Hooray For Hollywood...and CAC this month!

Past GLOW wrestler/legendary spokesperson and CAC honoree Jeanne "Hollywood" Basone has been attending CAC reunions since the early 1990's. And this long-time tv series and film actor(projects with Nicole Kidman, on Married With Children, JAG, Days of Our Lives, Chuck to name a few)has also always worked hard each year behind and in front of the scenes to talk up and plug all things Cauliflower. From repeatedly promoting CAC globally on radio, podcasts, magazine and newspaper interviews and more to helping with raffles, talking up and appearing on affiliated, adjacent CAC-related wrestling cards. First in our original Los Angeles 1960's thru 1999 reunion stomping grounds like the Old Spaghetti Factory and Little Joe's restaurants in Downtown L.A to our longtime Sportsman's Lodge & Resort homebase in L.A.'s Valley. And then of course from 2000 to current, when executive VP who I worked with on CAC's board for all those years in Karl Lauer, moved our reunion shindigs, board meetings and memorabilia museum, photos to Las Vegas.

Longtime pal Jeannie along with Cheryl "Lightning, Lil Mo" Rusa and Lisa(Glow's Tina Ferrari & WWE Hall of Famer Ivory)Moretti have all been CAC honorees. All three have also been longtime animal activists and human champions for rescuing shelter dogs and cats, and more great causes. They're interestingly amongst a handful of top Dave McLane original stars who later sought more extensive pro wrestling in-ring Dojo training, than what they received on that first-year GLOW cast of training actresses and fitness experts fast-tracked to actual wrestling show bout tapings. And from veteran talent in-ring generals Mando Guerrero and later with Sue Sexton soon after they left Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, to continue bettering themselves in their chosen profession. "We bonded from GLOW's first, earliest seasons on through wanting to really learn our craft and take pride in it even when we left. Not all the girls did that or wanted to. We did and were able to travel the world over wrestling once we truly got all the intricacies of every aspect of pro wrestling. Learning about the long history of the business and what female wrestlers have had to go through to get recognition, fame, goals accomplished and more which is so unlike how women's wrestling is portrayed today. Right there finally on a near equal level or playing field with all the boys. We've come a long way, still have a way to go but most hopefully are getting their proper respect in the process with the business evolving so quickly. TNA and WWE for example, have really elevated women's wrestling to where females began appearing in main events, with longer storylines and better match placement and much more," Jeannie told me on my radio show a few years back in her honest, always from the heart and candid one of a kind infectious style.

Jeannie talks all about the above and much more in her shoot, open-candor style while taking no prisoners in her highly-acclaimed, self-written autobiography "Hooray For Hollywood! The True Story of the Original Glow Girl-a Memoir." She spent many years interviewing and researching her fellow Glow wrestlers, fans, behind-the-scenester in advance of Hooray. Plus as a long time rock and roll historian concert-goer and expert aficionado, she interviewed and recounts history on and from many top, well known rock music superstars including her own "better half." All "while kicking ass to get my story, this book out there. I'm very proud of it and all the 5 star reviews people I've never even met gave it," she told me.

There's stories on KISS' Gene Simmons, her long-time friendship with Smashing Pumpkins band lead and founder Billy Corgan(who's NWA promotion recently had WWE superstar Nattie "Natalya" Neidhart recently give fans a Meltzer 10 out of 5 star bout against NWA Women's World Champ Kenzie Page at this year's Crockett Cup spectacular where she walked the aisle to Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name" appropriate hit entrance song that made huge world news). Plus Hollywood Jeannie's appearance dubbed "Lethal Woman" in Playboy Magazine, attending parties at Hugh Hefner's gothic Playboy Mansion long in the L.A. borough of Holmby Hills on Charing Cross Road which played host to pro wrestling and UFC in past years. Jeannie talks all about "nearly every weekend the last few decades being busier than ever planning and overseeing GLOW boat cruises, fanfest reunions and conventions. Being at most ComicCons, Big Event NY, Chiller Theatre conventions(besides WrestleCons centered around WWE's Wrestlemania and other PLE full-week immersive events) and more all over the world while promoting women's wrestling and women in sports and business. She's also a sought-after uplifting women in business, motivational speaker besides wearing many other hats you'll read about from this nonstop world traveler along with her tips, tricks and strategies to personal growth and happiness while always helping lay the groundwork for females in sports and entertainment to follow her lead. And her total devotion to her brand-supportive and vocal fan base who've been there for her from her GLOW debut where she truly began growing as a kind and caring human being while searching for and getting submissions or 3 count on all her childhood dreams. It's a fascinating book you won't be able to put down. I learned a ton of new things I was clueless on and about Jeanne Basone and her unstoppable love of the wrestling bug. And that's coming from a friend of her's since 1986!

One of Jeannie's biggest longtime WWE wrestler-fans is CAC two-time honoree Bubba/Bully Ray Dudley(of Team 3D along with brother D'von)who made her feel right at home at the Los Angeles Wrestlemania Weekend, live Busted Open 24/7 radio show party stage 2 years ago. Along with Busted Open creator/host Dave LaGreca and fellow cohosts: Bully, Tommy Dreamer and Mark Henry interviewed her on-stage in front of that always amazingly supportive, historic Whiskey A Go Go SRO packed audience of fans. Bully helped her get huge crowd pops when they brought up her then upcoming book which is out now. They also had her discuss her decades of film and tv appearances, industry stunt work and more.

In her 5 star book, she talks about being a skinny, suburb kid with zero tv or sports contacts let alone experience to later "helping shatter that long-standing glass ceiling for women wrestlers. She has tons of behind the scenes accounts, stories while telling Glow's real story from day one to later wrestling and boxing her way around the world. Building her own film/tv production company, helping others get into sports and the arts. And for lack of a better overall term, all things Hollywood including writing, creation and project development. "And I'm very proud of my Hollywood Botanika business that's all female-run and owned. Our focus is on artisan, organic crafted-by-hand, natural soaps that look and smell amazing plus developing other body and bath products for home use and on the go. It really did start as a healthier alternative to mass-produced bath and soap products hobby I got such a gigantic public reaction to, even from people who didn't even know I've been a longtime wrestler and actor! Natural and sustainable, Vegan and cruelty-free made right in Nashville, It's just exploded in the last few years and I'm truly grateful for the tremendous support from everyone," she told me recently. Her handcrafted, stunning soaps and more are also available from her Etsy shop "HOLLYWOODBOTANIKA store name besides NashvilleBotanika.com.



Jeannie will of course be back at our CAC Reunion this month August 18-20 for the duration. Make sure to see her at her booth she'll be sharing with my longtime legendary PWI Magazine comrade senior writer and author of many wrestling books in the equally great Dan Murphy. Dan cowrote Sisterhood of the Squared Circle with 2025 honorees Patric Laprade and Bertrand Hebert, The Wrestlers' Wrestlers: The Masters of the Craft of Professional Wrestling; along with his own titles like The 100 Goat Sports Nicknames and more. Like his latest classic on total Olympian and pro grappling legend and later promoter in Ed Don George from CAC's Scott Teal/Crowbar Press. Come support and say HI to her and all the many great people who give back to the business at Cauliflower Alley this historic reunion in Vegas at the famous Plaza Hotel & Casino on Fremont. And that can't-miss, amazing Mick Foley Roast that's our first since our Club President Lou Thesz' Roast in Los Angeles in 1999.

Not only has the Union Plaza Hotel played CAC reunion host many times since we left L.A. for Las Vegas in 2000, but in the 1990's it was the annual home of the LIWA, Ladies International Wrestling Association conventions/reunions founded by Teresa Thiese, Penny Banner, Betty Clarke and other CACers and fellow former CAC board members I served with back then from 1991 on. The LIWA was later run it's last few years by Fabulous Moolah/ Lillian Ellison and Johnnie Mae Young until WWF at the time signed them to full-time contracts. Karl Lauer, Sheldon Goldberg, Brittney Brown and I served on the LIWA board back then as well as for CAC.



The author is a decades-long newstand magazine wrestling reporter, columnist and photographer who's photographed pro wrestling in nearly every country it's been in and with images used on local and national news, documentaries and in fighting sports books. Mike's also been a longtime terrestrial and satellite radio host and cohost and weekly newspaper columnist on wrestling, boxing, MMA and the arts. And past dentist to greats like June Byers, Mae Young, Penny Banner, Ray Stevens and his wife Theresa Thies, Pepper Gomez, Tiger and Inita Conway, Kenji Shibuya, Ida Mae Martinez, the fireball throwing Original Sheik(Ed Farhat), John Swenski and more like past CAC President and friend Red Bastien twice for emergencies. Sports and Rock Concert Photojournalism put him thru dental school.