Chip Jacobs

Nobody does self-narrated portraits better than the New York Times. Here’s the paper’s spinal cord trauma page and a well-done story about an expermimental stem cell treatment for the recently paralyzed. In reading all this, I cannot help but wonder what Gordon would say or how he would react. One thing is for certain. He [...]

[Read more →]

One sharp cookie, that Gordon, who incidentally, is the hero of my book, Wheeling the Deal: the Outrageous Legend of Gordon Zahler. While Muzak was a formidable presence on the American music scene, today it’s an also-ran looking for relevance. In fact, it’s gone belly up, as this story reveals. Another bit of Americana falls [...]

[Read more →]

[Read more →]

In the months since we released our social history of one of the planet’s first true environmental crises, Smogtown: the Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles, we’ve been scurrying around appearing on a bunch of terrific platforms. We’re talking the West Hollywood Book Festival, Patt Morrison’s NPR-syndicated radio show, “Deadline L.A.,” ABC public radio, [...]

[Read more →]

Nike might only have been a phenom waiting to spring when my outrageous uncle, Gordon Zahler, was about to snip his mortal coil, but I’m sure he would’ve had this terrific commercial playing on a loop for self-pitying friends.

[Read more →]

My uncle, the previous version, may be long gone from this rock, but who knows whether he’ll return in a different life. One thing I’m certain about: he’d done a vital organ to have one of these babies in his garage. I wouldn’t be far behind. Dreamers live for such altitudes and wonder. From a [...]

[Read more →]

I’ve been swamped the last week or so on deadline, and I couldn’t live with myself unless I posted Ryan’s story. God bless you, boy. I know you’re “Fighting On!” in the sweet hereafter, where their is no pain and SC never loses. From the Wisconsin State Journal “Ryan Davidson never understood the big deal. [...]

[Read more →]