Holiday Editions

  Headlines

     Cronyism and Adrian Bulman

        This Day in American History

          Sports Briefs

For a cam shot of New Year’s around the world: http://newyears.earthcam.com/

We wish you a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year

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  Adrian Bulman Remembered

      by Christopher “Kit” Menkin

This edition marks the last one for this year. It is also the time

I opened my own office in Santa Clara in 1971 as a lease broker,

who became a discounter, then a lessor, eventually forming eight

partnerships, founding director of a community bank, helped

two other community banks, who were all sold to larger banks eventually.

My living comes from a small lessor/discounter/broker operation in Silicon Valley, California, where 95% of our customers are not located far as we sign

all leases personally, not by UPS or Federal Expess. We get a lot

of repeat business.

I have written about how I got started and grew before, but would

like to address the readers who are commenting about cronyism,

or as Randy Schiell of Park Western Leasing called it, "crony-good ole boy flavor.”

“I like the "crony-good ole boy" flavor that sometimes comes through. It is really your personality and "touch" they are complaining about. You are a one man show, and I'd expect you to focus on things that are of interest to you and your closest associates.”

Yes, it does exist, because after 32 years in the leasing business, you

make many friends ( a good group have retired, and I understand that

as shortly after midnight I will be 62.) My point is many of my

friends write in and I quote them. They also give me “inside information.”

In addition, many of the “name with held,” means that I know the

person and often consider them a highly reliable source.

The fodder of the newspaper business are your sources. You protect them,

and often you give them more plugs than you would someone else

as you are trying to return the favor.

What has made Leasing News different are these “crony’s.” The reason

readers get the “inside scoop” is usually from one of my friends who

wants to help out, give a “heads up,” or point me in a direction to

follow to get the real truth about what is going on, not just what

is being put forward by the “spin doctors.”

During the course of the time when I started writing Leasing News, I made

new friends, and new contacts. One of them was Adrian Bulman. I actually

never physically met him, and may have talked to him two or three times

on the telephone at most, if that much. But he certainly gave many “leads”

as to what was happening, including the group of companies that started

“The List.”

As editor, I wanted to reward him for his help in providing tips, information,

and being a resource into the industry. I thought he would enjoy the publicity so I asked him to write about what was happening in the leasing market. I did not give

him any direction, or any parameters to length, but wanted to print it

right before the year end.

He sure was right on the money:

                     December 27, 2000

Adrian Bulman Looks at Our Industry Today

-

Adrian Bulman's Report

A few weeks ago I asked what was happening in the market and got some interesting

results. Here is some of the information I have come across from our leasing industry.

First, the small ticket leasing industry deals in perception. Our customer is the small

business looking for equipment to do something better within his/her company probably

replacing existing equipment. He is approved and has our contract in his hands.

That evening he goes home and watches Peter Jennings while he is eating his dinner.

He hears Coke has laid of an additional 2000 people. Housing starts are down.

Consumer confidence is declining and the merchants are not expecting big Christmas

sales. And last, Mr. Greenspan is cool to the idea or President elect Bush's tax

cut and may or may not lower prime after the first of the year. All that negative

news causes doubt and our lessee decides to wait. He says to himself, "I think

I will wait 90 days before doing this and see what happens." For those of you

who can remember it is '89 and '90 all over again.

2)

For the first time I can remember we are competing with banks for small ticket

deals. Local banks are hungry and desperate for revenue. Whether we like it or

not they will also have more control over the customer than we do.

3)

Cash! So many small businesses have done so well over the last five years they

just pay cash. About this time last year a friend at Textron told me their business

was dead because so many contractors were paying cash for their yellow iron. That

left them picking over the credits who couldn't afford to pay cash. Sound familiar?

Does anyone else perceive a decline in credit in 2000?

4)

As 50 something lenders have gone away or "changed the way they do business" the

survivors have raised rates and credit standards. This also has a direct impact

on our competing with local banks. The "B" credit story deals are not getting

done as they were a year ago. Many of those "B" credits have gotten shopped and

have used credit cards to borrow and now can't be done.

5)

Fraud! Don't kind yourself. As the economy cools the bad guys and girls find very

innovative ways to steal from our industry. If something is just too good to be

true then we all know it probably is. And, whether we like it or not, as the economy

cools and there aren't as many deals out there some brokers and savvy vendors

will polish beyond the realm of reality and in the words of Charles Randall, "Slide

into complete male bovine excrement."

6)

Inexperience. Many of the newer, younger brokers have gotten used to this terrific

economy and have never gone through a downturn or watched their favorite lender

disappear. Some fail to grasp the fact there was, possibly, too much money chasing

deals and the ones receiving those huge dollars had to put that money on the street

and fairly quickly. Historically, the quickest way to do that is to lower credit

standards. But, when that happens those chicks come home to roost in about a year

and a half. The younger brokers also need to realize the days of submitting a

deal to three lenders with the first approval getting it are over. You do that

now and you are probably going to end up with three turn downs and three very

unhappy lenders. Lenders do talk with each other!!!!!

7)

Transportation industry. Oh dear, if you are in this industry then fasten you

seat belt because you are in for a rough ride. The big truck industry is hurting.

Freightliner may not survive. They are rumored to be taking back 600 trucks per

month. Small truckers are not making much money and first quarter of 01 they have

five major expenses coming up -tags; highway use tax; ad valorum tax; Income tax;

and down payment on their insurance premiums. An old friend and ex-Associates

Commercial employee says there will be 80,000 additional large truck repos by 4/30/01. Most of us know Associates has raised their credit standards on trucks

and almost no one will do owner operators. The truck dealers are desperate to

place paper and have lost some of their arrogance. However, they are smart enough

not to recourse any lease paper. Truck orders are way off. One of the biggest

concerns is Freightliner owns a company that makes truck engines. I hear the very

best truck engines. If Freightliner goes under and this engine manufacturer goes

too it will cause huge problems for trucking.

Okay, so what is going to happen in 01? Who the heck knows??? However, the major lenders in small ticket should continue to do well. They will continue to cherry pick

credits and even if we see a slight prime decrease I don't think it will be passed

along. Collections will probably go up slightly.

The broker end could be a problem. I calculate over 100 brokers have closed up since

September. More are going away after the first of the year. I think the first

quarter of 01 is going to be a tough market for brokers. Their vendors are being

solicited by some of the largest financial institutions in the US and now they

are forced to compete directly with their lessee's bank. Even "B" story credits

are difficult to get done. The broker survivors will be leaner and meaner. We

all know there is business out there and we are a resourceful lot in finding it.

Many brokers are focusing on specific industries. Others figure "twice the calls

for half the volume" and I think everyone's profits have dropped this year. As

a whole I think the brokers are frightened. Most are not doing this work between

job openings. They are making house payments, buying groceries, and putting their

kids through college. The changes in the last year are scary. There has not been a great deal of positive news from the leasing industry in 2000. Many I hear from

are thinking more of controlling their own money and for the first time I hear

some of the guys with a little more white hair than me talk about getting out.

On the whole, most people think 01 will be more of 00 with fewer lenders, tighter

credit and more competition. In the many years I have been in this industry there

has always been a 500 pound gorilla. No more! Denrich is long gone. Colonial is

now owned by GECC. Manifest has been sold twice. Dwight and Charles have announced

Republic is for sale and we hear Advanta is on the market. Being the eternal optimist,

there certainly is lots of room for new lenders to emerge and become a "player"

quickly.

But, as ole Mark Speros is fond of saying, "If it was easy everyone would be doing

it!"

-

                Adrian F. Bulman

American Leasing & Financial, Inc.

Marietta, GA

  postscript:

Adrian Bulman passed away at the age of 53 on January 13,2001. He was survived by his

wife Beth and sons Aaron (17) and Evan (14).

An announcement sent to all their members by the National Association of Equipment

Leasing Brokers:

"Leasing not only builds character, it builds characters.

"Everyone who had the pleasure to know, to experience, Adrian Bulman knew that

he was larger than life. Nothing with Adrian was gray (which made him doubly tough

on lawyers). He was one of NAELB's founders, and our first secretary, because

he perceived the need to address fraud, unfairness and unethical conduct in our

industry. He was the first to congratulate the Board on a good decision and to

question what he considered a bad one.

"To all of us, he will be remembered as a man of constant good humor and an outspoken champion of good causes. His own strong character and moral compass guided his

hand as he sought to guide ours. We hope that we will continue to consider what

Adrian would have said, lest we falter in our resolve to speak for the broker

and to protect the interests of the "little guy" in our business.

"Our Association, and leasing, is better for what he had to say and we will miss him

terribly."Since Monday I have been wanting to write something in Adrian Bulman's memory, but I just can not seem to find the correct words.

"I worked for Adrian and Mike for 3 years and I have been shocked by his sudden death.

I did not realize how much it affected me until I went to his funeral yesterday."

Barry

S. Marks, Esq.

BSM@blik.com

[Headlines]

This Day in American History

       1781-The first modern bank in the US, the Bank of North America, was organized by Robert Morris and received its charter from the Confederation Congress. It began operations January 7,1982, at Philadelphia.

        1823- Birthday of William O. Cushing, American clergyman. He penned over 300 hymns, among them "When He Cometh," "Under His Wings" and "Hiding in Thee."

    1834-Pioneer medical doctor Mary Jane Safford birthday. She assisted "Mother" Mary Ann Bickerdyke nursing Union soldiers in the Civil

War. She (as did the other women) actually went into battles waving a white

Handkerchief on a stick to nurse the wounded while the fighting

was still going on. The experience of saving lives set her on the way to a

medical career      She attended the New York Medical College for Women in 1869 and then went to Germany for advance training.    She became professor of

women's diseases at the Boston University School of Medicine, a staff physician

at a Boston hospital, and had an extensive private practice. She was the

first woman to perform an ovariotomy, a very common operation in those days.

http://www.civilwarhome.com/saffordbio.htm

    1837 -Birthday of John R. Sweney, American sacred chorister. He composed over 1,000 gospel tunes, including SUNSHINE ("There is Sunshine in My Soul Today") and SWENEY ("More About Jesus Would I Know").

1862-The Battle of Stones River (Murfeesboro) begins in central Tennessee. The armies struggled in the bitter cold for three days before the Union army, commanded by General William Rosecrans, defeated the Confederates under Braxton Bragg.

http://www.civilwarhome.com/stonesriver.htm

 http://www.civilwarhome.com/stones.htm

http://www.nps.gov/stri/

http://www.civilwaralbum.com/misc/stonesriver.htm

    1878- Elizabeth Arden (Florence Nightingale Graham) birthday - Canadian-born U.S. cosmetic entrepreneur. Raised in poverty after her mother died when she was a child, EA held menial jobs until she emigrated to New York City where she

learned basic beauty techniques at the opportune time: the new moving pictures

which featured women wearing elaborate makeup that glamorized them would give impetuous to the female beauty business.  In 1908 with the loan of about $1,000 from her brother she opened a luxurious women's salon on Fifth Avenue in New York City that was an immediate success. She quickly branched into creating cosmetics and by 1915 she was selling her products internationally and was a millionaire.  In addition to her products, she operated more than 100 salons, health spas, etc., and became a noted racehorse owner who won the 1947 Kentucky Derby with Jet Pilot.  She was a leader in improving the safety of cosmetics. At her death at 88, she still owned every bit of stock in her enterprises which had seen annual sales of $60 million. Her companies were sold to Eli Lilly Company for lack of leadership after her death.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0382095871/
002-5050140-9686411?v=glance

   1879- In the first public demonstration of his incandescent light bulb, American inventor Thomas Alva Edison lights up a street in Menlo Park, New Jersey. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company ran special trains to Menlo Park on the day of the demonstration in response to public enthusiasm over the event.

Although the first incandescent lamp had been produced 40 years earlier, no inventor had been able to come up with a practical design until Edison embraced the challenge in the late 1870s. After countless tests, he developed a high-resistance carbon-thread filament that burned steadily for hours and an electric generator sophisticated enough to power a large lighting system. in 1877 he stumbled on one of his great inventions--the phonograph--while working on a way to record telephone communication. Public demonstrations of the phonograph made the Yankee inventor world famous, and he was dubbed the "Wizard of Menlo Park." Although the discovery of a way to record and play back sound ensured him a place in the annals of history, the phonograph was only the first of several Edison creations that would transform late 19th-century life. Among other notable inventions, Edison and his assistants developed the first practical incandescent light bulb in 1879 and a forerunner of the movie camera and projector in the late 1880s. In 1887, he opened the world's first industrial research laboratory at West Orange, where he employed dozens of workers to investigate systematically a given subject. Perhaps his greatest contribution to the modern industrial world came from his work in electricity. He developed a complete electrical distribution system for light and power, set up the world's first power plant in New York City, and invented the alkaline battery, the first electric railroad, and a host of other inventions that laid the basis for the modern electrical world. One of the most prolific inventors in history, he continued to work into his 80s and acquired 1,093 patents in his lifetime. He died in 1931 at the age of 84.

1880- Chairman of the newly formed Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee throughout the US’s involvement in WWII, General George Marshall was born at Uniontown, PA. He accompanied Roosevelt or represented the US at most Allied war conferences. He served as secretary of state and was designer

1887 (Ida) Frances Steloff birthday - U.S. founder of the legendary Gotham

Book Mart. FS Helped launch the works of Henry Miller, James Joyce, Gertrude

Stein, Anais Nin, Ezra Pound and e.e.cummings. “Died April 18,1969

http://www.adeleart.com/NinPage/Frances.html

http://www.anaisnin.com/history/Steloff.html

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1879923084/
inktomi-bkasin-20/ref%3Dnosim/002-5050140-9686411

   1905-Birthday of composer Jule Styne, London, England

http://kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/honors/history/honoree/styne.html

   1908-Birthday of bass player John Kirby, Baltimore, MD
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazz/jazzprofiles/kirby.shtml

http://www.jazzdigger.com/j/Jazz_Giants/John_Kirby_Giants_of_Jazz__B00000DAJX.htm

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_mucontrib.php/mu_artist=J
ohn+Kirby+%2526+His+Orchestra/ut=0cea001161ce67c0

   8 trumpet player Jonah Jones born Louisville, Kentucky

http://www.cabcalloway.cc/jonah_jones.htm

http://www.spaceagepop.com/jonesjon.htm

http://trumpetjazz.netfirms.com/Artists/Jonah_Jones.html

    1922- Vigilantes begin a weeklong attack on the black residents of Rosewood, Florida, burning down the town and effectively wiping it off the maps. The racially motivated destruction of Rosewood was so thorough and complete that knowledge of the episode nearly disappeared along with the town. However, families of the survivors managed to keep the memory alive and eventually won some small compensation from the state of Florida in 1994. In 1922, there were 30 households and about 200 residents in Rosewood-virtually all of whom were black. The fact that the town was slightly more prosperous then some of the neighboring white communities may have contributed to the tension and jealousy between white and black area residents. The Rosewood incident started as a hunt for escaped convict Jesse Hunter, who was believed to be responsible for the rape of an area white woman. Although there was no evidence that Hunter had any connection to the town of Rosewood, an angry mob of white men began a house-by-house search in that community. Residents first tried to defend themselves, but the threatening mob, with as many as 600 armed participants, far outnumbered them. The hunt for the rapist quickly escalated into violent attacks on the people of Rosewood, in which men were killed and women were raped. Although there is not an exact tally of the deaths resulting from the Rosewood riots, reports range from 6 to 120. Many community residents survived by hiding in the surrounding swamps until the attacks ended. The incident was reported and condemned by progressive newspapers at the time, but it was largely forgotten, because the destroyed town of Rosewood was never rebuilt and in essence disappeared from the maps. Yet the persistence of the survivors-some of whom were small children at the time of the attack-finally brought the matter to the attention of the Florida legislature in 1994. The state agreed to compensate 172 survivors and their families a total of $1.85 million because law enforcement officials had done nothing to stop the riots. .

1929- Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians made their first annual New Year's Eve broadcast over the C-B-S network from the Roosevelt Grill in New York City. The New Year's Eve radio, and later television, programs by Lombardo became a holiday tradition. The band's rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" became familiar to millions.

   1930-Birthday of singer/guitarist Odetta, Birmingham,AL
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Park/8672/odetta1.html

http://www.alamhof.org/odetta.htm

http://www.vanguardrecords.com/odetta/

    1931-Birthday of sax player Gil Melle, Riverside, CA.

http://www.artistdirect.com/music/artist/bio/0,,467115,00.html?artist=Gil+Melle

http://www.gilmelle.com/default.htm

   1938- Drummer Buddy Rich joins the Artie Shaw Band.

    1943- Dinah Washington, 19, first records with the Lionel Hampton Band, Keynote label.

   1943- John Denver, born Henry John Deutschendorf at Roswell, NM, this singer-songwriter (“Rocky Mountain High,” “Sunshine on My Shoulder”) died in a plane crash off the coast of Big Sur, California, Oct 12, 1997.

    1944---Top Hits
Don’t Fence Me In - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
There Goes that Song Again - Russ Morgan
I’m Making Believe - Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots
I’m Waistin’ My Tears on You - Tex Ritter

   1946-The state of hostilities was officially ended by President Truman, who reminded the nation that a state of war still existed and that the state of emergency proclaimed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt was not yet rescinded. May 8, 1945 was V-E Day, victory in Europe, and August 15,1945 was V-J Day,

Victory over Japan. However, the allies did not officially end the war until September, 1990, when all disputes over land, rights, and other agreements

were finalized.

   1948- Russell Long of Louisiana was elected Senator on November 2, 1948, and sworn in on this date in 1948 to fill a seat that had been occupied by his father and his mother, for the term expiring January 2, 1951. He was to become a powerhouse of the senate. His father, Huey Pierce Long, the boss of the Democratic party machine in Louisiana, was elected on November 4, 1930, and took the oath of office of January 25, 1932. He was assassinated in 1935 in a hail

of gunfire, some believe killed by the ricochet of one of his own body guards. Rose McConnel Long, wife of Huey Long and mother of Russell Long, was appointed on January 31, 1936, to fill the seat left vacant by assassination. She served until January 2, 1937.

   1948-Birthday of Donna Summer ( LaDonna Andrea Gains), singer (“Bad Girls”), born Boston, MA. In her day, she was the hottest popular female vocalist setting the disco beat. 1952---Top Hits
Why Don’t You Believe Me - Joni James
Because You’re Mine - Mario Lanza
Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Perry Como
Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Skeets McDonald

   1955 - General Motors became the first U.S. corporation to earn more than one billion dollars in a single year. The company’s annual report to stockholders listed a net income of $1,189,477,082 in revenues.

    1960---Top Hits
Are You Lonesome To-night? - Elvis Presley
Wonderland by Night - Bert Kaempfert
Exodus - Ferrante & Teicher
Wings of a Dove - Ferlin Husky
1960 - After playing California nightclubs as The Pendletones, Kenny and the Cadets, and Carl and the Passions, among other names, a new group emerged: The Beach Boys played their first concert under that name at the Richie Valens Memorial Centre in Long Beach, California. . The group’s first national hit, "Surfin’ Safari", was soon to be. They recorded for local (Los Angeles) Colpix Records and at the height of their popularity, Capitol Records. The Beach Boys also recorded awhile under the Reprise Records banner. My friend Bruce Johnson, who played for my “big band,” also played piano for this group. I played substitute a few times for high school graduations in the desert community, where I drove once or twice, too. The Beach Boys were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

   1961- the first football game to gross $1 million was played on December 31,

   1961- The Green Bay Packers defeated the New York Giants 37-0 for the National Football League Championship at City Stadium, Green Bay, Wi. There were 39l,029 spectators, and the paid attendance amounted to $1,013.792. Each of the Packers received $5,195 and each of the Giants, $3,340. The packers scored two touchdowns, three field goals, and four conversions.

   1962 - Governor Edmund G. Brown, of California, announced that his state was now the most populous of the 50 United States. New York’s governor, Nelson Rockefeller, disagreed and refused to concede.

    1967- Playing in a wind chill of 40 degrees below zero, the Green Bay Packers won the National Football League championship game by defeating Tom Landry’s Dallas Cowboys, 21-17. The game, played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin was called the Ice Bowl. During the game, the whistles of the referees actually froze to their lips. It turned out to be the coldest championship game ever.

Packers quarterback Bart Starr scored the winning touchdown on a quarterback sneak with 13 seconds left to play.

The bloodiest year of the war comes to an end. At year's end, 536,040 American servicemen were stationed in Vietnam, an increase of over 50,000 from 1967.

Estimates from Headquarters U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam indicated that 181,150 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese were killed during the year. However, Allied losses were also up: 27,915 South Vietnamese, 14,584 Americans (a 56 percent increase over 1967), and 979 South Koreans, Australians, New Zealanders, and Thais were reported killed during 1968. Since January 1961, more than 31,000 U.S. servicemen had been killed in Vietnam and over 200,000 U.S. personnel had been wounded

   1968---Top Hits
I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
For Once in My Life - Stevie Wonder
Stormy - Classics IV featuring Dennis Yost
Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell

   1969- Jimi Hendrix's new band debuts

Jimi Hendrix's new group, the Band of Gypsies, debuts with its first album, Band of Gypsies. Hendrix's former band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, had dissolved after several productive years together.Hendrix was born in Seattle in 1942. He grew up playing guitar, imitating blues greats like Muddy Waters as well as early rockers. He joined the army in 1959 and became a paratrooper but was honorably discharged in 1961 after an injury, which exempted him from duty in Vietnam. In the early 1960s, Hendrix worked as a pickup guitarist, backing up musicians including Little Richard, B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner, and Sam Cooke. He moved to New York in 1964 and played in coffeehouses, where bassist Bryan Chandler of the British group the Animals heard him. Chandler arranged to manage Hendrix and in 1966 brought him to London, where they created the Jimi Hendrix Experience with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. The band's first single, "Hey Joe," hit No. 6 on the British pop charts, and the band became an instant sensation. In 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience made its first U.S. appearance, at the Monterey Pop Festival. Hendrix made a splash by burning his guitar and was quickly established as a rock superstar. In the next two years, before the band broke up in 1969, it had released such classic songs as "Purple Haze," "Foxy Lady," and "The Wind Cries Mary." The band's albums included Are You Experienced? (1967), Bold as Love (1969), and Electric Ladyland (1969).

After the band dissolved over creative tensions, Hendrix made his famous appearance at Woodstock, playing a masterful, intricate version of "The Star Spangled Banner." Later that year, he put together a new group called the Band of Gypsies, which debuted on New Year's Eve in 1969. The band put out only one album, Band of Gypsies (1969). (A second album, Band of Gypsies II, was released in 1986.) Hendrix then recorded another album, without the band, called The Cry of Love, released in 1971. Hendrix played his last concert in August 1970, at the Isle of Wight Festival in Britain. He died in London in September 1970, having choked on his own vomit following a drug overdose. He was 28 years old when he died.

   1973- Kiss, whose flash-and-thrash stage shows would influence two decades of heavy metal bands, made their debut at the Academy of Music in New York. They shared the bill with Blue Oyster Cult, Iggy Pop and Teenage Lust. Kiss members Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss were as famous for their painted faces and spandex costumes as they were for their music, at least in the beginning.

   1974- Mick Fleetwood telephoned Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham and invited them to join Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood became interested in the duo after producer Keith Olsen played him an album that Nicks and Buckingham had recorded at Olsen's studio. Nicks and Buckingham completed the lineup that would record the four-million-selling "Fleetwood Mac" album in 1975 and the 15-million-selling "Rumours" two years later.
1976-the Cars played their first show, in New Hampshire. The new wave group would not release its first album until 1978. It would sell a million copies.
1976---Top Hits
Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright) - Rod Stewart
You Don’t Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show) - Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr.
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - Leo Sayer
Sweet Dreams - Emmylou Harris

   1978-Bill Graham’s Winterland closes with the Grateful Dead

http://www.dead.net/merchandising/music/DEAM-DECD249/

http://www.dead.net/merchandising/music/DEAM-DECD249/index_cd.html

   1979- The gradual U.S. withdrawal from the conflict in Southeast Asia is reflected in reduced annual casualty figures. The number of Americans killed in action dropped to 1,386 from the previous year total of 4,204. South Vietnam losses for the year totaled 21,500 men, while the combined Viet Cong and North Vietnamese total was estimated at 97,000 killed in action.

After 10 years of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, a total of 45,627 American soldiers had been killed. The U.S. troop levels, which started the year at 280,000, were down to 159,000. This troop reduction was a direct result of the shifting American goal for the Vietnam War-no longer attempting a military victory, the U.S. was trying to gracefully extricate itself from the situation by transferring responsibility for the war to the South Vietnamese.

   1982- Little Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band married Maureen Santora in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Springsteen was best man, and Little Richard performed the ceremony. Richard and Percy Sledge performed Sledge's hit "When a Man Loves a Woman" at the reception.

    1984---Top Hits
Like a Virgin - Madonna
The Wild Boys - Duran Duran
Sea of Love - The Honeydrippers
Why Not Me - The Judds

    1985 - Over 54,500 people played kazoos in downtown Rochester, New York. It got the crowd listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for ‘Most Kazoo-ers’.

   1986 - The State of Florida passed Illinois to become the fifth most populous state in the country. In the lead: California, New York, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

1986- Model Donna Rice met Senator Gary Hart for the first time at a party given by singer Don Henley, formerly of the Eagles. Henley says he didn't actually introduce the two because he was busy cooking. The scandal of the married Hart's relationship with Rice would cause the senator to withdraw from the race to be the Democratic presidential candidate in 1988.

   1990-The Sci-Fi Channel on cable TV begins transmitting

   1993- Barbra Streisand performed her first paid concert in 22 years -- the first of two shows at the M-G-M Grand Garden in Las Vegas. The concert was delayed for more than an hour because the audience had to pass through metal detectors. There were reports Streisand earned more than 20-million dollars for the two shows. Tickets -- priced from 50- to one-thousand-dollars each -- sold out within hours. Streisand had said she quit peforming because she became shy and scared she would forget the words to her songs. Fourteen TelePrompters helped her overcome that fear during the Vegas shows.

    1997 - In an attempt to nudge its Microsoft Network into a more competitive position (vs. America Online), Microsoft announced the purchase of Hotmail, the free Web-based e-mail service.

   1997 - Buffalo Bills head coach Marv Levy retired after 11 years and four consecutive Super Bowl appearances. His 123 victories with the Bills are a team record. He led the Bills to eight postseason appearances and five conference championship games, winning four.

   1999-Panama assumes control of canal: With the expiration of the Panama Canal Treat of 1979 at noon, the Republic of Panama assumed full responsibility of the canal and the US Panama Canal Commission ceased to exist.

   1999-The world waited with great fear to see if Y2 would cause havoc and destruction. A lot of computer makers, software developers, and consultants

made a lot of money as the world moved from DOS to Windows forever.

[Headlines]

 Sports Briefs---

 Raiders Fire Callahan

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/sports/football/nfl/oakland_raiders/7600573.htm

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/12/31/RAIDERS.TMP

If you missed this game, Washington State Upsets Texas

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-FBC-Holiday-Bowl.html

Fresno St. Beats UCLA in Silicon Classic

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-FBC-Silicon-Valley-Classic.html

Football Games Today, California time from San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/sports/tv/

[Headlines]

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