{"id":12773,"date":"2020-02-13T00:45:08","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T04:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=12773"},"modified":"2020-03-11T13:55:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T17:55:08","slug":"how-words-brought-me-to-my-irish-connections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=12773","title":{"rendered":"How Words Brought Me To My Irish Connections"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Special Feature by Mike Greenly<\/div>\n
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(Eileen Shapiro & Rosie O’Donnell<\/div>\n
photo: Billy Hess )<\/div>\n
With my last name, people\u00a0 assume I\u2019m Irish. Not so. My father\u2019s original name was \u201cGreenberg\u201d \u2013 but when he was applying to medical schools in the 1940s, some institutions were not admitting Jews. So he changed the name to \u201cGreenly\u201d and that\u2019s what I was born with — the name my parents were proud to see quoted in TIME magazine as \u201cplanet Earth\u2019s first interactive electronic journalist.\u201d
\nWell, my facility with words seems to have made me a kind of honorary Irishman. especially when I shared my tips for giving successful presentations with the Irish Business Organization of New York. My talk went so well, and the members found it so useful, that I was invited to join as an official IBO NY member. (\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be Irish to join,\u201d I was told. \u201cYou just have to\u00a0like\u00a0the Irish.\u201d And I certainly do.)<\/div>\n
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I\u2019ve seen the statistics: over 33 million Americans have identified themselves as being of Irish ancestry. That\u2019s more than five times the population of the island of Ireland.<\/div>\n
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I\u2019ve found shared traits among the Irish and Irish Americans I\u2019ve encountered. From the high-level corporate leaders I\u2019ve worked with, to casual interactions with tourists on sidewalks of NYC \u2013 I continually find them people to be charming, affable and fun. My Dad would enjoy knowing that his name change from \u201cGreenberg\u201d to \u201cGreenly\u201d had supported the interesting relationships I now enjoy with the Irish American community.<\/div>\n
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After attending IBO NY breakfasts, lunches and dinners, I do feel like an honorary Irishman. My positive experiences with the group led me to think about two members of the media I know who\u2019ve interacted with and interviewed Irish Americans.<\/div>\n
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One of them, journalist Eileen Shapiro, writes for over 40 publications around the world. She may not be Irish herself, but she certainly has what others might identify as the Irish \u201cgift of gab.\u201d Among the Irish celebrities she has interviewed is Dublin-born Patrick Connolly Bergin, perhaps best known for his leading role opposite Julia Roberts in \u2018Sleeping With the Enemy\u2019. That 1991 psychological thriller set a world record at the time for the highest domestic opening for a female-centric film. Also among the Irish American celebrities she has interviewed is comedian\/talk show host Rosie O\u2019Donnell.<\/div>\n
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I recently turned the tables and interviewed the interviewers.<\/div>\n
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First I’ll outline my talk with Eileen.<\/div>\n
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MG: You\u2019ve interviewed hundreds of celebrities over the years. How did you become such a widely published journalist?<\/div>\n
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ES: My literary journey began at age 18 when I was attending university and majoring in nursing on a scholastic scholarship. In my attempt to entertain myself while memorizing biochemistry I began watching late reruns of the endlessly popular science-fiction series Star Trek.<\/div>\n
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I became strangely fascinated with Leonard Nimoy who portrayed Spock. I developed an immature obsession with Nimoy or Mr. Spock \u2013 I’m still not sure which \u2013\u00a0and the actor eventually became my first celebrity interview.\u2028Shortly after the interview, I was commissioned by Paramount to write The Star Trek Medical Reference Manual which quickly became a best seller. I continued to write for a Star Trek magazine, followed by a Star Wars magazine. Then I took a 25-year hiatus from writing to raise a family.<\/div>\n
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I cringe when I recall my first celebrity conversation after resuming my writing \u2013 this time in print for a gay, New York City weekly entertainment magazine. I was asked to have a conversation with the iconic comedian, Sandra Bernhard. I was nervous to begin with but then \u2013 unbeknownst to me \u2013 my recording device was jammed until the interview was over. Panic-stricken, I sat there, contemplating suicide. (OK, I’m being a bit dramatic.)<\/div>\n
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Thanks to the fact that I\u2019d listened well and remembered even better, I managed to turn a near disaster into a triumph. I wrote the article using the power of memory.After Sandra’s interview I began receiving more and more celebrity interview requests. It seemed every star desired the gay community fan base. After speaking with artists including Annie Lennox, LeAnn Rimes, Brook Shields, Jennifer Hudson, Cyndi Lauper and a host of others I began writing for additional magazines including Huff Post, Louder Than War (a U.K. publication) and then a Dublin magazine entitled PureM. My celebrity interviews continued with Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Emma Stone, Boy George, Maroon 5, Nile Rodgers, Adam Ant and still others. By then I\u2019d become pretty well known and was invited by other publications to write for them. Soon I was writing for over 40 publications, a number that seems to grow bigger weekly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MG: Any overall observations about your interactions with famous people?<\/div>\n
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ES: That’s a very large question, one I could answer for days. If I were to give you just one observation, I\u2019d say \u2013 without exception \u2013 that they were all extremely nice to me. I\u2019ve met in person most of the celebrities I’ve interviewed and am friends with many of them, great friends with some. Most of my interviews were given repeat performances per their request. In some cases, I\u2019ve had multiple heart-to-heart chats. For example, 12 times with Cyndi Lauper, nine with Sandra Bernhard, seven with Bianca Del Rio, four with Dionne Warwick and three with Fran Drescher. But who\u2019s counting! (LOL) Each is a \u201cstar\u201d but when you get the chance to know them, you discover that they\u2019re just \u201cregular\u201d people.<\/div>\n
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MG: Now about Rosie. She had a feud with Donald Trump when she was hosted The View. She has a reputation for being a very direct \u201cstraight shooter.\u201d Is that how you found her?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

ES: I met Rosie on the Red Carpet of the GLADD Awards. The press line was enormous and the celebrities in many cases were rushing by. Rosie also rushed by, but I was determined to say hello and perhaps get a picture with her. I called out to her and she immediately stopped what she was doing and came right over, commenting on my then rainbow-colored hair. We spoke for about 12 or 13 minutes about her children, her up-coming events and projects and her family life. I found her to have a vibrant yet gentle spirit. She seemed to enjoy our interview. We laughed and talked as if we were friends and had met up in the supermarket. I would have to say that Rosie was by far the kindest person walking the carpet that night, and the most “regular.” The Irish have a reputation for being friendly and social, and that\u2019s exactly how she was. And yes, we took a picture together!<\/div>\n
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\"\"\u2028\u2028My other close media friend is Jimmy Star, who hosts The Jimmy Star Show with Ron Russell. By 2016, it had become the biggest Internet TV\/radio syndicated show in the world, with over 4.5 million listeners weekly. His podcasts often achieve the \u201cTop 100\u201d list on iHeart Radio.<\/div>\n
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Among the Irish American celebrities Jimmy has interviewed is Brendan Keeley (one of Ireland\u2019s most successful singer\/songwriters with seven top 10 singles and three platinum selling albums.) Also, Pink \u2013 the multi-platinum superstar (pictured to the right with Star\/ photo by Star) \u2013 and many more.<\/div>\n
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MG: Jimmy, did you become a radio host and what\u2019s the \u201csecret\u201d to attaining your global popularity?<\/div>\n
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JS: It\u2019s a fun story. Early in my career I was a very successful clothing designer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I was featured in DNR, the men\u2019s version of Women\u2019s Wear Daily. The producers at Y-100 radio station contacted me to be the fashion guru on the radio version of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. I was on the air every morning fielding questions for about three months and caught the bug. My secret to becoming popular is to be nice to people. I interact daily with fans in social media and on our webshow, The Jimmy Star Show with Ron Russell. We interact with fans and supporters live on air, including them in everything going on during the show. Everyone wants to be a part of something, and as long as you are sincere, being nice really pays off.<\/div>\n
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MG: Tell me about some of your interactions with Irish and Irish American celebrities.<\/div>\n
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JS: I\u2019ve been very fortunate and have had the pleasure of interviewing several really big celebrities of Irish descent. Brendan Keely came on our show to promote his second album and was an amazing interview. He\u2019s a phenomenal success in Ireland.<\/div>\n
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Pink was one of my first really huge interviews. We talked immediately after her first album release and she was a superstar right from the start.<\/div>\n
Truthfully, everyone\u2019s been gracious. Bianca Ryan has been on our show three times. She was the singer-songwriter winner of America\u2019s Got Talent, Season 1. Bianca\u2019s grown up in the public eye and is now an amazing woman. We love and support everything she does.<\/div>\n
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I was a huge Pussycat Doll\u2019s fan, too, and interviewing Jessica Sutta was a dream come true. She is so gorgeous and talented, it\u2019s almost unbelievable. All of the interviews I\u2019ve done have been wonderful experiences. Notable celebrities of Irish descent include Superman\u2019s Dean Cain, horror\/comedy icon Leslie Easterbrook (the Policy Academy film series), Chris Trousdale from the boyband, Dream Street and Chris Kirkpatrick from NSYNC \u2013 one of the most successful boy bands of all time.<\/div>\n
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MG: You\u2019re a published author, too. How did that come about?<\/div>\n
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JS: I became an author as a fluke. I\u2019m an avid reader and had several friends who were always saying they were writing a book. I\u2019d see them once or twice a year and they were always still writing the same book. I thought to myself, it can\u2019t be that hard to write a book, so I sat down and wrote a short story. It took about two days to complete. Then I wrote a novella. It took two weeks to complete and, these days, I\u2019m exploring turning into a TV show. After discovering that I could author material without taking years to do it, I wrote a biography of Charlie Chaplin that became a documentary. Recently I wrote the foreword to incredible book — Success Factor X by Sean Kanan and Jill Liberman. It went to #1 on Amazon.<\/div>\n
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I also participate in an amazing book series, The Change: Insights into Self Empowerment. Co-authors who are part of the project share life-enhancing realizations that seem to touch every aspect of life. In volume 16, I contributed a chapter — \u201cSecrets of Social Media Success\u201d — with my tips on how make a significant impact in social media. My own active use of social media has certainly helped me, personally, to gain global popularity as a television\/radio talk show host.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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