SINGAPORE AIRLINES WHERE COACH IS FIRST CLASS!
San Francisco, CA– We were headed to the then Portugesse colony of Macao, which is now part of the Chinese mainland after the lease Portugal had with China expired in the late 90s, the time here is the fall of 1994. After flying Singapore Airlines previously, I realized no carrier came close both in service and beautiful flight attendants as we all got Muhammad Ali-like treatment!
Ali in Beijing in 2008
ETESS ARENA NAMED AFTER TRUMP’S BOXING GUY
But before I take you to Hong Kong, our Asian point of entry, we need to go back to late 1989. Some of you boxing fans know of the Mark Etess Arena in Donald Trump’s Taj Majal casino in Atlantic City. Mark G. Etess, he was Trump’s “point man” on boxing. This was during the Mike Tyson era and the Donald teamed with the other Donald, Don King, to grab any Tyson fight he could get his hands on. Etess’ last big show was the Tyson 93 second KO of Carl “The Truth” Williams in August 1989. In October, Mark the Trump Tower COO, died when a helicopter he was in fell out of the sky.
GREATEST PROMOTER IN HISTORY OF
MUSIC!
Promoter Bill Graham
As a cop here in the City, a lot of us worked off duty for music promoter Bill Graham’s Winterland Productions, some at a rock memorabilia warehouse Graham named after the famed ice arena turned concert hall. What a gig, as I brought my dog to the place that was wrapped in an elaborate alarm system that I set before I………… A few years later, Bill Graham, the greatest rock promoter of all time is dead as his helicopter ran into electrical power lines in a storm after attending a Huey Lewis Concert, and fell out of the sky.
AND THEN THERE WAS THE AMERICAN SPY
In addition, being a student of U.S. history, primarily of the 60′s assassinations, I remember Francis Gary Powers, he flew the Top Secret U2 plane that was shot down over Russia in 1960. Powers carried with him a modified silver dollar which contained a lethal, shellfish-derived saxitoxin-tipped needle, but did not use it on himself. Although Powers thought somebody (CIA) had rigged his then stealth-like plane to fail, hoping to draw the US into a conflict with Russia, he survived and was eventually traded for some Soviet spies and returned home.
POWERS COULDN’T PARACHUTE THIS TIME!
A few years later, a man who was nearly shot out of space seeing how high that U2 plane was flying, Powers was doing traffic for a radio station when you guessed it, the helicopter he was in fell out of the sky.
WE ARE BACK AT THE HONG KONG AIRPORT
That being said, it’s Ali, wife Lonnie, promoter Harold Smith, myself along with a party of 20 that included late Philadelphia and Las Vegas writer Jack Welsh, we arrive at the heliport where we are supposed to board a copter for a 20 minute flight to Macao. At that point and time, Gary Powers, Mark Etess and Bill Graham, thoughts of them overcame me. Screw it, I had just become a father and I wasn’t getting on no helicopter. No, that slow hover craft boat was OK with me.
HAROLD WAS AT THE TICKET WINDOW
Before I get ahead of myself, Harold had purchased 20 seats from a window with a huge sign above it that said, “NO REFUNDS” in several languages. Having gone to Muhammad Ali’s wife Lonnie when the pilots fell asleep over the Pacific ocean on a previous flight, I reminded her of Mark Etess, how young he was, how he loved Muhammad and that she shouldn’t risk his life in a mode of transportation that was justifiably spooky. When Lonnie decided the Ali’s were going to take the boat with me, promoter Smith, he had a major problem.
REMEMBER THE SIGN THAT SAID “NO REFUNDS?”
Harold orders the crew to pull all the bags that belonged to his group. With nearly $2,000 out of pocket, Smith had hustled the copter folks for an unheard of rate, and now he was again standing under that sign that said “NO REFUNDS” in several foreign tongues. The Chinese were adamant, “NO REFUNDS.” With the manager unwilling to budge, this had international incident written all over it. Unruffled, Smith lets the guy vent, then leans over and whispers something in his ear.
HAROLD WASN’T LEAVING SANS HIS CASH
Three minutes later, the manager was dispensing a stack of $100′s back into Harold’s hands. When I asked Smith what he said to get the guy to change his mind. His reply, “I told him Ali was afraid of flying in the helicopter and that some of you were U.S. newsmen.” The implications were clear. Ah, the power of the press!
DID YOU SEE MUHAMMAD ALI, PEDRO & THE SLEEPING PILOT
Click to read: Muhammad Ali, Pedro & The Sleeping Pilot
Pedro Fernandez