Gazette’s Diana Nollen puts down the pen

CEDAR RAPIDS — My father was just trying to get me a summer job. Instead, he sparked a 47.5-year journalism career, including 42 years at The Gazette.

And now it’s coming to an end Tuesday at the end of the year.

As my freshman year at Central College drew to a close in May 1977, my dad told my hometown newspaper publisher in Mediapolis, “My kid needs a summer job. Do you have anything she can do?” Luckily he did, and he hired me. I kept working at the Mediapolis New Era during all my school breaks, and after graduating in May 1980, I became the editor for two years.

My small-town weekly newspaper life involved interviewing, writing, editing, photographing, developing film and printing photos, as well as helping to lay out and proofread pages, driving the press plates to Mount Pleasant where the paper was printed, driving the papers hot off the press back to Mediapolis, and helping to label, bag and schlep papers across the street to the post office. Talk about an immersive education.

My biggest lesson: Always have many pens in your purse when heading out for an interview. And keep a camera in your car, in case you stumble upon news whenever you’re out. Which really did happen. So did arriving at my first interview and having to ask the business owner for a pen — because I had grabbed a notebook, but not a pen, as I headed out the door for the appointment.

Moving to Cedar Rapids

Fast forward to 1982. Two of my former college housemates had been living in Cedar Rapids for two years. One was getting married, so the other needed a new roommate. “Quit your job and move up here,” they said. “You’ll find a job,” they said. I said, “OK.”

So with $1,000 and a new suit, I headed two hours north, from life in a small town to life in a big city. After two months and an initial job I didn’t really enjoy, The Gazette called.

And what a ride it’s been.

I quickly moved up from part-time afternoon newsroom receptionist and evening sports stats-taker to full-time feature writer, beginning as the Growing Older editor at 24, then onto Travel and Leisure editor positions. And armed with my theater degree and a lifetime of music lessons, art and design classes and a smattering of tap and jazz dance, I began writing arts event reviews.

One of my first Cedar Rapids Community Theatre reviews was “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” starring Ron Livingston of Marion, who later jumped into major roles in “Office Space,” “Band of Brothers,” “Sex and the City” and “A Million Little Things.”

That’s the thing about this place we call the Corridor. We are bursting at the seams with talent. So many Eastern Iowa natives have found success on Broadway, on Broadway national tours, television, film and in concerts and recording studios.

Even more have chosen to stay here to build families and careers, and continue to grace our stages with productions that rival what I’ve seen in New York and in our largest, packed arenas. Really — did you see “Beauty and the Beast” at Theatre Cedar Rapids? Or an Orchestra Iowa concert? Or any of the gazillion theatrical and concert offerings in the area?

We really do live with an embarrassment of riches, and it’s been my joy to tell Gazette readers about them.

It hasn’t always been easy. My first reporting tool was the hand-me-down electric typewriter I took to college. Then at The Gazette, we had to share these newfangled computers that looked like big boxes. I shared with sports columnist Gus Schrader and made sure I came in well before he did so I could get my stories done first.

When I needed to do research, I walked across the street to the Cedar Rapids Public Library and used the card catalog to find books on the subject du jour. When the library moved more than a walk away, I called the reference desk for help.

Now we all have laptops and can tie in to The Gazette from pretty much anywhere, including the kitchen table at my family farm east of Mediapolis, where I’ll be moving in the spring. It’s just two hours south, so I’ll be back — often. I’m still a city girl at heart.

The ‘best of’ lists

So now onto the questions everybody always asks me.

How many stories have I written?

I don’t know, but during a boathouse weekend this summer in Ellis Harbor, one of my college music friends ran my name through a search engine I didn’t recognize, and came up with more than 5,000 hits for a specific time period, not all-inclusive. So let’s just double that number and call it good.

How many reviews have I written?

Again, I haven’t kept track, but about a decade ago, I did some rudimentary calculations and came up with more than 2,000.

Who were my favorite interviews?

Sir Salman Rushdie, Feb. 12, 2013, headliner for the 10th Coe College Contemporary Issues Forum that night. I had the distinct pleasure and honor of a 30-minute face-to-face interview with the author of “The Satanic Verses.”

Published in 1988, the 560-page novel touched off a firestorm of controversy during which Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa on Feb. 14, 1989, calling on Muslims to kill him on sight. That sent Rushdie living underground for a decade in London, which he recounted in his 2012 memoir, “Joseph Anton.”

My first question focused on that memoir. He brushed that aside, saying, “The only people who ask about that are --” and when he didn’t finish that statement, I chimed in, “journalists?” He shrugged.

I was tap dancing in my head, trying to figure out how to salvage the interview. I figured he could breathe again when told him I saw him in the 2001 film “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” He instantly lit up, saying that if he hadn’t been a writer, he would liked to have been an actor. His friends knew that, so they gave him cameos in their films. And my interview was off and running.

By gaining his trust, I could circle back to what I really wanted to discuss, which was his years of always looking over his shoulder, never feeling safe after the fatwa. And he complied.

Unfortunately, on Aug. 12, 2022, Rushdie nearly died and lost the vision in his right eye after being stabbed multiple times on stage as he prepared to speak at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. The case against his accused attacker is ongoing, and Rushdie wrote about the attack in the memoir, “Knife.”

My favorite “almost” interview: When “The Monuments Men” was being released in theaters in 2014, Executive Editor Zack Kucharski came to my desk and said, “I’m going to need you to interview George Clooney.” I replied: “I’m going to need you to have oxygen on standby for when I pass out.”

So I tracked down the actor’s agent/manager, made my plea, noting that Clooney’s lead character was directly tied to the University of Iowa. While my contact person agreed that was a good angle, he said Clooney was shooting another film in Canada and was unavailable. I just needed 10 minutes on the phone, but alas, that didn’t happen.

Comedian Joan Rivers, who came to Dubuque’s Diamond Jo Casino on Nov. 6, 2009. So sweet and kind — she left all the snipes on stage. She also insisted on meeting me after her show, hugged me, had me walk arm-in-arm to the casino floor where she was doing a giveaway, then hugged me again as we parted.

Harry Connick Jr., whose Nov. 3, 2012, concert reopened Cedar Rapids’ Paramount Theatre, back from the brink after the flood of 2008 sent 8 to 10 feet of fetid waters roaring through the 1928 building.

“Hey, it’s Harry, how ya doin?” he started our phone interview. I had to tell myself to breathe, then say, hello. He told me he was driving into the city (New York), and if the call dropped, he’d call back. About 10 or 15 minutes into our chat, the line went dead. True to his word, he called back, with a simple, “Hey.” Again, I swooned inside my head.

As expected, his sold-out concert was impeccable.

Blues over the Atlantic: As I was returning from a choir tour of central Europe on July 21, 2019, I was seated next to a blues guitarist on the long flight from Amsterdam to Chicago. When I found out he and his band would be playing the Czech Village Blues festival in Cedar Rapids on Aug. 10 that year, I said I had planned on interviewing one of the headliners after I got back from this trip.

So about halfway through our 8.5 hour flight, I hit the record button on my cellphone and we winged a midair interview.

Upon returning to the office, I called up my planner, and discovered Anthony Gomes was the person I had intended to profile for my festival preview article.

What are the odds?

Actor/writer/director Tim Robbins, who brought his “The New Colossus” theatrical collaboration to Iowa City’s Hancher Auditorium on Feb. 29, 2020. I’ve been a huge fan of his films forever, and I especially enjoyed his reaction at the top of our phone chat, when I asked if he was at home or out gallivanting. “Gallivanting?” he asked, drawing out every syllable in the word. That was a fun icebreaker that led into a smooth interview. I haven’t met many of the stars after their shows, but I did get to meet him, and posed for a fan-girl photo with him.

Actor/comedian Lily Tomlin, who unleashed her comedy in a Hancher-on-the-road appearance Nov. 16, 2013, at the Riverside Casino Event Center. About 15 minutes into our preview interview, she shared some family details she hadn’t shared before. That’s one of the joys of being able to establish connections that help bring down walls between reporters and stars who have been asked the same questions time and again.

My goal in every interview is to hear at least once, “That’s a good question.”

David Cassidy: The only interview that rendered me speechless. I had received an early afternoon call from the Riverside Casino publicist saying Rick Springfield was ill and David Cassidy was stepping into that sold-out date. If he called me in 20 minutes, could I talk to him and get the story in the next day’s paper? I said yes, I could talk to him, but the features pages had already gone to press. I could put a notice in the news section, then run the story the day after, which still was a couple days ahead of the concert.

I usually like to do a deep dive before interviewing stars, hoping to find a fun tidbit to help set a conversational tone. In this case, I just had time to craft some questions based on the notion that he was someone I liked in my youth.

Exactly 20 minutes later, my caller ID said “David Cassidy.” I picked up the receiver and nothing would come out of my mouth. My internal dialogue: “Say something — anything — you have questions on your screen.” So I opened my mouth and all that came out was a pitiful “uhhhh.” Then, “I’m sorry, there’s a 16-year-old screaming inside my head.” “Oh, bless you,” he replied, and we were off and running.

Other “pinch me” interviews: Broadway royalty Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Sutton Foster and Richard Thomas (all were at Hancher except Menzel, who performed in Des Moines). Eastern Iowa natives, actors Michael Emerson, Terry Farrell, Ashton Kutcher (with a hello to wife Mila Kunis), and singer/songwriter Susan Werner. Papa Elf (Bob Newhart), Santa (Ed Asner) and Leon the Snowman (Leon Redbone) from “Elf,” all of whom performed separately in the Corridor. Central College alum and celebrated broadcast journalist Harry Smith, who recently returned to Pella to teach a fall seminar at his alma mater. And, drum roll: Barry Manilow. I’ve heard he’s not a fan of the term, but I’ve been a Fanilow since my midteens.

And my favorite concert?

Rod Stewart, who looked like there was no place he’d rather be than the Mark of the Quad Cities on March 24, 1994. He performed with a bare stage in the middle of the arena, and began by kicking soccer balls into the cheering audience. I could sing along with all but one song (but hopefully, I didn’t).

He held my “favorite concert” status until Idina Menzel’s sublime “Barefoot at the Symphony” show at the Des Moines Civic Center on June 22, 2012. As I reported back then, she knocked Stewart off my top spot that night.

But he recovered that pinnacle when he filled the now-Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids with elegance on July 24, 2015.

A career wraps up

Tuesday will be my last day on the job, even though you’ll see a couple of stories run in early January, which I’ll file before I leave.

I’ll miss the interviews and conversations the most. They’ve been grand, and I’ve never taken that for granted. I know how lucky I am to have worked in the Corridor, where world-class artistry unfolds every week on stages, art galleries and outdoor venues large and small.

Thanks, Dad, for all these memories and so many more, I’d need to write a book.

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