Why would Dorothy Parker say...
This is a much, much younger me pounding away on my mother's (then) high-tech IBM Selectric. Wish I knew what I was writing that day. (Even more, I wish I had learned to touch-type. Still, I've managed a pretty good output two fingers at a time...)
Who even needed a typewriter back then? Long before she gave me access to that modern marvel I was flexing my creative muscles in pencil, as evidenced by the thrilling space adventure my younger self penned (or is that penciled?)
To be able to create entire worlds and people and adventures on a blank piece of paper was... well, I was hooked.
Even while working in broadcasting (first as a radio disc-jockey and then as an engineer at WRKO/WROR-FM in Boston) I was always writing something - articles, columns, and book ideas). Same for my years at a small high-tech startup (as an engineer after I earned my Masters in Engineering) or my time at the Big Dig (as a project spokesperson) and, finally, at a Fortune 500 semiconductor manufacturer (as manager of Direct Marketing)... I was always writing. My reward was the thrill, in 1990, seeing my then recently published first book in the window of the bookstore at the Old State House in Boston.
So why did I mention Dorothy Parker? It's because I have always been puzzled by the statement by the doyenne of the Algonquin Roundtable that "writers hate writing but love having written." Me? I love it all - even the all-too-regular angst and self-doubt which can occur when searching for the perfect word or sentence. OF COURSE I love finishing a project. But I'm not kidding when I say if I won the lottery on Tuesday I'd be back at my (perhaps more opulent) desk on Wednesday to begin agonizing all over again.
I am currently deep into two projects; one is a novel set in pre-war Detroit, the other is a real-life Boston mystery about a baby abandoned in Boston on VJ Day and the decades-long search by his daughter (co-author Tina Drzal) for the mother. (Spoiler alert: we found her. We also found out abandoning her baby was not the most shocking thing about her life.)
My wife Mauzy (a former DJ - we met at WROR way back when) retired from radio and now narrates audiobooks. and is working on her own writing. Our daughter, Jennifer, runs a video production company specializing in music videos.
Published and produced work
David's most recent work is a novel based on the audacious 1962 escape by three inmates from Alcatraz. INSEPARABLE tells the story of a thirteen year-old Sausalito boy who discovers two of the escapees near death on a Sausalito beach. The adventure begins when he decides to help them to freedom. Available on Kindle or in paperback here.
David is best-known for his two published books on Scollay Square, Boston's erstwhile entertainment district. He is often called on by media outlets to talk about the era of urban renewal and the loss of old Boston.
The companion Scollay Square website, is chock-filled with photos, movies, music, and other memorabilia.
Written with developer Yanni Tsipis, this book is a vivid document of the history of the road we love to hate. It includes many previously unpublished images from the Massachusetts Highway Department and over two dozen towns and cities through which the highway passes. Visit the Building Route 128 website for content not available before publication - including movies of opening day!
In 2001 the Lyric Stage of Boston presented this musical tribute to Red Sox fans (Book and Lyrics by David, music and lyrics by composer Steven Bergman.) It remains today one of this equity theater's biggest hits. Producers and fans are encouraged to visit the COTB website.
Something of a passion project, this was a book David wrote with his father Louis in 1992. It was inspired by their many trips to historical sites on their native Long Island, a favorite being the Sagamore Hill home of Teddy Roosevelt.
From Scollay Square to Fenway Park and beyond - book a talk
Since 1985 David has been presenting slide shows (now in PowerPoint) to hundreds of historical societies, libraries, civic groups, and other organizations, including The Boston Athanaeum, Boston Public Library, Concord Historical Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, the Old South Meeting House in Boston, the Society of Colonial Wars in Boston.
SCOLLAY SQUARE
Based on David's two books on Scollay Square (Always Something Doing and Scollay Square) this rollicking slide show takes the audience to the part of Boston where everyone went - but few admitted it! From John Winthrop, (who settled here in 1630) to Sally Keith (who entertained here in the 1940s and 1950s) to Government Center today, this show will surprise you with tales of Revolutionary War heroism, scientific breakthroughs, and Civil War courage - all in the same place where a hot dog stand and a burlesque theater made truants of all New England.
LAW AND ORDER: BOSTON
In this slide show, David brings Law & Order to Boston by presenting three high-profile cases from three eras of the city's history: The Boston Massacre, The Parkman Murder, and the Boston Strangler. Together, we'll look at the crime (or crimes), follow the investigation, and finish in court, where we will argue the case and hear the verdict.
GREAT BOSTON FIRES
A look at the history of fires in Boston, from the many "great" fires in the city's early years to the truly Great Fire of 1872,, the Cocoanut Grove tragedy of 1942, and the Hotel Vendome fire of 1972 which resulted in the deaths of nine brave fire fighters. How did these fires happen? What was learned to try prevent similar catastrophes?
NO MORE CURSE!
Based on his research for his musical, David takes us to the roots of Boston baseball, when, just like today, the team captured the hearts of the people of Boston. We will look back at the real story behind Harry Frazee and his sale of slugger Babe Ruth. Relive the (sometimes frustrating) saga of the Boston Red Sox and their ultimately successful struggle for a World Series championship.
BUILDING ROUTE 128
It's the road we love to hate. This talk, based on David's 2003 book, Building Route 128 (co-written with Yanni Tsipis) tells how one man’s vision became the catalyst for the fantastic growth around the highway - which led, inexorably, to the hate we all have for the highway (but have no choice but to use.) Buckle up!
THE PONZI SCHEME
Long before Bernie Madoff a man named Charles Ponzi engineered the greatest pyramid scheme of them all, one so great that from his time forward it would bare his name. And he did it here in Boston, right under the noses of suspicious Yankees and normally inquisitive newspapermen. Relive the days of Boston's most outrageous rogue in this outrageous talk.
THE BIG DIG
David, a former Big Dig spokesperson, will tell the WHOLE story of of country's most expensive construction job. How Boston, straining for space to grow, cut down hills and filled in swamps and widened streets until the city was stalled in perpetual gridlock, Then we will journey deep inside the project's tunnels and soar high above the towers of Boston's stunning new bridge over the Charles River, and learn about the amazing technological advances used to build this monstrous project in a working city. And yes, and how the price climbed to a reported $22 billion. Whether you're interested in Boston history, a fan of technology, or just an angry taxpayer who wants to see the actual hole into which the government dumped your money, this is a must-see show.
WHO REALLY WROTE SHAKESPEARE?
How could William Shakespeare - a man who never sailed - have written with such accuracy about sailing in The Tempest? How - without studying law - could he have written with such insight about lawyers, courts and legal issues, in plays such as Henry IV? Without ever serving in the military how could he write so splendidly of the rigors and technical aspects of war, as he did in Hamlet? That he couldn't and didn't is a fascinating concept that has amused many, tantalized others, and consumed the lives of a few, including a Boston man who, in 1916, went to court to prove that someone other than Shakespeare wrote all those great works. Before you laugh… he won the case. Based on research by his father (which David later turned into a play and an article) this talk is story of one man's search for the "real" author of the works attributed to William Shakespeare and how - in a stunning piece of historical irony - that search played a role in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor!