September is Classical Music month so let’s start with one of the greatest musicians, Maestro ArturoToscanini. For seventeen years Samuel Antek was first violinist for Toscanini. This Was Toscanini was written by Samuel Antek. His sudden death in 1958 never gave him the chance to finish. His daughter Lucy Antek Johnson expanded on her father’s story with This Was Toscanini: The Maestro, My Father, and Me. In 2021 the hardcover was published with pictures, and the audiobook has now followed. Swapping out pictures for music, from rehearsals to performances, Lucy allows the listener in to hear the passion and dedication of a genius. Listen and you will hear an excerpt from the first rehearsal of Brahms. Yes – in this episode!
Love, loss, healing, camping, adventure, misadventure and that RV
Laura Fahrenthold is a former NY Daily News crime reporter. She has worked as a government press secretary, private investigator and content editor at Woman’s World Magazine for over two decades.
Her memoir, ‘The Pink Steering Wheel Chronicles, A Love Story’ has been ranked as a ‘Top 20 Hot Pick’ on Amazon. Laura has appeared on national television and her story has been featured on People.com and The New York Post in addition to other news, radio and internet outlets.
Laura Fahrenthold hadn’t given much thought to traveling across the country. That is until she and her two young daughters suffered an unspeakable tragedy, the sudden death of Mark Pittman, husband and father. As a result of looking to find a way to heal, Laura and her daughters embarked on a five year, 31,152 mile adventure across the country. Every summer vacation was spent in their 1993 RV with the pink steering wheel. 31,152 miles as they sprinkled his husband’s ashes across N. America.
The journey came with lots of adventure, misadventures, tears and laughter:
Laura’s husband – Mark Pittman
The evening before Thanksgiving
Finding the way and pitching a tent at the beginning
‘HaRVey’ the RV and a stray dog
Spreading his ashes and McDonalds
The people you meet
Dealing and healing – each in their own way
Finding his journal – the surprise
Laura has interviewed more than 60,000 subjects on topics from health parenting and motherhood to fitness and finance. She is a regular contributor to humor writer Erma Bombeck’s memorial blog.
Mysteries surrounding families and putting the pieces together. Mysteries. Ariana Neumann is the author of When Time Stopped, A Memoir of My Father’s War and What Remains, a New York Times Bestseller. Ariana’s father had never spoken about his past, but he did...
Father’s Day and the changing family dynamic for some. The family dynamic. He’s the father of your children and your ex. While together you always made sure that the children did the right thing…a card…a present…etc. But now what? There are so many scenarios...
