Holidays in New York City

Holidays in New York City

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This show is produced and hosted by Mark Webber.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
The show is sponsored by G three Aparo.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
The views expressed in the following program are those of
the sponsor and not necessarily the opinion of seven Tenor
or iHeartMedia. Who is Mark Weber. He's a self made
business executive here to help you find your success, from
the New York City projects to the Avenue Montaigne in Paris.
His global success story in the luxury world of fashion

(00:28):
is inspirational.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
He's gone from clerk to CEO twice.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Mark is classic proof that the American dream is alive.
And well, here's your host of Always in Fashion, Mark Weber.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Mark Weber.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Holiday in New York City is a special time. Don't
get me wrong, I prefer Palm Treuce, but New York
City this time of year, all the events, the excitement,
it's a special place to be. Without a doubt, We've
had some extraordinary weather. It's now gotten cold, it is winter,
but all the events and activities are taking place. Macy's

(01:03):
Thanksgiving Day Parade, the lighting of the tree in Rockefeller Center,
the store windows from the scaffolding, vetoned luggage wrapping the
store on fifty seventh Street, to the artificial Intelligent Bear
at Ralph Lauren on seventy second Street. There are creative
marvels throughout our city, and it's great to look at them.
All the tourists in New York City, it's packed. It's

(01:25):
pretty amazing, and I've had an amazing time. And that's
pretty much what I wanted to talk to you about.
Stopping to smell the roses are in this season right
now in New York City. Of course, rather than roses,
we're talking about Christmas trees, breathing cool or cold air,
seeing the sunshine, even the rain, which has been few
and far between when it comes to the rain drops.

(01:47):
I'm excited about New York City and what's going on here.
With the exception the fear that remains in this city.
I don't feel safe, but I do try to ignore it,
looking over my shoulder constantly in favor of the greater good,
which is appreciating the excitement of the city, speaking excitement
to any of you out there. Try and stay at

(02:08):
a hotel this season. It's gotten crazy. The hotels that
I frequent there used to be five hundred dollars a
night are now fifteen hundred dollars. Per night and going
up from there. My favorite hotel had the nerve to
ask me to pay ten thousand dollars for the night
of the tree landing ceremony. It's not easy getting rooms
in spite of these crazy prices. Just not rooms now.

(02:30):
A coke is ten dollars without a tip, A buffet
breakfast sixty dollars. All my favorite restaurants at least one
hundred and twenty five dollars per person without wine or alcohol.
My famous quote, I don't mind spending money, but I
hate wasting it. This is beyond inflation. It's madness. I
suppose they're sticking it to the foreigners as the foreigners

(02:51):
cities are sticking it to us. Maybe there should be
an American discount. But something's not right. Prices are crazy
now around the world. Syrian dictator Asad has gone shockingly.
He was entrenched and overnight gone. The war's rage on
in the Middle East and Ukraine. But it's about to change.
A new government is coming to America, and little old

(03:14):
us in New York City are watching how it happens. Now.
I can't talk New York City without the deaths that
have catapuled to our hearts and minds, good somatter and
or not. A terrible situation, a terrible trial wouldn't want
to have there been a jur on that one corporate
CEO or villain shocking. No matter what, there is no

(03:34):
excuse for violence against citizens or CEOs. There are assassins
on US Street. Having said it, New York City is
in the holiday season, the season windows, the sales, Black Friday,
Cyber Monday, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Dinners at the Polar Bar,
dinners at Avrejan Soda goes to the Mets. It's cold

(03:56):
out there, but clear life in New York City. New
Year's Eve is coming. Holiday in the city. It's amazing.
What's going on now? For me? On a personal note,
I'm on the radio and I debuted the CEO Exchange.
I have been talking to Mr. Magazine, one of the
industry's most important magazines, about doing a series for them

(04:19):
called CEO to CEO, which became the CEO Exchange. I
lined up my first CEO, a CEO named Jamie Salter
who's the founder and CEO of Authentic Brands Group, who
does thirty billion dollars worth of sales a year in
the last ten years from zero to thirty billion. Amazing
interview and those of you who listened to last week's show,

(04:41):
we will either benefit or it or not. I got
different comments. One guy wrote me, I liked the normal
show and format. Better keep up the good work, get
back to the speeches. Another fellow wrote me, and I quote,
I loved the new CEO Exchange concept. The show flew
by j Me Salta was great. What a way to

(05:02):
start off this. I have been weaning to write you
several times. I listened to every show, sometimes a week
or so after the fact. I find the shows. The
old PVH story is fascinating. Keep up the great work.
So either way you talk about it, what we're doing
on the radio is fascinating. I launched the CEO Exchange.
It's an effing to branch out under the always in

(05:22):
fashioned banner. I may get another time slot for it.
We're waiting to see what happens. But that's going on
during my holiday season, joining me, my lawyer, and my
co host and my son Jesse Weber. Hey, Jesse, we're
hanging out in the city.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
We are. I love when you're in the city. You're
never in the city. Getting you to the city is
the hardest thing possible.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
Well, with all that traffic and all the madness, all
the prices, and the all the discomfort with the crime.
It's not my favorite place at the moment, although you
can't compare it to anywhere else in the world.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
It's the best I know. I'd rather be with the
palm trees. But look, I like it for years at
New York City is a great vibe this time of year,
the holidays. We went to the holiday parade together. We
went to the Thanksgiving Day parade. Even though it was freezing,
it was nice festive time.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
No, yeah, I'm not up to that yet, but that's okay.
I'm going to talk about that later. But anyway, once again,
what I really wanted to start with you is I
mentioned the sadness that's going on here with the deaths
in the city. Once again, you're all over TV as
a commentator and you're on the radio, and can you
break it down for us. It's so sad.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Well, he was acquitted. He was acquitted, And what happened
was this was a case where this is a former
marine who was accused of killing a homeless man on
a New York City subway. His name is Jordan Neely.
This is a mentally ill individual who was apparently threatening
people on the subway, yelling things, saying that he didn't

(06:52):
care if he was going to die. People were testified
that they were in fear for their life. Now he
was unarmed, he didn't touch any but he was scaring people,
and this former marine put him in a choke hold,
put him to the ground, and even prosecutors said that
was the right thing to do, to try to intervene
to make sure that Jordan Neeally didn't do anything to anybody.

(07:14):
And by the way, Jordan Neely had had a history
of assaulting people in the past. But in the end
of the day, Jordan Neely died and there became a
question of A. Was it because of the choke hold
that Daniel Penny killed him? Is that was he the
cause of death? And B was he justified? Was he
protecting himself and other subway riders subway passengers? And I
said at the very beginning, after seeing all the evidence,

(07:37):
even before the jury deliberated, this is going to be
a really tough case. It's going to be close. And
it was so close that the jury last week. After
deliberating for over twenty hours, they were deadlocked on the
top charge. And to be clear, he was charged with
two things. He was charged with manslaughter. That was the
top I.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Have a question, what's the difference between manslaughter and murder?

Speaker 2 (07:57):
So murders an intentional killing. Nobody said that Daniel Penny
intended to kill Jordanaly. Manslaughter is when someone dies because
of your reckless actions. In other words, you knew you
were engaging in a substantial, unjustified risk, and you did
it anyway. You ignored it.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
And then he was charged with manslaughter, but he was
also charged with a lesser crime of criminally negligent homicide.
It's very similar, but it's negligence. It's not that you
knew there was a risk and you ignored it. It's
that you should have known and there was a risk.
You didn't appreciate the risk. You didn't act as a
reasonable person would have. Now, the jury came back and
they said they were deadlocked on manslaughter. They were instructed

(08:37):
at the very beginning, which.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Means they were not agreeing on.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, because they have to be unanimous. They have to
be unanimous.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
They have to again it but what weren't they agreeing
on exactly what would they had to agree on.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
They couldn't agree about whether or not he was guilty
of manslaughter. They had to be in agreement unanimously either
that Daniel Penny was or was not guilty of manslaughter,
meaning that he acted in such a reckless manner that
it caused the death of Jordan Neely, that he knew
there was substantial risk and unjustifiable risk by putting him
in the choke hold, he consciously disregarded it, and because

(09:10):
he acted so unreasonable, there was no justification. Jordan Neely died, And.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
So wouldn't that been haunt to prove you're getting into
the mind the guy's.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
Head, well, there was a lot of There was his
police interrogation tape that was played where he talked about
how I choked him out, I put him in a
choke hold. They looked at his behavior after Jordan Neely
was no longer conscious, and he didn't look really surprised.
So that was to show he knew what he was doing,
he knew the danger he was putting Jordan Neeelly in,

(09:39):
but he didn't care. That's what they were trying to prove.
But on the other hand, defense said, look, he didn't
put him in a blood choke hold. If he really
wanted to knock him out, he would have knocked him
out in thirty seconds. This was a Jordan Neillly lost consciously.
He held onto the choke hold for six minutes. Jordan
Tilly was in and out of moving. No, he felt
he had to maintain that choke hold because if he didn't,

(10:01):
Jordan Neilly could get up and attack him or the
other passengers. He felt he had no choice, and they
really tried to hone in on the danger that Jordan
Neely presented. So the jury was and there was by
the way, medical experts too. One of the medical experts
for the prosecution said the choke hold was the cause
of death. The defense said the defense called an expert

(10:22):
who said it wasn't a choke hold. This was a
guy who had sickle cell disease, He was high on
a synthetic marijuana. Who was the combination of that, that
and also the struggle that ultimately killed him, not the
choke hold. So the jury had two questions to answer.
One was Daniel Penny the cause of death? And me
if he was was it justified? Was illegally justified. And

(10:44):
you know, if they they would have said for the defense,
if he had an honest belief, it might have been mistaken,
but an honest belief that Jordan Neely was a danger
to him and others, there might be a defense there.
So again, the jury was deadlocked. We don't know how
many jurors were siding one way or another, but they
couldn't come to a decision over twenty hours of deliberations.
Now I have quick before you have a question. I

(11:05):
have to finish before it because you've interrupted me four times.
So here's the thing. Before the jury was given the case,
they were instructed the only way you can decide the
lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, you have to first
decide manslaughter. You have to be unanimous. You can't decide
it now. What happened was the jury said we're deadlocked
after twenty hours, and the prosecution came forward and said, listen,

(11:29):
I know you're supposed to declare a mistrial. We're gonna
drop it. We're gonna drop the top charge. Yeah, we're
gonna drop the top charge, judge. And now I want
you to instruct them to just decide criminally negligent homicide.
The judge didn't even know if he had the authority
to do that. I've never seen before in the middle
of jury deliberations. If you told this jury they have
to be unanimous that, you know what, we're just gonna

(11:50):
drop that charge now. Don't consider it now, just go
to the second charge. That's what the judge said. He goes,
I don't know if I have the authority the law
on my side, but I'm gonna do it. The jury
came back on Monday, and within what an hour and
a half an hour, they found Daniel Penny not guilty
of criminally negligent homicide. And I believe it is because
of what happened Friday. It is because they threw out

(12:11):
that charge. I think the jury looked at it and
was like, does the prosecution even believe in their own case?
They for the whole six weeks or whatever how long
this trial was, they kept saying this was manslaughter, manslaughter, manslaughter.
Now they're just dropping it. That's crazy. I think that's
what happened here.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
What about witnesses, There were witnesses on the train. What'd
they say?

Speaker 2 (12:30):
The witnesses on the train. A majority of them said
that they were scared for their life. That once said
they've never seen anything like that before. That one of
them was shielding their five year old child from Jordan
Neely because they were so scared. A lot of them
felt relieved that Daniel Penny intervened, but there were some
who said, I don't know why he kept on holding him.
There was a point I tried to get Daniel Penny

(12:51):
to stop. Looked he was like in a trance. He
wouldn't let go of the choke hold. And so you
had competing witnesses, but I would say the majority of
them felt that they were in fear for their lives.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
Now having heard that the attorney general before they decide
to charge and put.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Him on there's no attorney general, it's the district attorney.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
Sorry, the district attorney before he decided to prosecute. Or
does he decide right away or did they talk to
the witnesses first?

Speaker 2 (13:17):
Really good questions. So when Daniel Penny this first happened
and Daniel Penny was excuse me, interviewed, he wasn't arrested
until eleven days later, ten or eleven days later. Now,
there are some who would say the prosecution was waiting
to gather the evidence and speak to witnesses and look
at the videotapes and see what was going on. There
are others who say that Alvin Bragg the DA only

(13:39):
decided to prosecute Daniel Penny after there was this outcry
that he had to be prosecuted, he had to be
held accountable. So some people will make their own conclusions.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
What do you think.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
I think it was a combination of both. Look, at
the end of the day, Jordan Neely died. He was
a human being. He didn't have a weapon on him,
he wasn't touching anybody. There's an argument that you can't
kill somebody over empty threats. But at the same time,
at the same time, this looked like a relatively more
straightforward case of self defense of others than I've seen.

(14:10):
And I don't think the jury got it wrong. I
think when you look at the evidence, if you're trying
to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt, there was
reasonable doubt in this case.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Were any of the witnesses had problems in the subway before.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
I don't remember off the top of my head if
they have any problems, but they said one of them.
I mean, I think at least one of them said
they never had any problem like this before, They've never
seen anything like this before. I believe there might have
been one or two witnesses who said stuff like this
happens on the subway all the time, the dangerous.

Speaker 3 (14:40):
They would have been chosen as witnesses, Then wouldn't they
have to be avoided as witnesses if they were pre
judging the idea.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
You can't choose. You can't choose your witnesses, your witnesses,
or your witnesses.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
They I'm thinking the jury. I'm thinking of the jury.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
The jury that there were some subway riders, if not
all subway riders, but I don't remember what they're in
the is on the subway where or not?

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, well, I said when we were talking originally, back
in the day when it was going on, I wouldn't
have wanted to be a juror on this one. I
don't know how you could come up with a conclusion.
The guy was not carrying a weapon. He was shooting
off his mouth. He was scary, and this guy, you know,
a good Samaritan. I guess in the end he's chosen

(15:21):
as a good Samaritan. That's what was found out, was
trying to protect everyone. Who knows what a sad case
someone's dead. It's not right, but I'm glad it's I'm
glad that someone was able to do it. I couldn't
speaking of this. Let's talk about some more pleasant, easiest
stuff right now. How about you me the family going
to the Polo Bar. What a place, right.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
It's the place to be and it was apparently the
place to be on Thanksgiving night so many celebrities. I
think people wait two years to try to get on
that reservation list for Thanksgiving. But luckily we had a connection.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
You know what I find amazing about it the people here.
Here's what I find amazing about it. It's one place
that I've gone in the city where people know to
get dressed up. Everybody's dressing their best to be there. Yeah,
you'll see an occasional pair of jeans and flannel shirt,
but right out front of the doorway. I remember talking

(16:18):
to the greeter out front and saying, what does it
mean dress code? And it said dress appropriately, And they
said they didn't want shorts, they don't want jeans, they
want people to be dressed up and elegant, and the
whole place was everybody looks good there. I found that amazing.
Don't you feel the need to do you think about
what you wear before you go to the Polo Bar. I,
of course I'm not going in a T shirt.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
I'm either gonna wear a suit, a blazer or a shirt,
nice sweat or something. You have to present yourself. Well, there,
that's the place to do it. Yeah, I think so too, well,
although I did. Although I did see Leonardo DiCaprio there once,
and he was wearing his infamous black hoodie or black
sweatshirt and black hats and sneakers, so he's allowed to
though I guess.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yeah. I wore a black mak of breasted, black silver
button ralph jacket, black cargo pants and black suede boots.
I thought I looked pretty cool. It's a combination of
dress up but casual and but I gave it a
lot of thought before I went there, and as I said,
everybody looks great. The other thing that I find about
it is you can't take a bad picture in the

(17:19):
Polar Bar. Every single area where you take a picture
of the wood, the frames, the photographs, the people, it's
beautiful setting for photographs and it's a great takeaway on
a holiday night. How about the.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
Food, Look, I think the food is fantastic. There are
some dishes that are better than others. But I had
what I haven't had in a long time. I had
a steak and I felt good. I felt like I
was on Yellowstone. It was very Uh, it was delicious.
How about you.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
I had the turkey dinner and it was horrendously bad.
I was shocked by it. Now, I really like the
food there. Yeah, I'm gonna say it. The appetizers are great.
The food is always great. But the turkey was like
phony turkey. It was it wasn't I don't know what
it was. It was like it's like they chopped up
the turkey and made patties out of it. That's what
it felt like. It was really bizarre. But by and large,

(18:08):
the food was great. Other than that, and I love
it there, and I was great that the family got
to spend. So when we're talking to holiday, you can't
help but talk about the craziness that happened in New
York during that time, in this case, the trial, But
there's also some very wonderful things and it was a
nice warm night to all be together on Thanksgiving. With
that in mind, we'll take a break and we'll continue

(18:31):
in a moment with holiday in New York City.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Always in fashion.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
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(18:58):
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(19:20):
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(19:41):
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(20:02):
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(20:22):
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Speaker 1 (20:25):
Welcome back to it Always in fashion.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
It's new York City the holidays. I'm having a great time.
I love being here. I have to admit I'd rather
be where the palm trees are, and eventually I'll get there.
But it's a wonderful time to be in New York City.
The spirits are great. Everything feels good. I love the
way the city looks. I even love the way it smells,
the cool air. Something is really nice about the city,

(20:53):
with the exception of not feeling safe. But you will
talk about it in a moment. I want to talk
about right this moment, a concept of being confident and
not cocky. Oh that thought. It's not easy here in
twenty twenty four. Let's face it, We've been living in

(21:13):
a divided country for a while now. Politically, the divide
has never been worse. Up until the November election for president,
there has been a shift. Donald Trump wanted an electrical landslide,
and with a popular vote, no one would have believed
it possible. But there was a massive shift. Seventy five
million votes for the new president. A lot of them

(21:35):
were traditionally Democratic voters, whether ethnic or idel, or whether
ethnic or ideological, people shifted and wanted change. Many people
are dancing in the streets. People who are suppressed or
as conservative are feeling free to voice their views. And
that's healthy. But there is, and perhaps will always be.
We can't forget an economic divide in this country. The

(21:57):
question is dislike or disrespect for the one percent versus
everyone else? Hate those billionaires, hate those millionaires, or do
you respect what they accomplished? Once again, I'll come back
to that. Will the dialogue change from the rich don't
pay their fair share to let's work together the raise income,
great jobs, bring manufacturing to this country on the global stage.

(22:20):
It begs the point. If I always want American support,
pay your fair share for the umbrella of protection we
provide to you. I think that's fair. Then there's free trade.
Is their free trade? Is their fair trade? We buy
from you, you buy from us. That's fair trade. I'm
not a fan of tariffs without a goal. I must

(22:42):
admit the threatening of Mexico and Canada threatening them with
high tariffs if you don't close your borders as exit
points for illegals into this country was super, super smart
and clever. I would have never thought to do that,
and it seems to be working. Kudos to Trump. I
don't believe in tariffs to protect the industry unless unless

(23:04):
there's really a chance that our industry can condemonstrate or
prove that they will remain viable and competitive with the
help of those tariffs. I do believe the tariffs can
be brought to bear for equal trade, which I mentioned before.
If you France sell US a hundred billion dollars of goods,

(23:25):
you'd better buy a hundred billion dollars of our products.
You don't we use tariffs to make your industry suffer.
It's only right you buy from US. You buy an
equal you we buy from you. I want you to
buy an equal amount from US, in spite of the
fact I spent eight wonderful years at Louis detanm and Hennessy.
If you don't buy an equal amount from US, I

(23:47):
would support retaxing your wine and taxing all your luxury goods.
It's only right. We make planes, we make buses, We
get cars, flooring, furniture, t shirts, we grow food, we
have energy. We have nohow buy from US or pay
for our ingenuity. China, at last I looked, the trade

(24:08):
imbalance was five hundred billion dollars. Now China, all I
would say to you. You're our largest trading partner. I
personally love you. I spend a lot of time in
your country, were your number one trading partner. I've preferred
no tariffs, but fair trade is equal trade. We could
give you a list of all the products America makes,
you know what they are, and just pony up and

(24:30):
buy five hundred billion more to equal that which we
buy from you, and I'll tell you why we'll become
fans again. All the other stuff about intellectual property and
spying I think goes both ways, but I don't want
to know. I don't know enough about it. I know
about trade. Buy more from us, and life will turn around,
and life will be better for both of our country.
I'll never forget. Never forget while I'm talking this, and

(24:53):
I'll go back to the division in the country in
a minute, but I'll never forget sitting in a meeting
with Charles Smith, who was the president of the Venues
and Company when I was just pretty much starting out.
I may have been a vice president at that time,
and he, mister Smith, Chuck said something that resonated that
I never considered, never gave thought to. We're having a

(25:14):
great year. We were winning we're out pacing our competitors.
We were celebrating. I guess we were gloating frankly. And
he this Charles Smith, was the greatest salesman I ever
met to that date in my career, maybe to this day,
but I don't want to go that deep into it.
He was an amazing salesman. And during the celebration he
took them up, he took the podium and said, ladies

(25:37):
and gentlemen, it's great that we celebrate, but I don't
want you to ever forget. I want you to remember
it's okay to be confident, not cocky. And what was
he saying? What was his point. I'm a humble man.
I enjoy our success as much as anyone, but I
believe in humility, enjoying our blessings but not at the

(26:00):
expense of others. And talking about this at the outset
before I said, I wanted to talk about confident in Nakaki,
about the great divides that exists in this case from
the successful that they're not so successful in this country,
the rich versus the not rich. We're not unified. Many
of us are angry, jealous, envious. I have to ask

(26:24):
American citizens are your lives that bad. Are you being
treated wrongly? You just have to ask yourself, are you
being paid for the job that you're doing. I often
talked in the show that I used to be important.
I'm not now. I used to be a big time executive.
I'm not. Nobody knows me other than you who listened

(26:46):
to me on the radio. But when I talk about
used to be important, it was a way of expressing
my humility. It was a way of saying that, hey,
I never forgot where I came from. I'm a man
of the people. I grew up in the city projects.
I came from humble. I understand the differences that exist
between my family and the families of my rich friends.

(27:06):
At the time I saw them, I felt them. But
here's the key. I was never never jealous. I was
never ever envious. I was never ever angry. I believed
in the American dream. I believe I had a chance
if other people were doing well. I believed that there

(27:27):
was a reason for it. You know, if you are
a janitor, for example, and you're not happy and you
want to be an engineer, then perhaps you save your
money and you figure out how to go to engineering school.
The country doesn't stop you. It's here to help you.
All the goods and services the country provides are here

(27:48):
to give everyone a chance. Now, I'm only saying this
because I've said it a million times. I'm from Brooklyn.
I grew up disadvantaged, but I applied myself, and I
recognize this country gave us opportunity. And I'm really really
troubled by the anger which brings me to again to
New York City. You can't be in New York City

(28:08):
at Thanksgiving this time of year without talking about the
assassination of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare. Right
from the onset, I have to say, there is no
justification for anyone going to violence, for any business leader,
or a government leader, or anyone for that matter. This
is not having an argument, which is still unjustifiable, but

(28:31):
there is no right, There is no reason, There's no
way you can justify. Violence does not, in any way
shape manner of form, be allowed in our society if
you're not happy with the status quo. Now, Jesse was
on TV and the radio the other day, and last
night I was looking The other night, I was listening
to him with Dan Abrams on Potus and Jesse had

(28:53):
hosted the Dan Abrams Show on TV show and he
During that TV people were gloating that the CEO was assassinated.
They're making fun of it. There was a contest in
New York who could dress up best as the assassination guy.
It was irdy. People glorifying this really made an ugly

(29:13):
impression on humanity. It was a terrible thing. The guy
was walking. I don't care what he's done. I don't
care if he liked the rain maker veto to every
health claim. I don't care what he did. There are
ways and means, legally, justifiably to take action. No one
should ever resort to violence. Which brings me to a

(29:37):
lesson on humility and business, which is a chapter in
my book. Those of you know the story, it's worth
hearing again those of you haven't. It's important lesson on
respect in this world. I was the president of my company.
I was a young president, had a lot to learn.
I'm not sure I was humble enough. I wasn't as

(30:00):
respectful of humility as I should be, and perhaps in
life I just wasn't respectful enough. I give myself some
slack because I was in my early thirties. I had
far too much success for a young guy. I earned
it the hard way. I was capable, and I guess
I was better at what I did than other people.
But maybe I wasn't as humble as I should be

(30:23):
in this position. As the story goes, we had a
company in Central America that we were doing business with.
For the purpose of this exercise, i'll call it Guatemala,
although it wasn't Guatemala. I'm changing the name to protecting innocent.
Myself included, and they were a partner of us that
licensed the name. They rented the name venues and to

(30:44):
sell in their country, and they sold thousands and thousands
and thousands of shirts. They manufactured thousands and thousands of
shirts in Guatemala and they sold them to the people
of Guatemala, and the van Using brand was a very
popular brand. A lot of people liked it. Now, for
the use of this brand, they would pay us a royalty,
which was basically a service fee of five or seven

(31:06):
percent to use the brand. So everything they sold in
their country they would pay us rent five to seven percent.
And it got to a point where one time it
was very large. But at the moment they were behind
in their payments and they owed us twenty five thousand dollars.
And as the situation unfolded, what really happened was the
president of the company in Guatemala was coming to New

(31:27):
York and he wanted to have a meeting with me.
Hadn't met me I had become the president of the
company wanted to sit down and talk to me. So,
in viewing the business circumstances, be myself and the president
of licensing, a gentleman named Kenneth Wise. He informed me
that they were in arrears of our payment, meaning they
hadn't paid us twenty five thousand dollars, which they owed

(31:48):
us for quite some time. I asked him how long
and he told me twenty five thousand dollars had be
owned to us for over a year. I said, why
haven't they paid He said they Their position is they
were get around to paying us. They always do, but
at the moment, it's been a year. And they asked
us to understand. And I looked at him and said,

(32:08):
why do you understand? And he didn't really have a
good answer for me, and I said, Okay, when the
guy comes, we'll talk about it. Now. A week later,
president of the company in Guatemala, bearing the venues and name,
using our products using the name venues and Otis twenty
five thousand, We started to talk. Hi, Mark, it's really
a pleasure to meet you. I've been with van Uesing

(32:28):
for fifty years. I love the brand, I love our
business together, and I wanted to meet you and say
thank you. I look forward to the future. I said, Aye,
it's my pleasure to meet you. I want to thank
you for the wonderful work you've done in Guatemala, making
the venues and brands so significant. I really appreciate what
you'd done. I said, but I have to ask you
a question. You owe us twenty five thousand dollars for

(32:52):
over a year. I can't help but ask you to
pass the money you owe us. He said, you know
it's difficult right now. In Guatemala. Everything's expensive. Rent is hire,
everything costs money. We will eventually get to pay you.
And I in turn said, you pay your workers, you
pay your electric you pay your water bills, you pay

(33:12):
your taxes, you pay everyone you have to pay except
for us, and I'd like to have the money. Mark.
We've always had an understanding of the company back into
Larry Phillips days that you know, if we ran a
little late, we would always catch up and pay you
with all due respects, sir, you owe us for over

(33:32):
a year twenty five thousand dollars, and that's more than
a little late. This is what we really don't have
the money. Well, here's where me the wise guy, got
himself in trouble, and there's a lesson here tonight, particularly
during Thanksgiving and what we've experienced. He was wearing a
solid gold rolex and I knew at the time the
solid gold roles he was wearing was worth at least

(33:54):
twenty five thousand dollars. And I looked at him and said,
I noticed the watch you're wearing. Why don't you give
us the watch for payment against the twenty five thousand
and we'll call it a day. And he looked at
me with a look that I can't explain how angry
he was. What I didn't realize is because I was

(34:16):
inexperienced and an idiot. He was disrespected in his country.
He knew the leaders of the country. He was a
prominent businessman. He was a man to be reckoned with.
He owned a huge business and no one would ever
talk to him that way, and me wise guy asked
for his watch, and he was really really insulted, and

(34:36):
he got very quiet, and he said, I'll give you
the watch, but you have to come to my country
to get it, and I promise you you won't leave
the country with it. I'll never forget the shivers that
put through my spine, the lesson I learned right there
and then, and how scary business could be and how
important respect is now. I started this by saying, it's

(35:00):
okay to be confident, but not cocky. What's happened with
the assassination of a business leader, the CEO of United Healthcare.
I don't care what that man did. I don't care
if he was stupider than me when I was talking
to this gentleman for Guatemala. There is no excuse for
violence in any shape manner in form I can't be

(35:20):
any clearer on that. But respect is respect, and what
I'm really talking to you about is how important it
is for the way you conduct yourself. I don't care
whether you're the janitor that I mentioned before who wants
to be an engineer, or you're the CEO of a
company you have an obligation. You have an obligation to

(35:42):
be humble, to be to have humility, and to understand
that people are counting on you and need you in
this world. With that as a backdrop, holiday in New
York City, Always in fashion. I spent a lifetime of
my career bilding the Van uesen Brand, and I am

(36:02):
so pleased that they're back with us now talking about suits.
Men were dressing up again and it's become cool to
wear a suit. Suits can be won on multiple occasions,
in multiple ways. You could wear a suit formally to
go out at night or to an event. You can
wear a suit to the office with or without a tie.

(36:22):
If you look closely, now fashion trends, suits are being
worn with turtlenecks or mark next. The choices are endless
and every one of them looks right. You could really
really look the part. I believe that packaging yourself is
as important as the products you package, and wearing a
suit is one of those things that make men look

(36:44):
their best. Venues In invented a new idea. It's called
the cool flex suit. It's been engineered with stretch technology,
giving you the most comfortable fit and mobility it's wrinkle
resistant fabric, it's cool moisture WICKI it makes it perfect
for all all occasions. As we discussed just now, this
new style of looking sharp while feeling cool and comfortable

(37:06):
is amazing, and I'm so excited that the van Using
company is involved in this new technology and is embracing
the whole idea of dressing up. Let's not forget van
Using made it's name with dress shirts. It's only proper
that the suit business follows strongly in its way. You
can find van Using cool flex men's stretch suits at

(37:28):
Jacpenny are online at jcpenny dot com. Guys, they're great.
You should go look at them.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
Welcome back to Always in Fashion.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
I am so happy being New York City holiday time.
I can't tell you it's a great place to be.
All the lights, all the sights, all the people, all
the stores, all the windows, all the colors, all the outfits,
all the weather. Everything surrounding New York City at this
time of year is an amazing, amazing place to be. Now,

(38:01):
don't get me wrong. Put me in some place with
palm trees and people in shorts and shorts leave shirts
of bikinis. I think I'd like it a little more,
but I'm not sure. Maybe in January February, maybe, just maybe,
holiday time in New York City could be one of
the best places in the world to be. And I've
been out and about. I'm going to a lot of places,

(38:21):
and surely enough, there's been some really crazy stuff taking
place here. I talked about it earlier, but I want
to say the following. I love New York at this
time of year, and I'm glad to be here. I
for the first time in my life. I'm it's hard
to believe I actually went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Now,

(38:42):
those of you who are real fans of this show
know that back in the day before COVID, I interviewed
people of consequence. Like I said, I used to be important,
so I could seem to get important people to interview
on the radio show. Now, in spite of my being
humble about not being important, and it's true, I do
to make sure nobody thinks I'm a pompous you know what,

(39:03):
because I lived a big life and I'm more humble
right now. I did interview the CEO of Macy's during
that interview. His name was Jeff can Ed. He's the
former CEO. Now I'm going to try and get the
new guy on Tony Spring. I've known him for a while.
But during that interview the part that I would say
I was being clever. I asked him if I could

(39:23):
come to the Macy's fireworks on July fourth and light
off the original firecrackers and he looked at me and said,
you're out of your mind. I said, can't you put
me on the barge? No? So then I said to him,
how about leading the parade at the Thanksgiving Day parade.
Put me on the first float, let me come out
with everyone. He said no. So over the years I
had friends who worked on Seventh Avenue or Broadway, and

(39:46):
I would go to their office and watch the floats
go by. But I never went to the Macy's Thanksgiving
Day parade until this time. And as guests of Macy's,
my family and I were invited to come sit at
the ent, have access to the store, and in general
have a great time. And I was so excited to

(40:08):
do this because, you know, guests of Macy's, you figured
we'd get good seats. And by the way, I'll tell you,
we had good seats. I was so excited to do it.
I ended up taking a hotel room state in the city,
and the night before I mentioned that the hotel rates
in the city were doucharus. You know that word. It's
like shylocks. It's like people stealing money to for services.

(40:32):
It was crazy. But I was so excited until I
learned it was going to rain. I said, you know,
it's not going to rain. It's been twenty days beautiful,
and it's not going to rain. Sure enough, it was
raining and pouring now. In order to get into Macy's
and sit in the front row, which is we had,
you had to go there at six thirty in the
morning to line up. You had to be checked for security.

(40:55):
You had to, you know, dump all your goods, make sure,
put them through a wanding and all of that. My
son says, I'm going six thirty with everyone, and you
got to come six thirty. I said, at six thirty,
I'll be rolling over at my other side. I will
come probably around nine o'clock. She says, you won't get in.
I said, I'll figure it out. Now, Macy's parade stops

(41:16):
the entirety of the city. Those of you weren't here.
Let me tell you from I would say Park Avenue
to eighth Avenue, from fifty fourth Street to thirty fourth Street,
the big square was blocked off. You couldn't drive through,

(41:36):
you couldn't actually even walk through. There were designated streets
that it would allow you to walk through. Otherwise you
really couldn't do it. So it was a very big
difficulty getting there unless you went at six thirty. My
sons went at six thirty. They got front row seats.
They were there, and I show up at eight thirty
trying to get there. Start walking down the streets. Every

(41:57):
single street was blocked off. Every single street offered an excuse.
Every single street. I showed them my ticket. I'm a
guest of Macy's. I had to circumvent everything. Finally, I
went to one street. I was on Broadway and thirty
seventh Street. There was a female police officer. I showed
them my tickets. She let me go through. But now
you got a picture. I'm wearing a hat. It's called Oh,

(42:17):
I forgot to tell you. It's pouring rain. I'm walking
in the rain, pouring rain. That's when I realized, by
the way that the Thanksgiving Day parade for me might
not be as much fun as I had hoped it
would be. So I'm walking. All of a sudden, someone
grabs me. Two police officers grabbed me. I got so scared.

(42:38):
You know, I'm looking around anyway in New York City.
They grabbed me and said where you think you're going? Now?
They had been calling me. I didn't realize. I heard
some screaming and I didn't realize they were calling me,
and I didn't, you know, I didn't turn around, and
they had where are you going? I said, I had
a ticket to the Macy's parade. I just asked the
officer over there. They told me I can go here,
so she can't go here. I said, well, you just

(43:00):
scared the hell out of me. I said, I respect
what you're doing, but you really scared me. They often
no apology, nor did I want one. They're the police
and I respect them. I said where should I go?
And they showed me and I had to take a
secuitous route to get to Macy's at Broadway, and I
finally got there. I said I have this ticket and
I said, come run in. So I walked through the
Macy's store to get to thirty fourth Street where the

(43:20):
parade was taking place, and boy was it amazing. First
of all, I got to dry off from the rain
a little bit, got to walk through the store. It
was all cordoned off. It was really unusual because my
past allowed me access to the store. I guess, if
you want to get a drink, or if you need
the men's room or the women's room, you had these
tickets that really made it pleasant for you. I went

(43:41):
out thirty fourth Street and there were all the barricades
and of course all the stadium seating for thousands of people,
of which I was a guest. My son happened to
see me when I arrived, and he took me to
the seats, and it was amazing. The only problem is
front row Macy's Thanksgiving parade. First time in my life

(44:05):
pouring rain. I was soaking wet. I was wearing a
coat with the hood, so I was relatively warm, but
my pants, my coat, everything was wet. I arrived with
the tail, you know the seats where my family is.
My daughter in laure hands me a poncho, you know,
one of those plastic ponchos to put over my head.
But I was like a rat that the cat drug did.

(44:27):
I was soaking wet head to toe. I was never
so cold and uncomfortable in my life. But I watched
the parade and it was a joy. All the people,
all the volunteers, all the balloons walking and flying right
above us, every single one. My favorite of all was
the Spider Man, which I have pictures I put on
the Instagram account of always in Fashion, fascinating to watch

(44:50):
the music, the dances, the happiness, etc. Etc. My son
took a picture of me and the poncho soaking wet, dripping,
So one of the listeners and a friend of mine,
as it turns out, writes me to say, I saw
you at the Thanksgiving parade. Was it great? You must
have loved being there. So I sent her a picture

(45:12):
of me dripping wet in the pun show and she
writes back, oh, it looks like you had a great time,
And I said, did you look at the picture? It
was terrible, But from a positive point of view, I
was in the place that I should be, New York City,
holiday time, Thanksgiving, Take a break, be back in.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
A minute, Always in Fashion.

Speaker 3 (45:35):
This is Mark Webber. We're living in strange times, but
nonetheless we all have to get dressed. Interestingly enough, we're
dressing differently because we're working at home and most people
want to wear clothes that they're comfortable in. And having
said that, I'm very excited to be affiliated with TK
and Y, both men's and women's, because they have some

(45:56):
of the best active wear collections that you've ever seen. Now,
this is not a time to be thinking about what's
important in business. It's the time to be thinking about
a lot of different things. We're all under the gun,
we're under attack, but at the same time, we have
to live our lives. We have to get up in
the morning, brush our teeth, get dressed, feel good about ourselves.

(46:17):
I can only tell you that DK and Y right
now has active wear that looks sensational. Now, the good
news is is as we dress of casual, we still
are working from home and working for home. You have
to believe in the adage. You still have to look
your best, particularly when you're having conference calls and video
conferences with different people. Nobody's looking at what you're wearing

(46:39):
in your pants, but wearing sweatpants from DK and Y
that are comfortable and look cool great. More importantly, the
tops let you look active, that you look comfortable, that
you look fashionable, and you don't have to give up
your style. Dky active Wear is incredible, as I say,
both for men's and women's. And here's the best news

(46:59):
of all. This virus will be behind us soon. We'll
be back out there making an impression, taking care of business,
going through the activities our lives and on the casual side,
whether we go to the gym, whether we go to
sporting events, whether we go to our children's sporting events,
we have to look the part.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
Decay y Activewear, Welcome back to Always in Fashion.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
Here's your host, Mark Webber.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
It's holiday, it's New York City. I'm having a great
time by myself with my family, with all New Yorkers.
I'm a man of the people, and I'm rubbing shoulders
and rubbing elbows with all the people in New York City.
I've been to a million stores. I've been to de Or,
I've been to Uniglow, I've been to Macy's, I've been
to Bloomingdale's. I'm shopping. I'm looking not very good with gifts,

(47:49):
but what can I say. I'm happy to be here
this time of year. I was very concerned as all
of you are with the deaths that took place in
New York City, and I wondered whether or not if
I had a bodyguard, I'd feel more comfortable. You know,
when I was important, when I was a CEO of PVH. Kroll,
the famous, the famous security company. Kroll suggested that I

(48:13):
build a fortified room in my house, with its own
source of air, with its own air conditioning, with its
own water supply, with its own food storage, blockinged off
in the house so that I would be safe. I
remember having a bodyguard my first trip after nine to eleven,
when I went to Milan for Calvin Klein. That aside,

(48:34):
I'm now like everyone else, just a humble guy trying
to get through the day and wondering about what New
York has to offer in the future. I'm very excited
about New York. I'm very excited about what can happen
in this country now that we can have a chance
of eliminating the division and agree to trying to root
for the Republican Party, root for the new cabinet, root

(48:57):
for the new president, for them to be successful off
some problems. Wouldn't that be a great thing isn't that
the way to start the new year. I suppose if
I was doing the New Year's Show right now, that's
what I'd wish for, that the country would all rally
together and do those kinds of things that we can enjoy. Hey,
you want to enjoy go shopping the best prices of

(49:18):
the year. Black Friday was crazy, the savings on everything
that's out there. But now Bogo. Everybody know what Bogo is.
Buy one, get one, You buy one at fairgular price,
you get fifty percent off on the second one. Do
you know what the discount actually is on that? What
are you want of those people who just like to
say this was nineteen ninety nine, it used to be
thirty nine ninety nine. Fascinating. I've been involved in service

(49:41):
that say. Some people want to do the math. Some
people want the math given to them. That's a great
time to shop. Cyber of Monday was a great time
to shop. All the views outside, what's going on. It's
great to be in New York. I'm happy to be
in New York. I hope you're enjoying your holidays selfishly.
More importantly, I hope you enjoyed my show with that

(50:02):
I'll say good night before New Year's and hopefully our
Christmas in New Year's show will be just as fun
and interesting as it is to night, perhaps with a
lot more safety that good night enjoyed being with you.