44th Year Selling America

214 503-8563

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

The Austin Street Shelter is a homeless shelter has been so successful and such an exemplary model that it and its founder, The Reverend Beulah (Bubba) Dailey and her husband, The Reverend Harry Dailey have been written about in countless newspaper and magazine articles plus a biographical book.  The are both ordained priest in the Episcopal Church.  The shelter and its founders are anomalies.

I'd like to invite you to read my prior blog piece so you'll get some sense of the impact this mission has made on lives and the community of Dallas. ("Austin Street Shelter with Harry and Bubba"). 

The Austin Street Shelter has asked that all who can deliver a frozen turkey and the other traditional Christmas items to the shelter in time for their residents' Christmas dinner.  Volunteers to serve the Christmas meal will also be greatly appreciated.

If delivering your donations to the shelter is inconvenient, you may take them by any Dallas area Episcopal Church, and they will make certain they get there on time.

If you live outside of Dallas but would still like to help, you may send your check to Austin Street Shelter, 2929 Hickory Street, Dallas, Texas 75226-2123.

Thank you very much for your generosity, and Merry Christmas!

 BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

214 503-8563

I remember a year or so before I graduated from high school, my daddy showed me an article in Time Magazine.  It gave the average incomes of attorneys in the United States, and it was about $8,000 a year.  CPAs earned about $6,000.  General physicians made $25,000 and specialist twice that much.

The point was that attorneys, in general, weren't particularly necessary for most people to get along just fine.  Get them to write your will and probate those of relatives, and you probably weren't going to need their services again.

People, in the main, based their behavior and ran their professional lives with only four tests:  Is it moral?  Is it ethical? Is it honorable?  Is it fair to all concerned?  

So let's see, I graduated from high school in the spring of 1958, so that's been fifty years, and in that fifty years, attorneys have figured out how to make their services infinitely necessary and at costs that earn the majority of them at least $200,000 a year...many making more than $1 million.

That's primarily because the public has been trained to think differently about its own behavior.  Where the tests used to be is it moral, ethical, honorable and fair?  Now it is, is it legal?

That an idea tests out as legal --- even when tried in court --- does not make the idea moral, ethical, honorable and fair.

I have done my best to live my life and run my business the 1958 way.  I am always disappointed when someone says to me, "Well, my attorney says it's legal," when I point out that their projected behavior appears to me to be unethical, dishonorable, or taking unfair advantage.

Humanity will begin to re-win the battle when attorneys' earnings begin to diminish, the number of attorneys practicing begins to diminish, and judges have lots of free time in their dockets.

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS

Selling America Since 1964

214 503-8563