Coffee With Jim

Meet Donald Gialanella, October 12, 2025

Lots of inspiration and thought provoking discussion in today's conversation. Our guest taught art at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. And he spent ten years as an Emmy winning television graphics producer in New York City. That diversity is refelected in sculptor Donald Gialanella's  work.

He is an artist with unique vision, and a passion for using public art as a catalyst for community development. His ability to transform a diverse array of discarded and cast off items into manifestations of whimsy and child like imagination have created landmarks for communities and universities. 

For the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, Baton Rouge, Louisiana he created a giant dog - made of stainless steel pet food bowls. For the City of Kingman and the Route Association of Kingman Arizona, he created a towering anthropomorphic hare that casts long shadows over Route.

And for Shipwreck Dive Park he created a 500 pound treasure chest sculpture. It was exhibited on the oceanfront walk in Pompano Beach for a year before being sunk in the Atlantic ocean and becoming part of an artificial reef system attached to the deck of a sunken ship called the Lady Luck.

Today's it's a program filled with imagination, vision, inspiration, and ideas. And you can learn about The Life and Work of Donald Gialanella, a film that you can help bring to fruition. 

And next week, we visit with Joey Madia, a screenwriter, playwright, escape room and immersive experience designer, actor, director, and the host of Into the Outer Realms program that is creating a road show about Cyrus Avery for the Route 66 centennial in 2026. 

 

MIles of Possibility, October 5, 2025

The annual Miles of Possibility Route 66 Conference is about the business and preservation of Route 66. It is a one of a kind networking opportunity, and a lot of fun with friends and friends yet made. It is also a tangible link to the annual US Highway 66 Association conventions of the 1930s that played a pivotal role in the transformation of Route 66 from highway to icon. 

On today's program we talked with Cheryl Eichar Jett and Debyjo Ericksen, two of the organizers behind the annual conference. We discussed the history of the event, its importance to the Route 66 community, the upcoming 2025 conference, and the role of the conference in ensuring that Route 66 remains relevant well beyond centennial celebrations in 2026. 

Next week on Coffee With Jim, we talk with internationally acclaimed sculptor Donald Gialanella about his work and Route 66 connection. We will also be talking about the role of public art in building a sense of community and community purpose. 

Today's program is sponsored in part through listeners support on Patreon. It is also made possible by RouteTrip USA, Cactus Inn Motel, McLean, Texas, Roadrunner Lodge Motel in Tucumcari, Enchanted Trails Trading Post & RV Park in Albuquerque, Two Lane America, Deana Nelson State Farm Insurance, Gilligan's Route 66 Tours, and the iconic Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Missouri.