Mr. President, I totally agree with you. I too see the need for a barrier or wall on our southern border, plus other security measures. It’s imperative that our country deals forthrightly with the growing crisis from caravan after caravan of bad people interspersed with deserving immigrants seeking asylum. If you bravely throw in the towel, you’d … More Mr. President, Give In and You’ll Win
By George, he helped me get through it! That’s right, over the years books have been my buddies who’ve helped me through some tough times. Books are the best medicine. Reading is therapeutic. Once I read the complete works of George Bernard Shaw upside down. That’s right. I was in my early twenties recovering from … More BY GEORGE, HIS BOOKS WERE MY BUDDIES
That’s right. Danger is lurking everywhere. It’s on both sides of the aisle and media is constantly banging the danger drums, scaring the daylights out of us. Here are some examples: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: A Danger to the Nation President Donald Trump: A Danger to the Nation. Speaker Nancy Pelosi: A Danger to the Nation! Maybe if we … More ______________________ (fill in the bank): A Danger to the Nation.
Here’s a snippet of a suggestive, sub rosa conversation I had recently with a woman with whom I “connected” in that globally crowded pick-up bar, Club Internet. Our affair, I mean our Internet encounter, occurred on the business platform, LinkedIn, hardly a dating service. To protect the innocent, I’ll call her Emily. Here … More In MeToo Times, Careful How You Address Your Internet ‘Connections’
I just can’t get over how banks treat even some of their best customers when they dare ask for a loan. Isn’t that what banks are there for? To loan money? Isn’t lending one of the main ways banks make money? Their raison d’etre? So why do they build walls between themselves and their best … More There’s Endless Talk about Walls These Days. Here’s one That Explains Why Banks Are in the Sad State They’re in
Is all this DNA testing creating fictitious families? After receiving an email from some looney-tune claiming an old high school girlfriend of mine was her mother and I was her biological father, I thought I’d have some biological fun. I sent this message to my adult children wishing them a Happy New Year: Dear family, … More “I’m Your Father?”
It took 17 centuries for the NEWS TO BREAK that a Christian community had been well established already hundreds of years by the time this cross-shaped marble baptistery was built in 4th Century Turkey. Think if there had been television and BREAKING NEWS, an Internet and social media a couple thousand years ago. … More TALK ABOUT A SLOW NEWS DAY . . . HOW ABOUT A CHOKINGLY SLOW NEWS ERA?
Alas, a new job has been created in often criminally enterprising America: baby Jesus bodyguards. The pay’s not so great, but the rewards can be heavenly. It’s a job with the ultimate upward mobility. Joining home security and cyber security today is Nativity security needed to combat a fiendish new crime wave—stealing baby Jesus and … More WANTED: BABY JESUS BODYGUARDS
It had to be 12 years since I’ve seen Fr. Med or heard one of his lively outspoken homilies at evening Mass at St. Joan of Arc Church. And now I’m looking at an email saying he wanted to talk to me about something important. Hmmm. We agreed to meet at my heavenly oceanfront … More Bless me Father for I have spin. ‘Sure hope so,’ Fr. Med said. ‘That’s why I emailed you!’
If you were exposed to the recent verbal slug fest on TV between Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and President Trump as they quarreled vociferously in the White House over whether to fund building the wall or shutting down the government, you may be entitled to compensation. If you are experiencing severe constipation, skin crawling and … More IF YOU WATCHED PELOSI, SCHUMER AND THE PRESIDENT ARGUING IN THE WHITE HOUSE, YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION
The other day, the man who has probably the best nose for corporate corruption and mismanagement popped in. John Di Lemme came in to be on the radio show we do Thursdays at my PR firm, TransMedia Group. Having held lofty, tense and perspiring positions at NBC and ABC, I couldn’t help asking … More Does Your CEO Stink?
“Your eyes are full of hate, Forty-one.”… in Ben-Hur, that’s good. In the White House, that’s bad. Serving others enriches your soul like for Bush 41. The Roman naval commander Quintus Arrius, played by British actor Jack Hawkins, comes down into the galley to inspect the slaves chained at their oars rowing the Roman ship. He … More Two 41’s!
We will not forget what a gentle, yet strong leader you were and all that you accomplished over a lifetime of service to our country. Hopefully more in government will emulate you, President George H.W. Bush. It was an honor to meet you once and I will always cherish your note to me that you … More READ OUR LIPS, BUSH 41. WE LOVE YOU TOO!
The passing of George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, evokes this tender memory of once meeting him, albeit under somewhat embarrassing conditions. My wife and I were staying in the Presidential suite at the Mendenhall outside of Philadelphia when the real President checks into the hotel suite across the hall from … More Yikes, I’m here in the Presidential Suite with the real President across the hall
How far would you travel to find a better life? Between 1892 and 1954, over 12 million immigrants passed through a place in Upper New York Harbor Bay ethereally quiet today called Ellis Island. Their journey took weeks under the most difficult, often life-threatening conditions? If you answered “Whatever it takes,” you echo not only … More WHY ISN’T THERE AN ELLIS ISLAND BETWEEN THE U.S. AND MEXICO?
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” Hey fellow wall nuts and security huggers, I’m with you. Without borders, we’ll lose our country. When Hillary says we need bridges not walls, they’re acting today more like bridges to chaos than humanity. Still those immortal words keep reappearing: … More Wall Nuts and Security Huggers
Is it our borders alone that define us as a Nation? Or is it together with our values, our beliefs, our traditions and maybe that statue in the harbor called Liberty. Chief Justice Roberts says “We do not have Obama judges.” President Trump’s tweets an Obama judge ruled against his anti-asylum executive order. Meanwhile, U.S. … More The Caravan: Children’s Disappointment in the Making?
Dick Clark with John Travolta on American Bandstand Years ago I wrote a book titled SPIN MAN, before SPIN became a pejorative term . . . hey man, that true or you just spinning? My spinful memoir was favorably reviewed by such celebrities at the time as Sally Jessy Raphael, Regis Philbin and the … More PR MUST RING THE REGISTER
President Macron, you say patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism? And you say this boldly in the presence of “America First” President Donald J. Trump? Do you really think “nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism,” as you went on to say at the ceremony marking 100 years since the end of World War 1? … More What is Patriotism to Thee?
Sam was in a restaurant waiting for what seemed like hours for service. So he calls the maître d’ over and asks how long it’s going to take to cast his vote for dinner. “You must be from” Broward or Palm Beach County,” the maître d’ says smiling. “Yes I am, but what does that … More Test to become a Poll Worker: Count the number of trees in this picture
I want you to know I’m in complete accord with this Dutch man who’s trying to legally lower his age. And why not? It makes perfect sense to me. And aren’t there precedents for fundamental changes in how others perceive us? If I were the judge I’d say, “Young man, to look at you … More Is there a precedent for the Dutch man to change his age?
“Madden, when are you ever going to retire,” my friends keep asking me. “Come on, join us for golf . . . down at the pool . . . out on the boat. Time to relax, man, take it easy. You’ve made enough money, for God’s sake. Yet how can I when practically every day … More WHAT DO THESE TWO LEADING WONDER WOMEN HAVE IN COMMON? THEY INSPIRE ME TO RACE TO WORK TO TELL THEIR AMAZING STORIES!
A friend of mine emailed me that he couldn’t in good conscience buy my client’s book, “Sex and the Serial Killer; My Bizarre Times with Robert Durst” on Amazon. I had suggested he purchase, read and review it. “No thanks,” he said. Then the Pittsburgh massacre happens, which shows demented murderers en masse as … More Who Are The Murderers Among Us? Best We Know Ere More Doom In Store!
What goes around, goes around, goes around Comes all the way back around Justin Timberlake Yes, just as in Justin’s song, things do come all the way back around. Take Italy, for example, that resplendent, dazzling, vivacious country so rich in beauty, culture and cuisine, so in continuity with its majestic past and now … More Ancient City Has New PR Firm: TransMediaItaly
#1: You Never Know Who’s Important My dad was still a young violinist. Talk about a prodigy, he had started playing concerts at age 8 and now was leading an orchestra one summer in a small coastal town in Massachusetts. The five-piece orchestra was playing in the only theater. The audiences were mostly campers. One … More LESSONS MY DAD’S VIOLIN TAUGHT ME
My PR firm TransMedia Group was about to issue a news release about “America Salutes You” teaming up with ReverbNation. Then something happened that put more urgency behind this nationally televised concert series honoring U.S. veterans. A U.S. veteran and a rising political star, Jason Kander, announced he was quitting the Kansas City mayor … More KANDER QUITTING MAYORAL RACE PUTS NEW URGENCY BEHIND ‘AMERICA SALUTES YOU’
Without taking sides in the riveting dispute between Supreme Court nominee Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford who accuses him of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school, I posted some crisis management suggestions last week after watching an interview Kavanaugh and his wife Ashley did on FOX News. Thinking back to my … More YES, IT’S THE NON VERBAL, STUPID!
Because it takes up so many characters, a paraprosdokian is probably not a word you’d want to tweet very much. What is a paraprosdokian? It’s a fulsome figure of speech where the latter part of a sentence jumps in an unexpected direction, often comically. Frequently a paraprosdokian is used for humorous or dramatic … More Do You Like a Paraprosdokian As Much As Me?
One of the sexiest gals in my talent agency,TransMedia Versatile Talent, is the famous Trump Divorcée Lynn Aronberg. Here Lynn picks the best online dating apps she’s become such an expert on since her highly publicized divorce. And Guys, if you want to score big, I suggest you follow Lynn’s Advice on how best to … More GUYS, LISTEN TO LYNN*
Funny, the guys you wade into in front of my oceanfront Boca Raton Resort and Club. Steve Budin and I were the only ones in the ocean late in the day a few weekends ago and while waste deep we started chatting about everything and anything. He asked me to wade in front of … More YOU CAN SAY STEVE AND I GOT ALONG SWIMMINGLY
*rough cut of book cover still being designed In ‘Gotcha’ World Are Many Prisons, Some Made To Order, Others Undeserving Our news release on PR Newswire caused quite a stir last month in media land. “Imprisoned Author Retains TransMedia Group to Promote ‘My Bizarre Times with Robert Durst” roared our catchy headline. The book’s full … More In ‘Gotcha’ World Are Many Prisons, Some Made To Order, Others Undeserving
We hurried the other day to give Sam, an anxious prospective client, a crash course in PR before he falls back on a risky, doomed-to-fail DIY approach. Sam was ready to sign a contract with our PR firm TransMedia Group until something happened to his feet. They suddenly got cold. So Sam calls … More TAKE MY CRASH COURSE IN PR
So I’m sitting beside my brave, undaunted wife getting her monthly chemo to combat her relentless breast cancer when I notice on my iPhone an email from BookLife. It says entries for the 2018 BookLife Prize of $5,000 must be in by August 31. Hmmm, not that far away, I thought. Better hurry. Then I notice … More TRUMP ENLIVENS THE CHEMO ROOM AS PATIENTS PONDER WHAT CATEGORY DOES MY BOOK FALL UNDER?
Global Warming is here to stay, but The Global Warming Foundation says what we’re experiencing now is only an early stage. You might say Vous n’avez enore rien Vu, the title of the French German film shown a few years ago at the Cannes Film Festival. Or as the Foundation’s founder Peter Ticktin, puts … More Global Warming Is Here To Stay
I look at it this way. Our Nation’s Flag and our National Anthem are sacred. When you think of all those who gave their lives fighting for those symbols of freedom that we Americans cherish, revere and hold sacred, you have to feel eternally grateful . . . and proud! Watching our star-spangled banner yet … More O say can you kneel . . .
TransMedia Group off to Las Vegas Baby for BlockShow Americas 2018, August 20-21 at The Venetian (The Palazzo), to make a big splash for one of our major clients at blockchain technology’s most influential, sought after conferences. No gambling here, Baby, we’re doubling down on TimiCoin to wow the crowd. Forgive a little boasting, but TransMedia Group is one of the … More My Disruptive PR Firm Heads to Vegas Baby To Disrupt BlockShow America 2018 Where TimiCoin Will Turn Heads
Your boss is going on a trip. He calls three of his most trusted staff into his office. To John he hands five crisp one thousand dollar bills. To Hector he gives two thousand and to Mike a thousand. “Now you’re the guardians of these funds until I return,” says the boss as he leaves the … More WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH THE MONEY?
Society, it’s time to stop committing opioidside, the indiscriminate killing and executing of people across the entire social spectrum, from innocent kids in schools to now even convicted murderers in prisons. Opioid sellers, the Opioid Awareness Foundation has you in its sites. Doctors, you’d better cease and desist from over-prescribing opioids. Dealers, stop getting rich … More SOCIETY, PUT YOUR PILLS DOWN AND YOUR HANDS UP. OPIOIDS ARE UNDER ARREST!
Years ago on New York’s WNEW-TV, the 10 O’Clock News began with this ominous question: “It’s 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?” This followed a period of urban unrest when the streets were not safe at night for kids to be out. Today it should be: “Do you know where … More THAT WAS THEN. NOW IT’S A NEW WORRY. DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR DNA IS?
Yes, Tom Madden has copyrighted and is developing a TV Series titled XtraTerresla whose main character is modeled after yours truly. Hardly surprising, huh? With all the meteoric waves I make in media taming my Tesla tiger, I’m a natural to base a TV Series on. So in a recent MaddenMischief multiple choice quiz, the … More AND THE WINNER IS . . . ME, ELON MUSK
Ever been to Eighty? That alluring, perfectly serine and inviting Isle of Eighty? I hear Eighty is a lovely laid-back escape. Great place to visit, but do we really want to live there? Well, my good friend Bill won a trip there in October thanks to Dr. Murphy lowering his cholesterol and keeping his blood … More Vacationing Permanently on Idyllic Isle of Eighty
Mr. President, do you really think it was right to call the EU or NATO a “foe” as you did just prior to your Helsinki summit. NATO is hardly our foe. The word is not really interchangeable with “opponent,” which I’m sure is what you meant when you described NATO members as foe whom you … More IS NATO OUR ‘FOE?’ IS INTERFERING WITH OUR ELECTIONS JUST ‘MEDDLING?’ TERMS ARE GERMS THAT INFECT OUR BODY POLITIC
Ever been to a car auction? They’re noisy. Messy. Costly. Right? Well here comes our superhero to the rescue–Disruptor Dong–who is about to transform that endangered species known as the auto auction into a smother, more sensible, saner and safer operation. Kevin Dong is the Jeff Bezos of the auto biz who is about to … More MEET DISRUPTOR DONG
Yes, Madden Mischief is developing a TV Series titled “XtraTerresla” and we were wondering if you can tell by the title what it’s about. Don’t worry, it’s copyrighted. So take a guess.Winners will receive a special invitation to the series world premiere. You have three choices. Is the property being developed: 1, 2 or 3? … More GUESS WHICH CONCEPT MADDEN MISCHIEF IS DEVELOPING INTO A TV SERIES?
Look, Harry, there’s breaking news. I wouldn’t worry, Martha, it’s probably about another tweet Trump sent out. No big deal. Hey news departments, give us a break from all the breaking news? The term is barked so often on FOX or CNN, its impact may be breaking down. You’re like breaking our chops … More BREAKING NEWS IS BREAKING OUR CHOPS!
Sometimes you need to speak up, the old truth to power, to avoid sending mixed messages that otherwise spoil a well-intentioned act. In this case the power is statuesque and beautiful. It resides gracefully and elegantly in a quietly intelligent immigrant known as the First Lady, Melania Trump, So big deal, she wore a coat … More DID MELANIA TAKE A SUPERTRAIN TO TEXAS?
‘PLEASE TELL THAT GAGGLE TO PIPE DOWN,’ I’D LOVE TO TELL THE BARTENDER AT MY ‘PRIVATE’ CLUB AFTER INDURING QUAKES OF LAUGHTER.The opening scene of the 1935 Fred and Ginger movie “Top Hat” finds Fred waiting for his business manager in the quietest, snobbiest private club in London. The slightest noise he makes produces angry stares and grimaces from the tuxedoed gentlemen who insist upon stiff decorum as they peruse their newspapers and quietly sip their … More ‘PLEASE TELL THAT GAGGLE TO PIPE DOWN,’ I’D LOVE TO TELL THE BARTENDER AT MY ‘PRIVATE’ CLUB AFTER INDURING QUAKES OF LAUGHTER.
It’s not “the economy, stupid” anymore. It’s the visual (or video), stupid. That photo of Trump embracing the little boy at The While House could erase a ton of Trump’s tweets that might have offended or bothered some people. Remember “It’s the economy, stupid?” It was the phrase political campaign strategist James Carville had coined for … More IT’S THE VIDEO, STUPID!
Kenny once saw only red, but today sees a collage of bravery in blue. Here are the police images artist Kenny Ruiz deplores the most today: A woman caught on camera spitting on demonstrators against the Chicago Mayor for turning his back on police officers. The Fraternal Order of Police were accusing the Mayor of “pandering to … More Artist Kenny Ruiz Once Had Reason to Hate Police, But Today Sees Only a Collage of Bravery in Blue
First let me tell you I spent years at ABC and NBC television networks putting out fires, managing crises, helping stars stay up in their respective realms after making blunders like Roseanne’s that sent their careers crashing. Today my PR firm, TransMedia Group, offers crisis management that has saved many businesses, including not too long … More Here’s My Mea Culpa Prescription To Redeem Roseanne’s Reputation
Between actor Robert Montgomery’s coaching Ike, Sammy Davis Jr’s cavorting with Nixon and Sinatra’s hosting glitzy birthday bashes for Kennedy, conservatives and liberals both have benefited spectacularly from the entertainment industry. While Hollywood’s political pendulum has swung decidedly liberal and being conservative today is like being gay in the eighties, it wasn’t always that way. … More HOLLYWOOD HASN’T ALWAYS BEEN LIBERAL WHEN DIRECTING AND CREATING PRESIDENTS
When I started this blog, I never dreamed I would ever become INaddicted, my term for having developed a benign, but adventurous, exuberant yet gnawing infatuation that has led me to romantically embrace LinkedIn. But that’s what’s happened. I’m in love with LinkedIn. Every morning the first thing I do is pick up my … More You Have a New Connection on LinkedIn Learn More About . . .
If the latest bump in the road doesn’t upset the nuclear apple cart, get ready for our shrewd deal-making cat to sit down with mister mashugana mouse for a high-stakes game of poker in Singapore. Here’s a glimpse of how the game might go down “I’ll raise you total nuclear abandonment,” says the cat, smiling … More Get Ready For High Stakes Poker in Singapore
Basically there are two ways to safeguard our livelihoods and protect America’s most precious resource today, her nearly 30 million small businesses. One is to adopt a cheerful, welcoming, open-door attitude toward potential customers. I call it the friendly, open arms, optimistic Laurel way. The other is to take heavy Hardy’s suspicious stance, staying always … More FOR SMALL BUSINESSES TODAY, IT’S A LAUREL OR HARDY WORLD
What if there had been 30 or 300 Americans released? Would it have been as powerful a story? Journalistic history tells us that large numbers don’t necessarily make as much news as when a precious few are involved whose individuality and humanness shine through. The word rescue causes many dramatic pictures to … More Was It the Ultimate ‘Less is More’ That Made Release of Three Americans from North Korea an even Bigger Story?
To: Martin Scorsese FR: Tom Madden Dear Martin, that’s the engrossing mystery in ‘The Mayor, The Mob & Me,’ an autobiography by 85-Year-Old Catherine Spitale that would make a movie to rival The Godfather. My PR firm, TransMedia Group (www.TransMediaGroup.com), was hired to do some investigative reporting to confirm whether author Catherine was indeed … More From Where Did Her Blue Eyes And Freckles Come?
Take it from me, a writer of speeches, books and blogs. It takes a lot more time and effort to write a short piece, versus a long one. And usually the shorter they are, the more punch they have, definitely in humor with the famous “one liner.” Is not brevity the soul of wit? I … More Just like it’s not easy bein’ Green, It’s not easy bein’ brief
Each morning as a writer I dive into a sea of words. Sometimes I come up with clammy expressions that are better off sinking back to the sandy bottom. Others I find mauled by tradition-eating sharks who enjoy noshing on my keyboard. One recentlyI came across was that quaint phrase “after you.” Here’s a … More Excuse me, I’ve a Bit of a Scratchy Throat Today. Après Vous
It seemed perfectly natural that the world’s first solar yacht builder would hire TransMedia Group for its launch at The Palm Beach International Boat Show. Our PR firm has a history of introducing revolutionary products. As the first oceangoing yacht fully solar sustainable and exclusively powered by solar energy, this beautiful, futuristic yacht built by … More WHETHER ON SEA OR LAND, BE NICE TO THAT BIRD IN HAND?
Once I had to get Tony the Tiger out of a serious scrape, along with his buddies Snap, Crackle and Pop. I was in New York working the D-A-Y shift atDudley Anderson Yutzy, one of the country’s largest PR firms at the time. I was assigned to get Tony, Cornelius Rooster and bunch of others … More Now Who’d Want to Bust Poor Little Tony?
First I want to THANK YOU, all of you who’ve been reading my blogs, especially those who’ve liked, shared and commented favorably on them. I look forward to continuing them in 2019. Of course, there are always exceptions. Here’s a maddening, empathy-empty exchange of emails with someone I’ll just call “Christian.” He calls me … More Father Forgive Me