I was looking to pass some time late last week so I decided to make a trip to Barnes and Noble to find some new reading material. While I was in the store, I stumbled across "I Told You I Wasn't Perfect" by Denny McLain and Eli Zaret. I was craving some Detroit flavor so I bought the book and read it cover to cover in about 3 hours. I knew a lot about Denny's life already because I had read his previous book, but I wanted to see how he explained the Peet Packing debacle.
I have known Denny and Eli for many years and I will tell you that there are plenty of "other" radio stories that weren't included in the book. I scanned the appendix to see if I would get even 1% credit for helping get him into radio.
While Denny was in Talladega, I wrote him a letter, he actually responded and I still have it. After he was released from prison he went to work as the "Promotion Director" for the Fort Wayne Komets hockey team. I had heard him on Dick Purtan's show hawking his book and I decided to give him a call when I was the Producer of The Morning Show on WCSX to see if he would fill in for Eli Zaret while Eli was on vacation.
Denny agreed and he sat in for a week, telling stories and playing the keyboard. I was pretty impressed and we needed a Co-host for Jim Paolucci so I begged Mark Pasman and Tom Bender to give him a shot. They actually agreed and we decided to offer the position to Denny.
In the meantime, Denny was filling in for John McCoullough on WXYT. We got a deal done and were all set to sit down with Denny to sign it.
We got a hotel room in Southfield, I was there, WCSX General Manager Tom Bender, WCSX Program Director Mark Pasman, Morning Host Jim Paolucci and our Consultant Fred Jacobs were all in attendance. We were going to do the deal and then discuss the show to get ready to launch. It was exciting, we all really thought we had a chance to solidify the WCSX Morning Show with Jim and Denny. After about an hour we were all wondering where why Denny hadn't arrived. We called his phone, no answer. After almost two hours of waiting for Denny to show up to sign his deal the phone rang, it was Denny. All he said was "Oh Yeah, I decided to sign a contract at WXYT, thanks." Click, hung up, never heard another word about it. We were all pretty pissed off that he was so discourteous and detached. He didn't seem to care that he left a room full of people waiting with a contract for him to sign. Typical Denny.
Apparently Denny is pissed off at me for calling him a crook after his second felony conviction, oh well, he wouldn't hesitate to do it, check out some of the people he just skewers in his book. He called Ted Williams every name in the book (by all accounts, he is right), John McCoullough and Pete Waldmier drunks and many others many things. Eli told me he was pissed at me for calling him a crook, but I don't care, this guy has called MANY people MUCH worse. Oh and by the way, HE IS A CROOK.
My last dealing with Denny was at his attorney's office while I was Program Director of WXYT. The General Manager Rich Homberg made me attend an exploratory meeting with McLain to see if we would be interested in add Denny to the station to replace Don Imus. Rich was really into it because he is a massive "star fucker," I was against it, I didn't think we wanted an old man in mornings after we finally got rid of Imus, I wanted someone younger and hipper with NO FELONIES on their record.
So after months of begging, Homberg and I agreed to meet with him at his attorney's office in Grosse Point. Again, Denny didn't bother to show up, he called, told us ALL about his new business venture (selling phone cards) and how he could help us fix WXYT. The thing that struck me the most was his complete lack of remorse for what happened at Peet Packing. To this day he still doesn't believe he did anything wrong. It is sad. I left the meeting thinking he was just as screwed up as ever and likely to go right back to the slammer.
The book was a good read, gave some good insight into the mind of a felon. I really liked the baseball stories and the Detroit memories, too bad Denny is just a bad one.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is in the news a lot lately because of the Kilpatrick scandal but this isn't the first time we've seen her in the public eye, she was one of the prosecutors who helped put infamous Detroit cops Walter Budzyn and Larry Nevers behind bars in the early 90's for the beating death of crack head Malice Green.
If you are interested in reading the book, you can get it at Never's website. I don't think you will be surprised at the racial hysteria that is discussed during the Budzyn-Nevers trial, but it will shed some light on Worthy and the judicial system in the City of Detroit. The usual suspects are all in the book, race-baiting former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, crazy council-woman Sharon McPhail as well as Worthy. Remember, this is the City that allowed Coleman Young to call the cops "murderers" before they were even charged with a crime, let the jury watch Malcom X while sequestered during the trial (the movie opens with Rodney King's beating) and let Chief of Police Stanley Knox declare "this isn't Simi Valley, we will convict."
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