I met today’s American a few years back in connection with an animation project for AmEx.  Nils put together a great piece and we’ve since gone on to work together numerous times, in fact, he designed the King Media Group logo.  

Growing up on a farm Nils learned early the value of hard work.  He went on to a successful design career and as a letterforms instructor at Art Center.

Here, the conversation goes from thinning sugar beets and jumping in the river, to the value of a work ethic and aesthetic design.  That's Nils, a man of many (type) faces.

 Quote to watch for when asked why he didn't flee the farm:  “You grew up knowing you were an essential part of the livelihood.  It had to be done."

Today we’re going to hear a story from what I call the waterway interviews.  A few years ago I went on a documentary expedition in a small boat, from Norfolk to Boston up the Intercoastal waterway.  The goal was to search for the American Spirit.

Meet Trina Sobotka.  Being a little behind schedule we docked unannounced in a little marina at Cole’s Point, Virginia.   A little town tucked into a sheltered bay off the Potomac River.  (It's rumored that Blackbeard's famous treasure may be somewhere in the area.)

 We were put up for free by Trina in a large many-roomed cabin on the water, and hosted that night at the local bar and grill, where there was music, good food, and the weekly dart match.

Here, Trina talks a little about Cole’s Point and the people that live and visit there.

Today’s guest reached out to me, (which by the way, I’d love to see more of you do)!  
As a nation we’re obsessed with New Year’s resolutions.  Are we not?  We go crazy with them even knowing that we’ll fail.  It’s almost as if the tradition is to make resolutions, then not do them.  

John Hopper has a different approach.  He calls it "Living in the How."  He has a planner where there’s no time limit, there’s no calendar, just three columns:  "what I want," " why I want it," and "how am I going to get it?"

It’s a simple format that changed his life.  Can it change yours?  Listen in and see.

Merry Christmas from the cast and crew of Everyday America!

Today I share the soundtrack of a special living nativity, usually performed live each year for the last 22 years to audiences of thousands.  To see the video that's serving as the virtual version you can go to TheLivingNativity.org  Otherwise, listen here to the soundtrack with the voice talents of the inimitable Skip Conover from Pageant of the Masters fame in Laguna Beach, California.

Today’s American lives in Texas by way of Puerto Rico.

Shayla Rivera is a lady of many talents.  She’s  a rocket scientist and worked on the shuttle and space station programs with NASA.  She’s a comedian, and I met her as the emcee of an awards show I produced a few years back.  She’s also a professor and teaches at Texas A&M University.

You'll enjoy her humor and no-nonsense views on success and "being in charge" of your life.

A quote to watch for:  “When you make someone laugh the gap between you and that person just gets narrower and narrower.  If you laugh together then you realize you can be together.”

I met today’s American at a video shoot a few years ago at the quaint Trianon Theater in San Jose California.  A beautiful little theater built in 1923.

Jon Nakamatsu talks about what it means to follow your heart and to listen to your own voice and why he was he drawn to the piano.  Where did the desire come from?  What did he have to give up to be successful?  The lessons are the same for each of us.  Jon’s passion for music and the piano is singular, and I think you’ll enjoy hearing what goes though the mind of a concert pianist while on stage performing.

You can check out his music and more of his story at http://www.jonnakamatsu.com/

His story unfolds like some kind of a movie script: Born prematurely in the backseat of a taxi cab to a drug addicted mother that didn’t know she was pregnant, a heart attack, necrotic intestines, and emergency surgery––and that was his first hour of life––Ian’s story doesn’t let up there.  

 His adoptive parents are circus performers, and Ian himself has gone on to take his place among some world-class athletes, and now excels in a little-known Russian acrobatic discipline.  Find out what's next as Ian seeks his purpose.

Brad Zinn is a preservationist.  He’s preserving a part of American history that has almost faded away.  He's a a comedian, a magician, and an artist that preserves the comedy of yesteryear.  His one man play, The Great Comedians has won audiences over across the nation.  As you listen to my in-studio guest you'll also hear George Burns, Red Skelton and even the great Johnny Carson stop by.  The lesson he's learned from all these funny guys?
Don't take yourself too seriously and laugh at yourself!

For those of you that would like to know more, or to reach out to Brad you'll find him at www.greatcomedians.net  And for his magic show, you can go to www.bradzinn.net