Wednesday, June 19, 2019

EP128: Ken’s Commencement Speech and Welcoming in Summer


If Ken were to ever speak at a college graduation, this would be his speech.  And then he reflects on summers past.


Listen to the Hollywood & Levine podcast!

6 comments :

Karan G said...

Loved the podcast graduation speech and the sound bites from your book….which I’ve read and highly recommend. I too love Neil Young’s music. But, he’s never been accused of being a diplomat. Our local author/acquaintance, Dan Wakefield tells many stories of his time in Hollywood (I believe starting in 1970), having dated Eve Babitz for a year (There is a new book called “Hollywood’s Eve.”. (A former ‘girlfriend’ of Jim Morrison, several of The Eagles, Harrison Ford, did album covers for The Byrds….etc.) Dan had to break up with her and leave town in order to survive the crazy lifestyle. I love the rock music of the era, but was not a hippie. My sister kinda was….but more the suburban hippie type with 2 graduate degrees. What a great era of music, not to be seen again, and a message of peace.

Kyron said...

I really enjoy your podcasts and hearing about the entertainment industry through your eyes

Just wanted to say thanks for taking me away from the doldrums of my 9-5 (ok 6-2:30)

Also I assume you’ve heard the “song” wear sunscreen ?? It came out almost 20yrs and a lot of it is right on, ..... some of your speech almost sounded like an add on to it especially when you start talking about sunscreen

Enjoy
Kyron

https://youtu.be/sTJ7AzBIJoI

slgc said...

You and Rodney Dangerfield had similar advice for graduates - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF0MilNDV1I

Jeff Boice said...

I really enjoyed your podcast. Ah, the days of smearing Coppertone or Sea and Ski all over our bods- they had an SPF rating of about 2- a miracle we all aren't being treated for skin cancer.

Mike Barer said...

The idea of you doing a commencement speech seems realistic given your success in TV writing. I grew up in Walla Walla and in my youth, their was a record store with listening booths. It was known as "The Record Center". It would seem silly at the time for LA record stores to have them, given the amount of rock and top 40 radio stations at the time.

Anonymous said...

Hello Ken

Sorry to be off topic, but British commercial TV ITV's decision to ban all male comedy teams from writing TV comedy has now dragged "Cheers" into the debate.

Thought you may be interested (if not aware)

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/06/why-itvs-decision-to-ban-all-male-comedy-writing-rooms-is-a-mistake/