Robert Greenberg

Historian, Composer, Pianist, Speaker, Author

Archive for photos

A Day with OraTV

Monday was a fantastic day. I would beg your indulgence as I describe it. I will be forgiven upfront for namedropping as yesterday was about meeting some very special people. First things first. My wife Nanci was my boon companion from moment one. Nanci’s presence was a wise choice for any number of reasons, aside from the simple joy having my life-mate on my arm. Number one: I needed a built-in cheering squad. Number two: I needed a personal photographer who would document the events of the day. Number three: if I HADN’T asked Nanci to join me I would likely never heard the end of it, so . . . join me she did. We took a 7:55 flight out of Oakland (Oaktown) California, which put us in Burbank at 9 AM. We were picked up by Danielle, who was our driver-tour-guide-confidante-escort for the day. From the airport it was a hop-skip-and-jump to the Ora TV studios in Glendale. Once we arrived, I was “made up” and – when the time came – I sat down with Larry King and did my interview. A word, please. I have been interviewed many times: by the New York Times; by The […]

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Reporting from Vienna — Beethoven Sightings

Proud as I am to be a 36-year resident of Northern California, and proud as I am that all four of my children were born there, I myself grew in the ironically named “Garden State” of New Jersey. This bears mentioning (for the second time in two posts, no less) because one cannot urinate in north, central or south Jersey without hitting a historical marker that says “George Washington Slept Here”. A little Revolutionary history: On June 14, 1775, George Washington was appointed General and commander-in-chief of the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress. It was the wisest of appointments, because only Washington’s extraordinary leadership and generalship managed to preserve the army during the first 30 months of the War. In July of 1776 the English General William Howe landed some 25,000 troops in Staten Island, New York. Outnumbered and outgunned, Washington and the Continentals executed what accounted to a fighting withdrawal from Long Island to Brooklyn to Manhattan and then across the Hudson River to Fort Lee New Jersey (where my father lives today, about a half-a-mile from the Revolution-era fort overlooking the Hudson River). From Fort Lee, Washington and his army traipsed southwest across New Jersey, withdrawing […]

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